The Citizen (Special Edition 2015)

HE CITIZEN

The Modern Man C2 special report

THE CITIZEN

Weekly newspaper of City of London School www.CLSB.org.uk Special Edition Wednesday 18 March 2015

Budget 2015

 Taxes on savings slashed  Income tax threshold raised  Growth predicted at 2.5% Isaac Gruber 3H

Election season has begun. Today, George Osborne unveiled the Conservative party’s budget for 2015.

It was extremely political, with many soundbites and giveaways designed to improve the party’s electoral chances. The headline announcement was a slash of income tax on savings, 95% of people will now not pay tax on their savings. This was described pithily as ‘tax-free banking.’

Other headlines are the introduction of an new ISA (individual saving account) where the government sets aside £50 for every £200 saved. This is designed to help first-time buyers who need assistance saving for a deposit. Osborne also said that austerity would be called off before the end of the next parliament, saying that ‘the hard work and sacrifice of the UK people has paid off.’

‘The sun is starting to shine -and we are fixing the roof’ quipped Osborne after announcing that Britain’s debt as a proportion of GDP would be falling. The Tories will say that this has been achieved as a result of decreasing borrowing from £150bn in 2010, when they took the reigns, to £90bn.

However, he countered Labour calls that he would reduce the state to 1930s level spending, think The Road to Wigan Pier, by projecting a surplus in 2019 of £5bn. This is a sharp contrast from his Autumn statement, where he projected a £23bn surplus. Having a smaller surplus in the future means that there is more money to spend now, which the Conservative’s will use to ease austerity. This is a highly political move, designed to make the Tories appear less nasty. Another tactic deployed against Labour was the cut of the lifetime allowance from £1.25 million to £1 million. Originally, this was part of a Labour plan to fund their proposed reduction in tuition fees. Yet Osborne re-appropriated it, leaving Balls and Miliband scrambling to find an alternative way to fund the reduction.

Finally, he pledged to crack down on tax avoidance and to raise £3.1bn doing so. Miliband had pledged to be extremely tough on tis but Osborne has negated the advantage by announcing these similar measures.

Despite repeatedly claiming there would be no ‘giveaways’, there were several ‘giveaways.’ Aside from the tax exemptions and funding aforementioned, he also increased the personal tax allowance, an exemption from income tax, from £10,600 to £10,800 this year, and £11,000 the year after. This was originally a Lib-Dem policy the Conservatives have claimed credit for. In successive budgets, they have raised it from £6,475 to £11,000. Some argue that this doesn’t benefit the really poorest in society, as they were already exempt from income tax. Either way, this could lure lower-income voters to the Conservatives.

Numbers were frequently bandied about to support Osborne’s ‘long-term plan.’ Inflation was forecast at 0.2% for the next three years. While not as low as Germany and other Eurozone countries, it is still well below the Bank of England’s 2% target. Growth is better news however. In 2015 it is expected to be 2.5%, up from the 2.4% projected in the Autumn statement. In 2016 too, it was predicted to be 2.3%, up from an earlier figure of 2.2%. Many Tories believe that this is the stat that will win them the election, they believe it will convince voters that the economy is doing well. North Sea oil will receive £1.3bn from tax cuts, including a reduction of the Petroleum revenue tax from 50% to 35%. This was a result of rapidly falling oil prices. Osborne also made the point that this was only possible because the UK had remained together.

Osborne made his case for a ‘comeback’ Britain. On May 7th, the voters will decide if they agree.

More budget analysis on page 4

What a spectacle! Solar eclipse this Friday Zak Lakota-Baldwin 5C

Some may be declaring it the beginning of the end times, but the CLS Science Department has embraced the upcoming solar eclipse in the only way they know how – with a ten minute organised viewing, complete with designated spectator areas for different year groups and a teacher on hand to explain the cosmic phenomenon. Oh, and 500 pairs of special UV-resistant safety spectacles, obviously. The assembly announcement was met with a mix of mild bemusement at the elaborate set-up of the whole affair, and more importantly delight at the prospect of missing ten minutes of Friday morning lessons.

But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

The spectacle shipment, fresh out of the warehouse of a dubious supplier in Tel-Aviv, has mysteriously disappeared, in what commentators are already calling the most troubling eyewear-related theft in recent

memory. With all attention there focused on the Israeli election, it would have been the perfect time for a spectacle thief to pull off such a daring

heist. Foul play hasn’t been ruled out yet, and there are rumours of a largescale bribery investigation soon to be launched, but it is currently believed that the hijackers operated without

any inside help. This debacle comes after the previous gaffe from the physics department, in which they organised a trip to CERN but failed to actually take any of the boys to see the particle accelerators.

Now that the safety glasses are no longer an option, head of science Mr. Jones has warned emphatically against going out to look at the eclipse without the suitable eye protection.

Students are advised to under no circumstances look directly at the sun, not even through dark glasses or binoculars. Some have proposed looking through a phone camera, which admittedly won’t do any damage to your retina, but the danger there lies in accidentally glancing past your phone to try and nail the perfect shot.

The Royal College of Optometrists has expressed fears that people will be putting themselves at risk of blindness while attempting to take eclipse selfies – so it would be wisest Continued on page 14

IN THE NEWS Is there anybody out there?

Billions of planets in our galaxy found to be in “habitable zone” where water, and therefore life, could exist. Page 10

Crimea a year on Crimeans celebrate a year since “officially” becoming part of Russia once more.

Page 9

Netanyahu stays

Early results show Likud firmly in lead, but will it be for the best?

Full coverage of the Israeli elections on page7

CLS to enrich uranium?

Plus: Assange to visit School. Find out this and more in the insider’s lowdown of City life: The Wittizen page 15

007’s new car

Spectre, to be released this October, will see Bond (Daniel Craig), driving the new Aston Martin DB10.

More supercars on page 18

Never too old...

A woman has gone skydiving in Cape Town to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Browsers, however, do have to retire. Page 13

2 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

NATIONAL NEWS

New pound coin design revealed Jude Horspool 1H

The tails side of a new 12-sided pound coin was revealed today, the first time in 20 years that it has being replaced.

The coin's shape is based on the old threepenny bit, which has not been used since 1971, when the currency was decimalised.

A competition was used to pick the eventual design. In a surprise phone call, Chancellor George Osborne told 15-year-old David Pearce that he had won, beating over 6,000 entrants, including adults.

The design features the four plants associated with the four nations of the UK coming out of a royal crown: the thistle of Scotland, the leek of Wales, the shamrock of Ireland and the rose of England.

The £1 coin is often forged, and making a new one is hoped to boost

security of the UK's cash.The Royal Mint say it is the most secure coin in the world, on account of its bi-metallic structure and anti-counterfeiting technology. The 12 sides and complex picture designed by David Pearce will make lives harder for counterfeiters.

Last year, Dutch police uncovered a supposedly legitimate premises called the European Central Mint in Amsterdam after a British police tipoff over suspicions of large amounts of money coming through British ports.

The organisation had flooded Britain with £30m worth of fake coins and was believed to be supplying British crime syndicates. The owner, Patrick Onel, 49, was arrested and machines capable of producing hundreds of coins a minute was seized.

He was also suspected of money

Alex Bridges and Zayd Ahmed 1A

Builder jailed for fraud

laundering and another man, 67, was arrested on suspicion of forgery and possession of 3kg of cannabis. A high percentage of counterfeit coins in vending machines were also found in Naples.

The coin will be circulated in 2017.

More to Miliband than meets the eye William Evans J6

Earlier this week, the Labour leader ruled out forming a formal coalition with the Scottish National Party in an attempt to nullify the Conservative’s recent election campaign which warned Labour could form the next government with a party seeking to break up the UK. Mr Miliband accused the prime minister, David Cameron, of attempting to scare people by claiming that Labour would make a bid to assume power on the coattails of the nationalists. In his speech, Miliband stated “Labour will not go into coalition government with the SNP. There will be no SNP ministers in any government I lead.”

Although it appears that the Labour leader has made a principled stand against the party who are Labour biggest threat in Scotland, with a Guardian poll suggesting the SNP could gain 53 seats at the General Election, a closer glance at what Mr Miliband has said reveals he may have been shrewder than this. According to the latest polls, a Labour SNP coalition would not yield a working majority of 326 seats or more, falling an agonisingly 4 seats

short. Labour would require a third party, such as the Liberal Democrats, to form a majority. Negotiating with both of these parties would be unlikely to yield a successful ‘rainbow’ coalition as the SNP would likely seek yet more devolution and possibly another independence referendum, something Labour and the Lib Dems would be unlikely to concede to them. In ruling out a formal coalition, Ed Miliband has kept the door open for there to be a less formal deal, known as confidence and supply, between Labour and the SNP. This would mean the next Labour government, or Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition, would have to make fewer concessions to the nationalists. With a confidence and supply deal, the SNP would support a Labour Queen’s speech (confidence) and budget (supply) but other government legislation would either be supported or voted against on a vote-by-vote basis by the SNP. Both the Conservatives and SNP were quick to point this out, with Nicola Sturgeon stating Miliband’s speech changes little and a “looser arrangement” would still be a possibility. The SNP leader went on to

Events in Britain: news in brief

say, “I can’t for the life of me see why Labour wouldn’t want to contemplate working with the SNP to keep the Tories out of office.” With Labour preparing for their toughest fight for Scottish seats at the upcoming election, this political manoeuvre may work in Mr Miliband’s favour, with voters seeing Labour setting themselves apart from the nationalists and arguing a vote for the SNP may help the Conservatives back into power due to there being fewer Labour MPs. Whether the electorate will trust Ed Miliband’s party not to do a deal with the SNP, an off-putting prospect for many potential Labour voters, or not is yet to be seen. The legitimacy of such a deal may be further scrutinised as the election approaches, with many questioning whether Scottish nationalists should be able to have a say in how the United Kingdom is governed.

However, with the election set to be the closest one in recent times, it is impossible to rule out any party from being a part of the next government. The Labour Party would not comment any further on the matter when we contacted them.

Ronnie Connors faces a 15 month sentence in jail for conning an elderly woman out of £136,000 in building fees. He charged the pensioner £140,000 to conduct repairs in her garden and house, while price experts have valued the work at 6000, possibly less. It has also been discovered that he has tricked several other elderly ladies, including an 80 yearold woman. The jail sentence would have been longer, but Connors, as soon as he found out he had been discovered, promptly paid back his victims.

Free flu jab advised Health experts in Britain have worked out that morbidly obese people are more susceptible to swine flu, and therefore should get a free vaccine. In the UK, three women in every 100 and 1 man in every 100 are obese, so, this would be quite expensive. For a long time, the public has not viewed obesity as a serious condition, rather as a rather unpleasant state of body. Offering free vaccine’s to obese people would put obesity on the same league as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

It has not been confirmed whether the government will follow this advice.

Partridge replaces Clarkson Since the presenter of Top Gear was suspended for throwing a punch on the set (see other article) , there have been calls for Clarkson to be thrown out and replaced by Steve Coogan. Reportedly, the petition that has circulated is said to have more than 15,000 signatures (However, this is quite behind the petition to reinstate Clarkson, which has around 85,000 signatures).

Allegedly, Coogan is a huge fan of Top Gear, and has starred on the 2008 circuit as a guest. However, the actor playing Alan Partridge has spoken out against some of Clarkson’s more controversial statements.

Jeremy ‘Savile’ Clarkson to return to screens amid investigation Naail Kashif-Khan 5A

The well-known presenter of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, is set to appear on the BBC, after his recent suspension for an altercation with his producer, as he was likened by an unknown source to notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile.

Clarkson has been booked to present an episode of "Have I Got News For You" in May. The BBC is so far remaining tight-lipped about whether the episode will still go ahead should Clarkson still be suspended, and the inquiry into the incident is due to start on Monday.

Clarkson got into an 'fracas' with Oisin Tymon over the lack of hot food at the hotel, a producer of the multi-million pound motoring show Top Gear, after returning to his hotel in Yorkshire from a drinking session at a local pub,.

There has been a sharp backlash from high profile figures like David Cameron, a personal friend of Clarkson's, who spoke of his "huge talent". Almost a million people have signed an internet petition on change. org asking for his reinstatement.

But the most controversy arose

“Clarkson is not known for being intelligent, resourceful, knowledgeable or logical.”

Richard Hammond and James May are said to be currently looking into continuing the live shows without him(shows for which fans have paid up to £95 for a ticket) but the television show would surely be lacking something without its outspoken host. Clarkson is not known for being intelligent, resourceful, knowledgeable or logical, but his heavy handed, unreasonable, brash and boisterous

style is what makes the show so entertaining for its peak viewership of 126 million worldwide.

There are also rumours that the show will be purchased by a rival TV channel, such as ITV. The three hosts were set to sign new contracts only the week after the incident, so a Top Gear exodus is not completely out of the question.

Unions round on ‘Macho’ Milliband ‘Macho’ is a word rarely used to describe the notoriously geeky Labour leader, but Ed Milliband’s team has been slammed by Unite for deliberately provoking conflict between the union and the party’s leadership. The attack by boss Len McCluskey comes after further accusations of trade union meddling in constituency MP selections.

The union leader said that Milliband’s advisors were deliberately seeking ways for “Ed to face down Red Len and Unite”, in order to appear tougher on Labour’s biggest and most controversial donor. The attack will further increase tensions between the union and the party, already strained after a close associate of Len McCluskey was blocked from becoming a Labour candidate in a key marginal seat. The constituency of Halifax, held by Labour since 2010 by less than 1500 votes, will not feature Katie Murphy

Meteor mistaken for flare The chase for a sinking ship that launched a distress flare was cancelled after lifeboat crews discovered it was actually a meteor. Numerous eagle-eyed families living off the Cumbrian coast sent Maryport Coastguard Rescue Team reports of seeing the ship’s flare, prompting a full-scale sea rescue operation.

Several reports described seeing a “moving red object” over the sea between Workington, Cumbria, and the Isle of Whithorn on Sunday night. Concerned crews at RNLI Workington found no boat and feared they might have been too late to save any lives.

However, they later discovered the red object was in fact a meteor that was also spotted and photographed passing over Loch Ness in Scotland.

A spokesman for the coastguard said: “We received many reports from other parts of the country reporting lights in the sky. But after investigating, it was decided that the sighting was the meteor.”

From our competitors:

A review of today’s headlines elsewhere

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The Times Fears for Pregnancy after Duchess of Cambridge Sneezes Daily Express • SHOCK EXPOSÉ–Princesss Diana Still Dead

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over an unknown source from the BBC believed to be a senior executive.

The source likened Clarkson's story to that of Jimmy Savile, claiming that "If you look at what David Cameron says or what [former Culture and Media Secretary] Maria Miller says and you swap Clarkson for Savile, you get this: David Cameron is effectively saying that Savile’s a real talent, Maria Miller saying Savile will be Savile." Clarkson is reportedly "furious" about the allegations, and has involved his lawyers in the matter.

An inquiry is underway, and it is as yet unknown what the effect of this scandal on the show's future will be.

Daily Mail COULD CANCER DEVALUE YOUR MORTGAGE?

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The Telegraph Ed Miliband is Jolly Odd, Suggests Poll

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The Guardian REVEALED–David Cameron is Posh

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The Sun MAY: CLARKSON ATE MY HAMPSTER

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The Independent Please buy this paper. PLEASE

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 3

The CITIZEN

NATIONAL NEWS

500 years on, Richard III gets burial William Evans J6

The last of the Plantagenet kings, Richard III, who was made infamous for his villainy in Shakespeare's play, 'Richard III' will at last be laid to rest 530 years after he was first buried

by Franciscan friars shortly after his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth.

Two years after his bones were first discovered under a car park in Leicester by archaeologists, Richard will be buried in a lead-lined oak and yew coffin built by his closest living relative, who is Richard's 17th great grand nephew. Mr Ibsen, Richard's closest relative and a Canadian born cabinet-maker, said he tried to use the same tools and techniques which would have been used 500 years ago to construct a coffin. It was Mr Ibsen's DNA which was used to confirm that the skeleton found under the carpark was in fact Richard's. A descendant of Anne of York, Richard's sister, Mr Ibsen said that 'There have been moments when I have been making

the coffin over a period of a couple of weeks where I stand back at the end of the day and think: "this is for Richard III".

The coffin will be carried to Fenn Lane Farm close to where the battle of Bosworth took place, believed to be the site of Richard's death, and the onto Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, where King Richard was said to have taken his final Mass on the eve of the battle. The procession will end at Leicester Cathedral, with the Archbishop of Westminster

preaching the sermon.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will preside over the lowering of Richard's coffin into a tomb engraved with King Richard's emblem, the boar.

After Richard's death, the Tudor dynasty sought to ruin Richard's reputation which, when he was alive, differed drastically from the modern opinion of Richard which Shakespeare's play shaped greatly.

A contemporary historian described Richard as a "good lord" with a "great heart" yet today Richard is remembered for evil deeds he carries out in Shakespeare's play, including the murder of the Princes in the Tower of London, which we will likely never know the truth about and whether Richard did actually kill the young princes. Whether or not the evil creation of Shakespeare's play is recognized as simply Tudor propaganda or is believed to be a fair representation of the last Plantagenet monarch, it is unlikely that the myths and rumors will cease to be the topic of debate.

Schools force pupils to drop languages Julien Barton 3B

Secondary schools are pulling teenagers out of their foreign language classes in an attempt to improve their position in school league tables. By dropping languages, these schools have devoted more time to core subjects which have a greater impact on school rankings.

Even independent schools are struggling to recruit A-Level language students due to the focus on Mathematics and the Sciences. Nicky Morgan, the educational secretary, explained that pupils were limiting their options by choosing arts based subjects, as opposed to Maths

or Science based subjects. Modern Foreign Languages have been in long term decline since 2003/2004; the number of students taking Modern Foreign Languages at A-Level have declined by sixty percent in the past eighteen years. Even though compulsory language classes were imposed in Primary schools last September, this has yet to has significant impact on Secondary schools.

Should schools be putting their own interest in league tables before the students’ interest? Are students going to be at a disadvantage in later life due to their schools’ desire to maintain a respectable position in the League Table for GCSE’s?

The benefits of breastfeeding Saajan Shah 4H

All funds raised will help the production get to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

HEADS A new comedy written by Adam Husain and Leo Reich

MONDAY 16 MARCH 7.00pm

&

Breastfed babies are more likely to be high earners in adulthood, researchers in Brazil have discovered.

The scientists from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil have been following almost 6,000 babies since their birth in an effort to ascertain the effects of breastfeeding.

They have concluded that breastfed babies are more likely to grow up to be well-educated and higher-earning adults.

The babies who were breastfed for 12 months had 4 more IQ points than those who had been fed for less than one month. In addition, those who were breastfed for longer earned around £70 more per month and had about one additional year of education.

Out of the 6000 babies, about 3,500 people agreed to be interviewed, now at the age of 30 years old. Various other factors were taken into account, including: family income at birth, parental schooling, genomic ancestry ,maternal smoking, maternal age, weight of baby and delivery.

Through this study, the positive impact of breastfeeding has been cemented. Although the possibility of mothers who breastfed longer helping the development of children exists, it has been known for some time that breastmilk is rich in longchain polyunsaturated acids that are essential for brain development.

This research emphasizes the need for the promotion of the benefits of breastfeeding, as less than a quarter of mothers in the UK are breastfeeding after 6 weeks.

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 4.30pm, 7.00pm

CHARITY CARDS in support of

Children in Crisis PG Mature content 4th Form and above

Tickets: £7 students, £10 teachers and parents Tickets are available from the Drama Office, Adam Husain and Leo Reich

available now in the John Carpenter Bookshop

4 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

NATIONAL NEWS

Unemployment in UK falls by 102,000

The Osborne Budget: cuts and raises Alex Bridges 1H

Oil tax Tax on oil in the North Sea will be drastically lowered by around 10%.

It is speculated that this is because investments in North Sea Oil have dropped. Confidence in North Sea Oil has not risen and the oil company cannot support larger tax rates. For the first time, the oil income is not as stable as it once was.

Pension reform

Pensions in Britain will be drastically altered by the budget. The maximum amount that can be saved into your pension (from your salary) has said to have been lowered from 1.25m to 1m. The Liberal Democrats have also floated the idea of introducing a new saving incentive scheme where the Government matches pension contributions by paying in a pound for every two pounds an individual pays into their pot. However, support for this idea is wavering.

As a surprise decision, George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer) has decided that pensioner’s annuities could be sold for money upfront.

Ed Miliband has said that Labour will cut tax relief on high earners in order to help pensions and lower university fees.

ill children. Clegg is alleged to have made this decision as he visited a Liverpool hotel. It has been found out that, on average, three children in every classroom have mental health problems, most of them unidentified and untreated.

Saajan Shah 4H

Countering tax avoidance It is confirmed that, to counter the practice of corporate giants moving their assets abroad to avoid heavy tax, if a company tries to move their assets abroad by complicated legal means, they will have to pay 25% of their profits to the British government. The fine details of this have yet to be publicised.

Unemployment Recent figures show that, from November to January, unemployment has fallen by 102,000 to 1.86 million, an all-time high. This should provide a boost to the Conservative’s popularity.

Disabled help Nick Clegg has suggested that 1.25 billion should be spent on mentally

Cameron agrees to election debates Rohithan Carthigeya S6

David Cameron has finally agreed to participate in a series of election programmes, including a televised debate involving the seven most influential parties.

There have been many heated negotiations between the party leaders and broadcasters, such as the BBC, ITV and Sky, with Cameron originally giving an ultimatum of 'seven-party debate or nothing'- saying the 2010 debates 'sucked the life' out of the 2010 election campaigns.

His insistence that the Green Party should also be included in these debates has directed contempt by those who believe that the Green Party aren't a serious party. Ultimately, he has now reached a conclusion with

the television companies on a series of debates in March and April.

Along with the seven-party debate, which will be broadcast on April 2 by ITV, the itinerary consists of: Cameron and Miliband being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman and a studio audience in a Channel 4 special on 26th March A 'Challenger's Special' involving the 'smaller' parties: UKIP, SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and the DUP on 16th April.

On the 30th April David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband will appear separately in half hour interviews in a Question Time-style event with David Dimbleby.

This arrangement will cause consternation with the other party leaders. There is a general consensus

• • •

among the opposition parties that the major broadcasters have buckled to Cameron's demands, and therefore not providing a forum for them to make their voices heard as effectively as possible.

Miliband and his cohorts are crying coward over Cameron's refusal to have a head-to-head debate with the Labour leader. He accused Cameron of doing a 'tawdry spectacle of a Prime Minister going to any lengths to avoid that debate."

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has shown his contempt in not being classified with the 'big players', adding to the backlash against Cameron.

The UKIP leader told Sky News: "The day that Ofcom said UKIP was a major political party and the scene was set for four parties to take part

in debates, (Cameron) has done everything he can to obstruct and water down these debates."

The broadcasters have also been criticised for giving in to Cameron's demands. Indeed, the broadcasters have expressed a mea culpa regarding the agreement, saying, “With hindsight we might have acted differently but the most important thing was that the broadcasters were seen to be acting together.” The broadcasters union seemed to be unwavering in their original demands of two seven-way debates, but those plans weakened as time ran out and the risk of an 'empty chair' in the debates loomed large.

In the 3 months since January, unemployment has fallen to 1.86 million.

The unemployment rate remains at 5.7%, but the number of people with work is at a record high. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's allowance has fell to 791,200, an all time low since 2008. In addition, average earnings in the 3 months after January have risen by 1.8%, and regular pay increased by 1.6% during the same period. Earnings continue to grow at a rate higher than that of the consumer price index, which records show fell to an all time low of 0.3%.

The employment rates are at 73.3%, the highest rate of people employed since the ONS began keeping records in 1971. However, the unemployment rate in young people (between ages of 16 and 24) have remained at 5.7%, with the number dropping by only 12,000 in the 3 months after January, to 743,000. In addition, the number of self-employed people has risen by 33,000 to 4.53 million. Mr. Osborne has marked this as another "economic milestone" and confirmed a "a new record high employment rate".

