Issue 700 // 3 June 2019 by Exeposé

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ISSUE 700 3 JUNE 2019 exepose.com @Exepose

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987

Exeter votes to stay in the NUS, again

Guild cancels Respect Festival performances Neha Shaji Contributor

students voted, amounting to a 30 per cent turn out. At the time, this was the highest level of engagement in any singleissue vote recorded at Exeter. However, engagement decreased by over 79 per cent in 2019. According to campaigners, only four students attended the 28 May NUS Debate. Both the “For” and “Against” campaigns agreed the low student interest may reflect a lack of student engagement in the NUS. Grace Frain, Guild President and Students’ Guild VP Welfare & Diversity

XETER Students’ Guild decided to cancel the second day of Respect on Campus 2019, a two-day festival celebrating Exeter’s diversity and engaging the community in anti-prejudice initiatives. This announcement was made as a public Facebook post late afternoon on 30 May, approximately when the programme of the first day of Respect on Campus was wrapping up. The Guild said in the post that they “would like to apologise for the cancellation of the performance showcase aspect of Exeter Respect on Campus scheduled to take place on St. Luke’s Campus on 31 May. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the event.” They went on to apologise to students and staff planning to attend as well as acts scheduled to perform. When Exeposé asked for comment, a Guild Spokesperson said that the Guild would not elaborate upon the Facebook statement. Exeposé spoke to Candace Bansair, who was scheduled to perform at the festival. She expressed that she was “disappointed but not surprised” when she’d heard from an organiser that there would be no showcase. She expanded upon this, saying she “was unsurprised only because the organisation seemed a little off compared to the year before, in the sense that my....

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Image: Aaron Loose

Aaron Loose Editor

HE Exeter Students’ Guild has voted to stay in the National Union of Students. Over 1,291 students voted, surpassing the 1,187 the referendum needed for the result to be legitimate. The online vote opened at 9am, Tuesday 28 May and closed at 4pm, Thursday 30 May 2019. The three options for voters were less diverse than those offered for ordinary student ideas. Voters could choose to vote “For” or “Against” the

Guild to remain affiliated. Voters could also choose to “abstain”. 681 students (52.75%) voted “For” continued affiliation, whilst 589 students (45.62%) voted “Against” the Guild’s continued affiliation to NUS. There were also 21 abstentions (1.63%). Grace Frain, Guild President and leader of the For Campaign, said: “It is great to see students use their voice about something they clearly feel so strongly about to help the Guild stay affiliated to NUS, who I believe have a huge part to play locally and nationally. Our campaign worked hard to engage students to under-

stand why staying affiliated would benefit them and the rest of our membership. I strongly believe that the Guild has a duty to improve the communication and engagement relating to NUS here at Exeter. I look forward to seeing how NUS continues to develop and I hope that our incoming Sabbatical Officers are able to engage and work positively with NUS.” The referendum was the third Exeter has held in fewer than five years. The previous two referendums also reached the conclusion that Exeter was better inside the union than outside of it. In the 2016 referendum, over 5,334

LIFESTYLE

INTERVIEW

Our writers share their stories of body positivity

Exeposé speaks to the Vice-Chancellor & the Provost PAGE 5 Image: Aaron Loose

PAGE 15 Image: Unsplashed

Editors Print: Isabelle Gray & Aaron Loose Online: Harry Caton & Ellie Cook editors@exepose.com

Comment Editors Print: Isabelle Gray & Deepa Lalwani comment@exepose.com

Arts + Lit Editors Print: Cherry-Anastasia Boroceanu & Zach Mayford Online: Ariane Joudrey & Greta Sanna artsandlit@exepose.com Music Editors Print: Richard Ainslie & Bryony Gooch Online: Megan Frost & Stephen Ong music@exepose.com Screen Editors Print: Jonathan Chern & Samuel Thomson Online: Jacob Heayes & Abi Taphouse screen@exepose.com Science Editors Print: Elinor Jones & Scarlett Parr Reid Online: Sira Charbel sciandtech@exepose.com Sport Editors Print: René Bahar & Josh Brown Online: Ben Bampton & Nick Powell sport@exepose.com Chief Photographer Rory Selvey photography@exepose.com Copy Editors Kamila Bell, Charlotte Forrester & Catherine Lloyd Proofers Harry Caton, Bryrony Gooch, Graham Moore, Fozz, Kamila Bell, Catherine Lloyd, Zac Mayford, René Bahar, Amy Butterworth, Will Harrop, Neha Shaji, Edd 'The News' Church & Owain

@ exepose facebook.com/exepose issuu.com/exeposeexeter Advertising Kate Watkins kate.watkins@exeterguild.com (01392) 722607 The opinions expressed in Exeposé are not necessarily those of the Exeposé Editors nor the University of Exeter Students’ Guild. While every care is taken to ensure that the information in this publication is correct and accurate, the Publisher can accept no liability for any consequential loss or damage, however caused, arising as a result of using the information printed. The Publisher cannot accept liability for any loss or damage to artwork or material submitted. The contents of this, unless stated otherwise, are copyright of the Publisher. Reproduction in any form requires the prior consent of the Publisher.

The Extinction Rebellion lands in Exeter PAGE 4

COMMENT

Guild governance: Does it always help? PAGE 6

FEATURES The facts about the Alabama abortion laws PAGE 10 Image: carmen, flickr

Lifestyle Editors Print: Izzy Cole & Anna Romanovska Online: Amy Butterworth & Emily Pirie lifestyle@exepose.com

been gifted with a lovely 'Summer Camp' edition (pg. 21), displaying all the classic tropes of the teen movie, the ultimate nostalgic crush, and the how-to for the best summer outdoor cinema screening experience. Lifestyle is getting all up into body positivity, exploring its trials and tribulations, but significantly it's importance (pg. 15) in keeping a healthy mind.. Moreover, the recent changes to Alabama's abortion laws are addressed (pg. 13). Here at Exeposé we show solidarity and support for people to be in charge of their own bodies and make their own decisions when it comes to them, regardless of their opinions. Science delve into the wonders of puzzles and its connection to better brain function (pg. 26), so feel free to take advantage of Study Break (pg. 24)! Over in Sport, it has been reported that fans of Exeter City have been indefinitely banned because of abuse, and coincidentally the team is looking at a rebuild this summer. Overall, term three has been a tiring, confusing and unbearably long but simultaneously short time all at once. We're really proud of the work we've done so far and we hope you enjoyed reading it too! From all of us here at Exeposé we hope it's been an okay term, and that your exams have gone well! Please make sure to get lots of rest over summer and have something fun planned! Before you know it, we'll be back with our Freshers' edition issue, so get excited and see you then!

Image: fibonacci. flickr

Features Editors Print: Jaysim Hanspal & William Harrop Online: Ellie Cook & Bryan Knight Foreign Correspondents Co-ordinator: Maddie Baker features@exepose.com

ND here we are, exams are over, bags are being packed up and the summer is finally here. If you already feel like your brain cells are starting to rot and you don’t know how to spend your time, look no further! This issue is jam packed with summer hype, end of year nostalgia and some sweet, sweet reflection. As much as the prospect of summer is stunning, it’s good to look back over on your year, appreciate the highs and wave goodbye to the lows. If this is your last year at Exeter, and possibly the last issue of Exeposé you’ll get a hold of (the most depressing part of graduation surely) make sure to keep in touch with the goings on of Exeter on our website, social media and issuu! You will want to keep in touch, as so much seems to be changing as it is. News covers some of this change including the NUS referendum (pg. 1 and 4) as well as our very own predecessor Megan catching up with Sir Steve Smith on pg. 5. Whilst his tenure comes to an end, it only feels right to reflect on ourselves and our own time at the University. Meanwhile Music invites our noble graduates to remember the songs that soundtracked their uni experience (pg. 18). This may come with great sadness, but your time in Exeter doesn’t have to be over quite yet, suck up the culture! Go do things! Arts + Lit will show you the way with what theatre shows to check out (pg. 17) whilst Comment (pg.7) writers battle it out for what the best summer fruit there is. The summer celebration doesn't end there, however, with Screen , we've

NEWS

Image: Aaron Loose

News Editors Print: Louis Donohoe & Henry Jones Online: Emma Hussain news@exepose.com

Editorial

Image: Michael Veltman, flickr

EXEPOSÉ

Devonshire House, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4PZ

SCIENCE Puzzles: a comfort to the mind PAGE 26

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Worldwide university news Rise in academics' mental health issues

HE percentage of university academics accessing mental health services has risen dramatically in the last six years, a Freedom of Information request has shown. In some universities, the numbers accessing counselling and occupational health services have increased by up to 400 per cent over a six-year period, highlighting a growing awareness of mental health problems in university students and staff. The study, conducted by the Higher Education Policy Institute, describes a crisis of epidemic proportions regarding the mental health of people working in higher education. In one particular university, referrals to counselling services had risen by upwards of 300% in the six years to 2015, whereas staff accessing occupational health services quadrupled in this time. The recent deaths of two academics from Cardiff University and Imperial College London has prompted an investigation into the increasing pressure higher education staff are facing.

University of London faces staff boycott

HE University of London is currently facing a boycott due to the treatment of the BAME staff mainly in the areas of cleaning and catering, as well as security staff including other areas. This is because they are staff who are outsourced and are seeking for equal terms and conditions with those who are directly employed by the University. This boycott had also been supported by an MP as well as the National Union of Students (NUS), which had taken place in December 2018. This is mainly with the aim of ending the outsourcing. As well as calls for ending the outsourcing campaign, the aim of the movement is to pressure the University of London to bring the predominantly female and BAME staff into the category of direct employment. The university authorities spent more than £400,000 on additional security over two months last year to police the industrial action and student protests that took place in solidarity with them.

Essex Uni accused of "silencing" students

HE University of Essex has been accused of "silencing" students who have made sex assault complaints is setting up a new code of conduct. An investigation by the BBC revealed long delays in dealing with allegations of sexual assault. It found that the university aimed to deal with complaints within 60 days but a number had taken a year. In a statement, the university apologised to students for the delays. Bryn Morris, University Registrar, said: "We have reviewed the cases highlighted by the BBC and have provided face-to-face advice and support to the students involved. I recognise that our procedures are overly complicated and bureaucratic. It is not acceptable that 20 per cent of cases are not concluded within 60 days." He added:"We will review how advice is provided to students at every stage of our support and student conduct processes to ensure that students feel encouraged and supported in raising matters with the police."

University of Illinois in free speech row

lawsuit accuses the University of Illinois of stifling free speech by “weaponising” anti-bias measures against students who have attended pro-Israel rallies, advocated for the reinstatement of an American Indian school mascot and supported an antiimmigration demonstration on campus. Speech First brought the case on behalf of member students attending the university. Several students, the group argued, felt uncomfortable either supporting President Trump or engaging in civil discourse that the university might consider biased or offensive. “As a public university, UIUC is bound to uphold the First Amendment, and these policies violate both the spirit and the letter of the law” said Speech First President Nicole Neily. "Students deserve to be able to express themselves and voice their opinions without fear of investigation or punishment."

Stories by Aakz Karri, Elinor Jones, and Henry Jones

News

NEWS EDITORS: Louis Donohoe Henry Jones

Wellbeing restructured to meet increasing demand

Henry Jones News Editor

HE University will reportedly reduce the number of wellbeing mentors from fourteen to four from next year. Exeposé also understand that those who remain will have their salaries cut by two thirds. A source close to the situation claimed that “many” mentors have now decided to leave the university, as “they no longer feel appreciated.” Mentors at Wellbeing Services are currently employed on a casual basis. They do not have contracts. The University will now be employing those who provide these services on ‘annualised hourly contracts’.

The number of hours of delivery will not change if staff is reduced

Mark Sawyer, head of Wellbeing

Mark Sawyer, Head of Wellbeing, told Exeposé: “The University has reviewed contractual arrangements for a number of colleagues, and staff working on an ad-hoc basis are now being offered the opportunity to apply for contracted positions.” “Over the years we have struggled to retain many of our mentoring team as they have previously felt no security, and turnover of staff has therefore been a challenge for us to manage – and is to the detriment of our student community.” The new contracts will include a

reduction in salary for most mentors. Sawyer pointed out though that they would now be receiving additional benefits to account for that reduction. “I think annualised hours posts are generally more attractive to potential practitioners than casual work. I appreciate this isn’t always the case, but annualised hours do offer security and opportunity to a much broader pool of potential applicants.” Concerns have been raised with the Guild that the changes may lead to a reduction in the number of mentors available to students. Sawyer confirmed that this was a possibility, but said the number of hours of support provided to students would not change. “Even if we were to recruit fewer staff, the number of hours of delivery will not change. The funding going into the new contract allows for like for like delivery compared to what we’ve currently got.” He continued: “If there’s fewer [staff], there’s more embeddedness in the university.” Whilst he was confident that the changes would be warmly welcomed by most staff, he admitted that “a voice or two” had expressed concern. A Guild Spokesperson commented on the changes, saying “The Guild supports the changes, as the changes will help Wellbeing Services meet increasing demand, with additional resources ensuring equivalent mentoring provision, as well as improved consistency, flexibility and reliability of services for students. Additionally, annualised hours

contracts will lead to increased job security. We have not seen any evidence of these changes being miscommunicated to students.”

The changes will help Wellbeing Services meet increasing demand

Guild Spokesperson

Rose Ahier, VP Welfare and Diversity, regarded the changes as positive stating “I am fully in support of the current proposals as they provide a more reliable and consistent service to students without impacting the delivery of the DSA Wellbeing mentors pathway.”

In 2016, Wellbeing Services was heavily criticised over waiting times, lack of appropriate specialist support and alleged “underfunding.” Speaking to Exeposé at the time, then Head of Student Services, Jamie Horsley, described the service as doing “very well in an impossible place”, adding that it was “being asked to provide services that were never quite the original intention”. “People are expecting us to be the NHS and better,” she commented, “The original focus around Wellbeing is around support to study, low-level mental depression, anxiety, transition to university, problems with flatmates and problems with family.”

Image: Megan Davies

Augar report “must not lead to cuts in higher education funding”, Sir Steve Smith says Abigail Hartshorn Contributor

government report on University funding has been issued, urging Conservatives to cap tuition fees at £7,500 and to increase the repayment period of loans to 40 years: a substantial ten-year extension to the current 30-year period. The proposal, headed by businessman and historian Philip Augar, would be implemented at earliest in the 2021 – 2022 academic year, provided that the changes are approved by both houses of parliament. The newly re-named “Student Contribution System” would introduce capped tuition fees, the reintroduction

of maintenance grants and increased funding for further education colleges.

Opportunities for people from all backgrounds may be at risk

Sir Steve Smith, Vice-Chancellor According to IFS, this new system would mean the top 20 per cent graduate earners would cut their payments by 30 percent due to being subject to fewer years of interest rates. Former Education Secretary Justine Greening has stated that this proposed system is “regressive.” The review has raised concerns regarding University funding. The Augar

review proposes a differentiation between “high” and “low” value degrees, with a greater amount of government funding being allocated to courses that are more expensive to run, causing concerns for funding of “low” cost Humanities and Social Science degrees. Professor Sir Steve Smith, ViceChancellor of the University of Exeter expressed concerns on the report’s recommendations. Smith said “While we welcome the much needed reforms to Further Education funding and provision we have one main worry which is that it must not lead to a cut in higher education funding as this would be damaging for students, regional businesses and communities. “If the government does not replace

the funding lost by reducing student fees then the quality of teaching and research would be affected and the work done by universities to increase opportunities for people from all backgrounds will be at risk. “The higher education sector is one of the UK’s success stories and funding cuts or limiting student places would be a retrograde step with a negative impact on jobs and innovation at a critical time for our country’s economy and position in the world. “Education reform and a greater focus on supporting the learning needs of everyone in society is important but this should not be at the expense of those who aspire to a university education.”

Spike in number of counselling sessions

Gwyn Wright Contributor

HE number of students accessing counselling support at the university has more than doubled in recent years, Exeposé has found. Figures released under freedom of information laws show that 369 students accessed such sessions in the academic year 2017/18, compared with 144 students in 2016/17 and 168 students in 2015/16. The figures also show a smaller rise in the number of students accessing cognitive behavioural therapies. 284 students accessed therapies that the university’s website describes as ‘low intensity’ in the academic year 2017/18, compared with 208 two years previously. 86 students accessed higher intensity therapies in the academic year 2017/18 compared with 65 two years ago, although 109 students accessed such therapies in the intervening year. The figures show that the higher numbers of students accessing certain wellbeing services has emerged against a backdrop of rising spending per-user at the Reed Mews Wellbeing Centre. Wellbeing spending rose to £1.1 million in 2017/18 compared with £652,000 two years previously. The Mind Your Head Society CoPresident Nicole Pascual told Exeposé “It’s great to see that we’re heading in the right direction towards a mental health service that is able to meet the need for mental health support amongst the student population. There is still a long way to go to enable all students that could benefit from wellbeing support to be able to have access to these services, but the recent rises in students accessing counselling and CBT services is very promising.” A University of Exeter spokesperson said: “Our priority is for students to have the easiest possible access to our broad range of high quality services. As well as traditional, structured psychological therapies we offer a broad range of additional support including single sessions, drop-ins and workshops, all of which allow swifter access to support for more students”.

If these issues affect you, please get in touch with: ‘Exeter Speak Out’: www.exeter.ac.uk/speakout/ report/ Guild Advice Unit: https://www.exeterguild.org/ advice/ Wellbeing Service: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/wellbeing/org.uk

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

NEWS

“We are excited to see how the Guild cancelled Respect performance due Guild can continue to work with to “circumstances beyond our control” the NUS” CONTINUED FROM FRONT ...Students’ Guild VP Welfare & Diversity Rose Ahier led the ‘Stay’ campaign. A campaign video posted to the campaign’s Facebook page featured contributions from Amatey Doku, the Deputy President of NUS, and Eden Ladley, LGBT Officer. Both representatives visited the campus during the week to support the Stay campaigners

Both campaigns did a fantastic job

Rosie McDonagh, VP Activities

The ‘Against’ campaign to disaffiliate was represented by Warren Bingham Roberts, Harry Burton and Will Klintworth. The ‘Against’ side campaigned from Exiter, a Facebook community of over 563 followers. Bingham-Roberts, the current Students’ Guild VP Education, and leader of the ‘Against’ campaign, said: “As disappointed as we are with the result, we’re grateful to the Agree campaign, and to

Grace and Rose, for the good nature and friendliness of the campaign.” Rosie McDonagh, Students’ Guild VP Activities, said: “I would like to congratulate both campaign teams on their efforts this week; they did a fantastic job in getting students involved in democracy, especially during such a busy time of the year. Very well done to the ‘Stay with NUS’ campaign for their success! It is so important to hear the voice of all our students on a decision this big, and we are excited to see how the Guild can continue to work with NUS to help benefit our students here at Exeter.” Ali Milani, NUS Vice President Union Development:, said “We’re delighted that Exeter students have voted to remain affiliated to NUS. This coming year is an important one as we reform NUS and rebuild the organisation, so student voices are genuinely heard and acted on, and students’ unions receive support that’s better than ever.. “We look forward to working with Exeter Students’ Union and our other members to achieve this.”

