The Student 17/03/15

News 3-7 Comment 8-10 Features 11-12 Lifestyle 13-14 Science & Technology 19-21 Culture, Music, Film, TV & Radio 22-29 Sport 30-32 Tuesday, March 17th 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org

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News as infringements for fear of damaging future recruitment.

“Over-reliance on agents by some has clearly weakened their position in dealing with poor agent behaviour”, says Raimo.

Richard Garret, director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, told THE he thought the the allegations often made against the agent industry”.

“

Allowing for such risk... is not a responsible way of doing business”

OVERSEAS UNIVERSITY RECRUITERS DISMISSED OVER FRAUD

By Kumi Gilchrist @TheStudentPaper

A

series of Freedom of Information requests by Times Higher Education (THE) has revealed dozens of cases of fraud involving overseas recruitment agents working for UK universities, including the University of Edinburgh.

The study revealed 54 cases of fraud or impropriety between the academic years 2011-12 and 2013-14.

Of the 139 higher education institutions that disclosed their employment of overseas recruitment agents to THE, 34 institutions said they had had to take action over alleged agent malpractice within that time period.

Four of the 54 cases divulged to THE through its investigation have taken place at the University of Edinburgh.

In all four occasions, the University of Edinburgh terminated its contracts with the recruitment agents in question.

Speaking to The Student, Robbie Willis, Head of Recruitment and Development at the University of

shocking”.

However he maintained that the university, “were not looking to stop working with overseas recruitment agents as they still have an important role to play, particularly in the recruitment of post-graduate students who otherwise may not have access to the support often provided in high schools by college councilors”.

“

[The findings are] quite shocking”

-Robbie Willis, University of Edinburgh International Office Head of Recruitment and Development

According to Willis, the university employs 40 overseas agencies operating in 20 countries and overseas agents recruit approximately 20 per cent of Edinburgh University’s annual international student intake, constant” despite growing international recruitment.

He added: “We don’t want to see third-party

Inside

agencies

can

pose

a

institutions now that depend entirely quota, which is extremely risky.

“Allowing for such risk for 50 or even 30 per cent of international admissions is not a responsible way of doing business.”

Of the 54 reported cases reported to THE the most prevalent concern was the use of supposedly fraudulent made up 17 of the disclosed incidents, shortly followed by fee-related issues such as embezzlement or bribery which involved ten cases.

“We’ve not had any instances amongst our agents concerning these issues, but we have had to terminate contracts with agents or agencies in the past for issues surrounding sub-contracting”, Willis told The Student.

“For instance when an agency that had been contracted to work in a outside their jurisdiction, or when an agency involves other agencies to carry out our contract.”

THE’s investigation comes in the wake of a 2014 British Council Services for International Education Marketing (SIEM) commissioned study which called for UK universities

to overhaul the way they used international student recruitment agents or face having external regulation imposed on them by the government.

The study argued for greater self-regulation and transparency to reduce the potential for fraudulent behavior by agents and to prevent or damage to their reputations.

“

Any activity with ...agencies can pose a significant risk; there are a number of institutions now that depend entirely on agents” -Robbie Willis

Vincenzo Raimo, pro vice-chancellor global engagement at the University of Reading and one of the three researchers involved in indicated that most action against alleged impropriety was informal and unrecorded.

contraventions by agents, with many ignoring what others might perceive

IMAGE: TRISTAN NITOT

-Robbie Willis “In any large, young, diverse, fragmented and commercial industry, such as education agents, some level of fraud is bound to occur, but personally I don’t see evidence of widespread or systematic deception.”

The use of overseas recruitment agents is common practice amongst UK universities and such employment is generally consistent with UK law, though unlike countries such as Australia or New Zealand there is no national framework or rules governing the way universities work with agents in the UK. Growing competition in the international students market has urged UK universities to diversify their methods and increase expenditure in their with total commission payments from 106 institutions towards recruitment agents topping £86 million in 2013-14 – a sharp 16.5 per cent increase million.

Increasing commission rates and expanding recruitment appear to be behind this rise.

Recruitment and spending data provided by 101 higher education institutions showed an average agent fee of £1,767 per student in 2013-14, though commission payments vary widely depending on the institution, agent, and market.

Speaking on the University of Edinburgh, Willis told The Student: “We haven’t seen any particularly exceptional increases in spending on recruitment or agents, though it is true that as student tuition fees rise so does the agent’s commission, but their percentage remains the same.”

Meet the 2015 EUSA Sabbatical Candidates:

Biographies, Policies, Interviews and More

p4-5

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News

EUSA Presidential Candidates 2015 Jonny Ross-Tatam

Faatima Osman Degree: 3rd Year History

Experience: Director and Co-founder of Buchanan Institute

Key Policies: £5k pay cut to create Wellbeing Fund for societies; free Wednesday afternoons; academic credits for classes; mental wellbeing initiatives; online accommodation hub; montly brainstorm sessions

Spot Question: What kind of oversight mechanisms will be in place for the Wellbeing Fund?

“Exactly the same situation as with the existing Development and Get Involved Funds, where an application is made to the Societies Council and oversight is controlled through them. For societies and sports clubs...[this allows] them more access to funding.”

Degree: 4th Year Law

Experience: Black Minority & Ethnic Convener; External Campaigns Organsier Key Policies: Rent freezes on student halls; cheaper, university provided textbooks; anonymous reporting system for tutorials; dedicated study spaces; better non-central campuses

Spot Question: Are you genuinely committed to reaching out to “It’s something that I’m genuinely committed to doing because I think that we need to have a stronger student union. I think that people should know more about what EUSA is doing and it’s a matter of publicity that explains why students don’t engage with the union.”

Theo Robertson-Bonds

Michael Kutner Degree: Masters Public Policy

Experience: Active involvement at student council meetings

Degree: 3rd Year Politics Student

Experience: Social secretary for Labour Campaign Rep

Key Policies: Maps on campus; improved food service with healthier options; more study space; streamlined EUSA complaint/ motion system; refocus EUSA away from political activism; invest in commercial ventures

Spot Question: Are you capable of removing your own politi“If you consider my belief that EUSA is focused far too much on political issues that students don’t care about...then absolutely. I can’t remove politics completely, but I sure can try to remove a lot of it as best I can and focus the organisation on service.”

Key Policies: Big Cheese queue jump when you predrink in Teviot; more efbetter banking for societies; pay ter funded Counselling service; better use of unbooked spaces

Spot Question: Is there a risk that looser society rules will lead to a lack of EUSA control over unacceptable conduct?

“This does not mean that we are going to remove things like our sate space policy. I’m talking about removing paperwork, removing some of the hasThis is a fairly simple thing to do.”

All illustrations by Tess Glen

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Vice Presidential Candidates 2015 Vice President Services

Urte Macikenaite

Daniel Mullen

Online Big Cheese ticketing; eliminate sanitary products tax; kitchens in Hugh Rob

Sports equipment rental; early bird Big Cheese tickets; personal safety alarms

Fraser Graham More interaction with student councils; online room booking; a EUSA cat café

Calum Mackie

Imogen Wilson

Thomas Kerr

Chris Edrev

Abolish handins where possible; extended library hours; personal tutor training

Stronger female presence in course design; adequate tutor pay; credit for internships

Faster and more constructive feedback; alternatives to exams; mental health monitors

Ability to resubmit assignments; choice of personal tutor; better indisciplinary options

Vice President Societies and Activities

Hannah Baker Millington

Iqbal Fatkhi

Kashish Kacheria

EUSA venues for sports clubs; disability access at Teviot; better complaints processes for incidents

Academic credit for societies; stress busting CSE sessions; university

Yoga and cooking classes with CSE membership; more internships; collaborative society events

Conor Matchett

Andy Peel

Shumanna Aaron

University-wide research study; counsellors available 7 days a week; blook booking reform

Develop a EUSA app; ‘crisis’appointments’ for counselling ; EUSA TV station

Night shuttle bus across Meadows; free printing quota ; better funding for liberation groups

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News

Fresh Air Radio hosts annual pre-election EdQT event

By Matt Bugajski @mattbugajski

C

andidates Edinburgh Students’ (EUSA)

for University Association Sabbatical

opening

a

postgraduate/mature

Urte

Macikenaite

Image: eUSa getInvolved tWItteR

three candidates largely agreed on

pledged

embroiled in controversy last year was set to attend but could not make it due to a prior commitment and a

Daniel Mullen said he was “looking

suggested making incremental steps

won the debate by a wide margin

VPSA candidates on stage at the Fresh Air Radio EdQT event improved

renewable technology and awareness

student

liberation

and

asked to explain an allegedly racist

Michael Kutner said his priority would be improving student

He said: “I will endeavour to never say no without giving you a good Perhaps the most controversial when Edrev returned to the stage and and discrimination are paramount Hannah Baker Millington said they “miss the point a little bit” and

“I was not asked anything I was contended that such topics were out

He

said:

“Our

university

is

upcoming general election is an opportunity to vote in the interests

criticisms and questions: Robert

Edinburgh experiments on more animals than any other UK university

By Robin Weaver @TheStudentPaper he University of Edinburgh used more testing than any other

“

We believe that if you want to understand the causes and consequences of mental health issues in humans you should study humans.”

- Dr Katy Taylor, Head of Science, National Union for the Abolition of Vivisection

It has made a vital contribution

animals in research programmes only

Image: Rama (WIkIpedIa)

T

responded: “[r]esearch using animals has played and continues to play a key

Edinburgh University tested the most animals amongst UK universities The Student: “In

the animals tested at Edinburgh University “could not have been used

to

understand

the

causes

and

Edinburgh is a leading research

(including Edinburgh) are all the leading medical research universities in the UK and the biggest recipients

Edinburgh has not announced any plans to abolish animal testing on

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News

Libertarian magazine Spiked in contentious free speech debate little common ground.

Audience members, both on Twitter and with their questions and comments, were overwhelmingly critical of Spowart and Slater’s remarks.

By Matt Bugajski @TheStudentPaper

A

arguing that free speech on university campuses is important because it encourages progress and improves students’ abilities to “combat bad ideas”.

He said: “It’s ultimately more harmful to push bad ideas under the radar and pretend they don’t exist.”

“

I see censorship as a situation where those who are already in power [...] use that power to oppress people who try to speak out against that power. [...] I’m damn proud that Edinburgh has a red free speech rating”.

Image: SpIked Youtube channel

panel debated the limits and meaning of free speech Wednesday, in an event hosted by spiked magazine as part of its “Down with Campus Censorship” campaign.

In February, spiked Free Speech University Rankings.

The University of Edinburgh received a red ranking, with the report citing the Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA)’s ‘safe space’ and ‘no platform’ policies.

In the event held in the University’s Teviot Dining Room, the central question of the debate was ‘Should we end censorship on campus?’.

For the motion were Tom Slater, assistant editor of spiked magazine and coordinator of its Free Speech University Rankings, and Blair Spowart, a third year philosophy student.

Opposing the motion were Eve Livingston, Vice President Societies and Activities at EUSA, and Maddy Churchhouse, a second year History and Classics student and member of Edinburgh University Debates Union.

- Maddy Churchhouse, second year History and Classics student One of the main speakers at the free speech debate was spiked’s assistant editor, Tom Slater

“

It’s ultimately more harmful to push bad ideas under the radar and pretend they don’t exist.”

- Blair Spowart, third year Philosophy student

In her opening statement, Churchhouse argued that the debate shouldn’t have been framed as an issue of censorship.

“I see censorship as a situation where those who are already in power […] use that power to oppress people

who try to speak out against that power.”

She further said that the policies restricting speech is sometimes required for the “best moral outcome”.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m damn proud that Edinburgh has a red free speech rating, and you should be too.”

Slater agreed with Spowart, arguing that EUSA’s safe space policy restricts free speech and marks a “fundamental shift” in student censorship.

“This censorship mandate is

make people uncomfortable.”

He said many of the most progressive concepts like democracy, liberty, and abolitionism once made people uncomfortable and that discomfort and tion to ban certain types of speech.

Livingston argued that for debates to be fair and for speech to truly be free, marginalised voices must be She said: “Free speech has been co-opted by exactly those it was intended to challenge and hold to account.”

Each side maintained their positions were in the interest of truly free speech throughout the debate, and found

Dash

Sekhar,

Vice

President

you really just tell me that I need to face racism from my student union?”

Another audience member asked: “Have you ever had the need to have a safe space?”

“You are a load of fucking c***s,” one audience member shouted at the end.

Speaking to The Student, Churchhouse said she wasn’t in a position to judge audience members for their feelings or outbursts.

“I’m not a minority, or gay, or trans, so who am I to judge someone else’s anger?”

Edinburgh first city to offer support to all teenage mothers eligible young mother in the city to be

By Amanda Ho @TheStudentPaper

E

dinburgh has become

partnership

programme

aged 19 and under from disadvantaged backgrounds, the Scottish Government has announced.

Since its launch as a pilot programme in NHS Lothian in 2010, the programme has provided support and advice to 660 young women, with an average take-up rate of 81 per cent among the eligible mothers.

Speaking at a reception held at anniversary, First Minister Nicola continuance of the service.

She assured the public that resources

“

To have the first city in the world to reach 100 per cent coverage for teenage mums - along with high levels of quality - is an amazing achievement.”

- Kate Billingham, Senior Adviser, Nurse Family Partnership International

It was originally developed in Colorado in the US, by Professor David Olds, and titled the Nurse-Family Partnership.

The programme provides intensive, preventative, one-to-one home from early pregnancy until their child

reaches the age of two.

Its main objective is to improve the pregnancy experience, child health and development as well as improve family.

In addition, the project is now being replicated across Scotland, with teams already prepared across eight health board areas including Lothian, Tayside, Fife, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley and Lanarkshire.

There are also plans for expansion in the Borders and Grampian over the summer.

Ms Sturgeon described the programme as “one of the best investments we can make as a society – we give young mothers the support they need, we help children to get the best possible start in life” and reduced public spending “further down the line, because we have better

health, education and employment outcomes.”

“

The service first began as a pilot project in January 2010 in Edinburgh and since then it has gone from strength to strength.

It has also made a real and lasting impact after it was rolled out across the rest of Lothian and also Scotland.”

- Melanie Johnson, Executive Nurse Director, NHS Lothian Senior adviser at Nurse Family Partnership International and

for England, Kate Billingham, congratulated Scotland on behalf of the programme’s founder, Professor David Olds. to reach 100 per cent coverage for teenage mums – along with high levels of quality – is an amazing achievement,” she said.

“Today we are recognizing the leadership in Scotland, the skilled and dedicated nurses and the parents who have worked hard for their children and their own futures.”

Melanie Johnson, executive nurse director for NHS Lothian also as a pilot project in January 2010 in Edinburgh and since then it has gone from strength to strength.

“It has also made a real and lasting impact after it was rolled out across the rest of Lothian and also Scotland,” she said.

