Palatinate The UK and Ireland’s Best Student Publication, 2021
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | No. 841
Your complete Michaelmas guide Inside Indigo
Freshers face half-hour walks from colleges to accommodation after “chaotic” admissions Martha McHardy Deputy Editor-In-Chief Prospective Durham University freshers have described the college reallocation process as “cruelly disappointing” and disorganised as the University attempted to find space for
incoming students just weeks before the start of term. Last month, Durham University announced it would offer incoming freshers £500 for moving colleges in an attempt to prevent overcrowding at the University. An email from the University to incoming undergraduates explained that
some colleges are over their total accommodation capacity as a result of high offer attainment. Students have also been offered places in private accommodation, including the Unite Students block Rushford Court, which will house overflow from Collingwood College. Josephine Butler College and St Hild and
Bede College will also be using private accommodation in a similar way. Students who have been allocated to private accommodation will not be eligible for the £500 compensation. Jeremy Cook, Pro-ViceChancellor (Colleges and Student Experience) at Durham
University, told Palatinate: “Due to unprecedented student success this year, we have been unable to offer all students their first choice of College, and a small number of students have been offered places in extra college-managed accommodation in Durham. Continued on page 6
UCU to vote on strikes Poppy Askham News Editor Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are due to vote over whether or not to take strike action this term as a dispute over pension cuts intensifies. The UCU has previously described industrial action as “inevitable” in response to a recent breakdown in negotiations with employer bodies. The Union is contesting proposed changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS), the sector’s principal pension benefit system. They argue that the proposals would cut the annual guaranteed pension by 35% and limit protection from inflation. Professor Antony Long, acting Vice-Chancellor, described the ballot as “regrettable”. Continued on page 3
An investigation has now been launched into a fire on the Milburngate development which encased Durham in smoke on September 15th (Toby Donegan-Cross)
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
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Editorial
Inside 841
(Rosie Bromiley)
News pages 1-7 Satire page 9 Comment pages 10-12 Profile pages 14-15 Scitech pages 17-19 Politics pages 20-22 Puzzles page 23 Palatidates page 24 Sport pages 25-28
indigo
A summer of discontent
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o-one pretended that the Department of Education’s job was an easy one. Grade inflation or giving out poor grades was the dilemma they professed, as if there were no conceivable alternatives. However, even if few can agree as to how the Department should have solved the problem, many may conclude that they made an art form of incompetence. Fast forward a few months and Gavin Williamson is gone, which probably feels like justice to the generation of students who suffered under his protracted tenure. We wish him and his pet tarantula, Cronus, well on the backbenches. We needn’t feel too bad for him, however, as reports say he’s in line for a knighthood — a serious case of grade inflation. If they were interested in their credibility, the Department should have admitted how damaging grade inflation has been for students and the universities admitting them. It was an inadequate solution to a difficult predicament. Durham, like others, has scrambled to provide for the record levels of students meeting entry requirements. Last year’s £1,500 accommodation discount offer increased to a £5,000 grant
for students who chose to defer this year. Like the Government, the University seems to find money down the back of the sofa when in crisis. (None of the same flexibility is offered to staff considering strikes over plummeting pensions.) Private student halls then held the cards, and the University was forced to negotiate a number of deals to ensure all students had a place to stay. This was clearly the least bad solution, but a far from happy outcome. Students could feel distanced from their college communities, some over half an hour’s walk from the hubs of student life. Yet the price will be the same. The University insist that, whatever choices students make, “they can look forward to a worldclass academic and wider student experience.” This is probably true. The application process exaggerates the differences between colleges, and many students never live in college, yet become as well integrated as the toastie bars and raucous chants. Additionally, most students, parents and commentators have sympathy with the University’s predicament. The issue, however, as the cartoon above brings out,
The case for providing compensation to freshers cut adrift is clear
is the chasm between expectation and reality. Incoming students’ trust has been shaken by promises from the University that could not be met. They should rebuild this trust by offering meaningful compensation to all students forced to live outside of their colleges. Durham’s accommodation fees are already amongst the highest in the country, and given that a reasonably small proportion of freshers are affected, such compensation would not burn a hole in University finances. They should admit that these emergency measures, necessary though they were, mean that not all students will have equal access to the collegiate system, one of the University’s unique selling points. The University should also apologise for mishandling communication. Some students found themselves with 24 hours to decide whether to take a gap year or to move college.
Some students found themselves with 24 hours to decide whether to take a gap year.
Editorial page 2 Books page 3 Features page 4 Stage page 5 Style page 6 Music page 7 Purple Diary pages 8-9 Interview page 10 Travel page 11 Film & TV pages 12-13 Food & Drink page 14 Creative Writing page 15 Visual Arts page 16
Letters to the Editor
Disagree with something we’ve published? Send us a letter at editor@palatinate.org.uk and we may publish it in the next edition.
for their willingness to complain about anything and everything. The pandemic has shown if anything our remarkable resilience. But the case for providing compensation to freshers cut adrift from their colleges is clear. Their complaints should be heard and addressed.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Freeman’s Quay, Lifestyle Fitness, for sponsoring this edition of Palatinate.
Toby Donegan-Cross & Max Kendix Editors-in-Chief
A number of parents wrote to Palatinate describing their heartbreak at watching their children go through this ordeal. It did not need to be so. The University say they are dealing with an “unprecedented” situation. After a year and a half, this line is wearing thin. Students are often derided
Palatinate is published by Durham Students’ Union on a fortnightly basis during term and is editorially independent. All contributors and editors are full-time students at Durham University. Send letters to: Editor, Palatinate, Durham Students’ Union, Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN. Alternatively, send an e-mail to editor@palatinate.org.uk
Palatinate Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief Toby Donegan-Cross & Max Kendix editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editors Martha McHardy & Harrison Newsham News Editors Theo Burman, Lilith Foster-Collins & Poppy Askham news@palatinate.org.uk News Reporters Keziah Smith, Orlando Bell, Cristina Coellen & Elizabeth McBride Investigations Editors Patrick Stephens & Kathryn Ellison Satire Editors Ben Lycett & Hannah Williams satire@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editors Ellie Fitzgerald-Tesh & Anna Noble comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editors George Pickthorn & Miriam Shelley Profile Editors Paul Ray & Ethan Sanitt profile@palatinate.org.uk Science & Technology Editors Elise Garcon, Cameron McAllister & Caitlin Painter scitech@palatinate.org.uk Politics Editors Maddy Burt & Rj Batkhuu politics@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Politics Editors Joe Rossiter & Laetitia Eichinger Puzzles Editors Thomas Simpson, Hugo Bush & Katie Smith puzzles@palatinate.org.uk Sport Editors George Simms, Abi Curran & Jonny Tiplady sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors Harvey Stevens & Mary Atkinson Indigo Editors Cerys Edwards & Honor Douglas indigo@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Indigo Editor Adeline Zhao Features Editors Isobel Tighe & Miriam Mitchell features@palatinate.org.uk Creative Writing Editors Millie Stott & Ella Al-Khalil Coyle creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk Stage Editors Ben Smart & Jodie Sale stage@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editors Nicole Wu & Christian Bland visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Books Editors Imogen Marchant & Samuel Lopes books@palatinate.org.uk Style Editors Grace Jessop & Anna Johns fashion@palatinate.org.uk Food & Drink Editors Nia Kile, Josie Lockwood & Emerson Shams food@palatinate.org.uk Travel Editors Gracie Linthwaite & Holly Downes travel@palatinate.org.uk Film & TV Editors Charlotte Grimwade & Grace Marshall film@palatinate.org.uk Music Editors Katya Davisson & Annabelle Bulag music@palatinate.org.uk Interview Editors Stephanie Ormond & Abigail Brierley indigo.interview@palatinate.org.uk Photography Editors Lainey Lin, Thomas Tomlinson & Rob Laine photography@palatinate.org.uk Illustration Editors Verity Laycock, Rosie Bromiley, Victoria Cheng & Anna Kuptsova illustration@palatinate.org.uk Social Media Officers Felicity Hartley, Georgia Heath & Hannah Davies Business Director JJ Littlemore businessdirector@palatinate.org.uk Heads of Advertising Alex Cowan, Thaddeus Dominic, Ben Stoneley & Kyra Onyebuchi advertising@palatinate.org.uk Heads of Alumni Relations Elena Liciu & Ben Stoneley alumni@palatinate.org.uk Finance Officer Sophie Garnett finance@palatinate.org.uk
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
“The employer likes to pretend they have no agency” Continued from front Trustees claim that the USS cannot maintain the current level of pension payouts and that greater contributions from employers and employees or cuts to benefits are the only way to patch up a £14bn-£18bn estimated funding gap. The decision to ballot UCU members was made at an emergency conference called in response to the backing of the proposals by Universities UK, an employer body representing 140 universities including Durham. The strike ballot was also called in response to concerns about casualisation of labour, workplace inequalities and unmanageable workloads. The Union has highlighted the prevalence of below inflation pay offers and the fact that the gender pay gap remains at 15.5% and that only 1% of UK professors are Black. Durham University staff members previously went on strike over pension cuts and workplace issues in 2018, 2019, and early 2020. “We want to avoid any further disruption to our students and their studies that another round of strike action may cause, and the University will do all it can to minimise and mitigate this,” Race stated. The ballots will involve 152 institutions and launch on 18th October, provided employers do not meet the Union’s demands which include an increase in employer pension contributions and a decrease in employee contributions. The results of the ballot will then be considered by the UCU’s Higher Education Committee on 8th November. The National Union of Students
(NUS) has voiced support for the UCU’s plan, stating that “students will hold employers responsible” if a negotiated settlement is not reached. Durham’s branch of the Union (DUCU) told Palatinate: “The employer likes to pretend they have no agency, but the reality is that they always had the option to argue against a very bad and totally unjustified cut to our pension, either publicly or in private. “Incredibly hard work put in by staff through 18 months of the pandemic is immediately followed by a massive cut to our retirement income.” The proposed changes to pensions are based on the 2020 USS valuation, which DUCU has labelled “flawed” due to the temporary and unstable
nature of the mid-pandemic economic landscape. “This has been used strategically to justify the proposed cuts, despite the fact that the employers’ representatives initially joined UCU in criticizing this valuation. “Having had our employers fail to consider any compromise or alternatives, our only choices are to accept further substantial degradation of our pay and conditions, or to fight for improvements.” In response to the launch of strike ballots, Professor Antony Long, Acting Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said: “It is regrettable that UCU has decided to ballot its members on further industrial action since this risks detriment to our students, who have already been impacted by Covid-19 and, for
Staff previously went on strike in 2018, 2019 and 2020
some, previous industrial action. The pension proposals at dispute are a big improvement on what was originally proposed, and the Pension Regulator has made it clear that they are at the limit of what will be allowed. Without changes to the pension scheme* the Regulator has made it clear that it will impose much higher increases in pension contributions that will be crippling to Durham University, our colleagues and the sector more widely. “We are in discussion with student leaders and I am keen to engage our student body more broadly on these issues. This includes explaining the consequences of any further increase in pension payments on how the University is able to support our students. We will continue to meet regularly with and work constructively with Durham UCU.” (Tim Packer)
Durham is one of the Russell Group universities that relies most heavily on international students tuition fees. Just two Russell Group Universities place higher: London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Warwick, which respectively derive 37.81% and 29.85% of their income from international students’ fees, according to online news site The Tab. Among non-Russell Group universities, dependence on international tuition fees is even
News New Tesco on Claypath The Tesco Express will open soon, and has a license to sell alcohol until midnight, an hour later than the current four supermarkets in Durham city centre.
Masks compulsory across campus Durham University has become one of the first to require everyone wear a mask in classrooms, lectures and for moving through University buildings. The move comes after pressure from several national workers’ unions.
Supply line crisis The combined force of Covid-19, Brexit and lorry driver shortages has caused national problems with supply lines, and no more so than in Josephine Butler College, which this week lost the ability to make a ‘Butler Bomb’.
Shhh... students Signs throughout Durham placed by the Parish Council are encouraging students to ‘Shhh’ from 11pm to 7am. Beer mats promoting the campaign will be placed in every college bar as well as local businesses.
Walk-in vaccinations There will be walk-in vaccinations on Palace Green on October 1, 6, 7 and 8, from 2:30pm to 6:30pm.
University loses SPAG marks
University reliant on international students’ fees for 28% of its income Cristina Coellen News Reporter
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more marked. The University of the Arts London derives 46 % of its income from international student fees, followed closely in the rankings by SOAS (42%) and Heriot-Watt University (41.87%). Meanwhile, the universities that depend the least on international student fees are the University of Cambridge (8.3 %) and the University of Oxford (7.33 %). Over 30% of Durham’s students are of “non-UK origin” according to the University, many of whom must pay substantially higher tuition fees than UK nationals. International students’ tuition prices are not standardised
across the UK and vary greatly depending on degree choice. At Durham University, tuition for an undergraduate Law degree costs international students £23,000 per year. Meanwhile, a BSc in Natural Sciences is priced at £28,500 per year. Following the UK’s departure from the EU in January 2021, EU students starting new degrees in the UK have been required to pay full international tuition fees, rather than £9,250 as was previously the case. Researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned in 2020 that a drop in international student admissions due to the
Covid-19 pandemic could have a “significant detrimental impact on the finances of the HE sector.” Fee income from international students in the academic year prior to the pandemic almost reached £7 billion, roughly 17% of the Higher Education sector’s total income. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat recently spoke to The Sunday Times about UK university’s dependence on international tuition fees: “Educating the best and brightest from across the world in Britain can only be a good thing. But I’m cautious when that relationship tips into overreliance.”
Passers-by were dismayed by a sign next to the Bill Bryson Library which misspelt St Aidan’s College. One wonders if ‘St Aiden’s College’ will have as many stairs.
Team Durham takes the leap E-sports have now become an official Team Durham sport, perfect for those keen to obtain coveted DU stash without breaking a sweat.
Scan the QR code to sign up for Durham Polling
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
News
Half a million spent on Lateral Flow Tests Patrick Stephens Investigations Editor Taking Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) has been central to the University’s Covid-19 response. But with every event and activity requiring it, and the University encouraging students to swab twice a week, the bill has racked up. A Freedom of Information request by Palatinate reveals that, from October to June, the University conducted almost 140,000 Lateral Flow Tests for
staff and students at a cost of £580k. Of the tests conducted, only 426 (0.3%) were positive, and some of these likely to be false positives. Almost three-quarters of tests were taken in the summer term as exams ended and students had an LFT-dependant period of enjoying the ‘Wider Student Experience’. Between April and June 2021, 103,061 were conducted, at a cost of £239,330. Of these, 339 were positive. From January to March 2021, 25,262 lateral flow tests were taken, with 21,250 and 4,012 between students and staff respectively. Of these, 47 were positive. Because of a national lockdown, many students were not resident in Durham in this period. Some have questioned the accuracy of LFTs and therefore their usefulness. 38 of the 40 positive lateral flow results received by the University in the Michaelmas term were matched with a PCR result: only 5 were positive. A Cochrane review of 64 studies indicated that LFTs correctly identify 72% of people who have symptoms, and 58% of asymptomatic cases. The University urged students to take two LFTs per week in the summer term. As cases
began to rise in the city in midJune, the University, alongside the County Council and Public Health England, requested that asymptomatic students also take one PCR test per week. Durham was part of an LFT pilot scheme developed in partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care, the University of Oxford, and Public Health England. Jacqui Ramagge, Executive Dean (Science) at Durham University, said in February:
36% of student-type properties controlled by 10 owners Lilith Foster-Collins and Theo Burman News Editors Just 10 owners, including individuals and investment companies, run almost 300 houses of multiple occupation, more than 36% of HMOs in Durham. Among the top 10 owners are 85 properties licensed to the founder of Hope Estates, who purchased
Permanent occupants
their first property whilst a student at the university in 1990. 20 properties are licensed on behalf of Robinsons, and 57 owned by Bill Free Homes. One individual owns 26 properties, and another 20. Houses of multiple occupation are properties which are rented out to at least three people from different households. In the Durham area, the vast majority of these properties are student houses, and many normal homes have been converted to HMOs in recent years to meet growing demand for student accommodation. 297 of these properties are tied to 10 licence holders, according to records held by Durham County Council, out of a total of 820 HMOs in the area. For comparison, in the far larger area of Reading, the top 10 owners control just 186 properties, out of 1,307. This is just over 14% of HMOs. Properties classed as large
HMOs must be licensed in order to be rented out in England. The law sets out various standards for large HMOs, including ensuring the house is suitable for the number of occupants, and fire safety regulations. HMOs with five or more permanent occupants must be licensed: of these, 42% of properties in Durham are houses of five occupants, 37% of six, and 3% nine or more. The average Durham student house has six bedrooms, two bathrooms and one living room across three storeys. The Durham student housing market is primarily managed by estate agents, who take up 57% of properties, with the rest managed privately. The top five agents by number of properties are Harringtons Sales and Lettings, Bill Free Homes, J. W. Wood, Hope Estates, and Frampton & Roebuck.
