Issue 677 11 12 2017 by Exeposé

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ISSUE 677 11 DEC 2017

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THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987

Gold Idea taken down

Guild housing strategy under criticism

Graham Moore Deputy Editor

Students’ Guild under fire for advertising private halls accomodation at a rate of £185 per week VP Welfare and Diversity has confirmed that progress is being made to freeze university halls prices at rate of inflation A Student Idea asking the Guild to “stop advertising outlandishly expensive private accommodation” is currently live

Image: University of Exeter Students’ Guild

Megan Davies News Editor

HE Guild’s housing strategy has faced criticism after advertising private halls, which cost upwards of £185 per week, as an affordable option on the Guild Facebook page. This has raised questions about the Guild’s inclusion of luxury accommodation in their housing campaigns, as well as questions about the way that advertising is labelled on Guild social media.

The post advertised the halls as costing “just £185 per week”. It was raised by Shadow Council that the total sum over a year represents more than the average student loan, thus making it not affordable. Concerns were raised previously that a letting agency was telling students at the accommodation fair - which was held in late November - that they would not ﬁnd accommodation if they didn’t ﬁnd anything by the end of the week. It was also raised that the difference

FEATURES

Rockin’ Around the Globe: Christmas traditions and controversies PAGe 16-17

between the Guild’s endorsements and paid-for advertising on their social media was not clear enough. Kat Karamani, VP Welfare and Diversity, also mentioned that she had been in talks with the University and that progress had been made towards limiting the cost increase of on-campus accommodation at inﬂation - as opposed to plans to increase rent a further 1%. Kat denied that these adverts were legitimising the prices charged by private accommodation providers. She said

that there was no Guild policy to prioritise either revenue-generating adverts or helping students find affordable housing, saying: “It’s not just the advertisements that affect housing, or accommodation, as we prefer to call it, there are also popups, there were flatmate finders, there were other events going on during the time. And it’s not like the fair is the only thing, or the advertisements are the only thing, and I don’t think that that reflects a policy.”

Image: Pixabay

FESTIVE STUDY BREAK 36-37

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

GOLD Idea entitled “The Guild should buy a helicopter” was suspended on Monday 4 December and ultimately closed, following complaints about its promotion of views related to right-wing extremism. The Idea, which suggests what is presumed to be a humorous tone that “a Guild helicopter could be used to promote its education survey from the skies, in medical emergencies and as a tool for learning”, then goes on to insinuate that “Problems could ‘disappear’ overnight”. Due to resulting connotations the Idea was deemed inappropriate on grounds of promoting extremism, whereupon it was suspended pending investigation. This instigates review by the Student Change Manager, Student Ideas Ofﬁcer, and VP Activities; after undergoing this process the Idea was eventually closed for good. The Idea was interpreted as referring to Operation Condor, colloquially known as the ‘Caravan of Death’ (Caravane de la Muerte), a helicopter-based Chilean death squad active after the country’s 1973 coup which saw the rise to power of a military dictatorship including General Augusto Pinochet. According to the Guild, action was taken against the Idea “due to parallels with [Pinochet’s] regime”. According to the NGO Memoria y Justica, the Caravane was responsible for the murder of at least 97 individuals, incidents for which – amongst various other human rights violations – Pinochet was indicted in 2002. The idea may also refer to socalled “death ﬂights” (vuelos de la muerte), a method of extra-judicial killing in which victims are thrown from aircraft, typically into large bodies of water.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

EXHIBIT

2017 in review: top 10 albums, cultural highlights and best films PAGe 19

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Devonshire House, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4PZ

Editors Print: Owain Evans & Emma Bessent Deputy: Tash Ebbutt & Graham Moore Online: Phoebe Davis & Ollie Lund editors@exepose.com News Editors Print: Megan Davies & Natalie Keffler Online: Nicky Avasthi & Ruby Bosanquet news@exepose.com Comment Editors Print: Alicia Rees & Malcolm Wong Online: Harry Bunting & Hannah Weiss comment@exepose.com Features Editors Print: James Angove & Isabel Taylor Online: Matthew Phillips & Daphne Bugler features@exepose.com Lifestyle Editors Print: Lauren Geall & Barbara Balogun Online: Bethan Gilson & Melissa Barker lifestyle@exepose.com Arts + Lit Editors Print: Mubanga Mweemba & Maddie Davies Online: Ellie Cook & Emily Garbutt artsandlit@exepose.com Music Editors Print: Alex Brammer & Maddy Parker Online: Chloë Edwards & George Stamp music@exepose.com Screen Editors Print: Ben Faulkner & Fenton Christmas Online: Johnny Chern & Molly Gilroy screen@exepose.com Science Editors Print: Leah Crabtree & Luke Smith Online: Ayesha Tandon & Rhys Davies sciandtech@exepose.com Sport Editors Print: Dorothea Christmann & Wil Jones Online: Michael Jones & Kieran Jackson sport@exepose.com Photographers Christy Chin & Léa Esteban photography@exepose.com Copy Editors George Pope, Jaysim Hanspal, Eloise Hardy and Hannah Kitt Proofers

Aaron Loose, Gabriel Yeap, Grant Miner, Julia Naud, Jamie Moncrieff, Ish Gurung, Lauren 'Santa's Little Helper' Geall, 'Saint Nick' Marsden, Emily 'Baubles' Garbutt, Alex 'Yearly Coal Delivery' Brammer, Fenton 'We Wish You a Merry' Christmas, Johnny 'J-diz' Chern, Mubanga 'Angel' Mweemba, George 'Holy Catholic' Pope, Jaysim 'Holiday Season' Hanspal, Maddy 'Daddy Santa' Parker, Isabel 'Tinsel' Taylor, Tom 'Mince Pie' Murphy.

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NEWS

Editorial It’s beginning to look more than a lot like Christmas in the Exeposé office, and we are so excited to share the contents of our special festive issue with you. With only days to go until the winter holidays begin and deadlines swiftly becoming the ghosts of term past, our pages are loaded with content celebrating the best moments of 2017 and plotting how to make the most of seasonal cheer on a shoestring. Comment are campaigning on behalf of advent calendars for all, regardless of age barriers, on page 8. Lifestyle are torn between Christmas on a budget (page 20) and dipping into the overdraft to splash out on the world’s most hideous festive jumpers (page 23). Screen are feeling the Love (well, not Actually) for frosty flicks on pages 32-34, whilst our Study Break extravaganza provides the usual puzzles and games, featuring a subtle guest appearance from Emma’s very own Chrimbo-friendly pup. Features have taken an extensive look at both the most heart-warming and controversial Christmas traditions around the world, from festive KFC fanatics in Japan to the “war on Christmas” in liberal America. Sport compiled their very own Naughty and Nice lists, which you can find on page 47, and Comment have #NoRagrets about their behaviour this year on page 9. We’re bringing you the best of the best as three of our sections provide their top picks of the creative work and research produced in 2017. Arts + Lit have their cultural highlights on pages 24-25, Music discuss the top 10 albums of 2017 – if this is your cup of eggnog, then we recommend you hightail it over to the Exeposé website to see our full top 50 – and Science are talking about

the best discoveries made this year on page 40. In less glad tidings, News are investigating the closure of the campus branch of NatWest in the light of national closures on page 3. On our front page, we explore contention surrounding the Guild’s advertisement of high price bracket private halls and the response to the recently closed Gold Student Idea suggesting that the project’s budget ought to be spent on a helicopter. On the upside, our Sabb team have given us an update on their progress so far in their roles on pages 12-13 and they are racing through their manifestos, working to improve the student experience here at Exeter year-round. Although the penny-pinching student lifestyle isn’t always easy in this season of indulgence and extravagance, it’s important to remember that most of us live in relative luxury. Christmas is very much a time to celebrate what you have and revel in the good parts of life, but we shouldn’t forget those for whom this time of year is a burden. Reach out to your friends who are staying at uni over the holidays, whether out of choice or necessity, and remind them that you are just a phone call away if they get lonely. Give generously within your means to those who need a show of kindness, whether this is donating any unopened tins of food to the local food bank or popping a pound coin into the collection buckets of carol singers. Hoping to see you all at the XMedia Christmas party on Wednesday 13 December at the Lemon Grove! Don your ugliest jumpers and bring your best Christmas cheer for what’s sure to be a fantastic end of year social. Owain and Emma

Polish ambassador visits University PAGE 5 Image: Pexels

COMMENT Christmas shopping on a budget PAGE 8

Image:Amy Borchard

FEATURES Festive tradition around the world PAGEs 16-17

Image:MaxPixel

SCIENCE Is time travel on the horizon? PAGE 42 Image: cernaovec.cz

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There are even more great articl es on the Exeposé website. From advice on packing for your return home for the holidays to the joys of house hunting, you can ﬁ nd it all at www.exepose.com

Worldwide university news American graduate students protest

MERICAN graduate students have been protesting against a tax bill, with several students arrested on Capitol Hill on 5 December, after a large-scale protest on 29 November. The bill would add taxes to tuition waivers that currently are not taxed, and received, for example, by teaching assistants or research assistants. Fee waivers would be classiﬁed as income, and would therefore be taxed. "Many graduate students do not make a living wage and are forced to work additional jobs in order to cover the basic cost of living", Kareem Mostafa, president of the Graduate Student Assembly at UT, told the Austin American-Statesman. According to the American Council of Education, this would increase the cost of university for graduate students by over $65 billion in the next 10 years. Images: Sowr Cairo University/Flickr (left), Chevanon Photography/Pexels (right)

Cairo University sacks Glasgow students ﬁnd Bath Spa VC paid free coffee trick over Islamic links £800,000 in ﬁnal year

GYPT'S Cairo University has ﬁred ﬁve of its lecturer’s due to their links with the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the university issuing a statement last week that these lecturers were sacked after they had been put on the “list of terrorists”, which is the term used to refer to the followers of the Muslim Brotherhood. The sacked lecturers include the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was arrested back in 2013 after the army’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. There four others were a political science professor, an engineering professor, a professor at the agriculture school and a pharmacology professor. The Muslim Brotherhood is a worldwide group, and has denied links to violence, accusing Egyptian authorities of suppression after dozens of Islamist lecturers and students have been expelled and jailed in Egypt.

N issue with a library coffee machine at Glasgow University led to students enjoying £1600 of free coffee. Students were made aware that typing in the code ‘1234’ made all the options free on the machine. One third year studying history told Glasgow Live: “I was told by my flatmate and at first I thought he was pulling my leg. I went to the machine to try and lo and behold, it worked!” and that “It was a pretty funny scene the first time I went. The machine had a queue and every time people went to order, they’d look sheepishly over their shoulder and then enter the code. There was no need to act secretly though, everyone know the code”. University believed that someone had stolen money from the machine, but after investigating discovered the fault. It was sorted internally and without police investigation.

T has been revealed that the Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University received more than £800,000 in her final pay packet. Professor Christina Slade was paid £429,000 for “loss of office” on top of her £250,000 salary. She was also given a housing allowance of £20,000 and another £20,000 for "other benefits-in-kind". The whole pay package was also almost double the amount earned by Dame Glynis Breakwell, who is standing down from the nearby University of Bath following a row over her pay. Lord Adonis, who is leading a debate on the issue of vice-chancellor pay in the House of Lords, said: "If £800,000 represents value for money for a vice-chancellor, then I am the emperor of China.". This comes at a time when the UCU (University and College Union) has called for an "urgent overhaul" of senior pay at British universities. Stories by Megan Davies and Natalie Keffler, News Editors, and Phoebe Davis, Online Editor

News

NEWS EDITORS: Natalie Keffler Megan Davies

NatWest to close Forum branch in June

Megan Davies News Editor

HE on-campus branch of NatWest is slated for closure, with only four customers weekly currently visiting the bank. This comes as the Royal Bank of Scotland has announced the closure of 259 bank branches, including 197 NatWest branches, saying that the majority of customers banked online or on mobile. The University of Exeter branch is to close on 14 June 2018. Closures around the country were only announced on 1 December, which means that the Guild and University are left uncertain of the future of transactions requiring NatWest, as well as that of Forum space currently occupied by the bank.

The number of customers using our branches has fallen by 40% NatWest

NatWest said that they had made the decision to close the University of Exeter branch after they had experienced a drop in users, stating that: “Since 2012 we have seen the way in which people use NatWest Exeter University of Exeter branch change dramatically, with now 97% of customers already banking in other ways locally. Transactions in NatWest Exeter University

Owain Evans Editor

HE Guild is set to bring a motion to the NUS National Conference which calls for it to be renamed the ‘Almost National Union of Students’ (ANUS), after Shadow Council refused to veto it. The motion was ﬁrst proposed by a Student Idea, which said that the rename was required “due to drop outs of many Students’ Unions from being members of the NUS”. 28 students voted on the proposal, and it passed with a 55% score. The veto proposal was brought to Shadow Council by NUS Delegate Jack Morewood, who claimed that it was “another of many troll ideas” and that “it poses a risk to Exeter’s credibility at NUS Conference, and would be embarrassing for the Guild”. However, with seven of the ten Councillors present a vote to veto was split at 3-3, with one

of Exeter branch have reduced by 39% since 2012 with now only 4 customers visiting the branch on a weekly basis. 88% of customers are now choosing to bank digitally with us on a regular basis instead.” This leaves Santander as the only bank with a presence on campus, as there are no plans yet as to what will happen to the space currently occupied by the bank in the Forum. The Students’ Guild and University say that they were only made aware of the closure after the news had already been made public. The Guild commented that “The Guild had no consultation with NatWest prior to the announcement that the branch would be closed. We received a letter informing us of the closure after the news was made public”. Phil Attwell, Director of Campus Services, said: “The University was notiﬁed on 1 December 2017 about the intention of the NatWest Bank to close its University branch. “University senior managers are discussing this issue, and there has already been dialogue with the Guild. “It is too early to comment on whether NatWest can be persuaded to reconsider; what other uses may be made of the space should they follow through on their intention to vacate; and what implications or opportunities there may be for Santander, who also have a branch on campus.” Societies that wish to cash in over £1,000 currently rely on the branch, as the Guild’s training page currently states

that: “If you wish to pay in over £1,000 in cash to your society account, you will need to email aandv@exeterguild.com to make an appointment to do so. A member of staff will meet you at NatWest bank at the agreed time to pay the money in with you… This eliminates the security risk of counting large amounts of cash on the front desk (ie. a public space), and means that the money reaches your account more quickly”.

abstention. Julia Naud, the Guild Chair, used the casting vote to refuse to veto the Idea. As per the Guild website, it has now been “taken to the NUS Delegates to ﬁnd a proposer”. After the vote, one Shadow Councillor told Exeposé that they “think it’s a dangerous precedent to set for one delegate to repeatedly ask for Shadow Council to veto Ideas that they personally disagree with”, while another, who had voted to veto, added that “Shadow

Council acts as a necessary check on the Ideas system – in this case, the need to protect Exeter’s position at Conference. I would, however, need a wider range of delegates to come forward in order to vote to veto again.” This comes just a week after Shadow Council chose to veto another Student Idea calling for a motion for NUS National Conference to no-platform itself. In a statement given to Exeposé, a spokesperson for the Students’ Guild

We do not know yet what plans for the space are NatWest

The Students’ Guild told Exeposé: “We have just started to explore the options of how cash can be deposited once NatWest has closed on site. “We will aim to ensure any impact is minimised on our Societies. At this early stage we do not yet know what the University’s plans for the space are once NatWest departs. “Any student who is a customer of the branch should have received, or will shortly receive, a letter from NatWest explaining the rationale for the closure and how this will affect them.” NatWest said: “We have taken the difﬁcult decision to close the NatWest Exeter University of Exeter branch on 14 June 2018. “We provide our customers with more

What a bummer!

ways to bank than ever before – customers can choose from a range of digital, faceto-face and local options. The way people bank with us has changed radically over the last few years: since 2014, the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40%. During the same period mobile transactions have increased by 73%; and in the ﬁrst half of 2017, there were 1.1 billion mobile and online transactions carried out by our customers: an increase of 41% since 2014. They also told Exeposé that they were communicating with their customers and “proactively contacting vulnerable customers and regular branch users”, and that they had extended the time between the announcement and the closure to six months. Phil Attwell added that “the importance of providing an ATM service in the Forum has been highlighted, and it is anticipated that this service will continue even if not provided by NatWest. “It is expected that the position will become clearer over the coming weeks, so that any action that may be necessary can be executed over the summer vacation to ensure that students have access to the services that they require.” In the absence of a physical bank branch, customers can also bank via online and mobile banking, telephony, video banking, banking services offered by the Post Ofﬁce, and ATMs. NatWest also offer TechXpert training for those who want to learn digital skills.

said that: “Shadow Council is the Guild’s elected scrutiny body that holds elected ofﬁcers and Guild Policy to account. “Each Councilor has the right to veto a proposal brought to them and on this occasion they decided not to reject a Student Idea of renaming the NUS to ‘Almost National Union of Students (ANUS)’. In a separate meeting, the Councillors decided to veto a proposal for the NUS to no-platform itself. We respect the decisions of Council and look forward to seeing what our elected NUS Delegates bring to National Conference.” The current motion comes after a wave of disafﬁliations, mostly coming after the election of now formerPresident Malia Bouattia, with the most prominent being the University of Loughborough. At that time, Exeter voted by a small margin to remain a member of the NUS after a campaign described by those involved as “toxic”.

Biosciences win award for gender equality Tabi Scott News Team

HE Department of Biosciences has won the bronze Athena SWAN award for their efforts to combat gender inequality in the department. The ECU (Equality Challenge Unit) Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage higher education and research facilities to promote gender equality within their departments. The award focuses on the representation of women with careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. The Charter looks at the progression of students into academia and the representation of women in these roles, and the presence of a working environment available for all staff. It is based on ten principles which institutions must adopt within their practices. This includes making an active effort to tackle the gender pay gap as well as the discriminatory treatment and obstacles that many women face at major points in their career. Dr Robert Wilson, who led the application process, said: “The Bronze Award recognises that we are taking steps to create a better, fairer and more inclusive working environment.” “By tackling practices that have a disproportionate impact on female staff and student, we aim to ensure that working practice is improved to the benefit of all.” The department hopes to continue its progress by aspiring to attain the silver Athena SWAN award by 2021. This will mean encouraging and enhancing the careers of women in the department so that they have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The award stands as an example of how the representation of women in scientific careers is improving, and by following these key principles this sets a target for higher education institutions to continue to aim for in the future. The University of Glasgow will hold the ECU Athena Swan award ceremony this month, and a representative from the department will accept the award.

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

NEWS

Uni appoints Director of Infrastucture

HE University has announced the appointment of Craig Nowell asDirector of Campus Infrastructure and Operational Support Services. This new role will join together overall responsibility for Campus Services, Estate Services and Exeter IT. One of Nowell’s main projects in his new position will be managing the development of the new student residences at East Park, currently an arable ﬁeld which is set to become accommodation for 1,200 students. Nowell has experience as the Director of Estates and Facilities Management and the Director of Corporate Responsibility at Swansea University., where he lead the development and implementation of Swansea University’s new £450m, 65acre Science and Innovation Campus. Nowell said: “I am delighted to be joining Exeter at a time when plans are being developed to embark on the next stages of Exeter’s ambitious future. It is an exciting time and I look forward to leading the dedicated teams who will turn the University’s vision into a reality.” Ruby Bosanquet, Online News Editor

No Refreshers in 2018

Natalie Keffler, News Editor

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Death ﬂights have seen news coverage recently, as two Argentinian pilots received life sentences last month for their part in the murder Uruguayan political activist Esther Ballestrino. The concepts of vuelos de la muerte has gained traction in alt-right communities, with numerous references to “Pinochet helicopter rides” as a method for removal of opposition. It is this link to extremist ideas which led the Idea to be removed.

We have a stringent process of reviewing Ideas Students’ Guild

This is not the ﬁrst time that Exeter has seen evidence of extremist views expressed in University space. Other examples include a swastika being found in Birks Grange accommodation last February, and anti-Semitic slogans used during a white t-shirt social in September 2016. However, this instance differs in that it raises questions regarding how these views present in relation to Guild adminstration. Firstly, it raises questions as to what procedures are in place to safeguard against harmful action and misuse within such systems as Student Ideas, where students should be able to effect

serious change in their Guild. Secondly, the functionality of processes like Student Ideas requires consideration when it repeatedly includes both absurd and unconstructive submissions, of which this particular Idea is an extreme and particularly unsavoury example. Finally, this leads to consideration as to how the Guild can remain representative of the student body when dealing with such issues. According to the terms and conditions of Student Ideas, the system falls under the Guild’s Safe Space initiative “as far as is possible”, i.e. in an advisory capacity. The initiative takes the form of a behavioural code, of which the first item is to “enter this space with a commitment to mutual respect, mutual aid, anti-oppression, advocacy, conflict resolution, non-violence, participative democracy, and community building”. Violations of this code may result in removal of both Ideas and comments, if that action is necessitated by an elected officer. Reference to extra-judiciary killings in the “helicopter” Idea can, therefore, be easily interpreted as violating terms and conditions of the Ideas system – hence its removal, which followed the relevant procedure as laid out in the Ideas Process. Commenting on the removal, the Guild said that: “The Students’

Guild is proud of its sector leading Student Ideas platform and the changes it can make to campus. We have a stringent process of reviewing Ideas before they are published online – in this instance, the subtle nod to Chilean dictatorship in the 1900s was missed but flagged via our complaints process which acts as a check and balance. We encourage students to scrutinise and comment on the published Ideas and to put themselves at the centre of change.” Despite this “stringent” reviewing process, the Student Ideas system is regularly inundated with presumably humorous suggestions. Other Gold Ideas, live at the time of writing, include a “robot library police officer to kick out first years”, “Dig a big hole and move the physics building underground”, and a Forum Hill ski-lift. There is a procedure, under the Complaints system, to counteract “trolling” – however, the sheer volume of these extraneous ideas may suggest that said procedure is not sufficient. Speaking to Exeposé,, the Guild stated that “‘silly’ or non-serious ideas are an inevitability and it encourages many students to get in-

volved in commenting and voting on the Ideas. While we ask that Ideas are considered before they are submitted, and there is a review process before they are published, the ‘silly’ ones drive engagement with the platform – and some of them are quite fun to read.” This has certainly proved to be true, and ‘silly’ or sensational Ideas do help to raise awareness and promote use of the platform. This occurrence does highlight the need for measures to safeguard said democratic process against abuse; whilst there is Guild procedure in place – and it has here proven effective – it is necessarily subjective. Yet despite such mishaps, the Student Ideas system is an excellent way for students to easily make their voices heard and engage in the democratic process. It is an important tool in ensuring the Guild is an open and representative body – but, like so many things at university, it just has to be used responsibly.

Students engage in waste reduction initiative Edd Church News Team

HIRD year Geography, Environmental Science, and Bioscience students on a ‘Climate Change and Society’ module have turned heads with a sustainability initiative aimed at tackling the issues of single-use plastic and waste. Penryn-based students under Catherine Leyshon, Associate Professor of Human Geography, are getting people to think about their shampoo usage, food packaging, food waste, clothing, and single-use plastic bottles. As part of the module, each set of students formed a lobby group and made their campaign presence known on the Exeter Penryn Campus through public displays. Professor Leyshon said of the groups, who were trying to persuade fellow students to make small positive changes, “I’m extremely proud of how well they’ve been able to ﬁlter the high level COP23 UN Climate Change conference outcomes into simple every day actions that anyone can make, which cumulatively can make a big difference”. Aside from the campuscentred campaign, Leyshon’s students also entered into the local community

around Penryn with a ‘Climate Conversations’ group. With this, the group have been raising awareness among local businesses of environmentally sustainable business practises. Here in Streatham, the Students’ Guild has been pushing for sustainability changes of its own. The 2017/18 academic year has seen the introduction and active promotion of reusable coffee cups within Guild outlets such as Comida! and The Ram in an attempt to reduce Exeter’s carbon footprint (alongside saving money). University researchers and Guild staff are evidently working to reduce what has been identiﬁed as both a risk to wildlife and a risk to humans. A study led by University of Newcastle academics found plastic in wildlife as deep as seven miles under the sea— not to mention the closer issues which can leach into human bodies and the amount of energy which is used to make the tonnes of

waste plastic. Waste energy in of itself is also an issue here at Exeter. Even with timed lights and efforts by students, the energy efﬁciency rating of Devonshire House (the building in which, ironically, the Green Unit is based) is an E, below the UK average. Despite the often-cited highest tree-to-student ratio of a UK university campus, Streatham evidently isn’t perfect.

The future still looks uneasy with regard to climate change and environmental damage as a whole. Penryn’s Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) has suggested that the impacts of Climate Change are “already locked in”, and that only the degree of damage can be dictated by humanity. However, it’s a degree of damage that Professor Leyson’s students are hoping to minimise with their campaign.

Image: Edd Church

EFRESHERS’ Week is unlikely to be going ahead this year. This is due to there not being the capacity to carry one out with A&V currently lacking a manager, and therefore there being a lack of staff support, and it not being necessarily financially viable. This was discussed in Wednesday’s Shadow Council. Although Refreshers was one of Becca Hanley, VP Activities’ manifesto points, there is also the thought that Refreshers’ shouldn’t necessarily be down to just a Sabb, but rather should be something that the University make sure they carry out regardless. The Students’ Guild commented that “We’ve had a great year for societies submitting events to benefit their members. In the past we have held a ‘Refreshers’ event which invited societies to re-do taster sessions in January which has previously been led by a Sabbatical Officer. “This year Refreshers’ will not be going ahead. It is a process that is continually reviewed and we look to bring back Refreshers’ in the future. We can’t wait to see what our society leaders are planning for Term 2 and we encourage all of our members to look at new opportunities by joining a society.”

Idea suspended for promoting extremist views

NEWS

Criticism of £185 per week accommodation adverts CONTINUED FROM FRONT

She also said that companies paid £800-1,000 for this advertising. When asked whether private landlords also had this opportunity, she said that they did, but the cost was not always worthwhile. “Generally, they can’t afford [advertising in the same way as private halls] - it wouldn’t make sense for them if they had one or two properties.” The Guild’s “Advertise with us” page lists a presence at the fair as costing £200, presence at a January accommodation fair as £250, and a one-week social media campaign as costing £160. A combination of presence at the accommodation fair and other adverts would cost £3,000. One first-year Classical Studies student told Exeposé at the accommodation fair: “I think the Guild do a lot towards flats like Collegiate and Kingfisher and places like studios. But more help could be put into independent landlords or work to make [housing] accessible. “A lot goes to luxury accommodation, rather than to £100 a week. And that’s what I’m looking for, not £140. I can’t afford that. I think the people that are going for luxury accommodation are going to find it.” A Student Idea asking for the Guild to “stop advertising outlandishly expensive

private accommodation on official sites” is currently live, and closes on 14 December. At time of writing, it was on track for a passing score. A recent study by StudentTenant found that Exeter is the fifth most expensive city for student housing in the UK, ahead of Sheffield, Huddersfield, Worcester, Portsmouth, and Manchester; but behind London, Bristol, Bedford, and Cambridge. They found the average rent in Exeter to be £462 per month. The Students’ Guild said: “The Students’ Guild shares the concerns of many Exeter students that affordable accommodation is in short supply.”

“Our sponsored promotional activity which funds campaigns, like the Accommodation Campaign, is under a process of continual review.” “The Accommodation Fair was open to landlords with one property through to larger providers with hundreds of rooms, and as such, the landlords who ﬁlled their properties then left; the Fair exposed students to the range in options for accommodation and our online portal provides all the information needed for students to make an informed decision.” Exeposé has reached out to the mentioned advertising accommodation providers for response.

IR Steve Smith, the University of Exeter Vice Chancellor, was interviewed by Edd Church, Head of News for XpressionFM, on the Hot Seat show. Amongst other things, he apologised for the pre-departure briefings given to international students, which were branded as racist. Sir Steve attributed Exeter’s recent underperformance in the National Student Survey to increased pressure on facilities and staff due to large expansions in the student body between 2012-2016, and suggested these issues were being solved through the £7 million hub scheme and a total of 71 new academics being appointed in the coming year. The Vice Chancellor claimed there was ‘not a single negative report’ from departmental Colleges about the creation of hubs, and could not confirm whether building work on these new spaces would be halted for exams in January 2018. When questioned on the significance of the University’s Gold status in TEF,

First-year wins photography competition Natalie Kefﬂer News Editor

N the recent Economic Photography competition held by the University, ﬁrst-year student Alex Bridle came both ﬁrst and second with two of his photos, whilst an entry by Adeline Peng placed third. Speaking to Exeposé, Bridle said that he had been in India for six weeks prior to coming to University, and had taken the winning pictures then. He was really surprised to have won, and very grateful for the opportunity. Alex also said that he hoped that, through the competition being held and publicised, more people would get involved and start talking about economics through pho-

tography rather than just through writing, making it more accessible. Professor Brit Gosskopf, Head of Economics, said that “the competition’s purpose was to give students a different way to connect to economics and think about it in a different scenario”. According to Gosskopf, the event had proved successful not only for the winners but for all attendees. “The quality this year and the explanations behind the pictures were much better than last year, and I think we are learning. I hope that the students are enjoying it, and it’s good to have the pictures up where people can see them.” The winning images are on display in the XFI Building.