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EUSA Elections: relevance and developments @eusavpsa Racism = prejudice + structural oppression. You can be prejudiced against white people but we will never know structural oppression #EdQT @LydiaRyMu Kutner was born to do voice-overs #EdQt

@emiliabona I need to pee #EdQT @leafyfronds What will you do to incur @TheTab’s wrath in your capacity as VPSA? #EDQT

@kelseydownie Just heard someone say “I’m finding it hard to find time to write my dissertation because of my modelling“ #EdUni @Cassies_JL Muttering under my breath about people reserving their seats in the library... 20 minutes later and I’m doing exactly the same #EdUni @emily_momo RENT was amazing <3 #edunifootlights #EdUni @ ilincavalentina Nice to see how all the brave keyboard warriors were mobilised to pretend this is not just about a lack of basic human empathy #eddebates @edflipside Any candidate worried about their performance tonight. Don’t be. You will definitely be better than the Spiked guy last night. #EdQT

Sycophancy in the EUSA bubble should not detract from elections’ importance

By Greg Lane @StudentComment

F

or a couple of hundred hardy hacks it’s Christmas again, as student politics season rolls around once more. The Edinburgh University Student’s Association (EUSA) elections are well underway: the poster war has been fought, the debates have put the ly answering their doors to wannabe sabbaticals, conveners and campaign organisers. So are the elections important or relevant to ordinary students?

There has been an increasing anti-establishment angst over the last few years from many Edinburgh students who feel that EUSA is an irrelevant, if not malign, organisation that’s only goal is to strip its members of their freedoms. This is unfair but it’s clear why it happens. When students go to events and eat and drink in Teviot they often don’t realise that the venue is run by EUSA. They don’t realise that The Big Cheese, an institution amongst University of Edinburgh stu-

dents, is run by EUSA. The lack of positive recognition that EUSA receives means that the union has only been in the news for the wrong reasons: the song “Blurred Lines” was banned in EUSA venues just over a year ago and in recent weeks the ‘strawpedo’

Image:Jon DowlanD FlIckr

@edflipside Michael Kutner will be prioritising maps over anti-racism #EdQt

outrage.

It would be wrong to blame the students for feeling like EUSA is irrelevant and out of touch with their wants (it is a membership organisation after all). So is EUSA itself to blame? Probably a bit, but probably not as much as popular opinion would have it. As with most political organisations, when you do something good you can market it all you like and nobody will bat an eyelid. But if you do something unpopular all hell breaks loose. This has certainly been the case in EUSA’s recent history.

So what to do to combat this? Well there has been a big drive from EUSA to encourage people to stand and vote in the elections this year after what was a somewhat dismal voter turn-

place, trying to drive up voter turnout by piquing the interest of students with often unfeasible policies, which in turn alienates those who know that those promises will never be kept. It’s hard enough to convince students to vote in national elections, let alone convince them to cast a vote that frankly, is unlikely to change their lives at all given the limits of what EUSA can achieve. cult to win an election unless you’re a seasoned EUSA politics veteran with an equally experienced campaign team. All of last year’s winners had

17 per cent of members) a year ago.

circles for a long time and it looks like-

themselves between a rock and a hard

There is a distinct advantage for can-

didates who have experienced a campaign and know what they’re doing and how best to squeeze votes out of the small number who feel they should vote.

One interesting development that exponential rise of The Tab, a national, online, student tabloid. The paper has already added a lot of fuel to the presidential candidates, for comments she made on social media, sparking an online petition to have her candidacy rescinded. It’s not pretty politics and it’s rather unfair. But, ‘It’s The Tab wot won it’, doesn’t seem such an unlikely headline in student union elections to come.

We have become insensitive to inequality Under the coalition government inequality has only increased

By Matt Parrott @StudentComment

O

n July 2013 David Clapson, a 59 year old diabetic, died, in the words of his sister published in The Guardian, “penniless and alone” because the state department ultimately responsible for his welfare allowed him to fall through the gaps. Two days later, a child was born who will live out its life in a level of state-funded comfort unthese two events made some front-page headlines, the second was the subject of an extended media frenzy which made plain the fawning, obsequious nature of the British executive class.

These events, both repulsive in their own way, serve to illustrate the reason

why the steadily-increasing gap in economic equality elicits little more from the chattering classes - from us - than an indignant sigh. To lament the passing of the man, and then celebrate the arrival of the boy, is to cry out in rage at a hacking cough, and then light another cigarette. And yet we continue to engage in this sort of abject hypocrisy because we live in a society inured to injustice; a society with injustice at its core. those recently released by the Social Market Foundation showing that since the recession the rich have grown 64 per cent richer, and the poor 57 per cent poorer, does next to nothing in a society pre-conditioned to a belief in cation. Though it may be a stereotype

that we Brits are class-obsessed, the positive joy most take in implicitly asserting that a social group are ‘better’ than ourselves, are more deserving, by virtue of vacuous tradition, exposes the raw truth at the heart of it. So long as we accept that some are entitled to riches, we condemn others to a penury that sophisms can make appear natural.

And yet, despite this always having been the case, great strides were once made in ensuring a greater degree of equity for all. The experience of the into a contact with one another that no amount of data or so-called ‘human-interest’ stories could ever hope to achieve, and manifested itself in a post-war social-democratic consensus unbroken until the arrival of the 80s. Since then, the relentless focus on the individual-as-consumer has led to self-interested behaviour being not merely tolerated, but rewarded, and an atomisation of society without histori-

cal precedent.

Figures do nothing for us. They are long-since atrophied social conscience.

Instead, we must self-consciously step outside our comfort zone, and rebuild cross-class interpersonal relationships worthy of the name. It is far more difour society when staring into the amiable eyes of a man who must choose between heating his home or feeding himself. Still more so when listening to one without the luxury of so much as a bed. We are all too accustomed to walking past the man shivering in the street, a cigarette, a sandwich. Would we do as little if he were our friend? Above

archaic institution symbolic of nothing but the backwardness of our state.

Then and only then will we be able to approach all others as what they are; as equals.

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Comment

Modern day slavery in Britain must be dealt with Current work does not take care enough for the needs of those liberated from slavery

M

odern day slavery is a scourge on modern day Britain that needs to be stamped out immediately.

Immigration is a hot topic at the moment with politicians left, right and centre taking a harsh stance and promising to impose restrictions.

However, politicians are largely silent on the issue of slavery, which is unfortunately still a reality for many in Britain today. There are currently around 13,000 indentured labourers and slaves present in Britain, living in ghastly conditions and earning less than £1 a week. It is simply shocking that the country of William Wilberforce and the abolitionist movement in the 21st century is still confronted with a slavery problem.

Shockingly, most of those held in slavery today are actually documented migrants who have come from Eastern country with the promise of legal documentation, a decent job and a living wage. Of course, there is a price to

be paid for such ‘generosity’, but it is highly doubtable that these people think that that price will be their freedom. These migrants then arrive in Britain, are sent to work doing hard agricultural labour, unaware of their Thus, their already meagre wage is cut up into even smaller chunks and their legal documents held. There is no real way of escape for most of these slaves.

If the condition of these migrants is not enough to make Mr Wilberforce turn in his grave, then the meagre provisions Britain has imposed recent report revealed that the police force are largely reluctant to tackle deemed ‘unsexy’ and they believe they will not be regarded as ‘heroes’ for liberating slaves, but deplored for opening up what are deemed ‘highly complex cases’. Unfortunately, many ill-health and their liberation is not a simple rehabilitation process, but one that needs more dedicated resources and time. Nevertheless, this seems like a small price to pay for Britain’s poorly enforced anti-slavery laws.

Image: gIedeon Tsang

By Lucy Shiels @StudentComment

Current actions against modern day slavery need to focus on helping its victims as well as its overall prevention Of course, it must be recognised that the Fiona Cunningham Report released late last year highlighted the problems this evil institution is presenting in Britain, and there currently is a Modern Day Slavery Bill going through Parliament which seeks to enact harsher punishments for those who have been found to be keeping people in slavery. However, those victims it will release. It seems Civil War and Reconstruction with

regards to the rehabilitation of freed-people have not been taken into account. You simply cannot cast unstable, vulnerable victims of slavery back into the world without assistance.

Taking tough action on immigration to win over voters during a general election campaign is one thing, but doing so in the face of preventing the abolition of slavery once and for all is another. In the 21st century, looking back over the long history of

slavery and the abolition movement, it is extremely depressing to think that we have not eradicated this evil institution once and for all. It is despicable and abhorrent that there are thousands of workers in Britain who are unwillingly tied to their employer and left extremely vulnerable to exploitation. The new freedom and proper rehabilitation balances to ensure that slavery never darkens Britain’s door ever again.

There is more to Bell’s SNP caricatures than racism Steve Bell’s mobilisation of Scottish and SNP stereotypes are easily misread

By Oliver Lemarchand Senior Comment Writer

A

ll Scots have a deep-seated, inherent hatred for the English.

Loathing the ‘auld enemy’ is as innate a feature to Scottish identity as the clan names seared upon prehensible accents reverb around

dripping into the soils on which our greatest victories are marked.

Or, at least, this is the outrageous image which many have derived from Steve Bell’s caricatures of SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon. Depicting Sturgeon face is seldom undecorated with the Saltire, and advocating such ‘policies’ as the maintenance of Scottish Country Dancing, Bell’s caricatures

of Scots. Other criticisms of Bell’s caricatures include inferences that the SNP’s policies are reminiscent of National Socialism, with the mocking use of slogans such as “Oneness” and “Yesness”. Bell’s caricatures have, for many, taken a distinctly racial turn in his frequent assaults upon the SNP. They are extremely provocative and risk misinterpretation.

“

Bell’s criticisms of the SNP should not be classed as racist, or, as some have furiously demanded, hate speech.

The cartoonist is [...] an occupation founded upon provocation”

However, Bell’s criticisms of the SNP should not be classed as racist, or, as some have furiously demanded,

as hate speech. The cartoonist is, as this year has fatefully reminded us, an occupation founded upon provocation.

The scope for political satire appears wider when dealing with the SNP, a party who may be easily carved into the mould of the aggressive, exclusivists bent upon vengeful British domination. It is these popular perceptions which Bell is mobilising, and many readers will otherwise be aware that the SNP, as a left-leaning, progressive force, are in reality a far cry from the caricatures published in The Guardian. The disjunction between the image of the SNP according to Bell, and their material reality, renders the caricatures benign.

Furthermore, Bell is infamously merciless in his depictions of if any, are exempt from his sharp scepticism, something which should be his mobilisation of stereotype plays upon common tropes of Scottish identity, it must be remembered that his criticisms focus upon the SNP, a party with whom notions of

nationalism are inseparable. Bell is not targeting the Scottish population at large, and the reactionary agitation which his caricatures have caused act as little more than short-sighted perpetration of the binary divide which is, in all of his caricatures, the recurring target of his criticism.

“

Recognition of the use of such diminutive associations [as Nessie, Irn-Bru, and tartan] is important, and in such a context as the Commonwealth Games, perhaps necessary” This is not to diminish Scottish identity. If anything, to avoid reactions which live up to the agitated nationalist stereotype constitutes a gradual movement away from the tropes aforementioned, an elevation of an identity continually plagued by touristic clichés. The Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony in Glasgow

did indeed provoke a similar response, where organisers invoked Nessie, Irn-Bru, and an array of tartan to showcase Scottish identity to a global audience. Recognition of the use of such diminutive associations is important, and in such a context as the Commonwealth Games, perhaps necessary.

Context is ultimately paramount.

While the sincere attempt to encapsulate Scottish identity in the Opening Ceremony was harshly criticised for its dismissive attitude to modern Scotland, the same rules cannot apply for a cartoonist, whose use of irony and satire is a characteristic trait. Moreover, for supporters of the SNP, the legitimate power which they and their leader now yield is undermined by imprudent and rash

little more than fervent, divisive nationalism. In short, the familiar bromide that Scots hate the English is simply false. Bell’s cartoon, though perhaps irresponsible and careless, is not racist.

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Comment

Islamic State are subverting recorded history History has a recurring capacity to be altered to reflect changing ideologies

I

n recent weeks the Islamic State has made clear that it

and religious war, but also a war against History. Home to some of the oldest known civilisations in the world, the cultural heritage of Iraq is invaluable. Yet, the self-proclaimed caliphate is bent on erasing a past that is not compatible with its ideology.

On February 26, a video was released showing the destruction of Assyrian and Akkadian antiquities—which date back thousands of years— in a museum in Mosul. The following week it was reported that the Islamic State was also demolishing the remains of the 3,000-year-old Assyrian city of Nimrud. A few days later Hatra, another ancient city, was bulldozed.

UNESCO has described these acts as war crimes, and rightly so.

It is of course easy to view the recent atrocities as secondary to ethnic and religious minorities under the expansion of the Islamic State.

However, it should be acknowledged that what is at stake here is something far more important than a few broken statues. The ongoing ethnic and religious cleansing is not only aiming at getting rid of minorities, but to wipe out their history and their culture, and thus the very traces of their existence.

Throughout history, many other totalitarian movements have shared similar ambitions. We do not need those in Iraq lately. The demolition of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban in 2001 has repeatedly been brought up by journalists as a point of comparison. The cultural revolution of Maoist China, and the Nazi plundering and destruction of art in occupied Europe, make equally good examples.

Image: Sgt. mIchael Bracken

By Henrik Blomqvist @StudentComment

The destruction of the remains of ancient antiquities in Mosul is an attempt to It is telling of the nature of a totalitarian regime, where every totalitarian movements that the deviating opinion is a crime. In order reaction against art and cultures that to make it impossible for its citizen to challenge their narrow-minded view of reality resembles the Procrustean place, the totalitarian state of 1984 bed. In Greek mythology Procrustes constantly revises history. The most was a bandit who captured people, and important lesson to be drawn from the novel is that whoever controls the past also controls the future; take away than altering their own views in order the past, and people will not even be aware of an alternative reality. try to change reality accordingly.

Though History may in itself George Orwell famously examined the nature of totalitarian movements dangerous to regard it as thus. History in his novel 1984. He painted a belongs more to the present than it dystopian image of a world ruled by does to the past, for it is created and

eradicate records of present cultures recreated every day by those who wish to assert their own absolute beliefs, whether religious or political. Yet, the ultimate goal of all totalitarian movements is the end of History, when there is and—because no evidence remains to prove it—never has been a an opposing system of belief.

That is why it is not only an atrocity in itself whenever a totalitarian movement tries to eradicate a people and their culture in order for History to it is also a crime against the intrinsic values of a free and pluralistic world.

It is wrong to censor extra-marital dating websites

By Tilda Gregg- Smith Senior Comment Writer

I

n a world where dating has become digitalised, the stigma surrounding casual hook-ups and ‘sex-apps’ such as Tinder has been greatly reduced. The landscape of romance has changed dramatically in recent years, and it is with this in mind that the notion of extra-marital dating websites needs to be viewed. and opposition have been aroused by the latest advertising campaign of Gleeden, a dating website aimed at posters, which featured a half-eaten apple representing the temptation of Eve, have sparked legal complaints from conservatives within the country, who are shocked at this apparent disregard for the sanctity of marriage. However, this is a country which but a few short months ago saw thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in support for the freedom of expression following the massacre at Charlie Hebdo.

