may 2017 issue 718
which famous ucl alumni are you?
volontouriism: women who modest fashion: uclu boycotts spotlight:ucl to do or are killing it embracing the national psychological not to do? in stem the hijab student survey services
It’s been a year for the history books. Just when you think we’ve voted on everything possibly – snap! Another election comes along ready to dominate the news cycle and selflessly offer us endless news articles for procrastinating purposes. Suddenly, in the months of the year when all UCL students could do with as few distractions as possible Theresa the Appeaser comes along and steals us away from our revision and out onto the streets of Holborn and St Pancras to campaign, with the election falling on the day of some departments’ results day. Depending on your viewpoint, it’s a massive inconvenience or an aptly timed distraction. Just another thing to add to the endless list of things you do in lieu of studying. The university year of 2016-2017 has been a momentous, world-altering one, both inside and outside of campus. Trump has completed 100 days in office, North Korea missile testing is becoming a daily news item, Brexit is surging ahead at the speed of a snail with the EU understandably laughing at our demands, and it snowed in April. The world looks different every day. Over this year, we’ve looked at the themes of new and fresh perspectives, mental health and the mind, democracy and justice. For this, our closing issue, we’ve leaving on as high a note as possible in the tundra that is exam season: positivity. We know, it was unchartered territory for us too. So peruse our pages and perfect your own positivity during this entre to summer. Psychoanalyse yourself with our personality quiz, answering the overwhelmingly meaningful question of which famous UCL Alumni you really are. Venture into the future of space travel in our science and tech pages; explore the new diversity emerging in the fashion industry; look back over the year’s sports gaffs and highlights with perverse pleasure; or consider the truth behind volunteering through our travel insight into voluntourism, and look for areas you can help locally in our exclusive interview with First Story. Whatever procrastination you’re looking for, hopefully you’ll find some enlightening divertissment in these pages and in the ideas of some of your peers. And if there is one thing we’d like you take away from all this year’s issues and our work here at Pi Media, it is that everyone has a voice and everyone deserves to be heard. So if you’re around next year, come and write for us, because the pen is always mightier than the sword, and we will have biscuits at our section meetings. Being Editors in Chief of Pi Magazine this year has been an amazing experience. Thank you for coming along with us, and good luck surviving the nuclear apocalypse. Oh no wait, we’re being positive. See you next year!
Beatrix Willimont & Nancy Heath Editors-in-Chief 2016-2017
Comment
p. 4-5: The Reality of the Peaceful Protest p. 6-7: Which Famous UCL Alumni Are You?
Features
p. 8-9: UCLU Boycotts the NSS p. 10-11: Blind Ambition: The Power of Positivity
Politics
p. 12-13: Peace in Columbia? p. 14-15: Peaceful Presidential Transitions in Ghana
Science & Technology
p. 16-17: The Digital Learning Revolution p. 18-19: An Interstellar Exodus p. 20-21: Women in STEM
Sport p. 22-23: Sporting Flips and Flops p. 24-25: Does Exercise Make You Happier? p. 26-27: Next Generation Sports Bars
Travel
p. 28-29: Ecotourism: Experience or Exploitation? p. 30-31: Volontourism: To do or not to do?
Lifestyle
p. 32-33: Can you eat 10-a-day? p. 34-35: Modest Fashion: Embracing the Hijab p. 36-37: The Changing Faces of Fashion
SPOTLIGHT
p. 38-41: UCL Psychological Services
MUSE: ARTS & CULTURE
ART p. 44-45: The Age of Reproduction MUSIC p. 46-47: The Breakup Album THEATRE p. 48-49: Feel Good Inc. LITERATURE p. 50-51: First Story Interview FILM&TV p. 52-53: The Rise of the Late Show
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am not afraid to admit that until recently I – like many others – possessed the stereotypical perception of what it meant to take part in a protest. If we are honest with ourselves, when we hear the words ‘protest’ or ‘demonstration’ our minds instantly flash to images of large, disorganised groups of violent youths. We would all love to deny that this is true. However, we must admit that, even if it is only for a split second, we can’t help but visualise scenes of chaos and riot. During times such as these, where it is easy to become engulfed in political uncertainty and social unrest, it is refreshing to reflect upon the power of peaceful protest. Thankfully, it does not take long for most to think more liberally and realise how important it is to exercise our right to the freedom of speech in a peaceful and productive way. Yet, the question of why our initial associations of protests were swamped with negativity is a crucial one. How have we become accustomed to this way of thinking? How accurate are these perceptions and what is the reality of peaceful protesting? London is at the heart of the UK’s socio-political movements. In the turbulent months following Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, London has seen an explosion of protest activity. Understandably, both of these events have caused serious concern and doubt about the future; for me the apprehension is no less. However, wishing that the circumstances were different is not going to change what is happening. Actively expressing concern in a productive way, may however have a different impact. This thought process resonated with others: we wanted to make ourselves heard.
fellow protesters provided a knowing smile and welcomed small-talk – something unheard of on an evening commute News of Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ and pictures of him holding hands with Theresa May unsurprisingly sparked national outcry calling for demonstration. Led by journalist Owen Jones, me and my fellow students found ourselves heading to Downing Street along with thousands of other vocal Londoners on the evening of the 30th January. I was petrified. Fuelled with excitement and political zeal but above all: terrified. Careful not to let it be known, I had a bad feeling about the whole idea of demon-
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strating. The images of chaos flashed in my mind; at a mere five foot five, I was sure I would be instantly separated from friends in the sea of people, and that would be if I were lucky, if not: trampled. How wrong I was. No sooner had we entered Euston Station did we see fellow students with their placards calmly headed in the same direction as us. The London Underground is, it’s more than fair to say, not one of the friendliest places in the world but on this occasion it was transformed. There was a positive buzz of collective excitement, fellow protesters provided a knowing smile and welcomed small-talk – something unheard of on an evening commute. Exiting Westminster station was a calm and organised process despite the unfathomable number of people. What shocked me most was the minimal number of police. Of course, they were present, but I had been prepared for hundreds of riot teams ready and willing to interfere at the first sign of any trouble – this was not the case. What surprised me further was the vast array of people from different groups within society that had turned out to share their collective concerns. As expected, London’s brilliantly diverse population was not any less present on this occasion; however what shocked me was the variation in the ages of protesters. I had come to believe that protests were driven by overexcited and anger filled students. Again, how wrong I was. Parents marched in solidarity with their young children, some even with babies strapped to their chest. At the other end of the spectrum, elderly couples had also turned out to support the cause – one woman expressing how amazed she was that she was still having to protest such issues over fifty years later. The variation of the age groups present at the protest provides ample evidence for the respect and harmony of the crowd which enabled the safety of all taking part. Famous faces from areas such as music, politics and journalism blended into the crowd with their fellow Londoners, united against divisive forces. After the march my friends and I agreed that not once did we feel in any danger or at risk. Rather, the unity of protesters was more empowering than anything we had ever felt before. What’s more, by the time we returned home we felt much more optimistic about the possibility for change. The contrast between the negative subject matter and the positive protest experience was stunning. In the days following I soon came to discover that my fears about taking part also resounded with others, including some who had been at the same protest. Initially
relieved by this shared apprehension, we then came to the question of why we were we so convinced that we would be greeted with violence and anarchy. It became clear that our perceptions had been largely shaped, and evidently misrepresented, by mainstream media influences. Protest activity, and the resulting media coverage, has played a key role in the representation of British social movements. As early as the suffragette movement (and even for centuries before that) protest movements have been portrayed as radical and counterproductive. Without true understanding of protesters’ motivations, the media has continued to warp the public’s perception of what it means to protest. Demonstrations, rallies, riots, strikes and protest are terms which are repeatedly used interchangeably to construct a distorted perception of peaceful protest; one which is centred around violence. However, developments in both the nature of protests and the availability of information may have begun to change these inaccurate perceptions. Reporting on the most recent London anti-Trump demonstrations has seen a shift in the representation of protesters. It appears as though the extremist common enemy of Trump/the breakdown of free movement across Europe has united contrasting political ideologies. It is this unity that has obliged reporters to condone the widespread protesters. As a result, rather than attempting to single out and stereotype a particular group of protesters, the media has provided subtle evidence of supporting, rather than opposing, such action. Further to this, in contrast to the coverage of protests as recently as a few years ago, instant information is much more available. Prior to the widespread use of social media, it may be the case that there would be ‘media blackouts’ in order to dispel evidence of peaceful protest, limiting accurate representation. Now however, it is becoming more difficult for the media to distort perceptions of protests. Thanks to live streaming and the ability to record events in high quality, the myths and stereotypes surrounding peaceful protest are being rejected by public evidence. In time, such progress may allow the perception of peaceful protest to move even further towards a more accurate one of positivity fuelled by social empowerment. For this to happen people must not be afraid to make a stand against issues that impact today’s society; issues they feel strongly about. To exercise personal freedom is essential. Media representation must not be accepted as truth.
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Sophie Berry discusses her experience attending the London protest against Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’
THE REALITY OF THE PEACEFUL PROTEST
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Pi Magazine 718 | comment
1. What are your plans for the weekend?
6. What do you think is your biggest flaw?
A. CHILLING WITH MY FRIENDS B. FALLING UNSUCCESSFULLY IN LOVE WITH EVERYONE I MEET C. PLAYING SPORTS D. PERFECTING MY IMPRESSION OF MRS DOUBTFIRE E. THINKING HARD ABOUT THE FUTILITY OF LIFE F. TRICKING PEOPLE INTO THINKING MY DOG CAN TALK
A. I CAN NEVER REALLY STICK TO SOMETHING B. I TRY TOO HARD TO BE EDGY C. I KEEP MISSING DEADLINES D. I’M A BIT OF A MARMITE FIGURE E. I FACTOR ‘EXISTENTIALCRISIS’ INTO MY DAILY ROUTINE F. I HATE TALKING ABOUT MYSELF
2. You’re walking in a forest (and this forest is actually Gordon Square when suddenly you’re confronted with an angry looking bear! What do you do? A. LULL THE BEAR TO SLEEP WITH A SONG B. FLING MYSELF ON THE BEAR FOR THE GREATER GOOD C. RUN AWAY, OBVIOUSLY D. DISTRACT THE BEAR WITH A LIGHT SHOW E. PINCH MYSELF – I’M PROBABLY DREAMING, RIGHT? F. CALL FOR HELP
7. What’s your greatest job interview tactic? (UCL Careers, take note).
A. LOOK PATHETIC SO THEY’LL PITY HIRE ME B. TALK EARNESTLY ABOUT THE FLAWS IN BUILDING SOCIETY ON CAPITALIST FOUNDATIONS C. THEY’LL BE LUCKY TO HIRE ME – ACT CONFIDENT D. THE ONLY WAY I’LL SUCCEED IS IF I PRETEND TO BE SOMEONE ELSE ENTIRELY E. DO YOUR RESEARCH (OBSESSIVELY AND IN DEPTH) F. ONE WORD: NEPOTISM
3. For your last meal, which of these would you choose? A. CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS B. BREAD, FRUIT AND MADEIRA C. ENGLISH BREAKFAST AND A MILKSHAKE D. NO FOOD, JUST SHOTS E. TANDOORI RHOTI F. LOBSTER (BECAUSE I’M WORTH IT)
4.
8. What would your friends say is the best thing about you? A. I’M LOYAL AND RELIABLE B. I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT RIGHTING WRONGS C. I’M DEDICATED AND HARD-WORKING D. I’M COMFORTABLE IN MY OWN BODY E. I’M CREATIVE AND ORIGINAL F. I TRY MY BEST TO HELP OTHERS
If you chose your subject over again, which of these calls to you? A. ASTRONOMY AND MATHS B. PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS C. LINGUISTICS D. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT E. ENGLISH LITERATURE F. PSYCHOLOGY AND LANGUAGE STUDIES
5. What’s your biggest fear? A. MY EMBARRASSING MISTAKES BEING REMEMBERED B. RESTRICTION C. FAILURE D. BEING IRRELEVANT E. TECHNOLOGY TAKING OVER THE WORLD F. LOSING ONE OF MY SENSES
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9. You’re out with a friend and it looks like they’re about to start a fight with the stranger. The stranger is, in fact, the bear you encountered earlier. What do you do?
A. I’LL JUST PRETEND I DON’T KNOW EITHER OF THEM AND WALK OFF B. I’LL STAY OUT OF IT AND WATCH TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T GET TOO NASTY C. INTERVENE AND PULL MY FRIEND AWAY D. JUMP TO MY FRIEND’S DEFENSE, OF COURSE! E. RECORD IT – IT MIGHT COME IN HANDY FOR POLICE STATEMENTS OR DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION F. TRY AND FIND HELP
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‘They don’t really count’ I hear you cry. ‘Only Chris Martin actually graduated!’ Well, yes, you have a point. But I see you proudly claiming them when you speak to non UCL students. Let’s be real, you could also be a member of Keane. You’re the typical UCL Everyman who will look back at your uni education with a mixture of fondness and relief that it was only a 3 year course. Look forward to the day your career peaks when you’re invited to perform on Live Show 4 of the X-Factor. If you get invited to The Voice, accept your career peaked 2 years ago and you missed it.
MOSTLY Bs - JEREMY BENTHAM.
You like to argue that, actually, you anticipate UCL. You act cool and like you stand above and apart from UCL but inwardly you have an undying devotion for it all, even the masses of building works and the hellish staircase in the South Wing. (And I’m not calling you out, but you may or may not have considered buying the UCL babygro ‘for the future’.) Your ideas are occasionally a bit out there, but you get more hits than misses, and that’s what really counts.
MOSTLY Cs - CHRISTINE OHURUOGU.
You take Varsity as a personal challenge and spend the entire week in a state of tense excitement. You often get tripped up with the sheer amount of paperwork students have to fill out (and the HC1 form has never quite managed to make its way to the post office despite your best efforts) but even that can’t stop you when you put your mind to a task. Don’t worry, though any fears of being the responsible friend are put quickly to rest when you enter Phineas.
MOSTLY Ds - HONEY G.
You’re gonna make it big one day, kid. Sure, you might make it capital-B Big or you might get to the finals of a nationwide talent competition, but everyone in your class is sure they’ll hear your name on TV one day. Other people might describe themselves as standing apart from the rest but you’re the only one who actually manages it, even if it means you haven’t seen the sun through your glasses for 3 years. All you have to do is work on your fashion style, otherwise you’ll never make it into the one fashion outlet that really counts – Pi’s ‘Campus Style’.
Let Dana Moss’ quiz help you determine which illustrious UCL alumni you are most like, because AS GRADUATION APPROACHES FOR MANY, WE DEFINITELY AREN’T TRYING TO REMIND YOU OF ALL YOU HAVE TO LIVE UP TO
Which Famous UCL Alumni Are You?
MOSTLY As - COLDPLAY.
MOSTLY Es - CHRISTOPHER NOLAN.
You’re more of a London person than a UCL person and will hotly defend it to the death when any non-Londoner smugly points out how little rent they have to pay in the wood thickets of Shropshire. You’re also not exactly sure that time really exists, particularly when you look back over the academic year and realise you thought you had at least another month to do all that work you were meant to do in November. If you’re not a medical student, you occasionally wish you were because the Cruciform always looks nice from the outside.
MOSTLY Fs - ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL.
You were that annoying child who carried on asking about every single object you encounter long after your guardian’s endeared tolerance faded. But you have a good heart and a desire to do something important in the world, and that just about balances the other thing out. You have an array of party tricks you can pull out at a moment’s notice. When it comes to technology, you’re conflicted but you’ll heatedly defend it any time a babyboomer starts criticising ‘your generation’.
