Impact Magazine Issue 244 by Impact Magazine

#244

Modern day witches of Nottingham

Featuring interviews with: Nottingham Night Owls, the directors of acclaimed film Made in Taiwan and our very own SU Sports Officer

Editorial So we’re our second issue in and our team have been working hard to give you an inspiring read, whatever you’re doing. This time round, our mag is packed with goodies to subdue your post-Halloween blues and fulfil pre-deadline procrastination. Particularly poignant is Sofia Knowles’s autumnal night-shift with student heroes, Nottingham Night Owls. Through Sofia’s experience and interview with founder Maddy Ellis, we see just how valuable the initiative is for students and locals alike. Meanwhile, Music’s Maddy Hay talks us through the personalities behind our city’s beloved record shops, and our Science team introduces us to a pretty cool molecule that makes fireflies glow… bet you weren’t expecting that. If current affairs is more your bag, Comment’s Jack Taylor provides us with a compelling argument against those infamous anti-begging posters which (thankfully) have now been banned. The homeless community in Nottingham deserves support, not persecution, and Jack very eloquently tells us why we, as students, should care. Then there’s our cover story. In a magical departure from what ‘News Investigation’ has previously meant for Impact, Hannah Eves sits down with Nottinghambased witch Ashley Mortimer to explore the city’s thriving Pagan community. Over four pages, Hannah challenges popular cultural perceptions of Paganism with her research into modern day practices carried out by Pagans nationwide. It is perhaps surprising how much is (unintentionally, I think) misunderstood when it comes to Paganism, despite the fact that most of our words for days of the week are etymologically related to Norse pagan gods Thorsday, anyone? Still, it is encouraging to see Ashley speak of an increasingly respectful and inquisitive media approach to the topic, and I hope that this is reflected in our rendering of Paganism as it is found in Nottingham. I suppose all that is left to say is that if you’re wanting to get involved but feel you’ve missed the boat: it’s never too late. Head to the back of the magazine for who to contact, and I hope to see your name on a byline soon. Best witches,

Content 04 – News

Exploring Nottingham’s Wicca and Pagan community

09 – Comment

Anti-AntiBegging Jack comments on those AntiBegging posters

16 – Features

Night Owls Step by step guide to decourating object using decoupage.

22 – Food

To vegan or not to vegan? Jake and Ruth battle it out

TAMSIN PARNELL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

on the

cover!

28 – Science

Eco friendly Do we deserve to be the greenest university?

32 – Style

Blue velvet Capturing autumn’s softer features

34 – Exposure

Your UoN Competition time!

38 – Gaming

Checkmate Discovering Nottingham’s tabletop gaming

45 – Music

Keepers of the records Maddy talks to Nottingham’s record shop owners

54 – Arts

“Performing to the mirror” Amy chats to Nottingham poet, Neal Pike

60 – Sport

What is in store for UoN Sport? In conversation with SU Sports Officer, Lauren Heria

42 – Film & TV

Made in Taiwan Isobel talks to the producers and directors

COVER IMAGE BY GEMMA BROWN

IMPACT WORDS BY HANNAH EVES

Do you believe in magic? In the era of one of the most permissive societies to date, Impact investigates the thought and reasoning behind those who choose Wicca to take mainstream religion’s place in contemporary spiritual thought. We explored if witches in Nottingham face persecution for their beliefs. Paganism is an umbrella term that includes many different spiritual traditions, such as witches, druids, ceremonial magicians and healers. It charts back to a pre-Christian era and British history and culture is heaving with accounts and caricatures of the witch. Perhaps most famously is Shakespeare’s Macbeth, portraying the classic idea of mysterious women casting spells and chanting ominously. However, the place of the witch in society has evolved and has even been adopted as a symbol for feminism and environmental movements, an evolution that has arguably gone almost unnoticed by the general public.

Interview with a witch: the reality of Pagan/ Wiccan beliefs in 2016 Nottingham

The evidence for the growing popularity of paganism and witchcraft lies in statistics documented by the Office of National Statistics. In 2012, there were over 53,000 pagans in England, 11,026 involved in ‘Wicca’ and around 1,100 following Witchcraft. In Nottingham, there are 17 people who would described themselves as affiliated with witchcraft, 75 associated with Wicca, and 401 who identified as Pagan. Between 2011 and 2012, the data collection changed significantly to include many types

NEWS of non-conventional spirituality, including simply ‘belief in God’ to ‘Satanism’ and ‘free thinker’. Often depicted as shrouded in mystery and secrecy, there is frequently a perception that Witchcraft is an underground movement. To the contrary, ‘The Mystic Moon’ in Sherwood proudly stands as part of the public community of Wicca in Nottingham, offering services such as house blessings, counselling, and healing alongside the array of items designed to equip the modern pagan or witch with all the tools of the trade, such as spellbooks, crystals, herbs and specialist items. The shop also features a bright and colourful mural with classic symbols of Witchcraft such as cats, moons, and nature imagery.

”After watching certain tv shows like American Horror Story for example, I have a perception of witches to be into the dark arts or curses”

Impact spoke to Ashley Mortimer, a selfproclaimed witch and representative of the Nottingham Pagan Network, about what it means to be a witch: “For me it is about acknowledging the presence and manifestation of the divine in every aspect of the natural world and exploring an individual’s non-physical connection with that divine energy or consciousness”. He continued: “Reluctantly, then, I suppose that means, for me, I have to categorise it as a religion, at least inasmuch as the mechanics of what we “do” are tools that we use to help us develop our spirituality”. However, defining Wicca and paganism within religious parameters might not be entirely inaccurate, as contemporary paganism is said to look back to religious

5 ideas and rituals from ancient civilisations. When asked about why he sought out the Wiccan community, Mortimer said: “Personally I felt dissatisfied with the religion I was encouraged to participate in as a boy. I was troubled that I wasn’t making direct contact with “God” and in searching for a different way to do so I found myself, and found other approaches than conventional religion, essentially “unconventional” religion”. He described to Impact the “very visible and active pagan community in Nottingham” and stated that most modern pagans are familiar with the path of Wicca, but that there are “relatively fewer covens and individuals who, like me, took a formal path into the Craft”, referencing his place in the Nottingham Pagan Network. He went on to define the parameters of ‘magic’: “The mechanism by which we perform these ceremonial celebrations is “magic”, the same as other religions go about their non-physical business. For me, magic simply and broadly means the ability to influence directly experienceable reality (so the physical world, for instance) by non-physical means. These techniques are taught when one becomes a witch through a training process and some form of experiential initiation into the mysteries of how and why it works the way it does”. An example of the sort of techniques Mortimer mentions is the ‘Grounding Technique’, which helps to shake off troubles and be present. Through ‘Grounding’, the participant can avoid taking

PTO

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“For me magic simply and broadly means the ability to influence directly experience-able reality by nonphysical means”

on “harmful energies”, instead sending out only “beneficial” ones. The technique is often recommended before rituals or spell casting, in order to create “a safe conduit for divine energies”. It involves a type of mediation with an emphasis on visualisation - that is, using the earth or the sky to visualise drawing power from nature in order to ground the participant and expel negative energies. Mortimer stressed that magic itself does not always involve spectacle: “Acts of magic are done on a daily basis. My coven meetings often involve specific magical acts for specific intent. The most common one that we do is to attempt to send healing to people not present who are known to be suffering in some way. We have had startlingly good results with this sort of work”. He described how people exploring witchcraft have had “spiritual development spill over into the human development”, revealing to Impact how magic has allowed people to find themselves and develop abilities that they can bring into the world they inhabit. He commented: “These ‘magical transformations’ are not usually instant but certainly huge and significant”. Max Fisher is a third year Pharmacology student, living and studying in Nottingham. She is also a Pagan. She described to Impact a similar tale to Mortimer’s: growing up in a “moderately Catholic family”, she became disillusioned with conventional religion at a young age, and paganism was simply “more me than anything else I’d ever read”. She said that people have been accepting of her and her beliefs during her time at University: “I’m very solitary, so always kept the actual practising behind closed doors,” she stated, “but a few people

saw my altar and some of my tools, asked questions, and were really cool about it”. According to Fisher, there is interest among students regarding paganism and Wicca traditions in Nottingham. She told Impact that the pagan community is “such a beautiful and loving community, and we always look out for each other, paganrelated or not. There is definitely a lot for us to do. There’s the monthly Wednesday moot, open rituals, pagan pride, it’s all great”. Compared to her experience of home, she revealed that Nottingham has a particularly open and large community: “In Cornwall, while a very beautiful and spiritual place with plenty of pagan significance and plenty of pagans, we’re all solitary and there isn’t a community”. However, Impact found, by speaking to Nottingham students, that this is not common knowledge. Yiota Papouridou, a third year History and Politics student at the University of Nottingham, commented: “I knew that there was a set of religious beliefs that had to do with witchcraft, but I’m surprised to hear how widespread it is”. Contemporary paganism involves a restoration of indigenous religion, especially that of ancient Europe. It has enjoyed a considerable growth in popularity during the last hundred or so years, corresponding with a decline in Christian faith within Europe and increased education regarding past cultures. Before the Reformation, the pagan gods brushed shoulders with the Christian theology. However, after the shift in national theology from Catholicism to Protestantism, there was significant persecution of those who didn’t fit the prescribed religion, often branded as ‘witches’. Despite evidence to suggest that these individuals were simply ordinary, conventional citizens, the public

imagination went wild with tales of spellcraft and curses, often depicting the ‘witch’ as evil or malicious, an example of which is the legend of the ‘Belvoir Witches’ based locally in Bottesford, Nottinghamshire. After the Enlightenment, many pagan ideas were restored and by the 19th century, paganism was beginning to be perceived as a legitimate contributor to contemporary spirituality. The interest in Witchcraft also came back into vogue around this time and historians were starting to look at 16th and 17th century Witchcraft as underground practitioners of pagan religion. It was not, however, until 1951 that practitioners of modern witchcraft became known, corresponding with the date in which the UK repealed the last of its anti-witchcraft laws. Gerald Gardner famously came forward identifying with Witchcraft, arguing that witches are simply practitioners of a fertility religion known as Wicca. Similar was Doreen Valiente who has been described as the ‘mother of modern Witchcraft’. Impact asked Mortimer about how life has changed for those involved in Wicca since the legislation was repealed in 1951: “Undoubtedly, society evolves and changes and I think, generally, people are becoming more liberal and permissive of each other, usually with the large proviso that provided someone isn’t harming others then why should they be prevented from doing whatever they wish to do?” When asked about what she would expect a witch to be Lucy Stephens, a third year English student, told Impact: ”After watching certain TV shows like American Horror Story, for example, I have a perception of witches to be into the dark arts or curses”. Sadly she is not alone in that way of thinking: there is a perception that witchcraft is akin

NEWS

to Satanism and devil-worship. However, Mortimer told Impact, “Satanism has no place in Witchcraft, witches simply do not believe in Satan which they see as a JudeoChristian concept and not part of their worldview or theology”. Media representation of Witchcraft, according to Mortimer, is “improving but not quite there yet”. When asked about whether he had ever experienced a negative response to his practices he commented: “There is still a negative undertone to the way people perceive something which is apparently “secret”. This is still apparent in the media unfortunately, but with witches and pagans willing to engage properly and sensibly more and more and feeling confident about doing so, media spokespeople like myself have noticed the questions being put to us are becoming more respectful and sincerely enquiring in tone and nature”. He told Impact that perceptions are improving as pagans are considered “less as threats to society and more as just interesting additions” to spiritual thinking. Pagans, according to Mortimer, are taking on roles within the wider community, sitting on Nottinghamshire’s advisory body for religious education in schools, and the Pagan Network has representatives on the Nottinghamshire Interfaith council. In the 1960s the western world went through a whirlwind of social change and thus paganism gained an ally in the ecological and feminist movements of that time, finding common ground with perceiving nature as sacred and recognising the goddess of Mother Nature. In the 21st century, there are many formal pagan organisations worldwide including the local Nottingham Pagan Network. Furthermore, the image of

the witch was adopted and flipped by the feminist movement, hailing the concept of the independent and powerful woman and the Great Goddess as the archetype of women’s inner strength and dignity. Modern witchcraft has become on the surface a fashion, and, further than that, an image to represent the empowerment of women. In 2016, the occult and witchcraft has sprung up on websites filled with advice, recipes, spells, horoscopes, and blog posts filled with commentary on current affairs and Wiccan events. Moreover, it illustrates that modern social networks and the internet age help to educate and encourage the movement towards Wicca. “To reclaim the word witch is to reclaim our right, as women, to be powerful,” Starhawk wrote in the 1979 ‘The Spiral Dance’. “To be a witch is to identify with 9 million victims of bigotry and hatred and to take responsibility for shaping a world in which prejudice claims no more victims”. It is clear that there is a very visible and present community within Nottingham for pagans and witchcraft, as well as nationally and indeed globally. A philosophy that involves a respect for nature and the empowerment of women has also found its footing within politics of the 21st century. For some it is a fashion trend, for others it is a worldview that fits most comfortably with their perception of the world. But for those who practice paganism and witchcraft, it is a way of life not unlike a religion, involving spellcasting and potion making that is seeing increasing acceptance within local communities who have begun to cast off the ‘lunatic’ perception of old. For lack of a better sentiment, they ‘come in peace’.

“Provided someone isn’t harming others then why should they be prevented from doing whatever they wish to do?”

The legend of the Belvoir Witches

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WORDS BY HANNAH EVES

This legend concerns three Bottesford women and the 6th Earl of Rutland, Francis, who lived in Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. In the 17th century, three women from Bottesford, not far from the centre of Nottingham, Joan Flower and her daughters Margaret and Phillipa, were accused of Witchcraft. The family had an unsavory reputation, the women considered to be monstrous in character. In appearance, Joan was described as unkempt with sunken eyes and proud of her atheism. Thus, it was rumoured that she was affiliated with familiar spirits and she enjoyed the terror that her cursing evoked in her neighbours. Many were suspicious of the trio, including the Countess Cecilia for whom Margaret worked, and it was rumoured that the women were involved in the dark arts. When Margaret was caught stealing from the castle, she was dismissed from her employment by the Countess, who thus incurred the wrath of the women known as the Belvoir Witches. The tale goes that the trio began to cast spells on the Earl and his family, causing convulsions and illness in him and his wife. Their eldest son, Henry, died suddenly from illness and their younger son, Francis, was tortured by a strange sickness and died as well. Lady Katherine, their daughter, was also put under the witches’ spells and curses. However, she recovered. Finally, the Earl and Countess were unable to have any more children due to the snares set by the witches. The women were arrested. During the examination, Joan Flower demanded bread and butter, dramatically crying that she wished it would never make its way through her if she were guilty. Placing the bread into her mouth, she muttered a selection of words and choked to death. Therefore, her guilt was proven and she, along with her daughters, were hanged in Lincoln jail in 1618. The effigy of Francis, 6th Earl of Rutland, resides today in the church of St Mary the Virgin in Bottesford, between those of his first wife Frances, and the wife featured in the story, Cecilia. The two sons kneel at the foot of the tombs, with skulls in their hands to symbolise their deaths. The inscription reads that the two sons “died in their infancy by wicked practice and sorcery…” The church of St Mary the Virgin in Bottesford is still rumoured to have a Witchcraft Tomb.

