THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Exeter ranked least ethnically diverse amongst Russell Group universities
Amy Rushton Editor-in-Chief
THE Times Higher Education Rankings were released last month. Whilst Exeter performed well on the overall institutional ranking at 13, The Times also included a social inclusion index in which Exeter performed considerably worse, gaining an overall score of just 361 out of 1000, which placed it at 109 in the league table and the lowest ranking Russell Group university
The Social Inclusion index includes state school admissions (non-grammar), Ethnic Minority Students, Black awarding gap (the percentage points between the proportion of firsts attained by white students and students from black backgrounds), low participation areas (England and Wales), deprived areas (Scotland), low participation dropout gap, first-generation, disabled and mature students.
Of these, Exeter performed particularly poorly on percentage of ethnic
minority students which was compiled with 2021-22 data from Hesa, finding that only 13 per cent of the Exeter student body are from ethnic minority backgrounds (This is compared to a 18.3 per cent national average but the data includes international students too, so the number of home students from ethnic minority backgrounds is far below the national average).
Coupled with a -12.2 per cent black awarding gap (meaning white students are proportionally being marked higher), and only 57.6 per cent coming from non-grammar state schools — on the surface it paints a picture of an Exeter which is lacking diversity and out of touch.
Exeposé do not have the latest figures to confirm if the data has changed since 2021-22, but nevertheless The Times seem to confirm the Exeter stereotype as the “whitest” Russell Group university in the public eye, potentially discouraging applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds and so creating a cycle whereby ethnic diversity remains a significant issue within Exeter.
Exeposé spoke to students of colour about whether this lack of ethnic diversity is reflected in the life and culture at Exeter. Some students pointed to frustration, isolation and racism as common features of their life at Exeter, with one student stating “it’s hard as someone who’s both black and raised in northern England. I notice how people avoid sitting next to me in lecture halls, to the point where I don’t wanna go because I feel judged. When I moved in, I saw people give me and my relatives looks like we were dirt. I’ve been told my accent doesn’t fit my face or my race and been asked dumb questions about my identity and phenotype. While I’ve not had any overt racist comments hurled at me, I notice the little things and it’s frustrating.” Another claimed, “when people ask me “where are you from” it sets off a fight or flight! Do they mean “you’re Asian you can’t be from the UK, where in the world are you from” or do they mean “where is home for you?”
Other responses were more mixed, pointing to the role of societies such as the Students of Colour Association
and the Multicultural Society. One student stated “Societies have been a great place to find [a] community but the University as a whole isn’t very diverse, in seminars and lectures, there’s an atmosphere of it very much centred on the western perspective and often excludes other cultures unintentionally.”
Speaking about their experiences as a student of colour at Exeter, one anonymous student stated, “in all my circles at university, including my course friends, my first year flat, my second year housemates, my job and in my society, I’m the only coloured person. It’s not too much of an issue for me as I’m used to it (I grew up [in a] town where the majority of people were Caucasian), but I can’t help but feel as though I’m missing out on something that I don’t have.
“I’m not too sure if other people feel this way, as I myself have only noticed it sometimes. I’m okay with being the only woman of colour in my groups, but I as I look around my friends, there are certain things, certain experiences that I can’t bond with or even share.”
Image: University of Exetervia wikimedia commons
Editors
Print: Gracie Moore and Amy Rushton
Online: Callum Martin and Katie Matthews
Print Deputies: Charlie Gershinson, Rosie PetersMcDonald, Agata Koralewska
Online Deputies: Emily Roughton and Amberly Wright editors@exepose.com
News Editors
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Online: Shagnick Bhattacharya news@exepose.com
Features Editors
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Online: Michelle Chung features@exepose.com
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Comment Editors Print: Tom Richardson Online: Sophie Zoltowski comment@exepose.com
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Online Zandie Howells music@exepose.com
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Editorial
WE'VE reached our third issue of the new academic year and Exeposé have been working on some big changes to the paper. For starters, we have our brand new section Climate which represents the University of Exeter's role as a leading climate researcher. In addition to that, we've expanded our International section to include foreign articles — if you're a member and speak another language please reach out and get involved! Finally, we've combined our Technology and Science sections into Sci-Tech. We hope you enjoy the new design and as always if there's an important issue at the University or in Exeter you've think we've missed please email us at editors@exepose.com.
This issue, News speaks with Uniboob about Breast Cancer Awareness Month, (Page 5), invesitigates new wider access criteria (Page 4) and more.
Features looks at the Israel-Palestine conflict a year on (Page 8), while Comment explores Jimmy Carter's legacy (Page 12) and the Assisted Dying Bill (Page 13). Arts and Lit discuss Black History Month in the arts (Page 19), and Screen review The Substance (Page 18). Sci-Tech covers Meta's new AI Chatbot (Page 28) and lab-grown food (Page 29). Also in this edition, Sport writers discuss sports activism (Page 30) and cover Exeter's snowsports success (Page 32).
It's been a fantastic start to the term and we're always looking for new writers so if you have any questions about joining the paper, please check out our socials @exepose. We hope you enjoy reading this issue and a huge thank you to all our contributers and proofers!
Gracie and Amy
2023 Best Publication in the South West
University news home and abroad
Calls to reinstate Iranian students and professors
OVER the past two years, Iranian universities have banned and dismissed thousands of students and professors for their involvement in resisting Iran’s “Islamic Republic,” with the new academic year beginning and no progress being made in reviewing these cases.
Iranian universities have been accused of being an extension of Iran’s regime, giving punishments like penalised grades and being banned from cam pus for as little as speak ing in solidarity with national women's rights movements on social media. Civil uprising began in 2022 when Mahsa Amini died suspiciously in police custody following arrest for improperly wearing her hijab, which has been mandatory since the 1979 revolution. Current President Pezeshkian built his platform on Iranian ‘reform’, including promises to review university disciplinary actions taken in the past two years. Despite this, upon election he has taken no steps to review cases and reinstate students and faculty, their academic futures still hanging in the balance.
Irish universities receive additional funding in latest government budget
IRISH universities are set to receive a significant financial boost, with €150 million in core funding announced in the latest government budget. In addition, they will receive €102 million next year for national pay agreements, with annual increases of €10 million planned. Over six years, another €150 million will be allocated to enhance training facilities in key areas like nursing, medicine, and pharmacy. This long-term funding plan aims to ease the financial pressures that universities have faced for years. The funding package is expected to support staff pay, improve student support, and boost vital infrastructure.
Despite welcoming the funding, the Irish Universities Association (IUA) highlighted that it doesn't fully address the €307 million gap identified in a 2022 government report. While the government is benefiting from rising corporate tax receipts, particularly from Big Pharma and Big Tech, there are concerns about the sustainability of this income due to recent EU rulings on tax practices.
Ethiopian university courses to be accredited for the first time
THE Ethiopian government will, for the first time, recognise the formal accreditation of their universities in order to improve the quality of education in the country. This landmark move comes after the Education Training Authority worked to seek the proper permit that ensures the quality of the institutions and sufficient implementation frameworks. The re-registration process for Ethiopia’s universities will take six months at the beginning of this fiscal year and marks a significant shift in the promise of Ethiopia’s higher education system, as well as widening the scope for opportunities for more students, grants, and partnerships in Ethiopia, propounding economic growth. This recognition is expected to not only improve Ethiopia's quality of education but also the credibility of their institutions.
University of Oxford comes top in Times Higher Education world ranking
THE University of Oxford has retained the top position in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the ninth year in a row. This is the longest any university has held the position in the annual editions of The Times’s rankings. Cambridge and Imperial College London join Oxford as the other three UK universities in the top 10, with fifth and ninth respectively. A record 2,092 universities have been ranked from 115 countries. America managed 55 universities in the top 200, taking an overall first.
Despite the UK maintaining second overall with 12 universities in the top 100, and 25 in 200, the teaching and research reputation scores continue to drop from last year.
In contrast, mainland China’s research reputation continues to grow, alongside a trend of increasing competitivity from Asian universities.
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Agata Koralewska and Gracie Moore
Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief
YYouth Demand continue campus protests
OUTH Demand is a national group of activists that specialises in non-violent campaigns to address issues such as the climate crisis and political change. The group has started off as a branch of Just Stop Oil. The reason for its creation is that the organisation believes more needs to be done and that they should focus on a wider range of topics, not only oil extraction and combating climate change. They became famous for radical forms of protest such as paying visits to politicians’ homes or painting slogans on crucial infrastructure or significant buildings. In Exeter, they have a society which organises protests but also other activities and workshops, with the purpose of creating a sense of community amongst students.
On the 10th October in the Forum, Youth Demand, along with representatives friom nine other
intersectional societies, dropped around a thousand flyers from the balcony onto the ground floor of the building. Exeter has seen weekly demonstrations, also in the Forum, vouching for the University to “cut all ties to Israel”. These intersectional societies include but aren’t limited to: Friends of Palestine, Scare Society and Rethinking Society. Student collective ELE4PAL was also present.
ELE4PAL staged a two month-long encampment on Queens Aboretum between the months of May and July in which they protested for the same reason: for the university to “cut their ties to Israel” in light of the Israel-Palestine conflict taking place in the Middle East.
Exeposé spoke to Ming, a member of the Rethinking Society who took part in the flyer drop last Thursday. Ming said that the information on the flyers “linked the climate crisis to Palestinian genocide, imperialism, capitalism and labour exploitation.”
Additionally, Ming stated that “Gaza is totally levelled, the soil quality is poor, nothing can grow, the chemicals from weapons are causing rates of cancer to rise.”
Youth Demand also erected banners along the glass pane of the balcony,
which read “Divest from deadly weapons research.” Ming went on to state that Youth Demand organised the flyer drop, but that anyone is free to join the activism. For example, every Wednesday at 12pm, there are speeches and chants held in the Forum regarding the ongoing crisis in Palestine.
On their future plans, Ming mentioned that Youth Demand in Exeter are planning community
events to get more students involved in activism as well as “make their voices louder so the university listens.”
Some of those include talks advertised on their social media channels.
Exeposé reached out to the Israel and Zionism Society for a comment on the recent protests but they had not repsonded by time of printing. A spokesperson from the Student Guild said, "Your Students’ Guild are here to
help facilitate student-led campaigns and support students in enacting the changes they want to see on campus and within our community. We acknowledge that students have the right to protest safely. The Guild provides resources, including risk assessment templates and guidance, to help students protest responsibly. For further information or advice, get in touch with our Voice team at voice@exeterguild.com."
Duryard solar panels connected to University network
Image: Lewis Clarke, Wikimedia Commons
Charlie Gershinson Deputy Editor
NEW solar panels built around Duryard have been connected to the University of Exeter’s electricity network.
The 1,800 solar panels, which are adjacent to the end of Cherry Tree Close and Woodleigh Close by the Duryard Halls of Residence, will generate over 1,000MWh of clean energy per year as well as save 225 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to the University. The University also plans to expand its capacity for using solar power by reviewing the
suitability of building roofs to house solar panels over the next three to five years as well as investigating more sites for the construction of solar panels. Existing solar panels on roofs currently account for 1.3 MW.
Prior to the Duryard site’s approval in July 2023 by the Exeter City Council, there were ecological concerns over the land’s status as a site of national conservation and a country wildlife park leading to several objections by residents and mixed views by council officers. The planning application narrowly passed due to the benefits of renewable energy generation it brings.
The University has submitted a further planning application to the Council concerning the retention of
the gravel path on the site, which has been rejected but is under discussion between the University and the Council. The Council rejected the application in April 2024 on the grounds that it “would fail to minimise the harm caused by development to this site of Nature Conservation Importance and County Wildlife Site.”
There are separate plans at Penryn campus to locate up to two wind turbines nearby, which is hoped to provide up to 70 per cent of the campus’ annual energy consumption. The University is currently gauging public opinion before making an application to Cornwall Council.
University part of £11 million national funding to improve young people’s mental health.
for treatment is at its most strained.
ANEW initiative aiming to improve mental health research for young people has recently been announced by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Intending to address mental health inequalities in the UK, the NIHR will fund research groups across nine regions in England, with the figure initially standing at £27 million. The investment aims to create research opportunities in areas where mental health conditions are most concentrated and the capacity
Experts from the University of Bath, University of Exeter and University of Bristol will coalesce to staff the Southwestern group, offering expertise across a range of conditions and areas.
The Mental Health Research Group has been awarded up to £11 million over 5 years for the study. Speaking to the University of Exeter, Director of MHRG at Bath University, Dr Pamela Jackson stated, ‘we’re focusing on prevention and early intervention because we know most mental health difficulties start in childhood.’
As such, the research will focus on reducing the harm of impactful factors on young people’s mental
health: including disorders such as ADHD and autism, difficult early circumstances, and addictive substances like alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Co-lead and professor of clinical psychology at Exeter, Professor Barney Dunn described in a statement to the University that it was ‘ideally placed’ in the partnership, asserting the institutions' expertise ‘clearly lends itself to improving mental health research for young people and addressing the needs of the region.’
Image: Fred Murphy, Illuminate Stroud
Beth Casey
Image: KET Education
“I can’t help but wish for something more diverse”
Continued from the front page
"
Especially being so far from home, it’d be nice to have that, some sense of normality.
"I love my circles and the people in them, but at the same time in the back of my head I can’t help but wish for something more diverse, and I feel guilty for thinking so.
“Further on down the line in my academic journey, I do think I’d move to a university with more diversity/ethnic minorities for my masters, I don’t think I could stay in Exeter longer than my undergraduate degree. That’s not to say that it’s not a lovely place, I wouldn’t have chosen anywhere else to go for my undergrad course. I thought first term of first year that it was a little odd, but I shook it off and expected that I’d make coloured friends if I went to the societies (shocker, it hasn’t happened, yet). I find that as someone who is Indian but hasn’t grown up surrounded by religion and the communities, that it’s hard
to mix/fit into the cultural societies at the University. Often questioning myself, am I too whitewashed for the coloured societies? My South Asian language skills are sub-par, and I only know a few popular Bollywood films, so on that front, I can’t really find my crowd in the society. In first year, the University having such a big celebration for Diwali was amazing. Although we weren’t so religious growing up, going to the event on campus felt like a home away from home, and I thought I’d introduce my friends to the festival. We went to get some food from the stalls and I left to speak to someone. Once I came back I was told they felt uncomfortable as they were the only ‘white people’ there, and we left promptly. It was disappointing to say the least.
“I’ve been a minority my whole life; as opposed to their 30 minutes. I’ve had my good times and bad times. Being a minority teaches you that you’re a unique person and to not let that set you apart from anyone
else or stop you from going for the same opportunities as anyone else. Being at Exeter, and being the only coloured person in my circles, has almost made me appreciate myself more and accept who I am. I know that I’m a minority, and I embrace it.”
A spokesperson for the University of Exeter said:
"Access remains a challenge for the University of Exeter despite making good improvements in widening participation. We have made substantial progress in improving the diversity of our student population but still have much to do. In 2023, we were named NEON University of the Year for our progress in widening participation. This reflects the extent of our commitment and investment. We face a number of challenges to access affected by our location, catchment area and high entry requirements. We are located in the South West, a region which has some of the largest learning gaps and lowest progression rates
to higher education in the country. We have significantly increased the proportion of students from racially minoritised backgrounds but given our location has much lower levels of ethnic diversity than some other Russell Group institutions located in big cities.
"In recent years we have extended significantly our fair access work, with around 1,000 students each year involved in programmes such as Exeter Scholars and have focused much of our recruitment activity and support on schools and colleges with high proportions of under-represented students. We carry out extensive work with pupils across the South West and have continued to build our partnership work with the FE sector. We are one of the largest providers of Degree Apprenticeships and also have one of the most progressive contextual offers policies in the sector."
A Guild spokesperson stated, "Exeter is a vibrant and diverse community. We know
Image: Charlie Gershinson
how important it is to connect with people who share similar experiences and values. To meet like-minded peers, access support or join a student group, visit www. exeterguild.com/communities.
"Your elected Communities and Equality Officer, Thomas Tran, works closely with the University to minimise barriers to student life and ensure that every student feels they belong. Learn more about how Thomas and the entire Officer team are addressing the issues that matter most to you at https://csr. exeterguild.com/student-priorities.
"Your Students’ Guild has several widening participation initiatives designed to support students who have faced additional challenges before arriving at university. Our Advice team is here to help with the transition and ensure that students feel safe, supported, respected and valued. If you need support, please get in touch at https://www. exeterguild.com/find-support.
Accessing higher education: students query University support at a time of “extortionate” costs-of-living
Rosie Peters-McDonald Deputy Editor
THE University of Exeter has released their up-to-date Access and Participation plan, which aims to widen academic participation for “students from all backgrounds,” according to the University’s website. In the updated plan, which has been renewed for the 2025/26 to 2028/29 period, the University sets out the ways in which it seeks to “eliminate gaps in success where they occur between students with different backgrounds” — an important task considering around 65 per cent of our student body is made up of state-educated students. This is according to The 93 per cent Club Exeter, a Guild society aiming to increase representation of stateeducated students in Exeter. Stateeducated students make up 93 per cent of the student population in the UK, and schools in low-income areas have a much lower rate of progression to higher education in the UK. The Access and Participation strategy also seeks to bridge the higher education gap for estranged students, students from ethnic minorities which are underrepresented in higher education, and students with disabilities. We reached out to a sample
of anonymous students, asking them their thoughts on access and participation at the University of Exeter. When asked if they knew about the University’s Access and Participation plan prior to us reaching out to them, 58.8 per cent responded that they did not. 52.9 per cent of respondents also disagreed that higher education is inclusive and accessible for all, no matter their background. Student support for the need for an Access and Participation strategy was clear: one student said, “some universities, Exeter included, do a lot to make sure people with disabilities and [from] low income backgrounds have access to higher education.”
Another, however, told us that the University, “takes in economic wealth on paper, but does not consider situational factors where, despite having a certain amount of wealth, that wealth cannot be spent on a child at university, such as having split parents, [and] parents [caring for] other family [members].”
This idea occurred frequently in our communication with the students. When asked if the University of Exeter feels like an inclusive arena for learning and self-development, 46 per cent responded with “maybe.”
The remaining respondents were split evenly between agreeing and disagreeing with the statement. In terms of student opinion on inclusivity,
there was certainly some wariness, which the University likely aims to improve through their updates to the Access and Participation strategy.
A key aspect of the Access and Participation strategy is the University’s commitment to “increase the funding support available for students on low incomes and introduce new measures to provide specialist funding advice, improve affordability and access to accommodation.” One of the ways they intend to do this is through bursaries and scholarships, some of which are automatically awarded and some of which are awarded by application. They range from a minimum award value of £2,300 for those whose household income is less than £16,000 per annum, to a minimum award value of £500 for those whose household income is between £30,001 and £35,000 per annum. We asked students if they thought £500 in bursary support would be enough to make a difference to their experience as a student living independently in Exeter, to which almost 65 per cent responded that they did not. Several said that “£500 is less than a month’s rent” in Exeter, and one said “I’m lucky that my parents support me, […] but for those who don’t have that option I can’t imagine how difficult it is.”
The general consensus was
that £500 did not seem enough to support students reliant on a lower than average household income.
Many students feel that the means-testing of these awards is faulty to a degree. When we asked students about whether they feel that there should be a more detailed strategy which takes into account cost of living differences across the UK, such as in areas of high inflation where disposable income is much lower than it would be elsewhere, some students suggested that meanstesting should take into account “area average,” while others argued that “the whole system is messed up.”
We asked the University of Exeter to comment on the key changes to the Access and Participation plan for the next four years. A spokesperson responded that there will be “a stronger focus on working with regional partners to address risks of equal opportunity within the South West,” along with a “significant expansion of Degree Apprenticeships” and a “partnership with the Black Leadership Group to help […] outreach and recruitment functions adopt antiracist practice to support diversity and inclusion.”
The University also added that they have included an “increase in funding for low income students including increasing eligibility for the Access to Exeter Bursary for
those with a household income of £35,000 and below, compared to £25,000 in [their] last Access and Participation plan, and current level of £30,000. This represents an additional investment in student funding of £500,000 each year.”
There is, of course, more to be done to support LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities, and students who are “racially minoritised.” The University’s spokesperson added that they will “work to embed the Transformative Education Framework across our curriculum through Curriculum for Change with a focus on racial and social justice including work to further diversify [and] decolonise the curriculum.” When we asked the University if they have a prediction on how successful this strategy will be, they called the targets “achievable but stretching.”
Our research has shown that the cost-of-living crisis and further external factors have certainly not made things easier for students affected by a lack of access, nor for the University in its approach to narrowing gaps to entry. With the prospect of tuition fees increasing in the near future — which could deepen the barrier to entry significantly — it’s difficult to predict exactly how successful the University’s strategy will be this time around.
“Catch it early, treat it early”: Exeposé speaks to Uniboob
Gracie Moore and Amy Rushton Editors-in-Chief
BREAST cancer occurs all year round, not just in October.
This year for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Exeposé spoke to the Exeter Uniboob Team, about their worm with CoppaFeel!, the breast cancer awareness charity and their aim to spread the message to yourself on a regular basis for the signs and symptoms of breast cancer as well as stamp out late detection of the disease in young people.
Breast Cancer affects around 57,000 people each year and is the most common
cancer in the UK, accounting for around 15 per cent of all new cancer cases.
This year, Uniboob are collaborating with different societies to ‘turn events pink’ in order to spread the message. Societies such as Exeter University Netball Club will train in pink, play fun games and make a small donation to CoppaFeel!
A Uniboob spokesperson stated that one of the group's aims is to spread the message that breast cancer can affect anybody, of any gender, age or race. She told us about how vital it is inclusive messages are spread about breast cancer, in order to combat common misconceptions such as the incorrect assumption men cannot get breast cancer,
Charlie Gershinson Deputy Editor
THE Princesshay shopping district in Exeter has been taken over by the Frasers Group. The retail giant, which is owned by well-known entrepreneur Mike Ashley, bought the 600,000 sq ft plot from the Crown Estate and asset manager Nuveen for
and highlight that breast cancer symptoms can differ depending on factors such as skin colour.
She further explained that this inclusivity is one of the reasons she was inspired to become involved in Uniboob — she had originally used Uniboob’s messaging service and expressed that the messages received make you feel welcome, more comfortable and reassured. This had encouraged her to become involved with helping other people feel the same way.
Uniboob recommends consulting the CoppaFeel! And NHS websites, and building a routine around checking for symptoms. For instance, many people prefer to check for unusual lumps, bumps, or skin puckering while in the shower and others prefer to have someone else to check for them. The most important thing is knowing what feels normal for you so you can more easily detect any changes.
If you have any concerns about anything abnormal relating to your breasts or chest, you can text UBT to 82228 to seek support and advice. for what to look out for. Our Advice team are also available to offer guidance and support to anyone needing help with their budgeting and finances.
