Brig Newspaper: Volume 54 Issue 3

LEEN ALI RE-ELECTED AS UNION PRESIDENT

By Niamh Brook ELECTIONS EDITOR

Leen Ali has been elected as Union President with 1382 votes, ahead of Inam Khan with 254 votes and Sai Rohith Chowdary Virgineni with 120 votes. Ali is planning to increase support for international students, improve bus services and accessibility on campus, and use screens in common areas to showcase student led events.

Justine Pedussel ran unopposed for the position with 1399 votes. Pedussel plans to continue her work from last year to improve student housing, and improve accessibility by encouraging society committees to train as Mental Health First Responders.

Adelayo Adebayo (campaigning for more academic assistance for students struggling with stress and a clearer breakdown of module content) was elected VP Education ahead of second-place candidate Linz Mincher’s 359 votes. R.O.N (32), Aliyah Hossanee (302), Aaron Caulfield (305) and Nick LaRue (358), were respectively excluded as the voting quota for the position had not been met, and their votes were reallocated.

Laura Shaw was elected as Sports President with 1142 votes, ahead of Aidan Fairbairn’s 830 votes. Shaw plans to create handover kits for society committees, make sports clubs more accessible, and engage more with the club’s fans.

Lauren Bullock has been re-elected as Sports Union Participation

Engagement Officer with 1195 votes, running unopposed.

Ben Alker has been elected unopposed as Co-Curricular Officer with 1265 votes, and plans to encourage collaboration between societies and with local charities.

Toby Wordie has been elected the new Housing Officer uncontested and with 1309 votes. Wordie is

committed to making the reporting system for accommodation issues more accessible, and lowering rent.

Kyle Bruce has been elected Media Officer with 983 votes, ahead of Bhavi Lelani's 429 votes. Bruce wants to find storage space for media societies amid the RAAC issues, and encourage greater collaborations and external networking for

DETAINED MIGRANT STUDENT DEEMED 'WITHDRAWN' FROM STIRLING UNI

media societies.

Jani Belvalkar has also been elected Sustainability Officer ahead of Shek Farhin Ahmed’s 585 votes. Belvalkar is committed to expanding the Green and Blue Space, reducing disposable packaging at university food outlets, and encouraging them all to sign up to To Good to Go.

Nnamdi Igbokwe has also been elected International Officer with 1350 votes, to campaign for “a campus that embraces the richness of global perspectives,where unity is our strength, and diversity is our greatest asset”.

WHAT COULD PRINCIPAL GERRY'S PAY RISE BUY A STIRLING STUDENT?

Katie Gethings (current VP Education), Leen Ali (re-elected Union President), Justine Pedussel (new VP Communities), Zoe Crosher (current VP Communities), Laura Shaw (new Sports President) and Murray Bushell (current Sports President), left to right. Image credit: Ciara Tait

EDITORIAL

By Charlotte Sutcliffe EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The elections March edition is often an incredibly underrated print edition. Freya and I went into the preparation for this edition, stressing to the team that we understand it is a busy time with assignments if the content is more relaxed.

However, when editing week rolled around, it was amazing to see that print quality has yet to take a day off, a real credit to our team of editors and writers.

Student Union Elections are always an interesting (and stressful) time at the University for everyone involved, from Brig’s elections team to the candidates running. For the first time in I don’t know how long, we have had an elections editor team.

Usually, whoever ends up running the elections coverage is sort of bullied into it, myself included last year. This year, there was enough interest in the role to have an Elections Editor, a Deputy and a Head of Multimedia.

Niamh, Ben and Elliot did a fantastic job not only smoothly running our usual coverage but expanding it, getting involved with the Politics Society’s Alternative Husting, hosting part of the session and providing a broader coverage of stories surrounding the election campaigning.

Aside from election coverage, we also have our Glasgow Film Festival Special in the film section, food reviews for two new restaurants opening up in Stirling and celebrating some significant sporting achievements at the back.

So, as the end of the semester looms, take a minute and read the paper to brush up on the election results or just do the puzzles on page 14.

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UNIVERSITY RAISES RENT FOR SECOND YEAR RUNNING

By Ross Collie NEWS EDITOR

The university has confirmed to Brig that it is set to raise rent across all accommodation buildings later this year.

The change will affect all university-owned accommodation on and off campus, and rent will be raised on August 1.

The university also raised accommodation prices for some of their buildings last year.

Buildings that are not owned by the university but appear on their website, such as Carter’s Yard, Riverside Quay and Centro House are not affected.

From August 1, all accommodation prices will increase by 8 per cent.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the university said: “The University, in common with the sector, is currently operating against a backdrop of significant, rising operational costs – including utilities, staffing, services and goods.

“Given this context, and with further cost increases forecast, a change to rent is required for the new academic year.

“It is never easy to bring in price rises, but we cannot continue to absorb these costs and are forced to respond to the same pressures happening across wider society.

“The University continues to be one of the best value-for-money accommodation providers in the sector and our pricing structure goes further than the affordable criteria set out by the National Union of Students.

“All rent received is reinvested to ensure we are able to continue to deliver quality, well-maintained, secure and appropriately staffed accommodation.

“The University has a wide range of help available to our students through our Student Support Services and Accommodation teams, including an Accommodation Enhancement Fund for help with rent costs, which has been increased for 2024/25.”

The decision comes after a university meeting on February 27,

which attracted protests led by Stirling Solidarity Space outside of Stirling Court Hotel.

Aaron Caulfield, one of the students protesting, said: “The university is profiteering off of our education as they nearly always have done since I have been at university.

“Rent increases have been a given, especially in our less-than-affordable accommodation. They haven’t even maintained a reasonable rate.

“They can claim budgetary pressures but Stirling Council is under far more pressure due to the cutbacks and the freezing of the council tax rate and yet the council is only proposing a 6 per cent raise.

“I don’t know in what world the university can justify the raise that they have proposed.”

Justine Pédussel, the Union’s housing officer, joined the protests to remind the university that the student body won’t stay quiet on the issue.

She said: “It’s ridiculous. It’s just about making a profit, it is not about the welfare of students.

“That money doesn’t go back in to the accommodation at all. If they cared about students, they would decrease rent.”

Justine believes the rent increase will have more negative consequences on students who are already struggling with paying their bills.

Her housing report, which she completed at the end of last year, highlighted the stresses students are facing due to the housing crisis.

The report found that almost half of the students surveyed are struggling to pay their rent, and only 40 per cent can properly afford enough food to eat regularly.

80 per cent of students surveyed are also paying over £400 a month on rent. The 8 per cent increase on university-owned accommodation will push all buildings except Polwarth House past this threshold.

Luna Larkin, the chair of Solidarity Space, was equally concerned about the impact the rent

increase will have on students.

“For international students, it means a higher rate of deportations because they are going to have to work for over 20 hours. The Home Office is going to take every chance they can to put those people away in detention centres.

“When it comes to the other issues on campus with housing, [Solidarity Space] wants a student cap. They bring in thousands and thousands of students a year and provide no new accommodation.

“When it comes to Stirling itself, the city is simply not big enough for how many students come here. They need to recognize that fact and invest in building new

accommodation and not new studio apartments that will house one or two people.

“They need to make accommodation that is sustainable, well insulated and can actually provide for people – not designed by people who previously renovated a prison, but designed by architects who care about students, their wellbeing and accessibility.

“The university will tell us that they care, but they don’t. Ultimately it’s on us as a student body to care and to put in the work, because we love students and we love each other. We don’t want anyone to be homeless.”

DETAINED MIGRANT STUDENT DEEMED 'WITHDRAWN' FROM STIRLING UNI

By AJ Whyte

The University of Stirling has allegedly withdrawn previously detained student Muhammad Rauf Waris from his studies.

The migrant student from Pakistan was back on his course at the start of 2023/24 academic year after a “distressing” experience following a raid at his place of work.

However, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) shared a screenshot on their X (previously Twitter) page of a letter allegedly sent to Mr Waris that stated he has been withdrawn from his postgraduate studies.

Mr Waris is the centre of an online social media campaign, #WeAreAllMuhammad, after he was held for two months at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire.

He experienced alleged “mental torture” and was eventually granted bail after widespread outrage at his arrest. He is also struggling to pay tuition fees and general living costs as he is no longer allowed to

work while his case is under review.

URBC and Mr Waris maintain that he has not violated his visa in any way and that the university is not communicating with the relevant teams.

A spokesperson for the University of Stirling said: "The University cannot comment on the personal circumstances of individuals. However, we have been, and continue to be in, regular contact with Muhammad to offer support.”

The allegations come after the University's alleged lack of response to a letter of support for Muhammad which included various stipulations and called in question the UK's 'hostile environment policy.'

According to URBC, the hostile environment is a policy established in 2012 under the coalition government when Theresa May was Home Secretary. URBC maintains that the intention of this policy was to bring down the net migration statistics by creating barriers for all kinds of migrants in accessing the NHS, housing, education (schools and universities), employment,

getting a driver’s licence, banking and getting married.

As a result of this policy, UK universities, as the immigration sponsor for migrant students and staff, must carry out attendance monitoring checks to satisfy Home Office requirements. URBC claim that many universities go above and beyond what is dictated by the Home Office to show that they are in compliance with immigration policy, allegedly over-reporting migrant students and staff for supposed immigration infractions.

The situation involving Mr Waris seems to reflect a similar and growing trend across the UK.

An article from The Guardian alleges that the UK government's immigration policies are having a negative on enrolment of international students:

“Data from more than 60 UK universities shows that the number of study visas issued has fallen by 33% this year compared with the same time last year. A separate survey of 70 universities by UUK found that enrolments in postgraduate taught courses were down by more than

40% since January’s immigration changes.”

Over 320,000 international students account make up nearly half of enrolments on taught courses at UK universities, paying tuition fees averaging about £17,000 a year. Many university leaders fear the reduction in numbers will have a negative economic effect on the UK and its' universities.

The Department for Education said: “We are fully focused on striking the right balance between acting decisively to tackle net migration, which we are clear is far too high, and attracting the brightest students to study at our universities.”

All information up to date at time of publication.

HOMELESSNESS IN STIRLING SLOWLY DECREASING, BUT REMAINS HIGH

By Julia Benko NEWS EDITOR

An FOI request revealed that the number of homelessness applications made in Stirling is the lowest it's been since 2015/16, currently standing at 574.

This lower number comes as the private rent freeze and eviction moratorium are both set to expire at the end of the month.

The rent freeze was established in late 2022 to help regulate prices for tenants during the cost-of-living crisis. The eviction moratorium

allows for a limited ban on the enforcement of evictions in Scotland.

The highest number of homelessness applications completed in Stirling in the last 10 years was in 2019/20, at 716. In 2020/21, this then dropped to 615.

The leading cause for homelessness in Stirling in the last 10 years is individuals being asked to leave the household. The second prevailing reason is a violent or abusive conflict within the household, followed closely by a non-violent household dispute.

Least common reasons for

homelessness include fleeing non-domestic violence, a forced division and sale of a matrimonial home, or an emergency – such as a flood or fire – damaging the house.

Despite the data showing a decrease, it is unlikely to capture all cases of homelessness.

On their website, Stirling Council states that they immediately provide emergency accommodation to those who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, and complete a homeless interview in the same day.

“Temporary emergency

accommodation will usually be a bed and breakfast or similar. If you have somewhere to stay temporarily, we will offer you a homeless interview within three working days.”

While homelessness in Stirling decreased, Scotland has seen a spike in homelessness applications in the last few years.

In 2021/22, 35,759 individuals filled out homelessness applications all around Scotland; the following year, there was a 9 per cent increase to a staggering 39,006 homelessness applications.

In one of their publications, the Scottish Government states: “The number of applications and households assessed as homeless now exceed pre-pandemic figures.

“Between 2019-20 and 2020-21, there was a marked reduction in applications and households assessed as homeless, largely explained by changes in service use

as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency COVID-19 legislation and a temporary ban on home repossessions.

“The increases over the last couple of years are likely due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, including the ceasing of emergency legislation, and the cost of living crisis.

“Some local authorities have noted increases from the private rented sector as a result of landlords selling or increasing rent. However, there was a notable decrease between the first and last six months of the year. This is likely due to the cost of living legislation that was introduced in October 2022.”

This begs the question: What will happen to the number of homelessness applications once the rent freeze and eviction moratorium expire?

Stirling Council was contacted for comment.

Image Credit: Muhammad Rauf Waris

Image Credit: Julia Benko

ACTIVISTS CALL OUT “GREEDY MEN IN SUITS” AND TARGET STIRLING SUPERMARKET

By Alex Paterson SECRETARY

Activists from climate group This Is Rigged distributed food stolen from a Stirling Tesco store as part of the group’s campaign for more food hubs.

The two protestors stole fruit, vegetables, bread, and tinned soup and handed the items out to passers-by in the city centre.

They documented the event on their social media, filming themselves removing the food from the shelves. They also photographed themselves distributing it to people along Murray Place and Port Street.

One of the participants, Shoan, 24, a personal support worker from Yorkshire provided a comment on the This Is Rigged Instagram account: "Supermarkets are making billions of pounds of profit whilst people are struggling to afford the food in the shops.

“The big bosses of Tesco and other

MYSTERY ABOUT HISTORIC RUINS ON UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING GROUNDS HAS BEEN CRACKED

By Julia Benko NEWS EDITOR

A project involving the University of Stirling, Stirling Council and a group of volunteers has disclosed an answer to an archaic university site.

The Hermitage, built in the late 18th century, dates back to a family of East India Captains, whose wealth came from the British conquest of India.

Over the decades, students at the University have jogged or strolled past the ruined tower on the cliffs above its green campus and wondered what it was. The more adventurous ran up the slope to discover an ancient staircase going nowhere, surrounded by littered party leftovers and an overgrown ruin.

recording exercise to uncover the ruin’s story.

The project was inspired by the work of University Artist in Residence Audrey Grant. Audrey is an award-winning painter whose practice includes drawing, photography, and site-specific installation.

Audrey’s residency has focused on the antique Airthrey Estate where the University is located. She became enchanted by the historic buildings, including the Hermitage, which remain in the landscape within the lush woods on the edge of the modern University estate.

a joke.

There was a room with coloured glass and a fake fire that was designed to look like a volcanic fissure.

Stirling Council archaeologist Murray Cook said: “It’s incredible that such an odd and unique building lay unrecorded and unremarked in the University's grounds.

supermarkets are literally dictating who can afford to eat - this ain't on.

“We won't continue to accept this. It's time to call out the greedy men in suits and refuse to pay their prices."

The group have also recently stolen rolls, sausages, tattie scones and hot drinks from Glasgow supermarkets to distribute on Buchanan Street.

The ongoing shoplifting campaign is a part of their ‘Robin Hood’ activism. These are acts of protest where the group “redistribute” goods from major supermarkets to food banks or people in the street.

In a statement released by the group on their activism, they described interrupting business “with a simple motivation: take from the rich, give to the poor.”

Recently, the protest group have been demanding the Scottish Government open and fund a community food hub per every 500 households in Scotland. They also demand a 24 per cent price reduction on baby formula, to match prices from March 2021.

Historically, This Is Rigged have been known for their campaign efforts for the abandonment of new gas and oil projects in Scotland.

Last year, members of the group damaged the glass surrounding William Wallace’s sword in the Wallace Monument.

With this act, they demanded the Scottish Government vocally oppose any new fossil fuel projects and create transition plans for workers in the oil industry.

This Is Rigged have interrupted Holyrood’s First Minister Questions several times with the same demands.

Their social media says they “will not stop” protesting until their demands are met.

The structure included a series of designed walks within the estate and a viewing point which was framed between Abbey Craig, where the National Wallace Monument stands, and Stirling Castle.

Although the whole estate was established as a designed landscape by Historic Environment Scotland there was no formal record of the building which kept hold of its secrets.

In late 2023, volunteers led by Stirling Council Archaeologist Dr Murray Cook, in cooperation with the University of Stirling Art Collection, led a clearing and

Audrey said: “From the very beginning of my Residency in May 2023 I was intrigued by the ancient woods and ruins residing in The Hermitage and have spent months exploring and photographing them."

Before this project, little was known about the Hermitage. The structure was built in the last decade of the 18th century by Robert Haldane, who was in his early 20s, after inheriting fortunes from both his Great Uncle and his father.

The Hermitage was designed to provide a viewing point across the estate so Robert could show it off to his neighbours.

The building would recreate a famous poem by Oliver Goldsmith, The Hermit. Its lines were on the walls, there was fake furniture and he even advertised for a hermit to live in the building, apparently as

“The views from it are amazing and it was great fun to uncover it and its story. Today we are used to the weird ideas of tech billionaires whose wealth has no limits and any idea can be indulged, but the same was true for Robert, he inherited a fortune in his teens and built a very whimsical joke in his 20s.”

Head of the University of Stirling Collections Sarah Bromage said: “We are so pleased that Audrey’s residency has instigated this collaborative project to explore this unknown part of the University campus.

“We hope that this work relooking at these ancient spaces and interpreting them artistically will encourage people to explore the landscape and take new inspiration from the campus itself.”

Stirling Council Leader, Chris Kane said: “As we prepare to celebrate Stirling’s 900th anniversary as a royal burgh this year, it’s remarkable that we’re still uncovering and recording our built heritage, providing fresh insight into the stories of our people and our past."

Image Credit: This Is Rigged on Instagram

Image Credit: This Is Rigged on Instagram

The Hermitage ruins. Image Credit: Stirling Council

“Congratulations to everyone involved in The Hermitage project. We look forward to working with the University and other partners to showcase the area’s incredible history during the Stirling 900 milestone.”

GOOD NEWS: TABLE TENNIS ‘POP N PLAY’ COMING TO THISTLES

By Alice Pollard

A Stirlingshire table tennis

‘Pop N Play’ is looking to make The Thistles Centre in Stirling its new home. Stirlingshire Table Tennis confirmed on Facebook this week that the project remains on track, with a venue selected in the shopping centre.

