Wessex Scene Migration Issue by Wessex Scene

EDITO R Charlotte Colombo editor@wessexscene.ac.uk DEPUTY EDITOR/ TRAVEL CARETAKER Megan Crossman deputy-editor@wessexscene.co.uk H EAD O F PRI NT DES I G N Sop hie Pea ch design@wessexscene.co.uk H EAD O F I MAGERY N ina Panno ne image@wessexscene.co.uk WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER K ayleigh Littlemo re HEAD OF OUTREACH Simran Mann publicity@wessexscene.co.uk H EAD O F EVENTS Nathaniel Oluwadamilola Ogunniyi events@wessexscene.co.uk SUB-EDITORS Hazel Jonckers

AROUND THE WORLD IN 36 PAGES Have you ever sat in a really dead lecture and seminar, wishing that you were somewhere else? If so, it’s your lucky day: this magazine is all about migration, travel and freedom of movement. When considering the issues surrounding migration, it is important to understand that migration is a very broad term that covers a whole manner of things. It can concern refugees fleeing from war-torn countries, illegal immigrants risking their lives to escape the tyranny of their home government; but equally, migration can describe anyone who is looking to make a better life for themselves overseas. Or it might not even be about making a ‘better life’. Maybe they just wanted a change or fell in love with a certain culture.

Gaby PulestonVaudrey

All in all, the problem with migration is that people fail to consider how multi-faceted and complex the issue is, and this is something that this magazine tries to combat.

Jordan Truong FE ATURES EDITO R B e t h A blett features@wessexscene.co.uk CREATIVE WRITING EX E CUTIVE T illy Ro ber ts features@wessexscene.co.uk OPINI O N EDI TO R Linnea Lagerstedt opinion@wessexscene.co.uk

Every picture drawn and article written by our dedicated team of student volunteers is done with the purpose of showing you the many faces of migration. We have personal accounts, profiles on some local refugee initiatives and, of course, our favourite topic: Brexit. Although certain political rhetoric might tell us different, migration isn’t a dirty word. It never has been and never should be. Without migration, half the world would be undiscovered and we would never have had the opportunity to even know about other cultures, let alone experience it.

POLITICS EDITO R Patrick Lowe politics@wessexscene.co.uk

So, let’s all celebrate and raise awareness of migration together and try to combat all the hate, hostility and misconceptions about it.

SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR Lea S o ler science@wessexscene.co.uk

Your editor,

LIFESTYLE EDI TO R Marco Preta ra lifestyle@wessex sce ne .c o .uk IN T ERNA TIO NAL E D I TO R H e n ry S ha h international@wessexscene.co.uk

CHARLOTTE COLOMBO Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this magazine belong to each author alone - Wessex Scene is a neutral publication which aims to publish views from across the student body. To respond with an opposing opinion, please contact opinion@wessexscene.co.uk or join our Opinion Writers’ Group.

T RAVEL EDI TO R Amy Penn travel@wessexscene.co.uk SPOR TS EDITO R Luke Ebbs sport@wessexscene.co.uk PAU SE EDITO R Tom Ford pause@wessexscene.co.uk N EWS & INVESTIGA TI O N S news/investigations@ wessexscene.co.uk

Kenny Field

Ben Dolbear

Imy Brighty-Potts

FRONT COVER IMAGE BY Shannon Whitelock

FEATURES FOR I AM MY MOTHER 04 LOCAL ADVOCACY: THE CLEAR 06 PROJECT

OPINION 09 IMMIGRATION IS A BENEFIT TO THE RECIEVING COUNTRY

SOCIETY SPOTLIGHT: STAR 07 SOUTHAMPTON

10 MIGRATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT

POLITICS MEDIA BIAS: IMMIGRATION 13

SCIENCE & TECH 16 “FOR THE GREATEST BENEFIT TO HUMANKIND” 18 ACADEMICS AGAINST BORDERS: THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF SCIENCE

HOW GLOBAL IMMIGRATION WILL 14 THRIVE AFTER BREXIT 15 POLITICAL PROFILES: LESBIAN AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MIGRANTS

LIFESTYLE BEYOND BRANDING: FASHION 20 FIGHTING XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM

INTERNATIONAL 25 THE REALITIES OF AUSTRALIA’S MIGRATION POLICY 27 A SECOND WINDRUSH SCANDAL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER FOR EU NATIONALS 28 APPLYING FOR THE POST BREXIT EU SETTLEMENT SCHEME

SPORT

32 FROM FEARFUL BEGINNINGS TO THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

HOW SOUTH ASIA MIGRATION BUILT 22 BRITAIN

TRAVEL WHEN TOURISM MEETS 29 VOLUNTOURISM: MAKING A DIFFERENCE ON A BUDGET ‘IMMIGRANTS’ OR ‘EXPATS’? 30 NOT IMMIGRANTS LIKE YOU! 31

PAUSE AN IDIOT ABROAD: HOW TO BE 34 BRITISH ON HOLIDAY 35 HOW TO BE A GOOD BRIT

W ESSEX SCENE. CO . UK @ W ES S E XS CE NE

F B . C OM / W S C E N E @OF F IC IAL W E S S E X S C E N E 3

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For I Am ‘For I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.’ – Mary McLeod Bethune. I moved to the United Kingdom from Zimbabwe when I was 6 years old. I have a vague recollection of the day my brothers and I arrived in the UK. I remember being in a busy train station, possibly Victoria station, and looking up to see a grey sky. Whenever I revisit that memory, I always have a feeling of dread washing over me. The sky seemed to be reflecting the life to come. Gone were my clear blue skies and blistering heatwaves; I was drenched in rain and sadness. I did not want to come here, but, as a 6-year-old, I didn’t have much choice. My parents had decided that the state Zimbabwe was in meant it would not be a suitable place to raise their children. The economy was (and still is) in shambles, people were struggling to survive, and jobs were scarce. We had no future there - the UK was our only hope. Nonetheless, sacrifices had to be made and goodbyes were said to our family, our friends and our neighbours.

The problem with being a migrant is that you never feel like you belong anywhere. Moving to the UK was somewhat traumatic, especially with me being bullied in primary school for having a thick accent which resulted in me mispronouncing the names of my peers. I specifically remember kids mocking me because I couldn’t pronounce the name ‘Harry’ (I would say ‘Hairy’). Saying it was something I couldn’t avoid, because my class alone had at least two kids in it with that name and so, eventually, I just ended up refusing to talk, became withdrawn and was scared to speak up out of fear of making a mistake - a character trait that to this day I am trying to overcome.

For years, my mum would tell me stories about eventually residing back home. My grandparents were there, overseeing a house my mum was having built for us to return to - it took many years to build, but I never lost hope. It wasn’t until my mum told me that the house would be used as a pre-school that my dreams of returning home were shattered. Zimbabwe was no longer my home: I had outgrown it, and it in turn it had forgotten me.

Discrimination is something you cannot fully prepare your child for, but my mother tried to. She forced me to stop speaking our mother tongue Shona, in an attempt to get me to learn English faster and get rid of my accent. Additionally, she would allow me and my brothers to watch as many cartoons as we wanted so that we would learn more English outside of school, since my parents didn’t have time to be taking us to extra-curricular activities. At the time, I loved the excess TV. SpongeBob was my favourite show, however looking back it didn’t help that all of the shows we chose to watch were American, as this meant our accents came out very weird and led to the nightmare that was remembering to use UK spelling and terminology instead of US. Given the US’s influence in Zimbabwe, I would still be using US-English, and therefore I would still be spelling ‘mom’ the way I do now - to the disdain of people who have nothing better to do than correct me about it.

Growing up, my mum made the effort to ensure we never forgot our roots. When she wasn’t at work, she would sometimes blast the CDs she kept of Zimbabwean music - music I’ve recognised from time to time in Nando’s restaurants, which always brings a wave of nostalgia. We have been back to Zimbabwe a few times on family holidays, and for me they were opportunities to reconnect with family and feel at home. However, the longer I have lived in the UK, the less Zimbabwe feels like home.

Whilst cartoon lessons in English were effective, they resulted in me losing my proficiency in my native language. Now, whenever I do return to Zimbabwe, I am too embarrassed to speak my own mother tongue because my accent no longer correlates to that required to pronounce certain words. There was an instance where I was in a shop trying to ask for help, and the workers there failed to understand what I was saying because I was too afraid to try to say it in Shona.

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FEATURES

My Mother I resent the fact that I was forced to give up so much to assimilate into a culture which I felt did not want me. I had to stop using the name my family used and go with ‘Diana’, because people refused to learn how to pronounce ‘Mako’. I was too timid to fight them on it, however my younger brother defied them all by refusing to acknowledge anyone who tried to call him ‘David’ instead of ‘Nyasha’, and to this day that is the name everyone, including strangers, uses. In my secondary school, being one of three black people in my whole year, I had a teacher who would always confuse me for the other black girls, despite us looking nothing alike and usually sitting far apart. This same teacher gave me a lecture about how I couldn’t interpret racism within literature because it was ‘okay at the time’, so therefore not racist. I remember other instances where I argued with teachers about why black celebrities should be allowed to be proud of their blackness and to celebrate it through their works, but again in these instances I was the only black person arguing in a room full of white people, and I was never listened to.