Malleus Maleficarum: How to spot a witch Malleus Maleficarum, also known as the Hammer of Witches from the German “Hexenhammer”, was first published in 1486 in Speyer, Germany. Written as an all round “guide” to why witches exists, how to spot them and the “legal” process, it is best known and widely condemned for its explicit recommendation of torture, murder and misogynistic undertones. But just how would a witch look, according to the author Heinrich Krämer? Here are some of the more common and ridiculous things to look out for:

Admitting to being a witch or having another convicted witch testify that you are a witch

Having pets or simply liking animals (...so the majority of the population?)

Moles, Birthmarks, scars or extra nipples were deemed “the devil’s mark”, which Lucifer himself was meant to have left after the witch’s initiation

Being or ligh heavier te a stac r than k Bible of s

Witches were more likely to be female, in particular outcasts of society such as gypsies and midwives

IMAGE BY EMILY CLARKE

For more information on Wicca, Pagansim and Witchcraft in Nottingham, head to the Nottingham Pagan Network and witchcraft.org

COMMENT

s posters With Nottingham City Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homelessnes s at the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being ruled discriminatory, Jack Taylor look approach to homelessness

IMPACT

Jack Taylor: “The vulnerable should be receiving our support, not our vilification and stigmatisation”

“The solution to the issues of homelessness and drug addiction very real and harmful problems in society - is not a “hard-hitting” poster campaign”

Chances are you’ve seen them, but thankfully you won’t have to for much longer. Nottingham City Council’s (NCC) demonising, disgusting and deplorable anti-begging posters have been deemed discriminatory by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The campaign is something of a doublewhammy, attacking two of society’s most disparaged and mistreated groups homeless people and drug addicts. It portrays beggars and homeless people in the apparently disgraceful and shameful position of being addicted to drugs, and has been heavily criticised by many on a local and national scale. It comes amidst a growing homelessness crisis across the country and in Nottingham, perpetuated by the government’s malicious cuts. NCC has previously cut funding to various different homeless hostels in the area, and several have closed as a result. Yet they deemed it appropriate to spend public funds on a campaign that completely misses its hypocritical goal of advocating sensible donations and instead negatively and unfairly stereotypes what is perhaps society’s most vulnerable group. One of the campaign’s most prominent critics was Ruth Atkinson, a recent UoN English graduate who started a petition against the posters. “At first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she said. “I had to read it two or three times before I actually

WORDS BY JACK TAYLOR IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

registered what it said. I was angry”. “Exploiting stereotypes like this would not be tolerated if discrimination were focused on gender, sexuality, race or religion,” she argued. “You cannot stigmatise all people who have to resort to begging in such a negative way.” At the time of writing, the petition had gained nearly 3,000 signatures and a considerable amount of media coverage, helping to draw attention to the campaign. The ASA had previously banned a 2004 antibegging campaign by NCC as there wasn’t enough evidence to support its claims related to begging and the purchasing of illegal drugs. This time around, the ASA said the ads “portrayed all beggars as disingenuous and undeserving individuals that would use direct donations for irresponsible means”. “We further considered the ads reinforced negative stereotypes of a group of individuals, most of whom were likely to be considered as vulnerable, who faced a multitude of issues and required specialist support”, it added. Indeed, in a time of growing wealth for those at the top of society coupled with a huge increase in child poverty and the use of food banks, the vulnerable should be receiving our support, not our vilification and stigmatisation. And this is not a natural, coincidental trend, make no mistake about it. Homelessness is

COMMENT

a man-made, policy-driven phenomenon, as is illegal drug addiction. The current increase in homelessness is a reflection of this government’s neglect of those most in need of help - see also: cuts to disability benefits, the scrapping of maintenance grants, legal aid cuts, etc. Yet this campaign was run by a Labourled council, a signifier of how close on the political spectrum the parties have become in recent years. In defence of the campaign, NCC leader Jon Collins said, “The posters needed to be hard-hitting to get such a serious message across effectively. There's no point in running a campaign that noone is going to take notice of”. NCC is considering an appeal to the decision made by the ASA. Let’s hope they don’t bother. The campaign represents the need for a radical rethink of how society treats its most vulnerable citizens. As if these people weren’t already stigmatised enough, being pushed to the edges of society and treated as sub-human, they are then met with the sort of disdain and dislike that is normally reserved for our enemies. Yet the opposite should be true. Homeless people - who should never even reach the predicament they are in, with ten empty homes for every homeless person in England - should be treated with the care they require, given the resources they need to achieve an adequate and acceptable standard of living.

The same is true for those addicted to drugs. Instead of seeing such people as the scum of the earth, society’s lowest point and an unfortunate problem which can only be solved through mass incarceration and stigmatisation, the approach to drug addiction also requires a total revamp.

“People with mental health problems and a lack of support are exactly the people we should be lending a helping hand to” The traditional view of addiction is one that is based on chemical alterations in the brain which lead to the physical need for a drug. But this is frequently not the case. Addiction is often fuelled by an emotional need, with a lack of social support and general wellbeing leading to a non-physical addiction - an addiction driven not by chemical changes, but a lack of mental wellbeing. This is part of the reason why smoking rates (the one drug addiction deemed largely acceptable by society) are much higher among people with mental health problems. People with mental health problems and a lack of support are exactly the people we should be lending a helping hand to, not pushing into the gutter of society. It is, frankly, no surprise that some homeless

people turn to drugs to help them cope with their problems. They do not deserve to be hated for doing so, nor does anyone who develops a drug addiction. Instead, they deserve compassion, understanding and help. But in one clean stroke, NCC’s poster campaign managed to knock down not one, but two of society’s most vulnerable and in-need groups in a total misunderstanding of humanity. It must be crushing to find yourself in a vulnerable position, looking for any help you can get, only to be told by the very authority that should be taking care of you, that you aren’t worth helping, that your existence is a stain on society. The solution to the issues of homelessness and drug addiction - very real and harmful problems in society - is not a “hard-hitting” poster campaign. It is a total reform of policy. It is a radical rethink of the way we treat those who need our help the most. It is an end to the vicious cuts which have driven up poverty, and the unfounded, unevidenced war on drugs which does more harm than good. A war, incidentally, which has recently taken on a new meaning with the vowing of President Duterte to murder all drug addicts in the Philippines. That move is just one example of the contempt with which we treat the vulnerable; those, in many cases, who have already been failed by society. It is a contempt that must be transformed into compassion if we are to make our society a better one.

, d l Bo

IMPACT WORDS BY LOUIE CLARK IMAGES BY FAE SAPSFORD

flashy

verbally c i n h c e t o r y p Louie Clark looks at whether your opinion is valid just because it appears in some sort of printed publication

COMMENT

“I don’t very much care for being told what to think, and here is why you shouldn’t either”

NEWSFLASH - nobody cares what you think. At least that’s my take on it. We’ve all seen them: the articles that seek to draw you in with a bold, flashy and verbally pyrotechnic vague proclamation as their headline, and then go on to offer nothing more than one person’s manifesto on the mundane. These so-called “opinion pieces”. They’re often over-worded and overstate themselves within the first few sentences, and perhaps it falls to me to have the effervescent passion and strident courage to say it - they’ve gone too far. That is to say that they must be stopped. Perhaps I have yet to convince you, and rightly so, since by far one of the most offensive attributes of these so-called “op-eds” is that the writer attempts to shove their views down the reader’s throat. Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t very much care for being told what to think, and here is why you shouldn’t either. The writers who come up with these items often begin a sentence by laying out their opponents counter-argument in a seemingly rational way, before contradicting it in an un-shocking twist. We all know what they’re doing when we read these things and some of you may be thinking, “this is just a gesture meant to make the tone of an otherwise heavy handed article more flippant and entertaining”, but what if I told you that it’s not? No, in fact, by addressing the points against them early on in such a nonchalant manner, they swiftly remove the need for any real engagement or discussion of them. Then the reader, having been left with nowhere to go, tries to ponder a loaded rhetorical question. Not so “entertaining” now, is it? Apart from the insidious structuring of their arguments, the proponents of these so-called “Look what I think essays” often provide a complete lack of research to support their point, an additional faux pas to their almost intentional lack of balanced journalism. So in the interest of proper inquiry, balance and “science”, I spent the day sitting at the tables of strangers outside coffee shops hoping to find two members of the public willing to discuss their pro-opinion opinions.

It would seem that some people rely on these articles in day-to-day life, much in the same way an astronaut might rely on a seatbelt to stop them from floating off the toilet, as I found out from Rachel, 20-something, from Chesterfield: “Usually, I’m like Garfield eating lasagna on a Monday. I have strongly mixed feelings, don’t know what to think, then I read about how Gary Lineker should stop selling crisps if he wants us to keep on considering him a sporting icon, and I have something to discuss with the girls at Zumba”. But not everyone is seeking new information within the pages of a so-called “mirrorkissing hyperbole binge”. In fact, some readers flock to them in spades, shockingly only to hear someone who agrees with them, as I found out from Simon (aged 47): “Even my most stand-offish mates at the pub would agree that I’m a laugh and that I know quite a bit. So why would I, holder of the highest score on a partially broken quiz machine, want to read something by someone I disagree with? I read opinions I know I can trust because they’re the kind of thing I scream into the bathroom mirror every morning: you can do this Simon, like Sir Alan did. Those kids in the park didn’t go from selling ice cream to being Chairman of Tottenham, so who cares what they think?” I feel almost inclined to agree with Simon on that last point. However, he demonstrated himself to be capable of rejecting someone else’s opinion for the most fickle of reasons, and he was eating a muffin with a fork. As for Rachel, it’s readers like her who have allowed the medium of thinking stuff and calling it news to sink to the bottom of the pile. The quality of this writing has now gotten so bad that it’s almost indiscernible from satirical news, and the penmen of this dross are in the same league as those who, without anything of actual substance to say, take the shortcut to sounding clever that is incorporating meta-humour. Which, as we all know, is only good in small doses.

“Why would I, holder of the highest score on a partially broken quiz machine, want to read something by someone I disagree with?”

WORDS BY SOFIA KNOWLES

IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

How often do you phone home?

Tidy Desk?

Nope

Sports Society?

Society

Which do you dedicate more time to: Course or Society?

Never!

Yes

Crisis

The Big O

s Sometime

vert Extro

Always

Ben + Jerry’s or Protein Shake?

ay! No w

Protien shake

Bridget

Yes

In a relationship?

Never

Are you closer to your housemates or coursemates?

Swipe, swipe, swipe

Bridget Jones or Tinder Ninja?

How often do you escape Notts?

Every weekend

Attend all lectures?

Nope

Are you often in your overdraft?

Are you an introvert or extrovert?

Do you ever wake up in last night’s clothes?

Crisis or Ocean?

k nce a wee

Introvert

START

What kind of housemate are you?

Every day

Course

14 IMPACT

Somehow it is always you who ends up tidying everyone’s mess. Doesn’t mean you like it but at least the house is presentable after.

You can talk endlessly about last Crisis, you know the morning after speech by heart and your speakers are always turned up to 11. Your body is your temple.

Coldplay

The Casanova

Yes

Nope

You prefer to be snug with your fave book than out in Crisis. When you invite someone ‘round for ‘Netflix and Chill’ there are zero innuendos implied, you just like to chill and watch Stranger Things.

The Bookworm

Tay Tay!

Taylor or Coldplay?

Last week

When was the last time you changed your bed sheets? Ben + Jerry’s duh!

Your room is the most likely hiding place for all the forks and most of the mugs in the house. Few have ever seen you do the washing up.

The Slob

Pizza!

Order pizza or get the cookbook out?

C rem an’t emb er

Always around to give advice or hold back the hair of a drunken housemate. You have perfected the art of making a cup of tea or, in the more severe cases, opening a bottle of wine.

The Parent

Shopping spree

From trips out with your teammates to weekends away, you are always out and about. You truly only use your room to sleep and reenergise for your next big trip.

The Ghost

Wollato n

Cookboo

A walk in Wollaton or a shopping spree?

tes Coursema

Housemates

The Clean Freak

Would you ever tactically chunder?

Yes

FEATURES 15

IMPACT WORDS BY SOFIA KNOWLES

n o t h g i Spotl m a h g n Notti s l w O Night

IMAGE BY SOPHIE RIDLER

FEATURES

There’s nothing better than a night out to escape from the stresses of University, and there’s no place better to do so than in the familiar four walls of Rock City or Ocean. Although these student clubs are pretty saafe, we often find ourselves more exposed to danger on our journey home. That’s why Maddy Ellis founded the Nottingham Night Owls in 2015, in order to provide support to vulnerable students. We join the Night Owls on a Wednesday night shift, to discover just how valuable they are. Before the shift, I chat to Maddy to find out more about the organisation and her personal motivations for founding it. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START NIGHT OWLS? I noticed that I literally couldn’t find a single student who didn’t have a disaster story, however bad it was, whether they had lost their keys, or been assaulted. I spoke to the police and got some statistics and the crime rates are exactly in line with term time, which screamed problems to me. WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT CAN YOU OFFER TO STUDENTS ON NIGHTS OUT? All volunteers are trained in First Aid with alcohol drug awareness as well as risk assessment, self defence, police vulnerability training and listening skills. We’ve got biscuits to sober [people] up, we walk them home. If they have had a rough night we write them a message, just in case they wake up and they’re like, “Oh God! What happened?”. We’ve got a phone line, so if anyone sees students who look vulnerable, they can give us a ring.

HOW DO YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR VOLUNTEERS? We phone them every half hour [to] check up on them, remind them that they can go into clubs to use the loos and get water if they need [to]. We also log everything, so we can keep record of what they’ve done in that half hour, and [so] that we know their exact location.

WHAT KIND OF DIFFICULTIES DO THE VOLUNTEERS FACE? The hardest situation we deal with is when

all three patrol groups are doing something, and someone else needs help. That’s really hard, because you know there’s a problem, and you can’t help them all.

YOU’RE A STUDENT YOURSELF. HOW DO YOU MANAGE NIGHT OWLS ALONGSIDE YOUR STUDY? So last year I was in my third year of Maths, and this year I’ve just started a PhD. It’s important to me, so I find time for it. It does take a lot of time, but it’s worth it. HOW DO YOU THINK THE GENERAL PUBLIC RECEIVES YOU? We’ve been making an effort to try and improve the relationship between the students and the city, [so] we pick litter up. Night Owls won quite a lot of awards last year, [and] somebody that I didn’t know from the council came up to me like, “we’ve heard so much about you, Night Owls is so great!” DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE THIS AFTER YOU FINISH YOUR STUDIES? I’ve started expanding already in Leeds and Northampton this year. At Christmas I want to take it to three other [universities]. I want to keep growing.