Ian Stewart, a chief economist at Deliotte, said that "a tightening labour market is bringing the longawaited wage recovery. After falling for six years, real earnings are growing at the fastest rate since 2008."

In addition, Mr. Osborne said: "This good news is further proof that the government's long-term economic plan is working and that British families are seeing the results, with regular wages rising more than five times faster than price." Although this is a step in the economic recovery, Labours' shadow work and pensions secretary, Rachel Reeves, argued that "working people are still £1,600 a year worse off since 2010" In response to the improving situation, but says that he would like to see more solid employment growth, after "earnings growth weakened in January." He also responded that: "While the markede fall in annaal headline earnings growth to 1.8% in January from 2.4% in December was entirely due to the fact that less bonuses were paid in January that in December, it is notable that underlying annual earnings growth (which excludes bonus payments) was only stable at 1.6% in January, which is down from a peak of 1.9% in November."

Opinion

Why I’m (probably) voting Lib Dem Theo Serlin S6

This coming election will be the first in which I will be able to vote. While I don’t need to be convinced of the importance of voting — I can’t criticise the inept and meretricious government we’ll inevitably end up with if I excuse myself from my citizenly responsibility — I’m struggling to feel enthusiastic about it. My problem is that I became politically conscious at around the same time that the Lib Dems decided to betray their electorate in return for a referendum on Alternative Vote, and a couple of cabinet posts. I’ve been defined by the cynicism that grew out of the ruins of Cleggmania.

My political views are vaguely to the left of centre, i.e. in Labour

territory, but I have absolutely no confidence in that party. They’ve tried to argue that voters should overlook Ed Miliband’s charisma deficit on the grounds that he’s actually (apparently) really smart. I’d be happy to go along with that — as a nerdy Jewish guy from north London I can’t in good faith hold those characteristics against Miliband — but I’ve yet to see proof that there is any meaty policy to balance out the bacon sandwiches.

Thus far Labour’s main electoral pledges — to cap energy prices, tax mansions and cut tuition fees — have only amounted to short-termist economic populism. By playing up the perceived wonkiness of their leaders, Labour have only exposed how unprepared for actual governance they are.

So if I don’t want Labour, surely the logical choice would be to vote Tory.

But I’m 18 years old. The idea of voting for the Conservatives now is just depressing. I also disagree with most of what they stand for, and worry that as a party they are dominated by their most extreme members, who want to leave the EU. If anything, the Greens and UKIP appeal to me even less. They’re both single-issue parties that have been catapulted into the mainstream by the fecklessness of the major parties, and unsurprisingly have nothing to say outside their chosen fields.

What’s UKIP’s foreign policy? How are the Green’s going to pay to for their massive expansion in public housing? Government is a serious business, and shouldn’t be left to

“By playing up the perceived wonkiness of their leaders, Labour have only exposed how unprepared for actual governance they are.” people whose only qualifications for the job are their lack of qualifications.

So that leaves — Oh My God! — the Lib Dems. (Plaid Cymru isn’t standing in Hampstead and Kilburn.) I’ve

gradually been warming to the prospect. I’m pretty ambivalent about most of their proposals, for example changing the legal status of certain drugs, but I know there’s no way they’ll get to implement them without a major party agreeing. As the tuition fees debacle shows, the junior partner in a coalition has no way to advance its own agenda when the senior partner objects. My hope for the Lib Dems is that, like last time, they’ll end up holding the balance in a hung parliament. I’d rather have a Labour or Conservative government restrained by Clegg & Co. than one driven by UKIP, the Greens, and the kinds of people who feel strongly enough about socialism or conservatism to get involved in politics.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 5

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NATIONAL NEWS

The £1bn tidal plan Zayd Ahmed 1A

George Osborne will use the budget today to unveil an 'energetic' but costly plan to build the world's first tidal lagoon to generate green energy. BBC News have said that the Chancellor said that the scheme that is going to take place in Swansea is "a step closer to fruition".

However, the revolutionary tidal plan will cost £150 per megawatt hour, compared with the £98 agreed with Hinkley and current wholesale price of £50 per MWh, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has said that if the prototype is launched in Wales, it will be able to launch its concept much more cheaply elsewhere in an eventual £12 billion scheme.

“The equivalent of 100,000 Olympic swimming pools of water passing through the turbines daily.”

The Swansea Bay scheme envisages an area of 11.5 square kilometers– about 4.5 sq. miles–cordoned off by breakwater (a barrier built out into the sea to protect a coast or harbour from the force of waves). The lagoon would have a design life of 120 years.

How it Works The tidal lagoon in Swansea bay will look like a giant harbour. An area of 11.5 square kilometres will be closed off by a breakwater, with electricity generated by the incoming a and

outgoing tides–the daily equivalent of 100,000 Olympic swimming pools of water–passing through the turbines. Bulb turbines have been used for many years in river power schemes. They are permanently submerged , so only the harbour wall will be visible. As the sea outside the breakwater rises and is held back, a difference in water is created, known as "head". Once a sufficient head height is reached, sluice gates open and water flows into the lagoon through the turbines. This process then occurs in the reverse, on the ebb tide, meaning the tides flow through the turbines four times daily.

The Tidal plan will also create many jobs. In recent years hundreds of jobs have been lost and there are fears that producing fields could be dismantles earlier that necessary.

The wider tidal plans would see four even larger lagoons built with an overall capacity of 7,300MW– enough to meet 10% of the UK's electricity needs.

Mr. Davies, Head of Geography at City of London School, said that 'it will be a very profitable scheme with 4 lagoons in Wales and 2 in England.

It will make use of the many tides hitting the shores of Britain every day'.

Yet the Swansea scheme is still not certain to proceed. Even if its promoters can secure a funding deal, they need planning permission. The application is with ministers and a decision is expected shortly.

Outlining the Swansea project for the first time last year, Tidal Lagoon Power's founder and chief executive, Mark Shorrock, said that it was essential to build more than one tidal lagoon. The second project would be based in Colwyn Bay, with a third in an upper Severn estuary. Two more would follow at as yet unspecified sites.

the city of london school presents A student production of the play by Derek Jarman and Terry Eagleton

LOOK OUT FOR THE DVD AVAILABLE SOON FROM THE JOHN CARPENTER BOOKSHOP

Adapted and produced by

Marcus Knight-Adams and Edmund Phillips

Tuesday 10 March 7pm Wednesday 11 March 4.30pm Thursday 12 March 7pm

10–12 march 2015

winterflood theatre

city of london school

Tickets available from CLS Reception starting 16 February £5.00 each

6 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

European Austerity

international news

The sins of the father Tian-Long Lee 3S

The Greek government has sought compensation from Germany for the crimes committed during the Nazi occupation in World War Two. Many older Greeks still remember the 250,000 people killed and are not afraid to link Germany's previous military occupation to the recent financial control exerted by Berlin.

Greek politicians have called for three individual demands. First , a general wartime reparation of €160bn. Second, a €28m claim for the massacre of 214 people in 1944 in Distomo, Central Greece. And, finally, a repayment of a €476m Reichsmark loan the Nazis extracted from the Greek Central Bank which is equivalent to over €50bn with the inclusion of interest. If Germany do not pay up, Athens threatens to seize German property in Greece.

Berlin denies liability and Steffen Seibert, Angela Merkel’s spokesman, has said that the “question of reparations and compensation is legally and politically closed”. Berlin interprets the 'Two-plus-Four Treaty' in 1990, which stated the four major powers withdrew their rights in Germany as the final word on reparations from World War Two, but Athens disputes this. Eberhard Rondholz, a historian who has studied the reparations question, states: “The [German] government view is false,” he said. “This

issue is not closed. It is very much still open.” Many Greeks while as if they have every right to the compensation money and think it is "Germany's moral duty to pay the money, even if there are different opinions on international law," according to Annette Groth of the German Left party.

It is very dangerous to bring up debts from the past as it is difficult to draw boundaries. If Germany should pay reparation money to Greece, then surely the British should pay for the exploitations of India. Also, if the Germans do settle a deal with Greece, it sets a dangerous precedent which may encourage other countries to try and receive compensation from Germany, which would run them dry. It is hardly a coincidence that the Greek Government raised this issue now in the midst of a Euro rescue; if they wanted compensation they should have pursued it a long time ago, clearly adding evidence that Greece is trying to deflect attention from its failure to tackle economic reform. However Gesine Schwan, a Social Democratic presidential candidate, suggests any negotiations be kept separate from the topic of the Greek bailout. However, if Germany do not reach a deal, "it leaves a bad impression that Germany don't want to face up to its responsibilities" says Ms. Schwan.

Protesters in Germany Alex Bridges 1H

Today, German police clashed with rioters who were protesting against austerity measures during the inauguration of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Two police cars were set alight and an officer was injured. It is rumoured that 8,000 police officers were deployed, together with barbed wire, barricades, and vehicles, to contain the demonstrations.

At least 500 demonstrators were detained.

Next week, at least 10,000 protesters will be expected for a rally in Frankfurt’s main square. Frankfurt’s police expect the demonstrators will be peaceful, however, they expect a few might be prone to violence.

Allegedly, the European Central Bank was targeted because of its role in supervising efforts to restrain spending and reduce debt in financially troubled countries such as Greece.

EBC have monitored other economically unstable countries, providing (sometimes limited) support.

Conditions for support include spending cuts with the aim of reducing deficits. Moves that are aimed at reducing debt have also been blamed for high unemployment and slow growth.

Greece's new left-wing government blames such policies for a "humanitarian crisis" leading to poverty for pensioners and the unemployed.

ECB President Mario Draghi has called for more spending by governments that are in good financial shape such as Germany – however, this call has been mostly ignored by elected officials.

It has not yet been disclosed whether the protest have had an effect yet.

Millionaire caught in recorded confession Rohithan Carthigeya S6

An American real estate magnate has been charged with three murders after an alleged confession was accidentally recorded by a documentary crew. Robert Durst, 71, was being interviewed by the makers of HBO documentary "The Jinx" about the disappearance of his wife Kathleen in 1982, when he went to the bathroom and started mumbling to himself, forgetting that he still had the microphone attached to his clothes. He was heard saying, "There it is. You're caught... What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Lufthansa pilots strike again Lufthansa pilots are striking again over early retirement benefits and other pay related disputes. Out of 1,400 flights, 750 have been cancelled, affecting 80,000 passengers.

Last year, strikes cost the group, who also own airlines such as Brussels

Jude Horspool 1H

Serbian police have arrested seven men at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica over the 1995 massacre in the Bosnian enclave of Kosovo. An eighth man is on the run. It is the first time that Serbia has arrested people over the atrocities.

What was the Srebrenica massacre and what happened?

In July 1995, 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after the siege of the town, which was within a UN held 'safe area'. The civilians living there were under protection from 600 lightly armed Dutch infantry. Tens of thousands of civilians were taking refuge from earlier Serb offensives in northeastern Bosnia. Requests by the Bosnian Muslims for their weapons

•

to be returned by the peacekeepers were declined.

Serbian forces began shelling Srebrenica and thousands of Muslim refugees fled before Serb forces attacked Dutch posts, taking 30 soldiers hostage.

The Bosnian Serb commander issued an ultimatum for the Bosnian Muslims to hand over their weapons for their lives.

Buses then arrived to take away women and children to Muslim areas, while men aged from 12 to 77 were being separated for "interrogation for suspected war crimes", and were being held in warehouses and trucks. During this, around 15,000 Bosnian Muslims attempted to flee Srebrenica but were shelled at in the mountains.

The first killings of unarmed

Muslims took place in a warehouse in a nearby village called Kravica.

Peacekeepers handed over 5,000 Muslims who had been sheltering at the Dutch base in Potocari in return for 14 Dutch peacekeepers who had been held at the nearby Nova Kasaba base.

It was then when the reports of massacres emerged from survivors from the march from Srebrenica to Muslim-held areas.

The Dutch were finally allowed to leave. In the five days after Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, over 7,000 Muslims were killed.

I think, along with the majority of people, that these arrests were simply too late, but this does not mean they are meaningless. We are one step closer to justice for the victims of this horrible event.

Airlines and JetBlue, 232 million euros (166 million pounds). The strike will occur on the Lufthansa brand, and will not affect long and medium-haul flights. Eurowings, Germanwings, Austria and Swiss will be unaffected.

Priest abused his position of authority Joseph Lyons J6

Seven men arrested for Srebrenica massacre

The victims in question, along with Kathleen Durst, were Susan Berman and Morris Black. Susan Berman was found shot in the head in her Los Angeles house in 2000 and Morris Black was dismembered in 2001, with his body parts found floating in Galveston Bay. Durst was acquitted of murder in 2003 due to claims that he acted in self-defence. The story had already been dramatized in "All Good Things" in 2011, starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst. Durst has now been transferred to a mental health institute in Louisiana and, if found guilty of the murders, will face the death penalty.

Father Todd McSweeney has been convicted after being investigated for child sex abuse. He is the first paedophile to be recognised as guilty having been linked to an apparent ring of criminals based around a South London guesthouse. It has since come to light that Richmond Council bosses of 30 years ago “failed to investigate a VIP child abuse ring” despite being warned of its probable existence. In legal terms, the conviction encapsulates Father McSweeney’s indecent assault of a minor and making indecent images of children. But the extent of his actions and those of his “VIP ring” may go beyond even these grotesque acts.

One of the victims, who had been a resident of Grafton Close children’s home, was so traumatised by his experiences that he later committed suicide. And it is uncertain what

other damages could have been done, what other tragedies could have occurred as a result.

And Father Todd McSweeney should have been caught. He was thrown out of an Essex parish after a Church cleaner found a video reported to show underage sex. It is uncertain whether (but very possible that) two bishops took the decision, having known this information and wanting to cover it up, to post him to another diocese. Later, in a similar incident, his housekeeper found another video of underage sex, but as her complaint to the police was anonymous, nothing just came of it.

After this incident, Bishop McMahon is said to of “effectively banished” McSweeney. But why wasn’t more done? He continued to serve the church as the priest of St. George’s, Norwich until police inquiry some time later.

Snowden leaks give terrorists upper hand Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf 5B

Theresa May yesterday issued a grave warning that Edward Snowden’s revelations have had a grave impact on the secret service’s ability combat terrorism. The home secretary spoke of widespread damage to intelligence agencies across the world and a huge shift in terrorist behaviour. Groups like IS have pounced on the leaks by ex-NSA employee Snowden and now extremists in the UK are much harder to track down. The Henry Jackson Society think tank asserted that the capabilities of the UK’s intelligence

organisations have been reduced by the leaking of over 1.7 million top-secret documents since 2013. The ramifications of the fugitive Snowden’s information theft are still unfolding but have already more sophisticated tactics being utilised by Jihadists across the globe according to GCHQ and its US counterparts. According to May, the whistle-blower did not only compromise national security but also caused the taxpayer considerably financial loss with safe-houses having to be abandoned because across the UK.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 7

The CITIZEN

international news

Israel Elections Netanyahu sweeps to an unexpected victory

Low-down on the Israeli election parties Victor Jack 5A & Isaac Gruber 3H

To properly understand the events surrounding the election itself, here is the breakdown of the main parties and what they stand for.

Isaac Gruber 3H

Confounding pollsters, early results showed that Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party has gained the most seats in the Knesset.

It is expected that Likud will now form a coalition which will keep Netanyahu as prime minister. Isaac Herzog, the leader of the left-wing opposition party, the Zionist Union, called Netanyahu early Wednesday to concede defeat and congratulate his opponent.

This follows a late election surge from Likud, who trailed the Zionist Union in the polls by 4 or 5 seats on Friday. They now have 30 seats in parliament to Herzog's 24. What now remains is for them to form a coalition.

Netanyahu has pledged to work quickly to form one. 5 other parties are likely to feature in this coalition.

They are the nationalist religious Bayit Yehudi, secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu, ultra-religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism and new party Kulanu. Of these, Kulanu is the one with the potential to be kingmaker. They are run by Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud member and finance minister. They are also relatively centrist, so a coalition with them may temper some of the more right-wing policies that other members may wish to implement.

This coalition would have 67 seats in parliament, far more than the 61 needed to form a government.

Netanyahu's approval rating soared after the Gaza conflict in September, but then increasingly declined due to high income inequality. A study showed that the average Israeli needed to save for 148 months to buy a house, twice as long other countries with similar GDP. An exit poll on Tuesday night showed that Herzog and Netanyahu were neck and neck, with 27 seats each.

However, as the counting progressed it became clear that Likud had pulled clear. Many believe this was a result of Netanyahu's hardline statements on the previous day, including a statement that there would be no 'twostate solution' under him. He also called on Israelis to prevent Arab's having the decisive votes in the election, something he apologized for but the message was clear. Nevertheless, the campaign was thought to be difficult for Netanyahu, with voters displaying dissatisfaction with the country's direction for the first time in his reign.

The voter turnout was the highest since 1999, 71.8% of the population voted with 68% of the Israeli-Arabs voting, the highest ever figure.

International response hasn't been entirely joyous. Sweden's ex-Prime Minister Carl Bildt, one of the continent's most esteemed diplomats, said that a Netanyahu government risked a 'profound crisis on the Palestinian issue.' What is undisputed however, is the jubilance of Likud supporters, who chanted and sang all night.

Netanyahu has his critics, but they were not able to muster the necessary support to oust him.

Likud Centre-right

• •

Leader: Benjamin Netanyahu (2005-) What they stand for: A strong emphasis on rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river and not accepting Palestine as an independent Arab state as well as stating that Jerusalem is unequivocally part of Israel. It supports a free-market capitalist agenda and aims to reduce VAT and corporate tax. Although seen as nationalist, it has a moderate stance on religion and promotes freedom of press.

Nummber of seats: 30

•

Zionist Union Centre-left

Isaac Herzog (2003-) • Leader: What they stand for: Aim to • reignite negotiations with the

Palestinians and repair relations with Washington. Also aim to solve economic problems such as rising house prices and closing the gap between the rich and the poor. Just like Likud, they firmly stand for Jerusalem as Israeli territory. On religion and marriage, it seeks to allow civil partnerships and divorce while still preserving Shabbat and freedom of all religious practice.

Number of seats: 24

•

Joint List (Alliance of Arab Hadash, Balad, United Arab List, and Ta'al parties)

Left-wing

Ayman Odeh • Leader: Includes communists, socialists, • feminists, Islamists, and Palestinian nationalists–a very liberal party. In

this specific election, it aimed to stop Likud from forming a government and to help the Zionist Union to come to power. It aims to split Jerusalem into Arab and Israeli territory. In terms of the Jewish State Bill, they seek to abolish all notions of it and have said that they are "the only party that's in favor of full equality". They strive for full and proper democracy as well as this as well as aiming to unite the Israeli and Palestine state, or at least improve diplomatic relations.

Number of seats: 14

•

Yesh Atid Centrist

Yair Lapid • Leader: It aims to represent the secular • middle class. Main issues include

decreasing economic inequality and ending ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from the draft. Believes in same-sex marriage and greater religious pluralism. Believes in renewing peace negotiations with the Palestinians and halting the construction of settlements, whilst not destroying existing settlements.

Economic liberalism. Formed coalition with Likud after last election.

Number of seats: 11

•

Kulanu Centrist

Moshe Kahlon • Leader: Egalitarian economics, the man• tra. Wants to break up economic

monopolies and lower cost of living.

Relatively hardline security approach, but does support territorial compromise for two state solution.

Kahlon was former Likud finance minister. Believes in same-sex marriage and decriminalization of Marijuana. Officials a cross between ex-Labor (Zionist Union) and exLikud. Socially liberal.

Number of seats: 10

•

Opinion

The curse of Netanyahu Isaac Gruber 3H

I awoke this Wednesday morning to the not just depressing, but dangerous news that Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party had gained the most seats in the Knesset, and were poised to form a coalition. On Tuesday, he had announced that he had no intention of establishing a Palestinian state. To further provoke Palestinians, he insulted the Arab population of Israel, warning that they could influence the outcome of the election. This is in line with a series of comments and laws by his government that showed they considered Arab citizens second class. This is 20% of the country. In my opinion, the Israeli people have chosen to elect a leader who will only increase the instability that is already innate to the country. They made the wrong choice.

Israel's only chance of survival is a two-state solution. That cannot be repeated enough. Turning the Palestinian populous against terrorist groups like Hamas is the key to defeating them. If Israel appears to be the nation offering peace, and

Hamas rejecting it, then the populous will direct their anger against them, and strive for the alternative, peace.

For the citizens know that economically, it is in not in their interests to be run by terrorists. Being ostracized from the world is not a condition for economic success. Iran have learnt this and that is why they are now attempting to lift sanctions by agreeing to a nuclear deal. Israel must strive to not unduly irritate the Palestinians, for example, by not building settlements. Then Hamas will be turned on from within, and by the Palestinian people as a whole Let us consider Netanyahu's speech to Congress, which, one can sense the theme, can only have negative effects. The superficial reason for giving the speech was to stop Iran getting the bomb, and thus make Israel safer. However, the result is worsened Iranian-Israeli relations, as Iran perceive this speech as an attempt to stop Iran's economic wellbeing, which is not in Israel's security interests. Not to mention that this speech alienated Israel's most important, and increasingly only, ally, the

US. Netanyahu thought that with Obama almost gone, he could afford to risk their relationship. Yet he has alienated the entire Democratic party, who could win the next election. The Middle East becomes less stable by the month, with new radical Islamic groups gaining support.

Therefore the need for American support, both financially and militarily, is ever stronger. Netanyahu is pursuing a course that will lead to Israel being a pariah of the world, isolated in its struggle to survive.

'It's the economy, stupid', so goes Bill Clinton's campaign's famous catchphrase. And it appeared that the economy, not foreign policy would spell Bibi's doom. Inequality, the zeitgeist, is soaring. The percentage of children in poverty quadrupled, from 7.8% to 27.4%, and the amount of people living in relative poverty doubled, from 10.2% to 20.4%. Even more worrying, 20 families control companies that account for half the value of the stock market. Hence the widespread discontent.

It is too easy to say that there is no alternative to Netanyahu. Too easy

to say that there can never be peace.

I believe Israel can never stop trying to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, at whatever price.

There can be no peace without peace.

At the same time, Hamas is not an alternative. There is a disturbing trend on the left to suggest that Hamas is a lesser evil. This is both false and anti-Semitic. Hamas can also not be part of the peace process, nor can any organization that's aim is 'to drive the Jews into the sea.' The Palestinian Authority are an alternative to Hamas, Abbas is not perfect but he is at least willing to sit down to talks.

I can only hope that Netanyahu has not destroyed any chance at a constructive relationship through previous actions. Much bridge building is required, something unlikely to happen under Bibi. Herzog was another alternative, a moderate, a centrist.

Israel had the chance to improve their security, to make an effort at lasting peace. They spurned that chance. I fear their future is bleak.

8 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

international news

ISIS: fuelling an ideology Cameron Anderson 5B

“We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission”, were the words spoken into the camera by an ISIS militant standing on the shores of the Mediterranean. After the brutal execution of 21 Egyptian Christian workers on February 16th, Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria announced their intentions to bridge the Mediterranean and expand their power. But is this a viable threat? Are we, the West, in taking these intimidations seriously, succumbing to a taunting challenge that will in the end leave us out of our depth, waging war on an ideology that we struggle to understand?

Having (finally) left Afghanistan, whether for better or for worse, the Western powers made an unspoken vow to avoid intervention in the Middle East and to stay out of conflicts where we are unclear about who the enemy is, or how to fight them.

It was on August the 7th that Obama announced the first air strikes on ISIS targets in the Middle East. Obama expressed his belief that the US “can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide”, but, for many, this seems a regression, and an obvious neglect of the lessons we should have learnt.

While the governments in power argue that the West cannot stand idle and watch the brutality and viciousness of the newly established ‘caliphate’, do airstrikes successfully target an increasingly mobile and flexible enemy or simply provide

more justification for ISIS's claim that the West is fighting a war on Islam?