Princesshay bought by Frasers Group
an undisclosed sum. The district currently contains around 60 shops.
Nicola Wheeler, chief executive of InExeter — Exeter’s business improvement district, said that "Princesshay is an important part of the commercial heart of Exeter and this is a vote of confidence in Exeter's future. "We're really looking forward to working with Frasers Group in the way we have with the previous owners to make sure this brings wider benefits to the city both in terms of its retail and leisure offer."
There are rumours that the acquisition will bring on major changes to Princesshay. DevonLive asked the Frasers Group about their takeover of Princesshay and their plans for the district. They said, "Covering over 600,000 sq. ft and including Princesshay Shopping Centre, this prime retail destination for shoppers in Exeter city centre and the wider region is home to more than 60 retailers across boutique, specialist and national brands. Frasers’ acquisition will enable the Group to
enhance the shopping and leisure offer within Exeter city centre, by introducing elevated retail formats and improving the current tenant mix in Princesshay."
Michael Murray, the CEO of the Frasers Group and Ashley’s son-inlaw, said of the group’s purchase of Princesshay (along with Fremlin Walk Shopping Centre in Maidstone and The Olympus Centre in Quedgeley) that, "the acquisition of Princesshay, Fremlin Walk and The Olympus Centre reinforces our commitment to
investing in physical retail. Securing properties which serve as the primary retail destination for the community remains a top priority for us. "Such acquisitions unlock new growth opportunities for our retail concepts, while revitalising high streets and physical shopping locations up and down the country. At Frasers, we strive to re-invent and elevate retail for UK shoppers, bringing the very best brands, environments, and experiences to all our customers across the country."
University to establish new facility for archaeological remains
Matthew Smith
THE University of Exeter will be hosting a brand new state-of-the-art storage facility for archaeological remains on Streatham Campus.
The Biocultural Heritage Information in a Virtual Environment facility (HIVE) will store ancient human, animal and plant remains to ensure their preservation for study. This mitigates against an ongoing ‘crisis of curation’ that sees many
collections forced to dispose of material in the face of constraints of funding and space. As well as storing remains in an environmentally controlled secure location, HIVE’s collection will also include a virtual dimension, with an archive of 3D files and data for researchers. This digital archive will be especially useful for retaining information on the original state of artefacts that become unavoidably damaged by destructive analysis techniques, such as isotope testing, which leave artefacts irrevocably altered.
The construction of the HIVE
facility is being enabled by grants from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund, a nondepartmental public body sponsored by the UK Government. The HIVE facility is just one of many projects being funded by UKRI, who have committed to investing £37 million into the UK heritage sector, in the hopes of preserving UK cultural heritage for generations to come. Since 2000, 467 museums have closed in the UK; the establishment of this facility, and the wider UKRI investments in the heritage sector, have come at the right time
when the future of the UK’s cultural heritage seems ever more uncertain.
HIVE is set to be completed in the summer of 2026.
Image: W&L Law Faculty Activities
Image: Exeter Uniboob
Image: Exeter Uniboob
Image: Exeter Uniboob
Image: University of Exeter
“Don’t look away”: in conversation with
Ukraine war correspondent Luke Harding
Amy Rushton and Callum Martin Editor-in-Chief and Online Editor-in-Chief
THE most important reporting shapes lives by uncovering untold stories, but most journalists struggle to see the tangible effects of their writing. For Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding, the effects of his reporting can be seen in the row of Ukrainian refugees attending his talk at the University of Exeter, personally thanking him for his love of Ukraine — its culture and its people — and his relentless commitment to telling the real human stories behind Putin’s invasion.
The talk centred around Luke’s latest book, Invasion: Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival, in which he centres the human tragedies behind the headlines. His approach is informed by over 20 years working in foreign correspondence, penning eight books, holding the honour of being the first western reporter expelled from Russia since the Cold War, and writing from Afghanistan, Baghdad, Moscow and, since 2021 — Ukraine.
Exeposé were lucky enough to sit down with Luke before his talk and discuss his experiences of growing up in Exeter, reporting on war and his hopes for the future of Ukraine.
PART ONE — THE ROAD TO KYIV
Luke spent six years in Exeter as a child, and his mother worked as a counsellor at the University. Many of his earliest memories were shaped by the city — from the dubious honour of becoming the Bishop’s book boy, which involved kneeling during long sermons and holding an enormous leather-bound book for the Bishop to read, to acting as Jesus in a play on the lawn of Exeter Cathedral. Neither made a long-term mark — Luke became a committed atheist by the age of 13 — but he enjoyed Exeter.
Living in Stoke Hill, Luke recounted Exeter City football matches whenadorned in a red and white scarf — he and his father would turn up only to the last 20 minutes of the game when they could get through the gates for free.
But it was Oxford that cemented a love of journalism for Luke. After abandoning a short-lived career in acting, he started writing for the student newspaper Cherwell, which he edited in his second year.
“I sort of found my tribe. The kids who were journalists, they were pretty smart, but they also pretty informal. They wanted to sort of have adventures and make mischief and that's really what I wanted to do as well, and I sort of still am.”
The road from there was more rocky — after facing rejections from national newspapers post university he worked at the Evening Argus in Brighton for two years. We asked
how he felt the decline in local journalism was impacting Britain,
“It was very important for the community and for a sense of local identity. Local papers protected against disinformation and echo chambers — if you lived there you could agree on the nature of reality. Now, its not so bad in the UK, but in the US people can't even agree on what facts are and what reality is. Half of Americans think that Donald Trump won the 2020 election because that's what they're told by Fox News.” He suggests the only way to combat this is pumping more money into news at local levels, rather than what we see now — a decline in funding at all levels.
His advice for aspiring journalists is more optimistic and boils down to one thing — practice. You need a bit of talent, he explains, but if you can write you can get better at it too.
From the Evening Argus, Luke went to the Daily Mail, although he couldn’t stand its politics. It became too much in the run up to the '97 election, when he left for The Guardian. His first big story was the Jonathan Aitken libel case and from there it was foreign correspondence — covering 9/11 in Delhi, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Berlin with side trips to Baghdad and eventually Moscow in 2007.
In the Summer of 2006, Luke was working in Berlin. During a meal with his boss, he was told he needed a bigger canvas.
“By that, she meant no one else wants to go to Moscow so we’re sending you. I remember saying I don’t actually speak Russian, I speak German. And she said 'languages, they’re all the same you can learn.' So I started learning Russian the next day and we went off to Moscow.”
Initially, he underestimated Russia, believing he would turn up to a semidemocracy. Russia, however, turned out to be “darker and more challenging” than he or his wife, travel-journalist Phoebe Taplin, could have imagined.
Tensions at that point were high between Russia and the UK. It was only shortly after Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer, was poisoned with a radioactive cup of tea in London. He says his time in Russia at times felt like a "bad spy thriller" — he was followed in the street by FSB officers, and regularly had phone calls intercepted and his office broken into.
“They made it obvious they were bugging you because they would cut the line. If you made a joke about Putin you’d get a static noise. So then you make another joke about Putin and they cut the line completely.”
One particularly memorable incident saw Luke returning home to find a sex manual had been planted on his bedside table.
“It was a silly, clownish Cold War kind of thing — for about three and a half years nothing we did was private. You make jokes about it because the answer to that darkness was to joke about it.”
When he reported this back to
London, he was told it was a standard intimidation technique. Nonetheless, there were deeply chilling moments. He recounts how he was once brought to Lefortovo Prison, the FSB’s detention centre where Wall Street Journalist Evan Gershkovich was recently detained, in one of the many times he feared for his freedom whilst in Russia.
The safety and treatment of journalists has fast become one of the biggest issues when reporting on Russia. Luke describes how Russia has become a totalitarian state where independent media is finished — “The most creative people have left or been killed and the rest are living with the understanding that anything could happen to them at any moment if they offend power [...] Russia’s the world’s foremost spy state.”
This extended into harassment and threats aimed at foreign journalists; in 2011 Luke was denied re-entry in Russia. Access can be a common problem with foreign reporting — “we’ve been trying to get into Gaza for more than a year since October 7th, and the Israeli Government hasn't let us. There are all sorts of reporting challenges.”
PART TWO — THE FOG OF WAR
On the evening of the 23rd February 2022, Luke was in Kyiv, having dinner with some friends. Everybody was enjoying themselves. There was Odesan wine, honey vodka, and pork zakuski, and the most crucial element of any dinner party — good conversation.
Shortly before midnight, Luke rose to say his goodbyes. After embracing his hosts, he left the warmth of the flat to trudge home through the night. But his journey was interrupted.
A phone call from one of his contacts, who had served in Ukraine’s foreign ministry. Their message?
“The invasion will begin at 4:00 am.”
Depressing as it was, the call didn’t take Luke by surprise. Putin had been telegraphing his intention to subsume Ukraine into a new Russian Empire since at least 2014,
when Russian forces annexed Crimea.
Seven months before Luke’s dinner party, the Russian President had published On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, a 5000-word polemical essay denying the legitimacy of Ukraine’s contemporary borders. It argued that Russians and Ukrainians were ‘one people’, separated only by cruel historic injustices. The essay preceded a large build up of Russian troops and equipment on their Western border with Ukraine, as well as in Belarus.
The increasing volatility of the situation had caused Luke to return to Ukraine the previous December. Despite the danger, he had found that “people were pretty complacent.”
“Ukrainians didn’t want to believe it […] I don’t think Zelensky wanted to believe it either. I believed it. I didn’t think it was a feint, or a bluff. I thought a big, big invasion was coming.”
At 4:30am on the 24th February, this grim prediction came true. Missiles and artillery began bombarding Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and the Donbas. Simultaneously, Russian ground forces swept into eastern Ukraine in the most brazen violation of European borders since the Second World War.
“In those first few days, pretty much everyone thought that Kyiv would fall. By which I don't mean people sitting in London or Washington — everyone in Kyiv thought the city would fall, which is why millions of people were trying to leave. The motorways to the west were completely clogged.”
According to Luke’s contacts, the Russian plan was “to send in commandos, storm the presidential palace, execute Zelensky, display his body on Russian TV, kill all of his Cabinet and in pretty quick order, subdue any opposition and install a puppet government in Kyiv.”
But Putin underestimated the Ukrainian resolve. Within the Kremlin echo chamber, he had been advised that the Ukrainians would gratefully welcome their new Russian overlords, and that the Russian tricolour would be
raised over the Rada within a fortnight. 31 months on, Putin’s still waiting.
Part of this resilience has come from the courageous leadership of President Zelensky. Luke says that the day the Russians invaded was the day Zelensky “went from being a good President to a great President.”
“Before the invasion, his ratings were actually falling. But everyone assumed he would run away. The Americans offered to help him run, and he stayed.”
Luke is highly critical of western policy towards Russia in the years since Putin’s accession. He says our thinking has been “conventional and unimaginative. We were treating the Russian government like a government, whereas in reality it’s a bunch of hyperactive gangsters from the KGB.
“We’re like the kid at the back of the class who’s just a bit slow. There have been ample warnings that Putin was capable of anything. I mean, he stole Crimea, and the west’s reaction was a few words of outrage, which he doesn’t care about, and a few sanctions against minor officials, whose names no one can spell.”
“In this country, not once, but twice he sent assassins to kill people he didn't like, rattling around Salisbury or roaming around Soho with polonium. This is insane stuff.
“It’s a failure of imagination. We thought he couldn’t possibly invade Ukraine because no one had invaded a sovereign country on this scale for 80 years. Well, he can and he did and he has.”
Two and a half years into that invasion, there is ample evidence of Russian war crimes. The most visceral section of Luke’s book recounts what he saw in the northern city of Bucha, where he travelled a few days after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“It was a horror show. What made it singularly awful in Bucha was that the Russians were killing civilians. I've seen a lot of dead combatants, but here they were rounding up guys who had nothing to do with anything and torturing them and executing them.”
Image: Luke Harding
Continued from page 6
“I TELL the story of this one 24 year old. Dragged from his house, taken down the street and then tortured. They broke his arm. He was just a regular kid. They told his mother that he would return in three weeks.
“I go down the road and his aunt shows me where he’s been kept, locked in this basement cellar. They made him kneel, and shot him in the back of the head.
“They did this all over the region. They killed 1600 people, they raped women, shot up cars with kids in them. Killed whole families and burned the bodies. It was mediaeval savagery, licenced by the state, licenced by the Kremlin.
“It’s important to tell this so that people know what’s going on, but it’s
“Ukraine has to win”
also important because it shows why doing a deal where the Russians get to occupy 20 per cent of Ukraine doesn't work. It would mean the people living in those zones can experience the same kind of predation at any moment. So Ukraine has to win, but they can only win if we give them enough stuff.”
When it comes to the international stage, Luke says Zelensky’s background in entertainment has served him well, but it’s still not enough.
“I saw Zelensky recently in Kyiv. He has a plan to end the war, but it involves more military support from Allied countries, pressure on Russia, and permission to hit targets inside Russia with long range strikes, which the Biden administration won’t give.”
“Ukraine’s been very good at reaching out to international publics […] the problem now is how to engage when the war still goes on, there's no resolution. Ukraine is losing — on a relatively small scale, but nonetheless it's going backwards in the east.”
And it’s this static, grinding nature of the war that has contributed to what some commentators have labelled ‘Ukraine fatigue’. But Luke doesn’t buy the idea that global attention is waning.
“It’s the obvious interpretation, but I'm not sure it's quite right. It clearly doesn’t help that there’s a huge and spreading regional war in the Middle East. But our stuff still gets pretty well-read on The Guardian. There’s definitely an audience for it, definitely people who care.
“The scale of the war, the horror of the war, hasn’t diminished. If anything it’s got worse. The frontline is almost 1000 kilometres long. People die all the time, every hour. Huge numbers of Russian troops are being killed on a scale that we haven't seen since Stalingrad. I've watched them die. So I think it’s important we don’t look away.”
One man who would likely look away is Donald Trump. At time of writing, the US election is less than three weeks away, and while he’s currently trailing in the polls, there’s every chance Trump could return for a second term — an outcome that would spell disaster for Ukraine. Trump has close ties to Russia (covered in Luke’s book Collusion) and has indicated that he would turn off
the taps on US military support to Ukraine.
“Witting or unwitting, Trump behaves like a Russian asset. If he were to win in November, it's clear that he would cut off all American military aid to Ukraine and come out with some peace deal which involves Russia taking what it's got and possibly some more. And then telling [Ukraine] to suck it up.
"That's the scenario that Russia wants. I don't think Ukarine will collapse because there's still stuff coming from the Europeans. But definitely, Eastern Ukraine will be lost.
A Ukraine capitulation would “be a disaster for the rest of the planet as well. It would further embolden Putin, which means after Ukraine, he may think about redrawing the map somewhere else. His ambitions are not limited to Ukraine.”
Western support has also been hamstrung by fears of ‘escalating’ the conflict. In any war involving superpowers, there is always the underlying anxiety of it going nuclear. It’s a threat that Putin has issued regularly, but in Luke’s opinion, it's an empty one.
“It’s just a blackmail and a scare tactic — one the American administration has rather stupidly fallen for. What you have to understand about Putin is that he's a coward. Alexei Navalny called him a cowardly little man in a bunker and that's exactly what he is. What's stopping him is not that he has got any qualms about killing millions of people — he doesn't. It's his fear that the Americans would drop a bomb on his head.”
An addition to the university’s art scene
JEditor
UST outside Queen’s Building, a new vibrant art installation has been placed as a part of Black History Month celebrations. The globe has been gifted to the Univeristy by Nadia Akingbule — an illustrator from London who focuses her work on themes of representation and belonging. Her artwork has the intention of bringing
people together through seeking change, and she promotes her cause with the help of her colourful drawings. The enormous installation presents a message of unity and working towards a fair community. It explores the legacy of Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans on the UK's role. reputation and future. It is one of 103 similar pieces that are all linked in terms of that conveyed meaning. Each one of them has been made by a different artist and they are scattered across the country. It
is the second piece of art the university has received as a part of that project, the first one being a matching globe that can be admired on Penryn campus.
Uncertain Voyage: A Complex Triangle explores a scene set in 1948: a man and a woman set their foot in Britain after being carried away from Jamaica to London on a ship. The journey of these immigrants is to be admired by students who come across it on their way to their seminars.
During the interview, we asked Luke to reflect on the personal impact of war reporting — the physical danger but also the mental toll. Regarding the former, he acknowledged that “quite a few journalists have been killed, so you know it’s a risky environment.
“One time in 2022 we were driving towards a place called Mariinka to meet a commander. The road became more and more deserted and it felt increasingly spooky, but we kept going. At one point, we looked on the map and saw we were very close to the Russians.
“Finally the commander appeared. We both got out, shook hands and then heard the sound of incoming mortars. It was a kind of whiz, rather than a bang. I shouted “HELLO”, and then “GOODBYE” and ran to our vehicle and drove off at 100 miles per hour. It’s the shortest interview of my career.”
Alongside the physical threat, exposure to horrors such as Bucha carry their own psychological burden.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff [...] at least I can just leave. The Ukrainians are stuck in this cycle forever, of waking up at midnight every night because there's an air raid siren and explosions. So yeah, I'm OK, but spare a thought for those in Ukraine who can’t leave.”
We finished by asking Luke if he was planning on writing a follow-up to Invasion. He wasn’t sure.
“The book I’d really like to write is about the fall of the Russian Empire and the end of Putin. It just hasn’t happened yet.”
Supreme Court takes up Dartmoor wild camping case
Charlie Gershinson Deputy Editor
ACOUPLE have appealed to the Supreme Court to end the right to wild camp in Dartmoor, according to the BBC.
In a long-running dispute, Alexander and Diana Darwall have taken a court case to the UK Supreme Court to stop people from wild camping on some private commons in Dartmoor National Park, near Exeter, which is currently the only place in England and Wales which has an assumed right to wild camp without the landowner’s permision. This follows a ruling from the lower Court of Appeals which upheld this right.
The couple, who have owned a 4,000-acre plot of land in Dartmoor since 2013, have said that campers can cause disturbances to livestock and the environment. The Darwalls and their lawyers are justifying their case under a 1985 law which allows "access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation" but disallows camping.
Timothy Morshead KC, the couple’s barrister, argued that the words “openair recreation” described “the purpose for which the public might exercise its right to walk and ride" rather than “what the public had a right to do on Dartmoor.” He went on further to say that the Darwalls wanted to contain "the damage that wild camping can cause and, in particular, about the significant risk
of fire associated with it" and were not "motivated by a desire to stop camping."
In opposition to the Darwalls, the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) has said that the phrase “on foot” referred to pedestrian use rather than by using a vehicle. Their barrister – Richard Honey KC – argued that wild camping causes little to no damage to the land.
The Darwalls originally won a High Court case in January 2023 allowing them to remove people who were camping on their land. At the judgement, judge Sir Julian Flaux, Chancellor of the High Court, said that the 1985 act did not "confer on the public any right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on Dartmoor Commons. Any such camping requires the consent of the landowner."
Image: University of Exeter
At the appeal, brought partly by the National Park Authority and the Open Spaces Society, Lord Justice Underhill said that wild camping “plainly fell” as a form of open-air recreation as many "took pleasure in the experience of sleeping in a tent in open country".
As the Supreme Court hearing was taking place earlier this month, the British Mountaineering Council also supported the right to wild camp in Dartmoor saying on Instagram that, “this challenge has ignited a new land rights movement, revealing the fragility of our access to land.”
Image: Lee Morgan, Flickr
Agata Koralewska Deputy
Image: University of Exeter
Image: Luke Harding
Features
One year on from October 7
FEATURES EDITOR: Eleanor Rogers
Gracie Moore, Editor-in-Chief, reflects on the Israel-Palestine conflict and speaks on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
DREAMING of peaceful and quiet lives, millions of people in the Middle East instead still face the reality of conflict and violent death. Unbridged political, religious and strategic fault lines continue to rupture the hope of an end to the war.
Political, religious and strategic fault lines rupture the hope of an end to the war
On the 7th October 2023, more than 1,200 men, women and children in Israel were killed by Hamas — the US Department of State calling this “the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” In wake of this, Israel has inflicted terrifying attacks on the Palestinians of Gaza and, at the time of writing, nearly 42,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed according to the Hamas-run health ministry. At this point, it isn’t just Palestinians accusing Israel of genocide; all eyes are on Gaza. Britons believe that the conflict has gone too far. A new Ipsos poll determined that 73 per cent support an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. However, while the spotlight should be held over the UK government and their response,
the government website instead offers ways that Britons themselves can be of help — such as donating money to trusted charities and aid organisations. We are still left to wonder if and when Prime Minister Keir Starmer will clamp down on and act on his call for a ceasefire.
With the United States presidential election less than a month away, analysts have warned that Israel’s expanding military campaigns across the Middle East may be detrimental to the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. In the US elections, foreign policy is rarely a deciding factor for voters but Israel’s war in Gaza and the violence it continues to inflict have spurred questions about US involvement in the conflict. Arab voters in key states such as Michigan may stay home on polling day due to anger at the Biden administration and the USA’s unwavering support for Israel.
A poll conducted in September by the Arab American Institute declared that Harris and Trump were virtually tied among Arab voters, receiving 41 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. While US policy towards Gaza might not be imperative for the majority of voters, the same poll concluded that 80 per cent of Arab Americans say that it will play an important role in determining their vote.
It appears that the issue in Gaza is too far gone for the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Bto have any sway. In May, the ICJ ruling stated that Israel must actively ensure that in any Rafah operation, the lives and basic needs of civilians are protected and to this, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vehemently denied that this was happening. In fact, both sides have claimed that they have ordered its men not to kill civilians but, with the death toll rising day by day and countless people found murdered in their homes, it appears the UN are not being told the truth.
The UN states that Israel should end it’s occupation of the Palestine territories within a year
The resolution brought about at the United Nations General Assembly concluded that Israel should end its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories within a year, a move that Palestine hailed as “historic.” The nonbinding measure passed a 124-14 vote on the 16th September, with 43 countries (including the UK) abstaining. There is no faith in any solution offered. Israelis don’t believe a Jewish state can live alongside a Palestinian one. The establishment and expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank challenge the possibility of a two state-solution
The development of Brics
Rosie Peters-McDonald, Deputy Editor,
RICS, a continually-expanding inter-governmental body, will have its annual summit in October of this year. Hosted by Russia in Kazan, the organisation will discuss its plans to make its political and economic targets tangible. Named after its original lineup of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006, with South Africa joining to make the ‘s’ in 2010, the group cites its aim to promote economic growth in developing nations outside of the west. According to the BBC, ‘the Brics group wants emerging economies to have more influence in international politics,’ although concerns have arisen in the west about
by violating Palestinian sovereignty and threatening security, agriculture and water resources. A year on, Gaza is in ruins. Analysis of satellite imagery by US academics Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek suggests 58.7 per cent of all buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Civilians are still being murdered in their homes and on the streets. Thousands are sheltering in treacherous camps on the Gaza strip. Much of the world will continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities.
analyses the growth of the non-western, international alliance
Russia’s ideological intentions within the group. In effect of the 1st January this year, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were invited to join the growing group. Many of these nations will be in attendance at the annual summit, where Brics will set its future priorities and make important decisions in regards to membership and economic targets. The involvement of China and Russia in Brics has become a cause for concern for some countries in the western world, who feel that the group offers opportunity for the two nations to spread their influence on matters such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as giving them
the potential to cause friction with the west as they become further tied in with developing nations and make their ideological differences known to the west.