Gleeden is not the only extra-marital dating website available, either.

There are many more, with names such as ‘Illicit Encounters’, ‘No Strings Attached’, ‘Forbidden Flirt’ and ‘Lonely Cheating Wives’. The most well known these in the UK is Ashley Madison, with the tagline well over one million members.

Whilst cheating on your partner is not necessarily something to be encouraged, censorship of advertising is not illegal, and so to attempt to prevent people from indulging it is a step in the wrong direction for our civil liberties.

There are dating websites catering for every personal taste, from gay hook-ups on Grindr to ‘uniformdating.com’, which does exactly what it says on the tin. These dating sites are to a pre-existing market, and simply capitalising on digitalisation and the utilisation of the internet. Tinder experienced similar opposition as a result of its promotion of casual sex, from people who deemed it to

be immoral or simply disapproved.

These websites have identical purposes, and are being met with exactly the same distaste from people who would not choose to use them.

Indeed, many people regarded equal marriage as devaluing the institution, and undermining the “sacred bond because there are some people who disapprove, this does not mean that the advertising should be censored.

“

Adultery is not illegal, and so to attempt to prevent people from indulging it is a step in the wrong direction for our civil liberties” Moreover, simply suppressing the adverts would not end the practice itself. Throughout history, husbands and wives have been unfaithful to one another. In the 16th century, a woman did not need a website to cuckold her husband, and it is not essential nowadays. Our society, however, is geared towards making our lives faster and easier, capitalising on advances in technology, and these websites are an inevitable result of this social trend.

Image: SAM CAPLAT

Advances in technology have allowed greater ease in dating extra-maritally

The dynamism of social norms means our attitude towards adultery has changed and a monogamous male-female marriage is no longer seen to be the only socially acceptable option.

Open relationships, polyamory, life-partners: the parameters of what constitutes a ‘normal’ relationship are constantly being readjusted. For some are not taboo. Indeed, these websites are not only used under solitary secrecy, but are often used by couples looking to bring someone else into

their relationship, in whatever capacity.

These websites are not a danger to

of marriage itself, and the websites are simply a logical consequence of the increase of technology. People should be allowed to choose their sexual partners without state intervention; if they choose to be unfaithful, then they are not breaking the law and it is a personal decision. Censorship of adverts is not of an oppressive state.

17th March 2015 11 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Mental Health Behind Bars: Prisons in Crisis Investigating the poor mental health of a large proportion of UK prisoners.

T

here are currently 86,000 people in prisons in the UK, and around 61,000 are currently suffering from two or more mental health disorders. This is hardly surprising, when we consider the conditions that prisoners operate under. Some convicted prisoners are allowed just two hour-long visits every four weeks, while almost half of those released from prison in 2008 were still claiming unemployment benefits two years later, having been unable to find employment. The overwhelming message coming from this is that the negative effects stemming from a stay in prison do not end upon release, and thus it is often difficult for prisoners to develop the positivity which is needed to foster good mental health and wellbeing.

One of the major issues that comes from poor mental health amongst prisoners is repeat re-offending.

With an awareness of the uphill struggle facing them post-release, a huge number of prisoners turn to re-offence, mainly because life in prison appears more appealing than the options they have outside.

In an interview in June 2014, James, a prisoner in HMP Barlinnie, North-East Glasgow, said: “In the last three months, out of the 20 prisoners I’ve seen leave, I’d say, maybe 17 have come back, and for the exact same thing they first came in on. Why? Because they had nothing out there.”

Poor mental health in prisons is not something that doctors and politicians have only just become aware of, but it is only in the last 20 years that real development in the recognition and treatment of mental health disorders has taken place.

Over 200 years ago in 1784, John Howard, often regarded as Britain’s first prison reformer, wrote about prison mental health and its poor treatment in his text The State of the Prisons in England and Wales: with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons. Writing about prisons in England, Howard notes, “many of

the bridewells are crowded and offensive, because the rooms which were designed for prisoners are occupied by lunatics...no care is taken of them, although it is probable that by medicines, and proper regimen, some of them might be restored to their senses, and usefulness in life”.

Despite this assessment, and its suggestions, it was not for another 215 years, in 1998, that the first full survey of mental health in prisons provided a statistical, objective insight into exactly how bad mental wellbeing was amongst the prison population. Until the following year, in 1999, doctors working in prisons only had to have general qualifications, as ‘registered medical practitioners’, rather than specific expertise and specialist training in their fields. This meant that those working in prisons often did not have enough expertise to care for prisoner with mental health disorders, and thus, a lot of treatment came in the form of medication, rather than therapy.

“

There are currently 86,000 people in prisons in the UK, and around 61,000 are currently suffering from two or more mental health disorders” Although medication for treating mental health has some benefits, the shortcomings of it being used independent of other methods can be found in the story of John McCue, whose mother Isabel would later go on to found Scottish mental health charity, Theatre Nemo, in 2000.

John McCue suffered a number of mental health problems in the 1990s which were not effectively treated despite visits to hospitals and GPs. Due to a lack of medical attention in the early stages, his problems with mental health reached the point where, because of his paranoia, he punched a man putting his child into a car because he thought that the child was being abducted.

John was sentenced to six months in Barlinnie, despite his history

2nd-year Theology and Philosophy student Rebecca Rezvany, along with Bonar Robb, came first in RAG’s recent Race2Prague, and raised £1,005.25 (incl. gift aid) for their chosen charity, Fresh Start.

Did you have a strategy for Race2Prague?

IMAGE: ANDREW_BROOKS86

By Callum Mason @StudentFeatures

Five Minutes with Rebecca Rezvany

of mental health problems, and according to Isabel, was offered no treatment, except medication, with one doctor even rushing through an appointment because they had “ill people to see”. The story unfortunately has a tragic ending, as on 12 May 2000, John walked into a park in Eastern Glasgow, and committed suicide.

Since this traumatic experience, treatment of mental health issues, particularly in Scottish Prisons, has experienced a great deal of progress. Organisations like Theatre Nemo and the Scottish Association for Mental Health have created a number of channels for Scottish prisoners to learn skills, have a creative outlet, and build confidence, to hopefully raise their well-being and employment prospects, and thus curb re-offending.

Theatre Nemo works in a number of Scottish Prisons including Barlinnie and Edinburgh, completing art projects with prisoners in the fields of music, visual art, drama, animation, and video-editing to help stimulate prisoners’ natural creativity, and raise self-esteem.

The charity gives those involved the chance to learn skills, such as camera work, directing, and the chance to perform to a public audience.

The response from prisoners to such schemes has been overwhelmingly positive. After performing in one of Theatre Nemo’s drama projects, Steve, another prisoner in Barlinnie said: “I’ve been in every prison in Scotland, and I’ve never seen anything like Theatre Nemo.

See, when I get back up to my cell, I feel brilliant. I’ve never spoke up

for myself, I’ve never stood up for myself, but that [the performance he had completed] is the biggest mountain in my life and I’ve just gone past that.”

Another participant in one of Theatre Nemo’s film projects focused on the skills he had learnt, saying: “It’s interesting to be on the other side of the camera. When I was at home watching TV, I didn’t think about angles and different shots.”

Theatre Nemo is not alone in providing such opportunities for Scottish prisoners. Events like the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival have given those in prisons the opportunity to express their reactions to struggles with mental health, and challenge common perceptions of such issues.

The festival is now in its eighth year, and runs each October.

Ultimately, the overall trend appears to be that treatment of mental health in prisons is improving, but a vast majority of the work completed which is not medication-focused is being done by independent charities, such as Theatre Nemo and the Scottish Association for Mental Health, rather than governmental organisations. It is possible that if organisations like the National Health Service were to fund or undertake the work that charities were currently completing, then treatment of mental health in prisons could become more widespread and accessible to everyone. For now, although there has been much progress, this is not the case.

Most of the names in this article have been changed.

Our only strategy was to get to the motorway as soon as possible. We planned to go to Princes Street and raise enough money for a bus headed near the motorway. We successfully did this and ended up in Tranent, setting up camp near a slip road. As for after that, it was just about being proactive: always asking people for a lift and never standing still for too long if we could help it. I left Bonar to mostly do the asking, he was a good luck charm for me, all the people we asked seemed to be going on the route we wanted to take (through Belgium then Germany then the Czech republic) and we never waited too long for a lift. We were very lucky after Durham, where a second year Edinburgh student picked us up and took us all the way down to just below London. before then we were third from last at one point!

Why did you choose to raise money for Fresh Start?

Because homelessness is such a massive problem in Edinburgh. Everyday I pass at least two homeless people.

Fresh Start is a small charity, and this and a change that I can see since it’s in my home city. It helps recently homeless people get established in their new home. I think this is particularly helpful since getting used to a Fresh Start helps those people to set up a stable life for themselves and not relapse.

Do you have any advice for next years’ competitors? lowest point when we were third from our buses and had to wait idly for an hour) and when it was dark and raining, we stayed positive always saying that our big break was just around the corner. And for us it was. Roderick Crawford, the clay-pigeon-shooter from Sussex, was our angel. Secondly, always be proactive, always ask for a lift from whoever you can, whenever you can. Thirdly, be mindful of your route. Don’t trade a lift for a massive expected. These things you can never really plan I think.

Will you be involved in future RAG events?

I am currently getting involved with the Jailbreak event happening in early April. However, I am not doing the event - I don’t think I have it in me just yet. I am helping out as a volunteer.

What’s your favourite Edinburgh cafe?

I hear Black Medicine is pretty good!

12 17th March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Features

The Lightbulb Generation?

Do improving IQ test results suggest we’re getting cleverer, or just savvier?

By Cassie Lord @Student Features

IQ points per decade. Many people suspect that the increase in IQ scores

re we getting smarter? Or is it just that we’re better at answering IQ tests?

Over the years, average results in IQ tests have risen in many countries, suggesting that we are getting more intelligent. However, other studies suggest the exact opposite. What is the reasoning behind all this?

James Flynn, a philosopher and psychologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand, is famous for

to environments. IQ is seen as partly heritable and partly environmental.

By giving a child more opportunities to learn, better nutrition, and better schooling, it is quite possible that they would score higher on IQ tests.

A

When looking through test manuals for IQ tests, he noticed that when the tests were revised around every 25 years, the people who set the test would get a panel to sit both the old test and the new. He noticed that in doing so, without fail, everyone would get a higher score in the old test than the new one. To put it simply, the tests were becoming harder.

Amongst other researchers, Flynn has found that all over the world newer generations score higher on the old tests than the original test-takers did.

Increases vary from place to place, but the average increase is around three

“

All over the world newer generations score higher on the old tests than the original test-takers did.”

These days we are, in a sense, trained to think in the way that IQ tests work. Flynn gave the example of the comparison between asking a question to his father, and asking the same question to a schoolchild. Asking the question: “What do a dog and a rabbit have in common?” his father would have been likely to answer, “dogs hunt rabbits”, looking for associations, whereas a schoolchild might answer

“they are both animals”. Although the answer to the question. Flynn made the point that until quite recently, categorisation was not necessarily the way in which people thought of the world. In this sense, IQ tests would not necessarily be a measure of intelligence, but of modernity.

In light of this, some researchers have turned in another direction, looking at reaction times rather than IQ tests. Michael Woodley, a psychologist at Umea University in Sweden said that: “The idea is that reaction times represent your ability to engage in very basic and elementary cognitive processing”. Reaction time tests are and upbringing as IQ tests.

In the 1880s, an English scientist named Sir Francis Galton measured reaction times in 2,522 young men and 888 young women from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds as part of his work as the founder of the average reaction time to a stimulus was 183 milliseconds, and women’s was 187ms. 12 similar studies to Galton’s conducted after 1941, on the other hand, found an average reaction time for men of 250ms and 277 for women, notably slower.

Woodley and his colleagues continued research into this, including making sure the old and new studies were measuring the same things.

Although timers may have improved since the 1880s, Woodley asserts that Galton’s measurements are accurate Galton’s data showed what one might expect as, for example, groups with higher levels of inbreeding did not perform as well.

“We found a very, very robust trend with time, toward slowing speeds of reaction,” he said, “which is consistent with the idea that the more stable, the more culturally neutral, the more intelligence have been declining rather than increasing.” This information suggests that even with rising IQ scores, perhaps our ability to get smarter is in fact shrinking. In this way, the Flynn decline.

However: “A dull person has just as quick a peak reaction time as a brilliant person”, Flynn told LiveScience.

Someone with a lower IQ may not be able to stay focused, so their reaction times wouldn’t necessarily be consistent throughout an experiment, meaning their scores can vary much more widely than those of people with a higher IQ. “Is this really neural speed, or for a dull person, [or] is it much more task?” Flynn asks. Reaction speed can as some schoolchildren may be more willing to take risks rather than show

a sign of intelligence, and this can vary not only from child to child, but

“

Someone with a lower IQ may not be able to stay focused...meaning their scores can vary much more widely than those of people with a higher IQ” With intelligence being so hard to tests or even tests of reaction time to gather whether we are in fact becoming smarter or more stupid.

However, it is clear that the way we think and react changes over time, particularly in the modern world where so much is regulated and made safe, in such a way that our reaction times do not need to be as high in many aspects of our daily lives. Our intelligence as a whole may well be getting higher, or it could be the same, but the way in which we use it may be changing. As Michael Woodley said: “It’s not simply that intelligence is parts of intelligence could be changing

The Donation Debate: Sperm donors and anonymity The removal of donor anonymity has coincided with a fall in donations

By Lucy Stevenson @Student Features

A

pproximately one in seven couples in the UK have fertility problems.

An estimated 7,000 patients receive treatment with donated eggs and sperm every year and 2,000 children are born annually as a result of this process. Although the British Fertility Society has cited an increased demand for donations in recent years, the supply remains worryingly low. The reluctance of the UK male population to donate sperm coincides with the 2005 alteration in UK law, which removed the anonymity of donors. The impact this continues to have on attitudes towards donation raises a much debated question: should sperm donors have a right to remain

anonymous?

Supporters of anonymity for donors highlight that removing it has sigdonor-conceived person conceived on or after April 1 2005, from their 18th birthday onwards, is now legally donor provided, extending further than physical description and medical status to identifying information, including name and last known address. supply, with The Times reporting a 20 per cent fall in the number of women year after anonymity was lifted. Jane Stewart, a consultant who runs a sperm bank in Newcastle, reiterated this supply drop when she stated that she had to “shelve her entire donor

bank in 2004 and start again”, as not one of her donors was willing to disagreed with recipients holding rights over them, claiming it is more like a blood donation than adoption, as they never meet or interact with the custodial parents or the children.