Image: Owain Evans

XPressionFM interviews Vice-Chancellor Alex Wingrave News Team

and whether a ﬁrst-class degree from a Gold institution would be worth more to an employer, Sir Steve stated that he did not think it would be. He stated that TEF judges on six categories and then ‘benchmarks those scores against similar universities… based on statistics and metrics’ as opposed to assessing teaching in person, calling assessment of teaching too “subjective”. Church then queried about why there was a perceived ‘lack of value for money’ among students in regards to contact hours, which Sir Steve attributed to the loss of ‘all government funding in teaching’ after the rise in fees to £9,000. The topic of funding for the Students’ Guild, which Exeposé recently reported as being comparatively lower than other student unions at similar universities, was also raised, and the Vice Chancellor said he believed the Guild to be ‘roughly in the upper quartile’ in terms of funding. Sir Steve also addressed the stretch on funding in Wellbeing and Accessibility, citing the defunct social media app YikYak as part of his evidence for an “extraordinary… rise in mental health and wellbeing issues in

society”, which acknowledging it was a large issue. Recent issues of anti-Semitism (suc as the swastika found in Birks Grange earlier this year) and ‘patronising’ predeparture brieﬁngs for international students were raised by Church. Sir Steve stated he thought there was no “major issue” at the University in regards to treatment of minority students, that “most of the racism is found in the city”, and the University was “determined” to support “free speech within the law” wherever possible. The full interview can be found on the Xpression FM News MixCloud.

Students organise Polish ambassador’s visit Jaimie Hampton News Team

RKADY Rzegocki, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, recently visited the University of Exeter to speak on the topic of “Polish-British relations after Brexit.” The Polish Society, in cooperation with the Diplomatic Hub, invited Ambassador Rzegocki to visit the University of Exeter. Both students and staff from the university attended the talk, as well as prominent members of Exeter’s Polish community. Anna Pawluk, president of the Polish Society stated that “the turnout was fantastic – we had over 110 people, both students and staff at the university as well as some special guests from the Polish community of Exeter. The ambassador was very thankful for the invitation and the ability to come back to Exeter and speak to the student community.”

Ambassador Rzegocki has visited the University of Exeter previously. In 2015 the Ambassador gave a talk on the history of Poland’s independence, as well as Poland’s involvement in international politics. Following the talk, attendees were given the chance to explore the topic of Polish-British relations during a Q&A with the Ambassador. Afterwards, the audience were offered the opportunity to participate in networking with the Ambassador, where they could further discuss the points raised in his speech. Arkady Rzegocki is a political scientist and professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, specialising in Polish and English political thought, the concept of national interest (raison d’État) and the issue of soft power. The Ambassador has been promoting knowledge of Poland in the United Kingdom for many years, aiming to strengthen relations between the two countries.

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11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Comment

COMMENT EDITORS: Alicia Rees Malcolm Wong

Ageless advent calendars Elizabeth Stalbow Contributor

FEEL as though this article should be addressed to the mums and dads everywhere who try and make excuses for not getting you an advent calendar, pretty much from the time you become a teenager. I may not live at home anymore, mum, but I’m still your daughter and if you want me to keep believing in true love I will be needing those 24 squares of sugary goodness. I know you gave me life and all that jazz, but daily doses of chocolate are pretty much the same thing.

For one month, it’s acceptable to eat chocolate before you eat breakfast As a child, my family had a handmade advent calendar and it was probably my favourite thing about the Christmas period. My mum used to ﬁll each pocket with two chocolates, one for me and one for my brother. I can confess now that I sometimes gave in

to the temptation to eat them both, and then feigned absolute innocence. I was the youngest child, so it was as though my parents were pre-prog rammed to believe my protestations that my brother just didn’t remember eating his. It’s easier to apologise than to ask for permission after all. Anyway, as my brother and I aged, my mum started buying us the cardboard ones from the supermarket, and it took quite a few not-so-subtle hints to remind her that 17-yearolds want chocolate too. And nowadays, apparently, I should be focusing on my degree and keeping myself fed rather than whether or not I receive an advent calendar. But let me paint you a picture; you wake up on a

Picture: Melina Thompson

Tuesday morning, the most average morning of the week because it doesn’t possess the notoriety of Monday but it’s still nowhere near the end of the week, and try and prepare yourself for a day of (confusingly advanced) education. Your house is freezing cold because you’re a poor student and can’t afford to pay an extortionate heating bill; do you even remember what it’s like to feel your toes? You get changed as quickly as possible and allow the existential dread of deadlines to descend when suddenly you remember, it’s advent calendar season! For one month, and one month only, it’s acceptable to eat chocolate before you eat breakfast. It’s like being rewarded for waking up and starting another day of not really understanding your degree. Even if you emerge from

your bed in too much of a deadline-induced haze in the morning, the sudden realisation at midday that you forgot to eat your advent calendar chocolate can improve a day exponentially. I couldn’t even tell you why this provokes such excitement when you can buy a much larger chocolate bar of arguably nicer quality on campus. However, it’s what the advent calendar chocolate stands for that’s important, even if they do always taste better than they logically should. I like to believe that they taste so good simply because they are infused with festive spirit and child-like joy.

I will be needing those 24 squares of sugary goodness I refuse to ever grow out of wanting an advent calendar. I’ll be middleaged and still counting down the days in November until I can open that ﬁrst window. I’ll be prioritising my calendar over my children’s and will ultimately use it as a moral lesson that good things come to those who obey their bedtimes… even if I’ll only have wellbehaved children in December.

I’m broke, Santa Lauren Geall Lifestyle Editor

HE snow is falling, children are playing and my bank account is as empty as a non-compulsory lecture: it’s Christmas time! Commonly known as the most wonderful time of the year, the Christmas season helps to finish off those last scrapings of our student loans before we traipse back home for the holidays. But are we really justified in spending all our money this way? My simple answer is: yes. As a self-titled Christmas lover, this time of year isn’t something which I take lightly. You don’t have to spend excessively to have a good

Christmas; putting some money together as a house to have a nice dinner with a few decorations, as well as attending a Christmas ball or dinner, is completely justified in my opinion. Why should we miss out on this time of celebration simply to adhere to a strict budget? As long as you’re not spending money on stupid things (I’m talking light-up, singing Christmas jumpers) it’s important to end the term by celebrating everything you’ve achieved.

When it comes to Christmas, I say treat yo’ self University is hard, and therefore

its important not to restrain ourselves completely and miss out on the good parts too. But, naturally, there is always that person who takes it a bit too far. Yes, your family may drink Moët all day for Christmas, but you’ll need to lower your expectations when it comes to your uni house. To avoid spending too much all you need is a nice filling roast (with all the trimmings) and perhaps a bottle of prosecco or some slightly nicer wine to accompany it. It’s okay to spend on Christmas, but it’s also important to remember that we’re all still students at the end of the day, and different people in your house may be working with different budgets. As well as the classic uni dinner,

don’t be afraid to splash out on a tick- tos with friends is such a great way to et for a ball. The perfect chance to see make memories, and also a wonderful way of taking care of yourself at your friends out of active wear for the end of a testing term. the first time this term, So, to conclude, balls offer a unique when it comes to experience which Christmas, I say shouldn’t be treat yo’ self. missed out on It’s okay to if possible. splurge on a Yes, the tickfew Christets may be massy items reasonably as long as you pricey, but don’t throw we only get a all caution to certain number the wind: as long of chances to go as you’ve got some to university balls, Picture: Pexels good Christmas music and I don’t think we and your friends, everything should waste that. The act of getting dressed up and taking pho- else is just extra.

COMMENT

Malcolm Wong Comment Editor

ADIES and gentlemen, boys and girls, fasten your seatbelts because you’re in for one hell of a ride. You’ve probably all seen this meme before, as an “example” of how you’re supposed to start your essays to hype up your lecturers when they read it. Instead I’d like to steer the focus of this sentence to describe my time at Exeter so far. The time I’ve spent at this university, albeit thousands of miles away from home, has been nothing less of miraculous, especially this ﬁrst term of my ﬁnal year.

year from the inevitable nine to five life, I had to make this year count or else I would never have the chance to. It was definitely difficult to cope with everything at first, especially when the main priority is still meant to be my actual degree right? It did get a lot easier though once I realised that these people have become my family. For some people, extra commitments mean extra effort, extra workload, less

These people also make it so that you can’t ever work productively when in their vicinity, but hey, what’s uni life if you don’t complain about being behind on your work more so than you actually work? If anything, my third year uni life has made me realise how important it is to do what you love, or at least be part of something that

Heledd Wilshaw Contributor

NCE upon a time, there was a Language Class Imposter at Exeter University. She studies History and Spanish and quickly realised that she didn’t belong in the Queens building. “Oh I just love learning a language, it opens doors to the world, don’t yo u

This is an experience you will never have again It may sound weird that my “no ragrets” third year was induced by my regret-filled second year, but it’s true - I felt like I didn’t manage to fully immerse myself into a vibrant lifestyle back then. So towards the latter half of second year I decided to jump straight into the deep end and run for two committees. Luckily enough for a rather incapable person like me, I came into my third year with committee roles in Model United Nations and this lovely student newspaper, which have both quickly become the loves of my life. In the midst of comments like “you’re gonna die” and “you’ve dug yourself a grave”, I tried my best to adapt to this new life. I figured since I wasn’t too satisfied with my second year, I had to make things right for myself. If that means having a long day everyday, then so be it. I realised that with this possibly being my last year in this country and maybe even my last

Picture: University of Exeter

sleep and less time to binge watch TV shows. I can conﬁrm that this is undeniably true, but I like it that way. Sure, I get stressed due to these extra responsibilities, on top of the million other things I am obliged to stress about, but it’s different - society related pressure gives me an odd sense of motivation, which is deﬁnitely helped by the fact that I love what I do. As a friend of mine says, “passion is always with the people” I cannot agree more. It’s the people that you make unforgettable memories with, and the same people that give you life. This is the case with my MUN committee: the sense of togetherness is empowering and invigorating. On the other hand with the Exeposé role, I kind of knew what to expect in terms of work, but I had no idea what to expect with the people, it is quite a large committee after all. Thankfully, I was blessed with quite literally the best committee comrades I could ever ask for, always friendly and full of banter.

Picture: University of Exeter

makes you feel happy and alive. The most crucial thing about university may be your degree, because your ultimate goal is to leave this place with a piece of paper that means something to your future employers. However don’t ever negate your personal life satisfaction for scores that don’t dictate the rest of your life. This is an experience you will never have again once you’re ﬁnished with education, and don’t leave it too late to realise that like I did.

Or at least be part of something that makes you feel alive So where do we go from here? Just more of the same really, for me at least. I’ve ﬁnally found my niche. Have you found yours?

think?” It was this kind of sickly sweet nonsense that the Language Class Imposter was tired of hearing. Hoping that her classmates would not single her out as a heretic and have her burned on the forum piazza, Language Class Imposter kept her mouth shut. The truth is she was bored of Spanish, she only ever studied it to get ahead in her career. She found it boring on good days and downright awful on others. Learning Spanish has become increasingly a pain in Language Class Imposter’s life, two years of getting good marks in exams couldn’t tempt her to love the language. She found it boring, long-winded and repetitive, but she would still stumble through her classes and assure her classmates that she’s in love with Spanish literature. Her speech classes were a classic cocktail of anxiety, embarrassment and dread. As she staggered from one mistake to the next, she imagined that the image was something akin to watching

a fish flop on dry land. Language Class Imposter was not a happy smiley language learner, but a lazy historian on the verge of a crisis every time someone utters the words “oh, you speak Spanish?”. It may have occurred to you, dear reader, that Language Class Imposter is me. To be honest, she enjoyed much of her first term on her year abroad that she finally feels like she can go into Queens building unashamed. Now, I feel like a new person, ready to take Spain by storm after only a few months of Spanish. My first term has been hectic – it has been a flurry of meeting new people, travelling and getting used to the accent. The people here in Jaen, Andalucía are some of the kindest, friendliest people you could ever hope to meet. They’re always ready to lend a hand and they have given me the warmest welcome. Whilst my confidence in Spanish was low at the beginning, the help of my teachers and friends in Spain has really boosted my confidence. The life of Language Class Imposter seems like a surreal dream as I now slip in and out of Spanish naturally and enthusiastically. In Spain, if you don’t stay out till sunrise, then you haven’t really gone out at all. I’ve met amazing people at Botellón and in nightclubs in Spain, and with the aid of cheap alcohol I feel I’ve really taken advantage of all Spain has to offer, but the best part of my experience here happens in the daytime, visiting every nook and cranny of Andalucia. I’ve climbed the rock in Gibraltar, and roamed Malaga in the midst of Christmas lights. It’s rare that I spend a weekend in my own flat and my suitcase is definitely getting more use than the books I brought with me. The best thing of all is that I’m picking up the accent! The feeling when someone mistakes you for a Spanish woman is unrivalled. It’s the small things that’ve made me feel so much more at home here in Spain.

Picture: Maarten

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

COMMENT

Not so Secret Santa Shireen Zulparquear Contributor

S the first term of university comes to an end, deadlines loom closer and the queue for the library begins to snake down Forum Hill, students everywhere start looking for ways to relieve stress and inject some festive fun into an otherwise stress-filled time. For some, a glitzy Christmas ball is the way to go; for others, a night in with the charming Hugh Grant of Love Actually does the trick. However, for every student that pursues one of these noble wintery activities, there are at least three who make the terrible decision of joining in on a round of Secret Santa. If you’ve never taken part in the tradition before, you might hazard a guess and assume it involves secretly

buying others a gift in a thoughtful, Santa-like fashion. Alas, you would be completely wrong, as Secret Santa is in fact neither secretive nor Santa-like. After establishing a Nordicstyle trading post to swap names already pulled at random from a hat (because if you’re getting anyone a present for Christmas, it’s not going to be the flatmate that burnt your frying pan), a group of students will head off into town to pick out presents for each other.

At least three who make the terrible decision of joining... Secret Santa With a budget set so low and the likelihood of drawing the name of the person you know least so high, hopes for a decent gift are never astronomical. Yet, year after year,

we still find ourselves disappointed with the unveiling of our 69g box of Cadbury Roses. While Forrest Gump might argue that life is like a box of chocolates, as you never know what you’re going to get, when it comes to Secret Santa, a box of chocolates is what you always know you’ll be unwrapping on the last day of term. The safest and most impersonal gift of all, the chocolate box is a present that says, ‘I have nothing against you per say, but Pi c I have absolutely tu re :P no idea what your ixa ba y interests are and no intention of finding out. Were this activity not obligatory, I would have gotten you nothing, which incidentally is also what you

mean to me. Merry Christmas.’ For the truth is, unless it’s carried out amongst a group of MI5 agents who know each other’s taste in gifts inside out, there is very little chance of Sec r e t Santa living up to its name. Should it be cancelled? Of course not – how else would we be able to gift people hilarious sticks of deodorant? No, Secret Santa should live on, but it’s time to give that fat man a makeover. Here are some fresh twists on the classic activity guaranteed to put you in the festive mood. First up is ‘Extra-Secret Santa’. In this revolutionary version of the

Driving home for Christmas Millie Creswell Contributor

S the evening now starts at half three, plunging Exeter into near-darkness as soon as hungover students drag themselves out of bed, Christmas is undeniably close. And with it comes the thought of getting a train home, the cost of which is sure to make anyone wince as the last of the student loan for this term is quickly running out. For those of us that didn’t make it home for reading week, which is basically anyone that isn’t a ﬁrst year eager to run back home and hype up

their fresher’s experience to old mates, and try and convince them (and lie) that yeah, Exeter does have a sound nightlife, the Christmas holidays are a chance to go back and remind our families that we haven’t abandoned them yet. For some, it’s a chance to actually get some sleep and not drink, at least not every night; for others, it’s the time to go out in the same places you did when you were sixteen, except now it’s seen through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. Either way, going home is a way to get away from the madness and spontaneity of university. The heating’s on, for a start, and the thought of eating a meal not cooked in a dirty kitchen wearing at

least four layers of jumpers is almost intoxicating. The chance to maybe get rid of that cough that’s been lurking around since some point in freshers is too good an opportunity to miss.

The hardest thing about going home is missing the people The hardest thing about going home for almost a month is missing the people you spend literally all day with, as the allnighters pulled over essays and Stranger Things are replaced by a comfy mattress, pets, and people you can’t really remem-

game, the identity of each ‘Santa’ is so secret, even they don’t know who they’re supposed to buy a gift for! Instead, everyone must buy a present for the person they like the most, and whoever ends up receiving the most are declared Santa King and Queen. There is an 80s-style slow-dance and someone’s mum comes over with a camcorder to film it. If that didn’t tickle your fancy, why not try ‘Secret Santander’. Everyone draws a credit card from a hat and must hide it somewhere in Exeter. If the owner can’t find it by the last day, you can use it to buy yourself a tinselled yacht. Lastly, for those in need of a little festive downtime, try ‘The Secret Santa’.Everyone is given a copy of the bestselling self-help book ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne and presents one another with the ultimate gift of spiritual empowerment.

Tell me your secrets, ask me your questions

ber why you were friends with at school. Best not forget the worst thing about heading back home after the sweet freedom of uni life: parental ﬁgures that actually want to know what you’re up to now you’re back. Can’t quite leave the house at 3am armed with Lambrini in your pajamas, or make mashed potato at 11pm for a ‘study snack’, or moan about how much work you should be doing, without a raised eyebrow here and there. Let’s be honest though, however much you’re looking forward to going home, we will be begging to get back to uni after a week of family time and reminders as to why we left in the ﬁrst place.

Picture: Pexels

Agony McAuntface Resident Agony Aunt I don’t like drinking but I’m worried about being left out, is that weird? Unfortunately, university culture can be very alcohol-heavy and by no means should you feel obliged or pressured to partake in said culture. Alcohol is a personal choice and there are so many sober options. Many societies have nonalcoholic socials throughout the year, which are a great way to make new pals and without any pressure to drink. Christmas is coming and I’m so skint! How can I afford presents? Christmas is a rough time for all of us, apart from the jolly Holland-Hallers. Turn your hand to some arts and crafts and watch your mother beam when you hand her a napkin ring made of old Exeposé newspapers. Are winter balls worth it? I’ve heard some dodgy reviews. If £35 for a mediocre three-course Christmas dinner and half a bottle of vino sounds like a steal to you then sure, they’re 100% worth it. I personally ﬁnd a VK or two, or a series of jagerbombs, on a night out followed by cheesey chips make much less of a dent in my wallet.

COMMENT

CARROTS

PARSNIPS

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Natalie Keffler News Editor

Wil Jones Sports Editor

George Pitchford Contributor

H carrots. What a versatile vegetable. It is truly outstanding how much one can do with these funky orange guys, but it is equally as petrifying how quickly they can be ruined by a bumbling fool overcooking them and ruining all your hopes and dreams of the perfect Christmas meal. But seriously, down to business, here are just a few ideas on how you can carrot up your life in time for Christmas. Firstly, if you want to make things relatively easy for yourself, without risking chopping off a finger or two, you can boil your carrots whole in butter and mix with a dash of a Christmas spice, such as rosemary. Not only does this provide a yummy meal, but it also brings exciting aromas to your kitchen, which effectively serves as a very economical air freshener. One can also chop carrots into rectangular (ish) shapes and boil them, serving with a garlicky sauce and coriander garnish for a more exotic feel. OR, and here is my personal favourite way to eat your carrots, the real ground breaker - slice them up into beautiful circles, sun-esque creations if you will, to make them conveniently bitesized. However, god forbid when someone makes the cardinal sin of over-boiling carrots. You’ll find yourself stuck with a mushy mouthful of despair, you might even end up putting off carrots for a substantial amount of time. In summary, enjoy your carrots this Christmas, they will brighten up your plate, and if cooked correctly, your life too.

INE words may butter no parsnips - rendering this exercise in extolling the virtues of an undoubtedly unsung vegetable all but redundant – but stick with me: parsnips are great. So great, in fact, I would argue they are the very centrepiece of Christmas vegetables; forget the parsnip’s ostentatious cousin, the carrot, compensating for its relative blandness with vulgar vibrancy; disregard cabbage and its sorrowful attempt to be anything but disappointing coleslaw; do not succumb to the popular belief that the potato is king of the roast. Oh no – where the roast potato is a one-dimensional beast, the parsnip is a triple-threat. Its crisp, golden exterior is the match for any King Edward, the fleshy middle exceeds the underwhelming fluffiness of a spud, and its natural sweetness adds a foil to the salty savouriness that’s integral to the Christmas plate. This is a vegetable that literally gets sweeter as it gets colder. With freezing temperatures converting some of its starch to the sweet nectary taste it is known for, what is more apt for Christmas than a vegetable that peaks with the seasonal inclemency? Undeniably, much of the parsnip’s excellence is in its cooking, and here lies the origin for its poor reputation. An unroasted (or unbuttered) parsnip is indeed a sorry thing – so much so that many European farmers feed them to their pigs. Roast them properly though, and they transcend all other vegetables - if the roast parsnip alone wasn’t enough, when liquidised their depth of flavour helps to create another seasonal masterpiece. Potato soup? No chance.

HE unlucky ones amongst us are forced to endure this green, spherical monstrosity every Christmas. A small niche of people will claim that they “actually like them” in a futile attempt to be polite, whilst an even smaller movement out there probably vows to make them the next component in an overpriced Pret salad. Here I am charged with the most difficult sales pitch of all time, the flogging of Christmas’ dead horse, brussels sprouts. Out there in the nutrition world, there exists something called the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI), which seeks to find a scientific definition of a food that’s ‘good for you’, and rather helpfully also generates a leaderboard. I’m pleased to report that sprouts place in the top 20, which essentially means you’re eating literally one of the healthiest items out there. Not convincing enough? Didn’t think so. What’s likely to win a few more hearts and minds in our fitness fad generation is the macronutrient profile of the sprouts. For every 100 calories of brussels sprouts, we’re looking at about 22 grams of carbs coupled with almost 9 grams of protein. Not a trace of fat. That’s on a protein par with far more popular items like eggs, spinach and most of the yogurt shelf in a supermarket! So if you come home from your Boxing Day workout and Dad’s already hoovered up the rest of the turkey, don’t be so put off by the overflowing bowl of green at the back of the fridge. Give them a chance, just this once.

Picture: Pexels

Picture: Jonathunder

Picture: Pexels

Picture: Mumumio

Picture: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Picture: Stacy Spensley

RED CABBAGE

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

SWEET POTATO

Tash Ebbutt Deputy Editor

Emily Garbutt Online Arts & Lit Editor

Laura Butula Contributor

ED cabbage, an underrated vegetable which is often over shadowed by its older brother. Yes, the traditional cabbage – a vegetable renowned for being either boring or a little bit soggy. And who suffers? The red cabbage. With its versatile nature, let red cabbage brighten your roast dinner this Christmas. Literally, the vibrant hues of a spoonful of shredded cabbage will outshine any of the more drab veggies present on the Christmas plate. When cooking, add a splash of vinegar to maintain the rich colour of the cabbage. Without, the cabbage will fade and start to resemble an unwashed mop head. As the festive time approaches, some top tips may be required on what to look for when finding that special cabbage. It is advisable to pick a heavy, bright and crisp specimen for the best results. Avoid puffy leaves because like the bags under my eyes, they will be tired and useless when creating the ultimate seasonal side. To make it even more mouth-wateringly tasty, season it with cinnamon and orange for a real festive spin. But what about when Christmas ends? What will happen to the leftover cabbage? (let’s face it, everyone is going to be a little apprehensive about the dish of purple gunge). Well, have no fear because red cabbage is the perfect addition to sandwiches, sausages and the leftover roast beef. Who needs carrots and parsnips when you can have a hefty portion of red squishy goodness. But do have an extra portion of roasties – it is Christmas after all!

UTTERNUT squash: the ultimate festive vegetable? Not really. Christmas dinner essential? Maybe, maybe not, but it could be. Does it have autumnal connotations? Perhaps. But the pumpkin’s more appetising cousin is versatile; a vegetable for all seasons, one could say. Before dabbling in the murky, plant-based waters of vegetarianism and veganism, I was relatively unacquainted with the humble butternut squash, but have discovered that this is apparently what restaurants think is a key staple in the diet of your local sanctimonious veggie. Not that I’m complaining – the vegan butternut pizza at Firehouse may sound like a case of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”, but I beg to differ. And what other vegetable is equally at home on a pizza as it is in a Christmas dinner? The potato? No chance. Carrots? Not likely. Parsnips? Absolutely not. The butternut squash has substance. Have you seen one of these things? They’re the size of a small mammal. A butternut squash knows what it’s about. It’s bright. It’s orange. It’s full of festive cheer, visually speaking. Have you ever just looked at your Christmas dinner, glancing wistfully at your lacklustre carrots, lamenting the lack of orange on your plate? Butternut squash has your back. And if all that wasn’t enough to convince you, my trusty pal Wikipedia tells me that it is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin E, fibre, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium. Name a more iconic type of winter squash that grows on a vine. I’ll wait.

ET’S be real here, nobody wants to eat a root. Still, there’s an undeniable gravity that pulls us toward the orange glow of this year’s paragon; that’s right, the salient sweet potato! I suggest regarding this feisty veg or starch supplement as your new soulmate - someone who is always ready to put a smile on your face after a long day. Once your new companion accepts you and vice versa, it is indeed difficult to retract your commitment from this exciting “sub-class potato”; basically, the superiority over regular potatoes becomes evident in every way possible including taste, quality and preparation. When considering how you want to prep your new potatoes, be careful as they are often sensitive depending on how you treat them. Be warned, these little guys don’t have thick skin and they’ve got fragile feelings so don’t roast them for too long (30 minutes max, literally). Besides, sweet potatoes appreciate being mushy; buttering them up is a simple method of creating a stylish mash that will leave you gobsmacked - why not try the traditional sweet potato marshmallow mash and voluntarily engage in a heavenly food coma? Anyone sticking these bad boys into the oven or mashing them up will benefit because the final product provides you not only with legitimate pleasure, but a hearty supply of antioxidants and magnesium, perfect for destressing when you have numerous 8:30s to deal with. All in all, sweet potatoes are where it’s at.

Picture: zeimusu

CHRISTMAS VEGETABLE CORNER

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

GUILD PRESIDENT Shraddha Chaudhary (Shades)

VP EDUCATION Bryony Loveless

VP ACTIVITIES Becca Hanley

BIGGEST WIN:

I think getting the NUS more involved is one of the biggest wins. Our tuition fee debate was a national-level debate. It got a really good reception online, a really good reception in general in terms of attendance, and it’s had a good impact.

I’d say it’s probably the Guild Education Survey. We launched that in mid-to-late November and we’ve had over 2,000 responses, which is great compared to normal survey response rates. We have some excellent data. I’ll be taking a report from that survey to Education Executive

IMPROVING ACTIVITIES & VOLUNTEERING

FAIRER TIMETABLING FOR STUDENTS

I think the website and the resources pages are. Currently this week, I am going through a content review. Last week, we went through the layout of the A&V dropdown tab, which means we’ve got ourselves to a place where we have all the information in one place, which is easy to access, and is all correct.

I’ve had a chat with finance about [having a specific contact for society finance], and we’re currently in the process of finding out how finance can be more student-facing, but I’m also have been working with the VP Activities to get how-to guides online.

In terms of deadline clustering and two weeks of January exams, those were both in the Education Survey. We’ll see what the results for that question are, and then see how to act from that. A Rapid Improvement Event took place last year that recommended that you should not have more than one deadline in a day. The last point is about timetabling itself. I raised it with the head of timetabling, and found out a few weeks ago that you can no longer have a start at 08:30 and a lecture at 17:30. We’re getting there, but timetabling is a very complex beast.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SUPPORT This is on the agenda for Term 2. In addition to key translations, I have been supporting ISC (International Students’ Council) through this term in terms of one-to-ones, mentoring them, and planning Diversity Week.

LAUNCH AN EMPLOYABILITY MODULE It’s been launched in Penryn this year. It’s being piloted, and unfortunately that won’t be here in my term, but it will be here next year. It’ll be made available to different cohorts in first year and will be made compulsory.

GRAB&GO FOOD NEAR STUDY SPACES So, Harrison and Washington Singer now have mini-cafes inside them. I think that’s promoted a lot of people moving towards Harrison, but Amory Cafe is going to come up, so Subway might not be happening! (EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re disappointed, Shades!) But that’s already in talks, and Kat will be manning that.

MORE STUDY SPACE ON CAMPUS Some of this is still confidential, but I can say in some confidence that there will be more study space in Term 3. Space in Amory and possibly Peter Chalk as well will be offline, because of the Hub development, but mitigation measures are in place. More study space will certainly be provided in both the immediate and long-term future

READING WEEK FOR ALL YEARS Reading Week is a difficult one. When I arrived I spoke to Janice Kay (Provost) and Tim Quine (DVC Education). It’s difficult because it’s well known across the University that they did have this structure of a Reading Week before, but students didn’t turn up to employability events, so they decided to change it. Next term, I’m going to focus on the possibility of a further change.

LESS BUREAUCRACY IN A&V We’re doing quite well. The website is a big part of that. We are uploading a Purchase Order request form so that if societies need a PO number, they don’t need to come in because they can just do it online. When we get our new manager in for A&V (as the current one is leaving), we’re going to set some new priorities. I would have loved to have accomplished more this term, but due to staffing circumstances that hasn’t been possible.

WELFARE TRAINING FOR COMMITTEES My idea for this was to use the Advice Unit, and when I ran I was told that this should be possible and that there shouldn’t be any big things that mean that we can’t do it. Due to more staffing circumstances, it means that we don’t have the capability to do it at the moment. What we’ll do is bring it into A&V with a more pastoral and safeguarding approach from the Coordinators. I’ve taken on a lot myself in making sure that people are not struggling, and if they are then signposting them to resources.

CREATING AN ALUMNI NETWORK The Alumni team with the University are launching a new website, and I managed to secure us some Guild space. We are doing a Guild Network, a Media Network and an Arts & Culture Network. There’ll then be more, but obviously we need to see if it actually works, so we’re starting small.

SABB MANIFESTO UPDATES

VP WELfarE&DIVERSITY Kat Karamani

AU PRESIDENT Jim Balshaw

STUDENT IDEAS The Guild has secured £5,000 of funding each for the three highest scoring ‘Gold Ideas’, Ideas which show a clear improvement to the final-year student experience. The Gold Ideas are:

BIGGEST WIN:

A bigger library with much more seats

I think the biggest one is that the University has agreed to act as a guarantor for international students who don’t have a UK-based guarantor.