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Pi Magazine 718 | features
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ccording to Sorana Vieru of the NUS, the National Student Survey is nothing but ‘marketisation through the back door’. Despite years of support for the survey, posters in UCLU bars and cafes this year called on students to ‘boycott the NSS’. Along with 24 other student unions from across the country, UCLU urged student to not complete the survey to help prevent a further rise in university tuition fees. The government argue that the NSS provides vital feedback on the student experience, allowing universities to target funding, suggest reforms, and improve accountability. Universities have found the feedback provided by the survey to be vital ever since the survey’s inception and have advised students to fill it in it to help collect more complete data, year on year. However, the National Union of Students now argues that the survey is being used to justify an increase tuition fees. The results are used, along with drop-out rates and graduate salaries, to rank universities as ‘gold’, ‘silver’ or ‘bronze’ under the new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). If the government’s Higher Education Bill
passes, universities that participate in the TEF will be able to raise tuition fees higher than £9,000, with the cap of the increase being dependent upon what rank they are awarded.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson argues that the changes are meant to increase competition within higher education, to urge institutes of higher education to compete with one another in a basic capitalist model to improve the universities at the top The NUS argue that a boycott of the survey is especially necessary because the govern-
ment failed to listen when concerns were raised. Last year’s NSS, to which over 70% of students responded, is already being used to create the first ranking for the TEF. Depending on when the Higher Education Bill is passed by Parliament, future university applicants will eventually face significantly higher fees. The NUS staged the boycott because the government cannot use the NSS data to rank universities if the survey’s response rate is under 50%. Since eligibility to charge higher fees depends on an institution’s ranking, the NUS argue that a successful boycott will mean that UCL’s tuition fees remain at £9,000. Rose Buchan, a second-year student at UCL, sees the TEF as part of a broader negative picture within higher education recently. ‘With rising rents, shrinking bursaries and the abolition of maintenance grants,’ Buchan warned, ‘the NSS constitutes another way in which lower income students are being pushed out of UCL’. The government counter that the NSS has long been valuable for both students and universities alike. They claim that the survey provides institutions with the infor-
Ben van der Merwe explores the facts and fic
UCLU BOYCOTTS THE NATI Page 8
features | Pi Magazine 718
mation necessary to ‘enhance the learning experience’ while helping prospective students make ‘informed decisions about where and what to study’. Universities Minister Jo Johnson argues that the changes are meant to increase competition within higher education, to urge institutes of higher education to compete with one another in a basic capitalist model to improve the universities at the top. However, the NUS have called attempts to increase competition between universities a ‘failed experiment’ with discriminatory undertones: they argue that the government’s plan to create a free market for higher education threatens to exclude students from low-income backgrounds while saddling those who can attend with unsustainable debts. Nationwide, university student unions have criticised the government for failing to engage with the concerns of student groups, and have accused the government of obscuring the real purpose behind the NSS. The survey, which is being conducted by Ipsos Mori, is sold to students as an ‘opportunity to share [their] experiences’. The only mention of TEF on its website is a link at the bottom of the FAQ section, which sends the reader to two obscure pol-
icy documents that make no mention of tuition fees. It is not surprising, then, that one survey by Save the Student found 87% of students to be unaware that the TEF is being used to justify fee increases, let alone that the NSS is passing information along to the TEF. The NUS have also criticised the plans as poorly thought out and motivated primarily by a desire to increase fees rather than an actual inclination to improve accountability and feedback. The NUS argue that the NSS is not a suitable measure of ‘teaching excellence’ because it primarily only measures student satisfaction. Other critics of the survey have justifiably pointed out another flaw: the 50% response rate (which the government apparently deems appropriate to base the TEF upon) is a very low bar for survey data, and could make the results statistically unreliable. Many universities have responded to the boycott by promoting the NSS much more actively, often posting flyers in student bars and offering university merchandise as incentives to participate. Mark Leach, editor of WonkHE, has warned that the publicity around a boycott may inadvertently pro-
voke greater marketing by universities and greater publicity for the survey, increasing response rates even on previous years. Opponents of the boycott point out that if the boycott lowers the response rate drastically then the only retaliation that the government would need would be to amend the Higher Education Bill to lower the threshold below 50 percent. Those promoting the boycott hope that such a move would cause a serious delay on the government’s plans, however, this change could potentially be introduced as a parliamentary motion, without the need for a time-consuming debate. Since the Higher Education Bill is still passing through the House of Lords, the government could potentially alter the 50 percent threshold, if the response rate is lower, before the Bill becomes law, in time for this year’s applicants. Since response rates are not reported until well after the survey is complete, the full effectiveness of the boycott remains to be seen. Both sides are unsure what the results of this will be at this stage. The survey is due to close in April, with students
d fictions behind the National Student Survey
TIONAL STUDENT SURVEY Page 9
pi magazine 718 | features
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niversity life is often characterised by boundless optimism about endless opportunity. You can become a film-star, start the next Facebook, or make your millions in corporate law all whilst juggling a degree. However, for most students the reality is starkly different. Pi Features investigates the danger of such unchecked ambition at UCL and searches for a healthier middle ground, where ambition can be reconciled with pragmatism. UCL’s Annual Careers Fair for the academic year begins in the first week of October. Over the next six or so weeks, hundreds of firms take part in events covering sectors including big hitters like the top names in management consultancy, finance, and law. These firms portray the idea that a career with them is ‘the (achievable) career’ for you. This year there were over six hundred applicants for each McKinsey summer internship position alone, revealing the extraordinarily slim chance of success. While the narrative of such firms and those who apply revolves around optimism, and the ability to pick from the best, the real problem is that such tactics mean that most applicants are unsuccessful with potentially nothing to show for the hours of effort students meticulously put into their applications. Ivan Lim, Chairman of UCLU’s Business Society is very much aware of this dynamic, but having secured an internship this summer with investment bank JP Morgan had a different message for UCL students. “If there’s something that you want to do and something that you want to achieve… you should go for it no matter if there’s a 10% chance or a 1% chance”. However, Lim was also keen to emphasise that all experiences have the potential to be positive: including failure. Even taking part in an application process gives students a good idea of how to prepare for interviews, conduct research and gain other such transferable skills, which are invaluable. Beyond this, Lim also argues that not getting “caught up in the hype” that surrounds the big industries and the big firms is important. University is all about finding out about yourself, and the important thing is to ask yourself genuinely “what can you see yourself doing [career-wise]?” In Lim’s case starting a career in investment banking was something he aspired to since high-school, and competitive internship opportunities provide a way for him to realise this dream. Balancing pragmatism and optimism is therefore important, as is making key decisions for your future then planning
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backwards from there. While internships are one way of gaining a foothold in the world of work, start-ups are another popular opportunity for students, although high risk. A commonly quoted statistic from Forbes is that “90% of start-ups fail”. Yet far from discouraging debt-saddled university students, this is still a youth-filled industry that is booming. An estimated 600,000 new businesses were launched in 2016, with that number set to rise as the government’s ‘StartUp Britain’ campaign continues. UCL was shortlisted in 2014 for the Entrepreneurial University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards, with the UCLU Entrepreneurs playing an active role in promoting student start-ups. According to Naoto Mulligan, President of the UCLU Entrepreneurs Society, a “more holistic view of entrepreneurship” is needed. Embracing the application of entrepreneurship in more traditional, commercial settings, such as the ever-growing tech industry, is a growing opportunity for students, he argues. Mulligan suggests that the instability of start-ups does not mean the experience is inherently reckless, but rather makes the whole experience into a learning curve. “We live in volatile times […] not just technologically, but also politically and economically. In such a time of change, perhaps it’s time to be less cynical and to be more of a risk taker.” He argues that current circumstances make now as good a time as any to get involved in entrepreneurship for two main reasons. Firstly, the recession’s death of career investment bankers and financial consultants means that the world of ideas such as entrepreneurship is becoming more valued over traditional employment. Secondly, start-ups have never had more potential for success with government schemes like ‘StartUp Britain’ and the British Business Bank providing more advice and support to students than ever before. However, success and failure with startups need not be seen as binary opposites. As Sri Ayangar, an executive on the UCL Entrepreneurs committee in charge of the society’s “Business Game” initiative argues, “it is important to embrace the likelihood of failure and to turn this into a positive”. The society pumps around £10,000 a year into developing start-ups through its Venture Capital (VC) Fund and the Moonshot Launchpad, and Ayangar acknowledges a slim – but not disastrous – 30% success rate. Yet, as Ayangar says “[This isn’t] an embarrassment or a disappointment.” Contrary to common portrayals of entrepreneurs with blind faith, Ayangar believes that student entrepreneurs are particularly
aware of the odds being stacked against them. Students are simultaneously supremely confident in their abilities to develop their ideas successfully and are also willing to see themselves fail along the way: “to fail once or twice…because you learn from it.” In the same way that Lim gratefully acknowledged the opportunities in finance at UCL, Ayangar recognises benefits that come with having a dedicated start-up fund at the university. The society can help guide student entrepreneurs to develop potentially viable ideas through its Moonshot Launchpad and then fund these ideas through the VC Fund as part of an in-house process that is perhaps less inaccessible than the process of securing funding and support elsewhere. University student entrepreneurs are in a privileged position, with the worst-case scenario being a failed start-up and a returning to student life without your livelihood being at stake. UCL students therefore can try and fail in the knowledge that they have little to lose. While the UCLU Business Society and Entrepreneurs Society are two of the most career-orientated societies, the UCLU Film Society often attracts those following dreams of making it big in Film or TV. Anton Volkov – currently Film Soc’s Marketing and Communications Officer and incoming President for the 2017/18 academic year – takes a slightly different approach to blind ambition. Instead of following fame, Volkov wants the society to consider what the film industry has on offer outside of film production. Instead of just attempting to churn out the next Christopher Nolan, Volkov wants Film Society’s members to recognise the myriad routes into the film industry. As Volvok says, “It’s so important for me to re-contextualise what the film society is about. […] There’s a chance that an executive ends up looking at your film, but the reality is it’s still so unlikely”. Following his own advice, Volvok runs the website trailer-track.com, keeping track of newly released film trailers and collating this information all in one place in a novel way. Starting off as a Twitter account giving periodical updates, it has since grown to a website with a visitor count of almost 200,000 since October 2016. Whilst Volvok is keen for this to remain a hobby it also reconciles his dream with reality, allowing him a possible future, realistic path into a volatile industry. While key graduate entry options are important, going beyond the stereotypes of finance, law and other obvious areas of importance is a must for current and future
features | pi magazine 718 UCL students. We live in a world dominated by growing entry-level challenges for students in highly competitive industries, along with the problem of blind faith often clouding realistic expectations. However, students seeking careers in these industries are generally aware of the likelihood of failure if the process is treated as a learning curve, and so their effort is not likely to be self-destructive. A similar dynamic is evident for UCL Entrepreneurs, whose endeavours require huge ambition and optimism in the face of probable failure. As Mulligan reveals, approaching both success and failure positively, and with a pragmatic attitude, can help you to take advantage of new opportunities. Failure needs to be embraced as a stepping-stone to success. As Ayangar argues, UCL students need to take advantage of the benefits of student entrepreneurship in-order to succeed. Also, the paths to success clearly don’t all close after university. As Volkov hopes to demonstrate with UCL Film Society, there are plenty of careers outside of the internship-intensive bubble with more points of entry in which the stakes are perhaps lower, but ambition is rewarded nonetheless. Succeeding in building a competitive career after UCL requires being open to future possibilities, following your dreams and taking advantage of new opportunities.
Luke Green and Robert Stevens look on the bright side of the graduate careers hunger games
BLIND AMBITION: THE POWER OF POSITIVITY Page 11
Pi Magazine 718 | POLITICS
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ocaine, civil war, referenda: Colombia has seen it all. On the 24 November 2016, a revised peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia: the ‘Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’), the country’s largest rebel group, was finally, and historically, signed. This historic achievement ended over half a century of civil war between the left-wing guerrilla group and the Colombian state. President Juan Manuel Santos had the deal ratified in Congress, despite an earlier popular referendum rejection. His predecessor, Uribe, had achieved significant successes and weakened the largest group of left-wing guerrillas in Colombia. Thanks to this, the war that had been fought since 1964 was ceased through talks in Havana, ending the most violent contemporary struggle in Latin America. But does this deal truly mean peace? The deal earned Santos a Nobel Peace Prize for successful negotiations. However, the treaty is only half the battle. The legacy of Colombia’s civil war and its drug trade are significant obstacles still standing between
the Colombian government and stability for the country, and this legacy must be overcome for peace to continue. Peace does not mean the years of war will be forgotten, caused by the problems of the country’s social, economic and political reality.
The cocaine trade was one of the main issues underlying the last years of the civil war; it is a huge source of money and power Calling the Colombian peace treaty an end to civil war is premature. The deal only concerns one guerrilla organization. The demobilization of FARC fighters will leave remote areas of the country a potential target. They will no longer be firmly controlled by any power, with the Colombian government not having enough presence there. The resulting vacuum might easily
attract other, smaller paramilitary organisations seeking to exploit the peace. FARC can realistically be replaced by other rebel groups seeking to gain control over regions. And the drug business makes the regions previously controlled by FARC appealing. The cocaine trade was one of the main issues underlying the last years of the civil war; it remains a huge potential source of money and power. Although the civil war started on revolutionary grounds, it has transformed into a struggle for control over the black market. FARC was in control of large chunks of rural Colombia - the group supported the cocaine business and protected the farmers. Coca plantations have become a serious issue for the government. The peace agreement is supposed to halt forced eradications of farms. Instead, it allows for agreements on stopping coca production between the government and the farmers by granting them compensations. However, the Colombian government is running out of money, and it is not clear how much they can actually protect the farmers. The treaty’s provisions are already causing the production of coca to increase. Since forced eradication has been halted, and because
PEACE IN COLOM Stanislaw Krawiecki explores how effective Colombia’s peace deal MIGHT ACTUALLY BE
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POLITICS | Pi Magazine 718
of the promised compensations, people and organisations are willing to become engaged in coca production. The existence of coca plantations undermines the peace treaty: wherever the big money is, there will be organisations trying to get hold of the business.
the peace deal itself might be useless if Colombia’s social and economic problems are not tackled Colombia’s recovery cannot be based only on effective enforcement of the peace treaty. The Colombian and Latin American legacy of authoritarian rule and inequality has provided incentives for creation of leftwing revolutionary groups. The inequality itself provokes divisions of society, and creates channels for rebels to gain significant support, especially in less developed regions. The economy is very concentrated
MBIA?
on producing raw materials and does not provide enough diversity of opportunities for such a big country. As a result, the peace deal itself might be useless if Colombia’s social and economic problems are not tackled. So, ‘socio-economic attention’ that concentrates on sustainable development of economy and regions should not only have to be announced, but must be carried out effectively in order to tackle the problems caused by guerrilla movements. The conciliatory tone taken by the Colombian government towards FARC is very promising for the future of democracy in the region. Doing everything to stop a war, instead of exploiting the country and limiting democracy to fight rebels, is definitely a significant step towards a peaceful, democratic future for Latin America. In Peru in the 1990s, President Fujimori exercised his emergency powers to successfully defeat another leftist rebel group (the Shining Path), and later exploited them to strengthen his rule and suspend democratic institutions. Seeing that he has since been convicted for abuse of civil and human rights however, the Colombian move must be approached cautiously, but with hope.
After the dissolution of FARC there will be influence and money to compete for However, the peace deal is still only a document. The underlying social, economic and political problems in Colombia provide many obstacles to achieving a long-lasting peace and to establishing a secure, prosperous state. After the dissolution of FARC there will be influence and money (in its worst form: the drug business) to compete for. Careful, but decisive, moves must be made by the government to retrospectively justify president Santos’s Nobel Peace Prize. Peace has a chance, and it’s the Colombians’ task to believe in it and make the future of their country their primary principle. Following Santos’s words, the peace treaty with FARC is not ‘peace’ in itself, but rather a hope for one.
“On signing this agreement, as President of all Colombians, I want to invite all, with an open mind and open heart, to give peace a chance,” - Juan Manuel Santos in a ceremony in Bogota.