CONTINUED FROM FRONT ...performance was only confirmed days before the event... I am still a little disappointed because we all know Exeter University could do with all the celebration and recognition of diversity that it can get and this was to my mind the focal point for exactly that type of celebration during the summer term, when there is a lot to get involved with, but little related to diversity.” The Guild Spokesperson confirmed that the performers were informed of the cancellation via email before the official announcement was made The Spokesperson added “We can only apologise to those disappointed not to be performing at the showcase. We can assure students that we worked hard to find a solution as late as we could before making the difficult decision to cancel, and we understand students frustrations at the late cancellation. We are exploring options to rearrange in the next academic year to celebrate diversity at Exeter.” Olivia S. Murray, a third year student who attended the first day and planned on attending the St. Luke’s showcase to

support peers who were performing, told Exeposé that “it’s quite disappointing that after a day of talks to encourage education and understanding that those of us ready to attend the second day of the Respect Festival are not able to celebrate. Celebration of difference is such an important part of encouraging respect on campus. To cancel the event at such short notice with no apparent reasoning contradicts the very nature of this festival.”

Respect on Campus was an initiative started in 2018, taking the main Exeter Respect festival onto the University. The Students’ Guild website refers to the festival as a “dedicated celebration of diversity; using the creative and performing arts to engage the wider community in saying no to racism and all forms of prejudice”. Respect on Campus 2018 fea-

tured acts such as Natty, Macondo, and readings of Akala and Reni Eddo-Lodge. A Freedom of Information request sent in by Exeposé earlier this year discloses that the Provost Commission had spent approximately £15,000 on the festival in 2018. Dr. Suaad Genem George, the director of the main Exeter Respect festival, told Exeposé that whilst holding it as a two day festival this year was ambitious, she was optimistic for next year’s Respect on Campus. The event was planned to include both campuses in 2019, with the second day showcase planned to take place in St. Luke’s Quad, with pieces including spoken word poetry and music. The first day of events, on 30 May, involved a conference-style series of talks on topics such as bystander intervention, problems and practices of decolonisation in the academy and actions universities can take regarding the #MeToo movement. These talks were conducted by student leaders and staff members from both the Guild and the university, including senior management from both institutions, and were held in the Forum seminar rooms.

movement. Local school children who spoke at the rally said: “[The strikes] are extremely important to our future … my school, they made us all look like we were stupid for going to the strikes, but what we are doing is standing up for our future.”

Students had been denied exit from their school but managed to leave to join the strike, citing how important it is to them. It was the third YouthStrike rally to walk the streets of Exeter, but based on the large turnout for the event, it is unlikely to be the last.

Celebration of difference is important to encouraging respect on campus

Olivia S. Murray, third year student

Third climate strike brings Exeter YouthStrike and Extinction Rebellion together

Abi Taphouse & Harry Caton Online Screen Editor & Online Editor

N Friday 24 May, Exeter YouthStrike marched for the third time, in protest of climate change, calling for the government to take action. Starting outside Devon County Hall, protesters gave speeches and invited people to come up and speak. At just after half past 11am, the group marched along the pavement to Bedford Square in Exeter high street, where there was a pause with further opportunities for an open mic. At 1.:45pm, they then moved on to Bury Meadow Park, for final speeches and the end of the rally.

If you conform and be quiet you will be marginalised

Extinction Rebellion Activist

A group of student strikers also attended a meeting with local council members at the beginning of the rally. They planned a follow up meeting in which they can lay out more practical plans for reducing Exeter’s, and Devon’s, environmental impacts.

This strike comes just days after the University declared a climate emergency and the government passed a ban on many single use plastic items to take effect in April 2020. During the march, a section of the protest moved out onto the road, encouraged by an Extinction Rebellion protester. To the annoyance of the police present, the protester shouted, “it’s a protest, come out and block the road!” However, he only gained a few followers and all the protesters quickly moved back onto the pavement. The Extinction Rebellion activist said: “If we just conform, and stay on the pavement, and be quiet, and be nice, and wait at the traffic lights, then you will just be marginalised. And it [Government action on climate change] will be kicked down the road for another 30 years!” Caspar Hughes, an Extinction Rebellion Organiser, who has attended rallies in Exeter and London and was arrested when protesters held Waterloo Bridge, was pleased with the turn out at the strike. Regarding student strikers meeting with the council, Hughes said: “the only reason that is happening is because of the tandem workings

of Extinction Rebellion and the Youth Strikes coming out and repeatedly getting themselves in protest and crucially non-violent direct action.” There have been a number of rallies in Exeter in recent months, both by Extinction Rebellion and the YouthStrike

Image: Harry Caton

INTERVIEW

EXEPOSÉ | 3 JUN 2019

The Exeposé Talk: Sir Steve Smith and Janice Kay

Image: Aaron Loose

Megan Davies & Aaron Loose Contributor & Editor

T would be an understatement to say the last 17 years have been eventful for Sir Steve Smith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter who is also Chair of UCAS Trustees and a former President of Universities UK. When he joined in 2002, “the institution had a very clear view of where it was and it was wrong”, he tells us. “When we set the target of getting into the top 20, because we were 34th the year I arrived. And when we got into the top 10, people were saying: “yeah, that’s where we always were!”. And of course, we never were.” Janice Kay, Provost, explains how she was blown away when interviewing Smith for the most senior executive post in the University: “He did a really, phenomenally good analysis, and I thought: 'yeah, I know that… I know that too… I know about our applications, I know about…', and then I thought: 'Mm, no, I don’t know about that. No, and I certainly don’t know about that'. The real forensic view of the institution was really clear in his interview, and I think that’s how you’ve carried on, Steve, combined with a view of knowing where the University needed to be.” Then Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Kay explains that when she became Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education, she pitched a science strategy: “It was principally around what could we as a University be really good about? So there’s some things like Cancer Research, that we have got a proud reputation in in primary care, but we couldn’t actually build that to the level of some institutions. But we knew we could be really good in sustainability and the environment and climate change… No one thought that was a good idea, but actually everyone wants to know about those things.” But their roles have changed greatly, they explain, as has the University. Among the recurring issues with Exeter has been a succession of controversies including Emma Thompson’s criticism of the racism her son faced back in 2009, antisemitic graffiti in 2017, and the racist and misogynist group chat messages involving law students, which was exposed last year. Janice Kay is currently at the head of the Provost Commission, which was created as a reaction to the group chat. “I

think we had a number of, a small number actually, of deep issues to do with racism and sexism,” she explains. “It got to the point with the Bracton Law Society that I think we all felt enough was enough, and actually that we were - even though we had been addressing particular issues, sort of at the head as it were, trying to stop these issues, it didn’t appear (...) that we were necessarily taking the right actions or that the actions were slow. And so the Provost Commission was set up to look at root and branch, across students and staff, looking around culture change. It isn’t just racism, it’s looking at diversity in general and making the institution a much better place in which people can study and work. You know, it’s a really big thing to do, culture change is really very difficult. And I don’t think we shied away from some very big things, one of the things that we’ve been working on that we’ve just started at is student induction, it’s not... it’s very difficult, I think, if you are a member of a minority group, by definition, to take life to the full and to be engaged in academic work in any university. And I think we want to look at that really quite strongly. We’ve been doing that hand in hand with students, and indeed for staff, with staff.”

We'd have to drop from an average of three As to three Bs

Sir Steve Smith

On this point, Smith emphasises the changes Exeter has undergone, stressing that the University’s international recruitment. Out of about 13,000 students, he explains, only around 700 were international, “even as late as 2006”. “So it was very English. It had a fantastic history of recruiting from the home counties, and by definition, you therefore ended up with a very, really monocultural student body in a very monocultural part of the city. “Take Exeter back 15 years ago, there wasn’t the shopping, there wasn’t the culture, there wasn’t the Chinese New Year, there wasn’t Diwali; the University was the ethnic diversity! I remember, only 1.6% of the local population were black minority ethnic, and therefore it’s not something that’s been an issue just recently, it’s been an issue about the downside of being monocultural.”

Smith and Kay worked with the local school system as well as with then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on access to university. “But that doesn’t mean we’ve solved it, it does mean it’s not a trivial thing, it’s a deep issue about the nature of our identity.” Besides the Provost Commission, another hot topic has been decolonising the curriculum, a movement started in South Africa, which aims to broaden the material, knowledge and theory studied. Keele University, for example, has set out a manifesto which describes it as a “culture shift”. In Exeter, Kay says “this is really important and indeed I have funded some of that work with one of the students and it is actually part of the strand that Andrew McRae is leading as the doctorate dean, but past head of English, as part of the Provost Commission. “That is consistent with the view that we are a diverse institution and we want all our students to have the sense that they are global and that they are international.” Both academics agree that the process has to happen on a college or department level. Smith explains: “There’s a tension for us in being too prescriptive at the centre. As an individual, I am sympathetic to the decolonising the curriculum point. But I think one important point about the way we should operate as a university is that we don’t want to second-guess the professional judgement of academic colleagues. If the VC wants it or the Provost wants it, that doesn’t mean it should be done. “So we place a lot of responsibility and autonomy on the subject units, and actually there’s quite a lot going in Humanities, which I’ve observed warmly and supportively, but the great thing about universities is we’ve got some stunningly capable staff and members, and you leave it to them, other than saying that we really support a more decolonised agenda for teaching. “The difficulty would be if we tried to move to make that a requirement, we would probably be crossing the line on academic freedom. We want our staff and our student communities together, and that’s the key.” The other transformative event we talk about is the USS pension dispute, which saw four weeks of strike last spring. It led to profound change, Smith says. “There’s some obvious manifestations, the most important and the most immediate is the election of Jo Grady as

General Secretary of the UCU. And not just a narrow election, a whopping majority!” he points to a more active union both nationally and locally and “a clear breakdown of trust between employers, USS, UCU, UUK,... so relations are difficult”. “What all of us have to do is to try and these are not kind of pious words, we’ve got to come up with the solutions to the problems that were raised by the strike but in ways that protect future pensions. And that’s the complication, because whose future pensions? Those nearing retirement or those about to come into the profession?”

If we were “a business”, we would build more Holland Halls

Sir Steve Smith

But the strike was about more than pensions, just as the EU referendum was about more than the EU, he says. “It was about an alienation with marketisation, it was about change, you know, the world that people thought they joined as an academic is no longer the world they’re dealing with.” To deal with this deepening rift, the two point towards a reversal in decisionmaking processes as well as regular meetings with staff in every department. “So we’re trying to do it that way, but the truth of the matter is such is the cynicism and such is the understandable kind of issue about trust - we’re going to have to prove we do it for a long while,” says Smith. Meanwhile, the University has been expanding student numbers and is building new accommodation, especially after the City Council asked for more students to be housed on campus - discussions Smith dates back to 2008. “We’ve actually reduced the percentage of students now living in the city in houses of multiple occupancy considerably, and we’re working very closely with the city on where additional student accommodation will go ... it’s crucially meant that housing costs for local people have not risen as much as they had been rising. “Now, there’s an increase in the number over the last decade of those houses that are available for the local population. Because the really awful thing was that if you were a young family on not very high salaries or wages in the city, students were able to outbid you for housing.”

Over timr, the University have found that of the space they have in halls, there is more demand for high-end rooms. “If we were quote “a business”, we would build more Holland Halls. We would! “And so although we’ve put in lowcost, some low-cost provision in to East Park, economically, the likelihood is the ones that will be vastly oversold will be the most expensive ones,” says Smith. Kay adds: “I really wish that students wouldn’t feel that in October or November of their first year, they have to rush out and get a house. And you get all kind of a sense of panic and anxiety, and very young - often - students about where they’re going to go to and I think there are issues there in terms of the way landladies and landlords look at the student population.” As the University grows, the number of 18-year-olds is due to decrease over the next few years, before increasing again. Smith explains that despite an email from the Office for Students warning that if universities plan for rising student numbers (as they currently do), “something’s going to go wrong,” Exeter is “comfortable with our projections” - people want to come here. “If we absolutely needed to fill places, we could easily do it - but we’d have to drop from an average of three As, or an A* and two As, to three Bs for those students. But we don’t think we’ll need to.” When we spoke, the advert recruiting a new Vice-Chancellor had just been published. “There’ll be a tremendous field and it’s a great job, it’ll be a fantastic job for someone to get,” Smith says. “What a hard act to follow,” Kay adds. “Steve will be really, really hard to replace. But be sure of this: Steve will be Vice-Chancellor until the second before he leaves.” Looking to the future, what are the biggest issues facing higher education? Private providers, Smith says, which “don’t protect the interests of students”. He warns against a movement towards the American model, where private providers charge notoriously high fees. Both also point towards rising mental health issues, both for attending students and academic staff. Overall, Exeter has to stay strong in teaching and research so that the term “forever institution” is justified. And Smith is optimistic. “The overwhelming feeling I have for this worth is that Exeter’s an incredibly strong place to do that and I feel very confident about the future.”

3 JUNE 2019| EXEPOSÉ

Comment

COMMENT EDITORS:

Isabelle Gray Deepa Lalwani

Guild Society Officers: are we being represented?

Edd Church Contributor

F you are a committee member of a society or student group, a new system of representation in the Guild could significantly alter the way you approach issues you have within your society. Exeter Students’ Guild recently unveiled a new form of society representation, in the form of more society officers. For many students, including readers of Exeposé, this may seem bureaucratic, boring and unimportant.

Media groups will be recognised within the Guild structure To an extent, it is. Adding additional society and student group officers largely just increases a bloat in the efficiency of an already large organisation. However, scrutiny and explanation of such changes in student representation are an important facet of being engaged with our student union. If you’re still with me, let’s look at how representation has changed—and the

pros and cons of the new system. While it may not always appear as such, the Guild is a representative body set up to encourage solidarity and advocacy among students. It is a union. Over the years this has morphed into the organisation we see today: from the Ram, to Exeposé, to Game of Thrones Society, to the annual Guild elections. All of these require governance, and the average student who is understandably bored by such terminology may not see the importance of changes to how societies are represented at the upper echelons of the Guild. Prior to the recent change, the Societies Council represented Guild Societies (Game of Thrones Society, Labour Students, Conservative Students, Korfball Society etc,) and student groups (XMedia, RAG, ExTunes, etc.). This council was chaired by the Deputy Vice President (DVP) Societies and had 11 members. Their primary role was to deal with new society ideas and affiliations and funding, acting “for the benefit of all societies and students.” Most of this has remained the same, but more positions have now been added. The changes include

increasing the number of officers to 13, splitting some of the existing roles and including a ‘Media Societies Officer’. A seemingly minor change, however, can have significant consequences from a media committee perspective. The pros, firstly, means that media groups are recognised within the

Image: Aaron Loose

non-executive (outside of Sabbatical Officers) representational structures of the Guild. As a committee member of two media societies over two years, I have often felt that the individual status and needs of publications or

broadcasters prevent us from operating like other societies. This has sometimes led to missed opportunities or clashes with the Guild. In short, it’s nice to be recognised. Also, for non-XMedia publications such as RAZZ, who are just as overworked as we are, it means they are given some extra help which is often lost or overshadowed in favour of XMedia. However, the cons are more wideranging. As of the time of writing, prior to the addition of two more positions, 4 out of 11 of the current society officer positions are vacant. This suggests a lack of engagement with a representational structure. When no one wants to stand for a role, adding more roles to the same effect does not good representation make. Specifically, the dangers of adding more positions include people running, unopposed, for a position, just for a line on their CV. As a result, we could get people in vital positions of representation acting in post without good reason. Representation for representation’s sake is not helpful. Adding to what can often seem like pointlessly bureaucratic councils with more members does not

make me feel optimistic that future committees can rest assured their issues will be dealt with by a human in a quick and responsive manner. If all of the problems which a newspaper, radio station, magazine or TV group, even those which are fast-fixes, are taken to a group meeting — it’s quite possible that Exeter’s student media will fall behind.

Representation for representation’s sake is not helpful

Being the Station Manager for XpressionFM this year, and therefore a ‘Head of Media’, has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my University career. It is, of course, something of a cliché at this point for society presidents across the Students’ Guild: it’s been a fantastic year which is looking to become a springboard for a future career. What I’ve learnt from being in this position is that the Guild is at its best when it is people-facing and as human as possible. Councils can be great, but only when they have clear purpose and limits on what can be taken to them.

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Finding hope after graduation

David Conway Contributor

T’S been three years of work, of essays, of wandering around the library at 3am in the hope some words come out. It’s all been leading to this. This moment. This achievement. This culmination. There’s only one problem here – I have no idea what ‘this’ is. I mean, there are names and phrases for it: graduation, finishing, moving on. In your head, as you’re agonising over one word of your dissertation for hours on end, it seems like the golden horizon, a time of unadulterated bliss and parties. Yet, as I finally pressed the fabled ‘submit’ button on BART and sent my last piece of work as an undergrad off, the expected celebratory feeling didn’t arrive. Sitting in the library, surrounded by a bunch

of strangers, there was no fanfare at all. I simply texted my friends to tell them I was done, got due congratulations, and then went home, and straight into bed. There were celebrations going on, but after 8,000 words of a subject I had completely exhausted, collapsing into bed was the only option I could put my mind towards.