“I noticed that I literally couldn’t find a single student who didn’t have a disaster story, however bad it was, whether they had lost their keys, or been assaulted” HOW DO YOU FUND IT? I started by funding it myself, and then got a start-up fund from a student volunteer centre. The more I do, the more I apply for money. I can use my statistics and say to people, “this is what we’ve done”. We have received money from the Cascade grant and a variety of donations from students and externals that we are super grateful for! After chatting to Maddy, I set out with one of the volunteer patrol groups at midnight, equipped with an impressive rucksack

filled with everything from blankets and food to phone chargers and flip flops. We are immediately called to go and help a drunk and alone student who is vomiting excessively. The Night Owls act fast, covering her with a foil blanket and helping her drink water, whilst tying up her hair and charging her phone. Her friends are contacted, who say they’re on their way to take her home. The student complains that she has lost her bum bag, which we look for until we realise she is actually wearing it. Unfortunately, her friends do not turn up, and an hour later the student is still vomiting, although happy to be in company of the volunteers. It dawns on me that had we not turned up, she would have been completely alone, still believing she had lost her bag, containing her cards and keys. The comments shouted from students passing by keep us entertained, and many know exactly who the Night Owls are. We hear comments such as “are you the Night Owls? You saved his life once in a car park!” and “you do a really good service”. Meanwhile the drunk girl keeps insisting that “I feel bad, just go to Ocean!” Eventually the Night Owls escort her home. This encounter takes up an entire two hours, and we leave only when confident that the student is now safe. Walking towards Rock City, we find a man who has hit his head and is waiting for an ambulance. He is not a student and not alone but the Night Owls still offer him water and a blanket, whilst he mutters, “if my dog saw me right now, he’d be shocked”. My shift was only a small insight into the incredible work done by the Night Owls, so I spoke to other volunteers about experiences they had had. Samantha Smylie, Publicity Officer, spoke of an incident where a drugged man cracked his head open and tried to lash out at the volunteers, whilst Daniel Stokes spoke of a girl who ran through the corridors of a hotel. Samantha summarises the ethos of Night Owls: “We should all do a good deed. People know the town is full of vulnerable and drunken students, so we are prime victims. It’s important that somebody is there, because the police can’t always be. If we can’t support our own students, then who will?”

IMPACT

Not so smart without a phone

WORDS BY MATTEO EVERETT, SOFIA KNOWLES AND JILL FORSDICK IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

Behold the antics of three students sent off without their sacred communication devices

Matteo The Challenge: Survive A Day of Lectures Living without a smartphone sounds impossible to many of us. So we decided to try out three everyday student scenarios completely without the presence of our beloved handsets. The Guinea Pigs: Three Features editors. The Outcomes: A crisis in Crisis, kitchen confusion and the making of a maniacal editor.

This is absolutely the worst day to do this. After planning an early night and ending up taking my housemate to hospital, I only arrive back at 2am. I sigh as I realise it’s time to switch off. With no alarm to wake me up – not to mention a 9am – I’m off to a great start. But with my biggest fear being “what will my Tinder matches think when I don’t reply to them straight away?”, I go to sleep inconvenienced but ultimately not phased. I wake up to the realisation that I’ve missed my 9am. No surprise there. But what wakes me up is the sound of my housemate on the floor above having what I can only assume is the most aggressive early-morning bash ever (seriously, I thought the ceiling was going to collapse). A combination of this and knowing I can’t scroll through Facebook means I jump out of bed and straight into the shower. Although I make my Impact meeting just in time, people in the office are having a goss and I don’t know who they’re talking about. I really wish I had my phone at this point anyway, but when I hear a text message come through, I feel an immediate impulse to check it, especially considering people usually only text me for urgent matters. Still, I stay strong. Later, I’m panicking trying to find LG18. Not being able to text friends to check I’m heading the right way is fast becoming the most stressful experience of my life.

More text messages during the lecture. I take the battery out for fear that using the volume switch constitutes ‘using my phone’. Although seeing people in the break of the lecture mindlessly scrolling, I can’t envy them; I realise I’m more ‘present’ when I’m not staring at a screen, awaiting bombardment from a plethora of group chats. But then again, I do keep flicking through this notepad; I wonder to myself whether the need to constantly wag our fingers predates the existence of mobile phones. 2hrs 15 in: I’m restless. I want to check my phone. I want to go on WhatsApp and sigh with disappointment as I realise I only have 10 unread messages. I want to check Snapchat, not because I like Snapchat, but to get out of the room. Even later: Fuck WhatsApp. Fuck Facebook. Fuck Snapchat. These aren’t tangible things. They’re megabytes, data pulled from the sky. Although they’re representations of human contact, they can be diverting for the present, I think. Lectures over, I can put my phone on. Thank fuck for that! The peace and quiet of being disconnected was nice for a while but for now, I think, it’s time to get smashed and commemorate the whole thing on my smartphone.

FEATURES

Sofia The Challenge: Survive a night in Crisis... literally Knowing full well that I’d be drunk and probably forget everything from the night, I decided to bring a notepad out with me (yes, to Rock City), so that I could write down any time I wanted to use my phone. Most is illegible, yet it’s very clear that the main thing I missed was Snapchat. Pre-drinks can only be described as a painful experience where I had strong withdrawal symptoms. How could I take a selfie? Or record the absolute tune that is ‘Shut up and Dance’. And again, how could I take a selfie? In Rock City, I did the inevitable and lost the squad. Rather than using the group chat to locate everyone, I went up to the balcony, which became my viewing point for the rest of the night. Despite all of this, I had a really good night. I was able to focus on dancing and not worry about drunk-texting or breaking my screen. And although I had desperately wanted Snapchat at the time, in the morning I was relieved: there were no toilet selfies on my story for the world to see.

Jill The Challenge: Survive a Saturday I started my phoneless day at lunchtime. I’d planned to make a butternut squash dish for the first time, and really hungry, I closed the door on my phone and merrily went on my way, assuming this would be easy. Picking up the squash, I quickly realised I had no idea how to prepare it. Do you cook it? Do you not? How do I go about slicing this? I would have normally googled now, but phoneless, I had to soldier on. After 20 minutes-worth of hacking at this vegetable, I gave up, because not only had I run out of patience, I had also realised I would have been equally clueless when cooking it without a timing device other than my phone. The decapitated squash went in the bin. Throughout the day, I relied on my laptop to tell me the time, but missed this luxury when I left the house and had no conception of how long I’d been gone or when I should be heading back. I also completely forget I’d made loose arrangements to go to the gym with a friend and couldn’t apologise for standing them up until the evening (it’s fine, we’re still friends). Although not having my smartphone resulted in a lack of entertainment, in those moments of procrastination, the real annoyances throughout the day ended up being genuinely practical ones, like not knowing the time or being up to date on social plans because of limited access to the squad group chat. I liked the feeling of freedom from the communicative bombardment that came without a smartphone, but it’s needless to say its absence made me slightly late for pre-drinks.

IMPACT

Home from home

IMAGES BY WRITERS

Three UoN students talk about their experiences whilst studying abroad.

Paris At the end of my second year, like many of my peers, I realised I had a big journey to make. A student of Languages, it was time to depart from the familiar confines of the UK and embark on my voyage abroad. Paris was my destination, and upon arrival in the ‘City of Lights’, I quickly came to terms with its unique charm: stunning architecture, amazing cuisine and beautiful landmarks (I was lucky enough to have the Eiffel Tower a few streets away). Working as a PR Assistant, my existing French constantly improved, making life in the French capital uncomplicated and enjoyable. This is not to say that my time in Paris was without its problems. As I am sure any student will know, being away from home can prove a testing experience. Accommodation was an issue, and after three costly, initial weeks spent living in different Airbnb’s, I managed to find a permanent home; being more prepared beforehand would have helped. Insurance is highly recommended; having had valuables stolen, a possessions policy would have been a wise choice. This being said, however, would I recommend the year abroad? Absolutely. Organisation and making proper use of the safety nets available - the Erasmus grant, travel insurance - are the best ways to experience your year in Europe. To have the opportunity to live in or visit this amazing city as part of your degree is a chance you must not pass up, and if I could, I would do it all over again. WORDS BY MALCOLM WILSON

TRAVEL

Argentina

Hong Kong

For me, studying abroad in Argentina has meant a lot more than just reading menus in Spanish. During my most recent adventure, I travelled to Las Cataratas (waterfalls) for a 4-day trip with my host sister and a friend. Our journey from the bustling Buenos Aires took us straight to Puerto Iguazú, at the tri-border between Brazil, Paraguay and, of course, Argentina. The city and its borders boast some of the most beautiful views imaginable, supported by an all-round tranquil vibe. And yet it is only a bus ride to get from tranquility to the chaotic, lively city of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, where merchants will topple over backwards to sell you their goods. You truly are in a different country, both physically and spiritually.

Boarding my flight to Hong Kong, I realised that my preconceptions of the city were made up of only two things: food and shopping. Filling out application forms, researching accommodation, doing all the necessary steps to prepare for my arrival, were all completed on auto-pilot.

From there, we hitchhiked our way back to the real attraction: the waterfalls which separate Brazil and Argentina. Making our way through the Argentinian national parks, surrounded by animals usually reserved for spectacular David Attenborough-esque documentaries, it felt almost surreal that the buzzing around us, was in fact the falls just waiting to be discovered. It is difficult to do justice to the beauty of the view with mere words - the vastness of the rushing streams, while truly breathtaking, reminds you just how small we are relative to nature. Overall, out of many of the daily experiences I face on my year abroad, this trip has given me more confidence and resilience, and a true Spanish lesson when stumbling upon different situations at the country borders. I can truthfully say that I cannot wait to see what the rest of my year abroad holds. WORDS BY SANDRA PETER

The decisions I had made to study there were based off of my own desires: immersing myself in the language, the culture, rekindling with my family background. Everything else came as an afterthought. It’s probably not surprising to hear that I discovered more to Hong Kong than what I first anticipated. In the crowded humidity of the city, there’s political activism rising in the younger generation, a competitive and indefatigable air that permeates its citizens and an interesting clash of modernity versus tradition. I loved finding out about these aspects of the city, whether through talking to new friends or taking university modules. And that’s not all - there are beaches to relax on, stunning scenic hikes to take, bustling markets to explore, all within the small confines of this city. Coming towards the end of the exchange, I felt an affinity with Hong Kong that was unexpected. Like me, it is undoubtedly Chinese in origin, but so touched with Western influences it cannot fully fit into one peg. Its identity is not secure, but still forming, making for a vibrantly buzzing city to visit (even more so to live) while you’re young. WORDS BY KARMEN TRUONG

IMPACT WORDS BY RUTH PENGELLY

-VThe other menu

Our newly vegan food editor scouts Nottingham’s best meat-free menus

Annie’s Burger Shack

Zizzi

Annie’s is an excellent place to visit as a vegan as they claim to be able to turn *any* of their burgers vegan (yes, please). I managed to try two burgers: ‘The Fajita’ and ‘The Vermonter’. ‘The Fajita’ was delicious - the burger patty was somehow so meaty, despite the fact that it was, of course, meat-free, and tinged with pink, presumably from beetroot. The toppings of sautéed onions, peppers and vegan cheese (hallelujah) were amazing and perfectly seasoned. All in all, it was a fantastic burger. ‘The Vermonter’ was equally tasty, with the same burger patty but topped with two pancakes, vegan bacon and a butt-load of maple syrup. Somehow, the sweet and savoury components worked together like a dream and it was one of the most satisfying burgers I can honestly say I have ever had. It was also possible to choose what the burgers came with: curly fries, skinny fries, Cajun or salted wedges, sweet potato fries or onion rings. No complaints there. Overall, going to Annie’s as a vegan promises an awesome and unusual meal, and I love that they reckon they can make any burger vegan.

I was very impressed with the Italian restaurant Zizzi which offer us vegans an ENTIRE menu (yes, not just one vegan alternative to a single dish). There were a number of different starters, including olives, spicy nuts, bruschetta and garlic bread. For mains, there was salad (I skipped over this quickly, eh hem), various pasta dishes and pizzas. Grateful that my pizza-eating days were not behind me, I ordered the vegan margherita, topped with caramelised balsamic onions and pine nuts, and waited with excitement. I was not disappointed. The vegan alternative for mozzarella on top, which tasted strangely like white sauce, was actually quite nice but obviously not the same as cheese. The pine nuts and balsamic onions were delicious on top of the crispy pizza base and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are also desserts available at Zizzi, including a dessert calzone and gelato. With fairly respectable prices (and a 40% discount on all food with an NUS card!), Zizzi was a real hit.

Fox Café The Fox Café is a small and quaint place, filled with fox-themed decorations, not far from the Old Market Square. They offer several vegan options, including salads, sandwiches, paninis and cake. I decided to try the hummus and roasted vegetable panini which was absolutely delicious. I must admit, I was sceptical of a panini devoid of cheese, and yet I ended up not missing the cheese one

bit – the hummus and vegetables worked together amazingly and it was lovely. I followed up on my panini with a slice of lemon and pistachio cake (well, it’d be rude not to). It was simply gorgeous, with a fragrant and moist sponge, topped with tangy cream cheese. It was a wonderful end to a great lunch and I would highly recommend the Fox Café.

FOOD

Do you like your steak blue or seitan? Our food editors debate whether to vegan or not to vegan

WORDS BY RUTH PENGELLY + JAKE TENN IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

Veganism is clearly increasing in popularity these days, with the number of vegans in the UK having risen by 350% in the last 10 years. A vegan avoids all animal products, including meat, milk, cheese, butter and eggs, and the decision to go vegan can be made for various reasons: for the sake of animals, the environment or personal health. The diet isn’t controversy-free, however, with many critics condemning its restrictive nature. We consider whether vegan is the way to go.

In the red corner: OMNIVORE In the blue corner: VEGAN

One of the major benefits to going vegan is that it’s good for your health. According to PETA, going vegan reduces your risk of developing obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Sarah, an assistant manager at Waterstones, has been vegan for six years and yet frequent blood tests reveal that she is not deficient in any nutrients, busting the common myth that vegans struggle to get their nutrients fix. With a little planning, protein is actually fairly easy to get from a vegan diet, as it is present in many foods such as broccoli, avocado, tempeh, soya milk, tofu, mushrooms, nuts and seeds. Nutrients in dairy milk, such as calcium, are also present in many vegan foods like kale, beans and almond milk. The vitamin B12 can be slightly trickier as it tends to be found in animal products (but it is in fact produced by bacteria). However, vegans can obtain this by consuming fortified non-dairy milks, mock meat and nutritional yeast, or by taking vitamin tablets. An interesting fact about B12 is that it is often added to meat and dairy milk as well, so even omnivores have to have fortified foods! Another benefit to going vegan is that it can help the environment. Producing meat and dairy products uses an awful lot of land. In addition to this, the animals require a lot of water. For example, according to the USGS, it takes approximately 460 gallons of water for every ¼ pound of beef. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons people go vegan is ethical. There are unfortunately many cruel practices going on behind closed doors, with animals being castrated, debeaked and dehorned (often without anaesthesia), caged and confined. Force feeding, leading to the inability to support their own bodies and removal from their mothers at a very young age to slaughter are also all too frequent. Even ‘free range’ and ‘organic’ labels can be misleading as loopholes allow for equally bad malpractices. All in all, a vegan diet is a good choice in terms of physical health, the environment and ethics, as well as being kinder on your pocket!

As an omnivore it is considerably easier for me to maintain a healthy balanced diet. As pointed out, it is possible to attain all the necessary nutrients from a completely animal-product-free diet. Nevertheless, it is easier and potentially cheaper to do so with a diet consisting of meat and animal products. It is possible to get vitamin B12 from diet supplement pills (check that they are actually vegan!), but the human body is better at absorbing nutrients from natural food sources. There’s algae gel, but think of the cost. As far as the environment is concerned? There are multiple cases in which an omnivorous diet has benefited the local ecology. There have been situations in which particular species have been outcompeting multiple local species and damaging the populations. Hunting controls populations and eating the animal product means less waste. There is a wealth of statistics that can be pulled forth about how agriculturally produced cattle uses masses of water and plant mass. But then there is rice. You know, rice, the cheap, reliable, flexible source of carbohydrate which is one of the most depended upon nutritional sources in the world. Did you know that rice paddy fields produce tens of millions of tonnes of methane per year? A greenhouse gas that contributes 4 times as much to global warming per gram than carbon dioxide? Production must progress to reduce the impact of rice agriculture, too, not just meat. Now, from my foodie point of view, it’s rather restrictive to prohibit animal products from my culinary repertoire. Dishes containing fish, meat and dairy, when combined with vegetarian dishes and vegan dishes, provide a wonderful cornucopia of potential meals that make it virtually impossible to get bored in the kitchen. Do I regret how agriculture mass produces meat to such an extent? Yes, I do. But I believe that reducing dependence on meat products is a more than adequate compromise. Rather than having meat everyday, have it twice, maybe 3 times a week. Less dependence leads to fewer sales leads to less intensive farming, which hopefully would lead to more ethical farming.

