Concrete 380

Est. 1992 The official student newspaper of the University of East Anglia | Striving For Truth | Issue 380 | 14 September 2021

Is COP26 our last chance to save the planet?

Festivals: our perfect chaos

pgs. 8-9

pg. 10

UEA Student Sport Operations Manager Interview

pg. 24

36% rise in staff accessing mental health support from the university

Dolly Carter

Editor-in-Chief

According to data obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to UEA, the number of staff who accessed mental health support from the university rose by 36% in the

2020/21 academic year, bringing the number from 163 people to 222.

The FOI request (FOI_21176) shows that, prior to this 36% increase, the number of staff seeking support dropped by 3% from the 2018/19 to the 2019/20 academic year, from 168 people to 163.

These figures include universityrun staff counselling services, mental health and wellbeing workshops, and the Employee Assistance Programme which was newly introduced in 2020.

Available to all students, staff, and their families, the Programme is a free advice and counselling

service. Running on a 24/7 basis, it “provides support for all employees throughout the year, allowing [the university] to provide flexible provision according to need”.

After being cut by 20% in the 2019/20 academic year, the budget for staff mental health and wellbeing services rose by 19% for

2020-21, currently standing at £137,384 per annum.

Upon requesting the annual budget for 2021-22, the university gave the following response: “The full figure for [21/22] will be known in the coming weeks…

We pay very close attention to the number of staff accessing our mental health support facilities and will always ensure that the financial support is balanced according to the need”.

Kirsty Webb, Associate Director in the People and Culture division, said: “Supporting staff wellbeing is fundamental to our culture and values here at UEA. The University’s budget for staff mental health support includes the funding for the Staff Counselling Team in Student Services to ensure they are equipped to deal with a variety of different mental health issues, as well as funding from the People and Culture Division for the Employee Assistance Programme.”

The People and Culture team have also recently implemented an additional resource in recruiting a dedicated Employee Wellbeing Partner. The Partner will be focussed on “embedding the University’s staff mental health and wellbeing strategy across policy, practice and decision making at UEA”.

Responding to the 36% increase, Kirsty said: “The number of staff who accessed mental health and wellbeing services at UEA during 2020/2021 is higher than the year before, particularly during periods of the year when staff, students and the wider community were significantly impacted by the pandemic”.

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14th September 2021

Editorial You can rely on us Sam Gordon Webb

Deputy Editor

Left to right: Deputy Editor Sam Gordon Webb, Editor-in-Chief Dolly Carter, Deputy Editor Freyja Elwood (Photo: Samuel Baxter)

Welcome to the first issue of the 2021-22 academic year Dolly Carter

Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to the very first in-print issue of Concrete in the 2021-22 academic year. I am extremely proud to have been selected as Editor-in-Chief and look forward to leading the team throughout the coming year.

I’d like to tell you a little bit about how my Concrete journey began in the hope that it may inspire you to contribute to your student newspaper. Having felt slightly anxious at the prospect of writing my first ever article, I would encourage new writers to simply go for it. We have a wide variety of sections to write for across Concrete and Venue with something to suit everyone, no matter your degree subject or interests. I became Comment Editor in May 2020 and spent the year gaining knowledge and experience to support me in my current role.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the outgoing editorial team for their amazing contribution during what we can all acknowledge to be a difficult year.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions resulting in the publication of just two in-print issues,

the team worked as an enthusiastic and cohesive unit while managing to produce consistently brilliant content.

I had the pleasure of interviewing and training our 35-member 2021-22 team who have already produced two online issues over the summer. Between creating content calls, editing articles, uploading social media posts, and maintaining our website, I am extremely proud of each and every one of them – I look forward to seeing how they continue to flourish over the coming year.

Exciting opportunities to join our team as a Features Senior Writer, Sport Senior Writer, Copy Editor, or Online Editor are to be released in the coming days. Keep an eye on our social media channels for more details on role descriptions and how to apply.

The team have worked tirelessly to produce a wide range of articles for this issue, so I am sure there is something of interest to every reader.

Personally, I interviewed two representatives from stillbirth and neonatal death charity Norfolk Sands who were kind enough to share their experiences and explain the importance of the support and guidance they provide

A new chapter and fresh start Freyja Elwood

The past year and a half has been incredibly turbulent and emotional for all of us - life will never really be Thank you and welcome to your the same again. I've noticed there is a first edition of Concrete for the year new sense of gratitude and excitement 2021/22. among us all. The return to familiarity and Deputy Editor

to bereaved parents (pgs. 12-13).

Continuing our commitment to consistent climate coverage, our Global Editor Aislinn Wright has written a fascinating piece on the lead up to COP26 in the latest installment of our 'Global Investigates' series which was started by previous Deputy Editor William Warnes (pgs. 8-9).

Our Breaking News UK Correspondent Addie Cannell lent her hand to our Features section to write an insightful piece on microaggressions (pg. 10).

Concrete and Venue are published both in-print and online every three weeks on a Tuesday. If you’d like to see your name in the next issue, you can find a detailed step-by-step on how to write for Concrete in our brand new ‘Concrete how-to guide’, which is housed under the ‘Get Involved’ section of our website. I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have via the following email address: concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk.

For those of you who are not yet members, I hope I can encourage you to take a chance, pick up a pen, and make a start. Thank you for reading this issue of Concrete. at the same time a new chapter and fresh start. On a personal note, my time at UEA has been the best two, and hopefully three, years of my life and I owe it all to my friends, who I know will undoubtedly feature in many stories in my editorials to come.

So, regardless of what year you find yourself in, I hope this year you find your place, your people and your peace.

In the aftermath of a terrifying new reality in Afghanistan, this year’s Concrete has a difficult job to make sense of it all. Luckily, we’ve already started. The Taliban’s treatment of women and children - despite widespread denial - is shocking and unjustifiable. We only know this thanks to the work of media groups on the ground. Concrete’s recently formed Breaking News team - headed up by Breaking News editor and LiveWire 360 deputy station manager, Emily Kelly have already reported on the fall of the Afghan capital, with stories available on our website.

In essence, our job as journalists is to check the facts in order to reveal what is currently hidden. And it is a plainly unpleasant fact of life that life is terrible for some just as it is wonderful for others. As hope and freedom crumbled in Afghanistan, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, others were dancing away the night under the Greek stars.

During the Taliban's swift takeover of the Afghan capital, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, was on holiday in Crete. After Raab’s stay at the Amirandes Hotel, a since deleted Tripadvisor review from the strangely familiar name, ‘Dom R’, seemed exceedingly impressed by the 5 star resort: “quite honestly, there could be a war going on outside, and you'd barely notice it. Bliss!”

I bring this up because I firmly believe our principal role at Concrete is to not only tell the stories that matter, but to be ‘present’ - whether that be physically, emotionally or both - as and when they break. Whichever side of the political pendulum you stand on, the unpredictable nature of today’s world is undisputable.

This explains why Concrete’s motto is striving for the truth. Our team is fitted with the talent and determined spirit to match any other publication.

With our creative and illuminating coverage in Venue, Concrete aims to celebrate the accomplishments of students from a range of schools across campus: sports players, scientists, journalists, actors, writers, musicians, lawyers. Most importantly, the oxygen of the paper stems from those who write, read and share it. Let’s keep doing this together.

concrete-online.co.uk

ConcreteUEA

The University of East Anglia’s Official Student Newspaper since 1992 Tuesday 14th September 2021 Issue 380 Union House University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ 01603 593466 www.concrete-online.co.uk

Editor-in-Chief Dolly Carter concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Deputy Editors Sam Gordon Webb & Freyja Elwood

News Una Jones Senior Writer: Rachel Keane Global Aislinn Wright Senior Writer: Hamish Davis Features Maja Anushka Comment Lauren Bramwell Science Mariam Jallow Senior Writer: George Barsted Travel & Lifestyle Rosa Chrystie-Lowe Sport Oscar Ress

Breaking News Emily Kelly UEA Correspondent: Jim Gell UK Correspondent: Addie Cannell International Correspondent: Melody Chan

Online Editors Matthew Stothard & Tristan Pollitt Copy Editors Sophie Colley & Phoebe Lucas Social Media Manager Badriya Abdullah Lead Photographer Samuel Baxter

ConcreteUEA Front page photo: Concrete/Samuel Baxter Cut outs: (Left to right) Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, James Raywood

Editorial Enquiries, Complaints & Corrections concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk

No part of this newspaper may be reproduced by any means without the permission of the Editor-in-Chief, Dolly Carter. Published by the Union of UEA Students on behalf of Concrete. Concrete is a UUEAS society, but retains editorial independence as regards to any content. Opinions expressed herein are those of individual writers, not of Concrete or its editorial team.

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NEWS 14th September 2021

concrete-online.co.uk/news/ | @ConcreteUEA

Photo: Concrete/Samuel Baxter

Sportspark hosts summer bereavement programme for young people Rachel Keane Senior News Writer

This summer, UEA Sportspark has hosted a summer bereavement programme to offer support to young people who have lost someone to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After a heartbreaking year for all those who have been bereaved, it is hoped sport and physical activity will help to improve the mental health of children and young people in Norwich.

Along with Norfolk-based charity, Nelson’s Journey, and funding from Sport England via Active Norfolk, the Sportspark created a programme in which children could interact with one another in groups, following a timetable of activities such as

football, dodgeball, archery, crafts, walking and reflective sessions.

Julia Robathon, Course Director of the PE, Sport and Health degree courses at UEA and a Nelson’s Journey trustee, explained: “Sportspark has a tried and tested Covid-secure model of delivery that will allow the young people to come together and take part in a range of activities that will include some therapeutic bereavement work”.

Nelson’s Journey has been unable to provide its usual bereavement support during the pandemic and has also suffered from a significant reduction in donations.

However, the partnership with UEA Sportspark has allowed the charity to reignite its programme of stress-reducing activities and encourage both mental wellbeing and social interaction to some of the

children across Norfolk most in need of it. A representative of Nelson’s Journey, Simon Wright, said: “Many of the young people taking part just haven’t had the same support networks around them over the last 18 months due to the pandemic.”

He went on to explain the summer programme at UEA would have a “powerful impact” on the young people struggling with a “sense of isolation”.

In 2020, UEA Sportspark also came forward to help do what it could in the country’s fight against Covid-19. The children of local NHS staff were welcomed to UEA so they could be provided with a day-care facility in which they would be able to remain both physically active and socially distant.

However, in the summer of 2021, with slightly less pressure on the

NHS than at the very start of the pandemic, it was understood UEA Sportspark’s biggest priority should be in supporting the young people who have become isolated over the last year as a result of bereavement.

Robathon said:

“Active Norfolk have been very helpful in aiding us ... to tackle inequalities escalated by Covid-19”

“Sport and physical activity has been identified as a mechanism to reduce stress and enhance relationships in support of bereavement work, and Active Norfolk have been very helpful in aiding us to meet the requirements of Sport England funding to tackle inequalities escalated by Covid-19”.

UEA has been able to host this incredible programme with the help of Sportspark staff, Nelson’s Journey volunteers and UEA’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning Students.

UEA Sportspark has also expressed they would be willing to work with other organisations or charities recently having been prevented from supporting the Norfolk community the way they normally would in the past 18 months.

Student Union shop provides support to Afghan students and families Dolly Carter Editor-In-Chief Students’ Union (SU) Shop staff have been instructed to use a dedicated till account as part of UEA’s commitment to support returning, or new, Afghan students and their families.

This covers all SU Shop items apart from alcohol, cigarettes, UEA

clothing/merchandise, and lottery items.

SU Officers released the following statement: “Afghan refugees are in urgent need of support.

We support the UK government’s announcement of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme as a first step, but believe that greater ambition is needed in the UK, Europe and the US

to provide assistance to people fleeing conflict and oppression”.

In a statement released on 19th August, Vice Chancellor Professor David Richardson said: “UEA is deeply concerned at the distressing scenes unfolding in Afghanistan and calls for the UK Government to expedite the safe passage of affected students to take up their place to study in the UK… we

will continue to do all that we can to support and accelerate any required visas and funding as needed, along with the safe travel of Chevening Scholars to the UK”.

A further statement on 26th August detailed UEA’s work with Universities UK to “provide personalised support to Afghani students currently in the UK and Afghanistan, and Chevening Scholars due to travel to

the UK to begin their studies at UEA in September”.

UEA is now coming into its fourth year of being a University of Sanctuary, an initiative which aims to “recognise and celebrate the good practice of universities welcoming people seeking sanctuary through facilitated access to higher education”.

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14th September 2021

News Sexual Covid-19 has caused a global setback in National Health Week 3 t h - 1 9 t h women's reproductive and sexual health rights! 1September 2021 Rachel Keane

Senior News Writer

Photo: Pixabay Photo: Pixabay

Una Jones News Editor

Adaptations to the administration of public health as a result of the pandemic, including lockdowns, quarantine and telephone appointments have directly affected approaches to sexual and reproductive health and rights, mainly affecting women and girls.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have released a survey detailing how the diminishing of such services have been felt internationally, stating in a survey analysis: “Family planning services were disrupted in 68% of countries, with 9% reporting severe/ complete disruption.”

Access to birth control is one of the sexual and reproductive health issues most impacted by the pandemic.

Be this the number of appointments for contraceptive methods, for

NAPAC

pregnancy related procedures, as well as preventative conversations in educational settings. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in 114 low/middle-income countries, more than 47 million women are unable to access contraceptive methods. A projected two million more women will be unable to access contraception, attributed to further three-month extensions to these restrictions.

Due to the focus on prioritising the supply of ‘essentials’ to combat COVID-19, sexual and reproductive health products became largely inaccessible, directly obstructing sexual and reproductive health and rights disproportionately affecting millions of women and girls.