However, it will still be a while before doors open, as contracts must be signed, paperwork filled out, and relevant forms approved. They aim to have the venue up and running by the end of May this year.

The Pop N Play, if approved, will be run by volunteers, and open from 11am until 2pm Monday to Friday. They are still on the hunt for volunteers to help on Saturdays.

Brig spoke to Mando Notarangelo, the development

COUNCIL APPROVES 2024/25 BUDGET TO DEAL WITH £16M SHORTFALL

By Charlotte Sutcliffe EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

officer, about the proposed project:

“Table tennis is a sport that is accessible to players from seven to ninety-seven.

“The key objective of the project is to get more people playing a sport, that is proven can benefit players in both physical and mental well-being.”

Notarangelo mentioned the positive support from people in Stirling through the ongoing process of getting the Pop N Play up and running.

“There has also been a very positive reaction in the community so far to the project, with a good number of volunteers interested.

“In the long run, I see the Pop N Play as a fantastic opportunity to grow the sport in Stirling and the surrounding areas.”

‘BOYS NEED BINS’ CAMPAIGN PLACES SANITARY BINS IN THISTLES MEN’S BATHROOMS

By Plum Mckechnie

Stirling’s very own Thistles Centre is the first shopping centre in Scotland to place sanitary bins in men's bathrooms.

After a recent campaign, “Boys Need Bins” held by Prostate Cancer UK, it was revealed that the lack of sanitary bins available leads to bad mental health in men and boys with incontinence issues.

The lack of sanitary bins makes bathrooms less accessible for men with issues like bladder or bowel incontinence usually due to illnesses like prostate cancer. In a recent survey, 95 per cent of men living with these conditions declared that the lack of sanitary bins in stalls causes them anxiety. 44 per cent of these men have said they go out less nowadays due to their incontinence issues.

Senior Health Influencing Officer at Prostate Cancer UK, Lubna Latif Curtis said that men living with incontinence issues deserve to go shopping “without worrying about whether he can get rid of his used pads hygienically and discreetly.”

A simple thing like bins in a stall may not seem like a big deal, but in

fact this affects thousands of men across the UK. In men over 65, 1 in 3 of them experience bladder incontinence issues. 1 in 20 men over 60 experience bowel incontinence.

As soon as the head management of the Thistles Centre heard about the campaign, they were keen to take action.

Thistles Centre Director, Gary Turnbull said: “I knew we had to implement a change straight away.” He urged other local businesses to get onboard and support the Boys Need Bins campaign.

Being in the heart of Stirling, the Thistle Centre provides more than shopping but acts as a social hub for both locals and tourists. It's important to make sure that it can be accessible to all, and this simple fix helps that to happen.

Lubna Latif Curtis said: “While we’re pushing to get the law changed, so that every man has access to a proper bin, in the meantime it's exciting that real progress is happening here in Scotland and across the UK.”

There's still a lot of change that needs to be taken across the country, but Thistles is starting off the

Stirling Council announced its 2024-25 budget last week focusing on addressing its shortfall of over £16 million. The council’s total revenue budget for the new year is £287 million.

A key takeaway from the announcement is that Council Tax will be frozen at last year’s levels through a grant from the Scottish Government. The £2.923 million equates to a 4.9 per cent increase in Council Tax.

The other big announcement from this meeting was a library modernisation fund of £100,000 to explore future sustainability.

It was revealed earlier that a mass closure of libraries around Stirling was on the cards, something the Save our Libraries Stirling organisation were petitioning against.

The real living wage of £12 per hour will also be applied from April 1, 2023, and be extended to the council apprentice cohort from April 1, 2024.

Schools and education received the majority of the capital programme budget at £14.9 million.

£6.579 million of the capital programme budget will be going to maintaining roads and bridges, £1.040 million to technology

improvements around Council services and £3.561 million to City Region Deal projects.

Whilst the Council’s core grant allocation from the Scottish Government for 2024-25 has decreased by £1.295 million, the £16.3 million shortfall of this year’s budget has been bridged.

This is from a combination of savings, a one-off reserve, an increase in fees and charges and the grant to freeze Council Tax.

The savings to bridge the Council’s shortfalls were informed by feedback from local Stirling residents who participated in ‘The Big Conversation’, which got over 4000 people involved both in person and online.

41 saving proposals were rejected, with 98 saving proposals accepted. Amongst the rejected savings was removing the events budget for Bloody Scotland, Stirling Science Festival, Christmas Lights Switch on and Stirling’s 900th anniversary. A reduction in community centres, the education psychology service and supported bus services was also rejected. Saving proposals that were accepted included removing funding for Stirling’s Hogmanay, a reduction in the libraries budget and a reduction in grant funding to groups such as Citizen’s Advice, Stirling’s Community, and

Voluntary Enterprise.

Most controversial was the cutting of the P5 primary school swimming programme, which received backlash online. Many parents were angry and concerned due to the importance of this life skill and also how expensive swimming lessons are. Others questioned the validity of keeping Christmas lights over the swimming programme, noting how for many children it’s their only chance to learn how to swim.

Stirling Council Leader, Councillor Chris Kane was aware of the difficult decisions the Council had to make:

“While I’m pleased we have been able to agree a budget, it has been extremely painful to deliver one with so many savings attached to it that cover a wide range of services.

“However, there was acknowledgement across all political groups today that difficult decisions were unavoidable given the unprecedented financial pressures facing Stirling Council and every Scottish local authority.

“The unfortunate reality is that huge pressures on local government finances will remain over the coming years and we need to continue taking steps to secure the council’s long-term financial sustainability so we can deliver the key services we all rely on.”

UNIVERSITY PREPARES FOR GREEN WEEK

By Carly McKim

Stirling University is once again holding its annual Green Week. It is an interactive week of events focusing on sustainability, active travel, biodiversity, and waste reduction. This year the university has several events students, staff and members of the public can attend from March 11-14.

MONDAY, MARCH 11

The Dr Bike event will be underway from 9:30-15:30 underneath the link bridge. It will offer free bike checks and repairs to all staff and students. There is no need to book.

Sustainable Living Fair will be on from 11:00-15:00 in the Atrium. The interactive fair will show us how to be more sustainable, show opportunities to get involved and or volunteer and nab some freebies. No booking is required as the event is open to everyone.

TUESDAY, MARCH 12

Craft Green: tea making workshop will allow staff and students to learn about different tea herbs you can use for common ailments, try some hot tea, and tailor your tea bag to take home. Booking is required for this event, which will be held next to the Nisa in the Atrium. The event will be at 13:00 -14:30.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

Dr Bike will be back on the 13th in case you didn't catch him earlier in the week.

There is also a Community Garden Session between 14:0016:00. The event encourages people to make friends, acquire new skills, and become a part of our sustainable community. All staff and students are welcome, and no booking is required.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14

Yellow Jelly Vintage Fair will be held in the Atrium from

11:00- 16:00. Pop down to find some second-hand vintage fashion pieces, as well as discover preloved furnishings that could brighten up your home.

BioBlitz offers students and staff an exploration into biodiversity. This event is an informative walk around campus. The university says “BioBlitz is an opportunity to engage with local flora and fauna, unravelling the secrets of the ecosystem that surrounds us.” The event will run between 11:00 -16:00 outside the Atrium bridge.

The online workshop People, Profit, Planet: Sustainable Business 101 is the last event of the week. This programme will help you understand some simple sustainable practices that individuals and businesses can implement to benefit people, the planet, and profits. The workshop will run online from 17:00-18:00.

Image Credit: Stirlingshire Table Tennis on Facebook

Image Credit: Stirling Council

U.S SENATE APPROVES $95 BILLION IN AID TO UKRAINE, ISRAEL AND ALLIES

By Cassandra Krajisnik

On 13 February, the United States Senate passed over $95 billion in foreign aid divided between Ukraine, Israel and U.S allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R).

Senate Republicans who still support former president Trump and most Republicans in Congress believe that the aid should be reserved for domestic issues.

Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) insist that the foreign aid bill would restate the U.S stance to "stand up to bullies."

However, only two recipients of this aid are widely accepted as the bullied nation. One recipient has been considered the bullying nation.

Ukraine

Ukraine is receiving over

$60 billion, over 2.2 trillion in Ukrainian currency. Ukraine has been in conflict with Russia since 2014. with a full scaled Russian invasion occurring in 2022. To this day, Russia never declared war on Ukraine.

Southern and surrounding territories of Ukraine have been annexed, restored and temporarily re-annexed.

The Council on Foreign Relations reports the U.S has sent military, financial, and humanitarian aid since 2022, more than any other country.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that: “For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps to save human lives from Russian terror.”

Israel

Just over $14.1 billion will go to support Israel, equal to almost 51 billion Israeli shekels.

This money will primarily go to American companies providing supplies and military services to Israel. The remainder of the money will go to the Israeli government.

Despite support of Ukrainian aid, many Americans feel the opposite about supporting Israel.

Israel, centralised in 1948, is headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has allowed for bomb and sniper attacks on Palestine. Much of the violence is "justified" on alleged and possibly

exaggerated ties to extremist group Hamas.

Migrants and reporters travelling with caravans have alleged that the bomb attacks follow them south into resource-bare refugee camps. Most recently under threat is Rafah, the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt is warning Israel and supporters not to support attacking Rafah, threatening an Egyptian response.

Ireland has also been in open support of Palestine since 1980, publicly critiquing both the U.S and Biden directly for supporing Israel. Clare Daly, an Irish MEP, has had a video circulating social media calling the U.S president 'Butcher Biden.'

Indo-Pacific Region

Nearly $5 billion in aid will go to allies in the Indo-Pacific region, notably Taiwan, to prevent expanding Chinese influence.

According to the CFR, the People's Republic of China views Taiwan as a "renegade province" and wants Taiwan to reunite with mainland China. However, Taiwan has its own democratically elected government, and wants to stay

SURVEY SHOWS SKYROCKETING RENT AND STUDENT HOMELESSNESS

By Justine Pedussel

A survey on students’ housing experiences in both purpose-built student accommodation (henceforth PBSA) and in the private sector was conducted in November and December 2023 by the Student Union Housing Volunteer Officer, the Students Union, and the Stirling Solidarity Space.

Two surveys were conducted, and a report has been written up by the Housing Officer combining the results of both to provide an understanding of the housing situation for students in Stirling. A total of 354 responded – 139 responded to the survey for Private Rentals and 215 to the survey for PBSA.

The surveys were responded to by significant representation of each year of study (1st – 4th years and Postgraduates or above) and of each fee status (home – international fees).

The results of these surveys determined that 15 per cent of surveyed students have experienced homelessness at some point during the course of their studies and 13 per cent had been forced to commute from outside of Stirling.

Additionally, over 80 per cent of students paid at least £400 per month in rent and 49 per cent had struggled to pay their rent each month.

What is even more striking is that over 60 per cent answered that they had struggled to afford food.

The full report and details of the surveys can be found on the Student Union website or upon request to the Housing Officer.

Contact the Housing Officer on the union website

independent. The U.S has stood firm on trying to keep the peace within the Taiwan Strait. Both Taipei and Beijing have been asked to maintain status quo.

Despite years of peacekeeping, Biden has multiple statements that the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s defence if China attacked. The White House has retracted them, but confirms the policy still exists, and action is up to the president.

Aid to countries like Taiwan are based on the higher ratio of trade the countries in the region have with China. Taiwan saw a peak in exports to mainland China despite

efforts to lower them. Attempts to diversify trade in the Indo-Pacific region prove difficult due to China's high trade power in the area.

The BBC said: "China's armed forces would dwarf those of Taiwan" if a confrontation were to occur. China has over ten times Taiwan’s military resources.

Read the full article on brignews. com.

Featured Image Credit: Cassandra Krajisnik (far above) University of Stirling (above and below)

THE KIDS ARE ALL LEFT – HOW TIKTOK HAS INTRODUCED YOUNG PEOPLE TO NEW IDEOLOGIES

By James Henderson

Earlier this year the Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY) held their National Conference. While the organisation is quite small, their event highlights a growing trend amongst young people not just in Scotland, but all over the western world.

Young people veering to the left is not a new phenomenon. It has long been the status quo that young people go politically left, and older people right.

With the current rent crisis and the emergence of social media, young people are exposed to more and more left-wing ideologies.

TikTok is unlike most social media in the fact that the majority of users spend their time browsing the For You page on the app, designed to tailor its content to the user. If you like or comment on a video,

the algorithm recommends similar content. This has led to the development of communities such as BookTok, MusicTok and FilmTok.

It also tries to guess what viewers want to see. So, people stumble over videos that they would have never normally watched.

This stumbling is what introduces new ideas.

Creators like @edwardmliger (aka “Midwestern Marx”) have over 200,000 followers, his most popular video sitting at 1.8 million views. @ edwardmliger makes videos from book recommendations to the history of communist countries and current events like the Palestine/ Israel conflict. Many young people feel very strongly about what is happening in Palestine, and so do many left-wing creators. A common ground, so the algorithm can do the rest.

It’s not just overtly left-wing creators like @edwardmliger that

introduce young people to these ideologies. It can also be creators like @daveo2real, a TikTok creator with over 300,000 followers and millions of views. @daveo2real does not disclose his political leanings; instead, most of his videos centre around gentrification and rent increases in New York.

While Brig's readers probably won’t be able to relate to New York, we can relate to rising rent prices.

Young people who are affected by the housing crisis will be brought to a creator like @daveo2real, sympathise, and engage. TikTok’s algorithm will then show creators with solutions to this relatable struggle.

TikTok has clearly evolved and can be a place for young people to find new interests and ways of thinking.

By Jess Urquhart POLITICS EDITOR

This print edition is focusing a lot more on local politics, so if you’re wanting to explore the political spectrum, keep reading! You might be interested in any of these student-run political societies! (Before anyone gets on at us for bias, yes there’s only left-wing societies. That’s not Brig partisan, no one has made a right-wing one since the disappearance of the Tory Society).

Amnesty International:

Stirling’s Amnesty International Society has a local and global focus on human rights, as a sect of the much bigger Amnesty International Organisation. They’ve organised sign-making workshops for protests, attending pro-Palestine marches and showing solidarity with the national lecturers’ union, the UCU. They meet on Tuesdays at 6pm.

Global Justice Stirling:

Global Justice Stirling are part of the national organisation Global

Justice Now that fight for “social and economic justice”. Their main values including climate justice, an accessible global vaccine, healthcare and equality for all, and unity as a whole. Their most recent actions include attending multiple pro-Palestine protests, as well as holding public meetings back in November to attempt to stop the expansion of oil drilling in the North Sea. Their meetings are Mondays at 6pm in C.2B148, and if you’re interested in joining the fight for equality and environmental justice, go try it out!

Middle Eastern North African Society (MENA):

Whilst not an officially political group, MENA has been doing fantastic work partnered with Islamic Relief to raise money for and awareness of the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. They recently held a dinner and auction to raise funds for Islamic Relief, which since 7 October, has sent over £6 million worth of aid to Gaza. They also frequently attend pro-Palestine

marches. As well as their political activities, they host weekly study sessions on Monday nights 6-10pm in C.2A19, and all nationalities are welcome to their meetings.

Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY):

Stirling’s branch of the Scottish Socialist Youth have campaigned in the past for a harm-reduction approach to drugs (such as drug testing kits being available to students, to test your drugs, not you), as well as for better buses and better mental health services at the uni (2nd-4th years will remember how atrocious the UL was last year). Nationally, the group advocates for an “independent, socialist republic of Scotland, free from the constraints of Westminster liberal democracy and the oppression of the world capitalist system.” They meet at 7pm on Wednesdays in C.2B84.

Student Action for Refugees (STAR):

STAR works to welcome refugees to Scotland, raising £855.30 last

semester for Forth Valley Welcome, a local sanctuary for refugees. “We are a wee society, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have big ambitions!” they said. They also organised an open letter to Stirling’s local MP, Alyn Smith (SNP) to call for the scrapping of the Illegal Immigration Bill last year. They meet on Tuesdays at 7pm. As well as this, they are currently trying to arrange a concert to campaign for better Sanctuary Scholarships, which are used to help refugee and asylum seeker students in a costof-living crisis. Their coordinator, Laila, explained: “Everybody has the right to an education, so with this event, we are wanting to take a step to improving the Sanctuary Scholarships!”

Total Liberation Stirling:

Total Liberation Stirling is a leftist organisation that focuses on the liberation of all marginalised groups, extending to animals as well as humans. It’s main activities recently involve calling out the university’s “cruel tests” in its aquaculture department, that, in their words, aim to “make marine life easier to exploit for human consumption”. They are also campaigning to “support Palestine Solidarity politics” and are working with the SSY to support their Get to the Point campaign. They meet on Thursdays at 6:30.

Featured Image Credit: TikTok (above left), @edwardmliger (above). (From top to bottom on right) Stirling Scottish Socialist Youth, Amnesty International Stirling. Global Justice Stirling, Middle Eastern and North Arfican Society Stirling, Student Action for Refugees Stirling. Total Liberation Stirling/

THE TALK: THE PAIN OF MASKING

By Elliot Johnston

Sometimes, when we have to do something uncomfortable or that we don’t want to do, we’re told to put on a brave face and just get on with it.

For many neurodivergent people, however, this uncomfortable situation is simply existing socially and having to adapt to a world that isn’t designed for them.

This has come to be known as ‘masking’.

To me, there are several levels to the masks I wear, some are consciously donned while others are so critical to my survival that they’ve become an unconscious process.

This constant masking is incredibly draining, I can’t remember a single school day where I didn’t have to immediately come home, crash, and recharge (as I referred to it).

In recent year's however I have found that my energy has flipped, and I now have overwhelming amounts of energy as often as I have none.

This has brought its own issues

when it comes to masking, and I am terrified that I can’t control it as I can barely keep up with my own thoughts enough to mask them.