I think the biggest victory for me so far has been the reception of my social media. Before, the AU, and the President specifically, didn’t have too much of a presence as a Sabb online.

A Subway on campus

ARRANGE MORE FREE CLASSES AND TRAINING REDUCE THE GAP BETWEEN MALE & FEMALE CLUBS I’ve introduced self-defence and meditation classes and these have been successful so we’re looking to This one’s probably the hardest for me to measure. The main thing to come out of that is the Duckes put more dates in for next term. Meadow changing rooms. That’s been ongoing since the summer. They’ve got the cash, they’ve got the planning approval, the Sports Park are doing it and want to do it as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we have a long-run goal of not having seperate male and female clubs and just bringing them under one Diversity Week is something which happens in banner. That’s very slow and steady, and will be slow Term 2 annually, so our DVP International, Sophie, and steady for a few years to come. is dealing with that. Then, we also have diversity training for all University staff. In terms of the multifaith prayer space, I’ve been speaking to Jamie Horsley from the University, and the issue is finding somewhere that is centrally located, has access all of the time and has space to bring in things that Basketball is a new one, in terms of being able to are important for a prayer space. In the long-term, secure Exeter College as a venue. It’s larger, with we’ve come up with a plan to have a whole new more seating, so they can have a bit more of an building that could house a nap room, prayer space arena environment to play in. For a lot of these, we and relaxation, but that won’t be in my term. want to bring in the womens’ side, and either find a suitable venue for them or, if we can’t, push their games in other ways.

MORE INCLUSION OF DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS

CREATING NEW VARSITIES WHERE POSSIBLE

CHANGES TO EDUCATION TO IMPROVE WELLBEING

We’re waiting on the results of the Guild Education Survey to see what students want so that we can take that to the University, but without statistics, there isn’t much budging room. In terms of ILPs, it’s something I’m looking into promoting more because they’re useful.

HOT DRINKS FOR WALKING We’re introducing ‘ExeMove’, which is a website on which you can track your steps using many different devices. We’ll set targets, and if you reach them you’ll get free hot drinks, and sometimes other prizes such as gym membership.

SWITCHING MEMBERSHIPS TO ONLINE We trialled it this year, I think we had just under 40 of the clubs use the online forms, which gave us a really good idea how it works. There was the option to customise it too, so that clubs who run trips could add in more information. That all went really well. Hopefully, by next year, we can have a fully online AU. It just makes admin, especially around Freshers’ Week so much easier, where we get databases straight away, and the clubs don’t have to do all the paper forms.

A sleeping pod/nap room

Add a section to the iExeter app that allows people to see how busy the classes/facilities are Buy a new Guild van Buy a robot police officer to kick out first years during finals Calisthenics Park on St Lukes campus Celebrate an amazing year in style - with ‘Spill on the Hill.’ Cheaper prices in the Ram Commission a local artist to paint a picture of our ViceChancellor riding a unicorn in space Consolidate 3rd year lecture and tutorials into 2 hour double slots Dig a big hole and move the Physics Building underground Fix the plugs in the law library Get air conditioning in Newman Blue

Give a £5,000 grant, split evenly across them, to the three Xmedia societies Gold confetti cannons in the Lemmy Have regular opportunities for students to play with or cuddle animals Install a 60ft Helter Skelter outside the Forum Install more regular shuttle buses from distant accommodations Installing a kitchen with hot water facilities in the library for tea/coffee Left-handed or non-biased chairing Life skill classes Livestreaming equipment for the AU to broadcast BUCS Mature student study space Microwaves in St Lukes Library More paper/cardboard recycling points Replace the staging in M&D with a suitable and safe system Secure multi-faith prayer space on campus Set up a constructive complaining/concerns webpage Shelters for bike stands at the Old Library and St Lukes Ski lift or something to help students get up Forum Hill The Uni/Guild should sign up to a specialist coffee cup recycling contract. Have some virtual reality PCs & headsets at St Lukes for immersive learning Use the money to allocate students print credit each term Voting for Gold Ideas closes at midnight on Thursday 14 December. Vote online at exeterguild.com/ideas

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Features

FEATURES EDITORS: James Angove Isabel Taylor

Lessons learned?

Image: Michael Bueker

In the wake of the sentencing of Ratko Maldic, William Harrop considers what makes a successful intervention

AST week, Ratko Mladic was convicted in The Hague for genocide and crimes against humanity but justice for the thousands who were murdered by Mladic and his Christian-Serb Image: Ninara paramilitaries can never be served. This life sentence is as close as we will get, yet it should not be treated as closure. During the 1990s, Mladic was the blunt instrument that Slobodan Milosevic, self-declared president of Serbia, and his Bosnian-Serb stooge Radovan Karadzic wielded against the Muslims of Bosnia. To describe their violence as indiscriminate would be to miss the point. This was not wanton murder but genocide; an endeavour to ‘cleanse’ the region of Bosniak-Muslims and create a greater Serbia. Mladic, who came to be known as the ‘butcher of Bosnia’ was instrumental in the siege of Sarajevo, the longest of any European capital in modern times. During the siege, Serb snipers ﬁred down upon anyone brave enough to cross the street, often children trying to reach school, and rained mortar shells upon the civilian population. The war reached its hideous crescendo in 1995, when Serb forces overran the United Nations safe zone at Srebrenica, massacring 8,373 Bosniaks. They were unarmed; their weapons having been taken by the UN peacekeepers who promised to protect them. Instead, they failed to prevent a genocide that was committed before them. It was only after this event, and others like it, that the international community ceased to tolerate Serbia’s ﬁxation with ethnic-cleansing, and bombed Serb forces off the hills around Sarajevo – but it came much too late. In the following decades, tardiness has become a hallmark of western intervention, along with a failure to plan what comes next. But have we learned from Bosnia and subsequent interventions? Indeed, what makes a successful intervention? For a zebra crossing to be put

in place by a local council, a certain number of accidents must first take place. Only once this number has been reached will white and black stripes be considered, unless community pressure is applied first. The same is often true of our policy towards intervention. In Bosnia, the international community stood by, as crime after egregious crime was committed by the Serb-Christian militias. The notion that we did not know genocide was on the agenda is delusional. This was a televised genocide, where pictures of mass graves and the destruction of cultural icons like the bridge at Mostar were daily features on television. Despite this, only a dysfunctional UN peacekeeping force was deployed, thus allowing Western governments to assuage their collective conscience about the carnage in the Balkans. It seems we have forgotten that international law compels signatories to ‘prevent and punish’ genocide. One wonders whether the second clause ought to be removed. When it was written, I’m sure it was not intended as an easy alternative for feckless statesmen, unwilling to take hard decisions. It is easy to punish genocide, but much harder to step up and intervene before it takes place. In Rwanda, the 1995 genocide killed 1,000,000 people. The international community did not even bother with punishment. After all, what punishment is fit for such a crime?

Interventions work best when the goals are short-term or limited It appears we are only as good as our last intervention. This is a problem, because it means we are conducting vital foreign policy based on emotional baggage, and not the unique circumstances of the situation in which we may be required to act. As

already mentioned, only the combined shame of allowing both the Srebrenica massacre and Rwandan genocide, (so much for ‘never again’), induced the West to intervene in Bosnia. The reason we did not in Rwanda was the Clinton administration’s neurosis that another African intervention would result in another ‘Black Hawk Down’ scenario, as had happened in Somalia. Disaster in Mogadishu had tainted the entire continent. Conversely, Britain’s success in Sierra Leone and Kosovo produced the fateful sense of bravado that carried us into the Iraq war utterly unprepared. This pattern can be traced as far back as the late American entrance into World War Two; itself a product of its misguided involvement in the fratricide of the First. Naturally, we must learn from previous engagements, but this is not what we do. Instead, we repeat the same haphazard, open ended policy, whilst accruing shopping trollies full of emotional baggage. Impetus, speed and clear criteria are at the heart of a successful intervention. This was demonstrated in Kosovo. Instead of permitting genocide as a prerequisite for intervention, the second round between the International Community and Milosevic’s Serbia demonstrated that lessons had been learned. Before he could turn his homicidal machinations on the Albanians of Kosovo, NATO hit Milosevic in his centre of gravity: Belgrade. NATO circumnavigated the cumbersome UN, and acted on the knowledge that Milosevic had a proven record of genocide. Despite the initial success, our recurrent inability to strategize for the post-engagement period undermined progress. Again, in Sierra Leone in 2000, where a rebel force that was chopping off the hands of those who voted in a recent election was closing in on the capital, it was necessary to act unilaterally. In characteristic style, a ponderous UN force was reluctant to

combat the rebels. Seeing this, Britain deployed 800 paratroopers to Freetown, who aggressively engaged the enemy and quickly rolled them back. This created room for a fragile but lasting peace to develop. The case can be made that UN peacekeepers only make situations more intractable. Countries with soldiers deployed often oppose military interventions - even when they are clearly required as in Bosnia – because their troops are in vulnerable positions. Seeing their lethargy, malevolent actors are often emboldened, diminishing the threat-factor of military force. When a strike is necessary, it needs to hit hard and fast, not stand by and watch whilst people are crowded into churches and then set on ﬁre, as happened in Rwanda.

UN peacekeepers sometimes can only make situations more intractable What has become abundantly apparent is that interventions work best when the goals are short-term or limited. In Sierra Leone, a British civil servant took control of the police force, preserving the government, and expanding the state monopoly on force. In Iraq, we dismantled the security apparatus, creating a pool of armed exBa’athists who loathed the Coalition. As such, we disseminated the state’s monopoly on force. Iraq also drew resources from Afghanistan, creating two unwinnable counterinsurgencies by splitting the objectives. Iraq has poisoned global opinion with regards to ‘boots on the ground’. It is the cardinal case of failing to implement a sustainable post-engagement exit strategy. Yet one myth that must be countered is that the exclusive cause of Islamist militancy is Western interventions. In fact, many now

notorious jihadists were spawned by the conﬂict in Bosnia. This is unsurprising. The war pitted a merciless Christian army against courageous but underresourced Muslims. In this instance, they decried the West’s refusal to intervene quickly as evidence that they supported the genocide. The same was true in Syria, when president Obama established a ‘red line’ for the Assad regime, only to renege on it when they chemically murdered their own citizens. Yet when the west does intervene, as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, these same voices condemn the inﬁdel invader. Some in our society then cite this as evidence that jihadist extremism is the product of western intervention. However, this does not preclude the need to intervene if all other options have been exhausted, and there is an urgent need to defend the defenceless. By better understanding the relationship between our previous interventions, we are guaranteed to conduct them better in the future. Undeniably, there are plenty of people who would like the west to cease intervening entirely. As an internationalist, I cannot claim to be one of them. The best form of western intervention is increasing the aid budget. This could be done exponentially, especially when one considers the money that could be appropriated if TRIDENT – a weapons system that makes us less safe, not safer - was retired. But if you believe that the International Community should do everything it can to improve the lives of the least fortunate, and protect those who are persecuted, you must recognise that overwhelming military force is a capability that few but ourselves can offer. Intervention should always be the last resort. But when we must resort to it, it must be fast and decisive, as Bosnia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone have demonstrated. We must seek to prevent, not to punish.

Finnish-ing School

FEATURES

Megan Davies, News Editor, looks at what sets Finland's education system apart from the rest

F you visited Finland this Christmas, you might meet Santa, maybe some reindeer, but you would still miss out on Finland’s exemplary education system, which has often been held up as one of the best in the world. This is most obvious in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) studies, a study carried out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) every three years, in which Finland has traditionally performed well. They consistently ﬁnish high in the rankings and achieved the highest score in Europe in 2012. Henna Virkkunen, who was the Minister of Education until 2011, told Süddeutsche in an interview that ofﬁcials from what she termed “rich oil states” asked her whether they could buy Finnish schools, and the term “PISAtourism” is sometimes used to describe trips with the express purpose of studying the Finnish educational system. PISA measures a random sample of 15-year-old students across 65 countries in reading, science and maths. It is used to compare performances between countries, but also serves to measure links between students’ socio-economic background and their performance. By no means is PISA a perfect system - it sets its own standards, disregarding national achievement standards; it ignores all other subjects such as history, geography, literature, and modern languages - but it is still used as an authority to compare education systems. A word of warning about Finland’s results in PISA: they aren’t perfect.

Image: Max Pixel

they

don’t

performance

enjoy

making Finnish schools special: they were in the news in late 2016 for planning to abolish traditional subjectbased teaching, and have been hailed as an example of teaching adapted for the 21st century, where employers are learning to value students’ skills over their grades: a traditionally good education doesn’t necessarily correlate to good performance as an employee.

Finnish schools consistently finish high in the rankings Additionally, Finland’s schools value their students’ wellbeing. Childline experienced a 15% increase in suicidal calls between 2015 and 2016, clearly indicating that the importance of children’s mental health and wellbeing is not to be underrated. When Ashley Lamb-Sinclair of The Atlantic visited a Finnish preschool, she was impressed by how much more fun the space was: more inviting, and less like a classroom. This sums up some of what seems to make Finnish schools different: the importance of every Finn getting the same opportunities, regardless of location, age, financial situation, gender, age, or mother tongue: for example, education has been free since 1919, and families don’t even have to pay for transport to school. However, they have also been criticised for sacrificing the most gifted students' performances in favour of integrating the weakest students, which they link with Finland's decreasing results in more recent PISA rankings.

of Great Britain was literate in 1820). There is also a theory that reading has historically been central to Finnish identity, not only during long winters, but also during Russian occupation between 1809-1917, and Swedish occupation before that. That doesn’t mean that Finnish education has always been perfect. The present system originates in the 1970s when a reform overhauled the middling performances of the 1960s. This shrunk class sizes, boosted teachers’ salaries, and required would-be teachers to study education for five years, with compulsory practical teaching elements and two subjects they specialise in - and this is after a competitive admissions process. Marjo Kyllönen, of the City of Helsinki, said in a report by the “Bright Side” portal in November last year that “there are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century”. This report introduced a revolution in Finnish education: instead of teaching by subject, schools are to introduce topics to focus classes on: this has been called “phenomenon-based” teaching. For example, studying the Second World War would incorporate geography, history, and maths. This was widely reported in November 2016, and is to be implemented in the timeframe between then and 2020 for students over the age of 16. But even without such radical changes, the Finnish educational system’s advantages seem to stem from a mentality rather than a single policy. School is only compulsory from the age of seven, but since 2001, all councils have had to offer a preschool place to every six-year-old. This law was introduced even though at the time, 90% of six-yearolds were in preschool anyway. Another often-lauded particularity of Finland is that “they don’t give grades.” This isn’t completely accurate, as grades are allowed from year 5 onwards, and are compulsory from year 7. However, students are rarely tested - students take their only standardised test at the age of 18 or 19, to gain entry at University. The often small classroom sizes generally come out of necessity, in areas with low population density. The official

Image: Matthew Ross policy of only having twenty students per classroom is sometimes criticised for being unrealistic, but all schools even the smallest ones, with a quarter of Finnish schools counting fewer than 50 students - have an oppilaanhuolto, a student services team as well as teaching assistants who can immediately help students who are struggling. Unfortunately, few schools are able to teach all day - and while this allows for more free time, it also puts a burden on the parents who have to care for, or arrange the care of, their children when they are not at school. The biggest criticism of the Finnish education system has linked its success in PISA to there being very few nonFinnish students. In 2011, only 3.1% of the population were foreign nationals, compared to 18% in Germany. Statistics from Germany conﬁrm that students from a non-German background tend to not do as well as school: 7% of German-born students obtained no qualiﬁcations, compared to 30% of Turkish born students, according to Kraus in his 2009 book Ist die Bildung noch zu retten: Eine Streitschrift. Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish professor at Harvard, wrote for CNN that “Finland has built a school system that has over time strengthened educational equity. This means early childhood education for all children, funding for all schools so that they can better serve those with special educational needs, access to health and well-being services for all children in all schools, and a national curriculum that insists that schools focus on the whole child rather than narrowly on academic achievement.” A key component of Finnish schools’ success is the teaching: much is made of the fact that teachers get plenty of freedom to set their own curriculum, choose which textbooks they want to use, adapt to the school’s particular needs, etc. However, this would not be successful if teachers weren’t of the highest quality; and this is achieved by a culture that holds teachers in extremely high regard: teaching is the

aspiration of the most talented students, and requires a master’s-level education. The OECD conﬁrms this: there is a direct correlation between the image of teachers in a country and the success of its educational system. Henna Virkunnen also points out the stability of the Finnish system: radical overhauls are rare, because there is an understanding across parties and ideologies of what kind of schooling is ideal. This is also the recommendation a German report gives to other European countries: to get to a Finnish standard of education would require issue-driven debate crossing party borders. The curriculum also contains more foreign language teaching than other countries. Students learn at least two second languages, generally the other national language - Swedish or Finnish - and can choose one other language. Classes in primary school include art, cooking, music, carpentry, metalwork and textiles; and science classes are kept small enough to allow for regular lab sessions.

Finland allows children to be children, giving them time for breaks and for play In short, Finland allows children to be children, giving them time for breaks and for play: “play constitutes a signiﬁcant part of individual growth and learning in Finnish schools. Every class must be followed by a 15-minute recess break so children can spend time outside on their own activities. School days are also shorter in Finland than in the United States, and primary schools keep the homework load to a minimum so students have time for their own hobbies and friends when school is over,” writes Pasi Sahlberg. He adds that Finnish schools teach fewer hours, offer more holidays, only test at A-level, and are based on the adage, “it takes a village to raise a child.”

FEATURES

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Festive Fuss

Tash Ebbutt, Deputy Editor, and Billy Brooks look at Christmas controversies

HRISTMAS festivities differ across the globe. Here, Christmas is the jewel of the winter season with everyone going a little crazy for the festive time; meanwhile, in Holland Christmas is considerably more muted. This is due to the earlier celebration of Sinterklaasavond (St Nicholas’ Eve) and the subsequent feast of Sinterklaas. This takes place on the evening of 5 December. Children leave their shoes next to their household fireplace with the hope that Sinterklaas will visit and fill them with treats such as mandarin oranges, pepernoten, kruidnoten and strooigoed (an assortment of Dutch treats). Often these will be accompanied by a small gift and a poem which will tease the receiver on their bad habits. Presents are then delivered by Sinterklaas’ assistant Zwarte Piet. All in all, this tradition is a fun, wholesome celebration but, swathes of controversy surround the Zwarte Piet figure with many groups desiring change.

Problematic Piet To explain, the companion of Sinterklaas is commonly played by a white person with a blackened face, bright red lips and a curly wig. This depiction alludes to the traditional folklore where the Zwarte Piet figures were slaves to Sinterklaas. Over time they have become assistants rather than slaves, yet the physical appearance of these individuals remains contentious. The look of Zwarte Piet is understandably problematic. The figure is construed by some as a racial stereotype which could easily offend Dutch citizens who are first and second generation individuals descended from Carribbean and South American colonies. Further offence could be taken from the behaviour of the traditional Zwarte Piet. In folklore, naughty children risk being caught by Zwarte Piet who carried a jute and willow cane to take them away. These actions if attached to matters of race could indeed come across as offensive. This is only emphasised by critical discussion of the duality in the

relationship between Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet: that of the white saint and the black servant. In recent years, protests surrounding the depiction of Zwarte Piet have grown. One section of Dutch society has been protesting since the 1970s. Their argument is that the tradition is an outdated relic from a colonial past which is unfit for a multicultural society. As argued by Artwell Cain (the director of the National Insitute for the study of Dutch Slavery) the figure is an “affront to African diaspora in the Netherlands”. Due to this growing unrest, there have been efforts to change the racial connotations of the holiday. In 2006, the Dutch Programme Foundation encouraged the Zwarte Pieten figures to paint their faces red, blue and green but alas this did not prove successful. The common counterargument for some is that Zwarte Piet is a friendly and adored figure within Dutch festivities. It has transformed from child abductor

to a mischievous clown who delivers gifts. It is a tradition that still brings joy to children and it is the critics themselves who make it a matter of race. One study examined whether children associate Zwarte Piet with a black man with the results displaying the association to strongly sit with clown figure rather than a distinguishing race. As a matter of compromise, the argument at present stands that the clown figure is black from chimney soot after delivering the gifts. This implies that the black face make up has been toned down in an effort to avoid controversy. This is arguably a weak attempt at compromise but it is finding the balance between tradition and modern day perspective that will ensure that this holiday remains a pleasurable experience in future.

Image: ITU/R. Farrell

Tash Ebbutt Deputy Editor Image: Tenorio81

Happy Xmas (war is not over)

Image: Chuck Kennedy

N recent years in America, the festive season has seen attacks by the liberally minded left-leaning in America. The liberals in the US have been on the receiving end of accusations that they are aggressors in a ‘war on Christmas.’ There are many extremely trivial and amusing elements at play here, among which basic human empathy is centremost. The liberal encouragement of the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’, as a handy alternative to ‘Merry Christmas’, is the main controversy. Christian spokespeople and conservative pundits such as Fox’s Sean Hannity seem to be under the impression that their religion is being covertly attacked. There is indeed a burgeoning atheist community in the USA which forms part of the ‘Happy Holidays’ team. These people hope that Americans can begin to divorce the festive period from its Christian roots, for example by refusing to go to Church on Christmas Day. However, the most convincing argument to issue from the HH advocates is that ‘holidays’ calls attention to the fact that Christmas is not the only holiday to occur at the end of the calendar year, but is more or less concurrent with the likes of Image: Jewish Hanukkah and secularITU/R. NewFarrell Year's

celebrations. It may strike you as odd that the same people who claim to be politically libertarian would be so annoyed about other peoples’ methods of well-wishing that they would hyperbolically brand it a ‘war’. It is indeed silly, but it does highlight a trend of right-wing politics; namely that they won’t be satisﬁed until you believe what they do. Perhaps you’ll note the extreme unctuousness with which the inclusive impulse behind the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’ is made to appear somehow violent towards, or else intolerant of, Christian ideas - despite Christmas being well within the jurisdiction of the umbrella term ‘holidays’. The cognitive dissonance implied here is staggering. The 'War on Christmas' crowd think that on the one hand, 'Jesus-Christ-Meek-and-Mild' is our spiritual saviour, and that we should keep our noses out of each others’ business; and on the other, that we should not be accepting of other people’s right to incongruent religious beliefs and holidays, apparently least of all Jewish people celebrating Hanukah. It shouldn’t have to be pointed out to Republicans that by dint of the First Amendment’s separation of Church and

State, not only are American residents not forced to celebrate any particular holidays, but they are allowed to celebrate any holidays they like. What’s more, the freedom of expression enshrined in that amendment means that Christians can freely wish each other and anyone else a Merry Christmas, while secularists can wish each other a 'Happy Holidays', Jews a 'Happy Hanukkah', and so on. The American Constitution remains godless in all but its preamble, which only mentions religion in its unsuitability as a guiding principle in the creation of the document. In principle, a secular state with a godless constitution can be a good template for a tolerant society, and Jefferson’s 'Wall of Separation' between Church and state is one our own government could do with replicating. The incursion of religion into US politics has occasionally bred intolerance, as this most recent debacle demonstrates. Nevertheless, do enjoy watching Hannity and others sweat and swear in distress in response to well-meaning wishes of Happy Holidays from his liberal counterparts this festive season: I know I will.

Billy Brooks

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

FEATURES

Joy to the World Exeposé Features writers take a look at festive traditions from around the globe

Kentucky Fried Christmas

F you take a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun around Christmastime, you might be surprised to ﬁnd Tokyo decked out with Christmas lights from Harajuku to Shinjuku - particularly given that only one percent of the country’s population is Christian. There, it’s more of a romantic holiday, like Valentine’s day with all the Western Christmas trappings. You might even be familiar with Japan’s most popular Christmas icon — a guy with a jolly grin, a white beard and a highly efﬁcient global distribution network. That’s right: Colonel Sanders. It’s true: a cursory Google search for “Col. Sanders Japan” will yield a slew of images of the

Kentucky Fried Chicken founder/mascot dressed up like Santa Claus, ready to deliver up a bucket of deep-fried Yuletide cheer to Japan’s hungry masses. The Christmas rush for KFC is so heavy that stores often sell out of their signature “party barrel” from reservations months in advance. The base-model of the Christmas staple includes a bucket of chicken, a salad and chocolate cake and will run you about ¥4000, or about £26. A bit pricey, but hey, it’s a tradition. But how did a slightly overpriced bucket of fried chicken get to become such an integral part of Japanese Christmas? The year is 1970. The manager of the country’s

Away in a manger

HEN it comes to traditions, Malta’s rich cultural history makes life on this Mediterranean island a truly unique experience. Having travelled to Malta annually when I was younger, I am familiar with the year-round use of firework displays and daily cannon firings which shape the Maltese identity. So when it comes to Christmas, you can expect some historically grounded traditions; with its strong Catholic allegiance, the Maltese Christmas season, marked with the Maltese greeting ‘Il-Milied it-Tajjeb’, is full of celebration. One of the most important Maltese Christmas traditions is that of the ‘Presepju’, which are cribs used to decorate Churches and homes alike during the festive season. Decorated with little figurines called ‘Pasturi’ (from the Italian ‘Pastore’ for Shepherd), the use of cribs to decorate goes back to 1617, where it is told that the Dominican Conventuals Church in Rabat erected a crib every Christmas. The historical background of this tradition is still evident in Malta today, with a crib dating back to 1826 still on display in St. Peter's Monastery in Mdina. Brought to Malta by Italian noblemen, the crib tradition was not initially popular, as they were often made out of expensive materials which isolated the less

afﬂuent Maltese people from the tradition. However, as they became more popular, they became more representative of Maltese culture; the ﬁgurines became more Maltese in style, with the ‘Pasturi’ made out of rough clay and plaster to avoid unnecessary expense. Nowadays, the tradition is upheld by a group called ‘Friends of the Crib’, who fought back against a decline in popularity of the cribs following WW2. As a part of their celebration, they put on an exhibition of around 100 cribs of different shapes and sizes in the weeks running up to Christmas. Following this renewal of the tradition, Presepju now play an integral part in a Maltese Christmas. When it comes to decorating, it is traditional to sow wheat, grain, and canary seed, ‘gulbiena’, in order to grow white grass-like shoots to adorn the crib. Serving as a reminder of the Christmas tale, Maltese houses place their own

decorative cribs alongside the popular Christmas tree, celebrating the strong Catholic culture in Malta.

Lauren Geall Lifestyle Editor

ﬁrst KFC, Takeshi Okawara wakes up in the middle of the night and jots down an idea for a bucket of chicken to be sold at Christmas. Thus, the party barrel was born, and Japan’s saturated fat consumption has been spiking every December since. According to KFC Japan, the dream that began it all came to Okawara after hearing two foreigners complaining about how they missed Christmas turkey dinners in their home country. It was then that Okawara knew that he could make the Japanese public, both foreign-born and native alike, fall in love with his new idea. And it turns out, Okawara was right. Thanks to

the highly successful “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” (Kentucky for Christmas!) campaign in 1974 as well as a convenient similarity between Sanders and the already popular Santa Claus, the bucket became a cornerstone of nearly every Christmas get-together in Japan. So if you have a table full of hungry relatives this Christmas and your turkey’s looking a bit on the burnt side, all is not lost. Just take a page out of Japan’s book and remember: the Colonel’s got your back.

Grant Miner

'Tis the Sweden

N the Swedish town of Gävle, every advent sees the emergence of the Gävlebocken. This is a giant version of the Yule goat that is a traditional symbol of Christmas in Scandinavia and Northern European countries. In fact, the creature has a long festive association in the region, variably performing the role of mischief-maker, gift-giver or as rather ungainly transportation for Santa Claus. In its modern incarnation, the goat is usually made out of straw, decorated with red ribbon and placed on or

Image: Hiking Artist

under the Christmas tree. This brings us to the Gävle goat. Since 1966, the city has erected a 13-metretall depiction of the Yule goat meant to announce advent and bring the year to close with peace and joy. But unbeknownst to the hircine construction, it is unlikely to see Christmas, let alone New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately for the goat, this is because it seems to have drawn the attention of all of Sweden’s pyromaniacs. In its very first year the goat was set ablaze at midnight on Christmas day, and has been a target ever since. In fact, over its illustrious history and despite increased security measures (and its approximation to a fire station), only a third of goats have survived. Among the highlights include: 1976, when the goat collapsed after being hit by a volvo; 2005 which saw a crack squad of gingerbread men and Father Christmasses fire flaming arrows at the structure, and 2010 when the goat was subjected to an attempted helicopter

kidnapping. However, needless to say the inhabitants of Gävle have not been taking this lying down. For over 20 years now the goat has been under constant camera surveillance, and for over ten it has been covered with a ﬁreprooﬁng substance commonly used in aircraft. This year it has been reported that the town has a secret plan to protect the goat, but given past form it seems unlikely that the Gävlebocken will remain unsinged. At time of writing the construction is still standing although you can keep up with the fate of the world’s most hated goat on twitter and instagram @gavlebocken and check out the live webcam at http://www.visitgavle. se/sv/gavlebocken.

James Angove Features Editor

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E X H I B IT Study break

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christmassy cafés: reviewing festive food

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Festive STUDY BREAK SPECIAL

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A YEAR IN REVIeW

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LIFESTYLE EDITORS Barbara Balogun Lauren Geall

ARTS + LIT EDITORS Mubanga Mweemba Maddie Davies

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SCREEN EDITORS Ben Faulkner Fenton Christmas

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Cheap but cheerful

the christmas shop

Exeposé Lifestyle writers explain how to celebrate on a budget

It’s easy to dread shopping in the Christmas period, whether it’s because of the crowds or the pressure to stumble across the perfect present, but if you’re not feeling the soullessness of online shopping, here are a few ways to enjoy your Exeter gift-buying experience. 1-25 December, Late Night Shopping: Every Thursday in the run up to Christmas, shops will stay open in Princesshay until 9pm. Throughout December, Lloyd's Lounge: If you can’t quite hack the walk home with all your shopping bags straight away, why not head down to Lloyd’s Lounge, a cosy new venue which has opened in Princesshay just in time for the festive season. Described as a cafélounge-bar, it’s the perfect place to recuperate, whether with a festive drink or a light snack. 17 November - 5 January, Charity Christmas Tree Festival: Since 17 November, The Roman Walk has featured a special Christmas tree festival, which features 35 trees all decorated by different local charities. Take a break and wander through to feel some festive spirit!