The involvement of China and Russia in Brics has become a concern for some countries in the Western world
With its new members included, Brics covers 28 per cent of the global economy according to the BBC, and covers 45 per cent of the world’s population. It joins together countries such as China, whose GDP is currently around $17.96tn, with countries such as Iran, with a lesser GDP of $0.39tn. In addition to this, the group produces more than 40 per cent of the world’s crude oil.
In 2014, Brics set up the New Development Bank to lend money to boost infrastructural spending in developing nations. By the end of 2022, it had provided upwards of $30bn to emerging economies for projects such as new roads, bridges and railways. Russia’s aim in the 2024 Brics summit is to reinforce its targets of prioritising the growth of Brics nations in the global financial markets, developing cooperation between economies’ banks and expanding the use of Brics currencies, and to promote collaboration between tax and customs authorities in Brics nations.
A recent concern for the west in respect to
Brics’s increasing emergence has been the possibility of Turkey joining the group. Turkish involvement in NATO would pose a unique situation if they joined Brics, especially due to the group’s involvement with Russia. Turkey is already economically involved with Russia, who are their primary energy supplier. Moreover, Ankara has also collaborated with Moscow in developing its first nuclear reactor. While Turkey is already tapped into the Russian economic network, there is certainly a lot more room for growth between the two nations. This — added to the possibility of Turkey attracting further investment from China, especially in terms of infrastructural development and telecommunications — puts the nation in a strong position for Brics membership. Turkey’s relationship with the west could already be described as precarious: on matters such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war on Gaza, the Turkish government’s stance aligns more closely with Brics than it does with the EU or America. The recent inclusion of nations such as Iran, Egypt and the UAE in Brics also highlights the geopolitical potential that joining Brics could offer the Turkish nation. This year’s Brics summit will take place across the 22nd to the 24th of October. Amid the chaos of world conflict and economic unsteadiness, the targets the group defines for this next year will likely have a forceful impact on the politics of both the east and west in the coming years.
Image: WAFA, Via Wikimedia Commons
Sue Gray and the impartiality of civil servants
Caspian Davies, Online Satire Editor, delves into Sue Gray’s journey from Partygate investigator to Labour’s controversial power player
SEVERAL weeks ago, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, resigned from Keir Starmer’s inner circle following an intense power struggle from within the civil service. Her resignation comes after several weeks of criticism regarding her impartiality as a member of the Labour Party, as well as the size of her salary.
Sue Gray resigned from Keir Starmer’s inner circle following a power struggle from within the civil service
Sue Gray rose to prominence during the ‘Partygate’ scandal in 2021, the name given to the outrage after Boris Johnson and other senior ministers were seen not obeying social distancing laws at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her internal investigation, dubbed ‘The Sue Gray Report’, put her name at the front of UK media as her findings became a major reason for Boris Johnson’s resignation in 2023. The report made her unusually famous for a civil servant, and one of the most well-known political figures in the country.
In the same year Gray, resigned from the Civil Service to join the Labour Party’s electoral campaign team. Her official membership in November 2023 was widely reported, and called into question her impartiality whilst
conducting her report against the Conservative government. Overnight, Gray went from being a figure of morality in an otherwise immoral profession, to becoming a divisive politician who not only called into question her own motives, but those of the entire Civil Service. She was formally investigated in 2023 for breaching impartiality conventions, which the Labour Party dismissed as “Mickey Mouse Nonsense.”
Following Sir Keir Starmer’s electoral victory last summer, she was placed as his personal Chief of Staff where she and the government were almost immediately put under scrutiny.
Starmer’s announcement that the upcoming October budget would be ‘painful’, as well as the Chancellor’s decision to cut pensioner’s winter fuel allowance, has meant the new government has faced some early setbacks in public opinion.
To make matters worse for Gray, it was leaked to the BBC that the aide was making £3,000 a year more than her boss, the PM, prompting fresh allegations of sleaze and internal corruption.
All of this came to a head when an internal power struggle resulted in Sue Gray’s resignation after she apparently ‘lost the support of aides’ and was accused of ‘power hoarding’. She has been replaced by Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s longest serving aide and the man behind Labour’s electoral victory. Tom McTague from The Unheard believes he will be the man who will define ‘Starmerism’, and set the government’s
course for the next few years, as Labour must navigate their way out of, what one senior minister said was, “the worst start to any government in recent times, with the exception of Liz Truss.”
So what can we learn from this internal schism within this young government? Well for one, the PM has understood the mistakes of a previous government with a similarly horrendous start to their tenure in Number 10. When Liz Truss’s Mini Budget almost crashed the UK economy, her first course of action was to sack Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, which only showed weakness from her part and allowed sharks to circle, ending with her premature resignation. Instead of sacking Chancellor Rachel Reeves for concern over the winter fuel allowance cuts, Starmer has instead allowed Sue Gray to be released from his inner circle, thus maintaining the “pained and superior” exterior that defined his time in opposition.
Starmer has instead allowed Sue Gray to be released from his inner circle
But does this lead to wider concern for the UK political system? Sue Gray, previously seen as a respected and impartial member of the Civil Service, has had allegations of impartiality, power hoarding, and took a six-figure salary for the trouble. If this was the person leading
the Civil Service, what’s to say there aren’t more who are in breach of such statutory conventions, or worse? If the Labour government want to represent themselves as the party of morals and change, they would be wise to investigate the heart of British governance, and keep the Civil Service as it should be, out of the headlines.
The Conservative Party Conference
Honor Borley details a power struggle for the Conservative Party leadership amongst an upbeat post-defeat Conference
IN a surprising display of resilience, the Conservative Party’s annual conference opened with an unexpectedly jubilant mood, despite suffering a devastating election defeat mere months ago. The four-day event, marked by leadership hopefuls jostling for pole position, has shed light on the Party’s struggle to redefine its direction and message in the wake of electoral setbacks.
The Conference opened with an unexpectedly jubilant mood
The leadership race takes centre stage. Notably, Tom Tugendhat, leveraging his extensive background in defence and security, had emerged at the time as the favourite. His creative branding efforts, namely unique “Tugend” themed merchandise, ranging from hats to spray tan, had resonated with delegates across generational divides. By day three of the conference, rumours from CCHQ indicated he was the most popular candidate amongst the wider electorate. Alas, this was not good enough and he was subsequently voted out of the leadership race.
Kemi Badenoch, popular with younger further right-leaning members, faced a setback after off-script comments about maternity pay. Her team, reportedly in “full panic mode,” has since refocused her campaign on the message that “family is the founda -
tion of Britain.” Shockingly to many, despite blunders, she has made it to the final two!
James Cleverly, while polling surprisingly well, seems to be struggling to differentiate himself from Tugendhat at the conference. His messag ing, described by some as “mediocre,” has failed to gener ate significant enthusiasm among delegates, though after all closing speeches had garnered significantly more support than origi nally polled.
Robert Jenrick, despite being charac terised as a less dynamic speaker, has amassed unexpected support from the Party’s right wing. His popularity, particularly among the more conservative delegates, has taken many observers by surprise. Even in light of his recent comments about our special forces, Jenrick’s team is doing well.
ingly policy-light and rhetoric-heavy.
Critics have noted a conspicuous lack of concrete policy proposals from all candidates. When pressed on critical issues such as tax increases and winter fuel subsidies, candidates have largely avoided making specific commitments.
Tugendhat, in particular, had deflected questions about potential budgets, refusing to speculate on financial plans he’s not yet required to produce, although all have made clear comments on the UK’s future in the ECHR.
Former Prime Minister Liz
Truss’s appearance drew significant attention.
that she could have won the recent election was met with scepticism by media observers, though warmly received by her supporters in attendance. As the conference concludes, questions linger about the Conservative Party’s future. The focus on “reclaiming the right”, suggests a potential rightward shift for the Party but it remains to be seen how this approach will resonate with the broader electorate. The overarching message from the conference appears to be one of deflecting responsibility for recent political setbacks while attempting to chart a new course forward. As one observer noted, the key takeaway from CPC24 seems to be: “It isn’t entirely our fault.”
The candidates’ speeches were strik-
In conversation with journalist Tim Stanley, Truss attributed her short-lived premiership’s challenges to external factors, including the media, the Bank of England, and the Office for Budget Responsibility. Her continued insistence
Image: Keir Starmer via Flickr
Image: Free Malaysia Today
Image: FMT
Image: The Conservative party, via Wikimedia Commons
In conversation: Alex Stanley
Amy Rushton, Editor-in-Chief, speaks to Alex Stanley, NUS Vice President of High Education, for the first time since he took office
LAST week, the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Vice President of Higher Education and former Exeter Students’ Guild Officer, Alex Stanley sat down with Exeposé to discuss the current state of higher education and NUS plans for the future.
Exeposé: Would you like to introduce yourself and talk about your work at the NUS?
Alex Stanley: Yeah, absolutely. So, I’m Alex Stanley. I’m the Vice President of Higher Education at the National Union of Students. Prior to that, I was Education Officer at the Guild for a year. And before that I studied at Exeter for three years, so I think I might be the first NUS officer to have come from Exeter, actually.
There’s a variety of things that that we’re working on at the moment. The big one [...] is housing. There’s currently a bill going through Parliament called the Renters Rights Bill, which is a really good opportunity to strengthen the rights of renters across the country, but we want to make sure that that’s something that works for students. One of the things that we hear coming up time and time again is students have a real issue finding a guarantor, particularly international or estranged students, and students from low income backgrounds. What this means for students is that they’re left with few choices where they can pay their rent up front, which is incredibly unaffordable for a lot of people. For some students it might mean just choosing not to go to university, or being limited to universities within a commuting distance from home, so that’s a real issue.
The other thing we hear time and time again is that the quality of accommodation is absolutely terrible. One of the really exciting things, actually, in the Bill, is that they’re introducing a minimum standard for the quality of accommodation, which is really positive and will hopefully hold landlords to account, because I know a lot of student houses are a bit of a nightmare when it comes to quality; mould and rat infestation or no hot water. Everyone seems to have some sort of nightmare story. There’s also a lot of discussion about limiting the number of times that rent can increase within a year, which would obviously be a positive because there’s a big conversation around maintenance support going up. But if that goes up and rent goes up, it doesn’t actually mean a lot. So
lar about students that means that landlords feel they can take advantage of them?
AS: I think there are very negative stereotypes about students, which often come from a very, very small proportion of students, and because there’s this stereotype around them sometimes you get not very good landlords renting to students, and the other issue is because there’s this sort of stereotype that the quality of student housing isn’t going to be great, it’s something that students have just sort of laid back and accepted to an extent, which is a real issue because no one should have to deal with the poor quality of accommodation that so many students face. When I was at university, I had no hot water for a week. I had no light in my room for a month. I had black mould painted over, and I don’t say that as some sort of sob story because I know that just about every student in the country has a similar tale to tell.
didn’t realise how tough things were for students until a couple of weeks ago when his son actually went to university for the first time and he realised that he would have to pay a very large amount of the bill, because currently the maximum amount of maintenance support the student can receive is just over £10,000, whereas the amount the average student outside of London needs is currently around £18,000 to live comfortably at universities. He hadn’t realised how difficult things are for students until he heard that story first hand, and that is exactly what we’re trying to do. I think that’s something that is really powerful and does have a lasting impacts on our ability to lobby. We also run the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Students, so we bring MPs from across different political parties and members of the House of Lords together to directly hear what students are thinking about. So there’s a regular cycle of direct work we do with parliamentarians.
there needs to be tangible action on both sides.
One of the issues is that currently in the bill, purpose built student accommodation and university accommodation wouldn’t be included, there would be an exemption. So that’s something that we’re really trying to push back against. We want to make sure that we don’t see a two tier rental system where some students don’t have those same rights available to them, because we’re concerned that the worst landlords would then go into that market and we’d have a really difficult time for a lot of students.
You may have seen recently a lot of discussion about the need for fees to go up. There have been conversations about an inflationary increase to the fee because universities are struggling financially.
Tuition fees were introduced on the understanding that there should be a balance between public funding through the government and private funding through the student. Now, currently that public funding through the government is only 16 per cent of the investment of students, there’s already an imbalance between the two there, and we don’t want to see that exacerbated. But what is a more important discussion in our eyes is the one around maintenance loans rising in line with inflation, because last year they took a real terms cut at 2.5 per cent, so students were struggling even more than they were a couple of years ago, and that’s not something that can continue. We’ve seen food bank usage amongst students double since 2022. The other thing that would be a real difference-maker would be the reintroduction of maintenance grants, which was scrapped back in 2016. One, they would reduce the burden of debt on students, which is obviously a positive one that could be going up soon. And two, if you have that on top of the loan, that’s more support for the poorest students who desperately need it at what is a really, really difficult time.
We want to make sure that we don’t see a two tier rental system where some students don’t have those rights afforded to them
É: Going back to housing, do you think there’s something in particu-
So what do students need? One, their rights entrenched. But two, a way to actually go and complain. Because currently if you’re expecting a student to go through the courts, the reality is that it takes a year or it takes a couple of years to get that decision, and by the time that’s happened the student is already in a different accommodation or they’ve graduated. So for the student, there’s not much point in going forward with that complaint, but one of the exciting things in the new Renters Rights Bill is this idea of a place that students can go to and complain outside of court systems. My hope is that that would be enforceable and free, and act as a deterrent to bad landlords.
The
new Renters Rights Bill [means] students can go to and complain outside of court systems
É: What are the student unions doing to combat this problem?
AS: We’re encouraging student unions to get as involved as possible. I know that the Guild are speaking to Steve Race, the MP for Exeter soon, which is absolutely fantastic.
This month, we’re actually hosting a national lobby day in Parliament where we’re inviting SU’s from across the country to come into Parliament and speak to their MPs about the importance of these issues, like there not being an exemption for student accommodation or the guarantors issue and minimum standard for the quality of accommodation. So we’re bringing people into the conversation and SUs are a huge part of that. I think that’s where the role of the NUS is so important, because SU’s have so much to deal with on a day-to-day basis in dealing with the university, working with academic reps and their clubs and societies. But we don’t have a university, our equivalent is the government.
É: So what are the next steps for the NUS in terms of how you’re planning to lobby the government?
AS: The Renters Rights Bill has been taken forward. It’s been presented to MPs. And then the legislation sort of bounces between the Commons and the Lords about five or six times. Once they adjust the wording, et cetera, and debate the feasibility of the Bill, and there’s an opportunity for amendments. We’ve been speaking to MPs and we’re confident that we can get those amendments in. What is going to be the more challenging part is getting MPs to actually vote for those amendments. That’s why that national lobby day is going to be so important, so that MPs can hear those real life stories of how students are being impacted. You’d think that MPs are only interested in the data and the cold hard facts, but I met with an MP last week who said he
É: Is there anything Exeter students can get involved in whilst they’re at university?
AS: I would say get as involved in the work that the Guild is doing as possible. Speak to your SG officers. You’ve got a fantastic team of officers who really care about you as their members. Speak to your students’ union and they’ll speak to us and that’s how we’re going to have that lasting impact.
É: Is there anything else you would like to add?
AS: We know that the last few years have been incredibly difficult for students, but it does feel like we’re starting to turn a page. This government might not give us absolutely everything, but they definitely will listen, and that feels like a huge step in the right direction. We’re very clear what our plans are. We want to see better quality accommodation, but we also want to see more money in your pockets as students, we want to see loans increasing in line with inflation. We want to see the reintroduction of maintenance grants and we want to see a more progressive repayment system so the students from low and middle income backgrounds aren’t punished for daring to go to university.
When Exeposé asked for comment on the Renters Reform Bill from the Students’ Guild, a spokesperson said, “stable, accessible and affordable housing is vital to student wellbeing and we know this is an area Exeter struggles with. Sourcing somewhere to stay can cause a huge amount of stress and anxiety for many students. We are in support of strengthened renter rights as it’s an important issue to our students and believe students should be empowered to advocate for better housing conditions.
“Your elected Officers continue to campaign for greater student housing rights from the University, local authorities and Exeter MP Steve Race. They are working on several initiatives from peer-led student housing reviews, to extending the University guarantor scheme, and financial assistance for those struggling. In partnership with the University, we have developed our Move Smart campaign which contains many resources to help you find the right accommodation. Access everything you need to know about housing at www.exeterguild.com/move-smart.
Image: Alex Stanley, LinkedIn
Image: Jonathan Hutchins, Wikimedia Commons
Climate
TCLIMATE EDITOR: Charlie Gershinson
University of Exeter and the National Trust
Eloise Grainger, Sport Editor, explores the long-term strategic partnership between the University of Exeter and the National Trust
HE University of Exeter has had a strategic partnership with the National Trust since May 2021. The intended outcome of this collaboration is to transform the way landscapes are managed, as well as encourage people to take an active role in caring for the natural world. During a time of rapid environmental change that is inflicting extreme pressure onto the natural ecosystems, this bringing together of minds to help combat the climate crisis is a vital move. The research resulting from this partnership will help inform decisions on how to boost the UK’s biodiversity and protect precious landscapes. Since their partnership began,
the two organisations have increasingly been initiating projects, most notably the RENEW and Net Zero Plus projects. This has facilitated an environment where industry experts band together to work towards a common goal: revitalising biodiversity.
According to the RENEW webpage, a million species of plants and animals are threatened with global extinction. This staggering statistic demonstrates how pivotal immediate action is and that it is needed before human behaviour pushes ecosystems to their brink and causes irreversible consequences. The RENEW project recognises that biodiversity underpins human life and it is therefore impera-
tive to take a people-in-nature approach. This way of thinking reflects the “two-way relationship between nature and people” and encourages all levels of agency to be involved in renewing wildlife: from national governments, to communities, to the individual. The five-year partnership programme aims to find solutions to the pressing issue of biodiversity loss.
RENEW, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has over 30 partners working on developing the project, which gives many different perspectives and views to explore. But, the interdisciplinary approach comes with its challenges: there is often disagreement surround-
Ding what biodiversity renewal actually means and what it looks like, as this can vary for different people from different backgrounds. This is what the ExCASES mission aims to achieve: it is a “solutions generator designed to tackle issues facing biodiversity renewal that are not covered in the main RENEW themes,” meaning it promotes collaborative work by facing any issues directly.
The other major biodiversity project is Net Zero Plus, funded by UK Research and Innovation. Here, the focus is to develop resources to aid the transition to a net zero emissions future by 2025 — an ambitious target set by the UK government. There are particular industries that are carbon-
intensive, such as farming and aviation sectors. Therefore, part of the journey to net zero not only factors in cutting emissions, but it also includes directly removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Experts estimate an equivalent of 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year needs to be removed.
The project focuses on gaining knowledge on how natural resource use, such as tree planting, can be utilised to meet the government’s requirements. The potential of woodlands is huge: they sequester carbon, improve water quality, and reduce flooding. AI is also playing a part in working through the challenges of net zero and offering decision support.
Devon carbon emissions continue to fall
Jed Gibbins explains how Devon County Council is successfully completing its plan to cut carbon emissions
EVON County Coun-
cil aims to reduce their CO2 emissions by 70 per cent from the level they were at in 2012/13. The recent figures show that they are ahead of their goals.
In 2012/13 the Council released 43,826 tonnes of CO2. In 2022/23 the total amount of CO2 produced by Devon County Council was 19,413 tonnes, a 56 per cent decrease.
One major factor in this decrease is energy use from street lighting. This
is thanks to a council project to “convert all of Devon’s 79,000 streetlights and highways signals to LED lightbulbs and to put in better controls so that lights can be dimmed.” The success of the new lighting has pushed street lighting into the second-most emitting category, now at 18 per cent of DCC overall emissions. School transport is now the source of the most emissions, double that of street lighting. This project is 90 per cent complete and has already saved £4.9 million.
In addition to this, the Council has retrofitted nine council buildings to make them more energy efficient and less CO2-emitting, installing new solar panels and heat pumps, which has already saved £50,000. The Council have also purchased more electric vehicles to facilitate council work.
Councillor Andrea Davis, the Council’s Deputy Leader, said, “I’m pleased to say that we are continuing to reduce emissions but more needs to be done.” Councillor Davis
proposes the Council will buy more electric vehicles, retrofit 10 more council buildings and maximise their energy use off of renewable sources.
University research round-up
Climate writers summarise recent research conducted with the help of University of Exeter academics
Severe climate change may increase violence against women
ANEW study from University College London (UCL) and the University of Exeter has highlighted a worrying connection between climate change and violence against women. Published in PLOS Climate , the research found that extreme weather events such as floods, storms, and landslides are often followed by a rise in ‘intimate partner violence’ (IPV). The study, which analysed data from 156 countries between 1993 and 2019, suggests that these disasters worsen household stress and economic insecurity, which can heighten tensions and lead to violence. Women in countries with lower GDP are especially vulnerable, as resources become scarce and support systems, such as police and shelters, are stretched thin. The research does not imply that climate change directly causes violence but highlights how the social and economic pressures following climate shocks create conditions that can worsen IPV. Lead author Professor Jenevieve Mannell called for climate policies to account for these gendered impacts, stressing the importance of integrating violence prevention into disaster planning.
Isabella Van Der Putten
OOyster reefs threatened by overfishing
NCE thriving along Europe’s coastlines, Oyster reefs formed extensive ecosystems that supported rich biodiversity. New research from the University of Exeter and the University of Edinburgh has revealed that European flat oysters created vast reefs of living and dead shells, covering at least 1.7 million hectares from Norway to the Mediterranean. These reefs provided habitats for nearly 200 species of fish and crustaceans, whilst also stabilising shorelines and filtering water. In recent years, overfishing has led to the near-total destruction of these reefs, leaving only scattered oysters today. Aiming to revive these vital ecosystems, restoration initiatives, such as The Wild Oyster Project, have been put in place, but require significant support from governments for broader success. Restoring these vital reefs is essential not only for marine biodiversity but also for the health of coastal communities that depend on them, making it imperative for governments to prioritise and invest in these initiatives.
Harry Morrison, Music Editor
ANEW study by the University of Exeter, the University of Hertfordshire and the British Antarctic Survey has revealed that the Antarctic Peninsula is greening at an accelerated rate.
The Penninsula is an 800-mile northward extension of Antarctica towards South America and the dramatic increase of plant life there (ten-fold over the last four decades) is, in the words of of Exeter’s Dr. Thomas Roland, “showing that even this vast and isolated ‘wilderness’ is being affected by anthropogenic climate change.”