When I get these massive spikes in energy it’s a strange feeling as the energy is great and can be a lot of fun, but equally, it can easily run over, which leads to me inevitably coming off as annoying and obnoxious.

I took me a while to realise how I was coming off and I still really struggle to put the brakes on in these situations.

The worst part is that I really don’t want to have to mask these feelings as they honestly make me feel great.

When I’m high on my own energy I don’t have to think about how uncomfortable the lights are, I don’t fixate on the future, and I don’t replay every conversation again and again and again in my head.

But I can’t just exist like that, it’s not sustainable.

I know that eventually the energy will result in me either burning myself out or annoying everyone

to the point where I become completely isolated all over again. More likely than not it will be both.

Which brings me back to the necessary evil of masking, for the good of myself and others I know that I need to push down a part of myself that I love.

Sure, I can unmask sometimes with people that I trust and that I know can deal with me at my most chaotic but that will never be much more than a cameo at this point.

The disheartening fact is this is how it’s always been and it’s the way it’s probably going to stay, but it doesn’t have to be quite so soul-crushing if you don’t let it.

Those times that you find yourself comfortable enough to drop your mask, embrace them!

Revel in every second that you can be truly authentic with the people you care about and don’t think about when you inevitably have to put your walls back up.

It may only be a brief, brilliant moment but that just makes it all the more special.

WHAT COULD PRINCIPAL GERRY'S PAY RISE BUY A STIRLING STUDENT?

By Charlotte Sutcliffe

Last month it was revealed that Principal Sir Gerry McCormac accepted a £68,000 pay rise during the cost-of-living crisis.

This also happened whilst UCU strikes were taking place, and to addeven more insult to injury, whilst there was student accommodation rent increases.

It’s almost laughable how insulting the timing of the pay rise is to both the staff and students at Stirling University.

And hey, I wasn’t in the meetings, maybe poor Gerry was forced to have this pay rise. Maybe he adamantly protested the injustice of it all - after all the University’s statement told us that courageously Gerry had declined any increase determined by the Remuneration Committee for the past eight years.

Big round of applause for Gerry. Here is a fun but also depressing list of things that Gerry could spend his pocket money on.

Things that a Stirling Student could buy with Gerry’s pay rise:

If your rent is £500 per month, it’s 136 months of rent.

Based on a £30 weekly shop, it’s 2267 weekly food shops.

With that money, you could get 17,000 Red Card Wednesday tickets.

Alternatively, it’s 360 yearly gym memberships to the sports centre.

For English, Welsh, and NI students, it’s 7.4 years of tuition.

For Scottish students on the lowest maintenance loan, it’s 11 years of SAAS.

For the most expensive ticket for Scotland’s opening match against Germany in the Euros, Gerry could take 136 people.

He could also buy the most expensive VIP package to see Taylor Swift at Murrayfield 103 times.

It’s also the cost of making 101 editions of Brig Newspaper.

Now, I’m sure Gerry probably won’t remember what we wrote in the University’s student newspaper about it or the tweets from affronted students. But students will not forget that while they struggled to eat and heat their flats, their principal received a £68,000 pay rise. They will remember the frustration and anger and tears as the University once again shows what the priority is.

RIP MY BUS PASS: THE HORRORS OF TURNING

Freya Deyell

Birthdays are a cause for celebration for some, striking the fear of getting older in others. I had a lovely day when I turned 22 a few weeks ago, but my main thought remained: “Damn, I can’t use my bus pass anymore.”

The Scottish Government introduced the free bus travel scheme for under 22s back in January 2022.

I was in my second year of uni and classes were finally starting to get back to being in-person. I eagerly applied for my new Young Scot card – free travel to campus? Yes, please!

I don’t know exactly how much I’ve saved over the past two years thanks to the scheme, but it must be in the hundreds. In the middle of

the cost-of-living crisis, free transport was a massive weight off my and many other’s shoulders.

The UL may be rubbish, but at least I wasn’t wasting money on it. It made me much more inclined to nip to campus for a few hours to get some work done even if I didn’t have a class.

As well as going to uni, I used my trusty pass to take me all over the country. Coaches to Glasgow, Edinburgh, even Aberdeen and Inverness – and it didn’t cost me a penny.

It feels especially cruel now that I’m working on my dissertation that my free transport has been ripped away from me. But I’m one

22

of the lucky ones: students over 22 have been completely forgotten by the government.

In fact, last year NUS Scotland estimated that 311,000 students aren’t eligible for free bus travel.

The majority of university students (55 per cent) are actually over 22 –the government clearly needs to be doing more.

With a student return on the UL costing £3.20, I fear my bank account will be taking a hit soon enough (imagine all the coffees I could be buying!). I guess I’ll just need to wait until I’m 60 to get it for free again. Or maybe it’s time I took up cycling…

Principal Gerry McCormac. Image credit: University of Stirling

Image credit: McGill's

Image credit: Pexels.com

"MEDICAL INFLUENCERS": A DIAGNOSIS FOR DISASTER

By Murron Carscadden

It’s no secret that everyone at one point in their life has suddenly been overwhelmed with an illness so much so that they have taken to Google or other social platforms to uncover the true cause of their ailment.

Most of the time search results will conclude that your health is in much worse condition than it actually may be.

As social media platforms such as TikTok have grown more popular it isn’t any surprise that people have started sharing their medical journeys with online audiences.

Combining the need to discover the meaning behind your symptoms and the easy access to disabilities and conditions online can be easily summarised as a recipe for disaster for some people.

TikTok, specifically, in the past few years has become a main platform for raising awareness on disabilities and conditions. Recently, the platform's disability audience has risen immensely due to the influx of videos from creators advocating for awareness.

One of the conditions that gained great attention was Tourette’s Syndrome. Creators with this condition quickly went viral in 2020 and 2021 for their seemingly ‘amusing’ tics.

Influencers known for posting about their tourette’s journey

include Evie Meg (Thistrippyhippie) and Glen Cooney (This.Tourettes. Guy). They quickly became popular after making videos such as trying to bake while ticcing, or simply showing what makes tics better and worse.

To many people, it seemed like a very interesting and entertaining disability to live with. It became a breeding ground for videos mocking and misunderstanding the seriousness of the medical condition.

Not only were unwanted mocking clips quickly rising but comments questioning the legitimacy behind the creators with these conditions started to overcrowd the comments section of each video.

Many of the tourettes influencers hurriedly tried to resolve this by explaining exactly how their

"The spiral into a question of whether social media is even the place to dis- cuss topics so sensitive."

condition affects them. Still, unfortunately, videos like that do not get the same traction as the funnier, more light-hearted content.

Tourette’s, of course, is not the only medical condition that faces this sort of backlash. Creators with mental health conditions often experience similar confrontations, especially if it is harder for them to

prove that they have it.

This spiral into a question of whether social media is even the place to discuss topics so sensitive.

On one hand, there is always a need for recognition and realisation in communities like these; nobody wants to suffer alone so it feels safe and welcoming to find other people who experience the same difficulties that you do.

Sharing ways to cope, daily logs and methods to overcome stresses surrounding your issues must come as a relief for those searching for answers.

Unfortunately, on the other side

of things, it can quickly become a toxic and misleading way to cope with unusual symptoms.

Comments that produce harmful feelings about such medical symptoms could also have an underlying effect. If there are more videos being uploaded claiming to help you understand your symptoms without ever seeking professional advice, then more people will end up going undiagnosed for the issues they may actually suffer from.

People then believing that they have a condition that they do not have will also spread misleading

information about these difficulties and inevitably end up with fewer people believing the real and reliable information given by medical professionals.

Social media does have its positives - it can bring people together to cope with these difficulties.

However, it should still only be used as a community platform to meet people and share coping mechanisms rather than a reliable medical information source. Selfdiagnosis from social media is not a safe or supported way to address medical issues.

FOR EVERY GOOD ACHIEVEMENT ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS, I CAN NAME THREE MORE REASONS TO KEEP FIGHTING

By Julie Brinking COMMENT EDITOR

We’ve come a long way with women’s rights and achievements, there cannot be any doubt about that.

Just look at how well women did in film and TV this past year. So many Oscar nominations for female directors and actresses (oh, wait!).

But only a few weeks ago, another court ruling in the United States was passed to tighten the control over tens of thousands of women’s bodily autonomy.

On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos used in IVF treatment are considered children. This means discarding unwanted or abnormal embryos, or failure to store them securely,

will be considered a violation of the Wrongful Death Act.

To sum things up, medical providers and hopeful parents-to-be can be prosecuted on the grounds that they are killing babies because of negligent or unjustified behaviour leading to the death of a minor.

Once again, it was always about control, never life! Now, IVF clinics in Alabama are stopping treatment because of the risk of punishment.

Just two weeks before this, the UK public finally had a conclusion to the devastating murder of 16-yearold transgender girl Brianna Ghey, as her two murderers were sentenced to life imprisonment.

It wasn’t established with full certainty during the trial whether

Ghey’s murder, which took place in February 2023, was considered a hate crime, but because Ghey was transgender, she was “more vulnerable and accessible,” said Detective Mike Evans of Cheshire Police.

Now, to add fuel to the fire, J.K. Rowling has donated £70,000 to a ‘feminist’ group (this is a deliberate quotation, because how can you be a feminist and not fight for everyone?) who aim to challenge the legal definition of “woman” in the 2018 Gender Representation on Public Board Act.

I sense now that you, dear reader, are looking for a positive story. Here it is - Greece has recently become the first Christian-Orthodox country to legalise same-sex

marriage. Couples will now also be legally allowed to adopt.

Marriage equality is still, to much shock and horror, a topic of great debate across the world.

In actuality, it is only permitted in 35 countries worldwide. But this is a historic change, so let’s not digress.

Simultaneously, 70 per cent of casualties in Gaza are women and children, according to Care.

Shelters are not safe, and pregnant women, young mothers, and newborns are at great medical risk.

As is the case with many humanitarian crises, women and children are the ones to suffer disproportionately more than anyone else.

As AI becomes more sophisticated, so does our use of it – for good and for bad. Deepfake

pornography, in which fake photos and videos of people often depicted in violent sex acts are generated using artificial intelligence, is on the rise.

It is becoming easier and easier both to create these depictions and to access them.

However, because they are fake, they do not constitute revenge porn, and little can be done.

And let’s not forget that at the current rate, the global gender pay gap will be closed in 131 years.

So, while we are celebrating International Women’s Day and all that has been achieved since the Suffragette movement, let’s not forget what we are still fighting for.

Image credit: Pexels

Image credit: Newham London

SCOTLAND’S SECOND-EVER VINYL PRESS PLANT SET TO OPEN IN GLASGOW’S EAST END

By Robbie MacAvenue

Rockvinyl, the company behind the plant, have launched a crowdfunding campaign with an aim to raise £1.7m to cater for the renewed popularity of the vinyl format.

A large industrial building has already been built and will be used as a space to press vinyl from summer this year, while proceeds from the crowdfunder will be put into the construction and delivery of three vinyl pressing machines from Sweden. Proceeds will also go into the recruitment and training of pressing staff, which will assist the goal to press 60,000 vinyl records per month.

In the driver’s seat of Rockvinyl is former graphic designer David Brady, who will take on the role of managing director. Brady will be supported by a board of

experienced advisors, including music industry aficionados such as Mark Wilson, who previously managed Scottish bands like Orange Juice and Trashcan Sinatras, as well as Regular Music chief executive Mark Mackie.

2023 proved to be a huge year in vinyl’s road to revival. According to statistics taken from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), 80 per cent of music is still consumed via streaming, however, vinyl sales rose by 11.7 per cent in 2023, putting UK vinyl sales at their highest since 1990. The resurgence of vinyl is valuable for British musicians in particular, with UK artists accounting for 40 per cent of 2023’s top 100 most-sold vinyl LPs.

Rockvinyl is reaching out to upand-coming Scottish acts through its ‘fan-funded vinyl’ scheme,

which allows fans to contribute to vinyl production costs for their favourite musicians. This means that smaller acts will have a better chance of making a profit through physically distributed music. Brady says that he hopes the initiative will “provide a platform for emerging artists to share their music in its most authentic form and reach a wider audience.”

Hamish McBurney, who works for Stirling record shop Europa Records, said: “Europa has definitely seen an uptake in vinyl over the years. People are realising that they want something physical as a keepsake, they can take in the visuals of the vinyl artwork and a huge part of it is about having something that belongs to you, alongside the music.”

MOTHER MOTHER’S “GRIEF CHAPTER” REVIEW: AN EVOLVED SOUND FOR THE BAND

By Emma Christie

Canadian alt rock band, Mother Mother, released their new album Grief Chapter on 16 February, 2024. The band, known for their vitality on TikTok a few years ago with their song Hayloft, have been evolving their sound since the early 2010s,

Their evolution and steady growth have impacted their sound. Describing the album, frontman Ryan Guldemond says, “We’ve been playing the biggest stages of our career over the last few years, feeling more like a high energy rock band than we’ve ever felt.

“It’s natural, I think, that this charged frequency found its way into the record. In the studio, our instinct was to make things hit hard and feel powerful, and the band as a whole felt very honed to execute in this way.”

Mother Mother has amassed more than 6.9 billion streams worldwide to date and show no signs of slowing down anytime

soon.

Explode! showcases this heavier and more energetic feeling the band has honed, keeping the classic Mother Mother sound we are used to and injecting it with bass and deeper vocals. It is definitely one of the most memorable tracks from this album, although that is a difficult judgement to rule.

Guldemond said: “This song is about the desire to live so fully that one becomes overzealous and manic about it.”

Days hides dark lyrics underneath an upbeat track. Guldemond worries about days that will take “take [him] down, down, down”.

Forever is just as dark with an other-worldly instrumental track backing the question, “if forever isn’t true, what do I do?”. Despite having a run time of more than five minutes, this song doesn’t feel as though it lasts forever, carefully crafted to tell a story of existential dread.

Normalize is buzzing with electricity and has a beat to keep you moving, featuring a chorus you’ll want to raise a lighter to as you sway with the crowd.

God’s Plan is an alt-rock criticism on issues rampant in the world today. Mother Mother question if everything is a part of God’s plan, then “what was he taking? Cocaine, but I don’t blame him”.

Grief Chapter ends with a track of the same name, strings lulling us toward the end of the story. This track effectively closes a chapter, whether that be one in the band’s personal life, or in their musical one, they sing that “everything is different now”.

The band stick true to their core values and sound but build on it as it grows and becomes stronger. To round off, this album is Mother Mother at its core.

WHY STUDENT FANS FEEL EXCLUDED FROM ALBUM

By Ben Macswan

RELEASE HYPE

Taylor Swift recently announced The Tortured Poets Department at the Grammys. Set to be released on 19 April, Swift has already announced two variants of the album with different bonus tracks, without any pre-release single, echoing her previous Midnights album release in 2022.

This also follows in the footsteps of Olivia Rodrigo, who recently released four different coloured variants of her GUTS album, featuring different bonus tracks on each one.

This extreme capitalisation of their music overshadows the artistry of two incredibly talented musicians.

Brig asked fellow students what they felt. One stated: “It’s hard being a student and having a limited budget to keep up with new releases. It gets harder to justify buying new vinyl just to have one or two different tracks.”

Another said: “The idea of the music machine churning out song after song for profits sets an extremely uncomfortable precedent for the music industry and capitalism's inherent greed. It turns me away from trust and has me concerned for what a fan is to some stars.”

Students simply don’t have the money to invest in certain artists' fandoms, as their music is locked away behind a paywall for a prolonged period. For instance, Hits Different from Swift’s album Midnights was only released on limited edition CDs in certain shops on its 21 October 2022 release date, hitting streaming services overseven months later on

26 May 2023, meaning that some fans couldn’t engage with discussion over the track due to the inability to afford a physical copy of the album.

The Midnights album feels incomplete on physical formats. The 3AM Edition of the album only exists on streaming platforms, and there are currently no known plans to release this on vinyl or CD meaning that fans are essentially paying for an incomplete product.

In addition, the often time-locked preorders for special editions preys on FOMO of young fans and convinces them to spend a significant amount in an instant, often an amount they can’t afford.

While Rodrigo did release an exclusive record store day EP with all of the bonus tracks included, these still have not been added to streaming services and no ‘complete’ version of the GUTS album is available.

The over-commercialisation of certain album releases has become a problem for student fans who just want to indulge in the discographies and fanbases of their favourite pop stars, without feeling excluded due to price.

Vinyls Image credit Florencia Viadana via Unsplash

Mother Mother, Photo Credit: Mackenzie Walker

Image Credit:n UMB

THE MYSTERINES: “WE FEEL MORE CONSOLIDATED NOW WITH WHO WE ARE IN THIS NEW RECORD”

By Carly McKim Music Editor

Sitting in the dressing rooms of the iconic Barrowlands Ballroom are three out of four of The Mysterines. Paul, Lia, and Calum, having just come back from the old Barras Fruit Market, sat down with Brig to talk about their new tunes and how they get their sound.

The Liverpool group told Brig that they formed shortly after meeting at a local gig and bonding over Bob Dylan. This makes you wonder what else influenced the distinctive gritty sound of The Mysterines?

LIA: “I think, collectively, we all have so many different influences. Like George for example, loves Motown music and early 60s stuff.

"I think our influences are quite different to what we actually play. We love Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Sparklehorse, and just loads of weird shit.”

PAUL: “As we've gotten older, we’ve got into different things, and we've kind of got into it at the same time. Because we spend so much time together, if one person gets into something, we’d all be listening to it and it all rubs off on everyone.

“I think as we've been moving through our teens and into our early 20s, we went through all these different phases of listening to stuff together.”

So far, the band has released a UK top-five album, Reeling, and they have toured with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Frank Carter + The Rattlesnakes. The band is now releasing a new album this year and has a new single Stray.

CALUM: “I think when we started writing for the second album it was a conscious decision to depart from that sound, and we kind of went as far away as possible, and then we're like, ‘oh, maybe that's too far’, and then we come back a little bit.”