To be considered attractive you had to have a stick figure, and a thin nose and lips - things which I definitely do not have. I have curves, which have only been pushed into the limelight now that white celebrities have decided that they are attractive. I felt unwanted, and the moment I went to university and started getting attention from guys, I was confused and suspicious because I had been led to believe for so long that my looks were not attractive to anyone. Being a migrant is to be stripped of your identity in order to fit into a society which does not see your worth. Please don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to have been raised with access to some of the best education in the world, not worrying about finances and living comfortably. My goal now is to work to ensure that future migrants have better representation in this society, so that they can feel like they are living at home.

In school, having an afro just wasn’t possible, with microaggressions in the form of people constantly trying to touch my hair, or only wanting to comment on how pretty girls with long blonde hair were. Living in a majority white town made me feel unattractive; my friends who were mainly white would be dating guys who saw blackness as unattractive. Additionally, the media I consumed failed to provide positive representation for black women and girls.

WORDS BY AVILA DIANA CHIDUME IMAGES BY ANDRAE RICKETTS VIA UNSPLASH

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L O C A L A D V O C A C Y: T H E C L E A R P R O J E C T The City Life Education and Action for Refugees (CLEAR) Project was set up by the local City Life Church in 2001 as a direct response to the Government’s dispersal policy (The Immigration Act, 1999) on refugees and asylum seekers. As a result of this policy, Southampton was - and is - a dispersal city, with approximately 150 places for Home Office-assisted asylum seekers. On top of this, there are many asylum seekers and refugees who don’t have the support of the Home Office, which makes them all the more vulnerable and in need of specialist advice and support. The 150 refugees and asylum seekers in Southampton supported by the Home Office are just the tip of the iceberg. Being a refugee, and therefore having to settle in an entirely unfamiliar country, comes with several challenges. A lack of knowledge of the English language, English literacy skills and the complexities of the UK system means that they can struggle to integrate into British society. Subsequently, the purpose of the CLEAR Project is to give refugees and asylum seekers the advice, resources and guidance they need on every step of their journey into integration. Several refugee advice centres have closed down over the years, which makes the service CLEAR runs all the more vital to an unestimatable amount of refugees and asylum seekers. The CLEAR Project has two main services on offer to help refugees and asylum seekers: Advice and Learning. The Advice portion of the CLEAR Project has two sub-divisions. One of these sub-divisions is based on integration. It offers refugees and asylum seekers the support of advisors who work closely with them to help them navigate the British legal system as well as practical advice on several other matters such as budgeting, housing and how to set up bills. The second sub-division is based around improving asylum seekers and refugees employability prospects by guiding them on skills such as building a CV, applying for jobs and setting up a bank account.

Meanwhile, the Learning & Development department leads several adult learning courses to help refugees and asylum seekers become more qualified, gain transferable skills, and improve in confidence. The arguably most important course led by the CLEAR Project gives lessons on the English language, which greatly helps refugees and asylum seekers communicate. As of now, the CLEAR Project is the only organisation in Southampton operating to help refugees and asylum seekers. Mike Brown, manager of the CLEAR Project, explains in a blog post why the service CLEAR provides is so vital: In order to comply with international law, the Home Office begrudgingly provides refugees with basic shelter, a meagre subsistence and a degree of security – the base level of Maslow’s hierarchy of human need – during the asylum process. But even this basic support may be withdrawn or suspended at the whim of an immigration officer, and CLEAR advocates on behalf of those unjustly denied. An existence is not a life, so CLEAR applies itself to the higher levels of the Maslow model: belonging, social relationships, self-esteem and fulfilling true potential. It is self-evident that the English language is the most important determinant of successful integration in the UK, and ensures that refugees can take full advantage of the opportunities which their new home has to offer. That’s why CLEAR puts such an emphasis on education and, in particular, the mastery of English. You can support the CLEAR Project by donating to them or by joining their volunteer team: enabling you to help those most affected by the refugee crisis, whether directly or indirectly. To find out more about the project as well as more information on how to donate or volunteer, please visit clearproject.org.uk.

WORDS BY CHARLOTTE COLOMBO IMAGE BY THE CLEAR PROJECT 6

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FEATURES

SOCIETY SPOTLIGHT: STAR SOUTHAMPTON I don’t know about you, but as a student, I often feel as though I’m watching helplessly as the world descends into chaos and confusion. I have £3 left of my weekly budget, all I want to do is sleep or watch Netflix, yet the planet is in shambles and I want to help. But how can I, a mere student, really make a difference with such limited resources?

STAR groups are students’ union societies which are affiliated to the charity. The charity is governed by STAR’s Board of Trustees, elected annually by the students themselves.’

Those interested in volunteering have the option of getting involved through their local university or through the national office located in London. In 2016-17, STAR An issue pressing down hard on global relations is the supported over 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers through refugee crisis, which is arguably the most significant volunteering projects such as youth groups, homework humanitarian crisis that the world has faced since World clubs, English conversation clubs and drop-in centres. War Two. According to statistics by refugee charity CARE, an estimated 24 people are forced to leave their homes every Of course, there are ways other than volunteering to minute, which amounts to around 34,000 people a day. As get involved. In fact, STAR emphasises the importance of right now, over 5 million people have been forced to flee of educating the public about the refugee crisis with the conflict in Syria, which is a shocking figure in itself, but ‘clear and focused messages’, as raising awareness is a is even more heartbreaking when you consider that this crucial aspect of supporting those affected. Students are constitutes for only one conflict among numerous others extremely well-equipped to do so, with powerful tools that may result in people being forced to evacuate their such as social media at their disposal, and STAR can help homes and venture into the unknown, unwelcoming world. to guide you on how to refine your usage of these tools to create an effective result in instigating positive change. When considering ways to help refugees as a student, an obvious way would be to donate to charity. Overall, STAR provides the perfect opportunity to However, this is not a viable option for some students devote student resources to instigating positive change due to their financial situation. Furthermore, some regarding a serious humanitarian crisis within the bounds people would not be satisfied with a donation of of your capability. STAR serves as an outlet for students money alone, which is where STAR comes in. to support the millions of refugees worldwide in whatever way they can. It’s important to note that membership is STAR (Student Action for Refugees) is a student-led FREE, so contributing to the cause couldn’t be more society that forms part of the national organisation of straightforward. They are contactable by emailing the same name. They focus on helping those affected by star@soton.ac.uk. the refugee crisis in various ways, whether it be through fundraising, educating, campaigning or volunteering. WORDS BY BETH ABLETT Their SUSU profile indulges in a more detailed explanation IMAGE BY STAR SOUTHAMPTON of their work in Southampton: ‘Student Action for Refugees (STAR) works to raise awareness about and improve the lives of refugees in the UK by doing the following: Volunteer at local refugee projects; Campaign to improve the lives of refugees; Educate people about refugees and asylum; Fundraise to welcome refugees.’ According to their website, ‘STAR is made up of 50 groups at universities and colleges across the UK and a national team which co-ordinates and supports the groups.

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OPINION

immigration is a benefit to the receiving country WORDS BY LINNEA LAGERSTEDT IMAGES BY SOPHIE PERCY If you’ve read the title of this piece and know who I am, you might be thinking: isn’t that a bit biased coming from an immigrant herself? If that thought crossed your mind, you’re most certainly right, but as a matter of fact, research shows that immigration plays a key part in a flourishing society. Beyond the arguments that can - and should be made for why asylum and immigration from certain places should be considered a basic human right, even for people like me who moved to England simply because, well, they fancied it, are a huge benefit to British society. Whether it be the plumber doing labour for dirt cheap wages or the cheeky takeaway you order next weekend, British society is built on the backs of immigrants. Besides the obvious cultural enrichment that immigration brings, western societies often exploit the labor of the very people we condemn for ‘stealing our jobs.’ Not only is the neurosurgeon from Syria not about to take a job off a British lad with three GCSEs, immigrants are often forced to take up employment way below their pay grade due to desperation and discrimination in the workforce. This means that immigrants are more likely to due the types of jobs Brits themselves don’t want for wages they wouldn’t accept. While this in itself is awful and should be changed through better working conditions for all, it is this type of exploitation that keeps capitalist Britain running. A US economic policy initiative called the Hamilton Project proved this to be true, stating that immigrants and locals tend to go for different jobs, and ultimately ‘many immigrants complement the work of US employees and increase their productivity.’

found that immigration undoubtedly boosts GDP and productivity in the United Kingdom. The Guardian reported that the Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown that immigrants are less likely to receive benefits or social housing than their native counterparts. These are hard facts. Say what you want about migration, but the overall positive contribution of immigrants to British society is indisputable. Migration is a complex issue, and anti-immigration policies are almost always deeply intertwined with racism, but when we get to the core of things, whatever feelings Brits may harbour against immigrants, they almost always appreciate the work that immigrants do and consume the services they provide. Immigrants are a massive part of what has made Great Britain great. Think about it: what would your Soton night out be without a cheeky Manzils or the legends of Charcoal Grill serving you up a feast?

The Economist proved that migrants contribute way more to Britain than they take, as the average EEA migrant will contribute around £78,000 to the country throughout their life. Yearly, immigrants cough up £2,370 more to the Treasury than native-born Brits. The Independent

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Migration is a human right One of the biggest debates right now amongst world leaders, activists and the general population is the question of whether migration is a human right or a privilege that we can give or take at will. Making the case for migration as a human right is complex, nuanced and incredibly multi-faceted; here, three Wessex Scene writers make the case in their own words.

more people moved to the cities to secure work. The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw widespread international migration – not only due to conflict, but also the desire to seek a better life in a new country.