The study, using satellite imagery, has shown that vegetation has increased from less than 1km2 in 1896 to almost 12km2 by 2021. This greening trend accelerated by 30 per cent in recent years (2016-2021), expanding by over 400,000m 2/year during this period.
Roland stated that “the sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula’s vegetation to climate change is now clear: under anthropogenic warming, we could see fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region.”
Oliver Nicholls
Image: Gracie Moore
Image: Rayhan9d via Wikimedia Commons
Image: Rayhan9d, Wikimedia Commons
Image: Whologwhy, Flickr
Antarctica greening at accelerated rate
Tom Richardson
Jimmy Carter at 100: A mixed legacy
Tom Richardson, Comment Editor discusses the legacy of America’s longest-lived President
JIMMY Carter, the 39th President of the United States, turned 100 earlier this month — the first President ever to do so. Whilst his oneterm presidency was plagued by crisis and failure, his post-presidency — focused on peace, charity and social justice has made him the national treasure he is today.
...he ran as an outsider during a time of high distrust in the political system.
Carter ran against incumbent President Gerald Ford, who pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, before he resigned as President in order to avoid impeachment over the Watergate scandal, plaguing his campaign for election. Running for President just a few years after the Watergate story broke, he ran as the outsider during a time of high distrust in the political system. The relatively unknown Governor of Georgia, he was able to catch the Democratic Party elites by surprise and secure the Party’s nomination for President in 1976.
As President, he was unable to tackle the crises which occurred during his tenure. The average yearly inflation rate under Carter was the highest of a President in modern history at 10 per cent — nearly double that of Biden so far. However the Iranian Revolution of 1979
DOWNING Street’s Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, was sacked after a turbulent month for the new government and rumours of behind-thescenes clashes. But will her forced departure bring stability for 10 Downing Street? Or are these events symptomatic of a larger issue with Starmer’s government?
First, a bit of background on Sue Gray. Before being appointed as Starmer’s Chief of Staff, Gray had been a civil servant, a strictly non-partisan role. She had also led the investigation into the Partygate scandal, and her findings were a key cause of Boris Johnson’s resignation as Prime Minister. Therefore, it was surprising that she was appointed to a party-political role in the Labour Party. This led some people
set in motion a chain of events which led to the Iran Hostage Crisis, where Carter failed to negotiate the release of over 50 United States citizens held hostage by the Iranian government. The Administration also took responsibility for a failed military operation to rescue the hostages where eight US servicemen died, along with no attempt announced by the President to start another. With the ongoing crisis in Iran, the global price of oil rose dramatically, and Carter is attributed in failing to successfully reduce the cost of oil domestically. These events, which largely took place months before the election, helped solidify Carter’s reputation as an ineffective governor. However, Carter can be credited for being able to prevent the United States’s involvement in a military operation during a time of high tension in the Middle East.
Though many of Carter’s failures are a result of his poor relations with Congress. A Washington outsider, he kept himself distant from not only the previous administration, but also the Congressional Democrats who had ruled congress almost entirely for 40 years.
Carter refused to work within the rules of Washington, alienating the powerful Democratic congressional establishment and refusing to do political favours for politicians. He was ultimately challenged for re-election by Washington insider Ted Kennedy, who lost.
Carter refused to work within the rules of Washington...
His actions after his Presidency ended, 43 years ago, have made him a more popular public figure than that of Reagan or Obama, with his postpresidency considered to be the best in American history. It is no wonder he is one of four Presidents to win the Nobel Peace Prize, “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The Carter Center, founded by the former President, has done extensive work in improving human rights and economic conditions in the developing world, and will continue to do so after his death — a long-lasting tribute to his legacy.
According to Carter’s grandson, his wish was to be able to live to vote for the first female President, voting by post earlier this month. Only time will tell whether or not his wish for a first female president will come true.
...his postpresidency is considered to be the best in American history.
Will a Downing Street reset work?
to question her independence during the Partygate investigation, and whilst it is a stretch to suggest that she was not impartial as a civil servant, it is true that her appointment was an unusual one.
had allegedly caused divisions.
...her findings were a key cause of Boris Johnson’s
resignation...
However, the larger controversy came after the general election as Gray became Downing Street Chief of Staff. Within the first month of government, there was negative briefing against Gray which suggested she was clashing with Morgan McSweeney, Labour’s head of political strategy. The two were said to be “running separate teams” in Downing Street, which
The fact that McSweeney has now replaced Gray as Chief of Staff has done nothing to quell the rumours of rivalry between them and has led to suggestions that she was the victim of a coup from McSweeney and his allies. To quote one cabinet minister, “One or both of them will have to go. It’s not going to be Morgan.”
The justification for Gray’s hiring was that, as a former civil servant, she had extensive knowledge and experience of how the government operates and would therefore be able to help carry out the new government’s agenda effectively.
Following her departure,
Labour will still face questions over the lack of direct governing experience in Downing Street. However, it is likely too early to claim that the government has been “thrown into chaos,” as some Conservatives have suggested. Whilst this is far from an ideal start for Labour, the fact that Starmer identified a conflict within his team and acted swiftly to resolve it shows that he wants to lead an effective government and that he is willing to be ruthless to do so. We will likely have to wait and see if removing Sue Gray was the right decision.
Starmer identified a conflict within his team and acted swiftly to resolve it.
Joseph James examines the chaotic events surrounding the dismissal of Sue Gray
Image: NARA, Wikimedia Commons
Image: Abi Skipp, Wikimedia Commons
Assisted Dying Bill: the right path forward?
Comment writers debate the Assisted Dying Bill, due to be voted on by MPs this month
AS a 22-year-old student, the thought of medical-assisted dying was fortunately not something I ever gave much thought to. However, after a recent family tragedy, it is an issue that is now much closer to home than I ever would have liked. At long last, the House of Commons is holding a debate on the matter and MPs from across the House will debate the topic free from any party bias. In my opinion, the legalisation of assisted dying is well overdue.
Legislation on assisted dying is well overdue
Many countries have already adopted changes to their laws that permit the use of euthanasia, but the question has always remained whether the UK should follow this path. The bill being proposed this week is one that is a very limited and a much ‘softer’ approach than that seen in countries such as Belgium and Canada. Under this new bill, patients seeking euthanasia must be suffering from a progressive, terminal illness and they must be ‘reasonably expected’ to die within six months. Conditions such as Parkinson’s will doubtfully be covered by a new assisted dying law, as well as conditions under the Mental Health Act 1983 and disability. In so doing, those proposing the bill to Parliament have avoided many of the key objections to assisted dying. People with fears over what will happen to those with disabilities or suicidal thoughts can be reassured that they will not be affected. Similarly, assisted dying
will be privatised and will not be an option through the NHS; therefore avoiding any concern that euthanasia could be used inappropriately to cut costs. By avoiding these potential potholes through its simplicity, the bill’s chances of passing are greatly improved.
Having seen it myself, once palliative care and endof-life drugs kick in, there is usually no way back for the patient. Once food and water are withdrawn and the body begins stripping itself of all muscle, fat and nu trients, families can do nothing but watch as their loved ones starve. In a hospital bed, no longer resembling themselves, they lie in a devilish purgatory, too strong to die but too weak to live. As the long days, hours and minutes come to a close, and the death rattle breathing finally ceases, families often wonder why anyone could permit such a painful and undignified death. We put our dogs down and we respect the lion for swiftly killing its prey. Yet we rob the ones we love of any dignity they wish to keep, and for what?
Sam Smith
AS sponsor for the bills that would legalise assisted dying, Lord Falconer thinks that assisted dying should be reserved only for those with a terminal illness, including those with less than six months to live. This seems perfectly reasonable at first glance. Yet the trajectory of assisted dying in countries that have such legislation suggests that there is every reason to reject the bill. The truth is that the eligibility criteria has been repeatedly expanded in almost every country which has legalised some type of assisted dying. The Netherlands, the first country to legalise euthanasia, also only allowed adults who have terminal illnesses to be eligible in 2002. Now, euthanasia is possible for children over 12. Belgium has allowed doctors to assist in the death of children of all ages since 2014. So, legalising assisted dying would mean opening a Pandora’s box for a list of other reasons to facilitate suicide.
The other side often speaks of the right to die with dignity and care. But how is dying really a right? Can the ‘right’ to die be healthcare? Canada legalised the right to die for terminally ill people in 2017. Two years later, the courts deemed the legislation unconstitutional since it
Awould be discriminatory to only allow the terminally ill to die. This is why disabled people can now also choose to die through assisted dying, since it’s discriminatory to exclude people from a human right. In fact, just last year, Canada was very close to expanding the eligibility of those who are solely mentally ill to seek medical assistance in dying. In that case, could it soon be unlawful to prevent anyone from committing suicide? The law tells us it is a human right to choose how we die after all. What’s clear to me is that we need more support for those who seek assisted suicide. This means more financial support, better palliative care, mental health care, and disability care. Indeed, healthcare is actually a right. We cannot afford to let those who suffer because of low quality care die simply due to society’s failures.
How is dying a right? Can the ‘right ‘ to die be healthcare?
Passing the bill for the terminally ill to seek assistance in dying seems logical, even humane at times. Yet when you look at all the other countries who have put the bill into practice, it’s obvious that there’s always more to the story, a story with a dangerous ending. Instead of advocating for the right to die with dignity, we need to fight for the right to live with dignity.
Philip Schofield’s attempt at redemption
April Frain examines the disgraced presenter’s new desert island TV show aimed at redefining his legacy
FTER a 16-month break from public appearances, television personality Phillip Schofield has returned on the new Channel 5 show Cast Away. The reality programme sees the 62-year-old attempting to survive alone on a desert Madagascan island. Each episode splices together rather entertaining segments of Schofield trying his hand at fishing and fire-making, alongside interviews of him and his family as they discuss his past controversies.
Britain is still divided on how to feel about the disgraced presenter
Many have perceived the show as Schofield’s attempt to redeem himself and earn back the public’s trust. However, given the audience’s reactions, it is safe to say that Britain is still very divided on how to feel about the disgraced presenter. Replying to Phillip’s post on X, one user, Susan Obrien, reminded him that “everyone makes mistakes in life.” Other reactions
weren’t so open-minded, and some were blunt enough to simply tell him not to return to television ever again.
Having watched all three episodes of the show, I find myself in a difficult position to form an opinion on Schofield and whether or not this attempt at redemption is deserved. Though Schofield vehemently denies any allegations of grooming, two factors of his extramarital relationship are still troubling: the age difference and the power dynamic between him and his younger colleague.
In Cast Away, he discusses the controversy in vague terms and how it has affected him and his family. He mentions his struggles with suicidal ideation and even states that coming out as gay, which he did publicly back in 2020, has caused him “more anguish than joy.” It’s hard not to sympathise with both of these sentiments. A oncebeloved television personality faces severe backlash, driving him to the brink of suicide over a relationship that, in his own statement to the Daily Mail, he described as “unwise, but not illegal.”
On the other hand, such a statement
does feel dismissive of the deeper inappropriateness of the relationship. He doesn’t make much of an admittance of guilt in Cast Away, aside from a few acknowledgements of the “mistake” that he made. More frequently, in fact, Schofield mentions how he was “thrown under the bus” by “fake friends,” whom he never explicitly names.
Labelling himself as a victim than anything else feels rather disingenuous
This attempt at labelling himself a victim above anything else feels rather disingenuous for a show that most people assumed was about taking real accountability. At the end of the day, it is hard to fully gauge how Phillip Schofield genuinely feels about his past actions. Though, as he alludes to Cast Away being his final farewell to the television industry, perhaps it’s time for us to move on, and let him “bow out” after a career he insists he has “absolutely loved.”
Michelle Chung, Online Features Editor
Image: UK Parliament, Wikimedia Commons
Image: Alberto Biscalchin, Flickr
Image: thehutch, Flickr
The autumn aesthetic — freezing to death in your uni house
WHO doesn’t love autumn — scented candles, cosy outfits, pumpkin spice lattes … and the beginning of arctic temperatures? Autumn always seems like the most aesthetic season, with the colours on the trees and the darker evenings — a perfect excuse to watch all of your favourite shows in bed. However, a movie night isn’t so cosy if you can’t see the screen through your breath.
Students across the country are finding that higher electricity prices are leaving them in sticky situations for heating their houses, leading to all sorts of problems in their mouldy, rented abodes. Electricity prices are rising by 10 per cent in England this autumn, meaning people are having to rethink their uni budgets if they don’t want to freeze to death. Many students are having to sacrifice their pumpkin spice lattes and miss a couple of TP Wednesdays to afford their bills now that heating is taking up all their funds. Arguments with housemates over how often to put the heating on are rising exponentially, with this age-old question causing feuds in otherwise peaceful households. Group dynamics are falling apart as houses split into factions and fiercely debate the heating, leading to rifts between friends that will perhaps never be fixed. However, even if you pay your extortionate bills, many students find that the conditions they are living in are less than ideal. Problems with mold, damp, broken furniture and pests are rife in student houses, and landlords can be unsympathetic as they live in their comfortably heated houses in the suburbs.
So what solutions would I recommend to those of you living in freezing houses? Spend as little time in your house as possible would be my answer. Make friends with some people who don’t have to worry about money, or try dressing up in some warmer clothes — many people find that an ‘Exetah’ girly skinny scarf does the trick. You could buy a portable heater, but beware your housemates find out as you will likely be condemned for using more electricity than others, and the arguments will heat up again. Back in the day, students found burning their lecture notes a helpful way to keep warm, but I don’t think MacBooks generate quite as much heat. Perhaps the better solution would be to win the lottery to give yourself more money to spend on your bills and solve your budgeting problems. Or perhaps soon the University will offer extra loans to all students to help them keep their houses above freezing temperatures. Or perhaps some of you will be able to just use a bit more of mummy and daddy’s money to solve your problems.
Emily Irving
Politicians’ comedy show
Magdalena Kanecka Online International Editor
DEAREST readers — welcome back to the most recent edition of the oh-so-funny slip-ups of the representatives of our countries! This time around, the competition is even more brutal than before — we’ve got stories of contestants coming in from both the UK and the US — from the ex-President Donald Trump, through the current President Joe Biden, to the current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the judges of our competition to assess the comedic capacity of our leaders; they just keep outdoing themselves!
Recently, Trump has told the public that “Haitian immigrants are eating our cats and dogs” — the poor, innocent creatures; how could these people do such a thing? And more importantly — why are they choosing cats and dogs, out of all the animals to eat? Well done to Trump for bringing awareness to such matter!
Just a few weeks before, Biden confidently mentioned in an interview that the day after watching the Trump-Harris debate, he would be “doing 9/11”. What a rogue statement, and I’m sure many theorists of 9/11 who consider it to be a government inside job had a field day with his claim. But more importantly, how hilarious it was for him to take such a crucial event in American history and promise to personally re-do it! Get the planes ready: Joe Biden is coming!
Get the planes ready: Joe Biden is coming
Now, it is time to bring our contest back over the Ocean and to the UK. At the latest Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer called for the “return of the sausages” in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. It appears both Trump and Starmer cannot help themselves when it comes to talking about meat. From eating animals to cooking sausages — someone please feed these poor world leaders!
They clearly can’t afford food.
Both Trump and Starmer cannot help themselves when it comes to talking about meat
If you think these comments are taken out of context — oh no, dear readers, the most comedic thing is actually the fact that all of these are direct quotes! For me personally, the winner of today’s contest of who can make a primarily serious matter (as the mainstream media claim) into a hilarious joke has got to be Keir Starmer and his sausages. Trump and Biden are close seconds; however, seeing our own country’s leader and how much his hunger clearly took over as he talked about hostages is definitely worthy of some awards. Congratulations to all of our contestants, and we wish them the best of luck in the upcoming rounds of the slip-up competition! Way to go, world leaders!
Infinite assignments
DURING Freshers’ Week, lectures seem so far away. Students are faced with the daunting task of meeting new people, especially as they will be living with recently befriended strangers for the next year. Going out with housemates is of the utmost importance. After all, everyone needs some resemblance of a social life to stay sane.
Even when the term starts, university is about discovering yourself in a new environment, trying out new hobbies through joining societies, coffee catchups with friends and, of course, battling it out to get that treasured Wednesday Timepiece ticket. University is an all-round unique experience for any young adult. Oh yeah, and attending lectures when you have the time.
When you finally open ELE 2, scrolling down to discover the handy list of assignments and their due dates just below your modules, some of those deadlines may seem spine-numbingly near. Lectures are now in full swing and the campus’ maze-like buildings, now somewhat navigable, one cannot help but feel that assignment looming around every corner.
One cannot help but feel that assignment looming around every corner
In the Forum, when walking past the Library, the consuming guilt devours you, seeing other students working so diligently. If you’re not careful, you may begin seeing deadlines in the cup of campus coffee you stare into at 8:30am, praying it will give you necessary energy for your morning lecture. Even rolling over in bed to find that towering stack of reading you have yet to do.
Then in the evening, you gaze pasts the dense crowds in Fever, and there it is, the imminent timer of a deadline you can’t get out of your head, even here! Is nowhere safe?
Perhaps it may be necessary for some stu-
dents to shift their priorities ever so slightly. Upsettingly, that 1500-word essay due next Wednesday may mean you have to turn down the coming social for your favourite society. At least those socials happen regularly. “But wait” I hear you cry, “my deadlines happen regularly too!” I am afraid missing one social doesn’t have the same impact as missing a deadline; and for those lucky first-year students able to cry out, “but first year doesn’t count,” old habits die hard, ask any suffering poorly-managed final-year student. Maybe your flatmate was onto something with the pinned to-do list above their desk. The prioritised deadlines highlighted in pastels were pretty after all. Setting limits to the doom scrolling, and rewards for completion, might prove as a motivation to the struggling student. Delegating set times for work
Maybe your flatmate was onto something with the pinned to-do list above their desk
and rest sounds obvious, but it is easy to forget. As students watch the designated time tick by before deadline season, remember to hit that submit button. Thankfully there are extensions. Sadly, they aren’t quite as infinite as the never ending assignments. Alas, it is easy to run fearfully low on them if you are not careful. But hey, you still have until midnight until this assignment is due. You can finish it off this evening! Or is that 12:00 deadline actually midday — whoops!
Lenny Massarella
Image: Javier Perez Montes via Wikimedia Commons
Image: Andrew Kosterman via Wikimedia Commons
Image: The White House via Wikimedia Commons
Image:Amy Rushton
Image: garystockbridge617, GetArchive.Net
Image: Elisha Zepeda
Image: Daniel Benavides, Wikipedia Commons
Trending aesthetics
The 'Frazzled Englishwoman' VS
IMMORTALISED by early 2000s romcoms like the Bridget Jones’s franchise and festive classics like The Holiday, the 'Frazzled Englishwoman' aesthetic has been gathering popularity and attention online, but what actually is it? You could argue that its more of a lifestyle than a conscious fashion choice; many icons like fictional movie stars in the aforementioned Bridget Jones’s film series and celebrities such as Helena Bonham Carter are labelled as fitting this aesthetic.
ITS MORE OF A LIFESTYLE THAN A CONSCIOUS FASHION CHOICE
However, this way of dressing always seems to ground itself in the idea of an overworked, second-hand and rushed sense of fashion. You wake up late, last night’s makeup still on and throw on a knitwear jumper and jean skirt that doesn’t really work. Your only clean pair of tights are red, but the knee-high boots almost cover it. Of course, you cannot forget a scarf and a messy updo but these are just the most obvious elements of the 'frazzled' look. I would make an argument that this way of dressing is popularised online because of the nostalgic icons and films that I've mentioned. Early 2000s fashion fea-
tured elements of bohemian and indie sleaze styles, Keira Knightley at this time is another possible icon of this aesthetic. If we’re putting the 'Clean Girl' and the 'Frazzled Englishwoman' on a spectrum they would find themselves at polar opposite ends. Where 'clean' girls appear prepared and polished, the 'frazzled' woman is rain soaked and messy. It’s not just the fashion in particular that makes this aesthetic appealing, but the personality that it is synonymous with it. The 'Frazzled Englishwoman' is often clumsy, relatable and awkwardly charming. While a North American perspective of the 'Frazzled Englishwoman' makes it seem endearing, the truth is to truly be a 'Frazzled Englishwoman' would be exhausting, even if you could date Mark Darcy. Molly Thornton
WThe 'Clean Girl'
HILE many social media trends come and go, the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic has taken over online feeds over the past few months and is showing no sign of leaving! Many celebrities and influencers have taken to platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels to showcase their effortlessly chic looks, and this aesthetic represents a minimalistic and natural approach to their everyday appearances. Emerging from a rise in wellness culture, this aesthetic requires constant self-care whilst simultaneously trying to look like you have spent no time getting there. But how can you achieve this look?
THIS AESTHETIC REPRESENTS A MINIMALISTIC AND NATURAL APPROACH
Firstly, the ‘clean girl’ screams a slicked back bun to me, and this is truly an essential part of the aesthetic. Using a variety of products to tame your hair, such as hair oil, gel, or hairspray, you can slick your hair back to have no bumps, and then either twist the ends into a bun or a braid. This hairstyle has become extremely popular and is also a way of dealing with greasy hair, which consequently
created the ‘slick back Wednesday’ trend, as Wednesday is many people's hair wash day.
For makeup, the ‘no makeup’ makeup look is the quintessential 'clean girl's' choice. Achieved by lots of blush, concealer for blemishes, brow gel, and a glossy lip finish, anyone can achieve this glowy and natural look! In terms of clothes, again, effortlessness is key. Think well-fitting jeans and a simple t-shirt — nothing bold and sticking with neutral colours such as black, white and taupe, and most importantly, striking the balance between looking smart and comfy. This aesthetic goes beyond appearance, and is essentially a way of living. Stretching from a minimalistic room décor to matcha lattes and to Pilates in the afternoon, the ‘clean girl’ suggests a healthy and productive lifestyle. Making a stark comparison to the ‘Frazzled Englishwoman’, the ‘Clean Girl’ represents a community of self-care and minimalism. While the ‘Frazzled Englishwoman’ is perhaps easier to achieve, this look is a way of feeling both put together and like your natural self, and sets you up to achieve all you want to in a day! Anna Spencer, Lifestyle Editor
Throwing the perfect Halloween party
Lottie Hemsley shares her advice on throwing the ultimate Halloween house party!