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Pi Magazine 718 | politics
“H
appy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!” tweeted the incoming US President Donald J. Trump on New Year’s Eve last year. The tweet, awash with the typical tone of bluster and arrogance, is far removed from the modesty, graciousness and formality seen and expected from any president-elect around the world, let alone that of the US. The transition of power from President Barack Obama to President Donald Trump was admittedly without huge scandal, but it was also void of typical smoothness and grace that we have come to expect from such transitions in successful democracies. Take Ghana for instance. Sitting in the Gulf of Guinea, it lays claim to the title of most democratic country in Africa. Like the US, Ghana held a tightly contested election late last year, and it too saw the sitting party unseated. Yet its transitional period before the inauguration of the President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, was not marred by dubious claims and recounts like in the US. As you probably know, Trump won the election by winning the electoral college, but lost the popular vote to opposition candidate Hilary Clinton by around 3 million
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votes. He unfoundedly claimed in a series of tweets: “in addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally!” This claim, unfounded and untrue, resulted in Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein forcing a recount in three ‘Rust Belt’ swing states that had voted for Trump. The recount, which was backed and supported by Clinton’s team, proved unsuccessful in overturning Trump’s initial vote lead in these states. In post-election Ghana however, the scenes there were far removed from those taking place in post-Obama America. President-elect Akufo-Addo, who won the presidency on 7th December after two previous attempts, sent out a conciliatory message of thanks to defeated President John Dramani Mahama shortly before his inauguration. “My thanks for this occasion must go to my predecessor, John Dramani Mahama, who followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and has supervised a peaceful transition of power”, Akufo-Addo praised. “His conduct has been a credit to our nation and we must all give thanks to the lord for it.”
Ghana, which has been a free democracy since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1993, has now seen seven transparent elections and three smooth transitions from sitting President to the opposition’s President-elect. At Mahama’s final State of the Union address before handing over the reins of the country to his successor Akufo-Addo, he encouraged all Ghanaians to support and work with their new incoming President. As one of the few fully democratic countries in Africa, Ghana has been held up as an example to follow throughout the region, and its success can be accredited to its people, according to academic Christopher Fomunyoh. “Ghana’s success comes down to the shared determination of the people of Ghana to maintain their reputation that the country has acquired,” states Fomunyoh. “Ghana is cementing its position as the trailblazer when it comes to peaceful, meaningful transitions of power in Africa.” After his election victory, Akufo-Addo reiterated the belief that peaceful democracy is smoothly functioning in the coastal African nation. “Again, we have had a peaceful transfer of power from a governing party to an opposing one,” stated the newly elected
politics | Pi Magazine 718
a history of political peace: presidential transitions in ghana Alexi Demetriadi examines what can be learnt by President Trump from the presidents of a peaceful Ghana President. “We have done it without any fuss and it is now part of what we do as a people.” But how did a strong and stable democracy become cemented in Ghana? Ghana, one of only seven other African nations to be deemed ‘free’ in 2016 by the Freedom House, has a strong pluralistic and intellectual history and recent developments have further entrenched the democratic framework in the country. The founding father of independent Ghana, UCL alumnus Kwame Nkrumah, was a revered intellectual who feared that an ethnic federal system in Ghana would be detrimental for the nation. Accordingly, he took steps to lay the groundwork for democracy in the country and to ensure the peaceful transition of power. Nkrumah banned regional, religious, and ethnic-based political parties, on the basis of the justified fear that violence and dictatorships would be born out of the tensions and populism created by such parties. As recently as last year, further measures in Ghana were implemented to ensure the peaceful transition of power in the post-election period. In 2016, the Presidential Transition bill was passed which out-
lined and defined transitional activities that were to take place, as well as furthering the clarity of roles and laying out a structured transitional timetable to act as an effective mechanism for accountability. Similarly, the freedom of broadcast media proved instrumental in acting as an effective check on presidents and ensuring the transparency of the elections. The peacefulness of transitions of power in Ghana and its commitment to democratic values is no better illustrated than by events that transpired a two-hour flight away in The Gambia, where only after the threat of military intervention from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) did the sitting dictator, President Yahya Jammeh, finally concede electoral defeat to President-elect Adama Barrow, and only after embezzling around $20 million dollars of state funds. Before the threat of ECOWAS military intervention was on the table, former President Mahama was one of the key ECOWAS figures to travel to The Gambia as part of a delegation hoping to convince Jammeh to leave the country and concede defeat peacefully. Even after losing his own election a week later, Mahama was asked and agreed to continue in his role by Presi-
dent-elect Akufo-Addo. “The continuing involvement of former President Mahama will be vital in assisting the process in The Gambia,” a statement from Akufo-Addo read. After successfully playing a part in overseeing Jammeh depart The Gambia peacefully and without bloodshed, the former President of Ghana simply tweeted that he was “happy to be part of making history” in contributing towards the first peaceful transition of power in The Gambia. The peaceful and conciliatory nature of Ghana’s presidential transitions and those individuals that undertake them are distinct features of Ghana that have helped distinguish the nation and will continue to do so. So, rather than goadingly tweeting to his “many enemies who lost so badly”, perhaps Trump would be best advised to take a page out of Ghana’s book on how to act as an incoming, and sitting, President.
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Pi Magazine 718 | Science & tech
A
few weeks ago, I was having a discussion with a friend who had met a girl on Tinder. He’s completely supportive of dating apps, if individuals make their intentions completely clear. He also mentioned that he liked that apps such as Tinder provide an easy foundation for conversation to occur. Yet I’m not so convinced by this whole idea; surely such apps remove the human element from the whole dating experience?
Dan Jacobson asks how our learning can be improved by the Digital Age?
For me, the most interesting aspect of this discussion wasn’t the argument or the outcome, but the fact that it happened at all. In his book “Modern Romance: An Investigation”, the surprisingly perceptive Aziz Ansari explains that the frustrations surrounding modern dating are “unique to our time and technological setting: not hearing back on a text, agonizing over what really is your favourite movie”. These problems arise solely because of the Digital Revolution: the paradigm shift from analogue to digital technology. It’s trendy to be cynical about the Digital Revolution. In September 2015, the New Scientist magazine argued that the digital learning revolution was a “waste of money”. It referred to an article, published in Science in 2011, which showed that information found online is less likely to be absorbed by an individual, compared to information obtained from books. In addition, it stated that the use of digital media in learning has been linked to decreased test performances, internet addiction, and insomnia caused by the blue light emitted from computer screens interfering with melatonin activity. These results are not unexpected, given society’s time-consuming, destructive relationship with technology. There is a silver lining though: in the 2011 study referred to earlier, whilst individuals struggled to recall information, they did have an enhanced ability to re-access the information – they could quickly search for it online again. The question is, is this necessarily a problem? When we have every single piece of information we could possibly imagine readily available for us at our fingertips, why bother with rote-learning? The answer lies in our current education system, which is painfully outdated in its obsession with standardisation and syllabus. If closed book exams exist, rote-learning is essential. Our current education model, as described by Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University, is known as the “bureaucratic administrative machine”. It arose with the rise of the British Empire in the 18th century, when the education system was designed to create a generation of children with the exact same skillset, thus allowing maximum efficiency of the “machine”. The digital learning
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The revolution is only considered “wasteful” because it doesn’t fit in with the current system. Once this system evolves, the true benefits of the digital learning revolution may become clear. We are already well on our way to achieving this new, personalised approach to education. An article entitled “E-ducation”, published in The Economist in 2013, claimed that the role played by the teacher was moving from “orator to coach”. In addition, as of 2013, website Khan Academy had 6 million registered online students. On a smaller level, if we don’t know how to do something, most of us will simply use the internet to figure it out. Just in the past couple of months, I have used YouTube to learn
how to fix my bike, cook Mexican food, and take the U-bend out from underneath the sink. What we need to do now is allow the digital learning revolution to move beyond menial activities such as gears and enchiladas, and into our education systems. We need to learn how to search. This may be much easier than expected, as demonstrated by Professor Mitra in his famous “Hole in The Wall” experiments. In this instance, Mitra, based in New Delhi at the time, placed a “hole-in-the-wall” computer in a slum near his institute. In a matter of days, he found that the children from the slum had taught themselves how to use it, and were becoming increasingly familiar. These experiments came to a head
Science & Tech | Pi Magazine 718
Digital Learning Revolution in 2010 with the Kalikuppam experiment, in which Mitra placed a computer in the tiny village of Kalikuppam in southern India, and posed the question: Could Tamil-speaking children in a remote Indian village learn basic molecular biology in English on their own? He loaded various webpages onto the computer, gave the children access to it, and tested their knowledge against that of other Indian children. The results, published in the British Journal of Educational Technology, were striking. Mitra found that after 75 days of no supervision, and 75 days of supervision by a “friendly but not knowledgeable” encourager, the 10-14 year old children of Kalikuppam scored an average of 51.5% on the
tests. This surpassed those their age at an urban elite private school by 3%, and their peers at a local government school by a staggering 47%. These results strongly reflect the idea that fuelled by nothing but the willingness to learn, there are no boundaries as to what can be achieved. Mitra was awarded the TED Prize in 2013. In his talk, he said that he wished “to help design the future of learning by supporting children all over the world to tap into their innate sense of wonder”. In his 2010 paper, he discusses in detail how the children of Kalikuppam were not ordered or forced to learn, but were told, “There is some interesting new material on the computer. It is in English and it may be a bit hard to un-
derstand, but will you take a look at it?” Whilst grossly under exaggerated, Mitra made it clear that the children had a choice in whether they engaged with the material, and they still chose to learn. This “innate sense of wonder” is an essential component of the digital learning revolution. What only existed as part of Star Trek thirty years ago is now ubiquitous in our culture. The digital revolution has the incredible power to enlighten us and extend the boundaries of our capabilities further than we could have ever imagined, but the first step of this process is learning how to use it. But once this has happened, then who knows what we can learn?
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Who IS INCREASINGLY TEMPTED TO GO AND LIVE on a different planet? Tom Rivlin explains what we know about Exoplanets thus far
AN INTERSTELLAR EXODUS
Pi Magazine 718 | science & Tech
science & tech | Pi Magazine 718
P
eople often talk about “getting away from it all”, dreaming of a cottage in the country whilst huddling on an overcrowded train at rush hour. But imagine getting away from it all – the whole planet. Could you do that? Should you do that? If you have some attachment to our solar system, your habitable options are limited. Besides the one pale blue dot we call Earth, the only real contenders where you won’t fry or freeze are the Moon and Mars, and even then, you’ll need some kind of glass dome out of a 50s sci-fi novel to merely breathe. Your other options outside the solar system are further away – a lot further away. You can see the Moon with the naked eye: it’s 385,000km away (still 27 times the distance of the longest commercial flight in the world). Yet the closest star to the Earth (besides the Sun!) is Proxima Centauri, which is 4 light years, or 40 trillion kilometres away. If the Earth and the Moon were spaced three pixels apart on a computer monitor, then the distance from the Earth pixel to the Proxima Centauri pixel would be roughly equivalent to that between London and Tokyo. The length scales within a solar system are miniscule compared to the scales between solar systems. Despite all this, we know there is at least one planet around Proxima Centauri, discovered last year. Planets outside our solar system are called exoplanets. 20 years ago, we knew nothing about them; we’d never seen one. Now, thanks to a few generations of advanced space and terrestrial telescopes, we know of enough of them (3500 and counting) to be confident when we say that pretty much every star in the galaxy has at least one planet orbiting it. That potentially means that there are billions of exoplanets in our cosmic neighbourhood. Sure, they’re far away, but if you could just invent a spaceship able to travel at near light-speed, with colonists put in cryostasis for decades, you could easily make it to a nearby exoplanet in a human lifetime! You would just need to find the right candidate…54 Detecting exoplanets is arguably the most challenging problem astronomy has ever faced. To the naked eye the planets in our solar system look just like stars – glowing dots – since they reflect light off the sun. That’s what exoplanets do, too: but when they’re that far away, they’re almost impossible to distinguish from the light from their host star. It’s been compared to trying to find a firefly buzzing around next to a
searchlight. You can look through a hobbyist’s telescope and see Saturn’s rings. By contrast, almost no exoplanet has ever been found by directly looking at it. Instead, astronomers have invented some of the most sophisticated indirect imaging techniques ever devised to find them. A NASA satellite took this photo of Venus passing in front of the Sun in 2012. You can just about make out the black silhouette Venus leaves on the Sun as it transits. If you were measuring the light emitted by only the Sun, there would be a small but noticeable drop in the amount of light emitted as Venus passed in front, since Venus blocks out some of the light. You can use the same technique with other stars by looking at them over long periods of time to monitor if the level light emitted dips at any point. A planetary transit has a very distinct light-dipping fingerprint called a light curve. Looking for light curves in starlight is the job of a few specific telescopes in space and on Earth, and is the primary method by which we detect exoplanets (on top of a few subtler, more complicated methods).
The only planet we know of now which can support human life is Earth. But with billions of other candidates, the odds are in our favour in the search for somewhere better. We just need to keep looking up Since we can’t see the planets, we don’t know much about them. We know (more or less) how large they are – and we can often work out their mass too, which gives us their density. From this we can work out whether they’re rocky planets, like Earth or Venus, or gaseous ones like Jupiter or Saturn.
correspondingly smaller light curves, and so are harder to find. Every now and then though, we strike gold, as we did when we found seven rocky exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 solar system 40 light years away earlier this year. Being rocky isn’t enough, though: your planet needs to be at the right temperature. A good rule of thumb is asking if liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface: is it between 0 and 100°C? For this to be possible, the distance between the planet and its star needs to be just right. Indeed, for this reason, this liquid water range is called the Goldilocks zone. But even that’s not enough. Venus is further from the Sun than Mercury, but it’s hotter; hot enough to melt lead. This is because it has a much thicker atmosphere, which traps heat very effectively. It’s been called a ‘runaway’ version of the same greenhouse effect currently warming the Earth. So, you also must worry about the atmosphere of the planet. If it doesn’t have one at all, expect extreme variation in temperature between night and day; if it has too much, you could face the same pressure issues as deep sea submarines. Unfortunately, the list of potential problems goes on. Some stars are highly volatile, blasting the equivalent of nuclear waste at their planets. Some planets have extreme gravity, making walking impossible. Honestly, we simply don’t know enough about the exoplanets we’ve detected so far to even say whether it’s possible to put a glass dome down on one and live inside that! But efforts to learn more are ongoing. There are several planned missions to study the atmospheres of exoplanets in better detail, to see what makes them tick. This includes Twinkle, a small, British satellite mission with collaborators at UCL. The only planet we know of now which can support human life is Earth. But with billions of other candidates, the odds are in our favour in the search for somewhere better. We just need to keep looking up!
Of course, if you want to live on an exoplanet, you have to first work out whether it’s habitable. You can rule out pretty much all gaseous ones (and we’ve yet to ever see an exomoon, so we’re ruling out any possible lush forested moons around gas giants like in Avatar), which leaves us with the rocky ones. They tend to be smaller, with
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Pi Magazine 717| Sport
e : m h e e t p st r n o i e t s onth c i d s g Malpa ory m ts n U ro illin Imogenen’s histievemen ic n k Bhatia &of wom the achentists M me Pavan e end rating le sci w
o
th mo ema e e pf t a m r m b co f to e l o ce by
Sport | Pi Magazine 717
Laura Boykin,
Computational Biologist
I
t’s 2017, and – much as our younger selves might have hoped differently – women are still underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The statistics don’t lie: in 2016, the UK STEM workforce was only 21% female. Women in the UK are less likely to enter and more likely to leave STEM careers – they are also less likely to achieve a board level position in the STEM workforce. This is reflected worldwide: just 30% of the world’s researchers are women. And women of colour suffer the most from discrimination, with a full 100% reporting experience of gender bias in a recent survey. Yet this underrepresentation doesn’t mean that there aren’t many great female scientists around at the moment. To celebrate the end of March, Women’s History Month, we’ve decided to showcase the amazing endeavours of women who have made history for generations to come.
Ritu Karidhal,
Aerospace Engineer Aerospace engineer Ritu Karidhal works for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In 2014, she worked on ISRO’s ‘Mars Orbiter Mission’, making her partially responsible for the launch of a satellite from India to Mars’s orbit. As Deputy Operations Director for the mission, Karidhal was in charge of the execution of the satellite’s ‘onward autonomy system’, a software system responsible for the satellite’s ability to self-correct any malfunctions that occurred in space. Exciting, interesting, and prestigious: ISRO’s mission made India the fourth nation in the world to reach Mars, and helped them achieve it at the lowest cost. Karidhal admits to feeling lucky to have been a part of this mission, identifying as “an Indian woman who got an amazing opportunity”.
