Impact Magazine - Issue 214 - January

ISSUE

214

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JANUARY

2012

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WWW.IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM

THROUGH THEIR EYES IMPACT INVESTIGATES THE PLIGHT OF YOUNG REFUGEES

BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL

A BANKER’S TALE

ARE LICENCING LAWS SPOILING OUR FUN?

ALL ABOUT SEX AND MONEY

EDITORIAL I am not in the slightest ashamed to admit that I haven’t been following the race for the American Presidency at all. To be fair, it has barely started. At the time of writing this editorial, President Obama is sitting cross-legged on the sidelines whilst the candidates for the Republican Party are bitterly fighting it out in the mud. Still, how on earth are those white, super-hetero bible-thumpers going to convince their voters that they are any more electable than the next white, super-hetero biblethumper? I mean, aside from a few varying degrees of paranoid homophobia, marital infidelity and probably pushing-thered-button-that-will-start-nuclear-warness, I am really struggling to tell them apart. And now that Michele ‘Cthulhu’ Bachmann is out of the mix, the current Republican punch-up is tragically lacking in entertainment value.

But beyond the Republican candidates’ indistinguishable credentials, there is genuinely something about contemporary politics that makes me feel nauseous. I was never politically minded in the first place, yet at least, when I was a bit younger, it genuinely seemed as if with the right person in office (whether that be Downing Street or the White House), the world could actually become a better place.

Remember how galvanised we were by Obama’s near-messianic entrance into the White House, the Free World resonating with that celebrated campaign slogan,

“Yes, we can”? I won’t lie and say that it had nothing to do with his skin colour, but for me, that simply added to his appeal.

First and foremost, Obama seduced us with his eloquence, his desire to adapt America’s gung-ho politics to a less gungho era, and his ability to inspire hope not just in a disenthralled nation, but the entire world. Fast forward to today, and it’s not so much, “Yes, we can”, more, “Yes, we could have, but didn’t, not as much as we had planned to anyway, because politics is a dirty game and even the most cleancut idealist will eventually get corrupted.

Didn’t you see Ides of March?” Obviously, the Obama machine will have to come up with a more succinct variation of the latter once it’s their turn to start campaigning.

Nowadays, I see politics for what it really is, and what it always has been: an exercise of salesmanship, where everyone is plugging the same putrid garbage, but rhetorically disguising it with words such as “rightwing” and “left-wing”. Take the present leaders of the Conservative party and the Labour party, for example; tear away those layers upon layers of PR cosmetics and what you are left with is essentially the same disappointment. Someone who talks big when not in charge, but has an excuse for everything when it’s his or her turn to screw up; someone whose lips are permanently attached to the arses of bankers, meanwhile ignoring the fact that many youths in this country would rather

get a new pair of trainers, at whatever cost, than better themselves morally and academically.

Politics is just a game of self-invention, a flamboyant bloodsport soaked to the hilt in machismo and greed. My only hope is that student politics, for all its criticism of being a Wendy house, doesn’t start devolving into the same overblown farce. We’ve got the SU elections coming up this term, after the Referenda on the Union’s future (see News), which Impact will of course be covering, and which will hopefully introduce us to a set of bright, young individuals who truly want to make their university a better place.

Thanks and enjoy,

E.J.

WE WROTE, YOU RESPONDED ‘Pedant’ on Impact’s Top 10 Films of 2011 Harry Potter *definitely definitely* did disappoint.

definitely

‘Matt’ on Creative Writing Competition Runner-Up: ‘Foxes Snow’ Very nicely tied together. Some lovely snapshots of a dysfunctional Christmas outdoors. I liked the point about snow not being so magical for someone on the street in a sleeping bag.

Join the discussion at www.impactnottingham.com...

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ISSUE 214

‘K’ on The New Sexism Discriminating against men can be rude and hurtful but it’s not sexist, by definition, because there’s no oppression involved. Men are the privileged group, here, so we can theoretically be as misandrous to them as we like and it still wouldn’t be sexism, just general dickery.

I realise this’ll get ignored but I felt it was important to point this out…

CONTENTS 214 COMMENT

NEWS

REFERENDA ON SU REFORM Four different referenda will be held in February in a series of proposals that the Students’ Union are calling ‘The Big Ask’. The referenda suggest a number of changes to the way that the Union is run, including whether the SU should change their executive structure and decision-making structure. It will also ask whether the SU should allow students to become members of the Board of Trustees and whether serving sabbatical officers could run for a second term.

a shake-up of the democratic process.

