Issue 697 // 25 March 2019

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ISSUE 697 25 MAR 2019 exepose.com @Exepose

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987

Potential breach puts uni data at risk Megan Davies, Katie Jenkins & Aaron Loose Editor, Deputy Editor & Music Editor

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ONFIDENTIAL documents detailing University Senate discussions were available to staff and students in a “potential data breach” that will be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The folders were accessible on a Sharepoint site to all staff and students with a University of Exeter login. The shared folders were titled ‘2008-2009’ to ‘2018-2019’, and could have included reports from disciplinary boards and student survey results, according to minutes that Exeposé accessed through an FOI request.

The University said they were “concerned about whether any personal information may have been disclosed”.

The disclosure of this information constitutes a potential data breach. A University spokesperson said that “as soon as [they] were notified we changed the access rights to the documents and investigated any potential data breach to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office”.

The Senate, the second most powerful governance body at the University, meets three times a year. It is a forum for academic representatives to discuss teaching strategy, scrutinise plans and identify areas of importance to the University. Its other powers include reviewing the University’s Education and Research Strategies, conducting disciplinaries of academic misconduct and overseeing students’ complaints.

Presided over by the Vice-Chancellor,

Edd Church Online News Editor

Senate includes 70 members, including Deputy-Vice-Chancellors, Deans of the Faculties, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor & Executive Deans of Colleges, an Associate Dean for each College, the Director of Education & Student Experience, three Heads of Discipline from each College, elected representatives of the academic staff from each College, and student members including Sabbatical Officers.

A University of Exeter spokesperson said: “We know that through human error some confidential documents discussed at Senate, the senior forum for academic staff and also attended by student representatives, were recently available online to all Exeter staff and students. As soon as we were notified we changed the access rights to the documents and investigated any potential data breach to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The documents were not available to those outside the University.

“We are a transparent organisation and only keep information confidential to comply with the law, to protect the privacy of our staff and students, and to safeguard commercially sensitive data. In this case, we were concerned about whether any personal information may have been disclosed and the length of time during which certain individuals had access to the documents without notifying the University.

“Clearly, we need to investigate further but it is a reminder to us all of the need to handle confidential information sensitively as we work together as a community.”

Girls on Film: The Extended Cut

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MIDST revelations that the University will need to pay to use The Student Room’s Enlitened app, and contradictory statements about consultation of academics, the CEO of The Student Room said he is “puzzled” by criticism.

Students and sabbatical officers have aired concerns regarding a lack of disclosure that the new wellbeing-focussed app is being run by a third-party company rather than by the University directly.

The University of Exeter would be paying The Student Room for services from the Enlitened app should the ongoing pilot be successful. However, there has been no exchange in funds in the pilot stage.

Representatives from The Student Room and the University, told Exeposé that the amount of money Enlitened’s Exeter rollout will generate for the company is not yet known.

They also held that the pilot was aimed at rectifying current problems around student mental health services being at capacity.

Newson said: “Our partners (the universities) are not paying to be involved in this introductory phase, but have invested valuable time and expertise in terms of wellbeing, teaching and learning, data protection, legal, technical and students’ union colleagues.”

“Our approach is based on decades of international research on student...

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SCREEN Pages 30-31

Student Room CEO ‘puzzled’ by app criticism

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SPORT

Full coverage of Hockey Varsity

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@exepose facebook.com/exepose issuu.com/exepose Advertising Kate Watkins kate.watkins@exeterguild.com (01392) 722607 The opinions expressed in Exeposé are not necessarily those of the Exeposé Editors nor the University of Exeter Students’ Guild.

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VP Education: Five criteria for keeping iExeter Digital Check-in PAGE 4

COMMENT

Appeal to reason: navigating the grade appeal system PAGE 9

FEATURES What does Christchurch tell us about far-right terrorism?

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Lifestyle Editors Print: Bethan Gilson & Rhiannon Moore Online: Katie Baker & Rowan Keith lifestyle@exepose.com

of inclusivity, accountability, and continual betterment. What we are looking at currently is an environment hostile to minority groups, seemingly left unchecked by proper oversight or reproachful action.

Now, back to the future, Marty - what can we do about this? We don't have to accept this as a given, nor should we be trusting solely in University leadership to take a lead on this if we believe that the institution's governing bodies lack the requisite diversity to properly represent their students. It's time to take a stand, as individuals with a vested interest in making this campus a safe and constructive place for all.

Discriminatory behaviour is not limited to the big examples like the BLS group chats; such instances are only enabled by continuing undercurrents of low-level behaviour that become normalised. Thankfully, this gives us a clear starting point going forwards: de-normalise discrimination, whenever and wherever we see it. Granted there's more you can do, if you want to commit time to it - join in with student activism, declare your support for curriculum decolonisation, engage in dialogue with your peers who may identify with minority groups - but there's always room to start small. Call out harmful behaviour when you see it, even if that means thinking twice about what you yourself are saying, doing, or thinking. Normalised discrimination is perpetuated because it has to be unlearned, and unlearning is a conscious act. It's a choice we have to make repeatedly. We hope you'll join us in doing so.

Adieu, Megan and Graham.

Image: Mr. Tickle

Comment Editors Print: Isabelle Gray & Deepa Lalwani Online: Bea Fones & Josh Gammage comment@exepose.com

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ND so, we come to the final issue of second term - and indeed the final issue of our tenure as editors. We’re not going to do that whole thing where we look back on what we’ve done all year, because that would a) be boring, and b) fill us with the kind of existential dread usually reserved for deadlines and impending mortality.

Instead we thought we’d look forwards, and ask – what does the future hold for Exeter?

It’s been just over one year since evidence of racism leaked from a Bracton Law Society group chat, resulting in an investigation that found BLS “starkly at odds with the values of both the Students’ Guild and the University of Exeter in terms of inclusivity, diversity and tolerance.” In that year since, we received and published information highlighting a severe lack of diversity in the University’s leadership groups, including – but not limited to – a complete lack of BAME individuals working in the ViceChancellor’s Executive Group (VCEG), Education Executive, and the Provost’s Advisory group. We’ve also seen EUAFC issue an apology for liking ‘racist’ content on Twitter, amongst other instances of discriminatory behaviour.

We will leave you to draw your own conclusions regarding the extent to which these two issues - inequality within University leadership, and a continuing pattern of discrimination - indicate a causation. Regardless, the point stands Exeter has a problem. It's not a problem limited to racism, and it's not a problem limited to these discrete examples. For this University to properly function as a place of learning, it needs to do so on the basis

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Editors Print: Megan Davies & Graham Moore Deputy: Fenton Christmas & Katie Jenkins Online: Harry Bunting & Natalie Keffler editors@exepose.com

Editorial

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SCIENCE Interview with the founder of the Undergraduate Science Journal PAGE 36

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Worldwide university news Racist grafitti at US floats limits on Celebrity parents Lincoln University student loans charged with fraud

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HE University of Lincoln has launched an investigation after racist graffiti was scrawled across a wall on campus. Vice Chancellor Professor Mary Stuart said racism and hate will “not be tolerated”. The university has now removed the graffiti and reported the incident to the police after a student posted a photo of the "racial slur" on to the Facebook page ‘Overheard at Lincoln’. The post claimed that it was not the first incident of its kind at the university. The graffiti comes after it was revealed last year that the number of racist incidents in universities across the UK has increased by more than 60 per cent in two years. 129 alleged incidents of racism were reported to UK universities in 2017, compared to 80 incidents in 2015. Rhian Morris, the BAME officer, said; ''This is not acceptable. This is not the Lincoln I know and love.''

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HE Trump administration has proposed placing limits on student borrowing programs as part of a series of initiatives to reform higher education.

Currently, the amount an undergraduate student can borrow from the United States government is capped at $57,500 over the student's lifetime (approximately equal to £43,300). However, the amount that parents can borrow on behalf of their children is not limited. A senior administration official said, "we want to encourage responsible borrowing”. U.S. higher education law has not been updated since 2008. The U.S. House Committee on Education proposed last year capping student borrowing at $28,500 annually, with the amount that parents can borrow on behalf of their children at $12,500 annually. The bill however was never put forward for vote.

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IFTY people were charged by US federal prosecutors of paying for places at prestigious colleges such as Yale and Stanford. Those implicated include Hollywood celebrites and businesspeople. Amomg those implicated are the television star Lori Loughlin and her husband, the fashion designer Mossimo Gianulli, the actress Felicity Huffman and William E Glashan Jr, who is a partner in the equity firm TRG. This represented the largest ever collge admissions prosceution by the US Justice Department, after an investigation that involved 200 agents across the country. Prosecutors heard that students were often unaware that parents were seeking to break the law in order to get them into college. No students or colleges were charged in this investigation.

Oxbridge parents attempt FOIs

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ARENTS are making increased use of Freedom of Information requests to find out why their children were rejected by Oxbridge. The Times reports that parents are asking for information on ‘their child’s exam, interview performance and reason for failing to achieve a place.’ Affluent parents are worried that Oxbridge's focus on widening access by taking on teenagers from poorer backgrounds is leading to students being ‘reverse discriminated’ against, one headteacher told The Times. The University of Cambridge has recently announced that it will allow those from disadvantaged backgrounds a second chance at applying if students exceed their ALevel predictions.

Stories by Henry Jones (Senior Reporter) and Louis Donohoe (News Team) Images: cezary p and tucaiuly

News Concerns over implementation of wellbeing app

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NEWS EDITORS: Maddie Baker Gwyn Wright

CONTINUED FROM FRONT ...engagement and wellbeing”. He listed staff including the leader of the British Psychological Society ‘Wellbeing at Work’ group and “a PhD in machine learning”, as well as “an advisory board of professors, deputy vice chancellors and the former CEO of UCAS”.

“I am puzzled by the criticism. It is not reflected by the feedback from the mass of quantitative and qualitative research we have carried out in the development process, or by the focus groups held by our MRS qualified market researchers on campus at Exeter this week.”

We have consulted academics and professional services staff extensively [...] It appears we should have done more Chris Newson, The Student Room CEO

Newson added that he found it “disappointing” that, in the previous article Rose Ahier, VP Welfare and Diversity, aired worries that The Student Room were not clear about being the owners of the app.

“Pilots are carried out to ensure we learn how we need to improve, and this feedback has helped in that respect”,

Newson said.

Two representatives for The Student Room, on campus for student focus groups, told Exeposé that Enlitened app developers have not consulted academic staff on how the app may affect teaching.

They further referred to the disclosure issue with lecture handouts as a “missive [sic] on our part”, but that all other correspondence with students has made affiliation with The Student Room “very clear.” Newson added that “we have consulted academics and professional services staff extensively across our pilot universities. It appears we should have done more however and have definitely learned from that.”

The representatives added that learning of such errors is “what the pilot is for” and they will consider complaints and concerns which students may have.

Asked if they thought there were issues with using lecture time to promote a commercial app, they took issue with the word “commercial” and stated that The Student Room are not alone in doing this.

A first-year student who was at a lecture where Enlitened materials were given out, said: “The university clearly understands that more needs to be done for mental health facilities. But paying

The Student Room to facilitate a mental health app (while well-meaning) feels like an ignorant way of outsourcing wellbeing services when more could be done within the organisation to help.

Furthermore, I am personally concerned for students piloting the app as it could further develop into something completely different.

“Mental health can’t be piloted; while certain forms of treatment can be trial and error under the supervision of doctors and mental health professionals, something as vague as an app that relates to mental health is a lot less hands off. So, the new question is: how responsible are TSR and the University for the mental health of the students piloting the app?”

If the University does begin paying for the Enlitened app, then I will expect consultation

Rose Ahier, VP Welfare & Diversity

According to The Student Room, specific discussions on the amount of money Exeter will pay for Enlitened have not occurred as of yet. Information gathered via a Freedom of Information request showed that meetings about the app as a whole have been happening between The Student Room,

the University and the Guild since early this year.

Rose Ahier, VP Welfare and Diversity for Exeter Students’ Guild said: “It is my understanding that the University has not yet reached an agreement with the Enlitened App, and is still in the pilot phase of the scheme. I have met with the Enlitened App team this week to represent student concerns and they reiterated this fact, and that there is currently no agreement for the partnership

to begin. If the University does begin paying for the Enligtened App, then I will expect consultation of students, and I will expect to be heavily involved in its use.”

A University of Exeter spokesperson said: “We don’t yet have the costs of the future service and much will depend on the success of the pilot which is still at a very early stage. We need to review the feedback first and discuss any future work with the App developers.”

‘No meaningful communication’ New manager to ‘improve on sanitary products Idea ethical investments’ Gwyn Wright News Editor

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TUDENTS have sent an open letter to the Students’ Guild which states that there has been ‘no meaningful communication’ on a student idea calling for free sanitary products to be available on campus, despite the idea having been passed in December.

The letter asks the Guild to contact the person who originally submitted the idea and inform them of how and when the idea will be implemented, commit to adopting a free sanitary product scheme and consult universities which have successfully implemented such a scheme.

Molly May Smith, who created the idea, told Exeposé ‘‘Since the idea passed in December there’s been next to no meaningful communication from the Guild.

They’ve shown no desire to introduce a scheme which would make campus and higher education a more inclusive place for people who menstruate. The recent

government announcement of free sanitary products for all those in secondary schools and colleges shows there is a real need for us to engage in a wider conversation around period poverty and the taboo around menstruation, a discussion which has yet to reach Exeter’s campus and has in fact been halted by the Guild’s inefficiency.’’

Neha Shaji, DVP Democracy and Governance, said: ‘‘I was unaware of FemSoc not receiving any feedback on their idea, and am quite disappointed that they have not. The Student Ideas system was closed down for this term to allow staff to work on existing ideas, and in theory this means that ideas which have passed would eventually receive a contact on the progress of their idea. However, it is important to also consider that staff time this term has been taken up by a governance review and the student elections, hence responses may have been slower. However, as it seems that it’s been quite a while, I will go check on this myself and urge staff to

respond to this idea as soon as possible.

It seems like a fantastic initiative and I am excited to see it carried out by the Guild.”

There’s been next to no meaningful communication from the Guild

Molly May Smith, Idea creator

A Guild spokesperson told Exeposé: ‘‘The Guild can confirm that this student idea passed, and that the proposer of the idea was communicated with by email regarding the progress of the idea earlier this week [beginning 18th March]. The idea will be developed the same as other student ideas, and is still in stage one of progression. Stage one sees Sabbatical Officers agree to remit under the mandate of their roles, templates and communication drafts are put in place and the University is contacted by Sabbatical Officers. Ongoing progress updates are made to the tracker, available on the Guild website.’’

Gwyn Wright News Editor

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HE University’s Endowment Fund has worked with Grace Frain, Guild President, to appoint a new investment manager.

Rathbone Investment Management will be replacing J. P. Morgan Asset Management.

The University is looknig to invest £40m in “a multi-asset portfolio”, according to the Financial Times.

A University of Exeter Spokesperson said: “We are delighted to have appointed Rathbone to manage our investment portfolio and a major factor in our de-

cision was to improve our ethical investments. We worked closely with our students to appoint Rathbone and want to ensure that our investments have a positive impact on our community and society as well as provide good returns to invest in education.”

A request on transparency and freedom of information website showed that, as of December 2018, the University had at least £5,500,363.31 of endowments in companies that are registered in either the Cayman Islands or Luxembourg.

Both locations offer tax advantages to companies which base their operations there, and were recognised in a 2018 study as ‘tax havens’.

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25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

NEWS

Exeter vigils show solidarity with Christchurch

Medical school receives prizes

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Neha Shaji, Features Editor

Forbes recognises uni entrepreneurs

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HE Forbes 30 under 30 list of social entrepreneurs has recognised two former Exeter students for their work on a green solution to phone charging. The startup, called ChargedUp, enables people to charge their devices whilst out and about, whilst reducing energy consumption and boosting a social discussion about green energy. It is the first of its kind in the UK. The two students, Hugo Tilmouth and Hakeem Buge, began work whilst studying for their Renewable Energy course at the University’s Penryn Campus. Since graduating from university in 2017, the company has excelled to having almost 300 phone charging venues in London and a team of staff to help run their company. The duo have recently signed a great deal with Marks & Spencer CEO, Steve Rowe to set up ChargedUp stations in their stores on a trial-basis, and have received £1.2 million in investments from JamJar and the Garage Soho. Student Startup Hugo Tilmouth said; ''It is something we never imagined happening, it is nice to get recognition as a green tech company and as social entrepeneurs outside Cornwall.''

Rhiannon Moore, Lifestyle Editor

Maddie Baker & Hannah Stevenson News Editor & Online News Editor

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WO vigils were held on 18 March and 20 March, as a way for Exeter residents and students to commemorate the victims of the Christchurch attack on 15 March.

Most recently, there was the vigil held in the Forum, organised by the University Multifaith Chaplaincy in collaboration with the Student’s Guild and University Islamic Society.

As part of the vigil, which lasted about half an hour, the names and ages of all 50 victims of the Christchurch shootings were read out twice in turn.

A circle of candles was also laid in the centre of the Forum – one for each vic-

tim of the shootings. After an emotional closing speech from VP Welfare and Diversity, Rose Ahier, a call to prayer was played for four minutes as attendees reflected on the lives lost. “Living, working and studying alongside people of other backgrounds and faiths is an important part of life at this University”, said Reverend Hannah Alderson, Acting Coordinating Chaplain for the Unviersity’s Multifaith Chaplaincy. “Now, more than ever, it is important to stand alongside one another, to show support for […] the Islamic community at our University. We join together to remember the Christchurch victims, and to commit to peace and understanding between people of all religious and cultural backgrounds.”

This followed Stand Up To Racism's vigil in Exeter city centre on 18 March,

three days after the shooting. This was primarily an opportunity for residents and the local Muslim community to remember the fifty people who died and fifty who were injured when a gunman set fire on two mosques in Christchurch. Organiser Richard A. Bradbury stated the event should have been held sooner, demonstrating the aim of this Labourbacked political organisation to act against atrocities instantly.

Bradbury said, despite the obstacles in doing so, ‘it is possible to achieve change and turn back this tide of racism’.

Attendees also proudly displayed posters and banners promoting ‘One love, one heart and one blood’ and unity regardless of race. Several speakers from

TEF's statistical issues 'likely to mislead' Edd Church & Megan Davies Online News Editor Print Editor

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HE Royal Statistical Society (RSS) has raised concerns about statistical issues with the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), which “are so major that, in our view, the TEF is likely to mislead the public and, in particular, mislead students who use TEF to inform their university choices.”

In a letter sent to Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation of the Office for Statistics Regulation, the Royal Statistical Society said: “[We are] concerned that it does not meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value that the public might expect.

"The RSS has written to you before about the TEF and, in doing so, enclosed the key points from our previous consultation responses to the providerlevel and subject-level TEF exercises.

We are not confident that all of our statistical points have been adequately addressed in relation to the TEF.” The TEF is a government scheme brought in across the 2016-17 academic year that ranks UK Universities’ teaching as Bronze, Silver or Gold. These rankings are based on data gathered from the National Student Survey NSS such as student satisfaction, graduate destinations and continuation of studies after each academic year. The University of Exeter achieved TEF Gold status in the first round of rankings in 2017.

However, as the RSS highlights, issues have been raised regarding the cri-

teria of the awards: “As far as we can discover, there is no complete, transparent description of how the TEF awards are made – especially in relation to the process by which statistical information and flags are provided to the TEF panels.”

Professor Tim Quine, Deputy ViceChancellor (Education) for the University of Exeter said: “We welcome the independent review of the TEF and the opportunity to provide evidence. Overall, we support the development of the provider-level TEF as a way to recognise excellence in education and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in universities.

The TEF is likely to mislead the public and, in particular, mislead students who use TEF to inform their university choices

Royal Statistical Society

“We participated in the first pilot of a subject-level TEF to look at potential ways to provide more detailed subjectlevel ratings. Like our colleagues in the Russell Group though, we have identified in the subject-level TEF pilot some statistical problems and weaknesses in the ratings system that could be misinterpreted or unhelpful to students making their subject choices.

“We know the Independent Review team will look at these concerns and we would welcome the opportunity to develop a TEF that recognises and rewards teaching excellence to benefit students.”

Stand up to Racism, the Muslim community and Quaker community came up to speak but the highlight was the moving message of two children from Syria, urging listeners to join together to prevent more extremist attacks. Bradbury saw the event as a success for the North Devon branch of Stand Up To Racism, being attended by up to two hundred Exeter residents. As attendee Magda Alobidi said ‘this is about humanity coming together’. Both vigils gave Exeter students and residents the opportunity to remember those affected by this devastating attack and come together.

'Five criteria' for digital check-in Gwyn Wright News Editor

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HADOW Council was informed on Wednesday 20th March that the incumbent VP Education, Warren Bingham-Roberts, was content to keep the Digital Check-in system in place provided that sufficient reassurances had been provided on five aspects of the system.

These. reassurances surrounded accessibility issues for students who lack phones, concerns that had been raised over protecting the rights of Tier 4 visa students, accessibility for students with disabilities or caring responsibilities, concerns over personal data and broader concerns that the system was seeking to 'punish students'.

Councillors were informed that the Students’ Guild are working with the university to explore the option of providing students who lack phones with phones to enable them to check-in, and are exploring a web check-in system.

This would be funded by the university.

He conceded that warning emails and communications to Tier 4 visa students had originally been too aggressive and had now been ‘toned-down’, stat-

Image: Megan Davies

ing: "There is going to be no punishment if you miss a lecture.’’

He stated that he was satisfied with university reassurance over concerns that have been raised about students’ personal location data.

He stated that guidance issued to students on Tier 4 visas, disabled students and students with caring responsibilities had been insufficiently clear, and that this had now been improved.

Bingham-Roberts told Exeposé: ''There were [...] problems around Tier 4 visa students experiencing distress and confusion at being monitored by the University, which was further impacted by problems with communication.'' ''We have been given assurance multiple times by the University that students' locations cannot be tracked.''

A student idea calling for the end of digital check-in was ratified by Democracy and Governance Council on 30 October 2018.

On Wednesday 23 January, Bingham-Roberts told Shadow Council that he felt that "like most of the reasons students wanted to get rid of it have been mitigated against, or are being dealt with."

Image: geralt/19463 /Pixabay

HE University of Exeter Medical School has received a spate of recent successes and awards, including recognition by the National Health Service at professional conferences. Dr Pamela Bowman and Dr Hanieh Yaghootkar received awards at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference. Dr Yaghootkar was jointly awarded the ‘Young Diabetologist and Endocrinologist Forum Trainee Award’ whilst Dr Bowman received the ‘Diabetes UK Young Investigator Award’. Katie Lunnon and Willie Hamilton also received awards earlier in the week. Another diabetes specialist at the medical school, Dr. Timothy McDonald, has been recognised by the NHS for his contributions to diabetes diagnosis and health care sciences in the UK. At the 13th glittering Healthcare Science Awards ceremony in London on 7th March, Dr. McDonald was awarded the accolade for “Excellence for Improving Patient Outcome”. This award follows other accolades for Dr. McDonald from the Department and the Association for Clinical Biochemistry. The Medical School will hope to continue its world-leading diabetes and general research in the future.

