NEWS | 3
In this issue
2 “UK Border Control: the positive aspect on the Syrian Refugee’s matter”
Kalymnos: the island of spongedivers
Labour’s Flickering Flame
THIS IS THE HEADLINE. or first few sentences of the article.
FEATURES Page 20
FEATURES Page 18
CULTURE Page 8
NEWS Page 5
Cage the Elephant ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’
CULTURE Page 28
CULTURE Page 29
Editor’s letter NEWS Page 6
High doses of cocaine can turn your brain cells into ‘cannibals’
Brunel Snow Club Winter tour
Is this the most exciting Premier League for years?
Placement in Parliament: An interview
SCIENCE & TECH Page ?
SPORT Page 37
SPORT Page 39
NEWS Page 8
Submissions Your Article
· Your article should be saved as a Word document (.doc or .docx). · Its filename should contain your name, student number, and a suggested headline. · We don’t accept PDF, Works (.wps), OpenOffice (.odt), Pages (.pages) or other formats. · Publisher files (.pub) are particularly horrific, beastly things. Please don’t send any, ever. · It may sound obvious, but please
The Team The Editor
Elisabeth Mahase
Deputy Editor
run a spellcheck before you submit your article!
copyrighted by another individual or organisation.
Your Images
Advertising
Deadlines
· Please don’t just nick pictures off Google Image Search (we can’t use them 99% of the time!) please use Flickr Creative Commons instead.
Le Nurb is distributed eight times a year, across campus, to a network of 15,000 students.
The deadline for the next issue is:
· If you like, you can suggest specific images for your article, or take your own photograph and include it with your submission. They’ll need to be separate .jpg or .png files. · Don’t embed your images into the article document - this compresses them too much for use on the page. · Any image filenames and image credits (who the photographer is) should be listed at the end of your article. · Images you submit must not be
NEWS
Section Editor
FEATURES
Section Editor
Your Contacts
Enquiries, advertising & complaints: Elisabeth lenurb.brunel@gmail.com Becky media.chair@brunel.ac.uk
CULTURE
Section Editor
Vivienne Burgess
Charlotte Davis
Hadiyah Khan
Julie Valeur
Matthias Asiedu-Yeboa
Riya Makwana Stephanie Beaumont
Nick Drewe Nambassa Nakatudde
Aliya Siddique Sophie Perry
Chief Sub-Editor
Chief Designers
Sub-Editors
Chief Sub-Editor Sub Editors
We offer great rates to advertisers, plus discounts for on-campus clubs, societies and organisations. Find out more at bru-media.co.uk/ lenurb To book an advertising slot, call 01895 267215.
Wednesday 17th February 2016 Email submissions to lenurb.brunel@gmail.com
Dear reader, Thank you for picking up the ‘New Year’s edition of Le Nurb. Have you noticed anything different? That’s right, Le Nurb has been re-branded!
Sana Sarwar
Sana Sarwar
George Hudson Eloise Guibourg
Rudimental ‘We the Generation’
Blue Monday: #BeBru NotBlue
Chief Sub-Editor Sub-Editors
SPORT
Section Editor
DESIGNERS
Bradley Hayden
Eloise Guibourg George Hudson
SCIENCE
ONLINE
Section Editor
Elisabeth Mahase
PHOTOGRAPHY Alexander Short Akhilesh Manandhar
Sophie Bredbere, Damyana Bojinova Ceren Cetin Pauline Kingston
Contributors
News: Katerina Tiliakou, Aisha Qadri, Hadiyah Khan, Kerri Prince, Kristin Holseth, Elisabeth Mahase Features: Jack Frayne-Reid, Adam White, Vivienne Burgess, Megan Steinberg, Katerina Tiliakou, Danny Judge, Elisabeth Mahase Science and Tech: Elisabeth Mahase Culture: Jamie Tate, Dafydd Halls, Sophie Perry, Charlotte Davis, Patrick Harmon, Victoria Crossley, Lara Waterfield, Dilinna Aniebonam, Edward Sweet Sport: Luke Ellis, Adam White, Mayoor Jobanputra, Bradley Hayden, Elisabeth Mahase
All articles and pictures © their respective authors unless otherwise indicated. Views expressed are those of the writers and do not reflect the official position of UBS or Brunel University. All comments and complaints about content in Le Nurb should be addressed to the Editor in the first instance: editor@lenurb.com. Complaints will only be entertained where it can be proven that an article or graphic is: factually inaccurate; breaches the Press Complaints Commission’s Editors’ Code of Practice; breaches the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Conduct; breaks the law; or encourages readers to break the law. No complaint that fails to satisfy at least one of these criteria will be upheld. Published by: Union of Brunel Students, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH. Printed by: Harmsworth Printing Derby, Northcliffe House, Meadow Road, Derby, DE1 2BH.
Over the past few months, the team have been working hard to bring you a new and refreshed version of Le Nurb, with a design change and new logo! This alongside the transformational refurbishment of the Media suite make this the best time to get involved in student media. Right now we are looking ahead to the next few months. Campus is about to become overrun with campaign posters (fingers crossed not designed in paint) and students wearing handmade ‘Vote *insert name here*’ t-shirts. That’s right, elections’ week is fast approaching and this year it’s going to be busier than ever, with Varsity falling right in the middle on Wednesday 9th March. However, this gives all students a great opportunity to get involved in media and
try their hand at reporting, photography, live tweeting and presenting! Varsity will once again be covered by all areas of Bru-media: Video Brunel, Radio Brunel and of course, Le Nurb. Last year we had over 50 volunteers working with us to give Brunel students the best coverage of the events throughout the day and ensure that everyone was kept up to date with the scores, the drama and the final result: our victory! We want to do that again! If you would like to get involved in covering varsity, within any area of student media, you can contact myself, by emailing lenurb.brunel@gmail.com or the Media Chair Becky Collins: media.chair@brunel.ac.uk. We would love to have you on the team! As always don’t forget you can find us on Facebook by joining the Le Nurb contributors 2015-16 page. I hope you enjoy the issue! Elisabeth x Photo credit: Alexander Short
4 | NEWS
NEWS | 5 Photo credit: data.unhcr.org
“UK Border Control: the positive aspect on the Syrian Refugee’s matter” Katerina Tiliakou Uxbridge
Three years were enough for the Islamic State (ISIS) to control vast swaths of Syria and Iraq. As a result of ISIS overtake, millions of refugees flooded towards European countries in order to escape to safety. Across Europe, border control has been brought in as an emergency solution to cope with the strain of extra bodies.
Interview: a refugee’s journey To date, almost 7,000,000 Syrians have left their homes and immigrated to other countries following a long period of armed conflict and civil war in the Western Asian region. Katerina Tiliakou Uxbridge
To date, almost 7,000,000 Syrians have left their homes and immigrated to other countries following a long period of armed conflict and civil war in the Western Asian region. This is a rare interview from Ali M., 18, from Damascus, Syria. He came to England alone over a year and a half ago. Now, he continues his education in London and the British government is responsible for his living costs. His surname and some other personal details will be kept off the record, as Ali declared that he is still afraid of Assad, the President of Syria and his contributors. Back to 2011, Ali M. and his family
were living a normal life. He was a good student, who was dreaming of becoming an engineer. Following the escalation of conflict, Ali’s life took a change. How was life in Syria before the war? “In Syria there were always demonstrations against the regime and many people got killed, but my family was safe at that period.” What was life like during the war? “In July 2012, the Syrian Army attacked my city, which is in the suburbs of Damascus. It was during the midday, when people were praying. Then, the Syrian
“
I am a refugee, so the government takes care of me. Army started bombing, but noncontinuously. The airplanes were shooting people randomly. We stayed home. We were lucky, as we had a lot of supplies home. “The next day, a tank arrived in the city, which started shooting against innocent civilians and their houses. I could hear their voices and the tank. I was at the window when my dad grabbed my hand and guided me and
the other family members to a safer place in our house. “This situation happened for four days. Tanks, airplanes and some rockets, the latter were thrown to the civilian’s houses by the Syrian Army. Then, my father led the family to a temporary shelter, but it was just a building. The sixth day, the Syrian Army let the people leave from my city, many of them remained, as they thought it was a trap. We finally left. “In November of 2012, we went in a neighbour city and we stayed at a school. Some people from my city stayed there as well. We remained there for ten days. The food was little, but everybody was patient, as we knew the situation.
Army left, my family and I went back to my city. Some people were still alive. We were lucky because our house wasn’t damaged that much and we still had some supplies. “In January of 2013, the Syrian Army came back. I was almost ready to go to school that day and a pedestrian informed me about the situation. The tank of the Syrian Army was outside of my school. Nobody came to school that day. Moreover, our neighbour’s house was bombed. We could not go out, as we knew that we could die. On February of 2013, the Syrian Army announced that it could let the civilians leave. We left again, but this time we went to Egypt.” On His travel from Syria to Egypt
“The Syrian Army came to the school, while we were thinking of leaving it. My uncle had his car outside of the school, in the corner of the street. Inside there were two of his children, while my aunt was holding the toddler and standing outside. The Syrian Army shouted them. My aunt, the toddler and my uncle died. Some parts of their bodies found days later in different parts of the street due to the explosion. Only the children in the car survived, but they stayed at the hospital for such a long time, and they still have medical issues. “For five days, there were burnt bodies everywhere. When the Syrian
“When we started our travel to Egypt we had very little money. It was February 2013. I stayed there one year and a half. I had a tough time there. “I was hospitalised due to anaemia. This can be illustrated by the fact that my nutrition in Syria was really bad. “Furthermore, I remember one day, I was walking on the street and young children were swearing at me. Another day, three people attacked me, while I was at the street. They asked me if I was Syrian, they punched me and they stole my stuff. As a Syrian, I had no respect in Egypt, even if I had been at the police
On the 7th September 2015, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the UK has announced that Britain will take 20,000 Syrian refugees over a period of five years.
station, they would ignore me.” On His travel from Egypt to London “During May of 2014, I left Egypt with my family’s consent to go to Europe. I had no idea where to go. We were seven days at the Mediterranean Sea. We were travelling by boat. On the boat there were 150-200 people. At night I could not see any difference between the sea and the sky. I was dreaming to step on a land. For the first four days we were not eating or drinking that much, the last three days we hadn’t drunk or eaten at all. “When we arrived in Italy, I stayed at a camp for seven days. They gave us food and clothes. “After seven days of staying in Italy, everybody was going on different places. I went with some people in France, they abandoned me. I was sleeping on the streets and I was begging. I don’t want people feel sorry about me, I am very proud, but I had no other choice. I don’t want to continue about the way that I came to London. I do not want to remember. “The last thing I am going to say is that I am grateful to the British government. There was no future in my city, in Syria. People now are starving and eating leaves in order to survive. In the UK, they accept me like someone who was born here. I can feel that this is my country.”
He added that the number is likely to rise. Cameron pointed out that “it was important that we show solidarity”, but added that “it was important to discourage Syrian refugees from making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea in the first place.” Raymond Pelekanos, the Administer Officer of Ministry of Interior, admitted that “the government’s policy is not inflexible. The British government has always been humanitarian minded and would continue to fulfill its international and domestic legal obligations.” While many people argue that the government’s policy takes into account financial factors when it comes to the resettlement of the refugees, Mr Pelekanos claimed that “the British government is not accepting refugees on the basis of quarter, it is accepting them on the basis that they have a genuine refugee claim. It is not based on economic imperatives.” One of the questions about whether human rights put the life of the migrants in danger, Mr Pelekanos answered that “human rights are legal concepts and each country has what is known as the margin of appreciation and the Human Rights law.” He added that “it is up to each individual country to decide on the best way of dealing with the refugee crisis. There is no common European asylum policy, so each country would differ in term of its approach. If any country fails in its duties, it will be liable to the European court of Human Rights.”
When asked about the UK’s contribution to the Syrian refugee effort, Richard Harrington, the Minister for Syrian Refugees revealed that: “the UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the crisis in Syria and we are providing more than £1.12 billion in humanitarian aid - more than any other country in the world aside from the United States. We have also taken in almost 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers since 2011.” In an attempt to solve the problem associated with resettling the Syrian refugees, Mr Harrington stated that “we want to harness the offers of support and assistance we have received to resettle people.” The Home Secretary has proposed to solve this matter by establishing a register of those who can provide houses for refugees and by developing a community sponsorship scheme, like those in Canada and Australia, to allow individuals, charities, faith groups, churches and businesses to support people directly. As stated earlier, the sponsored scheme must be given great a consideration and planning before implementation. Therefore, in order to do so, the scheme must be depicted in collaboration with different organizations in order for the scheme to be effective and successful. Consequently, Mr Harrington pointed out the following “that is why we are continuing to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), local government associations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and partner organizations in order to successfully resettle 20,000 people by the end of this Parliament.” Moreover on resettling refugees, the Prime Minister has said that “1,000 Syrians are expected to resettle through our expanded Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR), through offers from local councils across the UK, by Christmas.” This is in addition to the refugees who have been resettled as a result of being in great danger and hopeless in regard to protecting or shielding themselves against ISIS. In the meanwhile, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London when he was
Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
asked about his grounds in regard to the refugees in the light of the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the course of the Parliament, mentioned that: “London has a proud history of providing refuge to those seeking sanctuary. It is right that we should continue welcoming people fleeing from persecution and those who are plainly in fear for their lives.” Regarding the border control and the small number of refugees that the UK will take in comparison to other European countries, such as Germany and Austria, the Mayor of London explained that this is due to the British Government policy to reassure that these 20,000 Syrian refugees will successfully resettle over the course of this Parliament, and London stands ready to play role in this part. “This reflects the views of Londoners, including business and the voluntary sector, and many borough leaders, who have already stated their willingness to act in order to provide support for the resettlement of refugees.” Furthermore, the responsibility of border control lies in the hands of the Government, in other words, the number of Syrian refugees permitted to the country depends on the Parliament’s strategy. Moreover, Chris Summers, the Labour Councilor in the LB of Ealing and Parliamentary candidate at the General Election in May 2015, added that “obviously, we need to control the flow of refugees. We cannot just let everybody in and we need to be checking their tenet, as they could be ISIS terrorists amongst them. This is a tricky subject.” Mr Summers expressed the conception that every country should be doing its fair share in helping the refugees. He mentioned characteristically that none of the Syrians want to leave their countries. This is happening because of what
ISIS is doing. “Ealing Borough has the largest Syrians settled Community already. People from Syria came here years ago, it is naturally where a lot of Syrians want to resettle, as they already know people who can speak and share the same culture as they do.” The European Union can place strategies which will prevent people dying from crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore the EU should provide help and welcome these people in order to stop them from suffering. They need to put things in place. Mr Summers raised the question that “if the refugees want to survive, they should go to Turkey or Jordan; however, they are determined to come to England, Germany and France. So, the question is do they want to be safe or financially better off?” According to the Labour Cancillor, 42% of the Syrians are literate and they are indeed very well educated. So, if migrants are allowed to resettle, given the right support, they would be a great asset to the country as they can start their own business. Mr Summers strongly believes that “we should bear in mind that the Syrians are not people who just want to live on benefits or be unproductive.” In contrast to the above, Mr Summers stated that “David’s Cameron started being very antirefugee. He is pandering to that wing of his party that he is very sinophobic, antiforeigner and anti European Union. Earlier this year he described refugees as a swarm, like a plague of horrible creatures that you do not want anywhere near you. Then when the photograph was published with the little boy dying on the beach in Turkey, suddenly the public opinion changed. In my mind, we can let some refugees come to the UK, but not in London, due to problems such as housing crisis.”