COMPETITIONS Spotted that perfect Christmas gift, but can’t quite afford it? Princesshay has a number of competitions running that can help you get hold of something special. 6 November - 15 December, My Princesshay Wish: Got your Christmas list sorted? Comment on the Facebook post with your pick (Princesshay.co.uk/Christmaswish-competition) for a chance to win. 16 November - 15 December, Hope and Clarence: Take a selfie with Princesshay’s illuminated polar bears, Hope and Clarence, for a chance to win a £50 gift card. Upload it to Insta, Facebook or Twitter and don’t forget to tag the location as Princesshay and use the hashtag #HayChristmas! 1 December - 23 December, Charity Car Raffle: Children’s Hospice Southwest are running a raffle to win a brand-new Toyota C-HR. Buy a £2 ticket off one of the volunteers near Debenhams and help to improve the Christmases of young people in the South West. Maddy Parker, Music Editor

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HERE are two ways you can go with starters on a student budget; either load your housemates’ stomachs up so that you can stretch a smaller turkey further, or tease their appetites and impress with some cheat’s canapés. Cheese typically comes at the end of Christmas meals, but you can keep your starter Christmassy with a baked camembert and a loaf of fresh bread. Stud the cheese with garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme for an extra kick in taste and buy some good quality bread from somewhere like Waitrose or M&S; if you’re feeling competitive, you could even have a go at making your own. Add a couple of punnets of grapes and you’re good to go. If you’re feeling a bit fancier, give vol-au-vents a go. Half of your house won’t have even heard of them before, and they pack a fantastic bite-sized punch of flavour. You can get 36 of the miniature ready-to-bake puff pastry cups for £2.50 at Sainsbury’s to fill with a few different flavours; cream cheese, smoked salmon and dill blended together makes a fantastic, creamy faux-mousse, and houmous topped with caramelised red onions makes for a delicious vegan alternative. Emma Bessent, Editor

HERE'S no doubt about it, roast dinners are very labour intensive. If you’re planning to do a turkey with all the trimmings, set aside plenty of time and plan out your cooking schedule so you have a guide to refer to if the pressure of hungry housemates gets you flustered. Don’t forget the importance of really good sides. Roast your pre-boiled potatoes in lard (50p per 250g block from Sainsbury’s) for extra flavour and crunch; stir-fry cooked Brussels sprouts with pancetta and crumbled, pre-cooked chestnuts then sprinkle with pomegranate seeds for a lifechanging bowl of green goodness; mash boiled carrots and swede together with generous lashings of butter, salt and pepper; roast parsnips, sweet potatoes with honey for a flavoursome and filling supplement to your classic roast potatoes. It’s much cheaper to buy your turkey frozen, but remember that the bird needs to be fully defrosted before you think about preheating the oven. Follow cooking instructions provided very carefully; undercooked turkey is as dangerous as undercooked chicken, and overcooked turkey is tough and flavourless. Allowing time to rest before carving can help with the latter problem. Emma Bessent, Editor freestocks.org

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HILE the contents of a Christmas main course may be a given, the same cannot be said for dessert: everything is up for debate. My first piece of advice is to discuss in advance what to have for dessert, to avoid disappointment and spending money on multiple desserts. For those who want to save on time, buying a supermarket product is an option. A good way to do this is to read various newspapers’ and websites’ Christmas dessert taste tests to give you an idea on which brands taste best. For example, the Telegraph rates Sainsbury’s £7 chocolate and cream yule log 5/5, whilst Which? recommends the M&S Collection £2.50 mince pies. The last thing you want on the day is to fight for room in the oven with the turkey, so make sure to prepare in advance if you're planning on making your own. Also keep an eye out for the required ingredients, as costs can quickly rack up. To save time, look for recipes that have a short preparation time, keeping in mind that cooking and chilling time is time which you can use for other things. My housemates and I previously decided on BBC Good Food’s chocolate orange cheesecake recipe as it only needed six ingredients, had a very short preparation time, and didn’t need to be baked. Fiona Edwards

REWING up a batch of mulled cider is a great option for the classic boozy student Christmas dinner. Pick up two litres of cider and combine with 40 grams of brown sugar over a low heat. From here you can either easily grab a mulled cider kit from a supermarket or raid the spice cupboard! Five cloves (the spice not garlic!), four star-anise, two cinnamon sticks, a vanilla pod and a sprinkle of nutmeg should do the trick. Chop two clementines (satsumas will do) and pop a clove within each and place in the pan. Break the cinnamon in half and add the rest of the spices. Bring the pan up to the boil making sure all the ingredients have nicely infused. If you’re feeling particularly rogue, try adding five shots of dark rum. Alternatively, homemade mint hot chocolate is the perfect beverage for an evening watching a Christmas film. For six servings grab a saucepan and melt 70 grams of cocoa into two litres of milk on a medium heat. Melt in another 70 grams of chocolate and add three drops of peppermint oil. You can grab the peppermint oil from any supermarket; just mix in three tablespoons of sugar and simmer for fifteen minutes. Then bring the pan up to the boil, grab a ladle, and you’re ready to serve! Tom Murphy

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EXHIBIT

LIFESTYLE

EDITORS: Barbara Balogun & Lauren Geall

A Happy Christmas?

11 DEC 2017 |

Olivia Denton gives us techniques to keep calm and festive during the season

RE you receiving, giving or taking for christmas. This is my take to help you during the season.

A time for giving, a time for sharing? Giving your time, love or presents to others is a wonderful way to help celebrate the spirit of Christmas. The more we give to others the less we focus and put pressure on ourselves as we enjoy being part of other people's happiness. If you are stressed about how to give and show the love (actually) this Christmas, maybe print off photos and collate memories as a gift for your family and friends, write a thoughtful message that doesn't have to the break the bank and will still make you feel warm inside.

DECEMBER AIR CAN HELP GROUND YOU IN A CALM PLACE Food Glorious Food? For many, Christmas is food and it is easy to see why with the copious roast potatoes, mountains of mince pies and the avalanche of Quality Streets on offer. But, if our wellbeing is impacted

by what we eat, Christmas can be a distressing time, especially if we feel the pressure to eat a certain way or regulate our diet for whatever reason. Be sure to be gentle to yourself and embrace food without guilt. Know that being full and treating yourself is not weakness but a form of powerful self-appreciation - make it your Christmas present to yourself to know that what you eat does not define you and gives your body and soul nourishment Walking in a Winter Wonderland: Lauren Geall Lauren Geall Do you find yourself with cabin fever over the holidays? Take some much needed quiet time away from the mania of the festivities and family feuds by treating yourself to a walk. By getting close to nature, being active or simply breathing in the crisp December air can help ground you in a calm place and relax the mind.

Simply Having a Wonderful ChristmasTime…Or Not…Both is Fine! At Christmas our social calendars can become chocolate-a-bloc, and if you feel anxious around social situations where you are expected to be having a wonderful time constantly you could put a whole lot of pressure on yourself by needing to act as shiny as a Christmas ornament this season. Liberate yourself from the pressure of these moments by taking breathers, or leave the room in social occasions where you feel it is becoming too much, talk to a close one about how you are feeling even if that's hard to vocalise. A problem shared is a problem halved.

LIBERATE YOURSELF BY TAKING BREATHERS OR LEAVING THE ROOM It is important to acknowledge that it is okay not to feel okay all the time, even at Christmas. I personally always compare my Christmas to whatever Christmas Sainburys is offering in their adverts. But here lies one of the greatest tips to Christmas happiness, being grateful for what you have and all that is unique and indi-

vidual to your experience. Try not to compare your Christmas to others as behind closed doors everything is not a three million pound advert. Relax Within a Structure: At Christmas, many look forward to the endless pyjama days, resting on the sofa and not having to go anywhere or do anything. For others, the lack of structure and order can leave your mind to wonder, work to build and your mental health can feel rattled up. Ensure that you “relax within a structure”, set aside dates to do work, dates to have fun and dates just to be you and relax. Fairytale of New Years: New Year’s Eve and Day can be a difficult time, especially if the year has been hard to us or we feel we need to "resolve" our errors and better ourselves. Self help and diet books flood the market and we find ourselves criticising ourselves and our years. Make it your resolution to always know that just being yourself and existing in the moment is worthy and enough. If you've been affected by these issues, we recommend the following information: Wellbeing: 01392 724381 PAPYRUS Suicide Helpline: 0800 068 41 41 www.exeterguild.org/change/wid/

Christmas 'Do It Yourself' Two Lifestyle writers DIY a baking jar and a chocolate bar for your Christmas presents

HRISTMAS gifts often prove to be a stretch for the student budget which is why more and more students are turning to making their own presents. Putting time and effort into a gift shows how much you care and you can make some really fun presents without spending too much money. One idea is a baking jar filled with all the dry ingredients needed to bake a festive treat! A great recipe to fill your jars with for Christmas is gingerbread; all you need is: - 225g of plain flour - ½ tsp. of baking powder - ½ tsp. of bicarbonate of soda - 1 tsp. of ground ginger - ¼ tsp. of all spice - ¼ tsp. of cinnamon - 100g of brown sugar Layer the ingredients into a clean jar then cover the top with some Christmas paper tied with ribbon and attach a label informing the recipient of what they need to do: - Mix 150g of melted butter, 1 tbsp. of golden syrup, and 1 egg yolk together - Add to the dry ingredients, mix well, and knead into a dough - Chill for 15 mins then roll out and cut into

shapes - Bake at 200C Fan Mark 6 for 8-10 mins - Cool on a wire rack

PUTTING EFFORT INTO GIFTS SHOWS HOW MUCH YOU CARE This is a really lovely present, especially if you and the recipient make (and eat) the gingerbread together, and at around £1.30 per jar this DIY gift is the perfect solution for students on a budget this Christmas. Emma Hewetson

LOVE Christmas. I always have done. I love the smile on someone’s face when you give them that gift you know they will love. So this year, I thought it was about time I put my inner-culinary goddess to the test, and make my own chocolatey gifts. Ingredients: - 150g cacao butter - 200ml maple syrup - 100g cacao powder - 75g pecan nuts - 1tbsp coconut oil - 1tsp ground cinnamon - 50g goji berries (you can use any nuts and dried fruits you wish - for example, pistachios, dried cranberries, orange peel, etc).

Method: Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave, then add 50ml of the maple syrup and the ground cinnamon. Spread the pecan nuts, broken into small pieces, over a lined baking tray. Cover them with the oil-syrup mix and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until they have turned golden and caramelised. While the nuts are roasting, melt the cacao butter in a glass bowl over boiling water, stirring occasionally until all is melted.Remove from the heat, and add the rest of the maple syrup, cacao powder, and a pinch of salt to the melted butter. Very gently, mix everything together with a whisk until it is completely smooth and thickened slightly. Once fully mixed and thickened, line a baking tray with cling film - covering all the sides and coming over the edges - and pour the chocolate mixture into the tray. Next, scatter the caramelised pecans and goji berries on top and place in the freezer to set for no more than two hours. Once set, remove and carefully take out of the tray. Break into shards and create beautiful presents with a little tissue paper and ribbon. Katie Tincello

EXHIBIT

LIFESTYLE

EDITORS: Barbara Balogun & Lauren Geall

11 DEC 2017 |

All I want for Christmas is food M

Exeposé Lifestyle writers review this season's festive menu offerings

Y bank account is begging me not to do it, and I can see my friends shaking their heads in despair as I return, clutching my purchase: Costa Christmas specials have arrived! I might think twice about spending the extortionate sum of £3.85 on actual real-life University essentials like avocado and quinoa, however, on a Costa Christmas hot chocolate (my favourite is the billionaire’s one – it is divine), I will happily tap my debit card in one quick excitable gesture with no afterthought for my financial situation.

THIS YEAR COSTA HAS REALLY OUTDONE THEMSELVES WITH THE VARIETY OF CHOICES This year Costa have really outdone themselves with the variety of choices, with one being able to choose a billionaire’s, mint, black forest OR Lindt hot chocolate! The Christmas menu is equally as exciting for coffee lovers, with the options of a gingerbread latte (complete with the cutest gingerbread man you ever did see), a honeycomb latte and a salted caramel cappuccino. I think I speak for everyone when I say that the Costa Christmas specials are the perfect drinks to get in the Christmas spirit, because what would Christmas be without gorging yourself on calorific products and spending excessive money on unnecessary items?!

TARBUCKS is quite privileged when it comes to its Christmas menu: everyone is excited to see what they'll do next with their iconic cups. I personally love this year’s intricate doodles, and to go with it, their upgraded gingerbread latte. Starbucks has intensified this classic sweet and spicy flavour with gingerbread whipped cream and biscuit sprinkles in a power move that makes theirs a strong contender for the best one around. The moreish fudge hot chocolate has also been given an upgrade with golden chocolate curls, whilst the toffee nut and eggnog lattes remain as classic as ever. Eggnog’s subtle spice will make someone who doesnt like the real thing feel festive.

STARBUCKS IS QUITE PRIVELEGED WHEN IT COMES TO ITS CHRISTMAS MENU My personal standout however is the festive cold brew. It seems counterintuitive to be drinking something iced when it's cold outside, but the addition of winter spices, cranberries, and orange peel makes it taste as if it's been mulled! It's a lighter and more refreshing companion to the other Christmas drinks, which you can get over ice too if you're feeling a bit warm under your layers! Charley Cross

ITH the onset of the festive season, cafés capitalise on the opportunity to sell us hot drinks at exorbitant prices; somehow the prospect of a new flavour leads us to forget about the price tag. In our bid to try that ‘must-have’ latte, we throw caution to the wind for a small taste of a different syrup that you wouldn’t think twice about any other time of year.

IN OUR BID TO TRY THAT 'MUSTHAVE' LATTE, WE THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND Rising to the challenge of the competitive festive hot drink market, our very own Comida should not be forgotten. At a far more affordable price, you have the option of a black forest or mint hot chocolate, as well as the prospect of an eggnog or gingerbread latte.I would recommend Comida for those looking for a novelty hot drink which doesn't break the bank. Presented with these choices, I decided to try their Black Forest hot chocolate. For just £1 more than their regular hot chocolates, you are presented with a comforting cup of sweetness, studded with generous-sized marshmallows in a pillow of whipped cream, all topped with a flake. Admittedly, however, this was a bit of sugar overload: any cherry-chocolate flavour was swamped by the amount of cream and marshmallows flooding your taste buds. Clara De Montfort

Natalie Keffler, News Editor

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Leah Kelley

RET have a wide selection of food, snacks, and drinks to choose from in their Christmas selection. My personal favourite is the Pret Christmas lunch sandwich, with turkey breast, pork and herb stuffing, crispy onions, baby spinach and a sweet cranberry sauce, all held within the sliced malted bread. This is an ideal option for a lunch on campus as it is nice and filling – I would thoroughly recommend! There is also an alternative veggie Christmas lunch sandwich, a festive winter salad, and a ham hock, stuffing & apple baguette which all look equally tasty!

THE GINGERBREAD SNOWMAN GOES VERY WELL WITH THE FESTIVE FLAT WHITE The sweet options are also very tempting, with a cute melting gingerbread snowman called Melvin catching my attention, finished with icing and a marshmallow-head. Other options include the Christmas muffin, Christmas tiffin, and mince pie. Finally, there is a lovely selection of hot drinks, including a mint mocha, mint hot chocolate, and festive flat white. The gingerbread snowman goes very well with the festive flat white. This Christmassy coffee has a shot of mince pie syrup, making it taste like Christmas in a cup. Sophie Grundy

HE AMT coffee stand seems to be one of the most popular spots for students to spend their student loans on festive coffees and cakes. As the extensive queues in the past week show, Exeter loves the AMT festive menu. Whilst it can take quite a while to actually reach the front, it is definitely worth it for what lies in store.

AS THE EXTENSIVE QUEUES IN THE PAST WEEK SHOW, EXETER LOVES THE AMT FESTIVE MENU AMT have covered all bases by having a coffee, tea and hot chocolate festive drink. The range includes a Butterscotch Latte, Cinnamon tea, a gingerbread flat white and macaron hot chocolate, all perfect for the cold walk home from campus. If you're looking for something stereotypically festive, the gingerbread flat white is my number one recommendation to try, mixing a strong coffee with lots of spices and flavour. There are also some festive food options, with my favourite definitely being the mince pies. Unfortunately AMT is on the pricier side of the coffee chains in the Forum, but if you have somehow managed to avoid being broke at this point in the term, you can go absolutely wild. Daphne Bugler, Online Features Editor

ATERSTONES Roman Gate has just been refurbished, and looks all the more wonderful for it. With an warm and friendly café upstairs, clearly the best way to indulge in a festive beverage is whilst cosily surrounded by the endless temptations of a bookshop. First up is the honeycomb hot chocolate (£2.95): honeycomb-flavoured, and served with marshmallows, honeycomb pieces (which turn delightfully fudgy), and cream. Our second contender, the toasted marshmallow hot chocolate, quite literally tastes like liquid marshmallow: topped with marshmallows, cream, and little crispy chocolate spheres that bring back childhood memories of Műller Corners. This is the resounding highlight of this menu – lovers of marshmallows (i.e. humans, with taste buds) will adore it. Our final festive friend from the chocolate family is the Hasslacher’s hot chocolate (£3).This is one for the more bitter amongst us, made with 100% cocoa chocolate - a welcome break from the perpetually sweet festive trends.

A GOOD BOOK AND A HOT CHOCOLATE - WHAT COULD BE MORE FESTIVE? Other more caffeinated options include gingerbread and salted caramel lattes; my advice, however, is to settle down with a good book and the toasted marshmallow hot chocolate – what could be more festive? Graham Moore, Deputy Editor

EXHIBIT

EDITORS: Barbara Balogun & Lauren Geall

LIFESTYLE

11 DEC 2017 |

Ode to the ugly jumper

Tash Ebbutt, Deputy Editor, showcases some of the more hideous examples on the market this year

IS' the season to be jolly, and what better way to express your festive spirit than in a mass of brightly coloured, nauseating fabric? Yes that’s right, it’s the season of good will and ugly Christmas jumpers. I do enjoy festive knitwear, but I tend to gravitate towards the cutesy, covered-in-gingerbread-men look rather than the full blown 'ugly' vibe. In light of this, it's time to delve into the depths of the internet and find the ugliest, most antisocial jumpers that you wouldn’t wear in front of your grandma.

YOU'RE SURE TO RESEMBLE A CHRISTMAS TREE First stop, Amazon. Not the usual choice for clothing but there are some utterly horrifying items to discover. My personal favourite features a fire breathing dinosaur who sits atop a galactic background whilst he towers over mounds of gifts. It almost reflects a child at Christmas –

excitable and hyperactive. It even features the classic 2003-esque WordArt. A garish monstrosity that will cost you £21, accessorise your wardrobe with a piece that will burn the retinas off your peers for years to come. Next on the journey of ugly jumper discovery is the wonderful TipsyElves shop. They offer an array of hideous knitwear (including one rather adorable sloth cardigan) to suit all tastes and budgets. I eventually settled on three specific items. Two are part of a range that seemingly desires to ridicule the notion of Father Christmas. One features a topless Santa as a mermaid (Mermanta). One for fans of both Christmas and The Little Mermaid, this raunchy number is sure to get hearts racing (if you’re into that kind of thing). For fans of the Kardashians, the second Santa satire plays on the viral image of Kim Kardashian balancing champagne on her afamed booty. Unfortunately, Santa isn't high brow enough for champers so he cheekily balances a glass of milk on his derriere. I'm not sure whether leaving milk out for Santa was intended for this purpose but if you deliver presents to the whole world, I guess you can do what you

want. Both these grotesque designs are offensively festive and are sure to raise a few brows if that’s the look that you are going for. Another gem is akin to the tangled mess of decorations which are hauled out of the attic each year. Just imagine said box compressed onto a cardigan. Complete with tinsel, baubles and a lurid green hue, you’re sure to resemble a Christmas tree as you get merry with your pals. Battery operated lights are encouraged to really add the glitz to your festive glamour! Alternativel=y, accessorise with the addition of bells. You will be the very definition of jingle bells, envied by all who lay their eyes upon you. An iconic statement piece that will give you that pine based glow! Next stop, Etsy. Famous for hand crafted goods, it was the last place I expected to find hideous jumpers. Technically, this particular jumper is more adorable than hideous. Featuring both puns and a sweet little avocado, I thought it was suited to the Exetah obsession. Personally, I despise avocados. They are terrible in both texture and taste and quite frankly should not be parading about on a Christmas jumper. There are other vegetables that have all

A reﬂective rewind

the Christmas spirit: like the sprout or even the humble parsnip. But yes, if you desire to showcase your love of the overrated avocado whilst being as festive as can be, then this jumper is for you. Avoiding the high street shops even further, I visited the online shop 'truffleshuffle'. With a plethora of quirky clothing, I wasn’t surprised to find some funky designs on the site. My personal favourite was an item that I would consider wearing myself. Featuring a bright, fun design with the traditional icons of Christmas, this beauty possesses the ability to scream "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at people when they stroll past you. Upon wearing this, people will become infected by your passion for the most wonderful time of the year. The neon colours act as a lure for any unsuspecting Scrooges; one flash and they will be skipping alongside you singing Michael Bublé (we all know he's out of his cave now). That, or they will hiss, spritz some kind of holy water at you and retreat into the land of Bah Humbug. A truly magnificent, slightly nauseating item to top off some of the most hideous jumpers around.

Exeposé Lifestyle writers share their favourite university moments of 2017

NE of my favourite moments of this year has got to be my first football training session with Psychology Society. In school, I struggled with PE and dropped the subject as soon as I could, so signing up to play for PsySoc was out of my comfort zone. Before attending training, I was really anxious and was close to chickening out. Luckily, I braved it and my first session changed my perception of sports participation. It was the first time I was not made fun of while attempting to play sport; everyone in PsySoc was very understanding and patient with me. The team captains, Mia and Alexis, gave me lots of encouragement

and compliments, which meant a lot given how insecure I am about my physical abilities. The football training was definitely the most fun I’d had in a while. Ever since then, I have become more involved in Exeter’s sport scene: repping PsySoc in football, Welcome Team in badminton and participating in 'This Girl Can' week in November. I have made amazing friends through sports and have noticed positive changes in my fitness levels since starting to be more active. Being involved in sports is something I never saw myself doing yet it has become an important part of my life in Exeter this year. Penny Dinh

FEW of my top moments are as follows: One, Monday mornings at 9:30am – cue the floods of Snapchat stories from Anthropology students. To our delight, our ‘Human – Animal Interactions’ lecturers allowed their dogs to freely roam the lecture theatre each week. What better surprise than to be deep in anthropological theory when suddenly a dog’s snout peeps out from under your arm? Two, going to a late night zumba session in Unit 1 armed with neon pink legwarmers and glitter face was by far one of the most wonderfully wacky moments of 2017. A night out and a (surprisingly gruelling) workout in

one! Three, mid-way through the third circuit, I wished in that exact moment to be anywhere else in the world than on a beach in Exmouth; sweating out the exam stress under the beaming sun. In hindsight, (by this I mean catching my breath and loading up on a hearty portion of fish and chips), BodySoc’s bootcamp on the beach was a perfect start to summer! Finally, having long heard of this West Country tradition, but never quite managing to see it for myself I ticked Tar Barrels off my bucket list. Copious amounts of hot chocolates and a few singed hairs later has left 2017 feeling cosy and autumnal. Lizzie Downs

ARTS + LIT A YEAR IN REVIEW

fiction

non-fiction

poetry

art exhibit

Turtles All The WaY Down

POST TRUTH

IN THESE DAYS OF PROHIBITION

SOUL OF A NATION

JOHN GREEN

MATTHEW D’ANCONA

IVEN that I spend my life whinging through a sometimes mind-numbingly boring Law degree, ‘Young Adult’ fiction is my go-to escape for reading that is less demanding. After his sensational YA novel The Fault in Our Stars, John Green’s long awaited new book Turtles All The Way Down is easily my favourite fiction book of the year. Its your basic YA plot: Aza and her best friend Daisy try to understand the mysterious disappearance of a local billionaire. But one reason I admire it so much is that the plot genuinely subverted my expectations of its narrative direction -- primarily by using the mystery as a backdrop for Aza’s struggles with obsessivecompulsive disorder. Green has extensively discussed how his own OCD, and its effect upon him during adolescence and adulthood, has informed Aza, and if nothing else it feels like a very personal read. Employing winding monologues and meticulous descriptions, readers truly glimpse what’s going through Aza’s head. Green’s treatment of mental health is never clichéd; OCD is treated not as an eccentric identity quirk, but as the serious condition it is. Beyond this Green also explores fandom, friendship, and intimacy in the social media age.

HIS summer whilst strolling through the wonderful shelves of Charing Cross Road’s Foyles, I stumbled upon Matthew D’Ancona’s 2017 release. With its white cover and the bold words Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back printed clearly on the front, this small, outwardly-simple text is accessible to the even the less politically-engaged reader. Taking the naming of Post-Truth as the Oxford Dictionary’s 2016 ‘Word of the Year’ as a starting point, D’Ancona’s book analyses and deconstructs modern political issues such as the election of Trump and Brexit. With chapters titled ‘You Can’t Handle the Truth’ and ‘Conspiracy and Denial’, the book focuses around the idea of Trump as “consequence rather than cause”, giving accountability instead to smaller shifts in attitudes which lead to a loss of faith in the concept of truth. Characterised as not being “a battle between liberals and conservatives” but “a battle between two ways of perceiving the world”, the reality of a ‘post-truth era’ is evidentially exposed.

THE REALITY OF A POSTTRUTH ERA IS EXPOSED

Despite the somewhat generic relationship drama that occurs, alongside those characteristically John Green quotes which seem to have been written exclusively for merchandising (“Your now is not your forever” posters are already on sale) Green never stoops to condescension or preaching to his readers, delivering a thoughtful and nuanced story for his readers to delight in.

Ultimately, it is D’Ancona’s writing style which makes this text so successful. In a time when writings about the Post-Truth era are plentiful (two other books titled Post-Truth were published on the same day as this one), this text stands out because of its clarity and accessibility. As someone who knows very little about political terminology and theories, this text allowed me to learn more about the subject without intimidation.Political texts are most successful when they engage with the political context they are discussing, and by clearly detailing the reality of the post-truth era, D’Ancona opens our eyes to the truth in a world which continuously attempts to conceal it.

Luke Masters

Lauren Geall, Lifestyle Editor

OCD IS TREATED NOT AS AN ECCENTRIC IDENTITY QUIRK, BUT AS A CONDITON

MARK GODFREY ZOE WHITLEY

CAROLINE BIRD

AVING published her first collection of poetry Looking Through Letterboxes at the tender age of fifteen, Leeds-born Caroline Bird is already a veteran when it comes to whipping up book after book of astonishing poetry; and her latest collection, In These Days of Prohibition, is no different. Building upon and developing her voice through her previous published works, accumulating an Eric Gregory Award and being shortlisted twice for the Dylan Thomas Prize in the process, In These Days of Prohibition is a masterpiece of amalgamated style and critically acclaimed poetic technique. It’s bold, raucous and crackling with dark humour. Bird’s work explores the trials of the addictions and rehabilitations of her youth, draging down the social façade of family bonding, and delving head-first into the complicated intermingling of sex and love - often with delicious vulgarity and a cheeky wink-nudge.

BOLD, RAUCOUS AND CRACKLING WITH DARK HUMOUR Although described admiringly by Simon Armitage as “deadly”, Bird’s poetry has just the right ratio of soothing sorbet to her firery inferno. She intersperses poems such as ‘Beautification’, which describes her hundred-and-fiveyear-old father’s joyful discovery of bondage and sadomasochism with such gentle wit, alongside heavier explorations into addiction and self-reflection found in ‘The Fear’. Sometimes disturbing, always thought provoking and forever in my poetry hall of fame, Caroline Bird’s In These Days of Prohibition will seduce you, let your mug of tea go cold, and then spit you out again an hour later, blearyeyed, into the sunlight.

Lillie Elsworth

HE Tate Modern’s incredible ‘Soul of a Nation’ exhibition held between July and October this year was, for me, one of the best art installations I had ever seen, let alone just in 2017.

CAN AN ARTIST PRODUCE ART FOR ART’S SAKE WHEN FACED WITH OPPRESSION? Subtitled ‘Art in the Age of Black Power,’ it showcased artistic endeavours made in the USA in the late 20th century by African-American artists fighting back against the racialized power structures that were so repressive and widespread at that time. Looking back at this period now, it is clear that while progress has been made, there are many aspects in the lives of African-American people which are still just as difficult as they were in the 1960s and 70s. The exhibition took us through a whirlwind of different styles, modes and moods; the clash between vibrancy and sombreness was a defining aspect of it for me. The question that was being posed throughout was can an artist produce ‘art for art’s sake’ when faced with such oppression? The resounding answer was no. The political charge of almost all of the pieces was tangible from the start, whether it was through photography, sculpture, painting or any of the other various modes of artistic expression that it mapped. This was a wholly eye-opening experience for me, as African-American visual art from this period was never something that was mainstream enough for me to simply stumble across until now. While it may have closed now, the influence that it had on me will stay with me for a long time to come, and I urge you to go and do some research into this movement - it is truly fascinating.