One individual owns 26 properties
“The health, safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and the wider community is always our first priority. Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) is one of a range of measures we’ve implemented to support a healthy campus and we are grateful to students and staff for their participation in the programme and their efforts to protect themselves and our community. “LFTs are voluntary. We encourage all students who are in Durham to test regularly, at least once a week, and we have made accessing the LFT programme as easy as possible. LFTs are available, at no cost, seven days a week at multiple locations in Durham and some Colleges. We’ve also worked closely with student leaders to develop communications campaigns to promote the benefits of regular testing and encourage uptake. “Lateral Flow Testing aims to identify people who are infectious but do not know it. By identifying these asymptomatic people and asking them to self isolate, we can help break the chain of transmission and protect our community. “The programme aims to test students and staff regularly to find and isolate positive cases swiftly, and to determine how we might test contacts of positive
cases regularly to identify those who are not infectious and avoid the need for self-isolation.” However, Ramagge also told Palatinate that “No test grants immunity to Covid-19 and we urge our entire community to continue to follow government guidance to help reduce the spread of the virus.” LFTs are typically less accurate than PCR tests, and positive LFT tests are usually confirmed with a subsequent PCR test.
(Mark Norton)
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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News
Business School plan poses “significant flood risk” Patrick Stephens Investigations Editor The Environmental Agency has advised that the proposed business school be rejected because they believe it “will pose a significant flood risk”. The City of Durham Parish Council has also formally opposed the development. The application is still formally pending consolidation, and the final decision on the project will be made by Durham County Council. The development would involve the demolition of the disused Elvet Waterside Swimming Pool and other disused buildings. The prospective site is located near the Philosophy department and a site used as a Covid-19 test centre this year. In a letter dated 21st May 2020, a specialist at the Environment Agency advised Durham County Council that it objected to the development, which would be elevated on stilts to prevent flooding. The Environment Agency advised the application for the new Buisness
School be rejected for two reasons. Firstly, the site is classified as ‘functional floodplain’ with a high probability of flooding. The development would be classed as ‘More Vulnerable’ because of how the building would be damaged by flooding. Government guidance states that developments with this classification should not be built on ‘functional floodplain’. Secondly, the Flood Risk Assessment was deemed not to “adequately assess the development’s flood risks’’ because the environmental agency “consider that the proposed development will pose a significant flood risk on site and off site”. With regard to the proposed use of stilts, the Agency added that it would reduce the impact of the development but would not “replace lost floodplain storage without changing the flooding mechanisms”. Though using stilts might mitigate the risk to the development itself, it would not be “floodplain compensation” because the development could still increase flood risk to the surrounding area. The agency also voiced concerns about setting a harmful precedent of allowing development on areas that flood frequently, especially
as this becomes more frequent in some areas due to climate change. In a letter dated 9th October 2020, City of Durham Parish Council listed several reasons for rejecting the proposed development. Aside from concerns raised by the Environmental Agency, the Council argued that the proposal did not meet the specific requirements needed to build within the Durham City Conservation Area. These include “protecting important views of the Durham City Conservation Area” and “having materials, detailing and lighting appropriate to the vernacular, context and setting”. Originally, the University intended to finish the project, moving the business school nearer to the city centre and converting its current site to a social sciences hub, by 2022. According to reports in The Northern Echo, the University is now discussing locating the new business school at the Sands. Durham University was contacted for comment.
(Alexbouditsky via Wikimedia Commons)
(Claude Ando)
Durham 14th most Instagrammable University city Theo Burman News Editor Durham City placed 14th in a list of the most tagged cities in posts associated with universities, according to research by HeriotWatt University. Over 71,600 Instagram posts featured Durham, many of which focused on the city’s
(Rosie Bromiley)
main attraction, the Cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site, and the surrounding Bailey area. Topping the list was London, with almost half a million tags, then Oxford and Cambridge, with around 400,000 and 200,000 respectively. Newcastle placed fourth with over 193,000 tags, making it the highest-ranked Northern University on the list followed by Durham.
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
News
“Chaotic, disorganised and very last minute” Continued from front
All of these students will very much be part of their College and will benefit from all of the activities it provides.” One student, allocated to Rushford Court, which is selfcatered and a 27 minute walk away from the main Collingwood site, said she “applied to Durham specifically for the collegiate system and wanted to live in college with the college lifestyle and community. “Now it’s self catered and reliant on a shuttle bus service or a 30 minute walk each way. The facilities of Rushford Court are excellent, but it’s the isolation from the college that will be the issue.” Incoming students studying Classics, English Studies, History, Music, Biosciences, Psychology, Management and Geography were offered a one-off cash payment of £5,000 by the University in return for deferring their offer by a year. Students who accepted the offer will be guaranteed their first choice college when they begin their degrees in 2022. The £5,000 incentive has now been extended to incoming students studying Computer Science, Law, Liberal Arts, Natural Sciences, Physics, PPE, and Primary Education after a massive increase in successful offers after A-Level Results Day in August. Durham Students’ Union has
criticised Durham University’s decision to offer prospective Durham students a one-off cash payment of £5,000 in return for deferring their degrees for a year, calling it “too little too late”. Undergraduate Academic Officer Charlie Procter and Postgraduate Academic Officer Declan Merrington said the University’s attempt to reduce the number of incoming freshers for the 2021-22 academic year is “short-sighted” and a “poor decision”. This year, applicants were able to rank the 17 colleges in order of preference for the first time. The process was designed to maximize the number of applicants who receive their first choice of college. Eleanor Marvin, who was reallocated to her last choice college, Van Mildert after being allocated to University College, which was her first choice college, told Palatinate the reallocation process has “wreaked havoc” on her mental health. She said: “I have been emailing with increasing desperation and have been met with absolutely no response. I have a severe anxiety diagnosis and the wait for an allocation, followed by my allocation into my last choice of college, has wreaked havoc on my mental health. “I wouldn’t have firmed Durham if I had known that I would be reallocated into my bottom choice, or about even a fraction of the disrespect they
have shown us this year. As an LGBT state school student, it feels like I am being manipulated into deferral. Why did they not make it clear that college allocation was an incentive to firm rather than a given? Now I feel like they are taking £37,000 as well as accommodation fees from me on the promise of an experience that I am not going to receive. “The differences between my original and new colleges are extreme enough that I feel like I am about to go to a completely different university to the one I firmed. Durham has done absolutely nothing to reassure my anxieties. Phone calls are met Above: Rushford Court will be used to house Collingwood freshers (Unite Students) with “we’ll pass it on” and emails living in a month’s time. I then from all our subject areas. Each are met with total silence.” received an email asking for my one offers a distinct, high-quality Another student, who deferred accommodation preferences environment for learning and their 2020-21 course due and I only had five days personal growth with a wide to the impact Covid-19 to respond, because range of student-led activities would have had, it was left so late. So and access to support staff and was reassigned “Durham has I responded and welfare volunteers for help or to South College done absolutely it took until three advice.” twice after weeks before I Cook continued: ““Incoming applying to nothing to moved to know undergraduates received written St Cuthberts reassure my where I’ll be living. communication to advise them Society. They anxieties” “Overall I that their college allocation described their would describe the may change, and any first year experience as experience as chaotic, undergraduate student required confusing, and unorganised and very last to move College this year will outlined how long it took minute.” be compensated with a £500 for the university and college to Jeremy Cook, told Palatinate: cash payment in our Autumn get back to them: “All first year students joining term. Many were also given the “After results day I received Durham will become a member option to defer to 2022 entry an email from South admissions of one of our Colleges and offered with a £5,000 payment and the saying that I was in South, College accommodation in guarantee of their College of which I didn’t question but Durham City. choice.” found very confusing. By August “Our colleges are thriving I hadn’t heard anything back communities of staff and students and I had no idea where I’d be
Which subjects do the most resits? Patrick Stephens Investigations Editor The Covid-19 pandemic changed exams signficiantly. Now a Palatinate investigation can show that the pandemic has had a significant effect on the numbers of students who have had to take resits. A Freedom of Information request by Palatinate has revealed discrepancies between the number of students taking resits in different modules and at different levels of study. The department with the highest proportion of students taking resits is the Centre for Academic Development, with 41.8% of undergraduate students. There are significant discrepancies between undergraduate and postgraduate levels. On average, 7% of undergraduate students in the Economics and Finance department have had to take at least one resit in a given
year, compared to 28% for postgraduate taught students. In the School of Government and International Affairs, the figures are 3% and 14.8% respectively. Discounting 201920 as an outlier, accounting had the second highest proportion at undergraduate level, with 15.5% of students having to take resits. 2% of students did so in 201920. This trend is reflected in other subjects. For the 4 years from 2015-16 to 2018-19, an average of 12% of sports science undergraduate students had to take resits. In the academic year 201920, when exam format across all subjects was first changed due to the pandemic, that number fell to 2%. This significant decline is reflected in some other subjects, including Sociology, Computer
Science, and Economics and Finance. For Natural Sciences undergraduate students, the average in this period is 9.5%; in 2019-20, it fell to 2%. The departments with the lowest percentage of students taking resits at undergraduate level are Modern Languages, History, and English. The number of students taking resits in these subjects, frequently ranked as Durham’s most prominent courses, never exceeded 1% from 2015-16 to 2019-20. Close behind them is Geography, which was 2% or below for all of this period. The five year average cannot be calculated because specific values below 1% are not given. The data provided by the University covers the period from 2015-16 to 2019-20, with figures from the most recent exam period unavailable.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed exams
(Amana Moore)
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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News
Year abroad students face “bureaucratic ordeal” amid Brexit and Covid-19 chaos Poppy Askham and Lilith Foster-Collins News Editors Complications surrounding postBrexit visa requirements have forced many Durham University students to delay or alter plans to embark on their years abroad this Autumn. Students have faced delays and bureaucratic obstacles whilst attempting to obtain visas, which are necessary for them to study or work abroad following the UK’s departure from the EU in January 2021. The situation has been further exacerbated by Covid-19 travel regulations. Durham University told Palatinate that they “recognise the distress that may have been caused to study abroad students due to changes in visa regulations.” More than 400 Durham students take part in elective international exchange programmes annually, in addition to Modern Languages students for whom a year abroad is an essential component of their
degree. The University facilitates work and study placements to 35 countries in total. Students intending to travel to France and Spain have been particularly negatively affected. “The visa process has been a bureaucratic ordeal,” Sophie Farmer, a Third year English Literature student told Palatinate. Due to a Covid outbreak at the French Consulate in London, Farmer struggled to obtain a visa appointment in time for her to start studying at the Sorbonne in Paris in mid-September. Before Brexit, visas were not required for UK students to study in France. “The circumstances have been unprecedented”, explained Farmer. Last month, visa issues became so acute that the UK Foreign Office contacted Spanish authorities on behalf of UK universities. In response, Spanish officials advised students to make sure they have the correct documentation before applying and recommended that UK universities take more control over student visa applications and submit them en masse.
Third year International Relations student Trini Prasadam struggled to gain the correct student visa, despite contacting three Spanish consulate offices in the UK. Prasadam told Palatinate that the University offered her little assistance managing the expensive and complicated visa process. Just days before Prasadam was due to travel to Spain she received an email from the host university, informing her that Durham does not have an agreement for the specific course she had applied for. She told Palatinate that this information was never communicated to her, despite the fact that the University had known this since April. As a result, Prasadam was forced to enrol last-minute in a course taught in Spanish, rather than English, a challenge she feels ill-prepared for. “It’s going to be quite a tough year,” she told Palatinate. The Covid-19 has provided additional obstacles even for those travelling to countries unaffected by the recent Brexit
From Ukraine with love
A new series documenting the adventures of Durham students abroad
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hen I couldn’t get to Russia thanks to Covid-19, I had to look for some different options, and Ukraine came to mind. The country is closely linked with Russia, albeit for the wrong reasons recently. Although there is a war in the east of the country, it is barely noticeable. The only problem it brings for a Russian language student in Kyiv is, well, the language. For political reasons people prefer speaking Ukrainian (which I hardly understand a word of) rather than Russian. This gets difficult: they pretend not to understand my Russian when I know they also speak it perfectly. This proved such an issue that I had to stop my job in a law firm as no one wanted to speak to me. I’ve now found another job with an engineering company: they work hard but are very friendly. I managed to find an amazing flat which rather funnily didn’t have a normal sized bed. It’s an old government official’s apartment, so has all the luxuries that true communism stood for: a king-sized bed, a separate sitting
room, a bar in the kitchen, drinking water from the tap, and most importantly a padded door so we don’t get shot. Outside of work, we managed to get tickets to the opera house to watch the enchanting Swan Lake for the equivalent of just £15. The traditional dishes like Borscht (a beetroot soup) Vareniki (cherry dumplings) and all kinds of fish are delicious. They have markets all over the place with people bringing their produce straight from their garden or summer house (dacha). Their fruit and vegetables are twice the size of ours and always perfectly ripe. The potatoes make you yearn again for college food. And if anything doesn’t taste nice, you can always wash it down with vodka. I have also taken to travelling around this beautiful country. I write this from the charming seaside town of Odessa, and plan to return to Kyiv soon. So although my Russian skills feel somewhat lost, and my bed ridiculous, I can’t wait for this serendipitous Ukrainian adventure to surprise me again.
changes. Tilly Prentis, who studies Russian and Italian, was unable to travel to Russia because she had not been vaccinated with Sputnik, the only vaccine then recognised by the local authorities. As a result, she was forced to give up opportunities to work for the government of Tatarstan and for a vodka and caviar company in Moscow. Prentis noted that the University had been slow to respond when she was forced to change her destination to Ukraine rather than Russia, leaving her uncertain as to whether the trip would be authorised by the University in time. Professor Claire O’Malley, ProVice-Chancellor (Global), Durham University, said: “We recognise the distress that may have been caused to study abroad students due to changes in visa regulations and other delays arising from changing regulations governing international travel during the pandemic. We are acutely aware
of the difficulties that many of our students have faced when preparing for placements. “These are issues affecting all universities and result from c i rc u m s t a n c e s beyond our direct control, which have also caused additional administrative burdens. “Students should be assured that we are doing all we can to help and should get in touch with student mobility teams in Modern Languages and Cultures and the International Office if they are concerned about late arrival at a partner university and the potential implications for their planned programme of study. Universities worldwide recognise these substantial difficulties and will understand. “In addition, we are continuously reviewing our provision in line with often rapid and far-reaching changes to international study, work and travel.”
“The circumstances have been unprecedented”
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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A realistic freshers’ week timetable
Welcome to university. You’re a grown-up now, kid. You’ve left the nest before school really taught you how to fly, and someone put spikes on the ground. There will be struggles ahead: money troubles when Daddy doesn’t pay for a round at Jimmy’s, relationship issues when you realise how
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attractive your flatmate is, and communicating with every corridor’s resident hermit, who doesn’t leave their room unless it is to make a communal space slightly less communal. One area that you can keep on top of is time management, which can be dealt with using a precise timetable. Structure
is something seen in the most interesting people and keeping to a strict routine means that you have proper self-control. Well done you. To help new students, the University has asked former first years to draft a handy plan for how your time should be spent. It is as follows:
Wake up. You might have missed a lecture or three, but you’ll need the beauty sleep to join that famous 70%. Back in the glory days of the pandemic, a student could roll out of bed, pop on their cleanest top and be straight into a lecture. No such luck for you lot I’m afraid, you will actually have to go to them this year. The lectures in your first year will mostly be about sparking a passion for your subject, so best hope that you’re not doing something like law.