LIA: “We feel more consolidated now with who we are in this new record. Not many people nail their first record in terms of what they sound like. There are only a handful of unbelievable debut records.”

The new single Stray was released on 20 February. When asked what this is about Lia stated:

“It’s like a stray animal or something that's kind of found on the side of the road and kind of left to survive on its own. It's kind of like in that world of stuff.

“It's kind of like a spectrum of behaviours that you face within yourself when you’re kind of trying to process something that's happened to you.

“It's a juxtaposition between loss

and gain and finding yourself and then losing yourself again and being erotic and being really kind of chilled. So, it's a polarity kind of thing really, and the connotations are like the word stray.”

The Mysterines have been going from strength to strength. There is a lot of excitement around this new album as well as the band now going on tour next autumn. Maybe we will get a Motown tune but for now, we will have to wait and see.

Tickets for The Mysterines are on sale now. Dates and locationsare listed below.

October 5 – TBA, Manchester

October 18 – Whelan’s, Dublin

October 19 - Ulster Sports Club, Belfast

October 20 – Saint Luke’s Glasgow

October 22 – Rescue Rooms , Nottingham

October 23 – Thekla, Bristol

October 24 - O2 Shephard’s Bush Empire

October 26 – Olympia, Liverpool

BLEACHERS’ SELF-NAMED ALBUM: A MELODIC INSIGHT TO WALKS OF LIFE

By Emma Christie

The American indie-pop band, Bleachers have announced that their fourth album will be released on 8 March this year. The self-titled album is produced by the respected indie label Dirty Hit, the company famous for signing The 1975 and Beabadoobes.

The band are also lined up to perform a sold-out UK tour, kicking off in London on 19 March.

Jack Antonoff, the band’s front man, has eight Grammys to his name for his work as a producer, working for artists such as Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, and their Dirty Hit friend The 1975. His style

is something so unique that he has been branded as “redefining pop”. This album focuses on who Bleachers are as a band. It is soulful, unique, boldly colourful, sad, and somehow all wrapped into 14 tracks.

Bleachers opens with I Am Right on Time. An adventurous synth and a shyly strummed guitar lead us to Antonoff’s soft vocals. As the track continues, it builds to a more powerful beat, as though it has gained confidence and has an overwhelming flow of emotions it needs to release.

Modern Girl gives us whiplash as it drags us by the hand into an upbeat and humorous song about modern girls “shaking their ass tonight”. It’s the kind of song you yell out on road trips- it’s impossible to stay still to.

Back to a more relaxed and sombre vibe is Jesus Is Dead. This track has a quiet sort of determinism throughout it as powerful lyrics are gently sung. Describing the track, Antonoff said: “Jesus is dead is almost like this protective shield, ‘this is where I’m at’. If that’s not enough for someone, then they need not be in this audience or in this conversation.”

Alma Mater sees long-time collaborator, Lana Del Rey, join in on the vocals. This track is very floaty, with hints of jazz appearing throughout.

“This song is a weird little magic gem where I’m not really sure why all the pieces are coming together, but they are in this really special way to me,” Antonoff notes.

Self Respect is a colourful piece

with vocals similar to Oh Wonder. The track thinks about existential questions, why things happen the way they do. It reminds us that even in confusing times, we must focus on what matters

“I’m not only thinking about deep things. I’m not only thinking about silly things. It’s all happening at once,” said Antonoff.

Bleachers ends the album with The Waiter, a melancholic track

featuring auto-tuned vocals. Perhaps a more memorable track would’ve served better as the end, but on this walk of life you never know when the end will rear its head.

Overall, it is a solid album that shows who Bleachers are with no shadow of a doubt. Bleachers takes you through the walk of life, stopping at various milestones on the way.

The Mysterines Image credit ChuffMedia

Bleachers Image credit Alex Lockette

Bleachers Album Artwork: Alex Lockette

SPECIAL

The latest from Glasgow Film Festival

FESTIVAL

LOVE LIES BLEEDING GFF REVIEW: BLOOD, SWEAT, AND SAPPHIC SENSUALITY

By Alex Paterson

Opening the 20th anniversary of the Glasgow Film Festival is the UK premiere of romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding, starring Kristen Stewart.

Yes, Kristen Stewart plays the protagonist, Lou, who finds herself in a whirlwind relationship. So, yes, it is super, super gay. And incredibly hot.

Gym manager Lou leads a relaxed life in 1980s Albuquerque, New Mexico. Smoking cigs, helping her sister, Beth (Jena Malone), and effortlessly rocking a mullet seem to be the main concerns of her uneventful life. Of course, in the depths of boredom, passion enters her life in the form of budding body builder, Jackie (Katy O’Brian), who saunters into Lou’s gym on route to a competition in Las Vegas. After a brief check-out in the gym, a shared cigarette outside, and a punch in the face, the two get to know one another amongst the

weights... and things quickly become steamy.

The relationship darkens as swiftly as it began, with problems from troublesome pasts and presents settling on the doorstep of Lou and Jackie’s blissful flat. Secrets unfurl, violence ensues, and gore quickly follows. Sexual tension meets with regular old tension as the pair navigate a world of danger, drugs, and love- all with Jackie’s Vegas body-building debut looming in front of them.

The entirety of Love Lies Bleeding sits upon the sheer passion and chemistry of Stewart and O’Brian. Their affection is obvious, and their lust is palpable- this makes for sex scenes better than any in recent memory.

This film, which so cleverly blends the real and the surreal, is never hard to navigate. No matter which way the movie turns; no matter who is splattered in blood or bruised and battered, the connection the

What not to miss at Glasgow Film Festival

By Ben MacSwan

Glasgow Film Festival started 28 February and runs until 10 March. The festival has provided audiences with plenty of wonderful cinematic experiences so far, but the line-up is far from over.

The festival continues with Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger going behind the scenes of two of Britain's greatest filmmakers - behind such classics as The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom , narrated by Martin Scorsese on Wednesday 6 March.

two share is streamlined throughout the film -which is essential for the film to make sense. Who would believe your crazy from love if they can’t believe you are crazily in love?

The lunacy and sincerity of the rest of the cast is just as crucial and just as successfully pulled off. Dave Franco, who plays JJ, especially sticks the landing on being severely twisted without losing any comedic ability.

That’s one thing the Love Lies Bleeding’s trailer did not reveal. This film is hilarious. From drug-induced delusions to candid family, relationship and self-banter, the jokes go blow-for-blow with the violence.

However, what was not a surprise was how good the film looked, and how fantastic it sounded. UK-born director Rose Glass is a fast-growing player, and the reason for her rapidly escalating success is her sheer skill.

The sounds of the world- whether it’s dramatised muscle crunching or genuine smacks of knuckles across faces- electrify your ears. Without the visuals, the film stands solid. However, to not see the action would be another loss entirely. Lit up by artificial reds, enhanced star light, and dusty day-time desert sunshine, Love Lies Bleeding mesmerises with its looks as well as its plot.

However, what is most captivating is the sheer chemistry between Stewart and O’Brian. Sweaty and sensual, Love Lies Bleeding has a strength and slight sleaziness that feels so utterly sincere, largely thanks to their performances.

Glasgow Film Festival goers are in for a treat if the festival is even a scratch as good as its opener. The rest of the UK will need to wait until April 19 for the general cinema release. It will be a tough few months, but it will be worth it. Love Lies Bleeding deserves a space at the top of your to-watch list.

For those who never caught the premiere, Tummy Monster, screening again on Thursday 7 March, sees rising star Lorn Macdonald as a "self-centred tattoo artist whose fixation on getting a selfie with a famous client embroils him in a bizarre and dangerous game". Directed by Glasgow-based director Ciaran Lyons, this comic psychological thriller is not to be missed.

For enjoyers of trashy queer cinema, look no further than the 50th-anniversary screening of John Water's outrageous 1974 cult classic Female Trouble It follows anti-heroine Dawn (played by Divine) as she drops out of school and joins the criminal underworld all because her parents wouldn't buy her a pair of cha-cha heels.

The festival closes on 10 March with the world premiere of Janey , an honest, moving, and often deeply funny documentary about Glasgow comedian Janey Godley, following her Not Dead Yet tour. Following its world premiere, Janey will be released in UK cinemas on 15 March.

This year marks Glasgow Film Festival's 20th Anniversary. Image credit: Glasgow Film Festival

Katy O'Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding. Image credit: A24

WHY DIDN'T THE IRON CLAW GET AN OSCAR NOMINATION?

By Rebecca Crockett Film & TV Editor

As the carpet is rolled out at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and the precious names are checked and checked again, there will be one film that is notably missing from this year's Oscars.

The Iron Claw had all the makings of an Oscar favourite. Tragic biopic, indie darling, and a former child actor giving a knock-out performance. But Sean Durkin’s oily ode to the Von Erich brothers didn’t make it on Academy voter’s ballots for one reason: politics.

To nab an Oscar nomination, it is less about the quality of the film than it is the quality of the campaign. It has been estimated by Vox that Oscar campaigns can cost anywhere between $3 million and $15 million. You need money, influence, and a compelling selling point to

even be a contender.

But A24 have all of this. The production house behind The Iron Claw has been a favourite on the circuit for the last decade due to its originality and arthouse fanbase. Last year it even brought home seven Oscars for Everything Everywhere All At Once. To add insult to injury they are an independent company whose worth stands at an oxymoronic sum of $2.5 billion.

So, what is the problem? They have the money, they are riding on a high, and they still have that underdog persona despite all their success. But why didn’t it work for The Iron Claw?

Simply put, there are too many good films and not enough time.

A key component of a winning Oscar campaign is making sure you are on the radar of Academy voters. This means billboards, ‘For your Consideration’ booklets,

screenings, and festival runs.

A VIEW FROM THE DUNE : PART TWO RED CARPET

By Tess Bowen

As someone who grew up watching films and obsessing over every celebrity I felt some kind of affinity to, the place of my dreams is the red carpet. As I’m not actually famous, however, standing behind the barricade next to the red carpet will have to do for now.

Thursday 15 February was the Global Premiere of Dune Part Two, held at the cinemas in Leicester Square. This functioned differently to how the first premiere I did in 2021, as fans could sign up and win places on the carpet, rather than turn up in the early hours and get a number. Presumably, this system was to make the event more organised, but this didn’t work too well as fans camped (in vain) outside the cinemas to be the first ones there, despite the fact there were time slots for entry.

With different entry points and

time slots, fans were escorted to different areas around the red carpet, which had been transformed into the Dune planet “Arrakis” for the event. In each of the different sections, fans then had to wait a few hours for the arrival of the celebrities.

The event wasn’t short of familiar faces, ranging from Internet personalities like TommyInnit, Caspar Lee and Max Balegde to film stars, like Greta Gerwig, Kaia Gerber and of course the cast of Dune. On the red carpet though, I found my specialities lie with recognising the siblings of actors, speaking to Raffie Pugh and Sam Holland, who I strangely greeted like old friends. (I also don’t think I’ve ever been as excited to see anyone as I was when I saw Ali Plumb walking past me!)

Due to the size of the premiere, two cinemas were used, so while everyone involved with the

making of the film were directed to walk past us on the main red carpet, other invitees had to go on another route.

This means that people in my section had the chance to see the cast, though due to the disorganisation of the premiere, they could rarely stop to greet fans, as they were hurried past. After spending hours hoping to greet them, this led to some disappointment and frustration at the poor arrangement of the event.

Despite this, the premiere was enjoyable, and it was such a thrill being able to see celebrities you’re so used to watching through screens. Dune is out in UK theatres now. Read Brig's review on our website at Brignews.com

But for all of this to happen voters, and crucially executive producers, must believe you have a chance.

The Iron Claw premiered in early November in Dallas, Texas. It didn’t have the festival run that usually launches an award season sweep, neither did it give voters much time to add it to their watch lists.

A late release date may not impact your chances- Poor Things released in early December yet are sitting comfortably with their 11 nominations- but Poor Things wasn’t in competition for resources within their own production house.

This year A24 had Priscilla, Past Lives , Zone of Interest , and The Iron Claw all circulating on Oscar prediction lists everywhere. While they all deserve buzz in their own right, A24 had a difficult decision of where to put the money. Besides both being incredible

pieces of work - Past Lives had film Twitter and time on its side, while Zone of Interest had its immediacy and connection to current events.

It's a no-brainer.

This has happened to plenty of other more talented and more diverse films before and it will happen again.

It's just a reminder that while awards are nice, and we should continue to open them up to those who have been historically shut out, they aren’t everything.

This is especially true for The Iron Claw. A film that fulfils everything an Oscar winner traditionally should be. So maybe it doesn’t have to be this year.

The 96th Academy awards will be taking place on 10th March 2024. It will be available to watch on ITV1 and ITVX for viewers in the UK.

Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich in The Iron Claw. Image credit: A24

Zac Effron as Kevin Von Erich. Image credit: A24

(Top) Tess Bowen meeting Geta Gerwig on the Dune:Part Two red carpet, (bottom left) Red carpet view, (Bottom right) Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson in Dune.

Image credit: Tess Bowen and Warner Bros.

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BRIG 2023/24 EDITORIAL TEAM

Niamh Brook POLITICS & ELECTIONS EDITOR

Jodie Hagan ARTS EDITOR

Charlotte Sutcliffe EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Freya Deyell DEPUTY EDITOR

Alex Paterson SECRETARY

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Ben Macswan DEPUTY ELECTIONS EDITOR

By Niamh Brook ELECTIONS EDITOR

Leen Ali has been re-elected for a second term as president of Stirling’s Students’ Union. Ali won by a landslide, with 1382 of 1821 votes. Ali talks in her manifesto about continuing the Community Food Initiative, getting more accessible microwaves, and “pushing for interculturalism awareness amongst the University and

support catered for international students”.

“My plans are to get the Community Food Initiative up and running, international student support, and improve on a lot of things I wasn’t able to achieve last year,” she said.

Ali also campaigned last year to use the digital screens around campus and in the Macrobert Arts Centre to advertise student-run projects and events. Ali plans to continue that this year. “I would

like to say there are a few things that are a lot slower to do that are still undone,” she continued.

“We are still in the process of getting screen space to highlight student creativity. Because of the policy system that they have in place, that is very unclear and doesn't highlight the space they have for student creation.

“There’s a meeting coming up in March and that's when a lot of things will be decided. We should have something in place soon.”

Leen

HALF OF UNION VOLUNTEER OFFICER ROLES LEFT VACANT DESPITE EXTENDED NOMINATIONS

By Ben Macswan DEPUTY ELECTION EDITOR

The Students’ Union elections are a vital time for student’s voices to be heard, however, a substantial number of roles remain unfilled.

This was despite the Union extending nominations for roles that no one was standing for.

Seven volunteer positions, including Arts Officer and Mature Students Officer, remain vacant, following the elections last week.

In regards to Mature Students

Officer and the Parents & Carers Officer, due to the cost of living crisis, many students - especially those having to provide for their children - have to work full-time jobs and simply would not have the time to run for or be a Students’ Union volunteer. Additionally the Union itself does not provide significant support or events for mature students - with the majority of their programming in Venue and Undeground catering mostly to a young freshers audience.

As for Arts Officer, the Union already has the Film Appreciation Society, Photography and Art Societies who foster student engagement with the arts effectively, hosting weekly workshops and events. Therefore many students may feel like the role is nullified or unnecessary as the committees of these societies already craft an arts culture for the university.

With roles such as Alternative Pathways, Care Experienced Students and Engagement Officer also remaining vacant, the

question whether the Union has advertised these roles significantly enough remains.

There were Instagram advertisements, but little more, meaning many potentially interested students very well could’ve missed the memo.

The Students’ Union is lacking significant voices with these unfilled positions and members of the student body may feel unheard because of this. The Union needs to do their best to try to fill these roles as urgently as possible.

FORCED VOTING AND INTIMIDATION ALLEGEDLY USED BY ELECTION CANDIDATES

By Alex Paterson

Candidates in the recent Stirling Students’ Union elections are facing allegations of intimidating voters.

When approached by certain candidates, students were allegedly being forcefully encouraged to vote on the spot.

Some candidates were also supposedly watching students' phones as they voted, ensuring their selections.

Students who had already voted prior to being approached apparently faced annoyance from candidates.

Candidates have also allegedly

been bold in asking voters who they had chosen, shocking some students.

Public campaigning is usual for the elections, but the apparent boldness this year has made some students feel uncomfortable.

Candidates have also supposedly been encouraging Re-Open Nomination (R.O.N) votes in categories other than their own.

An anonymous source told Brig that even the candidates agree the elections have been "super catty".

They said the toxicity among candidates was apparent:

"I think everyone agrees it's been a bit of a sh*tshow this year."

A Union spokesperson commented: "Whilst we have not been made aware of any issues relating to intimidation of voters, anyone with concerns regarding the elections should contact the Students' Union in the first instance."

Justine Pedussel VP Communities, Laura Shaw Sports President, Leen Ali Union President, left to right (Adelayo Adebayo VP Education was absent). Image credit: Ciara Tait

Stirling University Students Union. Image credit: Jonathan Boomer

Seven roles are unfilled. Image credit: Pexels

PENNY CHIVAS - SUSTAINABILITY ON TOUR

By Jodie Hagan ARTS EDITOR

Last October Penny Chivas brought her dance production Burnt Out to Macrobert Arts Centre as part of her mission to tour around Scotland using the most sustainable and low carbon means possible.

The 39-year-old Australian dancer talks to Brig about the success of her Scottish tour, her recent performance in Finland, and upcoming projects.

Chivas moved to Glasgow 14 years ago and created her solo dance work Burnt Out as part of her post-grad program at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2020.

The piece is a response to her environmental anxiety after experiencing both the Canberra bushfires of 2003 and the Black Summer bushfires of 2019.

“My Mum didn’t want to leave the house because the air quality was so hazardous,” said Chivas. “I knew I would be leaving for Scotland in a few weeks, but my parents and family would have to continue for who knows how long.”