Imogen Brighty-Potts

It’s a great irony that two of the wealthiest countries in the world also have the strictest rules on immigration alongside the strongest sense of national pride in the journeys their ancestors have taken. The American Dream is founded on the belief that anyone can make a better life for themselves

‘Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains’. Jean Jacque Rousseau was bang on. Migration, movement, exploring a world none of us truly have ownership over, is a fundamental freedom. One man may lay claim to a land, but what makes that land his? In restricting movement, we are restricting a very essential part of our condition to explore and experience. There is not a corner of this planet I don’t want to explore, and the fact that there are so many restrictions in the way, particularly at the moment proves, yet again, what a greedy and self-serving species we are. We are providing our own chains when we moderate free movement.

All that is to say: citizenship and nationality are a matter of perspective.

Hermione Cook Movement is a fundamental part of being alive. Ever since the first humans left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago, we have been on the move. Early people’s travelled for better climates and food availability, and as civilisations flourished, so did the idea of the nation state, of territories and rights to the land that you call home – and, of course, the rights to the land that other people call home. Human history is a history of migration, from the Roman, Greek and Chinese Empires who sought to expand their territories, to the explorers in the Middle Ages who set out for the New World, to the era of colonial expansion that saw European powers competing for African, Asian and American territory. A few hundred years ago, most people’s horizons didn’t stretch beyond the next village and leaving your immediate area was a brave step. The Industrial Revolution saw a shift away from the rural to the urban, and more and

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OPINION if they try hard enough, whilst Central and South American migrants drown in the Rio Grande. In Australia, three quarters of people cite British or Irish heritage, but modern-day migrants attempting to make the journey by boat are held in indefinite detention on island camps. Charlotte Colombo Over the last few years, there has been a concerning rise in far-right ideology. Those in power have been determined to build walls, shut down borders and ultimately divide up their nations based on ‘the colour of their skin rather than the content of their characters’. Make no mistake: the hostile rhetoric around migration isn’t about whether you were born a citizen of the country of question or not. If you look at the news, you read about people who have lived in a country for 20-30 years or since birth who are suddenly being told that they are no longer able to live in the place they call home, and are shipped off to a place they don’t know solely because of their heritage and where their parents are from. Policies surrounding migration are, unfortunately, not even about migration anymore. The people in America that are classed as migrants and thrown into ICE detention centres are usually people who have never lived outside of the US. It appears that these days, anyone who isn’t white is accused of being a migrant, and it seems as if migration is being confounded with racism. The other day, I had a very heated conversation about migration with people from a different generation to me. They said that the country was overpopulated, and that the only people who should be allowed to migrate are those who have no choice - such as if their home country is war-torn or if, for whatever reason, it was too dangerous for them to stay. I, however, strongly disagree with this. When people talk about ‘freedom of movement’,

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we think that they are just referring to how Brexit impacts UK citizens’ ability to study, vacation or live in other countries that are within the European Union. This, however, is yet another example of our society’s Eurocentrism; what we seem to be forgetting is that freedom of movement is not just about us being able to have a swanky year abroad on our CV - it is a fundamental human right that applies to people all over the world. The true definition of freedom of movement is made clear in Article 13 of 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.’ The people I debated with may well have thought that they were being oh-so-generous by saying that we would open the borders for those who couldn’t stay in their home country at risk of death, but what they failed to realise is that any kind of restriction on one’s ability to migrate amounts to a human rights violation. At the end of the day, whilst policy-makers might dress up restrictions on migration as protecting us from terrorism or overpopulation, all they are doing is violating people’s human rights. Plain and simple.

WORDS BY HERMIONE COOK, CHARLOTTE COLOMBO, IMOGEN BRIGHTY-POTTS IMAGE BY HERMIONE COOK

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MEDIA BIAS: IMMIGRATION Migration is a controversial topic in the UK, and we all know the stereotypes of its representation in the media; benefit scroungers, a drain on the economy, exploiting the UK’s soft-touches to enter the country, whilst the numbers add up and up. It is also a prominent topic, with 73% of people concerned about immigration voting Leave in 2016. It’s equally a misunderstood topic, with Britons believing that 25% of the UK population originates from another country when they actually only account for around 13% of the country. We also think that immigration from EU countries is three times higher than the actual level of 6%. Why is this? One factor lies in the bias of some sections of the British media. Words like ‘surge’, ‘wave’, and ‘flood’ are common descriptors of migration, hoping to exaggerate the migration levels. One Daily Mail issue went beyond this in 2012, claiming that ‘29 million Bulgarians and Romanians’ will be able to claim benefits in Britain, which ‘gypsies in the slums of Sofia can hardly wait’ for. This is the population of the two countries and, rather than reporting on the actual possible migration rate of Bulgarians and Romanians, the Daily Mail preferred to report a hypothetical situation, as if millions would migrate. You may even be mistaken into thinking that the UK is under invasion, with a headline by the Express in 2015 partly reading ‘Shock Pics that Prove UK’s Migrant Invasion’. The proof of invasion? Eight men, or as the paper put it, ‘a gang of illegals’, cutting their way out of a lorry, to be promptly arrested by police. One Daily Mail headline read in Churchillian fashion ‘Migrants Storm Kent Beaches’ describing the group of 66 asylum seekers as an ‘army’ despite there being women, children and a baby amongst them. Some army. The media also highlights the nationality of migrants. An anonymous journalist in a study by Reminder admitted that: ‘There is more newsworthiness in a foreign criminal or a teenager [...] so from our perspective it’s more newsworthy if people are abusing the system or exploiting loopholes […] because that triggers a reaction in readers.’

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But sometimes the media goes further than dog-whistles, as with a column by Katie Hopkins in The Sun; she described asylum seekers crossing the English Channel as a ‘plague of feral humans’ and ‘cockroaches’. Such language is disgustingly dehumanising and leaves me wondering how it could ever have been published. In the article, she also espouses another anti-immigrant media talking point: that migrants are ‘shelling out benefits like Monopoly money’. One example is The Sun’s report that EU migrants took £4 billion per year in benefits in 2018, without considering how much migrants raise in taxes. However, migrants do not make up anywhere near a majority of benefit claims. As of 2014, Britons made up 92.6% of benefit claimants, whilst EU nationals made up just 2.5%, and non-EU nationals 5%. Yet, they tend to be the ones talked about most when it comes to benefit claims. Moreover, the Express wrote an article in May 2016 claiming that migration costs the UK £17 billion ‘each year’. How they could conclude that as the average yearly cost is beyond me, given that the study conducted by anti-immigration pressure group Migration Watch UK only looked at the fiscal impact of 2014-2015. There is also no mention of a previous study conducted at UCL, which found that between 2001 and 2011, A10 immigrants made a net contribution of £5 billion, European immigrants £15 billion and non-Europeans £5 billion. ‘Remarkably, over the same period, the natives’ fiscal cost amounted to almost £617 billion’, it was found. Interestingly, Migration Watch UK also found that the native population made a negative fiscal contribution in their study... something that is unsurprisingly left out by the Express.

WORDS BY TOM FORD IMAGE BY SHANNON WHITELOCK

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How Global Immigration Will Thrive After Brexit The European Union’s blanket immigration policy is unfair. It has a blatant disregard for the lives of refugees in its implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It outlaws nations from blocking boats coming through the Mediterranean, encouraging the flow and resulting in the deaths by drowning of thousands of North Africans. What’s more, the EU’s unwavering commitment to ‘Union citizenship’ as the ‘fundamental status of nationals of the Member States’ heralds unstable levels of migration between EU countries. This fosters antiimmigrant sentiment and the unfair exclusion of people from nations to which we have historically and culturally been more aligned, such as Bangladesh and Kenya. On 31st October this year, the United Kingdom will be leaving the European Union and the fundamental pillars of its Single Market. This spells the end of the right to free movement of people from the EU coming to Britain. This change will be one of the most difficult, career-defining policies of any Prime Minister for generations. How Boris Johnson decides to shape the future of this country, which is built on the foundations of immigration, will alter our course of history forever. Some have argued that immigration should come down after Brexit, pointing towards the strain that uncontrolled migration puts on public services like the NHS. However, we have seen a dip in migration over the past few years already. In 2015, net migration into the UK sat at 333,000. Today, it has fallen to 258,000. Others, however, are more

pragmatic and realise the importance of skilled, global citizens coming to work and build a life in our country after we leave the EU. Non-EU migration to the UK has shot up to nearly 250,000 since the vote three years ago, including large numbers of Chinese students and Indian workers (both groups which give an overwhelming net contribution to the British economy). Estimates suggest that within years of Brexit, Indians will once again be Britain’s largest migrant group, overtaking migrants from Poland. These Asian countries host some of the most highly educated people in the world. Home Secretary Priti Patel’s new pro-global immigration policies are set to welcome skilled migrants earning over £30,000 a year and fast-track visas for scientists. So, we could be seeing many more coming to contribute to our society in the coming years. It has been revealed that since last year, the number of Indian students in the UK has risen by 40%. The Government has also hinted at unlimited immigration for highly skilled Indians wanting to come to the UK. This would go some way in compensating the thousands of skilled Asian immigrants denied entry due to our warped immigration system which favours Europeans. Also, cultural ties between China (particularly Hong Kong) and India have already been established, with large Asian communities thriving up and down the nation. These countries are likely to demand more visas for their citizens after Brexit. This is something we should not shy away from. As a former Home Office official says, ‘Diageo will send them a load of whisky [and in return] they will send us a load of skilled people’. If the UK Government pursue truly liberal, sensible post-Brexit immigration policies, then the future of Britain is undoubtedly a global one. The UK was built by immigrants, and the more we welcome them from all nations, the more we gain.