For decades, farmers of East Africa have battled the African Whitefly, a pest that infests the Cassava crop. As Cassava is consumed by at least half a billion people, this has a profound effect – the Whitefly can easily destroy a year’s worth of crop. This is where Laura Boykin’s scientific endeavours have come in handy. Through a combination of genomics, supercomputing and phylo-genetics (that’s the study of evolutionary relationships between biological entities), Boykin has managed to identify at least 34 different species of whitefly. Boykin hopes to use this data to cultivate Whitefly-resistant strains of Cassava, so that populations relying on the crop can enjoy increased food security. Boykin explains that “being a woman in science can be lonely”, yet she is happy to provide a strong foundation for generations to come. “I think about all the young females in science that can stand on our shoulders, because we will be providing a ladder for them — not pulling it up as so many before us have done.”
Tiera Guinn, NASA Engineer
Many a final year student dreams of graduating university with a job already secured, but 22-year-old Tiera Guinn has gone one step (or should we say giant leap) further – not only is she due to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a 5.0 GPA, but she’s already working for NASA as a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer. Guinn, who commuted an hour each way daily to the high school that offered her the best classes for the future, had been planning her career since, as a child, she noticed a plane in the sky and “just had this realization, ‘huh, I can design planes. I’m going to be an aerospace engineer’.” Still an undergraduate student, she’s currently building and analysing rocket components for a pioneering launch system into deep space, and has been vocal about the lack of black women in STEM careers: “You should see black women as rocket propulsion engineers, as rocket structural and analysis and design engineers.” Hers is, without a doubt, a career trajectory to watch.
Dr. Aletha Maybank Dr. Maybank has almost too many accolades to name – holding a BA, an MD and a Masters in Public Health, she’s a paediatrician who’s also a Deputy Commissioner in the New York City Department of Health, a Founding Director of the Center for Health Equity, and a founding member of the Artemis Medical Society, a mentoring organisation that now counts over 3,500 black female doctors in its ranks. An expert in community and child health, she’s travelled to Haiti to treat child survivors of natural disasters, and has written widely on healthcare injustices and the importance of promoting women’s participation in STEM. And in 2012, she and her colleagues founded a movement, We Are Doc McStuffins, to inspire young black girls to pursue careers in medicine. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s a regular medical contributor to columns and news channels across America, and has worked on a number of film projects exposing public health crises. She’s been called ‘the physician on a mission’ – and it’s not hard to see why.
Lynn Conway, Scientist
Computer
Lynn Conway, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, is an important pioneer in her field. In 1965, she invented ‘Dynamic Instruction Scheduling’ (DIS), which involves the issuing of multiple outof-order instructions per machine cycle in a super computer. Additionally, her publishing of ‘Introduction to VLSI systems’, during the 1970s, impacted chip design worldwide. Her career was not always a smooth one; life as a transgender scientist was not easy. In 1968 she underwent gender transition and consequently lost her job at IBM, meaning that she had to start her career again elsewhere, hiding her past. After not telling anyone outside of her tightknit circle about her identity as transgender for three decades, Conway finally did so in 1999. She is now not only known as a pioneer in computer science, but a pioneer in transgender activism. Hopefully the day willPage come21when she is no longer needed for the latter of the two.
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Pi Magazine 718 | SPORT
: R A E Y G N I T R O P S THE S P O L F & S T FEA
“The closest city to the town I’m from is Leicester and for the first time this year people knew where that was on a map”
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SPORT | Pi Magazine 718
Nicola Chew highlights the SPORTING wins and gaffes that have gotten us through this politically turbulent year
N
ot gonna lie, but the last 12 months have formed a pretty crap year. I don’t think I need to list down everything awful that’s happened, but in case you need a little refresher: a clueless, orange fascist is the president of the world’s largest power, Theresa the Appeaser has just signed off on Article 50, extremist terrorists and white supremacists still think they have a place in the world and to make matters worse, Professor Snape and Princess Leia left us to fight these forces of evil all on our own… just to name a few. But while the real world is hideous, sport is blissfully caught up in a world of its own. Many sought comfort and solace in the sporting world during this dismal year. Here are some of the year’s sporting moments that helped UCL’s students pull through… Sporting Highs: Nancy Heath: “The closest city to the town I’m from is Leicester and for the first time this year people knew where that was on a map. Even for someone without the most knowledge of football, winning the Premier League was exciting and felt oddly inclusive - and it’s always nice to have people recognise the name Leicester now!” Nicola Chew: “Joseph Schooling winning an Olympic gold medal! It may seem like nothing to Olympic powerhouses, but this Singaporean made his fellow countrymen feel on top of the world, if only for a few days. I still remember getting up at 9AM on a Saturday to stand in front of the telly with my whole family, screaming at him to swim faster… When he touched the wall ahead of Phelps I could feel a shift in the air. No one could quite believe it – it was the most incredible way for Singapore to win her first gold.” Dana Moss: “Clearly the best sporting moment of 2016 was the hammering Iceland gave to England in the Euros. As much as I should’ve been rooting for my national team, there was nothing better than watching a team play good football for sheer love of the game itself – and that’s something England hasn’t managed for a good few years.”
tragedy, when 25-year-old Jules Bianchi lost control of his Marussia at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, slamming into a recovery tractor with an impact of 254G. The trauma still lingers fresh on every fan’s mind. So, imagine the thrill when one of Ferrari’s main sponsors, Santander, published a tweet in January claiming that the 2017 edition of the Prancing Horse would be named after F1’s fallen hero: SF17-JB (17 was Bianchi’s car number at the time of the accident). The tweet read: “New @ScuderiaFerrari’s single seater will be named as SF17-JB. Do you know in honor of which driver will be named as that? #TriviaF1 (sic)” Not the most articulate of tweets, but the announcement was warmly welcomed by fans on social media, the tribute especially heartening since Bianchi was also associated with the Scuderia via the Ferrari Driver Academy. Awkwardly, the tweet was swiftly deleted, Ferrari denied that Santander had leaked the name of the challenger, and Santander apologised for letting it slip prematurely, even admitting that the name hadn’t been made official. Soon, Ferrari’s official car launch rolled around and the name of the car was finally revealed… and it wasn’t named after Jules Bianchi. It’s called the SF70H, whatever that means. Awkward. ‘Roly poly goalie’ eats humble pie Everyone loves some pie. Sutton’s reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw, nicknamed ‘roly poly goalie’, showed just how much he loves it when he was caught on camera wolfing down a pie during a match against Arsenal. But it was the FA who had the last laugh when Shaw was made to resign after the FA commissioned an investigation of the incident. Seemingly, Shaw had potentially violated the FA’s strict betting rules.
Unfortunately, some of sport’s agents aren’t quite as infallible. All of sport’s inspiring moments were accompanied with a series of cringe-worthy, face palm-inducing flops.
Apparently, Shaw caught wind of eight-toone odds placed on him eating pie during the match. While Shaw hadn’t placed any bets himself, he admitted to performing the stunt for his friends’ benefit for “just a bit of banter”. But as silly and reckless as it sounds, the whole situation paints a rather rueful picture: despite playing for a nonleague team, Shaw had dedicated himself to his career coaching Sutton’s goalkeepers and staying overnight preparing the grounds for match days only to lose his job over a pie. Who knew banter could come at such a cost?
What’s in a name?
Dirty words
It’s been two years since Formula 1’s latest
John Inverdale has a bit of a bad rep. It
didn’t improve when he came across as sexist during his Olympic duties by neglecting the Williams sisters’ achievements in favour of Andy Murray’s by claiming that the Scot was the first person to clinch two tennis golds in the Olympics. To which Murray corrected: “I think Venus and Serena have won about four each.” Not an insignificant number, John. It’s not the first time that Inverdale has ruffled feathers on the tennis court. After Murray triumphed over Nick Kyrgios in straight sets during Wimbledon 2016, he remarked that Kyrgios “lumbers off like a character from The Jungle Book”, his casual racism sparking outrage among viewers and listeners. The BBC even had to replace him for the 2014 Wimbledon coverage after receiving more than 700 complaints after Inverdale made a startlingly sexist on-air comment about Marion Bartoli the year before: “do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘you’re never going to be a looker? You’ll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight.” For a seasoned commentator, he’s not very good with his words, is he? For Queen and country? The exposé ran like a Spotlight blockbuster or a Panama Papers revelation. Hidden cameras, microphones, a neat disguise... It was enough to bring about Sam Allardyce’s downfall... In September 2016, the Daily Telegraph revealed that former England manager had fallen victim to corruption’s familiar face. A Telegraph reporter posed as an investor offering Allardyce a deal in return for information about third-party ownership and advice on exploiting the Football Association’s loopholes regarding transfers. He’s hardly a Bond villain, but video footage from the Telegraph’s investigative repertoire captures Allardyce in all his corrupt glory. Following the scandal, Allardyce admits to making a “terrible error of judgement”. An alarming understatement – that’s just the face of greed. Clearly, the year in sports has obviously had its highs and lows, but they’ve been separate from the political turmoil of 2016. Sports turns away from the atrocities that the real-world throws at it, and looks to unearth man’s best qualities: artistry, grace, steel, brawn, power. It reveals the zenith of human strength. Often, it is the foil to politics, which commonly serves to highlight the ugliness of human nature. It is untouchable.
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Pi Magazine 718 | sport
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY: DOES EXERCISE MAKE YOU HAPPIER? Nicola Chew exercises every day for a week to test the popular hypothesis that regular exercise will indeed make you happier
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hey always say exercise is good for the mind as it is for the body. It’s all backed by science: exercise reduces the brain’s response to cortisol (the stress hormone), it stimulates the release of the happy hormone endorphin, and increases the action of serotonin and adrenaline, mimicking the effects of anti-depressants. Exercise is even used medically to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The thing about science is that many phenomena can be “scientifically proven”, but going into the technicalities by tracing the activity of hormones and illustrating biological chemical reactions in the body mean nothing to a large majority. What the layman really wants to know, in simple terms, is: does exercise really make you happier? After ten weeks of second term, my morale and motivation had hit its periodic low – I was exhausted from trying to keep up with the constant workload, bored with routine, and stressed by the coming summer exams – so I decided to test this theory. A significant deviation from my sedentary lifestyle, I challenged myself to hit the gym every day for a week and evaluated the effect on my mood overall. Together with my flatmate Nik, who offered to take up this challenge with me, I devised a week-long exercise routine to test this hypothesis.
at the gym served as a pretty good pick me up! Starting the challenge with a medium workout was a good way to get the ball rolling – I’m actually sort of looking forward to completing the rest of the week. I asked Nik how he felt after the first day of the challenge. His workout helped a lot with relieving the constant stress that medics are wont to have, and he felt an immediate boost post-workout, accompanied by a clearer mind and a huge appetite. By the way, I’m in the second year of my philosophy, politics and economics degree while Nik’s a second-year medical student, to give you an idea of our respective workloads (very large) and levels of stress (very high).
Day 2: low intensity 20 minutes of floor work constituted today’s workout. It doesn’t sound like much, but knowing that I’d done something healthy gave me a positive buzz!
Day 3: high intensity
1. Low: to last for 30 minutes or less, to consist of simple core exercises that can be done at home on an exercise mat.
We went to the gym at mid-day for a high intensity session: for me, this meant a 5K hilly run, floor exercises, tricep dips and leg extensions. I felt great after exercising – while usually on Saturdays I feel lethargic and full of inertia before starting any work, it felt like I’d started my day right and it’s motivated me to maintain this level of productivity throughout the day. My arms and legs may feel like jelly but I’m ready to tackle a full day of lecturecast!
2. Medium: 45 minutes at the gym. Combination of cardio and core exercises.
Day 4: low intensity
3. High: one and a half hours at the gym. The full workout we’d normally do when we hit the gym (cardio, core, machines/ weights).
I was feeling pretty good all day, so a low intensity workout didn’t work wonders for my mood, although it did help justify the Dominos that I ordered for dinner…
Day 1: medium intensity
Day 5: medium intensity
At first, I was doubtful that exercise could do anything to improve my foul mood. Five hours of back-to- back classes, no lunch and an unbearably bumpy bus ride left me grumpy, giddy and exhausted. Surprisingly, the 3K run and mat work I did
My mood’s been pretty stagnant all day, although it’s nice sitting in bed at the end of the day with aching limbs, knowing that I’ll be sleeping pretty well tonight. It had a much more prominent effect on Nik, who
We broke up our respective exercise regimes into three levels of intensity:
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was feeling very stressed about work prior to the gym session, but enjoyed a morale boost after doing some cardio and weights.
Day 6: low intensity I got a little bored with my floor exercises, so instead I did a 6km brisk walk (to and from uni… Yes I know this is a cop out). To be honest I love walking to uni because the air and activity wake me up from my sluggishness and get the adrenaline pumping early in the morning. Taking a leisurely walk back is also really relaxing, especially after a long day – much better compared to standing in a packed Tube carriage or sitting on a bumpy bus!
Day 7: high intensity Due to clashing schedules, Nik and I hit the gym at the ungodly hour of 8:30AM. Getting out of bed was no easy feat, but by the end of the gym session I was feeling wide awake and rejuvenated for the rest of the day. Being up that early also meant that I’d had breakfast for the first time in ages, and I polished off the workout with a nutritious breakfast of mango, Greek yoghurt and honey. (I’ve never had that for breakfast before, but I couldn’t bring myself to ruin the workout that soon on the last day of the gym challenge.) Nik had a few hours of class and says that kicking off the day with a workout meant that he felt pumped all day when he would’ve otherwise felt tired. He was in a good mood all day, and even though he started to feel a little worn out in the evening he enjoyed the healthy muscle ache.
Verdict? Proven! Admittedly, a sample size of two is a little dubious but Nik and I were generally in better spirits throughout the week. I was less restless, my mind was much more alert and uni-work was so much easier to complete. And while it’s usually just my brain that’s worn out at the end of the day, tired limbs and heavy muscles made sleep feel like an added luxury, warding off insomnia. Clean, revitalised and detoxed, my body felt good and my mind even better. My biggest
Sport | Pi Magazine 718
After ten weeks of second term, my morale and motivation had hit its periodic low – I was exhausted from trying to keep up with the constant workload, bored with routine, and stressed by the coming summer exams – so I decided to test the theory!
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Pi Magazine 718 | sports
The hipster scene has a quirky new character. This is Henry Hill’s guide to the new age sports bar.
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n a time where pop-up restaurants and concept bars are forever appearing in the hipster districts of London, the ‘sports bar’ has had a rejuvenated lease of life. It’s out with the TVs and in with the fun. Darts and snooker are not the only games that can be played with a beer in hand anymore. In these times of adversity, the young trendy pub thinkers of the age have combined drinking with actual sport to create a unique and joyful experience for all. This guide will take us through some of these examples, and help you plan all your edgy tinder dates for this summer.
Bounce – Ping Pong Bar
It seems that bars without ping pong tables are no longer worth visiting. Bounce, however, has taken that concept to a whole new extreme. The most classic and iconic of the ‘sports/ drinking’ hybrid bars, Bounce opened in 2012 and has never looked back. Describing itself as “a game-changer in social enter-
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tainment venues”, Bounce has created a fun and vibrant venue in which “the humble ping pong table” can thrive. Are you visualising a large gymnasium with an awkward bar cropped into the corner? You couldn’t be more wrong. Instead you are greeted with a space filled with lasers, UV lighting and psychedelic ping pong tables. The incessant sound of ping pong balls plopping around is outdone by pumping music and loud cheers as the various matches and competitions take place. If you are peckish, there is a quality pizza restaurant on site, delivering to your ping pong table, and a bar to keep you fuelled. It’s no wonder a series of ‘Made In Chelsea’ isn’t complete without an annual trip to Bounce. They even opened a venue in Chicago last year – a testament to the establishment’s – and its concept’s – success. Where and when? Old Street and Farringdon, open most days.
play darts in most pubs?!’ True, but not on this scale, and not in this environment. Another creation from the brain child of Bounce, Flight Club has somehow separated itself from its fat, beer-bellied male profile and found a home for darts in the hipster ends of Shoreditch. Anything is possible. Go on the website and you are greeted by the site of young attractive groups (of different genders!) indulging in the furore of darts, in an equally contemporary setting. This giant complex, of what feels like a collection of mini sitting rooms, is awash with leather sofas and darts boards.