“Burnt Out became about trying to make sense of what was going on. What do you do with all the conflicting emotions when climate change affects you firsthand?” she said.

Although the production has been touring for three years, the recent Scottish leg was the first time Chivas and her team had attempted to go fully green.

“We toured from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway solely by ferries, trains, public buses, and bicycles,” said Chivas. “We did the math and I saved around two return flights from Glasgow to St. Petersburg in carbon emissions.”

Everything was meticulously thought out, from methods of transport to ethical costume design and limited use of props. Chivas also ran post-show discussions chaired by a local activist.

“We’re starting to see more sustainability in tours but not on the level we’ve done it,” she said. “Once we make a big deal of this then other people are going to follow and that ripple effect is what’s so exciting.”

The normal touring method would be to fly to Orkney and Shetland, but Chivas and her team remained dedicated to slow travel and saved 1.45 tonnes of CO2e, a reduction of 74 per cent from the standard touring model.

When Chivas created Burnt Out , venues were reluctant to program a climate-based work. Even on the recent tour, she faced pushback in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, an area

relying heavily on oil revenue.

Fortunately, this has only made her more determined and audience responses keep her going: “In Glasgow, someone brought their daughter along who had been refusing to go to school since Rosebank was approved. She was experiencing that ‘What is my future?’ feeling and seeing her connect with other audience members and the guest speaker was such a beautiful thing to witness.”

After her Scottish tour, Chivas was supported by The National Lottery via Creative Scotland to travel to Finland and perform Burnt Out at Lonely in the Rain, a festival dedicated solely to political dance works.

Given that slow travel wouldhave taken days, Chivas made the difficult decision to take a flight but made sure to offset her carbon footprint by donating to The

Big Picture rewilding project in Scotland.

“I got a full house which was amazing, especially because the work has quite a lot of text and I didn’t know if people would want to come and see work with spoken English in it,” she said.

Chivas hopes to continue touring Burnt Out but is also excited about developing a new work titled Stop The piece will explore experiences of climate activism at a time when even peaceful protestors are at risk of harsh penalties.

“I’ve been interviewing climate activists across the UK and sound recording some of their stories about why they take the action they do and some of them even talk about getting arrested,” she said. “I feel it’s really important to tell these stories about people’s belief and determination onstage during our current political times.”

THE PROCESS OF DECOMPOSITION

By Alice Pollard

A fictional short story

Clouds have gathered above my head, tears landing on my open eyes. A seed of water traces its way through the blood, distorting the faded freckles with maternal gentleness. The urge to wipe it away is overwhelming - I reach out a weathered hand, but nothing happens. They remain lifeless at my sides, moss beginning to hug the naked bone of my fingers. Time is warped. How long have my eyes stared at the stars, yet only seen the darkness beyond them?

Rain fills the rush of footprints that circle me, eroding the prints they left that day - eroding the evidence. Old blood runs in rivulets as the water lifts the stains from the dark soil. This is the first rain since I've been here. I hope those boys are out there somewhere - looking up to the trees, seeing the flowers open their petals to the heavens. If I can't see it, I hope someone can. I hope they see how lovely life is whilst they have it. I hope they properly disposed of the knife.

The moss has swallowed my hands completely.

I see their faces in the leaves above me. There were four of them - a close-knit group, the kind that would steal their parent's vodka and replace it with water. I wish I knew their names. Did they continue with life? Go to therapy? Heal themselves? The gaping wound in my chest never got the chance to heal.

I don't think they meant to do it. I can feel the moss creeping up my neck. It tickles. I remember the moment it took my breath away and gifted it to the wind, when a family of young foxes borrowed my heartbeat for a struggling cub, and the daffodils used the light behind my eyes to grow ever brighter.

At what point will my soul go elsewhere? To fester in this rotting tomb is not how I imagined the afterlife. Shouldn’t some all-mighty angel be beckoning me into the clouds, or flame-throwing demons casting me into eternal misery?

That's what I was told would happen to me - the image so at odds with the beauty in which I find myself spending my afterlife. The promised flames have become dancing green ferns, swaying in

the strong breeze above my head. The souls of the damned have turned into old, gnarly trees, their long fingers reaching up to caress the sky and embrace the rainfall. Screams of the broken morph into whispers of wind that laugh and shout high up in the treetops.

I don't mind it here. I don't miss my heartbeat, my breath, my light. They have moved on without methey have left me to my fate of the ever-creeping moss.

I think it was an accident. The knife came out as a harmless threat, a fear tactic, rather than to injure.

I was dead before their panicked footsteps disappeared.

The moss has crept into my exposed ribcage now, threatening to take my decayed heart. I'm going to miss this life; the way the moon smiles at the world as it sleeps, the way the light turns even the darkest blood golden in the last few hours of the day; the ways we express our love for other people with words and poems and stories.

I hope that the moss will take me somewhere beautiful.

Image Credit: Brian Hartley

Image Credit: Penny Chivas

A SITCOM ON THE STAGE: SUDS PERFORMS THE ODD COUPLE

By Leonie MacLeod

On February 27, SUDS (Stirling University Drama Society) brought The Odd Couple back from the 80s and into the Macrobert Art Centre for their last night of sold-out shows.

Neil Simon’s 1965 Broadway play was tackled by first-time director and producer Ellie Scoffield, and Oliver O’Hare, who chose to pitch a 1985 female adaptation of the original play. Scoffield said: “This play has been one of my favourites ever since I performed it in high school.”

The Plot

The Odd Couple follows two recent divorcees who, on the verge of madness, decide to move in together. What ensues is rising tension that culminates into complete hatred for each other. This is witnessed by a cast of dramatic friends who visit weekly to gossip and play Trivial Pursuit.

Olive, played by Madelynne Kestner, is a messy and bold woman who loves eating takeaway and hates people tending to her.

Florence, played by Audrey Linton, is an anxious clean freak who loves to cook and tend to Olive.

The lead actresses were perfectly entertaining. Kestner’s character flowed with ease and it felt like she wasn’t acting at times. Linton portrayed her nervous but assertive housewife with manic comedy.

Comedic Highlights

Charlie Grant in drag as Renee had the audience, and myself, in tears with his hysterics. He offered SUDS the comedic advantage of

THREE BOOKS TO READ THIS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

By Chloe Liddell

To celebrate International Women’s Month, here are three book recommendations which highlight women’s place in society and focus on inspiring tales in the face of adversity.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is a thought-provoking and compelling narrative that sparked real-world change in South Korea, bringing discussions of gender disparities and misogyny to the forefront. It retells Kim Jiyoung’s life and experiences with sexism from a young age, throughout all aspects of her life. Kim Jiyoung is a vessel for all women who have suffered through these experiences which have unfortunately been normalised in our society.

Careering by Daisy Buchanan

Careering is an extremely relatable and raw account of women’s experience in the workforce and touches on the difficulties of being a woman in a society that has twisted and warped the true

meaning of female empowerment.

Dual main characters, Imogen and Harri are both trapped in a vicious cycle of expectations and sacrifices in order to reach an unrealistic sense of fulfilment. It is a humorous and engaging story of the at times depressing reality of the workplace, but which spotlights the complicated expectations of women.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe is a mythological retelling

using his real voice as well as his fake, female voice to deliver his lines.

Olive and Florence decide to go on a double date. What follows is the introduction of their Spanish neighbours Manolo and Jesus, played by Tenny Finlow and Sofia Carlotta. The pair had perfect comedic timing and gave the audience relief from Olive and Florence’s growing distaste for each other.

Backstage

The set was super 80s with string curtains and ugly wallpaper. The cast interacted with the set, moving between the sofa and chairs – or jumping over them to fight each other, in the case of Olive and

Audrey.

Pre-recorded audio was played in scenes where the characters moved around off-stage. The surround sound was also a clever move and immersed audiences further into the show.

The hair and makeup and costumes were carefully considered, bringing big hair to the big personalities on the stage.

Overall

The ending was slightly abrupt but clever in showing that the character’s lives continue after the show.

SUDS gave audiences two nights of chaos and laughter. They are performing a series of shorts at the end of the semester, which I’m sure will be worth the wait.

SPRINGTIME, RETURN

By Julia Benko

of the well-known tale The Odyssey, centering it around the complex character of the witch Circe. This depiction of Circe gives her character so much more depth as she comes into her power and begins to embrace her affinity for witchcraft. Madeline Miller portrays Circe as a strong, confident, and unique character for readers to become really invested in. For lovers of feminist retellings, Circe is the best of them.

These are just a few recommendations for some books to read during this year's International Women’s Month. Happy reading.

Image Credit: Pexels

Image Credit: Paul Cowie

Image Credit: Paul Cowie

Image Credit: SUDS Instagram account

Image Credit: Pexels

Image Credit: Pexels

Player Profiles: Bree Vante

Welcome back to Player Profiles, Brig's interview series exploring the diversity in games and gaming.

By Ali Rees Gaming & Tech Editor

Welcome back to Player Profiles, Brig’s interview series exploring the diversity that exists in gaming.

Bree Vante is a 36-year-old homesteader and mother of two who splits her time between gaming and chasing chickens and goats around her farm.

Bree, who is also known by her online handle Dominca, started out gaming as a child. She was influenced and encouraged by her dad who was “a kind of nerdy dad who [she] appreciate[s] very much”. Bree’s grandparents also contributed by introducing her to the Magnavox Odyssey, a dedicated gaming console similar to the more popular Atari.

Soon, Bree’s dad got a home computer, “which was like one of the first computers of anyone that we knew who had them. Not ‘cause we had money but because my dad was a nerd,” Bree said. Before long, the family also had a Sega Genesis and a PlayStation, but Bree’s heart was taken by PC gaming.

Returning to the present day, I asked Bree how she balanced being a homesteader, a mother, and a gamer. She currently grows crops that feed her family, has nearly 20 chickens, and four goats with expansion plans coming soon. She said it’s all about prioritising. “If

my kid's screaming and I'm going to die in a game, I get up from my computer and I just accept that, like, that's the deal.”

As a result, she tends to favour games with a slower pace that allows her to tend to anything that comes up, calling them “interruptible games”.

“Animal Crossing, Palia, The Sims (if you remember to pause it). Honestly, if you forget to pause The Sims, it's kinda just funny that they kind of keep themselves alive, and then they do what they need to do. So, yeah, interruptible games are very important.

“The homesteading stuff, I have to strike a balance between my work time and my life-time, just like anyone who works a job. So, I mostly do that based on the weather. I wish that I could do it based on 40-hour weeks or whatever, but it's based on the weather and when I'm physically capable of getting out there and getting the work done that I need to get done. And then the times [when] it's raining or too cold or too hot. Like, oh no, I have to stay inside and play The Sims,” she said.

The conversation turned to gaming communities. Bree said she found certain subsections of The Sims community to be extremely inclusive and welcoming, but the community more broadly can be quite harsh. The Stardew Valley subreddit is also somewhere she

finds “wholesome, […] it makes me want to play Stardew all the time.”

Unfortunately, welcoming and wholesome isn’t always the norm.

While Bree is a keen enjoyer of survival games, she has found those communities to be more hostile. “I love survival games, but I feel like the community is so hit or miss, and it feeds into feeling unwelcome. There have been so many times where I’ve had to be like, sir, I love survival games, I’m very good at them.”

Having to assert their place in these communities again and again is tiring. Nobody should feel the need to ‘earn’ their place in a community but it’s a challenge faced by Bree and many women and people of marginalised genders frequently. “I've felt like I'm unwelcome or weird for playing them as a female character or as a woman. I've been not super into being on voice because I don't want them to know that I'm a ‘real woman’, which is what they call you. It's not great. Oh, and I also have felt isolated from multiplayer combat games until I found a community that I felt comfortable with.”

Bree brought up Fortnite, which is a game she could “never play on [her] own” but loves playing with a group of friends. This echoes her experience with a lot of large multiplayer combat-focused games.

They “can be really toxic without people who you resonate with” but if you can find a group you enjoy playing with that allow you to play the game in a way you enjoy, they are much more accessible and enjoyable. Like most people, gaming for Bree is intended as a fun, sometimes social, activity and the right group of people is vital.

We discussed how her identity as a woman and a mother forms part of her gaming experience.

“I have a really hard time in a lot of gaming spaces because of that.

“I like a lot of different types of games that aren't necessarily ‘feminine’ - I like survival games that have unique mechanics and I feel like those are very male-dominated. As a mother oh, God. I don't even often tell people that I'm a mother because people just assume that you're some sort of different person or you're some sort of less educated, or competent, or worldly person when you're a mother, though not when you're a father. I think that that doesn't work the same way somehow.”

The conversation naturally turned to the topic of representation

in games. Bree noted that women and children are frequently used as “trauma fodder” in games, which she finds off-putting. “I would love to stop seeing women as trauma fodder in video games, particularly story-based video games because I love them and also, they can do better,” she said.

Bree expressed that she would love to see women, children, and families used in different ways in games – they don’t have to be there to motivate the main character through their deaths or abuse.

“I would love for there to be more use for them as someone who is going to continue the storyline forward, as though they are the people that continue the human race forward because that's how that works, and that's what children do.”

Bree said that she does understand the added challenges when it comes to adding children to games, both in terms of work for developers creating new models and animations and for real child labour laws for voice actors.

“The way that children are used is that you go through all of that work and then you use it to make people sad about them instead of treating them like people, which I think is kind of a weird thing that we've done with children in video games,” she said.

I asked Bree how she thought this could be improved, and it’s an answer which has come up before.

“Employ women and people who have children who actually give a shit about them. Employ them. Pay them with your money. That's the number one thing that I think that the gaming world could do is pay the people whose voices need to be heard with money, because you can't just manufacture that. All you can do is let people give

you their experience and hopefully compensate them fairly for it.”

We chatted for a while about Bree’s family. She lives in Kansas with her husband Kel, and two children. “My husband and I have been playing games together forever. That was one of the bases of our relationship. They introduced me to Oblivion on the Xbox 360, and we played the shit out of Guild Wars 1.

“So, we've always played games together, and that's always been something that's kind of been a fun thing that we do together and a priority. We don't always play the same types of games, but there's always certain intersections where we enjoy things. Today, we play a lot of survival and medieval games. So, we're playing Medieval Dynasty right now. Medieval Dynasty has been taking up a lot of my brain. We've been playing a lot of Baldur's Gate too.”

As for their children, Bree and Kel have started early with fun, family-friendly games like Mario Kart and Mario Party – games that are accessible to kids but still fun for adults has become a larger market as gaming has moved into the mainstream and become a family activity, which is something Bree is keen to see more of.

Naturally I couldn’t end the interview without finding out Bree’s favourite games. “The Sims. The Sims. The Sims. The Sims. I have been playing The Sims since the first one [released]. It's my safe space. It's my comfort place. I love it so much. I also play Life is Feudal a lot. Dragon Age: Origins is the best RPG of all time, and I’ll give a shout out to Skyrim, though I hope whatever comes after Skyrim can replace it. I like to fight for my life and/or make silly little people I create fight for their life.”

Bree with one of her chickens. Image credit: Bree Vante

Bree. Image credit: Bree Vante

The Video Game Demo Renaissance

Demos were a staple of the video game industry back in the 90s, but recent generations have seen demos become more and more rare. That is until recent years where demos seem to be having a resurgence. Their surprise champions? JRPGs and indie games.

Looking at the PlayStation store, for instance, you’ll find that most demos are for indie games you’ve never heard of or for major SquareEnix or Sega JRPGS.

For years, most triple-A gaming companies have treated demos as an afterthought, often releasing them months after a game release

to try and gain a bump in sales. There were some exceptions to this such as NieR: Automata, a SquareEnix title, and several fighting games.

However, things seem to have shifted going into the 2020s with the monumental success of the Final Fantasy 7 remake demo in early 2020.

The demo featured the opening of the game, a recreation of the original’s legendary Bombing Mission opening, and showcased the amazing gameplay, visuals, and music offered by the remake.

The reaction to this demo was

near universal praise which likely caused a surge in interest and thus an increase in sales.

This move worked very well for Square-Enix as they have since repeated it for many of their big JRPG releases. This includes Final Fantasy 16, which received even better reactions than the remake demo, and most recently with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

These repeat successes seem to have inspired other companies as recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of demos released in the lead up to game launches.

This is great for the industry as it lets players try out games that they are either skeptical about or have never heard of. It is also a good thing for developers as it can serve as brilliant free marketing as players spread positive word of mouth amongst their friends and online.

On top of this, demos allow developers to prove to players that their games are complete and well-functioning before launch.

While many demos like to focus on the opening of the games for the sake of the story, the best demos balance gameplay and story. Final Fantasy 16, for instance, includes

the opening of the game as well as a later section with enhanced abilities to give players a taste of the gameplay's true flow.

Overall, the return of demos is a good thing for the gaming industry as it benefits both players and developers while also giving fans something to chew on in the run-up to a game release.

Besides, who doesn’t love a free sample?

By Elliot Johnston

WHY IS THE GAMING INDUSTRY OBSESSED WITH REMAKES AND REMASTERS?

For the past decade and a half, remakes and remasters have dominated the gaming landscape. This begs the question: what happened to originality and why is this obsession so prevalent?

When tackling the idea of originality when it comes to any form of media, it’s important to note that originality doesn’t immediately equate to something being good. Take games like Redfall or Starfield as examples. They both had these very interesting ideas, but their poor execution led to their almost

dead-on-arrival status.

Remakes and remasters have been used frequently by multiple companies recently, the most egregious being Naughty Dog’s remake and remasters of The Last of Us. The original release of The Last of Us was released in 2013, a remaster was released a year later for the PS4 and eight years later a fullscale remake was released for the PS5 in 2022. The game is largely the same between all releases, the only changes being slight bug fixes,

added cosmetics, and updated visuals. The issue is that nothing major has changed and the only reason they exist is to be ported to follow-up consoles. The issue is fans of the original products will always come back to buy the new versions. Whenever a re-release of The Last of Us or Resident Evil comes out, I will always get it, without fail. So, you could argue that the consumer is the one incentivizing these companies to keep pumping out the same ideas over and over again.