WHEN it comes to Halloween, house parties have got to be the way forward. I'm not passing up the opportunity to get creative and decorative, and as much as I love a club night out, if I'm working hard to get the perfect Halloween costume then I'd like it if people could see it through the lights. As someone gearing up to throw their own Halloween party, who loves hosting but can sometimes find it slightly stressful, here's some tips and inspiration to throw the perfect Halloween party without the stress and within a student budget. Being a student party, it seems appropriate to start off with one of the main events. A way to get creative if you aren't particularly gifted in the art of DIY decorations, is drinks! Whether you like cocktails, mocktails, beers, or shots, the internet is ripe with inspiration for Halloween-themed drinks. Appropriately named ‘Vampire’s Bite’, one of the cheapest and easiest drinks to put together making the rounds on Halloween-tok is a dark red drink made with vodka, raspberry liqueur, and cranberry juice. Although, my personal favourite drink-related suggestion
is to put a spin on the typical game of ‘trick or treat’: create one treat shot and one trick (disgustingly alcoholic) shot which look the same and mix them up, leaving your friends to play roulette of who drinks which.
THE INTERNET IS RIPE FOR INSPIRATION FOR HALLOWEEN-THEMED DRINKS
Inspiration for Halloween decoration is in no shortage on social media — Halloween is undeniably an influencer’s dream. The decorating issue arises in finding cheap decorations that aren’t going to require an all nighter to assemble (I’ll save those for my assignments). My choice of decorations that I’ll be DIY-ing this Halloween are: a wall of cobwebs which requires only black string, tape and an inspiration picture to follow the pattern, and dripping blood decorations for the top of doorways using cut up red card paper. Now, I’d be doing Halloween an injustice if I didn't mention decorations without talking about a classic — pumpkins! Pumpkins in
most supermarkets seem to cost about £1-2 and there are endless ways to carve them for a Halloween party, whether it be a classic scary smile, or a more artistic spooky character. Having scoured the internet for pumpkin carving design ideas, my favourite undoubtedly is carving out a house into a big pumpkin, and carving a scary face into a mini pumpkin to have it peeking out of the doorway. You could even turn the pumpkin carving into a day out from Exeter by heading with friends to do pumpkin picking; Darts Farm, just outside of Exeter, is opening their pumpkin patches to the public from the 12th to the 31st October! For finding Halloween costumes, my method always starts off with Pinterest, which for me, is the holy grail of Halloween outfit inspiration. The search can be as specific as you’d like, and the ‘shop the look’ function when you click on some of the pictures is a lifesaver. Although, some of my favourite costume ideas this Halloween are likely a little easier to create with your own wardrobe. Concept costumes are hilariously creative and usually pretty simple, with my favourite suggestion so
far being a ‘French kiss’ outfit — a red outfit with kisses all over the face and stereotypically French accessories, like a red beret. All in all, you can’t really go wrong with a Halloween party. As long as you get creative, and know that ‘less is more’ doesn’t really apply to Halloween, then your party won’t be one to forget.
Image: Petr Kratochvil, Wikimedia Commons
Image: Karen Cantú, StockSnap
Keeping active Knoops review
Caitlin Desa describes her favourite way to exercise at uni
AS students, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement of university life, making it all too simple to overlook our health. My favourite way to keep active is with the Exeter University Open Water Swimming Society (EUOWSS)! EUOWSS is a free society that operates weekly Sunday swims, and everyone is welcome.
EUOWSS’s slogan of “join us for a splash and wash your uni worries away!”, is true to heart, and open water swimming has a multitude of health benefits. My favourites include better rest due to the natural increase of prolactin which helps improve the quality of sleep; a boosted immune system due to reducing the overproduction of hormones that contribute to impaired immunity; finally, open water swimming can make systems in your body more effective. Essentially, open water swimming is a 'Freshers' Flu' repellent!
The society has seen a rapid increase in popularity and it’s easy to see why! Evidence suggests it promotes mindfulness, restoration and
Magdalena
Ostress reduction, mostly because of the connection with nature. Overall, it increases your happiness and aids your mental and physical health. EUOWSS is low commitment, especially considering it is a free society. Your only costs are your train ticket to and from Dawlish Warren (with a railcard this is about £4.25), and possibly a new swimming costume and a cheeky hot chocolate after. Nothing beats a walk along the beach, sipping a warm drink, snuggled in a cosy jumper. Moreover, since the swims are only once a week, there is plenty of time to prioritise your studies. If you’re looking for a bit more socialising, EUOWSS regularly pairs with other societies to take a dip, giving you the chance to meet people from across the University. Furthermore, EUOWSS run fun socials and participate in intramural netball. Try it for yourself, and quite literally wash your uni worries away!
Katie Roberts reviews the new addition to our High Street!
AS the weather gets chillier and you find yourself reluctantly heading into town for a food shop, what better way to treat yourself than with a hot chocolate reward? With the High Street already being home to the chocolatier chain, Hotel Chocolat, and Gandy Street hosting the independent chocolate house, Chococo, the new addition of Knoops should fit right in here at Exeter.
WHAT BETTER WAY TO TREAT YOURSELF THAN WITH A HOT CHOCOLATE?
The new Knoops at 63 High Street is the brand's 21st store, with the first having opened in Rye, East Sussex, in 2013. The chain has proven to be incredibly popular across the UK, and that success seems to be continuing here in Exeter as well. Its appeal likely lies in the wide variety of chocolate percentages (ranging from 28 per cent white chocolate to 100 per cent extra dark chocolate), an extensive list of potential flavour additives (such as pumpkin spice, sea salt, lavender, lemon, cardamom, or pink pepper, to name just a few), and nine milk options. These offerings have helped make Knoops the go-to spot, and people appear to be willing to pay a premium for this experience. However, despite its apparent popularity and the undeniably decadent and luxurious hot choco-
Black History Month
Kanecka, Online
CTOBER marks British Black History Month, and this year’s theme of “Reclaiming Narratives” highlights the successes of black artists, heroes, and stories and emphasises educational progress. It is important for everyone, regardless of racial identity, to stay educated on the historical implications and background of black history and to recognise our privilege where applicable.
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE, REGARDLESS OF RACIAL IDENTITY, TO STAY EDUCATED
Here in Exeter, the Students’ Guild is working with numerous student of colour societies, such as the African & Caribbean Society and the Students of Colour Association, to run educational and creative events to learn about and celebrate black success and history. Some of these include stalls with information leaflets and posters in the Forum, craft sessions, and students’ workshops — all of which are free to attend and can be found on the Students’ Guild website. In terms of celebrating black success, I asked my close friend from home, Jess Riddle, who inspires me greatly and teaches me so much about black female success through her own
lates on offer, I couldn’t help but question whether the £7.95 price tag for a regular hot chocolate with cream and a marshmallow could be justified. The café itself has a minimalist design, and with limited seating, it seems more suited to grabbing a drink to go. This could be where its location near the cathedral works in its favour, offering the perfect opportunity to take your hot chocolate to the cathedral green — perhaps creating the ideal setting for an autumnal catch up with a friend. It's worth knowing that if you download the Knoops app, you can get a free small hot chocolate, giving you a chance to decide to commit to spending nearly £8 on making this a regular stop for your hot chocolate fix!
International Editor, discusses the significance of Black
experiences and our conversations for further recommendations. As she tells me, celebrating black success through the media is one of the many important ways of celebrating Black History Month. She especially recommends the black female artist PinkPantheress, who is currently changing the D&B scene and successfully pouring it back into the mainstream.
Further recommendations from Jess regarding education this Black History Month include the model, actress, writer and social activist Lupita Nyong’o and the revolutionary model Anok Yai, who is currently breaking through the industry, significantly increasing representation for black women worldwide. On a more personal note, her outfit at the 2024 Met Gala is something I’ll never forget — I remembered it while speaking to Jess, and I was starstruck all over again.
It is evident that a significant amount of both validation and success is felt by the black community when people from within the community succeed in the public eye. Thalia Hibbert is another excellent example of this — a romance novelist who successfully portrays the intersectionality of race and neurodiversity. In the Arts + Lit section of this edition, I have outlined further media-based recommendations for this month — feel free to reach out for these if you have time this October and beyond.
The first British Black History Month took
place in 1987 — and while it may seem like it was a long time ago, it is still, unfortunately, a relatively new celebration. There is a lot that we as members of society can do to improve our education around the matter and bring more attention to it.
THERE IS A LOT THAT WE ...CAN DO TO IMPROVE OUR EDUCATION AROUND THE MATTER
Surrounding myself with people with unique and so exceptionally diverse stories has been the key to realising my privilege as a white woman living in Britain — and I am aware that as an outsider, I could never truly understand what it is like to be a member of this community. Yet, Black History Month, to me, as an outsider, is an opportunity to watch and listen to those around me — their stories and experiences hold value that I cherish and carry with me regardless of the month. Seeing our University spreading education and information about the cultures and histories of black and Indigenous communities has been excellent, and I only hope to see more of it, even beyond the month of October.
Image: Amanda George. Pexels
Image: Amanda George. Pexels
Image: Caitlin Desa
Image: Anna Spencer
Image: Daniel Benavides, Wikimedia Commons
Kizzy
ALTHOUGH research has shown women surpassing men as the main consumers of crime fiction, I have always seen it to be an exclusively male domain. My early memories of my childhood library feature a clear divide: the pastel shades and smiling cursive writing on the one side of the room but, directly opposite, the dark and foreboding crime section that seemed to offer a gravitational pull for bespectacled middle-aged men (not that these are mutually exclusive). The latter I felt to be off-limits. A binary was established (which foremost speaks much to gendered colour association formed in early childhood) and upheld by gendered societal norms. Women are emotional and men are logical. Women read trashy romance novelswhilstmenreadseriousandscintillating crime novels of a greater intellectual depth
The absence of realistic female presentation in early crime fiction mirrored the subordinate position of women in society. Legislation in the UK excluded women from
arts + lit
Mystery and misogyny
Rollings talks about Agatha Christie and women in crime fiction
parliamentary elections until 1918 and from serving on juries until 1948 and as such were largely denied involvement in the law until the mid-twentieth century. Thus, if traditional gender roles saw that women were to be confined to the domestic sphere, it was highly unlikely that they would be represented in fiction in a way that challenged the patriarchal hierarchy. Certainly, in detective novels of the late-nineteenth century, such as those by Arthur Conan-Doyle (famed author of the Sherlock Holmes series), women serve a function only to amplify the heroism of their male contemporaries.
The Golden Age (1920-1939) was a significant period for women’s rights and saw a surge in female writers of detective fiction, one writer being Agatha Christie. Christie, who grew up in Devon and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter in 1961, negotiated female autonomy in an historically male domain. Whereas the role of women in early detective fiction had been largely passive
— cast either as romantic interest or victim — Christie’s female characters are independent, intelligent, and active. Consider Jane Marple: an unassuming spinster able to traverse both the private and public sphere by engaging with stereotypes attached to elderly women. She operates in ways inaccessible to socially normative characters, demonstrated by Marple’s interviewing of suspects under the guise of an elderly woman’s proclivity to ‘gossip’. In this way, Christie reappropriates the structure of detective ontology, historically gendered as male. Women can be heroic. Women can be emotional and logical. By championing female autonomy, Christie and other female authors paved the way for the successes of modern female writers of crime. Best-selling titles such as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train continue to exemplify spectacular female authorship and depict complex and powerful female characters representative of real women.
“Please judge these books by their covers”
Judy
Dodd, Arts and Lit Editor, in conversation with Elisha Zepeda about marketing in the publishing industry
IN a society where we are constantly reminded not to take things at face value, marketing industries go to lengths for us to do exactly the opposite: make a judgment on whether to pick something up in a matter of seconds. This contradiction made me reach out to Elisha Zepeda (@ez.bookdesign), the internet’s resident book cover designer whose videos have earned him over 800,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. I was curious about how his job straddles both the arts and literary worlds and how he balances his creativity as an artist with the expectations and restrictions of commercial design. In his social media
bio, he asks audiences to do just one thing: “please judge these books by their covers.”
Zepeda’s design process starts with the synopsis of a book and a clear vision of what the publisher wants. He rarely gets a blank canvas, but this doesn’t bother him: “it helps a lot, to have a box. Otherwise, the options feel limitless, and I’ll get overwhelmed.”
IT HELPS A LOT, TO HAVE A BOX, OTHERWISE THE OPTIONS FEEL LIMITLESS
In publishing, design trends play a significant role in attracting target audiences. Take colourful summer romances with a cartoonish couple on the cover, for example. He explained his logic on this particular trend: “if someone is in public wanting to read a steamy book, they might not find it appropriate to have a risqué cover in, say, a coffee shop. Obscuring the content with a cartoonish cute design lets them hold that book wherever. Is there a better artistic solution? Probably. I think they could be more abstract in design, not as straightforward with cheesy character illustrations.”
When a publisher asks for a particular trend, he nevertheless pushes himself to create something interesting within the box he has been given. “But not all trends are bad,” he stresses. “I absolutely love the minimal pastel covers I’ve been seeing lately. I fall into that trend often just because I enjoy making the style. It’s simple, eye catching [and] looks great on display. I also am such a sucker for anything collaged with a handwritten title.”
Yet trends aren’t everything. A welldesigned cover impacts sales, but a reader’s opinion on the content will always be the biggest judge: “Many of the books I think have brilliant covers end up having less than 3.7/5 stars on Goodreads — if we’re going by food review standards, that’s not a restaurant I’d go to. But sometimes a cover that is pretty basic ends up becoming a bestseller. For instance, All the Light We Cannot See and Where the Crawdads Sing. Both as straight forward as it gets. Picture of setting, slap a gradient over it, slap some white text. Boom, 15 million copies sold and a movie made.”
He compares marketing and its impact to the stock market: “there’s no real rhyme or reason to any of it. People spend their whole lives analysing data claiming to understand patterns, but there’s no guarantee. If marketing is the art of standing out, why try and look like everything else?”
IF MARKETING IS THE ART OF STANDING OUT, WHY TRY AND LOOK LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE?
Zepeda’s main goal with social media was to attract the attention of art directors and showcase his portfolio. He also makes an interesting decision to keep his rejected covers on his socials and website: “my intention was just to share work I was proud of and to show the amount of work that goes unnoticed in the book design industry. The publisher gets their book advertised to millions of people for free, and if a future client sees my work and likes it,
maybe they can reach out. Everybody wins.”
MY INTENTION WAS ... TO SHOW THE AMOUNT OF WORK THAT GOES UNNOTICED BY THE BOOK DESIGN INDUSTRY
Posting his work online has helped him become a better designer too: “something about putting it “out there” flipped this switch in me. If that many people are going to see every project, I better make some stuff I think is really great every single time.” And whilst even he feels the pressure of social media to market his own content and videos in a unique way to attract as much attention as possible, it has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in his career. “posting those videos has given me so many great freelance opportunities — and now here I am working with Penguin.”
Designing book covers is Zepeda’s dream job within design, but he also has a passion for music and would love to be a producer or musician: “if money wasn’t an issue, I’d dedicate my time to having a home studio where I produce [for] all my talented friends,” he tells me. “I would have them come in, lay down a scratch track and then flesh out all the instruments, the production and the arrangement. Maybe go on tour with them if the music takes off.
“Five years ago, if you’d told me I’d be a Book Cover Designer for Penguin I wouldn’t believe you. I’m happy to wake up and do a job that creatively fulfils my design itch and pays the bills.”
Image: Elisha Zepeda
Image: LME Press via Flickr
Black History Month in the arts
Magdalena Kanecka, Online International Editor,
shares her guide to BHM in the arts
WITH October marking Black History Month in the UK, it is crucial for us, regardless of our racial identity, to celebrate the successes of those historically oppressed. One positive yet educational way of doing this is through the arts — today, I aim to present you with recommendations of movies, books, and plays; all written or directed by black artists. Some of these you may already be familiar with, but you may not realise they are actually a significant symbol of celebration of black success. So, next time you pick up a book or put on a movie, it may be worth looking into its background and considering its historical legacy and impacts! My interest lies particularly in black feminist writing on intersectional
experiences of systems of oppression through race and gender — Kimberlé Crenshaw’s On Intersectionality is an excellent starting point for this. Following on, bell hooks and her revolutionary writing of Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism was one of the first feminist pieces I’ve read, and ever since then, I started to notice my own privilege as a white woman in modern-day society. For more black female writing, I further recommend Chimama Ngizo Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists
THEY
ARE A SIGNIFICANT SYMBOL OF CELEBRATION OF BLACK SUCCESS
Many of us may be familiar with the
animated Spider-Man series — but not all of us may be aware that both Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are partially directed by black directors — Peter Ramsey and Kemp Powers. In 2019, Ramsey was also the first African American filmmaker to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The same year, Ramsey went on to win the award. In one of the first-ever reenactments of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the 1790s, Juliet was allegedly played by an unidentified black woman, whose identity is still anonymous today. Throughout the years in theatre, groups of black people have worked to push intersectionality through their work, and by 1982, the Theatre of Black Women Theatre Company was formed.
Scary or spooky season?
BETWEEN changing leaves and stormy weather, the time for autumnal reads is upon us. Nothing screams autumn nights more than a candle, a mug of tea, and basking in the gruelling details of a horror novel, right? Whilst often dismissed by horror movie haters, I would argue that horror books deserve more of a chance, especially for people who claim they can ‘never get into a book’. The combination of suspense, intrigue, and morbid curiosity is
SBLACK PEOPLE HAVE WORKED TO PUSH INTERSECTIONALITY THROUGHOUT THEIR WORK
Through the progress made, in 2018, Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night became the first West End play written by a black British woman. In realising our privilege in an historical context, we learn how we can recognise the oppression of others. Black History Month is just one of the many daily opportunities for doing so. Be engaged, provoke and join in the conversation — step out of your comfort zone regardless of your racial identity this month. I hope these recommendations are a helpful starting point.
Ella Smith talks about her literary prefrences during the Halloween season
enough to get even the biggest bibliophobe hooked. Their pageturning nature is something I have yet to find in other genres. That being said, I am certainly not claiming to be above an annual reread of the Twilight series to get me in the spooky mood. So, spooky vs scary? I would argue nothing gets the Halloween vibes going like a spooky book, but you can catch me reading scary novels all year round.
Halloween just isn’t the same without Thomas Harris’s
The Silence of the Lambs. The second novel of his four-part Hannibal series, this stand-alone psychological horror follows epic female protagonist Clarice Starling as she attempts to find the serial killer tormenting America. Her only guide? Former cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. On a slightly different, but similarly eerie note, Pet Semetary by Stephen King must be mentioned. Arguably his best novel, the details of this book still leave me uneasy. If I still haven’t
sold you on giving scary a try, then maybe Coraline Neil Gaiman may be more your stride? We’ve all seen the movie but, despite being a children’s book, the novel is excellent for getting in the spooky vibe. As for those already stocked with uni readings, I recommend T End of Summer by J. Tonzelli. An excellent collection of short stories ideal for your quick Halloween literary fix!
Review: Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo
Kayleigh Swart, Arts and Lit Editor, reviews Rooney’s latest hit novel
ALLY Rooney, an Irish author, most well known for her hit novel Normal People, has finally released her next book, and there is a lot to be said about it. The novel Intermezzo follows the relationship of two brothers (Peter and Ivan), recently after losing their father. The book also explores the relationships these brothers have with the women in their lives. Like most of Rooney’s novels, this book focuses on feelings rather than plot. Her books are often described as novels in which nothing actually happens. Whether or not you like this type of novel is up to personal taste. Personally, I love reading a book where characters’ emotions are explored and developed throughout. However, for those who like books that are more plot-focused, I’d
give this one a miss. As a huge fan of Normal People and Conversations With Friends, and a medium fan of Beautiful World, Where are You, I was excited when this book finally hit the shelves. Like all her books I was not disappointed. Once again Rooney manages to perfectly write difficult and weird emotions in such beautiful and understanding ways. Her characters always feel real and human, she writes in a way that doesn’t give her characters flaws, but instead the flaws these characters have is who they are. In addition to this, the relationships she creates between characters are incredibly developed. In the romantic relationships in the book, she manages to make complex and problematic situations seem beautiful. Both of the brothers fall into age gap relationships but
instead of just villainising this, Rooney shows the emotional side of this, leaving the reader wondering why there was anything wrong in the first place. Her family relationships also hold this same level of complexity. Peter and Ivan often having long arguments but it is written in a way where, as a reader, you realise neither one is wrong or right.
The one thing I didn’t like in this novel was her use of perspective. She switched between Ivan and Peter which I really enjoyed getting to know as characters. However, occasionally she’d give the perspective to Margaret, one of the female characters. This felt slightly out of place, especially as she didn’t give the other two female characters (Sylvia and Naomi) a voice in the story. The plot focused on the two brothers so having Margaret
talk about her life didn’t feel like it fit in. Sally Rooney is said to write emotionallydriven books. I think Intermezzo was a great four-star read that I would definitely recommend to anyone who asks. However, her writing style and choices are so particular that it really is down to personal taste. If you love character-driven novels, Intermezzo will be a great addition to your TBR.
See-ming Lee
MUSIC
THE first time I heard of Artemas was when he opened up for Rex Orange County at Gunnersbury Park in August 2022. Having no idea who this thenrandom artist was, he caught my attention. Not only his hip and nonchalant persona but also his music made me see something special about him. Back then he was producing funky indie songs that got me grooving, but now he has changed genre completely, creating a 180-degree shift to his career.
If you haven’t heard of ‘ i like the way you kiss me ’ then you’ve either been living under a rock for the last six months, or you don’t have TikTok. The song took over the world, topping charts and sealing him off as a top 100 artist on Spotify with over 40 million monthly listeners. A dramatic change to his career when compared to his 100,000 monthly listeners when I started to follow his music.
Not only has his career skyrocketed since the release of this song, but a new era of Artemas’ music has dawned on us. U-turning his previous choice of bedroom-made indie music, he now creates electric alternative pop
AHarry Morrison, Music Editor, opens up about his admiration for Artemas's music and reviews his recent success
that’s been dubbed by Apple Music as if he "digested all of the music of the '90s in the womb."
THE SONG TOOK OVER THE WORLD ,TOPPING CHARTS AND SEALING HIM OFF AS A TOP 100 ARTIST ON SPOTIFY
Artemas has reinforced this genre change, producing and releasing two mixtapes in a four-month time gap this year labelled pretty and yustyna. The mixtapes are filled with sharp-hitting electronic beats, flowing with enticing and alluring lyrics. Since hitting the road of fame, I have managed to see Artemas live twice. A monumental moment was when he was brought out by Grammy-nominee the Kid Laroi at a sold-out Alexandra Palace show in front of 10,000 people. The second time was at a small 750-person headline show in Shoreditch, where he wowed the crowd, me included. Although the genre has changed, he hasn’t shied away from
Artemas: On the road to success Songs from Another World: The Cure's
utilising a band with guitars and drums dominating the musical elements of his show.
His music style has been appreciated by the masses, even making it into Barack Obama’s summer 2024 playlist. American social media personality and model Sofia Richie Grainge even had Artemas make the sound used in her pregnancy reveal video.
Artemas’s journey has just started, and I believe he still has lots to offer. Although not a household name in the music scene, everyday sees this becoming a reality in his career. In an interview with 3voor12 , he stated that "I had the number one song in the world, but people still don’t really know who I am yet."