IMPACT WORDS BY JAKE TENN

IMAGES BY POPPY MALBY

FOOD

Continuing the vegan theme, it’s time to fire a few quick recipes at you, along with one recipe to bust out if you’re feeling fancy. (It’s Italian, therefore it’s fancy. That’s a proven fact). Let’s get on with it then, starting with…

1. Peanut Noodles (serves 4) 1.

Gently cook 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped) and half tablespoon of grated fresh ginger in teaspoon of olive oil for 3 minutes.

Mix the garlic and ginger in a saucepan with 120 g of smooth peanut butter, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of tomato purée, 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar, 180 ml of hot water, 1 tablespoon of soya sauce and 1 teaspoon of chilli powder and put over a low heat, stirring until thickened.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions and boil the broccoli for around 10 minutes, or until cooked.

Mix the noodles with the sauce and serve with the broccoli on the side.

2. Tomato and Olive Pasta (serves 2) 1.

Fry 1 diced aubergine in 1 teaspoon of oil over a low heat for between 5 and 10 minutes, until it shrinks in size and softens. Add 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped) and cook for a further three minutes, stirring to ensure the garlic doesn’t burn.

Stir in 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and 1 tin of plum tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon into small chunks. Add 6 cherry tomatoes whole and leave to simmer.

Meanwhile, boil 150 g pasta according to packet instructions.

After a while, the cherry tomatoes should soften up so that you can gently pop them and break them up a little.

Add 6 sundried tomatoes (finely sliced), 10 black olives, 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs and salt and pepper. Give it a good stir and once the mixture is thick enough, add the pasta.

Mix it all together and serve yourself and the person who you are trying to impress.

3. Pasta all’arrabiata (serves approx. 4-5) saucepan, then season with salt and pepper. Remember to taste frequently to see if you need more or less salt; you don’t want to end up with a salty or bland sauce that tastes of nothing but disappointment and shame.

It’s time for a hot, spicy and fresh tasting Italian treat which is simple but delicious.

Finely dice 2 cloves of garlic, chop up 1 large onion and fry in 3 tablespoons of olive oil on low-medium heat until they soften.

Take 10 cherry tomatoes and quarter them before adding them to the onions and garlic. Stir until the tomatoes have visibly softened.

Slice one red chilli pepper and one green chilli pepper; you can slice them in half lengthways and remove the seeds if you can’t handle spice (really though, get a grip).

Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 tin of passata, then stir. Very finely chop up 1 teaspoon of capers and add to the

Take 1 lemon and grate the zest into the pan before slicing it in half and squeezing the juice into the pan. Then add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar.

Add 2 teaspoons of marjoram and oregano, then simmer the sauce until it has thickened somewhat, thus intensifying the flavour and avoiding the watery soup of bland tomato juice scenario. While this is happening, why not put some pasta on the boil? I like to go with fusilli but you can use whatever pleases you. Maybe linguini?

Once suitably thickened, add a small bunch of finely chopped, fresh basil and serve on the pasta.

IMPACT

Fantastic molecules and where to find them

IMAGES BY FAE SAPSFORD

Let us introduce you to five molecules and their unexpected uses

Carbon Nanotubes

LSD

Fly me to the Moon. A great song by Frank Sinatra but maybe not the best way of travelling to our not so distant neighbour. What if there was a lift made of a material stronger than steel that could take you all the way up there? That would surely be a lot better, but how would it work?

Those who have taken Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, LSD, know that it is certainly a fantastical molecule producing weird and unusual hallucinations.

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are cylinders of pure carbon rolled from sheets of graphene, and their extremely useful and remarkable properties make them so desirable to use. Graphene sheets consist of carbon atoms bonded in hexagonal rings, and several of these sheets stacked above and below each other is called Graphite, the material from which pencil lead is made. CNTs are very diverse molecules as they can be made up of one sheet of graphene or many sheets to form stronger structures. They are extremely good heat and electricity conductors as they have electrons which can freely move throughout the sheets. The most surprising element of carbon nanotubes is their strength: they are far stronger than even steel. The cable of the space elevator would be the most vital element and needs to be strong, even at incredibly long lengths, such as 240,000 miles (the distance to the moon). Carbon nanotubes are able to do this very well and work is currently being done to synthesise diamond-based nanotubes, which could be the strongest materials to ever be made. Where to find it? Inside the new NanoCentre at the University of Nottingham. WORDS BY LUKE NORMAN

Synthesised in 1938 by Albert Hofmann from the Ergot fungus found on rye, the molecule was a potential heart drug. However, by 1943, Hofmann realised the molecule was not potent in this regard, but did produce “a vivid, kaleidoscopic play of colours” when he accidentally introduced the concentrated drug into his body. In the 1950s, the CIA took interest in the molecule and started using it in advanced interrogations and mind control experiments, dubbed MK-ULTRA. It was through programmes like these, and medical research experiments, that the drug found its way into the public in the 1960s. Of course, LSD doesn’t just produce the wild colours and playful hallucinations that made it the drug of choice in the 1960s; the substance induces powerful illusions such as tricking the user into thinking they can fly by leaping off buildings. It was for this reason that the substance was banned in the US in 1968. The Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, has recently begun to investigate LSD as a way to “ease pain and pre-death anxiety” in terminally ill patients. Perhaps this is the area in which LSD can have its most beneficial and magical uses. Where to find it? Rye Fungus.

WORDS BY MATTHEW BIRD

SCIENCE

Cucurbituril With it being autumn, here is a molecule shaped like a pumpkin. Cucurbituril is a macromolecule that has an unusual bowllike exterior with a “stalk” through the middle which closely resembles the autumnal plant. It is synthesised by a reaction of glycoluril and formaldehyde which releases water via condensation. Not only is it appropriately shaped for the season, but it also has a very interesting property: because the centre isn’t attached by bonds to the outer structure, it can act as a molecular gyroscope when in solution. This is extremely useful for the hottest brand of research, namely “Molecular Machines”, in which molecules act as working machine parts. In fact, the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to three scientists in this particular field, with one, Professor Fraser Stoddart, being an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham. Where to find it? Certainly not in an allotment.

WORDS BY LUKE NORMAN

Luciferin Have you ever wondered why a firefly glows? Well, it’s all down to some impressive biochemistry! The light emitted by a firefly (known as its bioluminescence) comes from the molecule Luciferin, which translates as “light-bringer”. The bioluminescence known as “glowing” occurs when the enzyme Luciferase oxidises molecules of Luciferin, causing it to become excited. When the molecule releases all the energy required to make it “unexcited” (comparable to an excitable child in some ways), it releases the energy in the form of light, hence the glow of the firefly. However, beyond the realms of nature, we can synthesis Luciferin in the lab and mimic this process for use in medicine. The molecule allows cancer cells to glow within the body and therefore could be used to kill cancer cells or to at least let us see them better. Is it just me or do you love fireflies even more now? Where to find it? Inside of a firefly!

WORDS BY LAURA SAMUEL

Sodium Thiopental “You can’t handle the truth!” A truth serum frequently makes an appearance in many action and spy films - the way for any villain to find out what the protagonist knows. Many of us watch those movies and probably think that such potions do not exist, but this certainly isn’t the case. Sodium Thiopental is a drug which has featured in many movies, such as Kill Bill. It works by lowering the activity of neurons to the brain by acting on GABAa receptors. This makes it increasingly difficult to think of a lie and there is a higher chance of the truth coming out. The main issue with the so-called “truth serum” is that it cannot force the truth out of a person, quite unlike Veritaserum in the Harry Potter franchise which makes the person tell the truth uncontrollably. Where to find it? In most spy movies.

WORDS BY LUKE NORMAN

IMPACT

SCIENCE

29 WORDS BY DALE CLARIDGE

n a h t r e Green k n i h t you

IMAGES BY ALBERT WONG VIA FLICKR

doing to y it s r e iv n U e What is th te change? combat clima

UoN has been declared the ‘greenest’ university out of 407, by Greenmetric, an international ranking system hosted by the University of Indonesia. We asked the question: what has the University done to attain this position?

and teaching. In 2010, the University produced 68,626 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and 5 years later it achieved an impressive 2.9% decrease. Albeit a massive improvement, 57,596 tonnes of CO2 is still a mildly terrifying amount.

Recycling is one of the more easily attainable ways to reduce our environmental impact. A material is only recyclable if it requires less energy to reuse it than to replace it. In 2005, UoN’s UK campuses recycled a measly 4% of all their waste. This was raised to 29% by the beginning of 2010; in its environmental strategy, the University set out a plan to raise it to 40% by introducing recycling points across the campuses, composting food waste produced and using the compost. The strategy stretched further to introduce recycling of IT equipment and batteries, as well as donating unwanted bedding and clothing to charities. Today, we can proudly confirm that our University smashed this goal and now recycles 85% of all of its UK waste.

It is abundantly clear that the problem is not going to go away simply because institutions like UoN set goals like this. There is a requirement for entirely new technology. Fortunately, some of this technology can be found right here at UoN.

Whilst recycling is something we can all contribute to, the University as a direct producer of greenhouse gases, which are the main force behind climate change, is focusing some of its strategy on reducing its CO2 emissions. The 2010 strategy stated its aim was to “raise awareness of energy costs” as well as reduce its energy consumption without impacting on research

Dr Elaine O’Reilly works on enzymes that transform 418,000 J of energy per day in our body to keep us alive. This is roughly equivalent to blowing up 450 sticks of dynamite daily. These enzymes operate in a relatively stable and sustainable fashion. O’Reilly works to use these molecules to reduce the amount of energy required to perform chemical reactions, and change and edit enzymes to do the reactions we want them to do. Chemical reactions produce the vast majority of things we need, from plastics to Quorn. Also at UoN, Professor Neil Champness works on Nano-materials and self-assembling molecules which reduce the need for outside energy sources. One policy that is making a difference is the NUS ‘Switch Off’ scheme, which the University has embraced with open arms. ‘Switch Off’ rewards students (with ice

cream), for switching off lights, wearing jumpers to stay warm and cooking sensibly. Considering using a saucepan lid can reduce energy usage by 90%, the 30,000 strong body of full time students living in the UK and making baked beans on a daily basis could have a significant impact on the amount of energy used. Although the scale of the task seems impossible and the consequences of failure are dire, environmental disasters have been averted before. In 1974, the first strong evidence that CFCs destroy the ozone layer came to light. By 1987, the international community agreed to ban the use of CFCs and by August 1989 the ban was enforced, almost entirely stopping their manufacture and their usage. Although the environmental problem is strikingly different and the CFCs were significantly less important, it is a clear sign that international cooperation can work in dire circumstances such as these. And UoN, as “UK’s Global University”, should be and is part of that change.

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STYLE

WORDS BY ELLE MAGILL IMAGES BY FAE SAPSFORD

Film and fashion have been hopelessly entwined from the very beginning. Even my father, one of the least fashionably inclined people on this planet, has always longed for a cool, “stars ‘n’ stripes” leather jacket, in the likeness of Peter Fonda’s in Easy Rider (1969). Since the dawn of film, the public has strived to emulate film-fashion icons, from sex symbol Marilyn Monroe’s billowing white dress in the Seven-year Itch (1955) to the pigtails of manic, psycho-sexy Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016). There are many iconic moments for fashion throughout film’s history, but personally, one sticks out. Voted ‘Best Costume of All Time‘ by Sky Movies, the hypnotising, emerald green evening dress worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement (2007) has haunted my memory since I saw the film. The iconic, slinky dress was the product of a brilliant mind: that of the magnificent costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, who is no stranger to both the BAFTA and Academy Awards. This piece of costume perfection encapsulates the 1930’s-40’s style with paradoxical elegant simplicity. However, more importantly, the brilliance of this outfit is its ability to simultaneously capture the opulent, feminine and sexual tones of the film. It is a true work of art. In its simplest form, film creates an intricately designed fantastical world, constructed to allow the audience to seamlessly slip into it without notice. It is easy to overlook the role of costumes, which are such an indispensable part of this. The costume designer’s job is not only to make the costumes feel authentic to their setting - its role is far more profound. The clever design of costume weaves a cohesive visual tapestry within the frames of the movie. There is a speculative theory that the emerald green colour of the dress in Atonement is used to unnerve the audience, as it is not a colour typically seen on-screen. It was chosen deliberately to make the audience feel uncomfortable, perhaps as a foreshadowing mechanism for the next few pivotal scenes. It has been said that the great Hitchcock himself used the colour green for that very reason when he clad Tippi Hedren in that iconically odd green suit in the legendary Birds (1963). Another, equally unsettling, wearer of the colour is the legendary Heath Ledger as the menacing Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). I mean, The Dark Knight just wouldn’t be the same if the Joker were dressed in cornflower blue, would it? The love affair between film and fashion is forever. Perhaps this is because we often become so encapsulated in a film that we unwittingly will do anything to hold onto a slice of that alternate reality. This holds true, whether it’s a case of buying a Hepburn-esque LBD or running around in skin-tight, shiny hot pants and dip dyed pigtails on a chilly October night. At some point we all fantasise about being a particular movie character, and what quicker shortcut to fulfilling that fantasy is there than dressing like them?

Clothes make the man Elle Magill takes a closer look at some of the most iconic moments in film fashion

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEMMA BROWN, SOPHIE RIDLER & GINNY MOORE MODELLED BY HELEN MOULES, GEORGIE BRAY AND JESSICA GUNTER DIRECTED & STYLED BY JO GRIMWOOD

32 IMPACT

Blue velvet

As the temperature begins to drop, a wealth of trends emerge. Fur, velvet and florals are bringing out the softer side of fashion

STYLE

Georgie wears: Top from Urban Outfitters, coat from Lou Lou’s Vintage Fair, shoes from Office, bag from Lou Lou’s Vintage Fair and necklace from Topshop.

Helen wears: Top from Depop, trousers from Zara and boots from Office.

Jessica wears: Top from Depop, trousers from Topshop, coat from Topshop, Bag from Lou Lou’s Vintage Fair and boots from Topshop.