WORDS BY BEN DOLBEAR IMAGE BY PIXABAY

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POLITICS

Political Profiles: Lesbians and Gays Support The Migrants Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSMigrants) is a campaign by the lesbian and gay allies of migrants in the UK in order to campaign for and defend human rights. The namesake is a reference to the ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ alliance which, during the 1984 UK miners’ strike, opposed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s closure of the mines. According to their website: ‘In the current political climate, migrants bear the brunt of far-right violence, face demonisation in the media and are criminalised by the state. LGSMigrants use the strength of the queer community and an understanding of our history of struggle to fight back in support of those at the sharpest end of Government oppression today.’ Solidarity is a core value that the political Left holds dear, and LGSMigrants truly embody that by defending groups that face struggles and hostility as LGBTQIA+ people previously have. In a nutshell, the group oppose deportations and defend migrants’ rights. LGSMigrants, alongside the campaign groups ‘End Deportations’ and ‘Plane Stupid’, took action to prevent the deportation charter flight set to leave from Stansted Airport on 28th March 2017. The activists became labelled by the media as the ‘Stansted 15’ and faced terrorism charges, sparking a national debate as to whether such nonviolent action to ‘stop charter flights’ is acceptable.

also redefine the narrative pushed against migrants by the increasingly antagonistic press. This is crucial in a time where hate crimes against migrant communities are escalating in post-Brexit (referendum) Britain. They challenge the ‘criminal migrant’ construct and the legitimacy of carrying out deportations for the ‘good of the country’ by a Home Office that has demonstrated blatant contempt of the law to reach selfimposed migration targets of the Hostile Environment policy. The misdirection of criminal activity pointed towards migrants and away from our own deep-rooted problems is being exposed as a measure of justifying the enforcement of harsh treatment of all migrants. LGSMigrants are leading the charge in an uphill battle against deportations and the Hostile Environment policy. In doing so they remind us that it is the action of passionate ordinary people that can stop powerful institutions ruining lives. Those who rightfully criticise the Government’s unlawful deportations of the Windrush migrants in recent years can put action to their words by supporting the work of groups like LGSMigrants. By taking action to stand up to the literal violence and injustice deportees are subject to, they can ultimately stop, or at least question, deportations taking place. See it. Say it. Stop it.

This year, British Airways have celebrated their 100th Anniversary with a ‘love letter to Britain’ advertising campaign with the hashtag #BA100. LGSMigrants, however, put together 100 letters of their own in a campaign to call on BA to stop deportations, using the hashtag #DearBA. BA have said that they are legally bound to carry out the Home Office’s deportation flights. However, rival airline Virgin Atlantic ceased contracts with the Home Office in June 2018, ending involuntary deportation flights on their airline following the controversy of the Windrush Scandal. VA informed the Government that the move was ‘in the best interest of our customers and people’, amid concerns over the unethical removal of Windrush WORDS BY KENDALL FIELD-PELLOW generation migrants and LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers. IMAGE BY CHRISTOPHER EDWARDS VIA FLICKR LGSMigrants not only carry out impactful activism, but

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“For The Greatest Benefit To Humankind” There can be no question of the contributions that migrants bring to their new homes, both here in the UK and across the world. Evidence of this fact can be seen in the many great cosmopolitan areas around the globe, where countless numbers of people thrive, having been given new opportunities to work and excel that perhaps were unavailable in their homelands. While every migrant, and indeed every human being, undoubtedly has something to offer wherever they may find themselves, here are just a few who have gone above and beyond to win the most prestigious award on Earth for their work: the Nobel Prize.

before working as one of the ‘Via Panisperna boys’ under Enrico Fermi, creator of the world’s first nuclear reactor and architect of the atomic bomb, who would himself go on to win a Nobel Prize. In 1938, while on a working trip to California, Segre found himself stateless when Benito Mussolini’s fascists passed a law barring Jews from university positions. He began a lowly job as a research assistant at Berkeley, but the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 led to him joining the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos to develop the world’s first nuclear weapon. In 1944 he became a naturalised U.S. citizen and, following the end of WWII, returned to academia. It was at Berkeley where his team discovered the antiproton in 1955 using a Hans Adolf Krebs, Medicine Prize for ‘his discovery powerful particle accelerator, after decades of speculation of the citric acid cycle’, 1953 over its existence, and for which he won his Nobel Prize. Krebs was born in 1900 to a German family of Jewish descent. He excelled in his early academic studies and established a solid reputation for himself with his discovery of the urea cycle in 1932. The rise of the Nazi Party a year later saw the introduction of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which led to all non-Germans and all non-Nazis being removed from professional occupations. Krebs, because of his Jewish background, was officially dismissed from his job. His colleagues immediately worked to support his move to England to continue his research, which he started at Cambridge before later moving to Sheffield, where he became head of the Department of Biochemistry. His work there on cellular respiration (the process from which cells draw energy from food to drive their biological processes) ultimately led to his discovery of the citric acid cycle (now commonly known as the ‘Krebs cycle’), for which he received his Nobel Prize. A naturalised British citizen from 1939, he was elected to the Royal Society in 1947 and later knighted in 1958. His Nobel Prize medal was auctioned off in 2017 for £225,000 and the proceeds used to found the Sir Hans Krebs Trust, which provides funding for doctoral students in chemistry or biomedical sciences who have to flee their home countries.

Har Gobind Khorana, Medicine Prize for ‘the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis’, 1968

Khorana was born in 1922 in Punjab, British India. Of his childhood, he wrote ‘...although poor, my father was dedicated to educating his children and we were practically the only literate family in the village inhabited by about 100 people’. The first four years of his education were provided under a tree, which constituted the only ‘school’ in the village. Funding his higher education through scholarships, he eventually worked his way up and became a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1962, where he would complete the work that led to his Nobel Prize. Researching for the American Chemical Society (he became a U.S. citizen in 1966), Khorana was the first scientist to chemically synthesize oligonucleotides. This achievement, in the 1970’s, was the world’s first synthetic gene, and many subsequent generations of scientists continued to refer to his work. A colleague wrote that ‘Khorana was an early practitioner, and perhaps a founding father, of the field of chemical biology. He brought the power of chemical synthesis to bear on deciphering the genetic code’. The Khorana Program, named in his honour, works to connect scientists and their research in the United States and India. Emilio Segre, Physics Prize for ‘the discovery of the Charles Kao, Physics Prize for ‘groundbreaking antiproton’, 1959 achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication’, 2009 Born into a Jewish family near Rome in 1905, Segre studied engineering before switching to physics in 1927, Born in Shanghai in 1933, Kao’s family later moved to 16

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY British Hong Kong, where he completed his secondary education. He received a BEng from Woolwich Polytechnic in Greenwich, and stayed in London to complete his PhD studies in electrical engineering. It was in the 1960’s, at Harlow, where Kao and his colleagues carried out their groundbreaking work that led to the introduction of fibre optics as a way of facilitating telecommunications, by demonstrating that the inefficiency of existing fibre optics arose from impurities in the glass, rather than from an underlying problem with the technology itself. The rapid transmission of signals over long distances was, and remains, fundamental to the flow of information. Glass fibres had been used since the 1930’s, but was unusable for long-distance information transfer due to loss of light along the way.

Kao’s solution was to use fibres of very pure glass, which transported sufficient light. Together with laser technology, his work is now applied almost exclusively to transmit data through telecommunications across the world, and laid the foundations for the development of the Internet. Known as the ‘Godfather of Broadband’ and the ‘Father of Fiber Optics’, Kao held Hong Kong, U.K. and U.S. citizenships and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for much of his later life. His Nobel Prize money was used to pay for his medical expenses, and he and his wife founded the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease a year later to raise public awareness about the condition and provide support for the patients.

WORDS BY JORDAN TRUONG IMAGE BY NINA PANNONE

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Academics Against Borders: The Social Aspect of Science It’s a common slice of tech trivia that the Internet began as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network; ARPANET. Funded by the US Department of Defence, what would come to be known as the first workable prototype of today’s Internet was a vision towards long-distance communication and resource-sharing between research institutions. The first satisfaction, the birth of ARPANET, was an interconnection of four university computers in America’s West Coast at the close of the 1960s: these were at UCLA, the Stanford Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah. Over time, the network expanded to more institutions across the US, and further experienced the developments in interface and architecture that nurtured it into our Internet; a national project became an international phenomenon and, among a great deal of other things, opened up its founding vision to the global stage. The origins of the Internet in ARPANET evince the significance of collaborative research, being the root of a historic evolution in technology. But why is this significant? What are the motivations behind collaboration in research, particularly on an international scale, and why is enabling this a pivotal concern? Individuals are inherently biased; groups embody a sum of experiences and exposure. Among the greatest hazards in scientific research is bias: preconceptions that prevent fully objective analysis. Individuals are inherently biased: theorising— half the work of groundbreaking science—is an inductive process, and one person only has their own lifetime of experiences and exposure to inform their induction. Groups are powerful in that they embody a sum of experiences and exposure—a greater pool of reactions against a shared question. Less is taken for granted between more perspectives, hence a more rigorous critique takes hold from the root of progress. International collaboration brings an especially unique breadth of inspiration and intellectualism, mobilising thinkers from different groundings and environments. Through diversity, we create more fertile ground for intellectual breakthroughs: new perspectives draw new connections, voice new curiosities and prompt new debates. Appealing purely through statistics, we see this validated in the correlation between frequency of international partnerships and institutional rankings (factoring research performance), as well as the mobility of academics and how frequently their work receives citation.

