yorkvision.co.uk
ROSES 2016 YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE
Vısıon YORK
26.04.16
THE UK’S MOST AWARDED STUDENT NEWSPAPER
BORIS TALKS TO VISION “The average Bremainer cannot
ISSUE 258
speak a second European language...”
Uni invites drone CEO to party for big donors
BY PAUL WACE THE CEO of huge defence company Thales UK will have been invited to “special receptions” on campus for making large donations to Uni funds. Thales UK have forged a good relationship with Uni bosses since Victor Chavez, a former York student, became its CEO. He donates “at least £500” annually. The company builds parts for drones allegedly tested by killing Palestinian civilians. The revelation will raise questions about who is giving money to York and what influence they have. In the last year, just seven donors handed over at least £1.2 million, but the uni insists they cannot reveal who they are.
INVESTIGATION: P8-9
IN SPORT
Benjamin Francis Leftwich
on The Beatles, his upcoming album, and playing in York
Inside your new look 16-page SCENE
STUDENTS SET TO VOTE ON NUS
YEXIT POLL THIS TERM Exclusive leak of proposal to force referendum
BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK STUDENTS DETERMINED for YUSU to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students have discovered a near certain method to force a referendum on affiliation in week 8. The election of Malia Bouattia, who is accussed of holding antisemitic views, as NUS President and the defeat of One Member One Vote at the NUS national conference sparked widespread desire to dissaffiliate before the next compulsory referendum next year.
FULL STORY: P4-5
2 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
NEWS
YORK
NOTICE THIS
BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK
YUSU PRESIDENT Ben Leatham has launched a website for students to advertise their skills and services. The website, called The Student Noticeboard, allows students to advertise hireable skills and equipment or promote student businesses and events. YUSU have been developing the website since the beginning of the academic year and it is currently in Beta stage.
JUST PLANE AWESOME
Amazing photos show campus from above
BY KATHERINE BELL
THE UNIVERSITY’S Atmospheric Chemistry department has shared fantastic photos showing a bird’s eye view of campus. The photos were taken by an aircraft commissioned by The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements, a collaboration project between NERCScience and the Met Office. The purpose built aircraft has flown on many test runs across the country and recently flew low over the Heslington East and West campuses providing these rare shots. Former York Vision editor-in-chief and University Challenge extraordinaire Barto Joly de Lotbinere was quick to compliment the aircraft, saying: “That, my friends is one hell of a plane.”
Apology YORK VISION would like to apologise for inaccuracies in its reporting in “York’s Transphobia Shame”, in Issue 257 (March 1). In the article a quote from Ashley Reed was misrepresented to indicate that campus newspaper Nouse is transphobic. Reed was also misquoted as saying that Nouse had constantly misgendered them and another candidate in URY’s Candidate Interview Night for the YUSU Elections York Vision would also like to apologise to the York Union and Nouse for not giving them the opportunity for a right of reply.
Jet... it’s a custom built BAE aircraft
YORK STUDENT COMES OUT TO OBAMA
BY ABBIE LLEWELYN
MARIA MUNIR, a third year York politics student, came out to President Obama as non-binary live on television. Munir told Obama: “Now
I’m about to do something terrifying, which is I’m coming out to you as a non-binary person, which means that I don’t fit within – I’m getting emotional, I’m so sorry – because I’m from a Pakistani-
EDITORIAL TEAM SUMMER 2016 Editors-in-chief: Jonathan van Kuijk Paul Wace
Deputy Editors: Amara Barrett Willett Dianne Apen-Sadler Managing Director: Abbie Llewelyn Webmaster: Carl Goldsmith Scene Editors: Matt Kirkum Abbie Anderson
News Editors: Jayh Karia Katherine Bell Deputy News Editors: Steph Gabbatt Freya Kingsley Chief News Reporters: Thomas Butler-Roberts Josh Salisbury
Muslim background, which inevitably has complications…” The exchange took place during a question and answer session at a town hall event in London that was hosting the
US President. Munir urged both Barack Obama and David Cameron to take non-binary people seriously and ask what our political leaders can do to help LGBTQ people.
Vısıon
Opinion Editors: James Eyermann Oliver Peters Features Editors: Ella Brown Sylvie Markes Deputy Features Editor: Keane Duncan Joshua Gillman-Smith
YORK
Chief Sub Editor: Matt Kirkum Ed Hunter Chief Photographer: Isaac Beevor Freya Kingsley Advertising Director: Amara Barrett Willett Hope Butler
Got a story? We pride ourselves on being the best news Sports Editor: Lauren Malcharek source in York.
Email: vision@yusu.org Twitter: @YorkVision
Raj Mann Alumni Officer: Jonny Long
Jonathan and Paul
Opinions expressed in York Vision are not necessarily those of the Editors, Senior Editorial Team, membership, or advertisers. Every effort is made to ensure all articles are as factually correct as possible at the time of going to press, given the information available. If you do spot any mistakes or wish to make a complaint please send an email to vision@yusu.org. Copyright Vision Newspapers, 2016. Printed by Mortons of Horncastle.
NEWS
Tuesday April 26, 2016
POLICE CALLED TO ‘COCAINE PARTY’
STUDENT FIGHT LEAVES BLOOD IN THE STREET Girl claims other students “threw me on the ground” Melbourne Street... scared neighbours called the police BY PAUL WACE POLICE WERE called to reports of a fight at an allegedly drug-fuelled student house party earlier this month. Derwent College are now understood to be formally investigating two students who are believed to own the property on Melbourne Street, only a mile from campus. York Vision has spoken to a girl who alleges she was assaulted by other girls on the street outside the house in the early hours of April 17th.
Students hit out at languages for some David Duncan... he confirmed budget cuts
The individual claimed she was “shoved.” She said another girl “grabbed my hair,” and started “throwing me to the ground.” She added: “The group of girls were physically assaulting me and it was all completely unprovoked. A lot of people [said] there was weed and cocaine in the house so they may have been on that.” Officers raced to the scene after receiving multiple emergency calls from neighbours, and someone inside the party. The girl says that because of a misunderstanding, the people
who assaulted her were actually asked if they wished to persue an investigation. Because the alleged victim declined to be identified, York Vision is also not naming the students who purportedly assaulted her. The apparent assailants said they would not comment on what happened. One of the accused said: “The person involved made a drunken mistake and that’s were it should end.” However, they also insisted they were not the attackers, but
the victims of an assault. “What happened has already been dealt with,” she added. Another of the accused said they would not comment at all. A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: “No arrests were made, but we will be working with the local authority to ensure there are no further incidents.” YUSU prez Ben Leatham and University registrar David Duncan said they were both unaware of the incident. Dr Eleanor Brown, head of Derwent College, did not reply to a request for comment.
BY JAYH KARIA & PAUL WACE
The decision would be a massive reduction to the LFA budget, which currently stands at around £400k. First year history undergraduate Grace Shin, who takes French on LFA, said scrapping free courses would be a “disastrous idea.” She said: “LFA is one of the main reasons why I chose York as my first choice, and it has opened many doors to me, including a year abroad.” Third year English literature and linguistics student Oisín Twomey Brenner said cutting free LFA lessons would be “frankly disgraceful as it displays a shortsightedness on the part of the
university as to the importance of language learning.” Through LFA students can learn a variety of languages, from Italian, to Japanese, to Classical Latin. It is as yet unclear how the budget change would affect LFA modules taken as part of a degree. YUSU President Ben Leatham said LFA courses are a “fantastic opportunity” but “under 60% of people actually complete the course.” He added: “From my understanding the University are planning to streamline the service to ensure the students who will benefit from it most will be the focus.”
FREE LANGUAGES for All courses are likely to be scrapped as a cost saving measure, York Vision understands. The popular courses taken by hundreds of students will still be offered to new undergraduates this year, but may be cancelled from September 2017. University registrar David Duncan said from 2017, “the University’s Board has decided that we will limit the amount we spend on [LFA] to £150,000 a year. We are still considering exactly how these funds should best be deployed.”
Vısıon 3 YORK
SU DROPS IN RANKS BY JAYH KARIA YUSU HAS been ranked a shocking 102nd in Student Union rankings, out of 125. The league table, compiled by whatui.com, placed YUSU below rivals York St John, Lancaster and Leeds and shines a light on many events and activities conducted by the Student Union. Whilst the league table is by no means scientifically accurate and may fail to be representative of how all students view their union, it leaves a large scope for improvement to advance through the rankings. On the plus side, University of York was placed 34th in the university rankings, beating institutions such as Oxford, St Andrews and Cambridge. The league table, which placed Harper Adam as the best university in the country, is compiled by student reviews of their university. Last year in the same ranking, York was placed 23rd.
THAT’S NOT VERY MICE BY DIANNE APEN-SADLER
FIGURES RELEASED under an FOI request show that in 2015 the university used 4636 mice, 386 rats and 418 zebrafish in medical research experiments, The Home Office licence classification for these experiments was either mild or moderate. The severity levels of the experiments are given after the animal has died or the experiments have been completed, and the level given reflects the maximum severity endured by the animal. Second year student Alycia Lee slammed the huge numbers: “As we’re each paying £9000 a year, the University has more than enough funds to ... invest in animal testing alternatives.”
4 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
NEWS
YORK
THE NUS DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME
A GRAND COALTION OF STUDENT POLITICOS PLAN FOR WEEK 8 REFERENDUM ON NUS AFFILIATION NEW NUS PREZ MALIA BOUATTIA ON RECORD:
“TO CONS BY MEANS IDER THAT PALESTINE OF F WIL AND THE B UNDRAISING, NON-VIOL BE FREE ONLY DS MOVEM ENT IS PRO LENT PROTEST BLEMATIC” EU DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM IS “OMINOUS” ERSITY AS A IV N U M A H IRMING CATION” B U D D E E C R N E U H O IG H DEN ISIS UTPOST IN ON CONDEMNING TI O M “ZIONEST O S U N A ST VOTED AGAIN
BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK STUDENTS DETERMINED for YUSU to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students have discovered a near certain method to force a referendum on YUSU NUS affiliation in week 8. The election of Malia Bouattia, who is accussed of holding antisemitic views, as NUS President and the defeat of One Member One Vote at the NUS national conference sparked widespread desire to disaffiliate before the next compulsory referendum next year. At an unprecedently wellattended YUSU AGM yesterday YUSU President Ben Leatham revealed that if YUSU received a policy proposal to disaffiliate from the NUS then it would almost certainly trigger a referendum for week 8. YUSU policies are initially debated by the Policy Review Group, YUSU networks and the Trustee Board and, if considered contentious enough, policies will be put to the student body for a referendum. At the AGM Leatham claimed that there definitely would be a referendum if they received a policy proposal to disaffiliate from the NUS. York Vision can exclusively reveal that a highly secretive core group of the disaffiliation campaign are currently drafting such a proposal. One Member One Vote, proposed by YUSU President Ben Leatham, would have created a new NUS electoral system whereby the Vice-President and the President would be elected via a direct ballot by students. Currently the NUS President and Vice-President are elected by delegates to the NUS national conference who are elected in turn by students during local Student Union elections. The NUS conference has also been criticised for passing a motion that some say constitutes a ban on Yik Yak during election periods. Bouattia herself has been accused of antisemitism for comments she has made regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict. Bouattia, who is widely considered to be pro-Palestine has said in regards to the conflict: “To consider that Palestine will be free only by means of fundraising, non-violent protest and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is problematic.” She has also accused the mainstream media of being controlled by “Zionists” and has described the EU definition of antisemitism as “ominous.”
Other members of the antiNUS campaign are trying to force a referendum sooner by circulating a petition amongst students proposing a referendum which, if succesful, would trigger a referendum five days after its submission to YUSU. The petition, which currently has under 200 signatories, would require 5% of students, around 800 people, for it to force an emergency referendum. An emergency referendum can also be triggered by a simple majority of the Trustee board or the full-time officers - however Leatham has made clear that neither of these routes will be pursued. YUSU NUS affiliation must be renewed via a referendum every three years. The last one took place in the 2014/15 academic year, and students voted overwhelmingly to remain affiliated. The next compulsory referendum is scheduled for the next academic year, however campaigners fear the summer break will sap the monentum out of their movement. Students from several other universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Birmingham, Exeter, Aberystwyth and Kings Colleges London have organised similar campaigns to disafiliate from the NUS. If all the campaigns are successful the NUS will face an unprecedented mass disaffiliation. One student, who wanted to remain anonymous, criticised how the AGM was conducted purporting that votes on reaffiliation took place at the last two AGMs. He told York Vision: “Based on the experience of past AGMs, there were votes described as being on the affiliation with the NUS. “I believe it was most likely that this was an error in the explanation of what these were at previous AGMs - but I am unhappy to think that YUSU believes the triennial consultation is sufficient.” The university campaign attracted members of several political societies including the Labour Club, the York Tories, the UoY Lib Dems, the York UKIP Association, York Greens, PalSoc, York Liberty and the York Union. Leatham said: “There are definite issues with NUS democratic process. “I know many students have legitimate frustrations and it’s absolutely right that they’re asking if the NUS representing all students.”
NEWS
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 5 YORK
NUS LOBBY HITS OUT AT YUSU PREZ
BNOCS IN THE CAMPAIGN
BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK
WHO
Stephen Harper is Beth Wright is the a co-founder of the current Chair of the young political so- York Tories. ciety York Liberty.
POLITICS
Harper is an active Wright is an ac- Morrisey is an ac- Shannon is an ac- Lusty has no previ- Turton is an active member of the La- tive member of the tive member of the tive member of the ous affiliation with member of UKIP. bour party. Conservative party. Liberal Democrats. Labour party. any political societies.
WHY?
“Only 372 students ‘‘The NUS do not out of the 7 million represent the views students voted for of students.” its national president.”
BIN YAK? BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK A MOTION to encourage “restrictions on ‘anonymous’ [social media] accounts during election periods” was passed at the NUS national conference. The motion was the subject of widespread criticism in the national press after critics claimed it effectively called for a ban on the anonymous social media platform Yik Yak. Supporters of the motion, including YUSU President Ben Leatham, emphasised the damage anynonymous trolling does during SU elections and point out the motion does not tecnically call for a ban on Yik Yak. The motion was proposed in light of high levels of anonymous “trolling” on social media during student union elections in universities across the country including York. Speaking exclusively to York Vision Leatham defended the motion claiming that in fact it amounts to a call for social media websites to better enforce their own policies on harrassment as outlined in their terms of service.
Ciaran Morrisey is the Chair of the York Liberal Democrats and the Comment Editor of Nouse.
“I’m in favour of disaffiliation because the NUS is a labyrinthine, undemocratic organisation.”
Callum Shannon is the former Chair of University of York Labour Club.
“The NUS delegate voting system is inherently unfair and disenfranchises literally millions of students.”
Alex Lusty is the incoming activities sabbatical officer and former editor of the Lemon Press.
“I don’t believe in a system that claims to represent 7 million students and yet elects its president with only 372 votes.”
Thomas Turton is the Chair of the UKIP Association and a UKIP London Assembly candidate.
“Because it condemned UKIP whilst failing to condemn ISILCrazy priorities.”
YUSU PRESIDENT Ben Leatham’s tweet in praise of Maria Munir coming out as non-binary to President Barack Obama was criticised by an NUS lobby group. Leatham’s positive tweet read: “A student at York just stood up for transgender rights to OBAMA! ‘This is what you should be doing on a Saturday!’ The lobbying group TransformNUS which aims to promote transgender issues in the NUS, responded with cynicism for the Tweet stating: “Your Tweet is baseless and tokenistic unless you actually start to do SOMETHING about transphobic bullying.”
EXCLUSIVE: NUS TRIED TO SUPRESS OMOV DEBATE BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK
Doomed to fail... an optimistic Ben Leatham arrives at the NUS conference in Brighton
One member one vote OMOV, proposed by YUSU President Ben Leatham, was overwhelmingly rejected at the NUS national conference in Brighton last week. If passed, future NUS Presidential and Vice Presidential positions would be directly elected by students. According to Leatham delegates strongly opposed to the motion fillibustered previous motions to try and stop it from even being debated. If this had occurred then the motion would have been brought before the NUS National Executive Committee (NEC) which would almost certainly have voted against it. The Chair also turned up late to the debate shortening a 10 minute debating slot to just 4 minutes. The motion was successfully fillibustered during the 2014 and 2015 NUS national conferences. Currently the NUS President and Vice-President are elected by delegates at the NUS national conference who are themselves elected by students at local student union elections although turnout for delegate elections is notirously low.
Speaking in favour of the motion at the conference Leatham said: “conference, let’s not leave here today as hypocrites. “Hypocrites who speak of democracy, speak of accountability, speak of a National Union of Students, all the while ignoring the independent, individual student voice.” Opponents of the motion claimed that OMOV would drown out the voice of minorities in the NUS. Explaining what happened at the conference Leatham said: ‘It was clear that a proportion of delegates were causing delays because they didn’t want One Member One Vote discussed on conference floor. ‘This included some of the NUS leadership. I had to pressure both the chair and DPC (Democratic Procedures Committee) extensively to ensure it got heard at all. ‘I am disappointed that the motion didn’t pass. Conference voted against moving towards a more direct democracy that gives every student a voice but this issue will not be swept under the carpet; as a direct result, we have opened up a national discussion about NUS democracy.’
6 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
NEWS
YORK
ID’S AN OUTRAGE
BY KATHERINE BELL
STUDENTS HAVE expressed confusion at a recent policy change at York Parties club nights. In recent weeks there has been a noticeable tightening in security at student nights in York. Previously, non-student forms on official ID were often accepted at York Parties nights. At the time of going to print, York Parties have not replied to a request for comment.
HIGH STEAKS COW CHASE BY PAUL WACE
A cow escaped from a field and had to be chased down by three stick-weilding farmers in Halifax College last week. Students were told not to use a footpath as desperate locals drove a car across college quadrangles to catch the animal as it kept on the moove. One resident tried to get a closer look, but the elderly locals “shooed me away.”
Ending machine leaves library snackers hungry
Hope... sabbs pose with the remaining Clean Eats machine in YUSU
BY COSTAS MOURSELAS A ROW between the University and the official vending machine supplier ended last month with the independent Clean Eats vending machine being removed from Harry Fairhurst. The offending vending machine was part of an entrepreneurial project started by York resident Will Letts to “support the right kind of snacking.” The machine came in violation of a contract giving rival vending machine company Upton’s exclusive rights to all vending space in the university, excluding YUSU space. Scott Dawson, YUSU welfare officer, said its removal was down to the University. He said: “The contract between the University and Uptons vending meant that we had no choice but to move the machine, despite support from the library team. Our hands were tied.
D E I F I S S A L C
UNI L A T N E M H T L A E H T R O P E R DATE: RELEASE
N UNKNOW
“I think this is sadly an example where University contracts harm diversity and support for our students.” He added: “The University team have been understanding, but more needs to be done to allow YUSU and other initiatives to support students without the threat of being undermined by oppressive contracts.” Letts, the founder of Clean Eats, told York Vision he was disappointed by the decision. “In our five months at the York University library, Clean Eat’s healthy vending machine averaged around 450 transactions a week and over 1000 during the January exam period,” he said. “It would be a great shame to permanently remove a machine enjoyed and praised by so many students and staff. We were due to introduce olives in April and vend-
Tragic... The ill-fated Fairhurst vending machine sized houmus dip pots to launch from September.” The decommissioning of the vending machine has also angered the student body. Third year politics and philosophy student Sammy Armstrong said: “If you’re
a third year and spending ‘this’ much time in the library, you want options. There are only so many times you can eat rolos.” Third year economics student Jack Waller told York Vision: “Even with the machine, the Univer-
sity didn’t have enough healthy options. “The meal deal doesn’t come with juice or fruit. They are always going on about how we need to look after ourselves and yet they only want us to do so if it’s in their best interests.”
REPORT STILL SECRET BY PAUL WACE
A REPORT expected to criticise mental health provisions on campus has not been published nearly a month after it was meant to be finished. Bosses insisted this week the document, commissioned by vice chancellor Koen Lamberts, will be released after it is reviewed by the executive board of the University. Lamberts was forced to admit in February there were “not enough” Open Door appointments availible, even though “demand is higher than ever.” But he said the Uni would not make major changes to mental health provisions until the report, written by Professor Hilary Graham, was finalised.
University registrar David Duncan said he had seen the “excellent report.” YUSU prez Ben Leatham also said he had a copy, but could not talk about its “confidential” findings. An investigation by Socialist Society this year found the university only spends £26 per student on mental health services. Since 2011 the budget for student support services has only risen by 12%, despite demand for counselling, including Open Door, skyrocketing by 132%. YUSU wellbeing sabbatical officer Scott Dawson has also today slammed the state of mental health services in York, saying there is a “clear need” for more Open Door funding. Writing in York Vision, Dawson
says: “Funding pressures have intensified while demands on support and health services have come under increasing pressure.” Demands for the release of the report came as friends and lecturers paid tribute to Christopher Walsh and Daniel Pinfold, two York students who took their own lives last year. An inquest this month was told Chris Walsh had approached Open Door and his GP for help.
INSIDE TODAY:
SCOTT DAWSON
“Too many York residents have been let down...” Opinion, p. 13
NEWS
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 7 YORK
LECTURER SLAMS CONSULTATION YORK X “DELUDED” BY KATHERINE BELL
YORK X, a new group to platform prominent outside speakers, has just held its first event. Spearheaded by James College First Year student Akul Pankhania the new group has secured events with speakers such as Green leader Natalie Bennett and controversial exGuantanamo Bay detainee Mozzam Begg. The platform has been criticised by several students. A member of the York Union Committee has blasted York X saying “I find it bizarre that this new ‘YorkX’ invites a suspected terrorist and the left on campus stay silent, while the York Union invited a Libertarian speaker and made the left of York go insane”. The member describes York X founder Akul Pankhania as “a York union reject” who “basically runs the entire charade… and is clearly somewhat deluded”. YorkX President Ilyas Ibrahim responded: “YorkX are very busy at the moment securing the biggest and best names this campus has ever seen. “We think the York Union have done a good job of hosting interesting debates this year and we wish them luck”
BOSSES CLOSE THE BOOK ON BURTON LIBRARY BY DIANNE APEN-SADLER
THE UNIVERSITY has come under fire for its failure to properly consult the arts and humanities departments in its decision to renovate the Raymond Burton Library. Over Easter, the library was closed in order to facilitate the creation of 59 new study spaces, at the expense of several key reference-only books from the English, history, and medieval studies courses which were moved into storage. These books are still available for use, but they are only available by request which may take up to a day.