IMPACT

Exposure competition

WINNER EMILY WOODCOCK

EXPOSURE

WINNER EMILY WOODCOCK

If you would like to get involved with Images email: images@impactnottingham.com

EXPOSURE

RUNNER-UP REUBEN FAKOYA

RUNNER-UP GEORGINA BRAY

WORDS BY ANTHONY OSMASTON

GAMING

Checkmate

39 WORDS BY ANTHONY OSMASTON IMAGE BY VIRGINIA MOORE

Anthony Osmaston interviews David Smith, founder and co-owner of Nottingham’s Dice Cup Board Game Café

Tabletop gaming is an old pastime, with the earliest references to chess dating back to before the 6th century AD. Since then, it has persisted and grown to huge levels of popularity, being one of the most diverse forms of entertainment available. Recently, popular culture’s interest in boardgaming has taken on a new form, as can be seen today in the very heart of Nottingham with The Dice Cup Board Game Café on Mansfield Road. I spoke to David Smith, one of the co-owners of the café and shop, about his business and the popularity of board gaming in general. David tells me that he soft-opened Dice Cup Café in January this year after owning a comic book shop in Nottingham for 7 years. “It’s an area that I’ve always enjoyed being a part of, having worked in a comic book shop before that,” he shares. “Recently a friend came to me asking if I wanted to create a board game café, so I brought in my shop and we combined the two ideas to create The Dice Cup Café”. Since then, David and his co-owners have expanded their library, now owning over 400 titles that are on display and available for play or purchase. Asked about popularity levels, David responds: “Popularity seems good. People seem to like coming here in the evenings, and, most importantly, people come back! Most of the games here started from our own collection, but we are always adding more titles. For example, we have a kid who comes in with his mother every week; as a result we’ve increased our repertoire to include many more kids games”. I question David about the classical stereotypes attached to boardgaming which may lead to disinterest in some people namely, that games like Magic the Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons are only played by a group of basement dwelling virgins. He quickly puts me in my place: “We get a lot

of families in here with kids, so unless they are all adopting I don’t think that stereotype holds a lot of ground in today’s world”. He recognises that while there is not a clear demographic to the type of people that visit the café - both families and groups of friends are frequent attendees - “when it comes to competitive play, [it] tends to shift to a more male-oriented scene [and] people in their 20s or 30s”. The café is also regularly frequented by students who, as David reminds me, “are as varied as anything”. And not everyone who walks through Dice Cup’s doors is a boardgaming expert: “We get people that know what they are doing and want to dive straight into it, but we also get people that are just curious and want to try something out”. It seems that there really is something for everyone, whether they’re an avid boardgamer or truly clueless but genuinely intrigued.

IF I WERE TO COME TO THE SHOP AND WANTED TO TRY A NEW TITLE, WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND? It depends on how many others you came with. One of the biggest things we get asked for are recommendations for 2 player games. Patchwork and Jaipur are two of my most recommended titles here. I’d say the average size group we get is around 4 people, but we do get the odd person that turns up on their own.

IF I WANTED TO COME ON MY OWN, WHAT SORT OF OPTIONS WOULD I HAVE? Thursday night is our ‘free night’ in which people can jump into any group they like. Coming on your own is a bit harder during the week, but we’re looking at setting up a ‘flag’ system - which, when displayed,

allows people to come over and join in. Not displaying a flag would let you just play with the people that you came with, without interruption.

SINCE BOARDGAMING IS SUCH A DIVERSE AREA, IT’S MORE THAN LIKELY I WOULDN’T KNOW 90% OF THE GAMES BEING PLAYED. WHAT SORT OF SYSTEM DO YOU HAVE IN PLACE TO HELP NEW PLAYERS? We are as involved as the customer wants us to be. We’ll sit down with people and guide them on how to play any of our games, or if they want to they can sit and read the manual and figure stuff out themselves. I don’t know all of the titles that we have either, but if I know it, I’ll help you. Same goes with our staff, who are all extremely friendly and will do anything it takes to get you stuck into whatever game you like.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THIS BUSINESS GOING IN THE FUTURE? At the moment we are looking to do more events, taking a specific game and doing a tournament with it. We’re still new, and we’re constantly looking for new ways of providing an unforgettable experience to our customers. An example of this is with our new private room, set up with a system called ‘Syrinscape’. It is an application that adds audio cues to Dungeons and Dragons games and provides a hugely immersive experience. The Dice Cup Café is still a fledgeling business in Nottingham, but with the combined experiences of the three owners, it seems that the café has an extremely promising future. I’d wholly recommend giving the place a visit, and trying something out; you may just find a new board game that you adore.

IMPACT

OMG GRIL?!

WORDS BY AYŞE CLARKE

Ayşe Clarke discusses equality in eSports

Take a moment and ask yourself why the ‘girl gamer’ is such a unicorn? Stereotypes would have you believe that they are not only rare creatures in and of themselves, but also something special to be given preferential treatment or hunted as a valuable commodity to claim for oneself, if not shot down completely. Yet if girls who play games (also known as ‘grils’ by the ceaselessly witty internet community) can make it through the hordes of naysayers, patronisers, and harassers, they may be considered pioneers in reaching a competitive level. That’s right, in such a technologically advanced, ‘modern’ world as eSports, it’s still revolutionary stuff for women to have a presence. So what are the big leagues doing about it? Surely it’s sensible to encourage more women to get involved with eSports, even on a financial basis rather than social? In fact, the prevailing attitude just two years ago was quite the opposite, as explained by Michal Blicharz, the former head of pro gaming for massive global eSports company ESL: “We are not focused on expanding our demographic beyond who we currently reach because our core audience is growing every year. Historically all attempts to target non-core eSports demographics have been failures”. Active promotion of female competitive gaming was simply not a risk that some companies were willing to take, leaving it to the community itself to try and promote these changes from the bottom up. One case where this has actually succeeded relates to the International eSports Federation (IeSF)’s tournament setup, as in 2014, IeSF regulations meant that

Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Ultra Street Fighter V were ‘male-only’ games. Thankfully, the gaming community drew enough attention to this issue that, within the year, the IeSF changed their male-exclusive tournaments to be ‘open for all’. However, they continued their initiative from 2012 to run ‘FemaleOnly’ tournaments (with smaller prize pools) for StarCraft 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, stating that these competitions “aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation at these events”. Director of research and consumer insights at SuperData Research, Stephanie Llamas, sums up precisely the concern with this approach: “The key is not to segment them out. If women have their own competitions and are a subset of eSports, it’s not going to make a huge difference. They need to be integrated into eSports”. In 2016, mixed results continue to feature in the progression of female competitive gaming. Intel and the previously malefocused ESL have collaborated to form ‘AnyKey’. Half of the organisation is based on research to “generate new insights into players, audiences, and industry”. The other half seeks to implement practical solutions, setting up spaces at gaming events for “conversation, networking, and information exchange”, along with female-only tournaments to promote visibility of female competitors. Quite how an organisation can be dedicated to equality yet still provide separate events based on gender, I’m not sure. At the very least, the rise of initiatives like AnyKey demonstrate to the gaming community that gender equality is something that matters to them, and they are working to resolve the problems facing female gamers in the eSports scene.

GAMING

Interviewing the innkeeper

41 WORDS BY TOM EVANS IMAGE BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

Tom Evans talks to Tom, host of several Nottingham based Hearthstone events, about how to get started

The National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham hosts a lot of interesting events; last month the Fireside Gathering caught my eye. In the words of Tom, the organiser, a ‘Fireside Gathering’ is a Hearthstone (an online collectible card game) community event that is open to anyone to come along and meet other players and play games in a friendly and welcoming environment. I got chatting to Tom during the event, who agreed to answer some questions about how the event came about.

on Blizzard’s own site battle.net, where they keep a listing of upcoming events people can search”, he told me. After beginning as a casual meet-up, demand for a tournament quickly increased, with the first one hosting 42 entrants. Tom stressed the need to have a good tournament management application, and to understand how it works. The tournaments still feature in the gatherings he runs today, where he smoothly coordinates the matches using a browserbased tournament application.

Tom’s work. “I had the amazing opportunity to go to California and meet some other Innkeepers (hosts of Hearthstone community events), as well as some of the community team and some developers who work on Hearthstone. Blizzard take community events very seriously for Hearthstone - it’s vital to the life of the game”. Tom also got to meet Ben Brode, the game’s lead designer; a memory and selfie which I’m sure causes envy in the hearts of many Hearthstone players.

Tom, a graduate from UoN who now runs The Toast Bar at the NVA, has been playing and enjoying Hearthstone since beta. In his own words, it rekindled the fun of Magic the Gathering with a really impressive client. Tom’s high opinion of the game is shared by many (over 50 million players worldwide) but when Tom first looked for a local event, there didn’t seem to be any. When he started to work at the NVA, he realised he was in the perfect venue for a Fireside Gathering.

In all my visits to the NVA, I’ve been part of a diverse mix of people. Tom says his events are attended by a pretty big range of ages and backgrounds, who also vary in play skill. “We have a few regulars who often reach Legend, one of which is currently in the top 8 for the Hearthstone event at Insomnia. Best of luck to him! But there are also much more casual players”. The tournament is run Swiss style, meaning that everyone plays every round regardless of whether they won or lost. This format is as welcoming as the community itself, and works really well for everyone who just wants to play games.

When I asked whether he’d encourage people to organise their own gaming events, Tom was very positive, saying it’s not as difficult as it might seem. He also shared some useful tips on how to do so, as well as how lucky he was to already have a venue in the form of the NVA. “A lot of bars will be happy to host something that might bring people in on an otherwise quiet evening. Just make sure the Internet is sufficient! That is really important”. His other key piece of advice was simple and quite humble: “Listen to your players. It’s their event really”.

The venue already sorted, the next course of action was promoting the event. “Facebook is the key one, as there are a few Hearthstone groups like Hearthstone UK that are great for promoting your event, and it is also definitely worth submitting the event

Tom’s event hasn’t just proven a hit with the gamers of Nottingham; Blizzard, the developers of Hearthstone, also recognise

For more of my interview with Tom, head to the Gaming section at www.impactnottingham.com.

IMPACT WORDS BY ISOBEL SHEENE

IMAGES BY MIT NOTIFF ORGANISERS

MAKING SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING First time directors, Jonny and Leonora Moore, talk about their passion for cinema, and how it kept them going to make Made in Taiwan despite a tight budget

We were lucky enough to secure an interview with the siblings behind Made in Taiwan (MIT), the film that won the Robin Hood Award for Best UK Feature at the Nottingham International Film Festival’s (Notiff) closing ceremony. Beer in hand, we discussed tight budgets, cramped sets and why neither of these are really setbacks when you love what you do. Jonny and Leonora – the writers, directors, editors, producers, and almost everythingers of the film – came up with the idea together, combining its surreal qualities with their own experiences. “We both lived abroad just after graduating from uni and studied languages”, Jonny explains, “Leo [studying] Japanese in Japan, me Chinese in Taiwan, and I think that opened our eyes and made us think that there were more options than we’d previously thought. While we’re young, why not try something we’ve always had a passion for?” They had both been interested in filmmaking from a young age, but it seemed a far-

off prospect: “Something that happened in Hollywood”, as Leonora puts it. Their subjects of choice at university – Maths and Physics – followed along the lines of more ‘traditional’ career paths. “I’d looked into the kind of careers which tend to follow from Maths, like accountancy and banking and thought ‘I don’t really want to do this, this isn’t really for me’,” Jonny explained. Leonora goes further to say that in Japan she had been “surrounded by people who didn’t really have a plan”. She told herself: “I’ve still got time to do things. What do I really want to do?”. Made In Taiwan is the result. MIT follows the story of Jack, an experimental British filmmaker living in Taiwan, as he begins making films that offer the viewer drug-like highs. The film, whilst clearly surreal at points, is very well-made, and explores concepts such as addiction, the underground drug market, and the impact of a person’s obsession on their life. The jagged plot is expertly depicted through brilliant acting and clever editing.

Making the film was not without its difficulties, though. An extremely tight budget meant long hours, little sleep, and tiny rations of what takeaways they could afford. “[Jack’s] actual room in the film was where we slept. We also wanted to find people who would work for free,” Leo says, and they laugh as they remember cramming everyone into the same apartment they were filming in. Jonny ended up spending much of the month it took to film sleeping under Jack’s desk. “I guess it’s balancing what we’d like to do with what we’re capable of doing”, Jonny tells us. “Of course there are people that made it, that wouldn’t want to work with you, but then there are people who haven’t made it, and they’ve got no talent, so you’re not going to get anything out of them. “We got our sound mixers from the National Film and Television school who worked for free. They were working commercial jobs to pay their bills after uni, but they were also looking for creative jobs. We managed to find people like that who were a good match with us because they were involved with

FILM &.TV

something creative and we got to use their expertise and NFTV facilities”. This shows. Despite its low budget, the movie never feels cheap, and it utilises its limited sets extremely well. The inclusion of several more artistic shots also adds to a sense that this is a well-finished film created by experts, not one you expect to have been made under the conditions the siblings speak of. The film’s ambiguous ending (no spoilers) was an interesting choice on the director’s part as it feels intentionally very different from the rest of the film. “That kind of jolt to something else, it makes people think ‘oh what’s going on here?’,” says Jonny. It allows for the audience’s own interpretation. “We don’t like definitive endings”, Leo says, and Jonny agrees; “we’re drawn to films that pose more questions than they answer”. MIT is definitely that kind of film.

“I’ve still got time to do things…What do I really want to do?” For those searching for a comparison, the siblings mention how their film had been likened to recent drama-thriller series Mr Robot. “This underground thing that was going on, the electronic soundtrack, that kind of stuff”, Jonny says. He hadn’t watched the series until after they’d finished work on their own film, but now he can see several links. “Almost every single episode ends with that kind of unexpected open ending”, he says, just like MIT. We also discussed Jack’s similarities with Walter White’s obsessiveness in Breaking Bad. That’s one of the reasons why this film is so strangely believable; as Leo said, seeing the growth “step by step” of a character makes you look differently at the story: “You can relate to it”. This might also be product of how much of the movie feels familiar. As Leonora puts it, “we wanted to share bits and colours of our experiences abroad”. This development of Jack’s journey is vital to the film. There is little backstory to any of the characters in MIT, but it never feels like anything is missing. Jonny and Leo talked

about the importance of working closely with their actors to make sure all their ideas were represented in the characterisation.

“We wanted to share bits, colours, of our experiences abroad” So what’s next? “Distribution”. They’ve been taking their film to various festivals, starting in Manchester in March. They want to take it back to Taiwan to showcase, either at the festivals that open up, or just to screen it to the Taiwanese crew. Then they want to put it out there for the rest of the world to see; at the moment, they’re looking at online distribution.

Overall, the film was unusual, but definitely an enjoyable experience. Just before we left the noisy pub where we talked to them over a few pints, we asked if there was anything else they wanted to say about the creation of Made in Taiwan. “We just always [want to] thank our cast and crew”, Leo said immediately. They are grateful for all the help everyone offered them, particularly on location in Taiwan. It’s an important parting message, and one that shows the amount of love and passion put into the making of this film.

IMPACT WORDS BY ISOBEL SHEENE

SPOILERS! Isobel Sheene discusses the spoiling nature of trailers

We all know how it goes: You’re in the cinema, waiting for your film to start, there are trailers for other films playing, trying to catch your attention, and then – BAM! This one looks really good! It’s mysterious, there’s tension, just tell me what it’s called and I’m there. But no, there’s more. And more. And more. By the end of the trailer you know most of the plot of the film anyway, so why bother? It’s an issue that many films are falling victim to. Sinister, Quarantine, Ant-Man, even Terminator Genisys gave away a key plot point that may otherwise have caused shock in the cinema. The most obvious example, in my opinion, is Room (2015). As someone who had read the book, I was pleased when I heard they were making it into a film, and excited to watch the trailer. The story of a little boy who had never known the outside of the room in which his kidnapped mother had been trapped for years, was sure to make a brilliant on-screen thriller. And yet the trailer itself showed Jack and Joy outside, walking together in the open air. Where was the suspense? Where was the question of whether or not they’d make it out? I didn’t bother seeing the film in the cinema – what was the point when you could watch the trailer and know what happened just as well? I’ve started noticing it in trailers for films I know nothing about, too. Arrival, a film coming out later this year, looked intense, exciting and mysterious… and then the trailer kept going. It didn’t need to. The first half is good enough on its own, and sometimes less is more.