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BUY - EARN - REWARD

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YOUR STUDENTS’ GUILD LOYALTY SCHEME S I M P LY P R E S E N T YO U R U N I C A R D AT T H E T I L L EARN

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EXEPOSÉ | 25 MAR 2019

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Comment

COMMENT EDITORS:

Isabelle Gray Deepa Lalwani

Is the Comment section enough?

Hannah Stevenson Online News Editor

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OT to blow our own trumpet, but the Comment section of Exeposé is important.

Really important. In recent years, it has proved to be not only accommodating of, but an active advocate for inclusivity.

In the last month alone, I can think of several examples of articles which have allowed writers to discuss their diverse experiences at this University.

What channels exist to get student voices heard?

One that stands out is Rupali Naik’s beautifully written article, ‘Experiencing Inequality – Misogyny and Racism in Exeter’, which is heart-breaking and inspiring all at the same time as she discusses her own personal experience.

The article has had huge engagement online, raising the voice of an individual, and giving it a platform that, thanks

to visible page views and social media engagement, is actually measurable in its reach.

But this seems to be the exception to the rule. After all, what other channels exist to get the voices of Exeter students heard? And are these actually effective in this sense?

Unfortunately, as I see it, the answer to this is no. Take, for example, Student Ideas – one such channel which has allowed members of the student community to put forward proposals and then vote as to whether these are passed or not. On paper it sounds promising, but I think it’s fair to say that, in the past at least, Student Ideas just hasn’t been cutting it.

The proposals presented through this platform have only really gained recognition or momentum when they’re not serious (though admittedly pretty funny). Sure, often these ideas don’t pass – including previous proposals to “sell foie gras in The Ram” (June 2016), and “the Guild President to change their name to President McPresidentFace” (January 2017). Even worse

however, is the fact that some of them garner enough support to be ratified infamously, the October 2018 proposal that “The Guild should have a towncrier”, which was passed at 86.4%.

Although they give us all a giggle, these ideas unfortunately do turn the whole process into something slightly farcical, undermining student engagement and ruining faith in the process as a channel for delivering meaning-

ful results. I am, after all, yet to see a town-crier running around campus and heralding ‘sales in the Ram’ or ‘nearby highwaymen and bandits’. It is this inefficiency that has the ultimate effect of leaving students searching for alternate platforms to express their ideas.

Whatever you may think of the Facebook page ExeHonestly, it is, in a perverse way, exactly what this University is lacking – a platform for students to speak their minds and voice their opinions. That is, of course, not to say that those opinions are never problematic often, in spite of the page being moderated, they really are. However, perhaps its steady growth is reflective of the fact that, actually, it is one of the few platforms which does allow individuals to feel that they might have their voices heard by a wider student community - for better or for worse.

The channels for student opinion that seem to be taken the most seriously are those that directly benefit the University. In the next few weeks, we will be harangued with pleas from our semi-

Yelling into the void Neha Shaji Features Editor

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Y mother gave me ‘the talk’ when I moved to England for university. This would be quite rightly concerning if the phrase ‘the talk’ meant what it commonly tends to, yet my mother’s talk had three points. Firstly, no foreign boys.

Secondly, never to anger the English with ‘race stuff ’, which she phrased as “no activism-shmactivism”. Thirdly, if anyone in a position of authority treated you badly in this country, to take it quietly - you could be deported for the slightest offence.

Being involved in student democracy is increasingly difficult Having broken all three rules and this not being the place to talk about the first rule, I realise as my third year draws to a close that breaking the latter two rules were probably the

most difficult. I have been involved in student democracy for several years as a woman of colour, and it has been increasingly difficult as the right-wing rhetoric of mainstream media and politics rises globally.

Being a student of colour somewhat involved in activism is politicising yourself, by your existence. Someone who expressed interest in standing for one of the offices I had held this year, a first-year boy I had never previously met, remarked upon seeing me: “I suppose you’re very leftist then, looking at you.” Most decisions I make, by this logic, are a result of my apparently clearly visible politics rather than due to any capability of choice. Amusingly, I haven’t held an office that requires me to take an outright political stance – DVP Democracy is a bureaucratic desk dweller, Exeposé section editor is editorial, and the Subject Chair role was primarily communicative and pastoral.

As a student of colour, the slightest interest in activism tokenises you; three separate political societies have asked me to speak on their behalf when I’d

never actually been a member of a political party (and, judging by the current state of Parliament, never plan to). The tokenisation is, of course, not meant with any malice or ill will; rather, it is well-meaning gestures that end up rather exhausting. Certainly, the most tiring part of activism as a student of colour is the reduction of your personhood into a body, and a skin colour.

Students of colour with an interest in activism are tokenised Some of the Students’ Guild advertisements on Instagram this year were “are we inclusive”, and “could you speak up for someone else”? The University is no stranger to tokenising advertisements - looking at an Exeter prospectus, we seem to have a demographic as diverse as Birmingham or London. As evidenced in an FoI request, around £15,000 was spent organizing Respect festival on campus. I realized that racial activism in

nar tutors to fill out Accelerate surveys.

Whilst academic feedback is undeniably important, the university’s total investment into student engagement is much larger compared to any other platform - probably because it directly benefits the University, by feeding into quality of teaching..

I am yet to see a town crier running around campus That the clear interest is of selfpromotion through feedback further undermines the attempts of all students to get their voices heard. In making the University feel that bit more commercial, it starts to feel like you are trying to get your voice heard within a corporation, rather than an educational institution. This, I would argue, is why students feel so disillusioned with the prospect of student democracy, and so apathetic about raising their voices to the Guild and University - the platforms available aren’t sufficient, and the attitudes towards them are shaped by and for the university’s own interests.

Image: Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay

a primarily white space seems to focus purely on visibility rather than discourse. If we pretend we are more

diverse than we are, then we can make ourselves believe that this is not a campus with a clear-cut racism problem.

Being an activist of colour is having a fatiguing personal investment in every political decision you take. Just like one is unwillingly politicized, one reads the personal into incidents with a political impact. The Katie Hopkins debate may have been an amusing pre-drinks for a student who disagreed with her, but it is intensely personal for a student of colour (or, at least this one, I add in a disclaimer before I get messages from my right-wing Asian acquaintances).

It truly does feel like yelling into the void sometimes, how structures of authority will view a student as a poster-child for activism and ask them to repeat themselves seventeen times over two years and then criticise them for going to the media when their voices were ignored. Students of colour led a rally against the BLS scandal last year; this year, BLS was nominated (which was shut down due to their failure to comply with university ethics) for a Students’ Guild VP Education award. Perhaps before lamenting why students of colour are not engaged, institutions should check the way they are approaching them as tokens, and instead actually take their feedback into consideration.

Image: mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

Amelia Chisholm Contributor

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HE most recent edition to the admirable ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ Celebrity Bake-Off series has produced more than delicious and aesthetically pleasing baked goods. One of the most recent participants, comedian James Acaster, found some difficulty when producing his flapjacks. In fact, he has been unofficially labelled the worst contestant in the show’s history. And shortly following this goddamn beautiful and frankly impressive level of failure, Acaster’s deadpan commentary to the judges about his own disaster has been plastered all over the internet. Specifically, a description of his baking process that is as follows: “Started making it. Had a break down. Bon Appetite.”

But before we can explore the popularity of the meme itself, the man that is James Acaster must be under-

Bon appétit stood. Acaster has been on the British stand-up circuit for approximately a decade, beginning his career, as so many comedians do, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This popularity led to supporting positions on the tours of comedians such as Milton Jones. Next was guest appearances on panel shows, such as Mock the Week. But the height of his notoriety (so far, at least), came from the release of the four-part Netflix special, Repertoire.

Despite the selfdeprecating nature of the meme, it’s empowering The genre of this series has certainly been difficult to critically define (much like Acaster’s humour). It undoubtedly resonated with audiences, akin to the stand-up of Bo Burnham and John Mulaney. Those comparisons certainly offer a different presentation of persona to Acaster, but their popularity, at least in my opinion, can be at-

tributed to deadpan delivery.

And this brings us to the meme.

Ten syllables, delivering one of the most relatable phrases of 2019 so far.

There has been a lot of recent discussion surrounding the use of comedy as a tool to deal with negative emotions – personally, I’d point to Hannah Gadsby’s Netflix stand-up special Nanette, and the YouTube video essay entitled ‘The Darkness’, delivered by Contrapoints, AKA Natalie Wynn.

Both aforementioned pieces deliver perspectives from queer women, who use humour to deal with their own self-hatred, but recognise that their deprecation could be employed as a leeway, allowing bigots to perceive making fun of lesbian or transgender women, as they do to themselves, as ‘socially acceptable’.

This is where figures such as Acaster, Burnham, and Mulaney are able to deliver similar, relatable selfdeprecation, but their target is the figure in power. When you’re a straight,

white, cisgender man, there is no ‘up’ for ‘punch-up’ comedy – but you can (metaphorically) punch yourself in the face. I’m not offering a hearty congratulations to the men who employ this humour as ‘perfect allies’. And I’m not damming them for their privilege that allows them to do this, either. They appear to be nice, socially aware men using their position to deliver as best a socially conscious message as they can.

This is merely an observation of a new take on ‘punch-up’ comedy - but I’m getting away from my subject matter.

The beauty of this meme is its simplicity. A resounding conclusion of apathy, with a hint of pride, following the original production of something.

The ‘enjoy it, because it’s what you’re getting’ end note of the sequence is, despite the self-deprecating nature of the meme, weirdly empowering. It reasserts the control of the individual creator over the final product. ‘Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s what you’re getting. Because I made something.’ And

25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

whether it’s a piece of art, some form of labour, a meal you’ve produced, or even an article for a student newspaper, it’s something you made, whilst recognising your own limitations and flaws.

You started making it. You had a bit of a breakdown. But, by god, bon appetite my friends. I still made something. And I’ll be damned if I don’t present it to you with at least a little bit of well-deserved pride.

Image: Isabelle Gray

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A Master of isolation

Fenton Christmas Deputy Editor

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E all dread the question.

‘What are you doing next year?’ I guarantee that even just reading that gave you a small shiver.

But, there’s one answer that crops up as the end of the academic year approaches. You hear it in pubs as friends meet up for drinks, in restaurants as family visitors treat their loved ones to lunch, and especially on campus after exam season passes and everyone realises they have to be an adult now. ‘Panic Masters’.

Oh yes, ‘panic Masters’ comes up again and again as people realise they’re not ready to leave their student life behind and think they can have one more year of VKs in TP. Of course, not everyone decides to do a Masters at the last minute.

Some have always known that they want

Image: Deepa Lalwani

to do one, whilst some, like myself, only discover over the course of their university experience. Obviously, I can only give you my personal experience within one subject (English) but whatever your own position, allow me to guide through the wonderful, yet surprisingly sometimes lonely world of a postgraduate.

The biggest change about postgraduate life is the monetary changes.

There are loans available from student finance that, dependent on your family’s situation, would cover your fees. But be prepared that this isn’t a guarantee. The money is then all given to you. It’s not separated like before, you get one loan that is broken down for each term. But you have to take the responsibility to pay the fees on-time – student finance don’t do that for you anymore.

As a working-class student in Exeter, it will come as no surprise that I found the loan is not enough to live off.

Once you remove the fees (which can go above the £9250 you would be used to “paying” for a degree) there is barely enough to live off for a few months, let alone a whole year. So if you don’t have the luxury of parental input, then a job alongside your studies is an absolute must. It’s another thing to contend

with. I have at least two days out of my week taken up with an actual job, as well as having to miss classes to earn enough to cover the rent. It can be a scary place to be in. I’ve felt extremely financially pressured at times and with less people on your course, there are less people in the same boat to relate to.

Postgraduate life can become lonely if you’re not prepared However, I think the one thing that often gets ignored is the steep rise in the emphasis on you. You are in the driver’s seat now. You’re supposed to be channelling your interests – what do you want to study? It can be overwhelming at the start. The Masters is designed to make you grow. If you’re not ready, you don’t have a choice. You have to organise yourself – in every sense. Classes are sparse and so the pressure falls on you to guide your own learning. You are expected to bring your own interests to the topics studied. Whatever you find interesting or noteworthy from outside the main area of study - you have to go and find it. There is support, of course, but for the most part you are thrown in the deep end.

But with this academic and financial independence comes a potentially overlooked issue. The isolation can get you down if not for a strong network of people around you. I am incredibly fortunate and grateful to be part of a

large and close-knit society like Exeposé, plus friends that have also stayed on here from their undergraduate years. But if you do move somewhere new like a few people I know, loneliness can seep in. I’m not saying that doing a Masters immediately alienates and ostracises you from society, but it can become a lonely way of life if you’re not prepared for it. Classes are significantly smaller at this level, so course-mates aren’t always in abundance. It can be a hard-hitting change of pace for some.

It can feel strange to go from celebrating hard at the end of third year, to suddenly finding yourself shoved back into the library for days on end.

I’ve found myself alone in the library in the early hours on weekends, stuck in my own head trying to craft an essay thesis through the piles of reading I’ll never end up using. It’s not for everyone and the best advice I can give is to stay busy.

There was a period of time at the start of the year in which I was not involved in any societies, had no job, no real social life, and very few classes on my timetable. It’s easy to become trapped into a mental cycle – like your brain becomes a washing machine. Thoughts and ideas tumble around with no real outlet. With maybe one or two classes a week and assessments that are months apart, it can be a testing time with no idea what to do with all your ideas. It can sometimes feel a little like solitary confinement. So get out there from minute one. Join societies, organise events with your friends –

stay involved in the student community.

Some people throw the phrase ‘panic Masters’ around as if it’s a pushover qualification. ‘Oh yeah, that’s just another year at uni, I can do that no problem.’ And in some ways, it is just another year at university. But at the same time, it’s so different. It’s designed for those people that really loved their degree and want to take it further, not to just doss around for a year. It’s certainly opened my eyes to new and exciting possibilities and opportunities, and helped me grow as a person. But you can feel a little left behind. Friends from your undergraduate years have left and started their own lives. It can be like starting university from the beginning again, and it can take a lot out of you.

Some people do a Masters for their CV or for a change of career, whereas some see it as an academic stepping stone. It’s not a doss year. It’s hard academically, financially and mentally. But I would never ever tell someone not to do one. It’s been the best year of my life for so many different reasons. It’s challenged me for sure, but even just looking back now, I am so proud of what I have achieved and how much I have changed for the better. If you’re thinking about doing one, ask yourself this – why? Even if you answer with something along the lines of ‘I’m just not ready to be an adult yet’ don’t worry. The Masters can sort that out. You might just need to get to know yourself a little better along the way.

EXEPOSÉ | 25 MAR 2019

Rachel Austin Contributor

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OST of us have heard the phrase ‘‘peaked in second year’’. As I began my third year, I was determined that it wouldn’t apply to me. As an English Lit student, this year is weighted at over 60% of my final grade, so I was set on giving it my all. After the first few weeks I was (miraculously) still happy with my module choices. All was well. Up until I got back the grade for my first assignment.

I began to wonder if we had been marked too harshly

It was lower than I would have liked, but I reasoned I was still getting back into the flow of things. Everyone has off-days, and there was plenty of time to get organised, and bang out a killer essay for my second assignment. My next deadline was after the Christmas holidays. This is always a busy break, even without added exam and essay stress. Somehow, I managed to tear myself away from the endless buffet of food and classic Christmas re-runs long enough to squeeze in some time

COMMENT

An unappealing system to focus on my essay. Admittedly, it wasn’t the best thing I had ever written, but considering the Christmas chaos, I was pretty proud to have actually done it. Even if it wasn’t exactly flawless, I felt like I had a relatively good grasp of the concepts, so how bad could it be? I really loved this module, and the reading for this assignment was so interesting.

It was this that disappointed me the most when I got my low grade back: I had enjoyed the module, and put in the work, making the result all the more disheartening. And I hadn’t dropped only one or two marks below my average - this was a pretty big leap in the wrong direction. After talking to others on my module, I realised I wasn’t the only disgruntled one.

I began to wonder if we had been marked too harshly. Maybe there was a way for someone else to read over the essay to make sure it was fair. So, what were my options?

The option of appeal was only available in very narrow circumstances For one, talking to the tutor who marked the work. They could potentially explain to you their reasoning behind that particular grade. On the other

hand, they aren’t technically allowed to change the mark after it has been given, and challenging their marking choices is a little uncomfortable. The potential for it to turn awkward in the seminar room turned me off this option. I also looked up the appeal process online, and although the information was easily obtainable, the language used was kind of confusing, and I still wasn’t sure of the exact parameters.

So, I decided that talking it through with my personal tutor was the best option. I explained that such a low mark had really dragged down my average - the promised land of a first-class degree was well and truly out of my reach. My personal tutor was sympathetic but explained that you only have ten days from receiving your grade to appeal it, and the option of appeal was only available in very narrow circumstances. I was asked if I felt discriminated against but couldn’t say that this was the problem. I didn’t think it was a personal attack, and I still loved the teaching on the module.

My problem lay in the fact that with a different professor, I would have likely ended up with a much higher mark. Across the year, if people on other modules were being marked more leniently for a similar standard of essay... it was just a frustrating thought.

Ultimately, I was told there was nothing I could do.

It was a personal defeat that really knocked my confidence

I understand that a bad mark isn’t the end of the world. It’s still possible to come out with a great grade and prospects, even if everything doesn’t go quite to plan. When you’re out in the real world, no one cares what you got in that one assignment. But it was a personal defeat that really knocked

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my confidence. There really should be more apparent options available for people who feel like their work was marked too harshly. I appreciate that opening it up too much wouldn’t be feasible - there wouldn’t be enough manpower to deal with everyone on a 69 who wanted a little extra boost. But if there is a significant divergence from the norm, one that has the potential to pull your overall degree grade a whole bracket down, there should be a clearly signposted way to address it.

Image: mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

The name of the game

Images: Amada44 / Wikipedia, Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay

Comment writers debate the Guild’s decision to remove references to alcohol from society event names Abi Taphouse Contributor

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HE Guild’s recent decision to ban society socials from mentioning alcohol in their titles has become a topic of debate among students. Fundamentally, I think that by stopping societies from promoting alcohol in the names of their socials, it will reduce the immense pressure to drink alcohol. Drinking at a social should not be a requirement. Although many people will still choose to do so, I think that if it’s less prominent in the name of the social itself, people who do not want to drink won’t feel as pressured to do so.

There are many other issues with socials and the culture at Exeter, such as misogynistic or racist social names - these are hugely important but also very difficult to tackle. It is very easy to say “no, you can’t call it that” and much harder to dissolve the underlying issues in the culture here. By implementing this basic rule, the Guild will not stop people from drinking to

excess at society events. But they will hopefully make people who don’t drink feel more confident to go along in the first place. Someone who doesn’t drink may feel uncomfortable at the idea of going to “boozy bowling”, but would happily go to “bowling.” There, they would hopefully make friends and then feel more confident to attend other socials, in the knowledge that they can enjoy themselves and feel comfortable not drinking.

In an environment with drinking at its core, the choice to not drink can make you feel excluded and often “boring”. Everyone should feel that, whether or not they drink, they are accepted by others. Hopefully, by removing the onus on drinking from the very beginning of the social process, everyone will feel confident enough to go along.

Getting your foot in the door like this is a huge step towards meeting people and finding your place at university.

Though this is only a fraction of the social issues we face here, the Guild’s decision alludes to the baby steps we can take towards improving inclusivity on campus.

Elinor Jones Contributor

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MIDST times of austerity, racial disharmony, and general dissent across our campuses, the University of Exeter Students’ Guild has chosen to crack the whip on the most pressing matter of today, the names given to socials. Aiming to reduce pressure to drink, societies are being told not to mention alcohol in their social names.

I’m a Social Sec. I’ve also spent a considerable time this year tee-total (shocking for a Social Sec). I understand more than ever that not everyone can – or wants – to drink in order to socialise with other students.

Changing how we title our events is not really the issue here. Let’s take the example of ‘Pub Crawl’. As quite a creative Social Sec, I pride myself on my ability to write witty titles and descriptions for socials. However, I’d like the Guild to explain to me how else I’d advertise this event. It is quite literally a PUB CRAWL.

Yes, it could be a ‘walk between popular establishments that serve all kinds of beverages, including soft drinks’, but that’s not quite the same.

Most social secretaries already simply state that drinking alcohol is an option, and always ensure that people are aware of alternatives.

The Guild shouldn’t be punishing all societies, especially ones with few members, or who take a thoughtful approach to organising socials, with a diverse range of events that can, if attendees want, involve alcohol. Unfortunately, it seems that a handful of societies are giving us all a bad reputation, and these can lead to policies such as this that restrict the expansion of smaller societies (what’s going to happen to the Real Ale Society?).

So, I implore the Guild to listen to the committees that follow the rules and promote positive socialising. Use your resources to promote greater unity across the University, battle against racism, tackle misogyny and sexual harassment, and stop some societies taking things too far and ruining the fun for everyone else.

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25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

11

Features

FEATURES EDITORS: Niamh Elstone Neha Shaji

Regarding radicalisation

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Neha Shaji, Features Editor, reflects on far-right terrorism in the wake of Christchurch

N 2011, Anders Brevik murdered 77 people he considered “supporters of multiculturalism” in Norway.

In 2015, Dylann Roof entered a black church in South Carolina, shooting nine people dead in the hopes of triggering a race war. Late last year, an anti-Semite murdered 11 Jewish men and women in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Just over a week ago, Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand entered a mosque in Christchurch, killing what is presently estimated to be 50 Muslim men, women, and children as they were in prayer. Indeed, the easiest train of thought is to believe that white supremacists are caricatures of inhumanity, heads unevenly shaven and swastikas tattooed into their arms with ballpoint pens. It is easiest to declare a cut and dry separation between these cartoonish distortions at home in BlackKklansman, and the alt-right boys one is vaguely friends with, clad in crisp linen suits and ‘ironic’ fedora hats. But this line separating the two has always been blurry, as Tarrant’s manifesto included several ‘memes’ that the internet tolerated, passed off as amusing ‘incel’ circlejerks, and several references to Internet forums that are, again, ignored as an amusing cesspit the woke liberal could peruse and laugh at.