It has been alleged that the changes break the terms of the Raymond Burton Library gift which may entail that the resource stays in its original condition – but according to Hannah Pinsent, postgraduate representative for the Arts and Humanities faculty, the library “doesn’t accept” that this is the case. After Community and Well-Being Officer Scott Dawson praised the changes on a Facebook post, Pinsent claimed that he was “representing only one half of the story. She said: “Leaving out the concerns and lack of consultation to those who rely on the resources which have now been archived
THAT’S M.A.D! BY DIANNE APEN-SADLER
CAMPUS TREE TRAIL
BY KATHERINE BELL
THE UNIVERSITY’S Esates and Grounds services have unveiled a new ‘Tree Trail’ on capus. They announced the news on their official instagaram page which shares seasonal photos of our photogenic campus. The aim of the trail is to encourage students to appreciate the different tree species on campus.
which bought [sic] the change about.” Although Pinsent acknowledged the need for more spaces to work, she claimed that the consultation period was “non-existent” and viewed the changes as a “quick fix.” The move has been blasted by both students AND staff in the departments affected. A history lecturer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that “the department is very disappointed at the way the change was made, and how it was handled.” The lecturer later added that the disappointment felt was “unanimous,” and
STUDENTS LIVING in the cheapest catered accommodation on campus will see prices increase by a whopping £630 in 2016/17. This is a massive increase on previous years – based on the cheapest accommodation, in 2013/14 the catering charge works out at only £2.93 per meal, and in the current year 2015/16, the charge was £3.30. The upcoming changes have been blasted by students: “it would put returners off... only 1/6 [of my flatmates] are coming back to catered next year” said Mati Caldwell, first year History
and English student. The price of catered accommodation now includes a £500 per team Meals in Advance (MAD) card for accommodation across the board drastically increasing the price of the cheapest accommodation. In previous years, the catering charge had been the difference in price between the catered accommodation and self-catered accommodation, with the MAD card being an optional extra for those in self-catered accommodation. Those in the more expensive accommodation were not as badly hit as ca-
tering already cost those students £476 per term. The changes mean that students across the board will shell out £5 for every catered meal. The catering card will still only provide students with breakfast and dinner on weekdays, meaning they are expected to provide their own meals at lunch and on the weekend. This means students in catered accommodation spend £50 a week on food – and then have to spend MORE on meals between breakfast and dinner and over the weekend. According to the 2014 Living Costs and Food Sur-
that there was a reluctancy by staff to talk openly about the issue as they “don’t want to spoil relations with the library.” University Registrar and Secretary David Duncan claimed consultation about the changes had been “extensive,” and this was the “right decision.” He went on to say the change was “timely as we approach the busiest time of year in the University Library.” Third year Criminology student Kaytlin Hunter thought the changes were positive, saying “it’s great that we have extra study space, especially as the library gets so busy around
vey, produced by the O f fice for National Statistics, the poorest 20% of one adult non-retired households spends an average of only £32.10 a week on food, and a further £10.80 on alcoholic drinks, tobacco and narcotics. University Registrar and Secretary David Duncan said that “we believe student accommodation on campus continues to represent very good value for money.”
this time of year. “ Dawson said it was “rather clear that the consultation was handled badly.” He added that “This increase in seating is impressive given the space restraints of the library.” As part of the changes, the Raymond Burton library will now extend its opening hours from 8am to 10pm to 24/7.
BEST PLACE TO SIT IN THE LIBRARY P22
£3.30
£5
The changes come into effect the same year as the abolishment of maintenance grant by the UK government to be replaced by further loans. Matt Burton, Head of Accommodation explained the changes: “The economy price band was adjusted to include an additional 240 rooms.”
8 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
NEWS
YORK
DRONE COMPANY BOSS’S CASH
Vısıon UNI: SORRY, THE VOICE OF... YORK
NUS-LESS
You endorse creating safe spaces and the no-platforming of controverisal speakers. You have sanctioned restrictions on YikYak. And last week you elected a president who has refused to condemn ISIS, as some delegates applauded the idea of not commemorating the Holocaust.
As a member of YUSU, you are a member of the NUS, whether you like it or not. Because the union works through representative democracy, only a few hundred delegates make these decisions - and only five, from YUSU, went on behalf of you. The national conference in Brighton last week was hailed as a huge feat of democracy. But millions of students across the country know the NUS only as home of McDonald’s discounts and online bargains. YUSU should be doing more to ensure students know what motions they’ve indirectly passed or opposed. But while Ben Leatham is working towards transparency, the NUS themselves are making his life hard. Conference motions were hidden well away on the NUS website, and the beauracratic structure and timetable made it impossible for most students to engage. While it continues to be impossible to get your voice heard in the NUS, they cannot have a mandate to represent you.
AT ARMS’ LENGTH
The revelations today that donors who give huge sums of money to the Uni are invited to parties with top staff should concern us all.
That “data protection” is used to hide donors names is an excuse, because York tells donors they can remain anonymous. We can name the CEO of Thales UK, but it remains likely there are many dodgy donors we can’t.
‘YORK UNIVERSITY’ You’d think that national newspapers would bother doing a bit of research before writing an article, but apparently it’s perfectly acceptable to talk about events at the University of York whilst labelling us ‘York University.’
York University, for those of you who aren’t aware, is a lovely university in Canada. The two universities are easily confused as they have such similar names, and there are often confused freshers in each other’s freshers pages at the start of the year, but a journalist has no excuse. Embrace the pedantic within you. Accept nothing less than perfect. Be quietly annoyed at YUSU (or should we say UoYSU.)
WE CAN’T NAME OUR SIX-FIGURE DONORS
...but we reveal how an arms company CEO was invited to ‘special receptions’ for giving big sums VISION INVESTIGATION BY PAUL WACE UNI BOSSES say they cannot reveal who is behind massive donations in excess of £100k because of data protection legislation. A York Vision investigation has confirmed just seven people or organisations were responsible for donating at least £1.2million between them to the university in the last two years, though that figure could actually be as high as a staggering £12million. Additionally, the University has received 48 gifts of between £10k and £100k from only 31 parties since August 2014. While the University will name companies, including arms manu-
facturer BAE Systems, who pay money towards research or consulting, they say privacy laws protect the identities of those who donate gifts – including large corporations. Last night secretary of Socialist Society Katie Smith said big donations from anonymous sources were an “example of how the marketisation of education fails students.” She added: “Accepting money from companies that act against the moral interest of the student body is unacceptable in my opinion.” The University said they owed a “duty of confidence” to the donors to keep their identities secret. “In this case, further disclosure of donors’ identities and gifted amounts would be unfair and incompatible with the purposes for which the data was obtained.” However, York Vision has seper-
ately learned the university does receive money from individuals associated with arms companies in the form of donations. Victor Chavez, a former York undergraduate, donates “at least £500” to University funds each year, although the actual figure is unknown. He is now the CEO of defence company Thales UK. Thales UK is involved in manufacturing the Watchkeeper drone, which anti-poverty charity War on Want have alleged was “field tested” by killing Palestinian civilians. In his top role, Mr Chavez is responsible for the “strategic direction” of Thales UK, which employs more than 7,000 people. Donating any amount over £500 annually affords Mr Chavez access to the Deramore Circle, an “exclusive club” for big donors run
NEWS
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 9 YORK
GIFTS TO UNI SLAMMED BY STUDENTS
Protest... PalSoc demonstrate against Thales UK last year
UNI HAS NEW PREZ BY DIANNE APEN-SADLER VICE CHANCELLOR Koen Lamberts will now be referred to as ‘vice chancellor and president’ at conferences and receptions abroad with other universities. The change is apparently so international representatives from other universities do not assume he ranks below them. Registrar David Duncan says most US unis don’t know what a vice chancellor is.
GROUND CONTROL TO HAGUEATHON
BY JONATHAN VAN KUIJK
THE DONATIONS £1-£999 £1,000-£9,999 £10,000-£99,999 £100,000-£999,999
DONORS DONATIONS 4,301 20,841 88 70 31 48 7 12
Figures for August 2014 to present, including Annual Fund and Development Fund by the University. The University website says the group’s members are “specially recognised for the impact of their generous support.” Mr Chavez will have been invited to “exclusive Deramore Circle receptions” with University staff. Since Mr Chavez became its CEO in 2011, Thales has forged a strong relationship with departments at the University. Over the past two years Thales UK has run several events on campus to talk to “graduates about a career working for one of the world’s leading engineering and technology firms working across defence [and] security.” In October their presence at a careers fair prompted a protest lead by Palestinian Solidarity Society, who demanded the University end its relationships with arms manu-
facturers. At the time, PalSoc accused Thales of “war crimes” and claimed they had forced the Thales UK graduate recruiter to leave the careers fair early. However, the University insisted this was “not unusual.” These new revelations about donor anonymity will add to mounting concerns about how companies align themselves with the University, and which businesses are afforded access to top brass.
Chavez... The defence CEO who donates to York
Adam Sutherland, chair of PalSoc, said: “It is very disappointing that the University are forging ties with a company that plays an integral role in sustaining the occupation of Palestinian land and the human rights abuses that are perpetrated there.” Sutherland said Thales UK had been involved the production of a drone associated with the “deaths of over 2000 civilians in Gaza.” He added: “The University should be more open with students as to which companies are forging relationships with their departments and the influence they have over University policy.” Mr Chavez can be identified because he has chosen to be listed on the publicly availible University donor roll. However, any donor can choose to remain anonymous.
University registrar David Duncan admitted the Uni is keen to keep big donors on side: “We look after them very well.” But he insisted “there is no prospect of large donors influencing University policy or shaping academic activity at York.” Duncan added: “The vice-chancellor has to approve gifts of a value greater than £100,000.” Ben Leatham said: “It is concerning that the University doesn’t release who its largest donors are. “It is so important that that they are open and transparent about matters like this. When they aren’t it looks like they have something to hide.” A Thales UK spokesperson did not respond to repeated requests for comment by the time of going to print.
THE NOTORIOUS York Tory ‘Hagueathon’ drinking event went one step further this year when one member performed an unprecedented ‘DoubleHagueathon.’ Tories not fond of beer are permitted to consume 10 large glasses of wine in 12 hours instead however one member could not decide which to go for and so elected to drink both. The society does not condone his behaviour. For the facts about safe alcohol consumption visit www.drinkaware.com
GRATE NEW SOCIETY BY PAUL WACE
CHEESESOC IS the newest society to be ratified by YUSU. President Tom Diggins told York Vision: “We are a new society that’s on the hunt for new members.” They plan to hold ‘bring your own cheese’ socials with free wine, as well as themed cheese nights. “We will also be at freshers fair next year giving out free samples,” Diggins said. Membership is £5.
10 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
NEWS
YORK
DAME KELLY OPENS £2M TRACK BAT BOFFS TO HANG AROUND
Posing... Dame Kelly took ten minutes to take snaps with fans
BY PAUL WACE
BAT EXPERTS will hold their annual conference on campus later this year. The National Bat Conference, organised by the Bat Conservation Trust, will see scientists and enthusiasts host a series of panels about bat detecting, accoustics, and biodiversity. Awards will be presented to people who have best supported bat conservation. The boffins say at least ten species of bats are known to live in North Yorkshire. Whether the conference will occur at night is unconfirmed. University registrar David Duncan said he was excited by the news, and was keen to add that York has also in the past hosted the RSPB conference.
IT’S A HOLMES RUN Start... The two-time gold medallist lines up with locals
OPEN AIR CINEMA
BY JAYH KARIA
THE OFFICIAL opening of Greg’s Place in Vanburgh is being marked by a film night. Greg’s Place, gifted to the University by former head of the FA Greg Dyke, who ended his term as chancellor this year, has been marred by construction complications and noise complaints since the Autumn when it was due to be finished. YUSU, who are hosting the official opening, gave students a choice on Twitter of the opening movie, with 70s musical Grease winning with 32% of the vote. The event is in conjunction with York Student Cinema, Screen Yorkshire, YSTV and the Department of Theatre, Film and Television and marks the start of Greg’s Place as a live, open air entertainment facility.
BY PAUL WACE OLYMPIC LEGEND Dame Kelly Holmes was on campus last weekend leading a fun run to open a new £2m athletics track. Hundreds of local fans joined in as the four-time world record holder, who scooped two gold medals in Athens in 2004, ran two laps to innagurate the track. Dame Kelly visited campus only a week before running the London marathon, and is trying to raise £250,000 for five charities including her own Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. The run will have helped the 2004 Sports Personality of the Year warm up for the marathon, but she was
more keen on encouraging youngsters at the back than winning this time. Hordes of people, young and old, turned up and got involved in the fun run. One woman even pushed her baby around in a pram. Afterwards she hosted a question and answer session. “It’s great to see such investment into sports facilities for the community and for the university,” Dame Kelly said. The pricy new track on Heslington West has eight lanes and seating for 500 spectators. “I used to train at the old track when I was at York Garrison many years
ago,” Dame Kelly told the crowd before unveiling a plaque. “For me, aethletics is a fantastic sport because there’s something for everybody. It doesn’t matter how tall you are or short you are; how strong you are, how slight you might be; how fast you are, how slow you are.” Vice-chancellor Koen Lamberts also addressed the crowd and said: “Thank you to everybody who’s been involved in building it and delivering it for the city and the community.” Head of uni sport Keith Morris said: “It’s fantastic. It’s been a long journey to get here.”
Pram... The youngest fun runner
Speech... Dame Kelly spoke about her marathon ambitions
OPINION
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 11 YORK
Voting to stay in the EU? Follow me on twitter. Voting to leave the EU? Follow me on twitter. Psychopath on the run from the fuzz? Follow me... @CostasMourselas
Costas Mourselas W
It’s time to vote leave...the NUS
elcome back dear readers! Did you miss me? Of course you did. I mean, if I were you, I’d miss me. I’d miss me a lot. If you were in York over Easter and paid the occasional visit to the Harry Fairhurst, you may have spotted me sprawled over the sofas on the second floor. Yes, I spent the entirety of my Easter in the library, and no, I don’t want to talk about it. On the subject of studying, let’s talk about procrastination. I am certain that you, like me, failed to do nearly as much work as you should have. You’ll be glad to hear that during my ‘well deserved’ impromptu study breaks, I managed to come up with a theory regarding our utter failure to properly pace ourselves during study periods. I humbly present to you, ‘Mourselas’ razor,’ a comprehensive explanation to the question we’re all pondering but really shouldn’t because we have exams in three weeks time. The theory is quite simple; when trying to gauge the amount of time a piece of work will take you, make a reasonable prediction and double it. But there’s a catch. If you use this ingenious razor and double your expected working times, you will end up having to double those as well, since you will inevitably take far more ‘well deserved’ breaks given this new time frame. No need to thank me for this nifty piece of advice; I’m far too humble to accept donations at my Paypal costas.m@bigshotjournalist.com. Now that we’re on the subject of my unparalleled humility, it might please you to know that I won a national award for best comment! Of course, I came second place, but would you expect anything else from a student at the University of ‘not quite good
enough?’ And yes, me winning an award for my columns is a great reason for thinking that journalism is doomed. Perhaps even a better reason than The Tab. By the way, there has been a disturbing trend on Facebook lately; an obsession with tagging friends in utterly unfunny posts. These posts ask users to tag friends that do x; x usually being something less than dignified. The culture of tagging your mates has always been an obnoxious reminder that you added far too many friends in high school, but it’s back in a big way. Of course, tagging culture has had somewhat of a pleasant side effect; it’s very easy to spot the absolute morons that you may or may not have to encounter at some point in your life. But to those of you that do tag your mates, where does the appeal come from? Is it really that funny to ‘tag a mate with a hot sister?’ Or to ‘@ the letter ‘b’; whoever comes up now owes you 20 pounds?’ Here’s another one for you. ‘If you found any of the above examples remotely entertaining, send me your credit card details.’ Or simply throw yourself of library bridge. I’m not picky. In other news, I’m leaving this university in three months. Three. Fucking. Months. Grad schemes have failed me. A future in journalism looks bleak. The corporate is beckoning, the faceless men in suits twirling their moustaches while affording a small gleeful smile. Soon, they would win. Another generation of wide eyed graduates would settle down, get boring jobs, and you know, actually contribute to society. Of course, contributing to society as a ‘senior sales manager’ or ‘chief project coordinator’ is a fate I intend to avoid if it’s
Another prick with a wall We don’t need no education We don’t need no gun control With gunshots ringing in the classroom Donald will leave our guns alone Hey! Donald! Leave them guns alone! All in all, we need to, build a big fucking wall All in all, we need to, build a big fucking wall We don’t need no education What we need is border control No more migrants in Nevada And fortify New Mexico Hey! Hispans! Leave them states alone! All in all, we need to, build a big fucking wall. All in all, we need to, build a big fucking wall. Written by: The Bard of Osbaldwick
the last thing I do. I haven’t blagged my entirely in the interests of those afraid of way through countless essays just to end criticism. up doing honest work. So you could vote to leave this utterly Maybe I’ll go travelling. Maybe I’ll help incompetent organization, or you could build some schools in central Africa, do stay and keep your NUS discount card. some volunteering and tell absolutely eve- Your choice. ryone when I get back. After all, the corAnyway, I’ve wasted enough time on porate world wants ‘well rounded people.’ this. Come back next time for the final, And everyone knows that narcissists that heartfelt edition of my column. That’s think they’re better than everyone else are right, I have feelings too. Now fuck off. the very definition of well rounded. Maybe I’ll stop being such a sarcastic bastard. Anything is possible! Oh, and a last thing I wanted to discuss. There has been talk, and by talk I mean shouting, about calling a referendum regarding our membership of the NUS. To those of you that don’t know, this renewed interest in disaffiliation has been triggered by the ‘election’ of NUS president Malia Bouattia, a figure controversial enough to make Katie Hopkins blush. And while it would be ridiculous to assert that she is the spawn of Satan (though the tenuous links do exist), she has failed to condemn ISIS, the one organization that is so evil, it has inspired cooperation between arch enemies on the global stage; the United States and Russia. The NUS has also notoriously been accused of being undemocratic, with its delegates representing a meagre 5 percent of students; a mandate so weak, it would impress most 20th century dictators. Worst of all, the NUS has voted “Top Yak, Apex Yikus Yakus, Sussex, 2016.” to restrict use of Yik Yak during Contributed by ‘Panopticon’ on Facebook. union elections, a move that seems
We all have that one friend...
The anti-NUS argument in full Fellow Britons students, it’s time to leave the EU NUS! For too long have the bureaucrats in Brussels London told us how to run our unions. We refuse to pay 350 Million 961 pounds a week to officials who represent less than 5% of us. These same officials would spend 9 million pounds thousands of pounds of our own money, campaigning to convince us to stay in their corrupt union. They try to scare us with threats of a rising costs of trade alcohol, telling us that we may lose our trade status NUS extra cards. But the 20 billion 50 000 pounds we pay every year, could go towards our NHS a supermarket on Hes East. Will we really vote to remain in a union that can’t take a decisive stance towards ISIS? Friends, it’s time for us to take our sovereignty back. The EU NUS has no right telling us which immigrants speakers we can and can’t entertain. Extremists like Mr Junker Malia Bouattia cannot continue to control our union. VOTE LEAVE!
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07/04/2016 15:54:05
OPINION
OPINION
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 13 YORK
www.yorkvision.co.uk/opinion vision@yusu.org
SCOTT DAWSON: MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ARE NOT UP TO SCRATCH
A
s we head towards the end of another academic year, the challenge of adequate mental health provision continues. The same discussion was being had when I started here in 2012. Four years on, funding pressures have intensified while demands on support and health services have come under increasing pressure. Here at York, 12% of students, around 2,000 people, had an appointment with open door last year. Yet the problems we are seeing here are not unique to York; an NUS study published last year found that 78% of students experienced mental issues. So how do we fix mental health provision in York? How do we ensure that students are equipped to deal with the transitions of student life? To adapt and bounce back when times get tough? Well I think it’s important to be asking exactly what we should be expecting of the University. There is and should be a legal, moral responsibility, and duty of care for students. The University has stated that mental health support needs to be increased but funding is lacking, as the Vice-Chancellor acknowledged in his Question Time event with YUSU last term. There is therefore a clear need for the University to provide greater funding so that services such as Open Door can expand, bring in further practitioners and thus see more students. A part-time Mandarin speaker and full time mental health practitioner have been brought in over the last term, but the waiting time for appointments still remains frustratingly long for students that aren’t in crisis. So what’s the solution? Should the University be throwing more money at Open Door? Well the service does have
clear room for development, for instance cramped facilities simply place a cap on how many staff can be brought in, and I’d like to see the service reassess how it consults with students, maybe exploring more open ways to gather student feedback in a forum setting so that service managers are really learning from the experiences of students and working together to address challenges. Financial support could solve both of these issues over time, but I think there are larger problems that we have to start talking about. First, we need to acknowledge that there are more support networks within the University than just Open Door. Not only that, but the three lead issues the Open Door team face are anxiety, depression and academic difficulty. The landscape of campus support is pretty huge and much more can be done to address issues such as anxiety and academic support with College Teams, Academic Staff, YUSU and GSA. These groups all do their part to support students on limited resources. For ex-
“Mental health support needs to be increased but funding is lacking” ample YUSU’s Advice and Support Service runs popular workshops for students that cover issues from budgeting to relation-
ships, designed to help students cope with the ups and downs of university life. The University needs to be taking these other support routes seriously and investing in
“Too many York residents have been let down by poor health services” developing more preventative and wellbeing support on campus. How many cases that reach Open Door could have been resolved at an earlier stage had further support been provided through College Tutors or other campus support? This also ties into the reality of the situation that Open Door is not a department that can fix every issue. The team work to enable students to overcome barriers to their study. But they can’t offer specialist health treatment and many of the cases staff see may require referral on to mental health services in York. This is where I believe the real issue lies. Wider city mental health support services are cash strapped and in flux. A mental health councillor at Unity Health was cut, Bootham Park Hospital was recently shut down abruptly, at least one City funded support service does not accept university students onto its counselling services, while another voluntary sector provider is facing such high levels of demand, they’re unable to accept
new clients. The national Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report last year stating that York has faced, ‘historical underdevelopment and underinvestment in mental health’. The result? Too many York residents have been let down by poor health services. Despite the growing recognition of the impact of poor mental health, equality between mental and physical health services remains a long way off. Say what you like about campus mental health support, we can shout from the rooftops all day about what Open Door gets wrong, but we have to accept that these campus facilities are not a replacement for specialist NHS and community services. How do we fix the mental health crisis in York? We need to look outward and invigorate our wider support and health services and continue to build momentum behind the case for adequately funded citybased facilities for both students, and our neighbours in York and North Yorkshire. The University has a duty of care and this is how we can ensure that we are fulfilling that duty. Some work has started in this area, now is the time to accelerate it. Scott Dawson is the YUSU Community and Welfare sabbatical officer.