El Amrani, director of International Crisis Group’s North Africa Project, states that: “You will not be able to effectively solve the counterterrorism problem…without addressing the political conflict”. Now, if we accept this point of view and agree that to establish military stability it is necessary to have a strong capable governing force, then, surely, if anything,

“Social media has let ISIS spread its influence over a far wider area than it actually controls.”

the Western powers should be aiming to help a unified Libyan government rather than fostering violence and hatred through an intervention whose “footprint is likely to be very modest.”

From countless years of experience in the Middle East, many experts despair at the continued lack of empathy of the Western powers who seem unable to understand the cultural differences and sensitivities of the region. Why can we still not understand the hostility of the local populous to Western commandos who lack insight and the ability to speak the local tongue?

In response, military officials in the Pentagon have announced a plan to use a combined Kurdish and Iraqi force to retake Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, in a bid to unite Kurdish, Sunni and Shia factions against Islamic State. ISIS offers a Sunni majority in Iraq, who are underrepresented in government, a powerful voice, and consequently it has a growing audience, amongst Sunnis, for its anti-Shia message. Indeed the staggering blitzkrieg that brought ISIS to the world’s attention last year, far from being a display of acute military prowess, was in essence a walkover as they met, in town after town, angry, repressed residents eager for strong leadership. A force of no more than 30,000, according to US Military Intelligence, spread thinly through two countries “capitalized on the inter-faith strife of the regions” (Time March 9 2015) to foster support and quell resistance.

This power, through propaganda and increasingly social media, has let ISIS spread its influence over a far wider area than it actually controls. Militant groups from Algeria, Jordan, Chechnya, Libya and even the Philippines have pledged fealty to ISIS in Iraq in the past several months not to mention the acts of terrorism that have shocked the entire world from Paris to Sydney to Quebec.

But the origins of ISIS do not lie in the last months but in the late 1990s when a terrorist cell under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi found its calling as al-Qaeda’s franchise in Iraq after the US invasion of 2003. A spate of terrorist attacks

and, the now familiar, filmed executions, particularly targeting the Shia Muslims, spread through the country until, by some reports, the main Sunni leadership of al-Qaeda grew to dislike al-Zarqawi’s tactics. After his location was revealed in 2006, alZarqawi was killed by two US smart bombs while attending a meeting in the Iraqi town of Baqubah.

Two successors to Zarqawi were again killed in 2010 when the soldiercome-cleric al-Bagdadi took power.

Bagdadi again favoured Zarqawi’s tactics of publicised murder carried it out to such an extent that some Sunni tribes, hoping for a better future, fought back against the terrorists and sent some of Bagdadi’s best fighters into hiding in neighbouring Syria. Journalists speak of a curious quirk of fate when Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, having jailed a number of the fighters of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI – as ISIS was then called), released them as an excuse to use military aggression against recent political uprisings. This short-sighted act allowed AQI to regroup and continue its bloody strategy.

This coalition of Kurds and Iraqis aims to convince a divided Iraqi population that unity is a greater force than a vicious, ideological regime. However, unity in the coalition force will be harder than expected to achieve. Masrour Barzani, leader of Kurdish security and intelligence, expressed concern over the Iraqi force’s competence: “I wish I could tell you that they are ready, but they are not, and this is very unfortunate”.

He urges people not to forget that in previous fighting in Mosul “Five Iraqi military divisions and one federal police division were completely destroyed or abandoned

their posts.” A large coalition of Sunni fighters amassed, with US support, near the borders of Shia run countries such as Iran and Syria could easily aggravate the situation rather than solve it while an Iranian-backed Shia force could just as easily send local Sunni’s searching for ISIS as a defender.

If indeed we do believe that ISIS poses a credible threat to European shores and that, due to this, it must be destroyed then we must be careful whom we target, how we target them and how we can prevent accentuating cultural divides. We now know that some of the Mujahedin fighters that, through CIA sponsorship, were armed to fight the USSR throughout the 1980s in Afghanistan went on to become the “founders of modern jihadist terrorism”–men like bin Laden and Mullah Omar, creator of the Taliban.

The US and its allies face two options if they wish to deal successfully with ISIS. One, stay out and stop fuelling the notion that the West is in a war against Islam, which garners the support of many for the new caliphate; or, two, send in ‘boots on the ground’ and try not to repeat the mistakes of past conflicts in the region. Although a practical way to show disgust at ISIS’s regime, aerial strikes do not provide the physical presence needed to help create a viable system in Iraq and Syria and serve only to bolster the claims of Western aggression. Either way, the West must strive to understand the cultural differences of the Middle East and, in doing so, draft a strategy to encourage unity, power and governance from the people who at the moment see ISIS as the only effective governing body.

Bye bye Bastion: but what is the impact of the Afghan war?

Syria shoots down US drone

Freddie Dillon Hatcher S6

Julien Barton 3B

The last British soldiers have been airlifted out of Camp Bastion, as Britain’s base in Helmand was closed down in a massive operation that took months of planning. All British troops (apart from Special Forces and a team working at a training facility in Kabul) will return home by the end of the year.

The “tactical withdrawal” of hundreds of British soldiers came a day after the end of Britain’s war in Afghanistan and was carried out discretely amidst security concerns.

However the most senior British officer on site, Brigadier Robert Thomson, said “this is not an evacuation–I am standing here without body armour and we are going at walking pace. This is a deliberately measured transfer of power to the Afghans.”

This hand-over of one of the biggest military camps in Afghanistan is a clear statement of the faith Nato forces have in the Afghan troops/ police, and feel they have had sufficient training to cope with whatever may come their way. The defence secretary Michael Fallon has released a statement saying: “What we are saying to you is we have given Afghanistan the best possible chance of a safer future, primarily through the sacrifice of our own troops and other Nato troops in building up the Afghan army itself.” But what has the impact of the conflict been? The losses on both sides have been immense, with escalating casualties from day 1 and the continual threat of violence from insurgents. But one cannot deny the development that has taken place in Afghanistan. Between 2001 and 2011 primary school enrolment increased from 21% to 97% with 36%

of girls now enrolled in secondary schools. Life expectancy has increased from 56 to 60 years and the number of people who have access to safe drinking water has increased twelvefold to 60.6%. Small areas of the country remain in a state of flux and danger, but the overall picture is a positive one.

The challenge now is to see if the Afghan forces can maintain security in order to maintain development. A western role will be crucial to this in order to train, inform and share intelligence to help the local authorities, as will a stable and transparent government. Will foreign investment be forthcoming and will a successful economy evolve? Or will parliament, the army and police be unable to keep extremists at bay and enable a peaceful democracy to establish itself in a volatile region of the world? Only time will tell.

The Syrian military claims to have shot a U.S drone at 23:50 on Tuesday 17th of March 2015 over Latakia, North West Syria. U.S officials had reported that they lost contact with the drone, but have not confirmed reports of the drone being shot down. If confirmed, it would be the first time Syrian Forces have attacked a U.S aircraft since the start of coalition strikes against Islamic State (IS).

Syria have not been participating in the raids on IS, but seemed keen enough to shoot down the unarmed surveillance drone. The country's state-run Sana News agency described the unmanned surveillance plane as 'hostile,' without giving any further details.

Meanwhile, Syrian Activists have accused the government forces of using chlorine in an attack in the

North-Western province of Idlib, close to Latakial. It is thought that this is the reason why the drone was shot down. Two groups reported that three children were among the six people killed by the toxic gas: chlorine. This was when a supposed aircraft dropped barrel bombs filled with the toxic chemical on Sarmin.

There is speculation that the so called 'chlorine armed drone' was shot down but this is propaganda. The real facts have been mixed up: the toxic, barrel bombs and the U.S drone.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 9

The CITIZEN

international news

One year in the tenacious grasp of President Putin Edwin Gosnell 3H

“Look how happy people are. By the will of God and through the hands of President Putin, the years of humiliation under Ukrainian rule are over.”

These were the words of Alexander Zaldostanov, leader of the Night Wolves, the Russian motorcycle club, as he and his followers flocked into Nakhimov Square, Sevastopol, Crimea for a rally to celebrate Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Night Wolves were closely followed by a convoy of cars flying the banners of SWF, Sevastopol Without Racism, the group who organised this rally.

“Putin stated that he was prepared to put Russia’s nuclear weapons on alert.”

Today, Russia marks the first anniversary of its takeover of Crimea.

Celebrations and festivals have been taking place all over Russia since the weekend. In Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea, fireworks were set off and dancers were performing, showing the passion that the Russian speakers of Crimea feel for the country that their tongue originates from.

Crimea certainly seems to be firmly in Russian hands. Earlier this week, in a TV documentary for Rossiya-1 TV, President Putin stated that he was prepared to put Russia’s

nuclear weapons on alert in case the conflict should intensify. He also said that he had recently held talks with the heads of Russia’s secret services and the Russian MoD to discuss the matter of Crimea. Their talk was lengthy; they concluded that they must salvage Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from Ukraine and “start the process of bringing Crimea back to Russia.”

Mikhail Nichik who is a member of SWF told The Daily Telegraph that in the towns and villages of Ukraine, men have begun to gather into small groups saying that they all want to be ready to repel any kind of Ukrainian attack on the Crimea.

“We started thinking how we would defend ourselves with baseball bats and iron bars. We figured out who’d done military service, who could give a knife fighting course.” Nichik also told the telegraph how his father was an admiral in the Black Sea fleet and died in November 2013. He visited his father’s grave six months later and said “Papa, now at long last, you are on Russian soil.” Militiamen such as these are becoming progressively noticeable since the Night Wolves swept into Crimea a year ago.

However, President Putin's recent disappearance raised many eyebrows in the west. Did it symbolise a potential power struggle in the Kremlin? If so, how will this affect Crimea? It will be intriguing to see what Putin's response is now that he has re-emerged and what attitude he will have towards the ongoing Ukraine and Crimean crisis.

The mystery of Boris Nemtsov Archie Philipps J6

Shortly before midnight on 27th February on a bridge next to Red Square in central Moscow, six shots were fired. Four of the bullets hit a 55year old man, killing him instantly.

This man was Boris Nemtsov, former Deputy Prime Minister under Yeltsin and a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin and his actions in Ukraine.

Over 21,000 people marched in remembrance. Two Chechen Muslims

were quickly charged with the crime.

Many in the West blame Putin; Private Eye featured a photograph of Putin asking “why was he shot?” the answer: “we ran out of plutonium.”

There is certainly is reason to suspect Kremlin involvement: his murder took place just under two days before he was due to participate in a rally against the financial crisis in Russia and its involvement in Ukraine- the planned rally was transformed into a march of remembrance. Nemtsov and

his mother both admitted that they feared he would be assassinated. He was a leading opponent of Putin and his policies, on the brink of publishing a report on Russian involvement in the Donbass region of Ukraine.

The main suspect, Zaur Dadayev, is a Muslim from Chechyna, which is convenient for Putin: Chechnya, the focus of two wars with Russia at the turn of the 20th century is a deeply problematic and largely Muslim semi-autonomous region in

Opinion

Do we really still need patriotism?

Archie Philipps J6

This year marks the centenary of the execution of Edith Cavell, a British nurse who sheltered soldiers on both sides during the First World War. Shortly before she met her death, she said that, “Patriotism is not enough.

I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

Patriotism, and other ‘British values’, have been under scrutiny recently with regard to the Trojan Horse scandal and the rise of young British jihadis who reject everything this country stands for. However, it seems that patriotism is no longer fashionable in this country. Perhaps this is due to the concept being hijacked by far right groups, such as the Front National in France, whose slogan is, “ni gauche, ni droit: français.”

Patriotism has been associated with nationalism and racism: national identity as exclusive to the ‘indigenous’ inhabitants. These divisive ideals have no place in a tolerant, diverse society. Furthermore, patriotism is

“True patriotism is not aggressive.”

often now seen as old-fashioned, jingoistic and militaristic; devotion to the ‘glorious Empire’ was fine sixty years ago, but an ‘us versus them’ mentality is now viewed as destructive when trying to promote unity in an ever more sectarian world.

However, true patriotism is not aggressive. The OED defines patriotism as “love or devotion to one’s country.”

Although related to nationalism, the latter conveys a sense of superiority and aggression, which has led to racism and imperialism. Nor is true patriotism exclusive: I am a patriot.

I love my country, largely because of the values diversity and inclusivity it promotes - the notion of the indigenous Brit” is null and void, as Britain is, and has always been, a

nation of many cultures. Even in ancient times, these islands were home to Romans, Picts, Scots, Iceni, Silures and many others, later to be joined by the Saxons from Germany and even later by the Normans from France. I have many friends who are secondor even first-generation immigrants who consider themselves British and “these sceptred isles” as their home.

This country, like many, is a huge melting pot of cultures, religions and languages, yet the thing that unites most of us is that feeling of ‘Britishness.’ So Edith Cavell’s famous statement does not necessarily scan.

Patriotism, a positive attribute, does not incite hatred towards others, merely a love of your native land and the values it stands for. Patriotism means love of core ‘British values,’ such as tolerance, liberty, qualities which are much lauded and which are essential to any decent society.

This is why patriotism is not dead, and must never die.

the Caucasus, whose inhabitants are often blamed for terrorist attacks in Russia, and is also the home of the two Boston Bombers. It has been claimed that Dudayev confessed under duress.

Others have suggested that the murder was a ‘sacrifice’ ordered by Putin’s opponents to frame him. Still others have suggested that the perpetrators are Putin supporters who took it upon themselves to remove Russia of this prominent member of

the ‘fifth column.’ Indeed, it has been suggested that Nemtsov’s murder would not have helped Putin. Putin’s approval rates are over 85%, he is seen as invincible. Why upset people by ordering the murder of a much loved politician?

With each day that passes, the mystery deepens. We may have to wait some time until – or even if- the true perpetrators of this heinous act are brought to justice.

Capsule apartments for Beijing citizens Edwin Gosnell 3H

Citizens dwelling in China's capital Beijing are being offered the chance to rent capsule-sized apartments as long has they don't mind sharing with others.

These living quarters include a tiny bedroom and lounge along with a space for a desk. The whole apartment measures a measly 160 square metres. This offer has a condition though, residents must be willing to share their accommodation and facilities with up to 17 other strangers. This scheme is mainly aimed at students. One 22-year-old student from the city of Tianjin is staying in a capsule apartment in Beijing whilst looking for work. He told Beijing News "The people here are awkward and the environment is not good.

It's the same as being in a university dormitory and sometimes I feel like there's no air circulation." However was very pleased with the price

which can be as small as 100 yuan, approximately £11.

While this was generally a Japanese trend, it has spread into China but is it really going to solve more problems than it creates?

10 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

international news

Solar storm creates spectacular aurora borealis displays Citizen Science Correspondent

Yesterday, the 17th of March 2015, a severe solar storm reached the Earth contributing to a display of the aurora with the potential to stretch as far south as Oregon in the US, as well as being visible across unexpected reaches of the southern hemisphere.

"Two blasts of magnetic plasma left the sun on Sunday, eventually combining and arriving on Earth on Tuesday about 15 hours earlier and much stronger than expected," said Thomas Berger, director of the Space Weather Prediction Centre in Boulder, Colorado.

Authorities warned of possible disruption to power grids, GPS tracking and communication systems, but Berger said that in this case there were none of the bursts of radiation that can affect satellite operations.

The storm was ranked a 4, also known as 'severe', on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s scale of 1-5 scale for geomagnetic effects. It is the strongest solar storm to reach Earth since the fall of 2013. It’s been nearly a

Disasters around the world

decade since a level 5 storm, termed 'extreme', has hit Earth.

Forecasters had thought it would come late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning; instead it arrived just before 10am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) and “it’s significantly stronger than expected,” Berger said.

The Aurora Borealis or northern lights, usually seen only in the far north, dipped south, with more people reportedly able to enjoy the colourful sky show. Early on Tuesday, before sunrise, auroras were already being seen in the northern tier of the US, such as Washington state, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Striking images came from Estonia and Alaska, while forecasters said there was the possibility of a sky show in much of Russia and northern Europe, as far south as central Germany and Poland.

In the southern hemisphere, displays were reported from Dunedin, New Zealand, and mainland Australian locations including Perth and Goulburn.

Alex Bridges 1H

California drive-by On Tuesday night, 7 people were shot outside a convenience store in North California. Police are still searching for the murderer. One victim, a 27 year-old woman, died on the scene, while two others died in hospital. The other four have been transported to regional hospitals and are expected to survive. The crime scene is in an area often connected with drug and gang crimes.

Poison pen letter On Monday, a mail screening facility at the White House received a suspicious envelope. Although biological testing has not been successful, it is suspected that the envelope contains cyanide.

Tunisian gunmen

Fraud allegations mar 'Mars One' project Saajan Shah 4H

‘Mars One’ is a project to try and establish a permanent settlement on Mars. Planners hope to send a one way manned trip to arrive as early as 2025, and first unmanned mission by 2018. However, it has recently come to light through Dr. Joseph Roche, an assistant professor at Trinity College’s school of Education in Dublin, that the whole thing is a ‘scam’.

Roche revealed that the leading contenders in the recently released 100 finalists had in fact, actually bought their way onto the mission, and that they are encouraged to ‘donate’. It was also revealed that the only way to get additional points, apart from progressing through the selection process, was to ‘buy merchandise from Mars One or to

donate money to them’. In addition, all finalists are encouraged to accept all interviews, and they are asked to 'kindly donate 75 per cent of their profit to Mars One.' With regards to Mars One’s original funding plan, the TV production company, Endemol, who were originally to document the ‘aspiring pioneers’ astonishing journeys’, has pulled out of the contract, resulting in the main financial backbone (who would of supposedly brought in $6 billion) of the project being removed.

Next, other basic aspects of the project have been exaggerated. For example, despite claims that 200,000 people had applied, it was revealed that the real number was a mere 2,761. In addition, the rigorous selection process was downscaled significantly. Roche revealed that: ‘All

of a sudden it changed from being a proper regional interview of several days to being a 10-minute Skype call.’

In comparison to the 1000+ jet flying hours required by NASA mission Commanders, the process is nowhere near the required standard. Roche told Medium, a US blogging platform, more details about this process: ‘I have not met anyone from Mars One in person. Initially they’d said [that] we would travel there, we’d be interviewed, we’d be interviewed, and we’d be tested over several days…’ This almost legitimate selection process was then changed after the candidates were made to sign a ‘non-disclosure agreement’ to the 10 minute call.

The project has been criticised since it was launched in 2011, and the plan was from the beginning merely

an ambitious dream. Although they were hopeful to even claim that they could raise $6 billion (£3.9B), that amount itself is far too small for the task, especially compared with the $25 (£16.2B) billion budget of the Apollo landings (which is £28.7B now due to inflation)! Finally, the company has no spacecraft in development, no rockets (or a place on another company’s rocket), no released research of the effects of microgravity on humans, and no plan as to how the humans will actually survive on Mars. In comparison, other space agencies, including NASA and ESA, have spent billions of dollars in an effort to discover how habitable Mars is or was. The fact that Mars One hasn’t done or attempted to do anything like this discredits their whole plan.

Do aliens exist? Milky Way planets may contain water Zayd Ahmed 1A

The Milky Way galaxy may be home to billions of planets orbiting their host stars in a "habitable zone" where life could theoretically exist, researchers said Wednesday. NASA's Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009 to search for so-called

"exoplanets" outside our own solar system, has already found thousands – many of them in systems like our own with multiple planets orbiting a star.

Using this data, researchers from the Australian National University and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen attempted to calculate

how many stars in the Milky Way could have planets in their habitable zones where liquid water could exist – the prerequisite for life whether primitive or complex.

"The calculations show that billions of the stars in the Milky Way will have one to three planets in the habitable zone, where there is the potential for liquid water and where life could exist," said a statement from the Niels Bohr Institute.

The team used a new version of a 250-year-old method called the Titius-Bode law, which correctly predicted the position of Uranus before it was discovered.

According to the law, there is a ratio between the orbital periods of planets in a solar system.

Therefore, if you know how long it takes some planets to circle the star, you can calculate the orbital period of others, determine their position and find planets "missing" from the sequence.

"We decided to use this method to calculate the potential planetary positions in 151 planetary systems, where the Kepler satellite had found between three and six planets," said researcher Steffen Jacobsen of the

Niels Bohr Institute.

The team predicted a total of 228 planets in the 151 planetary systems, and one to three planets in the habitable zone of each.

"According to the statistics and the indications we have, a good share of the planets in the habitable zone will be solid planets where there might be liquid water and where life could exist," said Jacobsen.Extrapolating the calculation to further afield, this meant that in just our own galaxy, there could be billions of stars with planets in this possibly life-sustaining zone, added the statement.

The search for a planet capable of hosting life remains an academic pursuit – there is no solar system close enough for mankind to reach it unless we develop time travel.Since its launch, the Kepler spacecraft has scoured more than 150,000 stars for exoplanets.

Astronomers have verified the existence of about 1,000 faraway worlds identified by the telescope, and about 3,000 potential planets await scientific confirmation.Most exoplanets found within their stars' habitable zones have been gas giants.

Three gunmen have attacked Tunisia’s parliament. Eight deaths have been confirmed, and hostages have been taken at a museum near the parliament building. Reports of UK, Spanish and Italian nationals amongst the dead are currently unconfirmed.

Chile forest fire On Friday, a massive forest fire started in Chile, near the World Heritage site Valparaiso (where there had been a blaze a year earlier). More than 500 hectares were burned in the blaze and a 66 year-old women died of a heart attack. Nineteen firefighters were injured in The blaze (five of them seriously) but on the whole, the fire was contained remarkably.

The fire was started at an illegal landfall were molten metal was dumped. The owner of the landfill is awaiting punishment.

Cyclone Pam Philip Michallet 2C

The inhabitants of the Pacific Island state, Vanuatu, were hit by a cyclone on the 13th of May 2015. Aid agencies said people living in slum-like conditions were particularly at risk, because of the weak foundations of their houses. Strong winds destroyed miles of land and survivors were forced to drink saltwater as their freshwater supply had been destroyed. The charity ‘Save the Children’ reported that the 3,000 people living on the island of Tongoa suffered 95% of their houses being destroyed.

Cyclone Pam reached an intensity of 5, with winds up to 230 Kilometres per hour. The weather service in Vanuatu warned their citizens of ‘flash flooding’ and ‘landslides’. Due to the poor nature of this island state, and the lack of education about disasters for their citizens, up to two thirds of Vanuatu’s citizens are at risk, and huge impacts to Vanuatu’s infrastructure are expected because of the lack of emergency response services. The Prime Minister of Vanuatu claimed the storm was a ‘monster linked to climate change’. He also said that he noticed heavier rain in Vanuatu as well as rising sea levels around the Pacific Island state.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 11

The CITIZEN

local news

Bridging the gap Zayd Ahmed 1A

The River Thames; a long grey serpent that slithers right through the middle of London driving many to attempt to leap its great breadth in ever more elaborate ways, has a long and illustrious history of architectural madness. John Soane proposed a triumphant bridge back in 1776, a palace with high rounded piers that would have spanned the River in majestic elegance, but the plans have remained in a drawer ever since.

In the 1960s a group named the Glass Age Development Committee dreamed up a multi–storey pleasure building for Vauxhall that would have straddled the Thames, but it was another scheme that was one megastructure too far.

The Royal Academy organised a competition for a "living bridge" in 1996, won by the French architect Antoine Grumbach with a lavish suspended garden, lined with hedges, trees and an exotic "topiary cafe". It was to hang from two vast apartment towers that would have paid for the project – but these generated fierce opposition that revealed the scheme as nothing more than

green garnish for a lucrative private development.

Now there is another garden/ transport bridge plan.Wandsworth Council is using an international competition to select a design for a cycle and pedestrian crossing which has to include greenery between Pimlico and Nine Elms.

Transport for London said the bridge would "support its move towards zero emissions travel in the capital".

Conservative-run Wandsworth Council said the bridge was intended to "plug the gap" between the Vauxhall and Chelsea bridge crossing points on the Thames.

The most prominent of the four designs that have been short-listed in the competition bursts out of the river in the form of two conjoined mushrooms, it would create a fictionlike floating forest between Temple and the South Bank, held aloft on a shimmering copper canopy.