Many patients now have to wait at least a year for sperm to become available, resulting in women resorting to dangerous alternatives. Worryingly, desperate individuals are increasingly using informal services such as online infertility forums. Here, potential donors, holding screen names such as unscreened sperm for free. The scale of this grey market is uncertain, as it is practically unregulated. Juliet Tizzard, an employee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, stated that: “There’s been a reluctance to intervene in that area, because it’s so close to normal human interaction… How far away is that from meeting someone in

a bar?” These samples create a serious health hazard for women accepting sperm that hasn’t undergone genetic testing.

Despite criticism of revealing donor identities, many stress the existence of an equality of rights for all children.

Explaining why the government changed the anonymity law, ex-health minister Stephen Ladyman stated: “We think it is a right that donor-conceived people should be able to have information, should they want it, about their genetic origins.” Increasing evidence shows that donor children do want this information, and the lack of it beforehand has had a psychological impact. Donor children missing parental information often battle troubling emotions such as confusion and isolation on a more acute level than those adopted. Narelle, whose biological father remains an unknown sperm donor, claimed: “When I look in the mirror, I only see half a person, and

On a more practical level, donors have a responsibility to allow children to contact them to access otherwise unexplored medical risks, and recent health issues. In 2002, the British Medical Journal reported that 18 parents had to be warned that their child had a 50 per cent chance of developing

late-onset genetic disease.

The controversy surrounding donor anonymity isn’t likely to reach a lull point in the near future. However, as the debate continues, it remains vital that the UK tackles the shortage of donations. Allan Pacey, ex-chair of the British Fertility Society, stated: “Women who donate their eggs are heroes, men who donate their sperm are considered smutty”. Pacey highlights the need to overcome what he terms ‘masturbation guilt’ in promoting sperm donation, through increasingly publicity, to help infertile individuals who are desperately seeking a child.

17th March 2015 13 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Top 4 destinations for Summer 2015 - nothing but sun!

Thinking of summer already as well? Consider these exotic destinations which have made El’s list for 2015

Sicily Famous for volcanoes, gangsters and ice cream in a bun, Sicily has something for everyone. It has some historically important cities that can be combined with beach breaks, archaeological exploration and other activities. Head to the turquoise waters of Mondello for swimming and sunbathing, or some of ing and hiking. Climb Mount Etna, the highest and most active volcano in Europe. Walk around the capital, Palermo, a fascinating city which has been invaded repeatedly over the centuries leaving behind an architecturally jumbled landscape. Visit La Vucciria, the famously tangled street market, and the Capuchin Catacombs, a collection of 8,000 embalmed bodies. Spoil your-

COFFEE HORIZONS

Cuba

the breadth of its historical heritage. best preserved colonial cities in the Caribbean and the centre is full of museums, galleries and architectural gems. Try rolling your own cigar at the Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás factory. Visit Santa Clara, the monument, museum and mausoleum of Ché Guevara; the Museo Emilio Bacardí,

Trinidad, founded in 1514, the jewel in es down cobbled streets lined with pretty pastel houses. Sunbathe and dive at Cayo Coco beach and head to Varadero for vibrant nightlife. Some

comprise of two distinct segments,

alright, it is most likely because you

By The University Coffee Society @EdinCoffeeSoc

sions, stands out from common cof-

I

realising how magical it can be.

We are all guilty of instant coffee crimes but once you realise how much better it can be with just a few improvements, you will not want to go back.

“

If you don’t like coffee... you haven’t had the perfect cup yet” We have previously shared with you a three step guide on how to brew your

have been grown in ideal climates to go on to be roasted, stored and brewed to the highest standard possible. This very few to no defects and a distinctly unique taste that makes you want to trash the nearest place selling overSo what does all this mean? It world out there that you can easily beinburgh is pretty amazing; not only do Cult Espresso, Artisan Roast and Brew also made it our mission to share our -

conscience, and now we want to share with you why you actually should.

land has been set aside as parks and wildlife estates. Away from the safari parks, the UNESCO World Heritage site of the granite landform Matobo Hills is well worth a visit, as is the charm of colonial cities such as Harare.

Cuba is a unique country frozen in time. A former Spanish colony liberally coloured with French, African, American, Jamaican, and indigenous

Reasons to love your coffee

t is a sad truth that many

Africa. From the forested mountains of the eastern highlands to the sun-washed grasslands of Hwange National Park, from the hot Mopani Forest to the shores of Lake Kariba,

of the best food, and often an illegal lobster or two, is found in paladares (small, private restaurants). Swill it all

economic collapse over the last few decades, but today, the government babwean dollar is gone, and the prices are low. The Victoria Falls are with-

Zimbabwe every viewpoint reveals something overshadowed by political unrest and

the best wildlife parks in southern

Costa Rica Costa Rica is the ultimate Central American destination. All trails seem to lead to waterfalls, misty crater lakes or jungle-fringed, deserted beaches. Hike through the rainforests, kayak down white-water rapids, zipline through the jungle, surf on world-class waves tional parks allow visitors to glimpse the seething life of the tropical rainforest, simmering volcanoes and cloud forests. Visit the capital, San Jose, and stroll down the streets, wondering at its mishmash of architectural styles, national museums and excellent cafes.

Sana’s Recipes

Mug Brownies

By Sana Rasool @EdiLifestyle

E

veryone loves a good

snack and pair perfectly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The hot and cold contrast really makes for a perfect dessert. These can also be made in a little ried that microwave timings are tricky, although that will take longer.

The measurements are approximate, but they are hard to get wrong ing exact.

Ingredients: 3 tbsp. butter, 1 tbsp. caster sugar, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 large egg, ½ tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa, 3 tbsp. der), pinch of salt, pinch of ground

Image: PIXaBay

S

tuck for somewhere to go this summer? Below are four of the top destinations for summer 2015...

self with a stay at upmarket Taormina, its best attraction is the Greek amphitheatre, from which the most impressive scenery in Sicily can be seen.

Image:joIseyshowaa @ FlIckr

By Eleanor Turner @EdiLifestyle

tbsp. Nutella (or chocolate chips if you prefer), splash of oil, vanilla ice cream (optional) Take the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar and put them in a largish mug. Heat in microwave until butter is melted.

Take out and then keep stirring after each new ingredient – the egg, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa, pinch of baking powder), salt, cin-

chips).

Add a splash of oil if the mixture looks dry.

Once the mixture is smooth, microwave it on a medium heat setting and keep it in there for approximate-

on it, you can vary the consistency but personally I like it gooey and not slightly undercooked).

Pop a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and dust with cinnamon and

17th March 2015 14 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Lifestyle

ECFS in Review

The Student attended and reviewed the Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show 2015 at the Usher Hall pressions and thoughts about Edinburgh’s potential for being a fashion capital. Asked about his impressions, Jamie said: “I enjoyed the bold colours and it was really nice to see the

By Cailean Osborne @CailsOsborne

T

he yearlong campaign to raise money for Elephant Family and the Scottish Association for Mental Health culminated last night when the elephant was freed from the room at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

The Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show (ECFS) was a sensation; from start to end, the show was executed with inti-

image: Louise spence photography

city for fashion in the world and it’s got loads of independent retailers and boutiques – I think it’s doing great!”

half with striking jewel tones in the and sophistication of the event.”

The stage set-up was equally brilliant. Models emerged in between two big elephants onto a T-shaped bold colours of red, yellow and purple lighting. In total there were 30 models showcasing the works of 20 designers.

Art student Zoe Roberts attend-

“

Bold colours, graphic patterns and simple silhouettes featured”

Zoe added: “A fun element was the glitter that covered the female

models’ hair, not to mention the strong contouring make up to give of the second half included quirky prints from Adnan Ebo, Kelly Dawn Riot, and De Mouilpied, which culminated in the guests surging on to the stage to join the models in Finally, Zoe said that: “The mixture of home-bred Edinburgh talent mixed with high end brands and the students’ favourite Armstrongs kept the collection fresh and exciting.”

The music was big factor in making the night such a success. From

Louise spence photography

ed the show and was highly captivated by it. Zoe told The Student: “Bold colours, graphic patterns and simple silhouettes featured in the

image:

The doors opened at 19:15 and guests were welcomed by a choir singing the likes of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” and a champagne reception. Under a dress code of “dress to impress”, the Usher Hall was a sea of beautifully dressed students, parents and professionals.

At 20:30, the chairwomen formally welcomed all guests to the ECFS 2015 and showed a brief video of the year in review: from model castings to campus promo, photo-shoots on Calton Hill and at Glen House in the Highlands. Without further ado, however, the show started with a drummer industriously building momentum for the catwalk. This prologue smacked of energy and excitement, embellished

London Fashion Week was last month and Paris Fashion Week is on now. The Student asked how Edinburgh was doing comparatively: “I think Edinburgh is doing really well.

“

The music was a big factor in making the night such a success... A saxophonist performed while the catwalk was in action” -

but during the show a live DJ kept the night alive. During the interval, the up-and-coming band House of Lions played a live gig. Perhaps most impressively, during the second part a saxophonist performed whilst the catwalk was in action. In what can only be described as perfect choreography, the combination of live musical talent and models showcasing new fashion was incredibly impressive.

Sponsors such as Vogue, Mulberry and Red Bull were in attendance at the ECFS. Marisa Chodakowski, student brand manager at Propercorn, was present during the show. In an interview with The Student, Marisa shared that Propercorn was providing their leading healthy snack in goody bags to all 480 VIPs: “Propercorn usually supports charity fashion shows in the UK. We sponsored the ECFS last year. We returned for a second year as sponsors because of their success.”

Jamie Love, local professional model, came to the ECFS. The Student interviewed Jamie about his im-

which is one of these independent boutiques of which Jamie is so fond. RAIL is a pop-up shop on South College Street set up by Edinburgh University students Hugo, Ariadne and Gigi, with the objective to provide a platform to exhibit and curate young talent in a retail environment, moving away from the academic emphasis at university.

Their shop is open for six weeks and they will be opening a shop in London in June. Their knitwear is special because it enjoys a minimalist aesthetic and sculptural quality designed by Oisín Gallagher, who is in of Art. When asked what advice he could you give them to take the next step, Jamie Love told The Student, “I think they need to believe in what they’re selling. I met the designer earlier in the lobby, she seemed great.”

“

Fun, exciting and a pretty good party!”

Louisa Dearlove The night also included an auction

auction, amongst many other items, a Mata Hari Diamond 18 carat Gold Ring was bought for £1,800, a week’s stay in Jamaica went for £2,300, and a painted portrait by Venetia Berry was sold for £1,600. All these proceeds went to the chosen charities. Further into the night, two models, Alasdair Carmichael and Tom Macfarlane, emerged in swimwear and pulled out ners. Once all the winners had been called to the stage, both Tom and AlasIt was a fantastic night full of talent and energy. As chairwoman Louisa Dearlove put it: “Fun, exciting and a pretty good party!”

17th March 2015 15 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Dual Crossword No. 81

by Picus CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS

AQUARIUS CANCER PISCES The Student

LEO

ARIES VIRGO

DOWN

CONCISE CLUES (same answers) ACROSS DOWN

TAURUS

GEMINI

SCORPIO

not

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

A BIT ABOUT CRYPTIC CLUES

LIBRA never

Anagram Indicator.

Canty and Couthie

Discover her aunt in disarray

Choose the correct meaning Shinty

Despicable chap smudges their copy Connectors Chat freely after opening of Ballet in a group Adrian has maps redrawn for naval expedition for > naval expedition.

Camanachd

red with the blue.

Parritch

Any

Warm garment from Arkansas, smuggled into Pennsylvania

Tattie-bogle

from Warm garment Indicators

further opening of Ballet

B

All answers on our website now www.studentnewspaper.org Comments requested. editors@studentnewspaper.org

18 17th March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Edinburgh, we have a problem.

Editors in Chief

W

hen we wrote our editorial last week pleading with EUSA candidates to avoid negative campaigning, we did so believing that they would be the ones likeliest to engage in this toxic, mean-spirited, and patently wrong practice.

We now realise that we were badly mistaken. We should have also included a plea to the student body at large, some members of whom have engaged in character assassination and misconduct so serious as to be without precedent in the last four years. To the perpetrators of these acts: we are ashamed to share this campus with you.

From well-substantiated allegations of racism, sexism and homophobia to vandalised and destroyed campaign materials, this election ticks all the the face of our now shattered hopes that this year’s exercise in student democracy would relegate such negativity to the past where it belongs.

Today, this venerable institution’s darkest undercurrents lay painfully following a willfully misinterpreted but undeniably ill-considered Facebook comment by this year’s only black presidential candidate; this election’s only openly gay candidate for president has been called a “faggot” and has had his posters defaced with terms that he is a paedophile; and a candidate for Vice President Academic cable, divisive, and breathtakingly incompetent decision to hire members of the reviled Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity to campaign for him.

But perhaps most disturbingly given the aforementioned litany of disasters, the university’s ‘free speech’ brigade continues in its ludicrous insistence that discrimination neither poses a threat to this university nor deserves attempts at decisive action by the very body charged with protecting students. These people are wrong, and the events of the past week have left them entirely discredited.

At the EdQT candidates’ debate, a presidential candidate made the point

Image: ThursTon smalley

By Thurston Smalley & Ilinca Barsan

that EUSA will never have the power to fully eradicate prejudice from the student body. He is correct, but in no way does it follow that EUSA should not do everything within its power to foster a welcoming, safe environment for all students. This same candidate

Editors: Ilinca Barsan and Thurston Smalley Production Editor: Lynsay Campbell Web Editors: Dimple Gulrajani 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 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

lists printing campus maps to stop students “getting lost in Teviot or The Pleasance” as his top manifesto priority. He - and we - would do well to raise our expectations for what EUSA can hope to achieve.

It is not too late for reconciliation,

but reconciliation requires dialogue; this dialogue cannot happen until everyone admits that there is a problem, after all, is admitting that there is one.

Edinburgh, we have a problem.

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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Huge Arthropod fossil discovered EA’s colossal failure spells success for indie developer NEWS Fossil may hold clues to arthropods missing link

By Joe Boyle Senior Science & Technology Writer

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OPINION Nick Hawkes looks at the troubled relationship between publishers, developers and the gaming community at large

By Nick Hawkes Science & Technology Editor

rthropods are the

F

or the last few years,

“

I’m here just for the money”

Mariina Hallikainen, CEO Colossal Order

IMAGE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Potential new measure in fight against HIV

NEWS Vicky Ware looks at the revolutionary new scanning method that aims to help detect HIV sanctuaries

By Vicky Ware @nomadathon

S

cientists may have dis-

“

The next step in the research is to create a radioactively labelled antibody for the human version of the virus.”

IMAGE: NEPHRON

extensive research and may prove dif-

pockets of infection in certain areas of

20 17th March 2015

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Science & Technology

The rewilding of lynx: a fool’s dream?

Feature Lynx are set to be reintroduced in the UK. Zoë Jorro discusses the dangers associated with this strategy collars prior to release and monitored closely.

By Zoë Jorro @TheStudentSci

“

D

Concerns have been raised as to whether lynx could pose a threat to livestock like sheep”

Image: Zoë Jorro

eer are a nuisance.