Closures and adaptations have directly affected prenatal care, maternal and post-natal health services, in

announces

Rachel Keane

Senior News Writer

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) has created a new booklet to support adult survivors of child abuse. This comes as NAPAC recorded a significant rise in the amount of young people disclosing

addition to care related to sexually transmitted infections or sexual health counselling. One in three women reported having to delay or cancel sexual or reproductive health appointments, or had difficulty obtaining birth control in the US. Closures of vital clinics have placed further burdens on those already struggling with reproductive health needs.

Internationally implemented school closures have also led to reduced access to reproductive and sexual health education. The lack of exposure to these resources have increased the risk of teenage pregnancy and pregnancy related death. Save The Children reports childbirth as the leading cause of death, globally, for girls aged 15-19. As a result of closures, child safety measures like school nurse visits, teacher observation and social work visits have decreased, which in turn has led to a decrease in

booklet

instances of abuse.

The charity offers support to adult survivors of any form of child abuse, including physical, emotional, sexual and neglect, believing survivors can be empowered to leave the impact of their abuse behind and enjoy a happy and fulfilled life as an adult.

Over the past eighteen months, NAPAC has conducted an in-depth review of its caller and website data which shows one in three callers to its

to

the number of protective services which young girls previously had more access to.

Throughout the pandemic and the lockdown, access to abortion has been labelled by different jurisdictions as ‘non-essential’ which has restricted access to those most requiring the service. In May 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported multiple U.S. states were citing the COVID-19 emergency situation as a means curb access to abortion. Health facilities in Italy also suspended abortion services, and reassigned gynaecological staff elsewhere further barring access to legal abortion.

To make this issue globally recognised, a re-thinking of international health approaches will be needed to make this issue globally recognised.

combat

support line is under the age of 35, as well as almost half of its website users being under the age of 35.

These worrying statistics led NAPAC to develop a booklet offering advice to young people who may have experienced childhood abuse, along with tips on how to spot instances of abuse as a parent or professional.

At the launch of the new booklet, Chief Executive Gabrielle Shaw said, “Evidently there are a lot of young

This year, National Sexual Health Week is focusing on the importance of consent.

In a country where 75% of students do not believe they have been adequately prepared at school to have a comprehensive understanding of consent, educating and spreading awareness is as important as ever.

This is according to a survey carried out in August 2020 by the independent government think tank, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), who also found 58% of UK students think there should be a compulsory test on sexual consent.

Consent is a prerequisite to any form of sex and it is extremely important that everybody learns, both how to ask for, and how to give consent.

Brook, the sexual health charity leading the consent campaign, is studying how we can understand consent in digital relationships, as well as making the way we learn about consent more inclusive of different genders and sexualities.

They will be running multiple webinars, one of which will be focusing on empowering “boys and young men to take ownership of consent through relationships and sex education”, as stated on Brook’s website.

The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, will be available across campus this sexual health week to provide free condoms via the ‘C card scheme’, as well as chlamydia screenings so make sure to visit their stand.

The Harbour Centre is a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) based in Norfolk providing medical care and emotional support to victims of rape and serious sexual assault regardless of gender or age.

Using their services does not require involving the police but they will support you doing so if this is the choice you wish to make.

UEA students can also report sexual harassment or assault via the NeverOk system, or if they would prefer, they can get specialist support with the help of the SU. It is always important to remember that an absence of ‘no’ does not mean ‘yes’ and if you are unsure whether somebody is consenting to something, just ask them.

widespread

people who are affected, which is why we’ve created this new booklet to address their concerns”. She also explained how the new resource can be used to learn to “deal with a disclosure in a productive manner”.

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, there are approximately 8.5 million adults in the UK who have experienced at least one form of child abuse, whilst the Office of the Children’s Commissioner estimates

abuse

only one in eight children who are being sexually abused are known to the police or children’s services.

In light of these statistics, the booklet’s guidance on recovering as an adult is even more important. NAPAC’s confidential support line is free from UK landlines and mobiles, and is open from 10am-9pm Monday to Thursday and from 10am-6pm on Fridays. You can also visit their website at www.napac.org.uk.

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14th September 2021

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Law to make uniforms more affordable will not apply this academic year Una Jones News Editor

A new law is in the works, aimed at lowering the cost of uniforms in England.

The law is expected to limit the number of logos on uniforms, allowing parents to buy more items from supermarkets and shops other than a school's main supplier.

Unfortunately, this law will not be put in place for the start of the new academic year.

The government has stated schools should expect full details in the autumn.

However, this means parents will not benefit from the changes, as schools start again this September.

According to The Children's Society, the average uniform costs £315 per primary school pupil and £337 per secondary pupil.

This comes at a time where food banks are finding themselves inundated with requests for school uniforms, to the point where a clothes bank has opened in the West Midlands to provide uniforms to children from local schools.

Labour MP, Mike Amesbury, who first

introduced the legislation said he would be: "incredibly disappointed" if further delays to the guidance hindered changes from being put into place before September 2022.

Such a law could save families a significant amount of money which could contribute to their care in other ways.

Parents will now have to wait in anticipation to see the law is finalised before the next academic year begins in order to benefit from it.

Azmina Siddique, policy manager at the Children's Society is disappointed as

parents won't see a financial benefit this September, offering: "We appreciate that these [changes] can take a bit of time and it's really important to get the guidance right."

However, this means schools will have more time to review their policies, with Azmina adding: "Teachers have also told us that, while they would be very happy for the law to have been passed, in the year they have had - adjusting to home learning and the impact of the pandemic - that one more thing before the summer term may have been difficult."

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Exams

to

be

Freyja Elwood Deputy Editor

The Minister for Education, Gavin Williamson, has told the Education Select Committee that those sitting exams in the upcoming academic year will have exams adjusted, saying it would not be viable to "immediately switch back to the situation as it was back in 2019."

In a press release from the Department for Education, Mr Williamson said: “Exams will always be the fairest way to assess students,

Inequality

altered

which is why they will take place next year, but it’s right that next summer’s arrangements take into account the disruption young people have faced over the past 18 months.”

Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, have confirmed the changes they will require exam boards to make to exams next year, they nclude: changes in GCSE Geography, History and Ancient History to cover content in appropriate depth.

Multiple topics on which students are required to answer in GCSE English

exacerbated

Rachel Keane

Senior News Writer

The class of 2020-21 had an A-level experience unlike many others. Teacherassessed grades replaced exams across the UK, culminating in the widest results gap between private and state schools in the modern era.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected us all in one way or another.

It has caused setbacks in gender equality across the world, shown us the consequences of institutionally racist systems throughout the UK, and caused suffering in our personal lives.

The results A-level students have received this summer have also shown the UK is far from a classless

following

by

society in the way our education system continues to exacerbate inequalities.

Of those educated at a private school, 70% received an A or A* in comparison to 39% at state schools.

This was not just the result of the multitude of reasons why a student at a private school may achieve a higher result than a student at a state school, but grade inflation was also 3 percentage points higher.

According to the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity, 23% of private school teachers experienced pressure from student’s parents about grades, whilst in comprehensive schools this was only 11%, which

recent

disruption

Literature.

Fieldwork in multiple subjects will see changes to the requirement for the number of days at both GCSE and A-Level.

Spoken Language exams in modern foreign languages will see a new “common assessment criteria” produced for teachers.

Modifications to non-exam assessments in subjects including music and physical education at both GCSE and A-Level.

Exam board will not, in general, change the length or format of their exam papers, except to accommodate changes made by

recent

A-Level

could contribute to the discrepancy.

In 2019, the last time students’ results were rewarded on the basis of examination, there was a much smaller gap of 24% between students receiving an A or A* in private and state schools.

Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chair of the Sutton Trust said “state schools - particularly those in less affluent areas - have been hit [harder] by the pandemic”.

Students who may have had struggles within their home life and may have had less access to technology or who could not afford additional tutoring were affected the most by disrupted and online learning.

to

teaching

Ofqual.

Considerations are also being made in regard to “grade protection” as has happened in previous years although no decision has been made yet.

Because of the breadth of general exams that are not GCSE or A-Levels and are vocational, Ofqual has said a single approach would not be feasible and Ofqual will support different organisations to facilitate these exams.

A decision has still not been made in regards to whether the summer 2021 exam timetable will be delayed due to feared consequences of later results.

results,

says

In regards to this, Sir Kevan Collins, the former education recovery commissioner, argued: “we should be thinking about the inequality throughout the system”.

Whilst it is deeply disappointing that teacher-assessed grades have grown the gap between results in private and state schools, this should not necessarily be the main focus of the issue.

Despite being smaller, the gap in results in 2019 is still shocking and not something that we should become desensitised to.

There was no pandemic to blame for the disparity in results in previous years, meaning it is the structure of the education system in

New Eco Petrol introduced at petrol stations Lauren Bramwell News Writer

A new eco-friendly petrol is being introduced at filling stations in Britain this month.

E10 petrol is intended to be the new standard petrol grade put forward by the government.

This offer is part of the government’s plans to cut carbon emissions as E10 contains less carbon than other motor fuels and more ethanol.

This new fuel is made with up to 10% bioethanol, a renewable fuel, and will replace the current E5 petrol grade which contains only 5% bioethanol.

This new proportion will ensure the UK is in line with other countries’ standards such as France, Belgium, and Germany.

E10 could cut carbon emissions by 750,000 tonnes a year according to The Department for Transport.

The introduction follows the government’s scheme to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035 in a new climate change effort.

The new fuel is being distributed throughout the entirety of the UK except for Northern Ireland, in which it is not set to arrive there until early 2022.

More than 95% of Britain’s petrol cars are compatible with E10, with every petrol vehicle built after 2011 almost certainly being able to accept E10.

The firm’s head of policy Nicholas Lyes said: “E10 petrol has already started appearing on forecourts to replace the old E5 blend, and that process will continue at pace in the coming weeks.”

The government has set up a website where drivers can check whether their car will be able to run on E10 fuel.

Lye commented, “But while the vast majority of drivers of petrol cars aren’t affected, a sizable minority will be and the only way to be sure is to use the official online checker.”

Owners of such vehicles can still gain access to E5 by purchasing super unleaded, according to The AA.

Sutton

Trust

the UK that is allowing such a rigid class system to remain.

All young people across the UK deserve school facilities and teaching of the same quality - students should not require the ‘correct’ postcode or socio-economic background to start their life on an equal playing field.

If more funding is not given to state schools, especially in areas that have already been deprived, the gap between the results from private and state schools will continue to grow and many talented and bright young people may continue to be robbed of their potential.

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14th September 2021

GLOBAL

America marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11

Photo: Sam Gordon Webb

Sam Gordon Webb Deputy Editor

The 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place in New York City on Saturday, marking two decades since four fully loaded US commercial jets were brought down by hijackers affiliated with the Islamist group alQaeda.

The ceremony focused on

One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western hemisphere that now stands in place of the Twin Towers.

Six moments of silence were observed, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell, as well as the times of the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

At sundown, the annual “Tribute in Light” illuminated the sky, an art installation consisting of vertical

searchlights arranged in two columns of light to represent the Twin Towers.

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, completed in 2004, was opened for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The names of 2,983 victims are inscribed on 152 bronze parapets surrounding reflecting pools that are placed where the towers once stood. President Biden had been encouraged not to attend the events by relatives of nearly 1,800 victims,

after refusing to release classified documents that may implicate the Saudi Government. After the failure of a federal lawsuit accusing Saudi Arabia of being complicit in the attacks, the report concluded: “ a failure to conduct oversight over institutions created an environment in which such activity has flourished.”

Meanwhile, the report also detailed how the first two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid alMihdhar, arrived and leased a

Palestinian President holds with Israeli Defence Aislinn Wright Global Editor

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has held the first official meeting with a senior Israeli minister in more than a decade.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz travelled to Ramallah in the occupied territory of the

West Bank on August 29 to discuss security, civilian issues, and the economy.

Gantz told Abbas that Israel would seek to strengthen the Palestinian economy, reportedly offering the Palestinian Authority a £113m loan as an advance of tax revenue which is collected by Israel on her behalf.

Gantz told Israeli media

that Israel would recognise thousands of Palestinians currently living in the occupied West Bank without documentation, grant a further 16,000 Israeli work permits to Palestinians, and issue 1,000 building permits to Palestinians in areas of the West Bank that are under full Israeli control.

An Israeli government

property in San Diego with the help of Omar-al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who had links to the Saudi government.

After the most deadly terrorist attack on US soil, President Bush addressed the nation, just hours after returning to the Oval Office from an elementary school in Florida: “None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

rare talk Minister

source said the meeting was approved by the new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and that no discussion of peace had taken place, telling the BBC “there is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one.”

The militant group Hamas, who operate in the Gaza strip and engaged in an 11-day conflict with Israeli

forces in May, have warned that the meeting “deepens Palestinian political division.”

The meeting comes two days after American President Joe Biden urged Israel’s Prime Minister Bennet to take measures towards improving the lives of Palestinians during a meeting at the White House.

14th September 2021

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Texas’

Controversial

Mariam Jallow Global Writer

As of September 1st, the termination of pregnancies after 6-weeks gestation has been banned in the US state of Texas. Following the enactment of The Texas Heartbeat Act, persons seeking abortive services past this 6-week period, including cases of rape and incest, are liable to be sued by private citizens for damages starting at $10,000 (£7,230). This legal punishment also extends to those found ‘aiding and abetting’ illegal abortions, targeting many women’s healthcare providers and pro-choice activists throughout the state.

Abortion

Despite attempts made by Planned Parenthood, American Civil Liberties Union, and the Centre for Reproductive Rights to halt the bill’s enactment, in a 5-4 ruling made by the Supreme Court it was decided the controversial law would be allowed to pass. Given that most women are unaware of their pregnancy within the first 5-6 weeks, a research brief by The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project stated “8 out of 10 women seeking abortions would be prevented from obtaining abortion care”. The brief also goes on to explain the law’s expected disproportionate impact on “Black patients and those living on low incomes who were already experiencing delays in access to care,” a notion shared by many

Law

civil rights and pro-choice activist groups.