The fear of ‘replacement’ is a common thread in far-right websites Gang expert Jarrod Gilbert spoke to a New Zealand publication about how it was interesting that whilst the media has kept a close eye on ISIS and other such groups using the Internet to radicalise youth, as well as on-the-ground tactics, such a perception has not been afforded to white terrorists being radicalised online. This may be, however, due to the veneer of intellectualism that online racism flourishes best under - “tending to be more quasi-intellectual. At least more engaged in their philosophical underpinnings as evil as they are and they tend to be more international. So they don’t hang out on street corners, they tend to exist online.” This twisted internationalism was evident in New Zealand; the terrorist manifesto contained shout outs

to an international community of fascism, citing inspirations in Europe and the United States (where he wished to cause a “race war”). These are not people who make edgy jokes for the sake of being edgy; although on the thread where Tarrant posted his intentions there were multiple people egging him on and justifying his crimes. Milo Yiannopoulos, a discredited alt-right figure who had his Twitter platform removed and a following of prejudiced fans, had his Australian visa revoked after comments he made about the massacre. These are not the skinheads from 1980s B-movies or prison trauma films, these are real people with massive followings coating prejudice under a film of intellectualism to achieve liberal ju st i f i c at ion for their presence.

D i s cou r se about the radicalisation of ‘angry white men’ online has sprung up, however, women are not an untouchable market here. The New Statesman spoke to Alexandra (name changed), who adopted extreme views after being radicalised on the imageboard site 4chan.

She, whilst claiming views stating that the ‘Aryan’ race was more intelligent than other races, opted to play victim by drawing attention to the fact that she did not announce her gender on the site due to its misogynist culture. However, it is interesting to note that whilst these radicalised modern alt-right women claim to not follow misogynist views, they seem to follow the rest of these radical views including suggestion that entire races should be wiped out, and that refugees are a plague on society. This reflects a group of self-interested individuals who are drawn to such sites online; oppression towards me is bad, whilst oppressing others is only right.

This radicalisation is, however, not confined to the internet. It would be easy to blame a subreddit, or a groupchat for wider societal issues brought about by far more insidious forces than a 4chan thread. Only a day after the Christchurch terrorist attack, the Daily Mirror ran a headline referring to Tarrant as a ‘blonde, blue-eyed boy’ who ‘became a killer’. They were in a mosque, they were immigrants. This boy, however, was once blonde, and blue eyed,

Image: US Army Reserve

and his friends were mean to him because he was chubby. Print media’s role in this radicalisation is not to be forgotten, there are countless headlines exiling and dehumanising Muslims, refugees, Black people, trans people. These headlines pour humanity into white terrorists, charting every childhood photo of theirs, whilst herding the ‘Other’ into an inhuman mass – this contributes just as much as any Internet forum with angry keyboard warriors.

Again, after the Christchurch shooting, an entire squadron came out of the woodwork to insist that Pewdipie, a gaming YouTuber whose name Tarrant

shouted as he exited his car, was just an innocent human being and was not to be blamed at all. The issue is that nobody was blaming this YouTuber – yet humanity is immediately foisted onto him, and all of the other figures Tarrant was allegedly inspired by even before the bodies of the victims were identified. Debates rise about gun control in the aftermath of a far-right white terrorist – a noble debate, yet one that is often the immediate response to a white terrorist instead of their radicalisation or racism, whilst Islamophobia is the knee-jerk reaction to an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.

The fear of ‘replacement’ runs through several of these internet sites. That ‘white culture’ should be replaced by immigrants moving in and turning the entire country into an ethnic enclosure. The fear of white genocide is a common thread as well, that the classic ‘Aryan’ features would be replaced by ‘lesser’ features, that the blondeness and the blue eyes would be erased by alleles carrying dark hair and brown eyes (note this fear, and have another look at the Daily Mirror headline). The fear of the birth rate dropping, and of immigration replacing the stream of bonny blueeyed babes - of jobs being stolen rather than rightly deserved, and of a race of people that by virtue of existence, deserved to oppress others.

These may seem like amusing, rather idiotic ideas that the educated liberal would scoff at. One would point out that these countries where far right racism flourishes the most are colonies founded over the bodies of indigenous peoples.

However, it is not a game of academia on the internet, as ironically pointing out that colonialism existed would not only receive justification, but appreciation for the ‘civilizing mission.’ These websites, and indeed, halls of debate, foster these views by giving such views

a platform in the name of freedom of speech. Alumna Katie Hopkins took to Twitter to broadcast her response to the Christchurch massacre. She commented that no mosques were shut in solidarity with Christians being killed elsewhere, defended Fraser Anning who blamed Muslims for their own massacring, and retweeted her own videos from last year about preserving white culture was recently hosted at this University debating the rights of migrants. These views are not merely on the internet but on your campus. Radicalisation of this sort is encouraged under freedom of speech, and it should be brought to notice that these are the same views that lead to shootings like Tarrant’s, Brevik’s, or Roof’s. I do not state that far-right white terrorists are the only dangers to humanity. The point made that this insidious form of radicalisation is not often targeted by watchlists due to profiling, and often allowed on mainstream channels of discourse under the guise of freedom of speech.

Headlines paint humanity on terrorists while exiling and othering their victims However, it is not these terrorists and their childhoods one needs to remember and make Netflix documentaries about. If one (rightly) will not remember the names of ISIS or Al Qaeda terrorists, there is no need to glorify and raise these murderers to a desecrated pedestal of ‘angelic blue eyed boy gone wrong’. There is a need to sit up and remove these views from a global discourse, and punish when required – an alarmingly small amount of white male terrorists are on watchlists, proving that method of racist profiling is inadequate. These men, and the ideas they learnt from a global indoctrination, are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. Such as Melvin Wax, 88. Cecil Rosenthal, 59. Rose Mallinger, 97. Susie Jackson, 87. Makram Ali, 51.

Daoud Nadi, 71. Kamel Darwish, 38.

Atta Elayyan, 33. Hussein Al-Umari, 35. Sayyad Milne, 14. Zeeshan Raza, 38.

Tariq Omar, 24. Mucad Ibrahim, 3. And more. And more.

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FEATURES

EXEPOSÉ | 25 MARCH 2019

It’s getting hot in here

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Niamh Elstone, Features Editor, on the importance of climate justice

RETA Thunberg has been tionally important debate and yet as few nominated for a Nobel peace as ten Tory members were present at any prize. She is 16 years old and one time.

The government clearly does not founded the #youthstrike4climatechange movement. Around the globe care about climate change. Perhaps the thousands attended marches in support Tories don’t realise that climate change of the movement on 15 March 2019. is not waiting for us: it doesn’t care how politicians Children all over the UK have been many striking and leaving school in support of turn up to debate, it their future and climate justice. This in- is a raging beast that fluenced Layla Moran, the Liberal Dem- is going to destroy ocrat MP for Oxford West and Abing- t h i s don, to organise a debate in the House of Commons, the first debate on climate change in British parliament in two years, hoping to start a serious discussion about how the UK can help prevent further climate change.

Caroline Lucas addressed Image: GoranH parliament in the excep-

planet, one way or another.

Unless we act now, and I mean right now. #youthstrike4climatechange has opened the floodgates to the necessary discussions which should be taking place in Parliament with as many MPs as possible in attendance.

However, as Lisa Nandy responded, she as well as many of her counterparts were too busy ‘speaking at events’ to make time to debate in a conversation which, with no exaggeration, will affect the rest of our lives. The UK has experienced the warmest days in winter on record this year.

The changes are all around us, they cannot be ignored any longer, and the UN warns that we have under 11 years to save the planet. It has taken two years for the UK to hold a debate in which no one showed up. This means that by the time our deadline for saving the planet comes around, the

UK might have accomplished five more meetings. This is outrageous. Dozens of MPs decided that climate change was not worth their precious time.

Perhaps because many of them have not done their research, skipping past the hundreds of articles establishing how clear the cor relation between CO2 release and climate change actually is. The reason we’ve had summer weather in February is due to our ignorant Image: C.Suthorn over-use of fossil

fuels. Something needs to change.

No, we do not have 11 years to ‘turn it around’, we have to change right now.

Yes, you can do something to help.

If every single person on the planet changed something in their everyday lives to help the planet – or at least destroy it slightly less – that is 7.4 billion people, yes, that would make a difference. It is our generation, the young people of today that will have to deal with the consequences of hundreds of years of environmental abuse. An ignorance we have been too arrogant to accept, including a certain blond, orange, hotel-owning president, who is too stubborn to acknowledge that climate change is even a possibility.

Turn your attention to China

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Georgia Shepherd discusses recent human rights violations of Muslims in China

N light of the catastrophic events that took place in New Zealand last week, in which a right-wing extremist ran into two mosques in Christchurch massacring 50 innocent people. As a result of the victims and many more reported injured, Islamophobia has again been brought to the forefront of recent news articles. This horrendous attack has highlighted the extremes of societal discrimination against the frequently targeted ethnic minorities in the Western World. Muslims have been blamed for economic hardship and rising social tensions brought about when integrating immigrants into society. Discrimination against Muslims in the Western world is well reported but few know about China’s Muslim ‘crackdown’ in the Xinijng region.

The Xinijang region is rich in history; it’s China’s biggest region bordering India and Afghanistan. Theoretically the Image: Malcolm Brown

region is autonomous, but in practice it faces vast restrictions from Xi Jinping’s Communist Government and has done so since it was brought under complete control from the Chinese Government in 1949, following its spate of independence. Moreover, in recent decades the region has faced a mass migration of China’s ethnic majority, Han Chinese.

This has caused social tensions in the region as the Xinijang’s ethnic majority is contested by the Uighurs. They feel their established culture is under threat and are concerned by the long-term implications it could have on their current ethnic majority.

Recently, China has faced increased criticism over its treatment of Muslim minorities, many of whom are currently being held in internment camps. This maltreatment resonates strongly with the Nazi’s treatment of Jews in concentration camps during the Second World

War. Back in August 2018, a UN committee heard reports that Muslim minorities, including approximately 1.5 million Uighur, are being detained in camps in the Western Xinijang region for the purpose of so-called ‘re-education’. The claims of camps made by human rights groups were initially denied by China, but they’ve since acknowledged their presence, referring to them as ‘vocational training citizens’, comparable to boarding schools here in the UK. The real nature of these camps is unknown, with their true purpose and nature yet to be confirmed. But there are multiple reports of barbed wire on the perimeters of the camps, as well as the presence of stun guns. Many who have been held in these camps without charge or trial have reported accounts of political indoctrination, punishment for speaking any language but Mandarin and abuse which in some cases has amount-

ed to torture. The apparent reasoning for detaining individuals in this horrific abuse of human rights includes reports of people being detained for having verses of the Quran on their phone, a clear violation of religious freedom.

China has faced increased criticism over its treatment of Muslims During the run up to last week’s United Nations human rights council meeting in Geneva, China attempted to cover up their crimes by inviting diplomats from a few specifically selected countries on orchestrated visits of the Internment camps. Journalists were reportedly welcomed with childhood nursery rhymes such as ‘If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands’.

Chinese officials stated that within these ‘training centres’ individuals are receiv-

ing free accommodation, skills training and education in the Chinese language.

Beijing cites these measures necessary to curb the violence in Xinijang, praising the centres for no terrorist attacks in two years.

Despite evidence of human rights abuses there has been limited international combat. The US stated it will consider measures against individuals responsible for the violation of human rights. Meanwhile, Turkey has called China’s mass repression of Uighurs ‘a great shame of humanity’.

Britain has called for the immediate release for those detained without due process, urging the UN’s Right Chief to give access. Many within the international community is fearful of criticising China due to its vast economic strength.

But will they still be scared when China’s abuse escalates and turns into ethnic cleansing of Uighurs?

EXEPOSÉ | 25 MAR 2019

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2018/19: A year in review

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Kamilla Bell reflects on the ups, downs, lefts, and rights of the past year

ITH the variety of events that have occurred over the past year, calling into question the trajectory of humanity is understandable. Increased hostility and segregation have occurred worldwide as the fear of difference is perpetually imposed upon us by the media. The progress that has been seen over the past year in terms of improved representation is something to be commended and further strived for in the future. In summary, we must reflect upon what has been disappointing in order to improve and examine upon the progress that has been made in order to sustain these changes.

There’s been more representation of black cinema in popular culture A growing wave of separatist political ideologies seem to have taken hold in various forms internationally.

Of growing concern on social media outlets, but with little coverage on national news platforms, is the creation of Muslim detention camps in China.

These camps within the Xinjiang region embody hostility and aggression to the minority Muslim population in the region, as they

Image: Pixabay, Bry-Ruy

force those detained to renounce their religion and pledge loyalty to the governing Communist party. The Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman demanded for an end to this “humanitarian tragedy” whilst calling upon other countries globally to help take steps in the closure of theses camps. However, is the closing of such degrading institutions enough to tackle the clear social issue of the fear of difference?

China is not the only place to have exhibited steps to increasing segregation and degradation of minority groups over the last year. The USA under Trump’s Administration has seen the size of detention camps almost double in size. In what is regarded as one of the most developed nation-states worldwide, the separations of families at the border, the detainment of children by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the death of 22 immigrants within these camps over the past two years can only be described as callous and inhumane acts.

The UK did not do much better on the front of difference with the Windrush Scandal creating fear in those who had resided in the UK since post WWII being deported due to incorrect documentation. The Windrush gen-

eration is largely made up of migrants from Caribbean countries, whom arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971 and whose rights were guaranteed in the Immigration Act of 1971. However, in 2012 changes in the immigration law saw this generation forced to prove continuous residence in the UK since 1973, a task that was near impossible due to lack of upkeep of detailed records. The UK government failed this generation of individuals. The changes that were made threatened many citizens’ livelihoods, from their employment, to their health care and to their residency. In the future Sajid Javid must uphold his promise to grant the Windrush generation their rightfully owed citizenship papers and ensure that no generation of migrants that have made their home in the UK are treated with such indignity again.

Carbon dioxide levels are at the highest they have ever been

Over the next year it is of vital importance that such maltreatment of minority groups is amended, and steps are taken to not only legally prevent such occurrences, but the social outlook of societies is nurtured to be more welcoming and citizens should be advised to actively tackle discrimination on all levels.

Improved representation appears to have grown in both the political and non-political spheres. The results of the US Midterm elections showed a wave of diversification as first-time candidates took seats in Congress. Overall it was a record year for diversity with increased numbers of woman, black and ethnic m i n o r i t i e s, alongside identifying LGBTQ+ candidates running. One of the candidates elected to Congress is Sharice Davids, a former MMA fighter from Kansas, who became the first Native American and gay woman elected to the House. With now a near

25% female representation in Congress, which although not yet respectfully high enough, the results highlight a hopeful future of equal and appropriate representation in politics.

The Trump administration have seen the size of detention camps almost double External to politics is a key growth of representation in media platforms, from music to films and TV-shows with awards being won across the board by artists from minority groups. Hayley Kiyoko, known to her fans as “Lesbian Jesus”, received the Rising Star Award at Billboard’s 13th annual Women in Music ceremony. Kiyoko is pushing the boundaries within the music industry, unafraid to use female pronouns regarding her love interests, whilst directing her music videos with powerful female leads. Hayley expressed in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar the importance “for people to feel accepted and feel validated with their emotions and experiences”, a key issue addressed by the singer for the vital need to have relatable representation in the 21st century.

Progress of race representation was embodied within Marvel’s Black Panther that had a greater revolutionary force than just what it made in its opening weekend at Box Office. Black Panther was a significant film for creating non-white characters that were more than just ‘tokens’ to the storyline, they were leading protagonists in a plot that tackles issues affecting modern-day black life headon. The movie celebrates traditional African society, the power and beauty of black women and the importance of the preservation of identity. When the making of Black Panther was announced back in 2014, nobody was aware that it would be released into a hostile US society under the rule of President Trump, where African-American representation appears to be dwindling.

For the future years to come I hope more movies can be created with such an emblematic poise, that they will celebrate minority cultures whilst actively challenging bigoted perspectives through the power of the screen. Black cinema has come far this year, showcasing tremendous historical topics such as the KKK, receiving multiple accolades at awards ceremonies such as the Oscars.

Since the start of 2019 actions taken by citizens in demanding something be done to tackle climate change has increased ten-fold. On 15th February 2019, thousands of young individu-

als did not attend their classes in over 50 UK cities, and instead took to the streets to voice their anger and frustration at the failure of the government to actively tackle the pressing issue of climate change. Action took place again on 15th March 2019, as word spread with a global movement in more than 100 countries from America to India to Australia, children were walking out of lessons by the thousands to protest the continuing inaction on tackling climate change. This battle comes at a time when the window of opportunity seems to be escaping us with no action appearing to be taken from those above - those who have the ability to make a change.

Despite years of previous international talks between nations, including the Kyoto Protocol, emissions internationally are at their record high. Carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere in parts per million (PPM) - the highest it has been in 3 million years. Arctic winter temperatures have risen significantly by 3-4 degree celcius in the last half of the century and the acidification of the oceans through the increased diffusion of CO2 is bleaching coral reefs worldwide threatening their very existence.

Youth strikes must be maintained in the coming year. Demand for change must not cease until something meaningful is done, as such verbal discussions need to be turned into physical actions by those who have the power to prevent the world from deteriorating passed the point of no return.

The UK government has been seen to have failed the Windrush generation Progress has been made over this past year, although these come with respective regressions in certain areas, both geographically and socially. There has been a greater concern and acknowledgement for international issues affecting us all. Action has been taken at the grass-root level with the aim of causing disruption to the hierarchy and the hope that change will occur for the better. Representation is on the rise, but the momentum needs to be upheld if a true reflection of society in politics and media is to ever be achieved. Overall, we should feel content with the things that have given us hope over this past year whilst continuously re-assessing the degrading societal and environmental occurrences in order to create a habitable and well-balanced society. Reflection leads to progress, which should be carried out considering all aspects, instead of for the sake of forward movement.

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

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THE FUTURE OF MUSIC JOURNALISM

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LIFESTYLE EDITORS Bethan Gilson Rhiannon Moore

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The lifestyle revolution L

Exeposé Lifestyle Editors deconstruct the myths surrounding their field

IFESTYLE journalism has always been held up as an example of 'soft' writing, articles that aren't as important, and far too 'girly' to be taken seriously. We've spent a year trying to change this perception, at the very least amongst Exeposé contributors.

The attitude surrounding Lifestyle journalism is emblematic of a society where women's interests and issues are sidelined and devalued. The media perpetuates the idea that you can't be feminine and strong, and women can often feel under pressure to masculinise themselves in order to be taken 'seriously'. This is based on an archaic gendered construction of femininity, which sees women as over-emotional, domesticated, maternal and ultimately, dependent on men for moral, emotional, political and economic guidance.

However, women are capable of articulating their own desires, of asserting their

own opinions about politics, current aflenged this damaging and at times limfairs and issues that pertain iting stereotype, through their to their own existences. wonderful and thoughtLifestyle journalism provoking articles this has the capability to year. make important Whilst Lifecontributions to style journalism relevant and inhas provided a space for womtegral debates in our society. en to showArticles that case their voicrelate to the es, it's just as mental health important to conversation, remember that b e re ave m e nt, free from genreproductive dered discourse, politics, the body Lifestyle is not positivity movement, inherently female. environmental issues, Lifestyle covers fashion, Image: Jack Maclean sexual harassment, femitravel, food, and physical and emotional wellbeing - none nism, homophobia and racism to of which men are exempt from. We need name but a few. Our contributors have chal-

to deconstruct our perceived ideas about masculinity and femininity. Men suffer just as much from rigid ideas about gender and attacks on femininity. Toxic masculinity is based on an aggressive form of masculinity that sees itself as the antithesis of the femininity that is so criticised in society. Men who suffer at the hands of toxic masculinity are accused of being girly and over-emotional. Once again, the criticism is against so-called 'feminine' credentials.

Lifestyle takes ownership of these stereotypes. We can be 'feminine' and strong.

By our very existence as Lifestyle journalists, we are reclaimning our voices. We are demonstrating that our issues matter, that there is beauty and importance in discussing the feminine and that femininty is so much broader than the stereotype would allow.

A personal thanks to all of our incredible contributors and readers - thank you for being a part of the Lifestyle revolution!

Standing up for our future N 15 March 2019, there was another controversial Youth Climate Strike, in which students across the world were encouraged to bunk off school for the day and attend this global walk out.

The controversy has arisen, as expected, from above, with many adults disagreeing with children skipping lessons in order to protest for the protection of the planet.

The initiative Fridays for Future was set up by 16 year-old Greta Thunberg, who has just been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for climate activism and who has been instrumental in keeping the momentum of these strikes going. The movement started in Sweden in August of last year, and over 100 countries took part in this monumental stand against government policies, or lack thereof, surrounding climate change.

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE THE FUTURE AND THE PLANET WILL BE THEIR HOME This is not the first time that children and young people have taken a stand against government policy, or the basic

ineptitude of our politicians; the March for Our Lives protest in Washington D.C against gun control laws in the US garnered much praise and support. There is a meaningful significance when children protest about things that will so clearly affect them the most; young people are the future, and our planet will be their home for the longest amount of time, so it is fitting that they are the ones demanding action on this catastrophic threat to humankind.

GET BLOODY STUCK IN, WEAR ANY PUNISHMENT LIKE A BADGE OF HONOUR There is always backlash to events such as these, and the majority here has come from educators; school teachers and government ministers. However, as was so aptly written on a banner during an Amsterdam youth climate strike last week, "Why the actual fuck are we studying for a future we won’t have?"

The Youth Climate Strikes are a step in the right direction towards creating a more sustainable future for our planet. I think that these young children are admirable

that they are using their collective power to bring about a meaningful change.

I was one of the young people in Exeter who marched from the forum through the city. In France, students blocked the entrance to the bank Société Générale and hundreds of children in Scotland congregated outside Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament building. This manifestation of young power is inspiring and as Clarke Gayford, partner of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, said “get bloody stuck in […] wear any punishment like a badge of honour". Wise words to live by.

If you are unable to attend these strikes which should occur every month keep an eye on Facebook for the event - here are some suggestions for living more sustainably and making impactful changes in your day to day life.

1) The no-plastic message may have been drilled hard into our brains, however, it is still a problem that has not yet been solved. To aid this, purchase a reusable water bottle and

a coffee-cup. This will not only save you money (nearly all major coffee chains offer a discount for bringing your own cup) but will make a huge impact on the amount of plastic that is desired and produced.

2) Donate unwanted clothes to charity shops and aim to shop sustainably. Invest in quality pieces and try to limit the number of online orders that you place. Share an online order with a friend to reduce the packaging and transport costs!