He now embarks on a world tour, spanning Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, with sold-out shows at impressive venues like the O2 Forum Kentish Town. He’s one to watch for years to come and I look forward to seeing where this journey takes him.
return
Brooke Taylor, Music Editor, discusses The Cure's highly-anticipated first album in 16 years
FTER 16 years, Crawley rock band The Cure are returning to the music scene with their long-awaited album Songs of A Lost World, and, speaking as a massive fan, I couldn’t be more excited. The album is set to release on the 1st November and is accompanied by an intimate free show at BBC Radio Studios on the 30th October, which fans can enter a ballot to win a maximum of two tickets each for.
This album has been germinating for some time, when I went to see The Cure on their last arena tour in November 2022, the band played a selection of songs from this new album, two
years before its release had even been confirmed. So far, a single titled ‘Alone’ has been released, and from this track I think it’s fair to assume the upcoming album will be more similar in tone to the band’s cult classic album, Disintegration, than their last release in 2008, 4:13 Dream. ‘Alone’ is almost seven minutes of classic Cure sound, a long and pining intro, complete with heavy guitar and twinkly chimes. Despite the 45 years since their first album, Three Imaginary Boys, was released, Robert Smith’s voice has remained unwavering, sounding as distinct and characterful as ever. If more
confirmation was needed as to the moody aesthetic of this upcoming album, fans can find a playlist named ‘The Cure Songs Of A Darker World’ under the Artist Playlist section of The Cure’s Spotify profile, with the description reading, “curated by Robert Smith, this is a darker Best Of compilation from The Cure’s catalogue.” I've been anticipating this album since 2022, and the music released so far has surpassed the expectations from my memory. Songs of A Lost World looks to be the perfect soundtrack to a grey English winter.
Katy Perry's lacklustre comeback
Magdelena Kanecka, Online International Editor, on the ex pop-icon's attempted return to the charts
WHEN most people think of Katy Perry, they think of her 2010s pop hits like 'I Kissed A Girl', 'Hot N Cold' or 'California Girls'. Most people, even those who opt for more chart-based music choices on the radio, don’t even realise that Perry has recently released a brand-new album — 143. And those who did, are still not satisfied — surely this is not the 'Teenage Dream' Katy was talking about. 143 was described by Katy Perry on her Instagram as “a party [that] the whole world is invited [to].” Clearly, some people accepted this invite — her album peaked at number six in the UK as per the Official Charts UK website, but quickly disappeared from the charts the following week. However, it seems the majority of the general public discarded Perry's invite quite quickly — the album has received generally nega-
tive reviews over cringe-worthy lyrics and tracks. This was especially following some backlash she received earlier in the year for working with the producer Dr. Luke, who was sued by the pop singer Kesha in 2014 over sexual assault and drugging allegations. Many artists have since ceased to work with the producer, while Katy Perry worked with him on the lead single of her new album 'Woman’s World' — sending an overall counter-productive message with the song lyrics talking about female empowerment. Perry has defended herself and justified working with the producer on the Call Her Daddy podcast, by saying that Dr. Luke was just one of the many producers of her album and the track, and that he helped bring her vision of the album into reality. But is this quite enough? Often, actions speak louder than words — and clearly, the gen-
eral public is no longer interested. 'Separating the Art From the Artist' only goes so far when such serious public matters are in question.
Editors' picks
Image: Wikimedia commons
Harry's on repeat: 'Die With A Smile' by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
Brooke's on repeat: 'Hey You' by DOPE LEMON
Rosie's on repeat: 'Second Nature' by Clairo
Image Harry Morrison
Image : momento mori via Wikimedia Commons
EDITORS: Harry Morrison and Brooke Taylor
Coldplay: Moon Music
Wilf Smith reviews Coldplay's new album and talks about their longevity in the music industry
COLDPLAY has just released their 10th album, Moon Music . Off the back of their brilliant Glastonbury performance in June, I was excited to listen to the material they had been working on since Music of the Spheres in 2021. At first glance, I was intrigued by their feature selection given the success of their past collaborations with the likes of BTS. But as Coldplay are more than capable of delivering, I was not too concerned with the modest cast present.
The album starts out promising with three good tracks. It begins with an interesting, atmospheric song featuring Jon Hopkins with an ending that blends fabulously into 'feelslikeimfallinginlove'. As the lead single of the album, you can see glimpses of Coldplay’s talent: a catchy chorus and melodic guitar, overlapped by Chris Martin’s vocals. But
while attempting to create an anthem, the song still doesn’t quite stand out enough for me. Next comes 'WE PRAY', which deserves huge credit for one of the most diverse features lists I have ever seen. I have to say that Coldplay blends the genres of the artists together well: Little Simz delivers on her verse and Burna Boy’s vocals complement Chris on the chorus. 'JUPiTER' is a decent song, certainly the message of ‘I love who I love’ is such a positive one, although you could argue let down by slightly flat production. 'GOOD FEELiNGS' is a welcome upbeat change with a jumpy bass guitar — Ayra Starr provides a solid duet here. But from here on I was disappointed, in the remaining half of the album the only memorable song was 'AETERNA', purely because it sounded so much like David Guetta that I had to double check
'Million
Ymy Spotify. Ultimately, this album is from a band who have already cemented their legacy. Importantly, Moon Music reflects their status as figureheads who believe strongly in environmental and social issues, and who contribute heavily to these causes: successfully meeting their eco targets for the Music of the Spheres World Tour. It is an album that is about both the message and the music. Gone from Coldplay albums are the moody lyrics and soulful composition of their 2000s tracks, and the chart-topping features. Not unenjoyable by any means, for there are a few standout singles, but nothing too exciting. What is left is an album that is made with love, but just feels safe. I rate it 5/10.
Dollar Baby': The rise of Tommy Richman
Gracie Moore, Editor-in-Chief, explores the rise of Tommy Richman and the journey he has taken
OU have been living under a rock if you haven’t yet heard of Tommy Richman and his success on Tiktok and the charts. Hit song 'Million Dollar Baby' debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on the 11th May 2024. It was also the longest-running number-one song on Tiktok’s Billboard Top 50, staying at the top for 10 weeks from May to July 2024. It feels like even today, you can’t scroll through 10 Tiktoks before the catchy tune makes another appearance. Following on from this suc cess, another song from Richman gained popularity in the way of 'Devil is a Lie' — becoming another Tiktok favourite. In an interview, Richman stated that coming from a small town in Virginia with a mum who is deaf, the music scene was all but non-existent for him until he started school. He’d been singing for his whole life, including at summer camps when he was as young as six. Also, he participated in voice lessons as he grew up, a member of the choir at the opera school he attended in New York. He believes that opera is the “most pure form of art” but wasn’t sure he wanted to dedicate his life to it. Moving from the life of a lyric tenor, Richman now describes his music as “alternative R&B with pop elements.”
OPERA IS THE "MOST PURE FORM OF ART" BUT HE WASN'T SURE HE WANTED TO DEDICATE HIS LIFE TO IT
In conversation with Apple Music, Richman said “I appreciate 'Mil lion Dollar Baby'… when we made that song we didn’t think anything of it.” Just as the Tommy Richman name was beginning to take the world by storm,
he released his debut studio album Coyote on the 27th September providing us all with more of the music we had come to know and love. Surprisingly for some fans, Richman made the decision to leave 'Million Dollar Baby' out of the album, expressing that the other songs are more of what he stands for. Working on the album for over a year, Richman said that the hardest bit wasn’t creating the music, it was instead knowing when the album was finished. The analogy he used made it seem like they just needed to find the bow to wrap it all together. The album appears to reflect the intuitive nature of his music as a lot of the music created wasn’t even produced in a studio and rather in his friends’ living room at home.
RICHMAN MADE THE DECISION TO LEAVE 'MILLION DOLLAR BABY' OUT OF THE ALBUM
As for the future of his music, Richman has already begun planning the Coyote tour and is working on a live show. At the moment, he says he is unsure on the exact details of it but that for now, he’d like to revel in the success of Coyote for a little while and “be annoying” with how much he promotes it. Richman attributes his success in many ways to his parents and the opportunities they gave him as he was growing up. Also, being raised without siblings, he prides himself on forming connections and making his friends his family. It may be a little while before we hear of any new music from Tommy Richman but with a fresh album, it will be hard to get bored of his catchy tunes and his small-town modesty.
DJ Dick and Dom
Amy Rushton, Editor-in-Chief, discusses the revival of everybody's favourite comedy duo
CHIL DREN'S Television stars Dick and Dom have finally left Da Bungalow . The comedy double act, whose real names are Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood, have recently been taking centre stage at freshers’ weeks across the country. Launched in 2024 and following on from previous performances, Dick and Dom’s newest DJ set ‘Dick & Dom in Da Naughties’ has been performed at student unions, clubs and major festivals, including a stint at Exeter’s Powderham Castle in August. Whilst they missed Exeter on their freshers' tour this year, Dick and Dom's status as icons of British childrens' culture means they could likely be well recieved. The double act found fame presenting The Broom Cupboard on CBBC in the 1990s, before moving onto Dick & Dom in da Bungalow from 2002 to 2006. From there they
were at the centre of children's telly, presenting the likes of The Legend of Dick and Dom , Splatalot! , Diddy Movies and Absolute Genius They even had cameo roles Horrid Henry: The Movie and picked up multiple BAFTAs on the way. Whilst the shift from CBBC to club DJs seems out of place, their 25 years as a double act means many of those who grew up with Dick and Dom on their screens are now of uni age. On a sadder note, it speaks to the decline of British children's television in favour of US streaming giants. Nevertheless, whilst experiencing the show blackout drunk in a student union bar is slightly less wholesome than their childhood viewing, perhaps Dick and Dom are simply bringing some childlike joy back into the lives of their now adult fans.
Image Harry Craig
Image Dai Stanton via Wikimedia Commons
screen
Heartstopper, you pulled my heartstrings
Amberly Wright, Online Deputy Editor, reviews the latest season of Netflix’s Heartstopper
IAM proud to admit, I finished Heartstopper season 3 in just over 24 hours, one of the only shows I have ever binge-watched. This season has been my favourite of the three so far, drawing upon darker themes in a delicate, yet raw, way. This season was more than a series of episodes; it was an artistic masterpiece, brave enough to paint the experiences of young queer individuals, telling so many previously untold stories.
I felt real connections to characters in this season and saw myself in many of them. I cried at Charlie’s struggles: his diagnosis, and his journey of recovery. If I’m honest, I didn’t just cry, I sobbed, raw emotions pouring out of me at finally watching my struggles being illustrated on screen in such a beautiful way. It was refreshing to see recovery being shown as a positive: opening doors and letting light into Charlie’s life, whilst maintaining the reality of having an eat-
Iing disorder. Watching Charlie’s relationship with food get better, and his worries about his body fade was powerful, and the closing scene — I cannot remember a time I have cried that much at a series finale.
This series particularly explored personal identity and the struggles that come with doubting and challenging who you are. For example, Darcy exploring their gender identity and becoming more comfortable with being non-binary by trying out they/them pronouns and cutting their hair. Nick and Charlie individually battle with Charlie’s mental health struggles, torn between finding themselves outside of their relationship, or centring all of their energy on Charlie’s recovery. It also included a very familiar struggle to us all; UCAS applications and university open days, and the stress it can bring moving away from loved ones. On a more serious note, Elle continues to explore her transgender identity through
her artwork and battles with close-minded individuals, reminding us of the struggles that transgender people still face. Heartstopper is not only a representation of queer identity, but other struggles that may be hidden. Although we have progressed as a society, there are still prejudices that queer people face, and these were brought to light in the recent season. It is worth taking a minute to talk about the soundtrack. As is consistent with the previous two seasons of Heartstopper, the music in the scenes illuminates the characters and their emotions perfectly. From lovestruck Beabadoobee songs to atmospheric Billie Eilish tracks, Alice Oseman chose her songs perfectly with each song reflecting the illustrations in the graphic novels. An episode which stuck out to me was episode 4, with Billie Eilish’s vocals in ‘Blue’ setting the mood for a house party full of emotional turmoil. In this same scene, ‘Black Friday’ by Tom Odell featured (I think this
the time for horror...
may have been what set off my tears). For me, this decision represented Nick and Charlie’s relationship at that moment, with Charlie in the middle of his recovery, eluded to by Odell’s lyrics “I want a better body, I want better skin, I wanna be perfect like all your other friends”, this line is followed by “You look so pretty, pretty like the wind, every time you touch me I feel adrenaline” which encapsulates Nick’s feeling towards Charlie, despite all of his struggles.
One cannot talk about the series, without talking about the comics. Once again, the illustrations from the comics can be seen alongside the characters, with the iconic leaves, sparkles, and hearts cropping up in most scenes. For me, this is what makes the series a masterpiece — the series does not draw away from the magic of the comics, and maintains the comforting essence that they bring to so many of us.
Freya Turton discusses a horror classic to get you in the Halloween mood
F already in the spirit and looking for something to watch that will get you spooked this Halloween, then Dario Argento’s 1977 Suspiria is for you! Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) joins the German ballet school ‘Tanz Akademie’ as murders and disappearances begin to plague the students. As Suzy begins to unravel the mysteries of the school, she realises that there is much worse than death lingering within the walls. A terrifying psychological horror, Suspiria is perfect for those who enjoy a tense, mind-twisting movie that will have you on edge from the very beginning. Progressive rock band Goblin, who
Bscored the soundtrack for Suspiria , immediately set the pace of the film with eerie traditional Greek bouzouki and bewitching vocals. For horror lovers, the theme song is a vital part of getting your adrenaline going, and Suspiria has one of the best. The heart-thudding theme plays consistently throughout the film, creating a sense of suspense when it jumps in and suddenly it jolts to silence.
Argento’s use of such sharp, flurried music compared to the soft piano ballet is enough to give you chills and, like Suzy, make you feel that something is terribly wrong. While not only a good scare, Suspiria is beautifully filmed with a vibrant aesthetic. Argento contrasts intense reds with bright blue lights and fills every frame with dizzying visuals. From velvet corridors to spiralling
stairs, the set of the school is an architectural labyrinth; in certain shots, the camera moves against the eccentric backdrops as if it is an optical illusion. When watching Suspiria , the hypnotic mise en scene makes you feel as trapped as the dancers. It’s never too early for horror, and if you enjoy fantastical gore, spell-binding ballet and haunting secrets, Suspiria is the perfect film to get you ready for Halloween
Celebrating Black History Month on screen
Isabella Van Der Putten puts the spotlight on major talent Ayo Edebiri
LACK filmmakers have long been central to the film industry’s evolution, crafting stories that challenge stereotypes and push boundaries. Among the many rising stars, Ayo Edebiri stands out as an excellent example of the new generation of talent, showing what it means to be a black actress and creative in today’s film world.
Ayo Edebiri, our favourite Irish nepo baby (you know, the one whose dad is the Warner Bros. frog and who starred as the donkey in The Banshees of Inisherin), made history in 2024 by winning the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in The Bear. This achievement makes her the third black woman in history to win in this category and it speaks volumes about her extraordinary talent and the growing space for diverse voices in the film industry. Her portrayal of Sydney Adamu, an ambitious chef in a chaotic Chicago kitchen, captivated audiences with its depth, humour, and relatability. Drawing from her own life experiences working in restaurants, Edebiri brought an authenticity to the role
that made The Bear a standout.
Edebiri’s talent doesn’t stop at acting. She’s a multi-hyphenate: a writer, comedian, and actress who has made her mark across different genres. From voicing characters on Big Mouth to her standout performance in the comedy Bottoms, Edebiri continues to prove her range. She’s noted how important it is to be part of stories that show diverse characters in all their complexity. Reflecting on her work in Bottoms in an interview with Refinery29, she said, “It’s very cool for me to be a young black woman and have parts like these... people in marginalized groups have always been funny, and I’m so glad that there’s space for us now.”
But what truly defines Edebiri is not just her wide-ranging talent, but her commitment to her personal values. In an interview with Backstage, she reflected on how her high standards guide her work and personal life: “I always want to do excellent work and try to be a decent person. That’s as much as I can do. Even if that fails, at least I’ll have that intention.” Edebiri approaches each project with a desire to always keep
growing as both an artist and a human being.
Beyond her roles, Edebiri’s presence in the industry represents the larger shift toward meaningful representation. She is part of a generation of black filmmakers and actors who are changing the narrative, ensuring that diverse stories are not only told but celebrated. Her ability to seamlessly move between different genres and formats — from animated shows to live-action films — underscores her versatility and the impact she continues to have on the industry.
[EDEBIRI] IS PART OF A GENERATION OF BLACK FILMMAKERS AND ACTORS WHO ARE CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
As Ayo Edebiri’s star continues to rise, her influence on the film industry is undeniable. Her talent, authenticity, and overall lovable character ensure that her legacy will inspire countless others in the years to come.
Image: Donio, Wikimedia Commons
Image: garystockbridge617, GetArchive.Net
Style over The Substance
Charlie McCormack, Screen Editor, reviews Fargeat’s striking new horror film
FRENCH film director Coralie Fargeat certainly didn’t hold back with The Substance, her second ever feature film.
Fargeat has been a film festival favourite, her first short film Le télégramme won 13 awards across several film festivals and The Substance notably won Best Screenplay at the prestigious Cannes film festival where it premiered. The Substance is a scifi film and a love letter to the body-horror genre, featuring impressive performances from Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
The titular ‘substance’ is offered by a shady entity which lures in Moore’s character — washed up movie star Elisabeth Sparkle — with the ability to recapture her youth by creating a younger, more attractive clone of herself (Qualley’s character, Sue). The catch? She must switch consciousness between the two bodies each week. The concept is immediately gripping. The problem is Fargeat fails to make the most of it.
Despite the Cannes award, Fargeat’s screenplay was easily the weakest aspect of The Substance for me. Whilst I appreciate that the barefaced nature of the script is in harmony with Fargeat’s bold vision, the result is unoriginal dialogue which succeeds in conjuring a caricature of Hollywood misogyny , but fails to say anything new about it. Critical reception was largely positive, but I’m certain this isn’t me‘missing the point’, the heavy-handed dialogue makes that impossible.
The film’s message was clear to me five minutes in, and rather than finding unique ways to criticise and explore what the Hollywood beauty standard does to an aging woman, Fargeat simply shouts the same message in the same way, louder and louder over the film’s bloated 141-minute runtime.
I truly respect how uncompromising Fargeat is in her vision for the
film; the gore and body-horror genuinely shocked me at times and I am not squeamish. The spectacle cannot be understated and despite how (fantastically) disgusting the practical effects and sound design are, the film is stylistically gorgeous and extremely well crafted visually. Fargeat leaves her characters flat and uninteresting, leaving little to be invested in. She similarly neglects to fill out a dynamic world for the characters to inhabit, the audience is confined within the (beautifully designed) TV sets and apartments. The missed opportunities are what coloured this film such a disappointment for me. What would deeper explorations of Qualley’s thoughts on her old body or her own motivations for diving back into the system that shunned her have given the film? How might understanding the farcical, hyper-consumer society Fargeat only alludes to have added depth and credence to the film’s message? It feels to me like Fargeat opts to triple-down on the sheer shock and awe of her masterful body-horror, rather than the dramatic potential of these questions.
FTHE MISSED OPPURTUNITIES ARE WHAT COLOURED THIS FILM SUCH A DISSAPOINTMENT
As a spectacle The Substance is a visceral love-letter to fans of body-horror with images that will be seared into my mind for years to come. But delve below the sticky, fleshy surface and maybe you’ll be disappointed, as I was, by a lack of ‘substance’, in a film that often feels at risk of simply replicating the gratuitous, leering pressure for commercial youth and beauty that the film is attempting to criticise.
It’s time for horror... or is it?
Beth Donovan discusses a horror classic more likely to have you laughing than screaming
OR those seeking a lighter Halloween experience, Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 dark comedy Death Becomes Her shows us how humour can be just as effective as horror to set the Halloween spirit.
The film tells the story of two rival women Madeline (Meryl Streep) and Helen (Goldie Hawn) who, through their obsession with youth and vanity, stumble across a potion which grants them both eternal life and beauty. They soon find out the price of immortality, facing absurd and grotesque consequences as their bodies deteriorate over time.
At its core, the film is an exploration of friendship and rivalry, showing how jealousy
Fcan twist friendships into something toxic, as Madeline and Helen’s desperate quest for eternal youth turns into a dark but humorous tale of the supernatural. Additionally, the sharp-witted screenplay and impeccable comedic timing in the performances provide a playful portrayal of the characters’ increasingly ridiculous predicaments — the hilarity of the horror creating ideal viewing for Halloween gatherings.
Zemeckis’ lean into the comedic grotesque provides a satirical commentary on society’s obsession with youth and beauty, poking fun at the extreme levels people will go to. Yet, the consequences faced by Madeline and Helen for this leaves us ultimately questioning the futility of such pursuits.
THE HILARITY OF THE HORROR CREATES IDEAL VIEWING FOR HALLOWEEN GATHERINGS
liver on jump-scares, terror, or gore, it certainly draws focus to the themes of friendship and mortality, with a large dose of the supernatural and grotesque — perfectly reflecting Halloween’s celebration of both the quirky and bizarre. Zemeckis cleverly intertwines the genres of humour and horror, transforming what could be a terrifying critique on the pressures of ageing, into a fun, camp, outrageous escapade; perfect for Halloween viewing.
THE COMEDICLY GROTESQUE PROVIDES A SATIRICAL COMMENTARY ON SOCIETY’S OBESSION WITH YOUTH AND BEAUTY A FUN, CAMP, OUTRAGEOUS ESCAPADE; PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN
So, while Death Becomes Her may not de -
Joker: Folie à Deux, in reveux
Harry Morrison, Music Editor, reviews the unexpected musical sequel that left many dissatisfied
IVE years on from the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, Todd Phillips has released the sequel of his 2019 hit Joker, with Joker: Folie à Deux. Continuing the dark, unsettling tone set by its predecessor, this film adds new layers of complexity brought by new characters and expanded themes. An atmosphere of anticipation lingered over the release of this film, with many fans of the 2019 release becoming eager over what’s next for the story of the Joker. As a fan myself, I was intrigued to see what route writers Scott Silver and Todd Phillips would take us down, following the huge success of the original film.
CONTINUING THE DARK, UNSETTLING TONE SET BY ITS PREDECESSOR, THE FILM ADDS NEW LAYERS OF COMPLEXITY
The film is introduced by a sequence of animations, with the Joker being impersonated by his shadow as he takes the stage to sing on his TV show. Summarising some of the key characteristics of the film, I thought it created an interesting prologue for the events that take place. After this, we follow the journey of Arthur Fleck/ the Joker, played by Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix. We find ourselves stuck in Arkham State Hospital as Arthur awaits his trial after his killing spree, in which he killed six
individuals including his mother. It’s within the confines of the prison where we are introduced to the film’s new character, Harley Quinn, played by Lady Gaga. The dynamics of the relationship between Harley Quinn and the Joker, alongside their questionable mental and emotional health, form the dramatic core of this film.