In a statement made by current US President Joe Biden, he described the Supreme Court ruling as “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for almost fifty years.” The Roe v. Wade case referenced was a landmark decision made in 1973 granting American women the right to abortions before foetal viability-- around 3 months into pregnancy.

As the nature of the law leaves many healthcare providers vulnerable to expensive lawsuits, many are left with little choice but to comply in order to continue giving services to the communities that rely on them.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Hurricane Ida brings devastation to Senator Lindsey Graham repeats America’s East Coast call for the impeachment of former friend Joe Biden Aislinn Wright Global Editor

Aislinn Wright Global Editor

Lindsey Graham has repeated his call for the new president’s impeachment over his withdrawal of all American service personnel from Afghanistan.

Graham, the Republican Senator for South Carolina, forged a close relationship with Biden when they were both serving as senators, remaining close friends whilst Biden served as vicepresident to Barack

Photo:Wikimedia Commons

Obama. Graham is reported to have called Biden in mid-November last year to explain his continuing support for Donald Trump despite the Trump campaign’s allegations of electoral fraud.

The New York Times reported the call was “short, and not especially sweet.”

In a brief interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, Graham said that US forces should remain in Afghanistan to fight the terrorists responsible for the deaths of 13 American troops and 170 Afghans

who died in the bombing at Kabul airport. Graham said: “You cannot break [Islamic State’s] will through drone attacks. You’ve got to have people on the ground hitting these people day in and day out. You can’t do it over the horizon.”

Biden had faced heavy criticism for the withdrawal, with Graham saying Biden “ignored sound advice” and that’s it’s a “dereliction of duty to leave hundreds of Americans behind enemy lines, turn them into hostages, to abandon thousands of Afghans who fought honourably along our side, to create conditions for another 9/11 that are now through the roof.” Although the majority of the American citizens who were trying to flee Afghanistan were able to do so, many were not able to leave during the two-week evacuation process and are now struggling to return to the US.

America’s East coast has suffered major damages and loss of life as Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf Coast in one of the worst direct hits in 170 years.

On August 23, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) noted a potential tropical cyclone developing in the Southwestern Caribbean sea. Following days of monitoring, the NHC upgraded the storm to a Hurricane on August 27.

The southern states of Louisiana, New Orleans, and Mississippi urged people to evacuate as the storm moved into the Gulf Coast. The storm made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 16 years to the day that the devastating hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, made landfall in the state.

Hurricane Ida has caused significant damage across multiple states as she moved Northeast from Louisiana. Significant flooding has been reported in several states as large-scale power outages left millions without electricity. The death toll has reached 50 across the north-eastern states, though this

number is expected to continue to rise as recovery efforts continue.

The Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, said he had been told to expect three to six inches of rain.

However, a record 3.15 inches fell in just one hour in Central Park. New York has suffered greatly due to flash flooding which closed subway stations and cut electricity. De Blasio said “the suddenness, the brutality of storms now, it is different,” in a warning of the impact climate change has had on the severity of Hurricanes in recent years.

President Joe Biden said of the hurricane damage and unprecedented flooding that this is “yet another reminder” of the climate crisis. Biden said he would push Congress to approve his ‘Build Back Better’ plan. This would bring “historic investment” in infrastructure including modernising roads, improving energy grids, and better management of water.

The NHC is currently monitoring the development of a second large hurricane, Hurricane Larry, in the Atlantic Ocean. Although this storm has the potential to bring greater devastation than Ida, it is currently not expected to make landfall.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro says his future consists of being arrested, killed, or re-elected Freyja Elwood Deputy Editor

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has declared: “I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed or victory,” whilst addressing the country’s Evangelical leaders at an election campaign event last week.

His stark remarks come after the public outcry to t he Brazilian government’s

handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen 583,362 people lose their lives to the virus in the country, making it the second-highest death toll in the world.

Bolsonaro has been accused of downplaying the severity of the virus saying: “With my history as an athlete, if I were infected with the virus, I would have no reason to worry.

I would feel nothing, or it would be at most just a little flu.”

“I would feel nothing, or it would be at most just a little flu”

But, now he also faces a parliamentary inquiry commissioned by the Brazilian Senate over allegations of corruption in the Health Ministry, due to overpayment for vaccines.

In response, Bolsonaro said he has “no way of knowing everything that happens in the 22 ministries of his government.”

As a result, Bolsonaro’s ratings have fallen below that of the previous leftwing president, Luiz

Inacio Lula da Silva who was arrested in 2018, for corruption and money laundering charges, things Bolsonaro vowed to tackle in his inauguration speech in 2019.

Since his dramatic declaration of his fate, Bolsonaro has since discussed on a radio interview that he is expecting “restrictive sanctions” to be placed on him by the Federal Supreme Court under charges that he is a threat to democracy.

GLOBAL INVESTIGATES

Global Editor Aislinn Wright last chance to

Images of wildfires painting skies red, or subway stations filled with water feel like the scenes of a sci-fi blockbuster, not pictures appearing on the nightly news at an increasingly alarming rate.

But as countries across the globe grapple with the worsening effects of climate change, it has never been more apparent that we are hurtling towards a climate disaster in which the hope for a liveable planet is slipping away through idle politician’s fingers.

“ Hope for a liveable planet is slipping away through idle politician’s fingers” In recent months wildfires have torn through Europe, the US and Canada experienced a deadly heatwave, and temperatures in Pakistan reached an intolerable 50C, 10C above a healthy body temperature.

The Met Office has warned that we are now entering the era of extreme weather.

The approaching COP26 meeting, due to be held in Glasgow between October and November, has been called humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change, but doubts remain that global leaders will take the giant

leap required to make the difference in the climate race.

Doubts have also been raised about the UK’s ability to lead such a summit, as Johnson’s government continues to stumble over green legislation.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared a code red for humanity in its first assessment of climate change since 2013.

Despite this bleak prediction, scientists have said a major rapid reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions could stabilise temperatures below the critical 1.5C increase agreed in the Paris Climate Accords adopted in 2015.

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said on the issue: “If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But … there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.”

The COP26 brings together leaders from 190 countries and subsequently provides the best opportunity to establish a global approach to the climate disaster before t i m e runs out.

However, many remain sceptical of the summit’s ability to produce the needed legislation as other significant meetings on climate change have proven entirely fruitless despite increasing urgency.

The G20 summit held in Naples in July resulted in no meaningful decisions, falling tragically short of the momentum it was supposed to inspire entering the COP26.

The G20 represents 90% of the world’s economic production and consequently a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions.

This is the central issue as to why wealthy governments continue to fail to agree on a route and timeline to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and the more ambitious goal of capping the global temperature increase at 1.5C – it would require a complete overhaul of the capitalist economic model, something they have proven time and again they are not prepared to do.

Consequently, world leaders are entering the COP26 summit having laid little foundation and with

no collective commitment to the sacrifice it will take to make the COP26 meeting the success it so desperately needs to be.

Delays in the implementation of effective climate protocol are quickly overtaking climate denial as the most serious and significant threat to climate action.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben summarised the threat posed by delay: “winning slowly is the same as losing.”

“ Winning slowly is the same as losing”

As carbon emissions are set to rise again in 2023 the delays in establishing climate protocol allows for the gulf between what needs to be done and the world’s current position to widen dramatically as the path to crucial net-zero emissions grows further out of reach.

The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, admitted: “We can’t continue at the current pace but have to up the tempo” despite European nations being amongst the worst offenders in regards to empty promises of climate action, their actions falling drastically short of what is needed from such largescale polluters.

Climate action operates outside of the standard political cycle of elections.

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investigates: is COP26 our save the planet?

COP26 The current governments are required to make significant sacrifices in order to deliver upon their promise of capping global warming at 1.5C, however the results of these actions will only come in future decades, years after current governments have left office.

Consequently, many current political leaders are unprepared to take the steps required to address global warming as it will not directly benefit their own careers. They do, however, risk going down in history as the leaders who squandered the world’s last chance. Governments’ continual refusal to invest in green policies to the level required to have any significant impact on climate change means all

promises of carbon neutrality by 2050 and limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5C are nothing but hollow promises to mask inaction and will remain forever out of reach.

“ They... risk going down in history as the leaders who squandered the world’s last chance” The UK government, the host of the summit, has described the event as the world’s last best chance, but as the meeting approaches doubts continue to arise regarding the British government’s ability to host such a discussion as the government is consistently accused of green hypocrisy.

Greta Thunberg, famed climate activist, has recently criticised the UK stating that it is not the leader on climate change Boris Johnson’s government proclaims.

It is not the first time that Johnson and his government have been criticised for falling drastically short of their green promises. In recent weeks, Johnson’s government has approved the construction of the new Cambo oilfield, located in the North Sea approximately a mere 438 miles from the host city of Glasgow.

The first phase of the Cambo oilfield aims to extract oil that will produce over 70 million tonnes of carbon dioxide when burnt, the equivalent annual emissions of a staggering 18 coal-fired power stations according to the group Friends of the Earth. This is in every way incompatible with the promise of net zero by 2050.

In response, Greenpeace has launched an appeal in Scotland’s highest court, marking the first time an offshore permit has ever been challenged in court.

Tension has continued to rise in Scotland over green policies, with the Scottish Conservatives branding the G r e e n Party

Photo: Pixabay

as “extremists” whilst negotiations took place to form the SNP-Greens coalition government.

However, the vilification of green groups by political parties and the media is far from a rare occurrence.

Groups such as Extinction Rebellion, who frequently stage protests, have been painted as the enemy of the people across much of British media. These protest groups are now facing arrest under the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill needed, according to the Home Office, to curb “disruptive tactics used by some protesters.”

One Tory backbencher confirmed the bill had been drawn up in response to the protests of Extinction Rebellion.

The ongoing actions the UK government takes to quash protest rather than take effective action is a dark stain on the government’s green reputation as she prepares to front the COP26 meeting.

As the cost of reversing climate damage increases year upon year, acting early is not only the best solution for the planet but also carries the least economic burden.

The Office for Budget Responsibility calculated that an investment of just 0.4% of the national GDP between now and 2050 would be sufficient to tackle climate change.

Rapid decarbonisation has become central to the plans for a green future, making the transition from our carbon-heavy economy to a green one inevitable.

As such, fast action will also help to make this transition smoother by preventing Carbon heavy industries from becoming further ingrained in our economy.

The economic transition presents not only the path to saving the climate but the opportunity to create a more equal society.

Fact File

What does COP 26 stand for?

26th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties

31

October

12 November

When does it take place?

31st October - 12 November

Where does it take place?

SEC Centre, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

The investments into green industries will generate jobs, establish new industries as old ones close, ensure a better quality of life, and create a shift in the distribution of wealth and power.

This is the hope for the Green New Deal.

As the COP 26 meeting approaches, the world must finally realise that the timer for securing a good tomorrow is about to run out.

Unless global emissions are halved within the decade, the opportunity to avoid warming higher than 1.5C will pass us by.

In 2021, we are experiencing the effects of a rise by 1.2C, a rise beyond 1.5C will likely make recent record-breaking weather experienced in recent years the mildest weather we will ever have again. Politicians must finally reckon with their states carbon economies to ensure an inhabitable future.

As the host of the summit, the UK government must finally act as the global leader in the race against climate change that our Prime Minister has portrayed her to be, and we must enter the COP26 meeting with a record on climate action which allows us to ask other countries for their collective sacrifice.

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FEATURES

Festivals: our per fect chaos Maja Anushka Features Editor

After so many disappointments, I’ve started to not let myself get excited for a social event until it’s literally happening in front of me.

The same rule applied last week.

While I was packing my bag, getting on the train, changing over to the tube, and even knocking on my best friend’s front door, I felt calm and steely.

It was only when we were standing in the queue, the steward counting our heads against the number of tickets we’d purchased, that my heart started to lift ever so slightly.

By the time my friends and I, nine of us in total, walked into All Points East, the excitement was starting to

bloom.

I was at a festival with my best friends, and it felt unreal.

I realised how much I’d expected the event to be cancelled.

“I realised how much I’d expected the event to be cancelled” As we walked towards the centre of the festival, I could hardly process the sheer number of people people sitting down, people eating food out of tiny boxes, people laughing together, people dancing

alone.

There were more bodies than it felt like I’d ever seen at once, and they were everywhere.

Were there always this many people in the world?

I’ve never really been a huge ‘festival’ kind of person.

Even before the pandemic made us all socially estranged, it’s in my nature to feel uneasy in huge crowds, and I am a big fan of sleeping in a bed. But I have always loved live music. When my friends suggested we go to All Points East, with Bombay Bicycle Club as a headliner, I was immediately onboard.

‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ is an album that is fiercely connected to my youth, and it is completely soaked in nostalgia for me.

The anticipation of hearing those songs played live became almost

unbearable as the day went on. We were all giddy.

At one point, after the group realised we all needed food, I was split up from everyone.

As a rule, I’m good at being on my own, and would usually be more than happy to sit and wait for my friends to call, or text, or find their way back to me.

But here, in this field, at this point, fairly drunk, people moving around me, anxiety was starting to crawl up the back of my neck.

I must have walked in the same circle for ten minutes before I bumped into one of my pals, and the relief of no longer being alone made me realise how actually, properly scared I’d been. All because of people?

Halfway through Bombay Bicycle Club’s set, my group decided to

move out of the centre of the crowd.

We wanted to dance - properly and there just wasn’t enough space in there.

As we jumped around to the last half ofthe show, and could see the audience from the outside, I could finally see the fullness of this place.

People held each other.

The height of the crowd grew as girls sat high on shoulders.

Tens of thousands of voices rang up to the stage, and then echoed back down onto us.