3) The oldest and easiest trick in the book – turn off your lights when you leave a room. Save money on bills and save the planet. What could be better than that?

Image: Laura Campbell

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Tori Sharp discusses the international Youth Climate Strikes

exhibit

The facts on anti-vax

25 MAR 2019 |

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Anna Romanovska discusses the apparent rise in the 'anti-vax' movement

F you are a dedicated 'meme-lord' or medical rights activist, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the anti-vaxxer movement, and, if you’re super lucky, opened the golden pot of anti-vax memes. Although I am also incredibly guilty of laughing at memes relating to kids having to sneak out of their house to get their MMR shot (shout out to the Exeter mumps outbreak), the anti-vaxxer movement does raise issues regarding our individual and parental health decisions.

THE PROMINENCE OF ANTI-VAX IN GOVERNMENTS HAS REACHED EXTREMES Possibly one of the greatest contributors to the of the anti-vaxxer movement was a paper published by Andrew Wakefield in 1998, claiming there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Luckily, the paper was shunned by the medical community, with many doctors unable to trace Wakefield’s findings to confirm his theories.

The autism vaccine claim is now one of the driving reasons for those within the anti-vax movement, sat with anti-establishment and fake news criers at the front of perpetuating these fallacious claims. Vytenis Andriukaitis,

the EU Health Commissioner, took to accusing right-wing politicians of increasing the membership of the movement by amplifying the fake news phenomenon in their campaign propaganda. The prominence of anti-vaxx in governments within the EU has reached extremes, with some parties even proposing a ban of vaccines, as done in 2015 by the FiveStar Movement in Italy. Most politicians who try to gain popularity with anti-vaxxers, such as Marine Le Pen or Donald Trump, usually cite a lack of information regarding the consequences of continuous vaccinating, allowing doubt to rise among those who are contemplating vaccinations either for themselves, or for their loved ones. Using this propaganda, the doubting of vaccinations is linked to the 2018 measles outbreak, which is one of the biggest outbreaks of measles in Europe in the past 20 years.

When asked about why they refuse to vaccinate their children, many parents listed religious and

WITHOUT VACCINATION, HERD IMMUNITY CEASES TO EXIST Furthermore, refusing to vaccinate should not be considered a gamble of the individual’s, or their child’s health. Unvaccinated people pose a direct risk to the health of everyone they encounter. Without vaccination, herd immunity ceases to exist, thus making it easier for those nasty, curable diseases to seep through the cracks. Not to mention that those with unprotected immune systems face lethal threats to their good health, usually relying on herd immunity to protect them from diseases they cannot fight.

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Exeposé Lifestyle Editors give you the lowdown on the best Easter eggs Chococo's Vegan Milc Free Egg looks gorgeous, classy, and from a brand we LOVE. You can find Chococo on Gandy Street, and if you're looking for a Vegan chocolate egg, we definitely recommend this one. Additionally, you can find it online at www.chococo. co.uk.

High-end If you've got a bit more cash to splurge,. we have been loving Hotel Chocolat's Extra-Thick Rocky Road Easter Egg, selling for £27. You definitely get a lot of chocolate for the amount you pay, and Hotel Chocolat has never gone wrong with the taste and quality.

Uniqueness Perhaps you're buying for someone who likes something a bit extra, a bit more unique. For this, we'd have to recommend Sainsbury's Belgian White Chocolate Egg with Pistachios. Honestly, give it a google, its green! We love it, We hope you have a great, chocolate-y Easter! im ag e: A len aK ov al

ESPITE a general belief that January would last a minimum of three years (it definitely felt like it), we're finally heading towards the end of March, meaning Easter is well and truly round the corner.

If you're thinking of grabbing an egg for yourself, your mum, or your romantic partner, then you'll definitely need this basic list we've compiled to help you on your way to chocolate-y goodness.

Budget There's nothing students like more than a budget - and this is made infinitely better when we're talking about budget chocolate. Unless you've been living under a bush, I'm sure you've noticed Tesco's 75 pence Cadbury eggs - the Creme Egg one is our personal fave!

Vegan We've had a look around, and we have to say,

nent tattoo artist and make-up entrepreneur, Kat von D. She received an onslaught of backlash after uploading an Instagram post with her child, implying in the description that she would not be vaccinating her new-born. She later apologised for her doubts in a YouTube video, stating that following a detailed consultation with her child’s paediatrician, she had decided to withdraw her initial concerns and vaccinate her baby. This change in opinion is a perfect example of how those in doubt need strong advice to ease their doubts.

philosophical objections. However, a survey conducted by the John Hopkin’s Hospital found that between the years of 2010 and 2016, only 1% of parents of male children listed anti-vaccination claims as their reasoning behind refusing to give their child the HPV vaccination. This highlights a different problem: the failure for parents to seek and doctors to provide strong recommendations regarding necessary vaccination to maintain herd immunity. Of course, it’s understandable that a new parent will want to protect their child from all dangers at all costs. Despite their overbearing concern, many parents do risk potential harm to their child by refusing to vaccinate.

One example of a worried parent doubting early childhood was promi-

Mad about eggs

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EDITORS: Bethan Gilson and Rhiannon Moore

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Harry Caton, Online Screen Editor, presents his fruit and honey cookies INGREDIENTS: • • • • • • • • • •

170g Honey 180g Unsalted Butter 170g Sugar 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 Egg, beaten 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 370g Plain Flour 150g Dates, chopped 100g Raisins 100g Sunflower Seeds

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Preheat oven to 180C. a gentle heat, Melt and brown the butter over Image: Becca McHaffie then add honey and sugar and stir. Leave to cool.

Mix vanilla extract, bicarbonate of soda, and egg, then add to the cooled mixture.

Gradually add in flour, fruit, and sunflower seeds, stirring all the while. Make sure the mixture is fully combined.

Drop small, teaspoon-sized balls onto a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper, a couple of centimetres apart.

Place in the middle of the oven for 12-15 minutes, until a light golden-brown.

Remove, and leave to cool. They will be soft when first taken out, but will firm up

Images: Petr Kratochvil, Ronmar Lacamiento

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A love for all ages

25 MAR 2019 |

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Rowan Keith, Online Lifestyle Editor, discusses the sexism surrounding age-difference couples

ELL, the day has finally arrived. We never thought it would happen, but here it is: Pete Davidson has finally made a good point. Terrible jokes about swapping out Ariana’s contraception and terrorist attacks aside, Pete Davidson might have redeemed himself to be a kind of okay-ish person,.

Davidson’s relationship with Kate Beckinsale, a British actress twenty years his senior, has recently become public knowledge, and people are not impressed. Their age difference has been the subject of a huge online response, ranging from basic bewilderment to explicit disgust. Davidson then pointed out the sexism ingrained in these reactions, listing reams of male celebrities who have dated women far younger than them and, he claims, received no criticism for it.

PATRIARCHAL LOGIC DETERMINES WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN RELATIONSHIPS Whilst I disagree with this generalisation, as this ignores the work of many feminist journalists who regularly call out the normalisation of older men dating younger women, it is true that the criticism they receive is very different.

deems her physical peak.

As a society, we justify men dating younger These attitudes are carried throughout women because it is assumed that men want society, but the entertainment world as an ento date women for their physical attractiveness vironment and an industry both exacerbates and reproductive capacity. Because of the inthese standards and quite literally broadterlinking of reproduction and attractivecasts them to the world. Accordness, women of around twenty ing to Time magazine, acare viewed as the most tresses peak in terms of physically desirable. As the number of jobs troubling as this is, they are offered we excuse men at the age of 30, dating women whereas for because of men this peak the heteroccurs at 46. onormative Thus, whilst and patriif Beckinsale archal logic were male of what is she would prioritised still be right in romantic in her prime, relationships. as a woman she H o w e v e r, is statistically well when a man beyond the peak of dates an older her career whilst Dawoman, women that vidson has twenty-one society deems as past Image: Gift Habeshaw years left to reach the peak of their prime and having lost his. This criticism reveals the throwatheir reproductive potential, and way attitude that Hollywood treats women therefore their romantic and sexual appeal, the with, female actors fulfilling the role of ‘it girl’ reaction is one of surprise. We simply cannot and being discarded once they have outgrown comprehend what a young, virile man would this, whilst male actors become ‘veterans’ of want with a woman who is past what society

the industry, having comparatively longer careers.

This difference in treatment, however, is not only damaging to women. Whereas young women dating older men are viewed as being preyed upon, young men are not given this same concern. Of course, this speaks to a wider culture in which men are supposed to see all female attention as flattering, which in extreme situations leads to male victims of sexual harassment from women being accused of not being masculine enough. Whilst Davidson and Beckinsale are two consenting adults, the way in which the world has responded to their relationship is indicative of a concerning underlying attitude that society holds towards age differences in relationships.

HOLLYWOOD IS SEXIST AND TOXIC MASCULINITY IS DANGEROUS Hollywood is sexist. Toxic masculinity is dangerous. Two statements that still bear repeating. Now, I’ve spent six hundred words discussing a man who I claim to be unworthy of my time, so once I’ve recovered from my shock at his comment I’m going to return to ignoring everything he does.

Battling heteronormativity

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Neha Shaji, Features Editor, explores the importance of a pro-LGBTQ+ school curriculum

HERE is, thankfully, a discourse springing up around the curriculum in terms of historiography. Rather than history being taught to children as set-in-stone fact, it is instead encouraged to be taken with several handfuls of salt. This applies to topics such as British colonialism, contemporary warfare, and Western intervention.

However, a review of education should, also include the way sexuality and gender have been taught to students – as society becomes more inclusive, the curriculum should follow.

As such, if a school would happily accept an international student, it should teach international relations in an accurate and sensitive manner; similarly, if a school would allow a trans boy to express their gender, they should also teach students about the validity of expression and to understand sexuality as a spectrum rather than let them discuss it on the playground.

If the appropriateness of the curriculum for young children was a real factor for concern, it is interesting how it is not taken into detail with only buzzwords being thrown around about children being exposed to sex. In Birmingham, a school has recently

come under fire from local parents for ‘corrupting’ their children with their LGBTQ+ education programme. Yet a closer look at it shows that this ‘corruption’ is merely stories such as King and King, and Mama, Mummy and I – storybooks on the same wavelength as the Dick and Jane books, or the Faraway Tree chronicles. If Dick and Jane had Peter and Martin as parents, it would not change the story in any sense; nothing but abject homophobia leads people to suggest that it would pervert it in any way.

The kids are all right – they’re not being shown booklets on BDSM or Image: Sara Rampazzo Harry Potter x Snape fanfiction, the stories are just as tepid and lukewarm as the “Peter saw a couch. Look.

Peter saw a couch. Daddy and Mummy were sitting on the couch” repetition we were reading at that age. Would it twist the mundane recitation had the lines been “Peter saw a couch. Look. Peter saw a couch. Mum-

my and Mummy were sitting on the couch”?

The same logic applies as to decolonising the curriculum. What was taught is wrong, and it is wrong because history and gender education was written by the dominating class.

Male, stale, and pale – straight, cis, and white. The themes being too complex for students is yet another nonsensical buzzword; if mummy and daddy being married, or mummy being a single parent, or Jenny being daddy’s kid from his previous marriage is not too complex for a five year old, there is no reason to suggest why daddy and daddy being married is suddenly a mental block for them. This ‘complexity’ is decided upon by the parents rather than by the children; and the slope is slippery.

If letting children know that gay and trans people exist is too complex, is it too complex to tell children that no, they should

not beat up their Indian friend because he’s of a different skin colour to them? The complexity of marginalised groups’ existence is not a struggle for children, it is a struggle that the older generations are facing. Primary school kids have interacted with society for five to eight years at best, it is too soon for them to have these preconceived notions of morality the older generations do and that is precisely the reason these lessons are taught at this age.

So yes, I would love for my future child to read Mummy, Mama, and I. I would probably read it to them myself if the school didn’t anyway, but the brunt of this education should, as we have seen in Birmingham recently, not be left to the parents. A nationalized curriculum ensures every student (theoretically) accesses the same subjects, it would ensure that homophobic and transphobic parents do not allow their discriminatory beliefs to pass on to their children. I hope more schools take on LGBTQ+ education alongside decolonising history, and I hope parents stop sticking their nose into every single accepting and inclusive line their child scrawls into their exercise book.

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arts + lit

Fanfiction: a new artform?

HEN it comes to high art, fanfiction is just about the antithesis to everything we usually think of as ‘literary’: a lot of it is badly written, it’s derivative by definition, and it’s often incomplete and unedited. And yet, fanfiction has been around for centuries – if you think about it, the act of imagining pre-existing characters in different situations or extending the plot of a work of fiction dates back to Virgil’s Aeneid, the canonical epic poem that (if you really boil it down) is essentially fanfiction based on Homer’s Iliad. Classics like Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and PD James’ Death Comes to Pemberley are again retellings of literary works that are considered almost as important and worthy of study as the original texts themselves.

Fanfiction clearly has the ability to be respectable: what separates it from works of fiction is, above all else, the fact that it is written and published online, for free.

More often than not, fanfiction writers are teenagers or young adults who write not as

a career, nor even for an additional source of income as many writers do, but instead for pure enjoyment, to flex their creative muscles, and to imagine their favourite characters in new setting. Significantly, fanfiction provides us with the opportunity to see the representation that is so often missing from popular media, whether that’s LGBTQ+ relationships, or PoC characters.

Studies have shown that most writers of fanfiction are women – it is no coincidence that the stigma against it often carries undertones of misogyny against young girls in particular. A vast majority of fanfiction is indeed centred around female characters and the femaleassociated romance genre, two aspects of fanfiction that are often denigrated.

Deepa Lalwani, Comment Editor

AGAINST

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ANFICTION has its place, I cannot deny that. I understand that people get so impassioned by pieces of media that they want to contribute their own ideas to its property. The issue I have with its concept as an art-form is one of quality.

Most of the time fanfiction adds very little in terms of quality narrative components. Its main focus tends to be either forced romantic or sexual plots or narrative strands that are either unnecessary or uninteresting. I’m sure Ron and Harry had a lovely time at the pub before bumping into a random Death Eater and engaging in an extremely forced battle in the middle of Hogsmeade, but it doesn’t add anything to those characters.

Fanfiction is often written by people who are not *clears throat* professional writers.

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FOR

A mixed palate

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Grammar and spelling mistakes are understandable – I know I make enough mistakes.

But often the cohesion normally found in fiction just isn’t there, making it unenjoyable to read. The amount of “suddenly, they were attacked by…” phrases one after the other just makes for awkward reading.

Fanfiction is not written for the reader’s enjoyment, but for the writer’s own gratification. Stories typically mirror playground discussions around who would win in a fight between two characters. Great, but the problem is these narratives often feel contrived to the point where suspension of disbelief is no longer an option.

It’s difficult to argue against fanfiction without sounding like a pretentious arsehole. It does allow people to express their passion, learn their craft or even start a career, and that’s fantastic. But its qualities really do struggle to hold up in comparison to its original content. Plus it gave us Fifty Shades of Grey. You can’t defend that.

Fenton Christmas, Deputy Editor

Image: Jonn Leffmann

Zach Mayford digests the intersecting worlds of art and food

RT has a hungry ambiguity, and increasingly it’s happy to devour and digest ‘food’ with sweet and saucy results. One such sculptor is Kim Pace, who in 2017 produced ‘The Vegetable Brotherhood’, a series of vegetable infused ceramics. It features cute veggie boys (big mood) including cactus men and beany creatures entitled ‘Fecund Shoots’. These herbaceous creations are awe-inducing, hilarious and imbued with so much life. Pace grasps the root of the phenomenon by labelling the sprouts ‘fecund’, as they are so fertile with restless animation, despite being clay vegetables.

The presence of human expression in them is effortless; it leans on a phenomenon called pareidolia, or the recognition of faces in things without faces. This human urge to anthropomorphise and compare is a platform on which food and art connect.

Pareidolia is their love letter.

Artists often credit the canonisation of

food art to Guiseppe Arcimboldo. During the Renaissance, Arcimboldo painted portraits depicting his subjects composed of collages of foodstuffs, from fruit to flowers to fish. The works achieved mainstream popularity due to the novelty of food art, blurring the line between modes of expression.

FOOD GIVES US LIFE AND IS RIGHTFULLY REPRESENTED IN ART Indeed, the Venn diagram of the two genres is bulging with goodies from the aestheticisation and ceremonialisation of meals. Be it birthday cakes sculpted to castles, trains, or football pitches, or rice paper ornaments or edible bouquets, food is art is food. The entire show-stopper category of The Great British Bake-Off routinely straddles the Venn, with great big caramel and

spun-sugar windmills and whatnot. One thing I’ve learnt from the programme is that gingerbread is the best architectural shortbread, and for me Hansel and Gretel is the best food art myth.

Kim Pace, of the cactus-boys, cites the transformative energy of food myths as an artistic inspiration, shouting-out ‘Jack o’lanterns’ and ‘all the other folk art memes’.

Vegetation in art accesses the dynamic thisness of matter, in that we’re all built from what we’ve eaten and what we’ve seen.

Food is radically fresh and radically fertile, but it grows larger than life in food advertising (another inspiration of Pace’s).

From Warhol’s soup cans to the green giant, food aestheticism booms either as a marketing strategy or a critique thereof.

Modern artist Carl Warner perfects this genre, creating captivating ‘foodscape’ photographs. Garnering respect for his ‘Cheesescape’, ‘Fishscape’, and ‘Candy Cottage’, Warner was commissioned in 2018 by Ten-

derstem to promote their product. He made five rapturous tenderstem tableaux to advertise the broccoli-kale hybrid.

Food gives us life and is rightfully represented in art. The egg is king of Instagram and #EggBoy is king of my heart. The Instagram user @whatwasbreakfast asks his subjects what they had for breakfast, then snaps their responses. He told the Chicago Reader that he was “just curious about people and food” and in a way, aren’t we all?

GINGERBREAD IS THE BEST ARCHITECTURAL SHORTBREAD A heads-up for any foodies who are sticking around in Exeter on 4, 5 and 6 of May - be sure to check out the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink. This will feature in Northernhay Gardens, the perfect day out with friends and family.

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EDITORS: Lauren Newman and Tabi Scott

25 MAR 2019 |

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Oops, theatre did it again!

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Hannah Stevenson, Online News Editor, on the rise of jukebox musicals

IT’S CLEAR THAT THE JUKEBOX MUSICAL FORMULA IS FAR FROM FOOLPROOF The jukebox musical - or idea of devising productions around pre-existing songs- has been a permanent fixture in theatre since its boom in the late 90s and early 2000s. This came with the opening of Mamma Mia! (now the seventh longest-running show in the history of the West End) in 1999, and We Will Rock You in 2002, which showcase the songs of ABBA and Queen respectively.

However, the key difference between these established favourites and the jukebox musicals of late is that Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You are, above all, escapist pieces.

They fit the songs of the artists in question to an original narrative, transporting audiences to Greek islands or futuristic societies. Meanwhile, and perhaps as a response to modern celebrity culture, more recent jukebox musicals have focused on real-life stories of different musicians – and to varying degrees of success.

There are plenty of examples of hugely popular biographical musical productions.

Controversially, Thriller Live, which uses the

Image: imagesgeorgerex

THE NATIONAL THEATRE PAST IT OR PRESENT?

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ATIONAL Theatre productions are always a bit hit and miss for me. The National has put on a steady stream of critical flops since summer last year. A particular low point was Katie Mitchell’s directorial disaster When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, which starred acting goddess Cate Blanchett and renowned character actor Stephen Dillane. The staggering acting talents of Blanchett and Dilane could not save this sinking ship of a production. The

songs of the late Michael Jackson, is currently in its tenth year on the West End. Jersey Boys, which traces the rise to fame of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, has grossed over $2 billion worldwide since opening in 2005. More recently, Tina: The Musical, which explores the life of Tina Turner, appears to have been doing well since opening in the West End in spring last year, with runs on Broadway and Hamburg, Germany announced for 2020.

But not all such shows have been as successful. The 2005 production, Lennon, for example ran for only 41 days on Broadway before having to close. Considering the cultural currency held by the late John Lennon, the subject of the production, it’s clear that the jukebox musical formula is far from foolproof.

So yes, it has worked in the past, but is the idea of rehashing old songs to create a musical now just a little stale? Possibly, yes.

Perhaps the issue is that jukebox musicals can often feel a little selfindulgent, with the need to dip back into the music of the greats necessarily (or at least, until now) using songs from at least 30-odd years ago. Furthermore, whilst this makes for an easy sell to the current demographic of theatre-goers, it may be counter-productive in the long term.

The dawn of new, genre-breaking productions like Hamilton has led many to recognise the importance of encouraging young people into the theatre.

Biographical jukebox musicals of old hasbeens simply don’t speak to these types of audiences in the same way. However, it is in this respect that Once a One More Time may stand a chance at breaking the mould. The nostalgic pull of Britney’s music is possibly strongest amongst younger generations- we, after all, are the ones that played Pop Princesses CDs on our Walkman and made up dance routines decision to stage a play whose “plot” epicentre revolved around 18th century novel Pamela, where the wealthy male protagonist tries on multiple occasions to rape his maid and ends up marrying her because of her chastity, was extremely questionable in light of the #MeToo movement. Scriptwriter Martin Crimp’s attempt to reconfigure this through a sadomasochist lens was clumsy at best, and at worst a disturbing equation of abuse with sexual consent.

On the opposite side of the spectrum of dramatic failure, Blanche McIntyre’s staging of Tartuffe by Moliere only contributed to my growing disappointment with The National’s programme. A ridiculously elaborate set, complete with gold Adonis statue and comically sized potted plants, attempted to distract the audience from the direly hammy acting unfolding before them. Every smirk-able moment was inflated to a level of extreme slapstick that was honestly fatiguing to watch. Both When

in our living rooms to her songs (ahem). This audience, combined with the show’s nonbiographical plot and feminist spin, all make it sound a very promising concept, on paper at least.

What remains to be seen however, is if audiences will be shouting ‘Gimme More’ to the jukebox musical genre at large for much longer.

We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other and Tartuffe seem to pander to an exclusively middle-class, middle-aged audience who like to self-contentedly laugh at their own wealth and privilege and believe that the appearance of a strap-on on stage is the most outrageous thing since the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Considering this series of flops, where does the debate over The National Theatre lie? This depends on the risks it takes in the future. The decision to stage the late, great Angela Levy’s Small Island for example could be potentially inspired. Great art has something significant politically to say and it will be interesting to see if The National’s production will capitalise on the recent furore provoked by the deportations of members of the Windrush generation. For the moment however, The National Theatre’s prestige seems to almost completely rest in its past , not in its present.