Bottom Line: Mental health services are in crisis in York. Open Door needs to be improved, but so do facilities in the city. @Scottie_Dawson
14 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
OPINION
YORK
U
ALEX LUSTY THE NUS IS A CLIQUE THAT DOESN’T DO STUDENTS JUSTICE
nrepresentative. Cliquey. Irrelevant. These are just a few of the many, many accusations levelled at student politics. These all have varying degrees of justification, but perhaps the most stinging attack that I’ve heard is that YUSU elections are undemocratic. This isn’t a view which stands to reason – if we look at the turnout at the recent election, York peaked at over 40%, which is one of the highest student union turnouts in the country. For all the issues with YUSU, it does give us students a range of candidates and a vote. Anyone can stand, and as long as you are a student represented by YUSU, you can vote. It is with this mindset that I tend to approach student politics. However, recently, I happened upon an article from a certain online, student publication that challenged these views. The piece was essentially a hatchet job – an attack upon a candidate who later was to become new NUS president. Now, what struck me most wasn’t who was running in the race. It was the fact that I had no idea that such a race was even taking place. This took me somewhat by surprise. As a student coming from a media background, I like to think of myself as rather well connected to student politics – an ear to the ground, if you will. That I had no inkling of any kind of race taking place seemed
strange. Is this intentional? Possibly. After all, your average student gets no vote in who leads the NUS nationwide. What it is, though, is totally and utterly absurd. Our votes for this position – for the role that will act as the face of students next year – don’t come from us. They come from NUS delegates who we vote for separately, so your average student is a level removed from this enfranchisement. The majority of our representatives campaigned against this at the recent NUS conference, and have done so in the two and half years since we last chose to remain in the organisation. However, every year our motions have been delayed and filibustered, and this year it was shot down to the cheers of delegates. This isn’t “undemocratic” – it’s anti-democratic. And what do these politicians do for us? Well, the list of reasons why the NUS has made the news recently isn’t exactly edifying. The no-platforming of veteran gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, a refusal to condemn ISIS and, most recently, a motion encouraging LGBTQ+ societies to drop gay men’s reps as they are more likely to encourage “misogyny, transphobia, racism and biphobia” have all graced the pages of Britain’s newspapers. This isn’t exactly good press. The issue is that the NUS isn’t run for, or by students. Instead, it seems that a sec-
CAMPUS CALLING
NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH
A
bid to weed out poorer students? Yes. But don’t you care about moving York beyond middle class
piffle? The decision to raise the price of catered breakfast and dinner to £5 per meal is an interesting one, though arguably it’s completely fair. After all, what sort of contribution do students from a poorer background make to the overall Uni experience? Following changes to their loans and bursaries, less privileged students seem to have become almost entirely egocentric: only worrying about themselves, the cost of living, and being able to pay rent. Perhaps increasing the food bill is a sensible move? After all, with only 21.9% of students coming from a privately educated background, York can only be considered a middle class institution at best. With this in mind, such an extortionate hitch in costs could simply be seen as adopting classically tried and tested Oxbridge Values – embracing the finest pick of the crop and thus harvesting only the finest quality graduates (with only students from wealthier beginnings being
able to fit this mould!). Such a small move will have such a significant impact – students from disadvantaged backgrounds shall either set their sights on alternate universities, or else be forced to apply for self-catered accommodation and segregate themselves. Perhaps this has been intended all along. Oliver Peters
tional clique controls the union – one that has a political agenda with which many feel uncomfortable. At the last general election the NUS ran a campaign known as “Liar Liar”. The ostensible aim of this was to oust Lib Dem MPs and replace them with Labour politicians possibly more friendly to the NUS’s agenda. This was sheer hypocrisy; some of the most energetic, passionate and enthusiastic activists I have met are Lib Dem students (God knows, they have to be brave) and they were being represented by a union which was actively working against them. The NUS has lost sight of what it should be. Rather than a vehicle for improving student’s lives, it has become a political tool used to push sectional interests and
shut out dissent and democracy. The organisation requires radical and extreme change; to reorganise; to reassemble and most importantly to change the basis upon which it is run. This is change we were promised and yet change that has not, and I am now convinced, will never be delivered. That our tuition fees go to such an authoritarian, obstructionist and, yes, undemocratic association is why York should heavily consider alternatives.
Bottom Line: The NUS is undemocratic, sectional and fails to adequately represent students. @AlexBLusty
The opinion editors comment on all things campus
YES, THE MOTION IS A YIK YAK BAN
O
ver the last week our YUSU representatives have been at the NUS National conference voting on motions that could affect every affiliated university. The latest contentious issue that has passed is the resolution to “introduce restrictions on ‘anonymous’ (…) accounts” on Facebook, Twitter and Yik Yak during Students’ Union elections, purportedly justified by the need to prevent harassment on social media platforms. This motion, although officially not a Yik Yak ban, fundamentally changes the concept of Yik Yak. Yik Yak has been and always will be based on the twin ideas of anonymity and freedom of speech, so any restriction on this could be viewed as effectively ‘shutting down’ Yik Yak. Ben Leatham, our YUSU President, who voted in favour of this motion, claims that “The motion is NOT in favour of banning Yik Yak”. However I believe this is just slippery rhetoric trying to convince us that this will not lead to the restriction on our favourite new social media platform. Most social media services have their own terms and conditions on harassment and bullying in line with national laws
against hate crime, so there is no need for the NUS to get involved in an area in which individuals are already protected. The NUS wants to restrict the avenues of expression the fere market has provided for us, and our Student Union President has voted in favour of this. James Eyermman
Photo credit: travelwayoflife - Flickr
OPINION
Tuesday April 26, 2016
YES/NO
Vısıon 15 YORK
IS THE TAB BAD FOR STUDENT JOURNALISM? PAUL WACE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, YORK VISION
JONNY LONG THE TAB
YES:
NO:
Journalism is meant to hold the powerful to account, to advance selfgovernance and inform democracy. Good journalism is motivated by the value of the article to inform and educate, not to bring in revenue. At a glance The Tab seems like a meritocracy – its contributors are promoted and can even be paid based on the number of shares their articles receive. But rather than pushing good writing, this model encourages frivolous articles, quizzes and clickbait. Journalists at The Tab have no motivation to conduct lengthy investigations into universities or students’ unions, because the opportunity cost is too high. Their reporters are more likely to be paid, or be made an editor, for writing five “Which X is your college?” articles than one article holding people to account. The Tab relies on traffic from Twitter and Facebook where funny articles with attention grabbing headlines always bring in more readers than lengthy, necessarily wordy pieces about potentially complicated problem on campus. Not-for-profit student newspapers like York Vision and Nouse are only accountable to their readers; the only reason to write one story over another is its newsworthiness, rather than the page hits and advertising money. Journalists at The Tab have little motivation to spend hours poring over documents from Freedom of Information requests, because readers will usually prefer to read something else. That isn’t a problem with readers of The Tab, but that its bosses don’t seem to think journalism can be inherently good
an important, separate from the money articles bring in. The Tab makes for good business, but often at the expense of quality reporting. It is unfair to dismiss The Tab just because it exists to turn a profit – of course, every national paper does – but it is unique in student journalism because its business model puts turnover ahead of important reporting. The Tab is not the worst offender online, but websites like the Lad Bible and UniLad now also offer ‘news’ sections that don’t offer real news. If people are told ‘news’ consitutes gossip, quizzes and images of people clubbing, then people demand less of journalism overall. Of course in the past The Tab, notably in Cambridge where it was founded, has done good investigative work. But in countless editions of The Tab around the country, the profiteering of its founders is evident. This is most problematic at universities without a not-for-profit student paper. Worse, while many of their hacks actually go unpaid, Tab bosses are rolling in money from investors keen for a piece of the lucrative pie. In December, one US firm alone poured a staggering £2million into the website – lots of its journalists won’t see a penny of that. The Tab says that instead of paying students it offers them experience and a route into the highly competitive industry. But, much like unpaid internships, this model only serves to devalue journalism, and is exploitative when business is booming. There is a place for The Tab in student journalism, but its readers should be mindful its articles are driven by profit.
@paulwace
It is very easy to dismiss The Tab at first glance, it’s grown hugely popular in a short space of time, and now dominates our Facebook news feeds every day. They are a business and do need to make money, and sometimes the rule does seem to be quantity rather than quality of content. However, the snobbish view that The Tab is filled with merely frivolous writing is misplaced. Yes, journalism is meant to inform and hold the powerful to account, but also to entertain. No one wants to read something that’s boring. There are definitely more ‘not-for-profit’ student newspapers around the country that do more to harm student journalism with lacklustre content and design than The Tab do. The ‘social justice warrior’ worldview that is intrinsic to traditional student media publications is tiresome and turns readers off from reading, and towards sites like The Tab. The Tab also employ adult journalists to edit the student’s piece, helping them to improve their writing and also ensure that power-hungry student journalists are reminded that it’s about the story, not about them. It is not as if poor writing escapes traditional student newspapers either, when I was editor of York Vision, some of the articles we included in the paper were utterly awful! The idea that student newspapers such as York Vision and Nouse spend hours upon hours working on lengthy investigations is simply not true. Having to put together an entire print version of a newspaper means that if anything you have less time to spend on your stories. A student writing for The Tab recently had their story on the front page of The Times, and
I doubt it was an article about students’ favourite hangover food or a quiz. The idea that student journalists who are writing for The Tab are only motivated by views and insignificant monetary rewards is utterly false. The main opportunities offered by The Tab are contacts within the industry and the opportunity for work placement with major publications. To gain the attention of the bosses at The Tab, they need to see quality writing and journalism so that they don’t feel embarrassed sending your CV across to Fleet Street. An organisation like The Tab helps to get student journalists jobs, what could be better for student journalism than that? Encouraging students that there is a way into the industry if they work hard and produce good articles. Unfortunately, the world we live in is one dominated by unpaid internships and working for nothing to get your foot in the door, but this model also works to ensure that only the truly dedicated will find a way of making it work and landing a dream job in journalism. York has a proud history of student journalism, but a greater threat to our student journalism than The Tab, is underfunding from student unions. On a recent trip to the Student Publication Awards, browsing the content of other student publications from all across the country, York’s media is being starved of the resources that help it to be as good as it is. While kneejerk reactions to relatively new kids on the block, The Tab, are understandable, maybe the finger needs to be pointed at students unions, particularly our own YUSU, to ensure the health of student journalism and that it continues to flourish.
@iamjonnylong
16 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
OPINION
YORK
JONATHAN VAN KUIJK: I LOVE ARMS COMPANIES
SIMON COCKERILL: CHAV D-ISRESPECTFUL
H
Derwent JCRC Chair Alex Urqhaurt at Chav D...
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hav D is an event that has divided students more and more each time throughout its 6 year course. For some the event is nothing more than a crude joke at poor fashion taste; but this view fails to recognise the true significance of the word ‘chav’. A public schooled gentleman walking to the shop in his tracksuit might be labelled a ‘chav’. Yet I at least would stop thinking this as soon as he opened his mouth. Why then does it apply to the working class man from Middlesbrough? It’s because `chav` means more than just spray-tan or joggy bottoms; it refers to a background, an education or perceived lack thereof. The word then does not attack just the items of the person we tar as `chavs` but
“Laughing at poverty has never been and never will be funny” also that particular person. So why does this matter? It matters because instead of an event laughing at a style we have an event laughing at groups of people. The same people that some students grew up around: their friends, neighbours or even family. Some might argue that this just adds a new element to Chav D in which people laugh at themselves. But with 21.9% of York students coming from private schools and many more from welloff backgrounds, it’s just not the case. Instead you have privileged individuals laughing at people for their socio-economic background. This is mockery, not comedy. Perhaps some would argue nonetheless that despite this, the event should continue. To such people the cancellation of Chav D is the college giving in to PC insanity. But
why should a college continue running an event that upsets and angers its own students? Colleges want to appear inclusive and welcoming; whereas events like Chav D
“21.9% of York students come from private schools” serve only to divide the community. Moreover college events fund the rest of college life; there is a need for them to be profitable. So with that in mind, it makes no sense to put on events that people are already angry with. Angry people tend not to buy tickets. What’s more, making money off of mocking an impoverished and disenfranchised community is unacceptable. Even when those funds will be put to good use for students. For those still outraged that they are being limited in this way, I would remind you: you are free to put on a `chav` themed event. Derwent may have cancelled the event but you can still throw your own imitation. Obviously I am not condoning such actions due to the reasons given above. This is simply to emphasise that this is not a limitation on liberty, but rather a college’s response to widespread criticism of an unnecessary and degrading event. Laughing at poverty has never been and never will be funny. Simon Cockerill is part of the Derwent JCRC
Bottom Line: It’s not acceptable to have a social event based on mocking the improverished @YorkVision
ow many times must the cannon balls fly Before they’re forever banned? -Bob Dylan What intelligent and cultivated man, listening to Mr Dylan’s humble plea, does not feel a surge of sympathy rising within his breast? When considered without rational reflection and when made acutely aware of the horrors of war, by great art or poetry, it is easy to endorse the pacifist view. I believe, however, that it is this feeling and not much else which motivates our hostility to private enterprises that make money from the sale of arms. Of course, when confronted, anti-arms activists retreat into arguments concerning specific examples of unethical use of drones and other modern equipment in war zones. These arguments are quite obviously irrelevant and should not be endorsed by any intellectual respectable person. Blaming arms companies for the unethical use of their equipment is like blaming the supermarket where a murderer bought the knife he used to kill his victim. People who are concerned by, for example, allegations of unethical use of white prosperous in the Gaza strip, may plausibly blame the Israeli military for violating the laws of war, but it is quite absurd to reserve any ire for the company producing Israeli weaponry. There is an obvious objection here which I will address. Perhaps arms compa-
“Opposition to arms companies is not rational but ideological in nature” nies have a moral duty not to sell weapons to countries they know have a history of unethical use of arms. Here I partially agree. It would be irresponsible and unethical to sell arms to, say, North Korea, arguing that it is North Korea that is misusing the arms, not the supplier. If the supermarket knows the knife will be used for murder then it should refuse sale. This does not negate my broader point. A few instances of unethical use of arms in Israel should not render it completely defenceless. It should come as no surprise that antiarms sentiment is emotional rather than rational in nature. Anyone with moral objections against arms companies is forced to believe that a world in which nations cannot manufacture arms is better than a world in which they can. This thinking is beyond parody. If there’s one thing about the human condition that’s obvious, it’s that man is an immoral animal. The defence sector is a perfectly legiti-
mate part of the global economy and are part of the reason why you are able to denounce them in peace, safety and comfort. Principled opposition to arms companies can be reduced to John Lennon’s Imagine. The problem is, not everyone is going to join your progressive circle jerk. Man is a Fallen creature and we’re not overcoming the human condition any time soon. Western civilisation has learnt to accomodate man’s natural tendency towards rivalry and competition through over a thousand years of legal precedents and imperfect compromises, part of which is the nation state with its own borders, culture, identity and traditions. Keeping these bulwarks against the more unsavoury aspects of the human condition around relies on the production and sale of arms. You may object to people making money from the sale of arms, however this is simply self-righteous snobbery. If not private companies, then who? Presumably the public sector. I myself do not see any great moral difference between a nationalised defence sector and a private one save the rather sinister potential for tyranny when all firearms are in government hands. Again, if you believe your objection is in fact directed towards improper sale of arms, rather than the existence of arms themselves then ire directed against arms companies is irrational. UN member states not subject to sanctions that have made regretable mistakes in the past are perfectly legitmate customers for arms companies. If you seriously object to arms manufacture and sale in Israel then you must by implication believe a world in which Israel has no access to arms would be a better place. Nothing is further from the truth. An Israel defenceless against its hostile neighbours including Palestine is a nightmare sceanario. It doesn’t matter how unlikely this outcome is. Objection to selling arms to Israel must imply you believe it would be preferable if they had access to none. I am therefore incredibly grateful that companies like BAE systems and Thales that produce and sell arms exist. In fact, I love them, for keeping the Israeli people safe amongst a sea of enemies. The fact that they make a profit from it does not in any way demean the noble and necessary role their fulfil.
Bottom Line: The armed forces protect us from the human condition. @JonathanFVK
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CHARACTER CLASH
INTERVIEW: STEVE PUNT
REVISION WARDROBE
INTERVIEW:
Benjamin Francis Leftwich The singer-songwriter talks Breaking Bad, performing in York and his upcoming album
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editors’ note
H
ello and welcome to the first edition of Scene under the new editorial team. Its a strange irony that as soon as the sun comes out we must instead turn to the shade of the library. With exam season upon us, it is time to catch up with those missed lectures and battle against procrastination. Should you fail to succeed at the latter, what better way to excuse yourself than by taking a dip into our latest arts and lifestyle pull-out? This issue sees a wide range of content that demonstrates our new direction. Focusing on a balance between York based and national based arts and lifestyle content, we have a mighty 16 pages to keep you entertained during the dreaded exam season. So whether it’s music or food, comedy or fashion, theatre or film - we have you covered. We are excited to include three exclusive interviews as singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich, playwright Juliet Forster and comedian Steve Punt talk to our team about their respective work. Be sure to get the low down on how to combine revision with fashion in our life and style section and find out whether its DiCaprio or DeNiro who comes out on top in ‘Character Clash’. Ranging from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the ‘Beers of Europe’, this is a mere glimpse of what is a jam packed edition. All this comes in a newly redesigned Scene that centres on minimalism and clarity. I hope you enjoy…
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5sos review Benjamin Francis Lef twich
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Character Clash Acting Suprised STEVE PUNT INTERVIEW
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A Tale of Two Forsters the Musical Episode
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Snap Out Of It Your New Revision Wardrobe
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Beers of Europe
What’s on in York
Restaurant Review: Melton’s
Blind Date
Life & Style // Hope Butler Lily Cabot - King
Music // Tom Seddon Sam Huntley
Food // Arthur Reynolds
TV // Carl Goldsmith Stage // Freya Kingsley Books // Josh Salisbury
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Editors // Abbie Anderson Matt Kirkum
Film // Mia Shaw Ed Hunter
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Matt Kirkum
the team
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5 Seconds of Summer
Tom Seddon reviews the Aussie pop-punkers’ Leeds gig and answers the big questions on their position in the music industry...
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oybands of teens/young adults are not exactly a rarity nowadays due to the likes of One Direction and The Vamps, especially with Australian foursome 5 Seconds of Summer pushed into the limelight by the media in the last few years. There are no choreographed dance routines here though, the Aussies are placed alongside the likes of Fall Out Boy and All Time Long for their emo-fringes and pop-punk tinged instrumentation. Kerrang! magazine drew heavy criticism for their coverage of 5SOS, with readers arguing that the teenage band fitted in more with your Biebers and One Directions as opposed to the aforementioned pop-punkers like FOB and ATL. Can a band who gained their fame through YouTube and
supported One Direction on their tour truly be embraced by a rock community? Maybe not, but it is plain to see they are not being sold that way by their PR and marketing bigwigs. Since the 60’s with Beatlemania and all, it does not take a lot for a few young fringe-flipping and guitar-wielding blokes to bring in the teen girls in the masses, but does that mean the band members and their music should be automatically and negatively branded as ‘pop’ by the rock community? The lights suddenly cut out and the screams of girls and the stomps of feet fill the arena, all very much akin to the footage of The Beatles’ first American show in Shea Stadium, New York. Catchy vocal hooks were centrepiece of most of the songs, placed on top of an electric guitar-driven generic chord
Drummer Ashton Irwin, the lead writer of the band, got the buggest cheer of the night... though his long and flowing golden locks may have had something to do with this.
progression. The songs themselves are very much pop, yet delivered with a pop-punk instrumentation and a flip of the fringe to boot. Think McFly if Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones had grown up as Green Day diehards. From a perspective of someone who knew very little of the band’s music, some of the songs sounded rather samey, yet each of the members took turns to sing a tune without any loss of energy from the adoring audience. The lyrical depth of some of these song may be brought into question (I am looking at you, ‘She’s Kinda Hot’), but to judge a band exclusively on this is downright petty, and the 13,000 teen girls singing their hearts out to each song is enough to tell you that. One can naturally expect the obligatory acoustic-style ballads showing up three quarters of the way through the set, much like in any other pop-punk gig. For me, this was the peak of the set; you can sneer and be cynical but you can’t deny that these songs really do resonate with their target audience, all of which are singing their heart out and swaying the flashlight on their phones from side to side. 5SOS’s stage talk comes not quite in the ‘sexually explicit homosexual banter’ style of their idols of All Time Low and Blink 182, but in… kissing. Much like All Time Low are argued as Diet Blink 182, maybe 5SOS can be argued as Diet All Time Low for the next generation? It is so easy to be cynical about bands like 5SOS, and to be honest, some of that cynicism is to be expected when the band members are often trending topics on Twitter due to a biblically devoted teen audience and having toured with One Direction. But at the same time, try and tell me that a decent looking bloke playing pop music on a guitar is a new scourge on music when screaming and adoring teens at concerts have been around since Elvis in the 50’s through to Busted in the noughties. I can not say that the gig blew me away (I had seen Muse three days before, my standards were pretty damn high) but it was good entertainment for a Monday night and it served its purpose for its target audience so who am I to judge? Maybe 5 Seconds of Summer would not exactly fit in alongside the likes of Biffy Clyro and Foo Fighters at the Kerrang! Awards, but the role that they fill for the upcoming teen generation is one that has been filled for decades. The band get to travel the world playing the tunes they want, the teen girls go mad for it, and the marketing team are laughing all the way to the bank… everybody’s happy. Tom Seddon
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BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH
Benjamin Francis Leftwich speaks to Matt Kirkum ahead of his much anticipated album release and performance in York as part of his UK and EU tour.