Flight Club – Darts Club
Where and when? Shoreditch and Bloomsbury, open most days.
Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘you can
‘But I’m rubbish at darts!’ I hear you cry. Never fear. Whether you are a beginner, or just there as a spectator, there is once again a decent pizza bar and endless drinks menu to keep you entertained. If you can throw a decent dart you may as well throw a good evening down Flight Club for all to enjoy.
Sport | Pi Magazine 718
The Next Generation
Sports Bar Swingers – Mini Golf
Another date staple, mini golf can be found right on your doorstep throughout London in the most surprising of places. As with table tennis, this short hand version of golf is one that can be enjoyed by all, and is certainly worth a try. You have multiple choices here, whether it be ‘Swingers’ in Aldgate, or its rival ‘Plonk Golf’ across London. Following a similar theme, ‘Swingers’ has incorporated high end entertainment with the pleasure of sport. Its site at Aldgate is packed with cocktail bars, street food vendors, DJs and two nine-hole golf courses. What’s more, if your putting game isn’t strong, there is a gin terrace to help you drink away your sorrows. It all takes place in a 1920s oldschool English setting. What more can you want? While this competitive venue could make or break your relationship, you will certainly have a good time, or at least get tipsy in the process.
Where and when? Aldgate, open most days.
Sliders – Curling Club
Now this place isn’t strictly open over summer, but it made quite the buzz this winter and is undoubtedly one to look out for. To most people, curling is that bizarre sport you watch once every four years at the Winter Olympics. It’s a teenager’s worst nightmare, as they watch cleaning with a broom become a form of competitive exercise. Winter’s answer to lawn bowls, curling is not everyone’s cup of tea, yet only in London would you see curling become fashionable again. Sliders found a rooftop home at the Olympic Park, East London and looks certain to return next year. Accompanied by pop-up food stalls, karaoke and cocktails, Sliders provides four synthetic curling lanes for you to try your hand at the most amusing of sports. If you are going on a date, or making new friends, it’s the perfect ice
breaker for an evening of fun. Where? To Be Decided
Ten-Pin Bowling – Bloomsbury Lanes
If you haven’t been here yet for a society event, then you should consider mixing it up next year. UCL’s closest bowling complex is a guaranteed laugh, and just a stone throw from Tavistock Square. A venue that caters for all, you can try your hand at bowling, arcades, snooker and karaoke to name a few. And, of course, there is a bar and pizza restaurant for good measure (pizza is as much a stable of the sports bar as alcohol it seems). With 8 lanes on offer, there is always an opportunity to play. Just don’t be that person that asks for the sides to be put up and you will have an enjoyable time. Where and when? Bloomsbury, open most days.
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pi Magazine 718| travel
been on an organised ‘gap year-style’ trip, you have probably experienced at least one of these.
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f you’re beginning to plan a trip abroad for summer or a postuni gap year, you might be interested in exploring destinations that allow you to enjoy the local environment and culture sustainably and in an environmentally friendly way. That’s where ecotourism comes in. The type of ecotourism with which an area engages depends on its position as a natural or cultural attraction. Destination-specific activities include ecolodging, ecotrekking, geotourism and agritourism - and if you’ve ever
Ecotourism: Treading the Line Between Experience and Exploitation Page 28
The primary focus of ecolodging and ecotrekking is experiencing and conserving the natural environment. Sustainability is achieved through staying in ‘minimum-impact’ accommodation that has been designed with sustainability in mind, and through going on nature hikes in conservation areas to experience the natural landscape whilst not harming or negatively impacting them. Such focused tourism, concentrates on teaching visitors about threats faced by these areas of natural beauty and biodiversity, and the ways in which such areas can be protected and preserved. Hikes and camping excursions of this kind are often facilitated by a local guide to contextualise the area within its local culture and to promote respect towards the environment and its people. Certain countries are making visiting as an ecotourist easier: if you’re planning to visit Kenya to explore the Maasai Mara or climb Kilimanjaro, Ecotourism Kenya has an eco-rating system to showcase destinations that safeguard the natural, social and human resources of the area. Geotourism and agritourism are more anthropological in nature, placing people and cultural heritage as the primary focus. This may involve a voluntary placement working with local people to promote community development projects, or immersive, cultural ‘experiences’. Geotour-
travel | Pi Magazine 718
Francesca Dakin explores the dos and don’ts of ecotourism ism tends to take place in distinctive historic neighbourhoods that maintain a traditional appearance and/ or lifestyle. Agritourism is similar, but usually attracts tourists to more rural cultural areas to promote economic growth through both tourism and voluntary work in agrarian communities. Both geo- and agritourism are centred on the respecting the community and their resources: locals are encouraged to promote the area’s history, culture, and nature through cuisine, art, and performances offered to tourists. This category also encompasses voluntourism undertaken by many gap year and university-aged students, including Projects Abroad-style trips that involve contributing to local infrastructure or conserving the area’s ecology; all with the added benefit of padding out that CV while ‘finding yourself’.
ecotourism - when undertaken poorly or mismanaged - may act to harm local peoples The creation of ecotourism destinations depends upon the local government or independent funding bodies, popular demand, and the degree to which such a venture would enhance the conservation and protection of the area. The intention behind visiting such spots is undoubtedly good, with the clear aims of conserving the local culture, whilst involving and benefitting the community, and providing a meaningful experience to tourists. Trips of this type can also raise awareness about social, political and environmental issues, thus helping to promote action against these problems. However, as Albert Camus states in ‘The Plague’; ‘good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding’. This holds very true in the ecotourism industry. Indeed, ecotourism - when undertaken poorly or mis-
managed - may act to harm local peoples, indigenous cultures and ecologies. Such problems stem from tourists themselves as well as tourism bodies and local authorities. Although the ecotourist’s mantra to ‘take only pictures, leave only footprints’ certainly adheres to the low-impact aims of the industry, at many such destinations there is little to no enforcement of rules regarding respecting the environment and impact minimisation. This can lead to the disruption of local flora and fauna through invasive trekking routes, littering, and tourists’ taking of ‘natural souvenirs’ home. Tourists can visit unregulated and negatively impact environments they claim to be preserving. Tourism operators may even advertise trips under the banner of ecotourism with a view of garnering a wider client-base through ‘greenwashing’ - making claims about environmental benefits without substance or credentials to draw in certain target audiences. Such companies may not only be unsustainable in their practices, but be actively damaging to the local environment and the local economy. International corporations masquerading as ecotourism companies siphon off profits into foreign economies, and cause inflation in local food and water prices which mirror the affluence of the tourists whilst increasing local poverty. On a larger scale, corruption within government bodies can create serious issues for indigenous communities during the delineation of nature reserves, as well as the environmental abuse that often continues after (or is enabled by) these apparent conservation efforts. This has been the case for both the Mbendjele Yaka Pygmies of northern Congo-Brazzaville and the Yanomami people of Venezuela and Brazil, whose lifestyles are threatened by conservationists, governments, loggers, and gold miners alike. Nature reserves reduce the area indigenous people can live on, thus inhibiting their sustainable way of life which has existed in symbiosis with their environment throughout history. This abuse of indigenous rights forces such people into lifestyles and communities that they are not accustomed to or often even accepted into, destroying their way of life. These problems aren’t limited to ecological reserves. When picturesque towns become designated heritage monuments, the res-
idents become trapped in their history by planning restrictions and protective practices. This has been the case in Rethymno on the Grecian island of Crete. The haunting beauty of now-crumbling traditional towns may be magnificent to the tourist’s eye, but the reality of living in such conditions is not so glamorous for the locals. When implemented poorly, unsustainable projects can also enhance an ethnocentric misinterpretation of a country and its culture. This is arguably the case at Shakaland in South Africa. In creating a natural cultural reserve without integrating local and indigenous cultures or ideologies, an ironic landscape of contestation and degradation may be created in the name of conservation. Before taking that trip this summer, we need to ask, is it possible to be a sustainable ecotourist? Perhaps the above has deterred you from identifying as an ecotourist, but being aware of the industry’s pitfalls will enable any tourist to be more conscious about their decisions when planning a trip. Curcially, your visit should be low-impact for the community and landscape, while still allowing you to engage with it and gain valuable memories and experiences. So, here are two main tips for the ethically-conscious traveller: Research - This is key in ensuring that you start your trip off on the right foot, and go in with accurate knowledge regarding the local environment, culture, and the industry you’re supporting. Regardless of whether you are planning the trip yourself or going with a package deal, when researching your trip you should always consider where the tourism or accommodation company bases itself, whether the local community is involved and benefits from this, if the project is sustainable and actively promotes conservation, and whether these are in-keeping with the ethics codes set by the World Tourism Organization. Respect - When there, be respectful in your treatment of the environment and local culture, and practice sustainable ecotourism. Engage with the local lifestyle and shed any ethnocentric misconceptions. Listen to your hosts, and be aware of issues: focus on what you can learn while you are there, rather than what you can take home. There are countless other tips and tricks to engaging with new cultures and landscapes sustainably and ethically – this article has outlined just a few – yet these first steps should help you to identify issues when planning ecotourism. Research, respect, and repeat.
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Pi Magazine 718 | TRAVEL
TO VOLUNTEER OR NOT TO VOLUNTEER? Catrin Harris DISCUSSES the vices and virtues of voluntourism
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V
oluntourism. Perhaps the word conjures images of sun-cream drenched teenagers wandering aimlessly around fields, prepared with colouring books and GoPros, ready to ‘help the community’. Speaking frankly, the only community these blanket schemes help indisputably help is the bank accounts of the organisations running them. We’ve all heard stories of students paying thousands of pounds for an ‘immersive’ cultural experience, with orphanages one day and safari trips the next, and I think we’ve probably reached a consensus that these schemes not doing anybody any favours. We need to remind ourselves of what else is out there. That if you want to do something useful abroad, there are ways to do so more effectively than booking into these projects. Notice that I said ‘do something useful,’ rather than ‘change the world’ or ‘save lives’, because we must be realistic about what we can achieve. There are numerous grassroots organisations overseas which need volunteers to keep their projects going because they receive little funding from elsewhere and thus cannot afford to offer wages. The trick to this is finding them. Last summer, I wanted to volunteer abroad but didn’t feel comfortable paying for a scheme especially whilst I heavily doubted their motives and their potential success. But the growing resentment towards these voluntourism programmes made me wonder whether it was just big commercialised trips that were ‘wrong’, or whether volunteering abroad in general was problematic. Was I being motivated by a ‘white saviour complex’? How on earth could an unqualified, 19-year-old be useful in a foreign country? I hushed those nagging questions for a few days and did some research; pros and cons, should or shouldn’t, whether any of it was even effective in the long run. I ended up typing “volunteer South America” into Google and scouring through various websites. It became clear to me that on a smaller scale there were NGOs that were looking for help. I was interested in helping, so why not? After sending a torrent of emails I came across an NGO for children’s education in Curahuasi, Peru. I decided to volunteer because I wanted to learn. I wanted the experience. I wanted to engage with the communities that I was travelling through: and if I could help other people in doing so then that was wonderful. It’s important to realise that volunteering isn’t an entirely selfless act; you may be giving your time but you are also gaining a great deal. I spent two months volunteering with Oye LENA, working as a teacher and helping to develop the project. My language skills meant that I could get involved with the children,
TRAVEL | Pi Magazine 718 the community, and the project itself. I’d like to think that I made some difference in my time there, however small. But I also gained an immense amount from the experience myself. As I left, while I knew plenty of friends back home were looking for something different to do in the summer, the project organisers were realising that they didn’t have enough volunteers for the coming months. Why the disconnect? People and projects weren’t finding each other. It seems that the only thing that people are discussing nowadays is the issues with commercial voluntourism projects. We’re forgetting about the smaller grassroots organisations tucked away in various corners of the internet, which are in dire need of volunteers. It’s time we stopped turning our back on international volunteering; if Group A wants assistance and Group B is willing to give it, surely it makes sense to connect the two? Now is the time of year when people are looking towards summer plans to get them through exams. If I can ask you anything, it’s to please ignore the big schemes and go about finding something yourself. It is more time-consuming, but will undoubtedly in the end be a more rewarding and effective experience. Clear a few months during summer, do some research, get lost in websites and send numerous emails. During planning, you may have to use your language skills, you may have to wait a while for a reply (it’s useful to have backup options), but you are more likely to end up doing something worthwhile. The fact is that if you are going for the right reasons and have the confidence to search for places off the beaten track, then you’ll probably make your small difference in a more meaningful way. None of us are going to change the world in a few short months, but the smaller the project the more responsibility you’re likely to be given, giving you the opportunity to play a more integral part. Constant warnings about voluntourism are important: they remind us think about how impactful we can be abroad and they urge us to be respectful. However, it seems that these warnings about the ‘right kind of international volunteering’ are dissuading people from helping at all. Heed warnings but don’t let them stop you. Just do it. Spend time finding somewhere that needs your help, somewhere that allows you to use your skills. Don’t sign up to help in a hospital if you have no experience, don’t arrive with unrealistic expectations of how you’re going to change people’s lives, don’t forget that you are there to work. Go with an open mind, an enthusiastic attitude and a belief in the work you’ll be doing. Let me know how you get on. If this article has achieved anything, I hope that it’s given you the confidence to go and find something different to do this summer. It is important that we remember that it’s not all Voluntourism.
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Pi Magazine 718 | lifestyle
First it was 5, then it was 7 and now it’s 10: Beth Flaherty investigates whether the latest fruit & veg recommendations are realistic
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lifestyle | Pi Magazine 718
Could you eat 10 portions of fruit & veg everyday? NO
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f you’re reading this thinking: “isn’t it supposed to be 5-a-day?” - sorry, but times are changing. In 2014, our very own UCL broke the news that it should be 7-a-day. Then, our pals in the West said no, it’s more like 10-a-day. Given that only 15% of the UK meet the target of five, with most people barely managing one, how useful can these campaigns be? Curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to find out for myself if setting ourselves these higher targets is worthwhile - really, how hard could it be?! Here’s what happened when I completed the challenge of eating 10 portions of fruit and veg every day for a week… I considered going Fruitarian: I wasn’t even entirely sure what a Fruitarian was, but I thought I was going to have to become one for the next seven days. I didn’t know how else I could fit that much fruit and veg into one day. So, I googled: a fruitarian is someone who eats mainly fruit, with the occasional portion of nuts and seeds, too. Given that ‘10-a-day’ recommends upping your veggies over fruit (veg has greater health benefits plus, fruit is higher in sugar: 3 fruits, 7 veg is recommended) this didn’t seem necessary, or a good idea.
I just added an extra portion or two as side dishes to normal meals I planned meals in advance: Comforted by the fact that I wouldn’t be forced to live on a diet of raw vegetables for the next week, I began to look at things more rationally. Dividing 10-a-day into less daunting numbers was my first step. If I ate three portions at each meal with the final portion as a snack, that seemed more achievable. Next, I thought about how I could sneak in three portions into every meal. Once again, I turned to google. But, in truth, I didn’t find much inspiration (Yes really, google wasn’t much help!). The answer was simpler than cooking up exotic recipes - I just added an extra potion or two as sides dishes to normal meals that I would eat. I didn’t spend as much as I thought Admittedly, this has a lot to do with meal planning and batch cooking. But if that’s
what the 10-a-day challenges encourages you to do, then that can’t be a bad thing. On the other hand, it’s very easy to create food waste from optimistically buying lots of fruit and veg at the beginning of the week, that only goes off before you get around to eating it. Frozen fruit and veg are the saviours for this, and are equally beneficial as opting for the more expensive fresh options. Of course, you must choose wisely. Filling up on avocados, pineapples and any other tropical or out-of-season produce won’t be kind to your weekly food bill.