It’s all been leading to this... but I have no idea what ‘this’ is

A few days later, celebrations had properly begun. However, as we all sat in the pub, one question kept on looming over our conversations: what now? A lot of us have become almost accustomed to having our direction dictated to us in some way by our degree, or the opportunities surrounding it (whether they be

internships or voluntary work). Though faint ideas of journalism and writing have defined how I responded to questions about my career ambitions, there’s never been a clear path of how I should suddenly bust out of the university bubble and into the next stage. It’s always seemed like a blank space that would somehow fill itself when the time came: a deeply naïve assumption, of course. This kind of ‘nothing space’ is where I’ve been for nearly a month now, filled with days of browsing Google (unsuccessfully) for opportunities to submit things, and trying to find ways to occupy the time I have left in Exeter. There’s been fantastic trips out across beautiful places like Exmouth and beyond the Quay, with lots of precious hours spent with friends. But between these moments, there’s a returning sense of guilt that I should be doing more, that I should

be constantly looking to the future, the word ‘productivity’ constantly ringing in my ears.

There’s a returning sense of guilt that I should be looking to the future However, at the time of writing, I’ve just come back from an evening with friends, watching summer romance Call Me By Your Name (2017). Although its dreamy warmth and the perplexing dance moves of Armie Hammer had me enraptured, I had a question surrounding many of its characters; what are they doing? Much of the film is set ‘somewhere in Italy’, and simply follows a drifting romance where many characters don’t appear to be doing much at all beyond enjoying the sun and the Italian countryside. There’s something comforting in

Image: Deepa Lalwani

that though, especially at this moment in time for myself. Maybe the ‘nothing space’ I’m currently inhabiting is richer in experience than I think. Just as the characters enjoy the ephemeral joy of the summer, maybe I can enjoy watching a film with my friends without thinking about where I’m going. Uncertainty isn’t going to go away any time soon, I know that much. But in this strange period between the end of my degree and graduating into the world outside the uni bubble, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing. Though I’m a person who constantly needs purpose, sometimes the simple purpose of spending time with friends and appreciating the time we have to ourselves is more than enough. I’m not saying the fear’s going to go away, but perhaps making peace with it, and enjoying being a bit lost in the middle of nowhere, is the healthiest way to go.

3 JUNE 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

COMMENT

A closer look at the climate emergency Neha Shaji Contributor

FTER being initially excited to receive the email about the University declaring a climate emergency, I gave it a second read to consider the policies and actions put into place regarding reducing the institution’s environmental impact.

The University should address areas in which they are currently deficient The primary steps outlined are long-term policies, such as the promise to utilise the University’s “significant research strength” to create a “challenging but achievable long-term carbon management strategy”, and to identify further actions the University

can take. In addition to the outlined plans of research, the Environmental and Sustainability Institute will collaborate with Cornwall Council on 3 June with the aim of looking at actions beyond the declaration of a climate emergency. This is, of course, very promising. However, it must be said that addressing climate change and planning to come up with policies are only the first and second steps in a considerably longer journey. Moreover, said promises are quite vague and it would have been more heartening to see the University refer to not only the indefinite concept of climate change and sustainability, but rather addressing the relevant areas that the institution is currently deficient in. Exeter should be open about specific areas the University should adjust, and be transparent with the students when seeking solutions to climate change. Indeed, addressing the University

as a standalone institution is not nearly enough. On 2 May, Divest Penryn held a protest which called for the University to ‘Stop Funding Climate Breakdown’. The group claims that the University’s endowment fund continues to hold shares worth £2 million in

Image: Harry Caton

several fossil fuel companies. The email sent by the Vice Chancellor states that the institution has committed to establishing and developing a sustainability strategy and an ethical investment policy.

Universities must be transparent about the specifics of these issues However, students need to be provided with more detail as to why the University needs to address the impact it holds beyond the campus boundaries, and which companies they will be cutting out – in the interests of both transparency, and to encourage students from other universities to scrutinise external investment just as much as on-campus policies. Extinction Rebellion recently held a set of protests across London that

halted the city for days, with protesters chaining themselves to railings and disrupting transportation networks. Youth Strike 4 Climate reached Exeter, with thousands of students walking out of schools to protest governmental and corporate attitudes towards climate change. Whilst Divest Penryn is based in Cornwall, there should be similar pressure groups at Streatham and other campuses, in place to hold university management to account on both campus sustainability and ethical investment. In tandem with this, universities must themselves provide an air of transparency to these groups and concerned students about the specifics of the issues they are planning to adjust. The environment has become a political issue as of now, rather than merely a set of personal choices taken by individuals, and should be treated as such in academic institutions.

FRUIT CORNER Cherry Tomatoes

PAPAYA

Harry Caton Online Editor

Emma Hussain Online News Editor

Ish Gurung Contributor

O, the cranberry. A bit sour, right? Certainly, this bright red berry seems to carry more of an aesthetic appeal than any actual, tangible sensation on its own. Often plastered across the fronts of juice drinks - which, in taste, bear very little resemblance to the fruit itself - it’s the red-berried stepchild of the berry world. More often seen than actually heard of (or indeed tried), they’ve come to merely represent a generic sense of ‘fruitiness’, rather than an actual character. You’d be forgiven for thinking they even taste good. Around Christmastime, my mum has a tendency to pluck one or two from the package I’ve bought, pop them into her mouth, and grimace. Despite the apparent bitterness, she’ll maintain the sensibility instilled through adverts, packaging, and the whole effect of fruit-bedecked cornucopias past: “Oh! So sweet! So refreshing!” What are they even good for, then? To be honest, the question has often stumped me. Around Christmastime, however, comes a chance for the fruit to show its true colours. See, when boiled (with a little bit of sugar and brandy) that sour thing turns sweet. Give it 20 minutes of slow-cooking in a pot, and you have yourself the sweetest, chunkiest sauce. A little ways removed from itself, the cranberry finds purpose. It’s ironic that the only good variant of the cranberry bears no resemblance to its popular, aestheticised form. In turn, I’d say that there’s a lesson in there, for all of us. The humble cranberry could teach us a thing or two. Maybe.

HE cherry tomato is the pinnacle of summer produce. Occupying that strange liminal space between fruit and vegetable, it effortlessly enhances any summer dish at a relatively low price. Sweeter, easier to prepare, and frankly cuter than a regular tomato, the cherry variety is a rousing summer success served cooked or raw. It adds colour and a simultaneously soft and crunchy texture to a salad, and cooked, it can shake up the classic student diet. Put the pre-made tomato sauce back in the cupboard, because a handful of cherry tomatoes with basil and garlic will give you a pasta experience you won’t forget! The cherry tomato is also an easy on-the-go snack. You can stick a few in a Tupperware and, much like grapes or blueberries, graze at your convenience. It also has a few sisters that will do nicely if Tesco is out of the strain you’re searching for: plum, pear and grape tomatoes. Did I know the latter two varieties existed before researching for this article? No, but they sound delicious. The diversity of the tomato experience doesn’t stop there. While the cherry tomatoes we know best are staunchly red, legend tells of the yellow and orange varieties you can track down in markets and greengrocers. What an easy way to improve the aesthetic of a salad! Surprisingly, the tomato can be a divisive fruit, with many full-grown adults still claiming it’s not for them. If this is you, reader, let me implore you to give the sweet joy of a cherry tomato a second chance this summer season.

ITH the summer sun starting to shine, forget conventional berries in favour of papaya, the second largest berry (after pumpkins) at an impressive average of 11.8 inches long. They’re a beneficial bargain buy at only around £1.80 at even Waitrose (other retailers are available), and here’s why. Firstly, papaya is great both during and after an alcohol-infused night out. Following a night of Caribbean Red Papaya Punch cocktails at Monkey Suit, it’s helpful for hangovers the morning after, since it features a water content of 80 percent - plenty to keep you hydrated. Additionally, at only a low 60 calories per ripe papaya, it’s also perfect for attaining that summer body that you promised yourself. Fabulously versatile, you can consume papaya in several forms, from that of a tropical fruit salad to a saucy salsa with a bit of spice, but it’s particularly ideal as a midnight snack, since it’s rich in sugars but low in fat. In addition, papayas contain an enzyme called papain - this aids digestion and is high in fibre. As the saying goes, “a papaya a day keeps the constipation away.” A final fun fact? Raw papaya possesses contraceptive qualities - containing a type of latex which may induce uterine contractions, it’s so powerful that pregnant women are recommended to avoid eating it. But while they miss out, whether you’re eating or drinking it, papaya is an tropically exotic option to get you by until your holidays.

Images: liz west / Flickr, eminens / Pixabay, 3centista / Pixabay

CRANberries

Hailey .M Tshuma National Union of Students exp: 09/09/19

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3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

Features

FEATURES EDITORS: Jaysim Hanspal William Harrop

Voting in the world’s largest democracy Neha Shaji assesses voting in Indian elections and the measures in place to improve it

Image: Goutam Roy

NDIA, with a population well over a billion, is often touted as the world’s largest democracy. The general election, held once every five years, is a process that spans out in phases, across weeks and regions rather than being held over a day or two as it is done here. However, an election held on such a scale has, as expected, several issues that lead to millions of people being disenfranchised – more often than not, these people belong to minority groups.

Millions of minorities have been totally disenfranchised Journalist DP Satish maintained that around 50 to 60 names were missing from each of the 150 booths in an assembly seat in Bengaluru North. Another journalist, Saahil Murli Menghani, tweeted that Fatima Inter College, a Muslim dominated booth in Amroha constituency in Uttar Pradesh has over 16 per cent voters (150 out of 900) deleted from the list. Amongst more celebrated voters, Yamini Mazumdar, 87, mother of Biocon chairperson and Managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, could not vote as her name was removed from the voters list. Several other people also tweeted that despite having a PAN, Aadhaar, driving licence and a voter card, they were not able to cast their vote as their names were absent from the voter’s list. ‘Missing Voters’, an app created in 2018 to estimate the number of disenfranchised voters across the

country, resulted in 400, 000 people registering to vote who, whilst eligible, were not on the electoral roll. The app’s creator, Khalid Saifullah, estimates that a further 120 million eligible voters may not be on voting lists, with a disproportionate 70 million of them possibly Muslims and Dalits. Women are also targeted in this mass disenfranchisement; The Verdict: Decoding India’s Elections suggests that 21 million eligible women voters are disenfranchised presently, based on a comparison to census data. This translates to approximately 40, 000 missing female voters in every constituency on average. The north of India seems to suffer worse in a gender imbalance on the electoral roll, whilst the vote share follows census data trends in the south.

40,000 missing female voters in every constituency

As the elections are run on such a massive scale, the majority of electoral issues are dealt with by rank and file officers in the electoral commission. Rank and file officers can, of course, be effortlessly bribed – and it is much easier for an established politician to bribe a

member of the civil service. This March, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh accused his rival of deleting names from the electoral role in the guise of deleting “faux entries”.

Image: Incredibly numing

The opposition leader conceded the fact, and admitted to using an app to profile voters and delete “fake” names from the electoral register. India’s opposition parties, since the introduction of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines), have complained about large scale tampering and fraud regarding the devices. Some allegations

of fraud include large scale changing of votes and miscounting of votes taking place in EVM strongrooms, as well as possible hacking of the machines. However, as EVMs are offline and not connected to any particular network, hacking is not really possible as they are standalone units. Electoral experts in Washington have stated that one of the only method of tampering with these machines would be to physically alter the machine – this would be difficult due to these strongrooms b e i n g carefully observed by both the ruling and opposition parties. Indeed, EVMs are more effective and less prone to corruption than the previous method of voting in national elections – paper ballots. In a country as polarised as India tends to be elections, ballot stuffing was a common practice, especially under the regime of Indira Gandhi in the late 1970s. Ballot stuffing refers to thugs taking over polling booths, keeping genuine voters out, and marking the ballots themselves under the eye of a bribed civil service officer. These are issues which the system of “election staining” (marking an index finger with

indelible ink to prevent repeated voting) cannot address. The EVM system, whilst prone to tampering, combines a paper trail with the electronic vote and thus is much harder to falsify. More than corrupt voting, disenfranchisement is more of an issue for India. The primary groups who are mysteriously ‘off ’ the electoral register are marginalized peoples, such as Dalits, Muslims, and rural women. These groups would tend to vote in socialist and socially liberal trends, thus against the far right policies of the currently ruling government. Access to franchise is also dependent on financial circumstances. To vote in the general elections, one needs a voter ID, Aadhar card, and PAN card – documents which, for the vast swathes of rural and disengaged populations, are difficult to obtain.

The EVM system makes voting much harder to falsify Of course, the ‘Missing Voters’ app allows for people to get back onto the registers if they have been removed due to fraud or accessibility issues. However, this too relies on an access to smartphones one cannot take for granted, especially with regard to the financially unstable. What can be done is to increase transparency into the voting procedure; the Electoral Commission keeping a sterner eye on electoral rolls, publicising electoral rolls so people can be updated on their voter status, and to make public the source code of EVMs to avoid polarising suspicion.

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

FEATURES

Alabama, the UK and abortion Megan Davies explores the issues surrounding abortion restrictions in Alabama and the UK

HEN the Alabama Senate passed legislation making it illegal to perform an abortion, the news was hard to miss. What felt like the entire population of social media, including those in the UK and continental Europe, were appalled at the laws, which would effectively ban abortions. To be clear, the law will ban performing abortions (by punishing them with 10 to 99 years in prison), but receiving them is not technically illegal; and it comes into effect in January 2020. Not that this makes much of a difference. When the law does come into effect, its most immediate repercussion will be that it will be impossible to get an abortion in Alabama. But the picture is more complicated than this: soon after the initial outrage, campaigners started to point out the hypocrisy of a British public that is outraged at laws on the other side of the world when the legislation in Northern Ireland is just as draconian.

In the long run campaigners are hoping to overturn Roe V. Wade

In the long term, campaigners are hoping to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling - which currently gives a woman the right to decide whether to have an abortion. Because Roe v. Wade is a Supreme Court judgement, it is basically deemed constitutional that women can access abortions. That means that the new Alabama legislation is, for now, unconstitutional. This could change, however, if a challenge to the Alabama law worked its way up to the Supreme Court. Pro-life campaigners have openly said that they trust that Donald Trump’s appointees will, then, overturn Roe v. Wade. Arguably, though, a law that lacks an exception for rape or incest might have a hard time in the Supreme Court -

Image: Jordan Uhl

even the most draconian abortion laws usually make this exception. And the legal implications are only just starting to show: Planned Parenthood have announced that they will be filing a lawsuit against the Alabama ban.

Activists report that restrictions on abortion are even harsher in Northern Ireland

This forms only one part of a developing anti-abortion movement that has also seen a total of 17 abortion bans, across ten different states, including the so-called “heartbeat bills” in Georgia, where abortion is only allowed until the sixth week of pregnancy. Other bans include Missouri, Arkansas and Utah, and vary between six and 20 weeks. “All these various paths lead to the same goal”, the Guttmacher Institute, which studies sexual and reproductive rights, finds, “setting up a legal showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court to roll back abortion rights and allow abortion to be banned by ideologues within the states.” None of these laws are in effect yet.

So how do these laws compare to those already in place in Northern Ireland? Activists in Northern Ireland have said that theirs is actually harsher than the Alabama law.

Westminster is able to change the NI law, campaigners argue

Firstly, in Northern Ireland, it is the receiving abortion which is punishable. Goretti Horgan, Lecturer in Social Policy at Ulster University, told The Guardian that “The [Alabama] law is not as harsh in its penalties for women who cause their own abortions, though – in Alabama only doctors face up to life imprisonment. Here in Northern Ireland, women who cause their own abortion continue to face up to life in prison if convicted.” At least one Northern Irish woman is facing prosecution for acquiring abortion pills for her teenage daughter. While the Alabama law has brought attention to the Northern Irish one in recent months, the discussion here is whether it is a devolved matter: Westminster is

able to change the NI law, campaigners argue. A spokesperson for BPAS told Sky News that “While our politicians condemn Alabama for its actions we need to make sure they take the necessary actions to ensure all women in the UK have the rights they deserve. Westminster has the power to act on abortion in Northern Ireland and it's running out of excuses not to do so." Others suggest that Westminster is able to legislate on human rights and that therefore this falls within their purview.

Neither side of the debate in the US are particularly inclusive of women of colour

Alternatively, however, Northern Irish groups have complained that it is mostly English people who have asked their English MPs to change the Northern Ireland law. If there is going to be change, it seems that it cannot just come from Westminster. So, in the meantime, is it OK to get an abortion in Alabama? Technically, yes. However, there are only three abortion clinics in the entire state, and because two appointments are needed, abortion is difficult to access. Again, Alabama is not isolated here, Texas having attracted attention for presenting a similar situation. Accessing abortion in the US South is interwoven with the p r iv i l e g e of living in an urban area, having access to transportation, somewhere to stay overnight (two appointments are required), and so on. Trouble also comes when someone administers their own abortion - this act would be criminalised. Campaigners have argued that this

means that anyone who appears like they might have had an abortion (bearing in mind that a miscarriage and an abortion look the same) could be prosecuted. As a result, it is poor people and people of colour who will be harmed first and suffer the most - poor people, because they won’t be able to travel out of state; and people of colour, who are routinely penalised more harshly than white communities. Sadly, neither side of the debate, in the U.S. especially, is particularly inclusive of women of colour: the antiabortion movement compares abortion to slavery, but women of colour have also been alienated from a very white prochoice movement.

Abortion is already only accessible to a privileged few

But abortion is already only accessible to a privileged few, activists say. Up until now, a commonplace tactic of antiabortion groups has been to increasingly implement limits on abortion providers, leaving states with a tiny number of abortion clinics. Abortions are also costly: pro-choice groups cite figures ranging from $500 to $20,000 on top of a huge minefield of paperwork and DNA tests - including for rape survivors. As Mara Clarke, co-founder of the Abortion Support Network, told the New Republic: “The s w e e p - i t - u n d e r - t h e - r u g solution of saying women can simply ‘travel to England’ completely ignores not only the people who are most vulnerable—those with violent or controlling partners, those who have caring responsibilities, those who cannot take time off work without losing pay— as well as overlooks the lunacy of forcing citizens from one part of the United Kingdom to turn what should be a fiveminute outpatient medical procedure and turning it into a 12-to-18-hour trip to another jurisdiction.”