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Lunch. If you are lucky enough to be self-catered, see what you can rustle up for 57p (I’ve heard toast sandwiches are in season). Otherwise, hold your nose, close your eyes and shovel down those much-needed potatoes. Can always get takeaway later.
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Sport. Those sports you were once so good at have come back to offer some muchneeded respite from all those assignments you don’t have. Unless you are part of the University ‘DU’ team – training five times a day to earn yourself some stash that you will wear relentlessly – the student leading your session will likely be hungover and unnecessarily mean. So head on down to Maiden Castle and give it your 50%.
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Work. Settle down to some work. It is time to read that thing you didn’t read in summer or do that thing you were supposed to do yesterday or whatever. Who cares? First year doesn’t count anyway. Loitering. Work was exhausting and has certainly given you something to complain about later. You are likely to be stressed out. Relaxation is vital for a clear mind, and you’ve certainly earned it. Stand around a bit and listen for noises before popping your head out of your room like a meerkat. Prepare. Now that you’re all loitered out, it’s time to move to action. Make plans with people you don’t know that well in the hope that you won’t hate them in a week. Set up a vague idea of leaving college and get ready.
Economists taken aback as share price of gowns rockets An unnamed Durham-based gown company reported a miraculous 14,000% rise in sales this month, as demand suddenly skyrocketed for the pointlessly expensive garment. The company owner told us: “this is the only time of year we make any sales; we only sold one gown in the other 51 weeks this year, and that was just because a blind man tripped into the shop and dropped money on the counter. A sale’s a sale.” They added: “When we had a surge in sales around this time last year, I thought it was because gowns were finally back
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LOST AND FOUND
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Sarah, probably a lost cause but our fridge was stolen last week, really need it back — no worries if not though, obviously!
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Return. It was not a good night. Charlie kept crying and Tom is a racist. Back to college for you.
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Ask Aunty Violet
ST CUTHBERT’S
Dear Violet, my boyfriend has decided to get a mullet, despite my protests. I can’t take him seriously anymore. What should I do?
A
Dear sweetest Reader, firstly, I am so sorry you have been put in this awful situation. Without a doubt, the recent trend of growing a mullet has been the most damaging consequence of Covid-19 lockdowns. My advice is to simply demand
an ultimatum: a choice to cut off that hideous, matted trail of hair or he will be cut off from your life. I recognise this must seem harsh, however there have been multiple scientific studies concluding a positive correlation between mullet growing and declining social respectability. With someone looking so ridiculous, the future is bleak. At some point you’ll need to start hiding him from your friends and family out of pure embarrassment and darling, that is simply no way to live.
in fashion. I made hundreds of thousands extra, expecting we’d continue to sell at the same rate – I even pre-emptively bought a yacht. When I realised it was just a load of one-off orders from university students, it was hard to take.” “I’ve been living off tins of kidney beans for months; we really need freshers to come back around.” World-renowned economists have been left speechless: “all our models suggested the share price would correct itself to natural levels. We’ve no idea what went wrong.”
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Out on The Town. You’ve lost half of the people you were supposed to be going out with to other plans, but you go out anyway. What a night it is going to be.
Q
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Q
ST CHAD’S
Dear Violet, I was walking out the shower last term and down to my room when my towel fell. I accidentally flashed the cleaner and someone I have a lot of meetings in common with. I’m also attracted to this person. Should I speak to them or just leave it?
A
Dearest Darling, you should absolutely confess your feelings!
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Realistically you cannot make the situation too much more awkward. You have already been incredibly courageous to reveal yourself as a Chad’s student living in college last year. I sincerely hope your friend is reading this and maybe they’ll even confess their love to you. Will be quite a story for the grandkids! Have a problem for Aunty Violet? ADELINE ZHOUtrice Law) Fill out the form via the QR code!
Adeline Zhou(Olivia Inspires) (James Tillotson)
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
Comment
After 9/11: how can society heal from tragedy? Olivia Kemp In the wake of 9/11, there were poems everywhere. New York was consumed by poetry — on lamp posts, walls, shelters, and stations. Although there appear to be no words to explain, and certainly no words to ease the pain of this grievous day, poetry rapidly became the most important outlet of expression used to deal with the tragedy, and a means of redefining it. Photographs, videos, paintings, and testimonies were certainly prominent depictions, yet many are unaware of the profound presence of poetry in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. It is largely unknown to the average person that poetry was the medium that appeared in abundance. Poetry ensured that a spirit of unity radiated, as the simplest of words honoured those that were lost. Indeed, it is necessary to stress that not all 9/11 poets strived to comfort their readers; a surge of artistic expression certainly allowed for gruesome and disturbing accounts of the day. Published in The New Yorker in September 2002, Galway Kinnell’s ‘When the Towers Fell’ responds to the attacks with a distinct note of terror and gore. As he details ‘some with
torn clothing, some bloodied, some limping at top/ speed like children in a three-legged race’, Kinnell graphically transcribes the devastation of 9/11. This emotional reportage concentrates on the immediate horror of the attacks, and is consequently studded with harrowing images. The lines are lengthy and almost prosaic; this allows space for mourning, and ensures that the unmediated presence of the dead radiates. These humans are immortalised in history; the written word ensures that their memory will live forever.
Poetry was the most esssential medium Certain artistic representations of 9/11 have attracted widespread criticism, with many questioning the appropriateness of transforming such brutality into art. A prime example of such criticism centres on the ‘The Falling Man’ — a photograph taken by Richard Drew — which exposes a man falling from the World Trade Centre at 9:41am on the day of the attacks. This photograph left an indelible mark; it did not comfort a nation in mourning. Yet, Wislawa Szymborska’s poem ‘Photograph from September 11’ projects an entirely opposing message. She approaches this same man with respect and empathy, and strives
to refigure the disturbing nature of Drew’s original photograph. The absence of a final line is irrefutable in its perfection. The individuals concerned are halted in life; the denial of ‘a last line’ allows their everlasting existence. In a distinct gesture away from death, Szymborska suspends the falling humans in mid-air; this ensures that they may only be remembered in living and breathing motion. It is perhaps an attempt to refigure the controversy of Drew’s photograph. Her representation does not burn the imagery of horror and catastrophe into the minds of her readers; rather than sparking disturbance, her poem is tempered by notions of timelessness and longing. Whilst
most find Drew’s photographic falling man disturbing, Szymborska’s work is a quietly respectful depiction. Poetry in the aftermath of 9/11 inscribes an unfathomable tragedy; a tragedy that may only nearly be comprehended through the written word. In the words of an unknown editor from Publishers Weekly: “There was something more to be said that only poetry could say.” I believe that this incomparably encapsulates the argument rooted at the core of this article. Poetry was the most essential medium of expression in the aftermath of 9/11; this belief has not waned. Twenty years forward, 9/11 poetry still makes us pause. It remains a powerful vehicle
for engaging with today’s world. Each year, I, along with thousands of others across the globe, will return to the 9/11 anthologies to reflect. From this, we achieve an amplified understanding of this hellish wave of terror; through the lens of a student in 2021, this poetry is a personal investment in the moment. Our conception of this tragedy is sharpened through the written word; this fails to be achieved by any alternative form of art. Bearing the unmistakable stamp of grief, poetry distils emotions and eloquently describes images with a vigour that only words may ever achieve. Poetry dominated. It was, and still is, a healing lotion; this is a testament to its ability to express the inexpressible.
(Adeline Zhao)
Is freshers’ week the be-all and end-all? Grace Marshall If you have ever had the delight of gracing the internet, then you’ll undoubtedly be aware of, and have possibly internalised, some of the endless university advice it produces. Whether that be in the form of relatively useless but incredibly aesthetic TikToks, or mere anecdotes from others about their crazy freshers’ experience, we’ve all seen it. It incessantly reinforces the fact that we must enjoy our freshers’ week and possibly hold it as the pinnacle of our entire existence. But what happens when that isn’t quite possible? Like so many other students who began university in 2020, arriving in the midst of a global pandemic did push the ordinary
experience far from my grasp. And so, rather than dancing the night away, or most likely embarrassing myself in front of my entire college, I found myself trapped in a little household, confused as to why I was even there, or how I could begin truly ‘living’ my university fantasy. If I’m being completely honest, my dream was the unattainable one I’m sure many of you also possess – the blur of nightclubs, the never-ending adventures, and, for the sake of any of my lecturers who stumble across this piece, an enthralling start in academia. It was a dream I’d nurtured since my somewhat turbulent time in high school, the concept of that ‘something better’ awaiting me at university. A phrase I’d always heard, and often repeated, was “just wait until uni!” I seemed to have forgotten to account for the possibility of a deadly pandemic
in all my years of careful planning. And so, I was utterly crestfallen when it seemed as though this hope had slipped through my fingers. How was I supposed to get through my first year when my first week wasn’t picture perfect? As I’m sure you’ll realise, reading that back, that question is ridiculous. One week does not determine an entire experience, nor does it make or break your journey into university life. The truth is that, while our fantasy may seem enticing, it is the unexpected moments that truly build your experience. There is no ‘correct’ way to experience university and, just because your journey may not be identical to others, that does not necessarily mean that you are missing out. To put it simply, your year does not need to be Instagram worthy to be meaningful.
The ‘Instagrammable’ freshers’ expectations aside, there is one more eventuality a fresher may need to prepare for: not immediately fitting in. As a working-class student arriving from Manchester, it is a slight understatement to claim that I felt a little out of place upon moving to this quaint university town, especially during freshers’ week. Undeniably, the stereotypes of this University precede themselves and, often, fuel a great deal of fear for students that do not fit the archetypal mould of such an institution. I must confess that I cannot tell you that you will not experience moments of imposter syndrome, or that you will simply adjust to this life with ease. But, for those students who feel out of place, I can only give the advice a tutor gave to me: sometimes, students from low-income backgrounds find
themselves existing between two plains, no longer truly belonging at home, nor immediately fitting into university life. Instead, we often find ourselves in a middle ground whereby we must create our own sense of belonging by finding our own people and starting our lives anew. Ultimately, freshers’ week is nothing more than a time reminiscent of your first residential school trip. And by that, I mean that it most certainly will not live up to the overhyped expectations we hold, but nevertheless, it will hold moments of absolute joy, if you simply allow yourself to alleviate the pressure of it being perfect. Try to embrace everything you can and, if you have to, accept its terribleness as a memory and set your sights on the years ahead. There’s still time to enjoy university once this week ends.
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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Comment
A potentially ‘normal’ academic year? Pearl Cheng The start of September usually means one thing: the end of summer and a month left till the start of the new academic year. With August coming to a close, I decided to take a quick look at my online timetable. Three lectures on a single day, I noted in disappointment. But there was also something else: an abbreviated building name and number, attached neatly next to the name of each lecture and tutorial. Location names. With a slight sense of uneasiness and even embarrassment, I realised that I didn’t know what the abbreviations meant, let alone where the buildings were. Lecture halls and buildings are such an integral part of the normal university experience, I thought to myself. How was it possible to not know my way around? This realisation, perhaps, is just a snapshot of how unusual the last academic year was. It was characterised by lectures that were uploaded onto DUO, Durham’s online learning platform, where walking to a lecture hall was rendered unnecessary. The year was also filled with virtual tutorials and seminars on Zoom and Teams, which meant that it was entirely possible to complete your studies
Joshua Guillen Since the start of the pandemic, much has been made of the deep inequities of the modern world. These concerns are not without empirical grounding. Excess mortality, further entrenched gender inequalities, severe disruption to education, and basic resource scarcity all engender worsening asymmetries predominantly felt in developing countries partially as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Ahead of the UN COP26 climate summit this November, attention has turned to the unfair nature of global vaccination rates. An international grouping of over 1,500 NGOs has called for its postponement until inoculation against Covid-19 is more widely achieved. The coalition fears a lack of support for unvaccinated delegates could result in intensified marginalisation of some of the world’s poorest — a
from your bedroom. What part of last year was in line with the usual student experience at all? Therefore, after a year of chaos and uncertainty, the University’s promise of a potentially ‘normal’ year seems like a refreshing and alluring prospect. Or is it? As an incoming second year student, there is much cause for excitement, yet also room for worry. Having spent the first year mired in online learning, I have never experienced a ‘normal’ year. What is the conventional university experience even like? This on its own will be something new to find out. For starters, I will be learning where the lecture halls are, navigating the campus with Google Maps open on my phone. Then there will be the challenge of adjusting to live lectures. Having had the luxury of stopping and rewinding the lecture recording if I wanted more time to write my notes, or if there was a concept that I didn’t understand, there will unfortunately be no pause and replay buttons this year. There is also the social aspect to adapt to as well. After a year of sitting alone in my bedroom with my computer, human interaction has become a strange and unfamiliar concept. How do you interact with your coursemates, and what are real life tutorials like? The creeping feeling of uncertainty is reminiscent of being a first year again.
Another cause of concern that the prospect of a ‘normal’ year brings is the worsening of the Covid-19 situation. A ‘normal’ year translates to a lot of socialising and gathering. For example, the mingling of students in libraries and teaching buildings, and during sporting activities and extracurricular events. Or perhaps the gathering of people in bars, cafés and restaurants. Yet the days of Covid-19 are not over yet, and as of early September, the daily number of cases is rising. As everyone knows, Covid-19 is easily transmitted when people are in close proximity. What does this bode for a ‘normal’ year? Will the mingling and gathering of people provide a breeding ground for cases to surge? In such a case, will life be forced to grind to a stop again? These questions are
not so easily answered, and they too cast a pall over the prospect of a ‘normal’ year. But of course, there are still many reasons to be exhilarated. Having missed out on an entire year of university life, a ‘normal’ year finally provides the opportunity to make up for the lost time. After seeing various virtual formals, I very much hope to experience an actual one with all the glory of food and people. Interacting with others has become an alien and unused skill over the past year, but I look forward to picking it up again and meeting new people. With the closure of bars and nightclubs such as Klute, it will be interesting to feel the vibrant nightlife again. Even the most mundane of university experiences sound curiously thrilling. After a year of
listening to lectures in pyjamas and slippers, I do wonder what a frantic dash with a cup of coffee to an early morning lecture feels like. The thought of life without lockdowns and more freedom is appealing, and definitely something to anticipate. The idea of a ‘normal’ year will continue to produce mixed feelings, be it due to the joy of returning to old traditions and ways of life, or the unfamiliarity of new experiences and potential dangers from the pandemic. This coming month before the academic year starts will be a time for heated anticipation. But for now, I’ll be looking through my timetable again, trying to figure out what the abbreviations of location names mean.
claim that would undermine the essence of the summit. On an immediate level, these NGOs may have a point: disparate levels of inoculation represent an ethical failure of the Global North to organise and distribute aid for a post-Covid-19 path to recovery. The World Health Organisation has also been unhedged in its criticism, issuing a chastising rebuke of Western states’ ‘mefirst’ vaccination priorities earlier this year. Such neglect must be reconciled with a call to action. The 76th UN General Assembly scheduled for this September, the ongoing work of the Italian G20 Presidency, and the continued evolution of the COVAX programme are opportune platforms to do just that. Crucially, obstructing the UN COP26 summit is not. Fresh guarantees over attendee safety have been reissued, ensuring that this opportunity is too crucial to miss. The reasons for objecting to a delay of the summit are explicit and urgent. As outlined by the Sixth IPCC Report on Climate
Change, rising greenhouse gases are “inexplicably” linked to human activities. This accompanies the stark warning that the 1.5 degrees further increase limit of global warming will likely be exceeded if behaviours are not curbed. The necessity of a reformed international consensus is therefore unambiguous, leaving policymakers in no doubt over the need to comprehensively shift the current and deeply flawed epistemology of climate-based policy. Although such efforts will almost inevitably be contingent upon commitments made by the Global North, developing nations will share a greater burden of climate change’s most alarming consequences. This makes them indispensable for the creation of any workable roadmap; a reality that the COP26 summit is designed to reflect. Thus, postponing the conference would be a tremendous act of negligence, serving only to disregard the experiences of developing countries at a time of unparalleled importance.