I find something on the menu with at least 3 portions of fruit of veg? If I could, would there be another dish I would rather be eating? Would I get food FOMO? I did have to be more careful of my choices when eating out, and it made me feel like I was on a restricted diet rather than trying to eat more vegetables. So, whilst I was mildly happy to make the sacrifice for the 10-a-day challenge, I don’t think I would be so willing if I was forced to keep it up forever. In fact, the restrictions would make me pretty miserable.
remember, fruit juice is a no-no towards your 10-a-day target
I felt better about myself It must be said, there is something about eating lots of fruit and veg that makes you feel almost virtuous. I can’t help but feel slightly smug about having succeeded in the 10-a-day challenge, even if it was only a week. But I think it had more to do with what I didn’t eat, rather than all the extra vitamins and minerals I consumed. Focusing on fruit and veg forces you to be mindful about what you eat and automatically directs you towards healthier choices.
I became best friends with the kitchen scales One portion of fruit and veg must equal 80g. But how many people know what 80g looks like? Probably very few, given that the supermarkets can’t even agree. Usually you’ll find portion guidelines on the packaging, but where one brand will tell you it’s two spears of broccoli, another will say it’s three. Of course, not all fruit and vegetables are packaged either, so the scales became a necessity. I must admit, there’s something very strange about what is essentially calculating your health. It’s basically saying there’s a formula that must be followed with precision if we are to live a healthy life: and formulas are never fun. I know portion sizes by heart … and just how many rules there are! With dried fruits, forget the 80g, a tablespoon is considered plenty. But don’t eat them as they are, eat them as part of a meal for ‘dental hygiene reasons’. Having one satsuma is also pointless, as you need to eat two for it to be considered one portion. The same goes for kiwis and plums. Beans and pulses do count towards your daily target, but no matter how much you eat, they only amount to one portion. And remember, fruit juice is a no-no towards your 10-a-day target. If all this sounds super exciting, feel free to read the nineteen-page document of guidelines on the government’s website…
But if you delve a little further into these studies, what they’re actually saying is ‘the more the better’ Did I succeed in eating 10 portions of fruit and veg everyday day? Surprisingly, yes. Do I think it’s sustainable? Absolutely not. There are always going to be days when this just isn’t realistic and that’s totally fine: if not healthy. Even the experts say so. The scientists found that eating 800g of fruit and veg everyday brought the maximum health benefits, with a significantly reduced risk of premature death from conditions such as cancer, and heart disease. But if you delve a little further into these studies, what they’re actually saying is ‘the more the better’. So really, what we should do is forget calculating numbers and ditch the scales… but maybe think about eating just a few extra veggies.
I worried about eating out When food-related social plans came up for this week, I automatically panicked. Could
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Pi Magazine 718 | lifestyle
LIFTING THE LID ON MODEST FASHION: How the West is Embracing the Hijab I
n the past, the concept of being fashionable whilst dressing conservatively was not something considered ‘cool’ enough, especially in the West. However, with modest fashion brands such as Inayahc, Bahraini abaya label Leenaz and Turkish start-up Modanisa, modest fashion is becoming more and more appealing to the mainstream fashion industry. Muslim girls are showing that you can still be stylish and express yourself whilst adhering to your religious beliefs.
“Modest fashion is the art of dressing in an expressive way, without the society’s pressure to appear sexy. For me, it felt like I was dressing for myself, in line with my beliefs, and overcoming the pressure to look desirable” So, what is modest fashion? Zahra Rose A, a designer and fashion blogger from the UK said: ‘’Modest fashion shouldn’t be something which is seen to be completely different to ‘fashion’- to me that is saying that fashion and modesty are two separate entities and should not be perceived as one.” She continued: “It’s kind of a rebellion against the ‘designers’ who want things to be worn a certain way, and is instead going against society - layering, chopping up and modifying its purpose for your own ideals and comfort.” Malika, a modest fashion blogger from Canada added: “Modest fashion is the art
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of dressing in an expressive way, without the society’s pressure to appear sexy. For me, it felt like I was dressing for myself, in line with my beliefs, and overcoming the pressure to look desirable.” Recently, Anniesa Hasibuan an Indonesian Muslim designer, made headlines at New York Fashion Week when she presented a collection that outfitted every look with headscarves. With the rise of islamophobia and the political debate surrounding what Muslim women choose to wear, many brands are now deciding to make political statements via their shows. Hasibuan went one step further, when she decided to cast her second collection entirely with immigrants and second-generation children of immigrants to show that “fashion is inclusive to everyone.” However, she claimed that her work mainly aims to celebrate diversity and Muslim women rather than it being a reaction to politics. Hasibuan’s collection featured beautiful long garments adorned with pearls, golden ruffles and vibrant colours, all of which evoked royalty of the Middle Ages. Another win for the modest fashion movement was the recent launch of London Modest Fashion Week (LMFW), launched by online fashion marketplace Haute Elan and held at the Saatchi Gallery. The event, which showcased over 40 brands from all over the world, coincided with London Fashion Week and attracted a lot of attention from the media. LMFW brought together more than 3,000 people, most of them young Muslim women, with a love for fashion. Some wore beautiful kimonos, some opted for a simpler look with Converse and bohemian jackets, and others wore more vibrant, colourful outfits. The designers said it was about putting modest fashion on the map and stressed the fact that modest fashion is open to women from all faiths. As Mariam Idrissi, the first hijab-wearing model for H&M, said: “It
definitely sends out a message of diversity. It’s not something exclusive to just Muslim women to get into. It’s for everyone and everyone is welcome.” Recently, we have also seen multi-billion-dollar brand Nike launching their new pro-hijab for Muslim athletes, Uniqlo’s collaboration with hijabi icon Hana Tajima, and Halima Aden as the first hijab-wearing model on the catwalks of Milan Fashion Week and Kanye West’s Yeezy runway. Commenting on these industry developments, Zahra Rose A said: “The result of these big corporations providing platforms shows the media that there really is no space for negativity against a woman’s choice of dress. These brands are showing integration and the acceptance that modesty is a choice not an oppression and is an equal part of society.” However, Zaynah (Desi Raindrops), a modest fashion influencer with an Instagram following of nearly 100k, added: “I have a mixed opinion on this. On the one hand, we are finally being recognised amongst mainstream fashion which is great, they are introducing diversity and it’s about time! On the other hand, I feel like they are capitalising on the Muslim market. There already are Muslim companies who sell the same but obviously since they are bigger and well-known brands, they have overtaken these smaller Muslim companies and I find that quite sad as they’re putting them out of business.” Malika, a modest fashion blogger, feels similarly: “I’m conflicted. On one hand, I love what major companies are doing because representation leads to normalisation. On the other hand, I feel a sense of loyalty towards smaller companies who’ve already been providing for us for years.” She continued: “It’s as if there’s a need to give us agency, as if there’s a western saviour complex. I just want to be like, we don’t need saving, this is our freedom.”
lifestyle| Pi Magazine 718
Fatumina Said Abukar discusses how Muslim women feel about the hijab, and how modesty got its own fashion week
In 2016, Libyan-American journalist Noor Tagouri even appeared in the October edition of Playboy fully-clothed and wearing a hijab, in a statement that’s sure sent a strong message to those who perceive Muslim women as weak and incapable of making their own choices. As Zaynah (Desi Raindrops) says: “Muslim women are far from oppressed. If it’s ok for a woman to reveal her body then it should be equally ok for a woman to cover her body.”
“What we are doing here is being unapologetically Muslim”
on Instagram, they have already accumulated an impressive 12,000 followers in less than a month. “In Western media, Muslim women are often portrayed as oppressed, incapable and submissive. Modest Fashion is definitely challenging these ideologies which not only degrade all women but label Muslim women as second class citizens. The pioneers of the modest fashion ‘movement’ are all successful women who are taking control of the industry and saying, ‘this is what we need, and here is how we are going to get it’. Don’t get me wrong, these women have always existed (particularly in Islamic history), the difference is that they are now being given a platform in the West”, said Zahra Rose A.
An online site called Modist, which brings together modest fashion attire, aims to be a platform dedicated to women who want to be modest yet fashionable. After going live
With the advent of the modest fashion movement, Muslim girls are trying to push the boundaries imposed by society and to visibly express their Muslim identity. Sobri, fashion blogger and founder of SO-
BRI, says: “The hijab is a tool to express my individuality, of which Islam plays a big role. When I meet someone new they see me wearing the headscarf and they ask me about Islam. Now more than ever I feel that I can educate people on how beautiful my religion is.” As Dina Tokio, a blogger accounting for 1.2 million Instagram followers, said at the LMFW event: “What we are doing here is being unapologetically Muslim. I don’t feel like we need to explain ourselves anymore. I’d like to think that the UK and Brits in general are a lot more advanced than what is going on in America.” Not only is the rise of hijab-wearing influencers making a global impact on the views surrounding Islamic dress, but the inclusivity of the modest fashion market to anyone will ensure its longevity. Modest fashion is here to stay.
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Pi Magazine 718 | lifestyle
THE CHANGING FACES OF
FASHION
Ellie Hibberd explores how the fashion industry is making a move towards more diverse representation, women’s empowerment, and a more inclusive vision of beauty
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lifestyle | Pi Magazine 718
F
ashion is almost as famed for its politically incorrect gaffes as it is for its glossy magazines and glamourous couture. Many mainstream designers and publications continue to use slim, white women on their catwalks and covers as the reference point for beauty, and models of colour often speak out about the discrimination they still face by casting agencies. Obviously, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of equal representation, as the Twittersphere is always ready to point out. This, however, would be the glass-halfempty way to look it. Since the theme of this issue is positivity, I’m not going to dwell on how the fashion industry falls short on progressive values. In fact, with globalisation and a new digital generation, fashion is evolving faster than ever and is catering more and more to an audience who wants to see a more empowering portrayal of women and a celebration of diversity.
They won’t be dismissed as just a pretty face without a voice! Let’s start with the models. As the faces of fashion, constantly under the spotlight and posting to their many millions of Instagram followers, models can be a driving force behind change in the industry. While we still see instances like Karlie Kloss taking a bashing for her culturally appropriative geisha photoshoot in Vogue US’s February 2017 diversity issue, we’re also witnessing a rise in popularity of models who are defying the template of beauty set by many magazines and modelling agencies. A modern, millennial generation of models are breaking loose from the diva-esque, we-don’t-wake-up-for-less-than-$10,000-aday legacy left by the legendary 90s “super”-models. While a few models, such as Naomi Campbell, were always outspoken about the discrimination she faced, today’s models have much more opportunity with the rise of social media and blogging to give themselves a platform to speak out. Victoria’s Secret model Leomie Anderson from south London frequently steps off the catwalk and onto the political podium, condemning the discriminatory treatment of models of colour and encouraging women’s empowerment. She has even set up a blog, www.lappthebrand.com, as a platform for her followers to send in articles voicing their own experiences and opinions on issues that affect all women (not just white women), and has launched a small collection of tongue-in-cheek clothes sporting slogans such as “This P***y Grabs
Back”. No explanation needed. In March, 20-year-old Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio made history as the first transgender woman to be featured on the cover of Vogue Paris, giving her the ‘Vogue cover girl’ status coveted by many. In the editorial, editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt highlighted the fight within the trans community to be accepted as themselves. As she wrote, “only when a transgender person poses on the front cover of a fashion magazine and it is no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject will we know that the battle is won”. And Sampaio is not alone. With an even bigger social media following, American transgender model Hari Nef is fast becoming one of fashion’s most recognisable faces as a Gucci muse and featured on one of Elle UK’s collectors’ covers last September, under the headline “Icons of Change”. Similarly, Canadian model Winnie Harlow who rose to fame on America’s Top Model and who has vitiligo, a rare skin condition which causes patches of skin to lose their pigment, refuses to shy away from what makes her different, and is well on the way to being one of the biggest names in fashion. As well as modelling for big brands, Harlow also appeared in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, and has spoken at a TED talk on the question of beauty. As another of our writers, Fatumina Said Abukar, will explore in detail over the page, the modest fashion industry has also seen a boost in popularity and publicity, with hijabi model Halima Aden rising to fame from spending the first years of her life in a refugee camp to walking at Milan Fashion Week and appearing on the cover of CR Fashion Book. These women didn’t necessarily set out to be feminist icons or political activists when they were scouted in their tender teenage years, and may never have the same political and academic clout as women like Gloria Steinham or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but there’s something to be said for the way they’re using their large followings and huge publicity as a force for good, to drive change and encourage progressive values among their fans. They won’t be dismissed as just a pretty face without a voice! Of course, it’s impossible to talk about the changing faces of fashion without mentioning the meteoric rise of Teen Vogue under the editorship of Elaine Welteroth, who is the second African American woman to hold the position of editor-in-chief in Condé Nast’s long history. Under her direction, Teen Vogue has risen to fame for its astute editorial coverage of the US election, for its diverse cover stars, and for its defiant
statement to girls everywhere that an interest in politics and an interest in fashion are not mutually exclusive.
‘I don’t know why that should be on a T-shirt.’ I was kind of amused by that. It made me think: maybe that’s why it’s on a T-shirt” One of the more disputed episodes of fashion activism is Dior’s SS17 t-shirts sporting Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s famous quote “We Should All Be Feminists”. Many have spoken out against the t-shirts, featured in the first collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri as creative director of the Parisian brand, deeming them to be capitalising on feminism’s recent wave of popularity. This seems to equate to an assumption that fashion and feminism simply cannot coexist. But according to Adichie, in a recent interview with Stylist, Maria Grazia Chiuri had sent her a long letter of admiration and passion about how important feminism is for women today. Adichie recognised that the t-shirts were just a symbolic gesture, and knew that it would start conversations. In the interview, she said, “I remember after the show standing outside and hearing a man say: ‘I don’t know why that should be on a T-shirt.’ And I was kind of amused by that. It made me think: maybe that’s why it’s on a T-shirt”. It’s right there in the quote: feminism can’t be an exclusive club, and if the designer of a major fashion brand wants to express her support for feminism knowing that all eyes are on her, an optimist would welcome this as a good thing for the movement. For those wondering, Dior has also confirmed that a portion of the proceeds from sales will go to the Clara Lionel Foundation. As always, there are many ways to problematise fashion’s move towards a more inclusive catwalk. One black cover girl and one plus-sized catwalk model here and there aren’t going to change the world, but it does mark a step towards a diverse, equal representation in the industry that’s been long awaited. Who knows how long it will take to see more women like Winnie Harlow and Halima Aden taking centre stage, but let’s hope that someday soon, it will no longer be necessary to single them out when it does happen, and articles like this will be obsolete.
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Pi Magazine 718 | news
THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT AT UCL Lucy Bacon investigates the state of UCL’s Mental Health support services
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news | Pi Magazine 718
I
t is hard being a student. But sometimes it is even harder to know how to ask for help and where to find it.
University students are not always known to be the most positive of people. They are occasionally sleep deprived, hyped-up on caffeine, and angry about the state of the world. However, there are times where our usual morose state can turn into something more. Research done by the UCLU Heads Up Campaign found that 1 in 4 students will experience mental health problems during their time at UCL. That means that there are currently 9,373 students at UCL who are suffering from mental health problems. Often it is hard enough to know how to help yourself when you are struggling with mental health, but it’s particularly hard if you don’t know what resources are available to you. After Pi talked talking to some students who have been helped by UCL Student and Support and Wellbeing Services, it became clear that several of them feel they would have benefited from knowing about the available support sooner. Pi interviewed a PhD student, who did not wish to be named, about his experiences of using the Psychological services.