Beyond the impact on research itself, much of the impetus for internationally collaborative science mirrors that of foreign trade. In the context of economy, academia is no less a marketplace than industry; research requires funding and funding is contingent on interest. In many cases, this is easier to satisfy looking outwards: certain areas of research are more prevalent in specific countries, almost to the point of specialisation, owing to public investment or internationally competitive institutions. An international stage for scientific research realises new markets in other countries, new sources of investment. Economic considerations are also apparent in accessing specialist equipment/facilities through international collaborations; not every nation can afford or maintain its own Large Hadron Collider, nor should they need to. Travel and migration is an obvious outcome of international collaborations. Something less obvious, on the other hand, is that movement is as much a catalyst of these collaborations as it is a result. Many a partnership has been prompted by a casual encounter between travelling academics, with conferences and seminars being predictable hotspots for networking. In other anecdotes, small talk as passengers giving way to discussing careers has turned out to be an unlikely prologue. We see that travel not only fulfills opportunities, it also creates them. Only through global interaction do we fully appreciate that science is a universal endeavour, where differences are more likely to yield a breakthrough than a breakdown.

WORDS BY FARIDA YUSUF IMAGE BY OUSA CHEA VIA UNSPLASH

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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Beyond Branding: Fashion Fighting Xenophobia and Racism ‘Make America Great Again’, or its evolution, ‘Keep America Great Again’, can be found scattered across seas of bright red baseball caps at stadium-filling rallies. Trump is a brand, his customers also his supporters. They buy into his brand for his supposed authenticity. A businessman and celebrity, not a typical politician, his tweets and speeches run off-script into repetition and rambles. Unafraid of controversy, his rhetoric is increasingly toxic, with pledges to build a border wall and to place ‘America first’; his fans chant along to his familiar choruses, commonplace. These are not empty words - migrant children are snatched from their parents, to be locked in cages. Fashion crosses borders - it is a show of culture and identity - and public visibility and endorsement of pro-immigrant messages within the industry certainly contribute to this political debate. However, you may express cynicism regarding the authenticity of politicised brands. Who designs, produces and profits from fashion that is branded as pro-immigration? As with rainbow capitalism profiting from LGBTQIA+ acceptance, are companies simply seeking to financially gain from a cause they deem to be merely the latest fad? Kids of Immigrants (KOI) is a brand centred on the founders’ identities as first-generation Americans. Witnessing children at the border that he felt could have been him, Daniel Buezo sought to raise $8,500 to expand Border Angels’

Tijuana shelter. The non-profit organisation rescues, provides water to, educates and legally advises migrants escaping countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Alongside a GoFundMe, KOI launched a hoodie with vintage styling, emblazoned with messages of ‘love has no borders’ and ‘spread love’, to raise funds for this cause. For the photographic launch, musician Lorely Rodriquez paired the hoodie with a floor-length skirt, paying tribute to a floral and voluminous Honduran style. Similarly, Chnge’s bold graphic t-shirts carry messages such as ‘no human is illegal on stolen land’, alluding to the settlement of land seized from Native Americans. Another tee, black and full length, empowers all intersections of society: ‘Gay power, black power, woman power, student power, trans power, immigrant power, all power to the people’. The brand purports to practice what it preaches, with their factory workers paid a living wage, trained in money management and represented by workers’ committees that negotiate with managers. Meanwhile, Awake NY’s white t-shirt, produced in collaboration with Chroma, states on its front in red lettering, in either English or Spanish, ‘Protect People, Not Borders’. Anyone detained by the US’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (I.C.E) ought to

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LIFESTYLE

know their rights, which are also listed in both English and Spanish. These include: ‘the right to say you want to speak to an attorney. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right against unlawful searches by ICE agents. You don’t have to sign any documents. You have the right to not open the door’. All profits made from the sale of this t-shirt fund Al Otro Lado and Casa Arcoiris. Al Otro Lado aids migrants at the US’ border with Mexico medically and legally, whilst Casa Arcoiris focuses on supporting LGBTQIA+ migrants in Tijuana. Hija De Tu Madre, a proudly Latina brand, also takes aim at the US’ immigration enforcement agency. 20% of the profits from their swirly red-lettered ‘F**k ICE’ tee are distributed to Border Kindness, who aim to ‘identify, protect and nurture the most vulnerable’ at the Mexican border. Meanwhile, Opening Ceremony, a brand inspired by the Olympics, showcases particular cultures in their stores. In 2016, they supported Kids In Need Of Defence, a group looking out for one of the most vulnerable groups of migrants - unaccompanied children. Designer Prabal Gurung was born in Singapore, grew up in Nepal and India, and has since lived across the globe. He first studied, then worked, in America, before becoming a US citizen. A percentage of the proceeds from his 2017 Autumn/Winter collection, which includes ‘I am an immigrant’ and ‘Break Down Walls’ t-shirts, were sent to the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and Shikshya Foundation Nepal.

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Warby Parker, a prescription eyewear provider in New York, entered the immigration debate in 2017, declaring support for the New York Attorney’s lawsuit against the US President’s closure of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was established during Obama’s Presidency. Those who passed vetting were legally able to live, study and work in the US. This allowed further contestation of deportation for illegal immigrants who had arrived as children. David Gilboa who co-founded Warby Parker, came to America aged six; so, when he heard of DACA’s revocation he felt that ‘staying silent wasn’t an option’. Artist and businesswoman Rihanna has also used her celebrity status to hit out at the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant stance. Tagging the US President on Instagram, she posed alongside a group of diverse women, holding out a t-shirt from her Fenty brand with ‘immigrant’ printed across it. Rihanna, who was born in Barbados, declared that ‘for me, it’s a prideful word’, and that she recognised the struggle of ‘a million Rihannas out there, getting treated like dirt’. Her social media post, although only captioned with a waving hand to the President, appeared to be a direct response to a tweet from Trump, in which he threatened to begin deportations.

WORDS BY PATRICK LOWE IMAGE BY SHANNON WHITELOCK

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HOW SOUTH ASIAN MIGRATION B U I LT B R I TA I N Migration has changed Britain irreversibly. UK streets do not look the same now as they did for previous generations, and this is an observation which has been hijacked by those resistant to cultural change to enable the blaming of foreigners for ills besetting our Western liberal civilisation. Whilst there are pertinent questions to be raised around the fairness of unlimited European migration into the UK, some facts cannot be disputed. As highlighted by a Financial Times article in 2018, migrants from Eastern Europe are more likely to be in work and not claiming benefits than UK citizens, meaning that they make a net positive contribution. Immigrants are less likely to commit drug-related or violent offences. But today, factual arguments have less weight than emotional, so it is well worth an in-depth appreciation of the cultural and emotional contribution which global immigrants bring to the United Kingdom every day, especially when we consider recent scholarly indications that immigrants are more likely to suffer from poor mental health than those born in their country of residence. One example of how immigration has built Britain is our South Asian community. Britain has a booming South Asian population which makes up 5% of our wider society. Despite facing persistent discrimination since the first Punjabi Indians served in the British Army in 1857, South Asian immigrants have been building a better Britain for decades. One Great British tradition is the right to protest - a part of our DNA which was established in part by Gujarati women (a group who had migrated from India to East Africa and then to the UK) in August 1976, when they walked out of their place of employment, Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories, as part of an industrial dispute around pay and conditions which lasted the best part of two years. These strikes gradually developed into anti-racist and feminist marches and spread like wildfire. In the words of Chandrikaben Patel, a Grunwick striker, today’s better working conditions are, in part, ‘because of us, because of our struggle’. The first UK dispute in which the majority of strikers were ethnic minorities and female (dubbed ‘strikers in saris’), the Grunwick Dispute was headed by a Great South Asian Briton, Jayaben Desai, who was suspended from her trade union after undertaking a controversial hunger strike outside the headquarters of the TUC in late 1977. South Asian immigrants have also changed the face of British food. In 2018, chicken tikka masala was voted

the UK’s most popular home-cooked dish, also topping the list of favourite takeaway grub and contributing more than £5 billion to the British economy. British curry has a very imperial history, as it was first served in 1733 in London after East India Company workers returning from India wanted to recreate the flavours of their colony. In 1747, Hannah Glasse published a book on South Asian cuisine with chapters including ‘To Make a Curry the Indian Way’. In 1810, the Hindoostanee Coffee House opened at 34 George Street near Portman Square, Mayfair, which was the first truly Indian restaurant in the UK. After the Second World War, ex-seamen, mostly from Sylhet in Bangladesh, bought bombed-out fish and chip shops, selling a combination of British and Asian classics. Today, there are more Indian restaurants in London than in Delhi and Mumbai combined, with hundreds of thousands of Brits enjoying the gastronomic benefits of South Asian immigration daily. South Asian immigrants have built Britain and contributed their labour, culture, patriotism, families, religions, and languages to the Great British family. Britons should be proud that people from across the globe are willing to share their cultural expertise and livelihoods with us, because immigration, not least South Asian immigration, built Britain from the bottom up.