There is so much unnecessary information given to us, so many plot points and clues to help build up the suspense, that in fact trailers are starting to lose their tension, simply because they reveal too much. A trailer is meant to tease you, make you inquisitive, give you a hint as to what the film is about so it can pull you in and get you to watch it. It’s only meant to show you just enough to make you want to pay to see the rest. But at the moment, many trailers are giving the whole film away. Much of the time, the ‘teaser trailers’ are enough. Teasers are seen as the ‘short’ versions of a trailer, often brought out before the trailer itself, as a kind of ‘trailer to the trailer’. But why is that necessary? If the teaser itself is intriguing enough, nothing more is needed to make you want to pay to watch the film. If the teaser is done right, it performs the function of a trailer without revealing any major plot points, which is what trailers are meant to do anyway. We need to bring back the mystery. People don’t need the whole first half of a film to decide whether they want to see it or not, just a little taste of what’s to come. Of the emotional bundle we want to feel in the cinema, surprise should be one of them. And that’s not going to happen if we already know what’s coming. Spoilers are ruining our enjoyment of films, making tension unnecessary and emotive acting less moving. They are the enemy of the art of editing trailers. And yet they keep coming up.

MUSIC

45 WORDS BY MADDY HAY

IMAGES BY GINNY MOORE

What’s so great about vinyl? Before it’s demise, Nottingham had made a name for itself as a place for great record shops. Now we’re in the throes of a resurgence, Impact’s Maddy Hay meets the faces behind the city’s independent vinyl shops (new and old) to discover what they’ve seen over the years and how they think music in this city has evolved.

Possibly the city’s newest record shop, Forever Records, was opened earlier this year by the former manager of Nottingham’s now-closed record shop the Music Exchange, Joey Bell. Vinyl music has always been significant to Bell’s life; “Basically, my work experience was in a record shop, and then my first job was in Selectadisc [arguably Nottingham’s former nucleus for music], so all my life – the majority of it – has been working in record shops”. “I was devastated at the closure of the Music Exchange. Not only did it mean so much to me, but it helped so many people”. The award-winning Music Exchange was set up as a social enterprise by local homelessness charity Framework. “There’s not an opportunity for people to get that support or that experience or training. It’s really sad”.

Bell was born in Nottingham. When asked about the merits of the city, his answer is carefully considered. “It’s a friendly place with plenty of venues. It’s also quite easy to know a lot of people in the music scene; there’s a lot of networking and a good community”. Forever Records does seem to have comfortably embedded itself into the local music scene. On the day of this interview, it

“I wanted to provide something that wasn’t there”

is playing host to part of the Hockley Hustle music festival. The area is humming with movement. “For about four or five years it was quiet in the city for bands, but in the last couple of years it has picked up again”. True to name, Bell hopes to be in his current occupation for as long as possible. He’s also keen to resurrect the values of the Music Exchange. “I want to build it up and have volunteers, and maybe move to bigger premises. I’d like to have a café and maybe a venue. That’s the plan”. Nottingham’s fabled Rob’s Record Mart is a second-hand record institution. It’s by far the oldest of the shops on my list, and perhaps the most intriguing. A stark aesthetic contrast to the modern and minimalistic Forever Records, Rob Smith’s small shop is a hoarder’s paradise.

IMPACT

“Most of my working life has been in records. I’ve got a great fascination with it.” He’s been at this for a while: “The shop opened in ’79. I actually worked for the owner”. Rob was made redundant in 1980, but was invited to bring in his own records to sell and make a commission. “This worked well and I eventually took it over. By the end of 1980, I’d signed a lease. That’s when it became ‘Rob’s Records’”.

“I was devastated at the closure of the Music Exchange. Not only did it mean so much to me, but it helped so many people”

Upon mention of Rob’s shop during my investigations, I was met with whisperings about the owner’s elusive character and legends of his superior Northern Soul DJ sets. However, Rob was happy to chat and was uniquely unpretentious. “I don’t go home and play [music] as such. I’ve not even got a record player”. This was perhaps the most shocking revelation of my interviews (though I was later advised that I might have been subject to a spot of leg-pulling). True or not, Rob himself seems to be at odds with the vinyl-shop-stereotype. As expected, most of the shop owners I spoke to were vocally anti-CD. Rob is more practical about their advantages: “They’re convenient…they don’t take up much room. Smaller versions of albums, I suppose”.

To last so many years maintaining one shop is quite an achievement. I ask whether he’s ever been tempted to quit. “I think there were a couple of weeks in about 1990. We just had a couple of very quiet days”. Two off weeks in 35 years. Not too shabby. Still, it must feel odd to have been going for such a long time. “We’ve been through a few generations here. You sometimes forget people that came in for a period of months, or years… They just suddenly go off the radar.” The first record Rob ever bought was ‘Let’s Twist Again’ by Chubby Checker, in 1967. Appropriately, it was secondhand. “It was about five years old by that time. On the same day, I bought my first record player”. Former UoN student, Nick Strang, is the youngest of the list. He opened Plates Records in 2014 and is articulate about his reasons for doing so: “I wanted to give people a way of discovering music that was interesting. I was finding that a lot of the ways of discovering music outside of record shops was a bit uninspiring”. Plates seems to be the most contemporary of Nottingham’s record shops. They offer

MUSIC

“I’m a Corbyn supporter, but I wouldn’t say I’m an anarchist”

student discounts, a listening booth and play host to regular events. Though Nick is keen to note that they offer a diverse variety – “We’re here for anyone who is interested in music” – Plates also has a focus on providing dance music, which is less catered for in Nottingham. Nick is less effusive about the city than other shop-owners. “I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, but there’s definitely stuff for us to get involved with. […] Nottingham has been up and down with record shops. It’s had a history of doing it and there wasn’t really much going on [at the time I opened]. I wanted to provide something that wasn’t there”. He has identified something appealing about the city, though. “It’s not really noticed as being a city that’s known for anything. I kind of like that it’s not somewhere really competitive like London or Manchester. There’s potential here”. Jill, of Anarchy Records, has been a record shop owner for around a decade. She’s also the only female record shop owner I came across on my travels. Like Nick of Plates Records, Jill is sceptical about Nottingham as a hub for music. “I’m

born and bred in Nottingham. When I was growing up, a lot of bigger bands came to Nottingham, bands that wouldn’t even consider coming now. We’ve got a lot of small venues, but I don’t like the arena. It’s too big”. However, she’s straight-forward about her reasons for opening. “Me and my husband both love music. We didn’t want to work for anybody else any more, so it seemed the right thing to do”. The desire to be self-employed might seem fitting considering that the shop is called ‘Anarchy’, but Jill insists that this title was not deliberate. Rather, it was a natural development. “I’m a Corbyn supporter, but I wouldn’t say I’m an anarchist. Originally, we just used the anarchy ‘A’ and people started calling us ‘Anarchy Records’. That’s how we got to be known”. The question remains, why did Jill initially choose the anarchy ‘A’ symbol for a record shop? “I suppose it is related to vinyl, in a way. A lot of punk bands called themselves anarchists. And I don’t [like to] go along with the general population, really”.

IMPACT

Impact Introduces:

We talked to student word artist, Kwoli Black, about his journey of finding himself as an artist.

INTERVIEW BY JOSHUA OGUNMOKUN IMAGE BY NANA MUYOVWE

MUSIC

I got the chance to catch Kwoli Black on a late Saturday afternoon, just before his studio session. As focused and cool as ever, he met me with his skateboard in hand, bumping The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill from his overhead speakers, but ready for a chat and a laugh. For those of you who don’t know Kwoli Black, he is a talented spoken word artist and “lyricist” (that’s how he describes himself, rather than a rapper). With influences ranging from Talib Kweli to Chance the Rapper and a debut mixtape in the pipelines, he’s definitely one to watch. ‘Kwoli Black’ is a blend of the name of one of his biggest influences, Talib Kweli, and his love of wild animals, particularly wolves. He tells me: “Behind [the first name] is ‘seeker of knowledge and truth’. Then Black just came from, you know, who I am: I’m black. Black is beautiful, black is amazing - black goes with everything and everyone. It’s universal, it’s versatile like me”.

”Let my music make you feel something or make you think something and then that’s when the clouds will know me man” Despite having only known the artist for a short period of time, his love of self and his culture is very apparent to me. He isn’t afraid to speak his mind when it comes to his own personal struggles or the struggles of his people. This message is particularly powerful in his spoken word pieces, such as Breaking News, where he talks about the struggles of being young and black, and Masterpieces which he performed exclusively at the Interlude in April. “I try to make it so that everyone can feel the pain of the situation that we’re going through, and everyone can then empathise, because we all need to come together, not just black people. We all need to come together and we need to sort this out”. The Interlude in Nottingham was surprisingly one of his first shows since starting poetry in February. “A lot of people think that [I’ve

been doing this for a long time]. I’m a late starter which is annoying because you could only imagine how far I could have gone. Well, I’ll go far in Jesus’s name and in the next few years you’ll see me everywhere”. The feeling of being behind and having lost time is one of the themes that brought about the title for his mixtape, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now, still is in its early stages. The main inspiration was the reaction that Kwoli’s early work got from listeners. “I had random praise out of nowhere. People telling me ‘Oh, you’re so good’. I had an amazing female artist called Txllz tell me I’m competing with Kendrick Lamar lyrically. First I told her, “You’re exaggerating” because that’s King Kendrick, and she was like “nah, King Kwoli” and I was like “Wow”. I had people telling me about how I’m on their playlist on SoundCloud and [asking] how people do not know me by now”. Kwoli’s music has a heavy American influence due to his upbringing. As a UKbased artist, at a time where the scene is known for its authenticity, Kwoli has often been criticised for the American accent that creeps in and out when he raps. “Everything I’ve listened to from an infant until now has been American. I love the hip hop scene in the UK; the rap scene is great but I’ve never been an avid listener. So my influences and my very tone are straight from the USA. And it’s hard for me to let that go. I’ve had criticism saying “Why do you sound like you’re American when you’re from the UK?”, “Why do you sound like Chance the Rapper when you’re from the UK?” So I can’t have the same flow as him? I’m not trying to be like him because if I do then I’m not gonna be me, I’m not gonna be Kwoli Black. So the whole mixtape is really also a story of evolution from being called a carbon copy to being me. So I’m gonna keep the flow that I have. I cannot relinquish 100% the American accent. I might try to blend it with the British accent so there’s a little blend, you know? But it’s me. That’s Kwoli”. This mixtape tracing Kwoli’s journey of finding himself as an artist isn’t the only challenge Kwoli faces this year, as he recently changed his course from Biochemistry to English. He tells me the change is “to do with personal interests and the conflict between talent and passion”. In

“The whole mixtape is really also a story of evolution from being called a carbon copy to being me” other words: “I love Science, but I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about it. I love English, and I’m passionate about it”. Aside from being a talented wordsmith, anyone who knows Kwoli Black will know that he is one of those people who are just fun to be around. If that sounds like the kind of person you would like to hang out with, listen to his new podcast entitled ‘ITE BOOM’ which he co-hosts with his best friend, and talented up and coming radio host, Official Ore. “It was literally that we sat down one day and were like ‘imagine there was a camera, or a microphone listening to our conversations’, because some of the things we talk about are wild. It’s either people will love us because we’re funny and we’re raw, or they’ll hate us. So we said ‘let’s just do it’”. Many great artists have a team behind them to support their work, whether it be Joey Bada$$ with Pro Era, or Chance the Rapper with Save Money and the Social Experiment. So it wasn’t surprising when I found out Kwoli was assembling a team of his own called The Pvck. “It’s really in its infantile stage. We’re basically a collective of artists and musicians. We’ve got a photographer now. Yeah, we’re gonna get there, we’re gonna be big”. This next year will definitely be an interesting one for Kwoli Black. When asked about the release date of his mixtape, he responded, “Boy, I don’t wanna do a Frank Ocean but I’ll try and say September 2017, because that would be a great [way of] going into my next year”. When he does release it, he is hopeful that it resonates with his listeners. “Let my music make you feel something or make you think something and then the clouds will know me man”.

IMPACT

t A e M You y t i C k Roc

INTERVIEW BY NIKOU ASGARI IMAGE BY CHUFF PRESS

Nikou Asgari sits down with Max Helyer, guitarist of your year 11 soundtrac k, to talk about YMAS’s latest album, its pr oduction process and why it is a bit ‘punc hier’ than classics like ‘Stay With Me’

MUSIC

heavy but it’s not as ds un so it ly al ic am yn “D e Horizon song” Th e M g in Br a as y av he

With three top five albums and thirteen consecutive Radio 1 A-List singles, five piece rock band You Me At Six has gone from strength to strength since their formation in 2004. Now they’re looking to cement their position as one of the most relevant rock bands to emerge from the UK. In promotion of their upcoming fifth album, Night People, the band is currently on tour in smaller venues across the UK. With Nottingham being the first night of the tour to sell out, Nikou Asgari was lucky enough to catch up with guitarist Max Helyer before the show. WELCOME BACK TO NOTTINGHAM! YOU’VE BEEN HERE TEN TIMES NOW - HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO LOOK AROUND? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NOTTINGHAM AS A CITY FOR LIVE MUSIC? We’ve been here a few times and we went to a gig last night. It seemed like there’s a few smaller venues as well. It’s good that they cater for the smaller venues because obviously they’re getting rid of a lot of them. They’re saying that the UK’s biggest export is music, so they need to look after it, and it’s nice to see a place like Nottingham supporting music and bands.

THERE ARE TWO SONGS FROM THE NEW ALBUM, NIGHT PEOPLE, OUT ALREADY. THEY SEEM A BIT HEAVIER THAN YOUR OLD MUSIC; DO YOU THINK NIGHT PEOPLE IS A SLIGHTLY MORE METAL ALBUM? I wouldn’t say it’s more metal. I think it’s more grown-up rock. A lot of people have made the references of especially ‘Plus One’ being down a Sinners route but we didn’t write the record intentionally to be like ‘right we’ve got to redo another Sinners Never Sleeps record’. We were just writing music that we felt was good and what we enjoyed as well, and that was a big factor in this record. I would say the new record is a 50/50 mix of rock music, like ‘Plus One’ - that’s really hard hitting rock music but I wouldn’t say it’s heavy. [...] Punchy I would say is the right word.

The other half of the record has other moments of You Me At Six in there, but it’s not as pop, dare I say. We’re excited just to get it out; we’ve been sitting on it for a year and a half. We finished the record in July [...] we just want people to hear it!

YOU’VE DONE THIS FOR TEN YEARS NOW. DO YOU STILL GET NERVOUS WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW ALBUM TO COME OUT, WAITING FOR PEOPLE’S REACTIONS, OR DO YOU JUST SIT BACK AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS? I don’t think nervous is the right word. More apprehensive, because obviously we work on it for such a long time and when we put it out, that’s it, the music’s out there for the rest of our lives. We have to live with it and that’s something we’ve looked back at from doing records like Take Off Your Colours when we were sixteen, seventeen. We’re ten, eleven years older now: we’re not going to recreate that record because we’ve developed, we’ve changed, and I look at my favourite bands, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin...they all progress over time and they all become something different. You’ve got to keep moulding and changing and moving with the times. Once it’s out there, it’s out there and now it’s kind of limbo, especially before we released ‘Night People’. We can’t decide if people like it or not, but as a band we’re really proud of the record that we’ve made and I think it was really worth having that time out, just to become, dare I say, normal human beings again, dealing with normal life stuff.