Ahmad Haboub, 30, a Syrian refugee and PhD student in Finance and Economics, when he was questioned about his views in reference to the Syrian conflict he said that: “None of the refugees that came to the UK are satisfied. Most of them are dreaming to go back to Syria as soon as possible. Most of us (Syrians who live in the UK) hate Assad (the President of Syria) more than ISIS and dream about the end of both of them.” Considering the Prime Minister’s policy, Dimitris Giannoulopoulos, the Senior Lecturer in Law and Social Dean, said that the Prime Minister knows that immigration is not going to generate any votes to attract refugees. He wants to reduce the refugees as well as the foreign students because they are taking the jobs of the UK citizens. Bearing this in mind, I strongly believe that he is doing the right thing. Dimitris Giannopoulos agrees that there is no doubt that the strict border controls puts the life of the refugees in a great danger. In the UK, the population of the refugees is much more less when compared to other countries. It is an issue of economic migration, as the refugees from Syria want to settle down in countries with better living standards, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria rather than Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. All in all, border control and Syrians refugees in the UK remains a hot topic. The British government’s aim is to ensure that the settlement of refugees in the UK will be successful. Consequently, border control can help in embedding the Syrian refugees into the society.
8 | NEWS
NEWS | 9 Photo credit: Elisabeth Mahase
Placement in Parliament: An interview Yohanna Alma is a 3rd year International Politics student completing her placement year in the House of Commons. Elisabeth Mahase Uxbridge
Briefly describe your placement “I’m working for the committee staff in the department of Committee services, which is a part of the House of Commons. So working here means I work for parliament rather than government, meaning I work with the scrutinising body of Westminster. So what the committee does is assist the justice select committee, which then scrutinises the Ministry of Justice. So we help them identify areas where they might want to look into, question or clarify. We then help them with the background of information, organise evidence sessions and invite witnesses. We facilitate their work and ensure they’re able to do what they’re there to do. “I assist the senior specialist on the
committee who has a background in criminology and funnily enough, both her husband and sister went to Brunel! I try to show initiative and make her job easier, find things for her and write first drafts of briefs. She gives me a lot of freedom and I think now I’m settled into the position, she trusts me. “It’s a really interesting placement and gives you a unique insight into how Parliament works.” How did you find out about this role? “My tutor is the person at Brunel who facilitates this scheme but they also talked a lot about it in lectures during 2nd year. You have to apply very early, around October time. It’s quite a long process but doing a
placement year gives you so many opportunities and time to have a year out from studying.” What is the best day you’ve had since you started? “We’re looking at an enquiry into young adult offenders, which before hand I had no idea about. I don’t have a background in criminology and I had no prior interest in crime and punishment. However, since starting this placement I’ve just realised how interesting and important this is. “The best day I’ve had so far was when we went to visit a young offenders institution. You sit and read reports and watch videos, trying to understand the service users experience, but actually being there and seeing where they live and
Photo credit: Elisabeth Mahase
talking to them and the staff, it was a real eye opener.
Where do you think this will lead you?
What is the worst day you’ve had since you started?
“I think it will lead me into a career in the civil service or coming back to the house and working here. I really like it here, it’s such a great environment to work in, there’s a lot of smart people that have done a lot of fascinating things before coming here. If you’re going to advise and help facilitate you’ve got to be very good at what you do; hearing about what everyone else has done gives you inspiration. I think I want to do a masters first, but we’ll see.
“It was probably in the beginning, the first two weeks were quite difficult. Everyone knew I was going to this placement and my expectations were so high and then you get here and as with every job you start out not knowing anything. You can’t be independent, you don’t have your habits yet and things feel a bit awkward. Then you come home and everyone’s going ‘Oh how’s your placement?’ and you just want to reply with ‘It’s really hard.’ But then after a while it turns around and all those things you were struggling with come naturally and it’s great!”
“This is a great reference to have and it will mean I can really hit the ground running.” Is this placement open to just politics students?
“No, I think the girl before me was an economics students. It’s not a requirement, you need to go to that interview and make sure that you show why you want to work here. You need to have a very clear interest in politics. It’s all about how to present your interest.”
interview, I got to do mock interviews with all the advisor’s, so people who weren’t even subject specific could interview me and see how I would do in that kind of situation. They advise you on everything: what to wear, how to present yourself, your tone of voice. They are a massive asset.
What would be your top tip to someone applying for this position?
“Have friends ask you, ‘why do you want this’ and try and convince them. Unless you can communicate to them why you want this, they won’t be sure whether they should pick you. Practice!
“I would say that the Placement Careers Centre is insanely good. The people who work there are so competent. From the moment I applied until I handed in my first resume I was in there every week. I continuously updated my CV, sent it, made it more efficient, clear and concise. They were supporting and pushing me. When I handed in my application and was offered an
“Whether your applying for this or another placement, make sure you apply for at least 4 or 5 more, so that you can go through this process and just get better and better.” What advise would you give to
someone isn’t feeling very confident about applying? “You’re never going to know what you’re capable of unless you try it. If you’re applying for this scheme you’ve already made this big step to go to university: you’ve moved away from home or you at least spend most of your day in this new environment where you might not feel so confident. This is no different. It’s amazing how quickly you get to know people and how quickly you feel secure. You’ll meet people in the same situation, everyone feels this way.” To get further details on this placement or any others that may be available, please contact the Personal Development Centre: placements@brunel.ac.uk
10 | NEWS
NEWS | 11
6 months in . . .
Photo credits: Union of Brunel Students
what’s changed?
Living Wage
- First act of the Trustee Board to immediately raise student staff wages by £1.35 - That’s a 21% increase - An extra £20.20 in your pocket
- Co-ordinating with NUS BSC to participate in the national campaign
every week
Free Education march
Students Store
- Student involvement in product range for the first time - Convenient option for students in Isambard, Galbraith and Mill - Products price checked with High Street supermarkets - Sandwiches up to 27% cheaper - Starbucks and social space (Including free table tennis)
Maintenance Grants Demo
- Biggest Union action in the UK! - Mobilised nearly 200 students to demonstrate against the governments scrapping of maintenance grants. - Motion has been laid to Parliament to save our grants as a result of national participation in NUS campaign and local actions.
Hopkins Walk Out
- Our students wanted to organise a peaceful direct action that would vocalise our dissent to the Universities decision to invite the contraversial speaker, yet not deny her the right to speak - This was achieved and we received global recognition and praise
New Media Suite
- Biggest investment in student media in years! - Complete renovation of the media hub and resources for all 3 branches
- Participated in the national march for Free Education for the first time. Single biggest increase in bursaries in the history of the University
- We have enforced a policy of dissent and non compliance - We have run workshops around what Prevent is and why there is so much objection to it around the country
membership prices
Rainbow Laces
- Ran a rainbow laces campaign to demonstrate that ou sports clubs are against homophobia in sport
Bursaries
Minibuses
- £150,000 secured for on campus students
- Provided four more mini-buses for our
- That’s £500 per person for 300 students
clubs and societies to use
Green Paper Response
- The government have tabled a new “Teaching Excellence Framework” that is proposing increasing tuition fees - We have been consulting directly (again for the first time) with the department of Business, Innovation and Skills; writing a 58 page report on why we believe this to be
CASES
- Introduced a scheme which identifies how well a club/society is performing at an operational level. The Club and Society Evaluation Scheme also acknowledges other factors such as performance for sports clubs. The scheme also provides the insight in how a club/society can develop to provide greater benefits for its members
problematic
Kosher Sandwiches
- Worked with the Unions Jewish society to provide Kosher Sandwiches on campus
Free Sport Wednesday
- Establishing no lecturers on Wednesday afternoons for PGT students
(Students’ Store) for the first time ever!
Office 365
- Free Microsoft Office Pro for every single student - Saving £120
Brought back Graduation Ball
- After the dissapointment of last year, Graduation Ball has been re-instated
of student media
Students Not Suspects Campaign
option for sports clubs to pay their
Brand new rep structure
-implemented a campus wide student representation structure
Termly Instalments
- Introduced a termly instalment payment
PGR inductions
- Introducing the Union and all its facilities to PGR Students at their induction
PGR research culture and engagement
- Launched a new PGR society to engage PGR students
Social Space
- Free social space in Social Kitchen with couches and BT sport - A space for students to work and socialise without necessarily having to spend money
#IAmBrunel
- A month long campaign that sought to raise awareness of Islamophobia - Over 150 people attended our final event. - Over 5,000 interaction on social media
14 | FEATURES
FEATURES | 15 Photo credit: Becky Collins
FEATURES
St Valentine would be proud Tales in love, loss and ludicracy . . . Vivienne Burgess Uxbridge
The Beginning of a beautiful relationship Submitted by Drunk in Love, English with Creative Writing, Third Year. In my first year I started seeing a guy just before Valentine’s Day, so both of us swore off the holiday altogether. Instead we went to one of his friend’s gigs, with a bunch of his mates as some sort of bonding opportunity, rather than going as a ‘couple’. What was supposed to be a
Ice, ice- baby...Watch out! Submitted by Frosty Cheeks, Visual Effects, First Year. An ex of mine tried to win me back by taking me to an indoor ice rink for Valentine’s Day but I was over it as soon as we got there. It was just skating in a big circle for an hour in synchronisation with dozens of other amateurs, just praying that no one falls and starts a chain reaction. There were a few semi-professionals there, probably planted by the
people who own the rink to show us regular customers just how much fun we were supposed to be having. They sped round the circle, weaving in and out of couples, ducking between those holding hands, twirling and leaping and landing tricks. Guess how my ex decided he would impress me? The only impressive thing about it was how smooth his face slid over the ice, and the distance he managed to
travel in such a horizontal position, and how I didn’t break my neck or pelvis when he slammed into me... and when we slammed into another couple... and when all four of us slammed into the glass barrier lining the rink. Needless to say, we both agreed that seeing other people would be a good idea, and our new friends (the other couple lying under us) supported this decision.
nice, friendly night out soon got out of hand, and I quickly got smashed on whatever-percentage slushie rainbow Vodka cocktails with his gay best friend, spent ten minutes laughing at a Fish and Chip shop sign, and fell asleep on the Met line home. He’s been my gay best friend for two years now, so the bonding night was 100% successful – I just have no recollection of why!
Photo credit: Pexels
First they came for the doctors, now they’ve come for our grants Continued from page 1
The student movement responded; we emailed and phoned the MP’s demanding that we have a debate in Parliament - and we won. However, during the debate the utter contempt for students was best displayed by skills minister Nick Boles who referred to our National Union of Students as the “national union of shroud-wavers.” If I’m honest, I don’t even understand these posh insults; but hey, I was one of those poor students on maintenance grants, what do I know. The scrapping of the grants has seen them instead replaced with a loan system. This means a student from a disadvantaged background will leave education in 2016 owing £39,006 (with grants) and a student leaving in 2017 will leave with a
whopping £51,156 (without). The Labour MP for Birmingham Eddington, Jack Dromey said during the debate that the Government’s proposal would hit the aspirations of students from poorer families. “Erdington is one of the poorest constituencies in England but it is rich in talent.” “Maintenance grants mean a great deal to students who want to get on 42% are dependent on them. “Do you agree with me that the Government is both breaking a promise but it is also dashing the hopes and dreams of a generation of strivers?” The line from David Cameron has consistently been that the number of students going to university has not been hit by the trebling of tuition fees. The point that this conservative
government wilfully refuses to acknowledge is that progression past entry for these students is of more concern. Yes, students from lower income backgrounds are walking through our doors, but are they completing their studies? Furthermore, part time students attending university has more than halved since the attacks began. NUS Vice President Sorana Vieru has said “every time the government launches a new attack on students, they say student numbers have not been affected. But they fail to acknowledge that part-time numbers are in dramatic decline.” Nonetheless, the argument is made that these policies wont actually affect the number of people from lower income families attending higher education institutions. Lets pretend for a moment that the Prime Minister actually believes this. Lets, for one moment, climb inside his world where crippling debt plays no factor in the engagement of the most disadvantaged in society. Maintenance grants have always been about recalibrating an unequal society. It meant that we as a community were willing to foot the
Rollerblading into your heart
bill for a higher education sector that would be proactive in ensuring equal opportunity. The replacement of grants to loans does the exact opposite. It says if you are audacious enough to go to university and you are unfortunate enough to come from a lower income family; we are going to straddle you with debt for the rest of your life. We are going to punish your aspiration. The current loan system means you pay nothing back until you earn £21,000 a year - a healthy sum for most working class people. However, its worth noting that every student enters an agreement with the student loans company that means they can retroactively change the rate at which you must pay back your loan. The reality is in the coming years we can expect to see this £21K stripped back to a rumoured £18K. Education is a right, not a privilege. We should be doing our very best to encourage disadvantaged students into the system, not creating a system and an environment that punishes them. In times like these, there really is only one appropriate response: Organise, Organise, Organise.
Submitted by Beardless Hispter, Sports Science, Second Year.
One for all and all for nothing Submitted by Lonely Casonova, Mechanical Enginering, Second Year. In Year 5 we had a school disco and on the invite the dress code specified “fancy dress”. Being the whiz kid that I was, I took this to mean you had to come dressed up as someone else, so the week before the party I went shopping with my mum and bought a musketeer costume. In my opinion, it was quite flattering. The evening of the disco I rock up to the school hall in my costume only to find that none of the other kids
are wearing theirs. While in line to hang up my coat it dawns on me that the invite meant you should come in your fanciest dress, not a fancy dress costume, so everyone was going to be in their smart clothes and I looked like I’ve just got back from time travelling through the 17th Century. I quickly came up with a lie: I’ve just come from another party... a birthday party... a fancy dress birthday party... where fancy dress really means fancy dress. The lie went down well and nobody really bothered me about it but I was still so embarrassed that I just sat on a bench at the side of the
hall and watched the others dance. It was sitting there on that bench, like a lonely Casanova, that I spotted the girl I fancied, boogying away on the dancefloor. I was too embarrassed to join her so I just gawked. I gawked for a long time. So long that her concerned friends came over to me and asked if anything was wrong. Luckily the red musketeer cape made my face look snow white, which, looking back, was really the only good thing to happen that night.”