Calls for a delay are admittedly well-meaning but advocating for such a position undermines the collective egalitarian ethos of those 1,500 NGO signatories. Further delay could deplete the resolve of an international community already liable to bouts of unilateral behaviour. In other words, mood is ripe for tangible action now and the ground may be decidedly less fertile next year. This conference, then, should necessarily embolden the developing world by seizing the opportunity for change, alongside granting it an amplified role in world politics. Leaders seem to be receptive to this sentiment; a climate change diplomat from Angola agreed with the need to better facilitate potential obstacles but disagreed with a postponement; at-risk countries slammed the supposed ‘middle-class’ bias of activists; the UK is updating its
provisions and accommodation arrangements; and there is general accord that in-person conferences are good ‘levellers’ for smaller countries to stake their claims. It is vital that the UK government doubles-down on removing unjust obstacles to the conference. A failure to do so would amount to international embarrassment at a time when the UK needs to be inspiring confidence in its role on the international stage. It is clear, then, that the show must go on. Current circumstances should serve as a reminder of the duty of care that the West has, while catalysing far-reaching and urgent change. Kicking the can down the road simply will not do. The long-term security of humanity is on the line.
(Adeline Zhao)
(Katie Rodriguez via Unsplash)
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PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
Comment
The damage of the Durham stereotype Sam Lake
The Durham student stereotype is as self-perpetuating as it is unfair. Though it is true that Durham has its fair share of students who fit the image of the privileged and condescending Oxbridge reject, possessing only a shred of respect for anyone but themselves, tarnishing the whole student body with the same brush only perpetuates the problem. Whilst there are serious issues to be addressed regarding the University’s culture, highlighted once again by the vile messages leaked at the start of the last academic year, we shouldn’t allow the actions and attitudes of a vocal few, often hailing from a particular social milieu, to sully the names of the many. I would be the first to admit, as a working-class scouser, that I have faced difficulties assimilating into a student body that seems overwhelmingly southern and middle class. I can imagine many students, particularly those with ethnic minority backgrounds, feel the same. After all, only 40 black students were taken on in 2019 and walking around Durham it is
visibly a very white University. These are issues that demand attention in their own right and should be separated, where possible, from a discussion of the harmful repercussions of such a rigid stereotype as exists for Durham. The Durham stereotype creates an invisible yet ever-present line between students and locals, one that makes interactions between the two groups a minefield of misunderstandings. Unspoken assumptions are made about one another — a self-fulfilling prophecy of mutual scepticism. The same can be said for applicants to Durham. It is understandably difficult to apply to a university where you expect to feel alienated. Whilst it is a personal example, my greatest source of apprehension when applying to Durham was the prospect of being the odd one-out, of not fitting in in a place dominated by the wealthy and the privately educated. But though there have undoubtedly been difficulties, largely down to the restricted scope of social networks over the last year, I have met enough people like me to know that the stereotype is greatly exaggerated. Paradoxically, if we want the ‘typical Durham student’ to
change, we need to stop talking as though there is one. Statistics can only tell us so much — yes, over a third of Durham students may have attended independent schools, but what does that really tell us about them as people? Refusing to take someone at face value due to a background they have no control over only sows division and leads to social segregation — this is true both ways. There are plenty of good people at Durham — as is clear to see for anyone taking notice of the work done by Durham’s charity committee, DUCK, whose work with local charities is hardly suggestive of a student body that doesn’t care about its wider community. But we ourselves have more work to do. Local ire is entirely understandable. It is borne, however, of an image projected by a certain group of students whose actions, though highly visible, are not representative of the majority. Both the University and its students should be encouraging newcomers to Durham to embrace the city as a local community, of which the University is a part, and not the other way around. Freps should not be telling freshers to stay away from North
Road as though it were a wild west — in reality, its only fault is that it is one of the few places in the city centre where the University doesn’t loom large. Complaining about a stereotype will only get us so far; if we want to be rid of it, we must prove it to be invalid. Durham’s stereotype is a complex one — both in its origins and its implications, neither of which this article can hope to comprehensively address. It will be a long while before it is shaken off. Maybe it never will be. Yet only by recognising that the issue is one of engagement can we hope to work towards
related to Reality TV. The UK version of Married at First Sight does what it says on the tin. In the latest series contestant Nikita Jasmine, 26, married Ant Poole, 28, quite literally at first sight. However, right from the start, Jasmine displayed signs of aggression, including violently throwing a cup at Poole during an argument. Jasmine’s aggression further escalated during the show’s weekly dinner party where she verbally berated fellow contestant, Jordan Mundell, after he told her to “speak English”. A spokesperson for E4 later claimed that the situation escalated off camera where Jasmine displayed a level of aggression that breached their code of conduct, leading to her removal from the show. There are many ways to feel about the show’s decision to remove Jasmine. Some involve a certain level of cynicism. Did E4 make the decision to save their own backs? There were thousands of Ofcom complaints regarding Faye Winter’s aggressive behaviour in this year’s series of Love Island, perhaps MAFS UK were ensuring they didn’t succumb to the same
backlash. Yet, ironically, it is perhaps the very nature of such Reality TV shows themselves — creating the perfect storm for such aggression. The fact that contestants are forced into situations where they don’t trust who’s being real is inevitably going to trigger the trust issues of disillusioned individuals like Jasmine. This is seen in Love Island, where they presented Winter’s with, and filmed her reaction to, a clip of her partner Teddy Soares telling another girl he’s sexually attracted to her. Reality TV is manufactured, its manipulation of its subjects inevitably results in aggression, this has been seen throughout shows such as Big Brother, and now Love Island and MAFS. Does this excuse such behaviour? Absolutely not. Jasmine and Winters’ being verbally abusive towards their fellow contestants, made for cringeworthy and uncomfortable viewing. Yet, it’s surely a dangerous game to punish troubled individuals as opposed to big-time Reality TV franchises for repeatedly putting characters into triggering situations only to remove or scald them. So, is it a
good thing that MAFS removed Jasmine? Absolutely yes! Removing Jasmine was a clear step in the right direction, indicating that shows like MAFS are starting to recognise their social responsibility and the dangers of condoning aggressive behaviour in front of a large and impressionable audience. However, surely the trend of placing contestants in provocative situations only to remove them cannot have longevity.
that outcome. Durham students may not be bad people, but they have unfortunately done little to showcase this to locals. For as long as the students here remain isolated within the university bubble, the image of them as the toffee-nosed youth of the cultural elite will remain the norm, encouraged as it is by the rambunctious nature of those who hail from such circles. If staying in Durham this summer has taught me anything, it is that we should stop treating the city as a term-time residence and start treating it as a home. Only then can the line between student and local ever be breached.
(Xiaoyao Yin)
The pandemic of hyper-Reality TV Saffron Dale
When I hear the imperative ‘Get back to reality’, what most intrigues me is who you picture saying it. For me, I visualize a practical, pragmatic type — firmly grounded in the ways things are. Perhaps even more interesting is who you don’t picture saying it. Maybe your first suggestion is dreamers; but what about reality TV stars? Those who are so disillusioned with fame that they project their lives onto our TV screens to attempt to achieve it. The show Married at First Sight (MAFSs for us cult fans) is one of the many shows to project contestants supposed ‘realities’ onto our screens. Yet, the show recently set a new example by removing contestant, Nikita Jasmine, after she displayed aggressive behaviour. Yet, we need to consider the extent to which Reality TV producers are to blame for facilitating and condoning aggression in the name of entertainment. Furthermore, does such contribute to an endemic of mental health issues
‘Reality’ on TV inevitably creates a warped reality We must start seeing that the problem is bigger than the penalization of aggressive behaviour and realise that the problem lies with Reality TV itself. Placing ‘reality’ on a TV inevitably involves a level of scripting, editing and dramatization that creates a warped reality. Contestants are plunged into a world where people play up to cameras, producers influence decision-making and editing gives them distorted perceptions of self. Reality TV is still a relatively new phenomenon, yet the
consequences of distorting reality are beginning to surface through headlines detailing contestants’ mental health issues and, tragically, suicides. Reality TV directly affects both its subjects, but it also indirectly affects viewers who mistake the happenings and interactions they witness on TV as real. Therefore, we are all stuck in the unknown terrain of Reality TV. How do we solve this? Perhaps it’s about time to start recognising Reality TV isn’t real. Perhaps Reality TV needs to be rebranded as hyperreality TV. Hyperreality is defined as an inability to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, something which is becoming commonplace on our TV screens. Clearly, murky waters need to be trodden through in order for both contestants and viewers to ‘get back to reality’.
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Profile
Mary Foy MP: “Durham city and its area isn’t an infinite place” Profile speaks to Durham City’s MP Mary Foy about the town/gown divide, education inequalities, and left-wing Catholicism
Paul Ray Profile Editor Mary Foy was elected as the MP for City of Durham in the December 2019 general election, and was swiftly plunged into a global pandemic after three months on the job. Some of the many animosities and divisions created by this pandemic were, as so often, played out between Durham’s permanent residents and its students, some of whom were accused of flouting the rules to socialise during last winter’s long, harsh lockdown. At the start of our conversation, I ask her if she senses an uneasy relationship between ‘town and gown’. “I think it’s always been there. It’s two different worlds, isn’t it, really,” she says pensively. “Students are students, and they’re going to want to go out, and it’s been so difficult for them.” She admits that she’s had contact from residents worried about students spreading Covid-19, but she seems eager to stress an optimistic approach to the town/gown relationship: “You know, there were some groups in the city centre, there were actual residents and students that came together to form in their own communities those mutual aid groups. People really worked together like that… with a little bit of give and take, I think people could possibly work together.” But can people work together if Durham adds two to four new colleges, as it’s planning on doing by 2027, swelling Durham’s student population even further? “I do think that expansion of a great University like Durham is good, but we do have to remember that it is a small city, and I’m not sure that four colleges is going to be sustainable at all.” “Does it mean that they’re going to create more housing for those new students they’re attracting in, when they haven’t even dealt with the current set of students? I think the University needs to remember that there has to be some give and take, and that Durham city and its area isn’t an infinite place, and that they’ll maybe have to stop at some point.” “Some of the people who contact me are those who say the University is taking over the city,
and it’s not right.” Foy tells me that this is one of the things she is eager to discuss with incoming Vice-Chancellor, Karen O’Brien, when they have their regular meetings next year. Our conversation moves on to one of the biggest scandals to engulf Durham University in recent times, Lauren White’s report into alleged discrimination against Northern students at the University. “I read that report and it was absolutely awful, very harrowing, especially for me, being a Northern working class woman,” Foy tells me, an expression of disgust spreading across her face. “I’ve been told that there were actions taken with certain students, but I don’t think it’s been consistent enough really.” She brings up the fact that Durham University admits the lowest proportion of local students out of all British universities, with just 10.1% of full time students coming from the North East. “That has to change, but it’s only going to change if Northern young people feel like they’d be welcome in that place, and it’s okay setting up policies and saying there’s a reporting process, but that has to be backed up with actions as well — not just their words. Decisive action has to be taken against those perpetrators [of anti-Northern discrimination], it’s absolutely shocking.”
“The Government doesn’t give a hoot about the Human Rights Act” It might be unlikely that a much higher proportion of working class local students enter the University in the near future, given the demographic breakdown from this year’s A-Level results. 70% of private school pupils received A* and/ or A grades, compared to 39% of state school pupils. I ask Foy why this disparity might have come about. “I think it’s the outcome of the whole structure of the education system,” she says. “In private schools the funding per pupil is more than three times higher than for kids from the state schools, so obviously you’re going to have smaller class sizes, you’re going to have better paid teachers and staff — all of those things add up to how a student can learn. And of course you’ve
also got the disparity in incomes with families, where you may have those who attend private schools with their own bedroom, [with] the right resources, peace and quiet at home. Whereas some other families don’t have that luxury, so learning is more difficult.” Should the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson have resigned over the way education has been handled during this pandemic? “Gavin Williamson should be gone. He’s well out of his depth. And what’s happened now with exams, and the impact of Covid-19 on students, is not just going to affect people until the pandemic is over. This could be lifelong for a lot of people — their exam results, their mental health, jobs, it’s a lifelong impact.” Foy was offered a first rung onto the ladder of frontbench politics last year, when she became the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Andy McDonald, the Shadow Secretary for Employment Rights. This surprised some, given that Foy is a Corbyn loyalist from the left of the party. It could have been the start of a reconciliation between Keir Starmer’s more moderate leadership approach and the democratic socialists who were largely cast out into the cold after Corbyn. However, last year Foy resigned from this junior frontbench role, in order to vote against the controversial Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) bill. The Labour whip had been to abstain. I asked her why she voted against the bill, rather than abstaining. “I’d had a lot of discussion with the trade unions and other groups in civil society about the harms of this bill. I had a lot of time to reflect on it, and I think the front bench messages… I just wasn’t convinced by them. In effect the bill was legalising those things that have happened in the corners — intelligence agents, they could murder, they could rape, and it was all done covertly, but as part of the interrogation methods for terrorism and that sort of thing.” Foy offers an explanation for the Labour Party’s whip to abstain: “[The Labour leadership] also thought that if those things were happening, they could depend on the Human Rights Act to make sure that justice was served.
But we already know that the Government doesn’t give a hoot about the Human Rights Act. We’ve seen that with what’s happening in Northern Ireland at the minute with Brexit, where there’s issues that they’re not dealing with. And we know that the Northern Ireland Secretary said that he’d just rip it up if need be. So I wasn’t convinced by the front bench’s views.” “I couldn’t in all honesty be comfortable with myself if I’d voted for it or abstained, so I voted against. But I knew what the consequences were.
“In private schools the funding per pupil is more than three times higher than for kids from state schools” “It was a really difficult time, very difficult, and I had the front bench on the phone to me until the last minute, trying to convince me otherwise, but I think I’d heard too much from the human rights lawyers and the trade unions on why it shouldn’t go ahead.” We finish our conversation with a discussion of how Foy came to political consciousness, how she came to care about politics and representation. She emphasises her upbringing as a daughter of Irish immigrants, emphasising the role of her (UK Parliament)
Catholic faith. “As a young person, I joined a youth organisation in the Church, and that was for working class Catholics. And that was all about solidarity and internationalism, standing up for your rights at work, looking after each other. That’s what my formation was, if you like, in becoming political. It was that method of see, judge and act. It was always starting with the experiences of the people around you, you and the people around you, looking at that, and analysing what your experience was, in light of what you think it should be, and for us it was in light of the gospels, and taking action.” It sounds a lot like liberation theology to me, an analysis she agrees with wholeheartedly. “It’s so frustrating when you mention being a Catholic and people go ooh, Jacob Rees-Mogg, et cetera. Yes, you’ve got that sort of right wing Catholicism, but the left wing, more Latin American Catholicism is very much about social justice and that liberation theology.” My final question for Foy was this. If you could achieve one single thing in your parliamentary career, what would it be? After laughing at the absurdity of the question, her answer is serious. “It would be trying to address income inequality, which leads to health inequality, which leads to life expectancy, so all of the issues around that… if I could close that gap somehow, and people could live a long, healthy life no matter where they came from, no matter what your background was and no matter what your income is... — that would be a start.”
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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Profile
Durham University Challenge Team: “I’d fancy my chances in a dance-off”
Profile speaks to this year’s Durham University Challenge Team about their experience on the show, anime and a potential rematch against Trinity College Cambridge Ethan Sanitt Profile Editor University Challenge, the Bake Off of early evening pub quizzes, is back. Hosted Jeremy Paxman, the show today seems to be at its best since the unforgettable highs of seasons 61 and 62. If you knew that University Challenge has only been running for 51, not 62, seasons then you should definitely apply for next year’s team. Emily Mitchell, Isaiah Silvers, Jack Griffiths, Charlie Hetherington, and the team’s reserve, Alex Radcliffe, know how long University Challenge has been running for: a main way they practised for their time on the show was by watching back old episodes. Playing along with these past quizzes, and sometimes debating the answers, was “one of the best ways” the team prepared for their first round match against Trinity College Cambridge. I ask if University Challenge has changed during its time on air. “Not really”, Emily says. Jack suggests that a few question topics have been updated since the show first aired—“quite recently there have been a lot
of questions on anime”— but I’m told that the format remains largely the same. What did change this year, inevitably, is how the team applied for the show. Essentially a series of virtual tests, each round involved something “almost like doing a Sporcle quiz”, Isaiah says. After the initial Zoom stages, the team was then tested and interviewed by the show’s production team. About a month (and “quite a bit of admin”) later, they then got an email saying that they had made it on to the show. Jack remembers this as the moment the team knew that “all those Zoom quizzes didn’t go to waste”. Like the application process, all preparation was done virtually. When they were first selected, the team compiled a big spreadsheet containing all the topics that they thought might come up, assigned two people to each section, and then attempted to memorise the relevant facts. Isaiah notes that this original strategy was probably “a little aspirational”. He explains that
the range of questions that can be asked in University Challenge makes it difficult to rely on memorising lists. It’s just “too broad a game to study like you would for a test”.