Though being exposed to 30,000+ people made my anxiety go through the roof, I stood in awe as I watched, and let the beauty of it soak in.

Even through the chaos of the last 18 months, much of which has made me despair at humanity, it was good to realise that people are all we’ve got. In retrospect, I find myself grateful to have been gently reminded of how small I really am.

Photo: IQ Magazine

Microaggressions come in all shapes and sizes Adelaide Cannell Features Writer

I begin by describing a recent encounter I had which, after some post-event analysis, I recognised as an evening glistening with microaggression.

This is the thing about microaggression, we so often downplay it - or even fail to recognise its presence altogether - because of how subtle and, well, micro it is.

During a recent stay with a friend, she asked if I might like to pop over to visit her uncle and his wife with their new-born.

She has always had a distant relationship with his family, who moved over from Israel only two years ago.

“So where are you from?”

We were greeted well, and shortly after arriving I was posed the question: “So, where are you from?”.

Knowing instantly what this referred to and having developed my own ways to humour this very question over time, I replied that, considering I was childhood school friends with their niece, it would come as little surprise that I lived, and grew up, in the same city as her here in the UK. “Oh no! I meant from from’, like, originally.” exclaims her Uncle.

Again, this is no unfamiliar utterance, and I reply with my wellrehearsed correction: “Oh! I was born in London.”

Eventually, after their exasperated questions involving the phrases ‘heritage’ and ‘but your parents’ I decide to give it to them and share that my mother’s heritage is Hong Kong Chinese while my Dad is British born and bred.

This led to jokes about how it was odd that my father should be the ‘mathematical genius’ working in IT, not my mother, given the known mathematic ‘traits’ (stereotyped, of course) typically gifted to Asians, alongside compliments about my appearance stemming from the ‘natural facelift’ of my eyes gifted to me by my Asian heritage.

I met this with a strange emotional hybrid of flattery, understanding the intent, and forgiving the perhaps less

‘PC’ teachings of the older generation, and yet disbelief at the, what I later understood as, microaggressions I was hearing.

My friend, taking on second-hand embarrassment, apologises the whole way home.

Now to the untrained onlooker, it may be difficult to understand the impulse to humour myself in such situations.

Why not just reply up front when you know what the question is alluding to?

And yes, I admit, personally, I tend to appreciate people’s intrigue.

But much like anything else, responses to microaggressions are, for me, context dependent: who is asking, what is being asked, in what manner and when: which all also tends to inform the critical “why is this information significant?” question.

For example, my pinch-ofsalt reaction in the above example contrasts with my response in another encounter.

Around two years ago, during a night out, I was again asked by a fellow student where I was from.

After going through the whole humoured spiel, and learning he was clearly a ccepting none of it, I finally told

him what he had been hoping to hear.

In short, he nods, says “oh, cool”, and leaves with his friends.

Talking to a friend about it afterwards, I laugh at the ridicule of the situation. Why did this specific encounter make me uncommonly uncomfortable? Simple: context.

“So why did this specific encounter make me uncommonly unomfortable?”

We had been on a noisy club dancefloor (hint: not a room where we were about to dissect or elaborate further into a two way exchange about the fascinations of cultural heritage), I had noticed how none of my ‘western-looking’ friends got posed the same question, birthed within an exchange where none of us had even gotten as far as to what our first names were.

I, subsequently, felt isolated, targeted, and confused – regardless of

the other student’s intent.

Both exchanges demonstrate the varying forms microaggressions may take, but while they offer an insight into my personal responses to microaggression in my life, they also emphasise the non-universal nature of micro-aggressive encounters: our perceptions shift between contexts, and tolerance from person to person.

Microaggressions are certainly not always intended by the individuals demonstrating them, but this makes it all the more important that we vocalise whenever we are party to one that affects us, or we feel may affect others, to help us de-micro some, occasionally damaging, norms.

“[We need to] de-micro some occasionally damaging norms”

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Social Media: most of us use it, but at what cost?

Sam Gordon Webb Deputy Editor

The most successful people in life always turn their phone on silent.

And I say this without a grain of evidence. Think of it as more of a belief, than a proven fact.

It makes sense though, right? After all, phone calls from your parents in the middle of that interview for that dream, followed by a disastrously inappropriate ringtone, is the nightmare waiting to happen.

And here lies what many see as the heart of the problem with social media, it demands our attention, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not only does it distract us from everything else, but it also feeds our greatest insecurities, entangling our minds in unrealistic ideals of perfection, should such a term really exist.

Instagram has been blamed.

My morning routine involves scrolling my feed, liking my friend’s post, tapping through stories and checking I haven’t lost any followers, or gained any without noticing - can you really be friends with someone you don’t follow on Instagram?

When I first downloaded the app, I was under the false impression it was the answer to most of my

problems. I played rugby at school, but a slight frame combined with a disinclination to drink heavily made for automatic ostracization.

I wanted to share aspects of my life that gave me more of a compatible identity with friends and family, I love my life, I feel comfortable in my body. I’d like to spread love to others.

The truth was another story.

Instead of improving my mental health, allowing me to recover from what would later become a severe mental health crisis, my desire to dress up the truth was destroying me, bit by bit.

I kept my account after being admitted to a mental health hospital.

“My desire to dress up the truth was destroying me, bit by bit” In fact, I’ve kept my account ever since.

I also use Twitter, Snapchat and Linkedin to keep in touch with friends as well as professional contacts despite geographical distance.

Truth be told, I still believe in the positive power of social media.

It can change perceptions for the better, reverse stereotypes and improve lives. But all too often, it has become a false source of comfort I once believed could protect me from myself. At least I now know social media doesn’t define me, or anyone else.

I sometimes wonder if, in spite of intending to make the world a more tolerant place, social media has instead made us all far more vulnerable. Last week Twitter cracked down on abuse and trolling by introducing a safety mode to silence abuse.

Speaking from experience, I believe one of the greatest threats stem not merely from abusers per se, but rather ordinary people - friends and family - who log their lives and spread their philosophy with little knowledge of the consequences.

Perfection is false.

Our imperfections are the most perfect aspects of ourselves. And bringing the world closer together sounds like a worthy ideal, but has it brought the world too close together? Do we need more space?

Finally if we do, in the context of an ever digitalising world, how do we find it?

If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues discussed in this piece, PLEASE visit the student minds website:

www.studentminds.org.uk or call them on:

0808 189 5260

Photo: Pixabay

The highs and lows of lockdown hobbies Sophie Colley Features Writer

Hello September.

As we head into the Autumn semester, the first lockdown seems like a distant memory now.

What isn’t a distant memory, however, are the ridiculous number of new hobbies I tried throughout the last year and a half.

I think we’d all love to say we used our time in lockdown productively and I am not exempt from this.

Being quite an unartistic person, it was ambitious of me to think that lockdown would be the moment where I became the new Picasso.

Regardless, this didn’t stop me in my attempt to pick up a paint brush, and create something beautiful.

This was unsuccessful.

So instead, I ordered a paintby-numbers off Amazon and spent the occasional afternoon or evening painting. I also started a cross stitch (enforced on me by my mum)

which still lies half unfinished in my bedroom drawer.

Since we’ve come out of lockdown, I haven’t picked up a paint brush or a needle, and honestly, I probably won’t anytime soon. But in hindsight, the afternoons I spent doing these activities were not wasted.

“The afternoons I spent soing these activities were not wasted”

At a time when I needed a distraction, they were the ideal artistic activities to do, and both relaxed me a lot more than I would have anticipated.

It’s a given, being a Literature student, that I have always loved reading.

My childhood was filled with books and I had never found finding time to

read problematic.

This was up until I started my A-levels, where reading became a chore for my academic studies, and less of something I enjoyed.

One afternoon, bored and restless in lockdown, I picked up the first Harry Potter novel, which had sat on my bookshelf untouched since I was probably nine, read a few chapters, and put it down.

By the end of the week, I had finished it.

I felt a bit silly at the time, enjoying what are considered children’s books, but by the end of lockdown I had finished all seven of them.

I’d also managed to read a number of other novels including Great Expectations which I never thought I’d have the motivation to read.

When I started my second year back at university, I found it much easier to read for my course, and for enjoyment too. The first lockdown gave me an opportunity to remember reading isn’t just for my learning, it’s also an activity I love to do.

Photo: Pixabay

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INTERVIEW

“When your baby dies, nobody Editor-in-Chief Dolly Carter death charity

Content Warning – stillbirth, neonatal death, miscarriage, baby loss

“When your baby dies, nobody is ever really prepared for it”. Stillbirth and neonatal death charity Norfolk Sands is part of a UK-wide network of Sands groups.

They specialise in later miscarriage (12-24 weeks), stillbirth (24 weeks on), and neonatal death (up to a month after birth).

I spoke to the Chair of Norfolk Sands, Sarah Green, and committee member Lee Hart who very kindly agreed to share their own stories with me.

In 2014, Sarah’s first son died at term – she tells me he would have been seven in June this year.

After going to hospital for a routine movements check, her baby’s heartbeat could not be found and she was given two options: induction (vaginal delivery), or caesarean.

Two days later, she returned for an induction, explaining that she “appreciated the delivery process in the same way that other women appreciate a delivery process – it’s about bonding”.

Although she knew a little about stillbirth and neonatal death, Sarah says “it hadn’t quite factored in that it was a thing that could actually happen to me”.

“It hadn’t quite factored in that it was a thing that could happen to me” She never received a cause of death for her first son, which is not uncommon in baby loss.

As 40-50% of stillbirths do not have a known cause, the next pregnancy becomes an uncertain journey.

Four months later, Sarah fell pregnant again.

Although she describes her second son’s pregnancy as “incredibly awful, emotionally and mentally”, a flood of relief comes when she talks about the happy and healthy six-year-old he has become.

Talking about her personal experiences with the importance of a grief network, Sarah emphasises the isolation she felt after her son’s death: “having your baby die is incredibly isolating because it feels like no-one else out there understands it”.

However, when she started asking other people, friends and family began to tell stories of their acquaintance’s experiences or even their own losses.

Sarah found her community online, through the UK-wide network of Sands forums, and quickly built relationships with people going through the same experience as her.

Many women also tried for a baby again at the same time, meaning they could call on this group throughout the second pregnancy.

Seven years later, she still posts in this Facebook group, drawing on the support of a group who understand her unlike anyone else.

Though the concept of in-person support meetings didn’t suit Sarah, a couple of years later she noticed the charity was advertising for more committee members: “It wasn’t like I wanted to deliberately do something positive or make my son’s loss mean something. I just wanted to see if I could help”.

After becoming a member, she then progressed through the role of Secretary to Chair.

The essential nature of the support provided by Norfolk Sands is brought into the spotlight when looking at attitudes to baby loss even 30 or 40 years ago.

Many parents were denied the right to see their baby and they were often buried in unmarked graves.

Sarah describes this as a ‘hush hush’ approach – people were treated as if their baby simply didn’t exist.

Now, parents go through an entirely different experience which is “far more personalised”.

Norfolk Sands helped to fundraise for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital bereavement suite, which caters for parents whose babies have passed away or have been diagnosed with a fatal condition.

Sarah explains the necessity of a room which can be accessed separately from the delivery suite by citing her personal experiences: “before, you were still going up to the same place everybody else is going to have healthy babies… when you walk out, you can hear them”.

The hospital has a dedicated bereavement midwife and a cuddle cot which cools the baby, allowing parents more time to spend with their babies.

“Your baby did exist, they were there, and they were a little baby human” Sands also provide a memory box, which can contain a lock of hair, hand and footprints, photos, and information about what to do next (including maternity/paternity cover and other

organisations to contact).

While it cannot replace the baby prospective parents thought they would be leaving the hospital with, Sarah says it goes some way in preserving memories: “that recognition and understanding from other people that your baby did exist, they were there, and they were a little baby human is really important. If you don’t have that, you just feel completely adrift”.

“If you don’t have [recognition], you just feel completely adrift” In terms of ongoing support, Sarah tells me that, although the first year is generally the worst, with the first Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the baby’s birthday, “the grief typically gets a bit easier to bear as time goes on”.

However, she also highlights the importance of long-term support, as you can “still have those days where you’re thrown back and you feel like you’re in the early weeks again”.

On a personal level, Sarah describes looking round primary schools for her second son as especially difficult, as she saw Reception age children and thought: “your elder brother should be in this class”.

Sands also run a memorial service called ‘Lights of Love’ at Christmas annually.

Aiming to provide a safe space for parents to celebrate a tricky time of year, Sarah tells me: “people say ‘oh, isn’t it great?! It’s Christmas! The kids all love it’. And you think, yes the kids do love it – but you’re still missing one”.

After converting to Zoom meetings during the pandemic, Sands hope to move back to hosting face-to-face sessions very soon.

“It almost feels like you’re the one who’s expected to be strong”

Imag e: S a n ds

stillbirth and n

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is ever really prepared for it”: speaks to stillbirth and neonatal Norfolk Sands

th neonatal dea

W i t h i n these meetings, Sarah says it is important to offer a childrenfriendly meet and one to parents who feel less able to be around children after their loss.

“You can meet other people who have been through the same experience” Informality plays a key role, as attendees are not required to tell their story and introduce themselves if they do not wish to: “it’s a friendly sitdown where you can meet other people who have been through the same experience and understand where you’re coming from – even without having to say anything”.

Nor folk Sands hosted a particularly successful fathers-only Zoom meet around Father’s Day this year.

It is important to create a separate space for fathers as “the experience of grief between a mother and a father is completely different”.

“The experience of grief between a mother and a father is completely different”

y charit

I spoke to Lee Hart, current committee member and previous Chair, for his unique insight on the grieving process.

Lee and his wife lost their daughter at term in February 2015.

Having been discharged from their consultant’s care after their final scan at 32 weeks, they later found no heartbeat and their baby was born at term.