George Pope, Copy Editor

2017 CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS

oh hello

classical theatre

contemporary theatre

musical theatre

nick kroll john mulaney

NINAGAWA Macbeth

PEOPLE PLACES & THINGS

DREAMGIRLS

Yukio Ninagawa

JEREMY HERRIN

casey nicholaw

comedy

TRAP in folks”, declares Gil Faizon to the audience of Oh Hello. Or is it Nick Kroll, breaking through the fourth wall on this occasion and many to follow throughout the running time of the performance. Oh Hello, the play within a play, is a show that asks you leave everything familiar and expected, and instead revel in the absurdity that saturates every line of dialogue and action in a show that includes a foot high tuna sandwich descending from the ceiling on wings, a high art ballet interlude and a love story with a raccoon named Lisa. As George St. Geegland (John Mulaney) also chuckles to the audience, again flickering between the realm of performer/writer and alter ego, “you’ve made a terrible mistake bringing your children”, we understand that both Kroll and Mulaney are sometimes as bewildered by their characters as we are. This works to their benefit as Gil and George - septegenarians with the incomprehensible sense of entitlement and self importance often seen in artists (George writes, and Gil acts), and people who believe millennials ruin all things - are vividly actualised. Despite being able to see through their makeup and costumes, the exaggerations come forth as authentic but with enough distance that their egregious comments and behaviours are obviously not reflective of the writers. When Gil makes the comment to those in the audience with a bad view of the stage, “get your tickets early or make more money,” the vitriol can also be seen as an address to wealth inequality and an attack on meritocracy, making observations through the conduits of their caricatures. The show makes fun of theatrical conventions (ending a play by dimming on a mundane piece of dialogue, and ending their show in the same manner) and all notions of pretension, inviting us to live in a world where everyone is welcome because there are no arbitrary requirements and there is no code that cannot be redefined.

Mubanga Mweemba, Arts+Lit Editor

HAKESPEARE’S celebrated play of ambition, the supernatural, and a mad tyrant, iconically set in the scenic highlands of Scotland during the Middle Ages, is taken to Japan and transformed into an extraordinary cross-cultural adaptation by the late director Yukio Ninagawa. First performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1985, the play gave Ninagawa his name in the industry. After his death in 2016, Hori Pro Inc. and The Japan Foundation decided to put Macbeth back on the stage. Entirely in Japanese, the audience may face a difficulty in connecting with the play whilst having to frequently look at the subtitles, but with a basic understanding of the plot of Shakespeare’s original there is no need to look at them at all. The phenomenal cast presents a rich, powerful performance, so emotionally charged that it is the only thing needed to convey the play’s message. Each line is delivered with a punch - admittedly at times a little too excessively. Yuko Tanaka (Lady Macbeth) commands the audience’s attention as she uses the entirety of the stage, casting aside her silk kimono in distress, and giving a sombre rendering of Schubert on the cello. The witches, played by white-faced male kabuki actors, are sinister and ethereal, with shrill voices and facial expressions which could be denoted as possessed. The set is exquisite: intricate sixteenth century style furnishings, a shōji used to distinguish between settings, and beautiful cherry blossom trees which appear as a metaphor for death as their petals cascade down from above. The score is ghostly and choral (including formidable gongs and rumbling thunder), the stage barely lit, immersing the audience in the enthralling, uneasy atmosphere of the Macbeth we know. It is made clear that Ninagawa has shown how Shakespeare’s works can transcend time, language, and culture, and gives us the realisation that we are all connected by our ability to feel something.

Jade Perez

OLLOWING a sold-out run at the National Theatre, People, Places and Things at the Northcott delivered a powerful and moving piece of theatre that occupied my thoughts for weeks after. Written by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Jeremy Herrin, the play deals with modern addiction: most obviously to substances, but also more subtly to work and our jobs. The production begins with a scene from Chekov’s The Seagull. The scene considers acting, itself a central theme of the play, but breaks down midway through into a cacophony of noise and blinding lights. This is the first of multiple sensual assaults that were striking in Herrin’s production and from this moment the first act barely pauses for a breath. The play focuses on Emma, an actor suffering from substance abuse, and her attempts to rehabilitate herself. In this way, the visual and aural attacks mirror Emma’s feeling of drug withdrawal and contribute to an intensity I have previously never seen in the theatre. Similarly, the powerful main performance from Lisa Dwyer-Hogg demands your attention and strikes a balance that means that the audience both marvels and recoils at her character. Macmillan’s writing is sharp, giving the main character insightful comments but also painting her as awkward, unhelpful and difficult; at the interval, one cannot help but feel divided This dissonance remains into the next act, which proceeds at a more leisurely pace and sees Emma finally recover and engage with rehab. The developing certainty however is soon to be snatched away from us as the play moves beyond the treatment centre and out into the real world. In the penultimate scene Emma’s mum reveals the suffering that the protagonist has caused in their lives, throwing into perspective all we have seen during the first act. The play leaves one drained and uneasy but incapable of thinking about anything else – a masterpiece of contemporary theatre.

James Angove, Features Editor

N a season packed with new heavyweights and astounding revivals, it might be surprising that the exceptional Dear Evan Hansen isn’t running away with top honours. Instead that praise is halted by the stunning production of Dreamgirls. A recent gem of the West End, Dreamgirls evokes a staggering response with every show. During the performance, most heads I could see were gleefully bobbing along to the songs, and since the theatre feels the need to put up signs asking the audience to “refrain from singing and dancing wildly during the performance”, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s hard to resist the joy and vigor of this show.

THE MOST VOCALLY IMPRESSIVE SHOW Spectators are quickly enraptured by the storyline: glowing with pride at each of The Dreams’ successes, and erupting in peals of laughter at Jimmy ‘Thunder’ Early’s manic performance. After the heart-breaking song ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’, the entire audience was desperate to spring to their feet, tears staining the cheeks of many (at least, from what I could tell as I frantically dabbed at my own eyes with a multitude of tissues). This was merely the end of the first act and Dreamgirls already had one standing ovation under its belt, the theatregoers absolutely enthralled by the most vocally impressive show I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing. Amber Riley rightly scooped up an Olivier Award for her role as Effie, but her understudy Marisha Wallace is equally soul-shattering as she bares Effie’s heart to the world- and it’s this dreamy ensemble that carries the show to glory. All the clichés of chills, shivers and goosebumps ring true in this musical; Dreamgirls impressively escapes the shadow of the celebrated film to create a refreshing experience.

Katie Burdon

EXHIBIT

ARTS + LIT

EDITORS: Mubanga Mweemba and Maddie Davies

Accessibility in art

11 DEC 2017 |

Neha Shaji discusses the expense of art at this time of year

Photo: Catherine Ashmore

S Christmas - everyone’s favourite combination of carols, custard, and consumerism - draws nearer, folk urgently scan their mates’ Facebook pages to see the obscure bands and painters they ‘liked’ in order to get them a present more creative (at least) than the macramé watch holder they got them last year. It’s also the time when people realise that art isn’t actually a cheap free-for-all and, instead of Black Friday prices for a Nintendo Switch, before they know it they’re forking out seventy quid to see Hamilton. This is not at all a new phenomenon. When an Indian prime minister visited the socialist bastion of the USSR nearly a century ago, he was shocked to discover that even there the town parks and national museums charged entrance prices. This commodification of art and public continues today, with one being unable to get decent theatre tickets in London for anything under forty pounds, art exhibitions costing anywhere between a fiver and twenty pounds, and buying actual artwork would result in bankruptcy for most. Another barrier to accessing art also happens to be the concentration of art, especially theatre performances, around the Western world with fans in other continents being unable to see their favourite dramatisations at all. This contributes further, unfortunately, to the widening

class gulf in the art world. The Western stereotype of an artist nowadays is no longer the struggling loft dweller painting with dry tubes of oil paint but rather the coddled child of rich parents who have a fall-back career ‘just in case’. And similar to artists, those who view and appreciate art also have a stereotype of ‘pretentiousness’ and upper-class backgrounds. This is, whilst not a new opinion (art always has been, with the exception of movies, targeted for wealthier folk) does mean those of less privileged backgrounds often cannot view or pursue careers related to performance and art due to less exposure in their childhood. Of course, at a drama school audition, someone who has seen every musical from The Sound of Music to Dear Evan Hansen live in London and Broadway repeatedly would have more stage knowledge than someone who could not afford to do so. There is a justification for this depressing commodification of human talent. Art takes hard work with years of practice in various mediums, instruments, or schools and theatre performers spending countless hours in rehearsal and dance training. Indeed, artists are a woefully underpaid crew considering the effort that goes into most art forms, and high prices for the viewing and purchase of art might be explained in this sense. However, there are ways to make art more accessible to

those who can’t afford it - yet some consist of large companies subsidising or sponsoring performances. For instance, large production companies or rich galleries or museums could afford to pay the artists more for the work they do, thus lowering entry fees for the audience or visitors. Whilst this might not work for indie productions or artists exhibiting by themselves, most large-scale exhibitions still charge exorbitant prices and most musicals or performances by big name companies even more so – a reshuffle in their sponsoring of the artist and subsidising tickets would expand both access to art whilst rewarding the artist. Live-streaming performances is also an idea worth exploring. For example, Howard Brenton’s play Drawing the Line was live streamed on The Guardian’s website. Live streaming plays for a reduced charge (or even none at all if the play was last run by that company, like Brenton’s) would improve accessibility both economically and globally. Libraries are often cheap or free to access and they pay a subsidised price for books – yet most libraries are depressingly under-stocked, especially in contemporary titles. Wealthy benefactors or city councils assisting local libraries in stocking a wider range of literature would enable more kids to widen their literary knowledge.

A note from the editors...

MADDIE DAVIES

HAVE desperately tried to deny the fact that it is time to reflect on my time as an editor in the year 2017. But, as 2018 is glaring me square in the eyes I will reflect on my favourite articles and moments as an editor of the Arts and Lit section of Exeposé. We have been very fortunate to receive amazing pieces for all of the issues so far, which makes the choice of my favourite article quite tricky. However, I will always be in favour of our two creative writing pieces that were featured in our Halloween issue. I think they stand out for me because they are the first creative pieces that Mubanga and I have issued. Personally, our most recent issue that had a

primary focus on children’s literature (in particular Roald Dahl) was my favourite issue yet. Children’s literature is something that I have desperately wanted to feature in Exeposé, so when the chance arrived, I ensured that we snapped it up. And, oh boy, I am so glad that we did. The content that we received for this issue was so inspiring, and I loved learning about our readers and the children’s literature that sparked their love for reading. Going into 2018 I have only one New Year’s resolution in regards to Exeposé, and that is to fight the January blues and keep our section as joyful and brilliant as it has been this term. Cheers - here’s to 2018!

MUBANGA MWEEMBA

AM writing this editors’ note with stiff fingers, bleary eyes and too much caffeine in my system. It’s what happens on a press day and with deadlines on the horizon, but it’s a suffering that comes with reward. I’ll refrain from anything too heartfelt, but there is nothing that makes me happier than reading about what our writer are passionate about: whether it’s been challenging the status quo and critiquing current practices in the world of arts and literature or responding to works that move you and hold immense value in your lives. In terms of individual articles, a highlight of mine has to be the ‘Art Capsule’ piece from our anniversary issue, which required writers to

discuss events exclusively occuring in the year 1987. A niche request perhaps, but it was one of the most interesting pieces I read, every part enlightening and well researched. But the star on top of my tree this year is the poetry issue from September, which included a full spread dedicated to the form - a bit of a passion project. Whilst writing an article myself, the issue was really made by the other writers who helped create an original edition with a clear thematic link. Next year I hope to open up space to writers, artists, or art forms that go underappreciated and curate a section, along with my wonderful co-editor Maddie, that is diverse and colourful and new.

EXHIBIT

ARTS + LIT

EDITORS: Mubanga Mweemba and Maddie Davies

11 DEC 2017 |

Christmas cultural calendar

A Christmas Carol:

A Folk Opera

CAROLS AT THE CATHEDRAL

Dick whittington

A Literary Christmas

wHERE: Barnfield Theatre wHERE: Exeter Cathedral wHERE: University of Notre Dame, London wHERE: Northcott Theatre, Exeter WHEN: 12 December 2017 WHEN: 12 & 13 December 2017 WHEN: 12 December 2017 WHEN: Present - 7 January 2018 WHAT: We all know the story, but this Christ- WHAT: This is an annual event held by Exeter’s WHAT: Pantomime season is in full swing, and WHAT: Stephen Regan from the University mas event is putting a spin on the quinessential classic, A Christmas Carol. First published in 1843, Dickens’ story has been associated with British Christmas time for generations ever since. However, Green Matthews are going to retell the Victorian classic using new lyrics and traditional English folk tunes. Green Matthews are notorious for using a unique blend of voices and instruments, which is guaranteed to make this a retelling to remember. The Yuletide adventure of this event promises a guest appeareance from Jade Rees (of Pilgrim’s Way). Hosted at The Barnfield Theatre, the event is guaranteed to have an extra air of magic about it.

Philharmonic Choir, which never fails to impress! This is one of Exeter’s most popular Christmas events and so tends to sell out very quickly, but as they are trying to encourage students to attend, they hold back around 50 tickets that can be purchased on the door. This year, the event features Exeter Brass and Devon County Junior Choir and is conducted by Howard Ionascu. For the first time ever, Exeter’s Philharmonic Choir is uniting two genres; this year will feature elements from the Magnificat Antiphon for Vespers on Christmas Day and a tune written for a Welsh Carol. This a great event to snap any Scrooge into the festive spirit.

Northcott Theatre is staging a production of Dick Whittington that stars Exeter’s most popular Dame - Steve Bennett. Another claim to fame for this production is the director, Tony Lidington, who is thought to be the country’s greatest pantomime director. You can expect a lot of audience participation from this performance, as well as live music, mayhem and magic. It may sound like the ideal famliy outing, but let’s relive our childhood Christmases and get stuck in at the Northcott. Come on, following the story of Dick (and his sidekick, Puss) is going to be thrilling. Might this be the best way to start your Christmas off... OH YES IT IS!

How MUCH: £11 a ticket. Get your tickets How MUCH: Tickets range in cost but stu- How MUCH: Tickets range from £11-£19.

online.

dents can purchase them on the night for £5.

The bear

HOGWARTS IN THE SNOW

Jane Austen’s House museum

of Durham is conducting a discussion about the power of Christmas and the hold it has had on the imaginations of writers for many centuries. He will explore a long tradition of writings with Christmas at the heart of their message, including poems, novels and essays. In this discussion, he will pay attention to a multitude of writers such as John Milton, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, and Dylan Thomas. Regan wishes to demonstrate that although the literary masterpieces are decorated with holly and mulled wine; it is the mystery of Christmas, with its ethical and spiritual power, that makes the works so inspiring.

How MUCH: Drum roll, please... This is a free event!

The Queen’s Head

wHERE: The Pub on LG, Selfridges, London WHERE: Alton, Hampshire, GU34 1SD wHERE: Wales Millennium Centre wHERE: Warner Bros Studio, London WHEN: Present - 23 December 2017 WHEN: 16 December 2017 WHEN: 12 - 13 December 2017 WHEN: Present - 28 January 2018 WHAT: “Ever wondered what it would be like WHAT: This festive season you will be able to WHAT: I understand that you can visit the Jane WHAT: East London’s renowned party start-

to sit on a polar bear’s lap? Or ride on its back? Have you ever tried to give a bear a bath? Or clean up its poo?! Looking after a bear is exhausting stuff.” These are the memorable lines from Raymond Briggs’ children’s book The Bear. The heart-warming story follows the friendship that is formed between Tilly and her polar bear is a wonderful wintery tale, and is being staged at the Wales Millennium Centre. This performance is also really great for those who enjoy experimental theatre, as the production will feature improvisation, puppetry, and dazzling musicality, all of which is tightly performed in the space of 55 minutes.

experience Hogwarts in the snow! On this tour, you will be able to see the iconic film sets of Harry Potter decorated for the Christmas period. For example, The Great Hall will be transformed with a festive feast, and the Gryffindor common room will be dressed for the season. Basically, Warner Bros have made a pretty amazing tour into an absolutely fantastic one! You will get the chance to see The Great Hall decorated for the famous Yule Ball, which involves a lot of shimmering silver, dripping icicles and an orchestra of magical instruments. The tour of these festive features will also include an information tutorial of how snow was made for the actual films, as well as ice and snow... amazing, I know.

Austen House Museum at any point of the year. But, as 2017 marks 200 years since Austen’s death, 16 December will be a free admission day for all who visit. This day marks Jane Austen’s birthday, which means there will be plenty of celebrations throughout the day - both Christmas related and Austen-focused. The day will include a free tour of the house, a free mince pie and free craft activities inspired by the Austen family coverlet. If you are a Jane Austen fanatic, or generally just fancy a great festive day out, then I do not think you can argue with this event. You will also be able to explore the gardens of Austen’s house, which is usually an additonal charge.

How MUCH: Tickets are £10 and can be How MUCH: Pretty steep, but tickets start HOW MUCH: Completely free. purchased from the Centre’s website.

from £38.

ers Sink the Pink have returned to The Pub on the lower-ground of Selfridges, this year staging The Queen’s Head. To get a general idea, think plenty of pints, pianos, and a right royal knees up, whilst you enjoy your favourite tipples and become immersed in soap-opera style theatrics. There is a reason that this pantomime is adult only; when you purchase you ticket you instantly become entitled to three complimentary drinks and a snack. It is an event that involves a lot of dancing and even more laughing. Basically, think East End soap-opera in panto form. This is the perfect match for anyone who thinks that Christmas is a drag, but loves to join in with drinking festivities.

How MUCH: Tickets are £25 and can be

purchased online.

EXEPOSÉ MUSIC’S TOP FLOWERBOY TYLER, THE CREATOR

MELODRAMA LORDE

DAMN. KENDRICK LAMAR

SLEEP WELL BEAST THE NATIONAL

CTRL SZA

At some point over the last couple of years Tyler, the Creator stopped caring about what the fans thought, and this album proves it. If it was down to the cat hoodie core of his fanbase, Tyler would never have matured past seventeen and never stopped rapping about murder and Satanism. It’s the best decision of his career. This album makes even the stellar Wolf and Cherry Bomb look like footnotes to be tacked on to the massive legacy that this album is inevitably going to have. It’s the perfect culmination of years of jazz, funk and soul listening crossbred with the punky rap of Tyler’s early career – the album’s marked by tensely wound verses unfurling and exploding like fireworks above lush soundscapes that have more in common with Isley Brothers' records than they do with “Yonkers”. For the first time, Tyler’s fully switched his lyrical gaze onto his own emotions, and it makes the record far more compelling – even the more straightforward bangers show a level of self-awareness and insight more or less absent from his earlier work. Listening to Flower Boy is listening to the second flourishing of one of the great musicians of our time. Don’t miss it. Alex Brammer, Music Editor

Lorde’s long-awaited second album builds upon vocal and lyrical talents displayed in her debut Pure Heroine, and shows that, at 21, she still has a lot more to give. Melodrama revels in the intensity of being young, bursting into life with ‘Green Light’ and ‘Sober’, which mark moves in Lorde’s music towards a more expansive, maximalist style. Together with producer Jack Antonoff, Lorde creates complex soundscapes on these early tracks that mirror the whirlwind of youth. The album paints a picture of wild adolescence - "sleeping through all the days", partying and dancing; with the latter activity receiving 11 separate mentions throughout. But it’s not all action on the track list; Lorde brings a fragility to the piano ballad ‘Liability’ that is particularly touching. A counterpoint to the brash openers, the song explores the process of dealing with rejection and its impact on selfconfidence. Lorde’s breathy delivery here is inch-perfect, right from the slight vocal quivers through to the languid extension of the word bored. The album ramps up again with the euphoria of ‘Supercut’ and ‘Perfect Places’, suitably energetic closing tracks that further detail memories of evenings past. With Melodrama, Lorde balances an account of youth that is universal and deeply personal, delivering an album that cements her reputation as one of the best musicians in pop currently. James Angove, Features Editor

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. occupies a unique place in his near-flawless discography. While big, heavy trap bangers such as ‘Humble’ and ‘DNA’ carry the record’s mainstream appeal (a moment of silence, please, for the beat-switch in DNA), it is Kendrick’s thought-provoking lyricism that presides, in a set of tracks containing what might be some of his most impressive bars to date. DAMN.’s production is noticeably stripped back from the colourful jazz-rap of To Pimp a Butterfly, but doesn’t sacrifice quality in favour of the more minimalist style. In its blunt, hard-hitting approach, the album successfully conveys his messages of frustration, alienation and success to even the most casual listener. ‘God’, an underappreciated gem in the track list, is loaded with witty lyrical insights regarding the trappings of fame and success, while ‘Element’ stands out as a brutal reminder of Lamar’s unglamorous upbringing. Kendrick clings to his roots like his life depends on it, juxtaposing fame with his violent past. ‘Duckworth’ (a personal favourite) details the story of Kendrick’s father, who worked in a KFC that Top Dawg (TDE’s label boss) used to rob. ‘Ducky’ would give Top Dawg free chicken wings to avoid trouble and get away unscathed. If not for Ducky’s rapport with Top Dawg, Kendrick fears he might’ve “grown up without a father and died in a gunfight”. He maintains this is a true story. George Stamp, Online Music Editor

Sleep Well Beast is a party album. Not the lager-drenched, flailing, tornjeans sort, mind. Instead, its languid songs unfold in quiet corners, where married forty-somethings sip gin beneath stairwells, and mumble halfarsed apologies while wondering how the person resting on the other side of the bed became so damn far away. Let’s be real, a 57-minute indie album about marriage breakdown isn’t an easy sell. But The National, those post-punk survivalists who built a career on pen portraits of middle class desperation, pull it off on a seventh LP filled with layered sounds and genuine pathos. On lead single 'The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness', we get hammering grand piano, ethereal backing vocals and a pop chorus that’s destined for arena sing-a-longs. 'I’ll Still Destroy You' longs for innocent times over a wistful afrobeat skitter, while Turtleneck’s slashing guitars shred the living room rug in a Stooges-style fit of postelection fury. Then there’s Matt Berninger. The last thing we needed was another whinging white voice, but the frontman’s grizzled baritone, as tender as a bruise, slices to the heart of 2017’s trauma and loss. And that’s why, for the first time in a while, The National made rock something worth celebrating. Aaron Loose

Despite the impression you might get from its condensed title, CTRL is an extensive album at fourteen tracks long, and one which maintains a high quality from start to finish. SZA’s smooth, seductive vocals entrap the listener right from the Grammy-nominated opener ‘Supermodel’, which sets the tone of the record perfectly with its contemplative and minimalist backing and deeply personal lyrics. The album contains features from prominent artists like Travis Scott, but still the limelight is never stolen away from SZA herself. For example, in ‘Doves in the Wind’, an insightful and quietly amusing song, the focus is effortlessly traded between SZA and Kendrick Lamar, making it feel more like a true collaboration rather than a feature. Other tracks feature spoken sections by members of her family, which really add to the intimacy SZA creates. Most notably, her mother can be heard discussing the concept of control at the beginning of ‘Supermodel’ and the end of ’20 Something’, the record’s heartbreakingly direct final track, which tackles the chaotic experience of being in your twenties. Somehow, while every song is different, CTRL reads as a cohesive whole, taking the listener on a trajectory through insecurity, anger, euphoria and empowerment, all the while marvelling at her incredible voice. Maddy Parker, Music Editor

10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR I SEE YOU THE XX

4:44 JAY-Z

SATURATION I/II BROCKHAMPTON

It seems fitting that the first album I reviewed this year also happens to be my favourite record of 2017. I See You, the first LP from The xx since 2012, continues the group's signature sound. Jamie ‘xx’ Smith’s gentle yet powerful and rhythmic electronic instrumentals, perfectly partnered with the soft vocals of Romy Madley-Croft and the deep, smooth-singing Oliver Sim shine through once again on this long-awaited release from the alternative, dream-pop favourites, who sing breezily but leave a deep impression on the listener. The band didn’t fail to deliver on lead single ‘On Hold’, with a subtle tempo which builds up and launches in to the chorus and includes a housed-up Hall & Oates sample. This foreshadowed the record’s success upon its release in the early weeks of January. Proving that The xx are back, evidently stronger and even better than before, on an album which touches on friendship, intimacy and parental loss, it’s hardly surprising the group’s third album earned them another Mercury Prize nomination. Showcasing developments all-round in maturity, love, and loss, it’s as if this album has been coming for a while, and finally the group have found the confidence to make it. The result is a record I’ve played countless times throughout the year, which I’m sure is a sign of its prevalence in the years to come; this is a special album. Chloe Edwards, Online Music Editor

Until 4:44 came out I had never listened to a Jay-Z album all the way through, but ten seconds into its bold starting track ‘Kill Jay Z’ I just couldn’t stop. The great Hov lays himself bare in this heartfelt and personal album, with the title track hinting at some truth to the accusations made in Beyonce’s Lemonade, ‘look I apologise, often womanise/ Took for my child to be born/ To see through a woman’s eyes”. In an interview for the New York Times the album’s lone producer No ID, referencing 4:44, stated: “I told him that that’s the best song he’s ever written”. I couldn’t agree more. Shawn Carter also manages to skillfully comment on the current social climate in America, particularly with regards to racism and celebrity culture, in the track ‘Moonlight’ - “we stuck in La La Land/ Even when we win, we gon’ lose” - referencing the Oscars scandal, and ‘The Story of OJ’, where the accompanying music video caused controversy for its bold stand on the depiction of African Americans in animation. But despite featuring samples from Nina Simone to Frank Ocean, and even JayZ’s mum, it is all tied together beautifully by the slick production from No ID. The only issue with the album is that more people can’t experience it because of its exclusivity to Tidal. Phoebe Davis, Online Edtor

California-based rap collective (and self-proclaimed boy band) BROCKHAMPTON made significant waves on the hip-hop scene this year with the release of two albums: Saturation and Saturation II (with Saturation III coming 15 December). Despite most of the members of BROCKHAMPTON being somewhat unknown (aside from Kevin Abstract), they got people’s attention through the release of some incredible singles before the release of their first album: the lowkey 'FACE', the punchy and intense 'HEAT', 'GOLD' with its gloriously sticky hook, and the hilarious 'STAR'. They have a very high-energy set-up with Abstract, Dom McLennon, Ameer Vann, Matt Champion and Merlyn Wood being the main MCs (with occasional input from JOBA and Bearface) - who all have terrific chemistry. Despite this, they can write very conscious hip-hop, with Abstract often rapping about his sexuality, Vann detailing his past in drug dealing, and Champion’s 'JUNKY' verse dealing with rape culture. BROCKHAMPTON have shown themselves to be not only one of the versatile artists of the year, but one of the most interesting and dynamic rap collectives since Wu-Tang. Any hiphop fan should hear both albums. Jamie Moncrieff

AMERICAN DREAM LCD SOUNDSYSTEM LCD Soundsystem have reunited for their first album in seven years, and it has never been more worth the wait. Up for two Grammy awards, including Best Alternative Album, Murphy and co. have brought back their dancepunk sound in a way that doesn’t disappoint. As usual for LCD, the influences are heavy, with direct references to the late Cohen, Reed, and Bowie, and it is precisely this self-reflective music-about-music they do so well. The usual drumbeat drives, percolated by Nancy Whang and Gavin Russom’s stellar synths, and the contradictory lyrical tone from their earlier work has returned, revelling in Murphy’s dissonantly joyous melancholia. “I never realised these artists thought so much about dying,” he sings with typical lightheartedness in 'Tonite' (up for the Grammy Best Dance Recording), as this album comes the closest we have seen to the existential despair long bubbling under LCD’s surface. Perhaps this is Murphy again distilling the essence of the times in 2017’s more desperate political climate, perhaps it’s from reuniting after so long, or perhaps it is merely Murphy nearing 50, but American Dream has some of their most poignant lyrical offerings to date, and sounds just as wonderful. LCD, you have been missed. James Murphy

YESTERDAY'S GONE LOYLE CARNER “You’ve got to go for being sexist. You’ve got to go,” Loyle Carner said, as he kicked out a fan from his recent Norwich gig, "I'm sorry man, you've got to learn a lesson, my young man. Sorry." His tour (which included Exeter Phoenix) carried the same name as his Mercury Prize nominated album. Sampha ultimately took the prize, but both albums are similarly confessional. Yesterday’s Gone is an honest and distinctly personal portrait of Loyle Carner’s world. Family name Coyle-Larner, his debut album features the talent of family, friends and UK hip-hop veteran Jehst. It's intimate in both its storytelling, and its strings of interwoven multisyllabic rhymes: through the soul and jazz inspired beats (that echo inspirations of J Dilla and Mos Def ), we learn everything from Carner’s experiences with ADHD to what he’d say to the little sister he never had. Losing his step-dad, and barely knowing his Guyanese father, his relationship with his mum is so special that her voice features twice. A whole breed of young British rappers had never heard a voice like theirs on the radio before. Artists like Kojey Radical, Frankie Stew and Benny Mails come to mind. Lyrical hip-hop, at times seeming more like spoken word poetry, Carner’s writing is leading the future of UK hip-hop. James Wijesinghe

EXHIBIT

MUSIC

EDITORS: Alex Brammer and Maddy Parker

11 DEC 2017

Shammy awards

Chris Connor examines the 2018 Grammy award nominations

EMEMBER a time when the Grammys mattered? Once, the winner of Album Of The Year wasn’t merely that year’s biggest selling record (*cough* Adele, *cough* Taylor Swift), it was actually ground-breaking, life-affirming music. Are any of this year’s nominees going to become a future Rumours, Faith, or Songs in the Key of Life? Admittedly, the Grammys can still surprise us somet i m e s and give unsung gems more exposure for example, when Beck won Album of the Year in 2015 for the majestic Morning Phase. This year’s nominees are also deserving in some cases:

DAMN by man-of-the-moment Kendrick Lamar shows his continued acclaim and reputation as the world’s leading rapper, likewise Lorde’s Melodrama is a stunning achievement, especially considering she has just turned 21. However, some have pointed out that Bruno Mars’ 24k Magic spawned few memorable singles ( with its title track being a notable exception), so how does it deserve nomination over m a n y m u c h worthier albums? The biggest problem I find with the nominations, not just for the upcoming awards but for recent years in general, is how tal-

ent is often overlooked for commercial pop, with the truly deserving albums relegated to genre specific categories. Justin Bieber is now barely listenable, so did his album Purpose seriously deserve to oust Bowie’s final work, the universally acclaimed Blackstar to be nominated for album of the year in 2016? Not exactly a tough question. Likewise, Radiohead were relegated to Rock/Alternative categories for the supremely well-received A Moon-Shaped Pool. At the 2017 awards, many of the year’s best-reviewed albums ended up in the ‘Alternative’ categories, compared to the overly-commercial main album and song categories. This has again reared its head for next year’s nominations, as The War on Drugs are nowhere to be seen in any of the major categories despite Deeper in the Dream being received with rapturous reviews. Once again, the Rock and Alternative categories convey most of the gems of 2017 with recent records from Queens of the Stone Age, The National and LCD Soundsystem represented, showcasing a much stronger year for albums than those that are now represented in the major categories. The big qualm I have is that seriously great albums often get overlooked for mainstream ones. Did Taylor Swift’s 1989 or Adele’s 25 deserve Album of the Year when they received

mild responses in comparison to their previous releases? Likewise, when Babel by Mumford and Sons won in 2013, I feel The Black Keys and Jack White had a right to feel aggrieved. Can one honestly say that 1989 is a better record than Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly or Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes?