The new £40 million bridge in South-West London will require planning permission. The winning design is expected to be announced in Autumn. The whole project will cost £175 million.

London favourites make list of iconic British designs Harry Tanner 3H

The Tube map, the Routemaster and the black cab have been named among Britain's favourite and most iconic conceptions in a public vote conducted by Kingston University professor Catherine McDermott.

Wellington Boots, the Olympic Torch and the Spitfire also featured on the list produced to mark the new Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone.

The capital put in a strong performance with other designs including Wembley Stadium and The London Eye also featuring in the Top 25.

The survey, which polled 2000 adults found that 69% said these designs made them feel proud to be British, while 73% said that other designs such as Dr. Martens boots made them feel nostalgic.

The Citizen's Best and Worst London Designs: Worst: The Orbit • Anish Kapoor's sculpture

and observation tower received largely negative response. The Citizen feels it looks more like a failed roller-coaster project or a dreadful crane collision rather than a creative representation of "extraordinary physical and emotional effort" as Kapoor intended it to be. Kapoor's piece is a design disaster and such an eyesore deserves to be sent into 'orbit'.

Best: The City of London School • Undoubtedly the greatest design in

London has to be the City of London School. To say its location is phenomenal would be an understatement and its elegance and beauty is second to none. The students of the City of London School deserve the palace that they are educated in. St.Pauls Cathedral and The Shard step aside because The Citizen's award for Best London Design goes to the City of London School (image right).

Introducing #CLSLondonWeek Mr CB Fillingham Assistant Head

• • • • • •

What? An entire week off normal lessons When? The last week of the Summer Term Where? Venues across London Who? All pupils OG to 4th and J6th How? By completing the forms from this week’s Schoolcomms Why? To make the most of living and working in London

Next term, all pupils have an entire week off timetable for trips and activities.

Breaking news! Stop the press!

This is the biggest thing to happen to the Summer Term at City of London School in living memory!

From Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July this year all lessons are suspended and every pupil has a programme of day trips, guest speakers and workshops around capital. The purpose of the week is to reinvigorate the last days of the academic year and to celebrate the fact that we live in the greatest city in the world.

Pupils in every year group will follow a different angle around the whole-school theme of #CLSLondonWeek. Moreover, whilst there is a main programme of activities which is tailored to individual year groups, there is also a parallel optional programme of in-depth work in Art, Music, Drama or Computing.

Full details are being sent home in today’s Schoolcomms email and places in some of the courses are extremely

limited, so please return your permission slip as soon as possible.

In Old Grammar, the title for the week is “London: City of Communication” and the activities will be led by the Geography and English Departments.

In the First Form, #CLSLondonWeek is called “The Peoples of London” and there are three day trips which are being coordinated by the Classics, History and RP Departments.

In the Second Form, the theme takes a slight twist and it is called “London and Paris in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”.

The English, French and History Departments have worked together to offer a programme which includes Hampton Court, Shakespeare and a

day trip to Paris.

In the Third Form, three days are being devoted to “London: City of Science”. Working in small groups, all pupils will have the opportunity to make scientific films at locations all over the capital.

In the Fourth Form, the main programme is called “London: City of Maths” and it includes code-breaking, maths speakers, some PSHE workshops as well as a full sports day at Grove Park.

Finally, in the Junior Sixth Form, the angle is “Springboard from London” and the activities are designed to help you to prepare to leave our great School and even our great City as you take your life to its next stage. There is also PSHE, a trip to the Chelsea Football

Ground and a how-to guide to work experience and internships.

Beyond the main programme and even beyond the arts and computing optional programmes, there are also residential trips operating during the same week. The Middle School has a Lille trip from Tuesday to Monday, the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award Scheme are away on expedition and the CCF have Annual Camps running simultaneously with #CLSLondonWeek.

I hope that this will prove to be a highlight to the school year. Rest assured that the Summer Fair and Student Day will operate as usual and there will be an early finish on Friday 3 July! Please look at Schoolcomms this afternoon to find out more.

12 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

PUZZLES Puzzles compiled by Shayon Mukherjee 5C

Across

Down

1. Holy (6) 4. School-skipper (6) 9. Paper art (7) 10. Suddenly change direction (5)11. Construct (5) 12. Japanese silent orchestra?

(7)13. Surrounded by other countries (10) 18. Hot-tub brand (7) 20. Rest (5) 21. Treble, bass, alto, tenor (5) 23. Sneakily (5) 24. Comes into, acquires (6)

1. Nicked (6) 2. Unlawful action (5) 3. Put into practice, proposed (a bill/law) (7) 5. Traveller on Mars? (5) 6. Ingested nutrients (3,4) 7. Flavour, sense (5) 8. Full body martial art (10) 14. Bow hunting (7) 15. Protein, ink tear (anag.) (7) 16. Removes, throws out (6) 17. Is real, has being (6) 19. Full of pungent taste (5)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

7614567: Directed towards avoidance or escape 12944: Seemingly bottomless pit 28374: Usually in a 12 bar sequence?

Use the clues above to figure out the letters that correspond to each number and put the letters in order to find the codeword!

Who was the writer of the novel ‘Walden; or, Life in the Woods’?

Which numbers should replace the question marks in each of the puzzles?

When was the Magna Carta signed?

Where was The Lord of the Rings filmed?

What was Madam Curie’s fatal discovery?

How did King John I die?

Who was the architect that designed the Battersea Power Station?

What is the name of this painting, and who painted this piece?

Shayon Mukherjee 1. In the scenario; the goal is valid. That said, referees are instructed to almost never play advantage on a red-card foul unless a goal (not opportunity, a goal) is imminent. In this scenario, the proper procedure would be to allow the goal and send off the player who just scored the goal. Would you do the same?

2. In the scenario there is nothing that the referee can do other than to enforce the laws. What he must do is report his concern to the competition organizers in his match report. That situation most likely will be brought to the attention of the competition organizers anyway and it will result in a disciplinary hearing. The referee sending off reports will be matters of fact and the clubs, league etc. will no doubt form their own opinion of the highly unsporting element of the actions which would probably result in serious sanction being taken against the club including loss of the game and lengthy suspensions. Would you do the same?

(Questions in the Sports section)

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The Modern Man

Thought-provoking articles on Feminism | Nature | Religion | Wearable Tech | Progress | Film | Rogers The CITIZEN

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | C2 Page 1

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IN THIS SUPPLEMENT

The Modern Man vs. Feminism?

Did you mean Modern Human?

Back to the pond Have we really progressed?

Religion: is there a sell-by date?

Gender roles in films Wearable technology

3 4 5

6 7 8 11 12 The Modern Man A sartorial photo essay Captions by David Ordman S6 Photos by Vincent Hao S6

C2 Page 2 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

The Modern Man Theo Serlin S6

T

his special pullout supplement is devoted to the theme of ‘The Modern Man.’ We intended this section to provide a (probably blurry) snapshot of where we collectively are right now.

This neatly divides into two parts. The first concerns the “Modern” part of our theme. We have Jake Mendel asking whether religion in the modern age is “past its sell-by date” and David Valdavicius examining how technology is becoming ever-pervasive in its wearable form. Zak Lakota-Baldwin in his article investigates how people, displeased with all this tech, are trying to reconnect with the natural world. Sam Kramer and Tian-Long Lee both compare the hypothetical average man today with his antecedents and decendents, examining how our relationship with technology has changed, and where it’s heading.

Another component of our theme is that denoted by the “Man” part of its name. It could be argued that there has never been more equality between the genders (though that’s not to say total equality has been reached). As the newspaper of an all-boys school, we’ve perhaps been able to enter the debate from a different angle to most: Matteo Bellani, in his article, challenges the notion that feminism is irrelevant to the modern man, and makes a powerful argument for its importance.

Ben Jaffe (our cover star) and Johnny Aslet spar over the utility of gender stereotypes, and Victor Jack examines how these stereotypes pervade the films we watch. Vincent Hao (also our design chief) explores in his photo essay how pupils and teachers at CLS express their personalities through their clothing, despite the restrictions the school places on them.

In short, the Modern Man is a mass of contradictions: addicted to technology but trying to escape it; avoiding organised religion but still seeking a spiritual connection and shoe-horned into a set of self-perpetuating stereotypes. But that may not be a bad thing. Over the past fifty years we have become an increasingly tolerant society. Is it time for the modern man to just be what he wants to be?

The CITIZEN

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | C2 Page 3

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2 The Modern Man vs. Feminism?

Matteo Bellani 5S

F

“

eminism: what is it? It may be surprising in this day and age that this word is still considered taboo by many. When people reveal themselves to be feminists, it’s often received as if they’ve come out of the closet. People fear what they don’t know, so I’d like to start by defining it. Feminism is the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes, formed on the basis that women are clearly at a disadvantage in our society.

Contrary to popular belief, feminists are not misandrists and the oft-perpetuated myth about ‘feminazis’ is simply not true.

Hilary Clinton once said women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world and 54% of women in the workplace are still employed below their potential in the western world. Women in the workplace

By dismantling the patriarchy, men can be free to pursue their own choices rather than being pressured into conforming to a stereotype.” are discriminated against because they might become pregnant: roughly 30,000 women are sacked each year for being pregnant, and each year an estimated 440,000 women lose out on equal pay or promotion as a result of pregnancy in the UK. 17% of board directors are women in FTSE 100 companies. Obviously we can’t go along and sack certain men and replace them with women, but this goes to show that our society is not geared towards placing women in positions of power. A culture where men or women are hired due to merit, rather than by what genitalia they have, needs to be established, as it would mean that the overall quality of work in companies would be significantly better: the UK alone misses out on £23 billion by not better harnessing women’s skills in the workplace.

Economics aside, feminism can help our society as a whole. Feminism ultimately aims to dismantle gender roles. From a very young age, boys and girls are told they need to act in a certain way; this is where gender normativity starts and where sexism may stem, whether

C2 Page 4 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

it’s benevolent or discriminatory. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in her TED talk, rightly explained that boys are told they need to be “Hard Men” and thus are encouraged to eschew qualities like sensitivity, nurturing behaviour and vulnerability in favour of physical and political power. Those who do not conform are often frowned upon and labelled as ‘moist’. This is the flipside of the male patriarchal advantage: buying into the whole illusion and spending one’s life trying - and ultimately failing - to become a Hard Man such as Hugh Jackman. Rather than limiting male opportunities, feminism could increase them. By dismantling the patriarchy, men can be free to pursue their own choices rather than being pressured into conforming to a stereotype.

A certain number of men I know are against feminism either because they feel threatened by it or because they fail to understand it. Masculinism is starting to emerge as certain men feel hard done by a society that is “apparently becoming more favourable to women than men” and “because women are leaving their traditional roles.”

In their eyes, families are becoming more dysfunctional as both spouses now have to work in order to make ends meet. Women win more than 90% of child custody cases - although more needs to be done to make sure men have an equal opportunity to be awarded custody, based on family circumstances, it has been proven that most cases of abuse are perpetuated by men and therefore women are somewhat justifiably seen as a safer option. Another oft-quoted statistic is that 80% of suicides are men. This does not prove women are favoured, however it may be indicative of a wider trend. As I mentioned above, men are expected to be tough and hide their feelings, and I’m not saying all men who kill themselves are conforming to this, but many don’t seek out the help they need to save them because they don’t want to seem weak. I could mention many more things that masculinists take issue with, but my overall response to these arguments is that the patriarchy has set up men in a way that is not beneficial to either gender.

The gender gap may be closing in our lives, but in the lesser developed world, treatment of women is still as bad as ever. When rapists in India say, without any remorse, that women deserve to be gang-raped because they dress too revealingly, the issues that masculinists bicker over are totally irrelevant to the discussion on gender equality.

So much more needs to be done to change perceptions of women in society, and it can’t just be women to challenge the patriarchy. Men need to recognise their privilege and work for a society where gender equality is a norm and not just a dream.

The CITIZEN

DEBATE

Did you mean Modern Human?

Is there any value in seeing the genders as distinct?

Arguments for

Arguments against

Ben Jaffe S6

Johnny Aslet S6

I

t has often been asserted by both sociologist and feminist academics that one must make a clear distinction between the notions of ‘sex’ and ‘gender. ‘Sex’, is said to be the purely biological description of an individual (i.e. male and female), whilst ‘gender’ describes the characteristics an individual presents that over the history of humanity have come to be associated with a certain sex (i.e. masculine and feminine).

Yet, in what capacity does the link between sex and gender remain not only representative of, but also beneficial to contemporary society?

In 21st Century western society, religion is no longer the perpetual force it once was, however without a doubt we still remain in the hangover of its social conditioning.

In order to refute the notion of seeing gender as distinct one must examine the origins of this distinction. As is widely known, the Abrahamic religions made a point of drawing a distinction between man and woman in Genesis, where in the traditional story, Eve is said to be made out of one of Adams’s rib but after this they both frolic around in the Garden of Eden like happy bunnies free of gender roles. It is only after Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge and they are punished that gender roles are introduced. God punishes Eve stating: “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children”. This punishment marks the first distinctive reference to why the anatomical difference between men and women genetically could result in them playing different roles to one another in society. However, this distinction of societal roles appears to stem predominantly from a physiological difference. Prior to the technological revolutions of the last few centuries, the division of labour in society was based off one’s physical differences, consequently reinforcing the gender stereotypes of the religious scripture. However, in the 21st Century we operate in a society of mental rather than physical strength, where roles traditionally distilled by the anatomical features of the sexes are redundant. For example, the issue of military warfare: in contemporary society drones, guns and other technological innovations have surpassed the relevance of physical strength or stature as a significant factor. Men and women may physically differ, but what is to say that their psychological attributes hold such rigid roles?

With this notion in mind, one should consider to what extent the male and female brain are intrinsically different from one another.

Over the last half century, scientific and sociological research has undeniably proved inconclusive on this matter without a clear ‘winner’ of the debate. One cannot refute the fact that the neurological community has provided evidence that (in general) men and women do in fact have different brains (i.e. certain parts are engorged and chemical levels vary). However, recent research from Neuroscientist Professor Gina Rippon suggests that rather than there being an intrinsic difference, distinctions arise as a result of society’s expectation of that person’s role. Rippon cites the example that “Often boys’ toys are much more training-based whereas girls’ toys are more nurturing”, further The CITIZEN

elaborating that the brain is plastic and permeable - its parts, structures and pathways change depending on social activity. Thus, the development of the brain and its ultimate structure could seemingly said to be is nurture rather than nature. Therefore, to stereotype and see the genders as distinct would be to restrict and impinge upon the development of individuals who are forced into a mould.

An argument often endorsed by those who support traditional gender roles and stereotypes in society is the notion that people not only feel more ‘comfortable’ with traditional roles, but by stereotyping the sexes to hold certain gender attributes, people know what to expect when they interact with a stranger.

In regards to the former, as 3rd wave feminism has taught the world, there is no issue whatsoever with wishing to fulfil a role that has been perceived as the stereotypical way to act and function in society. However, whilst an individual may feel that holding traditional attributes is ‘right’ for them, what gives them the right to establish what other people feel ‘right’ expressing or doing? As we established above, the biology of the brain i.e. gender, is not strict, it’s not binary, there is a spectrum and a blur and therefore people may present an array of attributes. With regard to the benefits of stereotyping, one cannot deny that Darwinism has argued that the primary motive for any individual is for sexual activity, and subsequently one may hold a different approach when meeting a potential mate. However, that is based off an individual’s sex, rather than the gender and their attributes – as I noted at the beginning, they are distinctive concepts. Moreover, when meeting an individual, through the use of chosen pronouns one can infer whether or not they are a ‘potential mate’ and thus have no need to rely on pre-conceived attributes. To stereotype is detrimental to the individual and loses sight of the fact that often people will not conform to such pre-conceptions.

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learly, gender shouldn’t determine absolutely how any one person should be behave or how he/she/non-genderbinary-identifier should be treated. But (even having checked one’s privilege) it is still incredibly difficult first to deny the existence of gender as at least partially biological or, having accepted its objective existence to say that it is still always better to ignore it. Doing so relies on a number of assumptions about science and society which, at the very best, seem far too uncertain to warrant as radical a shift from the status quo as Ben is proposing.

It’s probably worth noting first that, in the most literal reading of the title, there is no doubt that seeing the roles of men and women as distinct, in our current society, maintains value. In a great number of studies, which make no effort to correct for societal influence, men simply behave differently to women. For example, one of the distinctions which arose in a study by UCL was that, when asked at what cost they would cheat on their spouse, women on average said it would require £250,000 whilst men, being a feckless bunch lusting after ‘dubious rewards,’ set their sights on a more attainable £1,000. In this particular instance a surprisingly exact value – £249,000 – can be put on the value of seeing genders as distinct by anyone hopeful of engaging in extra-marital dalliance. More widely, acknowledging the differences shown between the values women and men place on fidelity would, on the whole, produce the obvious benefits of having more realistic expectations of your spouse and your relationship.

Of course this approach to human interaction has several gaping flaws – the main one being that within any group (especially one as large as to encompass 50%) of the population, there is huge variation and you may therefore, unnecessarily prejudice a perfectly faithful man if you constantly generalise, even having known him for a long time. Yet, whilst this might somewhat complicate the uses of knowing that men tend systematically to be more unfaithful than women, even on an individual basis, it doesn’t prove that there aren’t any. Whilst it isn’t beneficial, thinking that generalizations can help you more than actually knowing someone, they give you an incredibly helpful framework within which you can actually get to know someone. Certainly for those who are not so philosophically inclined as constantly to worry about the role of gender in our society (i.e. people who don’t have too much free time on their hands), getting to know someone based on first principles is an incredibly tiresome and nearimpossible process. Simply observing someone and then waiting for them to repeat doing certain things long enough for patterns in their behaviour to emerge, on its own, would either be incredibly time-consuming or wouldn’t give a very accurate reflection of the person at all.

If you then wanted really to approach someone without any preconceptions, you not only need to work out which patterns of behaviour were emerging but also which ones were actually important. If however, you can approach an interaction anyone with ideas of their behaviour which are, mostly, reliable, then you will constantly have a template against which you can

compare them: you can ignore all the features which fit your preconception but then adjust it when their behaviour falsifies it. In this way, you can both recognise the value of seeing genders as distinct (and therefore, function more easily as a relatively-normal human being), without needing to force someone to conform to the preconceptions you have for each gender.

Of course, there is also a wider question of value – even if they currently exist, are gender roles currently forcing people to behave in a way which is unnecessarily contrived: are they societally imposed? On the whole, whilst this might be true to a certain extent, it seems unlikely to be true enough to require doing away the notion of gender entirely. Whilst, I (like my colleague) cannot pretend to be endowed with scientific expertise or knowledge, extending beyond EDEXCEL’s iGCSE syllabus, the broad consensus amongst psychologists allows me to state with great confidence: gender is to some extent a biological phenomenon…probably.

In his incredibly influential book, the Blank Slate, Steven Pinker (Harvard Professor of Psychology) outlines unequivocally his view, and that of the papers which he cites: women naturally tend to be more empathetic and to have a “better memory for verbal material” whilst men (naturally) “have a higher tolerance for pain and a greater willingness to risk life and limb for status, attention and other dubious rewards.” Judging whether this is scientifically valid is, for the layperson (again, people who don’t have too much time on their hands), certainly difficult - books such as Cordeilia Fine’s “Delusions of Gender” certainly poor scorn on some of the studies used to produce these results.

However, given that no competing studies exist consistently showing ‘congenital gender equality’ in the areas that Steven Pinker outlines and given that the British Psychological Society (and many others) objected to the ideologicallydriven, “ludicrous” assumptions behind some of the books which challenged Pinker’s central thesis, I would certainly venture to suggest that the scientific consensus points very strongly away from the view that gender roles are societal. In this sense, refusing to recognise the genders as distinct, would require people systematically to ignore the obvious: ignore some part of reality. Less (perhaps, dubiously) philosophical, is simply the fact that if we accept the scientific consensus and recognise the genders as distinct, we can understand where genuine sexism is holding women back from doing what they want. For example, trying to scientifically determine how much men are naturally inclined towards sciences (and away from more interesting things like humanities) would allow us to know whether schooling is institutionally sexist. Simply saying that the only natural ratio would be 50:50, in the absence of evidence, risks either damaging meritocratic education or making women feel unnecessarily victimised and powerless over their own lives.

Gender roles therefore, aren’t always valuable – rigid adherence to them certainly isn’t and there are undoubtedly instances where they impose harmful and unrealistic expectations on both women and men – but they can be.

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Back to the pond Zak Lakota-Baldwin 5C

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n the summer of 1845, the transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau moved into a small house in the woods that he had built himself, two miles from his family home, on the shore of Walden Pond. What followed was a remarkable combination of self-reliance experiment and voyage of spiritual discovery spanning two years, two months and two days, documented in the book he is perhaps best known for: Walden; or, Life in the Woods. He was alone, immersed in nature, and his hope was that this would allow him to better understand society by removing himself from it and going back to ‘the basics.’

Now, more than 150 years later, Thoreau’s quest for self-discovery through simple living seems more relevant than ever. The world has undeniably changed since then, and for every great leap in human progress, we take a step away from nature. Trees are replaced by skyscrapers, birdsong is smothered in the mechanical drone of cars, and you can go months without ever seeing anything more exotic than a pigeon or a housecat. We still glimpse true wilderness through the tinted window of our TV screens, in documentaries and their like, but there is a growing disconnect between modern humanity and its wild roots.

Why should we be concerned about this? On the whole, people are now safer and more secure, have higher life expectancies than ever before, and the twin phenomena of globalisation and the internet have brought cultures and nations together that would otherwise exist in isolation. Even so, it’s hard not to feel like the human race has lost something important, intrinsic even, in its meteoric rise to near-world domination.

Though we may not have to confront such feelings on a regular basis, we feel a very primal, instinctual draw to the earth, to the raw and the untamed. Whether it’s a greenfingered gardener tending their inner-city allotment, or a middle class mum from Islington scouring the shelves of Whole Foods for organic quinoa, so many people derive a sense of satisfaction from feeling at least slightly in touch with the natural world. Genuine back-to-theland movements often enjoy periods of vogue too, informing everything from fashion choices (think checked shirts evoking the lumberjack look) to entire lifestyles, referred to with such tags as ‘radical homemaking’ or ‘voluntary simplicity’ – in essence, a return to the Walden Pond of the

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wider world. Arguably, we’re in one now.

Not long ago, such a trend would seem unimaginable – in a millennium defined so far by technological advances and ravenous consumerism, there appeared to be no place for such rustic pursuits; a reality for country folk, maybe, but not we in the urban paradise of the big cities.

So what changed? Was it when the recession hit, and so many people found themselves re-evaluating what capitalism and the American Dream could really do for them?

Was it when climate change at least became a seriously talked about issue? What about the emerging fear of GM crops, rational or not, and the looming threat of food shortages that scientists are attempting to solve? An imperfect storm has been brewing for some time now, bringing all of these things together and driving us back into the eternally open arms of nature.

The key for the future might lie in finding a balance between living in sustainable simplicity, and still engaging with the rest of the world, by seeking to solve problems rather than simply hiding from them in a hut in the woods. Thoreau didn’t impose hermitry on himself – he spent two years in the house by the pond, not a lifetime. Indeed, when he returned to ‘civilization’, he produced an essay entitled Resistance to Civil Government (an argument for disobedience to an unjust state), which was informed by some of the experiences he had during his period of simple living.

Compare this to modern endeavours like the Eden Project, a huge complex of artificial biodomes containing plants from around the world, which “does much more than offer a memorable day out in Cornwall. Eden is also a charity and social enterprise … running transformational social and environmental projects on our doorstep and around the world … and doing valuable research into plants and conservation.” It’s this kind of engagement with world issues that might offer a real path for sustainability, allowing us to get in touch with our wild side while still making a difference for good. Thoreau himself said this of his own reasons: ‘I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.’ That’s a sentiment we all share, I think – the desire to feel as though we’ve lived life to the full, whatever that may mean to us, and die without regrets.

The CITIZEN

Life in the city is fast paced so its often hard to keep up with fashion as well as business.