They chose not to have a full post-mortem, which Lee describes as “invasive”, instead opting for a secondary level option.

They received information on the support Sands provides from the Chaplain at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Lee says while his wife found her community in online forums, he shied away from any form of counselling or support.

Around six to eight months after his loss, he was encouraged by his wife to become involved in Norfolk Sands.

As a second person not directly involved in the birthing process, he says “you do feel very left out”.

While as a society we are willing to talk about cancer and other difficult topics, Lee says “baby loss is a taboo subject at the best of times”.

“Baby loss is a taboo subject at the best of times”

Joining the Norfolk Sands community was an “empowering” move for Lee. Having initially felt like he didn’t have a lot of support as the nonbirth giver, he talks about traditional expectations of his gender: “it almost feels like you’re the one who’s expected to be strong”.

The fathers-only Zoom meet was an opportunity for him to try something different.

He comments on the difficulties some Sands members experience when it comes to the rurality of Norfolk, meaning the online video meetings were an accessible alternative.

Lee is very open about his experiences. When speaking with him, it is very clear that he has had three children - he simply explains his wife carried one, they adopted one, and “one is no longer with us”.

In his own experience, he has found the expectations for him and his wife have been very different and, although he initially felt isolated, he has found his support in the committee members of Norfolk Sands.

Finally, I ask why Lee and Sarah agreed to conduct this interview with me, why they felt it was important to share their experiences with a university newspaper. They both hold the same sentiment.

Sarah says: “as a society, I don’t think we’re that good at talking about grief, no matter who it is… [Sands] want to raise awareness. We want to let everyone on campus know that we’re here”.

“[Sands] want to let everyone on campus know that we’re here” Inclusivity is at the heart of Norfolk Sands support services. They welcome everyone to their meetings, including “LGBT+ people, people of colour, single parents, couples, extended family members, family friends, those whose baby died while being carried by a surrogate, those whose baby died whilst they were waiting to adopt, as well as anyone else who feels like they need it”.

Their next informal drop-in sessions will take place on Zoom on 14th October and 11th November from 8pm to 9:30pm. There is no need to confirm attendance and participants are welcome to join or leave at any time during the session.

Sands also have a dedicated Bereavement Support App which includes inormation on topics such as “making difficult decisions, saying goodbye to your baby, returning to work, sexual relationships after the death of a baby another pregnancy, supporting children”.

It was inspired by the experiences of Nicole Regan-White, a bereaved mother who lost her baby at 42 weeks in December 2013.

She was given 13 booklets after her loss, one of which was 67 pages. She comments that she found them very difficult to digest and launched the app with Sands to ensure bereaved parents have the information they need “at their fingertips”.

Norfolk Sands offer bereavement support via the following email address: support.norfolk@sands.org.uk, or for all other enquiries use: norfolk@ sands.org.uk.

More information can be found by visiting their website: http://www.norfolksands.org.uk/, with a list of additional resources here: http://w w w.nor folksands.org.uk/ useful_links.asp

14th September 2021

14

HOME OF THE WONDERFUL

Will you be swayed by Politics Society at UEA?

If you are someone taking a Politics related degree, or are just someone who is interested in the subject, we definitely recommend you join us at UEA Politics Society.

UEA Politics Society holds a wide range of both academic and social events throughout the year

for our members.

Our main academic events come in the form of ‘Politics on Wednesdays’, which we work with the Politics school to organise.

‘Politics on Wednesdays’ either takes the form of a guest speaker talking on a particular political topic

they specialise in, or staff-student debates where a panel of staff and students debate a particular topic.

If you can believe it these events take place on a Wednesday.

‘Politics on Wednesdays’ are a great way to learn something new about a particular topic by listening to someone who specialises

Have a bloody good time with Bloody Good Period UEA! We are Bloody Good Period UEA! Bloody Good Period is a nationwide charity which tackles period poverty by providing menstrual products and more to society’s poorest, mainly focusing on asylum seekers and refugees. We aim to carry on their phenomenal work here at UEA. We are the charity’s first university society and hope to set a great example so others can follow in our footsteps. Join us this year to be part of an amazing cause!

In the past year, we have held

fortnightly talks titled Strings Attached to raise awareness on and educate on issues surrounding periods, such as period poverty, the psychological effects of menstruation, and how to have a sustainable period. We have now launched this as a podcast on Spotify!

In November, we completed the Refugee Ration Challenge where we ate the rations of a Syrian refugee for seven days. As a result, we raised a total of £900 for Bloody Good Period! We have also

Volleyball society Joining the volleyball club in fresher’s week was one of the best decisions I’ve made at university.

The first week of uni is always pretty daunting so joining a club or society can be a really great way to make friends and settle in.

The first year is the best time to try something new, or join a competitive team, and the sports fair is a fantastic place to start.

The sports fair is great since it lets you take a look around all the sports clubs and decide which one looks right for you.

Since I’d played a little bit of volleyball in

school, I decided to attend one of the taster sessions in the first week. The club was really welcoming and immediately I knew I’d made the right choice.

The atmosphere of the Volleyball Club drew me in, with really friendly members as well as a strong competitive team.

The socials (back when they were in person) were always a lot of fun and some of my best nights in the LCR have been in the company of the volleyball team.

Speaking of teams, UEA boasts one of the strongest women’s teams in

collaborated with the Intuition Blogs society on pieces such as polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, and periods and the environment.

We also launched the Menstruation Station on Floor 01 of the library, in collaboration with the 2020/21 Women’s Officer, Briony Randell, to provide free period products to UEA students. We have provided a donation bin in the SU shop for people to donate period products to be placed at the menstruation station.

the country, as the girls are the current champions of the National Student Cup Finals, where the men came a very respectable sixth.

Cheering on the girls in the final, where the game went into a fifth set, was one of the most nerve-wracking and exhilarating experiences of uni, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it!

We have various competitions for all levels, as well as great socials - even some beach volleyball trips.

If you’ve never played volleyball before, or if you’re a veteran of the game there’s a place for you in the club!

So if it’s your first week at uni, try something new by coming to a taster session and you never know, it could be the best decision you make.

To end the year, we won Rising Society of the Year and Fundraiser of the Year at the uea(su) STARs awards!

a well deserved break after a term of hard work.

Once a year we also run an international trip to somewhere in Europe, past locations including Berlin and Budapest.

Our socials are a great way to make new friends and have fun, as well as allowing you to take a well-deserved rest from academic work.

It is these sorts of things that create memories and friends that last a lifetime, which we believe university is all about.

All this only costs £3 in membership for the year, so if you are interested in the events we hold, please join - we’d love to have you.

Photo: Bloody Good Period UEA

Photo: UEA Politics Society

in it and asking them questions.

They are also a good way to build up confidence and public speaking experience by sharing and expressing your ideas in a public setting.

We hold a variety of social events across the year, some large scale and some small scale, with some involving alcohol and some not involving alcohol.

Examples of past socials include: laser tag, bowling, pub quizzes, pub crawls, and club nights.

We also hold a formal winter dinner at the end of first semester and a summer ball at the end of the year so our members can have

This year, we hope to organise lots of different events and fundraisers which continue to help fight period PERIOD PRODUCTS ACROSS CAMPUS! poverty, educate people on periods and Join today to be part of UEA history! period poverty, and to provide FREE

Image: UEA Volleyball Society

14th September 2021

15

In conversation with Concrete’s Editor - in - Chief Rachel Keane Home of the Wonderful Writer

After writing and editing for UEA’s student newspaper over the past two years, Dolly Carter became Concrete’s newest Editor-in-Chief.

I had the pleasure of getting in touch with her for an inside scoop on her plans for Concrete this year.

Dolly has big goals for the newspaper in her time as Editor-in-Chief, starting with increasing readership across campus.

Whilst she joked she feels like “that’s the aim of every Editor-in-Chief of every year group since we’ve been going,” she explained gaining more interest and involvement in the newspaper truly is the most important aspect of her role.

However, Dolly is not focusing solely on readership.

She is also set on encouraging more students to write for the paper, telling me she wants to make sure “everybody has got a Concrete membership, and everybody is writing for Concrete.”

There is no better way to bring the wider UEA community together than through “giving every student

a voice” on the issues that matter most to them and Concrete does just that.

With the recent publication of the IPCC report declaring a “code red for humanity”, Dolly is committed to increasing the coverage of climate-related issues by Concrete.

She explained: “it’s really our responsibility to make sure we are reporting […] and getting the message across to the student community as well as the staff community at UEA.” As part of this goal, Concrete introduced the ‘Climate Change Corner’, a sub-category under the Science section to “make sure that we’ve always got regular coverage” on the issues that matter most.

Dolly also said “we will be working with Norwich Science Festival and UEA’s ‘Climate of Change’ programme” in the upcoming year.

The Breaking News team is another invention brought into fruition this year at Concrete.

“They’ve already started doing great work and they’ve been covering some fantastic things really quickly”.

Dolly remembered how the pandemic

prevented Concrete from publishing more than two in-print issues last year, but with the emergence of the Breaking News team, Concrete has been able to report on news quickly and succinctly over the summer.

In the year of Concrete’s thirtieth birthday, the importance of social media in drawing attention to the paper is as important, if not more so, than ever before.

Dolly told me, “we’ve got a great social media manager already doing fantastic things, and the graphics are getting brilliant responses.”

The greater emphasis on the huge potential of social media in engaging readers this year has meant that students’ work is getting a much bigger spotlight - another priority for Dolly.

Despite the heavy workload that comes with being the Editor-in-Chief of Concrete, Dolly still has time to write multiple articles for each issue.

On behalf of us mere mortals out there, I asked how she is able to manage such a busy schedule.

Dolly modestly commended the whole team for their role in making each publication as good

a s it can be and their ability “to work really cohesively together”, as well as singing praise to good old-fashioned time management and organisation. No magic potions, I’m afraid!

There are lots of exciting things to come this year, from putting spotlights on the heroes of UEA’s community to a 30th birthday bash, and Dolly does not want you to miss a thing.

For more information on how to get involved with Concrete in its 30th year, visit the ‘Get Involved’ tab at concreteonline.co.uk or scan the following QR code.

SCAN ME

WANT TO SHOWCASE YOUR SOCIETY’S ACHIEVEMENTS OR ADVERTISE UPCOMING EVENTS? EMAIL CONCRETE.EDITOR@UEA.AC.UK

16

COMMENT

14th September 2021

Festivals provide invaluable research – keep partying Jim Gell

Comment Writer

On 2nd May, the Covid test event in Sefton Park, Liverpool, greeted approximately 5000 punters who could breach the 2-metre perimeter and exhibit their maskless faces for one night only as part of the government’s Event Research Programme. Alongside a ticket, the revellers had to produce a negative test taken just before the event started. Despite being an indoor concert, a setting where Covid infection rates are typically higher, only two tested positive, prompting Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to describe it

as a “success”.

Skip two months to Latitude festival, which welcomed almost 40,000 festivalgoers, all required to be fully vaccinated or test negative within 24 hours before arriving, where they were met by mask-wearing staff taking lateral flow tests every 72 hours.

Unlike the test pilot, 1000 punters were recorded to have tested positive following the event, excluding those who hadn’t tested afterwards. Oliver Dowden did not call this a success.

Things got worse: three weeks later at Boardmasters festival in Newquay, 10% of the 50,000 went back home with more than hangovers, despite the festival having the same requirements as L a t i t u d e .

In some cases, B o a r d m a s t e r s

were stricter with Covid regulations, refusing initial entry to over 450 punters or asking them to leave midfestival because they failed to provide proof of negative tests.

So how can events resume safely?

Unfortunately, there are few opportunities for epidemiologists to research this question, and fewer to find a definite answer. Although they may increase infection rates, festivals provide an opportunity for researchers to learn more about the virus and how it transmits in a natural experiment to make more effective plans to maximize the safety of those attending. Not only for future music festivals, but for cultural events, sports matches, places of worship, supermarkets, or anywhere else people congregate.

I believe the cost is negligible compared to the value of the data.

“I believe the cost is negligible compared to the value of the data.”

More importantly, would there have been new cases regardless of whether the festival took place? As Festival Republic managing director Melvin Benn said: “all these kids would have been in parks, pub gardens, their

mates’ gardens, they’d have been having barbecues, hanging around on street corners and partying one way or another to a greater or lesser degree, and guaranteed that they’d have been partying with people who they had no idea whether they had been tested covid clear or not.”

The national statistics reflect this sentiment, the increase seemingly unaffected since festivals restarted. In fact, new Covid cases have decreased dramatically, from a 7-day average of around 42,000 new cases just before Latitude to a current 7-day average of around 25,000 since then. Festivals have also encouraged those who would otherwise not have tested to find out they had Covid, limiting the spread and providing more accurate data.

We want to be radicals: Manchester Pride Tristan Pollitt Comment Writer

“Not Gay as in happy but Queer as in F*ck You.” - Anon Pride was founded on a brick or a shot or kick and the colours of the rainbow thereafter.

For many LGBT+ people, a medium sized rectangular cloth, 90 by 150, dyed with the vanishing afternoon, means above all one thing: Pride.

Since its christening at Stonewall the rainbow has become emblematic of the oppressed, the silenced, and the unspoken.

Yet, just like the nations whose dyed cloth we see stuck in the dirt and waved between the charred days, these totems of promise can be broken.

They can crumble.

According to Manchester Pride’s statement of purpose, courtesy of the Charity Commission, the organisation was established to:

“Promote equality and diversity for the public benefit and in particular the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.”

These are the words that bind Mark Fletcher CEO, Stephen Bowen, Max Emmerson, Rajesh Joshi, Robert James Hammond Malcomson, Victoria Empson, Stephen Crocker, and Michael Christopher Lawlor to their responsibilities and commitments to the LGBT+ community of the whole of the United Kingdom.