TAYLOR SWIFT HAS WON AS MANY BEST ALBUM AWARDS AS PAUL SIMON I feel that we should expect the Grammys to offer up both controversial nominations and winners. For example, U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is by no means the band’s best effort - but it won every single Grammy category it was nominated in. We live in an age where Taylor Swift has won as many Best Album awards as Paul Simon. Simon’s award-winners are considered three of the very best albums of all time, whereas Swift’s pale in comparison. Some would say that this showcases the weaknesses of modern music: I feel it is far more symptomatic of the Grammys overlooking the truly ground-breaking artists and just playing it safe.

Driving home for Christmas Deepa Lalwani shares the music that reminds her of home

IKE so many uni students, the music that reminds me of home is the same music that reminds me of my childhood and/ or my parents – mainly because of that time from around birth to Year Six when you have no control over what they play in the car, and when you did have a choice, you were probably listening to the High School Musical soundtrack on repeat (don’t lie, you know you love it).

MUSIC OF CHILDHOOD REMINDS ME OF HOME As I write this I’m sitting on a very busy train home for the weekend, listening to the Jackson 5’s 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' – not to make everything about Christmas, but it’s that time of the year and definitely something I associate with home. In fact, there’s an entire Christmas compilation album that, for me, means sitting in the near-freezing car on the way to school in the morning. That CD used to sit permanently in the glove compartment and I pretty much know the entire track list off by heart: it’s got everything from 'All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)'

to a very dramatic rendition of The Sound of Music’s 'My Favourite Things' by The Supremes. Festive tunes aside, there’s a lot of 70s/80s music that I associate with home – more specifically, growing up with my parents making me listening to it, thinking ugh, and then deciding I actually like all these songs some five years later. Some stand-out tracks: '1. The Power of Love' by Huey

Lewis & The News, because it’s the Back to the Future theme song and I’ve seen that film with my family maybe fifty times. Also, it’s just a really fun song. 2. Anything George Michael, but especially 'Faith' and 'Wake Me Up Before You GoGo' – both super catchy, even though I probably still don’t know all the lyrics. 3. The entirety of ABBA’s most pop-

ular songs; specifically, 'Dancing Queen', 'Waterloo' (it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise this song wasn’t about the train station), and 'Mamma Mia'. Again, this is literally just because we listened to their biggest hits in the car on repeat. Other songs that make me think of home include The Muppets’ 'Rainbow Connection' and Luther Vandross’ 'Dance With My Father': the former because my mum cried in the cinema when it came on during the 2011 Muppets Movie, and the latter because my dad’s falsetto is the height of entertainment. There was also one family holiday where the only album we listened to was Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, but I only know the first seven or so songs because I think I’d fallen asleep in the backseat by then (sorry, Adam Levine). Finally, 'When You’re Home' from In The Heights, predecessor to Hamilton, always makes me feel a little homesick: probably because the female singer in the song is contemplating dropping out of uni, which is a thought that will always make me want to get on the first train home, especially during deadline season. Then again, maybe it’s just because I’m a fan of the harmonies and nostalgic lyrics.

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EXHIBIT

EDITORS: Alex Brammer and Maddy Parker

MUSIC

11 DEC 2017

Do they know it's Christmas?

Olivia Denton discusses the relevance of Christmas Number Ones in 2017

HESE days, it feels like the Christmas Number One has become less of a golden star and more a badge of shame that calls for the grim reaper to destroy your future career (*cough cough* Matt Cardle). But was the top spot always such a soggy sprout, or was it once as hot as fresh baked mince pies? Naturally the Beatles dominated the 1960s, with hits like ‘Hello, Goodbye’ and ‘Day Tripper’. After extensive research, it seems that Benny Hill’s bizarre but brilliant ‘Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)’ was the real game changer for the Christmas charts. Who could help but love the legendary tale of Ernie, who fell in love with a woman, slipped on a strawberry yoghurt, and tragically died only for his lover to heartlessly marry a baker? Thankfully Ernie’s milk bottles return to haunt her new husband, and the criteria for what it takes to be a Christmas hit was born: cheese, escapism and a strong dose of lameness. The zenith of the Christmas Number One came in 1973, when two titans glam-rocked it out for the number one spot: Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday’ and Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’. With the much documented unrest of the early seventies, this win-win battle probably came as a welcome escape from the grim political climate. But as

Slade took victory over Wizzard, we saw the last great epic battle of the Christmas charts. There are a few exceptions that actually earn the honour of their Christmas Number One. The strongest examples include Queen’s legendary ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in 1975, the phenomenal ‘Don’t You Want Me‘ by The Human League, and Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)’ in 1979 (because nothing says Christmas like children moaning about life). However, I regret to report that after Pink Floyd's success another form of singing children took over in 1980 in the form of St. Winifred's School Choir and the unforgivable 'There's No One Quite Like Grandma', a precursor to the irresistible insanity of hits like ‘Mr Blobby’ and Bob the Builder’s ‘Can We Fix it’.

MAGIC IS ALLOWED TO BE REAL FOR ONE WEEK A YEAR An interesting outcome of the Christmas Charts is charity singles. Though I argue that the Military Wives in 2011 didn't really rock the music scene, no one can belittle the incredible work of Band Aid in 1984. Band Aid revolution-

Top of the class Nick Marsden praises Morrissey's most recent album

MORRISSEY Low in High School 17 November

AAAbB

ORRISSEY has become increasingly controversial throughout his career. From his problematic statements on UKIP to his controversial depiction of the Chinese as a ‘subspecies’, it hasn’t been a pleasant ride for Morrissey fans. With guitarist Boz Boorer sticking to Morrissey’s side despite the Harvest record debacle which hindered the success of World Peace Is None of Your Business, there is a sense that some cling onto his genius. Morrissey’s output since the 2000s has been ropey. Aside from a few impressive singles in the much-heralded comeback You Are the Quarry and glimpses of impetus in World Peace, Morrissey has failed to match the dizzying heights of earlier efforts like Viva Hate or Vauxhall & I. Low in High School holds huge significance for the momentum of Morrissey’s career and on many accounts, it offers an upheaval. Despite questionable album artwork and Morrissey’s bizarre comments to the media, the album impresses. ‘My Love I’d Do Anything for You’ is a quality start to the album. Morrissey’s assertive lyrics, “Teach your kids/ to recognise and despise all the propaganda” blend well against rough

guitar strokes. Contrasting to this determined start is the single ‘I Wish You Lonely’, which sees Morrissey attack the establishment, with pointed criticisms of authoritarianism: “Tombs are full of fools that gave their life upon command, Monarchy/ Oligarch/ Head of State/ Potentate”. This track and ‘Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up on Stage’ are bombastic, but while the latter tune uses Jacky as an analogy of the UK’s isolationism, it is the weakest of the three singles released in its lack of instrumental agility. The following track, ‘Spent the Day in Bed’ has commercial appeal given its short length and simplistic mantra, yet the jaunty keyboard playing of Gustavo Manzur is a welcome departure from the album’s otherwise moody instrumentation. ‘Home Is a Question Mark’ harks back to the guitar-driven sound of Your Arsenal, and features Morrissey at his most pained. The poignancy of “I have been brave/ deep in every shaven cave, none were you” parallels the eerie sound of Boorer’s riffs, making for an unforgettable track. ‘I Bury the Living’ would seem more at home on World Peace. Beginning well, the track becomes tiresome and the patronising refrain “funny how the war goes on without our John” does little to rectify this problem. In ‘The Girl from Tel Aviv...' Morrissey comes to the fore lyrically with an attack upon American hegemony. Morrissey criticises the US as a hypocritical superpower, decimating coun-

tries based on rights abuses yet displaying this same behaviour on home soil. The lush keyboard instrumentation juxtaposes against Morrissey’s growing discontent against the US: “Impartial application of the Law/ In other words legalized torture”. ‘All The Young People Must Fall In Love’ is a galloping song which will leave the casual listener thumping their feet but mostly disappointed. The song has a plain mantra and doesn’t compensate for this instrumentally. ‘When You Open Your Legs’ contains lyrical content that gave lazy reviewers scope to depict Moz as being overtly sexual: ‘everything I know/deserts me now/when you open your legs’. However, the track’s grandiose imagery and an effective horn section evidence the deliberate nature of the lustful lyricism and makes for a great track. 'Israel’ is a highlight as its skeletal instrumentation gives Morrissey a final chance to let fly with a terrific vocal and lyrical performance. Low in High School is a surprising return to form. Though there are moments of experimentalism gone wrong and the occasional lyrical/thematic mishap, Low in High School grows with every listen. It won’t set the charts alight, but It certainly offers something unexpected. Is this the return to the Moz of old or just a flash in the pan? Only time will tell.

ised the way music used its influence to unite people for a worthy cause at Christmas. But no phenomenon can compare to the real Santa Claus. That’s right, he exists - and his name is Simon Cowell. The initials match. Every year since became X-Factor-mas, with Cowell reigning the charts. Leona Lewis’ ‘A Moment Like This’ in 2007 made for a balladrenaissance that took our money as we rushed to download the latest offering from Father Cowell. Yet, as agonising and unoriginal as the X-Factor winning singles can be, they do sum up a lot about Christmas with the success of the underdog, like Alexandra Burke, who got her Christmas miracle of having a number one single. Magic is allowed to be real for one week a year. Christmas is an absurd period, and the music scene welcomes its absurdity, with the real low point hitting last year with Clean Bandit’s ‘Rockabye’ stealing the spotlight. Today, what is the point in aiming for chart success at Christmas, when everyone is secretly blasting out Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’? It saddens me to report that the Christmas Number One began to lose its sparkle scarcely after the glitter had been applied. However, with a love for the songs that unite us, the holidays are a sensational time to celebrate music.

REMEMBER THIS? RED HOUSE PAINTERS Songs for a Blue Guitar 1996 IF this album rings no bells for you, I am unsurprised; the Red House Painter’s material, even since its original release, has gone significantly under the radar. The opening track is still my most played song, four years after I first heard it, and with lyrics like "I can't let you be, cause your beauty won't allow me”, and "have you forgotten how to love yourself?", I was, and continually am, infatuated with Kozelek’s haunting lyrical style. The album sits between folk and rock, and is effectively Kozelek’s solo album, seeing as no other band-members are listed in the liner notes. The album’s unpredictable nature, from the hypnotic folk of ‘Trailways’ to the haunting guitar grunge rock of the 12-minute song ‘Make Like Paper’ is, what some might call, a heavy listen. Whilst you can sit back in catharsis and contemplative solitude to ‘All Mixed Up’ (a The Cars cover), songs like ‘Long Distance Run-around’ and ‘Make Like Paper’ are a fair arrest on the senses. Yet, it is this tumultuous range of styles, all pinned down via Kozelek’s ethereal vocals, that make the evocatively cohesive and iconic in R.H.P’s repertoire. Full of haunting and longing, Songs for a Blue Guitar is a highly underrated 90s classic, and a beautiful example of Kozelek’s lyrical power and ethereal chords and vocals.

Molly Gilroy

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Christmas Crackers

Exeposé Screen writers run through their favourite Christmassy classics

ELF D R A EH

PETS P U M THE

A IT’S RFUL NDE O W LIFE

ITE WH STMAS I CHR

Elf, in my opinion, is the ultimate Christmas movie, and perhaps one of Will Ferrell’s best. The film follows a fairly simple plot, in which a man who was raised as an elf attempts to connect with his real father. Buddy’s child-like enthusiasm, naivety, and imagination achieves a genuinely wholesome effect. As an elf he is a failure, but in the human world his creativity and toy-making skills make him a Christmas genius, to which he remains oblivious. It is a perfect mix of genuine comedy as well as soppy romance, a balance that very few Christmas films get right. The popularity of the film has also stood the test of time as it is now almost 15 years old, and given the saturation of perhaps more forgettable Christmas films I would argue that it has cemented itself as a classic. There are some iconic scenes (I’m still curious about the taste of Buddy’s pasta dish) and I still find the character developments compelling. There is an actual journey of alienation to acceptance, instead of manufactured drama that perpetuates many Christmas films. To anyone that disagrees, you sit on a throne of lies. Lizzie Quinn

The greatest Christmas movie is Die Hard. There is little special about John McClane but, like all great Christmas underdogs, he uses the skills and resources he has as an off-duty New York Cop to singlehandedly defeat a group of German terrorists and save Christmas. John McClane is a man who shows that humans can be heroes against all manner of obstacles. Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of an underdog who, like John McClane, had very little but still fought all the power structures of his time, and considering his influence today, won. Christmas is intrinsic to Die Hard and, as the franchise’s latter three horribly titled movies show, the format simply does not work without reference to the underdog context that is well established in the Christmas canon. So, ignore the haters who say it isn’t a Christmas film. Die Hard more than deserves its place among the Christmas canon. Theodore Cox Dodgson

The Muppets movies have been somewhat hit and miss, with 1992’s version of the Dicken’s Christmas classic (their first picture in almost a decade) being a standout. Having the superb Michael Caine play Scrooge was a masterstroke, as he lends his character vulnerability and sternness in equal measure. The film has a memorable selection of songs, such as ‘There Goes Mr Scrooge’ and ‘It Feels Like Christmas’. Giving several Muppets fun roles adds to the film, with Kermit fulfilling the role of Bob Cratchitt, and the great Gonzo serving as Charles Dickens. It’s a great Christmas film for the whole family, merging two classic institutions together to great effect, and standing as one of the stronger Muppet pictures. It was also the last Muppet picture to feature the involvement of creator Jim Henson, who died in the early stages of the film’s production. I’m looking forward to giving it a watch over this festive period! Chris Connor

It’s a film about suicide and poverty that spends half of it’s run-time having nothing to do with Christmas, but It’s a Wonderful Life may just be one of the greatest Christmas films ever made. This 1946 film tells the story of George Bailey (James Stewart), a man who - after spending his life sacrificing for others - contemplates suicide, and an angel is sent to convince him otherwise by showing him what the world would be like if he had never been born. For as long as I can remember, my dad has sat the family down each Christmas and forced us to watch this film. I’ve learned to see past the long run-time and the sexist undertones (I never said it was a perfect film) to appreciate the core message. What unfolds is an uplifting tale that reminds us that just because it’s the season of giving, it doesn’t mean that the holidays have to be about material objects. Because after all, “no man is a failure who has friends.” And now, everytime I hear a Christmas bell ring, I smile because I know an angel has just gotten their wings. Devon Musgrave-Johnson

Potentially one of my favourite films out there, White Christmas captures the most magical aspects of the holiday season. Set and filmed after the Second World War, it tells the story of two ex-soldiers who make it big in show business and end up using their talents to save a snowless ski resort in Vermont, owned by their old army general. There is of course a love story interwoven as well, as they meet a pair of sisters on the way. Uplifting, romantic, and entertaining, do you really need anything more in a Christmas film? The movie also stars some of the biggest names from the time, following in the footsteps of other Irving Berlin films like Holiday Inn. Bing Crosby, the first person to sing the song ‘White Christmas’ is really the star of the show, alongside Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. Considering I am a massive fan of old movies I may be on my own here, but the songs are perfect for getting you in the Christmas spirit. You definitely ne ed to appreciate it for the time period it was made in, but if you can there is nothing better for Christmas time than the charming humour and dancing that the film includes. Daphne Bugler, Online Features Editor

EXHIBIT

SCREEN

EDITORS: Fenton Christmas and Ben Faulkner

Dinner table debate

11 DEC 2017

Johnny Chern and Ben Faulkner, Screen Editors, debate Love Actually’s merits

What’s the hype?

T was with a tremendous surprise to me that, when researching Love Actually, I found that it came out in 2003 to mixed reviews. The now-lauded staple of every true Brit’s Christmas was not always the cultural sensation that it is now. Regardless, the classic status that has evolved in the decade-and-ahalf since the film came out is not warranted. Love Actually should be submitted to the past, wiped from our Christmas traditions like that one where Santa beats up kids.

LOVE ACTUALLY IS A VAPID STUDY OF LOVE AND ROMANCE Love Actually is a vapid study of love and romance. It tells us nothing interesting about the emotion, and instead plays into dangerous myths about it. What is so irritating about this is that the film proclaims this is what love actually is. Love, according to Love Actually, is something people who have never spoken to each other share. Love, according to Love Actually, is the prerogative of men to hold over women. Love, according to Love Actually, works when one party stalks the other so much that they are obliged to fall in love with their stalker. It’s not just another cynical cash-grab using lazy tropes about love; it’s cynical cash-grab actually celebrating lazy tropes about love. Richard Curtis commits the cardinal sin he commits in each of his movies: he does not write female characters. He has women, but they’re not characters. They’re empty. They’re plot devices. They’re there for the men and boys in the film to ogle over. He doesn’t write the men particularly well in this film either (how can you develop anyone when there are 24 or so noteworthy characters?). But if you want to get a sense of his passive sexism in this film, pay attention to how much dialogue male characters are given compared to the female characters. You may point to Emma Thompson’s character. Well done! That’s one character that actually has something semi-interesting happen to her. All the others have a man fall in love with them and then just accept their love, no questions asked, even in the cases where they haven’t even fucking spoken to each other. Now a brief statement on the positive parts of the film. It was well acted and I think I laughed three or four times. The End. Well, not quite the end. I want to comment

on another theme. Love Actually has a certain English charm - which I can tell you, as a professional Englishman, does not exist. One of the cardinal sins of many middlebrow BBC-inspired British writers is the idea that their primary audience are Americans. This in itself is not so much a bad thing, but what it inspires is a screen culture of pandering to Americans’ misconceptions of British life. As an aside, I would love to see a stateof-the-nation film collab between Richard Curtis and Ken Loach, whose conflicting ideas of Britain are almost civil war-inducing.

TO SOMEONE BORN IN THE LATE-90s, IT ALREADY FEELS QUITE DATED I wanted to comment on a feeling I got when watching Love Actually.. To someone born in the late-90s who cannot even remember the release of this film, it already feels quite dated. Though I don’t remember the film, I remember the England that it portrays. The sanguine land of Britpop, New Labour, and blissful ignorance of the still-per vasive class differences. It was a time that the Prime Minister could conceivably be a young bachelor and people listened to Joni Mitchell. That seemingly harmonious age has been brutally murdered in the past few years, but Love Actually captures the feel of it. Ultimately, like the film, the age was a farce: only great if we chose to ignore the obvious Johnny Chern blemishes.

IFT wrapped around the notion that ‘Love, actually, is all around’, Richard Curtis takes us on a twohour-long voyage of naivety and optimism, feeding our festive appetite with a heaped spoonful of romantic sugar. Don’t take it too seriously, don’t take it too literally, and let it do what Christmas films, in part, are on this Earth for: to make us feel Christmassy.

IT LENDS ITSELF PERFECTLY TO AN ANNUAL DECEMBER RE-WATCH Stuffed with so many stories that it’s near on impossible to remember the film’s structure, it lends itself perfectly to an annual December re-watch. Yet, calling it ‘overstuffed’ – as critics love to – suggests that its intention was to intimately and complexly develop each character, which it of course wasn’t. It’s purposefully brief and episodic. Curtis is taking us on a whistle-stop tour of love’s infiltrating presence in all life, from the Prime Minister to the very ordinary British family. It is through this style only that he can illustrate his ambitious, yet very honest point. And the individual stories do, despite their fleeting presence, have something to say. Emma Thompson gives the performance of the film: bubbly, compassionate, and ultimately heartbroken by her adulterous husband. Thompson’s bedroom scene – listening to Joni Mitchell and holding back tears so not to disrupt a night that belonged to her children – is iconic; a portrait of the challenges of modern monogamy. Laura Linney is equally impressive in her frank, sombre tale of simple office lust, which is upended by her character’s responsibility to tend for her ill brother. It’s an aching portrayal of the sparring between lust and true, family love. Yep, there is a lot in Love Actually that tells us love is a hoot, but Curtis simultaneously reminds us that it’s a painful affair. Indeed, some of the narratives perpetuate the traditionalist idea that, in romantic relationships, men hold the power. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth slip into their bumbling-yet-charming Englishmen mould to court their respective secretaries, whom are mostly passive to the plot. Yet, are they?

In defence of I mean, if we’re really committing ourselves to a feminist analysis, Martine McCutcheon’s character technically initiates the ‘chase’ with a love-ridden Christmas card. Still, I’m very willing to concede that some of the suggestions Curtis constructs about gender dynamics are problematic. But I also propose that, in this case, we scrutinise Jerry Maguire, The Breakfast Club, Grease, When Harry Met Sally, Bridget Jones Diary, the entire James Bond franchise from debut scene to the end sprawl of Spectre. And sure, I can hear Mr. Chern screaming ‘some of those are from the 80s!’ and ‘but those films aren’t all trying to make points about love!’ – well, Johnny, have a Snickers. My point is that, in many beloved classics, a worthy magnifying glass will expose a plethora of warped social and cultural suggestions – but this does not mean that John Hughes, Helen Fielding, or Richard Curtis are raging sexists. From another perspective, Grant’s story is one about how human emotion does not concern itself with class systems, and Firth’s tries to tell us that love can be explored through interaction without language. Both – especially the latter – are ambitious and potentially absurd in their suggestions, but they are by no means dangerous. “A million people in love in Los Angeles […] yet, if you watch TV, there’s all these serial killers running around” are the honest words of Curtis himself, and it’s an important point. Love is all around us, but we’d forgotten. And in the midst of fellow 2003 releases, Mystic River, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and the horrifying The Cat in the Hat, it was a welcome sentiment from Curtis. He’s not trying to break ground, he’s not trying to rewrite the rom-com – and, believe it or not, he doesn’t have to. Let it be what it really is. Packed with festivities and a merry heart, it’s made for Christmas. It’s not perfect, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t our flawed, chaotic, Christmassy classic. Ben Faulkner

EXHIBIT

SCREEN

EDITORS: Fenton Christmas and Ben Faulkner

11 DEC 2017

Frosty ﬂicks W

Lauren Geall, Lifestyle Editor, looks at the beloved genre of seasonal films

HEN it comes to Christmas films, everyone has got an opinion. Whether it’s the fight to justify your favourite, or endless conversations about Love Actually (as this issue demonstrates), Christmas films hold a special place in our hearts. In my family, one of our favourite traditions is to sit down and watch the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Don’t ask me where that choice of film came from, but despite its increasingly obvious age, you can’t get through a Geall family Christmas without its jokes and colourful characters. Christmas films are distinctive because they’re about more than their artistic value; Christmas films have a unique sentimentality which we can enjoy again and again. The Christmas film holds such a rare position within the film industry because they are made to be watched over and over again. Whilst other films may be produced solely to create a shock or send a certain message, the main aim of a festive flick is to present something which never gets old. The most successful Christmas films are timeless - the only markers of their age being the pixel quality. It is this which makes Christmas films so interesting:

the only other film I’ve watched as many times as I have The Polar Express is probably the Harry Potter series. The Christmas film is often easy to watch and accessible for all ages. Hits like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Elf are notable for their suitability for all the family: even as I’ve got older, The Grinch remains one of my favourite Christmas films. Despite knowing exactly what’s going to happen when we sit down to watch a Christmas film, the plots remain as enticing as ever. However, just because Christmas films might be about more than their artistic value, it doesn’t mean they don’t stand out in this aspect too. Take, for example, the 2004 film The Polar Express, which utilises motion capture technology to achieve its distinct aesthetic. Using Van Allsburg’s book of the same name as its starting point, this technology allowed the filmmakers to build a world which feels

unlike anything else on offer in the industry. The soundtrack to accompany the film is just as strong, and the two work together to create an experience which is truly suited to the Christmas season. Another notable work is that of The Snowman. Its age speaks of its success, with its legacy being felt now 35 years later; the wordless animated adventure is by no means a quiet presence in the Christmas film industry. The beautiful animations by Raymond Briggs speak for themselves, and despite its limited run time of 26 minutes, The Snowman stands as a perfect example of the artistic possibility of the Christmas film. But is the Christmas classic a dying form? Perhaps yes. A quick google of releases within the last decades doesn’t seem to boast much. Notable are films such as 2011’s Arthur Christ-

mas, and Disney’s 2009 animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which again utilises motion-capture technology to present a fresh take on the age-old tale; the animation in this film is brilliant, and at times even terrifying. Ultimately, however, it seems to be the older Christmas films which remain the firm favourites. Despite 2017 releases of A Bad Mom’s Christmas (with its 30% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and Better Watch Out - a Christmas horror/thriller which is coming to UK cinemas 8th December - can we still see the Christmas film as occupying a notable presence in the film industry? When thinking about Christmas films, I don’t feel like this lapse in modern material necessarily affects the older classics. Yes, the genre may be struggling for new content, but the older films remain classic for a reason. I have faith in this niche genre, and I look forward to a revival in the near future. The success criteria for a Christmas film is clear: be timeless, be accessible, and be festive. A Christmas film’s job is to make me feel ‘Christmassy’, that indescribable feeling which makes the period what it is; the genre epitomises the shared, festive spirit of the Christmas period.

It was the best of times James Garbett reminsces on the highs and lows of the last year in film

N a year that often forecasted the disheartening doom and gloom of the declining box office, it’s rather peculiar to note that the quality of individual films was the best it’s been in quite some time. Ranging from brutal war epics and vast scifi adventures to more intimate and heartfelt features, they all contributed to me leaving the cinema with a dumb grin plastered upon my face far more times than any previous year. The seemingly unstoppable superhero genre continues to flourish, with Logan being a savage last hurrah for the titular mutants, and the best X-Men related film to date. Meanwhile, personal favourite of mine Taika Waitaki exercised his witty flair in giving the Thor franchise a much-needed boost of neon coloured adrenaline, whilst the DCEU finally got their first critical and commercial hit in the form of Wonder Woman (we’ll just ignore Justice League). Yet smaller budgeted mainstream films also succeeded in an unprecedented way compared to previous years. Get Out, Baby Driver, John Wick: Chapter Two, Paddington 2

and It were all films that lived up to their high expectations and then some, and were rewarded by the box office for their excellence. The key may have been that there was genuine talent behind the camera, which could be truly showcased and not restricted by a stringent board of executives. Whilst the little independent movie that could, The Disaster Artist, continues to receive well deserved financial and critical acclaim in the states.

DUNKIRK REMAINS MY STANDOUT OF THE YEAR Dunkirk, however, remains my standout of the year, the sort of film that audiences don’t really get to experience anymore. If you were one of the lucky few that managed to see this in an IMAX, you got to see the full barbaric glory of aerial dogfights and nautical warfare in vast 70mm film, which only served to highlight the gorgeous cinematography and a nail-

bitingly intense score. Unfortunately, not every experience at the cinema this year could be a positive one, and the commercially manufactured trite known as The Emoji Movie had me awe-struck at how creatively devoid a movie could be. It may seem rather easy for me to hate on the film at this point, seeing as the internet bandwagon has done so already, but it is truly abysmal. Ugly, ham fisted, and even derivative, The Emoji Movie isn’t even the entertaining kind of awful (eg. The Room) it’s just awful. Throw a couple of E-number infused children in the auditorium and you’ll see how awful a movie-going experience can be. Blade Runner: 2049 feels bittersweet to discuss. A slow burner sci-fi mystery based on a cult box office flop appears to be a recipe for poor financial returns, and unfortunately Villeneuve’s masterpiece didn’t get the audience it deserves. Yet it remains a rare film that actually surpasses the already beloved original. While I’m not as avid about the film as many people are, I am beyond impressed that a film like this

was able to be made, and have nothing but sheer respect for Villeneuve’s 165-milliondollar vision. I also foolishly endured another Michael Bay firework show disguised as a Transformers film, this time subtitled The Last Knight. Whilst it gives us an opening battle better than anything Ritchie’s King Arthur could muster, it devolves into a dull recreation of the last four entries only this time there’s Stonehenge. It’s almost impressive that halfway through watching the film, I felt a great surge of sympathy to the countless visual effects and audio artists who I imagine worked tirelessly on it; it’s just a real shame their efforts will be undermined by a shoddily written mess. Despite that, 2017 was a strong year for cinema. While there was still a number of cinematic duds, there didn’t seem to be as many in abundance as there has been in previous years. Hopefully Hollywood learns a positive lesson from this year, and we can all cross our fingers for more smiles on faces leaving the cinema in 2018.