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espite his ‘guy with a guitar’ semblance, Benjamin Francis Leftwich avoids the clichéd adages often used to label singer-songwriters. His 2011 debut album titled Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm was released to much acclaim with ‘Shine’ named Spotify’s most addictive track of 2014. Five years since his debut release, Leftwich returns with his second studio album, After the Rain, set to drop this August. Before this, Leftwich embarks on his UK and EU tour; one that will see him perform in his home town of York on May 1. It is testament to Leftwich’s talents that he has made a name for himself in an increasingly saturated genre. Leftwich innovates through placid folk guitar melodies that foreground his accomplished lyrical craft. Born and raised in York, it was the silvery sound of a certain band from Liverpool that first captured Leftwich’s imagination:
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“My dad always used to play The Beatles records in the house when I was growing up so I was obsessed with that stuff”, he explains. “You know you don’t understand what it is when you’re that age”, admits Leftwich before treating me to his own effortless rendition of ‘Eleanor Rigby’; “You know, why is that like the best thing ever?”, he says. Yet it was not simply creative inspiration that The Beatles are accredited with. John Lennon and co. also played a practical role in Leftwich’s early musical exploits: “I learnt a lot of guitar and a lot of chords through The Beatles song chord books.”
“Obviously it’s not accurate to the beautiful and blessed recordings of The Beatles”, he hastens to add, “but you know as a way to kind of understand song writing a little bit I remember it being really useful.” While drawing comparisons to Damien Rice, it is evident that Leftwich has his own distinctive style. Indeed, Leftwich’s lyrical composition is much to be admired: focusing on spirituality, loss and love, he creates an organic serenity draped in sincere emotion. Of his songwriting, Leftwich notes that, “In general it’s all really personal even if it’s a story influenced by someone else if I feel emotionally engaged enough to sing it, then it becomes personal”.
“You write what you care about and what you care about might have happened to you or something that happened to your family”
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“You write what you care about”, he insists, “and what you care about might have happened to you or something that happened to your family”. Following the release of Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm, Leftwich suffered the loss of his father which saw him take a break from music altogether. After the Rain is an accumulation of Leftwich’s subsequent lows and the rediscovery of the peace that had deserted him. Produced by Charlie Andrew (Alt J), the upcoming album is a marked improvement on his debut release according to Leftwich: “Sonically it’s more expansive and 3D. I think I am a better guitar player and a better singer. Working with Charlie Andrew on production was insane, he’s a god, he’s an amazing painter and scientist in his own right.” Leftwich is quick not to dismiss the work that has grounded his reputation, but recognises how his own personal development is reflected in After the Rain: “I am also really proud of Last Smoke but, whether you’re a musician or not, in five years you change as a person and you experience different things. You live and you make mistakes and do good things and bad things. It’s all in there man, it’s all in there.” With the prospect of an imminent tour and album release, Leftwich comes across relaxed and brimming with enthusiasm for his latest ventures. His upcoming performance in York will be steeped in personal attachment to the city’s creative vital-
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ity, which stimulates Leftwich’s own artistic motivations: “You go out in town and you see the most insane and talented people writing the most insanely amazing beautiful heartfelt songs. In general, it tends not to escape.” The tour will take him from Norwich to Paris as he performs at twenty-five venues in just under a month. Given such demands, Leftwich reveals how he enjoys relaxing during the busy schedule. “I really like watching TV shows”, he says, “I love Breaking Bad. Aaron Paul followed me on Twitter which made my life! I mainly watch documentaries on the conflict in the Middle East and try and learn as much as possible.” Leftwich finds a calmness within his own very industry, mixing his adoration for music with ample time for socialising. “I get sent new music every day, I listen to music a lot and I have friends. I think people don’t believe me when I say that I’ve got some friends”, he laughs. Refreshingly, as a discerning appreciator of rising artists, Leftwich is constantly on the lookout for music that would otherwise go unrecognised. “Oh man there is this artist called Laurel”, he suddenly exclaims, “she has got a song called ‘Life Worth Living’ and it’s the craziest thing I have ever heard. It’s so good, man it’s so good.” Back creating music after a five year hiatus, Leftwich would
“Sonically it’s more expansive and 3D. I think I am a better guitar player and a better singer.”
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be forgiven for regarding a tour and an album release as accomplishment enough for one year. However, Leftwich’s shortterm aspirations will leave fans excited for what is to come. “I would like to release more music on top of the album before the end of the year, that would be amazing”. There is a sense that Leftwich’s creative production has gathered a newfound momentum which promises to raise his already impressive standard to new heights. In the past, Leftwich has teamed up with the likes of Kygo and Cascada while highly rated producer Charlie Andrew should provide a fine-tuned edge in Leftwich’s forthcoming album. In light of his latest collaboration, Leftwich is keen to form further partnerships. “I would love to work with a producer called Noah ‘40’ Shebib, he does most of the OVO records and he is an amazing producer” he explains, before noting how he would “love to work with Mike Skinner again”. The Streets’ frontman remixed Leftwich’s single ‘Atlas Hands’ in 2012. Regardless of future collaborations, it’s Leftwich in his own right that will ensure his reputation continues to rise. The YouTube preview release of the impassioned ‘Tilkim’ from After the Rain suggests a more refined and mature artist. Leftwich’s artistic ingenuity as a songwriter has defined his success so far. All signs point to its continuation.
“I love Breaking Bad. Aaron Paul followed me on Twitter which made my life.”
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What’s on in York The Bluetones - The Duchess 28th April
The London Britpop outfit are returning to York. The band have scored 13 singles in the Top 40 and 3 Top 10 albums in the UK charts. After releasing A New Athens in 2010, and splitting in 2011 following a farewell tour, they decided in 2015 to to reform for another series of shows. If you’re looking for melodic indie-rock sounds, I would suggest you catch them.
Mike Peters & The Alarm - The Duchess - 29th April
The Alarm rose to prominence in the 1980s as an alternative punk-rock band. The band have opened for acts such as U2 and Bob Dylan and have sold over 5 million records worldwide. Frontman Mike Peters, alongside current members of the band, will be rocking The Duchess as part of their Spirit of 86 in 2016 tour.
Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Fibbers 30th April
Fusing bagpipes with guitars, keyboards and drums, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers are a platinumselling tribute band. The widely-acclaimed tribute act appeared on the main stage at both T in the Park and the BBC Proms. At the end of this month they will be (dare I say it) piping up at Fibbers. Get along for what will surely be a great night.
Mike Peters - The Gathering (2014) (@markheybo)
Benjamin Francis Leftwich - The Crescent - 1st May Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Life Festival Olwilcim (2013)
The acoustic singer-songwriter is returning to his hometown. His songs – comprising of indie and folk elements - have attracted millions of views on Youtube, and millions of plays on Spotify. His debut album, Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm (2011) reached 35 in the UK album charts and his new album, After the Rain, is set to be released in August.
Boy Jumps Ship - Fibbers 11th May
Boy Jumps Ship are an alternative Rock Band hailing from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. They have got big-riffs and melodic choruses “so large that you might have to get an extension built onto your house in order to accommodate them”(Front Magazine). They have toured with bands such as Maximo Park, We Are The Ocean and Canterbury, and will be making an appearance here in May. Their debut album, Wake Up, will have been released (22nd April) by the time you read this.
Glass Caves
Glass Caves - Fibbers - 14th May Boy Jumps Ship - The Great Escape (2014) (@pahudson)
Alternative-rock band Glass Caves have been playing various UK cities this year, and – you guessed it - York is on the bill. Their debut album, Alive, was released in October 2014 and demonstrated an energetic rock sound that wields driving guitar riffs (making use of the lower octaves as well as screeching, high-pitched phrases and solos) alongside exciting bass lines and drum beats.
Sam Huntley
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Character Clash Batman Vs Superman; it was inevitable that the Dawn of Justice would eventually arise in a scuffle between the top two DC darlings. We are forever indebted to Zack Snyder who stepped up to the plate to shed light on the much debated and seemingly unanswerable Friday night pub discussion point: who would win in a fight, a billionaire with a bat complex or an alien with remarkably chiselled features? But this just opens up a very violent can of cinematic worms; what other classic figures in the world of film must we see fight, preferably to the death? Let’s discuss.
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Gandalf VS Dumbledore This wizard duel brings with it much more than simply a pair of erudite centenarians featuring luscious beard action. It would pit ‘Potterheads’ against ‘Ringers’, and would incite war between Middle Earth, and, erm, regular Earth. A bloody battle indeed. But we wants to see it! One could say Dumbledore demonstrates a much wider spell repertoire, and when thinking of Gandalf’s magic one often conjures an image of mere firework tomfoolery. Although, The G-man seems altogether more game for combat as he took on Saruman straight from The Fellowship of the Ring. OK, he doesn’t win, but he puts up a fight. But ever see any Balrogs around? No; Gandalf took care of it. Furthermore, Gandalf can update his colour to be a more threatening opponent. Don’t ask me the details on that.
GANDALF WINS - Dumbledore crumbles under the intensity of doing shots (of the Potion of Despair) with Harry. He couldn’t survive a Tuesday night in Kuda, let alone an afternoon with Gandalf.
Annie VS Oliver
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Perhaps encouraging orphans to fight is frowned upon, but there is no one on God’s green Earth that can stop me from speculating who would win. This is the perfect fight, think about it: Annie has stubborn streetwise abilities, quick wit and a redhot afro that won’t quit. Oliver seems to be overall, a pushover – maybe even an easy fight- but only a fool would believe he had spent all that time with Fagin and The Artful Dodger and not have learnt a thing or two about packing a punch. Furthermore, both of these kids have the most powerful weapon of all: a song in their heart. It’s a tough one to call, but the verdict is…
ANNIE WINS - Getting framed for Dodger’s crime suggests that Oliver’s reflexes just ain’t all that. Plus ‘Hard Knock life’ is a better orphanage tune than ‘Food Glorious Food’.
DiCaprio VS DeNiro The DeNiro-Scorsese partnership reigned supreme over Tinsel Town from 1973’s critically acclaimed Mean Streets to 1995’s not as critically acclaimed but nonetheless classic, Casino. This fellowship was to create one of the most significant impacts on the history of American cinema. But in 2002, along came ‘Little Leo The Homewrecker’ with Gangs of New York. DeNiro was no spring chicken and Scorsese couldn’t be blamed for succumbing to DiCaprio’s boyish charms. They made sweet movie love and have so far birthed five well-received films including The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street. The beef between DeNiro and DiCaprio is clear.
VS DENIRO WINS -Yes, he’s in his early seventies, but as a method actor his fighting game is sure to be tip-top. Having boxed with Jake LaMotta in preparation for Raging Bull, he would blow Leo’s 41 year old body out of the water.
Mia Shaw
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surprisingly good performances from actors you thought were shit
Sylvester Stallone may have missed out on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Mark Rylance, but his turn in Creed has given fresh impetus to a career that had rapidly declined into mediocrity and habitual Razzie nominations. It may seem daft now but Sly’s breakthrough in Rocky in 1976 drew legitimate comparisons with Marlon Brando and suggests that it is perhaps poor choices (and a tendency to do anything for money) that clouds our view of actors, rather than necessarily lack of talent. Here are other actors who have given performances that suggest there may be more depth to them than we originally thought. Hayden Christensen (Shattered Glass 2003) Let us make no bones about it - Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels is insufferable, taking a potentially iconic cinematic creation and turning it into a brattish, whinging pretty boy of unspeakable woodenness. As real-life journalist Stephen Glass, Christensen is, while not outstanding, certainly suggesting that his problems may be at least partly attributed to George Lucas’ notorious lack of direction and wretched dialogue. Although overshadowed by an excellent Peter Saarsgard as Glass’ editor, Christensen certainly holds his own here; endearing and likeable on the surface but with a bubbling sense of weasely smugness underneath. Sharon Stone (Casino 1995) As far as Scorsese films go, Casino is not one I am massively fond of - overly cold and too derivative of Scorsese’s vastly superior film, Goodfellas. It does unquestionably possess one outstanding feature: a career best performance from Sharon Stone as Robert De Niro’s trophy wife Ginger McKenna. Best known up until that point for baring her…ahem lady bits in Basic Instinct, Stone’s passionate, multi-layered performance is something to behold. She is simultaneously on perfect crazed, manipulative psycho bitch setting yet equally child-like, needy and in thrall to a scumbag pimp (James Woods). It is just a shame that she has never found a role like this since, with utter shit like Catwoman and Basic Instinct 2 cluttering her CV. Kate Hudson (Almost Famous 2000) Talk about making one role your calling card. Kate Hudson’s name is almost synonymous with bad films - from You, Me and Dupree to Bride Wars, it is enough to make one wonder how she had a career in the first place (and yes, leave aside the fact that she’s Goldie Hawn’s daughter). Except there is a reason thanks to her glittering turn in Cameron Crowe’s nostalgic autobiographical film about a touring rock band. As ditzy groupie Penny Lane who is hopelessly in love with the band’s front man, Hudson brings a deep fragility to what could have been a two dimensional role. Her heart-breaking question “Why doesn’t he love me?” sounds corny on paper but Hudson sells it brilliantly. John Travolta (Pulp Fiction 1994) For the record, I am not a John Travolta fan. As someone who enjoys a hammy film villain as much as anyone, it is still important to differentiate between good ham and bad ham. Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman - good ham. John Travolta at his absolute worst he can be an insufferable gurning caricature of bad ham (his performance in the notorious scientology flop Battlefield Earth has to be seen to be believed). In Quentin Tarantino’s classic however, Travolta rejuvenated his career which had fallen into the doldrums during the 80s with his role as a heroin addicted hitman. Travolta is hugely entertaining to watch, making us enjoy the company of someone we really wouldn’t want to know in real life.
Ed Hunter
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A Tale of Two Forsters Freya Kingsley interviews Juliet Forster, director of the world premiere performance of EM Forster’s short science-fiction story The Machine Stops
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rom the 13th May to the 4th June, York Theatre Royal, in conjunction with Pilot Theatre, will be staging the premiere performance of EM Forster’s short story The Machine Stops, adapted for stage by Neil Duffield. With an original score by John Foxx, electronic music pioneer and original lead singer of Ultravox, and Benge, experimental electronic musician, and direction by York Theatre Royal’s Associate Director Juliet Forster, The Machine Stops promises to be an exciting adaptation. Best known for his novels A Passage to India and Howard’s End, both made into Oscar-winning films, EM Forster was a social and literary critic and essayist as well as celebrated novelist. He first published The Machine Stops in 1909 in which he prophetically warns of the dangers to society that technology possesses, focussing on isolation and reliance upon the machines we create. His predictions of everyday abilities we have in today’s world, such as instant messages, televisual messages and the internet and how we rely on these components is rather chilling. I went to speak to director Juliet Forster about the eerie short-story and more. Juliet started drama at school and realised she wanted to continue it at university, so she took a degree in Theatre at the University of Edinburgh. At first she was more interested in the acting side but as she continued she found “the other side of things” more intriguing with directing the most enjoyable. After university she set up her own theatre company with friends from Edinburgh. When I asked Juliet which play she most enjoyed directing she struggled, saying, “they’re like your children…you can’t have a favourite” but managed to conclude that it was her 2009 production of Twelfth Night as it allowed her to be extremely creative. The main piece of advice that Juliet would give to aspiring directors, or anybody who would like a career in the arts, is to never wait for a job, saying you must “never be afraid to make your own work” telling me that often the best pieces of creative work come out of times when there are certain limits as you “truly have to be creative”. She also urges future directors especially to watch anything and everything, even if you believe that you won’t like it as you can always be inspired. I asked Juliet what drew her to EM Forster’s story and she told me that she had first read the novel in 1998 and immediately thought that it would be perfect for stage adaption: “some things just read as a good play”. She initially
“You talk as if a god had made the Machine,” cried the other. “I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that.” wanted to put it on in 1999 due to the millennium bug - the confusion that occurred with the start of a new millennium due to computers being programmed to only show the last two digits of a year, ie, making 1900 and 2000 indistinguishable. She wasn’t able to though, but is now happy that this was the case as she says it is much more relevant today due to the huge increase in the advances in technology that have occurred, even in such a small space of time. The Machine Stops is extremely descriptive, with every aspect explained in great detail, meaning that you can’t help but imagine the scene incredibly clearly. This can’t be the case in a stage play, and I wondered how this aspect of the story had been translated into the play. Juliet responded with very interesting techniques. Firstly, in the original score by Foxx and Benge, information or emotion is almost subconsciously communicated through how the music makes one feel, this in conjunction with the set brings a lot of the visual descriptions to life. For personal descriptions a couple of different techniques are used, one being that the machine itself narrates parts of the play and another by using things like contacts, “similar to Facebook friends” giving extra information. When asked who she would recommend go and see this
“Never be afraid to make your own work.”
play, she replied that “anyone would enjoy it, particularly if you’re interested in science-fiction or speculative-fiction, or simply physical theatre”. Finally, I asked Juliet how she felt about our relationship with technology. She explained that it is a very difficult question to answer as technology, firstly, comes in so many different forms, eg, something so taken for granted and as ‘simple’ as contact lenses are a form. However, if we view technology in a similar way to how it is presented in the play, Juliet takes the view that technology expands people and society. However, this also comes at a cost. Right at the start of the story we see how the main character, Kuno, lives on the other side of the world to his mother and would like to see her in person. She is more content to simply talk to him through the machine. In this way we can see how it brings people together, but can just as easily isolate them. On a similar line, Juliet brought up the potential of search engines, how they give us the power to expand our knowledge, yet, the way they are designed reflects what we search, and so in a way, narrow what we can learn. However, in conclusion, Juliet believes that technology is a good thing and what we need to be careful with is how we interact with it. The Machine Stops is on at York Theatre Royal from 13th May to the 4th June, from where it will do a short tour to The Point, Eastleigh, New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth and the Platform Shift + festival in Budapest.
“Juliet takes the view that technology expands people and society. However, this also comes at a cost.”
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Interview: Steve Punt Steve Punt talks about how to get into the funny business, why getting involved at university is important and the role comedy has to play in raising awareness of global warming. Thomas Butler-Roberts interviews him before he presented radio show The 3rd Degree in York.
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escribed by its presenter, Steve Punt, as a “celebration of arcane knowledge”, the 3rd Degree is a quiz show with a strong comic element to it, because without it, it would feel a very unfair mismatch pitting students against the teachers. The comedy element is used to slightly offset that to make it feel like more of an upmarket pub quiz. The questions posed in the quiz itself are quite challenging, set to a degree standard, however this doesn’t normally feel the case as it is done in quite a light way. The only time you’d notice the questions begin to rival the high-brow academic obscurity of its competitors’ questions, those on University Challenge, is when the maths comes up, often baffling presenter Punt, who sits back and just watches when the language becomes more algebra than English. An English student himself, he mused: “My brain is full of Shakespeare quotes and the social background of the Victorian novel, so to get a glimpse into the world of the weird and wonderful things mathematicians get up to when I record this show is very enjoyable.” He also said the show is important for teenagers to learn about subjects you can’t do at school, although he does joke that the majority of young people listening to Radio 4 are probably being forced to by their parents. In the show he asks students how they came to choose their degree subject – a question he says is important to show off the sudden widening of what you can do to youngsters. Steve Punt is probably most well-known for having presented news programme The Now Show alongside Hugh Dennis, the father from the BBC’s family sitcom Outnumbered, who he met while studying at the University of Cambridge. A story he had clearly told before, he recalled the first time they met at the legendary comedy Footlights society, where Punt went to watch a show called ‘Rebel Without Applause’ with his own group of budding comedians, in which they’d heard there was “someone who was really good at doing voices”. Apparently the group liked him, which led to the decades-spanning Punt and Dennis comedy double act. Punt says that Dennis never really used to write, just doing voices, while admitting that he himself mainly wrote, not being that confident as a performer, whereas now he says they balance responsibilities. Seeing as he met his lifelong professional partner at a university society, it wasn’t surprising when he said: “The great secret that schools don’t like to talk about is that university is about more than doing subjects. It’s a chance to meet the people who are interested in the same stuff as you. “It kind of sounds trivial to say to someone in school you can join the film club, you can act in plays, you can do fencing – anything you could be interested in will be going on somewhere at university. But when you start looking for jobs, peo-
ple want to hire well-rounded people. You don’t quite grasp at One of Steve Punt’s passions is in raising awareness of your age that for the rest of your life, those sorts of opportuni- global warming, evidenced by the talk he gave to the Royal ties will be much harder to come by once you’re working. Once Society of Arts last year, where he used humour to try and you’re at an office from 9 to 5, it’s much harder to take up hob- highlight the absurdity of some of the arguments raised by bies like fencing.” climate-change deniers. Talking about the role comedy has to As a child Punt says he wanted to be an author, but he says play in a wider societal debate, he said that comedy was one he knew he would never be able to make a living out of it. So, of the many tools available to debate-makers to get people instead, he chose to pursue comedy. He says he’s not joking and that he simply went to where the market was. Clarifying, he says: “The thing about comedy is, is that it’s very openaccess. The key is experience. To get to the more high profile levels, you do gigs and if they go alright you do more gigs, and then you get asked to support someone who’s a bigger name on tour, or you end up on a bill. What would frequently happen is that you’d be on a bill and on stage first and the headline act’s agent would be there and would point you the right way if they liked you.” Finding out what works comically for you is really impor- thinking. “I’m not saying I think it can preach, or necessarily tant too, according to Punt who has been in the change minds, but it can raise awareness,” he added. “Weirdly, industry since the 80’s. He cites Jack Dee as some- I think people are more inclines to believe comedians than they one did just this. For years, Jack Dee used to have are politicians.” a fairly run-of-the-mill jolly stand-up routine, but He recalled an occasion at a previous recording of the 3rd never had much success with it. One night, he was Degree, just before the General Election last year, where a stuon the verge of giving up and very pissed off, so dent in the audience came up to him and said he wasn’t going went through his entire set grumpy and deadpan to vote for the Green Party anymore, putting it down to an edibecause he was sick of it, and found that suddenly that the au- tion of the Now Show the previous week which had highlighted dience were howling with laughter, and now he has never gone some of their lesser-known policies. “I did feel slightly guilty, back. but we didn’t make any of that up — all we did was pointed out His most important tip for aspiring comedians? “It’s a weird some things that they’d said. But it did make me realise that mixture of confidence but not over-confidence. Any comedy comedy really can have a massive effect.” set is effectively a focus group and you have to listen to the audience and build on what’s working. And be prepared to rewrite. A lot. There’s a tendency when you first write, that as soon as someone says: ‘no, that should be a bit shorter’ that you go on the defensive and that really isn’t a good idea, because in practical terms you won’t last in an industry which is rewriting stuff all the time.” Top row, L to R: Emma Wells (History); Simon Van Der Borgh (Theatre, Film & Television Studies); Professor David Jenkins (Physics); Steve Punt Bottom row, L to R: Dan Brooks; Sophia Steinsberg; Nick Meadowcroft-Lunn Radio 4 at Photo: Alistair Keely
“Be prepared to rewrite. A lot.”