However, keeping up to date with the latest trends can inspire others and help you stand out as the man of the moment. People often form early opinion based on the appearance of others, therefore it is the perfect opportunity to stand out from the crowd by dressing sharply and fittingly for the occasion - first impression are often long lasting. School uniform is a big part of a City boy’s day to day experience. Representation is crucial when it comes to a school right in the centre of London.

Have we really progressed?

Tian-Long Lee 3S

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he average Modern Man gets out of bed at 7:14 am, eats his 37.5 grams of Weetabix and wakes up the other 1.58 members of his household, 1.27 of whom are female. He earns an average of £26,500 per annum, lives for 84.7 years and picks up his phone 1563 times a week. Compared to his primitive ancestors, he has changed significantly: he relies on electricity, he has a set schedule of what to do and has much more sophisticated interests such as art and music. Before, we were animals and our predominant focus was to hunt for food, reproduce and survive, surely we have changed from then? Of course, we use money to trade, we can communicate with much more ease and we have a sense of moral justice. But we haven’t advanced that much, we still strive to get meals on the table, we feel the need to have sex and we still do anything to survive. After we have fulfilled these necessities, only then do we layer on art, literature and music. We think that we are far superior to the primitive man but in actual fact we have not changed what we do but instead we have changed how well we do it. Instead of spending five hours in our day trying to hunt down a deer for food, we can now order a medium-rare venison steak in 15 minutes. This allows more time to be spent on extrinsic things such as sightseeing, Facebook and reading newspaper articles. We still have that animal instinct to hunt, reproduce and survive but we have become so good at doing these things that we feel the need to do superfluous things, giving the illusion that we have progressed from our primitive counterpart.

The CITIZEN

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | C2 Page 7

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Religion: is there a sell-by date?

Jake Mendel 5M

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n the past century religious demographics and attitudes to religion have changed more drastically than they did in the millennium before that. Some people say that this is as a direct result of increased understanding of how our universe works – advances in physics such as relativity and quantum physics have increased our understanding of the world we live in, and medical discoveries in the past hundred years such as genetic engineering have enabled us to understand ourselves to an extent that previously we would never have thought possible. Perhaps there is no need for a ‘God of the Gaps’ to explain the world to us, and this is why up to 20% of the world does not believe in any form of God, gods, or life force? It is clear that Atheism and Secularism have been growing in popularity over the 20th and 21st centuries. Is this a sign of things to come? Does this mean the demise of religion?

Although Atheism has only recently begun to gain popularity, it has been around for longer than any modern religion. The first signs of Atheism were actually in India at the time of the historical Vedic religion – the religion that was the precursor to Hinduism at about 1800BCE. Western Atheism developed from preSocratic philosophy around 500BCE. However it wasn’t until the age of enlightenment in the early 18th century, when people stopped taking the word of the Church as the absolute truth and started looking for empirical evidence for their belief, that Atheism came into the foreground. Nowadays Atheism is much more popular in well-off first-world countries, such as those on the Scandinavian Peninsula or Canada. In Canada roughly 30% of Christians do not believe in God at all! In contrast a worldwide 2004 survey showed that whilst across the world 17% of people do not believe in a higher power, that figure is almost zero in Nigeria, a very poor thirdworld country. This is why, despite the large numbers of people who become atheists every year, Atheism is not as much on the rise as it perhaps could be – richer people tend to have fewer children. The fertility rate in Nigeria (children per family) is 6.0, compared to 1.9 in Canada.

This, coupled with the fact that phrases in the Bible such as ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore’ (Gen. 22:17) encourage religious people to have many children, means that theists on average have more children that atheists. Thus atheism is growing quite slowly, and is perhaps not as much of a threat to religion as some people suppose.

Another type of increasingly common feature of Atheism, particularly prevalent in China and Israel, is the shift from belief in a religion to simply practicing the customs and rituals of the religion for cultural reasons. A typical example is that of Jews who live in Israel, where over 20% of all Jews don’t believe in God at all, but consider themselves Jewish nonetheless, and practice many of the rituals associated with Judaism.

As well as the rise in Atheism, another important change in religious demographics that has been said to be more of a threat to the continued existence of religion, is the rise of Secularism: the shift from orthodoxy and strict adherence to the rules to an attitude which encompasses modern society more, which some people consider to take away from the original religion. There are several main changes in Britain to religion as a result

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of Secularisation since 1950. There is now increased diversity inside religions, with more people following a more reformed version rather than a traditional one which may be considered to be out of date. Fewer people tend to attend their place of worship as often and in general practice less formally. People now feel less obligated to say they belong to a religion and intermarriage is far more widespread than it ever used to be. This is not all that surprising because what makes the west different now to other parts of the world and to the past, is that due to Secularism there are fewer boundaries between people than ever before and we are able to live in the same culture as each other regardless of religious, social or ethnic backgrounds, so it is natural that we are more comfortable intermarrying and not associating ourselves with a particular religion. In fact famous thinkers such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud both predicted that with the modernisation of the western world would come an increase in Secularism. However it is not clear that Secularism is a threat to religion. It is merely a new approach to religion that fits the social demands of the western world.

It is easy to get caught up in the idea that the recent increase in the popularity of Atheism and Secularism has been caused only by the modernisation of the world.

However there are several other important factors. One key factor, particularly relevant in the last century, is communism. There is a strong correlation between exor present communist states and numbers of people who consider themselves atheist, agnostic or non-religious, because communism suppresses religion. In China 59% percent of people in a recent survey claimed they were non-practicing or didn’t believe in any form of God, a far higher percent than the worldwide average.

However Secularism and Atheism are not the only changes that have affected religion in the modern world. Another major change is the rise of religious extremism outside the western world. Unlike Secularism, Extremism specifically distances itself from moderate religion and central politics, and does not seek to merge with modern society. The most prominent example of this is the rise of radical Islam in the Middle East.

Unfortunately this has driven a rift between the East and the West, because as the Western World secularises and becomes less extreme, the Middle East has responded by seeking ever more radical approaches, with catastrophic results – Al Qaeda and ISIS, to name two.

Therefore it seems that there is no end to religion in the foreseeable future. Although Atheism is very much on the rise, its onslaught is a slow one, and one which only significantly affects communist states and firstworld countries. Although secularism is on the rise, again it is only on the rise in the west, and it is merely a change in attitudes, to a wider community not restricted by differences of religion. As Secularism and Atheism increase, extremists feel compelled to further follow the path of Extremism, and this is certainly a path which is not likely to aid the decline of religion. It was inevitable that with the globalisation, communism and advances in Science of the 20th and 21st Centuries would have to come some huge shake up of religion as we know it, and that shake up is not over, but it seems that this shake up will only change religion as we know it, rather than eliminate it.

The CITIZEN

Arguably one of the most important aspects of a man’s modern day life is to look the part.

Whether it be a business meeting or just attending school, one must pragmatically adapt to the situation in order to gain the confidence of others. After all, appearance defines the man at first sight. Combinations are highly important when it comes to a man’s outfit. Picking the right shirt and jumper to match the suit; the right shoes or even the right bowtie can often be hard - but if pulled off it’s worth the effort. It mustn’t be forgotten that fashion doesn’t end with clothes. Other features such as hair come into play too. A slick outfit accompanied by a smartly styled coiffure can be play a key role in any success.

The CITIZEN

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | C2 Page 9

Part of the reason for having a uniform is so that all pupil’s at City have a co-ordinated yet stylish everyday attire. However, it is what you add on to the uniform that helps you stand out. Just a single feature can make all the difference. For example, a bold yet stylish striped school blazer, or even a double windsor tie knot could make any uniform that much more appealing.

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As Coco Chanel once put it: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” In short, fashion is not just the outfit, it is the ideas and attitude that one carries with them, but clothing is a good place to start.”

The CITIZEN

Gender roles in films:

“Nobody puts baby in the corner” Victor Jack 5A

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rom the weedy and unsettling Norman Bates to the dark and brooding Batman; from the loyal and independent Erin Brokovich to the fierce and sharp Hermione Granger, gender-characterization in films has changed in 100 or so years. But, in this time, how much have they changed and have they changed for the better?

The role of men in films If one were to look at the top box-office films for 2014, one would see that 80% of them have a male main character, but how similar really are these characters and do they conform to the clichéd status quo conception of masculinity or not? The most common genre (in this selection) is adventure (11 films), followed by comedy, action and sci-fi/fantasy (all on 10 films).

In these adventure films, it turns out that the main characters do have striking similarities. On close examination, ignoring their basic storyline and personality, many younger characters such as Peter Parker from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy, Hercules and Captain America are almost interchangeable: They are all the “body-ideal” men, with muscles bursting from every part of their anatomy, they have quite serious personalities (although they all have some comedic moments) and are very emotionally guarded. The older characters are, equally, alike–Moses from Exodus: Gods and Kings, Cooper from Interstellar, Todd Burpo from Heaven Is for Real and Frank Stokes from The Monuments Men are all practically indistinguishable–they are all as emotionally placid (their values are somewhat antediluvian–protect family and “do one’s duty”) and come across as quite condescending. Ergo, they are all, still, the representations of the ideal 1950s man without emotion and very flat in terms

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of individual and unique persona. With the action genre, this is all the more obvious as any sign of personality and/or depth from more sophisticated adventure films is scraped off to reveal this generic male template.

But what about comedy films? Again, the male figures are homogeneous. One can find evident parallels between Cedric in Think Like a Man Too, Schmidt in 22 Jump Street, Ryan in Let’s Be Cops and Lloyd Christmas from Dumber and Dumber To: they are all goofy, crude and witless–the opposite to those from action/adventure films. The funniness of the characters is rooted in this contrast. So it seems that for most principal male characters (in these films at least), there is a fleshed-out and archaic template used, which is occasionally compounded by some personality or some “special” trait, such as moodiness or sentimentality. For comedies, the opposite is simply used. This is, of course, not true for every film yet is unfortunate and unfair as there are so many interesting aspects to the male psyche and so many different types of men too.

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blatantly sexualized.This does show that there is at least some positive change in the Hollywood industry (although both The Hunger Games and Divergent were books first, and Angelina Jolie is successful enough to demand such a character).

It is refreshing as usually, if a woman is the lead,

Older male characters are all, still, the representations of the ideal 1950s man without emotion.”

The role of women in films Only 20% of these top 50 box-office films have women as their main characters. It is true that the typical female film character isn’t depicted as particularly strong and so is deemed inappropriate for these films. This is unacceptable, but there are exceptions, such as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, Tris from Divergent, Leslie Mann from The Other Woman and Maleficent.

These are all strong female leads that are not swayed by other male characters. Although in terms of basic personality (asocial and slightly awkward) they are similar, they are different to their counterparts in most other films as they are developed, strong and not

Prehistoric and backwards templates are still being used for many successful feature film characters.”

such as Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars, she turns out to be quite soppy and very emotional, with the film not only normally being a romance but also one targeted at pre-teen and younger teenage girls.

Although women do seem to conquer men on the “supporting character” front with 52% from this selection, most are, undoubtedly, the rudimentary stereotype of women in films. There are three types: the innocent virgin, the damsel in distress and the dirty harlot. Although it is perhaps not as noticeable as 50 years ago, once the surface identity is separated, all is revealed. For the first type, does Murph from Interstellar not fit? How about a main character, April O’Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the second type? And Black Widow from Captain America for the third?

Of course, lots are very interesting characters, yet this infuriating template for women in films does remain for many as well.

Moreover there was only one film directed by a woman in the list. Angelina Jolie was that sole director, and she only got this opportunity as she has enough contacts and is rich and successful enough to do so. It can be argued, however, that it’s all about networking and perhaps some women in the industry simply don’t have adequate contacts or aren’t lucky enough. Also, rather optimistically speaking, perhaps the industry is changing for the better but the population is not aware of this yet as the majority of directors don’t become successful before a certain age, and many female directors haven’t reached this age yet. Even so, this is appalling and goes to show, that although women are equally keen to spread creativity throughout the film industry, a lot of inequality and discrimination remains behind the scenes.

What does this mean?

Although it can be said that the blockbuster industry is heading in the right direction, it is doing too little too slowly, with prehistoric and backwards templates still being used for many successful feature film characters. There is so much more to discover of the brain and type for men and so much more in between the angel and the devil for women–it is simply unfair that the richness of both spectra is rarely represented. Hopefully, in the near future, this will all change but there is quite a long way still to go. However, surely the characters shown in films are merely a reflection of society and those who go to see them...

The CITIZEN

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | C2 Page 11

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Wearable technology – is this the year?

David Valdivicious 2R

2015

is set to be the year of the wearable tech (and sheep), and a host of companies including Apple and Google - are introducing their takes on the genre. Back in 2010, when people were shouting that smart, wearable tech would shape the future, replacing all of our other pieces of tech, were we predicting the future, or overcasting a horrible end?

A hefty contender must be the all awaiting Apple Watch and the main question for many is whether to buy now or wait for the Apple Watch 2? It comes in three different designs, ‘Apple Watch’ (steel box for the business man), ‘Apple Watch Sport’ (aluminium box for the poorer or sporty) and ‘Apple Watch Edition’ (pure gold box for Tim Cook, Apple CEO). It also comes in two different sizes, 38mm and 42mm.

This is for the two different wrist sizes, and differs from Google’s smartwatches, which come in only have one size, mainly for bigger men’s wrists. The cheapest one will be the ‘Sport,’ at a base price of £300 ($400), the ‘Watch’ at about £479 and the ‘Edition’ at a whopping £8,000!

This will vary even more by the strap that you choose to take with it. There are about 10 different straps to choose from, and these are all interchangeable. So let’s say you buy your watch with a sports band, but then you start a job in business, and you want to look smart, instead of buying a new watch, you get a new band, and change it.

The battery life is, with typical usage, 18 hours. This means you will need nightly charging, which takes 2.5 hours for full charge, but 1.5 hours for 80%. If you play music out of it (which you would rather do than use your

much louder phone), it only takes 6.5 hours to run out of juice! Or, if you forget you ever bought a smart watch, it will last 72 hours on Power Reserve. It is run by an S1 chip, but who knows what that is? Only the boffins at Apple.

It works with an Apple iPhone 5 or higher, which means that you may need an upgrade.

(This is another way Apple guzzles your money.) You can also interact with friends, but again, they will need an Apple Watch for these special features (again, more money).

Also, if you’re messaging your mates that you got a new Apple Watch, you can tell Siri (who is hopefully fixed) to message your friend. You can use the watch as a viewfinder, so you can leave your brand new phone on a stone or something, unguarded, as you take a photo.

(There is no visible flaw in this, totally.) The apps to be found on the iPhone are maps, messages, music, and all of the basic apps found on the iPhone (Safari is missing however, possibly due to the screen being too small). More apps can be downloaded, such as Twitter and City Mapper. Also, it has a brand new Health & Fitness app. This tells when you have been sitting for too long, how much you have walked, and how much you need to run.

Meanwhile, at the infamous Google X testing centre, Google has made the eponymous Glass. This badly designed pair of glasses, which are supposed to show you notifications, could get annoying in everyday life. One issue is that you never know if someone wearing the glasses is filming you, which breaks human rights laws. The real issue is why anyone would spend £1000 on the highly expensive Google Glass, when they can just spend a measly £300 (approximate from $399) on

the GlassUp, which looks normal, shows you things in the middle of your field of view, grips onto your head and has no camera so you don’t get arrested every time you step outside the house! It’s unsurprising that Google seems to have suspended the Glass project.

One thing that Google has done very well (other than their search engine), is smartwatches. At the beginning they messed up, trying to make the watch replace the phone, but after some years of tweaking, they’ve hit the sweet spot (and in good time for smartwatch year!). The best one thus far is the LG G Watch R (hereafter referred to as the GR). It is Android powered, and has equivalent versions of the applications on the Apple Watch, but isn’t identical. Design-wise, it’s far worse.

There is only one colour, size and material finish, which could stymie its mass-market appeal. What’s more, you have to tap and zoom on a fiddly, tiny screen. Apple overcame this problem by making the crown a rotating zoom wheel. The GR does however come with Google-made apps, like ‘Hangouts’ and Google Maps. Another feature that Google brought in is speech. A bit like Apple, it lets you ask the phone questions instead of typing.

So as the past years have shown us with amazing ideas, but humongous flaws, wearable tech like glasses can be useful and be worth the investment, if they are made well enough. Smartwatches were highly unpopular, but this could change with the imminent release of the Apple Watch. What appears to always happen is that someone has an idea, Google makes a version, which fails and then Apple makes its own hugely successful one.

Apple and Google (Android) are once again in direct competition - this time over wearable technology.

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Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 13

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technology

Internet Explorer becomes history Citizen Technology Correspondent

This week Microsoft retired its infamous browser, Internet Explorer, to be replaced by its revised system under the name of Project Spartan.

It once had nearly 1 billion users, but even Microsoft admitted that it was 'deeply unloved' and in the shadow of competitors such as Google Chrome.

According to Dan Brewster, a senior interactive designer, people only used it because it was pre-installed or because they were required to by their employers.

It was originally designed to counter its competitor Netscape at the dawn of the internet, and was delivered free to persuade people to use it.

It overtook Netscape shortly thereafter and accounted for 95% of browser usage in 2000. Soon after this, the first open-source browser Firefox invaded IE's market share, followed shortly by Google Chrome. It was clear Internet Explorer was the inferior browser. It has now fallen to 20% of the market as opposed to Chrome which has soared to nearly 50%.

Its new counterpart, Project Spartan will attempt to patch up IE's weakness to create a more fluid browser, more suited for a life on multiple platforms, namely mobile devices.

Dot-com turns thirty Zayd Ahmed 1A

Dot-com is the world’s most recognised web suffix: over 115 million dot-com domains are registered worldwide, representing about 42 per cent of all web addresses. But 30 years after its inception, many people are questioning whether it can continue to maintain its dominance.

Originally launched by the US Department of Defence – in the same year as Live Aid and the release of the first Back to the Future film – dotcom was originally intended as an internet designation for “commercial entities.”

Technology company Symbolics registered the first dot-com domain name, symbolics.com, on 15 March 1985. The domain was purchased by XF.com in 2009, and remains the oldest registered dot-com domain on the Internet.

Dot-com got off to a relatively slow start, with only a handful of companies initially registering a domain.

The first to get involved were largely technology companies, and included the likes of Intel and Siemens through the mid-to-late 1980's.

By 1997, however, the millionth dot-com domain name had been registered, and the internet boom was well underway. The association with commercial entities was lost when .com, .org and .net were opened

for unrestricted registration the mid-1990s.

Today, dot-com websites are accessed trillions of times each day.

Millions of entrepreneurs have built their businesses online with dot-com, and the biggest names in business have branded their companies with dot-com addresses. Some believe that dot-com is now almost synonymous with the internet.

Taiwan or South Korea?

The two biggest smartphones this year. Which is best?

Naail Kashif-Khan 5A

Although the turn of the new year is already 3 months away now, around March is the beginning of the calendar for smartphone releases.

Indeed, we've already seen the two biggest phones of the year launch: the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the HTC One M9. These are the flagship phones, the very best, the pinnacle of what is possible. Let's take a look.

Samsung's Galaxy S6 has making waves in the phone world for numerous reasons. Gone is the drab and cheap-feeling plastic construction of the past, replaced with more premium feeling glass and metal.

The phone is more eye-catching now, less generic and more standout yet still conveying some essential Samsung design nuances, like the distinctively shaped home button.

The specs are all there, with the latest 8-core Exynos chip inside for blazing performance as well as the now-standard 3GB of RAM. The screen is a 5.1 inch panel that has the traditional Super AMOLED technology; a method that allows for deeper blacks and better efficiency yet more blown-out, saturated colours. The

ever present Samsung TouchWiz overlay is still here, although toned down slightly from before, on top of Android Lollipop. One highly controversial move is the lack of a micro SD card slot that Samsung users have been accustomed to over other phones, meaning that users won't be able to add more storage space to their phones if they find themselves filling it up quicker than expected, and with a phone like this, no one can blame them.

The HTC One M9 has similarly been making waves but not for entirely the right reasons. On the inside it has the same 3GB of RAM as the S6, an equivalent Snapdragon processor that may not be as fast as Samsung's contribution but will still provide performance that is more than adequate for most, a micro SD card slot which may on its own sway some users to the Taiwanese company, and a slightly larger 5.5 inch screen that uses traditional LCD technology so slightly toned down colours compared to the S6 in exchange for a more accurate picture. However the big news comes in the design, or rather, lack of it. HTC has stuck to, give or take a minor change here and

there, the same design it used on the M8 last year. While this has angered many, the anger may have been misplaced. The design on the M8 was one of the best designs we've seen in a smartphone, so why bother changing it? HTC's Sense software overlay remains, with minor changes from last year, and it is as minimalist as ever.

So, which is best? Well, as you may have guessed there is no definitive answer. Samsung's offering has a fresher physical design than the M9 although both are remarkable in their own right. HTC's stock software is generally regarded to be much less intrusive than Samsung's though, and it has the expected micro SD card slot. Samsung, however, has a better camera from what we've seen prerelease, and then we have the issue of the screens, with Samsung's being slightly smaller and having better colour tones in exchange for worse accuracy, with HTC’s screen larger and less saturated. Which of the two phones is better? I'll leave that to you.

Visit axiostech.uk for more news, reviews and opinion on technology

New 3D printer "revolutionary" Michael Kay 3M

The TED talks are world-renowned for their spreading and exposure of fascinating, inspiring and educational ideas to the wider world, mainly through their large collection of videos and their annual conferences viewed by people across the world.

Yesterday, the TED Talks 2015 hosted the 3D printing company Carbon 3D as they presented and demoed their printer to an audience for the first time.

The Carbon3D printer is unique, and faster than any other 3D printers on the market–the company claims–but it is not components or specialised processing chips that set this printer apart, but a new, and revolutionary approach to 3D printing. As Joseph DeSimone, one of the Carbon3D co-founders, and also a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina put it "We think that popular 3-D printing is actually misnamed — it's really just 2-D printing over and over again," and he has a point. Typical 3D printers work by reprinting the pattern over and over again, and as a result of this it is merely an assortment of layers and is often full of defects and not a completely smooth surface. As a result of this, 3D printers and designers spend longer to minimise these defects and this makes the printing

process even longer. But, Joseph DeSimone and his partners have created a new method known as “continuous liquid interface production technology” or CLIP for short. CLIP works by placing a pool of melted resin over a digital light projection system. A unique oxygen-permeable window allows both light and oxygen to travel through the window.

Then, to print the object, the CLIP projection system projects specific bursts of light and oxygen. The light hardens the resins, whilst at the same time, the oxygen keeps it from hardening fully. By carefully controlling the light and oxygen exposure levels simultaneously, intricate and smooth shapes and objects can be created out of one piece instead of the multitude of single layers. This new technology has huge potential for manufacturing. DeSimone hopes that it can be used for making smooth, small and intricate objects such as microsensors, or even microneedles. However, it can be used for much more. This new method that offers smoother and faultless designs shows promise in artificial bones and replacements for body parts, an area already being explored with other printing techniques; or designer printing and designing of prototypes or even actual products. This is merely another step in the revolution of 3D printing.

Crowdfunding: the final frontier of entrepreneurship Michael Kay 3M

It used to be that if you wanted to launch a business or project as an entrepreneur you would have to take out a loan from the bank or attract an investors to supply you with the majority of your funds. But, nowadays, an increasingly popular way of raising money for investments is through crowdfunding. This is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘The practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people who each contribute a relatively small amount’. The websites typically work by offering a finished product from the project or varying degrees of involvement in exchange for a pledge of money to support and fund it. The idea is that more money can be raised in small amounts from a large collective than by relying on a select few individuals, and it is becoming increasingly popular amongst more modern movements.

Websites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Crowdcube open up new doors for aspiring businessmen, and allow them to reach a worldwide audience to showcase and fund their projects. Overall on Kickstarter, arguably the largest and most successful crowdfunding website, $1,601,643,042 (£1,093,798,070.35) has been raised to date, on projects in categories ranging from Technology and design to films, publishing, games, art and even theatre. This allows everybody to go online and seek help from anyone. The most successful projects include the Pebble E-Paper smart watch which raised $10,266,845 and the follow up project the Pebble Time which reached its funding aim within a matter of minutes and has surpassed

all other projects for amounts raised with $18,936,402 so far contributed to the project at the time of writing.