According to a factsheet released by the RSPCA, between 10 and 20 people are killed and up to 700 are lisions involving the animals. Every year large scale deer culls are carried out, and every year the culls are the emotive subject of heated debate.

Culled deer can be sold on as venison but culling is an intensive, costly process and the demand for British venison is not enormous. Native species like the roe and red deer are an integral part of our ecosystem, but vast populations left unchecked can put an incredible strain on resources that are critical to biodiversity.

In the Iron Age, the British Isles were home to a number of apex (top level) predators including bears, wolves and a variety of lynx. Compelling arguments have been made that the UK’s current climate and geographical landscape is no longer sympathetic to the requirements of bears and wolves. The

Lynx UK Trust, however, has launched an online questionnaire on the feasibility of reintroducing the Eurasian

“

In the Iron Age, the British Isles were home to a number of apex predators including bears, wolves and [...] lynx” lynx into the UK on a trial basis. Successful lynx reintroduction schemes have taken place in other European

countries and the conservation charity could have a positive impact here too.

Three potential release sites have been selected: Norfolk, Cumbria and Aberdeenshire.

The trust’s survey, designed for the public’s use, is a prelude to a formal application process required for requesting licences to carry out the reintroduction. The gradual trial would start with three to four individuals, taken from a wild population, being released at each site.

Concerns have been raised as to whether lynx could pose a threat to livestock like sheep. The trust has asserted that a compensation scheme would be put in place for any livestock preyed upon by lynx but it has been observed that lynx predation on sheep is rare. The lynx is a very elusive animal with hunting techniques that lend themselves towards areas with lots of cover which makes the wide open spaces sheep are left to graze in unappealing. Despite a lynx population of around 10,000 in Europe, the trust were unable to unearth any reports of wild lynx attacks on dogs, horses or surance to nervous pet owners.

Worth considering is the impact reintroduction might have on existing threatened wildlife in Britain. The Huntly area, rumoured to be the loca-

tion of the Aberdeenshire site, is one of the very few areas which still houses the capercaillie, a red-listed species related to the grouse. The capercaillie population is so vulnerable that introducing a new predator into its habitat seems risky. However, lynx are highly specialised predators and Eurasian lynx have not been observed to prey much on birds of any kind, preferring

“

Lynx are highly specialised predators”

larger ‘bigger investment’ mammals.

The trust also states that in-depth investigations will need to be carried out to ensure lynx would not become a source of competition for Scottish wildcats. A key reason behind favouring the introduction of the Eurasian ly rarer Iberian lynx (aside from close relatives of the Eurasian naturally supplanting close relatives of the Iberian before their extinction here) is that there is a large overlap in the dietary preferences of Scottish wildcats and Iberian lynx.

Deadly global fungus threatens amphibians Feature Inske Groenen explores the implications of the chytrid fungus that has already caused mass amphibian extinction around the world the amphibian’s skin in such a way that it thickens and its functioning is

mphibians around the world are falling victim to a ruthless killer; the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Bd). Often hidden away in dense forests and remote habitats, the chytrid fungus has been killing millions. The deadly fungus has already driven at least 200 amphibian species into extinction and threatens around one third of the global amphibian population at this moment, researchers estimate.

As it swims through water (something that is highly remarkable for fungi) the chytrid fungus infects amphibians via their skin and starts feeding on the protein keratin, a component of the amphibian’s skin that makes it tough and sturdy. The skin is a crucial organ as amphibians breathe and absorb water through

devastating disease, called chytridiomycosis, can eventually lead to cardiac arrest. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has described it as “the worst infectious disease ever recorded among vertebrates in terms of the number of species impacted, and its propensity to drive them to extinction”.

A

“

The deadly fungus has already driven at least 200 amphibian species into extinction”

Madagascar is home to around 290 amphibian species that cannot be found elsewhere and, a further esspecies. Until recently, it was one of the few places that were thought to be free of the deadly fungus. According to a new study in ,

the deadly fungus can now be found at several locations on the island.

“This is sad news for amphibian-lovers around the world,” says Dr Dirk Schmeller of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), who was involved in the study. “Firstly, it means that an island that is home to a particularly high number of amphibian species is now at risk.

Several hundred species live only on this island. And, secondly, if the pathogen has managed to reach such a secluded island, it can and will occur everywhere.”

There is some good news, though.

The frogs on Madagascar that carry the fungus do not show any signs of chytridiomycosis. The researchers have also not detected any dramatic declines in amphibian populations that would suggest the spread of the disease. Therefore, the researchers tid fungus has always been present on Madagascar, or has been introduced recently. The global amphibian

trade has been a major contributor to the rapid spread of chytridiomycosis worldwide and could be the cause of chytid fungus turning up in Madagascar, as well.

In their study, the researchers recommend: “While we do not know the virulence and real impacts of the Bd present in Madagascar, it is crucial to apply a precautionary principle and

ensure surveillance of the frog populations to facilitate early detection of declines due to the importance of Malagasy amphibian species to global amphibian diversity.” The introduction of the deadly fungus in Madagascar could be truly catastrophic: Madagascar is an amphibian-rich region and there is still no cure for chytridiomycosis.

Image: Carey James BalBoa

By Inske Groenen @TheStudentSci

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Science & Technology

The ugly reality of revenge porn FEATURE Privacy in the digital age

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xposed personal details and intimate images coupled with extortion and intended humiliation - Craig Brittain managed to package this combination in one simple and easy-to-use website: IsAnybodyDown. com.

Launched in early 2012 and currently defunct, the revenge porn site allowed users to anonymously upload nude photographs and attribute personal details such as name, address, phone number, and social network the image. Since this in itself wasn’t enough, monetary rewards were offered to users who could match social personal details.

Though Brittain has received much attention in the past weeks, his site is only one of many that tap into the dark realm of non-consensual pornographic material. Indeed, revenge porn continues to grow as the use of social media and smart phones facilitates ease

of distribution and creation of media.

However, this disconcerting trend of online damnation has come under hefty scrutiny, with many lawmakers questioning the permissibility of such websites.

Hunter Moore - the creator of the revenge porn site IsAnybodyUp - was just recently charged with identity theft and extortion, and was given a two year prison sentence. Likewise, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has recently banned Brittain from creating any more revenge porn websites, though he received no prison sentence.

Moore and Brittain shared a similarly vile business model. On their respective sites, they posted nudes, which were submitted anonymously a ‘takedown’ service for those who were distraught enough to pay for the removal of their explicit photos. These ‘takedown’ services were advertised on the websites themselves - under such names as ‘Takedown Hammer’ - and ed teams of lawyers. Unremarkably, these takedown services were revealed to not have been run by a third party,

but by Moore and Brittain themselves.

Furthermore, by charging anywhere from $200-$500 for the takedown service, Brittain and Moore were committing extortion, a felony under U.S. law.

Often times, revenge porn site creators defend their actions by subscribing to the belief that revenge porn should be unregulated by legal authority. They claim that sharing private information, such as addresses and explicit photos, should be a right guaranteed to all users of the internet -- and that any prohibition of such actions is a disregard for the right to free speech.

Despite lawmakers regarding such reasoning as being fallacious, an important question remains: is an outright ban on revenge porn sites the best way to curb our society’s obsession with non-consensual porn? Thomas Fox-Brewster of Forbes magazine suggests that, by banning revenge porn, we could possibly strengthen its appeal. This seems plausible given that part of the appeal of porn seems to stem from the very fact that it is taboo, and somewhat socially frowned upon.

Image: C SIndy

By Anya Aksenov @TheStudentSci

Revenge porn site founder, IsAnybodyDown.com, Craig Brittain This thought, then, gives rise to a very frightening dilemma: we want to have strict laws condemning revenge porn; however, by creating these laws, we run the risk of increasing public interest in these sites. Conversely, if we do not regulate revenge porn sites, it is plausible that users will become desensitised to the sort of non-consensual content posted by these sites.

This, in turn, could lead to the truly disturbing prospect of users turning to more extreme forms of ‘pornography’ in order to receive the thrill of viewing porn that is even more socially condemnable.

Such ‘pornography’ exists on the dark web. Sites advertise purportedly real videos of rape and torture, which users can access if they are familiar with tools such as Tor Network, or the clearnet ‘Dark Scandals’. Whilst sites

that advertise such deplorable content task for law enforcement to track and shut down each site, as dozens more spring up every moment.

Perhaps unsurprisingly (given the enormous public backlash), Brittain has had a ‘change of heart’. And you know what? He doesn’t want personal pictures of him on the Internet either. under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Brittain has requested that “Unauthorized use of photos of me and other related information. Unauthorized use of statements and identity related information. Unauthorized copying of excerpts from isanybodydown. com. Using photos which are not ‘fair use’” are taken down.

Needless to say, the irony is palpable.

Will the Anthropocene be an era of darkness or progress?

FEATURE As humanity’s impact looms over the Earth, the question remains as to whether its footprint will take the form of a coarse crater, or gently rest meshed with the environment

By Josie Segar Science and Technology Editor

humans are having on the planet. A rock found on a beach in Hawaii was partially composed of fragments of plastic and pieces of rope, aptly named plastiglomerate. Not only are humans drastically altering the face of the current Earth’s surface, we are even altering the way the surface will form for potentially millions of years to come.

Geophysicist Douglas Jerolmack, of the University of Pennsylvania, hailed for the Anthropocene: “If these things can be preserved, then they might be a nice marker around the world of when humans came to dominate the globe and leave behind their refuse in mass quantities”.

Image: nIllS ally

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ast year, a shocking discovery was made that changed the way scientists

was only apt that geologists around Anthropocene was and when it started. The working group on the Anthropocene – part of the International Union of Geological Sciences – favours a date around 1950, because nuclear explosions and the start of modern consumerism really started to have This hails the move from the stable epoch, the Holocene, to the new epoch,

commonly used as a collective term for the sum of all the environmental problems we face as a result of human activity. Although there has been some controversy surrounding the dating of this epoch, with many scientists arguing for an earlier date when Europeans towards recognising the responsibility that humans have in shaping the planet for better or worse.

The term ‘Anthropocene’ is not

Italian geologist Antonio Stoppani in 1873, although, at the time, it was disregarded as nonsense. The contemporary geologists laughed at the idea of human activity equalling that of colliding continents and disappearing oceans, and posited that, when humans were to leave the planet, we would leave behind no proof of our existence. Yet the rate and extent to which humans have managed to transform the Earth within the last century has forced many to reconsider this long ingrained doctrine. Humans are transporting species across the globe, causing mass extinctions and changing the climate at rates unparalleled.

Marine biologists are witnessing what is now labelled ‘the Myxocene’ – a sea of slime, devoid of marine life due to more, we are altering fundamental biological and chemical cycles that deway entire water bodies are circulating

around the planet.

Although these events could be valid reasons for despair, key scientists involved in the Anthropocene projects are pushing for a more positive, nomenclature. Christian Schwägerl, a German biologist and part of the international working group said: “There’s a risk that the Anthropocene idea is misunderstood as human entitlement to control planet Earth. That interpretation couldn’t be more wrong. The Anthropocene should be the age of responsibility, cooperation, creativity, inventiveness and humility. Fortunately, I see the debate moving in this direction.”

Hopefully, many will begin to see the Anthropocene not as the era in which humans unthinkingly destroyed the planet, but the time in which we slowly began to express a sense of humility and gratitude towards the only place in the universe that we currently have available to us.

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Amy Dunne

Bellatrix Lestrange

Cersei Baratheon

Regina George

Katie Hopkins

A potential adaptation that misses the mark Straying too far from its source?

Why Gone Girl disappoints

By Sophie Whitehead @culture_student

I

that the translation will never be literal. Though positive changes tation of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling thriller novel Gone Girl largely misses the mark and fails to capture the essence of the novel which make it, in my opinion, a unique and exciting text and set it apart from other thrillers.

“

...Gone Girl [the movie] largely misses the mark and fails to capture the essence of the novel which makes it, in my opinion, a unique and exciting text...”

One of the most enjoyable features of the novel is the extent to which Flynn develops her characters. There was indeed an attempt to replicate characters were developed in a way that did not do justice to their com-

plexities as they were portrayed in the novel - in particular the main character Amy. One of the ways in which the novel moved beyond the boundaries of a thriller and became a more intricate, considered text was the use of form; using the diary sequence, Flynn was able to manipulate the presentation of Amy to the reader; her ability to change personality is thrilling in itself.

“

Even initially, Amy is not able to inspire the same amount of sympathy from the audience - instead, an underlying tension is created...”

The director’s attempt to do the

it does not manage to have the same impact. Even initially, Amy is not able to inspire the same amount of sympathy from the audience – instead, an underlying tension is created from the outset. Although Amy is an inherently bad character in the book, the reader is presented with a more three dimensional version of her, making a degree of empathy possible. Whilst Rosamund Pike does a commendable job of portraying such an intricately complex character, I feel that she misses the mark ever so slightly. As a result of tension created rather than the complex characters who are, in my opinion, the most interesting components of Flynn’s novel.

Another reason I feel that Gone Girl is more compelling in novel form than -

image: http://hitflix.com

Literature

“

paid to Amy after she has run away and is in hiding. In the book, this is important as it shows Amy’s continuing obsession with Nick - even after her extreme hatred for him is revealed.

Although the film has potential and some positive aspects, it failed to compel me in the same way that the book did”

not developed as thoroughly as they could have been (linking back to the lack of development of Amy’s character); consequently, this extended period seemed to drag. It seemed a little absurd that, as Flynn wrote both the book and the screenplay, she would want to make what seem to be drastic changes to the texts – I struggle to

I found that the screenplay was strangely selective in the events from

suspense, this may have been appropriate; however, I did become bored

Art

screens, so that the viewer is surrounded by moving image, the sound echoing in the rotund gallery. Al-

Beauty and the Right to Ugly

sen mean that it can be too busy. Quite image: http://collectivegallery.net

Collective Gallery Until 5th April

By Gemma Batchelor @culture_student

W

endelien van Oldenborgh’s new

Beauty and the Right to the Ugly, conceived specifspace, explores her interest in social relationships.

The Rotterdam based artist sets -

ty centre in Eindhoven, Netherlands, which enhances ways of communal living. Built in the 1970s, the building is a centre for cultural, social and educational facilities to allow social connection. As is often the case with her a public shoot, instigating a type of

co-directed performance piece that breaks down barriers between artist and art, just as the community centre breaks down social divisions. It comes across as an ongoing discussion and an exploration of this unique building’s possibilities.

The installation is over three

conversation: this is played too loud to not be distracting from the subtle background noises of other screens which beg to be appreciated. It is documentary-like, felt especially when one tries to concentrate on the English subtitles, but that is not what is wantThe dispersed times that are free from loud conversation in almost an hour of footage show long, empty shots of the industrial and colourful building, and touching movements between characters: these are more subtle and abstract in their meaning,

opinion this merely contributes to the itives, it was overall unsuitable to be

some positive aspects, it failed to compel me in the same way that the book I read the novel, I was still more interested in the characters and storyline as they were portrayed in the novel, which is rather telling. Rather than adding anything new to the story, the the novel appear mundane and rather dull. leaving interpretation open to the viewer. These investigations act as a reference to the architect Lina Bo Bardi, with Oldenborgh even drawing her title from a 1982 architectural exhibition which explored the possibilities of utopian architecture and community living.