I met a nice girl on the Night Bus back from central. My friends were wasted, her friends were wasted, so we took solace in each others company and talked the whole way home. She complained that she had to get up early for work. She was a barista in Costa in Uxbridge. When it was her time to get off we agreed semi-seriously that we should hang out again. I didn’t plan for this at all but the next morning when I woke up I realised that I needed to go into town anyway, so I decided I would go down to Costa and surprise her. In my head, this was the chillest plan ever. All I was doing was rocking up to a coffee place, where I happened to half-know a girl, to say to said girl “Hey it was cool to meet you last night. Mind if I grab a mocha to go?” But I don’t think it came across
like that... the nonchalance of the moment was somewhat diminished by the fact I’d decided to rollerblade there in the middle of the lunchtime rush and have to wait in the queue flustered and anxious with my garish rollerblades over one shoulder. Let’s just say, she was definitely surprised to see me. I ordered a drink and moved to a table where I planned to whip out a book and appear beardless, hipster cool. I couldn’t really justify staying there for too long so I wrote my number down on a napkin (classic right?) and left it on my saucer for someone to find and give to her. I can only assume that the staff at Costa in Uxbridge are not trained to thoroughly inspect the litter their customers leave on the tables for any well-meaning requests from local rollerblading romantics, because I never did hear from her again.
16 | FEATURES
FEATURES | 17 Photo credit: Metro.co.uk
Brown ripped it off. Each of Bowie’s 1970s albums is one of the greatest ever made, with his ridiculously maxed-out mix on Iggy & The Stooges’ Raw Power (1973) presaging the rawness of punk, and his production of Lou Reed’s Transformer (1972) making his hero a star - a decade of music practically unrivalled in consistency and prolificacy. There seems to have been an almost universal outpouring of goodwill towards Bowie since his death, the tragedy of his loss being a rare issue to unite both David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn. Some people were very critical of those paying tribute to Bowie because, after all, it’s not as if anybody actually liked his music, right? A typically charming tweet from Murdoch hack Camilla Long read “So many people “crying” or “in bits” over Bowie. FUCK YOU. You are not ten - you are an adult. Man the fuck up and say something interesting.” Upon reading this I attempted to “man up” but then got watching some video of Bowie in the ‘70s and it got me all confused as to what exactly a man was supposed to be, so I put down my weights and other manly things and started to feel sad again (but also uplifted) thinking of Bowie’s bloody groundbreaking challenging of heteronormative, patriarchal gender roles. The only silver lining of the situation was to know that by writing a tribute to this amazing cultural titan I would be pissing off one of the most odious journalists at The Sunday Times.
David Bowie was much like Bob Dylan – one of the great musical survivors of his generation, and one of his biggest influences – in that he continually reinvented himself, but never had Dylan’s earthiness. Jack Frayne-Reid Uxbridge
Something happened on the day he died Bowie was the Dylan of space. He was never down to earth; he was out there. In fact, you could probably make a War and Peace-length novel out of all the extracts of Bowie obituaries that compare him to an extra-terrestrial. In the defence of writers everywhere, Bowie did rather bring this on himself by calling his alter-ego and band Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, recording a sci-fi glam concept album that documented their Rise and Fall (1973), which, had he and his brilliant band not pulled it off with such panache, might have seemed a bit silly. But, although he would selfreferentially return to spacey themes at later points in his career, only a couple of years of it were ever spent inhabiting the Stardust persona, and you could compile
another heavy tome from the amount of times the obituaries say everyone had their favourite era of Bowie; their favourite character he cloaked himself in. For me, it’s the Thin White Duke, the suave lunatic who is introduced on the title track of 1976’s Station to Station, “throwing darts in lovers’ eyes.” 1976 was the year his astonishingly dapper mugshot (the one that went viral upon his death) was taken. He was busted on “drug-related charges” (the drug in question being cannabis, which was lucky for Bowie, considering he would admit in an interview a year later that at the time he was literally driving himself insane with cocaine.) By the next year he had miraculously kicked the coke by holing up in a West Berlin flat with Iggy Pop (don’t try this, kids) and in
1977 Bowie produced and wrote on four of the greatest albums of that era; his own masterpieces Low and “Heroes” and Iggy Pop’s thrilling comeback salvo The Idiot and Lust For Life. Even Station to Station and Young Americans (1975), the albums recorded in the crushing depths of his narcotic abyss, are two of his most stunning artistic statement. The latter was probably the greatest soul/funk album to be produced by a white or English person, featuring a seminal moment of rock decadence as he and John Lennon trample all over the delicate intricacies of The Beatles’ Across the Universe, bellowing “nothing’s gonna change my world” with nary a “ jai guru deva om” in sight. It sounds bleak and tortured, nothing like hippyish, and by the end of the session they’d accidentally written Fame, a number one hit so goddamn funky James
It’s almost as if I actually feel some sort of deep personal connection to the genius whose work – and whose mythos – I had encountered again and again, at every formative stage, right from the start of my explorations as a music fan. I’m sure that even David Cameron and George Osborne (though incapable of basic empathy for the weakest in society) are capable of shaking ass to Let’s Dance, or swooning at the luscious swoop of strings behind the first line of Life on Mars’ chorus. I don’t think it humanises these unsavoury characters too much to say they can occasionally recognise the odd banging tune, and probably did feel a little something when they heard that Bowie had died. After all, he was rich. Bowie had a side-career as an actor, and his contributions to the world of film are substantial. His best known lead roles were in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), which helped solidify his otherworldly reputation, and – perhaps his most beloved performance – Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986). He often took small roles as real-life characters in very good films. In Martin Scorsese’s passion project The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Bowie played a hilariously disinterested, effete Pontius Pilate, and his turn as Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat
(1996) was maybe his best role of all, with him nailing Warhol’s deadpan outsider discomfort. His final film role was in Christopher Nolan’s magician saga The Prestige (2006), where he played the inventor Nikola Tesla. After his death, film critic Matt Zoller Seitz succinctly observed that “David Bowie’s signature acting roles include an extraterrestrial, a vampire, a wizard and onstage, the Elephant Man. This was his ‘type.’” But his contributions to cinema
“
It’s as if he had the fear of God put in him. He was determined to make every nanosecond in the booth count. extend beyond his acting; Todd Haynes, who has similarly drawn on Dylan’s chameleonic nature, used Bowie as the inspiration for his glamsaturated study of identity Velvet Goldmine (1998). Though Bowie was unhappy with the script, and refused to let his songs appear on the soundtrack, it is a fantastic film and his influence is felt everywhere. Alan Yentob’s BBC documentary Cracked Actor (1974) captures Bowie on his Diamonds Dogs Tour, and is a fascinating depiction of him at his most fractured and addled. David Lynch’s indispensible cult classic Lost Highway (1997) would not be the same without its foreboding title sequence, shot from the POV of a car hurtling down a pitch black, yellowstriped road, to the skittering drum programming of Bowie’s aptly titled I’m Deranged. I’m Deranged is a fantastic example of the kind of unhinged electronica Bowie embraced in the 1990s, one of his most creatively fertile decades. Where some of his peers dismissed the technological advances in music as new-fangled nonsense, Bowie embraced them. Having felt he drifted too close to commercial vacuity and away from relevance in 1980s, Bowie spent the ‘90s rekindling his artistic id. This began in 1993 with the ultra-obscure soundtrack The Buddha of Suburbia (an experimental work on which Bowie played many instruments, featuring such hot electronic jams/ amazing titles as the upbeat Sex and the Church and the downbeat Ian Fish, UK Heir) and Black Tie White Noise, which reunited him with Let’s Dance producer Nile Rogers. From there he found his creative feet again, reuniting with his Low collaborator Brian Eno to record the pretty great experimental concept album 1. Outside - The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle (1995) - a
record notable for introducing the world to Nathan Adler, art detective (nobody’s favourite Bowie character) and following it up with the solid drum ‘n’ bass-infused Earthling (1997) and the more conventional Hours... (1999). But although Bowie had a strong start to the 2000s, releasing Heathen (2002) and Reality (2003) in quick succession, in 2004 he had a heart attack onstage and effectively retired from public life. From what his friends have said, the nine years where he neither toured nor recorded sounded like quite a blissful period in his existence, in which he was able to spend time with his young daughter that he had never been able to with his older son, at the height of his fame and musical activity. It seemed like Bowie had gracefully retired and would not be coming back. In fact, he never did tour again. But in 2013 he shocked the world by releasing a music video completely out of the blue, called Where Are We Now, with promise of a new album to follow. The Next Day (2013) was met with immediate and resounding acclaim upon its release, although I myself felt somewhat lukewarm towards it. I felt that it was an overly conventional, clean-sounding, and rather unadventurous rock album, although there was nothing wrong with Bowie’s songwriting per se. I still maintain that with its churning guitars it’s one of his less sonically interesting albums, but I’m beginning to see just how precious those last few perfectly Bowie-ish songs are, conventional rock though they may be. The ballads on the album are gorgeous, too, and although the songs can be inscrutable in meaning, there’s some glorious lyrical mumbo jumbo there. Sometimes it’s easy to undervalue the later work of a veteran artist, when in retrospect it provides such maddening glimpses of where they were at in their final years.
“
Although the songs can be inscrutable in meaning, there’s some glorious lyrical mumbo jumbo there. Clearly The Next Day wasn’t just some flash in the pan, and later in 2013 Bowie reissued it with several new tracks attached. He had begun writing and recording again as soon as he had completed the album. In November 2014, Bowie released a career-spanning compilation called Nothing Has Changed, including a new single, the moaning jazz dirge Sue (Or In A Season of Crime),
featuring the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Along with its B-side, the drum ‘n’ bass-influenced ‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore, it indicated that Bowie was following a markedly more left-field path than he had been for many years. Little did anybody but those closest to him know, Bowie had received his diagnosis. He was dying of cancer. The most bittersweet thing about Bowie’s passing – although, let’s be clear, the situation veers far more towards the bitter than the sweet – was that it occurred two days after the release of his phenomenal twenty-fifth album Blackstar, a boldly avant-garde work that his death turns out to be the key to unlocking. The night before I awoke to the news, I listened to Blackstar
“
When his spirit had departed this earth, lyrics and symbolism that had seemed dense and allegorical all seemed to point explicitly to a man grappling with his imminent death. before bed. This was no repeat of The Next Day. I’d adored the bonkers title track when he’d released its video in November and, on first listens, the album sounded incredibly challenging and innovative. He was already on a lot of people’s minds when he died, me included. Two days before the release of the album, he’d released a video for his song Lazarus. He’d even created a new character to play in his videos: Button Eyes. And, suddenly, when his spirit had departed this earth, lyrics and symbolism that had seemed dense and allegorical all seemed to point explicitly to a man grappling with his imminent death. For a start, in the Lazarus video Button Eyes sang most of the song from a hospital bed and at the end of the video Bowie, face fully visible, backs into a cupboard and shuts the door behind him. Note the lyrics: “look up here, I’m in heaven / I’ve got scars that can’t be seen.” Then there’s the fact that it’s called Lazarus; a Biblical character who, it should be noted, in order to come back to life, had to die first. On the song Blackstar, he sings of death but also of replacement; “something happened on the day he died / spirit rose a meter, then stepped aside / somebody else took his place and bravely cried / I’m a blackstar.” Girl Loves Me features repeated cries of “where the fuck did Monday go?” And most heartbreaking of all is the nostalgic reminiscences of the
beautiful Dollar Days, which ends with the dying man repeating “I’m dying to” over and over again. Bowie’s final song, I Can’t Give Everything Away, begins with a warm trill of harmonica and is the softest, least confrontational track on Blackstar. It could not be a more perfect kind of auto-obituary; “seeing more and feeling less / saying no but meaning yes / this is all I ever meant / that’s the message that I sent.” All his verbs are in past tense. I am sure these are not all the portents of death that appear on Blackstar but I must stress that, context or no context (and there’s always context), it is a magnificent album, and I am not hyperbolising when I say I love as many tracks on it as I love on established classics like Young Americans or Station to Station. The sound is still recognisably rock (albeit art-rock) but, like one of its influences – Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly – almost genreless but equally in debt to jazz and electronica. While the heavy guitars that dominated his previous albums are still present, they tend to rumble in the background, thundering to the fore of the mix when absolutely necessary, as on the ominous verses of Lazarus. The two tracks recorded for the 2014 single reappear on the album, in drastically improved versions. Bowie sings with a conviction and an elasticity that was not present on The Next Day. It’s as if he had the fear of God put in him. He was determined to make every nanosecond in the booth count. And what a voice. Although his vocal cords as exhibited on Blackstar exhibit the cracks and crevices of a seasoned performer, it had still held its power; it was still the same voice that could sing high (think the dazzling note at the end of the chorus of Life on Mars), or sing low (think the first three verses of “Heroes”, before that song explodes into the stratosphere with some of his most spellbindingly intense singing). Will Self wrote in his own lamentation of the death of Bowie “how strange it is to be living through the period when these great artists are dying – (these) avatars of the ephemeral, whose art was conjured out of the sexually-frustrated gyrations of teenagers, but over the decades both they and it grew and matured into a sort of classicism.” Strange days indeed to be living through the deaths of the Baby Boomer music legends, who were there throughout the moulding of an industry we recognise today. Bowie was more of an unshakeable cultural Goliath than most – not least because many considered him more than human – but he was no stranger to observing the toll that time takes on everything. On Time, from 1973’s Aladdin Sane, Bowie sings “time, he flexes like a whore / falls wanking to the floor”. I’d say this is an appropriately grim image for the equally grim reality of time stealing David Bowie from among us.
18 | FEATURES
FEATURES | 19 Photo credit: Blogs.ft.com
Labour’s Flickering Flame Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are often said to live in a leftwing “echo chamber,” listening only to the views of likeminded individuals. Jack Frayne-Reid Uxbridge
This is some tall order, considering the vast majority of media coverage of him is negative, and his detractors are seldom shy to speak out. It’s as if having a few lefty mates on Facebook renders you blind and deaf to the entirety of media and popular opinion. So, in order to help prove this plainly ludicrous assertion false, I’m going to spend this piece doing what many on the left actually spend an inordinate amount of time doing; rebutting statements that I disagree with about Corbyn and the movement surrounding him. Since I wrote my last article for Le Nurb, the marginal right-wing faction within the Parliamentary Labour Party whom I christened the “Bonfire Pissers” (and John Prescott christened the “Bitterites”) have continued their concerted campaign to topple the leader they so resent even at the party’s expense - and the media has continued to afford them undue attention.