FEATURES

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

Decolonising Oxbridge

Bethan Gilson analyses how Britain's elite universities have confronted their colonial pasts

N the 1990s, a historiographical shift sometimes termed 'New Imperial History' saw attempts made by historians to understand the impact of imperialism within the British metropole. Representing the two polarities of the debate were John Mackenzie and Bernard Porter. Through an analysis of popular culture, Mackenzie argued that institutions such as the education system, the cinema and the dancehall were ‘hotbeds of imperialism’, which in turn created an imperialist mindset amongst Britons. This imperialist mindset was based on the notion of British and ultimately white supremacy. Conversely, Bernard Porter argued that Mackenzie’s research privileged the middle classes, positing that the working class lived more parochially and therefore were more concerned with their everyday lived experiences than the wider project of imperialism and the implications it brought with it. He also cited research which demonstrated that many Britons could not name a colony, in support of his argument that most Britons did not adopt an imperialist mindset. Though the research was mainly focused on the period of British Colonialism before the Partition of India in 1947, it also raised the question of to what extent this imperialist mindset had persisted beyond the period of colonialism? One arena in which this has been researched is academia, particularly within the social space of the Oxbridge Universities. In 2015 students at Oxford University called for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College. It took inspiration from the Rhodes Must Fall campaign at the University of Cape Town, South Africa which also called for the removal of a statue of Rhodes. Rhodes was the former Image: Pjposullivan1

Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, an advocate of settler colonialism and held white supremacist views, believing non-white individuals to be "barbaric". The campaign, much like the topic of imperialism generally, was highly divisive.

The Empire is seen as something to be proud of In political rhetoric and much of formal education, the Empire is presented as a source of pride for Britons. Or rather, the subject of Empire is avoided altogether, which creates a sense of historical amnesia. The implication of this is that Britons are unaware of the brutality of Empire, particularly the violence used against non-white individuals within the colonies. Furthermore, it ignores the historical and complex relationship between the Metropole and the former colonies, leading many to imagine Britain and Britishness as exclusively white. Consequently, the students involved in the campaign were accused by many commentators of being disrespectful, unpatriotic and possessing a lack of understanding about Empire. The decision was made that the statue would remain after donors threatened to withdraw gifts and funding to the college should the statue be removed. The controversy raised awareness of the vested interest that many individuals have in the system of colonialism and in turn, its presence or memorialisation in contemporary society. Earlier this year St. Johns College, Oxford,

revealed that it would be taking steps towards investigating how the college had profited from the British Empire. All Souls College, Oxford, have released a scholarship to address its legacy of slavery. Cambridge University have launched a study to investigate the institution’s historical links to the slave trade. In Oxbridge particularly, there has been a widespread call to ‘decolonise’ the curriculum, encouraging the inclusion of writers from black and minority ethnic group backgrounds and the stories of nonwhite individuals to be delivered through the education system. Attempts are, at a surface level, being made to understand Britain’s colonial legacy. It’s significant that theses strides are being taken in the social space of Oxbridge, because it is predominanted by a privileged elite and this has a racialised dimension. Statistics for entry from 20152017 demonstrate that an individual who is white is twice as likely as an individual who is non-white to gain admittance to Oxford University. It could be argued that racialised differences in terms of the success rate are a by-product of a persistent colonial mindset, because they rest upon the implicit assumption that whites are superior to non-whites. Understanding Britain’s empire in a historical, complex and non-romanticised way allows for a deeper analysis of how a knowledge system that is based on Colonial modes of thought operates; one

that privileges the minds and capabilities of white individuals over non-white individuals, creating almost exclusively white social spaces.

Attempts are being made to understand Britain's colonial legacy However, care must be taken when considering whose voices are privileged in the process of ‘decolonising’ the education system. Cambridge University sparked controversy for appointing a white academic to research its colonial legacy. This is significant because it seems to present a dynamic where, once again, white voices are privileged. An integral part of ‘decolonising’ not only our education system, but our minds, is to listen to voices from, to use a slightly problematic term, ‘minority’ backgrounds; in the words of Spivak, to "let the subaltern speak". One reason for this is that it provides opportunities for non-white academics in a domain where they are often marginalised. Furthermore, when considering the impact of relics of imperialism or colonial legacy, white people are ultimately in a different position. Whilst the reminders of imperialism may make white people feel uncomfortable, it is a different kind of discomfort. Ultimately, it is a form of ‘white guilt’, which removes the focus from those who suffered at the hands of imperialism, marginalising their emotions and their experiences. This is not to say that white academics cannot study the history of race or the legacy of colonialism. Of course, it is important to have a wide range of voices, to vocalise and understand the more problematic areas of Britain’s imperial past and ‘post-imperial’

present. This is demonstrated in the work of Mackenzie, Porter and many others referenced in the opening of the article. These were and remain important contributions to understanding Britain’s colonial legacy. However, when a white academic occupies the position of the lead in an investigation such as this one, they are ultimately in a privileged position, not just in their position of leadership but also in their position of a white person in a Britain that has been imagined and constructed as white.

White guilt removes the focus from those who suffered under colonialism When grime artist Stormzy announced that he would provide scholarships to two black UK students who were admitted to Cambridge University in Autumn 2018, there was public outcry, calls of reverse racism and privilege. It is interesting that when an initiative privileges non-white voices it is criticised, but when an initiative privileges white voices, those who criticise it are deemed over-sensitive. Whilst of course Oxbridge also has problems in terms of classism and its state school intake, it shouldn’t mean that issues of race are side-lined. All systems of hierarchy and privilege need to be unravelled within the Oxbridge community, but there should be opportunities for those who suffer at the hands of these hierarchies to play a central role in this unravelling. Through listening to their voices, stories and emotions we gain a more authentic understanding of colonial legacy; we approach the issue with compassion. It is time to propel the voices of those who are so often unheard.

lifestyle

MUSIC

ARTS + LIT

STUDY BREAK

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Art as an act of therapy

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Body Positivi-tea

The teens are all right

Graduation swansongs

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LIFESTYLE EDITORS Anna Romanovska Izzy Cole

ARTS + LIT EDITORS Cherry-Anastasia Boroceanu Zach Mayford

MUSIC EDITORS Bryony Gooch Richard Ainslie

SCREEN EDITORS Jonathan Chern Sam Thomson

STUDY BREAK Puzzles by Alfred and Isabelle 3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÃ&#x2030;

lifestyle

Are you a 'poolside poser?'

Abi Taphouse, Online Screen Editor, discusses the controversy surrounding new swimwear trend

ARLIER this week I came across a tweet by an outraged woman who had been duped by PrettyLittleThing (PLT) into buying an item labelled “swimwear” but marked only for “poolside posing.” This tweet caught my eye because the water she had put her bikini into was bright blue! I am talking, the colour of your tongue after downing at least three blue Slush Puppies at the summer fete. Not only had she been ripped off by PLT, charging £30 per item (£60 total for a – no doubt – very poor quality bikini), but to her horror, discovered she cannot even swim in it. Not daring to think about what dye had been used to make the water so aggressively blue, the fundamental issue with this kind of “swimwear” is, should it be labelled as “swimwear” at all? Although it looked like an item of swimwear, there is no way you could swim in this bikini. Nor could you wash it. So, unless you plan to wear it for five minutes and then take it off, I am unsure how you ever wear it at all. For many people I am sure, the purpose of swimwear is to swim! In real water! PLT seemed rather unforgiving in their communications with the woman, covering themselves by putting that the item is for

“poolside posing” in the product specificaenvironmental battle against fast fashion, tions. But, after a lifetime of buying swimcheap products with a high carbon footwear that you can get into contact with print, we are also in a world that is slowly water, it is nothing short of shocking that trying to push back against the “ideal womPLT find this acceptable. According to The an”. The emphasis on your body shape, size, Daily Mail, a PLT spokesperson said, “Pretcolour, texture, scent, and whatever else will tyLittleThing does advise customers on be deemed important next week. PLT is not the styles which we do not recommend be only choosing to not advocate for these isworn for swimming.” They go on to suggest sues, but is actively working against them. if customers are unsure of the purBy creating a bikini that you physically pose and suitability of their cannot swim in, (they’re someswimwear range they times awkward enough to can contact PLT and swim in anyway), they they will provide are perpetuating further advice. the idea that girls But doesn’t this should be sat next whole debate to the pool lookseem inane ing attractive, anyway? Rerather than in gardless of the pool having how PLT try to fun, or choosing cover all legal what they want bases by not to do themselves. mis-selling prodIt places emphasisucts, why are prodnot on being active ucts that are created and enjoying yourpurely for vanity reaselves, but on concern for sons being made? your appearance. In a world Not only are we in a constant already filled with Instagram modImage: Margot Pandone

els and influencers posting flawless pictures of themselves, PLT is subconsciously telling young women that this is what they should be concerned with. Even more worryingly, by telling young women that they should be focussing on their appearance rather than being active, they perpetuate the dangerous diet fads that are all too common.

THE PURPOSE OF SWIMWEAR IS TO SWIM IN REAL WATER Young women who are portrayed as posessing the perfect figure rarely seem to be seen to be doing actual exercise (because they do not post it on Instagram), laying all their success to some diet pill or juice cleanse. Not only is it unhealthy to treat your body in this way, but it is also a lie. PLT needs to take more responsibility for its actions and consequently its influence on young women. We are approaching a turn towards realistic depictions of women and revealing the truth behind these idealised depictions, but brands like PLT will only hold us back in furthering this success.

(Unsplash)

The right to autonomy Bethan Gilson addresses the recent changes to abortion laws

Image: freestocks.org

BORTION is a highly divisive issue. Most recently, the focus has been on America and its abortion laws. In May, Alabama passed a near-outright abortion ban, including in cases of rape and incest. Other states have passed ‘heartbeat bills’, banning abortion as soon as a heartbeat can be detected. The aim of such legislation is to challenge the 1973 ‘Roe v. Wade’ ruling which effectively legalised abortion. The ruling led to the use of three trimesters to determine whether an abortion could take place, generally allowing abortion in both the first and second trimesters, roughly months four, five and six. The heartbeat bills restrict abortion as early as six weeks, where in many cases women will not even suspect that they’re pregnant. Perhaps the issue that has generated the most fervent discussion, is the fact that most of the legislators passing such bills are white, middle class men. The central concern is that these men will never have to have an abortion. The prospect of pregnancy and the access of abortion has a daily impact on the lives of cisgender and transgender women, gender non-

conforming people with uteruses. However, there are very few of those voices involved in the construction of abortion law. This is demonstrated by how such individuals have galvanised through marches and social media in the past few weeks. These are voices of individuals who understand the reality of irregular periods and the menstrual cycle that has been overlooked in the construction of the heartbeat bills; individuals whose everyday decisions about their sexual activity are consciously impacted by the prospect of pregnancy and abortion. There are comparisons to be made with last year’s Repeal the Eighth campaign in Ireland. Ireland’s abortion laws are heavily influenced by religion and the belief in the sanctity of the foetus’ life. These arguments are reiterated by prolifers in the US who argue that the foetus has a right to autonomy, with the pro-life movement also largely influenced by religion. The Repeal the Eighth Campaign was fought and won by countless every day women in Ireland, not men in suits. They carried the stories of individuals like May McGee and fought for justice. Real change

comes from below. When we incorporate a diverse range of voices in decision making, our decisions are both more compassionate and more appropriate. It is important that we fight the injustice that this abortion legislation proposes, but it is also important that we look deeper. The American healthcare system of private healthcare means that unless you have federal or publicly funded healthcare, the legality of abortion is rendered irrelevant because the expense of the process means it remains inaccessible for many workingclass women and women of colour. So we must consider the reform of the healthcare system so that abortion, if needed, is an option for women of all socio-economic backgrounds.

É If these issues affect you, you can get in touch with: Nightline: 01392724000 BPAS: 03457 30 40 30 www.bpas.org Student Minds support group: exeter@studentminds.org.uk Wellbeing Services: exeter.ac.uk/wellbeing

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The tea on body positivity

3 JUN 2019 |

Exeposé Lifestyle Writers send positive bodily perceptions your way

VER since my teenage years, it has been an uphill but rewarding struggle to try and figure out how to love my body. I am naturally slim, and while I do/did have qualms about my body that don’t concern my size, I do acknowledge that this does not negate my thin privilege. For me, my biggest body-positive growth surrounds my body hair. I’m biracial, and inherited the majority of my mum’s East-Asian physical traits, all except the ‘blessing’ of very minimal body hair. Now my dad, English, bestowed unto me the gift of hairy arms. As a hairless body is the media-perpetuated ideal for woman, whether that’s because of associations with being ungroomed, unkept, or (god-forbid) ‘masculine’, I have felt, and succumbed to, the pressure of being meticulously bald from the neck down. Razors and shaving cream seemed as just a necessary investment as toothpaste. However, thanks to the ongoing body positivity movement which celebrates every one of our physical features, I am beginning to accept and even love my hairy, functioning arms for what they are. They can hold things, they can play piano and they can write, whether or not they’re adorned with jet black hairs. Amy Butterworth, Online Lifestyle Editor

CROLLING through Instagram there are so many filters, edits and poses that alter how a body looks. Setting aside the recent James Charles drama, his video ‘FaceTune Battle’ with Nikita Dragun really showed how easy it is for anyone to change their appearance. We need to stop thinking about how everyone else perceives our body, the true tea is that only our own opinions matter. For me the most important thing about my body is caring for it. I started going to the gym in November with a few of my flatmates as a way to become physically stronger and honestly, I love it. I was actually shocked to find that the gym on campus is such a positive space, I’d never been to a gym before and I found it very welcoming with people of all different ages and sizes. I wanted my body to be healthy, so I finally learned about recipes other than pesto pasta. This summer rather than focussing on society’s perceptions of what a body should look like, we should focus on the things we appreciate about our own bodies. Rose Poulton

EDITORS: Izzy Cole and Anna Ramonovska

lifestyle

N 2016, I lost 25 kilograms. That's no easy thing to admit. I spent long enough taking perverse pride in how those pounds kept dropping. I'd say I don't know what came over me, but that's not entirely true. Let's say you look at yourself in the mirror, on the cusp of adulthood. What you might see, as I did, is something apart from yourself. The body in front of you is not you. You yearn for the figure underneath all that weight. Clawing away at yourself, you begin to dig until there's nothing left. But this isn't the whole story. The experience turned me onto something - I only suffered because I suffered in silence. The mirror is a narcissistic thing, and self-obsession is intrinsically tied to self-judgement. So, the hardest part is letting go. Let yourself be reflected in those who you trust, not just the frailties of personal reflection. I look at myself, and say I'm fine; however, I can't forget what I went through. What I can offer is this - talk to people. Share your story, and don't let your suffering go unnoticed. You should care most for your body. However, it's understandable to be wary around your own skewed judgement. You'll never quite know what perfection is. Allow those close to you to show you that. Harry Caton, Online Editor

ECENTLY I got back from a holiday with friends, and something I really noticed was how confident everyone seemed in their own bodies and how many compliments everyone was giving to each other about their appearance. This abounding positivity was infectious, and it made me feel so much less self-conscious in a bikini than I have in the past, due to being surrounded by all this love for our bodies. This has therefore frequently led me to think more and more that your own body positivity can really be something that rubs off on those around you. Far too often I have found myself criticising my own appearance, or the way I look in a certain outfit, and forgetting the damaging repercussions that this negativity has on those around me. There can also be a huge tendency to overthink what others around us think about our body, when in reality I have found friends are far more likely to notice a change in my emotions than they are to notice an outfit I am wearing. Most importantly, wear what you

feel comfortable in, as if you feel comfortable you will naturally feel better about yourself, and surround yourself with people who love your body, and will continue to boost you up, and not knock you down. Natalie Keffler

IKE a faulty merry-go-round, my relationship with body image has been a cycle of positive and negative that seemed to get stuck whenever body confidence was been within touching distance. With Sixth Form in full swing, the chaos of A-Levels, university applications and an intense rowing training programme did wonders for the chimp part of my brain. I couldn’t look in the mirror unless I was going to see ribs and a large thigh gap. For the previous few years I’d got away with eating less and less in an attempt to lose (what seems now insignificant) weight I’d gained from a long-term illness. Out of the blue, I arrive home after school one day to a mother overwhelmed and upset. Concerned for my welfare, believing I looked alarmingl a staff member had called my parents; something needed to change. Three years on, I’d love to say today I have total confidence in my body. I don’t believe I ever will. However, I can wholeheartedly say that, by the support of someone who cares, I have come a long way and get stuck on the merrygo-round a little less each day Elinor Jones, Science Editor

URING my adolescence, I developed many insecurities surrounding my body. One of these insecurities, one that I can say I have actually overcome, was the stretch marks that covered my thighs. While I understood in theory that many women had stretch marks, my insecure fifteen-year-old reality only saw that the changing rooms were filled with girls who seemingly embodied skinny perfection. I remained insecure about the thin white lines that covered my legs until only last year when I was visiting one of my best friends in Paris. Over the years of our friendship, she had always seemed unattainably perfect to me. We were sat in a park when I noticed that she had the exact same marks as I did, and realised she also felt insecure about them. That day we discussed how we had spent years putting each other on pedestals without truly recognising that everyone has insecurities. I think my perception of these dreaded stretch marks, much maligned by societal beauty standards, changed that day when I realised how these white lines mapped across my skin, as though they were charting my personal, and physical, growth. I no longer felt ashamed of my tigerstriped thighs. Bryony Gooch, Music Editor.

A note from the Editors

HAT we have attempted to do with this feature is to raise awareness of how society's obsession with body types and sizes affects peoples perceptions of their own body. Struggles with body image are an issue that arises across all ages. With summer just around the corner, these struggles only amplify, affecting one's mental and physical health.

Body positivity is a crucial movement at this time of year. What is important to remember is that we are all different. It is impossible to satisfy society's expectations of 'perfection.' Its perception of perfection simply does not exist. What we require is a continual uplifting of one another, rather than bashing each other based on their appearance.