EXHIBIT

SCREEN

EDITORS: Fenton Christmas and Ben Faulkner

Netﬂix and bill

11 DEC 2017

Fenton Christmas, Screen Editor, evaluates the streaming service market

S I was sat writing this in the library earlier this week, the gentleman next to me tapped me on the shoulder. He very politely apologised for the intrusion, but wanted to know what I was writing. I said it was a newspaper article on the business practices of streaming services. He revealed that he was a business student with intentions on writing on the very same topic, although I suspect with a lot more academic legitimacy than my tabloid trash. He delved into fascinating insights on the history of Netflix: of its smart and tactical decisions that saw its monolithic rise to the top of the cinematic content consumption industry. He rattled on for a good 20 minutes before he finally fell victim to the glares and leers from those around us, duly wished me luck, and returned to his book on business management.

THEY SELL YOU CONTENT, NOT THE SERVICE ITSELF I stared blankly at the 450 words I had already written. This was all rubbish. In the 20 minutes he had been speaking to me, he had not once mentioned another streaming service. Not Amazon, iPlayer, 4od, Now TV or even Google Play. Not one. How can there be a socalled war when there is already a victor; a clear winner out in front that all others have simply followed? As I resigned myself to my fate of having to re-write what I spent 2 hours on already, inspiration hit me in the form of a Christmas

miracle. The gentleman next to me had also failed to mention a key aspect of the streaming industry, one that that, perhaps above all else, is most important. Content. The battle for your choice of streaming service is potentially the only business, certainly within the entertainment industry, that does not explicitly revolve around money. How often do you see an advert for a streaming service that tells you how much it is? Hardly ever, if at all. They sell you content, not the service itself, in the same way you would see on normal TV adverts for programs on Sky One or any other paid channel. This is the war that is taking place within the industry. The move to create exceptional, original content has become the most important aspect for streaming services, even those that are free. BBC iPlayer announced last week that they would be releasing the box sets for some of their most highly-rated shows to everyone for free, for the Christmas period. But 4od already does this, it has done for years; they allow you to watch almost every episode of much of their original content spanning decades for free. Many people have seen this move to try and

combat the power of Netflix and Amazon, but they are nowhere near that standard. The BBC are constantly playing catch-up in this modern world of content (that’s a whole other article right there) and no amount of box sets of shows like Sherlock or Gavin & Stacey will ever win people over, particularly given most of those shows have already been on Netflix anyway. People seem content with paying small fees each month to have access to some of the biggest shows around. There has been so much discussion this year around shows such as Riverdale, 13 Reasons Why and Stranger Things from Netflix, to keep people interested in retaining their memberships to that service. Therefore, Netflix may be at the forefront of this industry for a long time. They have the most desirable content. Even better, they do not even rely on outside licenses. The have access to Marvel Studios’ array of TV characters, but I would argue they are not even the most popular shows on that service, certainly as their quality has diminished over the last few years. In a world filled with endless top-quality TV shows, the bar must be constantly pushed higher to attract

people back again and again. Amazon have tried, no doubt, to win people over. Shows like Mr Robot and Transparent have been enough to attract some, but their content still has some way to go.

NETFLIX ARE CERTAINLY OUT IN FRONT In the end, the war to lure you in with exceptional content will continue and, in a sense, this is a good thing. It means we will continue to see shows of amazing quality regardless of genre, and it will propel the creative originality that has seemingly plagued more traditional content distributors. Netflix are certainly out in front, which will surprise no-one as the other have only copied the Netflix formula for success. There is one aspect of the Netflix formula that none of the companies have recreated that could allow them to knock them off their pedestal, and that is to revolutionise the industry all over again. Easier said than done, though.

Our ﬁlms of the year Ben’s picks

Fenton ‘s picks

Fenton and Ben, Screen Editors, pick their favourite releases from the past year

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Get Out

Dunkirk

STUDY BREAK

| 11 DEC 2017

EXHIBIT

STUDY BREAK CROSSWORD # 107

SUDOKU # 45

Down

Across

Crackin’ banter

Disagree (with) (5)

Owl’s cry (3)

Losing money (2,3,3)

9 See 10

Examiner (6)

10/9 Miser in 1 across (8,7)

5/19 Room for planes to manoeuvre in (8)

12/16 The nickname of the Cratchits’ `

6/22 Cartoon character - I obey RAG (anagram)

1 / 24 Short title of a 23 novella ﬁrst published in 1843 (1,9,5) 8

Phantom (5)

(4,4)

youngest son in 1 across 24 14

Jacob ____ 8 character in 1 across 24

7 Bye! (3,3)

1. WHY DOES SANTA HAVE THREE GARDENS?

Audrey ____ Belgian actress whose ﬁlm’s

Go wrong (3)

include Amélie (2001) (6)

Tiny piece (8)

Run with a stride - pole (anagram) (4)

Music (6)

Client (8)

See 12 across (6)

19th Century writer (surname) (7)

Be greater in number (or count more) (6)

See 1

19 See 5

Death personiﬁed (the 8 Yet To Come in

21 Measuring device (5)

1 across 24) (4,6)

22 See 6

2. WHAT’S GREEN, COVERED IN TINSEL AND GOES RIBBET RIBBET?

25 Tear (or on the last word on 10 9’s grave?) (3)

ANSWERS

3. What do reindeers hang on their christmas trees? 4. What do you get if you eat christmas decorations? 5. WHO HIDES IN THE BAKERY AT CHRISTMAS?

aments, 4. Tinselitis, 5. A mince spy, 6. Wall’s. Riddle Me This: 1. So he can Ho! Ho! Ho! , 2. Mistle - toad, 3. Horn-

6. WHat’s donald trump’s favourite type of ice cream?

Ruler, 25 Rip. Yogi Bear, 7 See you, 11 Err, 13 Particle, 14 Melody, 17 Outsum, 21 Down: 1 Argue, 2 Hoo, 3 In the red, 4 Tester, 5/19 Airspace, 6/22 Dickens, 26 Grim Reaper. 12/16 Tiny Tim, 14 Marley, 15 Tautou, 18 Lope, 20 Customer, 23 Across: 1/24 A Christmas Carol, 8 Ghost, 10/9 Ebenezer Scrooge,

37 | 11 DEC 2017

EXHIBIT

CHRISTMAS WORDSEARCH

CAN YOU FIND ALL TWENTY SEVEN WORDS? GREETINGS GIFT GIVING HOLIDAY JOLLY JOY MERRY MISTLETOE NOEL

STUDY BREAK

CHRISTMAS FOOD ANAGRAMS

1. BLANKETING PISS

BELLS CANDLES CANDYCANE CARDS CELEBRATE CHIMNEY CHRISTMAS ELVES FROSTY

NORTH POLE REINDEER RUDOLPH SANTA SEASON SLEIGH STOCKING TREE WREATH

ANSWERS

8. SEAT FIGHTER

2. MINE SPICE

9. CONGEAL ROACH TOE

3. a BIGGER NERD

10. RASP PINS

4. KEY RUT

11. HECKLE BUN

5. SPUR US LOBSTERS

12. SNOUT RAT

6. FEST FURL

13. STREET QUALITY

7. MIDNIGHT CRUD PASS

14. NOT PEA TEN

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE THERE ARE NINE DIFFERENCES TO FIND

on the desk 14. Panettone

on Buddy’s breast 8. Dog in the bottom corner 9. Orange

11. Lebkuchen 12. Nut Roast 13. Quality Street

in the middle of the second row 6. Fairy Lights 7. Holly

Pudding 8. After Eights 9. Chocolate Orange 10. Parsnips

desk back 4. Corbyn’s face at the back 5. Owain’s face

4. Turkey 5. Brussel Sprouts 6. Truffles 7. Christmas

Moustache on front row boy 3. Stocking on the second

Anagrams: 1. Pigs in Blankets 2. Mince Pies 3. Gingerbread

Spot the Difference: 1. Buddy’s pink leggings 2.

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11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Science

SCIENCE EDITORS: Luke Smith Leah Crabtree

NOW that’s what I call science!

Exeposé Science writers give a final rundown of the greatest science stories of 2017 data before making its final dive and losing contact a mere 30 seconds from the predicted time. Ruth Braham

Alcohol and Memory

Planning on getting wasted this New Year Eve? You might want to squeeze in some revision for January exams just before doing so. In 2017, a study by researchers from Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research, University of Exeter found that alcohol facilitates memory for information learned just before consumption. This effect, termed ‘retrograde memory facilitation’ was first discovered in 1980, but it was only until this year that the effect was investigated in a naturalistic setting. In the study, 88 social drinkers were given a word-learning task, then were told either to drink as much as they wished to, or not to drink at all. On the next day, they all did the task again, and those who had consumed alcohol outperformed those who had not. In addition, the amount of alcohol consumed was also positively correlated with the number of words remembered! The authors of the study believe that the study results can have implications in developing cognitive enhancing interventions in the future. Penny Dinh

Cassini’s Grand Finale

The end of a 19-year mission occurred at 12:55pm (GMT) 15 September 2017 when the Cassini space probe lost contact with the earth, after diving down through the atmosphere of Saturn sending back information about Saturn’s gravity, analysis of particles in the famed icy rings and some truly spectacular photos of never before seen views. A collaboration between NASA and the ESA Cassini (named for the discoverer of Saturn’s rings) was launched October 15th 1997 and took 7 years to reach Saturn where it began a series of 294 obits and flybys, sending back vital scientific

Metallic Hydrogen

This year scientists at the University of Harvard led by Isaac Silvera have managed to generate metallic hydrogen, predicted over 80 years ago. Under ultra-high pressures and extremely low temperatures hydrogen atoms are forced together so tightly that their electrons shells overlap and, like a metal, the electrons become mobile allowing for the conduction electricity. Visually, the result was shown as a transition from a transparent gas to a black opaque solid to a shiny reflective material. Theory predicted that only 25 GPa was needed, however Silvera’s team used pressures between 465 GPa and 495 GPa (note the pressure at the centre of the earth is 360 GPa!). Despite this year being the first time it has ever been made on earth researchers have ambitious plans, hoping that it could be used in the future as a leading superconducting material at room temperature. Rachel Jones

Neutron Star Merger Gravitational Wave Detection

On the 17 August this 2017 a cataclysmic inter-stellar explosion was detected by a global collaboration of astronomers and physicists. Two dense neutron stars spiralled into each other sending gravitational waves, ripples in space time, reverberating throughout the universe. These waves were detected on earth by the two LIGO interferometers, which recently won the 2017 Physics Nobel prize, and VIRGO, the European Interferometer.

Triangulation of the signals provided information on which way observatories should then point their telescopes to observe the electro-magnetic radiation emanating from the collision. The neutron star merger supports the theory that heavy metal such as gold and uranium can only be forged in high energy cosmic events such as this. Significantly, this was the first time scientists used two completely different signals, gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves, to study the skies. 2017 could be the beginning of a new form of astronomy called multi messenger astronomy. Rachel Jones

CRISPR Gene Editing

2017 saw a milestone for the very controversial and incredibly powerful tool in genetic engineering known as CRISPR (Cluster Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing; biology’s version of the ‘find and replace’. The ‘find’ is supplied by a CAS 9 protein, the ‘molecule scissors’ that recognise long stretches of DNA (CRISPR) which scientists place near the target DNA. The gene that the DNA encodes for can either be ‘switched off ’ so that no expression occurs or can be modified so correcting for any mutations. Researchers in the US have modified human embryos, editing the genes responsible for the thickening of heart muscles so that it is not expressed and the mutation cannot be passed on to offspring. The technology could potentially be applied to more than 10,000 inherited mutations. An amazing breakthrough, although, admittedly clinical tests are a long way off. Rachel Jones

Reinforcement Learning

Over the last decade there has been growing interest and awareness around artificial intelligence - but what makes AI truly intelligent? Computers are capable of outperforming humans, usually when they have been explicitly programmed to complete a task. DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google, has recently created a machine that was able to beat the world champion at the Chinese game ‘Go’ despite never being taught (programmed) to play. Inspired by behavioural psychology, ‘reinforcement learning’ is a type of machine learning, where instead of being given instructions a computer will repeatedly attempt a task adjusting its approach with each try. When the task goes well the machine will soon learn to favour the behaviour that leads to the desired result. It’s hope that in the future this type of technology can be applied to robotics and self-driving cars. Rachel Jones

Graphene Sieve

In 2017 UK researchers from the University of Manchester developed a graphene oxide sieve capable of filtering common salts as well as nanoparticles, organic mol-

ecules and large salts. Previous research had been hampered by the swelling of the membrane caused when it is submerged, however the use of an epoxy resin has enabled scientists to control the pore size of the membrane. This research provides a very promising method for a low energy desalination technique as whilst water is able to easily flow through the membrane, using the resin the pore size can be tuned to stop the flow of common salts according to their size. Could this mark a turning point in the global water shortage? Rachel Jones

Gene Therapy Breakthrough

Gene therapy has been investigated for a long time but this year has seen many advances. Firstly, gene therapy being used to treat Juvenile Spinal-muscular atrophy, characterised by muscle wasting and usually death before the age of two. Patients received a single dose of a vector containing the correct form of the SMN gene, to be integrated into the patient’s genomes. As of the cut-off all 15 patients were alive, 2 patients could walk unaided. Following on from this were reports of gene therapy being used to alter a patient’s genes In-Vivo to correct the defective gene responsible for epidermolysis bullosa. On the lighter side CRISPR gene therapy has also been used to store a GIF animation in a bacterial genome. Ruth Braham

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Follow those stars!

SCIENCE 41

Anastasiia Kovalenko discusses the recent discovery of the Milky Way's oldest stars

OME of the oldest stars in the Milky Way galaxy have been recently discovered by astronomers. Scientists at Georgia State University determined locations and velocities of stars to identify how many old stars are present in the galaxy. The Milky Way is 13.6 billion years old, and is estimated to contain 200–400 billion stars, and probably over 100 billion planets. Much of its mass also appears to be dark matter and interstellar gas. Some of its oldest stars developed six to thirteen billion years ago. The oldest known star in the Milky Way galaxy with an accurate determination of its age is about 6000 light years away from the Earth, and is nearly as old as the estimated age of the universe itself. Stars, just like us, have a life cycle known as ‘stellar evolution’. It is determined by their mass. The larger the mass, the shorter the life cycle. Stellar evolution starts with birth from collapsing clouds of gas and dust (nebulae). The star then gradually grows in size. The core of low mass

stars then collapses, and the outer layers form planetary nebula. The core remains as a dense white dwarf, and eventually cools to become a black dwarf. High-mass stars, however, have another cycle and undergo a supernova explosion. If the core survives after the explosion, it will become a neutron star. If the core collapses, it will become a black hole. In this study, the scientists focused on cool subdwarfs. Subdwarfs are old, lowmass stars. It is believed that subdwarfs are relics of early star formation, surviving to our days thanks to their small mass: the duration of their evolution exceeds the time of existence of the universe. The astronomers first observed the stars with a 0.9-meter telescope using an astrometry technique which allows to measure the stars’ positions. This allowed to determine the stars’ distances, motions across the sky and orbiting companions. This method helped to increase the amount of known old stars in our galaxy by 25 percent. The researchers even managed to discover two old binary

stars (stars orbiting around their common barycentre) which is not typical for older stars. The scientists used several methods to identify these old stars. The first one, Hertzsprung–Russell (H-R) diagram (developed in 1913), plots each star on

a graph measuring the star's luminosity, spectral type, colour, temperature and evolutionary stage. After mapping the subdwarf stars, the authors took a closer look at how fast they move across the sky. "In my research, I've found that if a

star has a tangential velocity faster than 200 kilometers per second, it has to be old. So, I can evaluate whether a star is an old subdwarf or not. In general, the older a star is, the faster it moves." said Georgia State University's Dr Wei-Chun Jao, lead author of the study. The researchers found 29 additional previously unidentified old stars after applying the tangential velocity cut-off and comparing stars in the subdwarf region of the H-R diagram to other existing star databases. What are other methods to determine distance, age and size of stars? Over time, scientists have come up with several techniques, such as parallax (measuring the angle through which the stars appear to move over a period of time which was first applied in 1838 by Friedrich Bessel); luminosity increase (as stars grow older, their luminosity increases; this works only for calculating stellar age on the main sequence); standard candles (studying relatively to bright objects with a known fixed absolute luminosity); standard ruler (relatively to an object for which the actual physical size is

Music to my mind

known; light echoes can also be used); standard siren (observing waveform, amplitude of gravitational waves); studying supernovae (measuring photosphere, light curves, etc.); studying star clusters (permits assignment of rough ages to stars present within the cluster); gyrochronology (estimation of age from a star’s rotation period; developed empirically in 2007). In 2018, results from ESA's Gaia mission which is currently measuring accurate positions and distances for millions of stars in the Milky Way, will make finding older stars much easier for astronomers.

The results will make finding older stars much easier "Maybe we can find some ancient civilizations around these old stars," Jao said. "Maybe these stars have some planets around them that we don't know about." Only time will tell.

Elinor Jones sings the praises of the benefits of music on study

T has long been the bane of many a student’s life, that the sporty, musically-talented, and artisticallygifted students often end up gaining the best degrees, as well as having their faces all over the SU for their extra-curricular efforts. But what if the simple act of listening to music, or, for the dedicated, playing an instr ument, has any bearing on academic achievement? What if, most importantly, it can have a positive effect on emotional health, which in turn should reap the rewards everyone is after?

The scientific study of music’s interrelation with the body has been a contested topic, despite music’s essential presence in the lives of many for thousands of years. However, psychologists such as Krumhansl in the nineties began to formulate theories of how this interrelation is apparent. First, they suggested that music itself has inherent qualities, initiating an emotional response that is specific, called the ‘emotivist’ position. The second perspective they derived is known as the ‘cognitivist’ position, suggesting the emotion experienced

by the listener has associations with or within the music. Another 90s’ researcher, Kivy, hypothesised that the emotions we experience whilst listening to music result from the expressive nature of music, meaning that these emotions are non-identical to day-to-day emotions, suggesting a somewhat enhanced ‘emotional intelligence’.

Music doesn't just have a cultural importance, but a personal one This can be observed in a clinical context, particularly with states of stress and anxiety, for example the work of Daniel Levitin and his colleagues at McGill University in Montreal. Levitin and his team performed a meta-analysis of 400 studies in which scientists had tracked patient’s own ratings of anxiety, whilst clinicians performed tests such as blood cortisol concentration, a hormone released by the adrenal gland in a stress

response. Other studies have found increased levels of serotonin and dopamine, with a 9% increase in dopamine levels in volunteers listening to music they enjoyed in comparison to those listening to music they had neutral feelings about. By scanning volunteers in PET a n d f M R I machines. Through the images created, the researchers could estimate dopamine levels, a neurotransmitter hormone involved in neuronal signalling in reward pathways, usually released to reinforce and motivate when a

person is in a positive state. And this has the potential to translate itself through to positive learning experiences. If you learn a particularly hard concept whilst listening to your favourite song, you may feel more motivated to do the work; if you are stressed a b o u t deadlines, lowering cortisol levels can be helped by relaxing classical music (or club tunes to remind you of a great night out). Music doesn’t just have a cultural importance, but a personal one, and one that might just get you the grade you want.

SCIENCE

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

The Ghost of Christmas Past A

Tash Ebbutt, Deputy Editor, discusses the theories and possibilities of time travel

S the tenth Doctor once said, time is just a big ball of wibblywobbly timey-wimey stuff. A professional in navigating it, the Doctor and his TARDIS have nailed travelling across the universe: but how can we indulge in our time travelling fantasties when we lack the blood of a Time Lord and the all-important time machine? To begin, it is important to consider the theories of Albert Einstein. Einstein deﬁned time as an illusion. The theory of relativity dictates that time can slow down or speed up depending on how fast you move relative to something else. If one were to travel at the speed of light for instance, a person inside would age much slower than his twin – this is known as the twin paradox. This would be time travel. This notion of being able to navigate time is further apparent in the Einstein’s deﬁnition of time and space. Space is a three dimensional fabric which almost provides co-ordinates to the hypothetical traveller such as length and width. Time provides another co-ordinate; that of direction. The combination of the two creates a four dimensional fabric known as space-time. Even if one could travel at the speed of light, the equations still remain close to impossible. Some scientists have extended these equations which

HRISTMAS trees, Christmas lights, Christmas carols, glitter and a chill in the air. It’s the festive season all right and you best believe that Christmas is coming soon, and what better way to celebrate it than with a grand royal proposal to your sweetheart. That’s what the royal family have been up to this year. His royal highness, the Prince of Wales is getting engaged to the American actress Meghan Markle. What’s more interesting than the addition of foreign blood to the royal family, is the yellow gold ring Prince Harry has acquired for her - having a central diamond from Botswana and two diamonds on either side from none another than Princess Diana’s collection. It may be easy for a dedicated true love to send drummers, pipers, lords, ladies, maids, swans, geese, rings, birds, hens, doves, and partridges in pear trees within 12 days, but unfortunately you would need a lot longer to create any shape or form of diamond. One to three billion years to be exact. The reason for

rule out impossibility. One of the ways in which these issues could possibly be resolved would be through wormholes. Creating wormholes between different points in space-time could enable time travel to occur. If this could occur, only very small particles would be able to pass through: that, and we as a species do not possess the technology to link points together just yet. In summary, Einstein’s theories are rather problematic in proving whether or not we could time travel. However, other scientists since Einstein’s time have offered up numerous theories on the matter. Firstly, the Inﬁnite Cylinder theory. Created by Frank Tipler, this theory involves taking matter which is ten times the sun’s mass and rolling it into a long, dense cylinder. Then casually spin it for a few billion revolutions. If a nearby spaceship could get itself onto what is known as a “closed, time like curve” thereby presenting the ability to time travel. There are limitations to this theory however. The length of the cylinder would have to be inﬁnite for travel to occur in addition to the existence of negative energy. Another theory surrounds the concept of cosmic strings. These are narrow tubes of energy which are stretched across the entirety of the universe. These

small regions are essentially the debris from the early cosmos and are thought to contain huge amounts of mass which could warp space-time. According to scientists, these strings are either infinite or in loops with no ends. If two parallel strings approach each other they have the potential to bend space-time in a specific, vigorous configuration which could make time travel possible. Again, this is a very specific circumstance and is difficult to initiate. There is also the notion of black holes. If one moved a ship rapidly around a black hole or create that condition with a huge rotating structure then time travel could occur. However, the crew would need to travel at the speed of light. There is also the issue of speed. The machine could fall apart if moving at very high speeds which obviously presents danger. Thus far, different theories of how to travel time have been discussed. But consideration must be given to the vessel in which an individual would travel. Research on time machines involves bending space-time to the extent that the lines turn back on themselves which forms a loop known as a “closed time like curve”. Time travel needs an unusual type of matter that possesses bizarre properties which affects normal matter in strange ways. If this exotic matter exists, it is in

too small a quantity to actually use within a time travelling device. It is possible without unusual matter but is rather complex. It involves a doughnut shaped hole being placed in a sphere of normal matter. Inside this vacuum, space-time is bent upon itself using focused gravitational fields which again creates a closed time like curve. To go back in time, the traveller races around the inside of the doughnut. Strong gravitational fields are however very difficult to handle. But even if time travel was definitely possible, it would be lethal for humans. Using gravity would be deadly. If you stood on a neutron star, you would experience time dilation but the forces would rip you apart. Time travel is a

very deadly business. In all honesty, the Doctor has it easy. A ﬂick of a switch and a whirling noise and a way he goes. That wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff is much easier to navigate with a TARDIS.

A royal engagement

Gabriel Yeap explains the science behind Meghan Markle's ring this is due to the way diamonds form, and the conditions it needs to enable it to be mined. You see, diamonds are actually a type of crystal, being similar to salt, sugar, quartz and, of course,

snowﬂakes! All crystals share one thing in common, and that is the way their atoms or molecules are arranged. Crystals form when their atoms bond together to

form a regular repeating structure. This continues until they eventually grow large enough to be seen by the naked eye. A researcher from Amsterdam, Janne Koornneef - who works as an isotope geochemist - analysed diamond impurities from a Venetia Mine not too far from where the Prince purchased his ring, which helped to reveal some ancient secrets about the collision of long forgotten continents. She deduced that the diamonds from Botswana came from two separate waves of gems, one forming 3 billion years ago, and the other around 1.1 billion years ago. She deduced this by identifying different signatures between the two batches of diamonds, the ﬁrst forming due to an ancient piece of earth’s crust tore apart and crushed into another more stable crust. The second formed by a chaos of boiling lava that was so volcanically active that the sinister name of Umkondo Large Igneous Province was bestowed to it. You might think what a waste of time this study might be, but it actually helps

scientists understand how our planet emits and takes up carbon, which could have lasting implications for the future of the lucky Meghan Markle’s children. Research shows that humans are still emitting far more greenhouse gases that the largest volcano could ever produce, and global warming is still a major threat to our planet’s future.

Markle's ring was formed from the collisison of long forgotten continents It is said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. After all, you might be giving your lover’s heart away last Christmas, but I’m sure you’re deﬁnitely not giving your diamonds anytime soon. However, just like relationships in a way, the formation of diamonds are incredibly complex, and often never result in the ﬁnished product, as most of them don’t remain for long in that state. You see, the pencil on your table, or the carbon dioxide gas you breathe

out all contain the only atom diamonds are made from, and that is carbon. Why can’t you magic or science the pencil into a diamond though I hear you cry? Well this is due to the structure of diamond. Diamonds form when an enormous pressure (similar to that of having only one more day left to submit a summative deadline…) is exerted on the carbon atoms under really high temperatures. This forces the carbon atoms to bond covalently to four other carbon atoms. For the non-chemists among you, covalent bonds are one of the strongest chemical bonds there are. They also arrange themselves in a repeating regular pyramid-like structure that gives diamond its incredibly hard nature. Well, now you know that pressure creates diamonds, keep pushing on though those deadlines and shine bright like a diamond. After all, you never know, in the process you might ﬁnd something or someone very special – hopefully under the mistletoe and not too far underground – that will leave a sparkle with you this Christmas!

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11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT

No man is an island

Wil Jones, Sport Editor, discusses the changing shape of national identity in international rugby

ROM Holyhead to Haverfordwest, scoring two tries for Wales on your debut is the kind of improbable dream held by many youngsters – less so, perhaps, in Huntersville, New Zealand, the hometown of Wales’ newest rugby starlet Hadleigh Parkes. Yet his selection is an example of an increasingly common trend in the home nations – Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales – of capping players whose origins lie overseas. With no familial connection to Wales, Parkes' eligibility depends upon World Rugby's regulation 8.3 that decrees a player can qualify after "thirty-six consecutive months of residence" in an adopted country. The fact that the centre’s ﬁrst cap arrived exactly three years to the day he moved to Wales to join the Scarlets has once again raised the question of what it means to 'be' an international player, and whether the residency rule dilutes the very function of nationally representative rugby teams.

The home nations commonly cap players with overseas origins “You can’t blame the player,” said the 30-year-old ahead of his first cap, addressing the eligibility laws. “It’s something I never thought would happen. It’s a dream come true and an honour to represent the Welsh people.” The fact Parkes grew up docking sheep in a country heavily reliant on the mining industry may ease the transition of a boyhood dream in a black shirt to the red of Wales, but is there more required for a cultural conversion such as this? In similar fashion, this autumn saw Connacht centre Fualaofi ‘Bundaloo’ Aki capped by Ireland. Born and raised in New Zealand to Samoan parents, Aki grew up in Manurewa, South Auckland. His childhood friend Tim Nanai-Williams – cousin of the All Blacks’ Sonny Bill Williams – turned out in the same series, but where Aki chose Ireland, Nani-Williams opted for the islands, representing Samoa. Aki has fully embraced the culture in Western Ireland, his current contract keeping him there until 2020, yet the embrace is one that goes deeper than merely the financial. “I moved over here [Ireland] not really knowing what to expect but this place has become home to me and my

family now,” Aki said last year. The way in which Galway became home off the pitch for the centre has enshrined his status as a cult ﬁgure amongst Connacht supporters: his celebrations with them after the playoff ﬁnal in Edinburgh are a notorious indication of his embrace. Despite this, there was still criticism from some quarters for his inclusion in Joe Schmidt’s squad - some said he was taking the place of a more deserving, even if inferior, rugby-playing Irishman; that he was not Irish ‘enough’, if at all.

Bundee Aki has fully embraced the culture since moving to Ireland The very idea of nationality – what it means, how we define it, how it is formed, fixed, gained, and lost – is appears up for debate; Aki's selection for Ireland seeming queries the aforementioned notion, portraying it as a variable, sliding scale of identity, and by no means unitary a . National pride seemingly relies on a definition of community but what and where can this be found? When so many nations are divided down arbitrarily drawn, and often contested, borders, the notion of permanence to nationality seems facile in the face of such ambivalence – where nationality is predicated on material realities as well as elusive and imagined ideas. Yet this is what international sport attempts to reconcile – removing the conflicts and inconsistencies within identity to bring together nationally representative teams to engage in polite warfare. One particular argument against Aki’s inclusion was that he wouldn’t rise to the occasion against England. Rugby within the Home Nations is particularly fraught; for the Celtic nations, it is often seen as politically significant to play England; a chance to kick back against a very literal, if primarily historic, oppressor. Yet, paradoxically, these are nations bound in the present day by their similarities and geographical proximity. With borders that are in some ways permeable and yet in other ways fervently defined, it results in something of a paradox; many of the Celtic nations include English-born-orraised players within their ranks. Whilst there is a difference between birthplace and where you are raised, geography, particularly in the British Isles, appears an imperfect manner of classification. When considering the overseas players who have repre-

sented the home nations, the common thread does not lie in located proximity but the English language, a key component in naturalisation. Long before New Zealand was named by Europeans, there was Aotearoa; Wales, a derivative of the Old English "walha" or "foreign", is markedly distinct from Cymru, a derivative of "fellow-countrymen". That shared sense of national duality through colonisation extends to their rugby cultures, with New Zealand coaches using Wales as a springboard for successful stints in charge of the All Blacks. Whilst the language of the British Isles is now English, its global prevalence is predicated on the systemic erasure of Gaelic, Cymraeg and a host of other tongues; erasing, in turn, the different elements of consciousness languages create. Such a thing, then, seems a crucial element of national identity. Parkes was forthright in the manner of learning the anthem: “Rhys Patchell’s been teaching me the anthem phonetically, my pronunciation probably isn’t the best but I’m trying my hardest.” Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau – Land of my Fathers – is a deﬁant, celebratory defence of inheritance, land, and language; it may be easy to see the problem with sonic mimicry in terms of nationality, yet equally, does it diminish Parkes’ ability, status, or right to be chosen to represent Wales when only a ﬁfth of the country can speak Welsh?