DO YOU THINK THE END PRODUCT NOW IS WHAT YOU EXPECTED WHEN YOU FINISHED WRITING? It developed. It’s really hard because we had a target and we said we wanted to make a big rock record, and rock can expand from the heavier side of rock to something like The Killers and The Who, the pop side of rock and The Stones. We just wanted to make a record that we felt was true to ourselves, who we are as

musicians and what we embrace as people. Then it changed over time. We wrote up to 50 ideas for the record; how do you condense 50 ideas into 12 that you’ve got to record? We had to listen to all the music [and had to admit that it] feels like more of a journey. We’ve done records in the past like Sinners where you’ve got ‘Bite My Tongue’ as track three and two tracks later you’ve got ‘No One Does It Better’, and to a listener that can be confusing. We wanted to make a record that felt like a journey, but it felt right and it felt that once you got to the end of the record, you want to go back and listen to it again. That was our aim and some of the songs have turned out different to how we wanted them to be at the start, but they worked out for the best that way.

SO YOU’VE JUST EMBRACED THE CHANGE THAT YOU CAME ACROSS NATURALLY. Exactly yeah. We started recording in February, did a month there, had two months off, did another month in May. Having those two months off in between making the first batch and second batch really helped us as a band. It wasn’t like “you’re here, you’ve got to focus [on it] all in two months” so we came back and we wrote ‘Plus One’ in that two month period.

AND HERE YOU ARE WITH IT AS THE SECOND SONG OFF THE ALBUM. Yeah, it’s the second song now. Anything happens, anything goes in our band. If it’s good then it’s gonna be recorded, if it needs work then we’ll work on it. That’s just who we are as people, we just want the best product from us five naturally.

“You’ve got to keep moulding and changing and moving with the times.”

Coming back to haunt you IMPACT

WORDS BY ISOBEL DAVIDSON

IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

Delving into Nottinghamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s haunted past

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“It is quite clear that Nottingham is the place to be in order to get your scary fix”

The subject of ghosts and their haunting grounds can be a tricky topic to cover. You have people who are set in their beliefs that spirits are entirely real. Nothing can dissuade them from the knowledge that they have witnessed a ghostly experience for themselves. It doesn’t matter that it could be explained by a simple gust of wind, they are adamant their experience has haunted origins. Then you get the sceptics who are on the opposite side of the argument. “They can’t be real, I’ve never seen one!”, we hear in response to the believers’ chanting. The pessimist within them is out in full force, ready to dismiss any talk on the matter. Whichever way you want to look at it, there will always be a curiosity for the supernatural, much of which has influenced local heritage. Nottingham is thought to have a great number of haunted residences which have allowed some of the greatest stories about the city’s past to take shape. From Wollaton Hall to Rufford Abbey, Nottingham could easily be put on the top tier of Britain’s most haunted. Perhaps the most significant haunted location is the Galleries of Justice, which became a prison in 1449, and is one of the few places where people were tried, sentenced, jailed and even killed on site. Some specialists even believe that the Anglo-Saxons were the first to use the site to enact justice. With such an enriched

history, there seems to be just the right number of ingredients to finish off the mixing pot of ghostly goodness. Many a visitor has claimed to have experienced uneasy feelings, strange noises, and odd shapes lurking in the shadows of the Galleries of Justice, and who are we to judge their testament? Another place filled with legends of a haunted past is that of Newstead Abbey. A particularly fascinating connection here is that of Lord Byron, the famous poet. If you have read Bryon’s Don Juan, you will know that in Canto XVI, he makes reference to a ghost called ‘The Black Friar’. Byron is said to have seen the ghost the night before his marriage to Anne Isabella Milbanke in 1815. As the ghost is meant to appear before an unfortunate event, you can imagine how unsettling it would be to see the apparition the night before your wedding. Perhaps a portent of things to come, the omen did prove true when the unhappy marriage broke apart a year later. Rufford Abbey is yet another area of interest for spirits of the supernatural, the most prominent of which is the ‘White Lady’. It is thought that she is the ghost of Lady Arbella Stuart. Back in the Elizabethan Era, Arbella was considered a threat to Queen Elizabeth I’s rule, and was one of the many options to fill the Queen’s shoes after she passed, instantly making her someone of whom

to be wary. However, her connection to Nottinghamshire is through her parents, who were married at the now-demolished chapel of Rufford Abbey. Charles Stuart and his wife, Elizabeth Cavendish, died at a young age, leaving their sole child, Arbella, to live with her grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, in Derbyshire. The Queen ordered Bess to keep Arbella under lock and key, preventing her from getting married and producing any possible heirs. Her cousin, James I, also followed suit. But, like the rebellious person we all wish we could be, Arbella ran away having secretly married. Unfortunately, she was caught and starved to death in the Tower of London. Families, eh? Now it is thought that her ghost returns to the place where her parents were married, in a ghostly remnant of our country’s bloody past. We mentioned only a few of the places that claim to host a ghost. From Lady Middleton at Wollaton Hall, to the numerous ghosts said to roam around Nottingham Castle, it is quite clear that Nottingham is the place to be in order to get your scary fix. Perhaps, though, these ghosts can also provide us with a fascinating backdrop to the history and the importance of Nottingham’s heritage, which one could definitely argue brings a new and intriguing light upon the city.

IMPACT

“Performing to the mirror”

INTERVIEW BY AMY WILCOCKSON IMAGE BY THE ARTIST

Amy Wilcockson interviews Nottingham poet and spoken word artist Neal Pike. FOLLOWING THE PUBLICATION OF HIS DEBUT POETRY COLLECTION, IDENTITY BIKE RIDE, WE HAD A CHAT WITH NOTTINGHAM POET NEAL PIKE ABOUT HIS INFLUENCES, UPCOMING PROJECTS AND TOP TIPS FOR BUDDING PERFORMANCE POETS. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CAREER AS A POET? WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE AND WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO DO SO? I’ve always liked writing stories but I found poetry to be very pompous, with too many words and not enough substance. I was going through a tough time in my life in 2013, and my best friend was like “you need to join the Mouthy Poets”, a Nottinghambased collective focusing on writing and performing. So I did and learnt so much about myself as a person and as a writer. I started writing properly in January 2014 and did my first show in March of that year. I don’t really like the poem I wrote for the first show, but it was a poem I needed to write. I’ve been a Mouthy member for 2 and half years now, travelled to Germany twice and [have] done a UK tour, which was a massive learning experience in seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’ve also spent two weeks with no WiFi, just lots of fields around me, so I could write and work on my poetry. I’m lucky to have found something I’m good at. Now I’m trying to push myself further as a poet and writer, and not just a Mouthy Poet. Overall it’s been a crazy two and a half years.

WHAT INFLUENCES YOU AS A POET? Many things - [mainly] what my brain decides I need to write about in the moment. Writing about disability in a way that won’t bring pity, The American punk and hardcore

scene, Sage Francis and B Dolan, American poets such as Jon Sands, Terrance Hayes, Patricia Smith, Hanif Willis Abdurraqib, Charles Bukowski, Bruce Springsteen. Too many other things to mention!

IF YOU COULD HAVE A DRINK WITH ANY AUTHOR OR POET, DEAD OR ALIVE, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? This is a tough one. Having a drink with Charles Bukowski would be very fun but [I think] he’s an awful human being, so I’m going with Terry Pratchett as he had a wonderful brain, both comic and serious. It would be fun to talk elephants, turtles and orangutans with him, and how it’s okay to give the world a kicking.

YOU’VE JUST PUBLISHED YOUR FIRST BOOK OF POETRY, TELL US ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF DOING SO – WHAT WERE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES? Trying to find a theme amongst the poems I’ve written for it. There are 20 poems in the book, but I probably wrote 40 plus for it, so it was a case of finding a theme amongst all the poems I wrote, then improving the ones I decided were very loosely linked. Also editing was a challenge, as I consider myself a page poet as well as a performance poet. It’s fun to mess around with layouts, but it’s also a case of making sense and being readable. Naming poems was also hard as I’m terrible at it, so trying to name 20 was a struggle.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE IN BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL POET? Making myself write as much as possible. Also reading a lot and getting yourself noticed. You need to push yourself out

there as much as possible and also keep improving so you don’t get stale.

YOU HAVE A STUTTER, YET PRODUCE AMAZING PERFORMANCE POETRY. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THOSE IN A SIMILAR SITUATION? Try and forget you have a stutter or a problem. I very rarely remember I have a stutter until I get to a bar or to a shop and then if I start stuttering it genuinely surprises me.

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR CONFIDENCE BUILDING AS A PERFORMANCE POET? Perform as much as you can at open mics there are so many good ones in Nottingham. An event that is put on regularly is Poetry is Dead Good at Jam Café, which has a great supportive atmosphere. Also I perform to the mirror a lot, which helps as I don’t really like looking into people’s eyes.

DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PROJECTS? CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THEM? I’m working on a one man show about my time at school and am hoping to get the second draft done before Christmas. I also want to publish a zine of writings about stutters and speech impediments. Also I’m slowly working on book number 2!

DESCRIBE YOUR POETIC STYLE IN THREE WORDS. Honest, raw and punky.

Neal’s debut poetry collection Identity Bike Ride is out now.

ARTS

Tea and worry the tea burns down the rope holding my mouth shut and tell you that all I do is worry like a stream of cars piling up on a motorway. headphones sponge the worry from my ears when the walls of my room open up, become fields and trees and meeting places. you nod at me reach out a hand as your eyes replay visions of your anxieties your small voice whispers “it will be fine. by Neal Pike

“I found poetry very pompous with too many words and not enough substance”

IMPACT

“Sexy, punchin-the-gut and alive”

WORDS BY ELLEN SMITHIES IMAGE BY SOPHIE RIDLER

Ellen Smithies explores the world of feminist experimental theatre.

“Performances can seem strange, haphazard, and confusing”

For those who have never experienced experimental theatre before, performances can seem strange, haphazard, and confusing; theatre is meant to be rehearsed and polished, not off-the-cuff and spontaneous, surely? Add to that politically-charged, modern social issues, and many people will already be put off. So why is feminist experimental theatre becoming more common, and why is theatre consistently seen as the new means of political expression? Feminist theatre as a whole finds its roots back in the nineteenth century, in plays like August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, which was one of the first plays to explore women as complex characters, harbouring a wish to break free from an oppressive patriarchal society. Miss Julie is the story of a count’s daughter who longs to escape from a life where she is controlled by the men around her, before being ultimately broken by them. Whilst not in itself a feminist production, it is one of the first that experiments with the idea of women wanting to escape the life they have pretty revolutionary for 1899, eh? Feminist experimental theatre as its own ‘genre’ first emerged in the midtwentieth century, alongside feminist campaigns such as the Women’s Liberation Movement, and was normally used as a medium where issues, both political and personal, could be explored in a public

setting. More recently, this form of theatre has become more expressive, as well as increasingly tongue-in-cheek, making for some thought-provoking and confrontational productions. One such production, Louise Orwin’s A Girl and A Gun, is focused entirely on destroying some of the most common tropes in modern film and theatre. The show takes classic scenes from films and pulls them apart to expose, as Louise herself stated in an interview with us, “how easily we can be drawn into beautiful cinematic images without questioning their politics, perhaps even disregarding our own politics”. A Girl and A Gun features only two performers, Orwin herself and an unknown male performer who is different in every performance. A telling sign that this performance really confronts our ideas of what is acceptable is the fact that if the male performer is too uncomfortable to perform a certain scene, he can decline to do so. In response to this feminist take on theatre, Orwin told us that she’s “had many men walk out of the show and tell [her] that they would never be able to watch some of their favourite films in the same way again”. The benefits of feminist experimental theatre are therefore clear: it exposes problems and issues in society in very entertaining and tongue-in-cheek ways, without forcing them on the audience distastefully. Some might claim that feminist theatre is a step too far, and adds unnecessary drama to an otherwise serious topic, but theatre always has been an acquired taste and isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Feminist experimental theatre is a creative way of expressing political and social dissatisfaction, and deals with the problems in a way that are, in the words of Orwin herself, “sexy, punch-in-thegut and alive”.

ARTS WORDS BY MICHELLE WILLIAMS

IMAGE BY EMILY CLARKE

Discovering what UoN’s archives have to offer On the mysterious King’s Meadow Campus, there lies a vast treasure trove of over three million historical documents and sixty-five thousand rare books dating from 1180 right up to the present day. The University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections are of vital importance to students, academics, and members of the general public, and definitely beat the time capsules we all built as kids in giving us an insight into the past.

A favourite of the collection has to be D. H. Lawrence’s manuscript of his first novel, The White Peacock, based in his childhood home of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire and published in 1911. Lawrence gained his teaching degree here at the University of Nottingham, and still holds a special place in the University’s heart. The archives are also home to other documents about the author, as well as his wife Frieda Lawrence. To have these documents at our fingertips is an incredible insight into one of the twentieth century’s most famous authors. From the glamour of notorious authors to glimpses of the ordinary lives of people

The archives don’t just contain documents from England, but from across the globe. Of major historical significance is a collection of documents from Nazi Germany. Artefacts such as Nazi school books are shocking in their content, and seeing these documents almost brings the horror of that period to life. Discovering how people explored the world around them before the miracle of satellite navigation is another gift the archive can provide. One particular map in the collection shows a direct route for people to follow with specific landmarks as indicators, although these are not the typical landmarks you would expect. Manuscripts and Special Collections and its vast number of documents provide an incredibly interesting insight into Nottingham, and England’s, past. With as diverse a range of manuscripts as letters from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Bibles, there’s something for everyone contained just a few miles from University Park. If you want to see some of the special collections for yourself, it is open to all during the week, and the department presents an exhibition three times a year at the Lakeside Arts Centre.

L/X P 3: PATTERN BOOK; 1920-1929 FROM MANUSCRIPTS & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Before King’s Meadow Campus was owned by the University, the site was home to the former ITV studios. Luckily, television studios are ideal spaces to store and restore historical artefacts, due to their numerous vast rooms that have zero traces of natural light and are therefore perfect for preventing decay. This ideal location meant the archives moved from Hallward Library in 2006 to their current location, with Manuscripts and Special Collections celebrating their tenth anniversary there this summer.

from the past, Manuscripts and Special Collections have it all. Recipe books from as far back as the sixteenth century, annotated by ever new members of the family tree, are yet another glimpse into an interesting and uniquely recorded part of life. Also you never know, maybe a few of the recipes have carried forth into today, and might be appearing on Bake Off soon!

IMPACT

Where the streets are paved with art

WORDS BY EMILY GEYERHOSZ

IMAGES BY EMILY GEYERHOSZ & SHAUN BREWSTER

Nottingham’s artistic treasures are there for those who keep their eyes open and minds alert. You could easily miss some of the best graffiti gems when hurrying down Nottingham’s streets and alleys. We are here to make you look.

and brightly coloured scene occupied by UFOs, mushrooms, ruff-wearing skeletons and octopi tentacles. Very weird. Down the road, at Screen 22, Batman is featured again with other popular characters watching a film.

The side of Hopkinson Vintage, Antique and Art Centre, located just by the train station, flaunts an eclectic mix of sharp and brightly-coloured lettering, alongside a baby pink skeletal piece. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, there’s also a mosaic pig and a dolphin wearing a jacket on the other side.