Meanwhile, the findings of a new Guardian survey show the extent to which Jeremy Corbyn has reinvigorated Labour at the grassroots level. Membership has grown by 116,753 since the general election and 87,158 since Corbyn became leader, the ranks swelling to a total of 388,407. This is well over twice the membership of the Conservative Party, and almost up there with the 407,000 Tony Blair commanded before he went and alienated (literally more than) half of them by invading Iraq. This growth spurt is unprecedented at a time when mass-membership party politics has long been considered on the wane. Clearly, this bonfire will take industrial quantities of piss to extinguish. Whilst Arch-Blairite Peter “Lord of Darkness” Mandelson told the press in December that 30,000 people had left Labour in protest at Corbyn’s leadership, the actual figure for
departures since May is 13,860 (less than half of Mandelson’s spurious claim, and dwarfed by the intake). The study also found - Bonfire Pissers take note - that members were “unhappy with public splits within the PLP,” but, positively, that the new members were a coalition of the young and the old. Unfortunately, the quote that The Guardian’s print edition chose to emphasise in their front-page story was that “at some point there is going to be a collision between these younger and older people,” when, on the contrary, all evidence seems to point to members of both age groups sharing common aims and values. This editorial choice reflects the tone of the media coverage of the Labour Party, which exacerbates the tensions that the Bitterites are trying to create and weakens public perceptions of Labour in the process. Liberal journalists fuss over the public perception of Corbyn, seemingly without realising that they are creating much of it. Reviewing the January 13th Prime Minister’s Questions for the New Statesman, George Eaton begins a sentence “But while the facts were on Corbyn’s side,” which immediately sends alarm bells ringing; what tricks can David Cameron possibly have up his sleeve that are more impressive than his words being factually correct on the most basic level? Turns out it’s what Cameron does best; contemptuous schoolyardbully jeers. Although Corbyn has brought a fresh, respectful approach to it, PMQs has turned into more of a joke than ever thanks to the Prime Minister’s appallingly immature behaviour, responding to each of the Labour leader’s ever-pertinent queries by viciously attacking him as if he were the head of the government who must be held to account on the issues of the day. Although Cameron would never have dared come out with these fatuous verbal middle fingers when he himself were opposition leader, because it would have made him look as awful as he definitely is. Despite his astonishingly flippant attitude to the concerns of ordinary British people, it seems many journalists are simply predisposed towards Cameron’s “the Honourable Gentlemen is a tosser and his mum smells” approach to political debate, and yet will continue to attack supporters of Corbyn for behaving anything less than 100% “New Politics”. Let us not forget, a left-winger is a hypocritical sell-out if they even so much as own a mobile phone or have the temerity not to live in a cave. Uncovering a sickening betrayal of the most fundamental leftist principles, The Daily Telegraph ran the headline “Socialist Jeremy Corbyn reveals he covets a £475 bicycle”, making wanting a decent bit of environmentally friendly gear sound as bad as having designs on thy neighbour’s ox (even though I’m
reliably informed by people who aren’t repelled by physical exercise that £475 is fairly standard for a good bike; plus, he did say it was his dream bike). It may come as a surprise to the Telegraph to learn that not all socialists live quite ascetic enough lifestyles to eschew all modes of transport bar feet. Personally, I’m not even a vegan. I prefer to feast on the palpitating hearts of capitalists. A kindly group of souls ultimately crowdsourced £5500 for Corbyn to get himself a new bike, although, knowing this particular terrorist sympathiser, he’ll probably go and give it all to Syrian refugees or Save the Children or something similarly Britain-hating and securitythreatening. Meanwhile, poor David Cameron, lacking his own fly set of wheels, will have to make do with his new, modestly priced £10 million private jet. The Telegraph eventually removed their criticism from the piece (because even they could see it was ridiculous) but, by shining a light on this Faustian pact with Raleigh Bicycles, they’d delivered their most memorable headline since they broke the hot scoop that Corbyn had literally “ruined Christmas.” Now, as the numerous heartwarming pictures of him in Santa hats can attest, Corbyn is clearly no Scrooge. For a start, Scrooge was definitely a Tory. I mean, his statement that if poor people facing the Victorian workhouse “would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population” sounds like something Iain Duncan Smith would say while gleefully launching his next programme of unconscionably cruel benefit sanctions. Corbyn’s Scrooge X Grinch X ISIS Christmas-ruining
“
Turns out it’s what Cameron does best; contemptuous schoolyard-bully jeers. plan involved holding a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle in the New Year and maybe letting go of some of its members who had been viciously talking him down in the press and the Commons despite him having the decency to offer them their positions in the first place. John McTernan - a former Blair advisor most recently notable for describing the majority of Labour members as “morons” and running the campaign that managed to lose them fifty seats in Scotland warned Radio 4 that it would be “a purge, not a reshuffle”, language that was quickly repeated across the
press, along with the term “revenge reshuffle,” as if this differed from the reshuffles other party leaders do, where they move ministers to the backbenches as a sort of fun holiday. And indeed, with an entire two sackings, it was a brutal purge to rival the worst of Stalin combined with the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones.
with the government.”
Michael Dugher, who had dismissed all Labour members who use the internet as “trolls” and tarred anti-war campaigners in an intellectually reductive fashion as “more anti-West than anti-war,” was an obvious choice to be let go of as Shadow Culture Secretary, not least given that part of his brief was to take on the unethical practises of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK and, as well as showing precious little interest in criticising them during his time in the role, days after his sacking he was writing for The Sun.
“
Moving Maria Eagle from Defence - where she disagrees fundamentally with Corbyn - to Culture - where she is sure to do a much better job than Dugher - made total sense. And former Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden’s contention that the military actions of the West have no role in fuelling terrorism is simply factually incorrect, and would be refuted by any number of none-more-Western Washington diplomats. In fact, a 2004 inquest commissioned by Donald Rumsfeld came to this conclusion. I wonder how comfortable McFadden feels placing himself to the right of one of the key architects of the Bush administration on foreign policy, the most right-wing aspect of arguably America’s most right-wing government ever. Really, most of the drama seemed to come from journalists being pissed off that they had to wait for 30 hours outside Corbyn’s office while he spoke at length with every Shadow Cabinet member and painstakingly deliberated over who should stay and who should go. Although, to be fair, Corbyn did come out and ask them not to. The big question was whether Corbyn would move Hilary Benn from his position as Shadow Foreign Secretary. Benn has become something of a deistic figure among the British establishment, having been touted by many as a future Labour leader after making a speech described curiously in an otherwisequite-objective Independent article as “powerful” in favour of the bombing of Syria, which held the extremely leader-like distinction of being disagreed with by the majorities of the Shadow Cabinet, the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Labour membership and the general public. “If Hilary Benn was leader,” my New Labour father told me, “We’d have proper opposition.” “Proper opposition,” presumably, in the sense of “agreeing and voting
Benn is not the only Labour “moderate” whom the press are giving a leg up. Backbencher Dan Jarvis seems to see himself as a sort of Shadow Leader of the Opposition, echoing Corbyn’s every media move with wildly different messages. Corbyn does a substantive and successful interview on the Today
I’ll stop calling you Bonfire Pissers and we can be friends, united in the pursuit of equality and social justice, but first you must recognise that the people at The Sun and The Daily Mail are not and never will be your friends. Programme; Jarvis gets afforded a fawning profile in The Guardian. Corbyn writes an article in The Observer clearly setting out his policy agenda; Jarvis writes a piece for the New Statesman where he speaks of “reaching out” which, in case you don’t have your wonk-speak dictionary on you, means “being more right-wing.” Jarvis lacks one of Corbyn’s crucial weaknesses in that his military service means nobody can call him out on his patriotism. But Corbyn supporter Clive Lewis, who fought in Afghanistan, and has only been in parliament four years fewer than Jarvis? He voted against bombing Syria, so he must be a terrorist sympathiser. Plus, he’s black, and the Mail would hate that. There are vital new Labour (not New Labour) voices out there, like Lewis and his fellow 2015 arrival Cat Smith, but the airwaves are still clogged up by the dinosaurs of the party’s right-wing. This was especially evident in the wake of the reshuffle, when Smith appeared on the Daily Politics to defend it, alongside Chris “Who?” Leslie. I’ll remind you: over the summer, as acting Shadow Chancellor, Leslie delivered the rubbish right-wing economic strategy that indirectly won Corbyn no end of support, particularly with his decision that Labour should not vote against the Tories’ welfare bill. Leslie inserted the phrase “hard left” into no less than seven strategic points throughout his appearance, sounding like a parrot caught in some horrifying infinite time warp, stuck at
a precise moment sometime in the Blair-era. It reminded one of the key technique of recently-knighted Tory spin doctor Lynton Crosby - repeat a phrase or idea over and over again until it’s lodged in people’s minds recently evidenced by the unnatural frequency with which Tory MPs said “security” following Corbyn’s election. Clearly annoyed by Leslie’s blustering attacks, Smith asked him “who are the hard left?” A question surely posed by many wondering why they’re extremists for knowing, no matter what the tabloids say, that welfare has been cut quite enough as it is. The reshuffle actually resulted in a Shadow Cabinet more united on key issues, with Eagle replaced in Defence by Emily Thornberry, an opponent of Trident renewal much more in line with Corbyn. But the downside was that, in its protractedness, this replacement distracted from Labour’s strong campaigning on issues like flood defences and the renationalisation of the railways, although the media must take as much blame for this as the Corbyn camp, given they were more interested in Labour’s internal strife than the issues facing the public. In fact, have you noticed something odd about this piece? I’ve scarcely had the time to discuss much in the way of actual policy, which is pretty crucial to the whole politics thing. This is the essence of the antiCorbyn project; to get everyone talking about personalities and soap opera theatrics and forget the real reasons he was elected rising inequality and stalling social mobility, rising homelessness and job insecurity, soaring rents, stagnating pay, the increasing burden of personal debt, the erosion of the welfare state, the destruction of our environment and a hawkish foreign policy, that sees Brits and foreigners alike killed in droves (although mainly foreigners, of course). This is why the next piece I write will not be about the internal divisions of the Labour Party, but about the divisions this Conservative government are tearing in the fabric of our society. To conclude, here is my message to Labour’s right-wing; I’ll stop calling you Bonfire Pissers and we can be friends, united in the pursuit of equality and social justice, but first you must recognise that the people at The Sun and The Daily Mail are not and never will be your friends. You may be their white knights now, but they are merely using you as pawns to further their own rightwing agenda, and if you ever manage to seize control of the Labour Party you will see how quickly they begin to paint you as dangerous cryptoCommunist radicals who must at all costs be stopped. It would be very unwise to confuse people liking you with people disliking your enemies.
20 | FEATURES
FEATURES | 21
Kalymnos: the island of spongedivers Katerina Tiliakou Uxbridge
Kalymnos is a Greek island located south-east of the mainland coast. It is in the Aegean Sea and part of Dodecanese, and is better known as the island of sponge divers, as they have been fishing sponges for about 3000 years. For many years the sponge commerce was the only source of income for the barren, rocky island of Kalymnian, whose environment was insufficient in other wildlife and produce.
Photo credit: seashadows.narod.ru
The destination of the Kalymnian boats is the North African coast, where it is best to find and collect sponges. The journey usually takes five-days and the divers often travel in groups of three or four boats. The sponge divers must acquire a license in advance that permits them to dive
in the waters of Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Whether or not a diving trip is successful depends on the captain’s knowledge of fertile seabed locations and the diver’s experience. A piece of marble called a skandalopetra is used by the divers to give them the balance they need to walk easily on the seabed. Nowadays, the most common aspirator consists of a mask, tubes, cord, metallic fibre, and leather and air valves from bicycle tubes. Divers wear woolen clothes under their suits to keep warm when at the cool depths under the waves. The compressor is a tool, attached to the engine of the fishing boat that provides the diver with oxygen, enough to last about a year. Diving to a depth of 60 metres is easy for the Kalymnians and they usually dive for an hour every day for nine months when on an expedition
in order to maintain their strength and skill, and to ensure they yield enough sponges to earn their living. Thousands of Kalymnians have lost their lives due to sponge fishing and the bends, a disorder affecting persons exposed to rapid changes in the air pressure around them i.e. resurfacing too quickly after a dive. Many sufferers have had to continue their lives either totally crippled or with permanent injuries that cause insufferable pain. Shark attacks in the Mediterranean Sea are also one of the biggest fears of the sponge divers, as the coasts of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Egypt are home to several species of shark. The President of Kalymnians sponge-divers, Pantelis Georgantis, 39, said on the Greek show “Protagonistes” in 2013 that, “Kalymnians will continue to dive no matter the dangers. I lost my brother
in an accident while he was fishing sponges at the island of Samos, and I am suffering from the diver’s disease, but I have a family and I need to help them financially. So, I will continue to dive but at less deeper places. The sea is my second home, regardless the dangers. This is why, I can consider myself as an addict to her” When Spring arrives and Easter is over, Kalymnian sponge divers prepare their boats for the new sponge fishing period. They will be in the open sea for eight or nine months without reaching a port. The boats have to be calked, stocked painted and the engines maintained. Local artisans must also repair or replace different parts of the diving suits, such as new glass on the helmet and air valves. On the day of departure, the Kalymnian Orthodox priest goes from boat to boat with the icon of St. Nicolas, patron saint of sailors, in
order to bless the boats, equipment and crews. When the boats depart for their expedition each year, the wives of the sponge divers all dress in black, symbolizing their acceptance of the tragedies that might befall their husbands while out at sea. Michanikos is a traditional dance from Kalymnos. It is typically only performed by men dancing in a line, and depicts the crippling effects of the bends. The leading dancer (when the music slows) has to struggle to stand and walk, and uses a stick in doing so. The dance concludes with the message that, despite the dangers, Kalymnian divers will continue to dive, as behind the tradition is hidden a fierce love and strong relationship with the sea. The fear of the unknown will never stop them.
I bet Miles Davis never had to lend Stephen Hawking his trumpet Megan Steinberg Uxbridge
A response to “They Don’t Even Go Here, Restricted Access to Campus Facilities” Yes - you can study music at Brunel. It’s a small department, but The Guardian league table ranks it as the 19th best music course in the country, and “NSS results show Music at Brunel as the 2nd best university in the country for overall satisfaction in Music.” We have lecturers who have composed for the BBC Philharmonic and London Sinfonietta, write regularly for The Guardian, and perform around the world. I feel the need to point this out because it seems that Brunel forget that they have a music department until people complain about not being able to use our facilities. General attitudes towards arts degrees at Brunel are patronising at best. The recent opinion article in the last issue only highlights this. My degree is not a hobby. Just as an engineering degree is not a hobby.