For many, however, the decision to “focus on recovering” from the Covid-19 pandemic at the expense of supporting the world’s oldest free charity service, distributing roughly thirty-one million safe sex packs since 1994, is a betrayal of its core mission statements.

Most egregious, however, is Fletcher receiving a pay rise of £20,000 whilst cutting charitable donations to both the LGBT+ foundation and George House Trust from 6% 3% of its annual income, citing the trust helps

both straight as well as LGBT people living with HIV and AIDS. In the opposite direction, a total of £586,000 was spent on artist’s fees for those performing at the event, doubling the amount spent in 2018.

In place of this, independent businesses located in the heart of Manchester’s have taken it upon themselves to fill in the gaps, aiming to raise £100,000 by next year to support both the safe sex program as well as charities left behind.

Under Fletcher income generated from “other trading activities” more than doubled to £3, 935, 054 between 2015 and 2019. The result of aggressive merchandising, diluting the symbols of Manchester Pride.

Here in lies the primary reason why, according to one twitter user, it was up to “the real community” to reclaim Pride back from its current state of hollow commercialisation and re-establish it the home for anti-establishment and non-conformists.

Whilst the feeling behind many of these protests is commendable, their success is a mixed bag.

Reports vary, but approximately each of the two major protests were attended by approximately one thousand people, whereas 20,000 people in total attended the events of the day, despite the increase of entry fees.

This was to be expected, of course.

Virtually every online publication outside of Pink News ignored the smoke of the tiny revolution.

There were many reasons, but chief among them in my mind, somewhat controversially perhaps, was the lack of a true willingness to commit to a radical, liberationist idea of Pride.

The protest parade was built on a platform of supporting trans rights, banning conversion therapy and improving LGBT+ education.

For pride to be reclaimed the response and action needed must be in and of itself radical.

It requires a complex rethinking of the relationship between the individual and to Pride as it currently exists – a move away from Pride as a structure, a commercial charity, towards supporting smaller, i n d e p e n d e n t Queer businesses, artists, and charities.

This means throwing down the corporate merchandise and rainbow coloured pin badges in favour of change in trajectory. Maybe it is time to be radicals.

“Maybe it is time to be radicals”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Pixabay

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14th September 2021

concrete-online.co.uk/category/comment/ | @ConcreteUEA

When will we stop treating the NHS like a charity?

Photo: Pixabay

Photo: Wikimedia Commons Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Lauren Bramwell Comment Editor

Over the past two years, the NHS has been facing the most unimaginable scenes possible. It therefore is not suprising that it did not take long for the effects of an under-funded system to start showing its cracks once again.

Not only were we witness to the images of NHS workers lacking the essential PPE at the start of the pandemic, but we were reminded of the simple fact that once these workers were finished putting their own lives at risk in order to save our lives, they then had to leave the hospitals in which their car parks earned more money than they did that day.

We, as a nation, have had to witness many of these individuals, some even

coming out of their retirement to help fight this disease, lose their own lives for the sake of helping us keep ours.

This is something our nation will never be able to truly give back for and therefore, it is not difficult to see and understand how the donation of money towards the NHS has become such a public phenomenon.

This phenomenon began with the late Captain Tom Moore, who walked around his garden at the height of the pandemic to raise money and ended up raising a total of over £9 million to go towards the NHS. This immediately spiked the public’s interest and led to this rise in wanting to donate.

But should we not have questioned why our country was relying on a 99-year-old war veteran to fund our NHS in a crisis?

Another prime example of the irony which comes with the government’s complete disregard for the NHS comes after a recent Love Island star, who is currently training to be a part of the NHS, has donated all her earnings to the NHS. Why should our future doctors be trying to help fund a service promised by our government?

The NHS is a state-funded service, not a charity.

It goes without saying these donations are a wonderful privilege to be involved in and they all come from the right place, but we need to stop portraying this image of the NHS being something to donate towards when, in reality, it should be a fully state-funded program.

It also needs to be noted there are

many charities involved within the NHS that can be donated to, but presenting these donations as going towards the NHS allows for those responsible to go unnoticed.

It defers the public from the truth behind the matter, which is the government should be sustaining and fulfilling the NHS’s requirements and needs without hesitation, confusion, or problems.

This should not be done through the public’s own donations, but through a clear and justified taxation system. (Which is a whole other problem given recent developments).

This is also not a new dilemma, the government has continuously refused to back the NHS through their cutbacks and their denying of well-deserved pay rises.

It is vital to remember those in government who applauded the NHS front liners are the same individuals who managed to block a vote to give nurses a pay rise.

But what has shocked me most over the past two years is the complete irony of our government through their appraisal of the efforts made by the public.

How can a government not be ashamed and embarrassed by the fact their own country is having to fund a service which should be entirely funded by you?

The NHS did not need the government’s public show of appreciation through their Thursday night claps. They need the resources, the funding, and the support they are entitled to.

End of special relationship between UK and USA Matthew Stothard Comment Writer

The US Department of State’s website says “the United States has no closer partner than the United Kingdom”.

This view has been shared in most British political circles for many years now.

The US President and the UK Prime Minister have always been thought to have a special relationship on the world stage (think Thatcher and Reagan or Blair and Bush), however, recent events in Afghanistan have exposed this could not be further from the truth for Boris Johnson and Joe Biden.

Even before such events, there was a lot riding on the relationship with little

to support its success.

Since the UK’s departure from the EU, the Conservative government has clearly been angling for a close trading arrangement with the US. This had been going fairly well with President Trump, as he and Boris were natural bedfellows, from the polarising culture-war rhetoric down to the rather unorthodox styles of presentation.

Most importantly they shared a view of Britain’s place in the world – firmly better off alone, outside the EU. Unfortunately for Johnson, Biden definitely does not share this view, and generally goes in for a more sensible-facing style of politics.

It was far from a good starting position, but this so-called ‘special relationship’ between the US and the

UK has endured for so many years one would hope it could endure this.

Then came Afghanistan.

“Then came Afghanistan.”

Ultimately, Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was not one the UK supported, yet our government held absolutely no sway over the course of events.

This may have been a foreign

policy Blair and Bush entered into as partners together, but it is concluding on very unequal terms.

As a senior Conservative commented to the Financial Times following one of Biden’s speeches, this was a case of “not America first, but America alone.”

UK politicians clearly do recognise this is a fracturing relationship, and they are playing their part in the division too. It was striking when the House of Commons met to discuss the events how much criticism Biden received, particularly from the Conservative benches who hardly ever criticised previous president Trump, often due to desires for a trade deal. Gone is that hesitation and unquestioning public-

facing trust in the US President’s actions.

This could be viewed in isolation as just one issue, but added to all that has come before, I think it is clear the ‘special relationship’ is no longer all it’s cracked up to be. A cabinet minister anonymously told The Times, “we are not Washington’s most important ally”, and with our global significance fading following Brexit, why should we be?

Theresa May’s questioning of “ Global Britain” in Parliament hits the nail on the head – we may want to be a global power through the US, but the US should logically want to focus on those nations which already hold power.

The rift in our relationship is clear, and it will take monumental changes to rebuild.

SCIENCE

18

14th September 2021

The Infodemic: A rise in science denial George Barsted

Senior Science Writer

In a recent study from YouGov, it was revealed 20 per cent of adults in Britain believe humanity has secretly made contact with aliens from other worlds.

While conspiracy theories like this may seem harmless on the outside, research from the World Health Organisation points to worrying signs of conspiracy theories being taken more seriously. This trend has been coupled with the rise of misinformation online in an era of fake news.

The WHO have coined this new phenomenon an “Infodemic”, pointing to a larger problem of disbelief in scientific facts. Conspiracy theories can range from harmless stories about Elvis still being alive to the existence of

Bigfoot.

However, the rise of conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19 and other scientific matters has worried the WHO. They believe if misinformation is peddled both online and in print media, the pandemic will worsen due to belief in misinformation regarding vaccines, masks and the virus itself.

At the start of the outbreak in the UK 5G communication towers were damaged, often being set on fire. The vandals carrying out the attack believed 5G signals were helping the spread of coronavirus.

Some even believed the virus itself didn’t exist and all symptoms were down to radiation given off by the masts. Misinformation like this spreads quickly.

Spurred on by the use of social

media, dangerous views can be accessed more easily before being debunked. For the majority of people, these conspiracy theories are comical but for a vocal minority believing them, they represent the truth.

Social psychologists from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have shown the belief in misinformation surrounding COVID-19 has led to changed behaviours likely to spread the virus further. This includes acts like removing masks and refusing to take vaccines.

Tackling the problem of anti-scientific thought is difficult as a key part of the scientific process is questioning results and analysing evidence.

Many conspiracy theorists believe they are doing this but are often using fake or incorrect data

to promote their beliefs. These actions lead to a phenomenon known as “Collective Narcissism”: when groups of individuals often believe their views are of inflated importance when the opposite is true.

Coupled with frequent posts on social media websites where posts aren’t easily fact-checked or regulated, conspiracy theories can be presented as the truth to those vulnerable to believing them.

Believers of conspiracy theories often feel like their explanations can help them regain control of a situation which is out of their hands.

Studies by the University of Kent have shown those who are insecure in their relationships and have a more negative outlook on life are

more likely to believe in fake news and fabrication. However, this isn’t to say there is no hope in stopping the spread of anti-science views.

Research is showing interventions on social media, stopping the spread of fake news, and taking down dishonest posts can prevent more dangerous views from spreading.

Early intervention by family and friends has also been shown to stop the progression into more menacing views.

This can be done by asking those who’ve expressed belief in mistruths where they heard them from and whether they think the sources can be trusted.

So the next time you hear your friends talking about the hunt for Bigfoot, it might be a good idea to question where their information is from.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Climate Awasthy

Change on her

Dolly Carter Editor-in-Chief

Aayushi Awasthy is a PhD student in the School of Economics whose focus lies in energy decisions in rural areas.

Alongside her studies, she is now working on the release of her seven-episode podcast series centred on the question: ‘Why haven’t we solved climate change yet?’

Aimed at 16 to 24-year-olds interested in learning more about climate change, Aayushi describes her podcast as a capsule course administering a “small dose of everything”.

Each 40-minute episode is due to be released in weekly instalments in the run-up to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

Running from 31st October 12th November in Glasgow, Aayushi hopes to prep people’s understanding of the significance of COP26 in solving climate-related issues.

Designed around the pivotal question ‘why haven’t we

Corner: podcast

An ‘Why

solved climate change yet?’, each episode acts as an answer from a different perspective - for example, the first few cover topics such as finance, technology, and political will.

Enquiring as to the main drivers behind this project, Aayushi says she believes some of the mainstream conversations surrounding climate change are simply “too science-y”.

She aims to combat this by making her project “as accessible to everyone as possible”, so potential listeners “don’t have to come in knowing anything”.

In interviewing a different scientist in each episode, such as the world-renowned climatologist Professor Colleen Vogel, Aayushi understands some of the subject matter may be too dense.

Driven by the firm belief that “communication is half the game”, she has inserted voiceovers to explain and simplify difficult topics.

interview with PhD student Aayushi haven’t we solved climate change yet?’

With the recording of four episodes now under her belt, Aayushi has made a point to ask the same question of each guest: “how can everyone contribute to climate change?”

So far, she says every person she has interviewed has the same answer – no matter the background, training, or career path, everyone has something valuable to bring to the climate change discussion.

Before starting her PhD at UEA in 2018, Aayushi previously supported the Indian government in calculating their emission pathways.

She emphasises her specialisation is more so in economic problems and climate diplomacy rather than science, but the podcast is “100% a passion project”.

The first episode will be released on 21st September and can be found by searching ‘Why haven’t we solved climate change yet?’ on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Photo: MaxPixel

19

14th September 2021

concrete-online.co.uk/category/science/ | @ConcreteUEA

UEA’s Tyndall Centre part of government scheme to research impact of climate change Rosina Poller Science Writer

With headlines of extreme weather being more prevalent than everfrom recent floods in Germany to wildfires in Oregon- I’m sure we’re all aware of the climate crisis looming over us.

This poses the question, ‘What exactly is being done to stop the climate crisis?’.

Efforts to tackle the biggest threat faced by humankind thus far are taking place much closer to home than you might think.

Ahead of the long-awaited COP26 in Glasgow this November,

“This poses the question, ‘What exactly is being done to stop the climate crisis?’” the UK government has launched ‘Climate Services for a Net Zero Resilient World’, a £5 million programme to be carried out by researchers at the forefront of environmental sciences over 4 years, including UEA’s very own Tyndall Centre for

Climate Research. The main aims of this programme are to build upon the existing scientific understanding of climate impacts, decarbonisation, and climate action.

The research will then be used to implement adequate responses improving the resilience of national infrastructure to the effects of climate change.

There are many avenues through which the programme plans on doing this including: giving local authorities the latest advice and information on how they can help households cope with extreme temperatures in the most low-cost and low-carbon ways; informing future policies on

the environment through the knowledge and expertise of worldleaders in environmental science; helping to reduce the impact of floods on local communities.

Not only will this project help Britain cope with the changing climate, but it also will aim to ensure emissions are drastically cut around the world.

Starting at home, it will provide models for ways in which the UK can reduce its carbon emissions.

Then it will build upon the UK’s work overseas to collaborate with and support other nations also reducing their carbon

footprint.

Hopefully, this programme will allow the country to lead by example at COP26, and globally, sufficient measures can be implemented to stop the climate crisis in its tracks.

“Sufficient measures can be implemented to stop the climate crisis in its tracks’”

Photo: Pixabay

The Tesla bot: AI future or farce?

George Barsted

Senior Science Writer

Elon Musk’s recent announcement of the development of a humanoid robot has been met with both excited expectations and doubtful onlookers.

The “Tesla Bot” is designed to be a sleek robot utilising artificial intelligence to perform manual tasks usually reserved for humans.

The robot will stand at 5-foot8-inches and weigh just under 60 kilograms.