At the very end of Hockley, close to the Motorpoint Arena, is Sneinton Market, a local community market that has plenty of street art illuminating its unit doors. It certainly brightens up the back alleys! There does seem to be a recurring theme of skeletons in the urban art around Nottingham though, strangely...

Entering the Hockley area of Nottingham, and just before Stoney Street turns off to Woolpack Lane, there is a series of street art portraits on the corner building. A particular favourite of mine is what seems to be a rather creepy movie poster for the Minority Report, in which Nottingham’s own Samantha Morton starred. There’s also a surreptitious artwork hiding at the top of the building, around the corner of which none other than the Dark Knight himself is lurking. Just around the corner from Stoney Street’s artwork is Woolpack Lane car park, a space that has chosen to put its back wall to good use. The street art changes regularly here, but at the moment boasts a police line up of eccentric-looking hand puppets. In close proximity to the last two urban art pieces is the Broadway Cinema. To the side of the main building, the whole wall is filled with a busy

Surface Gallery is a volunteer-led contemporary art gallery that runs projects and exhibitions to support local talent. After recently holding the Nottingham Street Art Festival, the gallery itself flaunts a very impressive and extremely large wall of urban art. Outside the exhibition spaces, most of the décor around

the gallery is spraypainted, with the walls, doors and even the toilet covered from top to bottom with cartoons, tags, writing and intriguing imagery. If you’re interested in street art, it’s definitely worth a trip to see this alternative gallery based on Southwell Road, a stone’s throw away from Sneinton Market.

IMPACT

Shooting for (Green and) Gold

WORDS BY JOE TANNER IMAGE BY VIRGINIA MOORE

We sat down with SU Sports Officer, Lauren Heria and discussed what it is in store for UoN Sport

These are undoubtedly exciting times to be involved in sport at the University of Nottingham. With a brand new sports centre that would leave an Olympic village in a jealous frenzy, a record 119 teams in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) and as many participation opportunities in IMS (Inter-Mural Sport) and Engage programmes as you could ever want, it would be rude not to get involved. At the front of it all: our new SU Sports Officer, Lauren Heria, who is certainly committed to furthering participation in sport at the Uni, as well as maintaining the Green and Gold’s position in BUCS and ensuring all students make the most of the new £40m David Ross Sports Village. Heria already had a plethora of sporting experience at UoN before undertaking her new SU role. She was previously an integral part of the UoN women’s football first team, an IMS football executive, a women’s futsal executive and Welfare in Sport co-ordinator, amongst many other positions. Our sports representative will certainly bring her previous experience to the role, as well as maintaining the work previous officer [James] Bramley did last year. In conversation with me, Heria said, “I definitely

want to continue some of Bramley’s good work, especially with the Welfare in Sport programme. [However], I’m a completely different person and am working on a completely different manifesto so will be delivering on different promises to James”. One of Lauren’s main aims is to maintain the University of Nottingham’s position in BUCS this year after last season’s fourth position – a record finish for ten years. “I’ve already seen teams and clubs come back who are still buzzing off that success from last year. We’re looking to continue that success right the way through the season this year. We’re entering 119 teams to BUCS this year - 8 more than last year”, she told me proudly. She continued, “We’ve also brought more coaches and scholars in who bring their experience and are able to raise whole teams with their expertise”. As well as the increased number of coaches, the new David Ross Sports Village will, of course, be a huge benefit to sports teams this year and will be integral to sustaining UoN’s BUCS ranking and trying to increase our points total. “The purpose built facilities are the standout element. For example, we now have one of only four all-glass squash courts in the

country. It’s really good for our performance clubs but will also hugely benefit all our students. It is a really high class facility but we don’t want to limit this to just our BUCS teams; students can obviously use the fitness suite with a gym membership and get involved in our Engage and IMS schemes, which will all have matches in the new sports centre”, Heria divulged to me. Whilst the sports village will enhance BUCS team prospects and increase participation from the start, Heria is also turning her eye towards Varsity at the end of the year. “We’ve had our first strategic board meeting. It’s difficult to decide on a time between us and Trent because of the term dates, but at the moment it’s looking like it will be in two two week blocks after the Easter vacation. Having Varsity in a short space of time will keep the buzz of it going”. Heria’s plans and targets certainly point towards another year of prosperity and achievement for the University of Nottingham sport in all departments. From the David Ross Sports Village to IMS to Varsity, our new Sport Officer will certainly ensure that it will be another exciting year for sport at UoN and, as ever, enable everyone to get involved on whatever level.

SPORT

“Having Varsity in a short space of time will keep the buzz of it going”

IMPACT

Doping: Let’s talk about it

WORDS BY JOE TANNER

After a summer of controversies causing havoc in professional sport, is doping a significant problem at BUCS level?

Doping and the misuse of performance enhancing drugs became almost weekly news in the summer of 2016. At first it began with Maria Sharapova’s use of a Latvian-made heart disease drug, which the Russian tennis star took, unaware that it had been added to WADA’S (World Anti-Doping Agency’s) banned list in 2016. This was followed by the initial ban of the entire Russian Olympic team prior to Rio 2016 after it came to light that the Russian Athletics Federation was letting positive tests disappear. Some Russian athletes have now been stripped of their medals, like hammer thrower Tatyana Lysenko, who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and now has a lifetime ban from the sport. To top it off the ‘Fancy Bears’ group hacked and leaked the medical records of hundreds of high profile athletes, including Serena Williams, Justin Rose and Jonathan Brownlee. In a time of so much controversy surrounding doping, many questions were asked about why banned substances were being used. Where do you draw the line on what is and is not classed as a performance enhancing drug? How do WADA enforce retrospective punishment when the Russian team were eventually allowed to compete in the Olympics?

We took this question to a student level to see if doping is a problem at the University of Nottingham. UoN Sport adheres to WADA regulations on banned substances and acknowledges that bloody doping, steroids and EPO (Erythropoietin) are the most common uses of drug-related misconduct in sport. But how strongly are these regulations enforced and is it a regular occurrence at University? We asked Katie Buckingham, Vice President of the Athletics team, about her experiences of doping at UoN. When questioned about whether she had encountered any drug related incidents at UoN, Buckingham said, “I’ve never seen or heard of anyone taking part in doping at uni, although I’m sure it does happen”. She added, “I don’t think University officials take it seriously but purely on the basis that if it is happening then it is going on under the radar. So if cases were brought to the attention of coaches or the University, I believe they would take it very seriously”. It would seem that UoN Sport could potentially be doing more to enforce such a serious issue, that has come to prominence in professional sport this summer, with incidents maybe going unnoticed at the university level. Buckingham agrees, stating: “Although I don’t know of any cases of doping, I also

don’t know of anything the Uni is doing to prevent it. Educating sports teams and committees would be a good idea: I’ve never had information or drug tests from UoN, all the drugs information I know comes from A level PE and what people say in the news”. But there is, of course, the question of how much the issue matters at University compared to professional sport. “In athletics, I think doping only becomes prevalent at professional level as that’s where the milliseconds matter most. Hard work and training is seen as the way to success in Uni sports. It’s also less likely to happen due to costs and access at University”, the UoN Athletics Vice President said. It is indeed less of a prominent issue in BUCS (British University and Colleges Sport) in the UK as it is for the IOC and for WADA. Nevertheless, the prospect that fellow competitors could be using performance enhancing methods illegally, without University sport officials knowing, is very contentious. It would seem whilst funding may be better used elsewhere, doping seems to be an issue that needs more regulation at UoN given the summer’s events. Greater education across sports teams would be a good place to start as it appears to be a grey area at the University of Nottingham which needs clarification for our sports competitors.

SPORT

Who owns my club?

63 WORDS BY JOE ROBINSON IMAGES BY INDIA ROSE MEADE

Joe Robinson contemplates record transfer fees, obscene player wages and stupidly inflated ticket fares: the average fan is becoming priced out of football

The 2015-16 Premier League season was the first to surpass £1 billion spent by clubs in transfer fees, another, if sadly not surprising, nail in the coffin for my quickly diminishing support for British football, and the Premier League especially. Never have I felt so out of touch with the sport I’ve loved since the first time I ever kicked a ball all those years ago. Many football supporters in this country feel like the everyday voter who feels alienated, unrepresented and so far removed from the ‘political class’ by whom they are supposed to be represented. Why? It all comes down to the obscene sums of money that are polluting the Premier League and ripping the heart and soul out of British football. Football is simply riddled with greed, deceit and corruption, and needs, in no uncertain terms, to be shaken up from top to bottom. While the best way for this to happen would be for fans to simply stop tuning in to watch football both at home and at stadiums,to remove the decisive demand factor and therefore Sky Sports’ monopoly over football, this seems a distinctly unlikely phenomenon. What, I propose, should happen is that the Premier League follows the German Bundesliga. We need more fan owned clubs, not clubs owned by people who don’t know the slightest thing about football and how to run one of its clubs. This would prevent head cases like Massimo Cellino and Vincent Tan from polluting the English game for one, and helping to stop the plight of certain clubs forced into oblivion by a free spending chairman who

doesn’t have any real affiliation with the club and thus could leave them in the lurch at any given moment. We also need a transfer and wage cap for all too obvious reason. How can the average football fan seriously relate and empathise with someone earning more in a week than they will in perhaps five years? Well, put simply, they can’t. I think all football fans were touched by Leicester’s amazing triumphs last season, but while Leicester’s success provided some welcome relief, any renewed optimism I personally had for the future of football quickly evaporated with the news that Manchester United came within a whisker of breaking the £100 million bracket with their marquee signing of Paul Pogba. Finally, while the FA (Football Association) has taken steps to stop the ludicrously inflated Premier League ticket prices by placing a cap on away tickets, further steps need to be taken to take football back to its roots as the ‘working man’s game’, something which it most definitely isn’t in 2016. The fact that a couple of seasons ago Bayern Munich fans paid more for an away ticket at Arsenal in the Champions League than they did for a season ticket in Munich speaks considerable volumes about the state of the ‘beautiful game’ in this country. Sort it out FA, or you are in serious danger of losing many good but extremely disillusioned football fans in the not too distant future.

IMPACT

“You just need a ball to play”

WORDS BY JOE TANNER

IMAGE BY BOB BOB VIA FLICKR

Joe Tanner plays touch rugby with England Rugby legend Dylan Hartley

How often do you get to play a game of touch rugby with the England Rugby Union Captain? Northampton Saints and England hooker Dylan Hartley came to the University of Nottingham as part of the O2 Touch Tour, and in between a few of his games with locals, he found the time to chat with us. The O2 Touch tour campaign is aiming to widen knowledge and participation of touch rugby to get people of any age or ability playing the sport. The programme was launched during England’s World Cup year in 2015 and has so far staged events in Bath, Manchester, London and Loughborough. Part of O2 Touch’s remarkable success - 1,500 people played in touch rugby tournaments and over a thousand joined in the taster sessions - are the additional entertainment and games on offer, put on by representatives of England Rugby and O2. Kiwi born Hartley discussed the importance of keeping fit and healthy and how touch rugby can be an excellent way to do so. The

Northampton Saints forward told us, “we’re trying to tap into girls and boys of any age and focus on the vital skills you learn when taking the contact element out of the game”. He continued, “We’re looking to get people of any age [and] any sex playing touch rugby. We obviously take the contact element out of the game so anyone can play: scrums, line-outs, all the confusing things. It’s based on agility and handling skills, so catching, passing and offloading. It’s great to see so many people out here today having a good time and getting active”. Hartley was in amongst the action throughout the afternoon, to the delight of students and members of the public who all took part in touch rugby games and learnt from the England star’s tactical knowledge. For the England player touch rugby is more than just a way of keeping fit; he reminisced about his childhood memories of playing touch. “You don’t need large numbers to

play - I used to play in the back garden with my brothers 2 on 2. You just need a ball to play. I remember at school [that] when we didn’t have a ball, we used to tie jumpers together and play with them. It’s a good game, it’s simple and it’s fun”. It is reassuring to know that after such a strong summer for competitive sport, stars like Hartley are advocating the basic participation benefits of playing sports, such as fitness and keeping healthy, as well as fundamental skills like hand-eye coordination, speed and agility. These principles reaffirm the fact that sport is for everyone and not just those who want to play competitively or full contact. This is a stigma that needs to be eradicated across all sports. Dylan Hartley and the O2 Touch Rugby team have done excellent work in presenting touch rugby as a hugely beneficial form of sport and exercise which people of all ages and abilities can enjoy.

SPORT

The summer of sports

WORDS BY TYLER GERRARD

Euro 2016, Rio Olympics and Paralympics, Tour de France, Wimbledon: the battle for the 2016 Sports Personality of the Year will be hotly contested The 2016 summer of sport was certainly one to remember for Great Britain, apart from the England Football team of course. It was action-packed with two major sporting events, the Olympics and the Euros, being held within a month of each other. Let us start with the Euros, a tournament that will be remembered fondly by two of the Home Nations. The tournament was expanded from 16 to 24 teams, giving it a rather different feel. While this gave teams an opportunity to qualify that they wouldn’t have previously had, Euro 2016 wasn’t a great spectacle with it being the lowest scoring Euros in 20 years and there being few memorable matches. As for the Home Nations, Northern Ireland achieved a very respectable last 16 finish, losing out to Wales who surpassed all expectations by reaching the semifinals. Unfortunately England yet again underperformed at a major tournament, suffering an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Iceland, a country with a population the size of Leicester. Fortunately, the public weren’t dwelling on England’s early exit for too long as British success was just around the corner. Chris Froome efficiently won a third Tour de France title. The lack of hysteria surrounding his victory is just another testament to his status as a world-class athlete. July was also a memorable month with Andy Murray winning Wimbledon for a second time. After the world number one Novak Djokovic exited the competition in the third round, Murray was always the hot favourite, but the ease with which he won it, bar a tricky match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, was very impressive. The summer of sport was rounded off with the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics which brought further British success. At the Olympics, Great Britain made history

after becoming the first host nation to better their home’s Games medal tally, winning 67 medals overall. While Team GB as usual dominated the cycling and rowing events, it was success in other sports that caught the eye. Max Whitlock won Great Britain’s first ever gymnastics gold medals and Jack Laugher and Chris Mears become the first British Olympic diving champions. The Paralympics was arguably even more of a success for Great Britain, as they not only won 27 more medals than they did in London, but won 30 more golds. The bulk of the medals were won in Swimming, Athletics and Cycling, with a number of standout performances. Zhao Shuai, English student at the University of Nottingham Ningbo campus, also defended his gold medal from four years ago in the men’s single Table Tennis tournament. The incredible Sarah Storey won 3 cycling golds to become Great Britain’s most successful female Paralympian. In athletics, Hannah Cockroft won 3 golds; in swimming Ollie Hynd won 2 golds and Bethany Firth won 3 golds...the list is endless. All of these British sporting successes makes the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award one of the most competitive in history. There are a number of leading contenders with the likes of Mo Farah, Andy Murray, Jason Kenny, Laura Trott, Sarah Storey and Chris Froome all in with a genuine chance of winning. Also let us not forget those that achieved success before the summer, with Anthony Joshua becoming world heavyweight champion and Danny Willett winning the Masters Golf. Who will become BBC’s sports personality of the year? Well your guess is as good as mine, but one thing’s for sure, British sport is in a very healthy state at the moment.

IMPACT

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