“I’ve got some hidden moves” Instead, the team focused on preparing for the show’s buzzertype format. Working with last year’s team helped them with this side of the quiz. Because Charlie was last year’s reserve, the team “had a really good connection with last year’s team” and even organised some joint training sessions, Emily says. Teams that have been through the process before, Isaiah adds, can “give you tips and tricks”, and teach you the “rhythm of the game”. All of the team agree that they would enjoy working with next year’s team: as “grizzled veterans” of this year’s show, they “have some wisdom to pass down”. Some of this advice is about Wikipedia. Alex suggests that
“Those Zoom quizzes didn’t go to waste”
simply reading through the site’s pages can be an effective way to prepare. “About 90% of my knowledge ... is just from randomly clicking through Wikipedia”, he admits. Emily, a fresher when she applied, advises anyone interested to attempt the trials: “Go for it, because you’ve got no idea what could come out of it”. I ask what kind of rematch the team would like to challenge the Trinity College team to. A dance-off? Maybe a roast battle? “I’d fancy my chances in a danceoff”, Emily says, as a few other team members nod. Durham’s team captain apparently has an impressive fifteen years of training in dance (“I’ve got some hidden moves”). Isaiah agrees, “I’d go with dance-off too, it’s just more fun”.
“You’ve got no idea what could come out of it” Isaiah then floats the idea of a spin-off, in which the University Challenge teams compete in various sports leagues against each other. “There might be some surprise stars!” “I don’t think it would be quite Premier League level though”, Alex admits.
Interestingly, the team also choose a second rematch option: all agree that they would like to challenge the Trinity College team to another quiz. “It was definitely, incredibly good fun to quiz against them”, Jack says. Rather than an “icy, closedoff” atmosphere, Emily adds, competing against Trinity College was more like taking part in a “nice quiz; there just happened to be four cameras and millions of people watching”. “We still keep in touch with them, as well”, Jack says. “They’re the loveliest people you’ll ever meet”.
“There just happened to be four cameras and millions of people watching” At the end of the call, I ask whether they would want to take part in University Challenge again. Would they want to go through the Zoom quizzes, the preparation, the main competition, all of it, a second time? After all the intensely difficult, wide-ranging general knowledge quizzes they’ve done, this final question almost seems too easy for them. Durham’s team members answer immediately that they would. (ITV Studios/ Lifted Entertainment)
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Science & Technology
Eye, robot: the power of an AI's gaze Eve Kirman Sadly, the 21st century has turned out to be far from as technologically advanced as was once perceived by our ancestors who envisaged weather controlling machines, life underwater, and nursing homes on the moon. However, there are a few futuristic aspects to our modern lives that were successfully predicted – two of which being the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. In fact, AI is so seamlessly integrated into our lives that its use has become quotidian – demonstrated by well-known voice assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Alexa.
an auspicious impact on society and consequently altered human behaviour. But can the same behaviour changing attribute be argued for the field of robotics?
There is a peculiar obstacle in the use of human robots Unbeknownst to many, including myself previously, AI and robotics are not really the same thing. Both fields have a slight commonality when considering ‘Artificially Intelligent Robots’, however robotics is more defined by physicality and autonomy. To put it simply, robots follow pre-set instructions whereas AI programs imitate human thought pathways.
It's clear to see how the use of AI has had an impact on society Scientists have developed AI systems by essentially training computer systems to ‘think’ in the same ways that humans do through machine learning and the development of neural pathways. Characteristics that were once exclusive to humans such as creativity and logic are now being imitated by technology. More recently, these qualities, distinctive of AI, are being used in healthcare, banking and smart cars. It’s clear to see how the use of AI has had
humanoid robots; machines specifically built to resemble a human body. These types of robots are hoped to be used in many contexts including research, caregiving, education, manufacturing and even in exploring outer space. Yet there is a peculiar obstacle in the use of human robots...
Scientists have discovered that the uncanny valley is more than just an emotion A feeling known as the ‘uncanny valley’ can occur when people look at objects that resemble human beings such as dolls, animations and, of course, humanoid robots. This phenomenon is said to illicit an eerie and uncomfortable feeling in the observer. There are numerous theories as to why this cognitive response is evoked, one of which being that viewing a humanlike robot elicits an inherent fear of death as the onlooker is replaceable by said robot. Recently, scientists have uncovered that the uncanny valley is more than just an emotion.
Gaze is an extremely important social signal In this experiment mutual eye contact represents a simplified version of the ‘gaze’, a psychoanalytic theory which postulates an anxious state of self-awareness in realising that one can be looked at by others. Professor Agnieszka Wykowska, principal author of the study, told Science Robotics that the "gaze is an extremely important social signal that we employ on a dayto-day basis when interacting with others."
Eye contact with a robot can alter our decisionmaking capability Recent research from the Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia in Italy has revealed that making Crucially, eye contact with a robot can alter the physical our decision-making capability. nature of During the study, participants robots has were required to play a simple led to recent video game, basically deciding breakthroughs whether to allow a car to crash in the study or not. Yet, the game was played of human against a humanoid robot sat behaviour. opposite. The robot’s presence These allowed researchers to recognise studies that we respond through similar u s e (Rosie Bromiley)neural mechanisms to if we were
Get involved with SciTech! Welcome to SciTech! We’re a team of three editors working with lots of fantastic contributors, all passionate about everything science and technology. No matter where your interests fall, or your writing experience, we’d love to have you on board! We report on major global issues, as well as stories that impact us closer to home.
making eye contact with a robot or with another human.
Throughout the year, we will be running a series of articles championing diversity in STEM. From interviewing academics at the top of their fields, to hearing student experiences of studying a STEM subject at Durham, we would love to have you involved with this! This year, more than ever, we also want to highlight all the amazing world-changing
research being done by the STEM departments in Durham – and we need your help! As a Durham student, writing articles about research being done by our University will give you a unique opportunity to connect with the wider Durham community. You will be able to hone your writing skills, have opportunities to interview academics and maybe even get your name in
A robots gaze can trick the brain...
measured by an EEG. Wykowska concluded that “the human brain processes the robot gaze as a social signal,” consequently affecting the participants “decisions by delaying them, so humans were much slower in making the decisions in the game." Therefore, a robot’s gaze can trick the brain into thinking that it is partaking in social interaction.
A robot in a caregiving role ... may be very effective These findings hold significance in how we will implement humanoid robot technology in the future. Wykowska argues that we need to investigate further into the specifics of when robots elicit this response in order to “decide in which sort of context [humanoid robotics] is desirable and beneficial for humans and in which context this should not occur.” For example, a robot in a caregiving role; reminding an elderly person to take medication, may be very effective due to the social behaviours it displays, causing the patient to be more likely to conform. Thus, when looking to the future it’s fair to say that it’ll be a while before nursing homes make it to the moon, but perhaps not too long until robots are working in them.
Throughout the game, the robot would either look towards or away from volunteers, who were having their cephalic nervous activity
print. And of course, it would look great on your CV! No experience writing before? That’s no problem — anyone can write for us, no matter your subject or level of study (postgraduates welcome, too!). Get involved in Palatinate’s best section by joining the ‘Palatinate SciTech Contributors’ group on Facebook where we post fortnightly content calls and
email us at scitech@palatinate. org.uk if you have any questions (or to pitch us an article idea!). Caitlin Painter, Cameron McAllister and Elise Garcon Science & Technology Editors, 2021-22 Twitter: Palati.SciTech Instagram: Palatinate.SciTech Facebook: Palatinate SciTech Contributors
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SciTech
The prejudices of climate change
Eleni Mann Climate change affects everyone – but some more than others. Its reach is far-spreading, its actions deadly, and although climate change itself isn’t discriminatory, the systems it exploits are. Exacerbating pre-existing prejudices, climate change targets the defenceless, capitalising on years of inequality to harm the most vulnerable groups in our society. Many may argue that past and present societal structures have failed the most vulnerable. Now with the growing concerns surrounding climate change, these groups are disproportionately at risk. Historically, women, minority ethnic groups, and members of the LGBTQ+ community have been marginalised by the dominant ruling majority, and as a result of this, the climate vulnerability of these groups is escalating. Vulnerability entails many different types of threat. For indigenous peoples, climate change imperils their traditional practices and knowledge. Many indigenous populations hold a unique relationship with the natural environment. For the Shuar people in Ecuador, waterfalls act as places of worship, and in Taiwan, people of the Paiwan community refuse to speak negatively in mountain valleys, as the words are echoed across the environment. Climate change attacks the dwelling places of indigenous ancestors, such as in Hawaii, where many communities bury their dead by the sea, believing that their forefathers are watching over them as they fish. The rise in sea levels desecrates these burial sites, and spiritually disunites communities from their ancestors, disrupting indigenous traditions.
One in five LGBTQ+ Americans live in poverty, and this proportion is expected to increase with the growing risks of climate change LGBTQ+ people are vulnerable to discrimination as a result of the social stigmas surrounding their community, often experiencing reduced social mobility, increased risk of homelessness, and inaccessible infrastructure due to a lack of acceptance. One in five LGBTQ+ Americans live in poverty, and this proportion is expected to increase with the growing risks of climate change. In countries where same-sex
couples are not recognised as legitimate, relief support after climate disasters is often limited, intensifying the high levels of deprivation the community is often subjected to. Overt discrimination in this way has also resulted in the neglect of minorities. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, tests were undertaken to show how housing complexes responded to different prospective home seekers. The results? White home seekers were more likely to be told about apartment availability, rent, and discounts, compared to their African American counterparts, highlighting a disturbing bias in this system that furthers the economic vulnerability of minorities. Economic vulnerability is a common result of marginalisation, experienced both by LGBTQ+ communities, and minority and indigenous communities. Environmental deprivation theory explains that increased exposure to environmental hazards results in greater concern about environmental issues. In 2014, national probability surveys showed that 71% of Hispanic Americans and 57% of Black Americans were concerned about climate change, compared to 43% of White Americans. Hispanic and Black Americans are more likely to live near hazardous and highly-polluting industrial sites – it therefore follows that these communities are more aware and concerned by climate change.
71% of Hispanic Americans and 57% of Black Americans were concerned about climate change Studies into the gendered impacts of climate change have shown how societal standards and hierarchical structures have intensified the impact of climate change on women. 65% of excess deaths in the 2003 European heatwaves were women, and, as a result of the 2007 Indian floods, women experienced higher psychosocial effects as their social networks were disconnected and lost. Access is a huge issue differentiating between the male and female ability to cope with climate disasters. After Cyclone Idai in 2019, nearly 75,000 pregnant women were left without access to clean water and reproductive health care, and experienced sexual assault and harassment in rescue and support camps. The ‘gendered’ nature of early warning information, where
(Verity Laycock)
access to such information is almost entirely exclusive to men, also increases female vulnerability. Climate change also threatens established gender roles and responsibilities. The Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice found that in Ugandan households, where predominantly the women grow crops for the men to sell, tensions develop around crop prioritisation. Irregular rainfall affects the reliability of crop production, reducing the ability to sell produce and maintain a steady household income. These tensions can boil over and result in domestic violence – the devastating impact of climate change behind closed doors. As the consequences of climate change become more severe, climate vulnerability grows; for everyone, but especially minority groups. The intersections between these vulnerabilities – between access, social stigmas, and lack of representation to name but a few – worsen the isolation of these groups, and unless liberation becomes at the forefront of climate activism, inequalities will escalate. So, what’s the solution? Events like Durham University’s ‘Women, Climate and Conflict: Towards Meaningful Global Commitments’ provoke significant conversations between academics, policy makers, and practitioners about how nonpartisan identities and climate change are interconnected. Ultimately, the education, awareness, and liberation of women and minority groups needs to be prioritised, or else the exacerbation of inequalities will continue to endure as climate change intensifies.
Durham University to attend COP26 Cameron McAllister Science & Technology Editor Durham University has been granted provisional observer status for the COP26 climate summit scheduled to take place later this year in Glasgow. This means the University will be able to send representatives to attend United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings, negotiations and sessions at the summit. It would also allow the University to attend future UNFCCC conferences. To achieve formal observer status the University had to demonstrate that it met ten criteria, including a commitment to climate change research and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recently, the University entered the world top 100 for sustainability for the first time in the Times Higher Education Global Impact Rankings, which judges universities based on their contribution to the SDGs. However, the University has so far resisted calls to declare a climate emergency. The final decision on whether the University should be granted formal status will be made at COP26 itself. If accepted, the University would join a list of fewer than 30 UK universities with formal COP26 observer status. It is hoped that giving academics a first-hand view of the high-level negotiations in Glasgow will lead to new
research and be an opportunity for increased collaboration.
What is COP26? COP26 is the latest United Nations climate change conference. It will be hosted in November by the UK, in partnership with Italy. COP itself means ‘Conference of the Parties’, referring to counties that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that will all be attending the summit. The ‘26’ simply indicates that this will be the 26th meeting, originally due to take place in 2020. It was at COP21 in 2015 that the Paris Agreement, a legally binding agreement between the 195 countries attending to try to limit the global temperature increase to below 1.5C, was negotiated. The US left the Paris Agreement in 2020 but re-joined in 2021 under the new Biden administration. COP25 in Madrid in 2019 was the longest annual UN climate conference but was considered disappointing by most due to its lack of meaningful resolutions. At COP25 the aim was to agree a “rulebook” to implement the Paris Agreement. Instead, the parties agreed to delay the decisions about this rulebook until the next COP, hence why COP26 is considered so important. The official COP26 website describes it as “the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control”.
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SciTech
Durham professor finds missing link in carbon cycle Elise Garcon Science & Technology Editor The carbon cycle is a biogeochemical event where carbon is exchanged across the biosphere. In this process, carbon is ferried in different forms, from CO2 to plant biomass in photosynthesis, to carbohydrates in animals after consumption, and released back into gaseous CO2 by microbial decomposition of these animals after death. This is a description well-known to all of us, studied by children in Geography classes at school.
The carbon cycle is a biogeochemical event However, a new link in this cycle has been defined by Professor Robert Hilton, and Guillaume Soulet, from Durham University’s Geography Department. This was done through the study of sedimentary rocks, which contain
vast stores of organic carbon, 130,000 times that of the preindustrial atmosphere. Oxidative weathering processes of these rocks release CO2 into the air. This gas can also enter rivers in an aqueous form, as a bicarbonate, and enter the ocean. This is a carbon sink and delays the release to the atmosphere by 104 years. Professor Hilton and his team aimed to research the fluctuations of the gaseous release of CO2 through different climate conditions, which has never been documented before. Global fluxes of CO2 emissions are natural and important, but the sensitivity of CO2 release from sedimentary rocks under our new changing climate is unknown and unconstrained. The research group monitored
the CO2 emissions from these rocks over a period of two years, working closely with onsite experts to ensure the wildlife and environment would be preserved, while sampling five areas.
(Robert Hilton)
This consisted of drilling small holes into the rock samples and inserting a gas cylinder and tube, allowing extraction. Prof. Hilton said, “It was quite a
complex process, and it would take hours to make just one of the measurements. Once the gas sample was obtained, we would take it back to the labs to analyse the different isotopes and split them into carbon 12, which makes up 99% of the carbon on earth, and carbon 14, which is also known as radiocarbon. Where the r e l a t i v e amount of radiocarbon is low, this tells us the carbon in the sample collected derives from the rock.” He described the process as “as if the rocks were breathing”. The study revealed that, during the summer months, the rocks gave off five times more the amount of CO2 released in the winter months. This rings alarm bells when we think about the results
in the context of climate change: the warming acts as a feedback loop. Prof. Hilton explained, “The hotter weather will mean more CO2 being released into the atmosphere, which will in turn increase the temperature even more.”