So, crowdfunding allows everyone to raise money for their projects, and it is a thriving and growing business clearly with a lot of money at stake, but what does it really mean? Firstly, it allows for the growth and development of new and contemporary projects straight from the source–for innovative and modern entrepreneurs to trust 'the people' rather than the banks or have to distort or compromise their company aims and values in order to gain support from the large companies and businesses with a monopoly on funding.

Furthermore, it allows new and radical projects which usually would never make it past an idea in a notebook to take hold and raise hundreds of thousands of pounds. This new platform for open marketing allows huge amounts of economic growth and development for people no matter where they are, meaning that if support or understanding of a project is lacking near you, then the internet can be used for one of its most amazing and useful qualities–to connect and bring people together for a cause.

Aside from its ideological appeal, crowdfunding will have a large effect on the economy as people realise that credit approval and reliance on banks is no longer needed, not when there is a global community who are likely to fund you to wealth and, should your idea prove interesting or tempting enough. The archetype Silicon Valley technological revolutionary has evolved to become an innovative crowdfundee, made in more successful in the fires of online and social-media based campaigns.

14 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

commentary & features

The corrosive effect of money on power Isaac Gruber 3H

This week Jack Straw and Sir Malcom Rifkind, both former foreign secretaries, were suspended from their respective parties for taking alleged bribes from a fake Chinese company.

To those who know their history this will come as nothing new, but to the general public it will fuel their disillusionment with politics. This is a gigantic problem. This feeling that all politicians are corrupt and in it for themselves will only heighten support for anti-establishment parties.

These parties often tread precariously on the line between populism and racism, UKIP being a prime example. It is therefore of the upmost importance that politics ceases to have such a foul odour to the masses.

The only way to make a start on this would be to ban private money from politics. Whilst easier said than done, if it is not curtailed, the scandals will become more, not less, frequent.

The UK gives 10 times less state funding to politics than the average country in the EU- at a paltry 36p per voter. It is no surprise, then, when a politician wishes to supplement their election budget. This money vacuum, if one can call it that, allows rich donors, sensing potential rewards, to sweep in and fill it. When one donates hundreds of thousands of pounds, one naturally expects politicians to protect one’s interests. This leads dangerously down the road to bribery. It also vastly favours the top few percent as they can afford to make these contributions. The top few percent tend to wish to protect their wealth and hence donate to parties whose policies are more favourable to them. In this country, it is generally the Conservatives. This is one of the reasons why the Conservative party out fund-raise Labour, who are perceived to be, slightly, less generous to the rich, three-to-one. This is despite having a similar number of members. The Conservative rebuttal

would be that Labour receive vast sums from trade union groups (such as Unite), in which every member is required to donate to Labour. In both cases this is incredibly unfair, as those who have great wealth have a disproportionate influence over the policies implemented. Not allowing private money in politics means that everyone has a say, not just those who can afford it.

This is commonly said, and indeed vastly popular. Yet it has never been

“The UK gives 10 times less state funding to politics than the average EU country – a paltry 36p per voter.” implemented. This is a searing indictment of our political system, in which the interests of a few triumph over the interests of the majority. Another frequent complaint of the electorate is MPs having second jobs. After all, this is what Straw and Rifkind had, and what they used to make

money. Many were furious that they did not concentrate fully on their constituents, though many of those same people often bemoan the socalled ‘career’ politician. Obviously, one cannot have it both ways and I, for one, would have career politicians over corrupt politicians every day.

This is another case where there is a relatively obvious solution; ban MPs from second jobs. This will elicit the predictable moans that £62,000 isn’t enough to live on from predictable MPs. However, those same MPs will, and do, make a fortune from speech fees so do not feel too much pity for them. This is akin to a banker complaining that his base salary isn’t that large, when in reality he/she often trebles or quadruples it through various types of bonuses (another article for another day.) If one really wishes to provide an incentive for MPs not to have second jobs, they could easily raise the base salary to £70,000 with just a tiny portion of a mansion tax.

With this carrot there should also be some extra stick. Any MP, from Ed Balls to George Osborne, caught receiving a secondary source of income should be banned from parliament for life. The £62,000 would not sound so bad then.

Money is power. This adage is often repeated wearily, as though we

Can we build ourselves a new climate?

Michalis Inglessis S6MHD

are all resigned to this fate. Whilst this may be true it our job to make it not true, or at least less so. Preventing money from interfering with how the country is governed, and thus people’s lives, should be the number one priority of any government elected. Ed Miliband took a step in the right direction when he said that all donations must come from individual members of unions choosing to donate instead of the union donating for them automatically. This risked Labour losing a large chunk of funding, especially from groups such as Unite, and is to be applauded. The American political system should be a cautionary tale.

The Supreme Court, supposedly a guardian of justice, has abolished a cap on campaign contributions. This has lead the way for a free-for-all in political spending, with both parties (though especially the Republicans) raising previously unimaginable amounts. Britain cannot go that route. It must introduce reforms to its campaign finance system, and fast.

Stopping private money in the public sector and abolishing MP’s second jobs are a start. Money is the root of all evil, so the saying goes, and for the good of the country, it must not be allowed to infest politics.

The death of language Matteo Bellani 5S

Languages are important not just because of communication; languages tell the stories of different communities, and reflect the social and physical environment in which they are spoken. Languages are a true representation of the rich cultures and the diversity of people on Earth.

Thus, when a language dies, so does the culture of its speakers. It has been estimated that by 2100, 90% of languages will die out; but why might this happen?

There are some causes of extinction that some people might overlook.

Natural disasters are a huge problem for small, isolated communities.

Tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have killed millions of people, taking their languages with them. Worsening climatic conditions due to global warming, causing droughts and flooding, have proved to be disastrous, displacing many people from their homelands – the origin of their cultures. Diseases have also had dire consequences: smallpox and influenza brought to the Americas wiped out vast amounts of indigenous peoples: it is thought that 90% of the original population of North America died as a result of contact with European colonizers. In South America, it is estimated that there were 1500 languages in the 16th century, but now only a mere 350.

Human effects on environment can also be devastating; as well as

environmental effects due to climate change, human exploitation of natural resources have caused the destruction of lakes and forests–entire ecosystems that small communities rely on for their livelihoods. More often than not, this results in these communities being dispersed, travelling elsewhere to find other ways to sustain their families; once settled in urban areas, members of the community are isolated and quickly assimilated into the general population, leading them to lose touch with their cultural and linguistic heritage, which becomes distant and irrelevant for future generations who have only known their urban lives.

Many countries in the past and present have pursued repressive and hegemonic linguistic policies, which have sought to wipe out minority languages. East African nations are choosing to make Swahili a common language to promote feelings of nationalism and loyalty towards the government amongst the population; although this sounds like a great idea because of its convenience, countless tribal languages are at risk of being wiped out. The worrying part is that minority language subordination has often been the start of the road towards oppression of entire minority ethnic groups. Similarly in the USSR, during the 1950s, the Soviet government pursued a policy of Russification of its republics (not a new one in Russia), whereby young non-Russian speaking children would be removed from their homes

“Minority language subordination has often been the start of the road towards oppression of entire minority ethnic groups.” and taken to only Russian speaking boarding schools for a period of time.

In that space of time, being forced to speak only Russian, these children would then return home and find they could not speak their native languages fluently anymore, thus would disassociate themselves more from their culture. The effects of this policy are still evident in many areas of the ex-Soviet Union, for example, many people in Kazakhstan cannot speak Kazakh, having been brought up in exclusively Russian speaking environments.

Many politicians or CEOs have a strong interest in the destruction of a minority language. Economically, it is much easier to market to millions of people in one language. This could partly account for the disproportionate number of successful American and British brands/TV shows etc. due to the high number of people who speak varying degrees of English

around the world. In India, the middle class is beginning to adopt English as their language of conversation because it makes them feel more modern. Politically, a common language is often used to define national pride and unity; armed forces must speak the same language to fight together efficiently, and this argument even extends to the disharmony between speakers of Catalan and Castilian on the Spanish National Team!

Perhaps all is not lost for those who want the smaller languages to survive. As the revival of Welsh in the UK and Maori in New Zealand suggest, a language can be brought back from the edge.

Hebrew was a dead language at the beginning of the 19th century. It existed as a scholarly, written language, but there was no way to say, "I love you" or "how was your day?"-what linguists might define examples of vocabulary of a living language.

However, after the Holocaust, IsraeliJews began to revive it and now it is an active language in its own right.

But for many dwindling languages on the periphery of global culture, supported by little but a few campaigning linguists, the size of the challenge can seem freakishly big.

But think about this for a second: we would spend large sums of money to preserve a monument or a historic building, because they are a part of our heritage; therefore, is it not equally important to save an intrinsic part of being human?

In their most recent report, the IPCC suggest that carbon sequestration could be a viable solution to preventing or slowing the pace of climate change, and this is representative of a growing feeling that we can use new technologies to counter the impacts of older ones. One area of particular interest is geoengineering, heralded by many as the way to counter the effects of global climatic change. It involves the large scale changing of the environment and can be divided into Carbon Dioxide Removal, which removes the cause of changes, and Solar Radiation Management, aiming to alleviate the symptoms of fossil fuel use. There are many different strands of geoengineering but ejecting aerosols into the stratosphere is perhaps the most likely. Scientists, observing the cooling effect brought about by volcanic eruptions, have speculated that we could artificially introduce particles which reflect sunlight into the upper atmosphere and hence keep temperatures constant.

While the science is sound there are worries about whether we truly understand the impacts on the climate system. Even if certain issues are solved there are a host of problems generated by such projects. This is a legal grey area and these changes will affect the whole world, yet only a minority will have access to them.

People controlling the changes will wield huge power and there are fears about military applications of such technology. Furthermore, once we commit to such a project we must remain committed, as the alternative is the temperature rise we initially avoided but in a much shorter space of time, wreaking havoc on the environment. These technologies could potentially solve one of the greatest problems of our generation but could also create many more for our descendants.

Solar eclipse Continued from page 1

to resist the temptation and employ an alternate viewing method instead, if you’re truly set on glimpsing the shrouded sun.

One suggested technique involves the use of a mirror and a piece of paper with a small hole cut in it to project an image of the sun onto a wall, meaning that large amounts of people can see it at the same time – though the mirror itself shouldn’t be looked at, as this would be just as dangerous as looking directly at the sun itself. If you don’t have any mirrors handy, a pinhole camera is very easy to make, and guides can be found online about how to improvise one out of anything from a few pieces of card to a cereal box. Whatever you do, remember to stay safe out there – the eclipse is exciting, but not worth burning your eyes for.

School eclipse procedure On Friday morning there will be ‘viewing stations’ on the middle school games room balcony, courtyard and roofs. Students will be released from lesson 1 at 9:25 AM, and will be required to return ten minutes later. However, the forecast reading thick cloud cover for Friday, meaning the special arrangements may be cancelled.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 15

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commentary & Features

Was Napoleon truly great?

The Wittizen An anonymous 6th Former

William Evans J6

On 18 June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by a coalition army comprised mainly of Dutch, Prussian and British troops led by the Duke of Wellington. However, two hundred years on, it appears France has won what has been called the second Battle of Waterloo: a two Euro coin commemorating the bicentenary of Napoleon’s defeat will not be released after French authorities objected to the coin, describing it as a ‘negative symbol’. Why is it that this defeat remains such a sensitive topic to the French and why does Napoleon continue to be hailed as the Great?

Winston Churchill once described Napoleon Bonaparte as the greatest man of action since Julius Caesar, yet whether he is deserving of the title the Great remains debatable.

Napoleon’s dynamism, combined with his political and military skill certainly accounted for his spectacular rise to power. At the age of 24, Napoleon was already a General of the French Revolutionary army and only ten years later, in 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of France.

Not short on ego, his aim was to rebuild France and conquer the world.

Napoleon was an able administrator,

“The Code Napoleon enshrined individual rights and equality before the law.” responsible for curbing the worst excesses of the revolution and instigating reforms which secured and stabilised France. He was able to bring down inflation from 10,000% a year to just 6% and, through the appointment of more capable finance ministers, he reorganised the system of direct and indirect taxation to ensure that the French treasury received an adequate income. The contradictory legal system was replaced with a new Civil Code in 1804, the Code Napoleon – the first modern code of law – which enshrined individual rights and property rights, as well as ensuring that some of the most important gains of the Revolution – the abolition of feudalism, freedom of conscience, equality before the law and the removal of the privileged position of the Catholic Church within the State – were maintained. However, these reforms alone do not merit Napoleon the title the Great and, significantly, it is not these changes for which he is best remembered.

Above all, Napoleon was a brilliant military tactician, able to inspire immense loyalty, and the speed, size and firepower of his army made him almost unbeatable. Out of 60 battles, Napoleon was defeated on only seven occasions, a remarkable achievement in itself. The fact remains, however, that Napoleon was also a brutal and ruthless dictator.

Despite his great military victories, the reality of Napoleon’s rule should be examined for more than his military acumen. He was responsible for wars which killed between four and six million people. Indeed, the losses at the Battle of Waterloo are comparable to the slaughter on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Countries defeated by him were forced to bear the crippling brunt of the cost of war; his armies sacked entire cities, raping women and pillaging treasures as they went. In unsuccessful military campaigns, Napoleon focused on self-preservation: after the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, for example, Napoleon abandoned his troops in the retreat from Moscow and left them to die in the snow.

Napoleon is responsible for the remodelling of Paris which, as he intended, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He may also be seen as patron of the arts, although ironically his creation of the Musée Napoleon in the Louvre was designed to hold the spoils of war, becoming

home to the many works of art which his armies had looted from countries which France had conquered.

His magnificent coronation was painted by Jacques-Louis David and Napoleon mastered the use of such propaganda to manipulate public opinion, emphasising the might and splendour of the court and his own achievements. The artist AntoineJean Gros accompanied Napoleon on military campaigns and painted

“His armies sacked entire cities, raping women and pillaging treasures.” him comforting the dying after battle and visiting victims of plague at Jaffa during the Egyptian campaign, for example, in order to portray Napoleon as triumphant, heroic and semi-divine. Contemporary satirical prints produced on this side of the Channel – many of which are now on display at the British Museum – attack and vilify Napoleon: his legitimacy as ruler of France is questioned, the abandonment of his troops in the face of disaster–offering an opposing view of the Egyptian and Russian campaigns – is highlighted and Napoleon’s despotism and his megalomaniac pursuit of empire show Napoleon as the scourge of Europe.

Whether Napoleon was truly Great is a question that still divides historians today. A brilliant but callous Machiavellian leader, there is no doubt that Napoleon’s military prowess and his desire for power moulded this period of history.

Whatever his strengths and failings, Napoleon and his legacy continue to be the subject of historical fixation, with over 13,000 items in the British library catalogued under the term ‘Napoleon’. Napoleon said, “There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men.” Surely, in his own terms, Napoleon would be delighted at the enduring attention he still receives and rightly consider himself immortal?

As we finally get to the end of mocks season, reports are filtering in from the various departments on the successes and failures of their programmes. The Maths teachers have been especially pleased with their examinations, having successfully managed to trick the Fourth Form into filing their tax returns through cleverly-written compound interest questions. History, on the other hand, has been castigated by the senior management team for having “exams inconsistent with the subject matter”, after three junior boys were disembowelled during a revision session on The Battle of Hastings. Apparently the janitors still can’t find the right cleaning solution to get rid of the blood.

Speaking of the support staff, the IT department’s feud with the rest of the school has yet to abate, after they were banned from using the school computer network to mine Bitcoins during the summer holidays (“All that wasted downtime!” they mutter darkly into their Star Trek mugs). As you’d expect of computer programmers, their revenge has been subtle and meticulous. Mr Fillingham’s computer has developed an annoying habit of flipping the screen orientation and changing the language to Cantonese whenever he opens up email, whilst the history staff have been amusingly bombed with Trojan Horse viruses disguised as emails from the Classics department. Worst off by far, however, are the ICT teachers, who arrived on Thursday morning to find their block defaced by the word “TRAITORS”, etched onto the brickwork in binary.

Exciting opportunities abound during the summer term’s London Week. The Second form are going to Paris, the Third and Fourth years to museums across London (no idea whether any of that was true, but then I am writing this a week in advance), but the big winners are the Fifth form, who will be enriching uranium. This is all part of the Head’s exciting new philosophy for CLS; namely, if

you can’t beat them in the league tables, threaten them with powerful long-range nuclear weapons.

One of the few people who won’t be affected by the immediate improvement in London’s transport infrastructure, however, is the Politics Society’s next guest speaker. No, also not Mussolini. In a startling turn of events Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks and William-Haguewith-an-albino-toupee (these flashes of brilliance) lookalike, has agreed to come and talk to the school about data tapping and internet freedom. Mr Assange is, of course, still trapped inside the Ecuadorian embassy, due to those rape allegation shenanigans, but he has assured us that he is digging a tunnel as we speak and will be along in a couple of years.

With the recent withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing replacement of Cold War-era equipment, each of the CCF sections has been receiving military surplus gear.

The RAF have been given some textbooks on fighter aircraft and aerodynamic theory, the Navy section new flashlights and scuba gear, but the big winners are the Army cadets, who have acquired a Challenger 2 tank. Equipped with deadly and highly illegal depleted uranium rounds, Chobham reactive armour and a kettle (standard to all British armoured vehicles), the CCF plan on using it to keep order on the top playground at lunchtimes. That is, as soon as they figure out how to get it up the stairs.

It was Simon and Garfunkel who sang that the “words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”. Judging by the quality of graffiti at this great school, they might be onto something. Patrons of lavatories around the school may have been entertained by such witticisms as “Three things I hate: 1.Lists; 2.Graffiti; 3. Irony”, or, my personal favourite: “Since writing on toilet walls is done neither for critical acclaim or financial reward, it is the purest form of art – Discuss.” Perhaps some anonymous, Sharpie-wielding revolutionary is trying to give the Wittizen a run for its money?

Diary of a City Boy Sam Kramer 2P

Week 1 Oh help! What have I done? They said we should leave school by 2 o’clock after the last day of term, but, being me, I called their bluff! I ducked and dived from the janitors, and now they’ve left, and I’m stuck here, in the David Levin Playground! I will try and write in my homework diary at least once a week, to keep me sane.

It’s either that or doing my Physics holiday homework. I really regret playing Angry Birds in my French lesson, as my phone has barely any battery now. More soon.

Week 2 – Confessions I had thought it might be fairly easy to get out, by climbing the fence or something, but it isn’t. I now genuinely think I may never get out, and will be here for the rest of my life.

Why do we not do CCF in second form? Why can’t I climb tall metal wall/pole things? But, on the bright side, it means the school would probably have to close down! If I do die, I want to go to heaven, and according to Ms G, my RE teacher, that means

I need to confess everything I have done that’s wrong. So here goes: 1. Mum: if you’re reading this, it was me who gave the Lenny the lizard to the girl next door to use as a baseball bat when hers broke. And it was also me who cooked Freddie the Fish, to see if I could make smoked salmon. I didn’t realise at the time he was a goldfish. I’m sorry.

2. Dad: it was me cracked the screen on your computer (and your phone) seeing if I could break Mario and Luigi out of it. And to get the final star on the last level of Angry Birds.

Did I mention the reason I’m stuck here is that I was playing it in class?

So I think the game owes it to me…

Anyway, I’m sorry.

Week 2.5 – Confessions (continued) 436. The guy I met on holiday once in Canada… Was it Liam? Liam: it was me who took your surfboard to use as a battering ram to fend of the mutant-sharks. Oh, and also I lied about seeing someone using your surfboard as a battering ram to fend of the mutant-sharks. They looked a bit more like sabre-toothed tigers to be honest. I’m sorry.

16 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

REVIEWS Film

The Theory of Nothing: Hollywood’s aversion to big ideas Leo Reich J6

Some people think that there are only four seasons in the year, and those people are right. But for Hollywood’s brightest stars, biggest producers and most revered directors, January 11th marked the first day of the fifth season- awards season- with the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards taking place that night. The Globes are always a slightly odd affair, with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a body of questionable authority, selecting the year’s best performers, directors and suchlike via a voting process that makes very little sense.

However, what perhaps did make sense was their choice of Best Actor in A Motion Picture: Drama (or, more cogently, best actor in a drama). Eddie Redmayne has long been Britain’s favourite old-Etonian and it was gratifying to see his sensitive and nuanced portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking recognised by industry giants across the pond. Though Eddie may have the face of a ten year old boy, in this film, The Theory of Everything, he had an unpretentious and subtle screen presence that made him unquestionably deserving of the accolade. Following Hawking’s life from his student days at Cambridge, through his diagnosis with motor neurone disease and up to the present day, the world famous professor’s marriage, relationships, good humour and unwavering resilience are all showcased by a stellar cast and competent direction.

What is notably absent is any science. In fact, it became difficult to remember, through my weeping at the Hawkings’ failing relationship, that the man in the wheelchair was ever a scientist at all. Perhaps this is to the film’s credit- they were trying to show the human face of one of the world’s most celebrated scientists, not to deliver a lecture on Stephen’s Black Hole Theory (which, we are helpfully advised by one of his university supervisors, is “genuis”). The Theory of Everything was intended to be an emotional experience, not an intellectual one. But why couldn’t it have been both?

Also nominated, in the same category as Redmayne, was Benedict Cumberbatch, a person who’s face is now almost offensively ubiquitous in the worlds of cinema, television and theatre. His film, The Imitation Game, focussed on another of Britain’s greatest ever scientists (and philosophers), Alan Turing, who was responsible for deciphering the enigma code that would allow Britain to tap German military messages- a development

Above: Underground caves in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Photo by Yu-Chao Ren (S6)

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that would considerably bolster the Allied war effort. Cumberbatch brought his trademark Sherlockian energy to the role, and the unremarkable film provided a well overdue tribute to Turing, who was driven to suicide by the British judiciary system’s sterilisation programme for gay men.

Again, however, for a film entirely centred around the scientific discovery of a masterful mathematician, there was a distinct lack of any kind of a high level (or any level) explanation of what the team at Bletchley Park were actually doing. Though it was sufficiently engaging, perhaps, for an audience to get a small insight into the private details of Alan Turing’s life- the reliability of which have been called heavily into question- one comes away from The Imitation Game none the wiser as to what this great man contributed to the worlds of Science, Mathematics and Philosophy. It seems a shame that a biopic, marketing itself as significant due to its attempt to expose the life of a wronged British hero, should make itself so lacklustre when it came to the meaty centre of Turing’s work.

What both of these films seem to point to is a refusal by the mainstream film industry to engage with complex scientific or philosophical ideas. Perhaps this is obvious.

Audiences, on a large scale at least, don’t want some dense, talk-heavy movie-come-lecture when they could see a light, 90 minute actionadventure film with Robert Downey Junior. What is more upsetting is that these two films don’t represent the big budget blockbusters one associates with philistinism. The Theory of Everything had a budget of $15 million, minuscule relative to Marvel’s bi-annual releases, and The Imitation Game only slightly more than this. These are low budget, low risk releases that dodge any kind of intellectual responsibility in favour of bland domestic background, for almost no reason. It’s not even as if the theories they discuss are wholly inaccessible- Hawking’s Brief History of Time was a bestseller and Turing’s paper on artificial intelligence once featured on some A-Level syllabuses.