Creating a new avenue to explore Arthur and Harley Quinn’s narrative, Phillips turned to the musical genre to develop our perception of the character’s mindsets and the dynamic of the relationship. I thought the element of singing created a playful and entertaining stance on not only the character’s narrative, but also the individual personalities and the way they interact. The problem is many sections of singing felt irrelevant to particular areas of the film, steering viewers away from major elements of the film’s plot and causing many sections to drag. Phillips’ word play with the title — Folie à Deux (madness for two) —suited the film well. I found that not only did it show through the delusion within the relationship of both Harley Quinn and Arthur Fleck, but also the key element of the two personalities between Arthur Fleck and the Joker. This was apparent as Arthur Fleck would turn into the Joker when representing himself in the court trial. Across the film, Arthur Fleck is a very vulnerable and traumatised character, so with the Joker’s shadow constantly following him, it was creative to see this different personality come to life. It’s a shame Phillips didn’t play on that element nearly enough.
In regards to the story, I felt that it lacked substance. Harley
Quinn consistently refers to the couple’s goal to ‘build a mountain’, however, this wasn’t translated much across the storyline. I would’ve liked to see the story go somewhere with this element, as I felt it was very back and forth between the courthouse and prison.
In terms of music, cinematography and acting it was a very wellput-together film, however many areas should have been improved, leaving myself and many others dissatisfied with the end product.
Image: Shankbone, wikimedia
E x etera Exetera...
Let’s Talk About It...
Gracie
Moore, Editor-in-Chief,
discusses her experience with imposter syndrome and how to manage it
ICAN’T recall a time in my life where I haven’t felt guilty for an achievement, no matter how big or small. The feeling of having your friends and family praise you for the hard work you’ve put in and the subsequent success is often a strange and conflicting feeling. Most of the time, you can’t help but internally (and often externally) answer with “Thanks — I don’t deserve it!”
Getting out of this mindset is extremely difficult. What’s even more frustrating is that more often than not, it’s easy enough to recognise that you SHOULD be proud of yourself, it’s actually putting that mindset into practice which is the challenge.
My imposter syndrome started when I was a child and was labelled “gifted and talented” at school in a number of subjects, from as early as eight years old. Labelling kids this way and putting them in the box of “intelligent” when they are young means that as they grow up, that’s the way they judge their own worth. Rather than teaching children to regulate themselves based on how happy they are or how kind they are to others, we instead weaponise something minor (like a love of reading, for example) and turn that into a barometer of success.
I wish I had been told that I was allowed to enjoy reading books and solving maths equations without having to worry if I was do-
ing it in a specific way or that I had to keep it up for the rest of my life. I would have learnt to judge myself on the things that really matter: who I am rather than what I can do.
As university students, many of us have experience with imposter syndrome and it takes repeated efforts to break the cycle. I have come to learn that if an opportunity has arisen — be it in your professional, academic or social life — that there is a high chance (a guarantee) you are ready to take it on. The universe doesn’t provide us with opportunities we are not ready for and this belief has helped me trust the timing of my life and that I am exactly where I need to be.
Also, in small ways, the idea of imposter syndrome can be re-routed to simply wanting the best for yourself. Recognising that your best is actually more than you would have ever imagined is important for beating imposter syndrome because we are the people who underestimate ourselves. The cliché saying actually rings quite true for many of us: Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars. Never sell yourself short in any aspect of your life because you never know just what you’re capabale of until you try. No amount of external validation will ever be enough if you also suffer from imposter syndrome, you have to look within — the only real gratification comes from right within you.
ARecipe: A warm matcha latté
If you haven’t noticed, autumn is upon us. Exeter’s own brand of autumn comes not just with trees in hues of orange and gold, nor just with warm sunshine breaking through dark clouds on a chilly day — but with what seems to be torrents and torrents of rain. If you’re anything like me, and need a warm and mellow pick-me-up to make yourself feel better (probably after getting absolutely drenched on your way back from a seminar), I think you’ll love this autumnal matcha latté.
1. For the perfect matcha latté, you’ll need a chasen, or a matcha whisk. You can buy these for quite a reasonable price online — mine was less than £5. Otherwise, a blender should do, but make sure you blend it thoroughly as matcha has a tendency to clump. You’ll want to whisk about a teaspoon, or 1g, of matcha into about 50ml of hot — but NOT boiling — water.
£15 on Amazon if you buy from traditional Japanese brand Ikuyo, or you might want to try OMGTea’s ceremonial blend, which can be found in Holland and Barrett. 3. To get your water to the perfect temperature for mixing, you can boil your kettle, pour the hot water into a mug and add a drop of cold tap water to it. Whisk for a minute or two, until a thin layer of lighter-green foam has formed atop the matcha tea. Give it a swirl to check for any remaining clumps of powder.
2. You can buy matcha online, or you can pop into town, where a couple of our local tea outlets sell the powder. It’s definitely not cheap, but a 30g packet should suffice for about 30 cups of matcha. This usually costs around
4. Then, for a sweet touch, add a pump of vanilla syrup. If you’d prefer to make your own, you can do so by adding equal parts sugar to water into a pan on the stove and bringing to a boil. You can then add a drizzle — I’d recommend half a teaspoon — of vanilla extract. Combine this with your matcha and stir in.
5. To make your matcha latté, heat up some milk — I’d recommend almond for a nutty aftertaste. Once your milk’s in a mug, pour your matcha in on top of it. For a final touch, I’d recommend a sprinkling of sea salt; it perfectly balances the sweet, grassy matcha notes. Enjoy!
Rosie Peters-McDonald, Deputy Editor
Exeposé archives: Exeter’s racial diversity in 2015
S figures from The Times reveal the lack of racial diversity at the University of Exeter in 2024, it’s worth looking back, here to 2015, to see how previous students reacted to and fought against Exeter’s reputation. According to the 2015 article, in Exeter’s 2014/15 academic year only 18.6 per cent of the student population identified as ‘Black, minority or eth-
nic (BME)’. This represented a decrease from 2013/14 and, significantly, is still higher than the contemporary figures supplied by The Times Exeposé’s past editors spoke to students who were critical of the Uni, stating there was a “deficit of cultural awareness” and spoke about the experience of being black in a majority-white space. One contribtor stated, “in a place where there is a minority of
people of colour it’s easier for people to not think about what they’re saying and commit microagressions.” It’s a reminder that there is so much further to go with regards to racial equality at Exeter the further the Exeter stereotype becomes entrenched, the fewer people of colour apply and the cycle repeats itself. However, the picture isn’t all bleak; the article also celebrates the achievements and community forged
by students of colour, including pictures of graduation ceremonies, Holi celebrations and the 2015 Diversity Ball. It’s clear that as much in 2024 as in 2015, Exeter has a racial diversity problem, but, just as in 2015, students of colour are a vital part of Exeter life.
Amy Rushton, Editor-in-Chief
Image: Amy Rushton
This article contains discussion of mental health struggles which may be triggering for some students
Image: Irvan Ary Maulana
STUDY BREAK
CROSSWORD
Across 1 (Shirt) fastener (6)
4 Pace of a horse — trance (anagram) (6)
8 Buttocks (informal) (4,3)
10 Category (5)
11 Out of view of an audience (in a theatre, say) (8)
13 Rope — tease — chap (3)
14 Flee (6)
15 Knee-length rubber boot (British informal) (6)
18 Embrace (3)
20 366 days (4,4)
22 Self-assertive (5)
23 Erode — deplete (3,4)
25 Walk unsteadily (6)
26 Odium — dearth (anagram) (6)
ANSWERS
Down
1
Egg-laying winged animal (4)
2 Illegal dealing (7)
3 Be in debt (3)
5 Henry came (anagram) — chief opponent (9)
6 Nasal pronunciation (5)
7 Arrange (hair, for example) again (7)
9 University department head (4)
12 Burial chamber — crush peel (anagram) (9)
14 Put on display (7)
16 Trainee — student (7)
17 Leaf of a newspaper (4)
19 Permit (5)
21 Cross (a river) at a shallow place (4)
24 Hot drink (3)
SUDOKU
TRIVIA CORNER
Autumn destination
Anna Spencer, Lifestyle Editor, reminisces on autumn holidays in Vermont
VERMONT is a state in New England in the northeast of the United States. Known as the Green Mountain State, it is home to a rich forested landscape with an abundance of fall and winter activities to do, and importantly, the colourful autumnal transformation is especially spectacular here. Three quarters of the state is covered in forests containing the most maple trees in the US, which creates the vibrant patchwork of red, burnt orange, and bright yellow colours in the months of September and October, a scene which may remind book lovers of works like The Secret History and Dead Poets Society. From scenic drives to beautiful hikes, or maple syrup tasting, cider drinking, and apple donut eating, Vermont, in my opinion, might be the most perfect autumnal destination!
THE MOST PERFECT AUTUMNAL DESTINATION
I have quite a few blurry memories of visiting here as a child, as I used to live in the nearby state, Connecticut. We would often drive two or three hours up to Vermont in the autumn and winter months and enjoy the incredible scenery. Visiting towns like Stowe, Manchester, and Quechee, I remember the white steeple churches, the historic covered wooden bridges, and the classic New England general stores. Maple syrup is something that Vermont is renowned for, being the largest maple syrup producer in
the States by a considerable amount. The World Population Review shows that in 2023, Vermont was the number one producer by contributing over two million gallons of syrup, compared to New York at number two with only 750,000 gallons. So, when visiting, maple syrup is undoubtedly something you will come across! I remember visiting a syrup and cheese farm up in Quechee, where we embarked on a tour of the harvesting process and then tasted each type of syrup, along with an assortment of maple fudge and lollies. Whether you love maple syrup or not, it is a key part of Vermont, and it definitely screams autumn to me. When you consider the incredible natural landscape along with the abundance of activities, food, and historical sights, for me, I’d say Vermont almost encapsulates the season of autumn in itself!
Society spotlight: GermanSoc
Flora Runnacles throws light on
GermanSoc
AT the University of Exeter, we have a significant international student population; 6,300 students every year have international student status. As such, there are a multitude of international societies where students — whether they have international status or not — can connect, speak various languages and participate in fun events. One society in particular that deserves the spotlight this week is the German Society. A small but lively society, GermanSoc welcomes all students interested in Germanic culture or language. This includes students learning German as a foreign language, nationals and inhabitants of German-speaking countries and even people who just have an interest in Germanic culture. They offer a variety of weekly events including Sunday lunches, pub quiz nights, ‘Stammtisch’ events, film nights, beach visits and more! Having personally attended a ‘Stammtisch’ event, I can attest to their relaxed and fun nature — a perfect social to attend after a long day. Furthermore, GermanSoc recently collaborated with the Polish Society to host an Ok-
toberfest event and has plans for more joint socials with societies like FrenchSoc, HispanicSoc and ItalianSoc. We spoke to Joe Day, the GermanSoc Social Secretary, who also highlighted that for those learning German with the University that they “organise an annual social where German lecturers talk about their work” and “promote those starting German to join.” This is a great opportunity to get closer to your heads of department and practise your German skills!
SUNDAY LUNCHES, PUZ QUIZ NIGHTS, STAMMTISCH EVENTS
However, do not worry if you aren’t massively confident in your German skills — Joe emphasised that the language spoken at socials “depends on who’s coming and how comfortable we all are speaking the language in terms of ability.” However, socials are still a good opportunity for practising your language skills, as they incorporate ‘Denglish’ throughout. The GermanSoc is truly a staple University society. Having been around for over 40 years, while small, their events are varied, frequent and welcome to all. For more information about how to join, or upcoming events, feel free to check out their Instagram page: @uofe_germansoc.
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Henry Anderson
UK gives Chagos Islands to Mauritius
Jed Gibbins explains the goverment’s decision to relinquish the islands
THE UK government has agreed to hand the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The islands are home to the small, but strategically important US military base on the atoll Diego Garcia. The deal guarantees the UK will retain sovereignty over Diego Garcia for an initial 99-year period. For this, the UK will pay Mauritius an undisclosed rent.
The dispute over the Islands has gone on for five decades, ever since Mauritius gained its independence in the 1960s. Tensions rose in 2019 after the International Court of Justice issued an opinion stating the UK should give up control of the Islands and the United Nations resolution overwhelmingly said the UK should relinquish sovereignty over them.
regional, and global security” and that this new deal safeguards its longevity.
A Conservative Party leadership contender, Robert Jenrick, has voiced opposition to the move, saying Starmer has proved he is “completely incapable of defending Britain’s interests.” The Tories have faced criticism for their opposition as it was their 2010-24 government who opened the sovereignty negotiations with Mauritius.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the military base “plays a vital role in national,
US President Joe Biden welcomed the new agreement saying, “The agreement secures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia into the next century.” Diego Garcia was most prominently used by the US to send aircraft to Afghanistan and Iraq during their respective wars beginning in 2001 and 2003. It also hosted controversial rendition flights, which were confirmed by the UK government in 2008.
Travelling and language
Kayleigh Swart, Arts and Lit Editor, shares her thoughts on learning a language before travelling
ALOT of travel advice would recommend that you learn some of the native language of the country you are planning to visit. However, others argue that this advice is becoming outdated and English is moving to become the language of tourism.
Babbel estimates that about 1.35 billion people speak English globally, about an eighth of the world population. However, you shouldn’t rely on this statistic alone, and instead look at where you are planning on traveling more closely. The EU estimates that about 47 per cent of Europeans speak English as a second language. So, if you’re traveling throughout Europe, chances are you’d be able to get by on English alone.
have planned tour guides to show you around, you probably won’t need to learn any languages. However, if you plan on hiking through rural Asia, you better bring your dictionary. You should look at language differences on a country-to-country basis. For example, English is an official language in over 20 African countries, but only an estimated 10 to 20 per cent of people in Africa actually speak English. So, do some research before you travel there, and if you can, ask previous travellers what their experience was like.
I PERSONALLY LIKE TO LEARN AT LEAST A FEW PHRASES ABOUT 1.35 BILLION PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH GLOBALLY
However, moving outside of Europe is when it becomes less likely to meet English speakers. In Asia’s four billion-strong population, Babbel estimates that only 12 per cent speak English. In this case, it might be worth you learning some of the language of the countries you plan to visit. However, everything truly depends on where you are planning to go. If you plan to go to very tourist-centred cities, the chances are much higher of meeting English speakers, or if you
I personally like to learn at least a few phrases in the language of the country I’m visiting. I think it’s polite to try and learn some things (at least ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’). It is also a great way to engage more with the culture of the place you’re visiting and learn more about a country. However, as the world become more connected and technology like Google Translate advances, learning languages becomes less important in travel. So don’t worry if you haven’t mastered German or Spanish yet, you’ll probably get on just fine.
Image: fdecomite, Flickr
Image: NASA Johnson, Flickr
Image: Anna Spencer
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ARTICLES
We are happy to introduce foreign language articles to Exeposé ! This section will include a piece in a foreign language and its English translation. With the expansion of the International section to two pages, we thought it would be a great space to let people write in their own language, or one they are learning, and recognise our multilingual community here at Exeter. Authors of the articles can choose any topic at all, in any language they want. It would be the responsibility of the author to translate the article into English and if you have some ideas and fancy writing one, make sure to join the society!
Fiesta Nacional de Españ a
Gracie Moore, Jefa de Redacción, explica el Día de la Hispanidad
FIESTA Nacional de España es el nombre oficial del día nacional de España. Además, es conocido como Día de la Hispanidad. Se ha celebrado el 12 de octubre cada año, desde 1892. Según la ley española, el 12 de octubre “simboliza la efemérides histórica en la que España … inicia un periodo de proyección lingüistica y cultural más allá de los límites europeos.” Los orígenes de la celebración son basados en el Descubrimiento de América en 1492 por Cristobal Colón. Aunque Colón era de Genoa en Italia, reclamó América para sus trabajadores españoles. A partir de esta fecha, se inició el contacto entre América y Europa. Durante este tiempo, acuño el llamado “encuentro de dos mundos”. Por está razón, se asocia mucha polémica con el día porque en realidad, celebra la colonización en un mundo que normalmente, celebra la libertad. Tradicionalmente, la celebración incluye un desfile militar al que asiste el rey junto a la familia real, el presidente del Gobierno (Pedro Sánchez) y otros altos representates de todos los poderes del Estado. Viví en Madrid durante un año y en la ciudad, hay un desfile militar (cómo otras partes de España) junto con las Fuerzas Armadas, la Guardia Civil, la Polícia Nacional y el Rescate Marítimo. El desfile incluye un paracaidista que lleva una bandera muy grande de España, la legión Española marchando con su cabra mascota, y el levantamiento de la bandera nacional. En Latinoamérica, se observa el día en maneras distintas y con nombres cómo Día de la Raza, Día de las Américas y Día de las Culturas. Pero, muchas de estas celebraciones han cambiado el significado del día y, en realidad, celebran su independencia de España, la unidad latinoaméricana, y la identidad hispánica. Algunas personas dicen que la fiesta debería ser vetada porque el dictador Francisco Franco la usó para promover su dictadura. También, el partido ultra-derechista (Vox) usa el día para or-
ganizar concurrencias muy grandes por las calles. La fiesta sigue siendo una de las fechas más importantes del calendario hispánico pero hay que pensar en los efectos regresivos de celebrar un acto agresivo de colonización.
Spain’s National Day
Gracie
Moore, Editor-in-Chief,
explains Spain’s National Day
NATIONAL Day of Spain is the official name given to Spain’s national day. Also, it is known as Hispanicity. It has been cele brated on the 12th Octo ber every year, since 1892. According to Spanish law, the 12th October “symbolises the historical anniversary in which Spain … begins a period of linguistic and cultural projection beyond the boundaries of Europe.”
The origins of the celebration are based on the dis covery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Co lumbus. Even though Columbus was from Genoa in Italy, he claimed the Americas for his Spanish employees. In wake of this date, contact was initiated between America and Europe. During this time, the name “meeting of two worlds” was coined. For this reason, there is lots of controversy associated with the day because in reality, it celebrates the colonisation in a world that usually celebrates freedom.
Traditionally, the celebration includes a military parade to which the king attends together with the Royal Family, the President of the government (Pedro Sánchez) and other high representatives of other powers of state.
I lived in Madrid for a year and in the city, there is a military parade (much like other parts of Spain) with the Armed Forces, the Civil Guard, the National Police, and the Maritime Rescue. The parade includes a paratrooper that carries a big Spanish flag, the Spanish legion marching with their pet goat, and the raising of the national flag. In Latin America, the day is observed in different ways and with names such as El Día de la Raza, Día de las Américas and Día de la Cultura. But, many of these celebrations have changed the meaning of the day and, in reality, they celebrate their independence from Spain, Latin American unity and Hispanic identity. Some people say that the celebration should be banned because the dictator Francisco Franco used it to promote his dictatorship. Also, the far-right party (Vox) uses the day to organise large-scale gatherings in the streets. The holiday continues to be one of the most important dates in the Hispanic calendar but we have to think of the regressive effects of celebrating an aggressive act of colonisation.
Image: David Berkowitz, Flickr
Image: SubtlePanda, Flickr
Image: Ayuntamiento de Valdemoro,
Image: Junta De Andalucia, Wikimedia Commons
Sci-Tech
Rapamycin — medication turned anti-ageing solution?
Shagnick Bhattacharya, Online News Editor, looks into the newly-discovered effects of rapamycin on ageing
RAPAMYCIN, traditionally prescribed to organ transplant recipients, is gaining attention for its potential to slow down ageing processes. Originating from a bacterium found on Easter Island, rapamycin suppresses the immune system to prevent organ rejection in transplant recipients. However, recent studies suggest it may also affect pathways related to life longevity. The drug works by inhibiting a protein called mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), which plays a key role in cell growth and metabolism and is linked to ageing and age-related diseases. By dampening mTOR activity, rapamycin appears to mimic the effects of calorie restriction, a wellknown method of extending lifespan in animals. In mice, for instance, the drug has increased lifespan by as much as 25 per cent, raising hopes it could do the same in humans. The mTOR pathway is involved in multiple cellular processes, including protein synthesis, autophagy
(cellular recycling), and metabolism. As we age, this pathway becomes overactive, leading to increased cellular stress and damage. Rapamycin, by inhibiting mTOR, helps to restore balance, promoting autophagy, reducing inflammation, and enhancing cell repair mechanisms. These processes contribute to slowing ageing as well as improving the period of life spent in good health as it may improve cognitive function, reduce age-related inflammation, and even enhance physical performance in older adults. Research has in fact also suggested that rapamycin could delay the onset of diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions by maintaining healthier cells for longer periods.
However, despite its promising effects in animal studies, rapamycin’s use as an anti-ageing drug on humans remains controversial. Current research is still in its early stages, with only a few small-scale human trials underway. These trials are exploring the drug’s safety, dosage, and long-
WRosie Peters-McDonald
term effects on ageing. One of the main concerns is the drug’s immunosuppressing properties. Rapamycin reduces the activity of immunity cells, which raises the risk of infections — especially troubling for older adults who already have weakened immune systems. Some experts fear that while the drug may slow ageing, it could also leave patients vulnerable to lifethreatening illnesses. There is also the ethical debate: should a drug designed to save lives in critical transplant scenarios be repurposed for healthy individuals seeking longer lives? Despite these challenges, rapamycin has sparked excitement within the scientific and medical community. Its potential to alter the fundamental processes of ageing could revolutionise how we approach ageing itself. As research progresses, rapamycin’s role in longevity science could signal a new era in medicine — one where ageing is no longer seen as inevitable but as a process we can influence, delay, or even prevent. SCI-TECH EDITOR:
Meta's new AI chatbot hits Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp
Ella-Jade Smith discusses the functions of Meta's new AI chatbot feature
OULD you spend £299 on a pair of Facebook sunglasses? Meta’s new AI Assistant has officially launched in the UK. After regulatory issues and product testing concerns, Mark Zuckerberg’s latest product can now be accessed through Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Alternatively, Meta’s latest partnership with Ray-Ban offers another way to access the AI, in the form of ‘Meta Frames’. The glasses costing nearly three hundred pounds offer built-in cameras, open-ear audio, and seamless access to their newest virtual assistant powered by the company’s Llama 3.2 AI Model.
Meta's latest partnership with RayBan offers another way to access the AI
The new AI functions, intended to answer user questions, brainstorm content, and bring their ideas to life, doesn’t sound all that different from the current AI available. I spoke with some students to gauge their opinions. All those surveyed were familiar
with at least one of the most prominent AI software (ChatGPT, Notion AI or Grammarly) but none had heard anything about Meta AI, let alone used it. Whilst it may not have hit Exeter students yet, last month’s Meta Connect Event saw Zuckerberg boast an impressive 500 million users, with Meta AI on track to become the most used assistant by the end of the year.