Image: billiebodybrand/unsplash

arts + lit

Worry at the laureate

Alexia Oerter pens some verses about the highest office in British poetry

HE United Kingdom’s new Poet Laureate was appointed on 10 May and the role was given to the poet, playwright and novelist Simon Armitage. He had been elected Oxford Professor of Poetry, the UK’s second most prestigious poetry position, between 2015 and 2019, which now has just expired to make him eligible to be appointed Laureate. The title of Poet Laureate was first granted in 1668 for poetic excellence when the laureateship was recognised as an established royal office. It was 1616 when Ben Jonson was given a pension by King James I that the origins of the modern conception of the title can be traced back to. The role of Poet Laureate was a life-long position up until 1999 when Andrew Motion, who actually called the job “very, very damaging to [his] work”, was given the first ten year appointment. Many of the poets who held the title were very talented and successful in their craft such as Lord Tennyson and Wordsworth, but Henry James Pye, Laureate from 1790 to 1813, was called “the worst Poet Laureate in English history”. Indeed, he was given the title for political reasons instead of his poetic talent, which

E find ourselves amidst what can only be described as a health crisis of epidemic proportions. With mental illness more prominent in young people than ever before, and rapidly increasing

made him an easy target for mockery. The nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence “was in fact written to satirise him and his work. Several poets were approached as potential candidates, and Imtiaz Dharker was apparently offered the job first, but she turned it down. Dharker cited a need to focus on her own writing: “I had to weigh the privacy I need to write poems against the demands of a public role. The poems won.” Succeeding Carol Ann Duffy, Armitage wrote in The Guardian that “the laureateship should be the highest office in poetry and that the laureate should be the guardian of those ideals”, approaching his appointment positively. On the other hand, he does specify that he is not certain he will be able to write anything. “I simply don’t know what I’m going to produce, w h e n I ’m going to

demands of a public role on independent writing.

WENDY COPE AND BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH WERE CONSIDERED FOR THE LAUREATE POSITION Wendy Cope and Benjamin Zephaniah were also considered for the job but neither of them expressed any interest, rather emphatically declining the honour. Cope said: “If it’s a competition, it is one that many poets have no interest in winning.” Zephaniah’s opinion was even more drastic: “I have absolutely no interest in this job. I won’t work for them. They oppress me, they upset me, and they are not worthy.” They both suggest that the role of Poet Laureate would corrupt their creativity and integrity. Simon Armitage speaks of the role in a different light, giving more importance to the public side rather than his own poetry, and I am sure he will not disappoint.

Creative Healing

Image: Paul Wolfgang Webster

Agnes Chapman Wills illustrates the power of art therapy numbers of children being diagnosed with behavioural development disorders – particularly ASD – never, have alternative coping strategies been more encouraged and sought after. Thus, the importance and development of Art Therapy. Frequently used in special needs schools and at therapy sessions (both communal and intimate), art therapy has become an inherently successful means of relaxation, reflection and calm amongst the chaos of everyday modern life.

PAINTING GAVE MATISSE A REASON TO GET OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING

Image: Ravi Kant

produce it or if I’m going to produce anything at all. The role of Laureate is not necessarily about writing. It’s more about advocacy and initiatives and projects”, he told The Telegraph. When asked to define the role of Poet Laureate, he said that it is “an ambassadorial role, a ceremonial role,where you get the opportunity to endorse poetry andspeak up on behalf of it.” Just like Dharker, Armitage understands the honour of being appointed but he does question the effects of the

Although it appears as a somewhat revolutionary and alternative solution to some, it is not surprising that art has proved to be such a therapeutic success for so many. The practice of art has always been routed in joy, passion and inner-most feeling. For centuries, artists have expressed their deepest fears and greatest admirations through their brushstrokes and have created a sense of calm within themselves but also within their audiences, critics

and fans. Henri Matisse stated that he wanted his art to be “like a comfortable armchair for a tired businessman to rest in” highlighting this notion we have that art can take away our struggles. In striving to witness something beautiful, we are encouraged to see the light, the good and the awesome, for a moment stepping away from all that is concerning or frustrating us. Matisse is a perfect illustration of art’s therapeutic powers. In his later life, he became ill and was confined to a wheelchair. However, his work did not stop: in fact, the pieces he created in his old age are perhaps the most prized of his entire portfolio. Working with his carer in a unique partnership, Matisse sought to create immense, beautiful and vivid works that are iconic to this day. Clearly, art was a form of therapy for him: it gave him a reason to get up in the morning, as well as a means of expressing his sorrows surrounding his illness. Hence the need for art therapy today. Due to the stigmas that surround modern and contemporary art in our society, its practice is often seen as elitist, isolating or even bizarre, so we need to bring it back into our homes, our schools, our lives. We need to stress that the

creation of art does not need to be profound or political, and the introduction of art therapy into pre-school and the formative years will do just that.

ART IS FUN - IT IS PERSONAL, INTIMATE AND THERAPEUTICALLY CREATIVE Art is fun: it is personal, intimate and creative and (instead of looking at a screen) it provides us with a peaceful moment in which we can focus on the drawing of a line or the hue of a shape. It is a skill and a physical practice that is rooted in action rather than passivity. Thus, for an autistic child who cannot understand their feelings or for an old man who feels lonely, art therapy can provide comfort and relief. Instead of feeling frustrated, we can make marks, mould shapes and sculpt a landscape out of our pent-up emotions; art is a space in which we can say everything and nothing at all – it is free and it is powerful. As Eileen Miller writes, “Art can permeate the very deepest part of us, where no words exist”.

exhibit

arts + lit

EDITORS: Cherry-Anastasia Boroceanu and Zach Mayford

3 JUN 2019 |

Edinburgh Fringe Preview

The Arts + Lit Editors praise Exeter’s local performances

Unknown

T doesn’t seem quite right to call Unknown a ‘play’, but as a performance, it’s packed with drama. The show presents a woman’s recovery from a plane crash, and stages her friends and family’s experiences in the process. As someone who’s terrified of flying, I found the show deeply arresting: apparently, it’s not just crashes we should fear, but months and years of physical and psychological turbulence. Unknown depicts the unknowable, exploring life and death issues and blurring the line between performance and documentary. It was developed by, and stars, the survivor, Hannah Maeve O’Dowd, with the cast fictionalising her relations. The set was hung with photos and letters from O’Dowd’s life, along with the tag from her hospital bracelet. The stuff from her life tells this story, and real life wrote it as much as she did from her real life, as well as the marks on her forehead from the halo-clamp head brace that aligned her vertebrae in hospital. O’Dowd and her cast retrace her steps back to Exeter, through drama, dance and narration. The dance sections are generally breathtaking, as O’Dowd and Ryan Bonner, who plays her dad, express re-learning to walk with their bodies. The scene becomes particularly heartwarming in its lifts and turns, and as Bonner balances O’Dowd’s feet on his. It’s hard to criticise dialogue written and performed by someone who relearned to read, write, walk, and talk at 21, and the staging and dialogue was deeply touching at times. Finn Thornton, who played O’Dowd’s friend “Will’,” depicted a bittersweet blend of love and loss. When he reminisced as Will about a photo of him and Hannah on the beach on holiday, the moment, and many eyes in the room, glittered with poignance.

A JOKE ON VEGANISM ASIDE, THE SHOW IS DEEPLY TEXTURED The joke about veganism non-withstanding, this show is deep, textured, and emotional to the core. O’Dowd describes her struggle to find her old life, and the project of ‘filling in the gaps’. These “gaps” lurch into raw emotional tension. The show’s power is in gaps, in the chokes and the coughs and the pauses: in Luke Thomas Olivers’ masterful voice-cracks, in Finn Thornton’s racked and laboured breathing, and in Izzy Harrison’s beautiful silences. All the actors had bare feet, so their soles slapped the stage-floor as they scattered and dashed in shock or panic. The cast made skilful use of five chairs, which became hospital waiting rooms or desolated lounges. Throughout the performance, the chairs creaked with pres-

sure as bodies contorted in anxiety and dejection.

UNKNOWN IS GRIPPING, CATHARTIC, AND GENREBENDINGLY REAL Such action was overlaid not only with footage, drama and dramatic readings, but also with expressive acoustic guitar, played live from the side of the stage by local singer-songwriter Leah Tess. The music, although slightly loud, developed the themes of trauma and hope. Even when the guitarist accidentally knocked over her bottle of water, it gave a serendipitously expressive knock that punctuated the dialogue. Ultimately, Unknown is gripping, cathartic and genre-bendingly real. It does the improbable: telling an interesting story about a gap year. In the light of the recent Boeing 737 Max tragedies, it explores the human side to tragedy, when all we often get are numbers, thoughts and prayers. When describing her injuries, O’Dowd remarks “what’s harder to explain is the stuff that you guys can’t see.” This performance stages that struggle for expression and understanding of the unknown. O’Dowd shows us a life, and it’s spellbinding. O’Dowd and her team have been developing this piece for over a year and it goes from strength to strength. Catch the next performance of Unknown at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. Zach Mayford, Arts + Lit Editor

É If you feel affected by the issues in either review, you can get in touch with: Beat Studentline: 0808 801 0811 Beat: beateatingdisorders.org.uk Student Minds support group: exeter@studentminds.org.uk Wellbeing Services: exeter.ac.uk/wellbeing

Every Brilliant Thing

RIENDLY cats, kung fu movies, ice cream, and people falling over. These are some of the million “brilliant things” that the narrator of Every Brilliant Thing thinks are worth living for. Inspired by Mental Health Awareness Week, the Exeter University Theatre Company debuted Every Brilliant Thing written by Duncan MacMillan on 23 May at Boston Tea Party. The show spanned an hour and fifteen and the cast packed it full of laughter, teary moments and life experiences. Every Brilliant Thing takes on the straightforward approach towards love, hope and the taboo topics of mental health struggles and existential dread. The British Theatre Guide calls it “The funniest play you are ever likely to see about depression,’ and after seeing the play, there is no doubt in my mind. The play follows a seven-yearold protagonist whose mother admitted to hospital after doing “something stupid” according to the father. The young child can’t understand why his mother finds it difficult to feel joy: to cheer his mother up, he starts to create a list of everything that is brilliant about the world, and everything worth living for. Unlike the way the script was set, there were multiple voices playing the narrator of the story. The actors boosted their cast with some spontaneous audience members to take part in this interactive play. Normally, when I hear about audience participation, I think “oh god, please don’t pick me.” EUTCo did an exceptional job making the audience feel comfortable getting involved, by prompting the audience to write examples of “brilliant things”, in the cosy, café-like atmosphere. The six cast members played the one character throughout his life, bouncing lines off audience members. It’s hard to pick out any shining stars, as every member worked together to build a flowing psyche. A fellow audience member compared the effect to the puppetry of The War Horse, where viewers forget the mechanics of the narrative and find themselves rapt in the artistry. The performance setting was avant garde: tables and chairs surrounded the room, using

the centre space as a stage. The actors and actresses took on the same approach, surrounding us as they delivered their lines, curating a multi-voiced effect in the audience’s heads. It is worth emphasising the actors and actresses’ brilliance, this being a comedic approach

IT FELT LIKE WE WERE IN CONVERSATION WITH A CLOSE FRIEND to depicting mental health problems. They fully expressed every the “joy” of an innocent and clueless child, and the sorrow of gradual maturity. The play communicates anything from irony to a wellthought pun, timed to perfection. In many different voices, the play’s humour could have been easily lost in the confusion. However, in this case, it was done effectively as they have mirrored their different pace and tone. The thoughts flowed naturally and engagingly. It felt like we were engaged in a conversation with a close friend, who advises us that we should not treat mental health struggles as taboo subjects. As the play shows, it needs to be said rather than hidden in the dark. The play is filled with outbursts of enthusiasm and passion, ups and downs, tensions, and reliefs. There are moments of great tension when talking about depression, but a joke comes cracking in to lighten the mood. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions, laughing at the jokes, and on the verge of tearing up. It was a play that kept me on my toes, and kept audience members on the edge of their seats. Every Brilliant Thing is a life-affirming piece of theatrical art that explores “living with darkness and in light,” explores love, hope and all the little things that make life worth living. I had the honour of enjoying such great adaptation from the EUTCo. Cherry-Anastasia Boroceanu, Arts + Lit Editor

music

We want Polti-more! James Wijesinghe reviews the local homegrown music festival, Poltimore

T Poltimore Festival, ‘artist’ and ‘audience’ are not different things. Not only do most of the festival’s producers and performers also experience the day as punters, but with intimate stages and hands-on activities, attendees and artists are always at touching distance. Luckily, people don’t mind if you put your face right up against a painting, but don’t do that during someone’s gig. The day began with a forecast of consistent cloud and hay fever at the hay bales. But in a small glen, the Women of Colour Poetry Showcase kicked off with Mubanga Kirsten Mweemba, Exeter’s Creative Writing Society President. This ran throughout the day, with profound spoken word coming from a variety of talented voices. Following the path through the woods, yoga sessions and creativity stations could be found, where ‘nice’ messages were written and hung from branches. There were plenty of opportunities to train your tree-climbing skills, as well as a bouncy castle and loads of smiling puppies. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? The festival is like a big collective picnic. Everyone chips in, sits on the grass and has a good ol’ Sunday. As is tradition, Soul Choir opened up the Garden Stage with a series of joyful covers, including Childish Gambino’s ‘Feels Like Summer’, despite the sun not yet breaking through. Battle of

the Bands champions, Foniee, played a fun, brassoriented set with a few covers and some fun new material. Their cover of Saint Motel's 'My Type' was especially entertaining. A stand-out performance came from Datura Roots Collective, their dubby hybrid brought saxophones to drum and bass for an energetic rendition of Pendulum’s ‘Tarantula’. Thanks to Poltimore mainstays Pattern Pusher, a crowd of ex-chair-sitters moved forward, only to

be met by bassist Ben jumping from the stage to dance with them. While he played from the crowd, the sun arrived and the line between artist and audience was boogied into nothingness.

THE FESTIVAL IS LIKE A BIG COLLECTIVE PICNIC The only grumble I heard was someone’s

Image: Leo Webb

stomach when the vegetarian options ran out. Most vegans then swapped dinner for cider, and didn’t seem too bothered after that. Poltimore House is shrouded in scaffolding, but inside the perplexing structure lies its derelict beauty. Past corridors of artwork from Bethany Saunders, Chelsea Lee, Passion for Compassion and more, explorers could find a humble cinema room, the library, and the eerie Courtyard Stage. It was in this semi-collapsed space where Mesadorm gave their chilling performance with strings, a miniature xylophone and Devon Pop Up Pianos’ Cheshire Cat upright. As the evening drew to a close, headliners Black Honey emerged for their closing set. As lead singer Izzy Phillips donned the stage in colourful cowboy gear, she asked all the women to come to the front of the stage, noting a need for women to feel safe at gigs. Despite technical difficulties, Black Honey pushed through with thrilling energy and buzzing guitar riffs to make for a memorable night. Festivals are often criticised for their whitewashed and male-dominated line-ups. Poltimore Festival hosts a diverse collection of artists with unique capabilities. Join in, become the artist (and art) yourself.

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The soundtracks to our graduation Exeposé Music Graduates discuss the songs they associate with certain moments of their university experience

EYOND the endless essays, looming exams and numerous coffees to get you through, nothing can prepare you for the confusing emotions which coming to university brings. Although it was released at the end of my first year, Lorde’s Melodrama has been a touchstone for my student years to deal with the omnipresent scary and daunting feelings. Whether its listening to ‘Homemade Dynamite’ whilst drunk, or ‘Sober’ to feel sorry for myself the next day, Melodrama has a song to fit every emotional experience. As I prepare to graduate, I find solace in ‘Perfect Places’ as I remind myself that it’s alright not to have everything sorted at the ripe age of 20 and the loneliness which comes with moving to university is not an individual emotion but is almost universal. I’m certain I will keep returning to Melodrama but I’ll never be able to hear it without being reminded of my Exeter memories. Tom Routledge

Image (top to bottom): Kevin Mazur; hit-channel.com

N 2004, Natasha Bedingfield released the hit song 'Unwritten', when I, along with many current students, was a mere six years old. Since then, the song has become a mainstay of the cheesy music genre, and it’s one that gained particular significance for me when I came to university as a terrified fresher. It provided an effective way to bond with my flatmates, yelling every word at the top of my lungs on the Unit 1 dancefloor. Later, I often listened to it whilst “staring at the blank page” of my unwritten essays. Though the meaning is classically corny "Today is where your book begins" sounds like it was taken straight from a greeting card - as I find myself a soon-to-be graduate, the song still offers some glimmers of hope as my housemates and I play it now, remembering our silly fresher days and reassuring ourselves with the fact that, even though we may have finished uni, the rest of our lives are, indeed, still unwritten

SHOW my age when I say that 'Closer' by The Chainsmokers was my first year Freshers' tune. I’d gone out every night in Freshers’ Week, and had heard the song in a public setting about sixteen times in that week. However, I never got bored of it for the sole reason that I, like the lyrics, had a prominent tattoo on my shoulder. Are the memories that come with 'Closer' all good? Well, I was in Rosie's and everyone was covered in a thin film of sweat. However, I truly did feel like the star of the show (read: club) when the artist crooned “tattoo on your shoulder” and several eyes drew to the tattoo I subtly gestured to which was, funnily enough, strategically exposed. Is it a particularly great song? Well I'd never actually listened to it sober till about second year. As graduation approaches, I realise I channelled the song throughout my undergraduate life, getting more tattoos and making it my entire personality trait. Neha Shaji

Deepa Lalwani, Comment Editor

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EDITORS: Richard Ainslie and Bryony Gooch

All about Florence

3 JUN 2019

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Emily Reader looks at Florence + the Machine's ever-growing, introspective discography

T has been a decade since Florence Welch released her first album as Florence + the Machine. Looking back at each of the four albums, it is clear that they are indicative of Florence’s own personal journey. But rather than each album being an obvious nod to a particular event, there is a more abstract quality to the experiences and emotions she conveys. These have in turn linked to Florence’s developing aesthetic both in her clothing and her music videos.