I’m almost positive that if, one day, I had the urge to go use the engineering department’s metal machine shop, I would be promptly turned away. No matter how much “passion” for metalwork I may have. Why are our arts facilities any different? The previous article tells us about Emily, who went into the Gaskell building and was disappointed to find that she couldn’t just walk in and start using the rehearsal spaces. Maybe if she had lingered a bit longer, she might have seen the students who have been sat in those rooms rehearsing for 3 hours for an upcoming exam, or have been coming in every day for the past 2 weeks recording their dissertation. Emily is also apparently desperate to use our “great availability of drum kits.” I feel the need to fact-check this (seeing as nobody else did) and point out that the term “great availability” is a huge overestimation of the number of drum kits we have which, at last count, was 3, and are reserved for people who need drums to do their work. If these spaces are sometimes empty, it means that they’re available for art students to book to do their work. The article then goes on to remind us that students are paying £9000 a year to go to this University, and they should be helped to follow
their interests. Well, art students also pay £9000 a year, and if I was getting kicked out of rehearsal spaces for students who are only there pursuing music as a hobby, I’d feel pretty cheated out of my tuition fees. The Union should be encouraging students to pursue interests outside their course, but the Gaskell and Antonin Artaud buildings are academic, university buildings and are in no way affiliated to the Union. What is the most upsetting about the article is probably the lack of research that went into it, and that the argument can be disproven with a single click: http://www.brunel. ac.uk/services/artscentre Welcome to Brunel Arts Centre! “Open to everyone on campus, whatever course you are studying.” You can buy an annual membership to the Arts Centre for £22, and they have a whole building full of spaces and classes that can be used by anyone. And you wouldn’t be blocked out by those pesky art students. If you don’t think they, or the Union, are doing enough to promote extra-curricular art: campaign to them for more resources. But the
academic facilities are, surprisingly enough, for academic work. The whole attitude towards arts at Brunel is fundamentally damaged. Art degrees are not “soft” or “easy,” and they are not equivalent to being in a rock band, making a viral video or reading The Hunger Games. The time in which a Computer Science student is completing the code for a programme, a Music student is composing a movement of a symphony. We may live in a society where one of these endeavours is deemed more financially stable than another - but at a University they should be valued equally. “There’s barely any equipment and practice rooms for the actual music students. And the equipment we do have aren’t the latest updated versions” - anon. “Our practice is actually more valid, as it’s worth a significant part of our course” - anon. “They can use the arts centre practice rooms. They just need to book them in advance. We don’t even get 24 hour access so we’re restricted too and it’s our course.” anon. “I keep being double booked- or
kicked out early of a booked space by people who rent from outside the university. It’s getting quite frustrating as sometimes I come in just to use a space to practice or record!” Lola, Experimental Music postgraduate student “I find it laughable that Le Nurb has allowed [this] article […] to be published without so much as an inch of investigation into the actual situation surrounding these resources. Your author raises the point of the tuition fees paid by all students - but in great irony fails to realise that it is the music students’ tuition fees that pay for these rehearsal spaces and equipment. They are to facilitate the completion of our degree, not for the passing interest of the other 15,000 students here at Brunel. Those spaces are critical to our studies and are in desperately short supply as it is. There are rehearsal spaces in the Arts Centre which exist for everyone to use. If you find these inadequate then perhaps you should re-write your article and ask for these to be improved - instead of asking other students to compromise.” Matthew, 3rd Year Music student
Homemade pancakes Adam White Uxbridge
~ 20 minutes prep ~ 10 minutes cooking ~ Makes roughly 10
Equipment ~whisk/fork ~bowl ~frying pan ~spatula
Pancakes ~110g plain flour ~salt ~2 eggs ~300ml milk of choice ~sunflower oil
Fillings and Toppings ~lemon ~sugar ~Nutella ~marshmallows ~syrup, etc. Photo credit: Pexels
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt to the mix. Add the eggs to the flour (make a small well for them first), and then begin to whisk, preferably with a whisk if not use a fork. Add the milk gradually as you whisk the flour and egg. Make sure to get all the odd floury bits from around the bowl and your mix will eventually reach a nice creamy consistency without any lumps. To get it even smoother, add a small tbsp. of oil as well. Grab your trusty frying pan and get it nice and hot. Use some of that oil so your pancakes don’t stick to the pan. Now, really, it’s just a case of cooking the pancakes to how you like them… Pour an amount of mixture to
the pan depending how big or thick you like your pancakes. (thin crepe/ American style) Allow the pancake to cook fully on the bottom side. You can check how well it’s done by using a spatula to carefully lift it. Once the bottom side looks decent (i.e. golden), flip it onto the uncooked side. Allow the pancake to cook on the other side until you can’t wait any longer and just have to eat them already! Finally, add your desired fillings and toppings, and enjoy!
CULTURE | 23
22 | FEATURES
Interview with UNILAD CEO If you use Facebook, you’ve definitely seen their content. If you use Twitter, you’ve definitely seen their content. Danny Judge Uxbridge
In fact, if you just use Google, you’ve probably seen their content. Despite only starting in 2014, UNILAD has become a dominant force on social media with over 11’400’000 likes, offices in both Manchester and London, and official accreditation from Google. It’s no longer just a Facebook page sharing funny photos. We managed to grab an interview with founder and CEO Liam Harrington about where UNILAD’s going next, advice he’d give on breaking into the industry, and the alleged competition with Vice. Would you describe yourself as an entrepreneur? Yeah? I think so, but I get really nervous about that phrase. An entrepreneur you always assume is that guy in a suit, but you’re not. You’re just someone with an idea, or some kind of plan or vision, and someone’s who’s executing it correctly. The journey, however, is so up and down. UNILAD’s views have consistently sat at about 20 million for the last few months. Would you describe this as an ‘up’? We’re in a definite up at the moment. There’s lot of internal downs, which happen through internal growth - it’s like when you’re young and your bones are growing really fast, and you end up being really lanky? Our bones are really growing quickly at the moment. Everyone’s saying ‘yeah well done!’ and ‘look, he’s so tall and handsome!’, but then you get a little bit older and you start beefing out. This beefing out process is the less pretty side of running your own business - the taxes, the bills, the management of people. We’re getting there, but overall, we’re on a massive high and we’re delighted.
Are you guys in competition with
Vice? At the moment, there isn’t a competition with Vice. They’re ahead of the game with production. The only area where we want to try and challenge Vice in is video. I feel we’ve started pretty well, but we’ve still got a lot of learning to do. We look at them very highly as a teacher, as they’re really good. I do, however, keep an eye on their socials, as we’re way above them. Their audience is starting to comment about us in their socials, which is quite an interesting turn. I’ve read in the past, I forget the article, but it was ‘didn’t you just take this off of UNILAD?’ or ‘Vice is turning into UNILAD’, and I was like ‘what? Are we really up competing with Vice?’. What are your views on ‘clickbait’? We’re very careful with our ‘clickbait’. It’s a term that’s thrown around derogatively a lot, so we’re very careful with our ‘clickbait’. The thing we hate the most is when a reader is given a sliver of an article and they’re expected to click on it, and then when they get there they’re given nothing more, nothing that enhances their experience on the site. I like to think of our ‘clickbait’ articles as leading a reader to three things that they can learn from that article. That’s an enhancement in your mind, and there’s a reason why you’re reading it now. You’re not just consuming a stupid video. You’re now consuming a stupid video that’s got social reactions, a quote from the person, etc.. The term ‘clickbait’ can be taken out of context, but I like to think that we put it in context and make it both better and kind of acceptable. This isn’t just random content. This is written by Generation Y, for Generation Y. You’ve talked before about your posting habits, with a key UNILAD trend of posting six second videos during the day, and longer articles and content at night. Where did that come from? The first idea for that came from following general patterns of your audience. You have to think about how somebody is going to wake up at 8am - they’re going to want to consume a certain style of content, and they’re going to work through their day and get to 5pm and will want to consume a different type of content between 5 and 7pm. And from 7pm onwards, the traditional ‘TV time’, you’re going to want to consume something different. We broke this down and tested it, and longer articles didn’t work during
CULTURE the day. Content that’s short, snappy, and fast-paced works best. However, when it got to the evening time, we can do a lot more when it comes to both longer and vocal content where you’d require sound to enjoy it. UNILAD’s page views have risen abroad in places such as the US and Australia. Are there plans to branch out with .com and .us sites?
”
I think we’d probably try and acquire that foothold, but still somehow our content is getting viewed in these places. Social media is very different right now, as you don’t need to necessarily type in .com or .au to trust the source. We’re going to be targeting more content to these countries as well – we already do it in sport. For example, if there’s anything to with the NBA on at about four in the morning, we’ll post something targeting the US. It’s one of the ways we can grow the audience.
Far more than just a musician, he had the image of an innovator, and his ever changing wardrobe and hairstyles cement him as a fashion icon forever.
What advice would you give to any aspiring journalists and content creators on getting into the industry and having your work noticed? The big social platforms are the way forward to get your work out there. Facebook is a fantastic platform for any author at the moment, because when you link to something it has the person’s tag in the post. And when it comes to jobs, go online. Whilst other media outlets, especially old form media, are great names to have on your CV, your work might just end up falling back into the waterfall of articles out there. Just go online, and use Facebook over YouTube for your work. I personally find it difficult to share something on YouTube, it’s not as easy as Facebook. Putting content on YouTube is a bit like me sitting here reading something and then having to post it to my friend to see. Facebook is like me being here, you being here, and just going ‘look at that! That’s cool, isn’t it?’. It’s much easier to consume.
“
It is everyone’s dream to play at Glastonbury. And just to go, I haven’t been able to get tickets like my whole life so it was good.
What are UNILAD’s plans for 2016? We’re focusing heavily upon news and more videos, as that’s really important to us. We look to hit one million views on each of our videos and we get disappointed if we don’t hit that. However, our bread and butter is funny. That’s how everyone knows us.
Photo credit: UNILAD
CULTURE | 25
24 | CULTURE
Tribute: The legendary David Bowie Following the tragic, dignified death of a true musical and cultural innovator, it seems fitting not only to reflect on the Starman’s timeless body of work and iconic image, but highlight the lasting influence it has had on our present culture. Jamie Tate Uxbridge
Alter-egos and Sexual Ambiguity Ziggy Stardust challenged homophobia and macho male dominance in music when he first fell from Mars to the set of Top of the Pops in 1972. His mild flirtatious gestures to guitarist Mick Ronson and the era defining moment Ziggy put his arm on the musician’s shoulder, horrified the older generation but triggered a change to gender stereotypes in music as teenagers everywhere watched in awe of this alien. Bowie, and Ziggy paved the way for artists who wanted to create characters in their music, the likes of Lady Gaga and her odd string of costumes, Marshall Mathers with Slim Shady and even Damon Albarn has to give some of the credit to Bowie for his digitalised reinvention with ‘Gorilaz’. The make-up, the dresses and more importantly, the music changed the face of rock and pop forever. He created, and killed off this persona in just one year. The Sound of Modern Pop When looking at all the new and exciting sounds pop music still has to offer, one only needs to trace back far enough to see that the foundations can be heard on some of Bowie’s greatest work. Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ for example, with its dissonant instrumentals and electronic textures, could slot nicely into 1977’s ‘Low’. In fact a lot of electronica has Bowie and Brian Eno to thank, from Depeche mode and New Order to Massive Attack and LCD Sound system.
PHOTO CREDIT: Rolling Stone
Punk Rock has a huge appreciation for the Ziggy Stardust Era and modern music has largely been
affected by the movement. 1973’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ and 1974’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ were Punk Rock years before the genre was recognised. The sounds of ‘Station to Station’ and his Berlin trilogy also seemed to have been adopted by the post punk bands like ‘Joy Division’, who originally called themselves ‘Warsaw’ in honour of the instrumental found on Bowie’s ‘Low’ album. Fashion David Bowie looked so ahead of his time during most of his career that in retrospect his fashion rarely ever seems dated. His androgynous look has had a profound effect on present fashion, as styles of both genders has gradually merged since Ziggy’s creation. His ‘Thin White Duke’ phase took fashion away from the colourful scene he propelled into the mainstream, with his slicked back hair and black waist coat. Even his album covers were modelling opportunities, pictures from ‘Heroes’, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘Aladdin Sane’ prove the icon was far more than just a musician, he had the image of an innovator, and his ever changing wardrobe and hairstyles cement him as a fashion icon forever. The death of David Bowie marks the loss of Britain’s most influential rock star, and one of modern music’s true originals. Like the death of Lennon, Elvis and Jackson, Bowie will be mourned worldwide, but only with Bowie will so many aspects of culture lose itself a hero. Bowie’s new album ‘Blackstar’ was released to critical and commercial success 2 days before his death, and has since been cited as the artist’s parting gift to fans. R.I.P David Bowie - (1947-2016)
Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ PHOTO CREDIT: Reverb Party
It is hard not to talk about Blackstar, the 27th studio album of David Bowie’s incredible and genre defining career without addressing that it will be his last, a prospect that at first may seem hard to accept. Dafydd Halls Uxbridge
However, in true Bowie style, even in his death, he was able to create art from it, an album that may be his darkest and most experimental yet. It is remarkable to believe how he wrote this album during his eighteen month battle with cancer, but when listening, you can see how his illness and inevitable death play as central themes to the seven tracks on the record. Opener “Blackstar” is a ten minute brooding epic, containing the progressive elements he brought to the production of the most recent Arcade Fire album, albeit in a much more sombre and unsettling way. The track really takes hold of the listener as Bowie sings with this eerie almost ethereal vocal effect that gently builds the first half of the track, until it suddenly opens up,
into a pop like segment that harks back slightly to the classic glam side of Bowie, woven in together beautifully with rising horns and sinister sounding synths. The song really sets the deeply visceral tone tinged with brief moments of light that is constant throughout out the record. The lyrics see Bowie talking about himself being the ‘Blackstar’ ‘’something happened on the day he died, spirit rose a metre and stepped aside. Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried, I’m a blackstar, i’m a starstar, I’m a blackstar”; which could be interpreted as Bowie accepting that his stardom has faded to black, yet still ready to go out with that cocky swagger, knowing that during his time, he was one of the greatest stars of them all (“you’re a flash in the pan, I’m not a marvel star, I’m the great I am, I’m a blackstar”).
The weight and power of Bowie’s lyrics do not let up after the opener. “Lazarus” sounds as if Bowie is reading the eulogy at his own funeral, making for some serious heavy listening - “now ain’t that just like me, oh I’ll be free, just like that Bluebird”. He chillingly highlights on the track how ‘everybody knows me now’ as if he has prophesied the global media storm that followed his death. The instrumentation on the record runs a nice parallel of really tight backing and free flowing experimentation. There are some great driving bass lines accompanied by some excellent drumming, particularly in “Sue” (Or In a Season of Crime), where the beats follow an almost drum ’n’ bass like groove. “Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” is a
frantic cacophony of whirling drums and sax improvisation, accompanied by Bowie’s soft croon that holds everything together in an album that is full of moments of controlled chaos. Bowie has this ability to keep pushing the boundaries of what we may have come to expect from him. This late into his career he could have quite easily produced something nostalgic and safe, but instead, he has produced a record so much darker, and complex, yet still manages to connect to so many and stay relevant, and that’s what make this album just so compelling. Thanks for everything Starman, you’ll be greatly missed.