Shaped like a human, its head will be filled with cameras taken from Tesla’s autopilot technology.

AI from the company will be used to let the robot adapt to tasks such as those seen in warehouses and construction sites.

Musk seems confident the Tesla Bot is the way forward but some experts are less convinced.

Ben Amor from the University of Arizona says, “At the software and intelligence level, a major challenge with autonomous robots is the large variability in human environments. Robots, in this case, cannot rely on a human programmer and would have to constantly improvise and change their behaviour.”

The ability to do so-called “unskilled tasks” is often found to be difficult for

robots due to the skill necessary being more complex than humans give them credit for.

Amor notes, while human hands can differentiate between picking up a tomato compared to a brick, a robot struggles to tell the difference, often leading to dropped bricks and crushed tomatoes.

The key to solving this, Musk believes, is Tesla’s AI technology.

Musk, who previously has spoken out against the dangers of AI in the future, states “What we’re trying to do here at Tesla is make useful AI that people love and is ... unequivocally good.”

He believes in the ability of his company to produce humanoid bipedal robots and expects them to be operational by next year.

Currently, the only evidence is a few PowerPoint slides and Musk’s speechand coupled with his track record of missing deadlines, it may not happen in a year.

The company has previously experienced delays concerning the Tesla self-driving updates and SpaceX launches.

However, Musk’s supporters still hope the Tesla Bot will be delivering groceries and working in warehouses by next year.

Bizarre Science: Why do we yawn?

Mariam Jallow Science Editor

The act of oscitation, more commonly known as yawning, is probably one of the most shared experiences among human beings.

Be that as it may, scientists are still left scratching their heads when attempting to discern why it is we yawn in the first place.

The process is most commonly paired with feelings of boredom and exhaustion.

As such, it comes as no surprise when some researchers believe yawning is the body’s way of waking us up.

More specifically, Professor Robert Provine of the University of Maryland states, yawning correlates with a change in our functional statefrom “wakefulness to sleep, sleep to wakefulness, boredom to alertness.”

“Wakefulness to sleep, sleep to wakefulness, boredom to alertness’” Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This explains why we oscitate not just when we’re feeling lethargic but also in times of stress, physical or mental.

However, psychologists Andrew Gallup and Gordon Gallup have provided another theory in their paper titled “Yaning and Thermoregulation”.

Here, they suggest the increase of blood circulation around the brain caused by yawning leads to a cooling effect, thus preventing the brain from overheating.

Data from experiments testing the hypothesis, however, are inconclusive.

When exploring the biological importance of yawning, it would be remiss to ignore the reasons behind its contagious nature.

Ever sat across from a friend yawning, only to feel your mouth stretch open wide seconds later?

Perhaps you’ve been resisting the urge to yawn throughout this article.

Many researchers attribute this to a primitive form of social communication, or “social mirroring” - where we unconsciously imitate the actions of one another.

Despite the plethora of theories being discussed, the simple act of yawning’s mysterious origins continues to be a cause for debate within the scientific community.

TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE

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Post-lockdown getaway to Hong Kong Out of the Melody Chan

Travel & Lifestyle Writer

Three months ago, I landed home, however, I spent almost one month in quarantine.

After multiple hurdles at border control and regular health checkups2 to bypass, I realised freedom was a luxury.

This freedom cost me a great amount.

From expensive Covid-19 testing services in the United Kingdom to my 21-day hotel fees in Hong Kong, this getaway was indeed lavish.

After buying my freedom, I was determined to make this trip worth millions.

I scheduled meetings with

family and friends, racing against time and making the most of it.

I was fixated on creating memories, memories with a price that could never satisfy.

These memories were fruitful pieces of my summer holiday, assembling the perfect getaway I’d wished for.

As I reflected upon them, they scattered in my mind like golden butterflies.

Some fluttered and shone brighter than others, while some sat at the depths of my brain and were overshadowed by the beam.

The blazing ones brought me to moments of light which I shared with my family.

We toured Hong Kong and

discovered food places we had never been to.

These places were like hidden gems waiting to be picked up.

The first gem we found was the Nam Dae Mun Seafood Restaurant.

Located close to the seashore, the restaurant was accompanied by the best view.

Next to breaking waves and the sunset beckoning us, we enjoyed our hotpot dinner.

The sunlight swept gently across the sashimi at the table, embracing us with warmth.

This warmth from the orange and blue gradient colours in the sky complemented the warmth of the gas stove and the bubbling broth at the pot.

This same warmth swelled at my heart, showering and

filling it with immense delight.

Just like the old times, my family and I shared stories.

We laughed at an occasional joke and talked about interesting figures at the table.

It was as if I’d never left home.

In a blink of an eye, the last few days of this getaway closed in and more memories were awakened.

There had been happy and sad days, but nonetheless, they were priceless memories I would cherish for the longest time.

As Søren Kierkegaard has said, “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”.

The bittersweet recalling of this getaway calls me to live in the present and treasure the limited time I have at home.

Photo: Pixabay

Informed or disappointed? The good and bad of review site culture Phoebe Lucas

Travel & Lifestyle Writer

So, you fancy going to a new restaurant? Somewhere nice, not too pricey but does great food.

Do you gamble, and hope you stumble across what you're looking for? Or do you do your research?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be on Google faster than you can say Tripadvisor!

As a society, we heavily rely on other people’s opinions and reviews, which affects our decisions on where we visit, eat, or go on holiday.

Now more than ever, we want to get as much information as possible before going somewhere we’ve never been because of the looming consequences of coronavirus.

Tripadvisor acts as a dream come

true.

It provides a sense of comfort and safety by knowing what to expect—we can prepare for the experience to get the most out of it. We won’t be shocked by prices, dress code, or customer service, because we already know it all.

But does this take the fun out of it?

For the more spontaneous amongst us, the ‘not knowing’ aspect is the most exciting part.

When you think about it, sites like Tripadvisor had to start somewhere. There had to be a first person to go somewhere or do something without any pre-information.

This is almost impossible now.

It can feel like everywhere already has a reputation or a label defining its experience.

Sometimes taking a risk can be much more rewarding

and the outcome provides a far better adventure.

We must also consider the impact of negative reviews online.

Of course, not everywhere is going to be a five-star experience—there will be occasions where elements of a business can be improved.

It’s still important to remember how our comments and reviews can affect others.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a noticeable rise of ‘difficult’ customers, generally because of impatience and lack of understanding.

Titled “UK tourism boom sparks backlash against ‘Tripadvisor warriors’”, The Guardian published an article highlighting the bad reviews of a cafe in Fowey, Cornwall.

Staff felt their mental health was seriously affected after reading the negative

comments online. We must ask ourselves whether a bad review is really worth it if we’re damaging people’s health.

We tend not to think of individual cases like this, as we focus on the company or institution as an untasteful corporate being.

Potentially, this could lead down a very dangerous road, as it’s much easier to do damage when you're sitting behind a screen.

Nevertheless, we can't ignore the undeniable helpfulness of review sites like Tripadvisor. In a world of constant change and unprecedented times, comfort in knowing what to expect can be a godsend.

The guaranteed solace of knowing you’re awaiting a pleasant evening out somewhere you haven't been before, is the kind of ‘small things’ we appreciate and need to balance out the tough realities that life can throw at us.

clubbing c l u b Jim Gell

Travel & Lifestyle Writer

Entry costs £5. Cloakroom costs £2.

Each beer costs £5 plus, along with the cost of the hangover the next day.

All for what?

Listening to music I wouldn’t normally listen to, surrounded by people I wouldn’t normally have invited.

While I miss the atmosphere of the club scene, what I missed afterwards was my bank balance being an amount I wasn’t ashamed of, following a night I didn’t have only scattered memories of.

Instead, I found the value in drinking with a group of friends, with no pressure for them to be someone they were not, depending on the dynamic which faced them in such a public and sexually charged space.

Try making friends in the smoking area of a club – they’ll either be your best friend in the space of ten minutes, or they’ll be someone you’d never wish to know, nor would they be someone you’d want to spend the amount you paid to get in on getting to know, only to never see them again.

What I found in the emotional fragility of lockdown was the need for friends who knew me intimately, friends I wanted to spend time with, friends I’d have paid the same amount as a club to have in my company for an hour, only to have it for free.

Clubbing is fun for those who want to meet strangers.

However, but I’d rather meet strangers in places where we could find some mutuality outside of a love for dance music, smoking, and rehearsed pick-up lines.

I still love dance music, smoking, and the rest of it—the only difference is now I don’t feel the need to enter a world which financially exploits these loves.

I know there are indoor alternatives I can enjoy without breaking into my overdraft.

“I know there are indoor alternatives I can enjoy without breaking into my overdraft”

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(Re)discovering the fine city of Norwich Sophie Colley

Travel & Lifestyle Writer

Norwich is rightly described as a fine city.

For new and returning students, Norwich is a hugely exciting place to be, and the range of activities you can do and places you can visit is vast.

Although I’ve spent a lot of time here, since the end of lockdown there are so many things I’ve } rediscovered about the city.

There are a million things I’d love to write about Norwich, so, from food venues to historical trips, I’ll share with you some of my

favorites.

When discussing with my housemates what we loved about Norwich, the first thing they all mentioned were the places to eat, so it would be criminal not to start with these.

Norwich has SO many wonderful places to have breakfast, from the American Pancakes at No 33 to the Full English breakfasts at The Ber Street Kitchen.

There’s no better way to get to know your new flatmates or reconnect with old friends who you’ve distanced from over lockdown than to go for a luxurious breakfast.

If you’re not a breakfast person, then don’t worry. Paolo’s Restaurant offers authentic

The new pandemic about Rosa Chrystie-Lowe Travel and Lifestye Editor

As the world was plunged into varying degrees of lockdown in the early months of last year, the news was dominated by images of chaos and horror.

Covid-19 patients desperately waiting to be ventilated, exhausted health care workers, panic buying and empty shelves in supermarkets.

Yet, amongst the pandemonium, another type of image emerged.

Amongst the horror, these images were something to marvel at, to restore hope, and soon they too began to wind their way through the internet much as the images of Covid-19 horror were doing.

Italian food and serves the most delicious lunch and dinner courses.

Junkyard Market is also a significantly popular venue for students inNorwich, and aswell as serving food offers an enjoyable night out. Although I only lived an hour from Norwich before moving here to study, one thing I’d never done was visit the market.

Right in the city centre, the brightly colour market stalls are a key sight of the city.

However, I know personally that I neglected this, and instead spent time shopping elsewhere. Now that I’ve explored the market, and spent the occasional afternoon there, I’d

nature: has led us nature

We saw clear skies above previously smog-filled cities, goats descending from the mountains to frolic on the empty streets of a Welsh town.

Of course, many stories and images purporting to document nature’s miraculous recovery were the product of exaggeration or fabrication.

Furthermore, the notion ‘nature is healing’ quickly became an easyto-parody meme.

Yet, the internet frenzy— the misguided hope born of often fabricated stories, and the parodic backlash—hid a deeper message.

Geologists have proposed naming this time in which we live the Anthropocene, so called because of the dominant significance of current human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecology.

For the space of a few short months at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we, the dominant species on Earth in this era of the Anthropocene, were at a loss, our impact diminished.

On the other hand, nature knew exactly what to do. Nature continued to thrive in places it already flourished, and in some cases started to reclaim that which had been ravished through pollution, exploitation, and overuse.

Despite anecdotal changes of animal behaviour and a measurable fall in CO2 emissions, these few short months are still a drop in the ocean compared to years of human-driven environmental impact and climate change.

The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t ‘heal’ nature.

recommend it to any student. The stalls offer a huge variety of products, from your typical market grocery stores to vintage clothes (I’d personally suggest you try the stall ‘and eat it’, which sells the best homemade biscuits, cakes, cookies and brownies).

If you fancy doing something educational with your time in Norwich, both Norwich Castle and the Cathedral offer an enjoyable day out (this is also something ideal to do when your family come to visit). The Cathedral is completely free to enter, and if you visit Norwich Castle one hour before closing, they offer a £2 twilight ticket.

Maybe after spending the day walking around the historical streets of the city, you’d fancy a drink or two. We are lucky enough to have some great pubs in the city centre, some of my favorites include The Black Horse, The Lamb Inn and The Ten Bells, and you should definitely give them a visit!

Although Norwich may be a small city, this is one of the charming things about it. It’s a city filled with culture, music, and did I mention good food? Whether you are only here for a couple of months or for the next three years, Norwich is a city that very easily starts to feel like home.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

the Covid-19 to think differently?

“The Covid-19 pandemic didn't 'heal' nature” But what the pandemic gave us in this regard was an insight into the effect of human actions on the environment.

We have glimpsed a world less dominated by human impact, a world we may or may not see again, depending on our collective actions and our ability to implement lasting structural changes now and in the future.

The question remains what

we do with this insight. Already, there are some signs our habits are changing.

Writers in this section have contributed their rediscoveries of their local areas, their new appreciation for what is on their doorstep.

Many of us have found the experience of the pandemic has led us to buy less, to travel closer to home, to think twice before committing to a long wait in traffic on a busy commute.

Yet, we know that changes cannot only be behavioural, but must be structural, systematic. As the engines of international travel start to fire once more, and workers are being increasingly driven back into their offices, as economies seek to catch up on what has been lost, it remains to be seen whether our ‘new normal’ will include a ‘new nature’.

14th September 2021

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SPORT

Paralympics: A series of incredible sporting feats Sophie Colley Sport Writer

After being delayed for a year due to the pandemic, it was an absolute joy to watch the Paralympic Games this summer. I think anyone would agree the skills, determination, and success of our athletes this year was incredible.

Taking place in Tokyo, running from the 24th August to the 5th September, Great Britain finished second, just behind China in the medal table. Bringing home over 120 medals, including 41 golds, Great Britain thrived throughout the events. The Paralympics are inspirational and always bring home a great sense of pride, but behind all the medals are the motivational stories of each individual athlete.