“

[she] might have had more success if she had noted that less is more, but the subtle, beautiful, and intriguing shots are worth waiting for”

Van Oldenborgh might have had more success if she had noted that less is more, but the subtle, beautiful, and intriguing shots are worth waiting for.

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Culture

Merchant opens political dialogue The Merchant of Venice

Assembly Roxy Run Ended

By Zoe Miller @culture_student

F

or its production of The Merchant of Venice, directed by Rae Glasman, the Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company swaps Shakespeare’s 16th century Italian setting for 1930s London – 1939, to be speweighty politics, glamorous fashion (brought to life by Rosamund McCormack’s sumptuous costume design), and haughty mannerisms that accompany it – mark this rendition of Merchant EUSC’s Merchant is perhaps as much centred on the large radio that sits at stage right as on reinterpreting A clever and oft-used component of Kate Brown’s set that, in conjunction with Chris Armistead’s sound design, plays wartime newscasts and romantic tunes to set the mood, the radio serves as a solemn reminder that the prejudices within the piece are far from isolated, enduring from Renaissance Italy to

“

The temporal decision [...] marks this rendition of Merchant as bold and innovative” However, as potently as the onslaught

This week’s cultural spectrum:

of World War II and the persistence of Nazism parallels the anti-Semitism that the play’s famous moneylender Shylock (Joe Shaw) – here a Russian Jew transplanted in East London – faces, the production falls prey to its

Colliding Culture

By Fiona Grew @FionaGrew If high fashion is art then a discussion of it belongs here in the Culture

outsider with his skullcap and Slavic accent, though the latter does not quite make the linguistic mark and distracts

excuse for mentioning Zoolander’s

His performance, perhaps most dominantly conveying the wronged man’s vitriol – he powerfully executes Shylock’s, “Hath not a Jew eyes?” speech

it must have been to watch Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson spring onto the Valentino catwalk, it has got me thinking about how the fashion world has

scene, when fear becomes the prevalent emotion as he concedes to convert to

generally, how our distinct cultural categories can collide and overlap to produce either magical or disastrous

“

A testament to theatre’s potential as a tool to initiate change”

Here is a list of three such occasions, some predictable, others surprising:

Furthermore, the eponymous merchant and Shylock’s antagoniser, An-

foray into literature with Modelland

– including his handsome, magnetic right-hand man Bassanio (Will Fairhead) – exude Old Etonian plumminess ad nauseum, crisply bedecked in Image: PhIlIPPa OlIver

Theatre

ROYGBIV

a little too well in the West End upper

Moulder), barred from marriage until a suitor successfully solves the riddle left in her father’s will, manifests as an icy, martini-sipping femme fatale kimono and fur stole complete the picBirch), steal the show, interjecting some much-needed comic relief with

a wigged and robed doctor of law, she delivers the heiress’ famous diatribe on emerges in her exchanges with her maid Nerissa (Caprice Avis) and Bassanio, whom she marries, Moulder’s the courtroom scene she, like Shaw, reveals the depth of her character – in her -

Coyote Ugly and presenting America’s Next Top Model, but judging by the synopsis of her 2011 novel: “before she can blink her mismatched eyes…”, it does not suggest great literature is held within the pages; writing is perhaps something she should not have stressing the point, perhaps someone should let Naomi Campbell know that the same advice stands in regards to her 1996 novel, Swan -

in execution, EUSC’s interpretation of Merchant may be far removed from Venice, but the production serves as a testament to theatre’s potential as a tool to initiate change and open polit-

success in 2014, with Amy Adams formance in Big Eyes and The Gold-

“And Death took Terry Pratchett by the hand”

the same gallery, the Mauritshuis

Literature

wanting to emulate their success, this might be a good starting place!

By Chloe Henderson @ChloeAHenderson

A

on the backs of four elephants, stand-

T LAST SIR TERRY, -

have turned in tribute, with daughter

posted at precisely 7:06

the character’s signature block capi-

the end of celebrated fantasy writer Author of over 70 books, knighted for his contribution to literature in 2009,

stars trying their hand at a spot of nounced that she was taking time out

It is from this series that perhaps his most beloved character hails; the dry 2008 for greater funding for dementia research, also appearing in a BBC documentary discussing the contro-

morning, “surrounded by family and him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night”, she began, ending in a simple and

A great many quotes from his works come to mind as an oddly suitable tribute, but arguably the best comes

Image: www.IndePendent.cO.uk

SirTerry Pratchett: An Obituary

just in the world of literature, having sold over 85 million books in total, but also in his tireless campaigning for the right to assisted suicide and demen-

Whilst we haven’t yet seen the results of this burst of creativity, there is no doubt our readership will await with bated breath until that happy time ond example, that of none other than actually already a well-established actor-turned-artist who, having trained as a commercial artist, sells his work to raise money for charity!

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Culture

Slab Boys entertain from start to finish alone on stage to continue his work. As Phil leaves, the audience glimpses the

Theatre

Slab Boys

age is one of utter resolve rather than complete hopelessness.

The Kings Theatre Run Ended

“

This play is one that should be seen over and over”

By Kat Moir @KatMoir

O

“

Hayman’s direction executed perfect timing throughout the play”

Theatre

Beating McEnroe The Traverse Theatre Run Ended

By Beth Blakemore @Beth_Blakemore

J

amie Wood’s one-man show, Beating McEnroe, is a bewildering yet entertaining hour of childish madness. Through his obsession with Björn Borg and John McEnroe that began when he was a child, Wood takes the audience on a journey where he learns about rivalry, defeat, and what it means to be a man.

Admittedly, this is not a show for everyone, and going into it with a closed mind may prevent people

“

from fully understanding the message Wood tries to convey. The audience play a vital role from the moment they enter the theatre, as throughout the performance, Wood invites people on stage to help him reimagine key events from his childhood that still have a Among these instances are moments of pure nonsensical genius that nation, such as the makeshift tennis court and his amusing attempts at explaining some tennis terminology.

The sentimental moments are particularly memorable and thought provoking. The voiceover of Byron, his older brother, remembering what tennis meant to them, not just as children but as brothers, is simple and yet beautifully sincere.

Unfortunately, however, these moments are occasionally lost amongst the madness that is Wood running

Admittedly, this is not a show for everyone, and going into it with a closed mind may prevent people from fully understanding the message Wood tries to convey”

“

The fast paced, witty dialogue kept the play moving forward at lightning speed”

The play revolves around the action of one day in the slab room at A. F.

The fast paced, witty dialogue kept the play moving forward at lightning speed and the few quieter moments between characters, or where only one actor was on stage, allowed the audience a quick breather before the play continued. These softer moments played out brilliantly, but none more

time and place, it is really a story that has resonance for us all; everyone trying to make the best of what they’ve got, while looking, hoping and dreaming of something more.

around the stage, throwing tennis balls at the audience. The show begins to lose its edge towards the end, as the random dance intervals between each chapter begin to feel a bit too long and repetitive, and Wood is left on quest for the audience to take all their considering the profound journey of self-discovery we are meant to have witnessed.

“

Aside from its awkward and abrupt ending, Beating McEnroe is both a hilarious and a touching piece of theatre” Aside from its awkward and abrupt ending, Beating McEnroe is both a hilarious and a touching piece of theatre. Amidst all the laughs and tennis timent and a man made vulnerable by his uncertainty as a child. The only problem is that the madness of it all may leave some audience members wondering: “What on earth did I just watch?”

R. FeRRiman

reacted instantly to the humour of the play and accepted its setting without question.

open stage gave the audience a chance to anticipate entrances and only served to add to their delight. The space was clear and functional and seemed authentic to the setting of the play. Hayman’s direction executed perfect timing throughout the play, with each actor leaving time for the inevitable laughs without over-doing it, or being seen to force the laughter.

the energy grow throughout the play.

Their characters embodied a generation of young people, living monthto-month and dreaming of something bigger and better for themselves. With perfect hair and costumes, the generation seemed to come to life in their performance. Keira Lucchesi took on the role of Lucille, described as “every slab boy’s dream”, and managed to keep the audience on side, despite her cruel rejection of Hector.

This play is one that should be seen over and over. Its silly, boyish humour never fails to raise a laugh and truly

image:

in 1957 in working-class Paisley, there were obvious concerns about how the play would transfer to Edinburgh after a month-long run at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. Anybody feeling these concerns, however, was answered in

image: The Kings TheaTRe

est, and most loved, works of 20th century theatre, The Slab Boys, returned to Edinburgh last week to delight old and new fans alike. The pairing of writer and designer, John Byrne, and trusted director, David Hayman, proved to be something almost magical as the show succeeded in

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Sun Kil Moon

17th March 2015 25 www.studentnewspaper.org

Sun

Sunset Son

Empire Of The Sun

Sunrise Avenue

Interview with indie rockers Sunset Sons SS: Recently we have all been really digging War on Drugs and Future Islands. And George the Poet! He’s ace. For the most part we all share

By Dan Carmichael @dancarmichael92

A

EvansThe Death Expect Delays

By Simon Fern @leafyfronds

E

vans The Death’s new album, Expect Delays,

will sadly be overlooked due to the band’s relative obscurity.

Expect Delays is everything that has been lacking from generic, strat driven, all-star wearing Radio 1 Indie-pop; dowsed in a drowsy haze, Expect Delays is a beautiful wreck. Opening track “Intrinsic Grey” showcases this

SS: No, not at all. People come to the shows because of the music.

The Glasgow crowd last night were awesome. We hung around after the show and had a few beers with everyone. The Scots are some of the most welcoming people you can play to.

Sold out Sunday night! That says it all really.

TS: There’s a big debate going on just now that the music scene at the moment is becoming increasingly are pretty much the ultimate ‘gap year’ band, forming in a surf resort and honing your live shows touring the alps? What’s your take on this?

SS: We can see why you might think that but maybe you’ve never been to Hossegor. No one there is on a ‘gap year’. We just chose to live in perfectly, building from a whisper to acoustic guitar, through to chaotic grunge, before falling apart and resurrecting all over again.

“

Expect Delays is everything that has been lacking from generic, strat driven, all-star wearing Radio 1 Indie-pop” Evans The Death are blessed with a fantastic line-up. Katherine Whitaker (vocals & keyboard) is dissonant and jarring; Whitaker is mesmeric, and soft.

“Waste of Sunshine” showcases James Burkitt’s sensitivity as a drummer. With a kit that is just as happy to shout as it is to whisper, Burkitt crashes through

a place where we could surf and be with like-minded people. We heard about the gigs you could do up in the Alps after we formed as a band, and it was a good way to make money and keep writing songs. I’ve never seen one of us ‘chunder everywhere’. We also don’t feel like we belong to any sort of scene. We were writing songs in an environment that made us totally isolated from anything going on in the UK. And we think that’s a good thing.

TS: You guys are helping push piano back to the front of indie/rock.

Rory, who are your favorite piano players, and can we expect any classical elements seeping in to the tunes at any point?

SS: I have always been a big fan of the Motown era. Ray Charles and Ste-

vie Wonder are artists I’ve listened to and admired from a young age.

Also, I’ve always loved the simplicity John Lennon used when playing a piano, the dynamics and textures he can create with so little have always amazed me, that’s just to name a few though. As for classical, when I was younger I really wanted to play the drums so my mum brought me an acoustic guitar. When I asked for an electric guitar my mum booked me in for piano lessons (yeah, I was confused too) which I did for a year and after that I’ve been self-taught... so classical is something I am yet to master.

TS: Speaking of which, what bands and artists are you currently listening to and being influenced by at the moment?

in the album’s more upbeat moments.

“Idiot Button” is the standout track on this album, at once as stripped back and earthy as it is smooth and dripping with reverb.

Whitaker’s vocals soar over Burkitt’s smashing percussion and Dan Moss’s guitar lines marry the two as he alternates between punchy chord volleys and melting solo work. If all the album’s aggression is thrashed out in the anarchic “Enabler”, its morose despondency comes through in “Just 60,000 More Days ‘Til I Die”. In an album which is full of contradictory, but somehow complimentary, moments the only marginally vanilla moment is on “Shanty”, but even then Whittaker’s upbeat delivery of crushing lyrical content

continues this delightful pattern of reconciling contraries.

TS: Your new EP came out this Sunday (March 8), what’s the song you’re proudest of writing on it, and why?

SS: It would have to be “Medicine”, it just has a bit more of a broader message that I think everyone can take something away from. Everyone has someone or something (Katie) that is there for them when they need it most. It’s had a ton of spins on the radio and always goes down a treat at gigs.

TS: Social media is a huge factor in band promotion today and your Facebook and Twitter accounts are surprisingly laden with jokes, selfies, and promises of bear hugs. Do bringing your fans ‘closer’ to you so to speak?

SS: We could pretend to be all ‘East London’ cool but we’re not.

We’re just four mates who spend a lot of time together. We take the piss out of each other. And we make each other laugh. But most importantly we love making music together.

Our Facebook page and Twitter is there so people can connect with the band.

What’s white and blue and would kill you if it fell on your head? ... ... A piano in a denim jacket.

“

This band, this album, is something special”

In all, it is their keen awareness of presence and space that marks Evans The Death’s latest album out as something pretty damn special. There is a pause on “Don’t Laugh at My Angry Face”, from 00:57 – 1:00 , and the way Moss’ guitar cuts through the grungy mist is spectacular; a slow treading, draining melody over Burkitt’s crashing kit which moves into Whitaker’s choral, mournful notes. It’s rare that you can pin it down so well, but that is the exact moment you know this band, this album, is something special.

Image: tonedeaf.com.au

playing cities such as Glasgow which have absolutely nothing to do with that culture?

Bruce Springsteen and The Beatles but we bring our individual ideas to the table. Rory grew up with Motown and soul, Jed is right into his Americana, Rob is a Britpop boy and Pete

Image: mtv.co.uk

s one of the few ‘old fashioned’ rock n’ roll bands in the BBC Sound of 2015 poll, Sunset Sons were always going to look like outliers.

Their background, four guys meeting at a ski resort and honing their craft while touring venues in the Alps, might not tick too many boxes with the kind of broadsheet writers whose articles constantly bemoan how middle-class rock and indie music is becoming, but the tunes speak for themselves. In particular, “Remember”, backed by thumping piano and some of the catchiest guitar lines in recent years, stands out as a summer anthem to be treasured. The day The Fall Line EP was released coincided with a gig at Glasgow’s famous King Tuts Wah Wah Hut. The Student was on hand to ask the band a couple of questions.

The Student: How’s the tour going so far?

Sunset Sons: The tour is charging ahead full steam...three sold-out gigs in a row with no sign of slowing down!!

TS: You’ve got an album coming out later this year - are the shows promotion for this or do audience reactions have a big factor in what goes on the record or not?