Tune into The 3rd Degree on BBC 3pm on May 9, to find out who won!
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“Those sorts of opportunities will be much harder to come by once you’re working. Once you’re at an office from 9 to 5, it’s much harder to take up hobbies like fencing.”
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what to do about a problem like THE MUSICAL EPISODE?
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usical episodes (of non-musical TV) are God’s gift to television. They are silly, incredibly fun to watch, and there is nothing better than having your favourite characters serenade you with their beautiful singing voices. Hours upon hours of choreographing, song writing and voice training all boil down into 40 minutes of TV and, when done correctly, it actually makes sense for the characters to burst into song (it might even leave you wondering why the hell they haven’t done so before!). It pushes the plot forward, and character development doesn’t fall by the wayside in the process – and, most importantly, it isn’t just a cop-out dream sequence. But meshing the two together without it just becoming a boring filler episode is a recipe that’s difficult to get right.
heart breaking. Amber Benson (Tara), Willow’s girlfriend, is able to show off a different side of her character’s personality through her powerful singing voice to prove that there’s much more to her than her usually shy and reserved demure. Her song, ‘Under Your Spell,’ is so romantic, with Tara expressing her love for Willow by saying that she has given her the confidence to come our of her shell. The song culminates in one of the filthiest euphemisms aired on television in the nineties - ‘I break with every swell/Lost in ecstasy/Spread beneath my willow tree.’ Steamy. The songs are the kind that stick with you, and you will want them on your revision playlist. Fringe’s ‘Brown Betty’ doesn’t have the kind of songs that you will get stuck in your head and want to listen to over and over again (or maybe I’m just a tad obsessed with Buffy) but this episode is just as well done. This episode was risky as hell – as part of Fox Rocks, a week of music-themed pro-
“The songs are the kind that stick with you, and you will want them on your revision playlist”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s ‘Once More With Feeling’ epitomises how to do a musical episode well. A demon comes to Sunnydale and forces the characters to express their deepest darkest fears through song and dance. It makes sense. Kind of. I mean, it’s less ridiculous than the episode where the school nurse and swim team coach dope the swim team with USSR fish DNA in order to make them better swimmers, but it’s not exactly a modern classic. The episode allows the characters to say things they have not been able to before, with Xander and Anya talking about their anxieties regarding their impending married lives and Spike confessing his love for Buffy in the knowledge that she is just using him. What this episode does well is that all of the characters are self-aware about how ridiculous it is that they have suddenly started singing their problems. In the song ‘I’ve Got A Theory,’ each of the characters propose what they think might have happened to cause them to break out in song. Not all of the actors are triple threats that can sing, dance, and act, and Joss Whedon has used this to his advantage. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) hated every second of filming this episode, but when she finally confesses to her friends that they had pulled her out of heaven at the beginning of the season, and that her life has been a living hell in comparison, the singing is raw, realistic, and ultimately
gramming, episode 19 (out of 22) was made into a musical. At this point in the season, putting in an episode that does not do much to forward the plot could be disastrous, but actually it adds to the emotional build-up of the show and makes the final episodes even more climatic. Walter Bishop starts the episode by smoking his own marijuana hybrid he has affectionately nicknamed ‘Brown Betty’. After Olivia drops off her niece, Ella, Walter decides to tell a story about a badass, tough-talking 1940s detective, who’s trying to solve a case about a man with a glass heart. The ‘bad guy’ of the piece is Walter himself, a man who creates wonderful things by stealing the dreams of children and replacing them with nightmares. Again, the characters are very selfaware, as the episode flashes back to Walter himself singing (badly)
and Ella complaining about the story-telling. What really makes the episode moving is the direct parallels with reality. Walter has done bad things in the past - his experiments on children, Olivia included, were devastating to their mental health in the long run. Walter made two parallel universes collide in his attempt to save his son, and the ramifications of that have completely changed his life and ruined his relationship with his son. Even when Walter has the chance to basically write his own fanfiction – he has always wanted his son to fall in love with Olivia, and that’s exactly what happens in his story – he cannot give himself a happy ending. He honestly believes there is no hope for him, that he deserves this punishment. But of course, Ella, a beacon of hope, says that that’s a load of bollocks (not in as many words, she’s like 12, but she may as well have done) and rewrites his ending. In true Fringe fashion, the show manages to break my heart even when the episode is filled with song and dance. If any show could do a musical episode well, it would be Community. This show is so meta I’m not even sure meta accurately describes it. As someone who watched Glee religiously for the first two seasons, this episode nails every damn trope and cliché with scary levels of accuracy. The creepy glee coach convinces each of the gang individually to join the glee club for the Christmas show by appealing to their weaknesses, after the previous glee group of Greendale have a group emotional breakdown. The cult-like fashion of the group after being convinced is creepy, and by the end of the episode I’m still not sure what regionals actually are. It is a fun festive episode that perfectly fits in with the rest of the episodes of the season.
Dianne Apen-Sadler
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Snap Out Of It. I
t is 8 am and the alarm just went off. I turn it off but I do not put my phone down. Instead, I decide to stay in bed for a bit longer while I check if I have got any notifications on Facebook, look at the new posts on Instagram and watch the Snapchat Stories from last night. This is how I start my days, the screen of my phone inches from my face. I have always known that social media can be a real waste of time. It can disconnect you from your surroundings and bring you down at times. But it is really just this year, as a fresher, that I’ve realised how unhealthy these social platforms can be. First term at uni is not the easiest. You feel lonely. Just like everybody else, you know no one. It’s also a time where you may ask yourself whether you made the right choice in coming here. And this is where social media comes in. You create a ‘University/First Year’ album on Facebook and you start thinking that everything is worth snapchatting.
#YOUR GOAL IS TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT YOU’RE NEVER BORED AND THAT YOU’RE HAVING FUN. At least this was my case. I came from a big city in France and felt that I had to prove that I could still enjoy myself in a smaller place like York. Even my friends, who had moved to bigger cities than York, felt the same way. I was making Snapchat Stories more frequently and checking who was watching them. I was keeping up with my friends’ Snapchat Stories and daily checking their new posts on Facebook and Instagram. It took me a few months to realize that we had started a competition: a competition on who was leading the best life at uni. Sharing what is happening with your life on social media once in a while is okay. However, when it comes to a point
where you are always taking out your phone when something is funny or out of the ordinary, that is when it becomes a problem. Over-sharing can not only be an annoying habit but also an unhealthy one. Having your phone out to take pictures of what is happening around you stops you from fully enjoying the good moments at uni. Instead, you are thinking about the future, thinking about where you are going to share these posts, what filters you are going to use or what captions you are going to write and finally, who will see and like your posts. Convincing others that you are enjoying uni will not help convince yourself. Just accept the fact that not every day will be a party. So please, next time fight against the urge of pulling your phone out. You do not need to document everything that is happening around you. Most people do not even care. And, even if you just want to capture something for yourself, fight too that urge. Enjoy the present instead of already wishing to re-live that moment in the future.
Lilly Cabot-King
factbook “Every day an average of 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook”
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“ Every 60 seconds on Facebook: 510 comments are posted and 293,000 statuses are updated”
“Each day, snapchat users view 8 million videos”
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YOUR NEW REVISION WARDROBE
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xam season is upon us, you are already exhausted, and it is only Week Two. Like many of us at York, you are probably starting to spend more hours at the library than Salvo, you have checked out a book for the first time and are now slowly draining away your student loan on Costa coffee. Let us be honest, as the sun is shining outside and you are inside revising, things are feeling pretty dire.
Just because your life is seemingly one endless procrastinating black hole does not mean that you have to look dismal while living it. That is why I am here to provide you with some tips and suggestions for your new revision wardrobe, practical, yet semi-on-trend, there is now no excuse for wearing pyjamas or last nights sports social costume while pulling another all-day/all-nighter.
THE MOM JEAN:
THE BASEBALL CAP:
Comfortable, baggy enough to hide your lack of ‘summer body’ and something that has been seen in all the high-street stores, Mom Jeans are your new best friends. The loose fit means that you can sit any which way in your overstuffed library desk (or if you are one of the lucky few one of the coveted blue chairs in Morrell) without feeling like your legs are being suffocated, or ending up with permanent seam marks all down your legs. Due to the usually high-waisted fit of these jeans, you can wear them with pretty much anything, from a crop top (if you are feeling like making slightly more of an effort) to your favourite college sweatshirt for extra comfort.
Ah, a hat to hide a multitude of sins. From greasy hair and pastey skin to hiding the endless black circles under your eyes, a baseball cap can work for pretty much anyone. Due to their recent hit on the catwalks, you can even purchase these much needed accessories in a range of colours and patterns, and not just embossed with a logo from your favourite sports team. If you’re feeling extra brave, you could even chose to wear your cap backwards, still hiding your unwashed hair, but letting the whole world see misery and pain ridden filled eyes. Feeling like a dick for wearing a hat inside is a small price to pay for hiding your tears.
TRAINERS:
APPRORIATELY THEMED/SLOGANED TSHIRT:
Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, NB, the list goes on. For when it comes to trainers, the world (bank account permitting) is your oyster. A classic for any season and any decade, a pair of trainers is the key thing you will need for this up and coming exam season. Comfortable, stylish, with plenty of choice, trainers are your new best friend. Gone are the days of heeled boots and uncomfortable suede shoes, these bad boys will see you through the intermittent summer weather and accessorise your permanent feelings of guilt at your lack of revising. Whether you are going straight from the library to the gym, carrying a mound full of books, or simply running away from your problems, there is nothing your trainers can not help you do.
What better way to pretend you are studying than wearing an appropriately themed, smart-ass t-shirt? Studying History? Wear a t-shirt featuring some dead person no one knows. Not only will it make you feel smarter, but it is sure to stimulate some questions and conversations, aiding you in your budding library romance with the girl/boy opposite. Failing an appropriately subject related t-shirt, you could just opt for the sloganed, “I’m being ironic, this is how I secretly feel on the inside, this secretly amuses me” t-shirt. There is a huge variety of them out there, and I’m sure you will find one to suit your specific desires, be it a pretentious quote or simply a jumper that says Peanut Butter on, because, you know, you really like Peanut Butter. Rad.co/uk in particular have some great sloganed items if you don’t already have one in your wardrobe.
Hope Butler
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THE BEERS OF EUROPE During Easter, I went travelling all over Europe. Being an American, I am not allowed to drink at my age back home, but in Europe, I noticed a distinct lack of annoying age restrictions. While on the Continent, I decided to take advantage of these lowered drinking ages and sample beers from the many lands which I visited. We hitchhiked through eleven countries in nine days, sampling beers all the way. 1. BELGIUM Beer Sampled: Duvel ABV: 8.5% Taste: Like alcoholic raw sewage. Rating: 1/10 Availability in York: Unfortunately, very easily Description: Perhaps the worst beer I have ever tasted. I will certainly never pay actual money for it again. It tasted like a bottle of hand sanitizer was mixed with earwax and was left in the sun covered only by a used gym sock for three years . Other Belgian beers, however, were lovely.
4. GERMANY Beer Sampled: Brauhaus Pforzheim Export ABV: 5.2% Taste: Amazing, smooth, like good bread, yet still the taste of a good south German lager Rating: 10/10 Availability in York: Unfortunately, no, and not online either Description: We stopped in Pforzheim because my grandparents were originally from there. It was one of the finest beers I’ve ever tasted. Despite its warmth from being carried in my bag for a few hours, it was smooth with a bit of fizz, and had a simple and refreshing taste of a good slice of bread. 7. AUSTRIA Beer Sampled: Stiegl Goldbräu ABV: 4.9% Taste: Nothing spectacular Rating: 4/10 Availability in York: No, but it is no real loss Description: Bland and boring beer despite being made in a beautiful country. Mostly fizz, as most cheap, common lagers are. Wikipedia says it is one of the most commonly bought beers in Austria somehow; personally I have more faith in the Austrians. I think they can make better beer and I will gladly sample it whenever I return next. 10. SLOVAKIA Beer Sampled: Zlatý Bažant ABV: 5% Taste: like that Czech Republic one, only of slightly worse quality Rating: 6/10 Availability in York: The Polish market on Walmgate is the only place I have found it outside of Slovakia Description: Not too different from the Czech Pilsner Urquell. I was only in Slovakia for ten minutes when I stopped at a petrol station out side Bratislava waiting for a ride.
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2. LUXEMBOURG Beer Sampled: Bofferding ABV: 4.8% Taste: Not bad, but nothing too special Rating: 7.5/10 Availability in York: No Description: Sold in a small aluminium bottle, this beer is quite palatable and tolerable. The bottle brags about the three gold medals that the beer had been awarded in 1937, 1938, and 1995, which could be off-putting since it has not won an award in 20 years and before that had not won one in almost 60. The fact that it was ever that good, however, is promising and it shows in the not-too-bad bland, dry bready taste to the beer. Overall, not a bad choice for a tourist in Luxembourg, and you will not be too bothered by the fact that you will not easily find it here in York. 5. SWITZERLAND Beer Sampled: Eidgenoss ABV: 5% Taste: Sweet, bread-like, delicious and smooth Rating: 9/10 Availability in York: No, and not online either Description: I purchased the bottle in a shop in the central train station of Zurich. The shop sold beers from all over the planet for a few Francs and I drank it later that night. It had a smooth, sweet taste, yet still a hearty, bready flavour. 8. CZECH REPUBLIC Beer Sampled: Pilsner Urquell ABV: 4.4% Taste: good for a cheap lager Rating: 8/10 Availability in York: Easily Description: I had had this beer in the past, but the woman who picked us up to drive us to Prague bought us each a can of this when we stopped for petrol. It was better than I had recalled, and it has a much better texture than the last two I described. It had a bland taste, but not in a bad way. Prague was beautiful, it is just too bad that the public transport was absolutely horrendous.
3. FRANCE Beer Sampled: Kronenbourg (not the 1664 kind they sell at Nisa) ABV: 4.2% Taste: Bland, dry, some fruit taste, smooth Rating: 6/10 Availability in York: No Description: Relatively nondescript beer. The taste was not anything to die for or go sprinting back to France for anytime soon. I bought my can of it from a little corner shop that sold most of its wares on the floor in Strasbourg. Which is an amazing city. It’s like The Shambles expanded and made into their entire city centre, but, once away from the centre, it turned into boring 60’s architecture with no interesting shops, but the hotel was cheap and very nice. 6. LIECHTENSTEIN Beer Sampled: Liechtensteiner Hells ABV: 5% Taste: Fizzy, bland Rating: 5/10 Availability in York: No, and tough to find online Description: Beer was too fizzy to have an actual taste but I’m sure if you check the online descriptions it will claim to have a bunch of impossible-to-taste fruit flavourings listed. Best described as ‘not something I would leave my room for’. 9. CROATIA Beer Sampled: PAN Kraljevski ABV: 5.2% Taste: N/A Rating: 3/10 Availability in York: No Description: Boring, no actual flavour. It was on a shelf surrounded by a bunch of other beers from the same brand. I guess I chose poorly.
The final collection...
11. SLOVENIA Beer Sampled: Union ABV: 4.9% Taste: All fizz, no flavour Rating: 4/10 Availability in York: No Description: Cheap beer that I only bought because I was going for this collection. I got what I paid for, it was pretty bland.
Cameron Schmid
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Restaurant Review: Melton’s
Some things in life are forgettable due to no fault of their own, like the brown jumper your Grandmother bought you for Christmas (sorry Nan), or lunch at Pizza Express, they’re just a little bit boring. There are other things which you actively try to forget, for Arthur Reynolds, dinner at Melton’s falls into the latter category.
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pon arrival, looking through a window, I was greeted by the sight of a pot-wash, dramatically waving pots and pans around — taking the idea of an open kitchen to another level. After ordering, a selection of canapés swiftly arrived; among them were cheese sticks with hummus, some form of cracker and gloopy lukewarm soup, whose flavour has, fortunately, been erased from my memory. All were utterly tasteless. Forty minutes passed before “freshly baked bread” arrived. The brown was very sweet, and had an unpleasant, cake like texture. That said, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it would have been a far better pudding than the one I sampled later in the evening. The white bread was pleasant enough, although a touch dry.
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y starter, poached egg with polenta, artichoke crisps and truffle oil, was comparable to the large painting which I sat opposite all evening. It depicted miserable looking people having dinner (perhaps they were customers at Melton’s) with a backdrop of York and some cheese— there was just something not right about it. The crisps had become soggy from sitting in the oily polenta, leaving the dish devoid of any contrast in texture. When cutting into the egg, I longed for a creamy yolk to ooze out into the polenta. Instead, what I got was a grainy, hard yolk — is there a more disappointing feeling? Yolks aside, the whole dish was severely under seasoned, and the truffle oil totally overpowered the other elements; the old adage ‘less is more’ is certainly applicable here. My companion’s scallops were no better. Strangely huddled on one side of the plate, they were badly overcooked, and the accompanying cauliflower purée was lacking in flavour.
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he Whole Hog’ was the title given to my main course; belly pork, gammon, pork ballotine, boulangére potatoes and soured cabbage, what’s not to like? The belly was wonderfully succulent, the crackling had a real ‘crack’ to it, and the ballotine was skilfully prepared. However, the poor pig was let down by its arable neighbours. The boulangere potatoes were typically bland, and there were far too many of them on the plate alongside vast amounts of heavy pork. There is just no need, I want to enjoy as much delicious pork as possible, and not be filled up by flavourless potato. The soured cabbage was there to cut through the fattiness of the pork — I get that. But, there is a point where sour becomes unpleasant tasting, this was it and more. The carrot purée sat under the ballotine, was smooth and sweet, although the dish was crying out for a bit of actual carrot, to provide some bite. To make matters worse, the sauce was sickly sweet, and the whole plate was practically swimming in it. So, there was plenty not to like after all.
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f I had to compare the other main course to a person, it would be the somehow Tory, MP, Ken Clarke - it was dazzlingly wet. By virtue of sitting it atop reams of soggy purple sprouting, and a pool of red wine reduction, it was as if the chef had endeavoured to return the (ironically dry) trout to its natural habitat. The hazlenut garnish, which resembled boats, lost in a sea of red wine reduction, did not compliment the trout whatsoever, and was almost impossible to cut into. As for the white bean purée, it only served to add to the overwhelming sogginess of the dish . The dish’s only impactful flavour came from the horrendously out of place dry cured bacon, which perched above the wholly unnecessary second layer of purple sprouting. I adore bacon just as much as the rest of you — apologies to any vegetarian or vegan readers — it deserves better than this.
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like deconstructed puds — they are good fun. The ‘apple and custard, bramley ‘misu’ was a different matter. The centrepiece of the dish was a custard filled warm apple gel, the gel possessed the same grainy texture as a rotting apple, and an artificial flavour reminiscent of the twenty pence bottles of apple soda we consumed as children. Inside, there was a feeble amount of thin, unsatisfying custard. For what it is worth, the sorbet that sat beside the gel was refreshing (it removed the taste of that gel brilliantly) and the accompanying apple compote was tasty. Nevertheless, these elements felt like added extras, rather than part of a harmonious dish; although nothing could have complimented the filled gel — it was that bad. Melton’s is a restaurant of contradictions, for some dishes the kitchen seemed to be trying too hard, and on others, not at all; as for the service, that was slightly slow throughout. It’s not cheap either, three courses will set you back around forty pounds. If I were you, I would take my money elsewhere.
Top 3 Restaurant Annoyances 1. Practically Touching Tables
Busy restaurants want to squeeze in as many tables as possible, it makes them lots of money and I have no problem with this idea up to a point. However, I do have a problem with being so close to another table that my ears are continually belted with their conversation. I do not care about the latest deal some obnoxious city boy has been making, or that the bloke who is practically touching me, experienced ‘the pinnacle of gastronomy’ at El Bulli — I want to enjoy my food in peace. By the same token, they certainly do not want listen to me harp on about what’s wrong with the food.