Add this to Hollywood’s persistent portrayal of scientists as autistic loners- Cumberbatch’s Turing a prime example, though there is no real-life evidence to suggest such a severe social handicap- and you get a movie industry acutely hostile to ideas. By trying to alienate the public from the worlds of science and philosophy, film does itself a disservice.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 17

The CITIZEN

reviews Non-fiction

The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East Robert Fisk (Harper Perennial, £9.99) Jorrit Donner Wittkopf 5B

The last time the UK ‘declared war’ on another country was against Siam in 1942. Since then, this phrase has cleverly morphed into an assemblage of press-friendly terms spouted by Western leaders. Obama sends his troops on ‘campaigns’ in faraway deserts, while Netanyahu claims the recent activity in Gaza was nothing but an ‘operation’. This normalization of ‘constant war’–as for instance in ‘the war on terror’–has some sinister connotations. The ramifications of our involvement in previous conflicts become greater and more grievous as time passes, shown by the rise of Islamic State in Iraq, less than five years after the Western withdrawal from Iraq, or the Taliban fighting the US with their own armaments.

Not only does our state of ‘constant war’ often mean more and more of the taxpayer’s money is wasted on overseas conflagrations, but politicians more readily reject Aquinas’ concept of the ‘Just War’. Just like the deployment of drones decriminalizes the ‘casual’ killing of innocent civilians by an operator on the other side of the globe, Obama’s ‘campaigns’ and Netanyahu’s ‘operations’ legitimize interventions which enhance a politicians’ personal profile, a goal hidden behind a rhetoric of ‘humanitarian’ aims. For an extended period of time, Western intervention has become increasingly concentrated in the area which we refer to as the Middle East, namely Western Asia.

During the Tehran hostage crisis of 1979, President Carter dismissed Western involvement in the Middle

East as “ancient history”. However it is clear that it is in fact an ongoing commitment, the scale of which is as tremendous as its repercussions.

Robert Fisk spent over three decades in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, for the Irish Times, the Independent and The Times respectively. With early stints in his whirlwind journalistic career covering ‘The Troubles’ in Ireland and the Portuguese ‘Carnation’ revolution, he came to the Middle East as regional correspondent for The Times. He is heralded as someone who “has turned a slightly dubious and overromanticised craft (foreign reporting) into an honourable vocation” (Phillip Knightley, Independent on Sunday). That is to say despite Fisk originally being drawn to journalism

by Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Foreign Correspondent’ (a grave misrepresentation of a very taxing profession), his “lethally painstaking” ‘recherché’ technique has seen him rise in fame to become one of the most renowned foreign correspondents in Britain.

Based in Beirut – the 'Paris of the Arab world', Fisk has covered every conflict in the greater Middle Eastern and South Asian area from the 1980’s to the present. This book can only be summarized as the expertly crafted testament of a journalist who holds more international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. The book consists of ten chapters, each concerned with a specific part of the Middle-Eastern sphere and the events which Fisk covered while stationed there. Fisk expertly interweaves his own anecdotes with an informative and

impartial history of events in the localities concerned. From the antique synagogues and mosques of Jerusalem to the ultra-conservative desert hamlets of Yemen and Oman, we are transported across the Arab world by Fisk’s compelling story-telling and critical analysis. His investigative reporting “infuriates his foes and fascinates all” (Donald Morrison, Financial Times), whilst his beautiful imagery and diverse language makes his work easily accessible. I found his tone often calculatedly blasé and never boastful or self-indulgent. He retains this quality in his writing despite often finding himself in precarious and threatening encounters -for example he is dismissive of the risks involved during the first of three surreal meetings with Osama bin Laden by the light of a paraffin lamp on a remote Afghan mountain.

Fisk is famously hands-on and his ‘alfresco’ approach sees him witness turning points in history which many of his colleagues never covered.

He conveys to great effect the grief of the inconsolable Sunni woman who lost her daughter in a US air strike in the Libyan war of 1986, or the tale of a man who gave his unsuspecting pregnant girlfriend a bomb before she boarded a plane, convinced he was partaking in the ‘Jihad’. I found the chapters detailing the rise of Khomeini and the Iranian revolution particularly intriguing - the cold-blooded executions and flight of the Shah makes good reading. Fisk visits the scenes of Soviet bombing in far-flung Afghan provinces, a conflict we have almost forgotten despite a civilian toll of 1.5 million.

“We are transported across the Arab world by Fisk’s compelling storytelling and critical analysis.”

In a particularly moving passage, he speaks to the wife of an Armenian farmer, who now lies in a mass grave in an abstruse field - such is the cost of war. Although the wars he witnessed were played out in mountain villages and rural townships, Fisk highlights that these local conflicts – although local in scope – in fact had a much wider, global impact. However, as I waded through this 1,328 page behemoth I also encountered humorous and uplifting passages. A particular favourite is when Fisk, to avoid the ban on foreign journalists in Afghanistan under the Russians, entrusted his articles to a bus conductor who would make the dusty 100 kilometre journey to deliver them to hotel staff in Lahore, who would in turn fax them to London – all in time for the next morning’s paper!

The book reserves much criticism for the foreign policies of Western countries in relation to the Middle East and their responsibility for the wars which have ravaged the region – “A fierce indictment of Britain and the United States” (Sunday Times) and “the definitive summary of

what has gone wrong in the West’s foreign policies towards Arabia” (Scottish Sunday Herald) is how fellow experts judged his endeavour.

Although arguably the USA and the Soviet Union are cited as the two major ‘Western’ influences in the Arab world post WWII, Britain and France, the former colonial powers, are not spared. Clearly, it was British and French Empires and their colonial aspirations, which de facto set the in motion many processes leading to today’s conflicts, (see also ‘A Line in the Sand’ by James Barr).

Such an opinionated stance does not go unchallenged, as the less than flattering reviews of The Great War for Civilisation by certain self-assured critics harping on about miniscule details demonstrate. But whether “Muhammad’s nephew Ali was murdered in the 7th Century, not the 8th” and whether in “Farsi: laleh means tulip, not rose” (Oliver Miles for The Guardian) seriously “undermines the reader’s confidence” is debateable! Thus, I thoroughly enjoyed this non-fiction book presenting a wealth of detail on recent history. I found it an excellent introductory text to the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, a region rarely seen as anything but ‘troubled’. I agree that Fisk has produced “a history book which journalists, politicians and academics will turn to again and again in the years ahead to grasp the details of the Middle East” (William Graham, Irish News). It is most certainly a book of “unquestionable importance” for anyone trying to understand ‘war’ in the context of the Middle East and the current political climate.

Paddy fields in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Photo by Yu-Chao Ren (S6), a member of the CLS Photography Society. This striking image is to be included in an exhibition at the School.

18 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

reviews Film

Still Alice Victor Jack 5A

The film “Still Alice” has generally been lauded by critics, and has been nominated for various awards, with Julianne Moore winning an undoubtedly deserved Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for her performance. It has also been praised by many organizations for the exposure it gives to Alzheimer’s disease and the emotional struggle associated with the condition. With a surprisingly short running time of 1h41mins, one might expect this to mean the whole story isn’t told, yet the film is not only gripping and engrossing, but passionate and moving.

It is told through the eyes of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University. After some apparent memory loss she visits a neurologist, expecting a brain tumour, but, after a PET scan, she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The rest of the film documents the gradual degeneration of her mental state. The intriguing aspect is her family: her loyal husband John and her three children, Anna, Charlie and Lydia.

While Charlie and Lydia are the typical “perfect offspring” with good degrees and a generally mature attitude to life, Lydia is more interesting, a struggling actress who refuses to go to college and has a slightly more whimsical and poetic mentality.

There are some possible criticisms for the film. Firstly, the screenplay seems a little scraggly and placid.

While the story is supposed to be centred on the whole Howland family, one feels dragged behind Alice throughout the duration, picking up

“Gradual deterioration of the mind is shown with devastating precision.”

as well. This gradual deterioration of the mind is shown with devastating precision and is somewhat nerveracking as well, with one wondering what she will lose control of next and when. One scene, with her neurologist, where she is tested with memory-games, is repeated at the start and end of Alice’s devolution, and the decline is heart-wrenching and fraught. With any other actor,

There’s a lot more to this Aventador Lamborghini are my favourite car manufacturer. They make quite possibly the craziest cars that you will ever come across. My favourite Lambo at the moment is the Egoista and I don’t think that that is going to change for a long time but this car, the Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster, cuts it pretty close. It is a more recent version of the amazing Aventador. A few Lamborghini Aventadors have been made since the legendary model was released in 2012 but none have represented that model so well and been so much better at the same time. I love this car.

SV stands for Super Veloce–it is sort of a Lamborghini special edition.

If a Lamborghini class e.g. Aventador

on Alice, but also more subtle points such as the concentration on Alice and the blurring of the surroundings–even when people are talking to her, emphasising the wavering, constantly distracted and degenerating mind. In conclusion, although the plot is a little underdeveloped at times, any film that manages to move the audience in such a way merits a 4.5/5.

some vague idea of backstory and supporting characters, yet never quite properly meeting them. Apart from Lydia and Alice, the characters are painfully one-dimensional, with their dialogue never straying far from pure monotony. The story itself is a little thin on substance and although it occasionally tries to escape somewhere else, is permanently grounded to the same square perimeter in New York. Moreover, the only emotion delivered is by Alice and her youngest daughter; all the others, while good actors, seems almost indifferent to Alice’s affliction.

Moreover, the plot felt a little safe, as there could’ve been more misfortune and chaos associated with the disease, yet the undertone is mainly passive throughout.

However, the praise far outweighs the bad. Julianne Moore unequivocally and single-handedly makes one forget about the ailing plot with her captivating performance; her precision and incredible acting agglomerates every aspect into a reputable final picture. She goes from intellectual to mumbling wreck seamlessly, with everything in between near-perfect

Cars

Theo Kitsberg OGH

the film may have been spiritless, but Julianne Moore really does bring colour and passion to poor Alice. Kristen Stewart, who plays Lydia, also shines in this film, proving to be the sole and necessary character to have a meaningful and absorbing connection to Alice. Furthermore, the cinematography and imagery is enthralling.

It plays a lot with Alzheimer’s itself, with the focus, firstly, always being

or Huracan have been running successfully for a long time then typically Lamborghini will make a Super Veloce edition for the car. They assess the performance and appearance of the car. They then take all those aspects from these that are good things and enhance them and they take all the bad aspects and make them good.

One of my favourite things about the Aventador is the way that on the rear of the car there are sort of black slates that are piled on top of each other until they reach the roof of the car. You can get two versions of the SV Roadster, one of them has the rear style like that and the other has glass panels that allow you to see the engine. I love them both.

In my opinion usually convertible Lambos don’t look as good

as non- convertible ones but Lamborghini have changed that with this car because the Aventador SV looks better as a convertible.

The car also has two features that I like on any supercar. Firstly, it has a spoiler that can be retracted or withdrawn just by the press of a button. The other feature that I lam passionate about is the scissor doors. I love both butterfly and scissor doors but scissor suits Lambo cars better.

As well as looking beautiful, the car also has pretty impressive stats. It can reach 60mph in 2.8secs and has a top speed of 217mph. Wow! If you want one you will have to wait till 2016.

I’m sure it will cost a lot although the price has not yet been revealed.

Cars

Ferrari 488 GTB Zayd Ahmed 1A

Ferrari has a long and illustrious history of mid-mounted V8s. The first was in the 308 GTB 40 years ago (GTB standing for Grand Touring Berlinetta), and to mark its anniversary, a new supercar was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show – the 488 GTB. Just as McLaren thoroughly updated its 12C to bring us the 650S, the Ferrari 488 GTB will fill the sizeable and almost irreplaceable shoes of the 458 Italia. But unlike the 458, it gets a turbocharged engine. It also has a 99bhp power enhancement to 661bhp, as well as a 220Nm leap in peak torque for a total of 760Nm. So, it sprints from 0-62mph in three seconds flat – exactly the same time

as the 458 Speciale.

Powering the 488 GTB is a new, 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8, paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gear-box. Ferrari says the 488 will lap its Fiorano test track in just 1 minute 23 seconds – two seconds faster than the 458, and half a second quicker than the track-focused Speciale. In short, all these facts and figures just prove that the 488 is a really, really fast car!

From the front, the influence of the LaFerrari (Ferrari's one-million pound hyper-car) is clear. The headlamps are near identical and there are similar creases in the bonnet. The front bumper is one huge air duct, split in half at the centre.

The sides are intricately sculpted, too, with a split vent behind the doors and 458-style contrasting sills. At the back, the GTB lifts its design from the Speciale, ditching the standard car’s triple exhaust pipes to make way for just two and a bigger rear diffuser.

The result is 50 per cent more down force and reduced drag.

Inside, the angled air vents and instrument panel are all centred towards the driver, while there is the usual multifunction steering wheel, bucket seats and top-quality dash.

Ferrari has, naturally, thrown its whole range of electronic controls at the 488, including a more advanced Side Slip Angle Control system (SSC2), which helps you drift. This set-up will also work with the car’s F1-Trac stability control and E-Diff electronic differential for flatter and more stable high-speed driving. Engineers are said to have dedicated great attention to the 488 GTB’s exhaust note, too, creating a “new soundtrack that is full, clear and totally distinctive”.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 19

The CITIZEN

SPORT On this page are two separate, wacky and hypothetical scenarios which could occur in a football match. It is up to you to decide what you should do, YOU ARE THE REFEREE...

Go to the puzzles section to see the answers to these scenarios from professional referees so you can compare your responses...

Anthony Bolchover 5M

1

2

The red team are through on goal but outside the box. The red number 8 is about to score when the blue team centre-half makes a terrible and crunching tackle worthy of a red card. The referee, about to blow the whistle and send off the blue player, realises that the ball has rolled nicely to another red player who is through on goal and 1 vs 1 with the blue keeper.

Therefore, the ref plays advantage. The red player dribbles with the ball, and, after the advantage is up, shoots but amazingly the blue goalkeeper catches it and the ball does not go out of play.

The blue goalkeeper throws the ball out and the blue team immediately counter.

Within 15 seconds after this, the ball has been crossed into the red box by a blue player, and the blue centre-half, who had initially made the tackle worthy of a red card (but the advantage was played) heads it into the bottom corner. Is the player sent off, and more importantly, is the goal still valid? You are the ref…What do you do?

How to become a Premier League referee for dummies...

Anthony Bolchover 5M

We all know the career paths professional footballers take in order to become the next big Premier League star. However, what do referees need to do to arbitrate the top football matches in the country? If you’re 14 years old, reasonably fit, have decent eyesight, and are passionate and determined, there is no reason why you couldn’t become the next top referee…

complete the Basic Referee’s course.

Once you have accomplished this, you will achieve level 7 referee status, which qualifies you to arbitrate park or amateur football games.

Step 2 •After a year, one has the opportunity to promote to levels 6 and 5.

You can achieve this through official assessment, experience and being a strong officiator in the amateur matches. This is your pathway to becoming a top man in the middle.

Step 1 Step 3 •Firstly, •After you need to register with more experience and tests, your local football association.

Having done this, you are required to

one can move on to levels three and four, which allows you to

officiate senior amateur football and even semi-professional matches.

Progressing to level 2, you have the ability to referee the National Conference and the Premier League reserves…

Step 4 •And finally, level one, every ref-

eree’s hope and dream. Division one referees are top boys in the referee hierarchy. This level entitles you to officiating football league and premier league matches. Top stalwarts such as Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg were all members of this elite level.

The game has gone to a penalty shootout.

Both red and blue teams huddle together with their managers. The blue manager then instructs certain players to do something very unsporting but unbelievably canning. Having assembled his defenders (who are clearly the teams’ worst penalty takers,) he instructs them to got to the best penalty takers in the opposition red team and start a massive punch up.

His strategy is very clever, what the manager is seeking to do is get all his worst penalty takers sent off (which would rid them of taking any penalties in the shootout and only the better ones would be able to take it, even if the shootout were to go into sudden death,) and hope that the opposition’s best penalty takers either get injured or receive a red card for retaliating.

This would mean that the red opposition’s best penalty takers could not take any penalties and only the weaker ones could, resulting in a major disadvantage for the red team. These stage of events play out and having sent off all the respective players for red cards and others substituted for injuries, you realize the blue manager’s very unsporting intentions. You are the ref… What do you do?

20 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

sport

Hillsborough - 26 years on

Match commander accepts culpability for Hillsborough 96 deaths Harry Tanner 3H

As the latest Hillsborough inquests continue, David Duckenfield, the Hillsborough Police match commander, conceded that his failure to close a tunnel at the FA Cup Semi-Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest "was the direct

cause of the deaths of 96 people".

Giving evidence for a sixth day at the inquests in Warrington, Chester, Duckenfield also accepted that he "froze" during the afternoon of the disaster.

Mr. Duckenfield was being questioned by Paul Greaney QC on behalf of the Police Federation of England

and Wales. Mr Greaney suggested to Duckenfield that even a child of "average intelligence" would have been able to predict the consequences of allowing nearly 2000 fans through Gate C. Mr Greaney proceeded to question whether Duckenfield had been incompetent on the day, to which the now 70 year old retired

officer replied: "I think it is a view some would agree with sir."

Earlier in the inquest, Duckenfield had admitted that he had lied about fans forcing open the gate to the ground and he has since issued a lengthy apology to the families of the victims. When asked by Greaney, if he "simply froze", Duckenfield said

that he thought it would be "fair to say that we were all in a state of shock".

"Is it not the match commander's job to get past any feelings of shock?" the QC asked.

"Yes, sir, but I am human," David Duckenfield replied.

The inquest continues.

“It would be easy for him to continue with the lies, but to own up to his mistakes is admirable.”

claims he had "bottled it" and "panicked" as the disaster unfolded and he had also falsely stated that Liverpool supporters has "rushed" the gate and forced it open.

However, as much criticism that Duckenfield will continue to face, it must not take away from the courage he showed to finally speak the truth.

It would be easy for him, and all of those involved, to continue with the lies they have told, but to finally own up to his fatal mistakes, is admirable to say the least. Furthermore, Duckenfield went a step further, in writing an apology to the victim's families in which he admitted to having "buried his head in the sand" and how he wanted to finally tell "the whole truth." He told the families that "it's now dawned on me what it means to you."

It is a great shame that Duckenfield will be remembered for his mistakes, for it is decision to come forward now, more than ever, that is an example to us all.

Analysis

Duckenfield’s ‘bravery’ example to us all Harry Tanner 3H

To accept responsibility for the death of 96 football fans is brave to say the least, but is admitting such culpability 26 years after English football’s infamous Hillsborough tragedy courageous or irresponsible?

Living with the knowledge that one is responsible for the death of 96 people is certainly a formidable task, so David Duckenfield must be admired for his bravery, coming forward–albeit after 26 years–and accepting his culpability in the Hillsborough Disaster in

1989. However, it is interesting to consider what might have been, had Duckenfield come forward earlier.

Perhaps the most devastating consequences befell the families of the victims, who had to endure more than two decades of lies. Their family-members were blamed for their own deaths, mainly in The Sun's "The Truth" article, released just four days after the disaster, that sparked a boycott of the newspaper which continues today in Liverpool.

However, it must not be forgotten the suffering Duckenfield himself, went through. The inquest heard that the former police officer suffered from insomnia in the run-up to the Taylor Inquiry in 1989 and suffered severe drinking problems too. At one stage during the inquiry Duckenfield had to drink "half tumblers of whisky" just to summon up the courage to read his statements. The court also heard from the South Yorkshire Police doctor, who reported in 1991 that he was "unfit to undertake the

duties of a police constable" and was diagnosed with "severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder".

The man was clearly shaken.

It was naïve–at best- of Duckenfield to allow the investigations to last for as long as they have done. He admitted himself that his failure to close a tunnel at Hillsborough "was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 people".

He was also, in fact, the direct cause of many families suffering with the way he hid behind a web of lies.

Duckenfield had previously denied

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 21

The CITIZEN

sport Sport at CLS

Water polo trip to Paris 2015 School Sports Correspondent

After a quick outfit change we slipped out of school, rather like Liam Neeson in Taken 3 but with more capable running. A sleeping photo shoot starring Oscar Pain alongside card games and Paul Botje's unlimited 'legal' movie library passed the time and soon enough we saw the Eiffel Tower looming in the distance.

Descending from the Eurostar we quickly dispersed and melted into the crowds as to avoid bringing attention to ourselves, just like Liam Neeson as he evaded the LAPD for a second time. Regrouping at 20:00 hours, we tested the mental toughness of Mr Silcock with some challenging riddles, while Montmartes plucked up the courage to enter the pool. It was clear from the start that City was the more capable team both physically and technically. A strong defence kept the opposition's appearances on the scoreboard to a minimum, while the boys from London began to launch volleys of shots at the French keeper. While we had many shots the majority missed the target, the highlight was Ed Evans' interesting choice of the ‘go nowhere’ bounce shot. The second half was similar to the first but with Montmartes being slightly more accurate. However, this was not a problem for Oscar Pain and his face which helped keep the scoring to a minimum. As the buzzer went, City's victory was clear and we headed to the café for our well awaited steak and frites.

We awoke the next morning after a somewhat restful night in a suspiciously hair-filled hostel. Although the water polo team is the manliest of

them all we are also a cultured bunch and were therefore desperate to visit the Pompidou Centre to enhance our already expansive knowledge of modern art. Jacob Greenhouse in particular was fascinated by the male portrait present in the Koons exhibit.

Leaving the Centre we headed to our next match against Racing Club.

“Although the water polo team is the manliest of them all, we are also a cultured bunch.”

Some stellar swimming by Johnny Naylor and Jonathan Amoah combined with the finessed passing of Alex White shocked the racing club defence and established an early City lead. The City dominance continued, with Will Moore slotting away a couple of goals alongside some lobs from Jack Nurney and long range missiles from Paul Botje. After a change of ends, the match recommenced along with City's goal scoring, the highlight being Marco Coronelli's top-corner screamer which was accompanied by the shout of "Today is my Dolmio day". Defensively the lads from London were sound: sterling efforts from Sam O'Cianna and Peter Yates meant the City goal was never truly tested, even with the challenge of an added eight metres of swimming.

After two games we had two

Who is the best player in the NBA? Theo Kitsberg OGH

Kobe Bryant is certainly one of the major players in the NBA. However, with a problematic leg injury, he is not almost on the same level he was at the start of his career or even on the same level he was two years ago.

However, he is still a fantastic guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, and although his leg injury has hindered his progress, he is getting back to the state that he started the NBA with and is a player to watch out for.

My Rating: 70%

•

Kyrie Irving first three seasons in the Cleveland Cavaliers were superb, averaging 20 points per game. However, he has now playing alongside starts like Kevin Love and LeBron James. He is still a skilled player but can no longer expect to reach and reach his earlier form.

My Rating: 85%

•

Kevin Love is definitely an extremely good player as no other player in the NBA has an average of 26 points per match or 12 rebounds per match. Wow. There is nothing more to say he is a great player. He plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

My Rating: 87%

•

Stephen Curry once said that his offensive game was just as good as LeBron James’ offensive game. I would not go that far but he can play a very good offensive game. In fact he

can play a better offensive game then any other player in the NBA apart from LeBron James. Very good. He has an average of 24 points per game.

The Golden State Warriors are lucky to have him.

My Rating: 96%

•

Carmelo Anthony can score 25

points in a game which is definitely not bad, at all. He says that he is the most underrated superstar in the NBA which in my eyes is true. He is an extremely impressive player but because people who watch the NBA have got so used to seeing him playing so well that they just get used to it. He is in my eyes the best player in the Ney York Knicks.

My Rating: 93%

•

Kevin Durant plays for Oklahoma City Thunder and is quite simply amazing. His average points per game is 32 points per games. He can make space, shoot from far out and can definitely be called Oklahoma City Thunder’s best player.

My Rating: 91%

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LeBron James is a strong contender for the title of best player in the NBA. He can do what Carmelo Anthony can do just he will do it better. He can do what Stephen Curry can do, just better. He is the closest thing to Michael Jordan that we have at the moment. He can easily dominate the basketball court and will probably lead the Cavaliers to the playoffs.

My Rating: 100%

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victories and were feeling confident about our last match against Choisy le Roi the following morning. As the match began, it became clear that it wouldn't be as easy as the other two; a well drilled Choisy team kept the match close and after the first quarter no team had emerged clearly as the stronger. The everobservant Mr Silcock put down the chess piece he had been fiddling with and instructed us on the necessary tactics to break done the crashing opposition defence. Following these instructions, City began to slowly pull away with some fine goals by Ed Evans, Paul Botje and Jonathan Amoah. Solid performances from Ollie Forsyth and Jacob Greenhouse meant the ball moved up the pool easily accompanied by the sound of Uptown Funk. Some good saves by Oscar Pain meant the lead stayed comfortable in City's favour and as the final buzzer sounded we had won our third game.