First, and most importantly, if you feel that you need immediate help, you should go straight to UCL Student Psychological services. You can register on their website using an online form. Your first appointment will be an initial consultation where you decide, with a member of staff, which “therapeutic option best meets your needs.” They offer three different options: shortterm individual counselling which focuses on immediate problems; individual or group psychotherapy, this typically focuses on the relationships in your life; and, individual or group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which aims to change the way you think about yourself and others, using CBT methods to help you can skills to help yourself in the long term. UCL Student Psychological services operates using a 4-6week model, so is not suited for helping to treat those with long term mental health problems. However, do not let this deter you from seeing them. If they feel that you need long term support, they will help facilitate getting you help from the NHS and continue to support you until a space opens up through the NHS waiting list. Pi: Have you found UCL mental health services useful?
“Personally, I did not know there was a UCL psychological services. Somebody told me I needed to go get some phycological help, and said ‘I am sure there is [psychological service] at your university. So, then I started searching [online to see if there were a service] myself and I did find it. But I think better advertising would be beneficial. [I think if more people knew about UCL psychological services] they would come out of the wood work before any particular problem arises. They would know that that’s there is a support [system]. So, if they [ever] felt like they were coming to the point where they needed some help, they would know exactly where to go very quickly. It would be less stress on them. [They would not find themselves in a position] where they were really stressed out and thinking what do I do?”
PhD Student: “Very much so. When my supervisor took disciplinary action against me, I was in a very bad place. My friend told me ‘I think you need to go talk to somebody and get some support.’ This happened over the Christmas period so they were closed. The first day they opened I registered on the website. A week later they got back to me and gave me an appointment. It was very fast. Initially I was only supposed to have six sessions which is the standard maximum offer. At the end of the six weeks my counsellor looked at me and said ‘I am still in this process. I am not going to just leave you like this I am going to see you through this’. She ended up giving me 6 months of counselling rather than 6 weeks. [I found by seeing] my counsellor once a week, I was able to offload the comings and goings of my week; it really helped a lot.”
So here are some things that you might not know about the support and services that UCL provides and how to go about using them:
If you are worried that your mental health is impacting your studies you can seek help from Student Disability services. There is no need to make an appointment to see
them. They run drop in sessions every Mondays and Wednesday from 2pm-4pm in the IOE. The Student Disability services can help to talk to your department about your difficulties and help them to come up with the accommodations that will help you. Also, they can help you apply for extenuating circumstances or special exam arrangements, such as extra time and smaller venues for examination, which should hopefully reduce the negative impact exams can have on your mental health – and that your mental health can have on your exams. Moreover, the department is also running a series of workshops over Easter and the 2017 summer exam period entitled ‘Stress reductions techniques for exams’, you can find more information on attending these on the Student Disability Services website. The Student Disability services also run a mentoring scheme. Through this scheme, any student who is struggling can apply for 6 sessions of mentoring before their case is reviewed. David Walmsley, the Director of Student Disability Services, explained the service to Pi as such: “If a student came, it would vary from student to student, but if a student said ‘Okay, I am really struggling with perfectionism, I write essays and I rip them up because I am not happy with them, I never meet my deadlines and I am falling behind with my work, how can you help me?’ So in that setting the mentors would say ‘Let’s talk about this perfectionism, what’s going on there, how else does it affect you practically? How do you manage your deadlines? Do you track back from the date you are working towards? Do you structure it? Or do you pull an all-nighter the week before and see what comes out?’ So the mentor might [say] ‘Let’s try a different approach to the way you work and come back next week to see how it’s going.’ As they work [together] more closely you then start to discover other things, the sessions could be every week for the duration of their studies but the common model is 6 weeks, a bit like counselling and then it will be reviewed, but if a student needs that support [for a longer period] they can access it regularly.”
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Pi Magazine 718 | spotlight
Perhaps the least known and most underused service that UCL offers for mental health, is their “Ten Minute Mind Program.” Perhaps the least known and most underused service that UCL offers for mental health, is their “Ten Minute Mind Program.” The Ten Minute Mind program is designed to help you learn how to manage stress through 10 minute “mindfulness mediation” sessions. Once you sign up online to the service you will be sent a 10-minute track every morning to meditate to. You may feel that at this moment you do not need any direct help with your mental health. But if you would like practical tips on how to help to maintain your mental health, in everyday situations, go to UCL’s new Student Support and Wellbeing Blog, which can be accessed through Moodle. They have articles ranging from: “Your rights as a Tenant” to “5 quiet spots near UCL.” These articles are designed to be relatable and helpful for all students. The best of these articles are published on My UCL every week. Pi interviewed Lina Kamenova, the Student Support and Wellbeing Manger, to gain a better understanding of the aims of the blog. Kamenova noted that the focus of the blog is strongly on “communication, information, and education, with regards towards student wellbeing and student metal health.” When asked about advice for students with mental health problems, Kamenova offered the following advice: “Take time to have a balanced life. Take time to spend some time with friends. Take time to study but aim for balance in everything. When there is need for support, engage with the support as soon as possible. Be reassured that there is support and that there are people who actually want to help you. Within this service I can tell you
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with 100% confidence that we are here to help students and we genuinely want to help students. So, engage with the support that is available. Speak to friends and family. Don’t keep it for yourself.” All these services offered by UCL are useful for providing support but it is important to remember that sometimes you will already have an inbuilt support network in your friends and family. So, while reaching out to the support that UCL can offer, remember you can also reach out to your friends and family. Talking to someone at UCL, a personal or pastoral tutor in your department are both good options, but talking to your friends and family can also help: they are the people who know you best and will probably be the first ones to spot if something is wrong. Sometimes, admitting – or realising – that you need help can be very difficult but it can be made easier when you have someone by your side. Don’t suffer alone. UCL’s mental health services are not perfect: they are under-advertised and yet still massively oversubscribed. UCL need to give more support to these services so they can continue to support us in turn.
spotlight| Pi Magazine 718
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Pi Magazine 7## | section
mu
pi magazine’s arts &
art & performance • film & tv Page ##
use
Section | Pi Magazine 7##
s & culture sections
music • literature Page ##
muse| art
Aesclin Jones questions the advantages of art reproduction
A
lthough it is easy to characterise recent political events as part of a movement towards the barriers of isolationism, cultural boundaries are in fact dissolving as new technologies bring art to a wider audience than was ever possible before. Now is an exciting time - 3D printing and high-resolution photography can both preserve fragile ancient monuments, masters, or relics for posterity, and create exact, like-for-like reproductions. This level of cultural preservation is without precedent and is changing the way we view works of art. The veracity of reproduction is promising to resolve the long held opposition to copies, viewed as inherently inferior to the original. However, some critics still suggest that this cultural mix and match does not benefit anybody. The reproduction of culturally significant works and sites is relevant to almost anything - some national governments and institutions have already openly commissioned the digital preservation of their collections. Once the data is collected the object is preserved forever in cyberspace and is reproducible whenever it is needed. This preservation protects against unpredictable acts of iconoclasm and in-
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THE AGE OF REPR evitable decay. The pioneers in this field of conservation and reproduction over the last twenty years have been the Spanish workshop Factum Arte - a team of conservators, artists, and technicians. Factum first records the object in question, using a system of lasers, photographic equipment, and close observation. First comes a set of laser scanners to record the exact dimensions of the room or object. Second comes the taking of many high-resolution photographs that capture every angle of the object in precise detail, later to be patched together in the editing phase. Finally comes the hands-on attention of the conservators, who scrutinise the surface and colour for specific details.
future generations. Factum Arte’s sister company, Factum Foundation was commissioned for a section of the burial chamber for the tomb of Tutankhamun, in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The original had reached such a level of decay that its fragility prevented sizeable numbers of tourists from visiting the tomb. Not only did the non-contact form of the laser recordings remove any possibility of further damage to the walls, but also the reproductions were constructed into a replica tomb built nearby for tourists. The tomb itself was closed for preservation and the reproduction opened for a greater number of visitors than was possible in the original tomb.
The work of this collective has already persevered a number of important historical sites such as the Mosque at Kala-Koreysh by collecting data that, theoretically, can be preserved for any number of
Rather than seeing this as robbing the audience from an authentic experience, the facsimile allows larger numbers to visit the wonderfully decorated tomb. Not only has Factum’s work allowed Egypt’s
art | muse
n
PRODUCTION tourist industry to recover, but has also made it possible to experience something that would be totally off limits had the reproduction not ever have been made. Boundaries have not been totally removed in this instance however, as the Egyptian government is retaining all claim to ownership of the intellectual property of the data collected from the tomb - we are not yet at the stage of seeing a Tutankhamun tomb in London, or any other nation. This case remains very much an exception: other reproductions have crossed continents and brought new audiences to once inaccessible objects. In 2006 Factum reproduced Paolo Veronese’s ‘The Wedding at Cana’ for the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. This scene occupied the end wall of the refectory, at a size of sixty-seven square metres. The commission was intended to replace the blank space that had been
left after the original Veronese was looted by Napoleon’s forces and transported to the Louvre as one of the many cultural plunders of continental Europe. Factum’s commission went ahead with success, but this case more importantly speaks to an interesting question concerning originality. Given the exact nature of the contract of commission for Veronese to paint for a specific wall in the church, ‘The Wedding at Cana’ is indelibly tied to the location of San Giorgio and the architecture of its refectory. Having remained at the Louvre up to today might suggest, to some, that the original is of a lesser authenticity because of this removal, which flies in the face of where the painting was originally intended to be placed. Bruno Latour even contends that the reproduction holds more truth to the original specifications than the Louvre original, precisely because of this consideration.
So, what is it that makes a work of art significant as an original? What holds back the copy from having the same significant meaning just to a wider audience? Latour has supported the work of bodies like Factum in challenging the art world’s negatively-tinged apathy towards the idea of the copy. An attitude that works to hermetically seal the work of art to prevent any reinterpretation or contribution that successive generations of people could give to the original. Latour suggests that where the performative arts (music, dance, theatre) are open to a plurality of interpretations that add to the cultural richness of the object, those concerned with painting or sculpture are more defensive over the original artefact. A play can be enhanced the generations of interpretation and counter-interpretation allowing the essential content of the play to be viewed with renewed vigour and richness. Is it not time to bring this position firmly to bear on art and architecture? Such freedom to reproduce meaning can bring art to wider audiences and different cultures than was ever possible before 3D printing. Technology has made possible an appreciation of art firmly within the technical accomplishment of the artist, rather than through claims validating the authenticity of the original work of art.
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MUSE | MUSIC
S
ome of the greatest albums of all time find artists hitting the peak of their perceptual and expressive powers in response to the overwhelming emotional force of a break-up, by submerging themselves in the misery it causes. But taking pleasure as a listener in a break-up album can be perverse - the silver lining of artistic achievement does not outweigh the dark cloud of disappointment and pain that sustains it. Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago are fantastic, but should I draw joy from these artists’ suffering? Luckily, a select group of artists restore the emotional balance somewhat by hiding genuinely positive messages in their break-up albums and songs. These artists can teach us a lot too, if they’ve managed to find positives amid the gloom. There is no reason why we can’t remain mildly cheery as the world continues to nosedive into chaos around us. So, what’s their advice? Accept your situation, look to the future, and find your goal Rumours was the first, and remains the greatest, of all break-up albums. Its timeless harmonic soft-rock was brewed in unfathomably tense circumstances; bassist John McVie and singer Christine McVie had recently divorced and were not on speaking terms, drummer Mick Fleetwood had just discovered his wife was having an affair, and guitarist Lyndsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks were going through a protracted break-up. Although heartbreak afflicted every member, the resulting product is astonishingly positive. Instead of obsessing over the past, they each accept their situation, look to the future, and just keep going. Take “I Don’t Want to Know,” Buckingham and Nicks sing together in bright harmony: “I don’t want to know the reason why love keeps right on walking down the line/ I don’t want to stand between you and love honey I just want you to feel fine.” They have accepted the inevitable, and have no interest in conducting a relationship post-mortem. They just want to kick on, and find positivity in setting each other free. Christine McVie is in similar spirits on “Don’t Stop”, with its gold-plated chorus line “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow”. The fertile ground of the future is the focus, not the bitter memories of the past. It is notable that Buckingham takes the lead vocal from McVie on this track, he clearly felt the same way. But how did they remain so optimistic amid the turmoil? The answer is made clear on “The Chain”, a country-rock chimera which is best known as the theme to Formula 1. Referencing the bond which holds the band members together, at its climax
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they desperately sing as one “Chain, keep us together”. Their livelihoods, fortunes, and sanities depended on remaining united. This concrete shared goal – of making an awesome record and keeping the band together – was what guaranteed that they did.
Allen’s sadness curdles in the delicious face of anger Convert the wreckage of your love into hatred Of course, not all bad situations deserve to be accepted, as sometimes the only correct response to a break up is fury. The best embodiment of this is Lily Allen’s “Smile”. Allen finds her boyfriend has been “f**king the girl next door”, and can’t cope; it messes up her mental health, she doesn’t know what to do, she feels utterly alone. Then something snaps, and rather than accepting these burdens as side-effects of the break up, she suddenly sees them as yet more injustices that her ex has heaped upon her. There is a paradigm shift in her perception; Allen’s sadness curdles into the delicious fuel of anger. Allen’s chorus is as pure an articulation of schadenfreude as they come, and is almost shockingly wicked: “At first when I see you cry, yeah it makes me smile, yeah it makes me smile.” She’s no psychopath, she “feels bad for a while,” but every grievance she has suffered has become one more reason to delight in seeing him feel the same way. Righteously enjoying the suffering of the guilty, rather than acceptance, is Allen’s route to positivity. But use hatred wisely. Without Allen’s ex’s culpability this response would be deeply troubling. Stick to what you know John Grant spends most of Pale Green Ghosts savagely laying into his ex-boyfriend, even comparing the devastation wrought on their relationship by his inability to communicate emotionally to that by the use of Agent Orange on civilians in the Vietnam War. On “GMF” though, he turns the lens inwards, and considers some of his own flaws. They seem pretty severe: “I’m usually only waiting for you to stop talking so that I can”, “I am quite angry, which I can barely conceal”, but they grate with something that Grant is quite sure of. So sure of, in fact, that he makes it his chorus: “I am the greatest mother**ker that you’re ever gonna meet”. Grant is finding positivity through satirising his situation, reducing the load of negativity he must deal with by absolving him-
self of blame, and boosting his self-esteem. But more importantly, he’s clinging onto something concrete and certain amid the turbulence, his overpowering greatness. Transform yourself Whenever people ask me for good bands that they should be listening to, my first suggestion is always Tame Impala. Their infectious psych-rock is the sole product of singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Kevin Parker. On “Currents”, Parker examines his failed relationship with Melody Prochet of Melody’s Echo Chamber, whose second album he produced, and finds the turbulence of the break-up a perfect opportunity for reinvention. On opener “Let It Happen” he sees that a whirlwind is headed his way, but that when it does he “won’t be holding on”. On “New Person, Same Mistakes”, which comes right at the end, after his break-up has been thoroughly dissected and blame apportioned, his metamorphosis is beginning. The whirlwind arrives and he is “finally taking flight”. Of his transformation he sings, possibly with Prochet in mind, “I know that you think it’s fake, maybe fake’s what I like”. Thus Parker doesn’t need to force himself into accepting the break-up, or seeing it from a different angle, as something genuinely good has come of it. The break-up has liberated him from the pressures of his ex. Like Fleetwood Mac observed, there is still a future after a break-up. And what’s more, your future options are different to what they were beforehand. In Parker’s case, they are even better, even more desirable than what they were previously. The tumult of a break-up has given him the shock needed to recalibrate his desires, and discover what he wants anew. Bad situations can have unambiguously good consequences; they just need to be found.