SS: There’s no better way to road test a song than a live audience and most of the tunes that made the record have been gigged pretty solidly.

However, there’s a few hidden gems kept for the record...

TS: You guys have a ‘surfer’ image that’s

26 17th March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Music

BBC Introducing alumni are ones to watch

By Olivia Morgan @lvmorgan

S

ince the release of their album in June last year, Glass Animals have slowly but surely penetrated the alternative consciousness. Their devoted following have proven themselves up and down the country during their recent sell-out tour and Electric Circus was no exception. In less than a year, the band have gone from BBC their tent at Glastonbury, which was no mean feat as their set clashed with Dolly Parton) to veritable alt-pop sensations whose fans know every word.

Perhaps as a result of its intimate size, the atmosphere of Electric Circus, for lack of a better description, is electric. As the intro of “Black Mambo” rings out and the band appears on stage, the crowd’s excitement is palpable. Given that the production of their debut album, Zaba, greatly characterises their sound, with only rare seconds of silence across 45 minutes, how it will translate to a live show is

Alex G Glasgow Broadcast, 06/03/15

By Dolly Church @EdStudentMusic

B

oth in recording and live performance, Alex G’s music could be described as a walking contradiction. He delivers his performance with dry-humping his guitar and bursting into an impromptu rendition of Blink182. He is entirely engaging but comes across largely unaware.

“

His lyrics [...] are far from superficial; often revolving around the struggles of being a teenager staring into the abyss of adulthood”

This Pennsylvanian band is essentially DIY and has cultivated an online audience by existing almost exclusively through Bandcamp. Alex Giannascoli is the main artistic driving force within the band, self-recording songs in his bedroom and posting them online. A couple of years ago, he under-

room for the palm trees and the other jungle related paraphernalia that has been a focal point of the tour. Lead singer Dave Bayle makes up for their lack of props by throwing handfuls of glitter into the excited crowd; making one bald man’s head particularly sparkly.

“

Endearingly, they are still at a level of fame to be genuinely shocked when they hear their own lyrics sung back to them” Unfortunately, on more than one occasion throughout the set, the sound quality is poor. Some of the overpowered by the bassline and other seem to be either unperturbed or extremely forgiving, moving swiftly past the misjudged and mixed levels.

Whoever is to blame for this faux-pas are to become any more success-

went a musical transformation, leaving electro behind and engaging in has really found his niche.

Throughout the night the band played tracks from their most recent albums: DSU, Trick and Rules. In these albums it is easy to witness a disa notable shift in Alex’s lyrical maturity. Although his lyrics are simplistic, struggles of being a teenager staring into the abyss of adulthood, as emphasised in tracks “Blackhair”, “Boy” and “Harvey”.

However, his songs are never self-indulgent and are almost always humorous. A highlight of the night was his rendition of “Animals”, in which he comically romanticises his pet dog Rosie: “look her in her big brown eyes/ hold her tight and feel no pain/ her dog breath drives me insane”. Ironically, Alex G delivered this song by shrieking down the mike, making noises that no human has made before. This track was a prime example of a song that translated better as a live performance, allowing the band to strip it down and bulk it up. However, this was not the case for all of his songs. The intricacy of their subtler tracks, such as “Mis”,

image: stayloose.co.uk

Electric Circus, 07/03/2015

something of a mystery.

The venue’s size does come with some limitations; the quartet and their

ful, but the quartet are clearly doing something right to get such a positive reaction regardless. Endearingly, they are still at a level of fame that allows them to be genuinely shocked when they hear their own lyrics sung back to them by a crowd; Bayley grins as he points the microphone away from him to hear “Gooey”’s surreal “peanut butter vibes” chanted emphatically.

Played live, “Gooey” seems more upbeat than the album version, inspiring the crowd to get even sweatier

seemed lost when performed. Despite ics of these songs felt out of place in a general swell of noise coming from the band.

Nevertheless, the audience was not left wanting as Alex himself took to the stage alone to play some requests. Before delivering renditions of “Sandy” and “Change”, he announced that it was going to be “boring as shit”, but this was far from the case. Fans enthusiastically sung along, indicating how much of a cult band Alex G has become.

transformation into one of Ibiza’s most talked about DJs and recipient of the ‘Best Newcomer DJ’ of 2014 at the rather niche annual DJ awards.

Nightvision: PatrickTopping La Belle Angèle, 28/02/15

By Olivia Morgan @lvmorgan

P

atrick Topping graced La Belle Angèle on Saturday, 28 February as part of the Nightvision series.

Topping began making music in his bedroom when he was 19, and the six years that followed have seen him work his way up to critical acclaim.

The last year and a half has seen his

the distinct lack of air conditioning in Electric Circus. Elsewhere “Hazey” is a particular highlight of the set, stripped back slightly to accommodate a live performance without losing its sultry appeal.

Clamouring cries of “one more tune” are relieved by a crowd-pleasing encore. First, a cover of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” for which Bayle makes his way into the crowd, es and outstretched arms. “Pools” is ered by the feeling that Glass Animals really are one to watch.

“

His fans were certainly high on more than just life - demonstrated by their uninhibited dance moves and [...] uncontrollable jaws”

cionado certainly packed out the newly refurbished venue, which has until very recently been closed following years ago. Nightvision consists of a series of club nights, priding itself on changing the face of Edinburgh’s electronic music scene and bringing some of its most exciting names to local venues. Topping’s live performance however left much to be desired, featuring mainly dull remixes and repetitive techno beats. His fans were certainly high on more than just life - demonstrated by their uninhibited dance moves and the sheer number of uncontrollable jaws. It would seem that his musical genius can only be harnessed with illicit substances, but this posed no problem for the majority of the crowd.

image:magazinesixty.com

Glass Animals

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Brendan Gleeson

17th March 2015 27 www.studentnewspaper.org

Domnhall Gleeson

Brian Gleeson

Fergus Gleeson

Gleeson Homes

God, Gleeson and a Pint of Guinness certainly demonstrates the range of both Gleeson and John Michael McDonagh, writer and director for both tion remains consistently high. More importantly, The Guard and Calvary

St Patrick’s Day might mainly mean Guinness and green, but, in terms of film, Ireland has much more to offer

image: http://www.e-dublin.com.br/

a combination of inimitable humour, tragedy, intelligence and sensitivity. It shows Ireland as what it is: a country

By Dan Troman @TheStudentFilm

green as people don any foliage-coloured clothing they own and consume copious amounts of alcohol to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, a veritable free-for-all ies even dye their rivers green (here’s looking at you Chicago). Yet this is only one aspect of Irish culture, the hallmark that belies a wealth of weird, funny, profound and always wonderful us a glimpse of this deep reservoir and has been the font from which incredible pieces of cinema have sprung.

For decades, Ireland, with its incredible scenery and (more bluntly)

My Name Is Salt

Farida Pacha

By Molly Millar @TheStudentFilm

M

y Name Is Salt follows a family who have moved their whole lives to Little Rann of Kutch in the state of Gujarat, India, where for eight months every year they make their living from the gruelling, arduous work of salt mining.

The documentary follows every step of keeping its distance, without commentary or any attempts at creating a narrative beyond quietly following the ing the precious white salt crystals.

performance of Daniel Day-Lewis, his location for shooting motion pictures.

Early on, the Irish government was one -

industry was called by Martin Cullen, Tourism, the “cornerstone of a smart and creative digital economy”.

Perhaps more important however, is the fact that the indigenous indusof Irish culture by Irish producers, directors, writers and crew, fostering a big-budget international production. It is from this pool of talent that The bleak, beautiful surroundings of the barren desert landscape provide a backdrop that emphasises the family’s singular focus on their labourious task. Every family member has a vital role to play in the rhythmic work of mining, from pumping water from underground, trampling the salt to stop it congealing, and eventually raking the small crystals. The thundering sound of the pump becomes the soundtrack mechanical process around which they have built their lives.

Interspersed with shots of the family’s rigourous, routine mining are moments of intimate domesticity, as the children play and cycle to school, a mother braids her daughter’s hair, Every year 40,000 people leave their villages to work on the 5,000 square kilometres of desert, and through this one isolated family a portrait of life among its surreal, harsh conditions is

Michael Collins, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and, most recently, Frank are but a few. In just this sample it is possible to see the great variety of which Irish cinema is capable. Frank has consistently been called, “funny, clever and endearingly unusual”, with Kyle Smith of the New York Post describing the story of a band’s pursuit of “pure music” as a “whimsical delight”.

Conversely, The Wind That Shakes the Barley was hailed as being “breathtakingly authentic” in its portrayal of the Irish War of Independence. Moreover, 1989’s My Left Foot is widely regardever, largely due to the Oscar-winning

Yet it is to another actor that we must look as a representative of Irish cate of his home country’s culture

been a supporting character in Michael Collins, Gleeson has gone on to

world’s consciousness, something which can only ever be a good thing.

Frank, which stars another Gleeson family member, Domhnall, is a prime national stage, and an ideal complement to this week’s festivities.

So if you’re not into the whole going-out-and-getting-drunk-in-the -cold-thing, how about getting your a few friends over, stock up on booze and have good time in your oh-so-

2011’s comedy caper The Guard, and the critically acclaimed drama Calvary, in which he plays a good priest confronted by victims of institutional abuse by members of the Catholic church. Such a thematic dichotomy

treat it as the prelude to your inevitable Wednesday morning hangover.

Just remember, drink responsibly and you can’t go wrong with a bit of Gleeson. Sláinte!

created. Their quiet, unselfconscious from concentrating on their struggle, instead forming a glimpse of familiar human emotion in an almost unimaginable world.

“

The bleak, beautiful surroundings of the barren desert landscape provide a backdrop that emphasises the family’s singular focus on their task” Sanabhai, the father of the family, takes great pleasure in the crystals he unearths, their pure white colour a symbol of his achievement over the past months. Eventually, with the family’s salt sold, the monsoon comes and turns the desert into a sea, removing any evidence they were ever there. But in just a few months the land will dry up, and their work will begin again.

image: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com

E

ach year on 17 March,

heritage, wondrously diverse and far more important than one day’s celebration makes it out to be.

While the Emerald Isle’s most faness (other stouts and porters are available) and the colour green, there

28 17th March 2015

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www.studentnewspaper.org

Film Jaume Collet-Serra

By Toby Henniker-Heaton @TheStudentFilm

R

un all Night is a notable combination of Neeson’s more dramatic work from his early career, and his more recent tough action-hero appeal. Alongside fellow accomplished actor Ed Harris, and newcomer Joel Kinnamen, we see a more tense portrayal of Neeson’s strengths as an actor than you would expect from a macho action packed thriller.

After a brief glimpse at the nearing future, we are thrown back 16 hours to see ex-mobster and notorious hit-man, Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) drinking away his life in his best friend and mob

boss Shawn Maguire’s (Ed Harris) bar. need yet another movie to add to the wornOn a job, Jimmy’s estranged son Mike out trilogy.

Conlon (Joel Kinnamen), a down-toPleasingly, the cinematography and a earth family man working as a limo driv- more character-driven narrative gives er, witnesses Maguire’s impulsive and reckless son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) order to save his son’s life, Jimmy has one night to decide where his loyalties lie; with a son who blames him for his reckless absence, or with his only and oldest friend Shawn.

So a retired, distant, and once violent father trying to make amends with his family, who eventually uses his ‘particular set of skills’ to get them out of a tricky situation... sound familiar? Before you dismiss it as just another rehashed version of Taken meets the eye. Other than the fact Neeson is an ex-criminal instead of an excop, the plot could have easily been that of Taken 4 - and we all know we don’t

reminiscent of his work on Limitless.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra makes full use of the New York locale and ensures to emphasise the brevity of the plot.

Collet-Serra avoids the mistakes we saw in Taken 3, managing to imbue scenes with a certain darkness and giving us a variety of far more enjoyable action sequences.

Although fairly predictable as action movies go, and even with shades of a replica of Taken et price. Run all Night delivers the action, the thrills and the drama you’d expect and - unsurprinsingly, Liam Neeson doesn’t disappoint. He never does, does he?

X +Y Morgan Mathews

By Dougie Gerrard @TheStudentFilm

T

he line between sensitivity and mawkishness needs to be carefully trodden, and Morgan Matthews manages to stay just the right

(star of Hugo) is Nathan, a teenage prodigy wary of social and physical contact, whose father dies (in an un-

Image: dn.IndIewIre.com

beginning. He’s brought up by his mother, played by Sally Hawkins, who

HeForShe campaign advocating gender equality. All this and more was

S

trong women playing strong women; what does it take to be a trailblazer?

Isabella Delahunty ou could say that 2014 was the year of fe-

Y

was the year that Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel peace prize, the year that Angelina Jolie launched a campaign to make rape a war crime, and the year that the UN collaborated with actress-turned-Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson to launch their

Day 2015, a day dedicated to celebrating and applauding women’s success.

Hashtags like #bringbackourgirls and #yesallwomen were trending globally, proving how criticisms of incidents like the kidnap of 276 school girls from Nigeria can push these inequalities to the headlines of big media corporations. This commitment to,

“

The commitment to, and celebration of gender equality is not scheduled to slow down anytime soon”

and celebration of improvements in gender equality is not scheduled to -

of worry and loneliness behind a worn smile. Nathan’s talent is fostered by a grumpy maths teacher, Mr Humphreys (Rafe Spall, also excellent),

national Women’s Day, it’s time to set our sights on the women who are ready to bring strong women to 2015.

This year, Academy Award winners Jennifer Lawrence and Sandra Bullock are both set to star in biopics of trailblazing businesswomen. JennifJoy, playing the groundbreaking Joy Mangano who invented the self-wringing mop, while Sandra Bullock will play the pioneering Tupperware promoter Kealing’s novel, Tupperware Unsealed. Both businesswomen reached the top of their professions through hard work, prodigious talent and charisma. Wise was a marketing genius who inspired housewives to earn their own income through Tupperware gatherings. She set up parties for

Image: anImal KIngdom

Run all Night

ing camp in Taiwan.

“

What saves it are strong central performances and a mostly realistic, refreshing portrayal of autism. It might have been irritating, but turns out to be funny and likeable”

Matthews has taken his casting cues from Mike Leigh, which is never a bad idea, and Eddie Marsan is on cheerful form as the Mathlete’s group leader.

This lends it a very English feel, even when transported to Taiwan, where Nathan falls for a Chinese contestant and must deal with feelings he can’t understand in formulas. Their romance is built incrementally enough to be consistent with his condition, although it sometimes feels a little proves capable of achieving emotion-

housewives and mothers in post-war America, teaching them how to use the containers and sales soon took

“

Hopefully, the pairing of these inspiring stories with two of the most respected actresses in Hollywood will poignantly bring to the screen the struggles of women in a male-dominated world and the overturning of social convention by women who sought a better life”

hundreds of women became Tupperware hostesses and the success of the company pushed its sales to an estimated $100m. Joy Mangano was

more interesting subplots are neglected – the burgeoning romance between Hawkins and Spall is endearingly played, and there’s a heartbreaking room scene peculiarly reminiscent of something from Full Metal Jacket).