Post-nap we gathered as a team at the cinema ready to take on the epic tale which was Taken 3, the incredible running and evasiveness of Liam Neeson highlighted what was an emotional roller coaster with absolutely nothing remotely funny about it, guaranteed to sweep the board at the Oscars. A tearful goodbye on the platform of Gare du Nord on the following day, with the taste of warm bagels still fresh in our mouths, rounded out what was a fulfilling and successful trip. A huge thank you must go to Mr Silcock for organising all our matches and providing some quality banter and to Camille Muris Prime for ensuring our safety in Paris.

The idiot's guide to wasting time effectively Anthony Bolchover 5M

It’s 2-1, 80th minute, your team are hanging on for the three points, and what would most managers do if they were winning at the time, waste as much of it as possible, through prolonged substitutions, slow restarts of set-pieces like corners and other dead ball situations like a throw-in or goal kick. However, looking at it critically, is it worth it?

Over the past 10 years, I have watched many football matches, whether it be at a stadium or at home.

And it got me wondering, is wasting time towards the end of the game that effective? It began to emerge that it probably isn’t, and it’s down to an important rule of thumb in human psychology.

Towards the end of matches, referees have come to expect wasting time in modern football, like prolonged preparation for set-pieces, as these events are so frequent. Since they expect this to happen, realising these occurrences become more obvious and blatant. In human psychology, a well-known rule is that people realise things more easily if they expect them to happen, and this theory is what is at play here. Therefore, since for referees, these events have become more blatant and clear, they will do as much as they can to counteract as strongly as possible the time wasted by compensating it through adding extra time on top. This not only cancels out the amount of time wasted, generally, since referees now see these events as so blatant, they are akin to overestimating the

amount of time wasted, and so, add more time on than the amount necessary to compensate the time lost.

Additionally, many managers, when winning by a slim margin, tend to preserve their substitutes right till the end of the match in order to waste some time by making them at this stage. Not only will referees ensure that the amount lost is compensated, it is not good for the shape of the team overall. Substituting with the sole purpose of wasting time is very ineffective; making pointless changes will worsen formation, structure and shape that the team as a unit had built up over the duration of the match. Worthlessly substituting one player for another is effectively removing one key component of the unit and replacing it with someone who has not been in it for any of the match, and so the unit and shape of the team will compound.

In conclusion, what I believe is that there is scope for wasting time well, but it needs to be done well; being less obvious and blatant. In my opinion, teams need not to waste time solely in the dying moments of the match; instead, if your team is winning, try and bite away time in earlier parts of the match (every second wasted is equal whether at beginning or end of a game) such as the 60th and 70th minute, when referees are less expecting it, and so will find it more difficult to realise it; and so in turn, will probably not compensate it by adding some more extra time.

22 | Wednesday 18 March 2015

The CITIZEN

sport

Unstoppable growth of NFL in Britain Gabriel Shear 5M

Why do we hate American Football?

American Football is America’s favourite sport, having been chosen by 35% of sports fans, but has long been treated with disdain by people in Europe, and especially, Britain. We hate its name. ‘Football’ is our thing.

It always has been, and depending on just how evil FIFA gets, it always will be. None of us really know why they call their version of rugby ‘football’. Each team usually kicks the ball no more than seven or eight times a game. The ball isn’t twelve inches, as many would have you believe; it’s actually eleven. It traces its roots, for some reason, back to Association Football, which Americans insist on

“‘Our ownership understands this is a market we need to be more active in’ – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell”

in play allow for advertisements, and they also improve the quality of the play. With at least a minute to decide and organise the play-call, the coaches are able to form a perfect possession most of the time. This is a far cry from Association Football, in which there can be periods of up to thirty minutes where teams aimlessly pass the ball around, unsure of what to do. These vital breaks, and their resultant increase in quality, also increase the speed at which the game is played. While rugby is also a full-contact sport, a greater emphasis is placed on stamina, and so the average hit is not nearly as hard, or as potentially deadly. The momentum with which players are hit each play is the reason for the much-lamented pads and helmets. Without them, the sport would be much more dangerous, and much less exciting. They allow for players to be hit on any part of their body, and allow players to tackle in any way they see fit, as long as they don’t use their helmets as a weapon, or pull players down by their facemask. The one undying criticism the NFL faces each season is the prevalence of head injuries, and the long-term effects they have on former players. However, without the helmets, the number of these cases would increase massively.

Tremendous increase in international popularity calling ‘soccer’, despite the enormous difference in the gameplay of these two sports. We feel they copied at least two of our games: football for its name, and rugby for the way it’s played. We hate the fact that the giants who play this sport wear large protective pads. They are viewed as being ‘soft’ compared to our rugby players, whose only protection is the occasional head guard. The general point of view is that their players should be able to take the hits our sportsmen take.

Constant breaks – but are they so bad?

Many also feel that the NFL is unnecessarily boring, with an average of only around 11 minutes of actual gameplay each match. One of the primary reasons for these breaks is advertising, which allows the NFL to make as much money as it does.

However, this is exactly the facet of America’s new favourite sport that we should be embracing. These gaps

Despite being for many years the laughing stock of the rest of the world, people are starting to become interested in the NFL. Each year, its international popularity increases tremendously, and the attendance of NFL games at Wembley continues to expand. International growth of the league is something that has certainly been a pull factor for the NFL, with games now becoming a part of the domestic sporting calendar in the UK. In 2011, 8.1% of the UK population were interested in the NFL; today that figure is 12.3%. That increase is the equivalent to there being an additional 1.86m NFL fans in the UK alone. British broadcasters have caught on, with Sky Sports last year signing a five-year deal as the only British broadcaster to air NFL games (five each week), the pinnacle being the Superbowl, with a whole week of coverage devoted to its build-up. The international audience watching the Superbowl grows each year, peaking this year at over

“A London team ‘has to be able to win the Super Bowl’ – NFL VP Mark Waller”

120 million. As the viewership rises, so too does the advertising revenue.

For this year’s Superbowl, between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, a thirty second TV spot cost a reported $4.5 million.

Hundreds of thousands stayed up until 3 am on February 1st to watch the game, the Katy Perry half time show being the highlight for many.

With the global audience consistently rising, the earning potential for Sky and the NFL is endless, and the excellent turnout at Wembley for the landmark NFL International events is only more encouraging: more than 660,000 fans have attended Wembley games since 2007.

A London NFL franchise in the works?

The NFL has set in its sights a London franchise by 2022. In a report compiled by accountants from Deloitte, the two NFL games at Wembley in 2013 brought an extra £32m to London. They also predict that these games will bring in up to £56m annually, if the International Series expands to four games a year as expected by 2016. The earning potential, however, for a full-time London team is boundless. By Deloitte’s estimates, at least eight games a season in London would earn upwards of £102m for the capital. Although there is a high potential for problems, such as possible non-compliance from the ever-difficult European Union concerning the Collective Bargaining Agreement of the NFL, which they say restricts players’ contractual freedom. But with the FA also very keen on having American occupants at the grossly underused Wembley Stadium, the chance of a £100 million annual dividend for the UK economy and no sign of the novelty wearing off for UK fans, the case for a London franchise should prove irresistible.

Six Nations 2015: who will win?

Marc Doria D’Angri 5H

weekend and, thus, win their first Six Nations title since 2011. Verdict: 1st Nations 2015: who will win?

A tensely fought SixSix Nations camIreland: Although they have paign has left three teams (England, played very well in their first three Marc Doria D’Angri 5H Ireland and Wales) in the running matches, a loss away to Wales will forA the Sixfought Nations title and the Triple have their and confidence. tensely Six Nations campaign has left three teamsdamaged (England, Ireland Wales) in theFlyCrown.

I will examining halfI Jonny Sextonthese wasthree farteams’ from the running for the Sixbe Nations title and thethese Triple Crown. will be examining three chance of winning player whoforhad Ireland to chanceteams’ of winning the prestigious honoursthe and deliver my verdict each steered team: prestigious honours and deliver my victory over England three weeks England: the tournament, England have a good side, putting some verdict forThroughout each team: agolooked and team coach JoeinSchmidt adimpressive displays against Wales, and Scotland and winning impressive England: Throughout theItaly tournamitted thatbythe Welshmargins. defence had England outside-centre Joseph has been agot breath fresh air, theand mosthis tries in ment, England haveJonathan looked a good theofbetter ofscoring Sexton entire side, putting soinfar. some impressive side. they the tournament Half-backs Ben Youngs andIrish George Ford On have Saturday, looked solid as well, face a displays against Wales, and England Scotland side that consistently commanding the backline and theItaly latter gaining valuable points withhave his boot.

These Scotland winning impresunderperformed, andCup thisnext will be an two playersand will surely be a partby of Coach Stuart Lancaster’s plans at the World year. sive outside-centre Ireland to gain points Themargins. same can beEngland said for the majority of forwards,opportunity who have lookedfor authoritative in the scrum, Jonathan Joseph has been breath is ofthe sort to improve their needed chances winning lineouts and rucks. Captain ChrisaRobshaw of leader England sinceofMartin fresh air,retired scoring most in the on a They superior points difference, Johnson and the he has beentries impressive throughout. will look to dispatch a lacklustrebut I tournament so far.

BenSix Nations don’t title think will be1stenough to France this weekend and,Half-backs thus, win their first sincethat 2011.itVerdict: Youngs and George Ford have looked overtake England. Verdict: 2nd Wales: Moralea loss is sky-high in the solid as well, commanding the backIreland: Although they have played very well in their first three matches, away to Wales camp following a had fantastic line the latter will and have damaged their gaining confidence.England Fly-half JonnyWelsh Sexton was far from the player who last week over Ireland.

They valuable points with over his England boot. These steered Ireland to victory three weekswin ago and team coach Joe Schmidt admitted Italy onIrish Saturday despite two surely partofofSextonface thatplayers the Welshwill defence had gotbe theabetter and his entire side. On who, Saturday, they a win over Scots three weeks Coach Stuart Lancaster’s plans at the face a Scotland side that have consistently underperformed, and the this will be an opportunity forago, haven’ton looked andbutthey World next The same can of winning IrelandCup to gain pointsyear. to improve their chances a superior imposing points difference, I nd definitely too much on captain bedon’t saidthink for that theit majority of forwards, will be enough to overtake England.

Verdict: 2rely who have looked authoritative Sergio Parisse. Although Wales will aplay at win thelastatmospheric Stadio inWales: the Morale scrum, lineouts is sky-high in theand Welshrucks. camp following fantastic week over Ireland. in Rome, I think Captain Robshaw is the sort of overOlimpico They faceChris Italy on Saturday who, despite a win the Scots three weeks ago, haven’t that lookedthey willSergio get Parisse. a big Although win over the leader England since imposing and they needed definitely rely too Martin much on captain Wales willItalians, play at it won’t enough surpass Johnson retired andOlimpico he hasinbeen the atmospheric Stadio Rome,imI think but that they will getbe a big win overtothe Italians, the inferior difference rivals pressive throughout.

They the will lookpoints but it won’t be enough to surpass inferior differencepoints over rivals Ireland andover England.

Ireland and England. Verdict: 3rd toVerdict: dispatch 3rd a lacklustre France this

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England

TEAM

POINTS DIFFERENCE +37

Ireland

+33

Wales

+12

MATCH ON SATURDAY Vs France at Twickenham, London Vs Scotland at Murrayfield, Edinburgh Vs Italy at Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Hamilton’s mental strength key to title tussle Rahul Malkani S6

2014 was one of the most topsy-turvy years imaginable for Lewis Hamilton.

Lows, such as intra-team quarrels with teammate Nico Rosberg; relationship issues off the track and car reliability troubles certainly would have added to the Brit’s grey hairs.

But eventually Lewis found better luck, and by the end of the year he claimed a second World Drivers’ title, which resulted in him being named “BBC Sports Personality of the Year”.

Naturally a champion in any sport should be able to gain an advantage in some way or the other.

Fortunately for him, the Mercedes team backed him with a stupendous car, thus it was more of a battle with his teammate as the rest of the field couldn’t keep up in pace. Despite this the season wasn’t so smooth-sailing.

The aforementioned disputes with teammate Rosberg occurred, sometimes in press conferences, or on the field in Belgium, as Nico claimed after the race to have deliberately ran into Hamilton to, “prove a point.”

Hamilton was constantly engaged in mind-games with a man who had an amicable relationship dating back to their teen karting years. Sometimes Rosberg took subtle but hurtful digs at Lewis during interviews. After the crash in Belgium, it was where we saw Hamilton’s bullet-proof mental strength come in. Perhaps we also saw this at the British GP, where Hamilton returned with a bang after a judgement error in qualifying.

A conversation with his father made him realise who he is today.

He adopted a “growth-mindset” in which nothing could stop him, as

he would always look to the future rather than dwell on the past. This was a new level of self-confidence, but not arrogance. It seemed that bad qualifying sessions didn’t affect him, as he looked forward to the race where the points are won. No matter what Rosberg said, Lewis remained unfazed. At the first Grand Prix in Melbourne we saw Lewis with a similar approach. Clearly dissatisfied with the setup of the car, Hamilton persevered and eventually ended up winning the race. This mental toughness, where he blocks out of the rest of the world and remains positive no matter what, is a thing of true champions. That’s why it is highly likely that he takes a third World Championship this year, perhaps in more dominant fashion.

Wednesday 18 March 2015 | 23

The CITIZEN

SPORT

Championship round-up

Watford went top of the Championship following a 2-0 win at struggling Wigan. A second-half brace from top-scorer Tory Deeney ensured the Hornets overtook high-flying Middlesborough, who beat Derby 0-1, on goal-difference.

Elsewhere, Charlton continued their excellent form with a 3-0 win at bottom club Blackpool, leaving the Tangerines 18 points from safety.

Brunt punished West Brom midfielder Chris Brunt has been banned for one game and fined £8,000, having accepted an FA charge of misconduct. Following Albion’s 2-0 loss to local rivals Aston Villa, Brunt is said to have used insulting language towards a match official. He will miss this weekend’s game against Manchester City.

Coloccini loses appeal Newcastle United have failed to overturn Fabricio Coloccini’s red card for a tackle on Aaron Lennon. As a result, he will serve a three-match ban, during which he will miss the Tyne-Wear derby against struggling Sunderland.

From record transfers and success to financial meltdown: the decline of the Serie A explained Marc Doria D’Angri 5H

By the year 2000, few would have predicted that one of the most successful leagues in the world would collapse in such a way that it has.

Breaking world transfer records was a habit for elite Italian clubs, Hernan Crespo having just completed a €36 million world record move from Parma to Lazio. Of course, in 2015 neither club can afford to purchase players at such staggering fees, with the former suffering a mild financial crisis which has plagued their season. Here, I am going to explain why many top-flight teams are financially fighting to survive in Italy’s top division, focusing specifically on the administration-threatened Parma.

Italian football was enjoying a period of prosperity during the 1990s, with AC Milan and other Italian clubs appearing in all but two European Cup finals. Teams were also flourishing domestically with closely-fought seasons dominating the European football spectrum. Indeed, the aforementioned Parma was successful

both with their football and their finances, having won the UEFA Cup in 1995 and 1999. Large financial backing from multinational yogurt company Parmalat ensured that they attracted some of the best players from around the world, boosting Parma’s footballing image across the continent. It was these large amounts of money provided by wealthy multinational company owners that resulted in this period of success in Italy; Lazio also benefiting from investment by condiments conglomerate Sergio Cragnotti and AC Milan receiving their wealth from then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. However, in 2003, Parmalat collapsed having undergone what remains Europe’s biggest bankruptcy scandal. This scandal proved disastrous for Parma, who were declared insolvent a year later. After 2004, it showed that this would be the beginning of the end for Italian football.

In 2006, the Italian national football team won the FIFA World Cup, beating France in the final on penalties. This was a decade defining

“Parmalat collapsed having undergone what remains Europe’s biggest bankruptcy scandal.” moment for football in Italy with everyone involved accepting the highest accolade within the Italian government. A month later, this heroic World Cup win would be marred by a football scandal which has still plagued the state of the game in Italy.

The Calciopoli scandal was uncovered by the Italian federal police, exposing some close telephone links between some of Italy’s finest teams and various referee organizations.

2006 Italian champions Juventus were implicated in this bribery scandal, having paid referees to rig games in their favour. As a result, they were stripped of their Serie A title and

Atletico battle through in war against Leverkusen Charlie Pentol-Levy 5M

Atletico Madrid's European campaign continued in dramatic fashion with a penalty win against German outfit Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night in the Spanish capital. The first leg saw a fiercely fought encounter end in Leverkusen narrowly winning 1-0, against 10 man Madrid, and the second instalment saw an equally contested battle. The game started awfully for the home side with goalkeeper Miguel Moya

pulling his hamstring, however the crowd, who were heavily praised by manager Diego Simeone at the end of the game, got behind the team and four minutes later Cani got the ball down to the feet of Mario Suarez and he drilled his shot through the congested penalty area, putting the aggregate score at 1-1. More chances followed and Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic nearly doubled the lead, but incredible challenges from Leverkusen’s defenders saw the lead kept at one.

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“The crowd was anxious yet kept the noise levels high, encouraging the team to play fluidly.”

The second half was as exciting as the first and chances were frequent for both sides, especially Atletico with midfielders Antoine Griezmann and Koke supplying Mario Mandzukic, but he was kept at bay throughout.

As the game went on and the clock ticked down, the crowd were becoming noticeably anxious yet kept the noise levels high encouraging the team to continue playing fast, fluid football. Griezmann kept putting in many crosses toward areas where anyone could pounce on them and Arda Turan came close a couple times, however Bernd Leno played well in goal. In the late stages of the game, Atletico’s Raul Garcia went down in the box following a challenge but the referee waved away the appeals, and with around ten minutes left, former Chelsea flop Fernando Torres came on, much to the delight of the home crowd. The full time whistle loomed and extra time followed in hope of separating the two sides locked at 1-1 on aggregate.

As the game stumbled into the proverbial lottery of penalties, Jan Oblak, perhaps an unlikely hero given the anti-climatic nature of his £12.6 million transfer from Benfica (he has spent most of his time on the bench behind the far cheaper summer acquisition, Miguel Moya), saved Calhanoglu’s penalty after Raul Garcia had missed Atletico’s first. After confident penalties from Madrid’s Griezmann and Suarez and Leverkusen’s Rolfes, centreback Omer Toprack fired over after an extremely tentative run up.

Leverkusen’s Leno seemed to have got his side out of jail with a superb save to his right from Koke’s penalty but after Fernando Torres dispatched into the corner, Stefan Kiessling stepped up to fire his penalty over the bar and Atleti into the quarter-finals.

relegated to the second tier of Italian football. From this point, Italian football in general started to lose support, fans began to boycott games and referees lost their ability to officiate properly. Still to this day, the Italian football federation is involved in several dodgy schemes with team managers, a famous example being the Juventus manager Antonio Conte in 2011, who was banned from the game for 10 months for bribing referees. The Italian football federation has certainly toughened up since 2011, and Parma’s new chairman has also been implicated in dangerous schemes, which has led to a dramatic loss of money. As a result, they are left in a precarious situation, having been deducted three points and they are now languishing at the foot of the Serie A, 12 points adrift. This embarrassment for Parma summarizes the state of Italian football in the last ten years and surely if teams like Parma won’t recover, then Italian football will have completely lost its value, forever.

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Hillisborough: Culpability 26 years on Page 20

Could you cut it as a referee?

Find out with the ultimate quiz Page 19

Fighting Arsenal hop home ruing woeful first-leg Angus Taylor 5H

Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League last sixteen for the fifth consecutive season last night, as they failed to overturn their dismal first-leg performance against Ligue 1 side Monaco. Goals from Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey brought the aggregate score to 3-3, although the French side progressed into the quarter-finals on the away goals rule.

Throughout the opening stages, Arsenal were the better team, and began to create numerous chances from the first whistle whilst limiting the chances of the opposition.

Although Monaco had not conceded at the Stade Louis II in the Champions League this season, the deadlock was broken ten minutes before halftime, when Olivier Giroud latched onto Danny Welbeck’s through ball. Having had his first effort initially blocked by Monaco goalkeeper

Danijel Subasic, the Frenchman emphatically thumped the ball into the roof of the net to close Monaco’s aggregate lead to just one goal.

Giroud’s goal seemed to bring renewed belief to Arsene Wenger’s men; they came agonisingly close to a priceless second away goal when Welbeck had his fierce drive blocked by defender Aymen Abdennour.

Monaco were fortunate to be just one goal down at half-time, although they began to show glimpses of their excellent first-leg performance when Fereiro Cerrasco was introduced into the fray. With Arsenal left with no choice but to press high up the pitch in search of two more goals, Monaco began to hit them on the break and came close to sealing the tie.

Wenger replied by introducing the free-scoring Aaron Ramsey, and this proved a good decision when Ramsey calmly drove the ball into the far corner following countless Arsenal attacks. The match was poised for a

nervous finish, with one more goal for Arsenal sending them through into the next round. Late chances fell to Alexis Sanchez and Giroud, although Monaco began to irritate Arsenal by wasting time and playing for fouls. However, Arsenal had left themselves with too much to do, and the final whistle signalled yet another elimination at this stage of the competition for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Monaco progress into the quarter final for the third time in their history, while Arsenal head back to North London with their chances of silverware solely dependent on retaining the FA Cup.

Away goals rule: time for it to go?

Ben Nohr 5M

Following Arsenal’s defeat to an industrial–yet unspectacular–Monaco last night, the perennially-disputed away goals rule has been thrust into football’s spotlight once more.

Originally introduced to encourage the away team to attack, the rule has essentially achieved its aim. When watching a Champions League match, it is the away team who seem, more often than not, the more adventurous. However, the rule has had a significant adverse effect. Given the increased importance of the away goal, home teams now play with the avoidance of conceding as the very

backbone of their game plan.

The Champions League, being Europe’s elite football tournament, should be the very pinnacle of the beautiful game. The standard of player and team is, on the whole, even higher than the World Cup. In spite of this, the away goal rule is detracting from the entertainment value of the competition as teams become more fixated with, as pundit Gary Neville likes to call it, 'gamemanagement'. Without the dragging constraints on the home team, of fending off a potentially fatal away goal, they would be able to express themselves in a footballing sense far more freely; hopefully ending the

cagey nervy cat and mouse games once and for all.

As well as this, many argue that an unfair advantage is given to the team who play away from home first.

The first leg of a knockout tie is usually the cagier of the two, as the two teams and managers cautiously size each other up physically and tactically. Because of this, the home team squanders their home advantage, yet as the tie opens out in the second leg, arguably the team playing at home can more significantly use it to their advantage.

The Citizen contacted the Football Association, who employ a similar rule in their League cup after Extra

Time, for comment on UEFA’s regulation but they declined to comment on a matter they said was "out of their remit".

Other examples of the away goals rule: 2013 Round of 16: Bayern Munich 0-2 Arsenal (3-3 on aggregate) Despite a valiant comeback against a classy Bayern team that eventually won the trophy (and that had outplayed Arsenal in a 3-1 first leg win at the Emirates) Arsenal came up just short as they couldn’t match Bayern’s three decisive away goals.

2010 Quarter-final: Manchester United 3-2 Bayern Munich (4-4 on aggregate)

Having gone down 2-1 in Munich, United raced into a 3-0 lead at Old Trafford only for a Bayern goal just before half-time and an incredible Arjen Robben volley to send United crashing out on away goals, a defeat Sir Alex Ferguson described as ‘hard to digest’.

2003 Semi-final: Inter Milan 1-1 AC Milan (1-1 on aggregate) Despite both Milan clubs sharing the iconic San Siro, UEFA’s away-goal rule was still exercised as AC Milan went through at the expense of Inter as they were officially the away team in the second leg following a 0-0 draw in the first.