WORDS BY BEN DOLBEAR IMAGE BY NINA PANNONE

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LIFESTYLE

2 S I M P L E R E C I P E S T H AT DON’T COME FROM A TIN Moving to University and having to learn to cook for yourself can be daunting to say the least, but with these 2 recipes, you won’t have to miss out on any of your favourite home-cooked meals. I’m not promising that they’re going to be as good as your meals at home but, if nothing else, they’ll be tasty and easy on the wallet. Both of these recipes serve 4, so they’re perfect for making with your friends! The 1 Pan Roast Dinner - Serves 4 Not only is this recipe easy to cook, but it will satisfy those Sunday dinner cravings and there is also minimal washing up needed… winner winner chicken dinner! Ingredients 1 whole chicken 1 lemon, halved 2tsp mixed herbs 750g of new potatoes, chopped into chunks 4 carrots, each chopped into 3 chunks Olive oil 100g frozen peas 300ml chicken stock Instructions Heat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas Mark 7. Remove the packaging off of the chicken, cut off any string and place in a large roasting tin. Shove the lemon halves inside the chicken (gross I know… but it will taste amazing). Rub the butter, herbs and seasoning all over the chicken. Place the potatoes and carrots around the chicken in the roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and WORDS toss everything together.BY AMY PENN Roast for 20 mins, then turn the oven down to 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 6 and roast for 50 mins more.

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10 Minute Peanut Butter Noodles (VEGAN) - Serves 4 This recipe is quick, cheap and easy to make, so sack off the trip to Westquay for a Wagamama’s and make it with your pals at home. Ingredients 250g pak choi 1tbsp clear honey 4 spring onions, plus extra to serve 1 red chilli 1 lime Handful of salted peanuts Bunch of fresh coriander 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 2tbsp crunchy peanut butter 3tbsp soy sauce Knob of ginger 200ml vegetable stock 400g wok ready rice noodles Instructions Smash up your peanuts and set aside. Slice your ginger into strips and finely slice the red chilli. Throw them into a hot wok with some olive oil and allow them to soften. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic to the wok. Mix together with 4 finely sliced spring onions. Allow to soften, then throw in your pak choi stalks, saving the leaves for later. Give them a stir and add 2 heaped tablespoons of peanut butter and 200ml of veggie stock. Stir until the peanut butter has dissolved and then allow to bubble for 2 mins. Add a heaped tablespoon of honey and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce to the wok, then mix together. Chuck in your rice noodles, stir them into the sauce and then add your pak choi leaves, a handful of coriander and the juice of a lime. Once the pak choi has wilted, add a handful of the smashed-up peanuts, mix and remove from the heat. Serve in a bowl, topped with more peanuts, chopped spring onions and coriander leaves to taste. Recommended Student Recipe Books Although I have given you two banging recipes here to get you started on your culinary adventures, it will not be enough to keep you fed for 3 years, so here are a couple of books that I use when cooking at university. Jamie Oliver’s ‘5 Ingredients’ recipe book Miguel Barclay’s ‘Super Easy One Pound Meals’ recipe book Happy cooking!

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Quiz & Curry More info at 24 www.susu.org/places

Every Sunday in The Bridge from 19:00 Curry from 19:00, quiz starts 20:00 2 to enter, winning teams split the pot!

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INTERNATIONAL

The realities of Australian migration policy Whenever migration policy reform is discussed, you can’t move for politicians lauding an ‘Australian-style points-based system’. It was one of the key pledges during the 2017 general election for the Conservative and UKIP parties, as well as for the Leave campaign in the run up to the Brexit referendum. But what are the realities for immigrants seeking to move to Australia? How does it affect asylum seekers and so-called irregular migrants? For those with professions the Australian government considers to be in high demand, migration is relatively straightforward. Architects, doctors and engineers are in short supply, and can normally meet the experience, English language and education requirements to gain their points. The UK itself possess a similar scheme for non-EU migrants. However, the Australian based points system, and the workers that qualify for it will enter jobs that are deemed as necessary by the Government, rather than business owners and employers as seen in the UK model. Despite this seemingly strict migration policy, Australia due to it’s liberal politics in the past two decades have seen a rise in migration that doubles that of the UK. Statistics from The Migration Observatory show that in 2018, 29% of the population of Australia was born abroad compared to 14% of that from Britain. Indeed, the country’s tolerance of skilled migrants has seen its migrant population percentage trump that of any nation in the top 10 countries with the highest migrant populations, with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.

to enter Australia will be eligible for medical care in Australia if their condition is serious enough. Despite this being seen as a victory for those trying to enter Australia, it’s Coalition government have condemned the move. Liberal Party Leader and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that the new legislation had opened up the possibility of a Labour controlled government, which he believes will allow ‘people smugglers to have a crack’ in trafficking people into the country. Morrison also expressed fury at the fact that he had been forced to re-open a detention center on Christmas Island due to the expected increase of migrants in Australian territory. It is clear, however, that Australia is still in a position to welcome migrants who wish to work and those who have faced hardship abroad. The Medevac policy is evidence of the openness and liberal nature of Australia’s ongoing relationship with it’s migrant population. However, the current government is clear in reinstating it’s conservative pride within the nation; this means limiting the number of refugees and migrants who are able to enter from South Asia and around the world, with their futures becoming increasingly unclear.

But for those travelling from Indonesia by boat to reach Australia, the task is not so straightforward. For many, the chance to leave their home in Indonesia, to work in Australia is too great to miss. Earlier this year, an Iranian refugee based in Indonesia remarked in the Guardian that the price of £3000 he paid for a boat across to Australia in 2012-13 will have dramatically risen. Many indeed do not want to risk taking the trip to Australia due to the risks that come with it, along with the fact that they cannot afford it due to their impoverished living situations in Indonesia. New Medevac Legislation from the Australian parliament this year have ensured that people detained for trying

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A S E C O N D W I N D R U S H S C A N DA L I S JUST AROUND THE CORNER FOR EU N AT I O N A L S In June 1948, HMT Empire Windrush docked at Dilbury in Essex, carrying hundreds of Caribbean people looking for a new life in Britain after being encouraged by the British Nationality Act of the same year, which granted UK citizenship to all peoples of the Empire. These West Indians, keen to contribute to their new home, took up roles in manufacturing, public transport, and the NHS. The face of Britain was changing: as white families emigrated to Commonwealth countries like Australia, black citizens of developing nations arrived in their tens of thousands each year until 1962. Escaping societal oppression and poverty, and excited by opportunities presented to them by the ‘Mother Country’, the West Indian population in the UK soared to 161,000 by 1961. These people became known as the Windrush Generation. Fifty years later, the UK Conservative Party were engaged in a battle for political survival, spurred on by public demand for reduced migration, levels of which had increased rapidly since the development of the European Union, but keen to maintain their reputation for economic responsibility. Then-Home Secretary Theresa May adopted a ‘hostile environment’ policy to regain public trust, an act which required citizens from abroad to present documents confirming their right to be in the country in order to obtain health services, accommodation, or employment. High deportation targets were set, and those without the right to remain were encouraged to leave. Because of a lack of official documentation given to those who arrived to Britain as Commonwealth immigrants in the mid-twentieth century, the ‘hostile environment’ created widespread anxiety among the British Windrush community, a fear which later became reality when documents exposed the fact that a potential 7,000 Windrush immigrants had been wrongly deported, with a further 11 dying abroad after deportation.

their promise never to allow such a large-scale, immoral mess occur again. After the Brexit referendum of 2016, the EU refused to agree to a mutual agreement with the UK to allow the unaffected right to remain for all EU citizens in the UK and vice versa. Many politicians encouraged the UK government to unilaterally provide this assurance to EU nationals in the UK, but the request was rejected repeatedly. For the UK to be seen to be ‘clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean’, during the ‘hostile environment’ years, the effect was nonetheless one of racial discrimination and unlawful deportations. Time and again, the UK government gave words of welcome to EU nationals (the intention), but refused to grant practical safeguards (the effect). EU nationals living in the UK have been forced to apply for settled status, but thousands have been labelled ‘ineligible’. This leaves them with no option but to either leave, or apply for pre-settled status (which comes with fewer rights). This does not promise the guaranteed right to indefinitely remain, and leaves room for another Windrush-style scandal when the applicants’ pre-settled status expires. Recently, hundreds of despairing EU nationals have even turned to a scheme intended for victims of the Windrush Scandal, which provides them with a physical ID card proving their right to stay. Brexitsupporting Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan has said that many of his constituents have been wrongly denied their right to remain. If our new Government does not start to provide those EU nationals a little more dignity and respect, there is a high risk of another Windrush scandal on the horizon.