2. Loud and Irritating Music
When Sitting alone, contemplating the meaning of life, I am partial to a bit of Alt- J; but when played at excruciatingly high volume in pretentious restaurants, it becomes so passive that it borders on infuriating. Pretentious restaurateurs everywhere, take your Breezeblocks elsewhere — we do not want them. Likewise, when I go to an American style barbecue joint, no amount of corny country music is going to make me feel like I am in Texas, a quick glance out of window will confirm that I am definitely still stuck in sunny Leeds. To put it bluntly: if I wanted to spend an evening listening to music I would go to a concert.
3. Service Charge If I receive good service, I will leave a generous tip. If I do not I will not leave anything. This seems fair. Feeling obliged to pay the ‘completely optional’ additional twelve and a half percent (of the total bill) as service charge, certainly is not fair. It is as if restaurants are telling us that we do not acutely know what good service is, and that they certainly provide it, so we jolly well better pay it. This reeks of the arrogance and sense of superiority that stereotypically exists at high end restaurants; abolishing service charge would go a long way to help end this interpretation.
15
blind date In this edition of Blind Date, third year Film student Carl went for a romantic evening of cocktails to Lucia’s with first year Law student Jordan. Will they end up taking romantic strolls across library bridge? Or are they doomed for a love life bleaker than the
jordan on carl
carl on jordan
Hopes and fears before the date?
Hopes and fears before the date?
I was hoping for a tall boy, and was anxious and worried that I’d let myself in for something terrible.
I hoped it wouldn’t be terrible. I feared it would be terrible.
First impressions?
First impressions?
Awkward at first, but he was chatty and seemed like a nice enough bloke. It was like having a chat with someone in a waiting room.
She was half an hour late and came with her friend, who sprinted in the opposite direction as soon as she saw me, which was a little weird.
What did you talk about?
What did you talk about?
Standard uni chat, what course, what college, what year. He did film or something so he asked me what I liked to watch. I told him I liked Prison Break and I don’t know if he appreciated it’s cinematic appeal.
Standard getting to know each other stuff, I guess? Also the fact that both of us had been dragged into this against our will.
Best and worst things about the date?
Best and worst things about the date?
He was a nice enough guy, we didn’t really struggle for conversation. But there was definitley no attraction.
I didn’t really feel as awkward as I normally do on first dates, which was nice. The worst thing was that she was a first year and had her life planned out much better than me, which just made me feel bad.
What did you have to drink?
What did you have to drink?
Passionfruit pitcher with quite a bit of vodka in it, and I think he had some tea drink, I don’t remember.
We had Paradise in Yorkshire, entirely because of the name.
How did it end?
How did it end?
We finished our drinks and I had plans to go out later so I left pretty quickly.
She was going out with some friends so I walked her to the bus stop.
...and did you kiss?
...and did you kiss?
No. we had a slightly awkward hug and then it was goodbye.
Nope.
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be?
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be?
A different person maybe?
Marks out of 10? 4 (I didn’t want to be harsh with a 3)
I wouldn’t have sat in front of a plant - it kept rubbing against my ear which was really distracting.
Marks out of 10? 6
OPINION
O
Tuesday April 26, 2016
JACK WORRALL: I’M JOINING THE LIB DEMS (SERIOUSLY)
ver the Easter holiday I made a decision, I defected from the Labour Party to the Liberal Democrats. I want to make this clear and leave no doubt in anyone’s mind. UYLC has been perfect to me; the work Callum Shannon, Sophie Jorgensen-Rideout and the whole club has done to make me feel welcome has been perfect. They provided opportunities for me to campaign, socialise and rise up the committee ladder. I’d like to thank everyone in the club. However, despite my strong affection for UYLC, my dissatisfaction with the national party and with Young Labour has been overwhelming. Indeed, Labour endorses policy over our economy, the EU,
“The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a sound policy on civil liberties” civil liberties and the defence of our nation I cannot anymore advocate. The reaction of the Labour Party to the budget highlighted the irreparable differences between myself and the party on economic matters. To say tax cuts like the business rates relief and corporation tax cuts are “mates rates for the Tories wealthy friends” goes against my economic instincts. Instincts which tell me that although these tax cuts would be beneficial for our economy, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and help businesses to create jobs would it be a priority? Not really. The Labour Party’s new found love of all tax is not conducive to an efficient, low cost modern state. One of the key reasons why I felt disenfranchised with the Labour Party is how they’ve handled the referendum on our membership of the EU. Instead of using every opportunity to extol the virtues of our membership, the Labour Party seem hell bent on using this as an excuse to make party political points against the Conservative Party. I could not be in a party which plays politics with the most important decision in our life time. The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a sound record on civil liberties. Unlike my old party, the Lib Dems support the overturning of the gay blood ban, they oppose the unworkable snoopers charter and have made sensible proposals around drug reform. Indeed, I have taken a shift myself on some of these issues. Only recently have I come to the conclusion, having seen all the evidence, that the snoopers charter will result in large data being opened up to the
hacking world. At the worst, the government mandated backdoors into data could lead to a mass compromise in online banking, for example. The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe. I cannot believe anymore that a Corbyn led government will keep us safe. With it almost being toxic to mention that you support air strikes, to
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron have a leader who is unwilling to use any force whatsoever and for our country to unilaterally disarm will be disastrous for our security. Having spent a few weeks now in the Liberal Democrats I can say this I have no regrets in the decision I have made. Unlike Labour I feel appreciated and needed in Liberal Youth. During my three weeks of membership, I have participated in two national campaigning events and two York based events.
“The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe”
A
Vısıon 17 YORK
BETHANY HUNTER: SCANDALOUS! NOT ANYMORE
nybody who has been remotely following British politics will know that it’s been a rough few months for the government. The spectacular resignation of one of the most senior cabinet ministers on the grounds that current policies were too aggressive, a budget U-turn from the Chancellor over cuts to welfare, and of course, David Cameron’s involvement in a family tax-avoidance scheme revealed in the so-called Panama Papers have theoretically sent shockwaves through British politics. So are we shouting repeatedly in the streets, demanding transparency, and insisting on an overhaul of the current political system that has allowed this? Are we hell. Less than 2 weeks after one of the biggest financial scandals of recent years, we’re back to coverage of a Royal Trip to India and the latest Kardashian engagement. Why is this? Don’t get me wrong, there are some protests. But these are largely by left-wing groups and students, who seem to be the only ones vocally opposing a government who should have weakened by a forced backtrack on their programme of austerity, and a Prime Minister who’s
“We’re back to coverage of a Royal Trip to India and the latest Kardashian engagement”
been accused of blatant hypocrisy. Whilst watching the BBCs coverage of Iceland, The bottom line is this, my instincts where protesters doing just that forced are no longer Labour. I went through a their Prime Minister to resign after his process of ideologically splitting from the links to tax avoidance were revealed, it got party, I moved further to the centre and me thinking. We’ve become desensitised to they moved further to the left. Not only political scandal. Politics has become so controversial did I realise this but several Labour party members made this clear to me as well. I that actually, real scandal doesn’t seem to will leave you with this story, when UYLC be quite so scandalous anymore. We are hosted Harry Leslie-Smith there was a more offended by trivial ‘scandal’ – see point where Harry’s son stood up and said ‘Jeremy Corbyn allegedly ate cold beans that views I hold sincerely ‘compromises’ out of a tin’ and that the Culture Secretary, and ‘Tory-lite’. If there’s ever a way of mak- John Whittingdale, unknowingly had a reing someone want to defect, the hard left lationship with a sex worker, etc. – than financial and genuine political scandal, the certainly found it. scandals which severely undermine the effectiveness of the government, and exposes political hypocrisy and incompetence to carry out the policies it advocates. This can be blamed on a series of difBottom Line: ferent factors: we live in an environment Labour has shifted too far to where tabloids are more interested in the left kicking up trivial gossip than actually reporting tedious things such as political tax avoidance, failed fiscal policies and rising @WorrallJack inequality; the fact that the Conservatives
have the support of most major newspapers, and the disillusionment felt by many that protesting is a waste of time. Primarily however, I believe that the most important reason why we’re not vocally outraged and vigorously demanding change is because we are so used to poor behaviour within politics that we’ve become desensitised to it: it’s appalling, but not unexpected. You and your extremely wealthy family benefitted from a tax avoidance scheme? That’s terrible: but not exactly a surprise.
“We are so used to poor behaviour within politics that we’ve become desensitised to it” A senior Cabinet Minister has very publicly resigned, citing your cuts to disability as the last straw? The cuts in question are awful: but Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation isn’t exactly a Geoffrey Howe is it? It seems to me that we’ve become that used to people and companies not paying taxes, going back on their word and functioning within the mentality “do as I say, don’t do as I do” that when there are revelations of this nature, it’s not really as ground-breaking as it once was anymore. Instead, it’s the often outlandish and laughable stories (remember Pig-gate) that we really consider to be scandalous: they’re revelations that we would never expect. Not everyone is passive, and I am not suggesting that we all descend on Downing Street with pitch forks provoking a revolution. However, as a general population, we need to remind ourselves what a scandal actually is. It’s not whether the angle of a politicians bow is correct, or which MPs are sexting a consenting adult: it’s when politicians and their policies are truly mugging off the people they are elected to represent.
Bottom Line: The British public has come to expect scandalous behaviour from its politicians. @YorkVision
18 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
FEATURES
YORK
features “you might not like this, but...” BORIS JOHNSON SPEAKs EXCLUSIVELY TO YORK VISION JAYH KARIA asks the London mayor why students should vote to leave the EU
“T
he average Bremainer [Britain-Remain] cannot speak another European language”, Boris Johnson told York Vision in an exclusive interview. Speaking to Vision before a Vote Leave rally, Mr Johnson blasted the ‘Remain’ campaign for not being positive about the future of Europe and the potential of the UK as well as putting forward a message to students on why they should vote to Leave on June 23.
“The average Bremainer can not speak another European language, I promise you.” Firmly committing himself to an optimistic message Mr Johnson said: “I think that this is now a globalised economy and its time for us to think globally.” He explained that to prosper the UK must look beyond its borders, to the wider world and developing markets, rather than shackling itself just to the only trading bloc experiencing negative growth. “Non! Mais non!” was Mr Johnson’s response when challenged that the Leave campaign was isolationist, going on to explain that “talented people coming… from China or India, they can’t get in.” Highlighting that his own European background and his past “studying other
European cultures and what have you” have informed his belief that Britain, and other European countries, can become bigger and better outside the EU. In a rather humorous twist, ‘BoJo’ attacked remain campaigners as unable to speak European languages, a remark which might not be able to withstand empirical scrutiny as well as passionately exclaiming that “I know you don’t want to hear this but I am going to tell you anyway, one of the scandals of the whole thing is that… we have no control whatsoever over immigration’. Mr Johnson interestingly views Brexit not as an anti-immigration platform but as an endorsement of an international approach to Britain’s immigration policy. Describing Vision reporters Jayh Karia and Jonathan van Kujk as “comrades” and attempting to get into the “Marxist mindset”, Mr Johnson echoes the point made by the socialist firebrand Tony Benn, arguing: “I think people who care about the government of their country want to be able to kick out at elections the people who make the fundamental decisions about the way your country is run, you gotta go for this thing - that’s what basically drives me.” It is not surprising that Mr Johnson is making democracy his main driving force. He wants to avoid the perception that anti-immigration or xenophobia drives BeLeavers and pivot the debate on the strength of the UK economy compared to the shaky Eurozone economy, purporting that the economy of the UK, if we vote to leave, would be strengthened unchained from EU regulation. The right to make our own laws however is the argument Mr Johnson ultimately finds most important. The fight to be an in-
dependent nation provokes the most passionate responses from the London Mayor. Addressing specific concerns about the cost to science and research at universities if Britain left the European Union, Mr Johnson argued: “we’ve got people who know about all those funding needs of UK science, why not do it that way?” explaining that “the net gain will be about £10 billion,” meaning the UK’s science and research fund would be able to flourish and possibly expand if we leave the EU.
Jayh Karia with Boris Johnson This being the case however, when asked by York Vision the most important reason to vote to Leave, Mr Johnson responded simply with “democracy, democracy, democracy.” The interview took place during a Vote Leave rally in Leeds, organised to parade the best and brightest of the Eurosceptic side to the public in an attempt to win support for a Brexit. The University of York’s branch of Vote Leave, Student’s for Britain York (SfB York), helped organise the rally.
Uday Maudgil, a member of SfB York, told York Vision: “It was great to see Boris making the clear arguments for Brexit; appealing to the internationalism of all voters, especially younger ones.” Promoting this message is widely seen to be the aim of Mr Johnson’s whistle-stop tour of the North. York Stronger In chair, Cameron Smith, responded to Mr Johnson’s re-
“It’s time for us to think globally” marks saying that “part of living in a global economy is engaging in bodies such as the EU that allows us access to a single market of over 500 million people, but also far greater weight in negotiating trade agreements with countries around the globe. Dragging ourselves away from the EU will not make us a more global economy.” Boris Johnson and Vote Leave have attempted to put forward fresh arguments on why students should vote to leave. Trying to shrug off the accusation made at them that voting to leave is a narrow minded, “Little Englander” decision, Boris and the campaign are painting themselves as globalists, fighting for a better, more international future for Britain, invoking the economy, immigration and democracy as their fundamental tenements. It remains to be seen whether a more diverse and inclusive leave campaign will be successful amongst students, but one thing is for sure, the Leave campaign are aiming their scope and directing their campaign directly at young people and our futures.
FEATURES
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 19 YORK
A SOBERing NIGHT OUT WITH NIGHTSAFE
ELLA BROWN shadowed a NightSafe shift, discovering what happens behind the scenes on a York student night... Upon seeing the email offering the chance to do a shift with NightSafe, I rolled my eyes a little more condescendingly than I probably should have. Despite being the Fresher that needed to be nursed with water bottles and sick bags outside Salvos, I wasn’t sure about the idea of being on the more sober side of a student night out. But, nonetheless, in my first year determination to ‘get involved’ with every opportunity possible, I still signed up to shadow a shift, even
‘‘The thought of being on the opposite side of the door...immediately filled me with regret” if that was at the expense of my 8 hours sleep – standing outside a club until 3am certainly didn’t ensure my 9am lecture attendance. This decision was looking like a pretty poor one when, at 10pm on a Thursday, I was wrapping up in numerous layers, ready to face the bitter cold of the January night, especially when I saw my block mates ferociously pre-drinking downstairs. The thought of being on the opposite side of the Fibbers door to them (that being the side without the music and the alcohol) immediately filled me with regret; what the hell had I signed myself up to? I wanted to be drunk and dancing, not dealing with the
remnants of other idiotic students’ ruined nights out. But, knowing it was too late to pull out, I begrudgingly trundled to the 66 bus stop and was quickly surrounded by a group of students sporting NightSafe’s fluorescent orange jackets – I guess we weren’t aiming to blend in. Half an hour later, I was stationed outside Fibbers, armed with a backpack crammed full of flip-flops, rubber gloves and more, watching the queues of rowdy students begin to arrive. The night started off quietly, with nothing more than your average drunken antics. Yet, as more alcohol was consumed and Fibbers got increasingly busy, things started to kick off a bit more: the playfighting of rowdy lads was turning into what was undoubtedly something very real; girls in heels far too high and make up far too orange were crying hysterically over some ex-boyfriend; the odd person was throwing up worryingly close to the mindless people in the smoking area. And this was where it got really interesting. The NightSafe volunteers came into
‘‘The NightSafe volunteers came into their element’’ their element, doing all they could to make these nights-out-gone-wrong a little, well, less shit. They tirelessly handed out a whole assortment of supplies, gave kind words to
those that needed it, tried to restore a bit of order when necessary, and this was all without any chance of being thanked the next day. Let’s be honest, these drunk people won’t remember the faces, never mind the names, of the volunteers that helped them. NightSafe members sacrificed any shot of a social life for that one evening and willingly chose to endure the cold (and the risk of being puked on) to essentially be the guardian angels of York, despite knowing that when everyone sobers up they won’t get a thank you card or a balloon for it. But that’s the brilliance of them. So, forget my (and probably your) initial thoughts: shadowing a NightSafe shift was one of the most fun and eye-opening, as well as probably the coldest and wettest, experiences I’ve had since coming to uni. For them few hours, you can make a difference to a handful of people, whether that be as simple as giving them a number for a taxi or guiding them to the bus stop, or as shocking as having to order an ambulance or get the police involved. It’s certainly not an easy job, and there’s no doubt that it requires a bit of commitment, but volunteering with this project could be one of the most rewarding things to spend your evenings doing – it’s definitely more worthwhile than procrastinating over uni work and, as long as you’re not too fainthearted, I bet that it can also be one of the most enjoyable. It’s a chance to see the drunken life through sober lenses, so at the very least you’ll be able to laugh at the chaos caused by York’s student nights – what’s not to enjoy?
Any student can express an interest in volunteering for NightSafe by emailing nightsafe@yusu.org
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FEATURES
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 21 YORK
The Women’s Equality Party society SYLVIE MARKES introduces one of the University of York’s newest political societies for gender equality Last term I was among five involved in setting up a campus society for the newly formed national Women’s Equality Party(WE), hoping to raise awareness of the party and promote issues surrounding gender inequality: issues that affect all genders. Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig founded the party in March 2015, before journalist and campaigner Sophie Walker was elected leader in July 2015. She is currently running for London Mayor. The party is non-partisan, open to all political affiliations and doesn’t necessarily want to hold office but to force other mainstream parties into adopting policies focused on securing the equality of women in all areas of life. There has already been success, an example reported by the Daily Mail where pressure from WE resulted in David Cameron ensuring that companies with over 250 employers published the division of their bonuses, in an attempt to end the gender pay gap. Whilst I have been engaged with the national party since its inception, I was initially worried about its representative value as its most visible supporters and indeed its three frontrunners were predominantly white and upper/middle class, and there didn’t seem to be enough focus on the differing experiences of different gender and sexual identities. However, as the party and its policies have developed, so has their focus on intersectionality. WE have brought together the experiences and ideas of people of all genders from across the country – including those doubly or trebly disadvantaged, by their gender and other factors such as ethnicity, age, disability, family background, sexuality or religion. WE also recognise that the binary words “woman” and “man” do not reflect the gender experience of everyone in our country, and support the right of all to define their sex or gender or to reject gendered divisions as they choose. WE are pushing for equal representation in politics, business, industry and throughout working life. WE expect equal pay for equal work and will look for ways to tackle the existing imbalances that leave many women, such as those who are unpaid caregivers or in low paid jobs, especially vulnerable. WE are pressing for equal parenting and caregiving enabling everyone to share opportunity and responsibility in the workplace and at home. WE urge an education system that creates opportunities for all children and an understanding of why this matters. WE aim to address the ways in which the portrayal of women in the media impedes progress towards equality. WE seek an end to violence against women and recognise physical and sexual violence as a public health problem.
Theo Barber-Bany: First meeting attendee What do you think are the biggest problems facing women on our campus today? There doesn’t seem to be equal opportunities, for example there is still a distinct lack of women in STEM fields. The gender pay gap and the acceptance and normalisation of ‘lad’ culture and day- today sexism. What made you come to the introductory session for The Women’s Equality Party society? Curiosity, wanting to hear what people wanted out of such a society/party, and to see if I could be made aware of any issues that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought about (I think in a way it’s a responsibility too). I think its also worth debating ways to voice your opinions without making people feel 1) like an outsider and 2) as if they should feel bad for attempting to engage in some way, even if it was not completely informed correctly – It’s because of things like that that so many of my male friends who share similar views to me avoid anything with ‘women’s equality’ or ‘feminism’ outside of conversations over drinks etc - and its why I feel they sometimes fail to be taken seriously.
Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow: Current President of the society for the Women’s Equality Party What will being a member entail? The society will be running various events throughout the year including talks and debates from relevant and interesting speakers, feminist cinema events and film evenings, socials in town, and informal discussions. As the party grows, there will also be opportunities to be involved in local campaigning around election time. However, we are holding elections soon for all society positions, so anyone with better ideas is more than welcome to run and add new activities for society members to participate in. Being on the committee will be great experience, both of running a society and running a local political party branch, and you will be contributing towards the only womenfocussed political movement in the UK today. What do you think of the fact that the party is non-partisan? In many ways it makes sense, since it allows for a more concentrated focus on issues of gender equality. WEP is still a small party with few resources, and to have policies on every political issue would be untenable, as well as detracting from the core purpose of the party. However, I think policy-areas will have to expand in future, to cover political issues which do negatively impact women. The austerity measures of the last two governments, for example, have been shown to disproportionately affect women, and so my personal opinion is that the party will need to address this in future, and have some sort of a stance on economic issues. But I think that overall the non-partisan focus is a good one, especially as it increases the likelihood that WEP can act as a pressure group, forcing the parties in power in Westminster to adopt policies that help women and work towards gender equality.
Lucy Elizabeth: Women’s Officer at YUSU What do you think are the biggest problems facing women on our campus today? The lad culture and everyday sexism that invades way too many spaces on campus is an obvious one. One of the things that inspired me to run for women’s officer was hearing one too many stories of catcalling, institutional discrimination and sexual assault among those closest to me. Why do you think the Women’s Equality Party specifically is a good tool to combat gender inequality in the UK? The Women’s Equality Party are an incredible group, by refusing to allow women in politics to be token or afterthoughts. Through legislation, institutionalised discrimination can be tackled and I believe this will trickle down and affect everyday attitudes. The key areas of their policies cover fundamental bases, and call for equal parenting rights, an end to violence against women and fair gender representation in the media (to name a few). They have practical and achievable means with which to achieve these. Many of their policies directly support men, children and the elderly also. I truly believe they are a force of good and with the proper support base, could improve the lives of so many people.
Women are only 29 per cent of MPs, 25 per cent of judges and 24 per cent of FTSE 100 directors. Three-quarters of the people who’ve done minimum wage jobs in the last 10 years are women. Around 1.2 million women suffer domestic abuse a year and - every day - there are 250 rapes or attempted rapes. Conviction rates are low.