Matthews’ direction is promisingly crisp and economical, and there are some nice Lost In Translation-esque visual sequences in Taiwan. The

triumphs against adversity – and it occasionally seems to be cynically working through a sentiment tick-list: contestant himself, whose chances were ruined by his incipient MS. Some of the dialogue about the beauty of maths is also hammy. What saves it are strong central performances and a mostly realistic, refreshing portraytating, but turns out to be funny and likeable. another important businesswomen of the 20th century, establishing her career by developing a self-wringing mop and a multitude of other inventions and appliances designed to reduce the labour and time housewives dedicated to their homes. Hopefully, the pairing of these inspiring stories with two of the most respected actresses in Hollywood will poignantly bring to the screen the struggles of women in a male dominated world and the overturning of social convention by women who sought a better life. Will they succeed? Ready, set, go.

Lets see what these women can do.

All films reviewed at Cineworld, Fountainbridge

17th March 2015 29 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Regina George

Damian

Janis Ian

Cady

Dream Girl’. Titus Andromedon (Ti-

Kimmy Schmidt

stereotypical ‘Gay Best Friend’, loving

By Poppy-Anna Waterman @EdStudentTV

T

Gretchen Wieners

-

he Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is Tina Fey’s similarities to 30 Rock

-

-

Image: flIpboard.com

and video called ‘Pinot Noir’, a song created entirely using a ring tone and

-

Mean Girls.

-

Unbreakable -

The Unbreakable Kimmy -

Schmidt

-

-

Unbreakable can The Mindy Project, Unbreakable

series is a satire on society today. It is

-

-

Nurse

Sam Simon, 1955-2015

BBC Two

By Emilia Bona

By Carrie Dillon

I

must admit, Paul White-

T

Podcast Pick

The Simpsons

by Iona Glen

The Simpsons

elevision!

A

Teacher!

The Shining, tel-

Nurse. Not only does Nurse

ssignment

on

the

-

-

-

-

animated comedy.

-

The Simp-

sons

The Simpsons The Simpsons

-

Assignment -

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Crimson Tide -

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The Simpsons

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-

30 17th March 2015 www.studentnewspaper.org

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Sport

Ballance’s loss of form symptomatic of England’s struggles

A

midst the misery, bitterness and tiring calls for the return of Saint KP that have

dismal England World Cup showing, my mind wandered to the last time English Cricket genuinely made me smile or laugh. Without doubt, it was the grainy photos that emerged from the Pandora’s box bar in Nottingham last July.

Gary Ballance, having scored a decent but not spectacular 71 on debut to secure a decent but not spectacular draw against India, got absolutely a table and reportedly shouted, ‘I’m not a test cricketer tonight, I’m just a drunken bastard.’ It sticks in the memory so much because it was the last time I can remember someone looking genuinely happy to be an England cricketer.

Fast forward just eight months, and with three sublime Test hundreds under his belt, Ballance had already been reduced to rubble, playing against New Zealand the kind of excruciating innings which every

cricketer, at any level, absolutely dreads. The bat feels heavier, the feet closer, yet the boundaries seem to gaps seem smaller, the bowler a foot taller.

The demise was predictable, leaning back, attempting to whack the cover of the ball. Looping into short extra cover’s hands, a humiliating end. 10 from 26 torturous balls.

Of course, any player, in any team, at any level, can, and does, go through troughs like this. It seems symptomatic of English cricket, though. Players quickly seem to become scared of their own shadows once they make it to the top level.

Playing cricket for England doesn’t seem like fun anymore. It seems debilitating, exhausting and arduous.

Little wonder that the cricket the team ends up playing is so conservative and dispiriting.

An almost obscene amount of column inches have been devoted to explaining the reasons behind the World Cup collapse, and many of them have been correct. Over reliance on data, lack of exposure to top level T20 cricket, a coach not cut out for this level. All are fair comments. It reveals,

though, the ludicrous amounts of mental strain English cricketers are put under. With county cricket receiving little mainstream coverage, and pundits are forced to constantly critique the national side. Every spell, every innings is micro analysed, the apart.

This is true for any international nation, of course, and given the

cricketing team needs a new culture that makes this challenge fun and exciting.

With all of this in mind, as much as a good performance, I yearned for a sign against Afghanistan last week. I would have loved nothing more than to see Gary Ballance, in Lord Gower style, sneak out the ground, commandeer

hide behind what has been a string of embarrassing showings. Where Australia and New Zealand have relished the big battles, England have meekly retreated into their shells.

It is infuriating to watch because, particularly in the batting department, this is an exciting line up. To get them playing at their best, we need to take Losing games can never be fun, but nor can a team be successful when it

Or, in Bob Willis fashion, come out contracts, English fans are absolutely entitled to expect high levels of skill and absolute professionalism. The

clueless media.

This has been a truly disastrous World Cup, and the players cannot

potential.

If English cricket is to get good again, it probably needs to get fun again. Someone get Gary a beer.

becoming increasingly and worryingly apparent, however.

Being dragged away from home for months on months on end, holed up in hotel rooms can be mentally draining in itself, and when added to the scrutiny of performance there is nowadays, it becomes a toxic mix.

Image: background-pIctures.pIcphotos.net

By Phil Smith @TheStudentSport

conditions, the premature loss of Marcus Trescothick and Jonathan Trott in recent years can surely be attributed in part to this strain. Elite level sport always will be and always should be mentally challenging, and this is exactly why the England

Melbourne greets the second coming of the Verstappen family

By Isabelle Boulert Senior Sports Writer @IALBoulert

S

eventeen years ago a sweeping referendum secured Scotland its own parliament and forever altered the United Kingdom’s political landscape. Princess Diana died, Steve Jobs returned to a struggling Apple and Mike Tyson infamously bit a

to China, ending a 99-year lease of the island and a fresh-faced Tiger Woods became the youngest winner of the Masters aged just 21.

1997 was also the year that Dutch and only son was born.

Max Emelian Verstappen, too young to legally drive in the Netherlands, made his Formula 1 debut at the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend as the sport’s youngest competitor.

A great deal of concern has been the build up to this sporting landmark,

with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve decrying Verstappen’s entry into the history books as “the worst thing ever” for Formula One. The FIA altered the regulations following Verstappen’s signing to tion for a F1 super-licence is reliant on being over 18 and having competed for at least three years in other series.

Of all the illustrious stars that joined Verstappen on the track it is Jenson Button who can best empathise with the young driver. With a successful karting background, Button made his F1 debut 15 years ago at just 20, facing a similarly trepidatious response to his tender age.

Now very much one of the old statesman of racing, the McLaren driver has expressed surprise that Toro Rosso have decided to allow Verstappen to race in Formula One at such a young age, rather than giving him a longer opportunity to build up his experience.

While admitting that the Flying Dutchman is “obviously very talented”, Button believes it is “always best for a

driver to have more experience when he jumps into an F1 car.”

Verstappen certainly lacks longevity of experience in racing at such a high level. Despite beginning karting at just seven, he only graduated to racing cars in 2014. However, his debut in Formula 3 has been successful, coming third in the European Championship and winning F3 Masters, if recent.

It goes without saying that safety

is vitally important. Allowing an incapable driver on the track endangers all those competing with them as much as the individual themselves.

Nevertheless, the young driver is supported by both his rallycross champion father, and successful kart racing mother, both of whom certainly appreciate the dangers a premature entry into F1 would entail.

Despite the admission that “the most important thing is to be careful,” Jos ‘The Boss’ believes that Max “has the skills and is very good at what he does” and that ultimately “if he gets the right car in the right place at the right moment I am 100% sure he’ll be on

Image: benIssattontrack.wordpress.com

Verstappen Mk.2 makes his mark on Formula One as the youngest ever professional driver the sport has seen

top.”

Such faith has been echoed by Toro Rosso. Sky Sports’ David Croft believes the team is “really happy with Verstappen.” The team stand united in their decision, which is more than can be said for Sauber, recently accused of guaranteeing at least three drivers race seats.

“

Verstappen certainly lacks longevity of experience[...] however his debut in Formula 3 has been successful” Ultimately

if

they

didn’t

have

wouldn’t be allowed to represent them on the track. Given the success of Red Bull’s young driver programme we must respect their judgement.

Despite his age, the 17-year-old is obviously sensible. However, such maturity is matched by an ambition for greatness. “I want to break all the records,” the Dutchman admitted, but is in no rush for the spoils of victory and is willing to take the time to learn. “I’m not bothered about the age I win. I just want to win the World Championship.”

So long as Max’s ability to gain experience and learn matches his resolve to win, there will be no Verstapping him.

17th March 2015 31 www.studentnewspaper.org

sport@studentnewspaper.org twitter.com/thestudentsport

Sport

Davis Cup risks becoming a nuisance for tennis’ elite Despite GB’s win against the USA, scheduling, alongside a confusing format may make the competition pointless

A

ndy

Murray’s

John Isner last weekend could have created a small earthquake; such was the force with which it was delivered. Combined with the raw, animalistic shouting, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Murray had just added another Grand Slam to his collection. But no: he had actually ranked sixteen places below him in Davis Cup.

“

The format is more difficult to figure out than a Rubik’s cube is to a colour-blind person”

It is this sort of passion however that makes international tennis so special.

Most weeks players are competing for

themselves, for individual honours and ranking points. The Davis Cup however gives them a chance to compete in a team atmosphere whilst representing their country. It sounds ideal, but for some reason it struggles to make a dent in the tennis headlines.

For a start, the format is more

World Cup look like a minor stroke of genius. Unlike most other international competitions, it tries

cube is to a colour-blind person; even seasoned pros seem slightly unsure as to how exactly everything works.

rubber.

The timing of the ties, in the middle of the season, also wreaks havoc with the schedules of top players who have tournaments either side, and many choose to sit out the tournament to

geographic regions, with the top group gloriously entitled the “World Group”. Each group has a complex system of promotion and relegation depending on the countries involved and their previous performances. At the end of the year, the two tops teams from the World Group play each other to be named Davis Cup Champions. complicated structure than this. which makes FIFA having a winter

tournament schedule. This makes it near impossible to keep track of what stage the tournament is at, causing confusion amongst fans as to whether

the year.

Federer and Stan Wawrinka opted not to compete for Switzerland in the last round, leading to the defeat of the reigning champions to a decidedly average Belgium team. The likes of the tournament this year, as many players see The Davis Cup as more of a hindrance than a positive.

Image: PhIlIPPa mcKInlay

By Charles Nurick @charlesnurick

Of course, not all players see it as

Tennis is one of the most international sports around, with around forty nationalities being represented in the top 100 alone: some people struggle to even name forty countries.

of the Serbian team, and regularly credits their 2010 Davis Cup success as a springboard to his dominant 2011 season.

Undoubtedly however, Grand Slams are still seen as the main goal in the sport, but if The Davis Cup was given a more exclusive position then perhaps this could change. Making it a quadrennial event would allow the schedule to be developed accordingly and attract more top players, thus giving the tournament some much needed gravitas.

greatest selling points is regularly viewed as an unwelcome distraction to other tournaments. The passion is there, of that there is no question, but sadly it remains a complex mystery to many outside the sport.

The Davis Cup is in desperate need of a shake up before it slips into obscurity for good, and that truly would be a disaster.

Prudent Burnley an example for club football in England After spending little in the summer window, Dyche’s club are unlikely to follow Leeds United and Portsmouth into financial trouble, even if the club are relegated in May.

By Matt Ford Senior Sports Writer @Matt_Journalist

A

s the Premier League

all eyes will be on both ends of the table with the race for the title and the battle to avoid the dreaded drop hotting up.

One side in particular, in Burnley, have

the chequebook following promotion to strengthen the squad and ensure they remain competitive in a league where it is becoming ever harder to do so.

“

There is a tendency for clubs to open the chequebook following promotion[...] yet Burnley did not do that”

Yet, Burnley did not do that, something manager Sean Dyche promised following their surprise 2nd win at home to Manchester City. Such is the margin between the Clarets and the sides around them that they have a real chance of clambering to safety come May. Whether they manage to stick around for another season among

other teams have fallen foul of once Take Leeds United for example. already known about a year before trap door in 2004, but it resulted in the club almost ceasing to exist.

Three seasons later, in 2007, the

club were relegated to League One. Elsewhere, no one needs reminding of

selection this term too. It was only last month, of course, that the Burnley boss named an unchanged side for the tenth, yes tenth, consecutive game.

succession of shady ownerships.

In a footballing culture where teams are left with the dilemma of spending to excess to compete, or simply meander aimlessly in the pits

embodies the anti-tinkerman at a time where managers often struggle to give adequate game time to keep everybody happy.

It is very hard not be caught up

is a reminder that the values of which football is so synonymous, still have a place within the business culture we see before us today.

This is epitomised by the fact Dyche and Burnley utilised a small squad of about twenty players in their exceptional promotion campaign, and have had similar consistency in

applaud Dyche and the Turf Moor hierarchy for not giving in to the pressures that come with playing in the Premier League. In many respects they, and their manager, represent an old fashioned approach within the complexities of modern day football, others ought to consider.

Dyche and Burnley are

gritty

manager, who worked wonders in his see Dyche recognise the limitations of

again in deepest Lancashire.

Other managers can have their

to break that, and second to put faith in the vast majority of the players who While some might argue this is conceding defeat before the season even started, the end result is clear.

Image: adam haworth

him well in a season where everyone should they end up being relegated as most pundits predict, they will return to the Championship in better shape than most. The reason for this? Well, there is a tendency for clubs to open

despite barely spending anything, and were convinced the Clarets would be gone by Christmas.

17th March2015 32 www.studentnewspaper.org

sport@studentnewspaper.org twitter.com/thestudentsport

Edinburgh beat Strathclyde to reach Cup Final Edinburgh’s Women match their impressive league performance with a place in the Conference Cup final after beating Strathclyde in a close penalty shootout Hockey

By Florence Haines @EUWAFC

W

of the shootout to cheers from her ednesday, March 4 saw the

Women’s 1st

4-2

Leeds Beckett 1st

Men’s 2nd

3-1

Glasgow 1st

Men’s 3rd

4-2

RGU 1st

Men’s 4th

3-0

Strathclyde 2nd

Basketball Women’s 1st

77-38 Durham 1st

Football Women’s 2nd

Strathclyde 1st 0-0 P-3-2

Women’s 2nd

0-1

Heriot Watt 1st

Student Stevensons 4-0

Tab Edinburgh

IMAGE: EUWAFC

EUSU Media House www.ed.ac.uk/sports-union

The Tab humbled and humiliated by The Student The Student Stevensons FC continued their unbeaten run with an exceptional performance against The Tab

By Gurjot Thind Sports Editor @Gurjot_Thind

B

ragging

Tab

rights once The Stu-

dent

Tab Tab

The Tab’s

the Tab Tab

IMAGE: SARAH MANAVIS

Tab