CULTURE | 27
26 | CULTURE
The Final Flight of Miss Saigon: Broderick Chow
Sophie Perry
Based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly, the musical originally opened in London in 1989 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and closed a decade later after over 4000 performances. Set to the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the show tells the doomed romance of bar girl Kim and American G.I. Chris – their lives ripped apart by the fall of Saigon. The current West End production stars 18-year-old Eva Noblezada as Kim, Chris Peluso as Chris and Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer, Noblezada and Briones both reprising their roles when the show transfers to Broadway in 2017. For Le Nurb I have interviewed Dr Broderick Chow, Lecturer in Theatre, one of whose current research areas concerns ‘the visibility and aurality of East Asian subjects in performance forms from karaoke to musical
theatre’. Hello Broderick, thank you very much for agreeing to answer some questions. Can you remember your first experience of Miss Saigon? I can. I was thirteen and in Grade 8 - in Canada that is the first year of high School - and our English teacher took the whole class to see Miss Saigon. It was the first professional play I had really been to, aside from smaller things like theatre for children, and this was like a whole new world because a) it was so full of spectacle and b) it was in biggest theatre in Vancouver: the Queen Elizabeth theatre. As a show, what does Miss Saigon mean to you? It means a lot. It was my first experience with professional
theatre. It was also a musical that I really loved afterwards. I would listen to the soundtrack when I was in High School and learning to sing and really getting into musical theatre for the first time. But, it was also the first professional production I was in, so it was the thing that got me my equity card for the first time and I played Thuy, Kim’s cousin, in the Vancouver production. That was a real trial by fire for me because I had never been in a musical that big before so it was really a life changing experience, it changed me as a performer, it changed my work ethic. Also, it meant a lot to me because it was a musical that represented East Asian people on stage. For a long time, when I was in University and after I graduated, I thought unless the Arts Club or professional companies do a show like Miss Saigon there’s never going to be anything that’s not chorus for me. So when it
came along I was like ‘I have to be in this show’. Interestingly enough, I auditioned the first time and I didn’t get cast but then they had trouble finding someone for Thuy, so I was brought back in and got the part. It was always like a missed chance and then it happened, so it was really transformative for me. On the first day of ticket sales for the revival Miss Saigon made £4.4m at the box office, smashing previous records held by The Book of Mormon and The Producers. What do believe makes Miss Saigon so popular with theatregoers? I think there is a sort of hunger in West End theatre for the type of megamusical that Miss Saigon represents. Things that were invented by Andrew Lloyd Webber, a form of the epic musical that is usually sung through, has really
Last year First Year Theatre students went to watch Here Lies Love at the National Theatre, a musical documenting the Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos’ rise to power. Do you believe that Miss Saigon has had an influence on the representation and presence of Asian characters and stories on the London stage?
PHOTO CREDIT: Fridae TV
I think without Miss Saigon there wouldn’t be a musical like Here Lies Love. I mean Miss Saigon was, for all of its problems in representation, the first time that there was a critical consensus that these Asian performers were a) able carry a story and lead that story and b) be a box office draw. Someone like Lea Solonga played her role for over ten years in productions around the world and she became a star on the back of that, her box office draw now with the musical Allegiance in New York City is enormous. The other thing about Here Lies Love is that it originated at the Public Theatre in New York City, much more known for experimental works. Here Lies Love wouldn’t exist without Miss Saigon’s critical consensus and in some ways it is challenging what Miss Saigon is doing. It breaks with a lot of the stereotypical representations of East Asian women and shows a very, very different character, so it kind of responds to Miss Saigon. Going forward, where does this representation have to go? I’d like to see East Asian performers, writers and directors putting their own stories on stage. I do actually think that is happening at the moment, there’s a lot of great work taking place among various theatre companies. Papergang Theatre Company having received Arts Council funding to do a season of three rehearsed readings of new British East Asian writers. So in terms of how you get that into the world it’s about constantly pushing
at what feels like a close door and, realising, its unlocked. I think there was a moment in 2012 around the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Orphan of Zhao, it was their first Chinese play and all of the principle roles were cast with non-Chinese actors who used yellow face makeup. So I think there was a moment around that where the East Asian acting community had enough and there was protests, there was letter writing campaigns. It lead to an event called Opening The Door at the Young Vic, an event about the under representation of East Asian actors. I think that made people much more vocal about the fact that under representation has to be challenged by standing up and making noise, that’s the only way to make yourself visible. After returning to the London stage in May 2014, Cameron Mackintosh’s West End revival of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon - playing at the Prince Edward Theatre - is set to bring its curtain down for the final time on February 27th. Based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly, the musical originally opened in London in 1989 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and closed a decade later after over 4000 performances. Set to the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the show tells the doomed romance of bar girl Kim and American G.I. Chris – their lives ripped apart by the fall of Saigon. The current West End production stars 18-year-old Eva Noblezada as Kim, Chris Peluso as Chris and Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer, Noblezada and Briones both reprising their roles when the show transfers to Broadway in 2017. For Le Nurb I have interviewed Dr Broderick Chow, Lecturer in Theatre, one of whose current research areas concerns ‘the visibility and aurality of East Asian subjects in performance forms from karaoke to musical theatre’. Hello Broderick, thank you very much for agreeing to answer some questions. Can you remember your first experience of Miss Saigon? I can. I was thirteen and in Grade 8 - in Canada that is the first year of high School - and our English teacher took the whole class to see Miss Saigon. It was the first professional play I had really been to, aside from smaller things like theatre for children, and this was like a whole new world because a) it was so full of spectacle and b) it was in biggest theatre in Vancouver: the Queen Elizabeth theatre. As a show, what does Miss Saigon mean to you? It means a lot. It was my first experience with professional theatre. It was also a musical that I really loved afterwards. I would listen to the soundtrack when I was in High
School and learning to sing and really getting into musical theatre for the first time. But, it was also the first professional production I was in, so it was the thing that got me my equity card for the first time and I played Thuy, Kim’s cousin, in the Vancouver production. That was a real trial by fire for me because I had never been in a musical that big before so it was really a life changing experience, it changed me as a performer, it changed my work ethic. Also, it meant a lot to me because it was a musical that represented East Asian people on stage. For a long time, when I was in University and after I graduated, I thought unless the Arts Club or professional companies do a show like Miss Saigon there’s never going to be anything that’s not chorus for me. So when it came along I was like ‘I have to be in this show’. Interestingly enough, I auditioned the first time and I didn’t get cast but then they had trouble finding someone for Thuy, so I was brought back in and got the part. It was always like a missed chance and then it happened, so it was really transformative for me.
I think without Miss Saigon there wouldn’t be a musical like Here Lies Love. I mean Miss Saigon was, for all of its problems in representation, the first time that there was a critical consensus that these Asian performers were a) able carry a story and lead that story and b) be a box office draw. Someone like Lea Solonga played her role for over ten years in productions around the world and she became a star on the back of that, her box office draw now with the musical Allegiance in New York City is enormous. The other thing about Here Lies Love is that it originated at the Public Theatre in New York City, much more known for experimental works. Here Lies Love wouldn’t exist without Miss Saigon’s critical consensus and in some ways it is challenging what Miss Saigon is doing. It breaks with a lot of the stereotypical representations of East Asian women and shows a very, very different character, so it kind of responds to Miss Saigon.
On the first day of ticket sales for the revival Miss Saigon made £4.4m at the box office, smashing previous records held by The Book of Mormon and The Producers. What do believe makes Miss Saigon so popular with theatregoers?
I’d like to see East Asian performers, writers and directors putting their own stories on stage. I
I think there is a sort of hunger in West End theatre for the type of megamusical that Miss Saigon represents. Things that were invented by Andrew Lloyd Webber, a form of the epic musical that is usually sung through, has really elaborate sets and in some ways resembles an opera. For that is a very, very British form and is something that originated in London’s West End. It somehow feels very home grown to Britain and I don’t feel British theatre should be above that. People want to have the spectacle in their faces and they are very honest about that, they want to go to the theatre for a good time and that is something that should be celebrated. As well, I think, it really did touch the East Asian community in Britain which often doesn’t see itself represented on stage. It’s a very interesting show because there are problematic representations, especially of East Asian women, but also men in the show but at the same time they are the protagonists of the show. I have heard this comment echoed by my friends and colleagues that have been to see Miss Saigon, that there is almost always more East Asian people in audience than any other musical that they’ve seen before; it does touch the community. Last year First Year Theatre students went to watch Here Lies Love at the National Theatre, a musical documenting the Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos’ rise to power. Do you believe that Miss Saigon has had an influence on the representation and presence of Asian characters and stories on the London stage?
Going forward, where does this representation have to go?
do actually think that is happening at the moment, there’s a lot of great work taking place among various theatre companies. Papergang Theatre Company having received Arts Council funding to do a season of three rehearsed readings of new British East Asian writers. So in terms of how you get that into the world it’s about constantly pushing at what feels like a close door and, realising, its unlocked. I think there was a moment in 2012 around the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Orphan of Zhao, it was their first Chinese play and all of the principle roles were cast with nonChinese actors who used yellow face makeup. So I think there was a moment around that where the East Asian acting community had enough and there was protests, there was letter writing campaigns. It lead to an event called Opening The Door at the Young Vic, an event about the under representation of East Asian actors. I think that made people much more vocal about the fact that under representation has to be challenged by standing up and making noise, that’s the only way to make yourself visible.
PHOTO CREDIT: Indepedent
After returning to the London stage in May 2014, Cameron Mackintosh’s West End revival of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon - playing at the Prince Edward Theatre - is set to bring its curtain down for the final time on February 27th.
elaborate sets and in some ways resembles an opera. For that is a very, very British form and is something that originated in London’s West End. It somehow feels very home grown to Britain and I don’t feel British theatre should be above that. People want to have the spectacle in their faces and they are very honest about that, they want to go to the theatre for a good time and that is something that should be celebrated. As well, I think, it really did touch the East Asian community in Britain which often doesn’t see itself represented on stage. It’s a very interesting show because there are problematic representations, especially of East Asian women, but also men in the show but at the same time they are the protagonists of the show. I have heard this comment echoed by my friends and colleagues that have been to see Miss Saigon, that there is almost always more East Asian people in audience than any other musical that they’ve seen before; it does touch the community.
CULTURE | 29
28 | CULTURE
Interview with Seafret on tour. Seafret admitted that there are always loads of memorable and funny moments that happen on tour but they often can’t remember them. Although, the pair said: “Cardiff was a bit mad at the Swn Fest. Lucas, our keyboard player, got behind a sheep and pretended to have sex with a sheep on the main strip in Cardiff, and people were shouting abuse at him.” When on tour, the two also admitted that they won’t stop at a service station if it doesn’t have a Greggs, because that coffee and cake deal is just too good!
Seafret, made up of Jack Sedman (vocals) and Harry Draper (guitar), labeled the New Faces tour as their ‘best tour so far’. The pair were clearly excited to be playing in London and admitted that a lot of the nights on the tour they have been quite drunk, and of course London would be no different!
In February Seafret are due to play in their hometown at the Bridlington Spa Theatre, which holds many memories for the two and their families. Something they both remember is when they supported Jake Bugg at the venue towards the end of 2014. At this point in time they had just moved to London, been busy writing music, and were itching to play shows. When the opportunity to open for Jake Bugg arose, of course they said yes. Jack said: “When we were at the side of the stage all of the lights went off and everyone went crazy. Our tour manager got us a little torch and I’m thinking ‘they’re all thinking Jake Bugg is going to come on’, but we walked on stage and everyone went mental. The buzz was amazing”.
I love to find out what the most memorable moments bands have
Another favourite for Seafret was playing for their first time
Charlotte Davis Uxbridge
at Glastonbury last year. “The atmosphere and to be there for the first time was insane. It is everyone’s dream to play at Glastonbury. And just to go, I haven’t been able to get tickets like my whole life so it was good”. Now onto the songwriting process, which involves Jack doing most of the vocals and Harry most of the music, but they admitted that they both contribute as ‘it’s like fixing a jigsaw together’.
Harry, Earth, Wind and Fire acted as a real inspiration because his dad always loved them. For Seafret, the foreseeable future involves touring and the release of their debut album, ‘Tell Me It’s Real’, which is due to be released on January 29th. The pair admitted that they are still finding their sound but the album really shows how
their music has developed. Seafret started out as an acoustic duo but it gradually developed to add more production into their tracks. The pair said: “There’s a lot of different production on the album and it all fits in but it all sounds different. They all have the ‘Seafret’ theme running through and it shows the journey from when we moved to when we started recording, which is nice.”
PHOTO CREDIT: standard.co.uk
Greggs, songwriting, Snoop Dogg and tales of drunken nights in Cardiff: these are just some of the things that came up in conversation when I interviewed Seafret before their sold out gig at St. Stephen’s Church, London.
It’s also very obvious that Seafret’s music contains a lot of emotion, it’s very raw and stripped back and I think that is why a lot of people like it. But in order to get that emotion there are certain influences that play a big part in their sound. Jack said: “We only write about what we’ve been through, you know, a big thing was moving away from Yorkshire to London. A lot of it is kind of like missing the ones you love and obviously relationships that fail because of what you are doing. It’s inspiring but it’s heartbreaking as well”.
Uxbridge
PHOTO CREDIT: Rap Genius
It’s arguable in saying that this album was one of the best from last
Patrick Harmon
With a perfect balance of familiar melodies and new vocal hooks, their famous acoustic chords and new distorted riffs only serve to remind you that Cage are still very much still in the game.
Rudimental ‘We the Generation’
Charlotte Davis
Tell Me I’m Pretty I’ll do more than that. Cage the Elephant’s new album is refreshing to say the least.
Uxbridge
There are of course other influences, and sometimes this involves the favourite tracks from your childhood. For Jack, there’s a video of him dancing to Snoop Dog in his nappy when he was about three years old. So, in his words, ‘Snoop Dogg has been a big influence’. For
Although Rudimental’s latest album, We the Generation, came out back in October it is very clear that this record, which reached No1 on the Official Album Chart, still warrants a review.
Cage the Elephant ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’
year, however, it is pretty clear that it includes some of the most listened to tracks of 2015. Amid the emotional and slower tracks in the record, that feature Lianne La Havas in Needn’t Speak and Ella Eyre in Too Cool, there are the definitive Rudimental tracks that gave this album it’s chart-topping title. We the Generation begins with I Will For Love (Featuring Will Heard), a feel-good banger that turned into a global hit – What better way to start an album? The tracks on the record are fun and yet emotive, although, it doesn’t quite reach up to the standard of 2013’s Home. There are certain songs on the album that seem to be a bit a drag, for example, Foreign World (Featuring Anne-Marie), which is bland and lacks the powerful and leading beat that you would assume
to be on a Rudimental track. Though, there are some real smashers on the album, and when Rudimental did a collaboration with Ed Sheeran to release a new version of his 2014 track Bloodstream, everyone loved it. The remix is heavier and radiates that classic Rudimental sound. And, who doesn’t love Ed Sheeran? Overall, We The Generation is a massively distinct album that features some brilliant and talented vocalists. This album was written for nationwide, if not international, radio-play. The tracks all feature catchy beats that maintain this radio-friendly sound, which would no doubt be even better in a live performance. This English drum and bass foursome have not let us down.