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The scandal sent shockwaves through Westminster and across the country, with the Prime Minister apologising for her role in the deportations, and Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigning from her post. But it certainly seems as though the Government have not lived up to A WOLRD IN MOTION

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Applying for the post Brexit EU Settlement Scheme One of the many brilliant aspects of the EU is the fact that it allows for students from all around Europe to study in a different country without a visa. It is through this very rule that I came to Southampton to study in 2017. However, with the upcoming (potentially no-deal) Brexit, this is all about to change. All of a sudden, I am no longer allowed to reside in England like I have done for the past two years. If you, like me, are an EU student ineligible for British residency here at Southampton, you have to apply for permission to stay through the Home Office’s EU Settlement Scheme. The EU settlement scheme offers to options for EU citizens living in the UK, pre-settled status and settled status, pre-settled status being for those who have resided in the UK for less than 5 years, and the latter being for those who have been in the country for longer. The deadline to apply for the scheme is currently set at 30th June 2021, but in case of a no-deal Brexit, this will be pushed forward to December 2020. You need to live in the UK before it’s exit in order to be eligible to apply. Once you’ve figured out which scheme to apply for, you must get your documents in order. Unfortunately, the Home Office will not just take your word for it, so you must prove your residence through official documentation. This can be in the form of a bank statement or a certificate from the University. You can upload up to 10 documents proving your residence, but the full period in which you have lived in the country must be covered. If you’ve been in Southampton for two years like me you cannot, for example, just submit one year’s bank statement. Documentation can be particularly tricky to secure if you are not in the UK during the application process, but if you email the University of Southampton Student Services, outlining the information which must be covered and linking to the government website, they can provide a certificate of enrolment which should be enough to secure pre-settled status. You must also have a valid EU/EAA passport in order to apply. The EU Settlement Scheme also requires you to do a

mobile identity verification before you start your proper application online. The tricky part of this is that the only way to identify yourself is through an app only available on Android phones. Seeing as 47% of people in the UK currently use IOS Apple products, this can seem outrageous. The reason is that you must use the phone to scan a chip inside the passport by placing the phone on top of the passport, a feature which the iPhone does not have. So you might have to beg, borrow or steal from a friend in order to apply. Once you secure an Android phone though, the identification process is relatively quick. You must simply scan your passport, both chip and photo side. After this, you must take a photo on the phone clearly showing your face in good lighting, as well as provide a scan of your face, which is obtained through a couple of seconds of filming. Once you have successfully identified yourself through the app, you will receive an email with a link to the Government website, where you must now complete your application by providing information about your UK life and documentation to prove it. After the submission, the Home Office will review your application, and should respond within a few weeks.

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When Tourism Meets Voluntourism: Making A Difference On A Budget

Europe’s southern borders are standing at the forefront of the refugee crisis. People are drowning daily in the Mediterranean trying to reach safety, and EU policy states that the first country in which people arrive must be the one where they claim asylum. This places a disproportionate burden on countries already facing economic difficulties, like Greece, Spain and Italy. The simple truth is that refugees would not risk their lives on a journey so dangerous if they could thrive where they are. - Melissa Fleming, UNHCR Whilst northern European countries are taking in certain numbers of refugees, the lion’s share of search and rescue and initial processing falls on communities that simply cannot shoulder the burden of caring for so many alone. NGOs are doing incredible work in providing food and shelter in countries where refugees would otherwise not receive support, but the news cycle and public opinion can’t sustain the level of aid and awareness that these tireless organisations require to sustain the support that refugees so desperately need. Thousands of people from the UK have travelled to France, Greece, Italy and Serbia to help provide basic needs for the most vulnerable people in our society - people who have fled violence and extremism, undertaken traumatic and dangerous crossings, and are now sleeping rough whilst trying to get to somewhere they can settle. Voluntourism has gained an awful reputation in recent years - young, white and affluent people travel to exotic locations to build schools and hospitals that are taken down the next day, or are parachuted into orphanages with no checks or experience.

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But collecting, delivering and distributing aid in refugee camps across Europe is both necessary and hard work. It can’t take the place of skilled, professional intervention, but it can bridge the gap until permanent solutions are found. Volunteering in refugee camps is demanding, it’s emotionally and physically exhausting, and it makes you question the society you live in and the policies that have lead to this situation. You will learn more than you ever wanted to about correctly labelling cardboard boxes and operating pallet trucks, you will meet fantastic and caring people from all over the world and drink a lot of chai tea. But most importantly, you will realise just what a privilege it is to be born in a safe, democratic country and have the freedom to travel and work wherever you choose. You will meet people living in the camps, whose heartbreaking stories you would never ask for, but you receive anyway and that stay with you forever. You will be offered more gratitude than your heart can bear and feel crushing guilt when you have so little to offer when compared to what is actually needed. Organisations across Europe are looking for young and motivated volunteers with time and energy to give, and many can help provide basic accommodation or contribute towards it while you volunteer, especially if you have a longer period of time to give. It’s all too easy to watch the news and feel that the problem is too big to solve, but making even a small difference to one person can mean the world to them.

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‘Immigrants’ or ‘Expats’?

With an ever increasing number of people immigrating each year, the language of migration has become ever more confusing. But what does it really mean to be an ‘expat’? And are expats actually all that different from immigrants? Although it’s easy to think that ‘expat’ is in reality interchangeable with ‘immigrant’, there is a nuanced difference in meaning between the two. By definition, to be an immigrant is to move to another country to live there permanently, whereas expats intend to return to their native country after a period of time, often after completing a work assignment. However, these terms are increasingly misused, with ‘expat’ being used almost solely to describe Brits and Americans living abroad, regardless of the length or permanence of their stay. This Anglo and Americancentric focus has its roots in the origin of the term. ‘Expatriate’ only widely came into use in the mid-1900s and was used to describe British civil servants sent (often with little choice) to work abroad in exchange for generous benefits, such as schooling for their children, and financial compensation. This led to the term being associated with middle-class Brits and Americans working abroad, who were provided by their employers with the means to have a very comfortable lifestyle, often separate from the lives and communities of the citizens of the countries in which they resided.

privilege or economic privilege - that allows these ‘expats’ to live abroad without the expectation to integrate into the society in which they now live; an expectation which is unavoidable for BAME and working class people, for whom integration is often not a choice, but a necessity. The perception of expats as being in some way ‘better’ also feeds into negative stereotypes about BAME and working class people, further perpetuating inequality. Solving these problematic ideas embedded within the term ‘expat’ won’t be possible overnight. However, we can start to challenge the racist and classist ideas associated with the term by no longer referring to people as expats, but instead as immigrants, allowing us to begin to remove the divide between different groups of foreign workers and the inequalities caused by such a divide. And if that makes self-described expats uncomfortable, then good. Hopefully it will lead them to question what their issues with being an ‘immigrant’ actually are, which will allow us to push for progress by challenging these issues at their heart.

However, this history does not make its current use any less problematic. With an increase in immigration globally, many non-US or UK citizens are now making the move to work abroad. Yet, despite the definition of expat applying to all those who intend to return to their native country, the term is still almost exclusively used to describe white, middle-class professionals, whilst immigrant or foreign worker is reserved for those who are not white and/or those who are working class and are often working in blue or pink-collar jobs. Expats are often considered to be in some way superior to those labelled as immigrants or foreign workers, largely due to how society more widely perceives class and race. The term ‘expat’ thereby marginalises BAME and working class people by excluding them from this so-perceived ‘superior’ group, and neglects the value they bring to the countries they have immigrated to. The term is a sign of the privilege - whether that be white 30

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NOT IMMIGRANTS LIKE YOU!

‘It’s full of all them bloody foreigners, innit!’ exclaimed my travelling companion on the U1A. At the time, I couldn’t decide which was more ironic: the fact that she said this in response to discovering that my apartment complex was populated entirely with international students, or that our initial conversation began because she’d instantly clocked my American accent. It’s something I’ve noticed a lot in British people and it’s evolved into a game I like to play when I’m out; determining whether someone will notice my accent after a few minutes of light conversation and casually ask where I’m from, or if—2.5 seconds after I say hello— they’ll exclaim, ‘You’re not from around here!’ as though their own British-ness depends on their ability to pick out foreigners like some sort of accent bloodhound. (In case you’re wondering, this particular passenger fell into the latter category). That’s why, still struck by the irony of her earlier comment, I threw her a bit of a funny look because, well… I’m a foreigner. Not only did she instantly grasp the meaning behind my look, she visibly recoiled and exclaimed, ‘No, not foreigners like you, love! You’re not really one of them

immigrants.’ And that’s why I’m still writing about this exchange a full three months after it happened. I’ve never, in person, encountered a better example of the racism behind Britain’s immigration debate. She’s right—by the ‘typical’ standards we use to categorise people who have immigrated to this country, I’m not an immigrant. I’m not seeking asylum, and, though I’m no fan of the political climate in America, I’m not living in fear of being deported to a home country that might kill me for my gender identity or sexuality. My country isn’t on a hot-list that necessitates my registering with the police upon arrival in the UK (as a number of my classmates from predominantly Muslim countries have had to do). I haven’t fled a developing country in the hopes of making a new life for myself, or risked my life in my desperation to cross the UK border. In those terms, I’m not a ‘real’ immigrant because I certainly don’t lay claim to any form of the struggles people in the above categories have experienced. But, if we define an immigrant simply in terms of one who has left their own country for another, who comes to England seeking a new home, and if these are the parameters through which we characterise the overwhelming postBrexit spike in racial prejudice and fear of immigration, then surely I, as a white cisgender American female coming to this country for education, should likewise be discriminated against. Except I’m not. What my exchange on the bus so brilliantly illustrates is the fact that it’s often not about that simple definition of immigration. It’s not even about fear of losing British jobs or losing British culture, both of which are frequently claimed. Instead, it seems it’s most often about race, that the immigrants who are feared are the ones who don’t look like you, who have different cultures and ways of life than you. In many cases people fear, and even hate, what is foreign to them. The passenger in this case may not have realised that’s what she was openly admitting to, but I think that’s precisely why we need to call attention to it. If your definition of an immigrant, and subsequent opinion of them, is based on the colour of someone’s skin or the culture from which they come, it’s time to take a good, hard look at your own prejudice.