EACH OF THE FOUR ALBUMS ARE INDICATIVE OF FLORENCE'S JOURNEY Florence’s first album, Lungs (2009), is probably her most well known, containing hits such as ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and ‘You’ve Got the Love’. It’s a punchy collection, heavy on drums, harp glissandos and lusty vocals. With this music came Florence’s signature look: red hair, gothic bohemian clothes and a starry-eyed expression reminiscent of Kate Bush. Although the songs feel upbeat, the subject matter is dark, with repeated imagery of drowning and violent metaphors. It has been described as a break-up album but does not obviously progress through a narrative in the way you might see in, say, an Adele album. Nor does it feel morose or regretful. Its music videos are fantastical, with Florence’s signature writhing choreography and the kind of visuals you might expect to see in a Carroll or Fitzgerald novel. And Florence herself certainly was wild, climbing 30ft of stage scaffolding at Reading festival for one of her performances. Her second album, Ceremonials (2011), is more epic in feel, building more symphonically rather than angrily, though still keeps the distinctive combination of piano, harp and drums. With this adapted sound came a change to Florence’s own lifestyle, ditching alcohol on tours (before she had seen alcohol as a vital part of the performance, as quoted in The Guardian: “I used to think it was all part of the performance to go out there, go on tour, and get as drunk as possible. […] now, I feel a bigger sense of responsibility to the fans. To the people who come to see me play”). Her priorities shifted from the headiness of early adolescence to the more se-

date goals of adulthood, from break-up to stable relationship. The album itself feels more mature as a result of this, though the music videos are still resemble some kind of glamorous fever dream. The third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015), has a completely different feel altogether. Gone are the the capes and gowns. The album cover is a simple black and white portrait. The imagery turns to saints and nature. The songs feel more cathartic, like advice she is giving herself: “You deserve to be loved” (‘Third Eye’). The chaos is controlled, reflecting Florence’s own change of pace, taking a year away from touring after the second album. This album removes all the reverb and multi-layering and strips the music back to its most basic level.

anorak. The album was the most introspective and honest to date, as Florence explained in an interview with NME: 'Ceremonials’ was about imagining this thing I wanted to be… [with ‘How Big…’] another kind of power came out. One more accepting of just being OK with feelings, like anger […] Being OK with being sad and with being super-happy and joyful. You’re writing from a place that feels, like, really real to you.” A broken foot caused by a stage jump at Coachella also helped with this stripping back, as the drama of live performances had to be toned down. Alongside this album, Florence released a short film made up of music videos called The Odyssey. In it she casts herself as the central figure in the narrative, emphasising this personal connection to her music. The latest album, High as Hope (2018), feels like a conclusion to this personal journey. The dramatics have been re p l a ce d

Times in an interview. “I didn’t really talk about it with my mom until really recently.” Although there is a wide span of instruments that can be heard, there is also a simplicity to the orchestration, with moments of just piano or even a cappella. There is a kind of contentedness to the whole collection, as if Florence no longer needs to prove herself through performance.

HOW BIG, HOW BLUE WAS HER MOST INTROSPECTIVE AND HONEST ALBUM TO DATE Florence’s albums have become more honestly Florence each time they are released. It may not be as simple as matching songs to life events, but the music does track an introspection that is astonishing in its breadth.

REMEMBER THIS? ALBERT HAMMOND Yours to Keep October 2009

by the kind of honesty even Florence did not expect to exhibit. The single Image: covermesongs Florence her‘Hunger’ is the most important self simplified her life in the example, addressing Florence’s eating making of the album, shuttling herself between disorder she had as a teenager. “I never thought home and studio, cloaked in her favourite blue I would talk about it”, she told The New York

Images(L(LtotoR): R):300, A Boy is a Gun, Columbia; 300; covermeImage Mercury Records, songs covermesongs

Editors' Picks

I T H 2 0 0 6 ’s Yours to Keep, Albert Hammond Jr, the trusty rhythm guitarist for The Strokes, launched his Image: Rough Trade Records solo career. What Hammond crafted was a record that was at once distinct from his work with The Strokes and laced with similarities. Whilst hooky numbers like ‘101’ and ‘In Transit’ are typified by the low-fi production, and Hammond’s mechanical strumming that harken back to his work on Is This It, the raw earnestness of Hammond’s vocals is something far removed from anything in their back-catalogue. Hammond continues this over the album’s concise 35-minute run-time, showing off his musical range on the drowsy lullaby of an opening song ‘Cartoon Music for Superheroes’ and the blaring brass-ensemble and guitar solo of closing tune ‘Hard to Live in the City’. Throughout its complimentary moments of sugarglazed instrumentation ‘Bright Young Thing’ and cool reflection on ‘Scared’, Yours to Keep is a memorable record to perfectly soundtrack the highs and lows of your summer. William Harrop, Features Editor

FEVER (2019) by Megan Thee Stallion

Boomtown Rats (1977) by Boomtown Rats

Best in Show: Gaz Coombes, 13 June @ Exeter Phoenix

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summer camp edition

Show me the tropes

The building blocks of the ‘teen movie’ are highlighted by Exeposé Screen Writers

H the Rebel – the dreamy, mysterious bad boy whose main job is to melt the hearts of all thrillseeking humans out there. At least, that’s what this particular trope meant to 14-year-old me. Heath Ledger crept into my life with his fantastic rendition of Franki Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ in 10 Things I Hate About You. Ledger’s Patrick Verona was simply the epitome of that scary high school troublemaker with a heart of gold. Patrick is employed by the sleazy Joey – who is attempting to seduce Bianca - to date Bianca’s (equally rebellious) older sister Kat. At first, Patrick accepts his payment, however, he ends up using the money to buy Kat a guitar so she can fulfil her dream of starting a band. Both Patrick and Kat almost seem to rebel against themselves, choosing a life with a companion, rather than a life spent working alone against the norms of their communities. If anything, Patrick and Kat have proved to us that the Rebel is always the one who undergoes a personal journey to truly find peace in their worlds, whether this is with their other half, or in the comfort of solitude. They may be loud, or quiet, but their rebellious presence can always be sensed. This is why the Rebel will remain my favourite trope for years to come. Anna Romanovska, Lifestyle Editor

THE REBEL

ARA Jean Covey from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before doesn’t have many friends, not because she is an outcast, but because she likes spending time with her family and she is, well, quiet. She doesn’t dress like the most popular girls do, which separates her from the masses, and she usually does well in school. But by the end of the film, the quiet girl ends up with the most popular guy; often he’s a quarterback. Lara Jean joins the likes of Sam Baker from Sixteen Candles, or any Cinderella in remakes of the classic tale - because it is, after all, the classic Cinderella fantasy. Lara Jean does not have an evil stepmother or stepsisters but she does aspire to more than she currently has, by proving to everyone that who she is is enough without having to become someone else who fits in with the popular kids. That’s what I like most about Lara Jean: she never apologises for who she is even if it means losing the guy she likes. In the end it’s not all about getting the boy, it’s more about leaving your comfort zone and learning to experience life through more than fantasies and daydreams. Alexia Oerter

O THE queen bee

EAUTIFUL, intelligent, and arguably psychotic, Scream Queens’ Chanel Oberlin is, naturally, the president of Kappa Kappa Tau sorority at Wallace University. Imagine if Regina George went to university and became ever so slightly more sociopathic, and you’d be somewhere in line with Chanel Oberlin’s gloriously vapid character. The entire first season is defined by her reign of terror over the sorority as she attempts to separate the wheat from the chaff through extreme torturous means; the second episode alone sees the pledges scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes after Chanel accidentally burnt the maid’s face off. Considering these brutal means of control, she inevitably becomes the red herring amid the series of murders that plague Wallace University. Equally, like all Queen Bees, Chanel is defined by her inner circle; as minions, they are all extensions of her, all called Chanel as well. Chanel #5, for example, becomes Oberlin’s right-hand woman, a notorious suck up. But there is a hilarious sense of transparency to Chanel Oberlin as a character; you can see exactly how she became this cruel, vain control-freak, and she is so clearly a pastiche of the Queen Bee trope. But considering the frequency of this trope in Hollywood, you begin to wonder just how many Chanel Oberlins are out there. Bryony Gooch, Music Editor

THE quiet girl

NE of my favourite character tropes, as a reasonably athletic person, is the ‘sports girl’. Held behind by misogyny and stereotype yet aggressively wielding a hockey stick, lacrosse stick, cricket bat, or whatever sporting implement they so chose. My favourite ‘Sports Girl’ was Jess from Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it like Beckham, defying her parents in her red and white footie kit. The mildly problematic aspects of being in a relationship with your coach aside, the film portrays the struggle of cultural boundaries holding women back through the medium of football. At the risk of sounding melodramatically optimistic, the film managed to be both about being a British girl and a member of a British Asian community at the same time. Whilst on first glance, Jess’ father being averse to football seems like a stereotype in itself yet the film delves into the racism in British sport that led him to hold such reservations about his own daughter playing sport. Jess herself is vivacious and defiant; and the politics of having a British Asian girl described by commentators as a saviour of football is undeniable. However, she manages to carry this alongside the film’s portrayal of her restrictive family life, her sporting career serving as a channel for her mother’s stereotypical views. In addition to all of this, the film is framed around a loose love story – and perhaps this centering of the female narrative over a love story is what makes me adore the trope of the Sports Girl. Neha Shaji

THE sports girl

Images (left to right): Buena Vista Pictures; 20th Television; Redbus Film; Netflix

- EDITOR’S PICKS -

ROM the moment I saw Georgia Groome walking the streets dressed as a giant stuffed olive, I knew I would grow to be obsessed with this film. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is my ultimate coming-of-age film for so many reasons. Not only is it one of the few films that make me physically laugh out loud, but it is so innocently relatable. When I watched it in the cinema, aged nine, I aspired to be as hilarious as these girls I adored, despite them originally telling each other that “boys don’t like girls that are funny.” We go on a journey with them to learn that boys do, in fact, like girls that are funny. But more importantly, everyone likes people who are true to themselves. Despite Images: Paramount its stereotypical focus, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging Check out Online Screen Editor Abi showed me how to accept myself (albeit, not when I was 9), Taphouse’s ‘Teen Timeline’ article on- and how to laugh along the way. line at www.exepose.com

ABI

THER coming-of-age classics might be able to boast hilarious high-school antics or absurd debauchery, but only Raw depicts gruesome cannibalism and copious amounts of blood coated onto our central characters. An unorthodox choice certainly, yet Raw is nonetheless a film focused around the perils of adulthood and adapting to the terrifying concept of independence. Trading alcohol-infused parties with nightmarish hazing rituals, Julia Ducournau’s vicious script flips the genre on its head, unapologetically laying bare the nasty side of growing up as Justine’s warped descent into cannibalism accelerates. Raw taps into the familiar genre tropes of familial and peer pressure that secures it as a modern coming-of-age revelation: just one with more dismembered fingers than usual.

Images: Focus World

JACOB Check out Online Screen Editor Jacob Heayes’s Booksmart review online at www.exepose.com

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EDITORS: Jonathan Chern and Samuel Thomson

The stars in our eyes

Exeposé Screen Writers pour their teenage crushes onto the page

ICTURE the scene: You are 13, you have your mates round for a class night of gossip, fajitas and far too much sugar. The only thing left to do: spend more time choosing what movie to watch than actually watching. Pretty much every time you decide on Wild Child, because a) it’s a classic b) it’s highly relatable, and c) it has Alex Pettyfer as Freddie Kingsley.

3 JUN 2019

A BEAUTIFUL MAN WHO ENJOYS CHIP BUTTIES BY THE SEASIDE

Whilst it is somewhat creatively questionable and follows a stupendously predictable storyline, it features a beautiful man who enjoys chip butties by the seaside. And to be wooed with a chip butty is the dream. Over the years my tastes in men and high-densitycarbohydrates may have changed, but the 13-year-old in me wishes she could go back and win this gorgeous specimen of a man, with that feeling of ‘we might get caught’ and then instantly ring up my friends to tell them any little bit of insignificant drama. Those were the days. But, alas, I now just watch Wild Child on repeat, mainly to pretend my school life

was as every bit as exciting as that, boy drama and all. Rather, it was drama-free, but if Pettyfer was in the picture then I would’ve created enough drama for a lifetime. Although in his other films during those glorious days he truly looked beautiful, there was something missing. Perhaps the posh accent or the vintage car; not sure Stormbreaker cut it. Magic Mike on the other hand… Elinor Jones, Science Editor

HE phenomenon of the ‘teenage heartthrob’ is one that I’m well acquainted with: the rush of youthful yearning; a deep-seated, unrequited admiration; framed as a frivolous fangirl. Painted as a naïve schoolgirl at every family gathering, I was entranced by the emotional maturity of My Own Private Idaho’s River Phoenix. He paved the way for the ‘teenage hearthrob’ to consist of more than an aesthetic beauty but a pained, artistic integrity. Kurt Cobain, James Dean and the like were pained artists, encapsulating what is was to be a restless youth. Immortalised on the silver screen, River will forever be that twenty three year old. Blighted by the excesses of Hollywood, he represented how misunderstood I felt. How he lived his life is the

Happy campers

appeal for some: living fast and dying tragically young, with his legend soon becoming larger in death. He was a marked departure from the norm: he proactively decided against the well established grain of pretty-boy roles, searching for characters with emotional depth.

I WAS ENTRANCED BY PHOENIX’S EMOTIONAL MATURITY

Known for his breakout role in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, River’s life imitates his art. Everycharacter he played seemed to have the same jaded fragility, Stand By Me is almost prophetic of his end. With River’s character fading in his last scene, the narrator reveals the characters tragic death in early adulthood. We can only imagine what his blossoming future could have held with his peers Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt. The implosion of his life is testament of one thing: that even the brightest stars can be dulled by the poison of Hollywood’s culture of excess. Always in my minds eye will be the sullen faced River glowing with charisma; I never could imagine him gracing the stage of middle age. Catherine Lloyd, Copy Editor

Images: Mario Testino, George Sluzier

Jim Norman wishes he could attend Moonrise Kingdom’s Camp Ivanhoe

EW filmmakers are able to present childhood innocence with such vibrant authenticity as Wes Anderson. Remaining ever consistent in his perfectionist visual style and a love of nostalgia, Anderson’s work has deservedly made him one of the industry’s most notable auteurs. It is precisely this unabashed euphoria of the past, particularly that of youth and childhood, that makes his 2012 coming-of-age picture Moonrise Kingdom one of his most charming and realistic works. Amongst the pastoral summer camp setting, Anderson’s iconic soft colour palette and precise camerawork beautifully reflects the central theme of self-discovery, that it is difficult to not find oneself in the picture. The central Camp Ivanhoe comes to be an image of summers gone by; a distant memory of a simpler time dominated by freedom and friendship. This is not a summer camp that should be returned to for the canoeing, hiking and climbing; rather, a return to Camp Ivanhoe marks a return to first love, to finding oneself and to seeing the period of coming-of-age with Image: Gusta-

a painful beauty. The activities of the summer camp, commonly a large feature of the coming-of-age narrative, here fade into the background as the idealised setting grows to be viewed more as a site of freedom than of restriction. Shot on 16mm film amidst a wash of yellows and browns, Moonrise Kingdom expertly encapsulates ideas of nostalgia without ever turning into a criticism of its central love story. Sam and Suzy’s developing romance heightens the universally experienced importance of falling in love for the first time. Camp Ivanhoe acts as a site of personal discovery, literally becoming the backdrop to a deeper exploration of the beauty of growing up. The awkwardly staggered writing style works to its highest capabilities throughout the film, with every exchange carrying the baggage and tension that notoriously dominates the impressionable eleven-year- old mind. Yet, as is frequently the case with Anderson’s work, this is not a tale of conformity; instead we are presented with a

heart-warming depiction of the camp environment in which everyone is forced to look inward and come to terms with what really matters to them.

THE AWKWARDLY STAGGERED WRITING STYLE WORKS TO ITS HIGHEST CAPABILITIES

It is true that a trip to Camp Ivanhoe may not be the most enthralling break, but it would be a nostalgic return to a simpler time.

GRETA GERWIG

Wes Anderson takes the common setting of the summer camp environment and utilises it to further develop a discussion of growth and romance. The best coming-of-age narratives are capable of being instantly recognisable, regardless of an audiences’ background and Moonrise Kingdom achieves just this. Camp Ivanhoe is so much more than a product of its genre; its the very image of freedom and discovery that underlie the basic identity of every successful coming-of-age film.

Image: Martin Kraft

RETA Gerwig is an American director, actor and screenwriter. Her work in the film industry skyrocketed and shifted from arthouse to mainstream success with her directorial debut Lady Bird , which saw Gerwig win Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, alongside many other critical accolades. Lady Bird is a coming-of-age tale that has a young woman as its protagonist – her personal growth was inspired by Gerwig’s own adolescence and experience of growing up in Sacramento, California. Much of Gerwig’s work on film has involved this focus on the experiences of women: she co-wrote and acted in the titular role for Frances Ha and starred in 20th Century Women, both films that depict a variety of women with different aspirations, backgrounds and struggles. Gerwig is currently directing an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, to be released at the end of this year: as the fifth woman in history to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar award, she is definitely one to watch as her career in the film industry advances. Deepa Lalwani, Comment Editor

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EDITORS: Jonathan Chern and Samuel Thomson

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3 JUN 2019

Kids in America

The American high school flick is popular, yet unique, says Jonathan Chern, Screen Editor

HE High School drama is a quintessentially American genre. European cinema is awash with coming-of-age teen movies, but surprisingly few are centred around the setting of a school. Rather than being contained to a school building, the teen on our side of the Atlantic is expected to roam a bit more free. Teen stories in Europe are more about adventure. In Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, coming-of-age is about escaping school. The theme of the value of the education one receives outside the classroom has continued through films by Truffaut’s countrymen.

IN AMERICA, TEEN DRAMA PUSHES ADULTS TO THE PERIPHERIES In 2014 America released Boyhood, but the same year the Parisian story Girlhood about a young girl’s odyssey navigating those confusing teenage years was released. Boyhood doesn’t have the traditional American archetypes you might find in a John Hughes film, but everything else about it is distinctly American: its unabashed ambition, its conspicuousness, its certainty in its characters. Girlhood is nothing similar. A film like Girlhood, with its distinct Frenchness, would be difficult to translate to any American setting. If we look to Asian cinema, Japan’s most

famous live action story about school kids is Battle Royale. At a glance, it seems like the Mean Girls rules-of-the-jungle on steroids: kids are forced to kill each other until one emerges victorious. But it is completely the opposite. Battle Royale is about kids in conflict with adults. It is about the older generation exercising a fascist control over the young, and the young being forced to play along. It has far more in common with The 400 Blows than anything American. In America, the teen drama pushes adults to the peripheries; the people who were once in that position but grew out of it. They’re there for consoling words of advice, once the pubescent teens realise that the adults actually do understand them, but everywhere else adults come out more often than not as the antagonists. They’re not the ones teens aspire to be, but the ones they aspire to usurp. Nowhere is this more overt than the Lindsay Anderson classic If…. If…’s commentary on social and generational divide is attached to an era before teenage expression was central to culture. It shouldn’t be

relevant today, but something about it still feels biting. There shouldn’t be anything universal about an English boarding school, but it’s the turmoil of the kids dissatisfied with adulthood that reaches out. Whereas most American school dramas place its setting as a sort of micro-society, If… places its school as somewhere its students are kept away from society. In America the school is the rule for any setting of a comingof-age story (with exceptions, obviously), but it seems anywhere else the school is something to avoid when making a teen drama. Hang on! That’s not fair, surely? Is this to suggest that the US and everywhere else has some different understanding of the teenage experience? I could hypothesise at what’s going on and reasons why, but I’m not going to jump into some grand statement about how different cultural outlooks have fostered different art. As our friends across the C h a n n e l might see us as the bridge connecting Europe with North America, it is British films which seem slightly more influenced

Cinema al fresco Image: United Artists

by the States’ obsession with high school. Submarine and Sing Street are clearly interested in some transatlantic currents, yet they are more than that obviously and classically British films (or, sorry, Irish for the latter). Other British films set mainly in school – I’m thinking The History Boys and Kes – have no sense of Americana about them.