The album opens up with Cry Baby, which serves as a decent song, but it is definitely not a standout song on the album. The vocal melody and guitar riffs are very good, and the song is wellstructured, but there is very little of the song that will stick with you apart from the chorus melody. Mess Around is when the pace is picked up. It bears a 1970s-surferrock vibe, with a heavy riff opening the song, sliding up and down the neck of the guitar. In this second song, the guitar solo only serves to impress any guitar player or music lover, with the Shultz brothers (Matt and Brad) complementing each other, as one keeps the fast strumming of chords, and the other freaks out on the guitar. Sweetie Little Jean seems to draw on inspiration from the Beatles circa1960s, with a good use of harmonies in vocals and cheery guitars, as well as playing around with the structure of the song, applying multiple stops to the music, and having Matt sing acapella. Too Late To Say Goodbye, however, seems to have a very dark and angsty feel to it, with a more classic rock edge to it, with Jared Champion earning his name on the drums. Cold Cold Cold opens up with a slick acoustic riff and a beat you cannot help but tap your foot to. The lyrics themselves are reminiscent of The Who’s ‘The Real Me’, with Matt Shultz opening the song: Doctor look into my eyes / I’ve been breathing but there’s no sign of life. What’s best about this
song is the vocal build-up after the second chorus, which climaxes with a guitar solo reminiscent of 90s grunge; with long, overdriven notes that range from low to high octaves, with Shultz singing over it. When you hear Trouble, you will undoubtedly hear a resemblance to Stuck on a Puzzle by Alex Turner, with intricate guitar picking a thumping bass line. Moreover, Trouble generates the same calming atmosphere as Turner’s song, but also seems to be a very raw and layered song, with Shultz reaching impressive octaves, surpassing Turner in vocal technicality. How Are You True? is a nice song, with ‘nice’ being the only way to describe it. Gentle acoustic guitars and delicate vocals make it a very relaxing song, but is nothing more. It is, in every sense, a filler song. That’s Right is a happy song that you will find good to listen to, but I have a feeling most will end up skipping the song in less than a month when revisiting the playlist. No doubt this song will end up in an indie film that everyone will become infatuated with, but until then, it’s best we leave the song along. Portuguese Knife Fight, on the other hand, is definitely a standout track. With a clear inspiration from 1970s rock, with only three chords that tie in everything from the riff to the bass line to the solo. Matt Shultz’s vocals are reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s grating vocals, and I challenge any rock / alternative / psychedelia fan to listen to the track and not drum along. Punchin’ Bag is certainly another standout track on the album, but also a great song for your library - an essential for 2016 to be sure. The guitar riff that starts off the song is accompanied with a thudding bass drum, which propels the chorus forwards with a T-Rexesque burst of sound. Cage the Elephant appear to have adopted a more classic feel for their latest album, showing that the band that has been playing for eight years running is still evolving and improving their sound. Tell Me I’m Pretty is a four-star album - an essential for any university student, who will find themselves listening to anthems Punchin’ Bag, Portuguese Knife Fight and Trouble, but skipping fairly mediocre songs like How Are You True? and That’s Right.
PHOTO CREDIT: SpeakerTV
CULTURE | 31
30 | CULTURE
Victoria Crossley Uxbridge
West London is home to a variety of killer artists ranging from acoustic indie outfits to metal and hiphoppers. One band in particular has captured the hearts of rock and metal lovers in the area perfectly. Motorax, are a four piece group from Hillingdon who can only be described as organised chaos. By blending a mixture of thrash metal and classic punk this pumped up band have been able to create a very distinct sound and attitude. Formed in early 2013, Motorax are made up of, Michael Blake (Lead vocals & Rhythm guitar), Carl Alsop (Lead guitar), Dean Taylor (Bass guitar) and Charlie Smith (Drums). Having spoken to the lads, they say that Motorax was created upon a huge mix of influences including classic rock titans Kiss, Metallica and Lamb of God as well as old school
jungle and hip-hop. This certainly creates for a unique sound. With their thrash style and punky vocals, Motorax expects to see no man standing still during their sets. Each show continues to consist of anarchic head bangers and sweaty fans convulsing to their killer riffs. Any lovers of the vast genre of heavy metal are going to love these kooky London rockers and can expect to see them tearing up as many pubs and venues as they can this year. The fiery outfit shook the Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge with their first performance in 2014. With such a good reaction from the crowd, it was of no doubt to see the lads booked up once again. Motorax have now played at the venue several times with each performance becoming bigger and better. Their last show at the Crown and Treaty even saw them headline the notorious Halloween Rock Night. It’s safe to say they will be invited back again. However, Uxbridge isn’t the only playground for Motorax. The guys are slowly making their way into the Camden music scene and have become regulars at The Unicorn where they were recently part of a gut wrenching thrash-fest with fellow metallers, Bangover. Later this year they will also be joining fellow West Londoners, Anoxide for a night of good old fashioned heavy metal and stomach curling riffs. CAUTION! Expect to see a mosh pit…or two!
But Motorax’s appearances don’t stop there. Last year Motorax graced the historic Bow Bells in Bow, London, playing beneath 80s underground punks, The Vibrators. A perfect step into getting their undiscovered talent noticed! So why should you make the effort to see these crazy rockers? Motorax said, “We play different stuff to what everyone is listening to at the moment, it’s loud and unique. We enjoy it and appreciate everyone that supports us by coming to the shows. Basically you’ll just see that we love performing and we have fun while we do it. We are just idiots having a good time really!” As Motorax start to prepare for another killer year, we can expect many more appearances both in West London and Camden, including themselves in awesome thrash lineups alongside other local talent. The word on the street is that the lads are writing more new material and are even preparing to record their first E.P. So if you’re looking for a rocking night out in our local town, then look no further than Motorax. A pumped up young band that are ready to take this year by storm. They are loud, fiery and totally bonkers! Or as glossy haired guitarist, Carl puts simply, “We are fucking sick!”
Dilinna Aniebonam Uxbridge
Billy Elliott The Musical The most moving musical of all time. Lara Waterfield Uxbridge
Billy Elliot opened in the West End at the Victoria Palace Theatre in 2005 and has continued to delight audiences ever since. Now in its 10th year the show has grown in popularity worldwide, with performances in theatres across the globe. What started as a small West End production that wasn’t expected to last has exceeded expectations. It’s 10th birthday celebrations saw the London production streamed to hundreds of cinemas both nationally and internationally. Billy Elliot is probably best known as the 1990’s film sensation staring Jamie Bell and directed my Lee Hall and Stephen Daldry, critically acclaimed and loved by many. One of its fans was Elton John who believed it should be turned in to a musical. He launched himself into the project composing the music along with the team who worked so well together on the film.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Elliot
was certain, the drama was not left behind in high school.
Charlotte dies, Hannah’s engaged and we still can’t quite work out how the mothers got out of Alison’s basement!
Billy Elliot the Musical was born. The most successful musicals always combine fun, energy and drama. Billy Elliot achieves this with a perfect balance between the fun and liveliness of a musical with its spectacularly moving and poignant story. Set in the 1984-1985 miners’ strike the musical follows Billy Elliot the son of a miner as he
discovers a love and talent for ballet. The musicals ingenious dichotomy between the adult world of struggle and hardship with the children quite literally dancing though life, leads to many interesting moments. Significant highlights include the musicals iconic number ‘Electricity’, ‘Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher’ and ‘Solidarity’. Elton John’s score is stunning with a real range of music from beautiful ballads and folk songs to upbeat dance numbers. The sheer talent of the cast is evident throughout. The younger cast in particular deserve mentioning not only for their stamina, but their sheer talent in both acting and dancing. I have seen many young actors play the part of Billy and all embodied the character in their own way, accentuating different aspects so no performance is the same. It has recently been announced that Billy Elliot will be closing in the West End, leaving the Victoria Palace Theatre, London after 11 unforgettable years. The show will be commencing a tour of the U.K. while the theatre is refurbished. It is unknown whether the show will return once the refurbishment is complete. The musical has cemented its mark not only at its home in Victoria but the entire West End so I think there is no reason for this awe inspiring show not to return in the very near future. The final performance at its home in the West End is on Saturday 9th April. Don’t miss your chance to see it before it leaves.
Pretty Little Liars returned to America’s TV screens on Tuesday 12th January (the internet world on Wednesday), and us die-hard fans were there as always to promote all thing liars. The hashtag (#PrettyLittleLiars) trended around the world for almost 24 hours in the lead up to the show, which aired on newly reformed channel ‘FreeForm’, replacing ABC family. Viewers in the UK, like myself and other countries couldn’t watch the show on TV, but we desperately waited until Wednesday to watch the events unfold after writer, I. Marlene King’s, 5-year jump ahead to the girls’ new lives. One thing that
The first episode after the timejump was as expected – pretty eventful - leaving us anxiously asking questions. The girls’ transformations looked real and though their hair and makeup were different they were still the girls we know and love, and of course they were unable to stay out of trouble! Ok, so apart from the fact that Charlotte dies the day after being released from hospital, we find out at the end of the episode that she was murdered. And can we discuss her funeral giving some serious déjà vu? It looked just like Alison’s funeral, and the episode even ended the same with the detective telling them they’re suspects. It was also weird to see Hannah engaged… but not to Caleb. Devastating for ‘Haleb’ fans everywhere, especially as we didn’t get to meet her fiancé in the first episode!
much emotional baggage. Well if you’ve been watching the show for over 5 years like myself, you were pretty shocked to find out ‘A’ was Alison Delaurentis’ sister Charlotte, and excited to see how the show could possibly move on. The first episode didn’t disappoint us,
especially after talk around the end of last year on whether the show would be able to keep fans watching after revealing ‘A’, which let’s face it, was the point of the show. Speaking last year at New York Comic Con, when the season’s preview premiered, Sasha Pieterse, who plays Alison, assured fans: “It’s a totally different
show…in the best way.” We are looking forward to what season 6b will bring, and for us fans who have been watching the show from the beginning, were just happy to have Pretty Little Liars to look forward to every week again.
PHOTO CREDIT: YouTube
If you’re looking for a perfect night out in Uxbridge then look no further than our very own local music scene.
PHOTO CREDIT: VisitLondon.com
Discover ‘Motorax’
Pretty Little Liars fast forward 5 years
At the start of the episode we saw Alison teaching in the school she never really had time to go to (you know, because she went missing and died, but wasn’t really dead so was able to go back again). Probably the biggest shock however, Spencer’s into politics, has bangs and for the first time doesn’t actually have too
Review: ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Disney Pixar’s latest film arrived in cinemas after what can be described as a very bumpy road in production: a director change, an eighteenmonth delay and a complete story overhaul. Sophie Perry Uxbridge
PHOTO CREDIT: IAMAG.co
Factors that would make even the most avid Pixar fan sceptical that the film can deliver and match the brand’s impossibly high standards. The Good Dinosaur’s release also marking the first time that Pixar has released two films in the same year, the other being Inside Out which has grossed a towtal of $851.6million.
elements of The Good Dinosaur is the film’s vast visual landscape. Based on the American North and mid-West, Pixar’s team travelled to places such as Wyoming, Oregon and Southern Montana for research. The film’s photorealistic backgrounds is a testament to the power of animation and what it can achieve.
The Good Dinosaur takes place in an alternate world where the asteroid that caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65million years ago instead safely skims past the Earth. Millions of years later, farmers Henry (Jeffrey Wright) and Ida (Frances McDormand) who are two Apatosaurus (yes you read that right), have three children: Libby (Maleah Padilla), Buck (Marcus Scribner) and tiny runt Arlo (Raymond Ochoa). Our protagonist Arlo does not flourish in the world as well as his siblings as he is scared of most things, and by that I mean all things. His inability to kill the ‘critter’, a feral human cave boy, that is stealing their food leads to a series of events that take Arlo very, very far from home.
It is, however, peculiar that such emphasis of realism was not also displayed in character design. The dinosaurs, cave people and other creatures in the film having a definitive ‘cartoon-ish’ look about them, Arlo’s big eyes and square teeth being almost Aardman animation in style. Although, director Peter Sohn did state that Arlo was designed so that the boy could be seen ‘inside’ the dinosaur, he explained that “when Arlo gets lost in the wilderness, you need to worry […] rather than just thinking ‘you’re an animal. Why don’t you just turn around and eat some leaves?’”
One of the most impressive
While, story-wise The Good Dinosaur is nothing we haven’t seen before, mixing a typical coming-ofage story with the idea of ‘a boy and his dog’. That if, of course, if the boy
is an adolescent Apatosaurus and the dog a small, feral human boy who Arlo names ‘Spot’. Thus, with its cartoon-ish animation and simple story, The Good Dinosaur is a film specifically aimed at children. While all Pixar films are obviously aimed at children, most have a little something extra for the parents and adults watching, something that intrigues, resonates and entertains them too. In Finding Nemo this was the compulsive need to protect your child, in Up, the profoundly adult acknowledgement that we all grow old, and in Inside Out the understanding of what it is to have your pre-pubescent play havoc. The Good Dinosaur does not have this. As film critic Christopher Orr states in The Atlantic, ‘it’s a simple story, well-told’. Though for all of its problematic elements I did enjoy The Good Dinosaur, I am, after all, a sucker for dinosaur films. And the question still looms, does it measure up the Pixar’s summer release, Inside Out? Not quite.
32 | CULTURE
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | 33
Top films of 2015 Before we get on with it, first I have to lay down some ground rules.
Edward Sweet Uxbridge
Firstly, these films have to have been released in the UK at the time of writing, which means that films that are already out in the US such as The Hateful Eight will not appear on this list. Conversely, some films released in 2014 in the US didn’t come to the UK until this year, such as Big Hero 6, The Theory of Everything and Selma. Also, these films have to have been released theatrically, so while I absolutely adored the Kickstarterfunded short film Kung Fury, it didn’t get a widespread theatrical run and therefore it unfortunately cannot qualify for this list. With all that out of the way, let’s start off with some honourable mentions. Honourable mention #1: Steve Jobs A decade-spanning story about the eponymous billionaire genius and former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs is a thrilling biopic that takes place during the run-up to three of Apple’s most famous product launches: the Macintosh, the Black Cube and the iMac. While it sounds like a premise for a movie full of gratuitous product placement and corporate appraisal, the movie opts for the smarter route and tells an engaging story based around the personal drama in Jobs’ career and relationships with coworkers and business partners and his own wife and daughter. With a fast-paced and witty screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and a great leading performance by Michael Fassbender and a great soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton, this is definitely one to check out. Honourable mention #2: Ant-Man As the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets exponentially bigger and more expansive, it’s refreshing to see a change of pace where the emphasis isn’t so much focused on blockbuster spectacle (although Ant-Man still has it in spades with some really inventive use of the character’s size-changing powers), but rather, it also focuses more on the relationship between only a handful of characters rather than a whole team of Avengers, and in my opinion, that makes for a more engaging and heartfelt film overall
while also being exciting and very, very funny.