Under the new system, students could submit their ideas for change online and those that are voted most popular with students will be taken to debate at Union assembly. Ideas that are deemed to be important but not necessarily ‘popular’ will be assessed

by Representative or Executive Officers. The plans also include the proposed rebrand of the SU Council, which will become ‘Union Assembly’. Although elected officers will attend these meetings, only the elected Union Representatives and a randomly selected representative group of student panellists will be able to vote.

The proposed change to the Executive structure will see the removal of four of the current positions – Financial & Services, Equal Opportunities & Welfare, Environment & Social Justice, and Accommodation & Community – and the roles of the remaining five positions will be redefined.

additional four Student Trustees will be appointed by a panel and then approved by Union Assembly.

The final component of the Big Ask would give first year Sabbatical Officers the chance to run for a second term. Currently, officers are unable to stand for re-election, but under this proposal the students would be able to decide whether or not to make this an option for the future.

The referenda will be the first to be held by the SU since 2003. A public debate regarding the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ sides to each referenda will be held on the 6th of February, with campaigning and voting taking place from the 8th to the 14th of February.

The third proposal is the introduction of students to the Board of Trustees, the body that oversees decisionmaking. Currently, the Board consists of four Exec Officers and four external Trustees. Under these proposals, an

The second referendum will ask students whether they wish to approve

Fiona Crosby Image by Sarah Graham

IS CHANGING AND PROBABLY NOT FOR THE BETTER UCAS have announced that they are attempting to introduce perhaps the most radical change in their application system for fifty years.

Whereas the current system relies on students applying for courses with their predicted grades in midJanuary, waiting for the decision of the university and then finally receiving their results, the new system will push exams two weeks earlier to allow for students to apply as soon as they have their results over the summer. These changes could be implemented as soon as 2016.

Under the proposed system students will apply in three ‘phases’. Each phase will consist of an application to two universities and if a satisfactory offer is not reached they progress to the next phase. The new system will bring an end to the clearing process, which at times haphazardly scatters applicants to courses across the country.

UCAS are proposing these changes due to issues within the current system. One of these is the reliance on predicted grades, fewer than 10% of which are completely accurate, and although 90% are within a grade, that grade can make all the difference when getting into university. UCAS argues that if applicants know their grades they can make more informed choices about university. The system is intended to be more representative of an applicant’s actual ability rather

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than their predicted one.

However, the new system already has issues before it’s even been implemented.

The Oxbridge application, which relies heavily on interviews and entry exams, is yet to receive a concrete timetable with which to interview applicants over the summer. The new process will also force universities to rush their decisions; a process, which currently takes months, will have to be condensed to a few weeks. Furthermore, students applying for accommodation as well as loans and bursaries will not find out until the summer before the start of term whether or not these applications were successful. This could make the application more stressful for prospective students.

The decision to change the UCAS system has also coincided with the application of 27 universities to lower their fees from £9,000 as of next autumn to £7,500 as well as a 15.1% drop in university applications.

It would seem that both UCAS and universities have realised that applicants are weighing up the decision to go to university far more heavily than before. It is also interesting to note that the number of foreign applicants has increased, suggesting that UK applicants particularly are less prone to apply for university when it is so costly. As such, applicants need more encouragement to go to

university. For universities this means lower fees, and for UCAS, a change in the system.

Personally, I feel that while the UCAS system is in need of a change, it should not so severely restrict the time for application, but instead should make the system more representative.

The proposed system may make the process quite rushed, but it would end the use of inaccurate predicted grades, and the guesswork involved with following them. However, applying for University is a serious matter and requires a large amount of time and consideration; the proposed changes seem to encourage quickly and poorly made decisions.

Overall, it seems that the new system would be more accurate, but hastily so.

Whilst allowing applicants to go to the best university available to them, it has led to accusations that this will make universities too grade-orientated.

Presently schools and universities are in talks with UCAS on their views of the proposed system changes.

The Russell Group of universities have shown no desire to change the status quo and the government has been quoted as saying they have “no appetite” for change, while many head teachers have come out in support of the proposals. UCAS will decide on a response to their views later this year.