These caps show the lack of stasis in nationhood In contrast, in Amhrán na bhFiann – the Irish national anthem – the lines that translate to "Soldiers are we/whose lives are pledged to Ireland/some have come/from a land beyond the wave" actively embrace immigration for a national cause: on matchday, few players sing the anthem louder t h a n South African-born CJ Stander. Beyond language there is also the voice – still a key barometer of identity within Britain – and two rugby players perhaps indicate the existing biases that conﬁgure our under-

standing of migrant identities more than any other. Fortunately, the explicit racism from fans towards their own teams' players that blighted the latter part of the twentieth century is an increasingly rare phenomenon, certainly in Britain; however, race itself still seems pertinent at times, not least in conjunction with accent.

No-one is querying their right to play international rugby Marland Yarde moved to England from Saint Lucia at nine-years-old; Taulupe Faletau arrived in Ebbw Vale from Tonga aged seven. The route from the Caribbean to Britain is well-known, and there is no indication that Yarde grew up anywhere else than the south of England, to the point where many in the rugby community appear oblivious to this fact. Faletau’s is a less prominent path, and his novelty in this sense is more conspicuous: the Pacific Islander with a Valleys accent. That said, no-one is querying their dedication, let alone their right to play for their respective countries. Their parents arrived as economic migrants, and, in essence, the same definition applies to Parkes and Aki. “It’s also the experiences off the field. You don’t know how lucky you are with Europe on your door[step],” said Parkes on the appeal of moving to Wales. The idea that economic migrants, despite adhering to the legalities of national qualification, are less 'of' a nation than their teammates is problematic; yet equally, if an international team is an amalgam brought together by the pound's pull, is this team an indicator of private economic might above any other form of terrestrial representation? The simple answer to this phenomenon is pragmatic: there is an abundance of ability in the southern hemisphere, yet the economic strength of the north is understandably hard to ignore in a career that has a necessarily limited lifespan. New Zealanders seem to exhibit the kind of consummate skills often lacking in some top players from elsewhere, borne from a competitive, constructive environment that hones handling skills in 20 stone props and front-on tackling for diminutive playmakers alike. Parkes and Aki are both able

Home Nations players born 'overseas' England: 6 Nathan Hughes, Dylan Hartley, Denny Solomona, Marcus Smith, Sam Underhill, Mako Vunipola Ireland: 8 Kieran Marmion, Kieran Treadwell (both England); Bundee Aki, Joey Carbery, Ultan Dillane, Rob Herring, Luke McGrath, CJ Stander Scotland: 20 Nathan Fowles, Rob Harley, Chris Harris, Ruaridh Jackson, Darryl Marfo, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Tim Swinson, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson (all England); Luke Hamilton (Wales); John Barclay, Simon Berghan, Phil Burleigh, Nick Grigg, Byron McGuigan, WP Nel, Cornell du Preez, Tommy Seymour, Ben Toolis Wales: 9 Hallam Amos, Jake Ball, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Tomas Francis, Dan Lydiate, Aaron Shingler (all England); Taulupe Faletau, Hadleigh Parkes

players, not quite good enough to represent the All Blacks, but who add something to Wales and Ireland respectively. There is no simple, harmonious response to the phenomena from the fans’ perspective. From the inside, where rugby is a job, and one of goals and winning and losing, perhaps the cultural element is all but irrelevant – a player is a player, a coach is a coach, and, in a business of results, talent and expertise will triumph over identity, despite the cultural ramiﬁcations. Ultimately, incidents such as Parkes' and Aki's selections show the lack of stasis to nationhood; that it is something less stable than the ground upon which we place borders; eroded and redeveloped over time like the tide lapping at a shoreline. With responsibilities as an employer, a business of entertainment, and a community of variously enfranchised members, the way professional sport adapts and responds to society and culture remains intriguing; not least as a reﬂection of society, but a mirror, too, illuminating and effecting change.

SPORT

The ultimate club?

INTRAMURAL

S N' AI R PT N E CA O R C

Dorothea Christmann, Sport Editor, talks with Louis Cash and George Stubbs

AVING been introduced to the sport by my housemate who joined the ultimate frisbee club last year, my preconceptions before meeting with club captains Louis Cash and George Stubbs was that this was same game you see people playing in the park. Oh, how wrong I was. Cash and Stubbs open the conversation by informing me just how intense and highly-paced ultimate frisbee, developed in 1968 by a group of students at a high school in New Jersey, actually is as a team sport. It is often overlooked despite being “similar in nature to [...] netball, in that you’re not allowed to move when you have the disc”. Scoring is achieved by getting the disc to an end zone and having it caught there, which they tell me involves a lot of throwing yourself to the ground - as highlighted by Stubbs' arm being in a sling. “I’ve broken two collarbones” he says, reinforcing the sports intensity and destorying any image of this being an activity where people stand idly by and simply throw a frisbee around.

As it is played both indoors and outdoors, ultimate frisbee requires a lot of knowledge and game awareness because it is dictated a lot by the environment. “The wind can completely change how the game is played,” Cash says. They tell me that no weather condition would stop them playing outdoors apart from lightning, after having

experienced games in torrential rain “where the furthest [they] could see is five metres”. Cash’s story of how he got into ultimate frisbee is intriguing. Not only has his dad been playing the sport for Team GB since he was 17 but his auntie, uncle and his mum also play. Ultimate frisbee runs in the family, which is probably a more interesting conversation starter than any of us have got. As for Stubbs, he saw some interviews with Brody Smith, a player famed

Calling the Shots Men’s Badminton Exeter 2s....................................5 UWE 1s......................................3 Dorothea Christmann Sport Editor

FTER a tense match against Southampton Solent 1s on the 29 November, resulting in a 4-4 draw, Exeter, sitting mid-table, were pitted against UWE 1s who had not lost a match in the Western 2A League this year. The opening singles match was a tough encounter between Exeter's Sam Cross and UWE's Perry. Perry, with a clear height advantage which enabled him to hit back any looping shots by Cross with considerable force, proved too much for the Exeter man who struggled with Perry's inability to make any mistakes, including being able to stoop low for Cross's skilled drop shots. The match ended with a 21-3, 21-12 victory for UWE. In the doubles match, club captain Jack WilliamsSharkey and Ben Proctor started brightly, with Proc-

tor hitting powerful instinctive shots that UWE failed to deal with as well as covering the back well when WilliamsSharkey created made match-winning cross-court drop shots at the net. Whilst they won the first set comprehsnively with 21-10, the second set was a lot closer, with UWE profitting from Exeter's many unforced errors. The highlight of the set was a tense and rapid rally of more than 10 shots, ultimately leading to UWE hitting into the net. It came down to the 3rd set, with UWE losing a lot of point due to them overhitting and leaving more space for Exeter's duo .Exeter's steely determination to win was the difference between the two sides, triumping 21-19. Overall, Exeter 2's impressively became the first team to beat UWE in the league this season, with a 5-3 victory. Jordan Medcradt, 2nd team captain said after the match "After a mixed start to the season, being able to beat top of the league shows what we are really about".

for trick shots, on YouTube and Facebook and was instantly fascinated by the sport. For anyone looking to join a sports club that doesn’t break the bank, frisbee is the joint cheapest AU club at only £50 for the whole year. This includes five training sessions a week, each two hours long. Additionally, joining gains one membership of Devon Ultimate Frisbee, one of the largest Frisbee clubs in the UK. I'm intrigued to know whether they would want to follow in Louis' father's footsteps and play for GB. "We tried, but we just missed out. That’s the dream." I noticed that both had dyed blonde hair, and there is an important reason behind this. Gerard Murphy, who was meant to be men's captain this year, had a terrible accident in Sweden in the summer when he jumped into a shallow lake and broke his spine.

The wind can change how the game is played LOUIS CASH , EUUFC CAPTAIN

He now has C-5 Tetriplegia, which is paralysis of the legs, wrists, and hands. Several club members dying their hair blonde was their way of fundraising money for Gerard, as well as raising awareness for the cause. But they’re determined to raise even more money with a “72 hour non-stop throwathon planned for next term”. They’re thrilled with the fact that Gerard has made so much improvement in rehab and physio, but this has evidently been a tragic time for the club.

To donate to Gerard's JustGiving page, go to: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ we-love-gerard-murphy

Timeout for Exe Men’s Basketball Exeter 1s....................................75 Bournemouth 1s........................76 Charlie Morgan Sport Team

ing particular success when they drove the ball to the basket and used their big men.

We did well to come back but couldn't clinch it

XETER Men’s 1st team narrowly missed out on comNICK HIGGINS , EUBC CAPTAIN pleting a thrilling comeback against Bournemouth 1s in the Western 1A league, going down 75-76. With two minutes to go, Daryus Exeter clearly had a game plan to Jokhi’s 3-point conversion and an acrocombat the pace set by Bournemouth, batic finish from captain Nick Higgins keeping their on-ball defence aggressive put the hosts up 75-73. from the first possession. But this sensational comeback did But Bournemouth pulled ahead not have a fairytale finish: with comfortably, with their captain run20 seconds left on the clock, ning the offence admirably to give Bournemouth worked the them a 41-31 lead at halftime. ball from an inbound Effective offensive control play to score from him, compiled with and snatch the errors in Exeter’s trangame away sition defence and from Exeter. repeatedly giving Nick Higgins, away possession Men's 1st Team Capcheaply, looked to tain, gave a statement have sealed Exeter’s after the game. "It was fate. a hard fought game However, the and we did well to to 1s refused to cacome back but just pitulate and fough couldn't clinch back tenathe win." ciously, find-

Ben Smith Intramural Sport Columnist

'WAS a month before Christmas, and after seven games and seven defeats, only the hopes that Father Christmas (in the shape of Captain Coombes) could bring P11 a Side their first victory in the intramural league were left hanging by a thread. November saw the team play just one fixture as a result of selection dilemmas and frozen pitches. The match in question, however, would undoubtedly be one the footballing romantics would label “a relegation 6-pointer” against fellow strugglers Billy Rovers, who had also failed to pick up an elusive first point. With the squad turning up in a determined fashion, our morale was immediately lowered by the realisation that no one had brought a football. After the resulting ‘energetic’ warm-up, our opposition arrived, and it was immediately clear there was an issue; whilst we sported our resplendent navy shirts, our opponents wore a similar black strip - not a good day for Ciáran Cartmell to forget his glasses. Having once again opted for a fashionably offensive 3-5-2, we began brightly by conceding possession within the first two passes. Our early tactical masterclass continued by allowing the opposition to have the initial chances, and this was quickly punished with a simple goal. Astonishingly, we responded immediately: Smith lobbed their gloveless goalkeeper from the kick-off to equalise.

Seven games and losses: when's the transfer window open? Unfortunately, our initial joy rapidly turned to despair as the opposition argued they were not ready, and it was duly disallowed. Whilst a disallowed goal can sometimes galvanise a side, it appeared to have an altogether inhibitive effect for us, and despite goalkeeper Dabbs saving more than an eager shopper on Black Friday, the score at halftime stood at 4-1. Captain Coombes brought out the hairdryer treatment - much to the ire of certain players - and the match felt as though it would hinge upon the next goal. It did, as Billy Rovers claimed their fifth score. Perhaps unwilling to be further embarrassed, we finally began to put in a performance; a storming run by Sam Newton from inside our own half followed by a neat one-two with Adam Griffin resulted in a fine finish into the bottom corner. Buoyed by this, we seized the impetus, leading to a golden chance falling to the feet of the unmarked Jack Mclean in the 6-yard box. Sady, the early Christmas present went begging as his resulting effort struck the post and trickled wide. With that, our momentum withered, allowing Billy Rovers to put the icing on the cake and win 6-2. Seven games, seven losses and a goals conceded column edging closer to the score of my last submission. Is the transfer window open yet?

SPORT

Winter Wonderland?

Johnny Chern, Online Screen Editor, wonders whether English football should take a winter break terised by the infamous Rangers - Celtic Ne’erday derby. This year, however, isn’t filled with many huge games - the most high-profile being Chelsea’s trip up the Piccadilly Line to Arsenal as the first game either side will play in 2018. The only other top six match-up is Liverpool’s visit to Arsenal three days before Christmas; considering the congested period, the teams near the top of the table might be content with avoiding one another.

OR so many of us football ﬁxtures are just another part of the Christmas holidays. Boxing Day would just be 'the day after Christmas' without the traditional match, and what better way to start the year than to watch your team on 1 January? But what is common for English leagues is not the norm in most of Europe’s top divisions - Germany’s Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga - where teams and players enjoy a winter break. In England, Boxing Day and New Year's Day ﬁxtures means most years (including this year) Premier League clubs face the exhausting burden of having to play four games in little over a week’s period.

What is common in England is not the norm in European football The fatigue suffered by many players in English leagues is not present for those on the continent, who have time off to spend on rest, recovery, and recuperation. Top European clubs embark on circuit training, travelling to train (often in warmer climates) to maintain endurance and ﬁtness. The lack of a break arguably hinders English teams' chances in the Champions League, coming into the round of 16 tired with baggage from their domestic league, having to face

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

Football at Christmas has undeniable sentimental value

comparatively fresh opposition. It is undeniable that players would benefit from a winter break, but the issue is muddier than that. One primary reason there is no winter break is to stop congestion over the rest of the season. With some Premier League teams having to deal with up to four competitions post-New Year, the five or six Premier League games the winter break would omit would have to fit in somewhere in the busy schedule of the second half of the English season. This would probably extend the

season into June, which is just not practical - especially when international competitions take place over the summer, and players are still entitled to a four-week holiday away from the game.

Sovereignty over scheduling is exercised by TV deals The issue is muddied even further when we remember that sovereignty over Premier League scheduling is exercised by television deals. The FA have

said that, although they are favourable to having a winter break, it cannot be seriously discussed until the current TV rights expire. Clearly, any change would be tricky even before considering the sentimental value of the Christmas ﬁxture. England’s ﬁrst division has a long history of outrageous Christmas matches: 1963’s Boxing Day saw 66 goals scored - including a 10-1 thumping of Ipswich Town by Fulham - and although Scotland no longer continue their domestic league over Christmas, their holiday history has been charac-

A bit of this, a bit of tat

The sentimentality of the Christmas ﬁxture is undeniably powerful; there's something magical about being able to pair football with festivities at this time of year. Despite Jürgen Klopp's criticism of the tradition, his forefathers played a part in one of the most famous football matches in history - one that took place on Christmas Day itself. All the way back in 1914, English and German soldiers stepped out of their trenches to exchange gifts and, amongst the unimaginable devastation, ﬁnd some pleasure. Incidentally, Germany won 3-2. It seems rational and fair to employ a winter break, but for now, at least, the TV deals won’t allow it. Perhaps more importantly, are English fans ready to give up their tradition?

Not sure what to get your loved ones this year? Michael Jones, Online Sport Editor, has the answers

N first place we have this captivating Hawaiian-stroke-Anfield shirt from Liverpool – captivating, unfortunately, for all for all the wrong reasons. Is this the ultimate fashion fauxpaus? I think it is. Adding insult to injury, this is (probably) the only award Liverpool will win this season. This is the must have item in a Liverpool fan’s wardrobe. It is unapologetic, loud and defiant. Imagine: August 2018. Opening weekend of the Premier League. “No Susie. If I’m going to be forced to go for an evening meal while Liverpool are playing, I’m damn

well going to be wearing this.” Coming in a commendable second, we have Leicester City’s very own aftershave range. I dread to think what the marketing gurus produced to describe this particular scent, but here’s a few suggestions… “The Underdog Spirit. Quietly dignified, this smell is for the m a n who n o one suspects. It has the durability of N’golo Kante, the sparkle of Riyad Mahrez and the edge of Jamie Vardy.” “What are we?

This is for the man who knows no place: his identity fluctuates. We were once the Champions of England, then with the sacking of Mr. Ranieri we were the condemned and n ow,

we linger in no man’s land.” “Eau de Fox. This smell is for those who are alluringly savage, captivatingly mysterious and only come out to play in the dark.” Perhaps not the worst club tat in the world. Rather, the only tat in the world that crystallises its fanbase. This Piggy Bank is the perfect gift for young-ones this Christmas. One imagines it will sell like rapid-fire, given 90% - official statistic vary, of course – of the City fan base are below the age of 10. City fans who supported them

before the ludicrous investment they received are a very rare breed indeed. The majority of their fan base are fresh-faced youngsters seduced by the money-fuelled success of recent years. If ever there was club merchandise to perfectly encapsulate their fans, it would be this.

Naughty or Nice?

SPORT

Tom Murphy discusses who is on Father Christmas' naughty and nice list in the sporting world

SEBASTIAN VETTEL

BEN STOKES

Slovakian cyclist Peter Sagan began the 2017

While Lewis Hamilton eventually cruised to the

Starting 2017 with such promise, Ben Stokes was

Tour de France as the favourite for the Green

2017 Formula One Driver’s World Champion-

named England test vice-captain and won the

Jersey, aiming to finish the race as the record

ship title, in June Sebastian Vettel extended his

Indian Premier League award for Most Valuable

points holder for the sixth consecutive sea-

lead over the Brit to fourteen points following

Player. However, Stokes’ year fell apart following

son. Sagan’s Tour de France ended following

the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The race was marred

an incident outside a Bristol nightclub, leading

a crash that left direct rival Mark Cavendish

by controversy, as the German appeared to ram

to his arrest on suspicion of causing actual bod-

with a broken shoulder. World-champion Sa-

into the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes, and then

ily harm. While subsequent news has broken that

gan was disqualified for dangerous cycling,

proceeded to pull up alongside Hamilton’s car

Stokes was allegedly defending two gay men

as he appeared to elbow Cavendish into the

and ram him again. While Vettel maintained

from homophobic abuse, Stokes ends the year

crash barriers. Whilst Sagan's team Bora-

that Hamilton had been dangerously testing

awaiting news as to whether he will face a charge

Hansgrohe rejected the claim that Sagan had

his brakes, the race stewards handed the Fer-

from the Crown Prosecution. Suspended from

caused the crash, the Tour panel perceived

rari driver a ten second stop and go penalty.

international duty and booted out of the Ashes

Sagan’s actions to have seriously endangered

Hamilton, who had led the race from pole posi-

tour squad, Stokes was treated with zero toler-

other riders, expelling him from the

tion, was forced to pit and fix his head-

ance in light of a perceived toxic drink-

race.

rest, finishing in fifth position behind

ing culture within English cricket.

PETER SAGAN

Vettel.

#GAME4GRENFELL

MATTHEW REES

FRANCIS KONÉ

Following the horrific tragedy of the Grenfell

The London Marathon produced one of this

In November, Togo international footballer

Tower disaster, which claimed lives of 71 peo-

year’s standout heart-warming sporting mo-

Francis Koné was awarded a FIFA Fair Play

ple last June, a host of famous names from the

ments away from the world of elite sport. When

award having saved the life of an opposition

worlds of sport and entertainment assembled at

club runners David Wyeth of the Chorlton Run-

player. After suffering half an hour of racial

QPR’s Loftus Road for a sell-out charity match.

ners and Matthew Rees of the Swansea Harriers

abuse from opposition fans, Koné sprung into

2000 free tickets were handed out to those di-

travelled to the capital for the historic race nei-

action, opening Bohemians’ goalkeeper Martin

rectly affected by the fire, with residents and

ther expected to make the national press. Aim-

Berkovec’s jaw, and prising his tongue from his

members of the emergency services watching

ing for a fast time of 2 hours 40 minutes, Wyeth

throat when he was knocked unconscious in

on as memorial wreaths were laid prior to kick-

began to falter meters away from the finish line.

a Czech League game last February. Astonish-

off. The game was an entertaining affair, boast-

It was here bank worker Rees noticed his fellow

ingly, without any professional medical train-

ing stars as varied as international actor Damien

runner in danger, stumbling towards the line,

ing, Koné’s heroic act is the fourth time he had

Lewis and athletics icon Mo Farah, but the real

stopping to aid Wyeth, ensuring he finished the

prevented an opponent from swallowing his

legacy of the charity match lies in the £200,000

race by physically helping him across the finish

tongue over his professional football career.

plus that the event raised for the victims of a

line - a truly selfless act of good sportsmanship.

truly tragic disaster.

Sport

11 DEC 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT EDITORS:

Dorothea Christmann Wil Jones Photo: Wil Jones

Jolly gift for hockey 1s Men’s Hockey

Exeter 1s....................................2 Bath 1s.......................................1 Emmott Leigh Sport Team

HE Exeter men’s hockey 1s came from behind to claim a well-earned 2-1 victory over Bath 1s in a grinding affair of attrition to claim the top spot in the BUCS South A division. It was quickly clear as to why Bath were Exeter’s closest challengers in the league, with both universities tied on 20 points before the match. Exeter’s attacking intent was promising in the first few minutes,

with the link up play of Tom Watson and Ollie Davies setting up several attacks. However, Bath carved the defence open with a quick counterattack and smashed the ball in with ease. Moments later, Bath had a clear chance to secure a second from an identical position to the first goal, only for their attacker to miss the ball completely. The possession and territory remained with the Green Army, but chances were few and far between. Groans and sighs of frustration were heard as the only passes which might have opened up a Tony Pulisstyle Bath defence went astray; Will

Carter Keall and Sam Hooper were just unable to get on the end of the ball as it flashed by.

We’re delighted to ﬁnish top of the league

WILL CARTER KEALL, 1s CAPTAIN

A first penalty corner - won by George Carson after he evaded several challenges and forced the foul - was saved and Bath’s defence continued to hold frustratingly firm until the half time interval. Before the second half began, a crowd of support for the home side showed up and got behind the team,

and it wasn’t long until Exeter were back on level terms. A tumbling Hooper fired high into the roof of the net from a penalty corner: cue wild celebrations on and off the pitch. At 1-1, Exeter’s keeper Harry Mellows was called into action with a double save at a penalty corner, and he produced another two further saves from three more penalty corners won by Bath with fifteen minutes remaining The third penalty corner save led to a counter attack by Exeter, and a professional foul on the onrushing Watson sent a Bath defender to the sin bin. Moments later, the ball was nestling in the Bath net as Dan Jack-

son scored another, finishing acrobatically to give Exeter the lead. As time began to run out Bath looked for an equaliser, but Exeter remained resolute in defence to dig out an important 2-1 victory to mark a successful season. Having secured the league title with the victory, 1s captain Will Carter Keall declared himself “delighted to finish top of the league” when talking to Exeposé after the match. “It was a tough top-of-the-table clash. The boys put in a strong performance to give us all 3 points,” he said.

BUCS COVERAGE CONTINUES ON PAGE 45

For live scores and in-depth reports, follow us on Twitter @exeposesport CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

15 JAN 2017 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT

THE ATHLETIC UNION

Exeposé Sport checks in with six Athletic Union clubs to see how

NETBALL

CYCLING

MEN'S RUGBY

What have been the club’s best results and What have been the club’s best results and What have been the club’s best results and stand-out moments so far? stand-out moments so far? stand-out moments so far?

UNC has had an incredible start to the season, with the 1s and 3s teams at the very top of their league tables, and no team at the bottom of their table. The 4s, captained by Sam Cadwell, pushed through to success in their final game of term one, beating Southampton 2s away by one goal in an incredibly close game. The 6s, led by captain Josee LePage – having lost by one goal to Bournemouth 2s in their first game of term – went on to beat them at home in December, with a 4-goal margin this time, cementing their position ahead of them in the table! EUNC 1s are currently top of their league, too.

EUNC has had an incredible start to the season INDIA CRAWLEY, EUNC CLUB CAPTAIN

At the beginning of term Denise Ellis was introduced to EUNC's coaching staff, taking on the role of Director of Netball and first team coach. Denise has vast experience in netball coaching, previously working with England Netball and currently the head coach at Exeter Netball Club and the U21s National Performance League. Her presence has been a source of inspiration and her expertise is invaluable for all the girls in the club. Moreover, this term has seen the introduction of a new committee position to EUNC – the Welfare Officer. The Welfare team are a great avenue for girls to discuss any issues they may be having, not necessarily related to netball, in a judgment-free space and with optional anonymity, which we felt was vital to the continued success of the club. We look forward to the continued success of this venture, and hopefully it is helping lots of girls in managing their studies and extra-curricular activities.

Who have been the star performers in the club?

HRISTINA Shaw, GK and 1s team captain, has been selected for the Wales Senior Squad as well as the U21 Wales squad. She also competed in Netball Europe and is currently trialling for the World Cup qualifiers and Commonwealth games. 1s players Hannah Blackman (GS), Maisie Sharp (GD/WD), Amy Omakobia (GD) and Shaw have been selected for the Team Bath U21 Academy; fresher Emily Porter (GK/GD) has also been selected for the U19s NPL squad. On top of this, four girls have been invited to the first round of English Universities trials: Kat Arthur (GA), Mia Broomhall (WA), Betsy Creak (GS) and Annie Webb (WA). This is a huge achievement and we are wishing the girls the absolute best of luck!

What is the club looking forward to in 2018?

UR Varsity is on 7 February - a highly anticipated game against Gloucester 1s - and tickets can be found on our Facebook page. We're also teaming up with UNICEF on 20 January for a ‘Bring A Boy’ Charity tournament to see if all the boys’ claims that they could easily play netball are well-founded or not!

E'VE had multiple wins this last term. Max Stedman was victorious in the General Classification at the Tour of Quanzhou Bay, winning the second stage as well. Alumni Emma Cockcroft and Jacob Loftus teamed up with current members Frederik Scheske and Stedman to win the Red Bull Timelaps 25 hour race in the mixed category - and finished second overall. Alex Fanshawe won the Redruth round of the SW cyclocross league, Rachel Manning dominated the Haibike Enduro at the Forest of Dean, and Alumna Crystal Lane placed 3rd at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in September to cap a really successful term for the club. We also had two members - Matt Welch and Joe Barnwell star in a YouTube video that's worth checking out; you can find it by searching for ' More Tea Vicar? // Teign Valley MTB'.

T'S been a very successful and promising start to the season across the board and the club has produced some outstanding results. The 1s have perfor med extremely well; we got some good results on the road last ter m including Loughborough and Durham as well as maintaining a 100% record at Topsham. The top end of the SuperRugby is very congested so every game is a must win and we are looking forward to some big fixtures in ter m two, including the Varsity at Sandy Park in Febr uary. The 2s have perfor med well in a very competitive league and getting good results against Swansea and USW and producing one of the perfor mances of the season so far at home against Cardiff 1s. The Freshers' 1s (3s) have had some remarkable wins - notably a 97-0 win against KCL.

11 clubmen have been selected for the England Students squad

How is the club doing in terms of the wider membership. Any good socials?

JOE HUGHES , EURFC CLUB CAPTAIN

ANTASTIC; whilst membership is about what we'd expect, participation is really high, as our members are having such a great time in the club. We're running loads of great value trips, and lots and lots of fantastic training sessions and rides. Socials have been record breaking for the cycling club, we're struggling to fit into certain venues!

Our 4s, skippered fantastically by Conor Murray, have had a promising first half of the season and return in January to continue their cup run. Sitting only third in the league, two points behind the leaders, the boys know that every point counts and need to ensure their key men are fit to continue their fine vein of form. The men’s 5s have performed well so far coming from behind to grind out a 12-7 victory over a strong Southampton side. Cam Price’s boys will be looking to finish the season strong with several home games. We are extremely happy with the performances of our other fresher teams (Fresh 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s!). The fresher 2s compete in the same league as the men’s 4ths and racked up an outLOUIS CASH , EUCC CLUB CAPTAIN standing 88-5 win away at Winchester! The club has lots planned for this year, from spin classes to organising our own events - races in Exeter, over at Westpoint. How is the club doing in terms of the wider These will serve as a great way to give back to the sport, but also membership? to help our newer members give racing a go in an easy, fun, and cheap way! But above all the season properly starts in February, and we've got so many members with so much VERALL, the club is the strongest it has ever been both potential, including (but not on and off the pitch. We signed up over 150 freshers at the limited to) Max Stedman, start of the year, giving us a total membership of around 300 Alex Fanshawe, Frederik boys. We have also combined fully with the Women’s teams now Scheske, Tasha Reddy, who are performing excellently so far and we are proud to come Max Moyles, Ben together. It is a privilege to be involved and honour to be part Strain, Rachel Manof a club that is a home for everyone. One of our aims for this ning, Joe Barnwell, year was to increase the level of exposure that the lower fresher Matt Welch, Tom teams get, and we have achieved that with six fresher teams all Nancarrow, and Dahaving regular training and games. vid Creber. All will be looking to take What is the club looking forward to in 2018? home some wins in the following months. StedITH cup competitions drawing in and the BUCS secman has a lot of potential, ond half of BUCS games, there are some exciting times and we are expecting many more ahead. We have at least 4 teams that could potentially top their successes on an international level from him after leagues which is incredible. On 14 February we take on Bath at his victory in China. Sandy Park in our Varsity, and tickets - costing £10 and including travel - will be available soon!

Max Stedman is destined for huge results in the future