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FROM FEARFUL BEGINNINGS TO THE BEAUTIFUL GAME Of all the things you think could bring a community ‘From the children fleeing the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s together, including those who have fled their homes in - who went on to become some of the first refugees to play war-torn or catastrophic conditions, I wouldn’t say the professionally in the UK - to the likes of Granit Xhaka, Nadia first thing you’d consider to be this uniting force is football. Nadim and Victor Moses in recent years, refugee players have Or maybe you would.

been making their mark on football for decades.’

From the famous World War One football game on - Amnesty International Christmas Day, to communities torn apart by strikes, deaths, or other demoralising and heartbreaking Amnesty International are keen to highlight these catastrophes; football brings communities together. contributions and their historical relevance to try and show the world that there is a place for refugees in our Amnesty

International

have

picked

this, country, and to promote inclusion and integration.

and are now using the hugely popular and divisive sport to encourage the integration of refugees into Many refugees have fled their homes and have lost communities, giving them hope of a better life. everything. Their possessions, jobs, friends and even families. Inclusion is essential to their feeling like they They have created an initiative called ‘Football Welcomes’, have somewhere they belong again, and if football is about which they say: ‘Our

Football

Welcomes

able to aid the process, I think this is a pretty admirable programme

celebrates

the scheme.

contribution players with a refugee background make to the beautiful game, and the positive role football can play As far as the history of the scheme itself, Amnesty in bringing people together and creating more welcoming International says: communities. Everyone wants to live in a place where ‘Football Welcomes began in 2017 with 30 clubs participating they feel safe and welcome. For people fleeing conflict and in the weekend. In 2018 this doubled to 60, and in 2019 the persecution, football can play a hugely important role in number taking part almost tripled to a record-breaking helping to settle into a new country and culture, to make 177, making it the biggest celebration of football and friends, learn the language and get to know the local area.’

refugees the UK has ever seen. This included over half the Premier League, two-thirds of English Football League

They bring together clubs across the UK every April to clubs and almost all of the Women’s National League teams. celebrate the contributions of players who come from a refugee background, to ‘The Beautiful Game’, in the UK.

This is now launching into more local areas with community projects to help refugees in the UK.

Through training, matches and tournaments, they turn the lives of refugees around with positive participation in sport. 32

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SPORTS

WORDS BY IMOGEN BRIGHTY-POTTS IMAGE BY MELANIE THINEBIRD, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Case Study 1: The Sanctuary Strikers

founded in 2016 . It is a recognised part of the Italian National Olympic Committee and is linked to CSI.

In May 2019, the BBC reported on a team of refugees in Reading, created to help integrate refugees into It offers people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds the community and establish a support network. The a place to participate in sport if they are fleeing from Sanctuary Strikers is made up of players from Zimbabwe, countries where war and humanitarian crises have Sudan and Somalia. Local players also form part of forced them away. The want to promote ‘the recovery the team to support them with travel and equipment. of

human

dignity’

and

‘personal

reconstruction’.

With mainstream and big clubs taking on players Wow. How incredible is it that such a mainstream sport from refugee backgrounds

and participating in like football is becoming a place in which people are able

events like Football Welcomes, it is with optimism to find a new home and identity for themselves, and build I say that one day football can be a fully inclusive up the life they had before atrocities took them away from sport for refugees and draw them into a caring local who and where they were before? Girls and boys are both community, and hopefully with time, it could help encouraged to participate in this particular club, and they stamp out the undercurrents of racism in football. are hosted by Sportiva Orlando Calcio, with volunteer coaches aiding them in their practice and development. Case Study 2: Africa Academy Calcio Help and support like this (without the distraction of tragedy It isn’t just the UK making these amazing leaps in and borders) and the encouragement of participation to bringing refugees into football - Italy is also drawing rebuild their identity stability and community can only communities together by encouraging participation be seen as a step forward in the positive integration of in ‘The Beautiful Game’. Africa Academy Calcio was refugees into European communities.

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AN IDIOT ABROAD: HOW TO BE BRITISH ON HOLIDAY Is Butlins full up this year? Did you not manage to collect all of The Sun holiday coupons this time? If the Wetherspoon’s beer garden no longer gives you that special tingly feeling down below and B&M have sold out of their paddling pools, why not immerse yourself in some worldly culture and jet off abroad? If this is all new territory for you then fear not, I have some top tips in order to help you make the most of your experience. 1. Take the opportunity to learn the language of wherever you’re going in order to become at one with the locals

4. Complain all year that Britain is too cold, and then when you’re in a hot country complain that it’s too hot It might be noon in the middle of August in a country famed for its warm climate, but you didn’t expect it to be quite this hot. The 5ml travel-size SPF 7 sun cream should really be more than enough for a 4-week cruise. All you want to do is get a rich golden tan, like that nice lady off the telly, but instead you find yourself glowing a radioactive pink as chunks of your flesh are singed off. It’s all part of the tanning process, though - it will turn brown soon.

Download a handy app like Duolingo and convince yourself that you will become perfectly fluent in the language of your choice after reading up to your holiday. Who cares if you dropped out of Year 9 French and got a D in GCSE Spanish? Your grandad’s cousin’s wife was a bit Italian, so it’s in your blood. Learning a language from scratch can’t be that hard, especially when you’re British because that means you’re automatically cleverer than everyone else. Impress your friends and show the staff you appreciate them by rolling a saliva-filled ‘GRAZEE’ to a terrified waitress who, as she has demonstrated throughout the evening, actually speaks fluent English. But, you’re showing a respect for their culture, and that’s much more valuable than any possible tip. Also, you want to save those couple of Euros for a Magnum tomorrow. 2. Explore all the famous landmarks of the country by literally never leaving the resort Ah, Rome... The city of love, art and spaghetti. What could be more romantic than exploring this vibrant city with your loved ones? Getting up at 7am to mark your territory at the hotel pool with a Minions beach towel, that’s what. You pick up all these different brochures and leaflets at the airport, determined to have the holiday of your dreams, but 20 Euros for a taxi? Us Brits aren’t made of money. With three meals, access to the lukewarm swimming pool and quality entertainment by X Factor’s Same Difference in the evenings, who needs to go anywhere else? 3. Go out of your comfort zone and appreciate different ways of living

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Everyone knows that the first rule of any good holiday abroad is to find a resort that is commercialised beyond any cultural recognition, entirely English-speaking and within a ten mile radius of a McDonald’s. Sometimes, when somebody tries to talk to you in Spanish during your holiday in Spain, you might find the authenticity of the experience ruined. The best way to combat this is in one of three ways: get someone to plait your hair with string, get a spray-on tattoo or treat yourself to a foot spa, where little fish can nibble away at your bigotry.

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PAUSE

How to be A Good Brit

From the accents, to the culture, to the obsession with tea, it seems there are few elements of being British that go unfetishized by other cultures. So, if you, like me, are on the outside looking in - or you’re already British and would just like to know how to upgrade your Brit game - take a look at these tips from an American who’s been not-so-subtly studying the English since her arrival in Southampton last year: Complain About everything. Always. But only subtly. If you’re doing it right, the tutting of a few hundred indignant British people can fill a room with the same low, threatening buzz made by many bumblebees. Not sure what to complain about? Try a few of these standard go-tos: Too hot? Complain. Someone turned on one of the country’s rare air conditioners to alleviate the heat? Insist that you are now in danger of freezing to death. Bus is late? Oh, the state of buses in this country! Bus is early? See, this is exactly why transportation is so bloody unreliable. However, when asked if anything’s the matter, you are bound to smile, nod, and be passive-aggressive as soon as the inquirer is gone. Be painfully awkward

Brit-splain Everything

Not only are you morally obligated to spontaneously combust at the first sign of human contact, but accepting compliments, smiling at strangers, and being able to speak to people in shops are also off the table. The simple good wish, ‘Have a great day!’ can make you curl into a ball of confusion. At best, you are capable of having a day, but only one with no specified adjective.

If you’re not familiar with the term, that’s probably because it’s my own invention, based on extensive personal experience. However, the most important thing you need to know is that it’s the new mansplaining and just as welcomed everywhere! Whether you’re explaining the flaws in American culture (and to be fair, no one’s likely to disagree with you), quibbling over the right way to make tea, or explaining why your culture is simply better, the good news is that no one from other cultures will mind - they’re too busy falling in love with your accent!

Live and die by queues Although only number three on the list, do not mistake the rules of queuing for being inconsequential. Largely unspoken and almost impossible to read, the rules of queues are not only sacred, they are magically imparted to the souls of every newborn British person and are as definitive of their British nationality as their passport. If someone else skips the queue and you tolerate it, your citizenship may be revoked. Likewise, if you give so much as the appearance of jumping a queue yourself without having a nervous breakdown and never returning to that pub again, your citizenship will most certainly be in question. A special hearing may have to be called. However, you can make up for it by incessantly explaining how to queue to every American you meet. Trust me, even if it’s the 95th time, they’ll still appreciate it!

And on that note, I must add that though there may be some truths present in this article, the points listed here are in no way holistically representative of the kind, lovely, and genuinely friendly British people I’ve met since arriving in Southampton, even though all my British friends have proudly told me that making fun of me is England’s new national sport.

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