Ben James

ISSUE 214

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JANUARY 2012

2 Editorial

9 Comment

4 News

11 Sport

The Big Ask

SPORTING TRAGEDIES: RUNNING THE RISK

Risk is an inherent factor in any sport and what some spectators and participants find so appealing about it. Naturally, the mental and physical skills required are also reasons for the popularity of a sport. There have been, nonetheless, occasions in sport recently that have brought spectators and participants back down to earth with a sobering thud; when we are fully reminded of the fragility of the human body.

being unpreventable, more safety measures were put in place by Sepp Blatter, including cardiological checkups before games and defibrillating machines in every stadium. The same response, however, had not been issued by MotoGP race director Paul Butler. Although Butler had said investigations into the accidents will take place, many prominent figures in motorsport have not hesitated to defend the actions taken to ensure the well-being of the racers. Schumacher declared that “To have total safety… is impossible”, backing up the opinion of Fraco Uncini, the MotoGP riders’ safety representative. Uncini believes that “plenty” has been done for safety and “…we don’t have the power to change fate”. Theoretically, any sport can benefit from more safety measures and precautions, but it appears that, for the majority of deaths in sport, little can be done to prevent what Uncini calls “fate”.

It seems improbable that sportsmen and women don’t know what they are putting at stake every time they play their sport. All players of sport participate aware of the potential consequences of their actions. Two time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso turns the tables: “The love for the sport, the adrenaline

In October 2011, Marco Simoncelli’s fatal accident during the Malaysian MotoGP shook the motorsport world. This fatality was the second installment of an unfortunate double whammy for motorsport enthusiasts, after having learnt, only a week prior, of the passing of Dan Wheldon, a fellow motor sportsman, due to a collision during the IndyCar World Championship. This ill-fated turn of events has certainly raised an issue over safety in sport, but should there be more safety measures? And if some deaths in sport are down to fate, how can others be prevented?

The fact remains that fatalities in sport are not common; very rarely does a sportsperson die during play.

Of course, when they do, the death,

you have…blocks out the risk”. Lewis Hamilton supports this emphatically, stating that “If I was to pass away, I cannot imagine a better way”.

The sentiment is also shared by a Cameroonian reporter, in connection with Foé’s passing, who stated that “To die on the football field, having minutes earlier sung the national anthem of his nation and guided his teammates into the final of a major competition…few are granted the chance to end their earthly voyage in such beauty”.

It seems that, no matter what or how many efforts are made by the governing bodies of each sport to continuously improve safety, for the most part, the death of a sportsperson is unforeseeable and unpreventable, therefore deepening the tragedy and shock of such an event. Spectators and participators should take solace in the fact that these accidents act as timely reminders of our mortality. We must never forget that these athletes take part in these sports to enrich their lives. It’s just a shame that the sport sometimes takes back something that is not theirs.

Michael Timbs

THROUGH THEIR EYES

15 Young Refugees

IMPACT INVESTIGATES THE PLIGHT OF YOUNG REFUGEES In 2002, the Ay family, Kurdish asylum seekers from Turkey, were imprisoned in a British detention centre for 13 months.

Four of the detainees were children whose ages ranged from 7 to 13 and in January 2012, the Ay’s were compensated for their incarceration with a six-figure payout. This story prompts us to question how such an injustice was executed and to discover how exactly young asylum seekers and refugees are received in the UK. An asylum seeker is defined as a person who has applied for sanctuary and is unable to return to their home country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution [...] for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” according to the 1951

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Once in the new country, asylum seekers can be granted refugee status if they are able to prove that their need for protection is in line with international law. It is estimated that there are around 1,055 asylum seekers in Nottingham, accounting for less than 0.4% of the city’s population, with many hailing from Afghanistan, Kosovo and Eritrea. Asylum seekers and refugees have unfortunately been the victims of yellow journalism, typified by the media sensationalising and deploring the flux of immigrants into the UK, and publications like The Daily Mail announcing, “Foreign workers take yet more UK jobs as number of Britons in work plunges and youth

unemployment hits one million.” (17th November 2011) This ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality is evident throughout the media’s rhetoric; many people fail to evaluate the plight of asylum seekers objectively, without fearing it to be to the detriment of society. Yet, despite tabloid scaremongering, it appears that the UK only hosts 3% of the global refugee population compared with countries such as Pakistan, Syria and Jordan, who accommodate the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers.