TEEN STORIES IN EUROPE ARE FOCUSED ON ADVENTURE Maybe we’ll have to look to The Inbetweeners – the most compelling case for the point I think is too hubristic to make. But let me entertain you with the suggestion: that maybe we continue to watch these American high school films because they, to us, seem mythical. They have these archetypes that we love to watch but don’t relate with. Speaking for myself at least, when I watched The Breakfast Club I saw none of those characters in the people I knew at school. I see the ‘jock’ in the high school film the same way I see the knight in a medieval fantasy. Just like you couldn’t have the latter in the 21st Century, you couldn’t have the former in the UK. In a British setting, such stories would be simply absurd. And watching The Inbetweeners – a show infinitely less American and infinitely more relatable - in some way seems to prove that. Top Image: A24

Will Harrop, Features Editor, recounts his first outdoor screening experience

HAT flashes through your mind when you think ‘outdoor screening’? I can almost guarantee the image in your head isn’t watching 2009’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs one evening in a public park – but that’s exactly what my first experience of an al fresco film was. Even as a ten-year-old, I knew that the film I was watching wasn’t exactly the cinematic masterpiece that the first Ice Age indisputably was, but I do remember having a fantastic time! There was something so thrilling about

Jurassic Park 1 August

swapping the blinding darkness of the cinema for the gradually dimming natural light and cool summer air of the outdoors. I still have fond memories of watching the fading orange streaks of sunlight disappear behind a row of trees whilst, on the big screen, Sid the Sloth disastrously tries to adopt three dinosaurs (which is sadly the only plot point of the film I remember). I also quickly discovered that outdoor screenings are an inherently more sociable experience than your average trip to Cineworld. I found it truly revolutionary that I could discuss

Little Miss Sunshine

Bohemian Rhapsody

2 August

3 August

Images: Universal, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers

the film and chat among my friends in ways that, under normal circumstances, would’ve resulted in me being (rightly) shushed by vigilante cinemagoers. What’s more, being able to see your fellow audience members makes a big difference to your enjoyment of the film. In much the same way that watching a comedy with an audience makes you laugh more than you would by yourself, being able to see other people’s reactions makes the experience all the more immersive, even if it was only Dawn of the Dinosaurs. If you

Pan’s Labyrinth 8 August

get the opportunity to go to an outdoor screening this summer, I strongly recommend you take it. The experience you’ll have will be memorable, even if the film you’re watching isn’t. Over the summer, there will be a number of screenings taking place in Northerhay Gardens, as part of an event called ‘Big Screen in the Park’, hosted by Exeter Phoenix. These showings are a great opportunity to experience cinema in a truly unique way, and should not be passed up by any keen cinema-goer. (Dates for 2019 are listed below).

Rocky Horror Picture Show

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A Star Is Born 10 August

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7. In 2011, which country hosted a Formula 1 race for the first time?

green, 10 Get a life, 12 Chutzpah, 14 Chianti, 18 Well, 19 Horde, 20 Down: 1 Sun, 2 Mocha, 3 Eloquent, 4 Bash, 5 Leisure, 6 Riot, 7 Sea 24 Time, 25 Cheers. 13 Techno, 15 Cheese, 16 Lair, 17 Switch on, 21 Fan mail, 22 Party, Across: 1 Summer, 4 Ball, 8 Nacho, 9 Inspire, 10 Graduate, 11 Lung,

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Science

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

SCIENCE EDITORS: Scarlett Parr-Reid Elinor Jones

A puzzle we all want to solve

William Harrop, Features Editor, explores the link between puzzles and sharper brain function

PROTECT is a vast online study into elderly brain function Research into over 19,000 aging participants, led by the University of Exeter and Kings College London, has linked regularly playing number and word puzzle games with sharper brain function in their old age. Besides making that flick to the Exeposé ‘Study Zone’, this study is packed with great potential for understanding the problems associated with the brain’s deterioration with age.

The study included 19,000 individuals aged 50-93 years A leading figure in the study, Dr Anne Corbett of the University of

Exeter Medical School, has elaborated that it was found that the more regularly adults engage with puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, the sharper their performance is across a range of tasks assessing memory, attention and reasoning.” Participants in the study, aged between 50 and 93, filled out tests

which measured the 14 different types of cognition in the human brain. The results indicated that those who regularly engaged with number and word puzzles were found to have brain function equivalent to ten years younger than their age, on tests assessing grammatical

reasoning and eight years younger than their age on tests measuring their shortterm memory. Expanding on the findings and their wider relevance to medicine, Dr

ing these puzzles necessarily reduces the risk of dementia in later life […] this research supports previous findings that indicate regular use of word and number puzzles helps keep our brains working better for longer.” In an interview with Inverse, Corbett maintains that she hopes this study “will encourage people to consider how they challenge their brain on a regular basis, and perhaps consider taking up puzzles or evidence-based brain training games as part of a lifestyle approach to keep their brains healthy.” This research was conducted as a part of PROTECT, a vast online study on elderly brain function, jointly organised by the University of Exeter and Kings College London, which allows researchers to manage large-scale studies without the need for laboratory visImage: OpenClipart-Vectors

UCH to the assumed delight of crossword connoisseurs and Sudoku whizzes everywhere, a recent study has revealed that puzzle and number games could be beneficial to you in more ways that you might think.

Corbett adds that whilst they “can’t say that play-

its. PROTECT is a 25-year-long study that checks up on over 22,000 registered participants each year to glean insight into how the brain ages and what could influence the development of dementia in later life. According to Professor of AgeRelated Diseases at the University of Exeter Medical School, Clive Ballard, “PROTECT is proving to be one of the most exciting research initiatives of this decade, allowing us to understand more about how the brain ages and to conduct cutting-edge new studies into how we can reduce the risk of dementia in people across the UK.”

Those that regularly engaged in puzzles saw brain function up to 10 years younger Whilst it might be premature for doctors to start prescribing ‘a crossword-a-day to keep brain deterioration at bay’, this study is indicative of the fascinating insights into brain function that PROTECT is capable of and gives us hope in the struggle to properly understand and tackle dementia.

Spotting signs of a deadly disease

Background Image: Stux

Elinor Jones, Science Editor, discusses research on, and screenings for, bowel cancer

HE incidence of bowel cancer has been on the rise in the young over the last ten years, a recent study has found. Typically a disease associated with aging and poor diet, the trends are changing in countries including the UK, US, and Australia.

Bowel cancer can form from polyps , pre-cancerous masses Another recent study, with a cohort of over 140 million people across Europe, found colorectal cancer diagnoses in young people between the ages of 20 and 29 had risen by almost 8%, compared to lower rates of growth for older age groups. If this trend continues, governments may have to introduce national screening programmes, akin to screens for cervical cancer. As bowel cancer is the second big-

gest cancer killer in the UK, it’s essential that the public, including young people, are aware of the risks and are able to spot signs early.

Bowel cancer is the second biggest killer in the UK I’ve heard people talk about bowel cancer before. What actually is it? Also known as colorectal cancer, bowel cancer is an over-proliferation of cells in the large bowel, comprising of your colon and rectum. Whilst healthy cells divide naturally by mitosis, in colorectal cancer this division becomes uncontrolled, causing a mass of cells to grow and develop. This form of cancer can be caused by pre-cancerous masses called polyps in the colon, which are small growths that can lie dormant, but also may not cause

cancer at all and can be removed to prevent these pre-tumour growths getting larger. Due to the extensive network that is the gastrointestinal tract, bowel cancer tumours can break off and spread to other body parts and cause complications, although this does not always happen.

More young people are diagnosed with bowel cancer than a generation ago The population being diagnosed with colorectal cancer is getting younger. What are the risk factors that could cause this? Family history of bowel disorders or polyps is a key indicator of poor gut health in younger people. As incidence of colorectal cancer is still relatively low

in people under 40, a screening programme would not prove cost-effective, however, due to the genetic susceptibility of younger people with family history of the disease (or related disorders) it is important to look at this as a factor, as these people would be at higher risk. Poor diet and little exercise can also increase your risk. If I suspect I have pre-cancerous polyps or bowel cancer, what do I do? The first thing to do is identify whether you have any of the so-called ‘red flag’ symptoms. These could be changes in bowel habits – such as needing to go to the loo more or less frequently than normal. Other things to keep an eye out for are bleeding, weight loss or stomach pain. Secondly, it’s best to get any of these symptoms checked out as quickly as possible, and usually would just initially require a quick trip to your GP. If

they suspect anything serious, your likely to be referred onto your local bladder and bowel service at a hospital.

The first thing to do is identify whether you have any ‘red flag’ symptoms What is the future of research into colorectal cancer? The findings of these studies suggest that a concerted research effort must be made to investigate why an increasing number of young people are getting bowel cancer compared to a generation ago. It is crucial that awareness is raised both in the academic community and in the general public to prevent people suffering unnecessarily.

EXEPOSÉ | 3 JUN 2019

Pint Of Science 2019

SCIENCE

Scarlett Parr-Reid, Science Editor, reviews the 2019 Pint Of Science talks

HIS week’s review is of a wonderful phenomenon called ‘Pint of Science’, which for long enough I had envisioned to be a sort of George’s-Marvellous-Medicine-esque wacky science experiment inside of a pint glass. Suffice to say, I was not quite accurate with what I had imagined. Pint of Science is a festival that was born in 2012, involving dedicated volunteers who’ve travelled 24 countries across the globe to share science in a fun and interactive way through art exhibitions, talks and shows. Primarily, that is, down the local pub. When I found out the method in the madness, I was eager to attend an event, mainly because some of the best conversations I’ve had have been those post-work or university ones in a casual setting with no agenda to abide by. I attended a couple of talks at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (the RAMM not the RAM) under the theme ‘All you need is love’. First of all, because I have the sum total of no experience or knowledge in this realm, unless you count adoration for the five fluffy lionhead rabbits I’ve petted since the age of eight. And secondly, because the research topics ‘Brain rhythms controlling reproduction’ and ‘Self-compassion: a new way to improve mental health in adolescents’ are sparsely taught, even in a medical degree where health is at the core of the practice. The evening was considerably formal, with round tables blanketed in crisp white table cloths and strangely dim lighting, perhaps to focus the eyes, of that I’m not sure. Margaritis Voliotis, Research fellow at the Living Systems Institute, gave an explorative and visually engaging talk on the master clock that is the human brain. He described the 1kg mass of 101 billion neurons as a sensitive responder to pulsatory oscillations. Imagine the FM radios found in most cars are frequency-modulated; they respond to information encoded by high frequency radio waves that transmit audio as you hear it. Likewise, the hypothalamus at the base of the brain produces key reproductive hormones such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), in short acting as the master communicator that prompts activity of the pea-sized pituitary gland. Laboratory experiments in mice have shown that only a pulsatory oscillation of GnRH triggers the response from the pituitary, whereas a continuous stimulatory signal is unable to elicit the response involving the rest of the body. A controversial application of our advancing knowledge into in vivo-hormonal systems and the various organs involved, from the ovaries to the testes to the thyroid gland, is the potential genetic modification of livestock. This essentially means knocking genes in or out to, say,

produce offspring of animals that are fertile all year rather than seasonally, to match supply to demand in the farming industry. This is already happening with some contentions at the crop level. I remember when I first heard about genetically-modified tomatoes for resistance to pests and spoilage, I was quite concerned. At the time it seemed like an open door to something that could become deadly… playing the system to produce something I saw as ultimately unnatural. Whilst there has been no explicit harm to human life as a result of genetically-modified crops, I can’t help but think that, especially when the practice is applied to sentient animals often against their will, it won’t stop there. Thanks to techniques like CRISPR gene editing, we can make insertions or deletions of up to thousands of different genes relatively cheaply and quickly. Whilst genetic engineering is regulated by government agencies, can prevent spread of diseases such as avian flu and allow cows to produce milk just like that of a female human, the question has to be asked as to whether there is a safer alternative to violating animal rights, challenging the natural order of evolution and killing many embryos in the experimental process.

Mengya Zao sensitively discussed what it means to be self-compassionate Aside from contentious, but very real topics, a hopeful message from Voliotis’ talk was that the advances in our understanding of the complex hormonal systems in the human body have allowed us to identify genes such as kisspeptin, a neuropeptide produced by the hypothalamus involved in regulating fertility. When downregulated or absent in mice, the rodents were infertile. This was of personal interest to both my housemate, having both had issues with irregular menstrual bleeding and primary amenorrhea (absence of any period), respectively, so were keen to find out the genetic basis of the condition. Hearing that Voliotis’ team are conducting research to find out exactly how kisspeptin works is a reminder that infertility, something experienced by one in seven couples, is a reversible, solvable issue if we tailor treatment. Also, I found hope in the fact that despite everything, Voliotis was able to make a Game of Thrones reference, enthroning kisspeptin as no less than a queen, akin to Daenerys Targaryen. University of Exeter PhD researcher, Mengya Zao, sensitively discussed what it means to be self-compassionate and why it’s so much more difficult than being compassionate towards others. Zao

recalled her first time learning the English language as a master’s student here at Exeter, relaying the struggle of thinking that having to haul a dictionary with her to every class was a rather cumbersome pursuit that prompted her to question her dwindling self-compassion during her struggle to learn the language. A testimony to Zao’s efforts, she eloquently delivered an inspiring and revelatory talk to us all. Zao’s project observes mental health among adolescents via six key metrics: self-compassion vs. self-judgement, mindfulness vs. self-over-identification and humanity vs. isolation. It was a relief to see a balancing of the scales, through the shift in perception that is a shift in wording. Self-compassion is not selfjudgement, such as the familiar black and white thinking of “I didn’t get an A on this test. I was aiming for an A. Therefore I have failed”, but instead about being kind to yourself even through difficult times, realising that not getting the grade you were aiming for is not the end of the world, more so an opportunity to improve. I was particularly struck by the idea of adding humanity to self-compassion. To see that you are not the only one. During adolescence, a time of formative psychological, physical and social change, when we move from childhood towards adulthood, we undergo a process of ongoing self-discovery known as an ‘identity crisis’. Zao emphasised that in order to realise our potential, this process is about seeing the bigger picture. For Zao, this was the realisation that she was not the only Chinese student trying to master the English language and succeed at a £20k+ masters – the reassurance of a shared journey.

Genes can be knocked out so that offspring are fertile all year Amidst the complexity of the multifaceted concept that is mental health, influenced by factors from parenting to depression to friendships, as Zao’s study considers, a finding that stuck me was that there was a small negative co-efficient observed between depression levels and quality of friendship in both the UK and China samples. This was, however, the quality of friendship between the participant and their one closest friend but revealed the possibility that even when close with a friend, we may not be entirely comfortable sharing our mental health struggles. Zao also touched on the importance of having compassionate parents in forming relationships, the idea that we replicate what we see in early development and that it is imprinted on us as we grow up.

Image: Frank Luca

There's an enduring conflation of selfesteem and self compassion Also, I noted an enduring conflation between self-esteem and self-compassion, or at least a dominance of the former. We were reminded that having a high self-esteem can correlate to presenting aggressive behaviours in infants; a high self-esteem can have its limits before becoming a negative trait that needs management, such as in narcissists. Ultimately, through the night, after being invited to fill out our own mind-

fulness journal, I was reminded of how important it is to decipher the terminology of mental health. Zao’s experience epitomised this, as she recalled that she could translate the self from English to Chinese, she could also translate the word compassion from English to Chinese but couldn’t fathom the two together as self-compassion. I have for a long time sought my self-compassion vicariously. Now, I realise mindfulness isn't all yoga mats. It’s more of a spiritual journey of empowerment that leads you to unconditional self-acceptance that you choose every day. It’s not a given. But when you start reflecting, not suppressing, you enliven the humanity in selfcompassion.

Wheezy for a reason

Bryony Gooch, Music Editor, explains the gene associated with impaired breathing in dogs

ENETICISTS at the University of Edinburgh have made a breakthrough that may challenge the idea that breathing problems in dogs are caused by the shape of their snout. Up until now, it has often been assumed that breathing issues in pups has been relegated to English and French Bulldogs due to their flat snouts and skin folds. But, new research has challenged this, suggesting this may also be caused by a wayward gene, and breeds besides flat-snouted dogs share these respiratory issues.Nearly a third of 401 tested Norwich Terriers had two copies of a mutated variant of the ADAMTS3

gene which causes swelling round the airways. The dogs that had two copies of this gene scored worse on airway function tests than those with one copy of the variant, or two normal copies of the gene. This gene has also turned up in the DNA of English and French Bulldogs, which indicates that skull shape might not be the sole cause of respiratory disorders in dogs. It is possible that a genetic test could be developed to identify Norwich terriers with the gene variant. This would help prevent those dogs with the gene from breeding and passing it on, helping canine breeders to breed healthier dogs.

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Warriors fighting for the crown Stefan Frost analyses the NBA final between the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors

S this tumultuous few days finally draws to a close, where we have seen both a Champions League and Gallagher Premiership final, there is one other match which has no doubt gone more under the radar. The NBA basketball final in America started on 31 May but will continue into this week as the Golden State Warriors challenge the Toronto Raptors for the esteemed trophy.