Lauren Newman, Arts + Lit Editor

Image: Drashya Kushwa

WRITERS’ CORNER Images (clockwise from top left): mtlsrt04, jennifer, hnkkk, adf_2

IG news hit the theatre world last week with the announcement of a new show set to open on Broadway next year.

Once Upon a One More Time has been pitched as a feminist musical, in which fairy-tale princesses are presented with a copy of The Feminist Mystique. And if that isn’t enough to immediately pull you in, the show is also set to a sound track of 23 Britney Spears songs. But does the tried-and-tested jukebox musical format work ‘Everytime’? Or has it all gone a bit ‘Toxic’?

The Wolf Howls No More Jasmin Priya 13th May 2018, 11:47 pm Have you ever heard of the Red Threads of Fate? It’s this ancient Chinese legend that describes connections between human beings in this world. Connections that can surpass time and distance and individual differences. It connects two people via an invisible red thread. The thread cannot break but will stretch or tangle as it crosses paths with others, striving to find its way to the other end. I like to think we have multiple connections and multiple endings pulling us in different directions- our family, friends, lovers, teachers. The important people who will define your story and enable you to fully realise your self. After our first date today, this came to mind, because I’m certain that we are connected. I don’t know why or how.

All I know is that we were drawn together in the light of the sunset and the music of pianos tonight. I will see you tomorrow at work. It seems like an age away, but time itself will seem insignificant once it has reduced the space between us. We will meet again. Look into each other’s eyes.

Be drawn close together. Entangled in the mess of our own threads, wrapped up warm in them, round and round they will ensnare us like a boa constrictor grasps its prey, but we will not beg for life or even notice that we have been caught. Those invisible threads will tighten their grip and we will have to wait no more.

16th March 2019, 3:27am It was your birthday six days ago and I completely forgot. Six days time will mark three months since I liberated myself from you. Or is it three days time…I don’t know.

I could check, but I don’t care.

I think our thread has officially broken.

From your Print Editors, Tabi and Lauren, thank you for a fantastic year!

Follow Exeposé Arts + Lit on: Twitter: @ExeposeArts Instagram: @exepose_arts_lit

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EDITORS: Lauren Newman and Tabi Scott

25 MAR 2019 |

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Disaster strikes Image: MarkACi

Neha Shaji, Features Editor, explores literature’s response to natural disasters

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HEN actualising and centring a disaster into literature, one has to consider the immediate impact the piece of literary work would have. It can be both cathartic and descriptive, a ravaged landscape defined and conscripted to text by those immediately affected. It could apply not only to natural disaster, but slow moving ecological disaster, or in response to an economic catastrophe. Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and the Indian film Peepli Live depict respectively an ode to forest ‘development’ and biodiversity, encompassing both the devastation of the local environment, and the economic pressures of a liberalising economy.

IT IS IMPORTANT IN DISASTER FICTION THAT AN OUTSIDER AUTHOR PLACES THEMSELVES AS SUCH The Hungry Tide charts a diaspora Indian returning home to study the aquatic wildlife of the Sundarbans, whilst a background of the novel charts the displacement caused by the Morichjhanpi incident, where millions of Bengali refugees were forcefully evicted by the government. Whilst the text is not an immediate reaction to a sudden disaster, it depicts the slow moving destruction caused by a government in search of global profiteering. Peepli Live presents another side of the disaster narrative; that of an economic disaster.

Crops fail, farmers commit suicide, and the government turns a blind eye whilst the media hungrily devours sadness. The film also looks at the aforementioned media reception to these slow moving disasters, how opposing sides of the media take angles that may or may not assist the affected. However, it clearly shows a problematic aspect of media coverage; that the reporters decide which subaltern to give a voice to, and which to silence.

It is the latter that set disaster narratives apart from other types of fiction. The lens it provides is a mirror to and refracts from the government or a media version of the event.

Media coverage of disasters often segue into victim blaming and portraying emotion rather than the causes of such tragedy, thus falling to the very same aspects of disaster capitalism they try to portray. The governments of these nations are often trapped in predatory postcolonial relationships and thus remain trapped in the narrative the global upper echelon wish to convey.

However, the disaster narrative also has its limitations, especially when written by an outsider looking in to the tragedy, especially when it is set in a remote location. The idealization and Othering of the native population coming together against a tragedy often takes a problematic aspect, portraying the people suffering the tragedy as immaculate specimens. This could be seen in The Hungry Tide, with the character of Fokir who is aestheticized and reduced to a body instead of being humanized. In these cases,

Image: George Hodan

it is important in disaster fiction that an outsider author places themselves as such, and conveys their position as a medium or vessel rather than the sole representative of said community.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF DISASTERS OFTEN SEGUE INTO VICTIM BLAMING The distinction is important when it comes to reading disaster narratives: is it written by an agent of the destruction, perhaps a representative from a global conglomerate who may have a hand in ecological disaster, or a government employee justifying the harm caused? Perhaps it may

come from the perspective of the media, playing their own lines in depiction and focusing on the most clicks rather than an accurate portrayal of widespread devastation.

This viewpoint, however, tends to ride on either a parallel or in opposition to the government’s narrative; only rarely is an alternative direction taken which is not related to an existing political take.

Personally, the most effective narrative comes from the subject, aware of their own voice and their own rightful place in the discourse, writing as a method of catharsis.

When a disaster narrative comes from the subject themselves, the emotion is centred rather than any political or economic consequences which could be explored by other narratives.

Michael Jackson exhibit continues

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Lauren Haughey discusses the controversial art exhibition in light of recent allegations

ITH chilling sexual abuse allegations against pop legend Michael Jackson, Channel 4’s documentary has left us startled and disturbed. Even though the programme has sparked a huge debate about whether the Leaving Neverland stories are actually true, one cannot help but question who Michael Jackson really was, and whether it was his blinding talent that disguised the allegations for so many years.

ONE CANNOT HELP BUT QUESTION WHO MICHAEL JACKSON REALLY WAS Despite these allegations, Gareth Harris, writing for The Art Newspaper, recently

revealed that a Michael Jackson exhibition is still to go ahead in Germany and Finland.

The exhibition began in London’s National Portrait Gallery and from June 2018 has travelled across Europe and onwards, displaying the works of over 40 artists. Given the sensitivity of the topic of sexual abuse, displaying work of Michael Jackson is arguably controversial, and poses two questions.

Firstly, can Michael Jackson as an artist be separated from his artwork now that his image has been tainted? And, regardless of your opinion on Michael Jackson, don’t these talented artists who poured time and effort into their own paintings and pieces deserve to be recognised? A Michael Jackson exhibition wouldn’t be the first controversial art show regarding celebrities and sexual abuse, as 2012 saw the widely criticised ‘Jimmy

Savile Is Innocent’ exhibition at the Bread And Butter Gallery in Islington.

CAN JACKSON BE SEPARATED FROM HIS ARTWORK? After much discussion, Pilvi Kalhama,the Director of the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA) in Finland, has decided that the best way to handle this moral dilemma is to engage responsibly with the controversial current affairs. Because of this, a few alterations have been made to the tour for sensitive purposes, but the museum itself is determined to remain transparent in discussing the challenged perceptions of Michael Jackson.

In addition to this, it can be recognised

that not all of the paintings within the exhibition worship Jackson’s stardom and are artistically aware of the previous doubts surrounding his character, such as demonstrating awareness of the Jackson abuse investigation in 2005. This is seen in Lyle Ashton Harris’ work of Black Ebony II, shown initially at London’s National Portrait Gallery, which both memorialises Jackson symbolically, using vintage Ashanti funeral fabric, but also explores negative societal interpretations of him.

However, the exhibition does hold artworks such as King by Candice Breitz which purely celebrates Jackson’s musical talents by videoing 16 fans dancing to ‘Thriller’. But, with transparency being one of the EMMA’s aims, it is important to portray all sides of Michael Jackson’s character, as the reality is not clearcut.

music Last call

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HE final song of an album is the opportunity to capture its progression in one golden moment; it is the final breath before the curtain falls. And perhaps of all the musicians in our current industry, Lorde has nailed this notion best, treating it like a fine art. ‘Perfect Places’ is a spacey, synthesised summer anthem about the panic and pleasure of being 19 years old. Perhaps I am biased as it came to me at a time where it seemed to discuss everything going on in my life. I spent the summer of 2018 trying to find my own perfect places, whether that was in Paris, or Italy, or at the bottom of a glass of gin. I was 19 and I was on fire. But ignore this personal attachment - the song excels regardless. It is the lyrical prowess and epiphanic nature of ‘Perfect Places’ that makes it such a brilliant end to Melodrama, and what makes Lorde such an impressive musician.

Bryony Gooch, Online Music Editor

ULIEN Baker's skeletal debut Sprained Ankle is a brief listen. Running at nine tracks, its spare acoustic confessionals might have been recorded in a cramped bedsit. But few contemporary songwriters have dedicated themselves as fervently to examining a faith that is undermined by all earthly instincts. On the eschatological ballad, ‘Go Home’, the Tennessee singer yearns for deliverance from her broken mind. The hushed piano echoes, the throaty vocal is anguished, and it’s sullen hellfire as usual - until the final closing seconds.

Baker interpolates the Celtic melody from 'In Christ Alone', a modern hymn about leaning on your belief when the world collapses. Like all worthwhile endings, it summarises all that came before while peering forward to the next destination. Baker’s sonic world is harrowing, driven by addiction and loss. But in love, there is rescue.

Aaron Loose, Music Editor

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FIRST listened to Long Way Down when I was sixteen, pretending I felt these age-old sentiments of love that I have since just begun to understand. Needless to say, it's an album that grows with you, in a timeless, old-Hollywood sense of the term. Tom Odell has a neutral voice which makes every song raw and relatable. There are no fluffy riffs or unexpected harmonies. 'Grow Old With Me' is perfectly composed, with a light percussion characteristic of any debut British-indie single.

The album ends with the same song in demo form, and finishes cyclically. Without a clear end or final message, Odell's voice disappears into nothingness. Arguably a low point of the album, with NME notably giving it 0 out of 10, I feel like it could not be further from the truth. When it comes to fragile, truthful love songs, 'Grow Old With Me' stands the test of time as my modern day 'La Vie en Rose'.

Jaysim Hanspal, Online Music Editor

Image: Krist Luhaers

Image: Rebecca Sowell

Music Editors sign off with their favourite album closers

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ARAMORE'S 2013 self-titled record is a masterfully eclectic collection, studded with experimentation ranging from dream pop to gospel. But 'Future', the nearly eight-minute long closer, is the album's most ambitious and impressive gamble. Opening with a tender guitar riff and Hayley Williams' contemplative croon, the lyrics deftly encapsulate the themes of the album, letting go of the past with bittersweet finality to "think of the future". Three minutes in, airy vocals give way to a beefy, post-rock jam, with guitarist Taylor York riffing elegantly over Jeremy Davis' powerfully simple bass work. The band has spoken of the song's serendipity, with the two distinct sections having been recorded separately and then slotting together as a happy accident. As a closer, 'Future' showcases the raw talent and honesty of Paramore's music, staring wistfully into hopeful uncertainty.

Alex Wingrave, Music Editor

Joy as an act of resistance

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Agnes Chapman-Wills rhapsodises about the activist optimism of Stevie Wonder radically joyful of anyone. In his seminal 1976 double album Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder is overtly aware of the horrors of the world around him. He doesn’t shy away from highlighting disturbing events; for instance, in 'Village Ghetto Land' and 'Black Man' he reflects on the haunting systemic discrimination he has witnessed.

However, interspersed amongst these tales of woe are songs of pure joy and appreciation for love in all its glory. In 'As', Wonder tells us that love is endless: "Just as kindness knows no shame/Know through all your joy and pain/ That I'll be loving you always".

Wonder’s other focus throughout his music, and particularly in Songs, is his faith.

His optimism that stems from the notion that everything is part of a bigger, spiritual picture is often found in his songs: "When you feel your life’s too hard/ Just go have a talk with God". He talks openly about the fact that we all have our trials and tribulations, but we can speak our minds and look to a higher power if we feel hopeless or

"alone without a friend". Moreover, he wants his listeners to appreciate the world they live in and look after what we treasure. On 'If This is Magic', he sings "If it's special/Then with it why aren't we as careful".

Stevie Wonder was one of the first musicians I ever heard.

For 20 years, his music has echoed through my brain and I honestly believe it has contributed to some of the positivity, optimism and hope I try to channel into my life today.

His music alone is empowering and politically provocative, but once you know about the man behind the harmonica - the hurdles he has jumped, the pain he has experienced - you can’t help but be moved and emotionally engaged to rise up above

the harrowing events on which everyone else dwells. His optimism and utter joy is empowering and he makes it clear; "when you’re in moving in the positive/ Your destination is the brightest star".

Image: Thomas Hawks

Image: Motown

E turn to music in times of crisis.

Through heartbreak, separation and even war, music is a means of expressing our deepest fears and troubles.

However, what is so often overlooked is the power of joy. In writing music about hope and the opportunities that life can give us, we can find a far more powerful art form.

Looking for the beauty in what can be a harrowing world is an incredibly bold and empowering act; by rising above the trials of everyday life and searching for something worth believing in, we are refusing to let the negatives get us down. Music that channels joy focuses on the fact that the world will keep spinning and we must make the most of every second, and this is undeniably present in the music of Stevie Wonder.

A child prodigy who overcame hurdle after hurdle - from dealing with a disability to surviving a car crash to racial discrimination - Wonder shouldered his fair share of despair. He knows how tragic life can be more than most, yet his music is the most

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What's next for music journalism?

Jobbing hacks must stay ahead of the curve, argues Fenton Christmas, Deputy Editor

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HE world of music journalism finds itself at a crossroads: How does it progress forward in a world in which music consumption has evolved at a staggering rate over the past decade?

Spotify only launched ten years ago and its rise to the peak of the industry since has been nothing short of meteoric. Music outlets have struggled to keep up as music has developed into a constant stream. NME has shifted from print to an online-only platform in little over five years. So how does music journalism survive in a world in which its traditional form of primary marketability is disappearing at an alarming rate?

Music reviews have rapidly moved to online platforms designed specifically for both quick responses and ease of access.

Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter allow for reviews to emerge within hours of an album’s release at a pace that print journalism cannot match. The Needle

Drop, Dead End Hip Hop and Spectrum Pulse are some of the biggest music reviewers on the internet, and arguably some of the most influential. With little or no journalistic background, these people have shared their views online for long enough, and well enough, to garner a large presence within the field. Why spend years fighting to get your foot through the door at a major publication when you could start up your own from your bedroom?

But journalism is about tackling the issues within the industry: both political and cultural. Outlets have moved to place the majority of their politically-charged content within their print base rather than reviews.

However, the problem with print media in the past few years has been its inability to admit its struggles. Many people now consume their news and opinion pieces online. With the listener’s ability to instantly move from one new release to another at the touch of a

button, waiting two weeks for another issue for the review or the social implications of an album, is not good enough. Online media allows for the instant and mass circulation of opinions and debate on a range of issues that print publications struggle to match.

This should see the rise of more recorded and interactive relations with readers. Podcasts have exploded in popularity in the last few years and publications would do well to get on that trend while it’s still hot, if they haven’t already.

Of course, print as a medium cannot and should not just disappear. But it’s about moving away from the traditional ideas of what quality music journalism is. It must stop trying to keep everything in one place for one certain form of journalism. People’s tastes are constantly changing through the incorporation of a multitude of musical styles across genres. Fewer and fewer people are bound by genre, as the ill-fated NME was.

You can listen to two different pop songs with radically different combinations of influences. In that mould, journalism needs to evolve as well. Contemporary artists resist taxonomies and music outlets need to do the same. It’s about tangibility. Successful publications are now grounded within festivals. Gone are the days of a journalist simply reviewing or attending a festival; they are now at the heart of the organisational process. People might read their most trusted content providers through a screen, but they will physically connect with them at the very places that audiences connect with artists.

Music journalism finds itself at this crossroads with plenty of options to choose from. However the pressure is on and time is running out. In an ever-changing and constantly moving music sphere, journalism can’t afford to just play catch-up – it needs to stay ahead of the curve.

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Pop to the Future

Tom Routledge praises Charli XCX's journey into uncharted pop territory

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HEN people hear the name Charli XCX, the two primary points of recognition are often her Top 10 track ‘Boom Clap’ and her song-writing credit on Icona Pop’s ‘I Love It’. Singing the hook of Iggy Azalea’s 2014 summer smash, ‘Fancy’ may also be thrown into the conversation.

However, following the release of her ultrapop sophomore album Sucker, Charli has been on a path of reinvention, standing apart from her label by crafting a new cybernetic sound while breaking the rules of how pop music traditionally operates.

In 2015, Charli collaborated with Scottish producer SOPHIE on the independently released Vroom Vroom EP, signalling a leftturn from glittery dance-pop into more experimental, rubbery. and futuristic sounds.

From then on, XCX has truly done what she wants when she wants to with regards to sound but also the distribution of her music.

The full control which she has over her work is refreshing for a genre which is often run by

record label deadlines, public demand and making radio-ready hits.

2017 saw perhaps the most exciting year of Charli XCX’s career thus far as she began to combine her two worlds of pure pop and unique production. The release of two mixtapes, Number 1 Angel and Pop 2, at each end of the year saw two distinct and diverse bodies of work. The former focused on making perfect pop to rival Robyn and Britney whilst the latter was electric, bold and futuristic. A common thread through both, however, was an emphasis on collaboration with 17 different contributing artists across the pair of mixtapes. Charli XCX has mastered the art of selecting specific artists to feature on tracks that compliment their own personal music style whilst expanding their discography into headspinning new directions. Also, these collaborators range from well-known musicians such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Tove Lo, to underground oddities such as Dorian Electra, CupcakKe and ABRA. This spectrum

of features suggests a break from traditional pop collaborations which can often feel manufactured.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Charli XCX, as a representation of pop’s future, is how she has been able to reinvent her stylistic imprint over the past few years. Her break from plastic pop music as a commercial industry has seen her create bolder music and thrive as an artist, perhaps leading the way for other artists whose careers have become stagnant under label control.

Plus, her music does not conform to current trends but rather is the music she wants to make, giving her an authenticity beyond musicians who simply write songs in the hopes of topping algorithm collated Spotify playlists. Charli XCX is the revitalising breath of fresh air that pop music so desperately needed, both musically and culturally.

Image: Top right to bottom left: Carlyfan22; MSMSMSM; Tuomas Vitikainen; Anton Mak

Editors' Picks

Images: Polydor, Arista, Universal, Thierry Curo

GREY Area (2019) by Little Simz

Reasonable Doubt (1996) by JAY-Z

Holding Absence (2019)

by Holding Absence

Best in Show: Kamasi Washington, 23 May @ O2 Academy Bristol

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EDITORS: Aaron Loose and Alex Wingrave

Dave's new wave

25 MAR 2019 | 26

Ben Faulkner, Screen Editor, breaks down the UK rapper's hard-hitting debut DAVE Psychodrama 8 March 2019

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AVE opens his debut album with an inquiry into his own mental health – and the next 51 minutes are spent encouraging the same introspection from his listeners. Appending certain tracks with snippets of a therapy session, Dave crafts a weighty narrative that cares about individuals and the tensions that shape their minds. Spinning off the success of the 2017 EP, Game Over, Dave’s Psychodrama is informed by skittering grime and the vulnerability of spoken word, but it explores all of the crevices in between. This is rap music that refuses to simply satisfy and exhilarate. It’s determined to confront personal pain and social injustice through 11 tense snapshots of urban life.

As we have come to expect with the prolific 20-year-old, the lyricism is slick, biting, and at points jaw-dropping; each track builds a tight web of clever phrasing that serves

his reflections on family as well as it does his socio-political probing. "I turned a loss to a lesson’"he remarks on ‘Screwface Capital', in a punchy reminder of the emotional costs of city life. In one of the album’s most intriguing diversions, the track builds into a hypnotic, jazzskewed keyboard solo.

Brave in content and form, Dave doesn’t shy from brutal truths: he laments an abusive relationship for 11 minutes on ‘Lesley’, and caps his debut with ‘Drama’, a seven-minute reflection on his career, his family, and the pain that’s got him to this point. He offers poppier outings on the old-school garage leaning ‘Location’, but no integrity is lost in the process – every loose thread is anchored down by thoughtful nuance. Dave knows who he is, where he is, and draws boundaries around his art. In the midst of his lamentation over women suffering in abusive relationships during ‘Lesley’, he remarks: "I understand that I could never understand" – a commendable and necessary awareness that his persuasive lyricism is not dogma.

"Black is people naming your countries on what they trade most" – on the album’s stirring centrepiece, ‘Black’, Dave sketches out the

Image: Dave

stubborn social parasite of racial inequality, dismantling the homogenous lens through which the ‘white’ elite continues to view ‘black’ culture. The song is a multi-layered defence of his racial identity – its pain, its beauty, and its value – and the album as a whole extrapolates this unapologetic celebration of selfhood onto a broader frame. And although Dave brings the message to his front door on the angry ‘Streatham’, he’s speaking to black, urban communities everywhere.

Dave looks to articulate what the media

and the political elite so lazily overlook – a community is constructed and defined by its individuals; by both their successes and their sufferings. And as Psychodrama flicks from pulsating grime beats, to subtle, skewed sampling, to ominously ambient minimalism – all while sat atop Dave’s mellow piano riffs – it feels like Dave is holding up a mirror to his own surroundings. What we’re left with is an urgent defence of communities that are persistently misunderstood and generalised.

"You’re my therapy", Dave confesses as he speaks directly to us on ‘Psycho’. Psychodrama offers a real sense of therapeutic release for the youngster who grew up freestyling and mastering piano,. But the album is as inviting as it is intimate. He speaks for his community, but he simultaneously pleads his listeners to look inward themselves – he wants us to understand our own shortcomings, and reconcile our own pain. I’m left accepting the challenge.

Thinking about that line on ‘Lesley’ – I know as a white, middle-class kid, there is a limit to what I can ‘understand’ about the importance of this vital album. It is a healing work beyond me, and a work beyond anything else in the British rap scene.

The Instrumentals

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S an intensely competitive child, I attended three different music classes.

Tremulously, gradually, yet with not much effort I reached Grade 8 in piano, a mediocre pass in violin, and stretched my disastrous vocal chords to pass singing lessons. Yet I found the guitar to be the coolest instrument on the planet, after I beheld the shredding scene from Back to the Future and decided that Marty McFly with his outrageously crimson guitar was exactly what I wanted for myself in the future.

I was seven years old, a piano prodigy of sorts, but I wanted to be a rock star.