MUSIC | MUSE
The Breakup Album: Finding the Good in the Bad David Young shines light on the albums that turn break-ups on their head
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MUSE | ENTERTAINMENT
A
fter the cataclysm known popularly as 2016, the world seems a little dimmer to the eyes of many. It’s easy to be pessimistic when the world’s most powerful man can’t spell ‘tap’, but, as ever, art provides relief. While the glut of sequels and remakes planned for 2017 might bring a tear to the cineastes’ eye, there is plenty in the world of film to keep the darkness of the outside world at bay. One such example is Elle – now one might think a French film about rape would be the furthest one could get from ‘feel good’, but look again – it’s directed by Paul Verhoeven. Yes, the master satirist is back, and Elle features the same humour that marks his filmography. Sure, it isn’t fun and games the whole way through, but the great filmmaking makes up for that when laughs are short. Another interesting combination of fearful and funny is Jordan Peele’s Get Out, a horror-comedy that gets under the skin of America’s racial problem. Again, perhaps not a subject that necessarily screams positivity, but the raucous laughter, and occasional screams (literally, in the screening I was at), should make for an entertaining experience. And there’s more to come – Terrence Malick’s new Song to Song, a story of love in Austin’s music scene, should be arriving on UK screens shortly. Though a divisive director now, it’s always good to see an auteur do his thing, especially when that thing is so singular as what Malick produces. More conventionally we have Ben Wheatly’s most accessible film yet – Free Fire, a Tarantino-esque single-location shoot-out. If John Wick hasn’t fulfilled the year’s mildly slapstick ultraviolence quota (totally a thing), Free Fire surely will. The small screen also has a lot to look forward to, not least BBC’s The Last Kingdom. Returning from its excellent first season, The Last Kingdom offers an exciting, and mildly historical (mildly historical!) look at the drama of the Viking invasions of England. That such a show can succeed and continue without dragons should be celebrated in itself – and I say that only with a little History student bias. A few months down the line, however, the TV event of the decade is ready to rip your exam timetables asunder – Twin Peaks is back. Since 2006’s Inland Empire David Lynch has apparently had better things to do than make films, but now he’s behind a camera once again – and then some. The original series only had a few episodes directed by Lynch himself, but this new season will be directed by him in its entirety, including a two-hour premiere episode. Things are gonna get
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freaky, but in a good way (the best way). Musically, there are also bright days ahead. Fans of the 60s-psych revival currently doing the rounds will likely already have heard Temples’ return in Volcano, a wonderfully poppy, psychedelic adventure. Perhaps not the masterwork that would justify the four-year gap since Sun Structures, but probably what we all need right now. For those still hankering for more psych – fear not, Australia’s formidable King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (a band name that will never be topped) have announced not the usual two, nor three, nor even four albums for 2017 – instead, five. King Gizz are fairly consistent in their albums, and based on the first of these five (Flying Microtonal Banana) 2017 might just be their biggest year yet. Yet as far as ridiculous quantities of music go, they might have already been outdone. The Magnetic Fields (of 69 Love Songs fame) have returned to the ‘wow they actu-
ally wrote that many songs’ concept album game in beautiful form, with 50 Song Memoir being a remarkably strong album across its incredible length. If a 50-song album can work, maybe we’re all gonna be alright (in general). More? More long albums to drown out that notification sound for every time Trump misspells a word? 2017’s got this for you. Joining The Magnetic Fields is Mark Kozelek’s ever entertaining solo project, Sun Kil Moon. His latest album, Common As Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood is almost as long as its title, clocking in at a little over two hours. While it might come off as drunken ramblings to some, Kozelek’s dry humour should be enough to neutralize the dark thoughts for a while. Still not sated? The marmite of musicians, Father John Misty, has you covered with Pure Comedy. His comparatively slender hour-and-twenty-minutes of cheeky lyrics and lush instrumentation will probably provoke a strong reaction, ideally positive. But if you’re en-
ENTERTAINMENT | MUSE
But if sex jokes aren’t your thing, maybe a trip to the Southbank Centre is due – their current exhibition, Adventures in Moominland, will whisk you away to your childhood fantasies, had you been lucky enough to read the Moomin books as a kid. If not, it’s still a few hours of magical, fantasti-
Feel Good Inc.
If John Misty’s intoning about bedding Taylor Swift inside an Oculus Rift seems a little crass for your tastes, then the National Theatre might offer an alternative. Their current production of Twelfth Night is amazing audiences, with the mild controversy over (the typically excellent) Tamsin Greig playing Malvolio a plus if anything. That there could be a gender mismatch between character and player in a Shakespeare play in surely unthinkable, anyway. The real plus, however, is that Twelfth Night is a comedy, and a pretty funny one at that. And it’s actually rather crass, more than Father John Misty, probably. Sorry.
cal joy. And if it’s the past you’re craving, Gorillaz are back with their first album in six years, to the joy of the thirteen-year-old in us all. What more could you want? A Sufjan Stevens collaboration album about the solar system or something? (Yep that’s happening.) There’ll be some tough times ahead, but it’s not all bad. Far from it.
Milo Garner looks ahead to this year’s feel good films, TV, theatre and music.
gaged, it’s all good, right?
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muse | literature
Amy Gwinnett talks to the Executive Director of First Story, a charity that is committed to bridging the creativity gap in our schools
THOSE WHO TELL THE STORIES RULE THE WORLD Page 50
W
illa Cather wrote that “most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen”. It should be no surprise then, that teenagers often come up with the most engaging, wild, funny, and moving stories of anyone, as any secondary school teacher will tell you. However, not all schools are created equal; some have the time, money, and connections to devote to enriching their students’ creative writing skills and some do not – this is where First Story comes in, a charity set up to bring creative writing workshops to schools in areas of economic deprivation. I spoke to the Executive Director, Mónica Parle, about the amazing work the charity does and how UCL students can get involved. Could you tell me a bit about yourself and what your role at First Story involves? First Story aims to bridge the creativity gap by giving young people from more
literature | muse
challenging backgrounds the opportunity to write. We fundamentally believe that no matter what your background is, you should have the opportunity to discover the power of your own story. We bring talented, professional writers into secondary schools serving low-income communities, to work with teachers and students to foster creativity and communication skills. By helping students find their voices through intensive, fun programmes, First Story boosts young people’s confidence and communication skills. We work closely with teachers to support a culture of creative writing in our schools, and we hope that our intervention improves the life chances of every young person in a community. I was lucky enough to find First Story in 2009 completely by chance, when I was working as a freelance editor, and I started volunteering just to get out of my house. Since then, I’ve seen the project grow from eight London schools and just Katie (Waldegrave, one of First Story’s founders) and me to now fifteen staff members and seventy schools in six regions across the UK. What is the vision of First Story and how did the organisation come about? First Story was founded by the writer William Fiennes and teacher (now biographer) Katie Waldegrave. It was born out of Katie’s experiences working in a secondary school serving a low-income community near Heathrow airport. She struggled with high teacher turnover, and the pressure that teachers were under to prepare students for exams. She said that people were reduced to just numbers and levels on a spreadsheet, and she found that discouraging. Katie met William at a party, and he told her about a residency he was running at a more privileged school and how much it inspired his students there. Katie invited William to her school, and he came along every Wednesday to run writing workshops with twenty-one teenagers. Across the year, they saw an incredible increase in the students’ confidence, attendance, and their writing. They incorporated as a charity in 2008, and now we’re working in seventy schools across the UK. The students tell us again and again that First Story changes their lives; in addition to putting a talented, professional writer into a low-income community, we run a Young Writers’ Festival that brings together 1,000 young people from low income communities in university settings, as well
as a National Writing Competition, and we publish the young people’s writing. How has the programme grown? Since we started, more than 4,600 students have participated in our residencies in schools, as well as another 20,000 who have taken part in our competitions and book launch celebrations. 100,000 stories have been written that otherwise might not have been, and we’ve published 335 anthologies of young people’s writing. In 2015, we received a major Arts Council England grant to significantly expand our programme, which has enabled us to start First Story hubs in Bristol and in Hull in partnership with Hull UK City of Culture. This year, we’re launching the country’s first-ever National Writing Day, with more than twenty-five national partners and with support from TS Eliot’s literary estate, The Old Possum’s Practical Trust. What have been your proudest and/or most rewarding moments working with First Story? This is tough because I think there are some amazing things that we’ve done as an organisation – like our Young Writers’ Festival, which we put together in four months. Also, this year, thanks to the Arts Council Creative Writing in Schools grant, we’ve taken the biggest leap ever in the number of schools served, adding twenty-one schools. We’ve also run some incredible events, at Downing Street, the Bank of England, and just last week at the House of Lords. But by far the most rewarding moments are when I see the students get up and read, particularly when it’s in a scary place, like the Bank of England and the House of Lords. Every time we run an event, I think what an incredible ask it is for a teenager to get up and share a piece of themselves in front of a crowd of 500 teenagers, not to mention a room full of adults, some of whom are MPs, CEOs of companies and so on. I still find that terrifying. One particular occasion was in 2010, when we had a platform at the Oxford Literature Festival, and a young man from an ‘Inclusion’ Unit (a special classroom at one of our schools for students on the brink of exclusion) got up on stage with Philip Pullman to read an extraordinary poem about the first time he got arrested. This was a kid who only ever got in trouble, and here he was really celebrated. That was amazing. Why is it important that children, and especially those you work with, have a chance to develop their creative writing?
William often talks about how he asked students in the first First Story group to submit pieces of writing before the sessions started and how they all submitted knock-offs of Harry Potter, or drawing-room dramas about people named Jane and Edward, but these were kids predominantly from Sikh families. It was because they thought their worlds and their lives weren’t the subjects of literature. I think, fundamentally, that is the challenge for publishing and literacy. Young people need to see that writing – and books – belong to them and are reflective of the worlds we know. The young people we work with write more and read more, because they start to think of writing in a different way. This is backed up by a growing body of research to support the need for the provision of creative arts and literacy programmes in low-income communities. And there are lots of organisations like us – many of whom are our partners for National Writing Day – who are trying to work in these communities to get them more engaged in literature, and I’m pleased to see that publishers are becoming more interested in diversity too. How can UCL students get involved? We’ve been so lucky to have UCL students support us by volunteering in our office and with our London Regional Writing Event, which we hold each year at UCL. We’d love to have more of you involved in 2018! Another way you can get involved in 2017 is at our inaugural National Writing Day on 21 June; a national campaign to get everyone, everywhere writing. We want to show that writing is fun, that writing is empowering, and that writing is for everyone, no matter who you are. We’re collaborating with some incredible, national and regional arts and literacy organisations to programme a whole host of events and activities for the general public. We’d love UCL students to sign up to an event or, better yet, register your own writing event or activity on campus: a poetry slam, a flash mob style writing workshop, a live consequences writing activity – the interpretations are endless, so we really hope the student body can get on board and share the joy of writing. Our website – nationalwritingday.org.uk – is where you can find out more, or you can follow the conversation on twitter @WriteDay.
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MUSE | FILM&TV
Late night blues
James Witherspoon looks at the popularity of late-night TV in the US and wonders if the UK will ever embrace the trend
I
n this uncertain political climate, where looking at the news becomes more and more suspenseful with every passing day, one thing has remained constant: the late-night TV presence in counter-culture and debate. From social media and YouTube, to news sites and papers, American late-night TV hosts have openly displayed their contempt for the implementation of ridiculous policy, as well as providing humorous takes on the destruction of ideologies we all hold dear. Indeed, especially in the UK, it feels as if these very American figures are getting through to us more, becoming more relatable, and through social media platforms, becoming icons in a nation where they don’t even feature on our TV. The most recent US ratings figures prove evidence for the idea that the rise of the farright, and increasingly incredulous political decisions, have led to many turning to these pop-culture sages for advice and light release. Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, perhaps the most political of the big-hitters, has stunned in Q1 of 2017 with a 3.29 million viewer average. Contrast this with this
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time last year, in which he was only getting 2.79 million and the bigger picture becomes clear: more people are seeking current-affairs based programming.
by explaining the situation in an accessible way, late-night TV hosts can make the voice of the people stronger The reality is, as much as it’s a huge issue, the mooted repeal of Obamacare is full of jargon, legislation, and bureaucracy. It’s hard to get people up to speed on that sort of story – even though it could have a direct effect on their lives. Having a figure that appears every evening to discuss the current news and political climate – with humour and passion – is good for the status of the electorate (one can hardly complain when the population becomes polit-
ically involved and less apathetic). For too many years, the overwhelming majority has drifted by on what constitutes, largely, as political ignorance. A move such as the repeal of Obamacare or the appointment of Kelly-Anne Conway is categorised by sound-bites put out by the government, or by general feelings of (dis)approval. But, by explaining the situation in an accessible way, late-night TV hosts can make the voice of the people stronger. This doesn’t solely apply to US TV viewers either. With a significant reach over the viral market, 2-4-minute monologue rants about public policy on YouTube (getting between 2 and 3 million views a pop, even for slightly less popular hosts in the ratings like Seth Meyers) can also act as an explanatory source for more technical news – and create a more politically literate population across the globe. These discussions are hardly the epitome of seriousness either. Comedy, naturally, lightens the mood. And comedy over very serious issues (the rise of an incompetent president, for one) can prove beneficial in
FILM&TV | muse
relevance, or truth feels more than a little dated – and this clearly helps to explain ITV’s current dearth of viewers. The final reason why the chat-show format just hasn’t been able to cut it with a British audience is a little more anthropological. Looking at late-night TV, its essence is quintessentially American. In the 80s, there were only 3 or 4 channels on UK televisions and they all signed-off at around 11pm. Meanwhile, in, say, New York, life was resolutely 24 hours. With the bustle of business, the higher level of consumerism, and the larger popularity of TV (the News Anchor has always been a peculiarly American figure) – late-night chat shows could flourish. The Nightly Show broadcasts at 10: a whole hour and a half earlier than its US counterparts. The culture of ‘all-youcan-eat’ TV still evades us, for better or worse, and according to the BBC, 11pm is a “bit of a graveyard slot” for British TV. The average bedtime of a UK resident is 10:45pm – in other words, news then sleep. If we can’t hack 11pm, then how could we handle 12:30? Of course, the student population and youth of the country are staying up a lot later than this – turn on your Facebook at 3 in the morning and you’ll see a forest of green dots – but watching things on catch-up, Netflix, or YouTube is far more accessible than paying a TV-License and watching straight from the box.
preventing a nation from losing morale or giving up hope. Across all stations, there seems to be a consensus that, although bad, there’s humour to be found in all the situational crises that the current US Administration appear to be embroiled in – and that there’s certainly hope for the future. So, it seems uncontested that in the wake of recent political trauma, late-night TV has provided a welcome answer to the carnage – mixing wit with wisdom, and conveying important facts to the voting public. But why does this sort of concept never work in the UK? Currently, on British screens, ITV is running an experimental program it has dubbed The Nightly Show (a title, I may add, already taken by the hilarious Larry Wilmore show). In its first few weeks of running, it has been mauled by critics, the public and ratings boards. There are basic problems, and more complicated ones. Firstly, the easiest problem to spot is that British TV just can’t bring in the big guests that its US counterparts do. It has taken years of effort, and a giant broadcasting
company to bring the stars to The Graham Norton Show. But looking at ITV’s similar Jonathan Ross Show, they never seem able to bring on the same calibre of participant. Expanding this to a once a night series only serves to strengthen this draught of interesting talent. So far The Nightly Show has featured such excruciatingly twee guests as Martin Clunes, John Bishop, Davina McCall, and Catherine Tate.
So, there you have it. Late-night TV shows are fast becoming a 21st Century hallmark – evidencing their longevity despite relying on principles from the 50s and 60s. They bring political discussion, biting satire, and relatability into an unfamiliar world where our values seem permanently under attack – and, as such, improve society. However, unfortunately, due to limits on funding, prominence, and our historical (bedtime) habits, such a dialogue will find it hard to enter the UK market. With the right host and the right following, however (I’m thinking of you Charlie Brooker), we could have a chance. Who knows? It’s got to be better than David Walliams…
The second reason why the program doesn’t work is also simple: it’s not funny. Hosts such as Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert thrive on their quick-witted and topical knack for humour. David Walliams, on the other hand, represents a childish, immature, and tacky ‘seaside-humour’ that doesn’t go down well with younger viewers who, at 10-12pm, are the key coveted demographic. Other choices for the changing line-up include Ant and Dec, Dermot O’Leary, and Davina McCall (I know, again?). These people all exemplify the same politically removed comic faction – rooted in the slapstick age of the 50s and 60s – and would be unable to bring in the viewers. In 2017, comedy with no bite,
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