In the context of climate change, the warming acts as a feedback loop He continued: “This study has increased our knowledge of carbon dioxide being released from rocks and, when further research in different climates is conducted, we would expect the findings of higher temperature causing more CO2 to still be the case.” This comes as another warning to the wide-reaching effects of climate change: it influences this fundamental biogeochemical cycle, essential to life.
Durham on the way to being a leading centre for women in computer science them in technology and providing interview opportunities at technology companies. The University’s Computer Science Department is championed by Professor Sue Black OBE, a well-known advocate for women in technology, having set up the UK’s first online network for women in tech in 1998, as well as TechUPWomen. Durham also offers the AMI scholarship for female Computer Science undergraduates. The scholarship is named after AnneMarie Imafidon, head Stemette and co-founder of Stemettes, a social enterprise that inspires the next generation of females into STEM careers. Imafidon joined the University’s Department External Advisory Board in 2016 and has been pivotal in the launch of the Computer Science Department’s core diversity programmes.
Caitlin Painter Science & Technology Editor Last year, Durham University made headlines by doubling its number of female computer science students within a year. Now, as a member of the N8 Centre of Excellence in Computationally Intensive Research (N8 CIR), it has been recognised as a chapter of Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC), an organisation at the forefront of promoting women in the High Performance Computing (HPC) community across academia and industry. HPCis the practice of combining computing power to deliver a much higher performance than is typical from a desktop computer. HPC is used to solve large problems in science, engineering and business. In particular, WHPC “strives to bring together women in HPC and technical computing while encouraging women to engage in outreach activities and improve the visibility of inspirational role models.” As part of the application process, the N8, a collaboration between the eight most researchintensive universities in the North of England, has committed itself to addressing the issue of gender imbalance within N8 CIR and its workshops, and by identifying barriers that women face when applying for places. They will also challenge the reasons why there
(Anna Kuptsova) are so few women in senior roles in HPC, and raise the profile of people from underrepresented groups.
[The N8 CIR] will challenge why there are so few women in senior roles in HPC The N8 CIR will also address wider diversity concerns and support people from minority communities, and those with
disabilities, to work and contribute to the HPC community. Durham University’s Dr Marion Weinzierl, the N8 CIR Research Software Engineer theme leader, has been included in the list of trailblazing women in HPC. “Thrilled” at this recent news, Weinzierl said, “Our group is open to everyone and welcomes contributions and support from all genders and gender identities. Strong allyship will be key to the success of the group.” In recent years, the University
has worked hard to increase diversity in computer science. The Durham University Women in Tech society are “working hard to make Durham the number one destination for women Computer Science undergraduates”. The University is also heavily involved in TechUP, a programme that focuses on training individuals from minority groups for tech careers. Their most recent programme, TechUPWomen, took 100 women from the Midlands and North of England, retraining
"The number one destination for women in Computer Science" The start of the 2021/22 academic year will see teaching begin in the new Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science building, which was completed in January this year. The University plans to more than double the number of students in these subjects by 2026, hopefully helping Durham become the forefront for women in computer science.
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
Politics
Student
The plight of university students in Afghanistan bachelor courses last at least four years. According to World Education News & Reviews, Afghan students study general education for a year, before selecting their major the following year. Whether this structure will be maintained under the Taliban is still unknown. However, both upcoming and confirmed changes pose a massive threat to the country’s academic freedom, education levels, and the future of its young people. In 2020, Amnesty International reported that the Taliban were responsible for violating human rights and freedom of expression during the twentyyear war in Afghanistan. Such violations already conflict with the purpose and autonomy of education, suggesting that Afghan universities are at risk of losing their academic standing
internationally under the Taliban. If the Taliban replicate the governance of their rule between 1996 and 2001, censorships such as banning entertainment, and oppressing women, could severely affect academic freedom and the literacy rate. Although Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that they would be “positively different” compared to the brutal regime during their last period in power, many of the changes implemented so far suggest otherwise. For example, no women will move onto higher education. Despite initial promises that their access would not be restricted, girls have currently been barred from secondary education. The promise that they would be different this time was made at the Taliban’s first press conference. They claimed that they would
be ruling Afghanistan “within the framework of Islamic law”, without providing many details about what this would look like. The Sharia, also known as Islamic law, is a legal system of Islam derived from the Quran, as well as from the Sunnah and Hadith — the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. It is used as a guideline for Muslims to understand how to navigate different aspects of life. As the Taliban follow the Sharia, the legal system itself will strongly influence education in Afghanistan. For instance, university majors such as arts, music, sports, and journalism could be either removed or amended to follow Islamic law. Women may be restricted from studying particular subjects or gaining any experience from work placements. This would
downgraded students from state schools, particularly those from disadvantaged areas. In the immediate aftermath, For some time now, Gavin it seemed, at least for a little Williamson has seemed to while, that Williamson’s career be almost immune to the was soon to be over. There were consequences of his actions. days of protests over the outcome That luck ran out when the of his grading system, calling for recent cabinet reshuffle saw just about everything short of his him removed from his post as head on a pike. Perhaps it was Education Secretary. Williamson due to his eventual U-turn that only became an MP in 2010, but his career just about survived. his relatively short career has To his credit, there was no been an eventful one. He rose such algorithm this year. quickly through the ranks Though he was again of the Conservative “His criticised for the party, becoming dismissal sharp disparities in Chief Whip and then was nothing attainment between Defence Secretary short of private and state in 2017, a post from school pupils (70% of inevitable” which he was fired private school pupils two years later, accused achieved an A or an A* of being the source of a this year, compared to just Government leak. 39% of state school pupils), His time as Education Secretary the reaction has been far more was similarly marred by scandal. muted. Nevertheless, grades Certainly, the Covid-19 crisis have risen across the board, meant that Williamson was once again leaving universities subject to a higher level of scrambling to accommodate scrutiny than might usually soaring numbers of students have been the case. Covid-19 meeting their entry conditions. caused unprecedented upheaval During his short tenure, in education: nationwide homeWilliamson focused much of schooling, a radical restructuring his rhetoric on the university of the exam process, student rent sector, urging a return to facestrikes up and down the country, to-face lectures this autumn and a university sector stretched and, perhaps to avoid being to the limits by a massive defined solely by his reactions rise in successful applicants. to the Covid-19 pandemic, Most notably, Williamson advocating strongly for free was heavily criticised last year speech on campus. Williamson after the algorithm he had put has been a key proponent of in place to moderate teacherthe Higher Education (Freedom assessed A-Level and GCSE of Speech) Bill. This would grades disproportionately
introduce, among other things, a “free speech champion” to monitor whether universities and student unions are properly protecting free speech. It would also provide legal recourse for speakers to seek compensation for any potential loss they might incur if they are no-platformed. Williamson’s position has been unpopular with student groups and university bodies alike, with the general secretary of the University and College Union calling it a “threat to freedom of speech” based on an “over-exaggeration of issues”. The validity of his argument notwithstanding, by wading headfirst into the so-called ‘culture war’ in such a fashion, Mr Williamson presumably intended to shore up much needed support among the more ideological factions of his party, and, indeed, of the Conservative base. Despite this, the damage caused to his reputation by successive problems with predicted grades, and the crisis in university admissions which they have provoked, clearly proved to be too much. With schools in England a l re a dy back,
universities soon to follow, and rising Covid-19 cases all over the country, the next few weeks will be critical for this Government. In such a situation, the Education Secretary must be someone the public trusts, with clear messaging and a clear plan. Arguably, Gavin Williamson lost that trust last year and he could never quite hope to regain it. It remains to be seen if his replacement, Nadhim Zahawi, can do better, but for many, Williamson’s credibility was so badly damaged that his dismissal was nothing short of inevitable.
Fan Wang It has been more than a month since Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban. While much concerning the operation of the new governance remains uncertain, worrying announcements have been made around both schooling and higher education opportunities for women and girls. These include gender-segregated classrooms at university and the exclusion of girls from secondary education from the start of the academic year. These revelations prompt futher discussions surrounding the future of young people and higher education in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s undergraduate system operates in a similar way to the United States’ higher education system, where the
have a significant impact on many young people’s future careers. University should be a place of wisdom and knowledge and one of the lifelong dreams for many ambitious young people, regardless of gender. While university students are supposed to be preparing for the start of term around this time, many reports of students in Afghanistan show that they are desperate to destroy any evidence of their lives before the Taliban’s takeover. A female student in Kabul, who also belongs to the Haraza minority, told the BBC that she burnt her university notes, hid all the books she read, and deactivated her social media to avoid being tracked by the Taliban. As the place of women in higher education in Afghanistan is in jeopardy, the future prosperity of the country is at stake.
The end of the road for Gavin Williamson Natalie Rengger
(Victoria Cheng)
(Victoria Cheng, Palatinate illustrations)
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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Domestic
21
Politics
Afghan refugee resettlement: a North-South divide Hannah Redman Despite Boris Johnson’s talk of a ‘levelling up agenda’, with more investment pledged to northern towns and cities, the reality seems to have fallen short. In fact, disparities in willingness to resettle recently displaced Afghan refugees between councils in the North and South of England appear to have widened that divide yet again.
Southern councils are yet to commit to taking in more refugees Councils in the North of England have faced underinvestment from central government for decades. Many Conservative MPs were elected in northern constituencies under the proviso by Boris Johnson that the North would receive the same amount of political and financial attention as the South. As such, former Secretary of State for Housing, Robert Jenrick, announced just before the Covid-19 pandemic that Yorkshire and the Humber councils would receive an extra £275m in funding in 2020/21.
However, these headline-catching numbers fail to hit the mark, as this injection of cash only covers approximately half of the shortfall in council funding in the region, dating back to austerity cuts in 2010. It is important to note that it is not only that councils in the North are suffering the longterm effects of austerity: cracks in infrastructure, healthcare and education are also beginning to show here more than in southern council areas. Council resources are being stretched thinner in Yorkshire in particular, due in part to a large number of Afghan refugees being resettled in the region. This geographical disparity in refugee resettlement in England dates back further than the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Figures obtained from the Home Office show that north eastern councils in England have the highest resettlement rate since 2014 (taking in 70 refugees per 100,000 people), whereas London has the lowest in that period (13 refugees per 100,000). The city of Bradford has taken in the most refugees of all English councils over that period, with 635 refugees.
The argument has been made that London is already facing an overcrowding crisis and that northern cities have more space to expand, but how can councils possibly accommodate an influx of refugees when prolonged underinvestment in the North means that resources are already stretched to breaking point? The concern for Yorkshire
and the Humber 5
South West 3
Yorkshire councils is that Afghan refugees may be the straw to break the camel’s back, especially when southern councils are yet to commit to taking in more refugees. A total of £17m of central government funding is also to be shared around all welcoming councils to help resettle the refugee families. However, such funding will do little to ease the financial struggle of northern councils. All 15 Yorkshire councils have committed (Maddy Burt) to welcoming West A f g h a n efugees, South Midlands rbut their East compassion is 4 2 not currently being echoed
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by many southern councils, who appear less willing to stretch their budgets in a similar fashion. The two Afghan refugee resettlement schemes (for Afghan interpreters, and vulnerable and female citizens) have not only highlighted the persisting financial gap between northern
and southern councils, but have arguably also brought to light a potential negative bias towards northern England in news coverage. Oxfordshire was praised in national news headlines for amassing a sizeable amount of clothes and sanitary donations for Afghan refugees. However, despite hard work carried out in Bradford, Yorkshire saw unfavourable coverage after a five-year-old Afghan boy fell to his death from an unsafe hotel window in Sheffield. The local Labour MP Louise Haigh says the Home Office has a “serious question that they have to urgently answer”, because they had moved refugees out of the hotel a year ago due to safety concerns, yet resorted to using it to house Afghan refugees last month. The Refugee Council blames “a shortage of suitable housing” for the use of hotels. Naturally, the historic underinvestment in the North has not helped this shortage. Mr Johnson’s ‘levelling up’ pledge is yet to materialise in real terms – in fact, the gap is seemingly becoming even wider and more dangerous.
‘Thatcher’s children’ and intergenerational inequality Saffron Dale Intergenerational inequality is a problem that has gained recent prominence, especially arguments surrounding the generational fairness of the Government’s decision to increase National Insurance tax. In all ways political, socioeconomic, and cultural, statistics show that the two ends of the age spectrum are divided. The generation that came of age in The Eighties, lovingly dubbed ‘Thatcher’s children’, may have had an outsized impact on the generational differences we see today. Although Thatcher’s children have presided over widening inequality, are they necessarily to blame? This article tries to find the roots of the difference in generational experience today. “There is no such thing as society”, the famous quote from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, encapsulated the hyper-individualistic attitude that became dominant in the 80s. People in Britain who came of age during the Thatcher years were instilled with a new moral attitude that was disdainful of state help and Victorian in its commitment to putting yourself first and helping others after. But what impact does the change in
political culture during the 80s have on young people today? Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, claims that there is “a perennial lack of respect and attention paid to the young”. His remarks followed the resignation of the Government’s former education tzar, Kevan Collins, over the Treasury’s refusal to finance education catch-up for students who could not attend school during the pandemic. Decisions like these supposedly reveal the disdain held for students today by ‘Thatcher’s children’. As a result, the stereotypical perspective among the young is commonly assumed to be resentful towards older people. However, research finds that young people are not resentful, but instead “know they’ll be old someday” and “don’t blame them”. So, despite Mr Leonard’s assertion that the young are perennially disrespected, there does not seem to have been a tangible backlash thus far. The media does not help matters, with certain outlets slandering students as ‘snowflakes’ and ‘woke’. The negative effect is on an older audience, who may be more likely to take these stereotypes seriously. Although regiment and social convention have been quietly replaced with relativism
and celebrating difference, there remain aspects of modernity that many students dislike. Many of us, for instance, oppose the emergence of ‘cancel culture’. Young and old both have this in common. However, It may be too optimistic to suggest that meaningful cultural consensus exists. Take Brexit, for instance. Politically speaking, the intergenerational gap has widened significantly. Until the 1980s, age wasn’t a defining factor in those who voted Labour. However, age has now become the greatest electoral predictor, and it is statistically twice as likely that young people will vote Labour, rather than Conservative. Culture wars like Brexit worsened this divide, as over 65s were twice as likely to vote leave as under 25s. Brexit was the epitome of generational divisions, with polls clearly indicating that age was the strongest political dividing line. For many young people, the vote to leave the European Union felt like an assault on their futures. Looking at the electoral map of 2016, an interesting observation can also be made. Polly Toynbee of The Guardian notes how generations are geographically divided, since young people often reside in cities whilst older people retreat to the countryside. This difference in geographical
location means that young and old live and socialise in different spheres, and besides within families, the two rarely interact with one another. ‘Thatcher’s children’ presided over a great generational divide, which still permeates our politics today. There are
areas of consensus that do exist between the young and old – on the NHS and tackling climate change, for instance. Perhaps the starkest legacy of the Iron Lady’s children was to create a political generation which is totally opposed to everything she stood for. (Rosie Bromiley)
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Politics
International
Merkel’s legacy? Trust, competence and pragmatism Joe Rossiter
Deputy Politics Editor After 16 years as German chancellor, Angela Merkel’s fourth and final term will end after Sunday’s federal election. During her time in office, she has consistently overcome crises at home, in Europe and around the world; her political skill evident in the fact that she has chosen to step down, rather than being forced, a rarity among politicians. As she leaves office, the stability and familiarity of Germany’s first female chancellor will exit too, seen already in the tight race between Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the centre-left SPD and the Greens for this month’s election. Party leaders of each have been reluctant to stray too far from the outgoing chancellor, with the SPD’s Olaf Scholz pictured striking Mrs Merkel’s signature diamond hand gesture and running ads branded with Er kann Kanzlerin, he can be chancellor, using the female term for the office. How did she sustain such a prolonged period as chancellor in a volatile political period, surviving through crises varied and severe? What is her legacy as voters prepare to elect her successor? The answers give clues to the German political psyche, as well as Mrs Merkel’s own unrivalled political skill. Many world leaders can be defined by a single major event: Theresa May by Brexit, George Bush by 9/11 and its aftermath. With Angela Merkel, it is difficult to choose any one crisis. Her first major test came with the 2008 financial crash and the following European sovereign debt crisis, which culminated with huge controversy over the Greek bailout plan. As would become a theme over her chancellery, Mrs Merkel, after taking time to reach a decision, stood firm on her view that harsh measures were required in Greece to maintain the integrity of the eurozone, repeatedly using the term alternativlos, no alternative. It is this pragmatism that so often won out in Mrs Merkel’s decision-making, even if, as the daughter of a Protestant minister, her moral compass sometimes interfered. Take the huge influx of migrants and refugees in 2015, where the chancellor initially endorsed a soft border policy and welcomed over one million asylum-seekers into Germany. This was arguably guided by compassion over political calculation, widely supported until a spate of sexual assaults in Cologne on New Years’ Eve 2015, many committed by individuals
later confirmed as asylumseekers. As public opinion on the policy began to turn, so did the chancellor, adopting several restrictive measures, including a cap on the number of refugees, proposed by Horst Seehofer, a harsh critic of her policy in the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU’s more conservative Bavarian sister party. For some time, Mrs Merkel’s iron grip on the CDU/CSU structure was threatened, weakening her and precipitating her resignation as party leader in 2018.