Honourable mention #3: Everest When it comes to man-vs.-nature disaster movies, the top-billed cast are usually guaranteed to make it out alive no matter what. Everest gives a middle finger to that and pits our heroes against the most unforgiving conditions imaginable. Telling the true story of a group of mountain climbers on an expedition to the top of Mount Everest, this incredibly tense movie does a fantastic job of portraying the harsh reality that mountain climbers face, while giving the situation a siren-like quality, juxtaposing the very real and very likely danger with gorgeous 3D vistas brought to life through outstanding cinematography, and while the characters themselves aren’t exactly ones that will go down in movie history, they are well-written and well-developed enough to make you want to root for them to make it out of this dire situation where no one is safe. Now, let’s begin countdown, with…
the
real
#10: Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) This semi-autobiographical tale of a washed-up superhero actor trying to make a name for himself offers an intriguing, if somewhat smug and even ill-informed at times, deconstruction of superhero movies and their presence in the modern Hollywood landscape. While it certainly has its flaws, as I mentioned, it’s still as entertaining as it is thought-provoking; with a stellar cast giving great performances (particularly Michael Keaton and Emma Stone), a witty script and impressive cinematography. While I wouldn’t say it deserved to fly away with Best Picture at last year’s Oscars, it still soars. #9: John Wick In a decade so full of dull, trite and generic action movies, it’s a welcome relief to see Keanu Reeves come back and show us how it’s done, making for one hell of an entertaining movie and an ode to the gritty yet over-thetop R-rated action flicks of the 90s, with some great fight choreography and a simple premise – a group of thugs break into a man’s home, steal his car, trash the place and kill his dog. What they don’t know; that guy was John Wick, the boogieman of the underworld, who’s now hellbent on revenge. It’s not just action that this movie does well, though; it also succeeds in building an intricate world that refrains from sequel-
baiting yet makes me want to find out what they could do to expand this world, and in my opinion, this is a movie that I would love to see as a new franchise in a decade full of unnecessary Taken sequels. #8: Kingsman: The Secret Service Harkening back to the Bond movies of the 60s and 70s while injecting modern sensibilities and themes such as class division, Kingsman is an absolute blast from start to finish. The plot centres around Eggsy, a street thug from London who finds himself recruited into a super-secret spy organisation to help take down an evil tech genius. All the highlights of Matthew Vaughn’s direction are clear as day, from the well-executed and ultraviolent fight sequences (the church scene is a classic action setpiece) to the smart writing and edgy humour to the great soundtrack, but most importantly, this movie has a lot of heart and charm to it, something that is missing from a lot of current Hollywood action movies nowadays. #7: Ex Machina Ex Machina combines elements of various genres and brings together some amazing new talent in the form of Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander and director Alex Garland, to make arguably the best non-action sci-fi movie since 2009’s Moon. Centering around a tech employee who wins a competition to test out a new form of artificial intelligence and meet the CEO behind it, it’s worth more than the sum of its parts – it’s a well-constructed look on the philosophy of A.I. and the evolution of technology, as well as a seductive sci-fi thriller reminiscent of classics such as Blade Runner in terms of its themes and aspirations. It’s a movie that grabs you and refuses to let go, and it’s sure to become a cult classic. #6: Inside Out The latest effort from Pixar is not only the studio’s best in a while, but perhaps even one of their best films to date. While the premise of a world populated by sentient beings has been done before in various forms, Inside Out is one of the few films that fully and wholeheartedly commits to the premise, with an intricate world, memorable and complex characters and gags and emotional moments in equal measure, this movie is one of the finest examples of storytelling through metaphor, and its message is important to people of all ages – it’s OK to be sad sometimes. #5: Song of the Sea I can’t think of many other words to describe it other than that it is simply magical. It tells the story of a young
boy who finds out that his sister is a Selkie, a mythical creature that can turn into a seal. It’s reminiscent in many respects of the works of the films of Studio Ghibli due to its gorgeous 2D animation, beautiful sequences, terrific voice cast and childlike sense of wonder and magic. It’s a truly timeless animated masterpiece that can be appreciated on a myriad of different levels by people of all ages, and one that truly has to be seen to be believed.
“
The most badass female character in an action movie since the likes of Aliens’ Ellen Ripley or Kill Bill’s Beatrix Kiddo icon forever.
#4: Mad Max: Fury Road It’s astonishing to consider that it’s been over 30 years since Mad Max last rode off into the sunset, and yet veteran director George Miller has returned to give us one of the best sci-fi action movies of the year, not just from an action standpoint through its slavish devotion to jaw-dropping stunt work, practical effects and great cinematography, but also because of its progressive ideas and the fact that we’ve been given the most badass female character in an action movie since the likes of Aliens’ Ellen Ripley or Kill Bill’s Beatrix Kiddo. It all adds up to an amazing film with kick-ass R-rated action in spades, a feminist message and a hideous, grotesque beauty to the whole thing. #3: The Martian Directed by Ridley Scott and adapted from the novel by Andy Weir, The Martian tells the story of an astronaut who is left stranded on Mars and must find a way to survive until a rescue team can get to him. A thoroughly compelling watch helped by amazing performances, great special effects, a completely plausible setup and execution, and, most importantly, an optimistic view on space exploration that celebrates the awesome power of knowledge to get out of a sticky situation, and on humanity setting aside its differences for the common good. It’s a miracle seeing Ridley Scott return
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
to his former glory after a series of disappointments – a true return to form if ever there was one. #2: Star Wars: The Force Awakens It’s no exaggeration to say that the hype for this movie has reached astronomical proportions, to the point that it seemed impossible that the film would live up to expectations from the fans as not just an apology for the prequel trilogy, but also as a great film overall and a nostalgia trip for fans of the original trilogy who were disappointed by the prequels. Thankfully, the final film managed to stick to landing to deliver one of the best times I’ve had in a cinema. While it isn’t without its flaws (it’s more or less a beat-for-beat retelling of A New Hope), it’s still a fantastic film in nearly all regards, with a terrific cast comprising of franchise veterans mixed with newcomers whose performances make me hope that they get more work in the future, including John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and a star-making, showstealing turn by Daisy Ridley as the lead heroine. Also to be found in this movie are compelling characters, including a villain to rival even the great Darth Vader, excellent visuals with an emphasis on practical effects and sets and a sense of magic that recaptures the glory days of the franchise. It’s great to be back in that galaxy far, far away. #1: Whiplash Few films have affected me quite like Whiplash has. On the one hand, it’s a film that raises the question of whether the ends justify the means, of how far you can push a person to his mental and physical limits until he reaches or passes the breaking point to attain perfection. On the other hand, it’s a relentless and punishing psychological war movie, a battle of two titans going toe to toe in a brutal mental sparring match. The plot revolves around Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a drummer who “doesn’t just want to be great”, but “one of the greats”, and who gains the interest of revered teacher Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), whose methods of finding perfection are quickly found to be akin to psychological torture. With outstanding performances from Teller and an Oscar-winning Simmons, flawless cinematography and sound design, nail-biting tension throughout and a finale that will undoubtedly go down as one of the best in movie history, watching Whiplash is almost akin to a religious experience in its execution. Here’s to a hell of a year of films in 2016!
High doses of cocaine can turn your brain cells into ‘cannibals’ Cocaine, the highly addictive drug often associated with the wealthier classes, has now been observed having a cannibalistic effect on human cells, according to a newly published paper.
Elisabeth Mahase Uxbridge
A study carried out at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US, found that the white powder can trigger an uncontrollable process that leads to cells digesting themselves, effectively turning them into cannibals. The process known as autophagy is a vital part of a cells lifecycle, allowing them to be broken down and their parts to be recycled and reused. However, researchers now believe that cocaine stimulates this process to the point where it becomes out of control. Lead researcher Dr Prasun Guha, said: “A cell is like a household that is constantly generating trash. Autophagy is the housekeeper that
takes out the trash – it’s usually a good thing. But cocaine makes the housekeeper throw away really important things, like mitochondria, which produce energy for the cell.” The scientists also tested the effect of the experimental drug CGP3466B on nerve cells in mice, finding that it did help to protect the cells from cocaine induced autophagy. CGP3466B has been previously tested in clinical trials for the treatment of motor neurone diseases such a Parkinson’s. Nonetheless much more research is needed to prove whether this protective effect is mirrored in humans, this research could be a crucial step towards treating cocaine toxicity.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
34 | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SPORT | 35
Tennis teams top the table! Luke Ellis Uxbridge
As we pass the halfway point of the season three of Brunel’s tennis teams are first in their respective leagues. Tim Blackman, part of the team coaching staff, introduced this academic year by saying “We are trying to create something great here at Brunel Tennis - a bit of a legacy if you will. Although tennis is viewed mostly as an individual sport in nature, we emphasise the importance of being part of a team. You miss training without providing a valid reason? Don’t be expecting to play! We train together, we win together, we lose together - it’s as simple as that.” Evidently, this is having a positive effect on performances and more importantly enjoyment as Arun Naidu says “It’s a welcome break and escape from work. We go down and play, originally with people who you may not know, but very quickly they become some of your closest friends. It’s awesome!” The teams look to bring their fine form and enthusiasm into 2016 with some important fixtures coming up shortly, most notably the rematch of Brunel 2nds against Brunel 3rds on the 10th February. Speaking of rivalries, Varsity details have been released and we are already getting massively excited. For the first time in a while the university are fielding both a men’s and women’s team. Our ladies’ captain, treasurer and normal LeNurb contributor, Lauren Norton can’t wait. She said: “This is my last year at Brunel and I am so glad I can finally have the opportunity to participate in Varsity, rather than just cheering from the side-lines. Plus, it would be a great way to go out with a bang. BRU WHAT?!” As well as Varsity details, information regarding the Sports Fed Ball was released recently and tennis, as a club, are confident that we will improve dramatically upon last year’s efforts.
SPORT Photo credits: Brunel Tennis
As University Tennis Coordinator and Club Chairman, I get to see how everything is organised. Plus, I am lucky enough to get to interact with everyone and can proudly say we have a lot of fantastic members! We all have our fingers crossed that the Sports Fed Ball will be a successful one for the club.
38 | SPORT
SPORT | 39
Wealdstone boss harbours hopes of mid-table finish despite tough season Bradley Hayden Uxbridge
Wealdstone boss Gordon Bartlett, is hopeful the club can better last season’s eleventh place finish in the Conference South, despite this being one of the toughest seasons he’s ever experienced.
At the mid-way point of the season the Stones, who play their home games in Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip, sit in sixteenth place, just four points from the relegation zone, although they do have games in hand over the teams around them in the table. But despite their difficult start and the number of ‘curveballs’ Bartlett has faced, the Stones manager
stressed the squad are still fighting and he is hopeful the club can better their eleventh place finish last season. “I hoped we would be higher but I can’t say I expected us to be. I hoped we would be higher and I still hope we will. But it’s not about where we are now, but where we end up and that’s what we will be judged on.” “There is no doubt the early part of the season and in fact even up to recently, I think I’ve been thrown so many curveballs this year that even with thirty years’ experience in management it’s left me scratching my head on far too many occasions. There’s been things I’ve never come across before and sometimes I didn’t even think was possible.”
“But, they’ve happened, we’ve had to deal with them and we are still in there fighting and if we can win a couple of those games we have got in hand, we will be up sitting in midtable and I said before the season started that I wanted us to improve on last year. Last year we finished eleventh and that is still viable.” Bartlett also stated that the Conference South outfit are always looking to add new players to the current squad. One player the Stones signed recently was former Watford and Millwall full-back Jack Smith and Bartlett said he is delighted at how the experienced defender has settled in.
“We are always looking to strengthen if the opportunity arises for us to get a player who is better than one we have already and fits within the financial restraints. We are always looking to improve.” “With regards to Jack, we’ve been looking for a full-back for some time. Jack became available. It suited us because he’s versatile, he can play at either left or right back and I think he’s come in and done very well so far. He also fits in with the players we’ve got and the characters we’ve got in the group and he was absolutely ideal and he’s come in and done well so far. Long may it continue.”
Photo credit: Steve Foster/WealdstoneFC
OPINION
Is this the most exciting Premier League for years? This Premier League season has been one of the closest and unpredictable years for some time. Bradley Hayden Uxbridge
Gone is the predictability which used to surround some of the fixtures involving some of the so called ‘big boys’ and the smaller sides in the division. There was a common consensus that the larger clubs could just turn up when playing against one of the smaller teams in the division, not play at their best and still win. However, this year it is all change. Anyone can beat anyone. Well, perhaps Aston Villa aside, who sit bottom of the table with a measly twelve points, the majority of matches have seen the rule-book when a truly ripped up. As a result, this has made this Pr emier League season one of the best in recent memory. The unpredictably this season has brought, has been aided by all of the newly promoted clubs and also, some of the lesser so called teams giving this season a right good go. Firstly, we’ve got Leicester. Where do you start? To think the appointment of Claudio Ranieri in the summer was ridiculed by the national media. ‘Relegation favourites’ they cried. How wrong could they have been? Their fast and attacking style of football is refreshing and as a result, it has made them so hard to play against. And then we come to the small matter of Jamie Vardy. What a story this is. To think just six years ago, he was plying his trade with Non-League outfit, Stocksbridge Park Steels. Now he is the joint top scorer in the Premier League and knocking on the door to be starting for England
at the European Championship’s in France in the summer. Then we’ve got the newly promoted sides in Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich who have all come up and done themselves no harm at all, with the all of the above recording impressive victories over Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United respectively. Coupled with the impressive form of Crystal Palace and Stoke City, some of the smaller sides have showcased to teams in the Championship that you can come up to the top flight and be successful. Added to the excellent form of some of the so called ‘lesser sides’ in the Premier League, another reason why this season is so exciting is due to the extraordinary goings on at Chelsea. Who would have thought the Blue’s would be languishing dangerously close to the relegation zone as we hit the half-way point of the season? Even the so called ‘Special One’ in Jose Mourinho couldn’t arrest the slump and the players who were untouchable at times last term seem disinterested in hitting the heights they reached last season. Some might argue it’s a shame to see one of the countries elite struggling to reach the heights they expected. But it’s something different. Note the word ‘different’ because this, in my view, is something the Premier League has been calling out for years.
We’ve grown accustomed to the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal dominating the top four. On occasions Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have got themselves in on the act. This year all of that has been thrown out of the window. It’s rare to see a team falter so badly after winning the Premier League title and this is why we need to embrace this season more than ever because it will be some time before we see anything like this again. If you said to me that Chelsea would be in 14th position going into February, I would have thought you were mad. I think most of you would have said the same as well. Adding to the excitement this year is the rise of Tottenham Hotspur. It’s refreshing to see a foreign manager so eager to bring through young English talent. Harry Kane, Deli Alli, and Eric Dier have performed remarkably well and they are all knocking on the door to be starting for England against Russia
at the European Championship’s in June. As a result, Mauricio Pochettino is now reaping the rewards and their free flowing and possession based football has earnt many admirers. They are serious contenders for a top four finish. All of the above are just some of the many reasons why this Premier League season is so remarkable. And that is why we should embrace it. This year is one of the most unpredictable and exhilarating seasons in years and it will be some time before we see anything like this again. Photo credit: Reuters
40 | SPORT
LE NURB
SPORT
Photo credit: Elisabeth Mahase
Futsal take Super Sunday by storm! Elisabeth Mahase Uxbridge
Men’s Futsal took their Super Sunday by storm on 24th January when all three teams beat their opponents in action filled and highly
skilled play. The 3rd team kicked off at 1:45 against Hertforshire University’s 2nd team. With the final score at 7 – 4 to Brunel, the team secured their place in the BUCS cup semi-finals. After a short break, the 2nd team took to the floor at 3:15 against New
Bucks University’s 1st team. Much like the 3rd team, they dominated the game and succeeded in winning with a final score of 6 -3. Finally it was time for the 1st team to take centre stage in their game against Brighton’s 1st team. Brighton’s quick start gave them a
1 – 0 lead before the referee had even finished blowing the whistle. However, it didn’t take Brunel more than a minute to get back in the game with an equaliser.
who made some incredible saves. With goals being scored even in the last minute, the game finished on an impressive score of 8 – 5, meaning all teams beat their rivals by 3 goals.
From that point Brunel lead the intense game, with huge credit due to their Captain and their goalkeeper
Follow the Futsal team on twitter to get all their game updates: @ BrunelFutsal