It seems that companies have found the easiest way to make money is to repackage a game they already created, sell it for the same price as they did upon release, and rake in the money. Selling the same thing again is far easier as there is less risk, and it will take less time to make. I’d argue Bethesda is the worst company when it comes to remasters. Currently, you can play Skyrim on eight separate platforms and Amazon Alexa. The only changes between these releases and their re-packaged special

editions are updated visuals and bundled DLC.

The only way that we can get these companies to stop repacking the same things over and over again is to stop buying into them. You don’t need slightly better-looking water for Skyrim. Celebrating originality and smaller studios will force bigger studios to start thinking a bit more creatively.

By Connor Peebles

Final Fantasy 7. Image credit: Square Enix

The Last of Us comparison. Image credit: Naughty Dog

SAILING INSTRUCTING: THE PERFECT STUDENT SUMMER JOB?

By Alice Pollard

Sea, sun, and sailing - it sounds idyllic, especially when you are being paid to be there.

Sailing instructing is a popular job amongst students, due to its outdoor location, prospect for travel, flexibility, and seasonal timings which align with semester dates.

However, is it all sunshine and fun? Not always.

Add a pile of ten-year-olds, a broken outboard motor on the safety boat, and force eight winds. Now look at the expectant parents who have paid hard-earned money for you to get their kids through their RYA Stage 2 qualifications. It is certainly not glamorous.

So why do young people go through it?

At the end of the day, it is a decently paid teaching job, except instead of the comfort of a classroom, you’re out on the water. Classroom teaching plays a part in covering theory, usually saved for the worst of the forecast.

This is followed by coachingguiding your students as they put what they have learned to the test. There’s plenty of risk, there are scary moments, and it is physically exhausting, but the sense of achievement is huge.

A sailing course for adults or children will normally be run by three to four instructors, depending on the course size.

There will always be a senior instructor, accompanied by dinghy instructors and assistant instructors.

Each member of the team will have gone through various mandatory qualifications, including RYA first aid, powerboating level 2, and teaching qualifications.

The level of fun that you have as an instructor is a matter of luckwho you’re teaching, the level and length of the course, the other

instructors you work alongside, and most of all the weather.

You are at the complete mercy of the weather. It can change in a second, and it will. It is your job to be prepared to tackle it - to keep everyone safe whilst getting the students through the requirements for their certificate.

A high level of competency and confidence is vital, for your safety and others.

I’ve headed home after a particularly gusty day with bleeding knuckles from the lines, and drenched head to toe in seawater from the waves.

On other days I’ve enjoyed shorts and a T-shirt, flat waters, a gentle breeze, and sunburn as my only concern - rarely a worry in Scotland.

In my experience of sailing instructing, there’s nothing better than getting a funny, chatty, and keen set of young people out on the water and watching them thrive.

In five days, youcan watch an anxious 11-year-old turn into a cool and competent single-hand sailor.

The last day of a course is always the best. Not because the week is over, but because you can show your students the really fun aspects that come with dinghy sailing.

Coasteering, swimming, racing, high-speed powerboating, and active games (‘Pico Parkour’ remains a personal favourite) which leave the week on a high.

I’ve been pushed into pier-jumping by nine-year-olds in the past, much to their joy and my dismay (I was not in waterproofs).

To conclude, sailing instructing is the perfect student summer job if you have the time and interest to become a competent sailor if you aren’t already, you like kids, have plenty of patience, and enjoy the outdoors rain or shine.

THE 'UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE' AND WHY YOU SHOULDN'T FEEL LIKE YOU ARE MISSING OUT

By Rio Kerr LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Clubbing, drinking, sleeping in and missing your 9AMs are all part of the ‘university culture’.

While there is so much more to university, a good part of it for most people is based on those three things.

This can lead to those who don’t want to participate in this culture to feel like they are missing out.

Lucy, 20, shared her hate for university on her TikTok which gained over 200,000 views.

In the video, she said: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to go to university. I just actually think it was the worst decision of my life.

“The whole uni culture is just not for me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love going out sometimes. I do not however like going out f*cking five times a week, getting sh*tfaced […] I feel like a complete outsider all the f*cking time.”

One comment said: “I feel the exact same way, I constantly feel like I don’t fit in with the uni vibe and the student culture because I don’t like going out all the time.”

A reply to that comment said: “I feel completely the same, much prefer staying in and feels like I’m doing uni completely wrong!”

Speaking to Lucy, she said: “I had no idea [that others felt this way] because at the start, at like freshers, etcetera, when you are supposed to be having the most fun, I literally hated it.

“From my comment section loads of people from my course who I hadn’t spoken to before were also saying how they hated it and the uni culture.

“I think it was mainly due to my living situation because me and my flatmates just didn’t click like that, they weren’t really my people.

“It’s not what I thought it would be at all, I love to go out and drink but not at the rate these people do it.

“It’s a bit better now I’ve found my people like girls who like to dress up

and go for dinner and bars instead of a sweaty club.”

Now, in my final semester at university, I know how it feels to miss out greatly on the ‘university culture’ and the experience of it all.

The thing is, there is no wrong way to go about your university experience, because it is YOUR experience. Everyone’s time at university is completely unique and different.

While there may be a sense of pressure to go out and drink night after night, weekend after weekend, there is absolutely no need to.

With the pandemic greatly affecting the first year or so of my time at the university as well as the decision to stay home and commute 45 minutes to campus, my university experience has been greatly different to most of those around me.

I know how it feels to feel isolated from those around me because I wasn’t living in the city, nor was I going to Fubar every Wednesday night.

However, I have never felt like I was missing out because it simply wasn’t what I was wanting to do. There is so much more to university that drinking and clubbing and there are many ways to meet people who are also wanting to do more than just this.

The easiest way to meet people may be obvious but attending

lectures and seminars will give you access to meet people on your course. These will be people you will share at least one common interest in and have something to start a conversation over.

Joining a club or society should be a number one priority. I have met most, if not all, of my friends through joining a society, this society.

Without Brig, my university experience would have been completely different, and I would probably feel isolated, especially in this final semester.

While there are many alcohol-related socials (which you absolutely don’t need to drink at to attend), there has also been a commitment to sober socials also such as coffee shop crawls.

And they great thing about joining a club or society is that there are so many, so you are bound to find something that fits your interests or hobbies.

So, don’t cave to ‘university culture’, university is what you make of it.

You are only missing out if that’s the university experience that you want to have.

Clubbing. Image credit: Pexels

Sailing. Image credit: Alice Pollard

By Plum Mckechnie

Celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner and Jay-Z have received a lot of criticism regarding their negative impact on the environment. This is particularly due to the usage of private jets.

These jets create more CO2 emissions than regular planes meaning that their carbon footprints are about a thousand times worse than a regular person.

Why are private jets an issue?

Private jets could emit up to 40 per cent more CO2 than regular planes. They are fuelled by fossil fuels and therefore are seriously harming the environment.

While everything is beginning to turn more to green energy, these planes are still causing detrimental damage which will take years to reverse. Even if everything except private jets switched to fully green energy, they would still be a huge threat to the environment.

Societal pressures to be as environmentally conscious as possible are higher than ever.

However, any effort we put in can feel pointless when we see celebrities make these negative impacts with no repercussions. Whereas us regular people are expected to change many aspects of our lives to contribute to a better environment.

Of course, it’s a positive thing to be environmentally conscious. Regulating how your actions impact the climate and avoiding doing things that will have a detrimental impact is good but it’s not always that easy.

Some people can’t afford to make the changes recommended. Some don’t have the sources available and as a result, feel guilty about not doing enough.

Depending on what country or city you’re in, some local governments don’t even offer recycling collection services. Little things like this make a big impact on how accessible it is for regular people to make a difference.

Additionally, if we regular

individuals fly a few times a year we are made to feel guilty about the impact traveling by plane has on the environment. But this can’t even compare to the emissions that private jets have in even just one trip.

Celebrities can easily afford to live a greener lifestyle, yet many of them don’t make any conscious effort to.

Taking private jets can be replaced by regular flights or even driving, yet they only consider what will make things easier for them.

Should we feel guilty?

There is nothing wrong with being a fan of these types of celebrities. But if we do support them we should also hold them accountable. They have a huge influence on their fanbase, and so many people look up to them.

Therefore it can be disheartening to think that any effort you put in to positively impact the environment might get immediately undone.

The richest population have the resources and money to protect themselves from certain impacts of climate change.

They can afford to come and go wherever they please compared to those in poverty.

Especially those living in countries facing extreme natural disaster issues due to global

warming.

Those most affected by the changing environment are also the ones who have the least power to fix it. The richest of the population can do so much more to save our planet.

Yet, we are still the ones constantly bombarded with messages stating that we need to be doing more.

There needs to be a shift in attitudes from influential people. More celebrities need to follow in the footsteps of people like David Attenborough and fight for a better environment.

He is constantly advocating for action against climate change, using his fame to educate the public on the effects of climate change on wildlife and our planet.

We as regular people need to realize that we shouldn’t feel guilty about how green our lives are. Even though our contributions can feel worthless, they still have a positive impact on the environment around us.

We shouldn’t stop pushing for change, but we must remember it’s not our sole responsibility. We can only do what we can, it may not feel like enough, but it still has a positive impact.

WE ARE ALL ‘RICH’, DESPITE WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA MIGHT LEAD US TO THINK

By Emanuela Scalia

As a basic human instinct, people often tend to compare themselves and their lives to others– this isn’t new and has been around for thousands of years before us.

What is new though, is social media and the role it plays in enhancing these feelings of comparison or even a sense of jealousy.

Social media provides people a platform to engross themselves in daily, which can negatively impact our way of viewing our own lives, no matter the point we find ourselves in.

Maybe it’s the fact that we can’t vacation to a different country every month like influencers, or our sporting capabilities aren’t as good as the D1 players we see on TikTok, or our academic results or achievements don’t match the ones

But this can be directed towards monetary values too, such as not being able to afford the expensive meals, cars, or clothes that others flaunt for likes and views, or we don’t dress a certain way that is deemed ‘cool’ nowadays based on

But is this a fair way of viewing our own standards? Is social media the right way to define what being ‘rich’ and having a lot in life

The stigma around having everything we could dream of has been enhanced by the internet– but everyone in their own way is ‘rich’–they just aren’t measuring it in the Being rich doesn’t have to equal ‘having money’ or being able to take more days-off work because

Being rich in life, however, can mean having a good group of friends, a loving support group, a sports club that you can count on having fun and enjoying your sport with, a hobby - nomatter the levelthat keeps you happy, and so much more.

Not to mention the smaller and most overlooked things, like simply waking up in the morning and being able to experience a new day, every day.

Online media can ruin the things in life that we love and can often overshadow the importance of minimal achievements. We truly are bathed in riches if we look around us.

So I can’t go along with other common solutions and tell you to go on a social media detox because it shouldn’t work that way. Of course, although a lack of socials might help you appreciate what you have much more, it won’t directly take away these feelings of comparison.

Social media keeps us in contact with our friends, allows us to see what everyone is up to, and also gives us a way to share our own daily lives with others.

So, using it is not inherently bad–we use it every day even for things like recipes or deep-diving to learn more information about topics we are interested in, and we shouldn't have these taken away from us.

The important thing to note, though, is that we shouldn’t allow it to become a gateway to self-judgment about our own lives.

So as a social media user, or not, let’s redefine the ‘riches’ we are rewarded with in this life one day at a time.

Comparing ourselves through social media. Image credit: Pexels

HELP AVAILABLE FOR STIRLING'S UNPAID STUDENT CARERS

By Deanna Dawn FEATURES EDITOR

In honour of Carers Week 2024, Brig spoke to Stirling Carers to find out what support is available for local unpaid carers.

The cost-of-living crisis has rendered this issue extremely important as more and more carers of all ages struggle to cope. Carers Week is an annual campaign running from June 10 to 16, highlighting the vital and unseen role of unpaid carers across the country.

The campaign also helps individuals who may not identify as carers to recognise their own work and access the support available to them. Caring for someone with a physical or mental illness, addiction, or complication from old age can come with complicated and frequent challenges. Carers report significant impacts on every aspect of life including their finances, relationships, careers, and health.

Stirling Carers has been supporting and uplifting unpaid carers throughout the Stirling Council area since 1991. They provide services and resources, encouraging carers to communicate their needs to further improve

how they assist those who need it. Carley O’Hare, the Young Adult Carer Support Officer for Stirling Carers, commented on the support available to students or those under 25.

“I am based at the student hub at the university on the last Thursday of every month 1pm-4pm to take any questions from students and get them registered with our services. One of the big demands is receiving evidence from us that they are carers whilst studying.

“We would complete a support plan for them and issue a Forth Valley carers card - an ID card to prove they are students. They can use this to access widened support and any other grants that may be available to them through the university.”

She said, “Studying and a caring role can definitely have an impact, especially as students are not eligible for carers allowance whilst in full-time education.

“People struggle with isolation, loneliness, their own mental health and the caring role impacts all of that. Their physical health, if they aren’t getting enough time to look after themselves.”

According to the Carers Trust, an estimated 800,000 people are working as unpaid carers in Scotland.

30,000 of them are under the age of 18. The value of their care is estimated to be £12.8 billion per year. Research shows that as many as one in five children can be considered a young carer.

The financial implications go deeper; the Scottish Government reported that young carers have an increased likeliness of not attending education regularly. This is due to their responsibilities at home but also because of tiredness or bullying.

Without adequate support, many children are at risk of finishing school without the needed qualifications to support themselves.

The cost-of-living crisis has made things increasingly more challenging for carers, as necessities as well as things like rent become more difficult to afford.

O’Hare said: “The cost of living has meant we get a lot of carers asking for support. Primarily, we would refer them to Citizens Advice for this, as they are financial advisors, but things like foodbank referrals and such, we can do on carers behalf.”

“There are a lot of organisations out there that can help and getting

registered with us means we can help refer you on to different places that can help with more specific needs. “For example, we refer to Citizens Advice a lot to get individuals a full financial check, which makes sure they are getting everything they are entitled to.”

The Stirling Carers Centre is situated on Forthside Way, Stirling. They offer in-person and at-home services available to all who think they may be considered a carer.

“At the Centre, we offer a grant called Time to Live. This is a grant up to £300 for time away from a caring role.

“It can be used on a physical breakaway or, as we realise a lot of carers can’t do this, people use it on gym memberships, garden furniture, anything really that gives people a respite. This is currently closed due to the amount of applications but will hopefully be back open in April 2024.”

O’Hare offered advice for those thinking of reaching out, “professionals can refer to the website, and carers can phone in themselves to get registered with us.

“We would take an initial registration over the phone then book

“Finally, we are here to support carers and ensure their voices are being heard. Sometimes we are just that listening ear."

to carers to build that relationship with them and ensure they are not alone in their caring role.”

Self-referral can be completed on their website, www. StirlingCarers.co.uk, or contacted on 01786 447 003 from Monday to Friday, 9am until 4pm.

Image Credit: Stirling Carers

RISE OF AI STUDY TOOLS PUTS PRESSURE ON UNIVERSITIES TO REACT

By Lindis Kipp

Spend any time on social media platforms as a student and you will soon be inundated with adverts for AI study tools. It is no longer the writing process which tools like JenniAI, Mindgrasp and Scholarcy target, but research and revision. Subsequently, the audience is not just undergraduates – many tools are advertised as significantly lightening PhD reading loads. It's easy to see why these tools are appealing; scientific reading can be onerous, and many students are new to the levels of workload that are expected of them. Add students whose first language is not English into the mix and there is a ready audience for the promised simplification.

AI is clearly on the minds of the university; the chaplaincy put on a talk about humans thriving in an AI world and a lively discussion at the most recent Education Zone revealed attendees’ attitudes to AI varied wildly.

Many said they did not trust the output, while others valued the ease of use and the capability to have a conversation with your study tool.

A spokesperson for the University of Stirling said: “In conjunction with the Students’ Union, the University is continuing to monitor and react to developments in AI to ensure we adapt as technology progresses. We will continue to provide staff and students with training, guidance, and resources to ensure everyone is aware of the opportunities and implications of generative AI for study and employment and are both

confident and competent in the deployment of AI in relevant contexts.

“The academic integrity module – which is recommended to all new students – includes a section on AI, and Student Learning Services are also running sessions on AI for students.

“Meanwhile, University policies with respect to AI have been updated, including the academic integrity and proofreading policies.”

Katie Gethings, Vice President education for the University of Stirling Students’ Union, added: "The Students Union is aware that AI is likely to become more ingrained in our university experience, and working alongside the University, we aim to make sure that AI information is accessible and helpful for students."

The president of the university’s Computer Club, Laurence, is convinced AI tools will change society for the better, saying in a Discord chat: “I see the future of studying with AI as fantastic. Everyone with an internet connection now has access to a world-class personal tutor for any topic they want to learn”. There is undeniable truth in this statement, and he suggests the university ought to provide “a brief tutorial to students about how to prompt chatGPT for help when learning a skill, writing, or researching about a topic”.

Jeff Meadowcroft from Student Learning Services offers similar insight: “If we extended

[problem-based learning] over a year or two years of actually teaching students the technical skill and […] getting to the point where they understand what they are doing, for many people and in many areas of learning that would be quite natural.” Of course, this level of integration of AI into university teaching would require all faculties to agree on which tools to use and how – a feat that seems nearly impossible.

While AI offers unprecedented access to interaction with knowledge, there is the uncomfortable reality of paywalls. Few of these study services offer their full capabilities for free. Does this negate the advantages that AI presents? Students from disadvantaged backgrounds will certainly have a bigger challenge in accessing these advantages than their more privileged peers.