When reminiscing on the final year of college and sixth form, most students will remember their 18th birthday parties and frantic UCAS applications.

But for some, the most lasting memory is the horror of war, which forced them out of their country. Veronica*

ISSUE 214

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JANUARY 2012

Settit Beyene, Ellis Schindler & Claudia Baxter

care and much needed facilities during disasters, epidemics and periods of conflict for those unable to get treatment themselves. As a volunteer and trained water engineer, Henry’s efforts within the organisation are twofold: helping to establish public health facilities in and around hospitals, alongside his more recent role as an ‘emergency coordinator’.

Henry’s life involves a delicate balance between missions abroad and stints at home where having “crazy stuff like electricity and water” is enough to excite him. As of late, he has put his life in the UK on hold to concentrate on his work abroad with MSF; he tells us that working as an engineer at home “doesn’t compare with the job satisfaction I get working with MSF”.

He adds, “initially, the first few times I came back from a mission I would get quite depressed, certainly down, because I wasn’t doing what I really enjoyed doing — the MSF work.”

get to a stage where you no longer feel, you can no longer empathise, and you know bagging bodies should never be the easiest thing to do”. Henry continues on to say that he finds war the most difficult thing to deal with.

“It’s a horrible, horrible business.

People who were killed, they didn’t have to be killed and somebody has pulled the trigger or used a machete and that is very difficult to deal with.

You can deal with death from disease a lot more easily than you can from a violent end.”

countries Henry has been to and the people he has met have had quite an effect on him. “[The future of Libya] is in the hands of the Libyan people.

I can only hope for a nice future for Libya. Even though there’s a lot of terrible places where people wouldn’t even think of going, generally the people you meet are really nice and it’s just a shame that that they’re having to go through the crisis they’re going through, whether it be a natural

In the future, Henry will continue to carry out humanitarian work until he “burns out,” but for now being an aid worker of no fixed abode and effecting change in the world is enough, but at some point he will have to stop, acknowledging that “settling down is a part of growing up”.

“It’s a horrible, horrible business.

People who were killed, they didn’t have to be killed and somebody has pulled the trigger or used a machete...”

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disaster or a political armed conflict.

At the end of the day, people are people. Our job is often to try not to be there, to do ourselves out of a job.

We will make sure that we train the people if they don’t have the skills, so that we’re not needed. Whilst I would love to go back to some of these places, I’d want to go back as a tourist and preferably not professionally, because if I go back professionally it’s because they need it.”

When asked about the he most rewarding aspect of humanitarian work, Henry listed meeting and hearing their incredible stories; I suppose you’re living through history.” He speaks of being caught up in the civil war in the Ivory Coast and witnessing firsthand the past events in Libya. Knowing that “You live through significant events in history and sometimes get to play a small part in it” makes the job incredibly worthwhile. He cites his experiences with MSF as having a positive influence on his character, positing that a complete transformation in his personality was effected after his first mission, during which he developed from a “super-confident, some might say arrogant, person” to a humble and “more reflective” man.

However, there is a brighter side to Henry’s work: “Seeing a family that has just been reunited, or watching somebody who’s been at death’s door, at a cholera treatment centre; three or four days later after treatment, they get up and walk out under their own steam. That’s kind of why we do it, rather than as just a response to the terrible stuff, because the terrible stuff is terrible and if we only focused on those things then I think that we’d burn out very quickly. There’s probably more good stuff than the terrible stuff but it’s like in the media; the good news doesn’t sell, people want to know about the bad stuff and it’s very important that people hear about it.

We will speak out for populations that can’t be heard.”

When asked what the most shocking thing he’s had to deal with was, Henry struggles to narrow it down to one particular moment, admitting that he’s had “shock after shock” in the past few years. Dealing with the horrific things he has seen “probably does” get easier in time, but he acknowledges that “if I didn’t find it difficult then I would probably stop, because I think that the moment you

Founded in 1971 in response to the Nigerian civil war, MSF functions internationally to provide medical

Henry reminds us that while a lot of us are quick to write off war-torn places, they do have another side that gets lost amongst the angst. “Afghanistan is a beautiful country. The people I met were absolutely lovely. I would love to visit it again.” He also speaks of his time in Libya, where he helped to set up a maternity clinic and a mental health hospital in Misrata, “Libya’s another beautiful country; it’s a fabulous place.