The Warriors have appeared in the last four finals, winning three While one game has indeed passed, there is plenty more to see as the teams will face off in a best of seven match series which will continue on 3 June. There are many reasons why this final deserves your attention, the most pertinent being that the Toronto Raptors are making their first ever appearance in an NBA final. Comparatively, the Warriors have

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

HILST the Netherland’s suffered back to back World Cup final defeats, first in 1974 and then in ’78, the most important moment in Dutch football during the 1970s occurred some 7, 451km from Rotterdam, in the capital of Suriname: Paramaribo. On 25 November 1975 South America’s smallest nation gained independence from Dutch Colonial rule. In the year following, it is estimated that around a third of the entire Surinamese population, which consisted of a mere 350,000 to begin with, emigrated to the Netherlands. The mass exodus reflected popular longstanding fears that the gaining of independence would greatly hamper the nation’s development. Amongst those who made the transatlantic journey in pursuit of Dutch citizenship were two toddlers: Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf. The 'golden generation' that twice came within a hair’s breadth of lifting the ultimate trophy in all of world football during the 1970s, fronted by mesmeric talents like Johan Cruyff and employing their brand of totaalvoetbal, ultimately finished the decade trophy-less. Whilst one generation faded away, the Dutch national side’s style evolved during the 1980s. The intrinsic principles of total football: formational adaptability and positional fluidity, retained their importance,

appeared in the last four championship finals, winning three of them. They are the current reigning champions while the Raptors come into the final as strong underdogs. Surprisingly, most of America will be cheering for the Canadian side as many will be hoping that the Warriors fail to retain the championship which they have dominated over previous years. As is the case with the New England Patriots in American Football, the Warriors have become predictable victors year upon year. Both the Warriors and the Patriots have winning dynasties which is highly impressive, but sports thrive off unpredictability, not the same team winning year upon year. It's one of the reasons why Manchester United became such unpopular domestic winners in the UK - their footballing hegemony took the drama away from Premier League football. However, the Raptors may be the team to dethrone the champions. Their extraordinary campaign began in the regular season, where they held the second-best record in the NBA. How-

ever, the Canadian team improved in the playoffs, serving up some quite spectacular moments. Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer beater against the Philadelphia 76ers was a particular highlight – the ball hit the rim three times before falling through the hoop – securing a series win for the Raptors.

By getting to the final, the Raptors have defied almost all expectations Just by getting to the final the Raptors have defied expectations, defeating the formidable Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks in the Western Conference Final. Having fallen behind 2-0 in the series, the Raptors recovered in impressive style, winning four games on the bounce. This was largely made possible because of superstar Kawhi Leonard who managed to nullify the Bucks attacking threat Giannis, helping to lead his team to a 4-2 victory.

Yet, standing in the way of the Raptors is a Warriors team stacked with experience and talent. Talisman Steph Curry has been exceptional recently, leading his team in three-pointers and free throws in their semi-final against the Portland Trail Blazers. Many thought the Warriors would crumble earlier in the playoffs following a season ending injury to Kevin Durant— arguably the best player in the league up until that point. However, consistent performances from Steph Curry and Draymond Green have ensured the Warriors still walk into the final as favourites for the 2019 title. As this week progresses, we will get the opportunity to watch the two

Image: Cyrus Saatsaz

best teams in the NBA fight for basketball’s highest accolade. The Warriors will enter the contest as firm favourites, but the Raptors have enough talent on their roster to really challenge the reigning champions. Whether the Raptors can dethrone the Warriors is yet to be seen but the contest promises to be exciting and mesmerising in equal measure.

Curry and Green have ensured the Warriors are favourites for the title It's naturally difficult to look beyond the Warriors - their experience in these big games may well prove the difference between the reigning champions and their current challengers but don't write off the Raptors at all. The American nation - and those interested elsewhere in the world will doubtless be waiting with bated breath. Headline images: RMTip21 (Flickr)

What's in a Suri-name?

George Pugh-Thoroughgood explores the football giant that never was but room was now increasingly afforded to exuberance and flair. A decade on from their World Cup final defeat to Argentina, the Netherlands reached the 1988 European Championship final in Munich. Amongst the wealth of incredible footballing talents that led them to victory on 25 June were two 25year olds, childhood friends, who both possessed astounding positional flexibility, characteristic of 'total football', but combined it with an arrogance and audacious manipulation of the ball. Both captain on the day Ruud Gullit and defensive stalwart Frank Rijkaard were born in Amsterdam to Surinamese fathers, who had travelled together from the South American colony to the Netherlands during the 1960s in search of a safer, more opportunity-laden environment to start families.

Both Gullit and Rijkaard were born to Surinamese fathers They played a pivotal role in the Dutch triumph, with Gullit scoring a glorious bullet-header to open proceedings and Rijkaard shutting out the Soviet attack for the entirety of the match, securing a clean sheet. The tournament success marked a significant point in Dutch footballing history, not only because it represented

what persists to this day as the nation’s sole major honour, but also because from that tournament onwards, no Dutch squad has been devoid of Surinamese influence. In 1995, Ajax returned as the Netherland’s most feared force on the European scene, lifting the Champions League trophy for the fourth time, their previous three successes all coming in succession during the early 1970s. Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert all started the final and were all either born to, or were themselves, first generation Surinamese immigrants, as was Winston Bogarde who was on the bench against AC Milan that day. Three years later, the 1998 Dutch World Squad was regarded by many as the best 23-man squad assembled by the Netherlands since the squad that reached the ’74 final with their totaalvoetbal. Alongside Ajax’s Champions League ’95 winners Seedorf, Kluivert and Bogarde, were Juventus’ Edgar Davids, Internazionale’s Aron Winter and Leeds United’s striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, all of whom shared Surinamese heritage. Guus Hiddink’s side crashed out in the semi-finals after Kluivert’s late equaliser sent their tie with Brazil to penalties, where they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat. Hiddink would subsequently resign and be replaced by Rijkaard. The Surinamese influence on the na-

tional side is just as strong today as it was 21 years ago. Ryan Babel, Michel Vorm, Quincy Promes Jeffrey Bruma, Justin Kluivert, Jean-Paul Böetius have all featured for Ronald Koeman and are all of Surinamese descent, as are Liverpool’s title-challenging mainstays Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk, the latter of whom is receiving the highest of critical praise this season. Players of Surinamese heritage have been pivotal figures in world football since the 1980s and yet the Surinamese national team are at the moment of writing ranked 153rd in the FIFA World Rankings, losing 4-2 to Haiti in a recent Caribbean Cup qualifying match. With such a vast array of talents having Surinamese heritage seemingly available, it begs the question as to why. The answer lies within the Surinamese government’s anti-colonial philosophy and a post-independence law which states that any native who emigrates to the Netherlands is henceforth ineligible to dual citizenship. The likes of Gullit, Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert and van Dijk couldn’t play for Suriname even if they wanted to. It appears somewhat tragic, that such a small nation may reap absolutely none of the rewards its footballing exports could bring. Whilst the far superior coaching and facilities offered in the Netherlands are surely the key component in the trans-

formation of many of these player’s raw footballing talents, Surinamese law has still prevented the small nation from achieving untold footballing triumphs. Amongst murmurs that a change in the law could occur in the late 2000s, a report suggested that over 150 professionals plying their trade in Dutch football would be eligible to turn out for the Surinamese national side, should the law be denounced. The murmurs proved to be nothing more than mere conjecture after the Surinamese government clarified their stance in 2010 and so Suriname persists, as it has for 40 years, as the greatest footballing nation that never was or is.

Image: BuildLineup

Suriname's best all-time XI - Georginio Wijnaldum, Nigel de Jong and Ryan Babel all make the bench.

SPORT

Wild western

Josh Devaraj reviews the successful table tennis season for Exeter's clubs across the regional leagues

HE Exeter Table Tennis Club hit the ground running this season, with determined efforts made by both the women’s and men’s teams, across all leagues. With teams in the Western 1A, Western 2A and Western 2B the club demonstrated a wide range of talent and ability. The Club celebrated its tenth anniversary this year and has done exceedingly well for such a young society across all competitive and non-competitive platforms.

The men's 1s held their own in the top Western league, finishing with a win The Exeter 1’s men’s team held their own in the top Western University’s league, finishing the season with a strong 11-6 victory over Bournemouth University’s 1s. Overall, the squad came in third place below Cardiff and Bath, with four wins and six defeats from their ten fixtures. The win against Bournemouth was especially important since it meant Exeter avoided the relegation play-off on head-to-

head; both sides had identical records at the conclusion of the fixture (and Bournemouth in fact a superior point difference) but Exeter's win saw them clinch third.

Each side performed well even if they were unable to win any silverware This sees an improvement from the previous season where they finished fourth. Both the 2s and 3s men’s sides competed in the Western 2B, coming 5th and 7th. The Exeter 2s also made it into the quarter finals for the Western Conference Cup, suffering an unfortunate defeat to the Cup’s eventual winners - the Southampton 1’s.

Exeter had further presence in the BUCS Table Tennis Trophy with the women’s first team also making it through to the quarter finals, losing to Sheffield in the knockout matches having comprehensively beaten Brunel in the previous round. The Exeter 1s also placed third in the Western 1A league, winning two of their six games. The second women’s team played in the Western 2A league, putting in a fine effort and coming fifth in the league. The Western Conference Cup saw the appearance of the woman’s second team as well, but Exeter had no luck progressing past the opening stage after coming up against a strong Southampton 2s side. Despite not managing to get their hands on any silverware, all the teams performed admirably, maintaining their status in the top university leagues. For the Exeter men’s third team, it was their debut season in the Western 2B division, and we can only be expecting bigger Image: Heung Soon and better things from them and everyone else involved in the society.

Rules of the game > There are four players per team > Each individual plays every opposition individual > Each game is a best of five sets > Each set is won by the first player to 11, but the winning margin must be at least two points > Each player serves two points in a row, unless a score of 10-10 is reached, whereby the serve alternates with each point > Serves must hit both sides of the table > If a serve is legal but touches the net, it is a let serve and the point is not scored > The side of the table is not part of the legal surface > In singles, the centre line serves no purpose

Grand designs

FTER a conclusion to the League 2 season that saw Exeter City fall agonisingly short, key players have departed and it appears that head coach Matt Taylor has a much larger job on his hands to have his side compete for promotion next season than he did this time three weeks ago.

Matt Taylor has a much larger job on his hands now key players have left Club stalwart Christy Pym and enigmatic midfielder Hiram Boateng have both left for pastures anew, with League 1 sides Peterborough United and MK Dons respectively – and cannot be bemoaned for moving to a higher league; both are very talented players and will no doubt flourish with the challenge. James Hamon, Pym’s understudy, has also been released alongside Luke Croll, Jimmy Oates, Felix Norman and Max Smallcombe, while negotiations with Troy Brown are ongoing.

Dara O’Shea, a standout performer at centre-half, has returned to his parent club West Bromwich Albion. The apparent exodus has been offset by early activity in the transfer market; City’s top-class media team left no stone unturned in their announcement of centre-back Tom Parkes from Carlisle United, while Nigel Atangana has also j o i n e d the club from fellow League 2 side Cheltenham – the Frenchm a n adding defensive bite to the midfield, and experience to complement the likes Image: James Boyesp

Josh Brown, Sport Editor, looks at the rebuild Exeter City must undergo this summer of youngster Archie Collins. There’s also more positive news in that some of the club’s more impressive performers last season – Nicky Law, Pierce Sweeney and Lee Holmes to name just three – remain under contract ahead of the new season.

The club may reap some financial benefit from the success of Ethan Ampadu The club may also reap some kind of financial benefit from the career of former academy product Ethan Ampadu – Europa League winner with Chelsea on Wednesday – to boost the transfer kitty. Smart business is always the order of the day when it comes to Exeter City; managing to pick out players like Jayden Stockley, bringing them in and selling them for a profit is simply how the club operates without a financially endowed owner. But this is a model Matt Taylor will need to maximise; the squad needs boosting in several areas – a goalkeeper, a left-back, another

centre-back, another offensive-minded midfielder and a another striker as an understudy to Ryan Bowman are the bare minimum City need to even think about the play-offs next season – and it will certainly be an interesting few weeks for the Devon side. While a high number of transfers might be unusual for the better televised leagues, in truth such churn is the norm in the lower leagues – with City themselves no aliens to utilising the loan system to bring players in on a temporary basis. Taylor is fairly well-connected in the lower leagues, as is assistant Eric Kinder – who was vital in bringing in Chiedozie Ogbene for the first half of the season from Brentford – so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a vast array of business to take place at St James Park in the coming weeks. It will also be a priority to make sure City don’t lose any more of their key players so they can properly establish a platform from which to build on – but if they do so, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to challenge again next season for promotion into League 1.

Fans banned for abuse

Josh Brown Sport Editor

XETER City announced on 28 May that they have banned two supporters indefinitely from games at St James Park "following social media abuse directed at both a former player and manager" of the club. In a statement, the club declared a "zero-tolerance approach to all forms of abuse, both at the ground and online, especially those of a discriminatory or racist nature." The posts - made on Twitter and Facebook - fall "well below" the club's expected standard of behaviour and were reported to both the police and Kick It Out, the institution tasked with dealing with racism in the sport, as well as the one tasked with ensuring equality and inclusion. The club's actions have been met with widespread approval, with Stuart James writing in Devon Live that City are "leading the way in combating online abuse - and I cannot be prouder".

When anyone can spout vitriol anonymously, City's actions are exemplar In an era where anyone can create an anonymous account on these networks to spout vitriol at the athletes they claim to support on a weekend, City's move is surely important first step in truly combating toxic discourse within the sport. Players - especially lower down the league pyramid - must see football as a career path like any other, just with a shorter lifespan - and the attraction of a stronger financial contract or the possibility of getting spotted in a higher league cannot be disregarded and players shouldn't be abused for such moves. And on the club's side, it would be extremely easy to ignore the abusive messages sent to former employees. The fact that City have stepped in and banned these individuals is a fine example to other clubs - not to sweep these issues under the carpet, but to deal with them head-on in order to cultivate a more accepting fanbase who do not cross the line in terms of support. The actions of even a tiny minority of supporters can have wide-reaching implications for the wider fanbase, and by rapidly disassociating itself from the supporters involved, Exeter City have taken the right steps in dealing with discrimination on their own doorstep. I think other clubs would certainly do well to follow suit.

Sport

3 JUN 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT EDITORS: René Bahar Josh Brown

On the Pull Ladies’ Day

Image: Richard Bray

Toby Pullan’s century the highlight of a huge win for EUMCC EUWRFC crown a perfect season with victory in the BUCS Trophy Final

Men’s Cricket Exeter ................................. 347-8 Bristol .................................... 132 Exeter Cricket Club Josh Brown Sport Editor

XETER University Men’s Cricket Club rampaged to a huge victory of 215 runs in their varsity fixture against the University of Bristol. A huge knock of 120 from Toby Pullan gave the home side an ultimately infallible a d v a n -tage they were put into bat first h a v i n g lost the toss. With the support of the crowd behind them, openers Pullan and George Reid made a superb start to the Exeter innings with an opening partnership that surpassed the half-century mark before Reid was bowled by Bristol’s Ali Bee, before Albie Condron took a superb caught & bowled to dismiss Jamie Drewe for just 3 to leave Exeter staltering having lost two quick wickets. But by the time Drewe fell, the men in green already had 79 on the

board, and a quickfire 25 from Ben Wells alongside Pullan took Exeter beyond the 100 mark in good time. Wells would fall soon after – again to Bee – before the fireworks kicked off in earnest. Shiv Patel and Pullan put on an explosive partnership that rocketed Exeter beyond 200 in what proved to be the partnership that took the game away from Bristol. Pullan tonned up on his varsity debut and then proceeded to celebrate his century with three huge sixes, each met with a louder cheer from the spectators, before being dismissed LBW to Alessandro Poynton. The damage had already been done by that point, however, and although Giles Robinson also fell cheaply to the same bowler, and a flurry of wickets fell in the following overs – Ben Twine for 18, then Max Mannering for 1 – Exeter recovered from 277-7, then 285-8, to end with a huge total of 347-8 after a powerful rearguard action from Jake Symes, who ended on 47 not out, and Finn O’Brien, who made 24*. The total meant Exeter had scored at a fraction under seven runs an

over – a mammoth score for the format – with Pullan, Patel and Symes the standout performers with the bat. As is often the case, an enormous score acts like a headwind for the bowling side, and so it proved. Exeter’s opening bowlers George Barlow and Seb Lawson made early inroads, both taking a wicket in their first overs – Barlow getting Bertie Loyd to nick off to Max Mannering at slip before Lawson comprehensively bowled Kieran Smith with his very first delivery - to leave the visitors 0-2. Barlow didn’t have to wait long before taking another wicket; his pace and bounce simply proving too much for Dan Waite, who was caught at point by Jake Symes with Bristol’s total on a mere 16 runs. And it would get even worse for the away side, and even better for Barlow, when he had Seb Waddington clean bowled without score to leave the visitors four wickets down. Bristol’s Patrick Sidwell batted well for his 44, but couldn’t find a partner to stick around with him to build a serious challenge to Exeter’s total – Pete Newman was caught by Barlow off the bowling

of Twine for 17, before Twine had Bee caught behind for just 13. It took until the halfway stage in the Bristol innings for them to reach 100, and they were six down when they did so – Sidwell playing an entertaining knock but ultimately to no avail. Poynton was bowled by Mannering for just 8 before Sidwell was dismissed LBW by the same man, and with him went the rest of the away side’s resistance. The last two wickets to fall – Ewan Harris and Condron – were both stumped by wicketkeeper Wells meaning Bristol could only total 132 all out. It was a stellar bowling performance from the home side, with Barlow the pick of the bowlers (4-13-16) while there were also three wickets for Mannering (6.2-1-3-23), with the rest of the wickets shared amongst Lawson, Twine and Patel.

The damage had already been done when Pullan was dismissed LBW

No doubt the early wickets were key in putting pressure on the visitors’ top order, but Exeter did well to capitalise on the early breakthroughs by preventing any partnership of significance from truly developing – meaning that Bristol were, in the end, comprehensively beaten. Perhaps the result came as no surprise – Exeter have been dominant so far in the South A division, winning every game that hasn’t been postponed – though Bristol themselves are no pushovers; they competed in the national division alongside the MCCU sides of the strongest universities in the country last season but the High Performance Programme has again reaped dividends for the men in green, as they overcome their neighbours by a comfortable margin in consecutive years. The victory sees EUMCC’s 1s continue their 100% record in the current campaign – a true testament to the talent within the group with both bat and ball. EXETER: G. Reid, T. Pullan, J. Drewe, B. Wells (WK), S. Patel, G. Robinson, B. Twine, J. Symes, M. Mannering ©, F. O’Brien, G. Barlow.

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