This stubborn streak has occasionally backfired, for Germany if not the chancellor herself This event was uncharacteristic for the chancellor: a rare reversal of policy and a decision taken based on emotion. Once tied to a position, she generally remained steadfast for better or worse. During Brexit negotiations, recognising that to give Britain a favourable deal would be to the benefit of anti-EU parties across the continent, she spearheaded the simple rhetoric of maintaining the integrity of the bloc and its freedoms, unresponsive to numerous charm offensives. This stubborn streak has occasionally backfired, for Germany if not for the chancellor herself. In 2011, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Mrs Merkel’s government announced the immediate shutdown of eight of Germany’s 17 reactors, with the rest scheduled to close by 2022. Such a kneejerk reaction has had negative
consequences: in the first half of this year, coal was the largest source of energy to the country’s system, lagging behind peers on the world stage. The lack of action on the climate has also prompted a surge in support for the Greens, boosted by the devastating floods earlier this year. In recent years, the CDU has also been losing votes to the rightwing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which became the first farright party to win representation in the Bundestag since the end of the war. The party was born in 2012, almost a direct response to Mrs Merkel’s favoured phrase on the Greek bailout crisis: alternativlos. These outcomes show key flaws in her strategy, including a complacency that personal popularity among voters would sustain her policies. Overall, however, Mrs Merkel’s tough negotiating stance combined with a thorough diligence has served her well, particularly through coalition talks over her four election
victories, though it was during the pandemic that these skills have most recently shone through. A chemist before her political career, the chancellor managed the first phase of the crisis soundly, coordinating the response across Germany’s federal states and keeping the virus under relative control. Though cohesion has been more fraught in recent months, a successful – if delayed – vaccine rollout has abated a further wave of the virus.
Her pragmatic, managerial and technocratic style stands in contrast to other, brasher leaders These key events and many others beyond stand as testament to traits described in nearly every media profile of Mrs Merkel. Her pragmatic, managerial and technocratic style stands in contrast to other, brasher leaders and while this has contributed to incredible political longevity, questions remain over how effective they have been beyond sustaining office. According to confidants, Mrs Merkel’s guiding political motto is In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft, in quiet there is power, evidenced by her frequent refusal to mould policy debates herself, leading from the back. Throughout her chancellery, she has been content to allow public opinion to form before intervening, an asset when cajoling potential government partners or carefully managing a bloc of over 500 million people, but
detrimental to issues such as the climate debate. Though nuclear power, for example, is not popular among German voters, the country is not currently on target to meet its obligations under the Paris Climate Accords, a fact which will endure if coal remains the largest energy source. This unconventional and sometimes flawed strategy extends to Mrs Merkel’s complex relationship with her public. She ended a 2013 leaders’ debate with the words ‘Sie kennen mich’, ‘You know me’, though this is not truly accurate: far more precise would be ‘You trust me’. This is a value that surrounds the chancellor at both a personal and professional level. She has kept a tight group of confidantes since her ascendance to the CDU leadership in 2000, most of whom still work for her today. Hers is an administration low on drama, entrusted by the public to apply a thorough, common sense-led process to each issue, almost transcending policy by being founded on the steely, determined character of its leader. The question of how to judge Mrs Merkel’s leadership is therefore complex. Her legacy is surely one of stability: clear and knowledgeable leadership, if perhaps slow and somewhat passive at times. As the Merkel era ends, Germany may realise a sentiment expressed by the chancellor in July: “You usually only miss something once it’s no longer there”.
Mrs Merkel has etched her name into German history
(Armin Linnartz, Wikimedia Commons)
Mrs Merkel is still extremely popular: hypothetical polling shows that she would most likely win a fifth term if she wished. Her party, however, looks to be consigned to opposition and may shift to the right if leader Armin Laschet is forced out. Friedrich Merz, the pro-business social conservative and fierce Merkel critic, finished narrowly second in the 2018 and 2021 leadership elections: he may have a central role in diluting her moderate legacy. Despite this volatility, Mrs Merkel has surely etched her name firmly into German history; her era will stand forever as a lesson to future leaders: ignore consensus-building and discipline at your peril. While she can be criticised for any number of decisions, views or actions, her longevity, combined with her measured, methodical style often delivered meaningful compromise. As the Merkel era slips away, the contrast may well be stark.
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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Puzzles
Wordsearch
Puzzle Editors Katie Smith, Hugo Bush & Thomas Simpson
Try and find eight Durham nightclubs in this grid!
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Word Chain
Each answer ends with the first letter of the next one. The first letter of answer one is the last letter of answer five.
1. Hild Bede alumna and BBC sports presenter 2. Street in Durham on which you would find Babylon and the Pawsome Cat Café 3. The county in which you would find the city of Durham 4. Durham civic position currently held by Councillor Arnie Simpson 5. Sport commonly seen practised on Durham’s river
Find the five famous fictional detectives in the text
Sentence Sleuth
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Giving out (cards)
Pull-ut storage spaces
Prayer conlcusion
Engrave with acid
Person who can see the future
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Molasses
Damage, destroy
Aspiring oak tree
Game of chance
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Spanish for 'those' (fem.)
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Remains, doesn't move
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An Arrow Word works the same as a normal crossword, except that the clues are written in the boxes. Each answer appears in a straight line next to each clue, in the direction indicated by the nearby arrow.
Arrow Word
(URHMAD)
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London to Durham Train company
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Unscramble the words in numbers 1-5. Use the circled letters from the words in the numbers 1-5 to complete the final word or phrase in number 6. Each circled letter is used just once. All words are Durham-themed.
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Cabbage and mayo salad (abbrev.)
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Hello, I am Suzie, a professional proof reader, ready to help you with your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Please avoid sending me unimportant, short texts. It's not my job to correct your Facebook typo. I rotate between extremely critical and just regularly critical, if I've had a whiff of alcohol. Messy, uninteresting texts are not acceptable to me. Your writing sticks to protocol? Um, boring! My criticism might seem to lack charm or seem overly severe but it's only because I'm so passionate about my work. Any in-person sessions must be after school and not on Wednesday because I have Brownies.
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Durham's river
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Chess
Checkmate in two moves White to move first. Move by J. Haring, 1955
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
PalatiDates: “He's friends with my mum on Facebook!”
Patrick from St. Mary's and Martha from Grey, PPE and Politics students – meet for a blind date on Zoom Martha on Patrick Patrick on Martha What were your first impressions of your date? She kind of looked familiar. Who got there first? Going to blame my wifi for that one. What did you talk about? Our cats. That is all. How would they describe you? Militant vegan and a big fan of cats. How would you describe them? Enthusiatic about her cat. Which Durham college would you place them in and why? Cuth’s— fun for a drink and a bit quirky. If they were a Durham night out, which would they be? A trip to Mary’s bar — the best bar in Durham. She’s small but she’s a good time. Would you introduce them to your friends and family? Only if she is mentally prepared for the carnage. Would you like to see them again? So long as I get more cat pictures. Marks out of 10? 5.
(Adeline Zhao)
PalatiPets
Think you have the cutest pet? Email editor@palatinate.org.uk with three pictures and 100 words explaining why for a chance to be featured in print
Laetitia on Maxi This is Maximus (Maxi for short). Maxi is a very good boy. He’s also a very special boy. Maxi was born the runt of his litter, only weighing 60g at birth. He spent the first weeks of his life in hospital in an incubator, and later on at home in a carefully adapted shoe box (under the watch of his humans, mum and two sisters). Despite his rough start to life, and his multiple neurological problems, this tiny dog is still determined to thrive and is defying all the odds and living his best life.
Charlotte on Milo A five-year-old Bengal cat who enjoys destroying houseplants and jumping on top of doors, Milo clearly deserves the fame that would come with a feature in print. Despite being full of attitude when required, Milo is generally quite lazy and can often be found sprawled across a laptop, table or radiator. Normally unwilling to provide surrounding humans with the time of day, it’s unlikely that Milo will appreciate the fact that he is in print. However, you can be assured he’ll briefly attack the paper before proceeding to sleep on it for an entire afternoon. Can’t think of a greater sign of his affection towards Palatinate.
Ben on Pretzel & Pringle
What were your first impressions of your date? I know this guy. What did you talk about? His year abroad, our cats, and the date he’s going on next week. How would they would describe you? Obsessed with my cat. How would you describe them? Vegan. If you could change one thing about the date, what would it be? Better Zoom connection. Most awkward moment? His Zoom froze or a couple of minutes multiple times. Then he told me mine had frozen. Which college would you place them in and why? Chad’s for the meat-free Mondays. If they were a Durham night out, which would they be? Dinner party with the Vegan society. Would you introduce them to your friends and family? He’s friends with my mum on Facebook! Would you like to see them again? Only if he takes me to France. Marks out of ten? 5.
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From the Archives
Meet brothers Pringle and Pretzel, our two one-year-old cats. They should make the print edition because they are family oriented, always finding each other when they need a sleep or wash. They’re also career driven, often choosing to lie on my laptop while I’m sat at my desk, hitting some random keys as they plonk themselves down - this is actually how most my articles have been written, I just take the credit. If they have any weaknesses, which I doubt, it’s probably that they work too hard, care too much or the fact they brought a live bird into the kitchen this afternoon.
Palatinate 217, freshers’ edition, September 1967
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
Comment
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Sport
Football Supporters Society: the best way to experience the North East’s football scene Tommy Isaksson It’s a long-used cliché that the North East is a footballing hotbed. The thing with clichés is that they always have an element of truth. The Durham University Football Supporters Society will be taking students across the region to see that for themselves, from the Premier League to the National League North. Media presentation of Newcastle, as with Sunderland and Middlesbrough in the past, is carefully selected. Larger-than-life blokes with their tops off in a packed-out away end? Fantastic support, say the media. Boycotts and protests
over how the club is managed? Oh, there they go again, those daft Northern clubs with their outlandish expectations. Fanbases lauded for their loyalty, dismissed when they expect that loyalty to be repaid. Whatever your preconceptions of Newcastle’s team, often given that conceited tag of ‘functional’, they have players with hundreds of top-flight appearances. Such seasoned operators can only be appreciated live. Alternatively, just watch Allan Saint-Maximin. All the tricks, flicks, nutmegs and ultimately, often none of the points, yours for dirt cheap, as the Society take Durham students to meetings
with Brighton, Burnley and Brentford before Christmas. Sunderland, County Durham’s traditional club, is also best seen live. Experience a world where centre-halves are enormous, the referees somewhat laissez-faire and a game that just looks really, really hard work. Local lads Dan Neil and Elliot Embleton making the brutal helter-skelter of the centre of League One pitches their personal playground, young players on loan from City and Bayern and an Aiden McGeady who hasn’t even got going yet have Sunderland flying high early on. The biggest crowds in England
outside the Premier League mean it’s the place to be: and far superior than some TV documentary. For standard of football and ease of access, a trip to Maiden Castle to see Durham Women Fooball Club on a Sunday is unbeatable. After finishing second last season, the Wildcats will be aiming for another shot at promotion into the Women’s Super League. Since promotion to the sixth tier of English football, Spennymoor Town has been consistently in and around the play-off places, attempting once again this term to make it to within touching
distance of the fabled lands of The Football League. Regularly attracting gates of over 1,000 to their Brewery Field home, Town are a club at the heart of County Durham competing in a league rich with big names from the world below the EFL. Hereford and York City have already met the Moors, with Kidderminster Harriers, Bradford Park Avenue and Chorley, of more recent FA Cup fame, all also in residence in the division. No matter what your football fix is at University, the Football Supporters Society will have you covered with a complete sweep of what the great hotbed of the North East has to offer.
Anssi Koskinen
Local pride Spennymoor Town play at the Brewery Ground where they face Southport FC on Saturday (Middlesbrough FC)
Men’s football must set example against sexual assault George Simms Sport Editor On September 9th, a Munich court found former Manchester City and Bayern Munich centreback Jerome Boateng guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. His brother says he distanced himself from Jerome: “I don’t identify with the actions of my brother ... I have nothing to do with him anymore.” But the footballing world hasn’t been quite so damning in their condemnation of the former World Cup winner. Boateng had signed for French side Lyon eight days before the ruling, and has appeared in all games they’ve
played since. Even when his own brother has drawn the moral line, his club don’t appear to care. Boateng’s is one in a string of recent cases involving sexual abuse or violence against women by footballers. Manchester United have signed Ronaldo and hosted Ryan Giggs in their Directors’ Box within the last month. The pair are accused of rape and numerous counts of domestic violence respectively. In 2018, Ronaldo admitted that Kathryn Mayorga, his accuser, “said no and stop several times” during sex. The criminal case has been dropped but a civil case continues. Giggs, a man whose own father refuses to say his name, has pleaded not guilty to
charges of actual bodily harm and common assault by two women. Man City defender Benjamin Mendy awaits trial accused of four counts of rape and one of sexual assault. Meanwhile, the entire board of the Icelandic FA, the KSI, resigned over sexual assault accusations against several players. Schalke FC tried to sign striker Sergi Enrich: he holds a twoyear suspended prison sentence for filming a sex act without the woman’s consent and posting it online. But Schalke terminated their interest in Enrich only after public outcry. The Icelandic board had seen accusations in 2017 and allegedly chose to ignore them.
Mendy played for a year after accusations were first made. An ‘I’m sorry I was caught’ culture is very clear across the footballing world, and the seemingly wilful ignorance of accusations against players is indicative of a total lack of respect and support for victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence in men’s football. This must change. Given their incredibly significant social and emotional impact on society, men’s football clubs have a moral responsibility to lead by example in how they handle sexual abuse and domestic violence cases. Football clubs can afford to suspend players at the first sign of accusations: it would send
a clear signal that they stand with victims and genuinely care, rather than only care because the accusations have gone public. It would suggest that moral issues take precedence over Premier League points. A hardline stance on the perpetrators of sexual abuse and violence against women could have a massive impact on male views of it. When there are accusations against footballers that we still see on our pitches every weekend, there should be weekly public outcry. But there isn’t. We must believe Kathryn Mayorga and force football to lead by example in how it handles violence against women.
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Mixed start for Durham Women ahead of momentous Manchester United cup clash
Jonny Tiplady Sport Editor Durham Women FC have been one of the local community’s brightest sparks of the past few years. Finishing as runners-up in their league last year, and nearly winning promotion several times, it seems a rise to the Women’s Super League is inevitable. Their start to the 2021/22 campaign has been mixed, but mostly positive so far. The Wildcats started the season at Maiden Castle with a 2-1 victory over newly-promoted Watford. They followed this up with an uncharacteristic 3-1 loss at Sheffield United, one of last year’s fellow high-fliers. Iris Achterhof, now no longer with the club, scored a consolation goal against the Blades. But Lee Sanders’ side were back to their usual selves against Charlton Athletic. A clean sheet and a 2-0 home win followed, meaning they sit fourth in the league, just a point behind the pacesetters, Sunderland.
Defender Kathryn Hill scored the pick of the goals with a stunning strike, the ball sitting up nicely on the edge of the box. Beth Hepple wrapped up another three points from the spot after a handball in the Charlton box. Goals so far have not been an issue, but a relatively leaky defence (five scored and four conceded in their first three). Hepple, all-time leading scorer ever present as the side’s lethal offensive apex, is currently joint top-scorer with two goals.