22 Vısıon Tuesday April 26, 2016
FEATURES
YORK
Where to sit in the Library
DIANNE APEN-SADLER, a seasoned third year, guides you through the various zones of the library to work out where you’ll reach your optimum potential
How screwed are you? pretending to work
I’m a first year not at all
Bed
due tomorrow due today
due this week
Harry fairhurst (2nd floor) Morrell silent zone Ground Floor Morrell Burton (whilst crying) Morrell Quiet zone
Harry Fairhurst
JB Morrell
Raymond Burton
Nicknames: Haz Faz, Hairy Fairy
Nicknames: JBM
Nicknames: Burtz, Hell on Earth
This is for people who aren’t actually doing any work. The kind of people who come to the library for a natter: to them, it’s more of a social event than a revision session. If they sat anywhere else to ‘actually get some work done’ for a change, they’ll definitely be distracting to the people around them. They’ll happily eat packets of crisps or meal deals from YUSU Shop without a care in the world. Most likely found walking up and down the aisles looking for more people to talk to/distract. Great area for group work or for taking a nap on the bean bags/sofas.
The people who work here aren’t on the verge of tears like the poor souls in Raymond Burton, but they’re still working hard. They’re too busy working to actually go down to the cafe to eat, so they’re often found munching on something at their desk. If they’re in a silent zone they’ll probably have brought their own lunch - a salad or a sandwich - rather than risk the shame of eating a packet of crisps: if they dare to do it, they’ll suck on them until they’ve lost that all-telling crunch. If they’ve manage to nab a throne by the stairs they’ve probably been there since 8am, and will most likely take a nap there by mid-afternoon.
This is only for the serious workers. The people who actually had two internships in second year, the people that have a grad scheme lined up for after graduation, and the people who actually know how to reference. If you’re going to cry about your dissertation you either do it silently or you do it in the toilets. This is a place for people who are working so hard that the sound of people chomping on their lunch aggravates them, as you’re only allowed bottled water in this section. Once upon a time this library was a hallowed ground mainly for Arts & Humanities students, but this library recently got an upgrade which means that there are more seats, less books, and (thankfully) more plug sockets!
Water Dispenser: n/a, ground floor. 34.5 seconds/500ml, 1st floor. n/a, 2nd floor. Vending Machines: 1st floor - 1 food. Plug Sockets: Hella. Zones: Studious buzz. Ground floor has computer rooms, 2nd floor has macs and (really slow) thin client computers. Media Bins: 1 on ground floor, and another on 2nd floor. Bonus: The Writing Centre, and the Maths Skills Centre are on the 1st floor. Hidden gem: The old IT services offices. As it’s at the end of first floor it can be pretty quiet, and if you get there early enough there’s a pretty sweet office suite that you can claim as your own.
Water Dispenser: hot water tap, ground floor. 26.2 seconds/500ml, 1st floor. 32.1 seconds/500ml, 2nd floor. n/a, 3rd floor. Vending Machines: Cafe - 2 food, 1 cool drinks. Ground floor - coffee. Plug Sockets: More than you will ever need. Zones: 1st/2nd/3rd floors are all quiet, but 1st and 2nd floor have silent zones. Lots of computer rooms on 1st/2nd floor too. Media Bins: 1 on ground floor in the foyer. Bonus: Morrell has the café, but don’t forget your student card! #librarygate Hidden gem: Near the lockers/compact storage there are a few seats that are usually empty
Water Dispenser: n/a, ground floor. 24.6 seconds/500ml, 1st floor. Vending Machines: 0 Plug Sockets: Plenty Zone: Silent Media Bins: 0 Bonus: The Borthwick Archives are here. Hidden gem: LBU/003 This seminar room on the ground floor is almost always empty. Again it suffers from a lack of plug sockets.
FEATURES
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 23 YORK
we don’t need no education
KEANE DUNCAN sits down with education secretary Nicky Morgan MP to discuss Michael Gove, increased tuition fees and her leadership ambitions Sitting in a quiet corner of the newly refurbished Royal York Hotel, the Secretary of State for Education took me slightly aback with her open and candid responses to my questions. It quickly became clear, despite her special advisor’s attempts to sniff around in advance, that nothing was off limits – even for a third-year politics student. Drafted in to the cabinet a mere four years after her election in the marginal constituency of Loughborough and only a couple of months ahead of the general election, Nicky Morgan’s appointment as education secretary was seen by some to be an attempt by David Cameron to escape Michael Gove’s combative approach to the educational establishment he referred to as the “glob”. Despite holding the office since July 2014, in many ways Nicky Morgan is still to step out of her predecessor’s long and controversial shadow. He acted as a useful reference point to assess Morgan’s approach. “Obviously we are on the same side in education, wanting the best for all young people and the best start in life. To get a government department to deliver, Michael rightly prioritised getting schools to convert to academies and getting free schools set up,” she said. Speaking exclusively to York Vision ahead of her appearance at a £60-a-head Conservative Party fundraising dinner, the 43-year-old Loughborough MP espoused a firm commitment to “Michael’s” flagship policies alongside a change in style. The academy programme and free
Morgan believes her Party’s reforms, including controversial welfare reforms, are “giving people an equal start in life” schools are here to stay. The process of “devolving education to the frontline” continues. Yet Morgan is far from the fleeting “Stepford minister” many suspected, and has now entered her second year at the helm of the nation’s education system. This has allowed her time to develop a slightly wider agenda and act on her commitment to listen to teachers. “Michael always had tremendous respect for teachers, but if you are going to do something like a big reform programme, you are always going to be tackling the way things have been done for a long time. “I suppose probably our styles are dif-
Interview... Our reporter Keane Duncan sits down with the minister
ferent. Today in Halifax I was doing something called Teacher Direct, and that’s actually about going out and talking to teachers.” The City of York, like her Loughborough constituency, has a significant student population. Yet the Oxford University graduate defends her role in the controversial tripling of tuition fees as a “necessary part of balancing the books” and more importantly a matter of fairness for those who have not had the privilege of a university education. Morgan rejects the idea that tuition fees act as a “barrier” to students from less privileged backgrounds accessing higher education. Across the board she believes her Party’s reforms, in education and other departments, including controversial welfare reforms, are “giving people an equal chance in life.” While clearly proud of her Party’s record, she was also unafraid to discuss areas that required improvement, including her desperate drive to provide “educational excellence everywhere.” “We have some great schools and great teachers in this country, but they are not everywhere. We know there are still pockets of educational underperformance. My determination is to really tackle those spots now. I think it is the birth right of every child to have a really great education that is going to set them up for life,” she said. Aside from her work in education, I wanted to understand more about Nicky’s personal aspirations, albeit without alerting the advisor perched on the sofa to my left. I subtly moved from equality for the nation’s schoolchildren to a discussion
about representation in the Conservative Party. “I think it would be great to have another female leader at some point. Having a female perspective, a different perspective, is very important in things like politics.” I was interested to hear on what platform, other than her gender, that she would seek the office of Prime Minister. In short, what has driven Nicky Morgan throughout her political career? “I have wanted to show, and I think we do, that the Conservative Party is in touch with Britain. “For me personally, actually what makes me angry in life is when I see big organisations, whether it’s Whitehall or big corporates, treating people, whether it is taxpayers or customers, with something
“If a job is worth doing, it is worth upsetting people along the way” that is not respectful. I spend a lot of my time as a constituency Member of Parliament, banging the table, whether it is with local councils or companies or others, saying please let’s get this sorted for my constituents. That is what I did as a lawyer often, and that is what I do for my constituents now.” Not accustomed to reading personal online attacks to the face of a female cabi-
net minister, I was concerned about how Morgan would respond to the series of comments posted beneath the Spectator interview in which she first announced her intention to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. “Unlikely to succeed.” “Truly ghastly in all respects.” “Is it April 1st already?” “Delusional.” Seemingly undismayed by the comments and no stranger to criticism, Morgan let out a burst of laughter, flicked her hair, and after trying to make a strange analogy to “scrambling eggs” presented a fighting message to those that underestimate her. “If a job is worth doing, it is worth upsetting people along the way. Frankly I don’t listen to those sorts of people. I don’t let it bother me. If people want to make personal comments, that is a matter entirely for them,” she said. Boldly wading into the leadership debate, which many of her Cabinet colleagues would have dodged, I saw a glimpse of the passion and self-belief that has driven the Minister’s success so far. Knowing Morgan as well as anyone can (in fifteen minutes), I have no doubt that she will continue to surprise. After all, many would not have predicted her rapid rise from two times failed parliamentary candidate to Cabinet minster. Yet, popular comparisons to The Thick of It character Nicola Murray, laughter from teachers during her recent speech to NASUWT, and a measly two per-cent support from Tory Party members in a recent opinion poll by Guido, suggest she must work harder if she is to convince the country, and her Party, she has what it takes to lead Britain.
24 Vısıon YORK
SPORT
Tuesday April 26, 2016
BRITISH UNIVERSITY & COLLEGE SPORT: Lily Seach: 400m PB – 59s Age started – 12 Do you do anything different from your usual training routine to prepare for BUCS? – For extra training I make sure the weeks commencing to BUCS are solely training days, and the week of BUCS I make sure I stretch thoroughly after each session and that my last session is Wednesday evening when my race is Saturday, and between then I stretch and roll my muscles out. The night before I make sure I eat a dinner with plenty of protein and carbs. Do you have a particular routine that you do on the day of competition? – I always have a breakfast of cereal and have
no caffeine, so no cup of tea with breakfast like I normally do. My race is usually midday so I snack on fruit if I’m hungry and have a banana about 45 minutes before I’m due to warm up. I usually warm up 50 minutes before my race and then do a gentle cool down afterwards. What are your feelings on competition day? – I am so nervous, especially for BUCS I have nervous butterflies all day. Last year at BUCS I threw up after my race because I was so nervous throughout the day. On the start line I can never keep still, I have to move around to control my nerves. What are you hoping to achieve from BUCS? – I’m hoping to make the semi fi-
Alex Ingham: Javelin PB – 58.98m
What age did you start competing – In the javelin I was 14 but did other events when I was younger such as the 100m and triple jump. Do you do anything different from your usual training routine to prepare for BUCS? – I do more recovery sessions rather than intense training as the date approaches, because the intense training is done weeks in advance of the competition. Do you have any particular routine
you do on the day of the competition? – I walk around a lot before I go to warm up just to relax, then I have a specific warm up for my javelin before I get called to go into the waiting room. Whilst I’m in the waiting room with the other throwers I just relax and talk to whoever is sat next to me , javelin throwers tend to be quite relaxed compared to athletes in other events. What are your feelings on competition day? – It depends on the standard of competition, if it’s a local competition for my club the quite relaxed. If it’s a big tournament such as nationals then I get
nals, each year I have done, so fingers crossed for this year. I also have high hopes for our two relay teams, in my first year we managed to make the final for the relay, and last year we didn’t have a team but this year we have both relays for 4x100 and 4x400. How do you balance the academic and social side of university with your training? – I’ve been doing athletics for nearly 10 years so training has always been part of my agenda so I’ve never really had to rearrange things – it’s always been part of the timetable. Because we train in the evenings you can still do good days of work, and the same with the gym. I prefer to go to the gym in the evenings or mornings so you can still have a day in the library.
more anxious rather than nervous because I want to prove that I belong at this level so I really want to do well. What are you hoping to achieve from BUCS? – BUCS surprised me last year in the sense that I thought the standard would have been a lot higher, I didn’t throw my best and still managed to place reasonably well in the final, so this year I would hope to come in the top five, a medal would be great but the top five is a more realistic aim. How do you manage to balance the academic and social side of univer-
sity whilst training? – At times it can prove quite the challenge since athletics isn’t the only sport I play, however having the track on our doorstep this year has been excellent for training, making it a lot easier to train and less time consuming. I try and set aside certain days where I train and work, and the odd day to relax. I get asked a lot how do I fit everything in and I think it’s just having done a lot from a young age, I’ve always been able to prioritise well and I think that has transferred into balancing academics and training along with the social side of things.
SPORT
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 25 YORK
OUTDOOR ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS The University of York Athletics team will compete in BUCS from the 30th April - 2nd May at the Bedford International Stadium By Lauren Malcharek
Jordanna Morrish: High Jump PB- 1.79
Age started- 13 Do you do anything different from your usual training routine to prepare for BUCS?- My training is a bit lighter – I do more plyometrics and reactive work rather than circuits, and I try to fit in some more technical work. Do you have a particular routine that you do on the day of your competition? – On the day I tend to blank everyone in the morning, I’m really anti-social. About half an hour before I start warming up I’ll just sit and listen to music and zone out so I don’t get too nervous and I’ll only eat certain foods because I get really superstitious and I’m convinced some foods make me jump higher. If I’m competing late in the day I’ll usually have cornflakes for breakfast, then a banana at lunch and then nothing else until I’ve jumped (then eat loads because I’m starving!). If I’m competing in the morning I’ll have some cereal and breakfast bars really early, essential-
Sarah Parsons: Discus
PB – 44.00m
What age did you start competing? – Started in secondary school doing school then club, then county and then national competitions. Originally I was a shot putter who gave discus and then hammer throw a go. I competed for all three events, with the occasional javelin throw, but after moving to train with Paul Wilson 5 years ago I have specialised in discus but do an indoor shot putt competition from time to time to break up the winter training. Paul is a great coach and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. Do you do anything different from your usual training routine to prepare for BUCS? – BUCS is usually one of the first competitions of the season for me so I will change my weights training to more speed work, I will focus more on my power and my weights sessions to increase my strength will be faster and
more explosive. It’s still very early in the season for me with the UKs not until late June, and English Championships aren’t until the end of July so for me BUCS is a starting point to build from for the season.
Do you have any particular routine you do on your competition day? – I eat at least 2 hours before my competition and snack on bananas and flapjack if I get hungry to make sure I don’t feel sick or too full by the time I’m competing. I like to get to my completion early so I can register, weigh in my discus and get a feel for the track if it is a new location to me. I like assess the throwing circle if I can because each one is different, they can be faster or slower, to this I will then choose my pair of throwing shoes as like the circle, each pair gives a different performance. What are you hoping to achieve from BUCS? – It’s my final year at university so I would really like to get a medal,
but all I want to do is go and throw like I have been in training and the distances will take care of themselves. How do you balance the academic and social side of university with your training? – Training actually gives me a structure and makes me more motivated to do things. It definitely makes me more organised and it’s usually a good stress relief. I plan ahead and make sure I have enough time to complete everything I have committed to.
ly just really light simple foods and snacks depending on what’s available where I’m staying. What are your feelings on completion day? – I’m usually really nervous but in a positive way, I always look forward to it but I’m just dead focused on making sure I’m warming up correctly and not over or under thinking the technical stuff. What are you hoping to achieve from BUCS? – I’d like to improve or equal my third place placing last year, so I’d really like a medal. I’ve had some injury problems over the last few months so it really could be hit or miss, I’d be happy with a just a solid injury-free performance even if I don’t medal. How do you balance the academic and social side of university with your training? – It can be really difficult but I don’t drink which means I can go out without it affecting training or getting hangovers and I just make sure I’m productive in my spare time so I don’t get behind on work.
26 Vısıon YORK
ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
STOP PRESS
WE’RE ALREADY WINNING ROSES
YORK LANCASTER
THE STORY OF 2015
9 3
IMPRESSIVE WIN WILL SPUR YORK ON Trophy... A well deserved drink after rowing to victories BY RAJUN MANN YORK LEAD Roses ahead of this weekend after victories in the Roses rowing fixtures this year with a 9-3 victory over Lancaster. Although not a whitewash like last year, the University of York Boat Club have given York the early advantage in the Roses Tournament. There were wins for Novice Women’s crews, Senior Women crews, Novice Men’s 8s crews and Senior Men’s 4s. The victory is a major achievement for the Boat Club given how bad river conditions have been this year. The high water levels have meant that squads haven’t been able to row regularly, limiting the amount of water sessions the squads have had this year compared to last. Nevertheless, Saturday’s victory is a strong example of the quality of the Boat Club, and a vindication of the hard work that has been put in even with these setbacks. Senior Men’s Captain Chris Cummings said: “The Roses win was a good one for the club against what turned out to be a strong Lancaster opposition. “Particular congratulations go to the women’s squad, who were victorious in all of their races and who repaid much of their hard work in the year to date.” The Roses win is a major positive for the University Boat Club and will give the crews motivation to perform well in the upcoming BUCS Regatta this weekend.
BY RAJUN MANN SPORTS EDITOR THE ROSES success of last year gives hope to many University of York sports teams for another successful Roses campaign. The University of York’s 225.5 points to Lancaster’s 139.5 highlighted a definitive victory for York, extending a 30 year winning home streak. Last year’s event was a home Roses and a brilliantly successful event, with many spectators coming to support their universities or to enjoy the various cultural events occurring across campus. The opening night last year was a sold out Fight Night event in Central Hall. In addition to this there was an interview with Roy Hodgson after the event which encouraged many spectators to attend and support the university. Some of the major successes were in Rugby and Rowing with the Women’s Rugby team achieving a Roses whitewash with three wins out of three in Rugby 7s. In each game York was untroubled by Lancaster, showing their superior quality to pull away and claim a comfortable victory in Rugby 7s, securing four valuable roses points. The University of York Boat Club will be looking for similar achievements this year to follow up their domination over Lancaster last year. The senior and novice squads achieved victories in both 8s
and 4s competitions. Although there has been a lot of change in personnel for both squads, the high quality performance in the BUCS Head shows positive signs for the Boat Club ahead of this weekend. Rugby and Rowing are two of the must-see
across both indoor and outdoor fixtures, the highlight being the 12-0 victory of the UYHC Mens 2nds who dominated their match with excellent passing and movement. The Lancaster University Hockey Club was clearly not up to standards and
sports at Roses. The UYAFC Men’s 1st will looking to develop on their 0-0 draw in last year’s opening match. Despite a brilliant performance by the men’s 1sts they were unable to achieve what would have been a well-deserved victory. However, they will be able to build on the experience gained from playing last year and have the added benefit of Lancaster 1sts having a poor season losing 5 out of 10 matches. The UYHC performed extremely well in last year’s competition with wins and draws
were always set for a thumping. Many hope that this trend will be maintained and gives UYHC motivation to go for a Roses whitewash. Women’s University of York Lacrosse will be confident ahead of Roses 2016 after their thumping of Lancaster in 2015. York won by 17-2 in a sport which has been a regular source of points for the White Rose in the past few years. York won both the men’s and women’s swimming event at last year’s Roses, with respective scores of 77-61 and
78-62. It was a dominant performance from the White Rose, with new club records being set for the 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and 4x50m Freestyle Race. It was an impressive display from the White Rose, with both teams looking in imperious form throughout. In truth, the victory was never in doubt. York Centurions will be hoping for a successful campaign at Roses after losing last year to Lancaster Bombers. However, the American football team have had a winning season whereas their Lancaster counterpart have had a difficult year since Roses 2015. They will be looking to get every player to their peak to dominate in their fixture against Lancaster. In addition to these field sports, many fringe events will also be taking place over this coming Roses weekend. These include events such as eSports which will be contested for points for the first time at this year’s Roses competitin. Although eSports has featured in previous Roses events, it has never been contested for points. This is a major success following the anger of many competitors and spectators that the sport was not weighted last year. On the whole there are high expectations going into this year’s Roses tournament after the great success of last year. Good luck to all those who are competing and may York be victorious once again, as after all - Roses are white!
ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 27 YORK
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
“YORK WILL REIGN VICTORIOUS” ”Push for women in sport is so important,” YUSU sport supremo tells York Vision BY RAJUN MANN & LAUREN MALCHAREK WITH EUROPE’S largest varsity fast approaching Grace Clarke has all the answers. What impact do you think the success of Varsity will have on Roses? “In regards to Varsity I think its safe to say we probably weren’t expecting to win so thats really exciting going forward, I think a lot of the teams have got a little bit more confidence, training is going really well for a lot of teams, and I think the fact that we can beat a university like Durham that have such strong established college sport system really puts us into really good stead for smashing Lancaster.” Do you think we’ll be at a disadvantage competing away from York this year? “I think there is always that stigma that when you’re away that we don’t necessarily win but I’ve got huge confidence that we can do it when we’re away in Lancaster. So we’re trying to promote Roses this year as not just for players but also for spectators as I think this is what makes the key difference, I remember playing in a match a couple of years ago when I was playing for netball and it does make a massive difference having that York crowd there. I wouldn’t necessarily say a disadvantage, I’d actually say it’s an advantage as we’ll hopefully have all the crowds behind us coming down from York.” What got you into sport? I’ve got a family who are extremely sporty and so I’ve always grown up with sport. The Pre-
mier League was on every single weekend on Saturday without a doubt, match of the day always on Saturday and Sunday morning, my dad driving me around to all my sporting events. I was very lucky to have a family who love sport and its always surrounded me. What is your must see Roses event? “I’d obviously say women’s football, so if you want to see us really beat Lancaster then that’s definitely one to watch. Also, go and watch some of the newer sports that you might not have watched before such as FragSoc, darts on a Saturday night is always fantastic and so, so fun.” Following on from that, do you have a favourite fringe sport at Roses? “Fencing is such an exciting one to watch, and again like I said darts. Try and get down to the pool because water polo is always so exciting. If you fancy something different chess is competing this year. But darts on the Saturday night has got to be my favourite.” What was it like organising the largest Varsity in Europe? “Its been really exciting, one of the main benefits is that I get on really well with my equivalent in Lancaster, we’ve had about 6/7 meetings, including some on Skype some over the phone, you get to meet all the different sports clubs that are involved everyone is so passionate about Roses. There’s a lot more to think about than you originally thought, its not just one tournament of sport we’re trying to get all the social events - we have a social hub this year in one of the bars in
Victory... This was Grace after we won Varsity earlier this year
Lancaster which is going to be a York only hub, we’ve got to make sure everyone gets the transport to Lancaster okay we have to get the design of the t-shirts right so theres massive amounts of organisation. It isn’t just me, there’s tournament secretaries such as Annie upstairs, so its a huge team effort but its really fun.” How far in advance do you have to start the planning for Roses? “At the start of last Summer we’d already be thinking about Roses and then we had our first meeting in October with Lancaster so it goes all through the year and at this stage its mainly all last minute things that need sorting out, most of the main things had already been confirmed before Christmas.” Now that we’ve found the body of Richard III the last Yorkist King of England, how do you think this will help the pride of the competing students from York? “This is a good one, being a History student I should be able to give a good answer, I think the history of the whole competition is so important and its also really exciting that we’ve got this inter-Varsity tournament that a lot of other universities don’t have so it gives us a huge benefit, I think York is definitely going to reign victorious throughout. I was reading about the history of it and I don’t think we actually won the original battle of the Roses but I think we can bring that back this year and I’m hugely confident that our bit of history is really going to help push us over the line for the win.” How has the theme of women in
sport for Roses been manifested? “I think a big push for women in sport is so important. I was reading quite a lot over the weekend because I was on a panel on Friday about women in sport and the barriers that women face and I hadn’t really realised the difference with women sport on TV and the statistics that back it up, you kind of think a lot has changed but there is still a long way to go and I think having women’s football as the opening ceremony and having Saturday as a female only sport day is just a fantastic showcase of women in sport. I think it can only manifest into what we’re going to do next year with a bigger push, I’m working really closely with the women’s officers on various different projects such as transgender swim gear hopefully in York sport and different discussions on maybe women’s only swim sessions, hopefully this will pave the way for the future.” Where do you see university sport heading in the future? “The statistics are huge for how many university students actually make up the GB team, its a great way to showcase people playing sport at that elite level against other universities. Sport gives you endless skills which are great for careers such as teamwork and leadership and university is a perfect place to start, university is one of those places unlike the real world where everyone should have equal opportunities and it should be inclusive to everyone and thats how we should be progressing forward making sure everyone has the opportunity to compete in different sports at all levels.”