Meta’s AI assistant can handle data in the form of audio, images, and text. Their USP however? A feature that allows users to chat with bots that mimic celebrities, emulating elements of their personalities and utilising photos of their favourite A-listers! Disapointingly, it has been announced that this feature will not be available in the UK.
The most recent development announced would allow users to generate videos based on text prompts as well as an auto-editing feature for existing videos. These features, whilst pioneering, lead to the main concerns raised about the tech giant’s new artificial intelligence: privacy and data protection.
Until now, Meta AI has only been available in the US and Australia. The most recent expansion now opens the software up to Bra-
zil, the Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay, as well as the UK. Whilst Zuckerberg has stated intended expansion across the Middle East and Asia, a region he has notably missed from these plans is the EU.
Meta AI, like ChatGPT, is a learn-
ing software, meaning it utilises user data in order to develop. However, concerns were raised by individuals as well as an EU privacy group who deemed the use of public data as "extensive" and were troubled by Meta’s failure to recognise the need for ob -
taining user consent. I discussed this with a group of students, questioning whether bans on Meta AI in Europe would sway their use of the software, and received mixed opinions. Almost all participants expressed distrust of Meta, or AI in general, especially concerning compromised data protection and privacy. However, despite these concerns, most expressed that they would be willing to test the new software. It seems avoidance of AI is unrealistic in 2024, but instead awareness and caution around artificially generated media or news seems to be the best stance to take in this age of AI.
Avoidance of AI is unrealistic in 2024
Image: PickPik
Image: META Meta Platforms, Flickr
Image: Alenoach, Wikimedia Commons
Lab-grown food is no longer futuristic
Eloise Grainger, Sport Editor, explores the recent changes to UK research on lab-grown food
LAB-GROWN food is no longer a futuristic dream, it is now starting to become a real probability. The Food Standards Agency (FSA), along with the Food Standards Scotland, won the bid to be awarded £1.6m in funding from the government’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund (EBSF) for the twoyear programme. The FSA regulates the food system in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, ensuring food is safe for consumption and providing guidance on food products. The EBSF
“aim[s] to accelerate pro-innovation regulatory reform and encourage business innovation and investment,” according to the government website.
The EBSF ‘aim[s] to accelerate proinnovation regulatory reform’
What makes lab-grown food an interesting concept for both consumers and investors is its sustainability it could provide for the food industry.
Livestock rearing and crop cultivation are traditional farming practices that are not utilised in the production of lab-grown food. Rather, Cell-Cultivated Products (CCPs) use cells from plants or animals and are grown in a controlled environment.
CCPs use cells from plants or animals and are grown in a controlled environment
When meat is produced in a lab rather than reared on a field, it removes one of the most carbonintensive practices that humans engage with. According to an article published in the science journal, Nature , livestock-mediated greenhouse gas emissions fuel the climate crisis, as up to 3.75 Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent is emitted yearly.
Another bonus is that lab grown meats and vegetables need much less land than would be the case with crop fields and grazing areas.
Food safety watchdogs are currently researching the safety of lab-grown foods, which brings CCPs one step closer to being approved in the UK for human consumption. Currently, there are no CCPs in the UK that are approved.
Lab-grown meats and vegetables need much less land than would be the case with crop fields and grazing areas
The FSA claim they first need to learn about these lab-grown products and how they are made to then determine their safety for consumption.
Once this information is researched, they can then make well-informed decisions surrounding safety that is backed by science and evidence. Any safety concerns and questions must be answered and understood fully before any CCPs can hit the food market.
After information has been col -
Alated, the FSA can then guide companies on how to make safe lab-grown food. Professor Robin May, chief scientific advisor at the FSA, claims that it is part of their responsibility to make sure consumers can trust their decisions on safety of CCPs. He further says that the CCP sandbox programme will: “enable safe innovation and allow [the FSA] to keep pace with new technologies being used by the industry” to “provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods.”
The CCP sandbox programme will ... ‘enable safe innovation’
Social media platform X is un-banned in Brazil
Rhianne Talling takes a look at the un-banning of X, formerly Twitter, in Brazil
S of the 8th October, Brazil’s ban on X, Elon Musk’s social media network, has been lifted.
After months of back and forth between the owner of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, and the Supreme Court of Brazil, X was banned from use in August of this year. The reason behind the ban was an accusation from Brazilian officials that the platform was partially responsible for the spread of far-right misinformation and dissemination of anti-democratic content which ultimately led to far-right riots in January of 2023.
Following the ban on X, Musk, a self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” was cited to call Brazil’s Justice Moraes an “evil dictator,” declaring the ban an “abuse of power and violation of free speech.”
Justice Moraes responded by accusing X of “undermining democracy by allowing disinformation to flourish.” This led to a legal wrestle between Musk, who aligned himself with farright Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro, and the Brazilian Supreme Court, as X continued to refuse to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
X continued to refuse to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling
Political commentator, Gerson Camarotti, stated that the ban was not about censorship, but about noncompliance with judicial decisions. Supporting the ban, Brazilian president, Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva stated that Brazil would not “be intimidated by individuals, companies or digital platforms that believe themselves to be above the law.”
This ban caused a financial hit for the company. Prior to the ban, Brazil had one of the largest markets for the social network, and the largest group of users in the continent of South America, with 22 million accounts.
Last month, Musk’s team found a method of bypassing the ban. However, this led to further fines for the corporation of around £695,000 per day that it was accessible to the Brazilian public.
Musk’s team found a method of bypassing the ban
Justice Alexandre de Moraes lifted the ban after Musk finally paid the fines (amounting to around £3.9 million) issued to the company. Instead, he banned the accounts that the Supreme Court accused of spreading disinformation.
The government affairs team belonging to X released a statement expressing the importance of “giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform”.
Musk has not responded to the lifting of the ban, but social media activism organisation, Sleeping Giants, said that “it was a significant victory for Brazilian democracy”. This was reinforced by Camarotti, stating that “it’s Brazilian democracy that gains with this.” Camarotti went on to refer to X as “the network of hatred.”
Image: Steve Jurvetson, Flickr
Image: Ivan Radick, Flickr
Image: Ark, Agricultural Experiment Station, Flickr
Image: WechphisithAP, Flickr
Sports psychology: mind over matter
Eloise Grainger, Sport Editor, discusses the link between mental health and sport performance
WORLD Mental Health Day was celebrated on the 10th October this year and is a day dedicated to coming together to talk about mental health and discuss its importance. Many athletes took to social media to remind people to check in with their own mental health but also that of the people around them.
In the sporting world, mental health can have a huge impact on the athletic performance of individuals and teams. It is common that high-performing players experience some form of mental distress, such as burnout, depression, and anxiety as they operate under intense pressure. This could come from their team, their fans, or even the pressure they put on themselves to succeed.
Sports psychologists are key parts of an athlete’s team: they can help people rehabilitate and overcome injuries or mental barriers. Their ad -
vice and techniques utilise psychology to improve athletic performance and mental wellness. Sports psychology can support sports players at any level to handle pressure, but as players reach a certain level of competency, the mental skills become as important as the physical ones.
Sports psychologists frequently draw on coaching techniques such as visualisation and goal setting to help athletes feel a sense of control.
Coaching techniques such as visualisations and goal setting
McLaren F1 driver, Lando Norris, for example, has been very open about the importance of mental health throughout his career, and has worked with mental health chari -
ties such as Mind. The 2024 season is proving to be a close, challenging fight between himself and Verstappen, which is undoubtably putting a lot of pressure on the 24 year old. It is particularly all-consuming when the media is continuously analysing his every move out on the track.
Helmet Marko, Red Bull Senior Advisor, claims that "Lando Norris has some mental weaknesses."
He continues by saying that Norris’s closest rival, Max Verstappen "has the mental strength to theoretically fight for the World Championship." Norris has claimed he would rather focus "on one race at a time" and said it would be "stupid" to think he has "to [change his mentality just] because [he’s] fighting for a championship."
Norris has his own race day preparations: he explained that he always has to eat poached or scrambled eggs on toast with avo-
cado before a race, and that he gives himself 10 minutes of alone time to get in the right mental state before lights out on the grid. This involves him playing music on full blast and he claims that his music genre depends on how he is feeling on the day.
Other F1 drivers prefer to spend
their time before a Grand Prix practicing their reflexes and doing physical activity. Like in other sports, preparation before a game can vary between players, from relaxation and calming techniques to stretching and getting the heart pumping.
The intersection of sports activism
Sport writers discuss sports stars and campaigns at the forefront of racial justice
and equality activism
No Room for Racism Vinicius Jr Lewis Hamilton
“THE championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi today belongs to the racists."
These are the powerful words of Vinicius Jr who back in May 2023 took a direct stand against racism. Since then, Vinicius Jr has continually spoken out about his experiences of racism within football and has become the figurehead of the anti-racism campaign in Spain. Throughout his time at Real Madrid Vinicius Jr has faced countless acts of racial abuse including fans chanting “mon- key”, shouts of “Vinicius, chimpanzee” and numerous ragestures. These are the acts which have led to Vinicius Jr speaking out and demanding stricter punishments for those who commit racial offences. Alongside speaking out, Vinicius Jr has used his national team of Brazil to raise awareness on a global level. He helped to arrange the “One Skin” exhibition match against Spain, which focussed on raising awareness of racism within the sport. At the start of the match both sets of players ‘took the knee’ to highlight their on going commitment to fight against racism. Additionally, the Brazil national team wore an all-black kit in a friendly against Guinea highlighting their unity against racism to the wider world. Since speaking out there are now distinct punishments for those found guilty of racist behaviour. La Liga has imposed long-term stadium bans and the most serious offences have led to police prosecution. However, there is still a long way to go in the fight against racism in football as it is difficult to identify the perpetrators and there needs to be a stronger system in place to prevent racial attacks online.
LAUNCHING in 2019, the Premier League’s No Room for Racism campaign has become a pivotal force in the battle against racism in English football. The initiative serves a constant reminder that there is no place for racism on and off the pitch, underscoring football’s role in championing equality.
The campaign aims to work with the Premier League and its clubs to “fight discrimination on and off the pitch, promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion across all areas of football.”
No Room for Racism has portrayed its strong stance against any forms of discrimination, through nationwide advertising and working in schools to help children understand what racism is and how it can be stopped.
The campaign has been powerfully highlighted through designated Premier League game weeks since 2020.
In these games, players take the knee before kick-off, demonstrating their commitment to fighting racism and all other forms of discrimination.
In April 2024, the initiative announced a three-year pro gress update, revealing that over 2,500 cases of discrimi natory abuse towards players had been investigated since 2020. While the report emphasises the ongoing efforts in dealing with cases of abuse, it does indicate that racial discrimination remains a continuing issue.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters has acknowledged this issue and stated: “This change takes time, but we are moving in the right direction and are committed to breaking down the barriers.”
Nevertheless, the No Room for Racism cam paign has become a symbol unique to English football and highlights the perseverance of the Premier League to fight discrimination within the sport.
SIR Lewis Hamilton is remarkable in a number of ways and his legacy as the statistically most successful Formula One driver ever, with 105 victories (and counting), is already cemented. However, what is arguably most remarkable is that 777 people have driven in F1 since the sport began in 1950; of these, Hamilton remains the only black driver in history. In light of this, he has dedicated his energy off-track towards creating a social legacy, one which creates a pathway that allows other black drivers, mechanics and engineers to more frequently enter the white-dominated F1 environment.
Sam Reay-Jones
Fabian Karssens
In 2021, Hamilton founded Mission 44, a charitable foundation working to increase diversity across the motorsport industry. On their website, he declares that “despite the championships, the wins and the pole positions, setting up Mission 44 has been my proudest achievement so far.” Simultaneously, he has also founded the Hamilton Commission, a taskforce which seeks to understand and remove barriers for black people to pursue careers in STEM. He also engages in activism visible to the millions of people that watch F1 on television. Throughout 2020, he wore clothing pre- and post-race highlighting racial injustices, such as the murder of Breonna Taylor by American police officers, and he knelt on the grid in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, whose logo he carried on his crash helmet. Lewis Hamilton is a shining example of a sportsperson using their voice to campaign against racism, but also investing time into initiatives that aim to tackle injustices head-on. No matter your opinion of him as a driver, his social impact transcends racing cars — he is changing how an entire industry views the black community, and that will always be his greatest legacy.
Ben Frankland
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Image: Free Malaysia Today
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Leicester Tiger’s head coach banned
Ben Scott, Sport Editor, discusses the implications of Michael Cheika's suspension
LEICESTER Tigers head coach
Michael Cheika has been suspended for two weeks — one of which is suspended until the end of the season — following a controversial incident involving a matchday doctor. The disciplinary action, imposed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), stems from Cheika’s behaviour during his first game in charge, a narrow victory against
Exeter Chiefs. This incident not only raises questions about the professional conduct of coaches but also underscores the critical relationship between coaching staff and medical personnel in rugby.
The incident occurred when Leicester forward Ollie Chessum suffered a head collision. Initially allowed to return to play by the team doctor, Chessum was subsequently removed from the field by the independent matchday doctor due to concerns regarding his health. Following this decision, Cheika confronted the independent doctor, accusing him of being "passiveaggressive." This exchange, lasting approximately five minutes, escalated to a point where Cheika’s raised voice and physical demeanour led to the disciplinary panel's conclusion that he had shown disrespect towards the doctor.
The RFU’s disciplinary panel
noted that no independent matchday doctor should endure such a disagreement regarding their decision-making authority. In its ruling, the panel emphasised the need for respect toward medical staff, particularly concerning head injuries, which are a significant focus of player welfare in rugby. Cheika's actions not only contravened RFU rule 5.12, which covers actions "prejudicial to the interests of the game," but they also reflect a broader issue regarding the authority of medical professionals in sports.
The panel emphasised the need for respect towards medical staff
The responsibilities of coaches extend beyond just tactical decisions; they also encompass the health and safety of players. Cheika’s frustration, rooted in a misunderstanding of the medical protocols, illustrates a critical juncture where the authority of medical staff must be upheld to ensure player welfare. The legal implications of neglecting such responsibilities can be severe, as demonstrated in previous cases where head injuries led to long-term health issues for players. This incident emphasises the ethical obligations coaches have to support the health assessments made by qualified medical professionals, ensuring that
player safety remains the top priority.
Cheika's subsequent comments reveal a personal struggle with the disciplinary ruling. He expressed feelings of being unwanted in the Premiership, questioning whether his presence in the League was still valued. Such sentiments highlight the emotional toll that disciplinary actions can have on coaches, as they navigate the complexities of their roles while striving to foster a positive team environment. Cheika’s public acknowledgement of the incident also opens the door for discussions about mental health and support systems available for coaches in high-pressure roles. The impact of Cheika's suspension was felt throughout the Leicester Ti-
Tgers organisation, as they prepared for their next match against Newcastle Falcons without their head coach. With attack coach Peter Hewat stepping in, the team faced the challenge of maintaining performance levels amid off-field distractions but managed to win decisively. As rugby continues to evolve, the importance of clear communication and respect between coaches and medical staff cannot be overstated. This incident serves as a reminder of the legal and ethical responsibilities inherent in sports, particularly regarding player welfare. As the Leicester Tigers look to move past this episode, the focus must remain on fostering a culture that prioritises health and safety above all.
Manchester City vs the Premier League
HIS past week, the legal case between now eight-time Premier League champions Manchester City and the Premier League itself regarding APT’s (associated party transactions) reached its conclusion. In the verdict, the 175-page tribunal deemed two aspects of the League’s rules regarding APT’s to be unlawful, upholding some of the Blues’ complaints. The Premier League, however, claimed that City only had two of their twenty-five complaints upheld, saying the tribunal instead "endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system."
APT’s are all to do with commercial deals involving clubs’ owners and other companies and enterprises their own-
Conner Myres reviews the verdict in which both sides claim victory
ers may be involved in. Back in 2021, on the back of Newcastle United’s takeover by a consortium led by the Public Investment Fund — the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund — the Premier League along with some of its clubs rushed to introduce measures to ensure The Magpies were unable to buy players using an unlimited pot of cash. The League was aiming to stop what Manchester City were able to do themselves between 2009-2011, where they recorded the biggest single season financial loss in history by signing players before the first round of UEFA’s FFP (Financial Fair Play) regulations came into effect.
In order to prohibit Newcastle benefitting unfairly from deals involving Saudi partners, the Premier League created regulations surrounding the ‘fair market value’ (FMV) of deals.
In February of this year (in a vote that was not unanimous) the League brought in more changes to these rules, including amendments to the definition of FMVs, alongside the shifting of the burden of proof to show a transaction
is a fair value onto the clubs themselves. Manchester City, owned by the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group which itself is headed up by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, believed these updates to the regulations were a step too far. Throughout the legal process, Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton all acted as witnesses for City, all of whom have benefitted strongly from APTs over the past decade. Both City and the Premier League published different interpretations of the outcome of the case. In a statement following the verdict, the champions claimed the League “abused its dominant position” and stated that the “APT rules were deemed to be unlawful.”
The champions claimed the league "abused its dominant position"
In contrast, the Premier League highlighted the areas of City’s chal-
lenges where they were unsuccessful, asserting that the tribunal believed its APT rules to be necessary in preventing competition from becoming ‘distorted’ at the hands of deals inflated to above their FMVs. They were also keen to highlight the failure of the Blues’s argument that the purpose of the APT rules was to discriminate against clubs with links to the Gulf region, and that for the most part City’s arguments were “unfounded.”
It's important to note that this outcome is of no relation to the champions’ case with the League’s disciplinary panel, where there are 115 charges against them regarding over a decade of alleged financial breaches. Nevertheless, City have accused the Premier League of "misleading" clubs over their regulations, and the league has promised to look into changes to the two aspects of the rules that were deemed to be unlawful.
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Image: Jamie Scott
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Sport
SPORT EDITORS:
Supporters cheer Exeter to victory
Eloise Grainger, Sport Editor, reports from the slopes of Gloucester and details Exeter’s success
SKI resorts are beginning to open up their pistes to the public and Exeter’s dry ski slope is opening up it’s training sessions once again to start a new campaign for the 2024/25 academic year.
The first competition kicked off last week at the Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre. This event was part of the Kings Competition — the UK’s largest ski and snowboard racing league. Exeter competes as part of the western league and faces Bristol, UWE, Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Swansea, Bath, and Plymouth.
Snowsports Exeter took 16 competitors and around a dozen spectators up the M5 to Gloucester for a day of skiing and socialising. There were a lot of new faces in both the team and amongst the supporters, showing a real interest and passion for skiing among the freshers. Everyone spent the time on the journey up to the slope getting to know each other, and the race captain, Katie Vaughan, gave a briefing of the day’s events. This included setting up the Mixed 1s, 2s and 3s team as well as the Ladies 1s and 2s team.
Gloucester (as it is colloquially known).
After Exeter set up camp on the side of the ski slope, and once the race captain attended the captains’ briefing session, it was time to get some practice runs in. Competitors strapped up their boots, grabbed their poles and stepped into their skis. Everyone on the race team got to have some free practice down the slope a few times, taking the button lift back up to the top. After a while, the event managers placed the gates up ready for the competition. This gave the team a chance to familiarise themselves with the course set up to best prepare themselves for the race.
The races started promptly at 4 o’clock and Exeter 1s were the first to hit the slopes, going up against Swansea 2s. The first set of races for Round 1 in Gloucester consisted of 24 Mixed team races.
Each Exeter team had two races each, and as Exeter had three Mixed teams, Exeter was represented a total of six times. Exeter’s Mixed 3s team had tough competition, going up against Plymouth 1s and Cardiff 2s, both very strong representatives of their universities.
Once the coach pulled up at the bottom of the slope, everyone pitched in to help set up. Some grabbed the poles, others balanced pairs of skis on their shoulders, and some made a team effort to haul the gazebo and speaker up the steep hill of Mount
Soon after, the Ladies races commenced, which included eight races for the first set. Exeter Ladies 1s and 2s both had two races each in this set. The Ladies 1s were up against Plymouth 1s and Swansea 1s. The Ladies 2s experienced a fierce fight
against the 1st teams of Bath and Bristol.
The last 15 races of the first set concluded with the snowboarders — Exeter does not have any representatives for a snowboarding side.
The competition moved swiftly onto the second set of races for round one, with a total of 33 races. The mixed races took up 24 of these. Again, each Exeter representative faced two teams. The Exeter 1s faced Bath 1s and Swansea 1s. Exeter 2s competed with Swansea 2s and Bath 2s and Exeter 3s went up against Cardiff 1s and Bristol 2s (yet again another challenging face off for the 3s).
The last nine races were for the Ladies. The 1s raced Aberystwyth 1s and Bristol 1s. Exeter 2s did the dual slalom with Swansea 1s and Bristol 2s.
All Exeter representatives kept a clean sheet with no crash outs, only one false start from the Mixed 3s which was quickly rectified with the racer going round the first gate again.
The final between Exeter 1s and Bristol was extremely heated. Five competitors on each side lined up at the start for the final race of the course. Max Fairfull, former race captain for Exeter, took the lead early on and gave Exeter a great advantage against the rival university. This was extended further by Alex Noon, who completed his side of the slalom whilst his competitor still had two gates to navigate. Selina Mowl was next in line and used her poles effectively to give her an extra push down the slope. This was quickly followed by another female competitor, Jolie Hoff-
man, who, like Noon, finished the course with the Bristol representative two gates behind. Bizarrely, as Ed Fisher began his slalom duel to wrap up the final, his competitor launched at the same time as him, and the Bristol side crossed the line first at the last gate. As Exeter was maintaining the lead for the majority of the race — which only took 47 seconds to complete — confusion spread up and down the slope as to how Bristol managed to snatch the win.
Officials quickly confirmed that the final competitor for Bristol had had a false start, and this meant Exeter were the winners. Exeter burst into ecstasy.
Throughout all the races, the supporters on the side-lines at the Snowsports Exeter gazebo were by far the loudest. Every single person was cheered on, whether they were in their fourth year on the team or were just starting out. This most certainly powered on the team to their victory.
The team quickly packed down the camp before heading to the awards cer-
emony to collect their celebratory champagne. Back in February, Exeter were ecstatic about their progress in Kings that saw them go to the national final after winning the western league. It most certainly seems that they have carried that momentum into the new season. Both the Mixed 1s and Ladies 1s won their category — having victory in both categories is something that has never happened before in Snowsports Exeter history.
Both the Mixed 1s and Ladies 1s won their category
In a post-race debrief, Vaughan was thrilled with the success of all teams, but paid a special tribute to the supporters. She claimed that “the spectators made all the difference’ in boosting morale and pushing the teams to success.” It seems that it is onwards and upwards for Snowsports Exeter.
Eloise Grainger
Ben Scott
Image: Eloise Grainger
Image, Toby Gwynne
Image, TobyGwynne