They really value having fans back after so long without them Aside from the usual league drama, Durham Women have the exciting prospect of hosting Manchester United at Maiden Castle on October 14. Completing the FA Cup group are fellow WSL sides Leicester City and Everton, as well as Manchester City after their Champions League shortcomings. With all sides
competing in the league above Durham, it promises to be a very tough, but captivating group. Manchester United, led by new head coach Marc Skinner, have enjoyed a perfect start to their WSL campaign. After narrowly missing out on Champions League football last year, they come with a point to prove. But their two wins from two show that they mean business early in the season. Regardless, captain Sarah Wilson still fancies the side’s chances. She said, “We have got a ridiculously tough group. But on our day, especially at home, I feel like we can play and compete with anyone.” They have certainly proven that over the years; the last time Durham Women hosted Manchester United two seasons ago, they ran out 3-1 winners. “You just have to be confident and go for it”, she adds. It is easy to get involved with the club, and they value having fans back after so long. With games taking place at Maiden Castle, your weekend’s activities
could well be sorted. You could even choose to sponsor a player. Fixture tickets can be bought at the turnstiles. With other big ties on the horizon, as well as a league campaign with much promise, games at Maiden Castle are certainly not to be missed this year. Durham Women next face Lewed at Maiden Castle them face Lewes on Sunday. If you’re looking to watch some top quality football around Durham, then look no further than the Wildcats.
DWFC Schedule 2021/22 Durham 2-0 Watford Sheffield 3-1 Durham Durham 2-0 Charlton
29/08 05/09 12/09
Bristol City vs Durham Durham vs Lewes Sunderland vs Durham Durham vs Man Utd Durham vs London City Man City vs Durham Crystal Palace vs Durham
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From Klute to Tokyo: Durham students and alumni shine in a full summer of sporting success Abi Curran Sport Editor Easter term may have ended in June for Durham University, alongside a whole host of BUCS seasons. But that did not stop Durham students and alumni alike achieving sporting success over the summer period. Durham boasted its fair share of students of past and present at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games with some going a step further and grabbing medal-winning headlines. Perhaps the most notable success was Fiona Crackles’ bronze medal gain with Team GB Women’s Hockey. The Sports
and Exercise student began the full-time training programme for GB Hockey mid-way through the academic year and becomes the only Durham student currently studying at the university to win an Olympic medal.
A record number of Durham stars headed to Tokyo Following her Team GB debut in October, Crackles featured in every GB international match leading to a nomination for the FIH Hockey Stars Award. Over in the men’s hockey, two
Durham student Fiona Crackles representing Team GB (Durham University/Fiona Crackles)
Durham alumni represented Olympic men’s quadruple sculls, Team GB in their Tokyo 2020 coming second to a world recordcampaign. History graduate Jack setting Netherlands side. The Waller and Sports, Exercise and former Team Durham Sportsman Physical Activity graduate, Ollie of the Year came fifth in the Payne both wore the lion same event in Rio 2016 and went from strength crest. Although their runBenjamin to strength to medal in in to an Olympic played a 24-run Tokyo. Despite much medal was cut short by match-winning success there was also a 3-1 loss in the quarter innings in The disappointment. Matt finals against India, Rossiter, in the men’s Hundred their Games proved to be coxless four, alongside an encouraging indicator Sholto Carnegie, Oliver for the future with some solid Cook and Rory Gibbs, could group stage victories. only manage fourth in a race Waller and Crackles both where Team GB have bagged gold come from Great Britain’s Elite in every Olympics since Athens 2004. Development Programme that Competing at the highest level targets youth talent in a bid to proved tough for the four whose help develop international stars boat appeared to veer sharply off of the future. course coming into the last few In the Paralympics, Durham hundred metres. Matt and Angus alumna Gemma Collis-McCann were also joined by two other featured on the first and second Durham alumni, James Harris day of the Games in the individual and Dan Moore, who formed part sabre and the épeé. of the Team GB rowing coaching Although defeated on the team. opening day, Collis-McCann, There were a record number who took up fencing during her of Durham stars that headed to time at Durham, is now a three Tokyo in the summer, both as part time Paralympian and is eagerly of Team GB and further afield, preparing for Paris 2024. such as former MSc Management Over in the men’s rowing, student Eli Schenkel – he made his Angus Groom bagged silver in the
Olympic debut and represented Team Canada in the individual and team foil fencing event. Summer also brought the new cricket tournament, The Hundred, with Durham students again taking the limelight. DUWCC’s success story Cordelia Griffith became a regular for Manchester Originals, while recent graduate, Chris Benjamin relished in his personal achievements with the Birmingham Pheonix. This was following his 60-run innings for the Birmingham Bears in the T20. The former DU first XI captain scored an impressive 24 matchwinning runs against London Spirit and has since received praise from the greats of Moeen Ali, Kevin Pietersen and former Durham student and cricket legend, Nasser Hussain. Benjamin described to Palatinate how his opportunity over the summer was a great chance “to entertain people”, a very fitting way to summarise the Durham stars’ success. Their achievements are a testament to their individual capabilities and Durham’s successful sporting programmes that attract the country’s best.
PALATINATE | Tuesday 28th September 2021
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“The pendulum has swung” for women in F1 Sport talks to Durham alumna and Formula 1 commentator and presenter Rosanna Tennant Mary Atkinson Deputy Sport Editor “I was in the Williamson building at St Mary’s. I remember looking out onto this little patch of grass outside my room and [BBC newsreader] Sophie Raworth rang me and was like ‘Oh, I’ll help you decide whether to go to City or Cardiff’ ... I always have a real memory of that little bit of Durham, in my room at Williamson talking to Sophie Raworth”, Rosanna Tennant reflects fondly on her time as a Durham undergrad. We discussed her journey from Durham to today in the run up to July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, albeit over Zoom in a typically Covid-19 era fashion. Tennant studied French and Spanish at St Mary’s College from 2006-2010, before going on to study Broadcast Journalism at City University of London, which she described as “basically like pretending to be on TV and radio every week, we would do a radio show one week, a TV show one week”. She now presents and commentates for Formula 1 and works at the annual Wimbledon championships. She’d always wanted to be a newsreader as a child and read the news for Purple Radio whilst at Durham, which gave her a first real taste of broadcast journalism. She credits work experience with Sky for her current career path, saying “while I was on the sports desk, they said ‘oh, would you like to go with John Desborough (one of the presenters at the time) to do a little filming day, he’s going to be interviewing Jenson Button and Sir Stirling Moss at … the Hilton on Park Lane … so I went along, watched John during his interview and presenting and I was like ‘that looks like exactly what I’d like to do’”.
Everything’s gonna be okay. Don’t worry and even if you don’t get asked to do something, or accepted onto a course, or given a job that you wanted, don’t worry But her journey into presenting was not that straightforward. After graduating from City, she worked in sponsorship sales for nine months, before moving on to work for shoe shop Oliver Sweeney in PR, Marketing and Communications.
Rosanna Tennant interviewing Lewis Hamilton (Rosanna Tennant/Mario Renzi)
This wasn’t where she thought she was heading. “I remember when I took the job at the shoe shop back in 2012, I remember thinking ‘oh, this is taking me off my path of being a broadcast journalist, being a presenter.’ “But actually, it kind of sounds a bit arrogant now, but you know I kind of made it work. I was like wait; how can I make the best of the situation?”. Her solution was to create a series in which she interviewed friends of the brand and produced video content. When asked how she would advise her younger self, she circled back on these experiences, with an almost philosophical yet relatable response: “everything’s gonna be okay. Don’t worry and even if you don’t get asked to do something, or accepted onto a course, or given a job that you wanted, don’t worry because, even if that doesn’t come off, more often than not it’s not the right thing … it sounds a bit cliched but something else will fill that gap … I think Steve Jobs always says, ‘the dots all join up looking backwards’”. Everything came together for Tennant when she entered the motorsport world presenting for YouTube channel Pole Position, alongside sports agency work on the Rolex and Mercedes F1 team accounts. She created all the teams’ video content, which “slowly shifted to me actually presenting their content in 2015” and hosting their hospitality suites. This eventually led to working for Formula 1 themselves. “At the end of 2016 I realised that doing the hospitality hosting with
Mercedes probably wasn’t going to be another option again, so I got in touch with F1 and in 2017 started working directly for F1 as well as still doing stuff with the agency and Mercedes and Rolex.” Since her break into the motorsport world, Tennant has worked in the Formula 1 paddock. Jokingly comparing the relationships built in the “busy” environment to Durham she said, “what’s strange about it is we kind of call it the circus, because it’s all the same people just going around to all the different races, so you know everyone, which is kind of weird to have colleagues that aren’t colleagues but are kind of colleagues. Because you know I don’t work necessarily for Alpine or Ferrari, but yet you’re all in the same place the whole time … you can’t walk for like even a meter - it’s a bit like being in Durham without seeing someone that you know”.
“You’re never at the top of the ladder” In 2020, she also became a commentator for F1TV. “It was an opportunity that came up purely because my lovely friend Alex Jacques got an opportunity at Channel 4, which left a big gaping hole in our commentary set up at F1, on something we call the pit lane channel. F1 asked me if I would like to take on that role, and I said yes, because … why not try something new”. Despite having worked previous events such as Henley Regatta, (where Tennant was able to draw upon her experience of
rowing at Durham) she described commentating as a new challenge. Her first race in the commentary box, the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, certainly wasn’t the easiest start. A race now infamous for one of the worst crashes in recent history, with Romain Grosjean’s car catching fire in an opening lap incident. Later, Tennant led the first allfemale F1 commentary team and remains one of the few female voices currently present in F1 commentary. This is perhaps unsurprising given the sport’s male-dominated image. However, Tennant and I both agreed that things are beginning to shift. Formula 1 is becoming more diverse – “I do feel like the pendulum has swung”. She noted the strong female presence in the paddock in 2021, “I lead the commentary for F1, we’ve got a female hosting paddock club stuff, we’ve got a female who’s hosting track TV” and spoke about her own experiences positively “I’ve never ever experienced anything … I’ve never ever felt intimidated or worried”. We moved on with a hopeful outlook for the future, which can be backed up through initiatives such as W Series, The Hamilton Commission and the FIA’s and Motorsport UK’s Girls on Track initiative, which Tennant works with to coach young girls. She said that coaching was one of the areas of her job most affected by Covid-19, alongside the bizarreness of working from home, which for Tennant included interviewing drivers such as seven-time world-champion Lewis Hamilton: “suddenly firing
up a Zoom and it saying, ‘Lewis Hamilton joining Zoom’… it was quite weird because he would see where I was”. As we talked about her now decade-long career journey, a deep appreciation for those who had helped her was evident, alongside a visible love for her job. Reflecting on some of her favourite moments to date, she mentioned “I was really lucky to host the 2022 Formula 1 car launch, which was mega” and “one year, I had a lap of Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia with Lewis Hamilton. He drove me around the circuit, and it was my job to interview him, while we’re going around… I’ve been really spoiled over the years”. Tennant displayed an admirable attitude throughout the interview, which made it clear how she got to where she is today. “It’s been hard graft, but I still feel like I’m hard grafting to still keep going. It’s not like oh brilliant, I work for them I’m sort of done…. And I’d imagine that that goes on forever for everyone, you’re never at the top of the ladder”.
Write for Sport Pitch to us at sport@palatinate.org.uk or join the Palatinate Sport Contributors Facebook group. For more Sport content: Twitter @PalatinateSport Instagram @palatinatesport
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Tuesday 28th September 2021 | PALATINATE
“The pendulum has swung” for women in F1
Mary Atkinson speaks to F1 commentator Rosanna Tennant
“At home, I feel like we can play and compete with anyone” Jonny Tiplady previews the tough fixture list of Durham Women FC
Your guide to Durham sport From college socials to national battles, Sport shows how to get involved in Durham’s sporting scene
What the BUCS? Harvey Stevens
Deputy Sport Editor Team Durham compete in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) league, with over 50 different sports on offer. ‘BUCS Points’ are totalled up from all sports competing and compiled into a league. The 2020-21 season was scrapped due to Covid-19 and the 2019-20 season was suspended in March with the points table voided. Before the suspension of play, Durham had come second in the overall BUCS rankings in seven of the previous eight seasons. Durham prides itself on being the number one team sports university. One team to look out for this season is the men’s rugby team, who will be looking to retain the title of BUCS champions. With the return of spectators post-lockdown, watching the rugby team is always a thrilling occasion. Whether they are playing at Maiden Castle or at Durham City Rugby Club near
the Racecourse, be sure to head down to watch the club in action. The wealth of sporting options that Team Durham offers means that competing against other universities is easier than ever to get involved with. The majority of clubs accept new members of all abilities and experience, so throw yourself into something new: you will find at today’s freshers’ fair in Maiden Castle.
Varsity Blues Abi Curran Sport Editor
The term ‘varsity’ may be familiar to many in the field of early 2000s chick flick films or even the trendy jacket. But at Durham, varsity is the sporting pride and joy of the University and its colleges. Each sports club within Durham enters
teams to play head to heads in their respective sports. The teams compete against rival university clubs in a league to determine the winner. Over the years, Durham has played host to Northern rivals York and also the sporting titans of the university sphere, Loughborough. The phrase ‘got to beat Loughborough’ is well worn in Durham, and it is this competitive edge that carries into
What you really need to know George Simms Sport Editor
Durham’s Sunday League George Simms Sport Editor
Whilst BUCS is Durham’s Premier League, college sport is a lot more like Sunday League. There are few feats more impressive than watching someone who’s gone to bed at 5am on eight pints and half a bottle of tequila whip a free kick into the top corner at 8am the next morning, but that’s the real heart of college sport. Often as much about the social side as the sports themselves, college sport is a great way to get exercise, meet new people and just have fun. All colleges have teams in pretty much all mainstream sports. Some smaller colleges, like St. Chad’s and St. John’s for example, set up joint teams to make sure they’ve got the numbers to compete with bigger colleges like Collingwood and Van Mildert. Training tends to be one night a week, with either weekly or biweekly socials for most clubs
college varsity. College varsity boasts sporting excellence, pride and, let’s say, an unpredictable range of results. From badminton to hockey, rugby to ultimate frisbee, varsity is definitely something to get involved with. Not to mention intercollegiate rivalry, where each college is paired off with their own varsity rival. One of these rivalries is the historic Castle-Hatfield sporting feud, and other more recent battles on the hill have their own competitive flare, just like that between Josephine Butler and Stephenson. Above all, college varsity brings about a real sense of community within each college.
too. You get as much out of college sport as you choose to put in. If you want to play your sports to a high level, but don’t have the time, or inclination, to play at BUCS level, then the standard of Ateam college sport is usually still very high, with a lot of teams still training multiple times a week. However, if all you’re looking for is a game at the weekend, or even just a chance to meet some new people, then college sport is brilliant at catering for a vari-
ety of abilities and levels of caring. Collingwood famously put out football teams from A-M and a lot of colleges have five or more darts teams. If you join one of the more niche sports, like Fives or Quidditch, you can boast about making a University team with minimal effort. It’s never too late to get involved in your college sports teams and you’ll never lose anything but just turning up to training to see what it’s like.
(Rosie Bromiley) All college sports teams are entered into leagues, where they play teams of a similar level from other colleges. The pinnacle of college sport is the Floodlit Cup, played throughout first and second term. The semis and final normally become a big event for the colleges involved, with hundreds of students heading down to Maiden Castle (or MC) for a night under the hallowed lights.
Wednesday night is the sports clubs’ traditional night out. You’ll see hordes of students in fancy dress, often chanting the name of an obscure club to try and put any potential authorities off the scent. To the 35 blokes dressed as nu ns rolling down the Bailey, we know you’re not ‘Chad’s Ping Pong’. Despite the University’s efforts, initiations, or ‘welcome drinks’, are still very much a part of sporting life in Durham. Whilst they can be a lot of fun if done right, don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. Know your boundaries and limits and make sure other people respect them. Your favourite sport hasn’t made it to Durham yet? You can apply to Team Durham, or your college, to get a team set up in whichever sport you love. Just last year, Durham University Floorball Society was founded, and an eSports team has recently become part of Team Durham. University is a great place to try pick up a new sport or hobby: it can massively enrich your university experience and is one of the best ways to make friends. From Ultimate Frisbee to Polo, Durham has something for everyone. If in doubt, try everything and see what sticks!