There are other dangers with these summarizing tools. Reading the Terms and Conditions of just

one of them, Mindgrasp, reveals very quickly that by uploading materials users grant “a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, unlimited, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) and fully transferable right” to these materials to the company. Their advertising actively encourages uploading textbooks and lecture recordings. There was no way to find out what Mindgrasp does with the data it collects, an aspect users of AI tools often overlook. No LLM company collects large amounts of data out of the goodness of their hearts; they want to train larger and better models to further improve their technology. It is unrealistic to presume students will thoroughly read the T&Cs of multiple AI tools before using them –and they might actively avoid it.

In a recent chat WhatsApp chat with fellow students, one of them (who prefers to remain anonymous) summed up their attitude to the

tools: “The whole ownership of [the] property thing is a capitalist ideal we need to let go of”. They were only partially joking and a more cavalier attitude to copyright has long been a hallmark of online discourses. Of course, none of that changes the fact copyright infringement is at best immoral and at worst unlawful.

Are AI study tools the great equaliser, democratising access to knowledge and evening out disparities in study skills, or is that only a clever marketing ploy, designed to convince desperate students to part with their money? The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, but one thing is undeniable: AI is here to stay, and both students and faculty will need to find ways to incorporate it meaningfully into the university experience. The university faces the challenge of devising a way to allow them to do so in innovative and constructive ways while helping them avoid the pitfalls of copyright infringement and plagiarism and ensuring students still learn how to be critical thinkers. None of that sounds easy –because it isn’t.

MIMI’S: STIRLING’S NEWEST BRUNCH SPOT

By Paula Leon

After rebranding as Mimi’s, Brig had the pleasure of visiting and tasting, what once was known as Oscar’s at the Stirling Arcade.

The new brunch hotspot in Stirling has opened its doors this week and has great plans ahead.

When asked about the inspiration behind Mimi’s, manager Emily Eason said: “It was definitely a missed mark in Stirling, we have taken inspiration from restaurants in London, Milan, Rome...We like to say our food, drinks, and decorations are art.”

And to that, I must agree. Walking into Mimi’s I couldn’t stop staring

at all the beautiful flower arrangements and decorations.

But it was when I went to order my food that I was astonished by their menu. From pancake tacos to classic sandwiches and soup of the day. They seemed to have everything you could ever wish for!

I started my morning off with a delicious hazelnut ice latte, a drink that has become one of my go-to's, thus I like to tell myself I’m an expert on it. The latte was just great, not too sweet or overpowering. Perfect for those like me who can’t hack black coffee.

For food, I decided to let the staff choose my meal. And may I say, I’m glad I did. The chefs chose their hazelnut French toast.

This was the perfect twist to the classic French toast.

The bread was soft and perfectly spongy, topped with chocolate sauce, fresh cream and fresh fruit and candied hazelnut. And of course, decorated with edible flowers.

In addition to its great atmosphere and menu, Mimi’s offers ‘bottomless brunch.’

When purchasing the ‘bottomless brunch’ package you will get a choice of five drinks, with the option to mix and match, as well as a dish from their brunch options.

As for events, Mimi’s will be offering themed brunches once a month - with familiar faces from Oscar’s making reappearances.

KAHANI: AN UNEXPECTED NEW TWIST ON INDIAN STREET FOOD

By Emanuela Scalia

After a successful debut in Edinburgh, a new Indian restaurant has opened its second branch here in Stirling. Meet Kahani!

Located on Upper Craigs Street, the restaurant is hard to miss, with stunning floral ornaments decorating its entrance which leads you into a charming, welcoming space.

Kahani specialises in assortments of Indian street foods, bringing traditional recipes to life with modern twists.

The Menu

The drinks menu is short but sweet, offering a variety of non-alcoholic mocktails, soft drinks, and hot drinks. Kahani also offers a BYOB system of wine or beer without a corkage fee, so you can bring your own drink without any additional charges. The large array of appetisers and mains to choose from offer an option for everyone, from many vegetarian dishes to meat and fishbased dishes, and even vegan too,

although a little limited.

And finally, you will also have options for sides, which include rice, bread, salads, and dips to accompany your meal.

My review

Firstly, the staff were very accommodating and helpful when taking our orders, which continued throughout my entire visit.

Although I am no food critic, I will also give you my honest review on the plates.

I personally tried the Onion Bhaji and the Yeti Ghee Roast (Mangalorean-style prawns) as my starters.

The bhajis were light, airy, and truly phenomenal, and were paired with a spicy dip which really brought the two flavours together.

The prawns were delicious: very flavourful and tangy, especially since they were paired with a sweeter dip that balanced out their spiciness.

The presentation of a dish can make or break your feelings towards it. In this case, each starter was brought out beautifully arranged on colourful plates and paired with vibrant edible designs

pulling it all together. The plating was very inviting, which shows the chefs’ dedication in providing you the best possible experience with each plate.

As a main, I tried the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Chicken Jhalfrezi, which were both delicious. They were just the right amount of sweet but also spicy, yet not overpowering and still flavourful. Paired with rice, these make for the perfect meal choice.

Kahani prides itself in ‘using fresh local ingredients’ and I could definitely taste the freshness in the vegetables and in the creambased curry sauces.

To top it all off, the portion sizes were the right amount for each plate, if not generous! This truly means you are getting your money’s worth out of each dish.

Location and atmosphere

This is a great place for all types of lunches and dinners, whether romantic, friendly, or even for a solo night out to treat yourself after a long day of studying.

They also offer a larger, more private area which hosts larger party sizes– the perfect place to host a birthday dinner or graduation ceremony celebration.

Would I recommend it?

Long story short- yes! I would recommend Kahani to anyone who loves Indian food or would like to try something new, as their food style is not something I have seen in Stirling before and truly puts a twist on going out for a meal.

Kahani also offers takeaway, so if you’re not in the mood to leave the house, you can still enjoy their food from the comfort of your own living room.

As mentioned on their website, “It's not just a meal; it's a story worth sharing,” so I would like to share this with you!

Mimi's in the Stirling Arcade. Image credit: Paula Leon

Rice. Image credit: Kahani

What I ordered. Image credit: Emanuela Scalia

Brunch. Image credit: Paula Leon

STIRLING'S DOG FRIENDLY PUBS

By Alex Paterson

A walk with a pub lunch is the weekend pastime of millions across the nation- Stirling residents included. We are also notoriously a nation of dog lovers. Stirling, again in line with the status quo, is full of four-legged friends.

So, where can we saunter into after a walk to rest our legs and nurse a pint that will also welcome our pooches?

Wonderfully, the answer is a long one. Many eateries in the area are dog-friendly.

The dogs of Brig have wagged their tails in many a pub but here are some of their favourites, where they’ve enjoyed a tasty treat and perhaps a fly chip.

City Walls

At the top of the town lies City Walls, recently refurbished and even more dog-friendly than before. With blankets and treats in abundance, your pup may drag you back here for another luxury canine experience. You’d likely be keen to go back too for its welcoming atmosphere and great grub.

Nicky Tams

If you’re in the town centre, Nicky Tams is a well-known ambient pub that many make a detour just to spend some time in. With fresh grub and consistent entertainment, it’s great for people as well as pups. They welcome dogs with open arms- they even have some four-legged regulars.

Friend of Mine

Popular amongst locals, Friend of Mine is a lovely wee restaurant in Bridge of Allan, not far from the University campus surrounded by ideal walking spots. Dogs are welcome to enjoy the bustling ambiance whilst owners enjoy some fresh food at all times of day- breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner.

Birds and Bees

This popular venue is on the edge of Stirling, also close to the Uni campus and on the doorstep of many a nice walk. With plenty of outdoor seating, dogs can enjoy the sun or snuggle up inside with a treat.

Slanj-A-Va

Previously known as Kilted Kangaroo, the rebrand of the popular late-night venue has not changed its policy on dogs. They are still more than welcome to enjoy the pub. Due to the large beer garden your dog can relax disturbed in some quiet corner- or they can sit in the middle and get some claps from the friendly staff.

EDDIE ABBEW: FOODTOK’S LATEST CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE

By Freya Deyell

The food side of TikTok is no stranger to interesting characters, to put it lightly. From Americans putting full blocks of cheese in absolutely everything to fans of the carnivore diet eating full sticks of butter, there is plenty to be concerned about. Content creator Eddie Abbew has gone viral for somewhat different reasons, however.w

The bodybuilder and gym owner has racked up more than 965k followers on the app and has quickly become a divisive figure due to his advice on food and nutrition. His videos in supermarkets encourage people to buy single ingredients, avoid ultra-processed food, and ‘wake the f*ck up’.

For the most part, Abbew makes some solid points; most of the stuff massive corporations are trying

to sell us is absolute rubbish, and eating proper fresh food is good for you. His comment sections are full of people saying he’s changed their lives and that they’re already seeing the benefits.

Sometimes, however, his videos take it too far. “Morning goods, rise and shine,” he says in front of the bakery section in Aldi. “How about rise and die?” Another, filmed in M&S, he proclaims, “diabetes day” and “heart attack day” while pointing at displays for Valentine’s and Pancake Day.

God bless the supermarket staff that have to put up with him, honestly. In one video he even admits to wearing a wig to the shop because he’d been kicked out previously.

These videos creep into fear-mongering territory, with many commenters poking fun at his doomand-gloom outlook: “Just ate a

BRIG’S BITES: PROPER CHEESE SCONES

Cheese scones. Image credits: Pexels.com

By Alice Pollard

Soft and savoury, there’s nothing better than a hot cheese scone with a thick layer of butter melting on top. Perfect for breakfast, coffee time, or a late-night snack.

Cook time: 30 minutes

Portions: 8-10

Ingredients

450g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons baking powder

50g butter or margarine

300g grated cheese

2 eggs milk

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°.

flapjack, am I about to die?” one asks. “Hey Eddie, I had a Kinder Bueno for breakfast, how long do I have left to live?” says another.

While his commenters are clearly joking, they do raise a fair point – Abbew is taking things way too seriously. Having a sweet treat once in a while isn’t a life-or-death situation at the end of the day. His demonization of certain foods can be dangerous, especially for people with eating disorders. No food group is outright evil – everything in moderation, eat that damn pancake if you want to.

Abbew’s day-to-day diet certainly isn’t for everyone (extremely heavy on eggs – at least ten a day) but if it works for him, good on him. Maybe just take his advice with a pinch of salt (pun not intended) before you go chucking everything out of the fridge – he’s making money off people too.

Measure your flour, salt, mustard, spices, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add your butter/margarine and use your fingertips to completely rub it in (be prepared for a mess). Stir in 200g of your grated cheese.

Break the eggs into a measuring jug if you have one (if not, eyeball it in a bowl), and use milk to make it up to 300ml. Gently stir this into the dry mixture bit by bit to avoid making it too wet.

Turn out the mixture onto a floured surface and knead lightly. Use a rolling pin (or a wine bottle) to roll to a

thickness of 3-4 cm. Use a cutter or a wine glass with a diameter of roughly 8cm to cut your scones into shape.

Place them on a lightly greased baking tray and use what’s left of your egg/milk mixture to glaze the top. Sprinkle with the last of the grated cheese, and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Frederick the food goose’s quick tips!

- Tap the bottom of the scone. If it sounds hollow, it’s baked through.

- To fully enjoy, serve warm with proper butter and, if you’re feeling fancy, some red onion chutney.

- Buy your cheese pre-grated to save time, effort, and washing up!

Harris and Daisy at Bird and Bees. Image credit: Elliot Johnston

Abbew on TikTok. Image credit: Eddie Abbew

SSS CUP TRIUMPH FOR STIRLING UNI HANDBALL

By Claudia Gasparino

Stirling women’s handball brought home a gold medal in the Scottish Student Sport finals. On Saturday, February 25, at Grange Academy in Kilmarnock, the four best-ranked Scottish handball teams competed in the Final Four of the SSS tournament.

The Stirling handball men’s team placed fourth, and the women’s team stood on the highest step of the podium.

“I am very proud of our performance,” said team captain Luca Heymann.

“The girls have put so much work in the preparation of these matches, so it was rewarding to receive the gold medal and see how the training has paid off.”

Stirling started the day off perfectly, beating the University of Strathclyde 12-8 in the semi-finals.

Stirling player and SSS Sports Chair, Alice Hedemo, says “It was a tough semifinal. We played and won against Strathclyde twice this season and we were confident that we could win a third time.”

If for the semifinals the odds seemed to be in Stirling’s favour, that was not the case for the final against Heriot-Watt University.

Heriot-Watt had already beaten Stirling twice in league competition. The first game was a hardfought 28-27, with the second match finishing 33-26.

In the gold medal match though, Stirling turned the tables. The final score of the game was 18-7 to Stirling, an 11-point swing in their favour.

“We comfortably won against Heriot-Watt,” captain Heymann said. “Everything we worked on during trainings came into practice and our coach Greg made our defence system bulletproof. We lost twice against them during the year, so it was even better to see how much we improved.”

This is the second year that the handball team has competed in official leagues, and the results so far have been very positive.

“We were all very happy,” Hedemo said. “We are so proud that we

could bring a gold medal home in our second competitive year.”

The competitions for the handball team are not over, as they will be heading to Derby, in England, to play in the BUCS finals. The teams that played in the final four of the SSS league are automatically qualified for the BUCS finals against teams from all over the UK.

Stirling will travel to Derby with both the men’s and the women’s teams, with both hoping to achieve some good results.

Last year the women’s team won the bronze medal in the BUCS Trophy, and they are ready to fight again this year in the Championship.

“We were all very euphoric leaving with a gold medal around our necks,” Heymann said.

“I think being Scottish Champions gives us a good boost of energy in preparation for the BUCS tournament in a few weeks.”

The handball team will play in the BUCS finals on Saturday, March 9, and Sunday, March 10.

CAN OLYMPIC SURFING BE SUSTAINABLE?

By Ronja Putensen

With the final surf qualifiers running this weekend and athletes snatching the last spots for the Olympics, the anticipation for this year’s Games is growing.

The 2024 venue for the surf competitions promises spectacle, as they are set to take place on one of the most iconic waves on the planet: Teahupo’o.

Home to the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France, the wave offers the perfect setting for the Olympic stage.

The wave is known for its roaring power and has become a staple in the professional surfer’s repertoire. It produces big barrels; forming a tube that surfers can ride through.

Upon the announcement for the venue, locals and environmentalists, however, were worried the local village and the coral reef would be damaged by the plans of building housing for athletes, a new judging tower, and the proposed widening of infrastructure around the small village.

Teahupo’o’s charm lies in opposing the usual popular surf destination with not even one surf shop about.

Videos of construction for a new tower were shared online in December. The footage revealed a barge scraping the reef on its way

to the construction site, which led to massive outrage from locals and conservationists.

Although criticism raised by the island nation has led to some changes in the plans - with 98 per cent of Olympic housing being within local’s homes and athletes being accommodated on a cruise ship anchored near the waveconcerns over the impact of the Games remain.

Despite scaling back the plans for construction of a new tower, fishers still fear that drilling into the reef could attract ciguateram, an algae that infects fish and will make people sick when consumed.

French Polynesians fought back but Tahiti poses another example for the overarching question, that we’ve seen with multiple of the past Games: how can the Olympics strike a balance between modern progress and sustainability?

Of course, it's not all black and white: many locals of Tahiti look forward to the Games and the economic benefit it will bring to the Island.

Via Ara o Teahupo’o´s President, Cindy Otcenasek, said: “We hear a lot about the infrastructure and heritage that will be left by the Olympic Games, but we already have an ancestral heritage […] Teahupo’o is the land of God before being the land of the Games.”

UNIVERSITY'S TOP GOLF CHIEF TO HEAD PRESTIGIOUS AMATEUR COMPETITION

By Nathan Hassett SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Stirling’s Head of Golf, Dean Robertson, has been selected to lead the Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) team at the prestigious Walker Cup competition.

Robertson, 53, will select and lead a team of GB&I’s best amateur male golfers as they take on their American counterparts in California next year.

Reflecting on the announcement, Robertson said: “To have represented GB&I in the St Andrews Trophy and the Walker Cup was the pinnacle of my amateur career and an incredible privilege. Now to have the honour of captaining the GB&I teams is something I could not have imagined – but it is one that I am thrilled about.

“I very much look forward to galvanising the teams for the matches ahead with the all-important focus on being well prepared and playing to win.”

Robertson has led the high-performance golf programme at the University since 2010, developing some of the country’s most promising talent.

Successes include Lorna McClymont, who has won both the Irish and Welsh Open, and former scholar Louise Duncan who has earned her way onto the professional Ladies European Tour. Head of Performance Sport at the University, David Bond, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Dean, and we are very proud to see him take on this highly prestigious title. “I am sure Dean will approach the role with the vigour and detail thathe brings to the golf

programme at Stirling, which will stand the team in good stead for the upcoming challenges they face. We wish Dean every success within the role and will support him all the way.”

Robertson is no stranger to the Walker Cup, having competed in the competition during his impressive amateur career. He played at the 1993 competition, winning his singles match against Jay Sigel but to no avail as GB&I lost 19-5 in Minnesota.

Having won the Scottish Youths Amateur Open Championship, the Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship and the Scottish Amateur Championship, Robertson transitioned into a fruitful career as a pro.

Read the full story on brignews. com.

Dean Robertson, Stirling's Head of Golf. Image credit: University of Stirling

Stirling University Handball wins SSS final. Image credit: Stirling University Handball

Olympic rings. Image credit: The Olympic Games

BRIG SPORT SPOTLIGHT: STIRLING UNIVERSITY POLE FITNESS CLUB

By Emanuela Scalia SPORTS EDITOR

Stirling University Pole Fitness joined Brig this semester to tell us all a bit more about the sports club, the history behind it, training times and competitions, and also how to join!

Former president and treasurer of Pole Fitness, Khaliun Batbayar, has been doing pole fitness for over five years since starting in 2019.

Batbayar explains the history of pole fitness and how the club has grown as a sport these past few years: “The first thing we always tell everyone before joining is that they have to know where pole comes from, and they have to recognise that it mainly comes from dancers and sex workers of colour, who have created all of the basic moves that we do today.