First, my aunt tried to teach me. She was the wife of an Evangelical preacher. The first song she tried to bend my stiff and unwilling baby fingers to had lyrics such as “every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, how Jesus Christ is the Lord.” These lessons were in full view of my father’s avowedly atheist eye, beadily glaring through the keyhole. I learnt one chord, three psalms, and a tendency to twitch when I heard the melancholy swell of ‘God is so good’ on Christian radio. I tried again at 14 – this time looking at Sungha Jung’s morose stare on YouTube as his fingers flew across the frets. I was jealous, mildly attracted, and ready to put my mind to it. Unfortunately, I had no sense of proportion and tried to learn the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song first, in all its advanced fingerstyle glory. I ended up with four tiny slices on my fingertips and an inability to realize my guitar was untuned from day one.

The final attempt was last year. I went to Manson’s and purchased a cheap acoustic (with nylon strings this time) and sat down firmly to try and play Damien Rice’s ‘Cannonball’ to my boyfriend. Spoiler: I learnt six chords, and on my seventh I had to do the mammoth task of pressing two strings at once. Like Goliath after his eye was popped by a rogue pebble, I quit.

The guitar now sits in the corner of my room like a punished child, sometimes emitting a ghostly twang when I chuck a discarded packet in its direction. I have failed; to sell the guitar would be to admit defeat, yet to keep it would be melancholy memorabilia of my mess-up.

THE GUITAR NOW SITS IN THE CORNER OF MY ROOM LIKE A PUNISHED CHILD Hubris is as hubris does. I breezed through my piano exams with a laugh, scoring distinction after distinction with minimal effort. I seemed to not understand the fact that talent does not come easily for everything I attempted, and hence, I gave up when I realized it did not come naturally to me. The inability to put even minimal effort in is what led me to chucking the guitar into a corner like a lollipop with a strange hair on it, rather than the guitar

itself being a particularly difficult instrument to play. The end goal, for me, was to play song A or B, rather than to master the instrument. My inability to play a single smooth chord on the guitar let me understand one of my most fatal flaws (other than having an eccentric aunt); that of completely losing interest if I was not somehow perfect at it from the get-go. On hindsight, it applied to my Chemistry A-Level, directing a play, and writing sonnets – thus, I’ll probably have to work on that attitude. On an unrelated note: does anyone want to buy a guitar for £20?

Image: Edd Church

THE BLUE NILE

Image: Interscope

If you're after an acoustic guitar, then Neha Shaji, Features Editor, is selling

Remember This?

HATS OCT 1989

Image: Linn

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COT TISH band The Blue Nile have experienced an inexplicable resurgence recently, with The 1975’s ‘Love It If We Made It’ interpolating ‘The Downtown Lights’, and CHVRCHES covering the song on tour last year. It’s no accident that two of Britain’s biggest synthpop bands pay homage to the song, as it’s the centrepiece of The Blue Nile’s 1989 album Hats, a melancholic synth undertaking that paints an intimate, romantic longing against the noirish backdrop of a crowded, rainy city. A deft improvement upon the already excellent debut A Walk Across the Rooftops and richly textured, Hats is content to indulge in its atmosphere of quiet, moody contemplation, magnifying its explosive moments. ‘Close your eyes, come with me. Only love is alive,’ sings Paul Buchanan midway through the album. It’s not only a call to his lover, but to the listener, to immerse themselves in the glittering romance promised.

Stephen Ong

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Screen writers debate the merits of filming on digital over traditional celluloid FILM

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E live in a time in which availability and convenience are seemingly paramount within the majority of contemporary media production. The digitisation of cinema has allowed for a plethora of benefits: from the wider accessibility of classical cinema to the rise of Netflix as a platform for the expedient release of immediate content. Within this digital evolution, the rise in popularity of digital forms of filming has seen the decline in use of film stock as the principle method. Some of the biggest films of the last decade have been shot on digital cameras, as it’s easier and cheaper than shooting on film.

However, despite this success, film stock remains the highly-superior recording medium as a result of the inherent benefits of the ‘oldfashioned’ ways.

Most cinemas only have the technology to project films at a resolution of either 2K or 4K, whereas film has the potential to project at somewhere around the equivalent of 18K, yet digital conversions mean this detail is often missed. In comparison to digital camera sensors, which are limited by the predetermined amount of pixels they can capture, film stock is only restricted by the type of film itself. In cinematic cameras these are of the highest quality, and result in a much sharper final image. This results in much higher quality reproductions of colour and dynamic ranges within film stock compared to their digital alternatives. As film stock remains more sensitive to light than digital sensors through its broader exposure latitude, light becomes a much more malleable tool for cinematographers. Film stock can retain high amounts of detail in lower light areas that might just appear as complete silhouettes if shot digitally. Take a look at Mihai Mălaimare Jr.’s use and control of chiaroscuro in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and you’ll see the results at their best.

Similar to the basis for the recent return of vinyl within musical circles, film stock retains a certain element of nostalgia. Its physical, tangible nature as an analogue technology means it’s the ultimate form of cinematic reminiscence.

From the hum of the projector, to the rattle of the film through the camera and the grain on the screen, film stock remains truly immersed within the very definition of the cinema. Grain doubles as an unintentional aesthetic and a cinematic tool in itself: it adds a certain sense of polymorphic fluctuation to still objects

DIGITAL

within a shot.

It seems that filming on film has a certain element of cinematic ‘nerdism’, that parallels the long retention of film stock technologies.

The life-cycle of digital cameras remains significantly shorter than those of older film cameras. A single digital model could last around four or five years before it is replaced by the newer model, whereas some film cameras have lasted decades before receiving upgraded models. I freely admit that upon hearing that The Hateful Eight was filmed on the same lenses that filmed Ben Hur, I got more excited than I had any right to be. Do the lenses really matter? No. But it says something about the nostalgic power of these analogue technologies.

Film stock symbolises the creativity within technologies before the digital age. We are all now used to clicking a single button or an app on a screen and a computer figures out the rest, but film reminds us of a past that is easy to forget. Some of the best and most influential directors of both past and present work with and champion film over digital. Nolan, Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Scorsese, Cameron, Lucas and plenty more all push for its preservation. Who knows, in a few years we may all be wrangling for home projectors and paying over-the-odds for a reprinted Enter The Dragon. And I’ll be right there at the front of the queue.

Fenton Christmas, Deputy Editor

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NE of my favorite films of the last few years is Dee Rees’ sensational Mudbound, a 2017 historical saga photographed by Rachel Morrison. Set in the 1946 Mississippi Delta, the production faced several budgetary challenges. Period pieces are costlier than contemporary fare, as filmmakers must sink their budget into historically accurate set dressing and costumes.

Joe Wright’s Churchill biopic Darkest Hour cost $30 million to produce. Mudbound, by comparison, was stitched together for a belttightening $10 million.

Morrison told Variety: “They [the financiers] were nice enough not to rule film out completely,” she says. “They put it in our court and told us we could cut two days from an already barely makeable schedule — or we could shoot digital.” The choice was clear.

Morrison shot Mudbound on two ARRI Alexa Mini cameras, using vintage anamorphic Panavision lenses to infuse the picture with sepia-steeped midtones. The resulting dirtbetween-your-toes aesthetic earnt Morrison an Academy Award nomination.

However, digital cinematography isn’t only a pragmatic choice for cash-strapped creators. It’s a discrete image capturing medium, imbued with its own unique visual tonalities. A raw digital image suffers from milky blacks and poor contrast. But if the picture is treated by a skilled colorist, a 4K master can offer as sparkling a cinematographic presentation as a 35mm print. Just marvel at Moonlight’s sublime opening act, where James Laxton’s digital lensing transforms the bildungsroman’s Miami setting into a mesmerising dream awash in shades of emerald green and authentic blues.

Simply put, the argument for celluloid over digital is rooted in cultural elitism. Look at the old guard’s most vociferous defenders: Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino; star directors influential enough to negotiate 70mm roadshow releases for their auteurist extravaganzas. The snooty notion that digital is akin to ‘television in public’ undermines independent filmmakers who could not tell their personal stories without the availability of affordable recording media.

Look at the landmarks of modern cinema, the works that have foregrounded BAME and LGBTQ+ experience in a marketplace of superhuman multiplex angst. Without digital, Mudbound doesn’t exist. Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight doesn’t exist. Sean Baker’s Tangerine doesn’t exist. Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere doesn’t exist. Creative YouTube comedians are priced out. Fan films like Darth Maul: Apprentice become unfeasible. Digital has the potential to democratise an industry that has long remained the playground of the hetero-patriarchal great man. Now, minority groups have increasing access to the tools necessary to correct these historical inequities.

It’s not perfect, of course. Jean Cocteau once mused “film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper”. If he’s right, then cinema has a long way to go yet; copping Morrison’s ARRI Alexa Mini will set you back $36,000; an absolute steal in an industry context, yet miles over budget for the average backyard indie director.

But the future is written in binary code.

Steven Soderbergh shot his latest thriller on an iPhone 8. It’s on Netflix right now. Not everyone can be Soderbergh, and iPhones are expensive. But the gatekeepers are in disarray. The doors are creaking open. And the digital revolution is leading the charge.

Aaron Loose, Music Editor

Images (Left to Right): Siebbi; Stephanie Moreno, ARRI AG; mrmartinweb.com

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Whitening the past

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Period dramas must no longer neglect actors of colour, argues Neha Shaji, Features Editor

HE era of period dramas seems to be here to stay, with Victoria, and The Crown still maintaining well deserved ratings, whilst Olivia Colman takes home (even more deserved) awards for her performance in The Favourite. The question of whitewashing these dramas with no space for actors of colour, however, strikes as problematic, especially due to the genre’s popularity. Mary Queen of Scots, whilst having the general period favourites like David Tennant, still managed to cast actors of colour including Gemma Chan and Ismael Cruz Cordova in supporting roles.

An argument made is that casting actors of colour in period dramas surrounding Western history can seem contrived and ‘break the illusion’, making the film ‘just a film’, rather than an accurate depiction of the past. However, a film’s primary intention, personally, should not be to transport you precisely to the 16th century English courtroom, and instead to provide an experience of said courtroom. It is also quite intriguing to consider the extent ‘immersion’ needs to be carried out to. The totally-not-racist film critic may find that casting, say, Idris Elba as Hamlet (although there are literally ghosts in the

storyline) could devastatingly rip him from the tender clutches of the Danish princely estate. Meanwhile, a historian would get the twitches at the 16th century brass chandelier not being painted to exact specifications using paint smelling strongly of lead. If filmmakers do not cater exclusively to the latter by using liberal amounts of asbestos in their sets of World War II dramas, there is not exactly a need to cater to the former by avoiding all actors of colour.

The argument that there can be other period films about people of colour has been made for decades, but has not really been executed other than as a weak fallback argument to the casting of black or brown actors.

Period narratives set in, say, colonial India, are often centred on white characters. There have been countless US or UK productions about the experience of Edwina and Louis Mountbatten handing over India to the Indians (see: The Last Viceroy), or about how hard colonial settlers found the heat and dust of India (see: Indian Summer). But the narrative is always centred around the settler, with the characters of colour relegated to the role of a love interest or a secondary plot-line.

This argument also fails to take into ac-

count the fact that period dramas cast actors who don’t look exactly like the character. If one can believe Jonathan Rhys Meyers is an accurate depiction of Henry VIII, I’m quite sure we can make one believe that Michael B. Jordan is a good representative for Prince Albert. It is, frankly, quite darkly amusing how this immersive experience is broken purely by skin colour, and not much else. In Lady Macbeth, black characters are not only relegated to a maid role, but Katherine’s bride is played by a black actor. It did not break any immersion I may have had, and I just watched the piece in its tepid glory.

Cordoning off period pieces with a certain degree of whiteness does not merely cordon off talented actors in pieces, it also reflects an age of longing for a milquetoast homeland before all the immigrants came in. But what may seem like a hard dichotomy of pre-immigrant and post-immigrant is also incredibly blurry - there were people of colour in Britain way before Downton Abbey, and certainly before The Crown. Indeed, if a counter is raised that none of these people had positions in authority, I would prefer to see a film explaining and describing this lack of equality, rather than watch yet another Henry VIII biopic.

Sexism and the city

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Bethan Gilson, Lifestyle Editor, considers the representation of female friendships on screen

N the infamous words of Carrie Bradshaw: “Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with”.

Sex and the City was a TV show that was driven by female friendship. I was born in 1998, the same year that Sex and the City aired on HBO, and yet I still find myself returning to the show as a kind of surrogate older sister. I’ve always enjoyed indulging in their many ruminations on love, sex, careers, religion, and the whole breadth of topics they discuss in the six seasons. There’s a timeless quality to them. Okay, I’m definitely not having as much sex or as many Cosmos as Carrie, Samantha, Miranda

and Charlotte. However, their conversations still resonate with me, reflecting many of the dilemmas faced by young, sexually liberated, 21st century women.

BRIDESMAIDS NAILED THE FEMALE EXPERIENCE

Image: Universal Pictures

If I think about it, a lot of my most cherished films and TV shows are ones that focus on representations of strong female friendships: Rory and Lane from Gilmore Girls, Jane, Kat and Sutton from The Bold Type, Georgia and the ‘Ace gang’ in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Meredith and Cristina in Grey’s Anatomy to name a few. And even when films and shows aren’t specifically focusing on female friendships, it’s the interactions between female characters that resonate with me most.

Ultimately, we all want to feel represented by the media.

We want to see aspects of our lives articulated and represented on screen. It’s nice to watch a romantic story played out on screen for some light relief, but ultimately bumping into my soulmate in a coffee shop isn’t something I can relate to. What I can relate to is getting drunk with my friends, having deep and meaningful conversations about our hopes and fears, about our pasts and our futures.

Comforting and being comforted when it all gets a bit too much, and relishing in each other’s happiness when it all goes right. But surprisingly, as a 20-year-old girl, it isn’t my opinion that media companies are dictated by.

Of the top 100 grossing films of 2018, women represented only 4% of directors, 15% of writers, and 3% of cinematographers.

The 2011 film Bridesmaids, although directed by a man, was written by Amy Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, with a powerhouse cast of female actresses and comedians. The central focus of the film is the testing and strengthening of female friendships, and it showcases the sharp comedic timing of the actresses. It nailed the female experience, representing insecurities and anxieties, the importance of female relationships and a range of different and equally valid femininities.

The release poster also reveals the consciousness of the writers of the stigma surrounding media intended to be consumed

by women. It reads: “Chick flicks don’t have to suck”. Bridesmaids wasn’t the first or last film to make female friendships its central focus.

But it is undeniable that these films don’t receive the same critical success or mainstream reception as male-led friendship films such as The Hangover and Superbad. These are viewed as classics, whereas films that revolve around female friendships are viewed as ‘feminist’. It is this distinction that is key. In our society, an association with femininity instantly means categorisation in a niche and restrictive category. This discourse limits female-led films’ possibility for mainstream success, and thus makes it less likely that profit-led media companies will produce films that revolve around female friendships.

WE NEED TO ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT FEMALE WRITERS

So, if we want to see our experiences represented, we need to encourage and support female writers, directors and cinematographers. By writing about them in Girls on Film; by shouting about them on social media and paying to stream or watch their films in the cinema. Then they’ll have the opportunity and means to continue telling our stories authentically.

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Chloe Kennedy, Screen Editor, reviews the importance of women's representation in the industry

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F you're a committed reader of Exeposé Screen then you've probably noticed a little repeat feature we've had going in the corner of a page every issue: 'Girls on Film' (my passion project). I decided to create this feature after one too many articles about white male directors: yes, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino are good and all but they have had enough of a platform. In the awakened era of #MeToo and TimesUp, I thought it was time that we too wake up and admit there is a giant gap in equality within the film industry: One that is far too large to ignore.

IT'S TIME FOR A RE-FRAMING, ONE THAT PUTS WOMEN POSITIVELY IN THE SPOTLIGHT Yes, I know this is a small gesture, and some might argue that having such a feature placed in the corner of a page is symbolic of marginalisation in the industry as a whole, but having this feature is a guarantee that women's voices are given a platform and heard (at least, as far as Exeposé can reach). Looking at the British film industry alone, women make up just 20% of all directors, writers, producers, execproducers, cinematographers and editors. Of those women, only 7% were BAME, meaning that BAME women make up less than 1.5% of all personnel working in these six key roles (figures drawn from the Calling the Shots Project as of 2015). Clearly there is something up here.

Women are not being given the platform, or even the training, to be able to improve their film-making skills. Speaking as someone who wishes to enter the film industry herself, this is extremely intimidating. If women are not given the opportunities to work on their skills or even given the funding to make one of the many cool and original ideas they have, then how can we say that women 'just aren't good at making films'? This is one of the many frustrating barriers faced by almost every woman wishing to enter the industry.

For me, we do not need to wait until International Women's Day to talk about how strong and amazing women can be; hence why, as an editorial team, Ben and I have made sure to be inclusive in our content calls, including posting an entirely Girls-on-Film-style issue in mid-winter.

I also want to address why I named this feature 'Girls on Film': not only is it a great Duran Duran song, but I feel it represented a reclaiming of the female gaze. Nominally, this phrase at first glance is associated with visually pleasing girls in low cut dresses, dancing around with the camera prowling around them and objectifying them for the pleasure of the voyeur. Not any more, it's time to re-frame. Let's have girls harness their own bodies, choose their own gaze and be empowered. Let's reframe the word 'girl', as a term that is not belittling or childish, but becomes a freeing and uniting term: one that includes all sisters (and not just cis-ters). Let's make this phrase, 'Girls on Film', one that promotes equality and includes diversity, regardless of race, disability, sexuality and financial background. Let's not be marginalised, sidelined, or dismissed. It's time for a re-framing: one that puts women positively in the spotlight.

This feature has always pushed towards diversity, and our writers have pushed for this with us. We've had great features, including Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first woman (and person) to shoot and direct a film in her native country, Saudi Arabia. Other favourites include the now Golden Globe winning Sandra Oh (for her role in Killing Eve), who is an absolute delight and great comedic and dramatic actor, demonstrating that women from South Asian descent can make it big. Of course, making it big is not the defining thing when it comes to the level of success or achievement of women in film, particularly when we look at the Academy's gaping hole of nothing in the Best Director category this year (and with only five women ever being nominated). In fact, this feature has been great in showcasing up-and-coming and otherwise relatively

unknown girls both in front of and behind the camera. So far, we've only had one cinematographer featured: Rachel Morrison, DP of Mudbound, Black Panther, and Dope to name a few. This is what I think is at the heart of this feature, and what I hope it will continue to be: a diverse platform to showcase female voices who are too often spoken over.

THERE IS DEFINITELY A SHIFT HAPPENING, AND WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT IT STICKS

come so far. It's been great to showcase women in all aspects of the film industry, in front of and behind the camera, and I hope to see more in future years. 'Girls on Film' has always been a popular piece amongst writers, and I see this positively for a shift in the industry as a whole: one that is becoming more open to women, providing more opportunities, and calling people out when they step way out of line.

Despite the desperately unequal statistics I featured at the beginning of this piece, there is definitely a shift happening, and we can only hope that it sticks; and a visible change is revealed.

Looking forward, I hope this section can continue to be as positive, inclusive and diverse as it has been so far. I am so grateful to our lovely writers that have helped this section

Images: SBJCT; Berlinale; Fox; Searchlight

Editors’ Picks Images: Aircraft Pictires; Columbia Pictures; Oscilloscope Pictures; CG Cinema

The Breadwinner (2017)

Julie & Julia (2009)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Mustang (2015)

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Screen Writers shine a spotlight on some inspirational revolutionary girls on film

VIOLA DAVIS

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HE is kind. She is smart. She is important. And she’s most well-known for reciting those three positive affirmations as Aibileen Clark in The Help.

However, you’ve grossly underestimated Viola Davis’ talent if you think that was her best role. Alongside the amazing Aja Naomi King (Michaela Pratt), Davis gives a riveting performance as a criminal defense attorney in the hit drama series: How To Get Away With Murder.

I often find myself raving about how the series spikes Image: Afrolistas my blood pressure with its tense build-ups. Davis’ consistently outstanding performance elevates the tension and emotion of the series so much so that I’m left in a frenzy that only the impending doom of dissertation deadlines has managed to trigger. If you appreciate the thrill without the pressure of a deadline, I’d recommend bingewatching the series on Netflix. Davis has mastered playing fiercely strong, black female characters in Lila and Eve (also starring Jennifer Lopez) and in Suicide Squad as a ruthless government official. In Widows, Viola Davis excels in presenting a different side of the strong female figure as she captures intense vulnerability and sorrow with such sincerity. I am always left shaken by her howling cries, unrelenting tears and streaming nose: her commitment to delivering a realistic snot-filled sob rather than a stereotypically feminine soft weep deserves an Oscar alone.

Although she was the first black actor to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Emmy, Academy and Tony Award) few film buffs sing her praise. Let us not underappreciate Viola’s powerful performances in both TV and film.

Olivia Sesay-Murray

LETITIA WRIGHT

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ETITIA Wright has been quietly working in the shadows since 2011, with extra roles on shows like Holby City and Doctor Who, and films such as Victim. After her lead role in Black Mirror episode, 'Black Museum', she exploded into the world of cinema, playing Shuri in Marvel’s Black Panther. In the ninth largest grossing film of all time she played a main role, a huge achievement for such a newcomer. This was recognised in her award nominations and her Rising Star Award. This stellar role will open huge doors for Wright as she also played Shuri in Avengers: Infinity War and is set to feature in Avengers: Endgame this April. She gave an emotional and humble acceptance speech at the BAFTAs as she reflected on her own difficult journey with depression and her path to religion. Wright is not only a fabulous actress with an incredibly promising future, rumoured to be a part of Guava Island, a film

by Hiro Murai, featuring Donald Glover and Rihanna.

But she also comes across as such an inspirational and powerful young woman. As she continues to pave her way in the industry, I think she will not only gift us with so many more fantastic performances, but she will hopefully begin to make her mark in the world as she has shown the scope to become a real positive role model for young women.

Abi Taphouse Image: aimmyarrowhigh

LINDSAY ELLIS

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HE era of internet streaming isn’t just affecting the viewing of films. It’s affecting filmic criticism, too. YouTube has become a hub for video essays ranging from philosophical analysis of film franchises, to simple lists about ‘Everything wrong’ with any and every film you can think of. The more academic side of this is characterised by Lindsay Ellis, recently profiled by WIRED, who has been authoring video essays for around a decade.