Before Tokyo 2020, Dame Sarah Storey was already the most successful female British Paralympian of all time. Born with an underdeveloped left hand, Storey started off her Paralympic career at the age of 14 as a swimmer. Since, Storey has competed in eight Games and in that time has won 28 medals.

After the Games in Athens 2004, Storey made the decision to change from swimming to para-cycling after an ear infection, but this did not hinder her Paralympic success and in 2009 she was awarded an OBE. At the 2020 Tokyo games Storey showcased once again the immense talent she possesses as she returned home with three more gold medals, bringing her total gold medals to 17 and making her the most successful British Paralympian. At 43, Storey

is an inspiration to everyone and encapsulates the life changing opportunities that the Paralympic Games bring to the world. Competing in the Paralympic Games for the first time, Maisie Summers-Newton (19), also brought home a gold medal in para-swimming. Both experienced and inexperienced athletes were successful at the 2020 Games.

Outside of Great Britain, the 2020 Tokyo Games saw many stories of athletes who succeeded against all odds to compete at the Paralympics.

The IPC (International Paralympic Committee) announced for the first time that an official Refugee Paralympian team, made up of six athletes, would be competing in the 2020 Games. Although not representing an official country, the Paralympic team highlighted

the reality for refugees all over the world. In a time of struggle and conflict, once again the Paralympic Games presented its importance for representing and providing an opportunity for all people, regardless of their background. One of the six Paralympians on the refugee team included Parfait Hakizimana, and his story is both heartbreaking and moving.

Hakizimana was the first Paralympic athlete to travel directly from his refugee camp, the Mahama Refugee Camp in Rwanda, to Tokyo to compete in the Games. Fleeing his home country Burundi in a time of brutality and disturbance, he took a gunshot to his left arm leaving him permanently disabled. In his refugee camp, Hakizimana set up a taekwondo club, teaching others

around him the sport that he loves.

Although he did not take home any medals from the 2020 Games, his partaking in the Paralympics marks a historical moment for refugees, and after learning about his tragic and courageous past I’m sure I can speak for many people when I say I thoroughly hope to see him compete in future events. The team also included Alia Issa, the first and only female on the Refugee Paralympic Team.

In a time that has been so uncertain and unnerving, the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games brought hope and joy back to our TV screens this summer. With such touching stories from the Paralympians, there really is no other way to describe the Paralympics than incredible.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Summer Sam Gordon Webb

Deputy Editor

The football transfer window closed on 31sstAugust after one of the strangest and cheapest windows in Premier League history. Apart from the eye catching £100m spent by Manchester City on Jack Grealish and Chelsea’s £97.5 million fee for Romelu Lukaku, most clubs showed an unusual degree of spending restraint after reduced ticket sales due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The finances of some of Europe’s finest clubs have suffered greatly.

Increased financial strain has corresponded with a renewed interest in nurturing

transfer existing talent, rather than looking elsewhere.

Mid-market deals - where youngsters are signed for low teen figures - have been few and far between this year, a definite reflection of the pandemic’s impact on club spending.

A report by Deloitte found the number of transfers valued at £10m-£25m fell by 13% from last year.

It’s worth noting how improvements in academies have lessened the blow caused by Brexit, which prevents English sides from signing players in Europe under the age of 18.

But £1.1 billion - the total spent overall and £400 million down from 2019 - still isn’t everyday money.

window: Even the best players lose value over time.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Manchester United for £12.8 million pales in comparison to the £105 million figure paid by Juventus for the Portuguese superstar.

The deal came with an interesting back-story.

While Ronaldo’s agent was trying to entice Manchester City, Sir Alex Ferguson intervened, phoning Ronaldo, and encouraging him to make a sensational return to Old Trafford.

City had their heart set on Harry Kane but after Tottenham turned down a £150 million bid, the England striker chose to remain in North London.

This transfer window showcased the importance of financial strength in ‘making or

the

wildest

breaking’ a team, confirming that: money equals power.

Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann moved on loan to his former team, Atlético Madrid, on a season long loan with an optional €40m fee to make it permanent.

Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer on the planet, moved to PSG on a free transfer, joining fellow titans Mbappe and Neymar.

The final days of any transfer window tends to be comparable with the final scene of a television drama. But this time it was tragic.

At Messi’s final press conference before leaving Barça, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner cried as he recounted how, “my new contract was done. All done... at the last minute, with everything with La Liga, it couldn’t happen.”.

Given the weight of

yet?

dominance of Europe’s richest clubs, many of England’s smaller clubs have fared better than expected.

In keeping Kane, Spurs have managed to hold onto their star striker.

In rejecting tempting offers from PSG, Everton still have Richarlison.

Aston Villa reinvested the Grealish money in bringing in three highly talented replacements, which arguably leaves them in a stronger overall position.

Norwich signed four highly rated players on loan deals, including Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour.

Football is action packed, enormously unpredictable and full of high stakes. And yet we haven’t even started on the game itself.

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14th September 2021

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Formula E: racing to save the environment?

Freyja Elwood Deputy Editor

Nine teams, one female and one male driver on each, all-electric SUVs Extreme E is changing the face of not only motorsport but sport in general.

Started in 2019 by Formula E founder Alejandro Agag, Extreme E follows the same skeleton of the usual motorsports, where each race occurs in a different location.

However, with Extreme E the locations of each race are selected on their high vulnerability to Climate Change, with previous race locations having included Greenland and Senegal.

Extreme E is a part of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, an initiative born out of the 2015 Paris Agreement which is “aimed at supporting and guiding sports actors in achieving global climate change goals.” Extreme E has also committed to becoming carbon neutral by the finish of its first season.

Logistically, Extreme E also differs.

Usually in motorsport the cars are shipped by plane, but Extreme E opts to use their own ship - the “St Helena” to cut emissions.

The “St Helena” is a refurbished Royal Mail Cargo ship which brings another element of sustainability to the table.

The well-known “Constructors Championship has also received a green makeover with teams emissions monitored throughout and financial incentives available to promote maintenance of low emissions.

Additionally, Extreme E also has its own independent scientific committee, made up of Oxbridge professors, who aid the team and the organising committee.

For each race location as well, Extreme E works with a local NGO to form a “legacy project.”

Featured charities include the Ba’a Foundation, Oceanium and The Nature Conservatory.

Mr Agag said: “At Extreme E, our priority is to give back environmentally to all the regions that we visit in our series and leave them in a better condition than when we arrived.”

Afghan sport and the struggles amid fear and uncertainty Oscar Ress Sport Editor

Following the Taliban’s rapid takeover, Afghan sport has understandably been thrown into confusion. The resilience of all Afghan sportspeople is admirable: whether cricketers still training in Afghanistan despite the mass evacuation taking place, athletes who continued representing their country across the world, or the girls’ national football team who were not lucky enough to make it out of Afghanistan to safety.

“The impact of the Taliban is felt most acutely by Afghan women and girls” The impact of the Taliban is felt most acutely by Afghan women and girls due to their stringent interpretation of Islamic law, which does not allow women to participate in sport. The female football teams therefore sought escape and an agreement with the Australian government meant successful evacuation for the senior side. The

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

youth team, however, was unlucky as a suicide bomb cancelled the girls’ flight as they approached Kabul airport and left them stranded in their now unaccepting country.

Several attempts have been made to rescue them since then by an operation led by the US, the country which had been integral in improving women’s rights in Afghanistan including providing sport and schooling for young girls.

The international community will continue to do all they can to rescue these girls and their families, many of whom are now in hiding, but the experiences they are enduring must be terrifying and the sad reality remains that life for them will never be the same again.

The Taliban is allowing men’s cricket to continue, despite banning most forms of entertainment, and the new Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Cricket Board has just approved a test series in Australia later this year.

While the Afghan women’s team members fled into hiding, the men’s cricket team were training in the days following the Taliban takeover just a matter of kilometres from the chaos ensuing in the capital city.

Cricket in Afghanistan, thanks to the creation of global superstars and the spectacular success of the national

team on the world stage, had become a beacon of hope and togetherness for the country. Afghan cricketers at home and abroad have admitted to finding it difficult to concentrate on cricket following the Taliban victory. However, their status as ambassadors is confirmed, speaking exceptionally powerfully off the pitch. Rashid Khan, one of the best bowlers in the world, issued a now viral plea to world leaders “Don’t leave us in chaos”.

“Don’t Leave us in chaos”

As if Paralympians aren’t impressive enough already, the story of Zakia Khudadadi might well be the pinnacle of Tokyo 2020. As chaos erupted at home, she fled violence and uncertainty to represent Afghanistan in Taekwondo. Her remarkable journey included evacuation via Paris with teammate, Hossain Rasouli, and permission to

compete despite arriving after the games had started. Neither athlete achieved any medal success but the mere fact that they competed is a victory.

The feat of performing under such psychological stress should not be underestimated.

Khudadadi represents what the Taliban aim to dispel. As a female athlete, she persevered in representing a country whose new government will not afford her the rights she deserves.

Each example is more evidence of sport’s immense societal power in uniting people and communities when they are at their most fractured.

We can only hope that a country torn apart once again by war can look to heroes and heroines amongst their sportsmen and sportswomen and dream of a peaceful future.

This week, the impact of Taliban rule on the sports world came to the fore when Cricket Australia (CA) released a statement in which they vowed to cancel their test match against Afghanistan if the Taliban’s intention to cancel all women’s sport materialises.

In their statement CA asserted that: “Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all, and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level.”

14th September 2021

SPORT Sport Editor Oscar Ress speaks with UEA sports’ James Raywood about sporting life and plans for the upcoming year Oscar Ress Sport Editor

What is your role at UEA? Student Sport Operations Manager

What are your ambitions for UEA Sport this academic year?

We are looking forward to a ‘normal’ year in terms of sport and physical activity where the lifting of covid restrictions should allow a full programme to take place. We are excited to reinstate our Active Campus programme of physical activity, wellbeing and participative sport, with some new additions such as the Quest app, Equipment hub hire service, Inclusive sport, and dedicated post-grad sport programme.

We also look forward to welcoming back our 57 student-run sports clubs who will open their doors to all students regardless of ability and are a great place to meet new friends and have the chance to represent the UEA in competitive sport.

What achievements related to UEA Sport are you most proud of?

We have been successful in recent years in receiving some national awards from

BUCS (the governing body for HE sport), namely the Participation Programme of the Year, Physical Activity Excellence Award and Workforce Programme of the Year, for our Volunteer Academy programme.

I’m also very proud of the department for our response to covid and how we worked with the student body to offer a comprehensive programme of remote and virtual activities to keep people engaged and active during the last 18 months

What are the potential challenges that you see for UEA Sport going forward?

I see the main challenge for the year ahead around students having the confidence to commit and engage in actual in-person activities again after being restricted for so long.

There are of course lots of options for people to get active by themselves, but there are lots of benefits from doing things in groups, especially for students looking to build new friendships and social networks.

How would you encourage students to become more involved in UEA Sport?

Take a look at our website (www.ueasport.co.uk) – we have

something for everyone regardless of their experience, ability level or confidence with sport.

To name only a few…you can get points for every step you take through our UEA+Moves app which you can redeem for prizes such as coffees on campus, go for a dog walk everyWednesday afternoon, explore the Norfolk countryside on our day trips, or compete against other schools of study through our Ziggurat Challenge.

How can UEA Sport be more inclusive?

Inclusivity is something we take very seriously and work closely with our sports club committees to ensure that every club is as inclusive as possible.

All of our Active Campus programmes are open to everyone, and we now have the staff expertise to launch a dedicated inclusive sports programme which will be coming soon.

We would encourage any questions or concerns about inclusivity of any of our programmes to be directed to studentsport@uea.ac.uk so we can assist as necessary.

For those new to university sport, can you explain what BUCS is?

BUCS stands for British Universities and Colleges Sport and is the National Governing Body for FE and HE sport.

Most of our sports clubs

compete in BUCS leagues and competition against other institutions, and BUCS also provide support and guidance for other elements of student sport and physical activity.

What are the benefits that you see in being involved in sport in any way?

The benefits of being involved in physical activity and sport are huge and there is lots of research to back this up.

The British Active Students Survey reports that those students achieve better grades, are more employable, have better physical and mental wellbeing and are less socially isolated.

We want every single UEA student to be active for tons.

What is your background?

own

sports

I have loved sport for as long as I can remember!

After graduating from Brunel University with a degree in Sport Science, I have always worked in sport and physical activity, firstly as a gym instructor before then running my own personal training business. I then spent a few years as a PE teacher, before moving to the UEA almost 10 years ago and since have become the Head of Department of the amazing uea+sport team.

Photo: James Raywood

What is your and/or favourite memory?

earliest sporting

One of my earliest sporting memories was scoring the winning goal in a primary school football competition (but that is a very long time ago), but some of my favourites over the years have been when working as a teacher, personal trainer or in my current role when helping people who are not traditionally ‘sporty’ gain confidence and happiness from being active and trying something new.

Who are your sporting heroes and why?

As a Man Utd fan, one of my sporting heroes was Eric Cantona – I loved his swagger and the things he could do on a football pitch.

Although for the record, I wouldn’t condone karate kicking a fan in the chest!

I also admire Andy Murray – to achieve what he has in the current era of greats in men’s tennis is remarkable and his dedication to compete and come back after the injuries he has sustained is something we can all learn from!

If you could have competed at Olympic level in anything, which would be your dream sport?

My favourite sports to play are tennis and golf, so to win a grand slam or Olympic gold in either of those would be my dream!

Sadly at 36, I think that ship may have sailed – luckily, I have two young children to now live vicariously through!

Photo: Concrete/Samuel Baxter

Visit www.ueasport.co.uk to find out more about how you can join the Sport clubs at UEA.