It is now more recognised as a form of fitness and it has taken on a life of its own. But, as much as the sport aspect is a great part of it, we have to respect its history, where it comes from, and give sex workers the recognition they deserve.

“The club is great. For our sport, the moves require skin contact with the pole to get the grip, so we wear very little clothing. Because of this, our members gain a lot of

body-confidence, and confidence in a space where they can be themselves and where they can learn to trust their body in a very accepting environment. As a club we provide that.”

“In pole, you also gain a lot of strength because you are lifting your own body weight. It's very close to callisthenics and wall climbing for example, but the only apparatus you use is the metal pole. You are also learning routines to dance around the pole, so it’s a fun way to stay in shape.

Pole Fitness at the University

Pole fitness became official members of the Stirling Sports Union in May of 2022, although they still had to fight for this spot.

As pole fitness requires a large amount of time to practise and needs to be taught person-to-person, the club feels as though they don’t receive enough allocated gym-time to practise their sport. Regardless of the amount of people interested in joining, the lack of time is an obstacle for club growth.

“I think the sports centre doesn't put a lot of time into non-BUCS sports,” Batbayar continues.

“In that way, even in our first year when we were becoming a sports

WOMEN'S HOCKEY 2XI'S WIN BUCS LEAGUE

By Nathan Hassett SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Stirling Women's Hockey 2XIs have won their BUCS league, after beating Glasgow Caledonian University 9-0 at Gannochy. Conditions dictated the play with slick passing leading to a number of mistakes early on.

Communication within the team picked up however and Stirling began to take charge of the game.

Goals from Fiona Backhaus and Emma Scott gave the hosts a slim advantage at half time.

In the second half however, Stirling turned on the style. Goals from Maisie Megson, Carine Shergill, Sam Campbell, Backhaus and a double from

club, there were issues where they said we didn’t fit their image, and even now we are still fighting for that spot in the sports centre.

We need several hours so that everyone can be taught and everyone gets that attention they need, so I think we could definitely grow bigger as a club if given the time and some added help from the sports union for equipment storage and things like that.

“Now as a sports club, a lot more people can find us compared to when we were a society, which has been great. Now we finally also have a place to practise, which we didn’t have before as we used to have to use the local pole studio which was more expensive for our members,” said Batbayar.

How can members compete?

Pole fitness competitions allow people of all levels to compete. When competing as a university, each club has two members competing per category, starting with beginners. So you can compete individually, but also as a whole university group, combining the individual scores into one, where the highest-scoring group wins.

Batbayar says: "I would say we are very successful in our

competitions. Every year we place. It's not always as a University, as we don't have a big competition group yet, but people individually always place and it's always great to even just go and support."

Most recently at Varsity, the club placed third in the beginners category, third in semi-pro, and also won third place in doubles at the Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh!

The highlight of pole fitness?

Batbayar says the highlight for anyone who does pole is just getting onto the pole: “It can just be that one really safe space at uni where you can wear as much or as little as you want, you can look however you want, and you can feel the music, partake in fitness, and feel your body.

The university is always cramped and there is so much going on that it can make you anxious to be constantly surrounded by this environment, but then you go into this zone where it's calm, peaceful, and accepting.

“I think you just have to show up once and you will see how welcoming, warm, and fun it is. It’s just that first step of showing up. Once you join pole, you don’t just join the club: there is a big community of

Ellen Connolly secured the title in empatic fashion.

Reflecting on the league success, Scott said: "I could not be prouder of the girls, it's been an honour to play alongside them.

"We've been working incredibly hard all season to remain unbeaten in both of our BUCS league."

The team will now turn their attention to the BUCS Conference Trophy Final in St Andrews on March 6, and Scott is hoping to continue the momentum.

"We're so proud to be going into the final unbeaten. We can't wait to have the chance to prove ourselves yet again on Wednesday!"

other students and it also gives you this opportunity to meet a really cool and really accepting community of people Scotland-wide."

Training times

Pole fitness trains once a week on Thursdays, with three sessions coached by a professional.

They also train two other times, on Tuesdays and Saturday mornings which are free-trainings and uncoached, but supervised. Pole fitness is mixed, so everyone can join the class at their own skill-level.

There is also no gender requirement in the club, so anyone, no matter the level of experience, is welcome to join.

“Every week is a new trick. You learn a new skill every time you go, and I think that’s the best bit, is that you always leave accomplishing something,” says Batbayar.

If you want to join the club or contact the members for more information, you can find their contact information on their Instagram: @ stiruni_polefitness. You can alternatively also find committee members’ emails on the Sports Union Website under ‘Pole Fitness’.

The Pole Fitness Club at Varsity. Image credit: Stirling University Pole Fitness Club

Women's Hockey 2XIs crowned BUCS League winners. Image credit: Jonathan Boomer

STIRLING UNIVERSITY AND RANGERS FC ANNOUNCE NEW EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP

By Matthew Burns

Sports students at the University of Stirling will join the backroom staff at Rangers Football Club, thanks to a new educational partnership.

In what is the first of its kind in Scotland, Stirling has partnered with the Scottish Premiership team on its MPhil Performance Analysis course.

This will allow students to gain invaluable experience in a professional sporting environment.

An exciting collaboration

The initiative has been created by Dr David Stevenson, a lecturer in Sports Management at the University of Stirling.

He said: "The collaboration is about giving students hands-on work experience in high-performance sport, as well as promoting opportunities available in Scotland and retaining talent in the region.

“Students will be working alongside Rangers’ first teams and their youth development programmes, applying their academic knowledge to support the performance analysis staff and will also work on an individual research project".

The formal partnership with the one-year Masters programme follows a work placement initiative with Rangers, in which ten undergraduate students from Stirling took part in last year.

Zeb Jacobs, Academy Director at Rangers Football Club, said: “I am immensely proud of our enduring and dynamic partnership with the University of Stirling. This collaboration is more than just a partnership – it's a powerful conduit for giving young students the opportunity to grow and develop within our exciting environment.

“Working alongside top practitioners in different departments, our students are not just preparing for the challenges of today, but are being equipped with skills and experiences for a lifetime of success. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to excellence and the bright future of our young people.”

The experience of Stirling university students

MPhil Performance Analysis student, Ross Ireland, said: “I’ve been given great exposure to so many

talented people already and have the freedom to work on the areas that really interest me – including providing educational analysis sessions to academy players, working with the under 18s coaches and preparing and presenting data and analysis to players and coaching staff.

“The opportunity has opened my eyes to the wide range of roles available in professional sport and I know this year will not only boost my skills and confidence, but also really prepare me for a career in high performance sport.”

Andrew Smyth, who also joined Rangers through the MPhil, said: “Football has always been a hobby for me, so to be given the chance to work within a football club as big as Rangers is a really unique opportunity.

“The academy performance analysis department at Rangers is one of the best in Britain. I’m really looking forward to the hands-on work experience and to hopefully, through my research project, create a study which will be beneficial to the club.”

NARROW DEFEAT FOR NETBALL 1S AT FIRST CONFERENCE CUP SEMI-FINAL IN A DECADE

By Charlotte Sutcliffe EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Stirling netball 1s team played their first Conference Cup semi-final in ten years on February 24 against Aberdeen. After a resounding 69-16 win over Dundee, the team knew it was a difficult game ahead as they travelled north.

President Shanae Stannard was proud of the team to get to this point: “It has been such an exciting achievement, especially with it being the first year the club has been entirely student led and this achievement is a testament to everyone’s hard work and dedication.”

The game opened intensely for Stirling, with immediate defensive pressure required in Aberdeen’s shooting third inside and outside the circle. Maisey MacLennan as WD and Hannah Foreman as GK in particular worked hard with intercepts and rebounds.

Aberdeen played an aggressive attack, allowing Stirling’s discipline to win centre pass turnovers.

Whist Aberdeen initially started off with more possession, they were made to work incredibly hard by the Stirling defence, often having to reset with Dunan and Foreman being relentless on the rebounds.

Stirling’s first quarter moved the ball into the shooting circle effortlessly, aided with Mya Oliver’s shots from far out. The Aberdeen defence quickly countered these tactics, making the Stirling attack have to work the ball in harder allowing Aberdeen intercepts and the home side took a three-goal lead over Stirling at 6-9.

It was still all to play for into the second quarter. Stirling continued to adapt to the Aberdeen defence, having to exert a lot of effort to create shooting opportunities.

Despite Stirling struggling to close the gap, the defensive third increased the tempo with flying intercepts from MacLennon at centre. The Aberdeen shooters had settled, with their shot accuracy now matching that of Oliver and Grant.

As the second half of the quarter began, there was a shift in play for the Stirling team. The Aberdeen defence lost their discipline which Stirling took advantage of as well as the midcourt slowing Aberdeen attempting to charge down the court. Bringing on Caitlin Irvine as goal defence also brought added intensity to the defensive circle.

Going into the second half, Aberdeen led by 20 goals to 15.

Stirling were determined to close the gap with possession being retained predominantly in the Stirling attacking half, but they struggled to convert their chances,relying mainly on Oliver’s long shots for points.

Aberdeen continued to increase pressure in the midcourt intercepting. Although Stirling defence continued to move the ball out of the Aberdeen shooting circle, the team were unable to close the gap.

The final quarter began with Aberdeen leading. The Stirling defensive third came out with a bang, turning over Aberdeen’s first attempt taking advantage of shooting inaccuracies.

Whilst the Stirling team couldn’t close the gap, they also didn’t allow it to increase. As the final few minutes of the game began both teams began taking goals incredibly quickly, with Stirling persevering with the small goal margin Aberdeen had retained.

Fatigue had begun to kick in for the Stirling side with the amount of backline to backline work they were having to do across the whole court.

Aberdeen took the win at 38 to 32.

The netball 1s. Image credit: SUNC

Left to right: University of Stirling students Ross Ireland, Andrew Smyth and Harry Sutherland are working as analysts with Rangers Football Club as part of their MPhil Performance Analysis course. Image credit: University of Stirling

STIRLING UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL CLAIMS TOP-FOUR SPOT IN SCOTTISH PLATE

By Emanuela Scalia SPORTS EDITOR

Stirling University Volleyball claims top-four spot in the Scottish Plate after winning both quarter-final matches.

Both our men’s and women’s teams defeated their opponents with a 3-0 win against Aberdeen Storm and a 3-2 win against the University of Dundee, respectively.

Starting out with 16 teams in both brackets, the Scottish Plate allows all volleyball clubs in Scotland, even non-universities, to participate. Now, weeks after their first game, both teams sit at the top four spot alongside three others.

The women’s pool includes NUVOC (from Edinburgh), Glasgow Mets, and Dundee, whilst the men’s pool includes Dundee, Lenzie, and Forza Ragazzi (from Glasgow).

If both teams make it through the semifinals they will have the opportunity to represent Stirling University at the Scottish Plate finals in Edinburgh- an opportunity

that only comes once a year.

Along with this, they will also take home a medal and an inscription into the plate itself.

Men’s Captain Nikita Rogozins says, “I believe the last game of the plate was one of our better games of the season as our players were confident from the start and made very little to no errors throughout the match, stepping up to show a dominant performance. This allowed us to get ahead of the other team and never look back.

“I believe this squad has what it takes to, and deserves to reach the finals of this competition and compete right to the end for this trophy.

“Since it would be one of our last games of the year, it would be a fantastic end of the season for the guys that are leaving us and for those who have just joined, to show them what Stirling is all about and prove that we love a cup run!”

The Scottish Plate semifinals will be hosted in Largs by Scottish Volleyball on March 9, 2024. Both teams will be playing that same

day, offering each other stands full of support during this away match.

Last year, the women’s team reached the semifinals stage and were scheduled to play against Caledonia West.

Unfortunately, when it came to the semi-final morning, Stirling University failed to make the correct arrangements for the MPVs, leaving the women's team stranded in Stirling with no means of reaching Largs in time for their 9am game.

After a year of hard work and hopes to redeem themselves as strong plate competitiors, reaching the semi-final stage again they are excited to put their best foot forward and try to claim a second title.

Women's Coach Barbara Piseroni has rejoined her team as a fellow teammate for the plate. After playing with the women's team for a year during her Masters, she is excited to once again represent Stirling in the national competition. Piseroni, says she is so proud of

the team: “This game was such a fantastic experience. As this is a Scottish-wide tournament I was able to join the girls and play the quarterfinal, so it was amazing to play alongside my former teammates once again and win!

“Dundee University certainly put up a good fight and didn’t make it an easy game for us– we had to fight to the very end, but it was a great feeling coming out of that game as winners. It was certainly a learning curve for us to understand how to play our best and I feel like we will be bringing this into the next game.

“We played so well together as a team and I am excited to see how we’re going to approach our next game against Glasgow Mets 2s.

"I am also very proud of our men's team, who I coach during games if given the opportunity to, and I am excited to see how they will play in their semifinal. I am hopeful for, and it would be amazing to see a double-win for Stirling this year after a tougher BUCS season.

The men’s team will be playing beforehand at 10 a.m., with the women’s match scheduled at 5:30 p.m.

Men’s outside hitter, Ethan Polatajko, says “I think the quarter final game went great. After travelling over 2 hours to get to Aberdeen, even though we were tired and sore, we were still excited to get playing and I think that showed with our 3-0 win.

“It’ll be a great experience to play in Largs against experienced club teams: we’re optimistic. It’ll be challenging, but no matter the outcome, it will be a good game nonetheless.

"Hopefully both teams will be successful that weekend and we can show the rest of the Scottish volleyball community that Stirling University Volleyball Club is a determined and strong team!”

The games will be livestreamed on the team’s Facebook and instagram: @stiruni_volleyball.

Go SUVC!

ASSESSING STUDENT UNION SUPPORT FOR SMALLER CLUBS

By Miri Karort

CONTINUED FROM BACK

Despite an increase in qualifications for National competitions, financial support has decreased from covering 80% to only 50% of the costs. Additionally, the provision of a broad range of funding percentages, rather than a specific amount, resulted in uncertainty when budgeting for expenses and planning for future competitions.

Moreover, there have been administrative challenges associated with the Sports Union. On the day of departure, instead of the promised

9-seater van, they were provided with an eight-seater, forcing the team to contemplate dropping a player. Although this issue was not the fault of the union, the booking was arranged through them.

Frederik Dalgaard, the club’s president, stated: "Given the fact that we book our transport through them, we are fully reliant on everything going smoothly and are largely helpless to make any changes without the union's support."

This captures the vulnerability of smaller clubs, whose performance hinge delicately on the effectiveness of union-administered

services.

Blaze expressed gratitude for the help provided, acknowledging that the Sports Union “do help as best they can", exemplified by their prompt response to the van issue. Nonetheless, this mishap still caused preventable stress before a big tournament.

Furthermore, contacting the Sports Union has proven to be difficult, with direct communication described as sporadic and varying in responsiveness. Urgent matters sometimes required multiple reminders, impacting not only the team's activities but also inter-university collaborations.

Dalgaard expressed that for the future there is a need greater consistency in the Sports Union's communication, which would benefit all clubs.

Sports Union President Murray Bushell stated that they “take a consistent approach in ensuring support for all clubs”, striving to help in their growth and development and naming handball as an example, which was shortlisted for club of the year in their second year.

Bushell expressed that “all clubs receive funding and can apply for our development and equipment fund”, with smaller clubs benefiting

from a focus on overall funding.

Furthermore that he launched initiatives such as the club mark, that recognises success outside of BUCS and the "club focus" social media campaign, gaining visibility to different sports.

How much these efforts really improve the daily sports activities of athletes is to be evaluated in the future.

Ultimately, this analysis underscores the need for consistent and tailored support for smaller clubs, ensuring their ability to thrive and contribute to Stirling's vibrant sporting community.

Stirling University Volleyball posing after winning both quarter-finals. Image credits: Stirling University Volleyball Club

5

MARCH 2024

Tesla Mitchell at the BUCS weekend. image credit: Ian Brown

WEEKEND OF SUCCESS IN SHEFFIELD FOR STIRLING'S BUCS ATHLETES

By Nathan Hassett SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Stirling's sport stars have achieved success at this year's BUCS National Championships, with medals won across numerous sports in Sheffield.

Most impressively, Tesla Mitchell won bronze in Sport Climbing and

came fourth in the speed climbing, her first time competing in these competitions since 2019. Having topped her two qaulifying routes, Mitchell went into the Sport Climbing final in joint first place in the standings. A drama-filled final saw Mitchell and three other competitors fall at the same point in the route, but her strong qualifying performance saw her clinch a highly impressive

third-place finish.

In the pool, Keanna MacInness delivered a gold medal in the 50m Butterfly, breaking a Scottish record along the way.

MacInness, who already held the record, secured the victory with a 26.69 second swim.

It wasn't just MacInness who saw success for the swimmers in Sheffield. An incredible haul of medals included seven golds, 13

By Matthew Burns

Sports students at the University of Stirling will join the backroom staff at Rangers Football Club, thanks to a new educational partnership.

In what is the first of its kind in Scotland, Stirling has partnered with the Scottish Premiership team on its MPhil Performance Analysis course.

FULL STORY ON P30

LACK OF SPORT UNION SUPPORT FOR SMALLER CLUBS

By Miri Karort

silvers and ten bronzes. MacInness achieved a hattrick of butterfly golds, whilst Katie Shanahan won gold in the 200m Individual Medley and podium finishes in 400m Medley and Backstroke finals respectively.

One such club is the Stirling University Ultimate Frisbee Club, who shared their experiences with the Sport’s union, both helpful and hindering. Last November, Blaze qualified to represent the university at 2024 Nationals in London. Nevertheless, only half of the expenses were covered by the Sports Union.

President Frederik Dalgaard playing ultimate frisbee. Image credit: Stirling University Ultimate Frisbee

As “Scotland’s University of Sporting Excellence”, Stirling prides itself in offering a large variety of sports. The reality however is, that smaller clubs continuously strive to be recognised and supported to be able to compete at their best.