Her topics are varied, and detailed, ranging from the homoeroticism in Michael Bay films, to the effect of global politics on filming locations. Ellis’ appeal comes not only from her intellectual-yet-accessible discourse, and wry humour, but from her unquestionable passion for her criticism. The critical film industry, like most, appears to have a higher percentage of male workers than female – but with the rising popularity of independent critics, thanks to both blogs and YouTube, academic criticism becomes both literally accessible, and intellectually so. And this apparent ‘brand’ of the female YouTube based film critic isn’t limited to Ellis – Jenny Nicholson, Natalie Wynn and Sara Zedig, to name a few, all manage popular YouTube channels, women offering academic criticism on a platform, and with language, that isn’t limited to film students or cinephiles. Their nuanced and down-to-earth commentary is easy to connect with, and enjoyable to watch, and their recent growth in popularity certainly makes me wonder how much longer "Proper Film Criticism" will be confined to established print media.

Image: frostsnow Amelia Chisholm

SAOIRSE RONAn

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WENTY-FOUR years old. Three-time Oscar nominee. Golden Globe winner. Saoirse Ronan has already stuffed her career full of captivating, varied performances, and has quickly become an industry darling. At age nine, the Irish-American made her debut on medical drama, The Clinic, and within three years bagged an Oscar-nomination for her plucky performance in Atonement. In interviews and performances alike, she seems admirably unbothered by her quick ascension to fame. In an interview late last year, she remembered being warned of the lack of roles available for young woman in their late teens – still, the shape of the industry was somewhat changing, and she found herself at the helm of two moving stories in Brooklyn and Lady Bird. In each vastly different performance, she manages to capture all subtle facets of adolescence: all the pain and laughter that work within a constant tension of liberation and constriction. And yet, Ronan still seems to spend 80% of her media coverage answering questions about the pronunciation of her pretty uncomplicated name.

Sure, you could argue it’s harmless repartee that has taken a meme life of its own. But, unfortunately, it feels perfectly in line with the historic mistreatment of women in film: a tradition of unreasonable beauty standards and a tendency to treat their male colleagues far more seriously. And while we cannot expect Ronan to single-handedly slay the beastly presence of the patriarchy, her stellar body of work has in itself knocked out a couple of its fangs.

Ben Faulkner, Screen Editor Image: Scriptflags

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STUDY BREAK CROSSWORD

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Down

Across

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1 Musical note equal to two crotchets (5) A planet’s natural satellite (4)

2 Possess (3) Setting down (7)

3 Reduce (6) Confuse - puzzle (7)

4 Hours of darkness (5) Literary style - green (anagram) (5)

5 Bar - pub (3) Human race (one small step was taken for

6 Cambridge University degree it on the first 1 Across 3 Across) (3)

examination (5,2) That which turns in on itself (2-7)

7 Astronaut (surname) who walked Licence for an invention (6)

second on the 1 Across (6) NASA space programme that sent 18, 7

11 Part of an insect’s thorax (5) and 24 to the 1 Across in 1969 (6) 13 Permit (5) Astronaut (surname) who walked first on

14 Spirit - ghost (7) the 1 Across (9)

16 Pinches - slug PI? (anagram) (6) Spider’s trap (3)

17 Uttered - said (6) Tall building (5) Astronaut (surname) who piloted the 15 11 19 Sitar (anagram) - foot bones (5)

21 Overbearing (5) Command Module (7)

23 Victory (3) Humanity (7)

25 Writing liquid (3) All right (informal) (4)

ANSWERS

trivia corner 1. who is the only female to have won the academy award for best director?

2. which rapper is set to star in the upcoming bbc adaptation of ‘noughts and crosses’?

3. which company was announced as the women’s super league’s first ever sponsor?

4. which TV PRESENTER HAS SUCCESSFULLY WON A TAX BILL CASE FOR BEING A ‘PERSONA’?

5. Russia.

Trivia: 1. Kathryn Bigelow, 2. Stormzy, 3. Barclays, 4. Lorraine Kelly,

5. in which country has an obscene beer label recently caused offence?

Bossy, 23 Win, 25 Ink. 11 Notum, 13 Allow, 14 Phantom, 16 Pugils, 17 Voiced, 19 Tarsi, 21 Down: 1 Minim, 2 Own, 3 Lessen, 4 Night, 5 Inn, 6 Great go, 7 Aldrin, Collins, 26 Mankind, 27 Okay. entrant, 14 Patent, 15 Apollo, 18 Armstrong, 20 Web, 22 Tower, 24 Across: 1 Moon, 3 Landing, 8 Nonplus, 9 Genre, 10 Man, 12 Re-

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BUY - EARN - REWARD

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YOUR STUDENTS’ GUILD LOYALTY SCHEME S I M P LY P R E S E N T YO U R U N I C A R D AT T H E T I L L EARN

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25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

Science

SCIENCE EDITOR:

Scarlett Parr-Reid

Strike while the Earth’s hot Lauren Haughey reports on the youth climate strikes

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HAT do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now. While 14 February is most commonly associated with the spread of Valentine’s love, this year its meaning was somewhat shifted, as the following day saw students striking from school to take the streets in protest.

Exeter was amongst 60 towns and cities to vocalise the UKSCN’s demands They say that something needs to be done about climate change, and fast, as recent UN reports warn of its potentially fatal impacts. In taking action, The Guardian reports that Exeter was amongst 60 towns and cities to vocalise the demands of the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN), whose core ambition is tackling our climate crisis.

Through the UKSCN’s list of demands, it’s established that the government must prioritise the issues at hand through declaring a climate emergency. Severity of this must also be communicated to the general public, particularly through alteration of the national curriculum in education facilities, aiming to increase a sense of urgency among the population.

Controversially, the UKSCN also asked the government to lower the voting age to 16 years old, recognising that young people will be most affected by future climate change.

The strikes have consequently sparked huge debate, not only across the UK, but across the world, bringing climate to the forefront of discussion. But, is this only a split second upheaval, or has the student outcry had real impact?

The day prior to the protests,

Good Morning Britain saw a clash between an Ofsted inspector and climate specialist, as it was questioned whether children should sacrifice their education through striking for the

Image: Leonhard Lenz

means of climate change.

Even though the inspector feared that children are perpetuating truancy and not receiving a ‘proper’ education, climate specialist Dr Nachmany strongly argued that school strikes encourage younger voices to be listened to. This in turn highlights young people’s knowledge and awareness of climate policy issues.

Or, more bluntly, in the words of the protesters: we’re missing maths, you’re missing the point.

But, whether it’s right or wrong to strike, striking itself has been somewhat effective in putting spotlight on the issues at hand; a Flemish Socialist party spokesperson in Belgium told the BBC that climate change will now be a major theme at the political elections in May. Whereas, on the other side of the globe, The New Republic reports that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been encouraged to keep pushing forward

with her highly debated U.S climate plans to eliminate carbon emissions within ten years.

In spite of this progress, there are still areas for improvement. Even though the UK’s parliament set up debates inspired by the student strikes, The Independent showed that only a handful turned up.

Striking has been somewhat effective in putting spotlight on the issues at hand Using Greta Thunberg as inspiration with her quote of “we cannot solve the crisis without treating it as a crisis”, we know that more needs to be done to globally convey the seriousness of climate change. So, with ambition in our hearts, further political activism is planned to take place, attempting to reshape the attitudes of all stakeholders, before it’s too late.

Medical matters: let’s talk CPR T

First Aid Society’s Jack Warren debunks common CPR myths

HE UK ambulance services are called to over 60,000 cardiac arrests every year, but only attempt resuscitation on less than half of these. The main reason for this is that bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was not delivered and so the patient’s chances of survival dramatically drop. But this is easily fixed, as long as you don’t copy what you see on Casualty!

CPR is where you manually pump the heart while it is unable to do so itself (usually because of a spasm, known as fibrillation) and oxygenate the blood to keep all of the organs alive. To determine if you need to start CPR, you should carry out a ‘primary survey’, for which we use the acronym DRSAB. Check for and remove any dangers (D) - you won’t be any help if you become a casualty yourself. Check for response (R) - gently shake their shoulders and ask them if they are alright in each of their ears.

Perhaps the most important step is shouting for help (S). Although CPR will keep the person alive, it won’t stop their heart from spasming and so you need a defibrillator and an ambulance.

Check if the patient’s airway (A) is clear. To do this, roll them onto their back, kneel by their side, tilt their head back using their forehead and lift their chin up to open their airway.

You now need to establish whether the patient is breathing (B). Hover your ear above their mouth, looking down at their chest.

You know they are breathing if you can feel it on your face, hear it or see their chest rising and falling.

If they are unconscious (not responding to voice or pain) and breathing, you should put them into the recovery position. But if they are unconscious and not breathing you need to start CPR. First, lock your hands together, one on top of the other, and place them on

the patient’s sternum. This is the bit of rib cage roughly in between their nipples.

Image: Emily Bennett

Start chest compression 5-6cms (which is 2-3 inches) deep, making sure you keep your arms straight so the force comes from your shoulders and not your elbows.

The ideal rhythm is 100-120 compressions per minute, so think of the beat from ‘Staying Alive’ by The Beegees or about two compressions a second. You might hear cracking, which is the ribs breaking, but you should carry on with CPR anyway. This is horrible, but it is preferable to be alive with broken ribs than the opposite.

After 30 compressions you need to give two breaths. Repeat the head tilt and chin lift from the primary survey, but, instead of feeling for breath, form a seal around their mouth with yours and pinch their nose closed. Exhale into their mouth twice to give the breaths, then continue with the chest compressions in the same ratio of 30 compressions to every two breaths.

There are only a three situations in which you should stop CPR to maximise the patient’s chance of survival. These are if you are physically exhausted and cannot continue anymore, more help

(such as more bystanders or paramedics) arrives to take over, or if the patient regains consciousness (you might hear this called ROSC on Grey’s Anatomy!).

There are also three occasions in which CPR is subtly different. For a child or infant, use one arm and two fingers, respectively, instead of two arms as they are so much smaller. If their nose is too small to pinch closed, you should just form a seal around both their mouth and nose when giving breaths, also giving smaller breaths as they have smaller lungs.

For compressions you should aim for a third of the chest depth, as they are still growing so it is more difficult to specify the exact depth for each individual child. The other variation is if the patient has drowned, in which case you should begin with five rescue breaths, then continuing with the normal 30:2 ratio.

With CPR you can save lives before paramedics are around to help!

EXEPOSÉ | 25 MAR 2019

SCIENCE

35

OK Google: What’s wrong with AI today?

Elinor Jones explores social bias in Artificial Intelligence

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E are all familiar with AI, or Artificial Intelligence.

Alexa, Siri, OK Google.

Technologies can seamlessly weave their way into our everyday lives until we forget we ever lived without them.

Whether this is for good, bad, or ugly, AI has long been associated with sci-fi, Back-to-the-Future-style technology.

However, recently, it has become a very real phenomenon.

We should fear AI’s unregulated potential to perpetuate unsavoury stereotypes Defined as the machine simulation of human intelligence, AI has the capability to emulate higher functions such as learning, reasoning, and self-correction, performing tasks such as speech-recognition and using past

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experiences to make decisions, including the not-too-distant autonomous vehicles.

Many people oppose weaker forms of AI, such as the virtual personal assistants we’ll all be familiar with – Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant – fearing their potential to listen in to our conversations, what we’re searching on the web, and analysing the messages we send.

However, what we should fear more greatly is AI’s unregulated potential to perpetuate unsavoury stereotypes, the unfortunately very ‘human’ aspect of human intelligence. Speaking at TEDxWarwick in 2018, Kriti Sharma, an AI technologist, promotes this negative aspect of AI. She highlights how technology we have in the home can tell if you’re male or female, black or white, gay or straight, how likely it is you’ll get the

job you’re going to interview for, or whether you should pay more for insurance depending on racial statistics.

In practice, this is shocking. Google’s infant visual AI technology identi-

Image: Geralt/Pixabay

fied people of African descent as gorillas; many voice recognition software can’t pick up the pitch and intonation

of female voices; assistants that perform mundane, basic tasks tend to have voices that are distinctly female, whereas problem-solving robots with complex tasks, such as Microsoft’s Einstein, are more likely to be male.

Recently, an astonishing reveal by ProPublica reported that US courts are using AI when predicting the risk of future crimes during the sentencing process in a way that is biased against African-Americans.

In a battle to combat the negativity of AI and use this fascinating technology for greater good, Sharma and her team are developing ‘AI For Good’, creating programmes to encourage education about AI, informing the government about using AI in environmental protection, as well as designing rAInbow, an unbiased tool to detect and prevent early signs of domestic abuse.

The rAInbow project is a digital

A yes-brainer

companion for the 1 in 3 women facing domestic abuse in the home. Acting as a ‘chat-bot’, this form of AI can provide a confidential service for women and girls experiencing potentially lifethreatening and damaging situations, something women can access online without having to be overheard or having to speak face-to-face with someone they may not trust.

rAInbow is a digital companion for the 1 in 3 women facing domestic abuse Sharma’s work defines what ‘good science’ should be. When faced with a difficulty, she has overcome this to work towards a positive solution that is progressing technology in the right direction. We can only hope this will continue.

Anna Fleming celebrates the impacts of Brain Awareness Week

AST week, a variety of events were held by Exeter neuroscientists to mark the annual Brain awareness Week (BAW), a global campaign designed to increase public awareness of the exciting progress and innovations in brain research.

The brain is the most majestic organ of the body. Despite its resemblance to a mouldy cauliflower, this jelly-like mass accommodates a galaxy of 86 billion neurons, generating every thought, sensation, action and memory you have ever experienced.

The sheer complexity of the connectivity between individual neurons is extraordinary: each one is linked, via tiny synapses, to tens of thousands of others.

And as you read this sentence, millions of more connections are being forged.

Over thousands of years, our understanding of neuroscience has definitely come a long way. The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believed that our consciousness, imagination and memory stemmed from the heart. This conviction was shared by the ancient Egyptians, who, in preserving mummies, painstakingly preserved the heart but recommended scooping out and getting rid of the brain.

Today, thanks to many (sometimes unethical) experiments, combined with breath-taking innovations in brain imaging, we have made significant progress in navigating the labyrinthine mysteries

of neuroscience. Despite this, much of the field remains an enigma. In fact, we understand more about the surface of Mars than we do about our own brains.

In many ways, the brain represents the final frontier in medical sciences.

Dr Mino Belle delivered a fascinating lecture on the brain’s ‘master clock’ There are a multitude of reasons why increasing brain awareness through campaigns like BAW is important.

One is simply that, with the advent of rapid genetic sequencing and cuttingedge imaging technologies, fascinating discoveries are being made at such an unbelievable rate. For instance, just last year, surprising links were uncovered between our gut and brain, electrical stimulation restored a remarkable level of mobility in three paralysed men and researchers discovered a brand-new type of neuron. Who knows

Image: VSRao/Pixabay

what next?

Another reason why you should be more aware of brain research is that it holds the key to so many issues in human health. Huge strides are being made in understanding Alzheimer’s disease, a devastating condition affecting 1 in 10 people over the age of 65. In mental health, the gut-brain connection is growing everstronger with the recent identification of specific gut bacteria linked to depression.

Public awareness of these revelations in

neuroscience can increase funding and fuel further progress.

Beyond the sphere of disease treatment, understanding the brain could pave the way towards understanding how we learn, allowing us to optimise of our intelligence or even develop artificial intelligence.

The Brain Awareness Week Seminar Series definitely encapsulated the excitement of current neuroscientific research.

Highlights included Callum Walsh’s explanation of the science behind brain waves and how analysis of brain waves can demonstrate why people with early-stage Alzheimer’s become forgetful.

Dr Mariusz Muchas also delivered a compel-

ling introduction to the molecular mechanisms behind stress – a very relevant topic at this stage in the term! Another Exeter neuroscientist, Dr Mino Belle, delivered a fascinating lecture on the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus. This brain structure is the body’s ‘master clock’ – coordinating your daily biological rhythm. Disrupting the master clock can have surprising impacts on our health and wellbeing.

The week revealed a buzzing research scene right on our doorstep The week was topped off with an enlightening ‘ask me anything’ session with PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and professors. Conversing with academics at diverse stages in their research journeys provided an invaluable opportunity to find out about careers in neuroscience.

Overall, Brain Awareness Week 2019 revealed a buzzing research scene right on our doorstep.

So, what can you do to get involved with this exciting brain research? The neuroscience society is a great place to start. Affiliated this year, the society is providing a fantastic opportunity to become immersed in the world of neuroscientific research through lectures from Exeter’s own researchers or simply meeting Exeter neuroscience students.

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SCIENCE

25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

Hope for an HIV cure

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Ruth Braham reveals a new lease of hope for a permanent treatment

IMOTHY Brown, also known as the “Berlin Patient”, made history as the first person to be “cured” of HIV 10 years ago. Now, a second patient has reportedly been cured.

HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, functions by attacking the immune system of patients, destroying CD4+ T cells. These cells are normally responsible for activating many cellular defence mechanisms by secreting chemical messengers called cytokines.

Without T cells, the immune system is unable to function, leaving individuals susceptible to a wide variety of opportunistic infections, which cause serious illness and death.

Now, 18 months since ceasing the therapy , they appear to be HIV-free With adequate medical care, HIV and its complications can be well controlled using antiretroviral therapies which limit the amount of active infection and prevent transmission.

However, patients require lifelong

treatment, which can pose a challenge, so research towards a cure continues.

The report, released in the scientific journal, Nature, describes how an individual, who has chosen to remain anonymous, the “London Patient”, was treated and has no signs of infection some 18 months after stopping anti-retroviral therapy. This work was undertaken by researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford, led by Ravindra Gupta of UCL.

HIV attacks the immune system, destroying CD4+ T cells Both the London and Berlin patients were treated by transplanting stem cells (that can develop into many different cell types) from individuals who had a mutation in the CCR5 receptor. This receptor is a key receptor that HIV uses to infiltrate T cells. Individuals with two copies of mutations in this receptor are resistant to HIV, since the virus cannot penetrate host cells. By replacing both patients’ stem

cells with those from CCR5 mutant individuals, it was hoped that they would be able to create their own immune cells with mutated CCR5, and hence become resistant to HIV infection.

16 months after transplant, the London patient was able to stop antiretroviral therapy. Now, 18 months since ceasing the therapy, they appear to be HIV-free. Their immune cells do not express the CCR5 receptor, giving hope for the longevity of the response.

Alongside said stem cell transplant, the London patient was also treated with chemotherapy, which treated a cancer known as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that they were suffering from, as well as helped destroy the HIV virus, by targeting dividing cells.

Unlike the Berlin Patient, the London Patient did not require full body radiotherapy, and had only a single transplant, meaning a less intensive regimen. Researchers caution that this procedure is not without risk, and will not be appropriate for many patients, especially since HIV can be well controlled. Transplants carry the risk that patients will reject the donated material and undergo an immune response against it, as such requiring immuno-

suppressant therapy. This prevents rejection, but does leave the patient vulnerable to infection, due to weakening the immune system.

Researchers caution that this procedure is not without risk

probably premature; “remission” or “control” may be more appropriate.

Despite this, these results have provoked a lot of interest, proving that the Berlin Patient was no anomaly, and helping researchers develop new ways to treat HIV.

Another important question is whether it is appropriate to describe patients as “cured”. Despite showing no signs of the virus, and persistent changes to the CCR5 receptor, it is impossible to determine long-term risks and potential for the disease to reoccur. So, the word “cure” is

Image: Belova59

Bridging the research gap Scarlett Parr-Reid, Science Editor, interviews the Undergraduate Science Journal’s founder, Liam Taylor

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ORMER UoE student Liam Taylor founded the Undergraduate Science Journal in 2017.

Here he discusses how the journal has gone from strength to strength since its beginnings: So, what was the motivation behind setting up the Undergraduate Science journal?

The motivation behind setting up Undergraduate Science was to fill a gap on CVs for students who want to pursue a career in research, as PhDs and post-doc applications are getting more and more competitive.

There are rarely opportunities to publish your work as an Undergraduate student in a STEM subject, and even fewer chances for postgraduates to peer-review. This provides Exeter students with an experience that is highly valued in research careers.

Also, and this was one of the best bits of being the Editor, the quality of research that Undergraduates perform is insane! Students spend hundreds of

hours on their research projects, but then that time just goes to the marker, despite the results being super cool.

The journal opens the doors for students to share all the amazing research they get up to.

How can science writing be made more appealing to the masses, from both lay and scientific backgrounds?

I love this question! The first thing is that everyone doing a STEM-based degree should be taught good quality science communication skills.

Once scientists are more engaging and dynamic, then the public will be keener to listen.

Part of this is the presentation of figures, graphs and diagrams.

Often, they’re way too complicated and need Images: Tim Pestridge to be stripped down.

Science artists are very underappreciated and their work goes a long way to helping the general population understand complex research. I also think we need to talk to each other more between disciplines. It’s very easy to think that our research is good, or we’re explaining things well, but talk to colleagues from a different subject to get a different view on the world.

Within the next decade, Fast Company forecasts that 80% of professions

will require an in-depth understanding of STEM subjects. And, yet, 57% of students are struggling with basic skills in maths, for example, a requirement in the STEM field.

As part of the ‘Students as Change Agents’ project, how can the Undergraduate Science journal help to fill in the gaps we currently have in STEM education?

Undergraduate Science was always meant to be a science communication publication, fitting somewhere between ‘popular science’ and academic journals. As a result, submissions are judged in part on their ease of understanding.

If we, as editors, don’t understand a submission from outside of our subject area, then we send it back – it must be written to appeal to all STEM stu-

dents. Ideally, I’d like more sixth-form students to be able to pick it up. Academic literature is very hard to get into to begin with, so this bridges the gap nicely.

How has the undergraduate science journal grown since first being published in 2017?

Undergraduate Science has grown so fast so quickly! It began with just two of us in 2017, not really knowing much about the world of scientific publishing. Now the team has grown to include all Exeter campuses, including representation in Penryn, a dedicated annual conference in addition to the publication, and (probably my favourite addition) the inclusion of art and photography into the journal. While it is largely written for a STEM audience, I’m so pleased that the journal crosses interdisciplinary boundaries – art is a hugely popular and very powerful method of science communication, so I’m very pleased it is now included. The new branding is also fantastic!

SPORT

EXEPOSÉ | 25 MAR 2019

37

STATE OF THE UNION

Exeposé Sport looks at the victorious BUCS teams so far this year Men's Badminton 1s

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TARTING off, the Men's Badminton 1s breezed to the top of the Western 2A, winning each of their ten games with a staggering goal difference of +48, and 17 points clear of second-place Southampton Solent. Their dominance of the league is reflected in the fact that Solent were the only other team to win even half of their fixtures; it was a dominant season for Exeter.

Women's Futsal 2s

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NOTHER season unbeaten - the Women's Futsal 2s continued the theme of 100% records with victories over Plymouth 1s, Bristol 2s and Swansea 1s and sit atop the Western 2A League table, six points clear of second-place Plymouth. The season has been bereft of games with Swansea failing to field teams, but an 8-1 drubbing of Bristol asserted Exeter's ability.