28 Vısıon YORK
ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
ON THE WEBSITE
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
ON TWITTER
See all the scores from every event as they come in
Follow us at @YorkVision and tweet with #Roses2016
LIVE UPDATES EVERY DAY We’re liveblogging every day of Roses so you never miss a beat
Your Complete Guide To Roses FRIDAY FIXTURES
SCH1 SCH1 WCC LCC LCC SCH1 EWCP EWCP FP1 FP1 FP1 S SCH2 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 SCH1 ONC
09:00 09:00 10:00 10:00 17:00 11:00 10:30 10:30 13:00 13:00 15:00 18:00 09:30 16:30 19:45 20:15 20:45 12:45 13:35 14:25 15:15 11:30
ONC
13:45
ONC LCB LCB LCB RP2 RP2 RP2 RSC RSC
14:45 14:00 18:00 18:00 12:00 13:00 14:30 14:00 14:00
RSC RSC SCH2 SCH2 TC TC SCH2 SCH1
14:00 14:00 16:30 16:30 11:00 11:00 16:30 17:50
Badminton, Men’s 2nds - 2 Badminton, Mixed - 1 Cricket, Women’s 1st - 4 Cricket, Men’s 1st - 4 Cricket, Men’s 3rd 20/20 - 1 Disability Sport - Goalball, Open - 0 Equestrian, 1sts - 4 Equestrian, 2nds - 2 Football, Men’s 2nds - 2 Football, Women’s 2nd - 0 Football, Men’s 1sts - 4 Football, Women’s 1sts - 4 Futsal, Men’s - 4 Handball, Men’s - 4 Indoor Frisbee, Men’s - 2 Indoor Frisbee, Women’s - 2 Indoor Frisbee, Mixed - 1 Indoor Hockey, Men’s 2nds - 1 Indoor Hockey, Women’s 2nds - 1 Indoor Hockey, Women’s 1sts - 1 Indoor Hockey, Men’s 1sts - 1 Netball, College League B Winners - 1 Netball, College League A Winners - 1 Netball, College Select - 1 Pool, Open 2nds - 2 Pool, Women - 4 Pool, Men - 4 Rugby Union 7s, Women’s 2nds - 1 Rugby Union 7s, Women’s 1sts - 2 Rugby League, Men’s 1st - 4 Snow Sports, Skiing Mixed 1sts - 4 Snow Sports, Snowboard Giant Slalom - 2 Snow Sports, Ski Giant Slalom - 2 Snow Sports, Snowboard - 4 Table Tennis, Mixed 2nds - 2 Table Tennis, Mixed 1sts - 4 Tennis, Men’s 2nds - 2 Tennis, Mixed - 2 Trampoline, Mixed - 4 Volleyball, Mixed
Locations
A = Astro B = Bowland BG = Bowling Green BNSR = Bowland North Seminar Room BSC = Bolton Sailing Club CB = County Bar CC = Cavendish Colloquim CW = Climbing Wall C&L = Campus & Locality DS = Dance Studio EWCP = Eccleston Equestrain Centre, Preston FLT = Furness Lecture Theatre FP = Football Pitch G = Garstang GA = Grass Area GH = Great Hall
KSS = Kelbrook Shooting School LCB = Lonsdale College Bar LCC = Lancaster Cricket Club LGC = Lancaster Golf Club ONC = Outdoor Netball Courts RLP = Rugby League Pitch RP = Rugby Pitch RSC = Rosendale Ski Centre S = Stadium SASC = Salt Ayre Sports Centre SC = Sports Centre SCH = Sports Centre Hall SP = Swimming Pool Sq = Squires SqC = Squash Courts TC = Tennis Courts WCC = Westgate Cricket Club
SATURDAY FIXTURES RLP RP2 RP2 RP2 RP2 RP2 RP2 SCH2 SCH1 LICA BNSR KSS CW CW
13:00 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 09:00 16:00 11:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00
CW
12:00
CW
12:00
GH CB GH GH CC B SR1& B SR24 SCH1 FP2
11:00 13:00 16:00 20:00 11:00 10:00 09:00 11:00
FP1 FP1
11:00 13:45
FP2 FP1 SCH1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 DS GA GA ONC SCH1 FLT LICA C&L C&L S BSC BSC Sq SP SP SqC SqC SqC SqC TC SCH 1 SP SP
13:45 16:30 20:15 09:20 10:40 12:00 13:30 14:40 16:00 14:00 11:30 14:00 15:00 18:15 12:00 16:00 13:00 14:00 14:00 10:00 10:00 10:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00 15;00 15:00 12:00 13:20 17:45 19:15
American Football, 1sts - 4 Archery, Senior Male - 1 Archery, Senior Female - 1 Archery, Novice Male - 1 Archery, Novice Female - 1 Archery, Senior Team Mixed - 4 Archery, Novice Team Mixed - 2 Badminton, Women’s 1sts - 4 Basketball, Women’s - 4 Cheerleading, Open - 4 Chess, 1sts - 4 Clay Pigeon Shooting, Open - 4 Climbing, Lead Team Men - 2 Climbing, Lead Individual Men - 1 Climbing, Lead Team Women - 2 Climbing, Lead Individual Women - 1 Dancesport - 4 Darts, Open 2nds - 2 Darts, Women’s - 4 Darts, Men’s - 4 Debating, Open - 4 eSports, Open - 4 Fencing, Women’s - 4 Football, College B League Winners - 1 Football, College Select - 1 Football, College A League Winners - 1 Football, Fylde A - 0 Football, Postgrad - 0 Handball, Women’s - 4 Hockey, Men’s 3rds - 1 Hockey, Men’s 2nds - 2 Hockey, Women’s 3rds - 1 Hockey, Women’s 2nds - 2 Hockey, Men’s 1sts - 4 Hockey, Women’s 1sts - 4 Karate, Men’s & Women’s - 4 Lacrosse, Men’s - 4 Lacrosse, Women’s - 4 Netball, Post Graduate - 0 Netball, 1sts - 4 Pokemon, 1st team - 0 Pole Fitness, Mixed Ability - 4 Running, Women’s 8K - 4 Running, Men’s 10.25K - 4 Rugby Union, Women’s 1st - 4 Sailing, Mixed 1st - 4 Sailing, Mixed 2nd - 2 Snooker, Open - 4 Swimming, Women’s - 4 Swimming, Men’s - 4 Squash, Men’s 3rds - 1 Squash, Men’s 1sts - 4 Squash, Men’s 2nd - 2 Squash, Women’s - 4 Tennis, Women’s - 4 Volleyball, Women’s - 4 Water Polo, Women’s - 4 Water Polo, Men’s - 4
SUNDAY FIXTURES
SCH1 SCH1 GH SCH1 SCH1 G G SP SP CW CW CW CW BG
SASC SASC LICA LICA LGC DS GA SCH2 SCH2 S S S TC FP1 FP1 CB SP SC2
11:45 Badminton, Men’s 1sts - 4 11:45 Badminton, Women’s 2nds - 2 10:00 Ballroom Dancing, - 4 Beginners/Advanced Ballroom&Latin 09:30 Basketball, Men’s 2nds - 0 15:00 Basketball, Men’s 1sts - 4 10:00 Canoe Slalom,Men’s - 4 10:00 Canoe Slalom, Women’s - 4 14:15 Canoe Polo, Open - 4 15:00 Canoe Polo, Women’s - 4 11:00 Climbing, Individual Male A - 1 11:00 Climbing, Individual Female A-1 11:00 Climbing, Bouldering Men’s Team - 4 11:00 Climbing, Bouldering Women’s Team -4 14:00 Crown Green Bowls, VC’s and Union Presidents - 0 13:00 Cycling, Circuit Race - 4 15:00 Cycling, Mountain Biking - 4 10:00 Fencing, Men’s 2nds - 2 13:00 Fencing, Men’s 1sts - 4 14:30 Golf, Open - 0 10:00 Kendo, Mixed - 4 14:00 Lacrosse, Mixed - 2 11:00 Netball, 3rds - 1 13:00 Netball, 2nds - 2 12:00 Rugby Union, Men’s 3rds - 1 13:45 Rugby Union, Men’s 2nds - 2 16:00 Rugby Union, Men’s 1sts - 4 10:30 Tennis, Men’s - 4 11:30 Ultimate Frisbee, Outdoor Men’s - 4 13:30 Ultimate Frisbee, Outdoor Mixed - 4 12:00 University Challenge, Open - 4 12:30 Underwater Hockey, Open - 0 15:05 Volleyball, Men’s - 4
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ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
Vısıon 29 YORK
AS THE WEEKEND APPROACHES...
TEAM YORK PREPARES TO KEEP ROSES WHITE BY LAUREN MALCHAREK AND TOM BUTLER-ROBERTS
CHEERLEADING
YORK’S CHEERLEADERS went to three competitions this year with their two cheerleading squads (Black & Gold), three group stunt squads (Queen Bees, Stingers and PITA) and three dance squads (Pom, Jazz and Hip Hop). Fantastically, Pom Squad and Stingers Group Stunt won the British Cheerleading Association University Nationals and Stingers also won Grand Champions at the Future Cheer Circus Spectacular. Cheerleading was added to Roses for the first time last year, in which York triumphed, but this year is the first year that points are on the line. They are hopeful to be able to continue the winning streak and bring home the points for York.
DARTS UNIVERSITY OF York Darts Club hold high expectations after having successful practice sessions in the lead up to Roses. They have had a huge boost after having both teams qualify; the firsts are currently settled at the top position of their respective league (NEUDL) and the second team are 4th. The women’s teams are holding their own ground and competing very well with the mens team. Although having a year seemingly filled with success Lancaster cast a shadow of doubt over the victory lusted after by York as they have equally strong teams, however they are still gunning for the win.
CRICKET
A SPATE of poor weather has left the University’s cricket club with only one pre-BUCS season fixture of practice in hand between the three teams, says player Adam McAuley. He said: “Maybe we lack a bit of match practice but the lads have put in a lot of hard work throughout winter with our new coach Ruan Louw, a highly credentialed coach we’ve found from Yorkshire County Cricket Club.” The boys are confident however that they will continue form following last Roses’s white-rose-washing of the field leaving the away side down 111 runs. The seconds team are set to begin proceedings on Thursday, the first game of the weekend. McAuley encouraged spectators to come down and show their support, adding: “Each game will undoubtedly be entertaining, making for an enthusing spectacle and an ideal opportunity to enjoy a few beers in what hopefully will be the start of our long anticipated northern summer.”
FOOTBALL ENJOYING GOOD form at home, the University’s firsts team has seen less glory on the away pitch, seeing poor results from fixtures against those at the bottom of the league. However, the team has had a vigorous training regime in the run-up to Roses, with the team practising their game at 22 Acres every day for the past two weeks. Last year saw two wins and a draw, and players are hopeful they will be able to repeat their stellar performance.
BADMINTON
BADMINTON TEAMS at York have gone from strength to strength with both the men’s and ladies teams being promoted, with the Men’s A’s also enjoying an unbeaten season. Roses only consists of doubles and mixed badminton matches, so training has been adjusted accordingly in order to face an improved Lancaster side which also saw their Men’s firsts promoted to Division 1. Player Alex Ingham rose to the challenge, saying: “It’s going to be more difficult than last year but we have prepared well so hopefully we just perform on the day.” York triumphed at home last year, taking home the gold for mixed ladies’ doubles and men’s doubles.
E-SPORTS SINCE THE first day after Roses 2015, FragSoc players have been relentless in their training. The time and effort has paid off with some of their highest achieving members coming in the top 8 last summer in the largest competition in the UK. They have held a strong online presence in the National University eSports League. This year FragSoc only have eyes for the win at Roses 2016, being driven forward by the new found recognition eSports has been given this year as they are now able to gain official tournament points like all the other competing sports.
30 Vısıon YORK
ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
THE HISTORY 1965 The first ever OF Roses is a
ROSES
BY PAUL WACE EVERY YEAR, hundreds of thousands of faces huddle together along the banks of the Thames to see which group of spandex-clad Oxbridge students sinks first. While the boat race may be the most recognisable staple of British student sport, by the standards of Roses, it has barely even caught on. The Ouse was the venue for a similar race between York and Lancaster in 1965. That affair, organised by the York vice-chancellor, was just the beginning of what has now become the largest inter-university sports tournament in the whole of Europe. The story of Roses really begins in the dynastic 15th century Wars of the Roses, where blood-feuding royals settled a sizable family matter. York will doubtless be hoping for a better outcome than Richard III. Book and show fans alike will be keen to note the conflict that inspired Roses is also behind Game of Thrones, and across the weekend YSTV will be broadcasting similar gut-wrenching, merciless and possibly bloody struggles from across Lancaster’s grounds. Roses is a massive event, less a tournament and more a festival. Organisers promise to “bring the entire campus to life” with music across nine different stages. But sport is the reason everyone will be there. Teams will play in nearly 130 fixtures across three days. The opening ceremony on Friday night will celebrate women in sport as the York Women’s Football 1sts head off the Lancaster team. “I’m definitely looking forward to the game and the atmosphere,” explains captain Alisha Miallr. “There will be a lot of people there – all the support is going to be incredible!” The imperative for York this year will be to avoid being intimidated by playing 70 miles away in Lancaster. That the majority of fans will cheer on the opposition will be as challenging as sleeping on lecture theatre floors. Ultimately the competition will come down to the mindset of York teams, who are cautiously confident in the face of their opponents. “By creating a high standard of practice the Centurions will be organised and well drilled and ready to lay down some pain,” the American football team
boat race on the Ouse, proposed by the York vice-chancellor.
1968
York win every event on Sunday, but tragically lose overall by just two points. Squash features for the first time.
1978
Students start taking the tournament seriously after York win an historic victory to end a six year loss streak.
1990
York beaten 170-68 in a landslide Lancs win. Their sport union prez boasts: “We thumped them.” Future York sport prez Duncan McGraw sent off for dissent in Football 2nds.
THE CENTURIES OLD CONFLICT THAT MAKES WARRIORS OF YORK ATHLETES Why York teams should not be put off by playing Roses away
say. But it will be “an inevitably physical and hard hitting game.” A home advantage has always been very important at Roses, but York have won away four times in the past. In 1976, keen to prove it could be done, York claimed an extraordinary victory in Lancaster to bring the trophy home after losing six years in a row. We won there again most recently in 2008. It is daunting that the Roses represents the next fight in a
Rugby... the closest teams will come to actual war
conflict that started 560 years ago. But when it comes to sport, York won the first Roses and York won the last Roses – not to mention York have won more than Lancaster in between. Regardless of the victor: from the fields of Bosworth to the pitches of Lancaster this is a massive, testing event with a history that makes warriors out of mere athletes. The London boat thing pales in comparison.
Roses trophy is not going anywhere Continued from back page The theme has been embraced by the University of York with the hashtag #ThisRosesGirlCan allowing spectators to show their
ROSES 2016
Tuesday April 26, 2016
1993
York win at home, the latest victory in a three-year streak. This also continued the massive streak of home wins, which continues to this day.
1996
A massive defeat for York at Roses - we lose 170.5-60.5. A staggering 15 teams didn’t even show up, largely because a YUSU anti-fascist rally was scheduled for the same weekend.
2000
Streakers disrupt a match on Lancaster’s main sports field.
2008
York win by the smallest margin in the m0dern era of Roses, with the final score coming in at 124122. Lancaster’s dreams were dashed by a last minute equaliser in the Men’s Hockey 1sts match.
2015
Vısıon 31 YORK
York win 186-89 extending their home streak to more than thirty years long.
GIRL POWER BY LAUREN MALCHAREK SPORTS EDITOR
Highlights... Roses will this year have over 120 events
support for female athletes. Unfortunately this year Roses is scheduled on the same weekend as the BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championship, which may hinder our chances in some athletics events. Nevertheless, Lancaster will also be at a disadvantage because of this mismanagement. At the moment York possess 26 Roses victories to Lancaster 24, with only one draw ever oc-
curring in the tournament in 1974. However, in the past few years the host university has been victorious, so York sports teams will need to be on top form in order to have a successful campaign this year. Spectators for this year’s Roses tournament are encouraged to attend a variety of events across the weekend. Other than the sporting events the Roses spirit will be kept alive late into
the night at the Sugarhouse nightclub. In addition to this there will be a Roses Colour Run on Sunday morning which is open to all community members as well as Roses Fest, a performing arts spectacular showcasing student performers. Let’s hope that this year’s tournament is as eventful and exciting as last year’s, and York victory keeps Roses white.
THIS YEAR Roses is promoting a special campaign to celebrate women in sport. The largest inter-university sports competition in Europe is just around the corner, conflict is rife over the weekend, but one thing York and Lancaster can come together for is the promotion of #ThisRosesGirlCan. The theme of the weekend plunges women’s sport into the spotlight of the competition. The opening ceremony on Friday 29th will be opened by the women’s 1st football teams going head to head in a battle that is not to be missed. Having women’s football as the opening to Roses will give us a taste of what what women’s sport has to offer over the coming weekend. UYWAFC President Sophie Jermy showed her delight about the release of the theme, saying: “UYWAFC are so proud to represent not only York but women’s sport and specifically women’s football at Roses in the opening ceremony. “It is great to see that women’s sport is being given a platform at such a big event, and hopefully it will inspire female students to get more involved in sport. Often women’s sport are underrepresented and we are grateful that we have been given this opportunity to show that women’s sport deserves more recognition. “For us in particular, with
the growing popularity and coverage of women’s football after the World Cup last summer, we’re hoping that everyone will get a chance to see just how good women’s football can be.” She also explained the clubs growing success: “We’ve had an incredible past two seasons, with the introduction of the 2nd team and the 1st team winning back to back promotions. We’ve been training hard with our amazing coach, Sam Gevaux, who has had a massive impact this year. We have become a more professional club under his leadership, and will look to reflect that in our opening ceremony performance. “Both of our squads are looking strong and everyone is looking forward to showing what we can do in what is the biggest game in UYWAFC history. Having said that, we will not let the occasion get to us and will just continue to play football to the same high standards we have set for ourselves this season, and hopefully will help to give York a winning start to the weekend.” The campaign is set to to raise awareness of the gender gap that we are exposed to in sport and give women the confidence to participate in all sport’s at all levels of competition. The massive efforts of inclusivity promoted by York sports clubs alongside of This Roses Girl Can may give us the edge of securing the victory for another year and keeping the Carter James trophy at its current settling in York.
yorkvision.co.uk/roses
ısıon VSport YORK
ROSES 2016
YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE WEEKEND “York won the first Roses, the last Roses, and more inbetween...”
“The push for women in sport is so important...”
INSIDE THE FIGHT FOR THE TROPHY P30-31
GRACE CLARKE INTERVIEWED P27
York already winning in Roses after rowing Sport prez Grace: We will ‘beat up Lancaster’
IT’S NOT GOING
ANYWHERE BY RAJUN MANN SPORTS EDITOR YORK TEAMS will head to Lancaster this weekend, spurred on by their landslide victory last year, to try and win Roses away for the first time in eight years. The phenomenal home win in 2015 saw York achieve more than 200 points, a record in the competition. Our athletes lifted the Carter James trophy, and came home with an incredible 225.5 points. The three-day Roses tournament is the largest varsity of its kind in all of Europe, and alternates between the York and Lancaster campuses each year. It takes its name from the War of the Roses, between the house of York and house of Lan-
caster. Extra pride is at stake this year with the reinterment of King Richard the III, the last Yorkist King of England, in 2015. YUSU and LUSU have taken months to prepare for Roses to ensure the event is of the highest standard so teams can compete to the best of their ability, without the worries of accommodation and transport. The first varsity was held on the 15th May 1965 and was a Boat Race between the two universities. However, the competition now hosts hundreds of athletes across a variety of sports. York are already ahead in Roses today: with nine points to Lancaster’s three after a series of
wins in rowing on Saturday. The victory is a major achievement for the Boat Club given how bad river conditions have been this year. Live coverage will be available by a joint collaboration between the two university television stations, YSTV and LA1TV, and the two student radio stations, Bailrigg FM and University Radio York. Women’s football will open the tournament to highlight this year’s theme, women in sport. This is the first time a women’s event has ever opened the Roses tournament, and demonstrates a wider push for women’s sport by YUSU. Continued on page 30
COMPLETE ROSES COVERAGE: PAGES 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 & 31