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N a similar vein to the Badminton 2s, the Basketball 2s side had a dominant season, finishing with an 100% record. 10 wins from 10 games - and an astonishing +343 goal difference - meant the Exeter side topped the league 12 points clear of Southampton, who could only win six of their games.

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GAIN, a sport where Exeter are traditionally strong, and this year was no exception. Undefeated in the league - eight wins and two draws from 10 games - saw the men in green top the South A by eight points over Bath. Their attention turns to the final of the BUCS Trophy against Durham on Wednesday 27th.

HE 100% records continue - Exeter are a traditionally strong cricketing side and this year was no different; EULCC's 1s - captained

by Georgia Relf, who Exeposé Sport interviewed back in February - cruised to the top of the South Western league, losing only to Loughborough in the final of the BUCS Trophy in the knock-out stage of the tournament in Manchester. The stage is set for a big summer season at the club.

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Women's Indoor Cricket 2s

XETER'S dominance of the indoor leagues is reflected in the fact that the EULCC 2s came second only to the 1s in the South Western league, finishing above Plymouth on goal difference. The 2s lost just twice all season, and one of these defeats was against the 1s, in a fantastic showing revealing the strength in depth that EULCC can rely on ahead of the coming outdoor season.

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Men's Indoor Cricket 1s

UMCC's indoor 1s had a superb season, finishing top of their Super 8's Championship Final group with a strong squad captained by Ben Wells, easing past Birmingham, Edinburgh and Queen Mary back in February, before losing out to Portsmouth.

Image credits: [Top left clockwise] Dooblem; Flomar; Affiray; Parutakupiu; TKGD2007; Richard Bray; Parutakupiu; Hirobi; Vector-Free-Images; Richard Bray; Wil Jones; Rory Selvey; MarieLan Nguyen; Vector-Free-Images; Paratakupia; Spyro92; New Brunswick Tourism; Josh Brown; James Keuning

XETER'S dominance of the Western 1A this year cannot be understated. The 2s won the league with ease - 10 wins from 10 games, and a goal difference of +178 emphasising their superiority - while the 3s finished second, six points clear of Bristol in third and a goal difference again in three figures, at +101.

Women's Netball 1s

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HERE'S a bit of a theme here...a superlative season for EUNC's 1s saw them top the Western 1A, winning every game they played and finishing with a goal difference of +380. A devastating loss in the Trophy by a single point to Birmingham put an end to their hopes in cup competitions, but they'll look back with pride on a dominant showing in the league.

Women's Hockey 6s

Women's Indoor Cricket 1s

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Men's Hockey 1s

Men's Basketball 2s

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ULHC has gone from strength to strength this year, with impressive performances throughout - topped by the 6s cruising to a league victory in the Western 4A, again going undefeated - this time, nine wins and a single draw from their 10 games.

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Men's Hockey 4s

F the 1s had a fairly straightforward campaign, EUMHC's 4s was anything but. Their season came down to the final game - a tough fixture against eventual third place Southampton 1s - but a 5-3 win in a stellar performance saw them top the Western 2A by three points, over Southampton and then second-place Bournemouth. Exeter's 5s also finished a respectable 4th in the same league.

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Mixed Golf 1s

N overall tie against Nottingham - 3-3 on points on Wednesday 20th February - denied Exeter a clean sweep in the Premier South, but still resulted in a clear margin of victory regarding the league title - seven wins and a draw from eight games seeing the Golf Club six points clear of Bournemouth, having played a single fixture more.

Men's Rugby Union 1s

Women's Lacrosse 2s

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ERHAPS the closest-run title race featured here, Exeter appeared to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory - needing a single win from their last three games, before losing the first two - before regaining composure and overcoming Cardiff on home soil to claim the Super Rugby Championship for the second consecutive year. Cup hopes are also high after a close win over Cardiff on the 20th March.

Women's Rugby Union 2s

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N incredibly destructive season from the EUWRFC 2s left every other side in their wake, with five wins from five and an astonishing +315 goal difference from just these five fixtures. The five bonus points accumulated saw them finish five points clear of second-place Bath Spa.

Men's Rugby Union 4s

Women's Netball 2s

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ND EUNC's success didn't stop there. The 2s won the Western 2A but three points, winning all but one of their games, accumulating a goal difference of +180 in the process.

Regrettably, their cup hopes were ended as early as November, losing out by three points in a close contest with Cardiff Metropolitan, but the league success goes some way to compensate..

Men's Rugby League 1s

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N Exeter side winning at rugby? Let's all feign some surprise...perhaps not as straightforward as we've come to expect, but the Men's 1s dominated the Premier South this year, winning eight of their ten games and finishing six points clear of second-place Loughborough.

Women's Rugby Union 1s

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ICTORY at Twickenham crowned EUWRFC the best female rugby side in the country last year, and that's set the tone for this season too. A barnstorming season, winning every game and amassing nine bonus points, saw Exeter victorious in the Premier South this season, and by some margin - 15 points clear of Hartpury in second, who they beat 31-12 back in February.

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NSURPRISINGLY, Exeter dominated the Western 2A division and the 4s claimed the title, with nine wins and a single defeat enough to see them five points clear, with 46.

Exeter's 5s also finished second on 41 points, with eight wins and two draws, meaning the Exeter sides finished at least 14 points clear of the rest - third placed Bristol coming closest with 27 points.

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Women's Tennis 2s

EN wins and two losses from their 12 fixtures saw Exeter's 2s eight points clear of Bournemouth, finishing with 30 points, in a comprehensive success for the Tennis club, showing greater consistency across the board than any other team in the Western 1A to eventually finish top.

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Women's Tennis 4s

OUR points was the margin of victory for the final side featured here; Exeter's 4s won six of their eight fixtures in the Western 2A to claim the title, overcoming Plymouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Winchester in the process.

High turnout certainly helped - two of the league's five sides dropped points due to inability to field a team - but Exeter still won enough games to see them comfortably clear of Plymouth.

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25 MAR 2019 | EXEPOSÉ

SPORT FROM THE EDITORS

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HAT an occasion, what a fixture, what a Varsity. And what a fantastic advocate for student sport, especially here in Exeter. EUHLC will undoubtedly be gutted that their season has come to an end at a relatively early stage in the BUCS Trophy campaign, and perhaps are disadvantaged by being comfortably the best team in the region - so when national tournaments come around, the step up in quality is that much harder. Though EUMHC's BUCS fixtures are the same - in fact, they were undefeated on their way to the South A league title - they play Saturday fixtures in the highest possible division in England, and are the only University team to do so.

A superb attendance on the water-based astro - nicknamed "the Nando's" after the restaurant chain sponsored the facility - were vocal in their support, egging on the home side, and the crowd definitely played their part in lifting the boys after they went a goal down in the first-half.

There's a symbiotic relationship between supporters and players, and once the crowd lifted the team, the team then lifted the crowd.

A superb showing from Exeter goalkeeper Elliott Bullman in the men's game - our personal man-of-the-match in the later fixture had members of the crowd on their feet, and opposition players in disbelief. There were also impressive showings from Kate Axford and Katie Knight in the women's game, with their national experience unfortunately not enough to drag Exeter back into the game.

DRAMATIC late winner capped off a superb event in the EUHC Men’s 1s Varsity fixture – and BUCS Championship quarter-final – against rivals Loughborough. It was one of those nights where, for 70 minutes, the tension was palpably beating down on every player, every supporter, and every coach.

And it was a game where, for 68 minutes of the 70, the scores were level. Yet Exeter found what Loughborough could not – and moved into the semi-finals.

It was the visitors who started the game on the front foot, in front of two vocal sets of fans, and earned the first short corner after interchange down the inside right hand channel hit an Exeter foot inside the opening stages. The ball was fired in by Loughborough’s #15, and castled by #19, before the eventual shot from #12 forced a superb save out of Elliott Bullman in the Exeter goal. The game was played at a blistering intensity that Exeter initially struggled to match; with under ten minutes played Loughborough had another short corner, except this time they made it count – with a change of personnel, #2 took the short into #19, and #13’s powerful shot beat Bullman at his near post.

Nights like that are why we fall in love with sport With the sun setting on an eventful day and the night sweeping in - and bringing with it a downpour of rain - the disappointment of the women's side losing was washed away with a palpable sense of anticipation ahead of the tie against Loughborough, Exeter's rivals - though infrequent Varsity opponents.

The script couldn't have been written any better; the stage was well and truly set.

If there were any fears that the men's game wouldn't do justice to the occasion, the reality couldn't have been further from it.

Every so often, sport produces fairytale moments - the seconds where everyone in the crowd knows exactly what's going to haappen seconds watching it all unfold before their eyes. Duncan Scott - returning from injury to make a last-minute run into the D - scoring with seconds left on the clock to see Exeter triumph into the semi-finals was definitely one of those moments. Nights like that are why many of us have fallen in love with sport.

Exeter went on to win their semi-final with a 3-2 victory over the side that defeated EULHC in their varsity fixture, Nottingham Trent - Kiran Patel, Sam Hooper and James Ferguson with the goals - and face Durham in the BUCS Trophy Final on the 27 March.

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T 15:00, EUHC Ladies 1s started strong in their BUCS championship quarter final against Nottingham as they were rallied on by an impressive crowd of supporters.

After five minutes the women in green failed to make any breaks but held possession of the ball and distributed it around the back line in the hope that transfers would open up gaps in the field. A break from Nottingham in the 7th minute led to a top right shot on goal which gave goalkeeper Katie Knight her first touch and save of the game.

Undeterred, the team continued their press and committed to their transfers

Words: Josh Brown, René Bahar & Lauren Fawke Images: Richard Bray (EUHC)

However, within 30 seconds, the opposition earned themselves a short corner and the ball was slotted into the bottom left just as Knight hit the ground to earn them a 1-0 lead. Undeterred, the team continued to play their full press and commit to their transfers with Kate Axford sending the ball from right to left to create a break through the left

EUMHC 2 But Exeter found a response, just two minutes later, and wow! They won a short corner after Loughborough were penalised for foot contact, before delivering a move straight off the training ground – a superb dummying spin created space for James Carson, who rocketed the ball beyond the Loughborough goalkeeper to level the scores. It catalysed a period of dominance for the men in green and white, and seconds later they had the ball in the net again – though this time it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

The frenetic intensity that marked the opening 20 eventually had to give The frenetic intensity that marked the opening 20 had to give eventually, yet the game slowed into a fiercely competitive encounter. Exeter had numerous short corners, but couldn’t find the incisive edge that would have seen them take the lead – Sam Hooper nearly made up for miscontrolling one short corner by smashing in the next, but his first effort was blocked before the

second flew across the face of goal with nobody on the end of it. With 31 minutes gone, Tomek Brumi nearly provided a moment of inspiration for the home side, reversing the ball towards the bottom left corner, but to be denied by a spectacular save from the Loughborough goalkeeper.

James Carson then nearly doubled his individual tally as he rocketed an effort a whisker wide of the far post from just inside the D. Bullman was required again just before half-time, producing a spectacular save from a rare short corner for the visitors – diving low to his right to keep out a powerful shot from #23 – and neither side was able to break the deadlock before half-time.

Low-scoring draws are seldom the most interesting games, but this was clearly the exception to the rule – it was an enthralling spectacle, and one where you seldom risked even a momentary glance away from the pitch for fear of missing something.

The rain began to emerge from the clouds overhead, and as the sky darkened, the floodlights lit, while the voices from both sets of supporters grew ever louder.

It was a truly spectacular backdrop to a game that was a superb advocate for uni-

EULHC 0 channel. Met and pushed back by the Nottingham defence, the ladies then switched the ball back to the right line where Axford eliminated three players and switched the ball to the left where it was picked up by Kim Sheldon who took a reverse shot to cross the ball into the D before it was kicked away by the Nottingham 'keeper.

Axford continued to threaten the Nottingham defense with drives up the right channel but despite a delivery to the baseline from Anna Mason, and an interception from Sheldon that earned them a free hit from the 5m line, the team failed to convert their efforts to goal.

As Nottingham pressed higher, the opposition took another chance in the home teams

D which resulted in a hit out for Exeter who continued to send the ball out right to Axford and transfer round the back.

In the 20th minute, a ball from Nicole Bowen in the defence was sent to Natasha Patient in the centre who delivered a perfectly weighted pass up the right line which was frustratingly missed.

Only 4 minutes later, a strong counter-attack from Nottingham meant the home team suddenly found themselves 2-0 down as the ball was lifted into the right of the net after a break through the defence. Nottingham then continued to pressure the home team and earn themselves another short corner though they failed to convert it.

The girls in green then found themselves a break with Sheldon who sent the ball out right to Em Davies who placed it on a Nottingham foot, but the ball was turned over again by the opposition who began to sit steady and move the ball along the back line.

However, with minutes to go before half time, Mason delivered a ball to Axford in the D who

HOCKEY VAR

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1 LOUGHBOROUGH versity sport.

The second-half continued in a similar vein to how the first had ended – Exeter dominated, and pressed and hurried Loughborough, but couldn’t force an opening despite a multitude of opportunities. Bullman made the first save of the second period, and James Carson went off injured – but Exeter dominated in spells, winning short corner after short corner, to no avail – Winter delivered twice, and twice the ball escaped the Exeter setup meaning they couldn’t get a shot away.

The ever-present Bullman took on a significant role as the game entered its latter stages, playing a sweeper role to good effect on a couple of occasions to clear danger as Loughborough threatened late on. Hearts were in mouths as – with two minutes to go – the ball pinballed around inside Exeter’s own penalty area. Shots were blocked, before Exeter’s goalkeeper was

able to pounce on the loose ball and clear the danger. As the ball transitioned away from his goal, Bullman would have been forgiven for prematurely preparing himself for the mental battle of penalty flicks that would have decided the winner had the game been level after 70 minutes.

How unnecessary that would have been.

With the seconds ticking down, Exeter finally penetrated the final third down the left-hand side. The ball flew across the face of goal, and time froze. The Loughborough defence froze. It seemed the only man not trapped in this continuum was Duncan Scott, who tapped home from close range and sent the vast majority of supporters on the water-based astro into delirium and the vast minority into a silence just as loud as the cheers on the far side. It defied the odds. It defied common sense. It nearly defied description. Scott, a player who recovered from injury just in time to feature in the varsity, was the man who didn’t just play in, but won it, for Exeter.

A wall of noise emerged from the Exeter supporters, who covered the entire length of the far side of the pitch. There was

Captain's column

initial mayhem as one of the barriers on the pitch collapsed, while Loughborough’s coaching staff were shocked into rare silence. With all of ten seconds to go, Exeter had somehow snatched victory.

It was a tremendous fixture, and a historic night. Loughborough had left every effort on the pitch, and their players went down on the final whistle visibly devastated. Sport can be cruel, but it produces moments of sheer euphoria that are simply unmatched in any other sphere of life.

Scott’s goal was one of those moments.

Scott tapped home sending the majority of supporters into delirium EXETER: 23. Elliott Bullman (GK). 3.

Alex Sweet. 6. Harry Butler. 7. Will CarterKeall ©. 8. James Thomas. 9. James Ferguson.

10. Duncan Scott. 11. Ben Cooke. 12. Kiran Patel. 13. Matt Cornwell. 15. Sam Hooper. 16.

Tomek Brumi. 17. Dan Jackson. 18. George Carson. 19. Archie Winter. 20. James Carson.

Head coach: David Hacker. Manager: Stewart Miller.

3 NOTTINGHAM TRENT earned a penalty stroke that was taken by captain Beth Marriott. Though the ball went wide to the left post, Exeter maintained the pressure to win a short corner in the last minute of the first half.

A straight stick strike was delivered by Chloe Joarder but the keeper went down to save the shot on her pads. The ball was collected again and raised to goal, but it was again well-defended off the back line.

In these last few minutes Exeter looked to press Nottingham and make a comeback but the girls in green failed to gain a goal from their efforts.

Exeter looked to force Nottingham into mistakes and make a comeback After half time, the Exeter defence pressured Nottingham to send the ball out and transfer but within minutes a short corner was awarded to the away team. Their attack feigned a stick strike at the top of the D before they slipped it left and onto goal, but Knight denied

them with an excellent save as she threw herself to the ground. Sheldon and Orla Cooke then helped channel the ball off the pitch from a long corner before the team once again settled into transferring the ball along the back line.

In the 40th minute Axford took the line again and delivered a hit across the face of the goal from the right but no teammates were there to receive it. Back on the defense, Bowen won the ball and took out four players before she was halted on the 25-yard line by the opposition working in defensive pairs.

Forced to track back again, Exeter appeared to be under heavy threat from Nottingham until a transfer from Axford to the back left was returned to Becca Mercer on the right, up to Axford high and onto Cooke who threatened on the right of the D before the opposition regained possession to rob the ladies of yet another chance at goal.

Nottingham started to send long balls through breaks in the Exeter press but the green back line stayed strong with a nice trap from Bowen until a short was awarded to the away side in the 58th minute. The visiting opposition reattempted their previous corner setup and

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this time met the deflection in front of Knight to send the ball into the top right corner of the net and secure their 3-0 win. In the last ten minutes the 1s created a few more breaks but were mainly held in their defensive half by Nottingham while Knight made two more saves from another conceded short corner.

The 1s created a few more breaks but were mainly held in their own half Though the final whistle at the 70th minute came to echo the end of the girls’ BUCS season, the score did not reflect the level of possession and composure the greens had held.

EXETER: 41. Katie Knight. 2. Kate Axford. 3. Becca Mercer. 4. Kim Sheldon. 5.

Emily Tollafield. 6. Billie Wood. 7. Helena Evans. 9. Beth Marriot (C). 10. Tash Patient.

11. Nicole Bowen. 12. Lydia Roll. 13. Annie Dalton. 14. Anna Mason. 15. Orla Cooke.

16. Chloe Joarder. 17. Em Davies.

Head coach: Harry Jones. Assistant coach: Anne Baker.

SITY REVIEW 6/3/19

Lauren Fawke, Sport Team, caught up with EUMHC's 1s captain Will Carter Keall (CK) to get his thoughts on the Varsity fixture and his side's progress since then.

XEPOSÉ Sport (ES): Scoring in the last minute to win 2-1 definitely made for a memorable Varsity, how was it to play in?

CK: This year’s varsity was amazing.

Out of the three years I’ve been here, by far the biggest and best! With 800 people at the pitch, scoring with 12 seconds to go, celebrating with everyone and then the fence breaking, it couldn’t get any better and will definitely be one of the highlights of my uni career.

ES: How did you prepare for the game?

CK: We didn’t necessarily have a game plan, we just knew that we had a good chance as a team of getting the result. Putting in a gutsy performance even if we didn’t play our best hockey and really feeding off the atmosphere and the crowd.

ES: Was there a point in the match where you thought Loughborough might take the game, or that you would go to shuttles, or were you confident the boys would produce the win?

CK: Honestly, shuttles were in my mind from about half time onwards and with the game drawing to an end it seemed ever more likely. They picked up a card in the last few minutes giving us a man advantage and we made it count. They scored early on, but I don’t think I ever doubted us getting the result. We’ve played a lot of games together this year and I always had a feeling that our experience would come through.

ES: With a 3-2 win over trent in the semis, you're now up against Durham in the bid for BUCS gold on Wednesday - what's it like in the camp?

CK: You have to try and prepare as normal, as much as that is possible. We’ve still got a big home game on Sunday against Reading in the Premier League so really just focusing on that at the moment before turning the attention towards Wednesday. I definitely think we can bring it home - we played Durham in the quarter final in first year and they are a good side. They beat us, but we’ve got a very different side now and I know that we have the quality to make sure we get that gold medal. Just comes down to how we turn up on the day!

ES: The crowd's support clearly made a difference at the Varsity, and the semi as well. How important will the travelling support be at the final?

CK: It’s absolutely massive, 85 guys and girls coming up to Nottingham to support us means everything. The atmosphere at Varsity and the semi-final was crazy and we know that everyone who is coming up is going to make such a difference to get us over the line. Being at home for those two games definitely has a big impact and with all these people coming up to Nottingham it’s going to be like playing at home!

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A smashing victory

René Bahar Josh Brown

Exeter University Volleyball Club triumph over Cardiff 1s in a 3-0 victory

Image: Chelsea Lee

Women’s Volleyball Exeter 1s .................................... 3 Cardiff 1s ................................... 0 Josh Fundafunda Exeter University Volleyball Club

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HE final match of a season never fails to wring tension from everyone involved.

Even a 3 set to 0 win kept the entirety of Streatham Sports Centre as loud as ever. An important win for the women’s 1s has set them up nicely for next season - for many, this being their final game. This was the last match of the overall season and their second time playing Cardiff, against whom they lost to at their last encounter.

The first set was evenly contested.

The women in green fed the crowds exactly what they wanted to see and

received all the support possible. The early section of this volleyball game was won on team cohesion as the girls faced opponents who were significantly taller than them.

There was an initial struggle to handle the simply overpowering height of their opponents. They could pinpoint holes in Exeter women’s defence and depending upon the on-court rotations of both teams, there would be always be one, but in some cases two, tall, middle, or outside opponent to face.

Smart tips and tenacious speed secured touch-out points for Exeter Nevertheless, smart tips and tenacious speed secured touch-out points

forcing the opponents on the defensive relatively early in the game. Eventually the first set was won, and both the team and crowd were feeling optimistic.

The second set could only be described as determination at its finest The second set could only be defined as determination at its finest.

Rallies got continuously longer as both teams got into their own rhythms.

However, some nail-biting saves at vital moments and dives from the Exeter women skyrocketed their moral and really lit the crowd on fire. Despite this, they fell short during the middle of the set as a few serving streaks from the opponents shocked them a little.

Over a 4-point deficit and the opponents already in the 20’s, the girls really pushed their game to the next level. Every ball went up, and every single member put their body on the line to make sure the ball didn’t drop.

By the time Cardiff were forced to take a time out the deficit had been closed and passed. The comeback was hard fought for and well deserved and at this point victory seemed inevitable - especially from the crowd’s perspective who hadn’t been quiet since the girls hit 19 points.

The third and final set was truly a showing of the hard work and determination of the 1s. Everyone was in their element, from killer spikes and precise serves to last-second saves.

There was nothing that they couldn’t achieve and it showed.

It has been a long difficult road for the BUCS 1 women’s team this term, and their work payed off in this final set, and match.

By the third set, there was nothing that the women in green could not achieve Volleyball is a physically taxing sport, but without mental strength and defiance success does not come easily. This match highlighted the real strength of the girls, and they utilised this resulting in a well-deserved victory.

The women finish the season sat comfortably second in the Western 1A League. A phenomenal feat from an extremely consistent team.

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