I loved it there.” It seems that the

For more information on MSF, check out their website www.msf.org.uk

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JANUARY 2012

Seeing Things From Their Perspective

18 City Boys

AN AID WORKER ‘LIVING THROUGH HISTORY’ Less than one week after his return from Afghanistan, Impact spoke to Henry Gray, an emergency co-ordinator working for the humanitarian medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. He recounts for us his experiences of working with one of the most prominent international aid organisations.

After graduating from Aberdeen University with a degree in biology and environmental chemistry, Henry tried his hand at investment banking in the City before training as a water engineer. But Henry’s life hasn’t followed the ‘student-job’ trajectory that most of us hope for in the nottoo-distant future. A sudden change of heart brought about by the 2005 tsunami in the Indian Ocean acted as the impetus for Gray to turn his hand to volunteering overseas. An initial setback in his pursuits was followed, around 18 months afterwards, with an offer to work with MSF and six weeks later he found himself on a flight to Congo. His life now involves coordinating large-scale medical relief efforts in disaster-plagued and wartorn countries, the likes of which we as students may find hard to witness on television let alone involve ourselves in firsthand.

UCAS Is Changing

Sporting Guide 2012

FEATURES

SPORT

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IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM

Dirty, Sexy Money

A Debate Older Than Time Itself

26 The Problem with Hu-Stu Where Is The Diversity?

20 Blame it on the Alcohol

27 The Big Question

22 Living Through History

28 Wave Your Rave/ Vent Your Spleen

Licensing Laws In Nottingham

Saving The World, One Country At A Time

STYLED BY: HANNAH DONALD, EMMA-JANE STEELE, LAUREN SANDERS, JESSICA NEWSOME, STEPH REW.

24 Banning the Veil At Uni

Are Comediennes Funny?

HAIR AND MAKE-UP: LAUREN SANDERS, HANNAH DONALD AND EMILY JANE CRAIG MODELS (LEFT TO RIGHT): ALIX BLANKSON, SARAH DAVIES, OLLIE SILVER, HANNAH WILKINSON, TOM BARNES, KATE REED, MATTHEW SUGGIT, SIAN CONFREY, STEPHANIE REW, JOHN BELL.

REGULARS

PHOTOGRAPHED BY: TROY EDIGE, HELEN MILLER, EMMA CHARALAMBOUS. SEE WEBSITE FOR MODELS CLOTHING WWW.IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/STYLE

JANUARY 2012

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30 Style

48 Arts

35 Film&TV

52 Music

39 Exposure:

56 Science

44 Travel

59 Food

Oxfam-chic

40

WINNER 2: ATUL MISTRY

WINNER 3: JOHN BELL

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION TITLE: ‘SUMMER’

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION TITLE: ‘PICTURE THIS SONG’

TITLE OF PICTURE: GRAND CANYON

SONG TITLE AND ARTIST: ‘FACES’- BY RADICAL FACE

DESCRIPTION: A SHOT OF THE GRAND CANYON TAKEN AFTER LANDING IN THE CANYON’S BASIN, USING A SONY ALPHA 330 WITH AN 18 -55 MM LENS

SONG LYRICS: AS THE WARMTH OF THE SUN LEAVES MY BACK, AND THESE BRUISE-COLOURED SKIES TURN TO BLACK, NONE OF THESE FACES LOOK THE SAME, BUT NOT A ONE KNOWS MY NAME, OH, I AM A LONG WAY FROM HOME.

ISSUE 213

NOVEMBER 2011

MUSIC

INTRODUCING METAL WHY NOT TRY METAL? 4 CATEGORIES Despite not having a single double bass drum roll within any of our iTunes libraries, my mates and I recently found ourselves in Pit and Pendulum on Victoria Street. The reason: we were searching for a bar where we wouldn’t have to queue an hour for drinks. This unplanned visit made me think about just why I, and many others with otherwise broad musical tastes, are so reluctant to listen to metal.

A lot of people are probably put off by metal before they even give it a listen.

For many, metal is solely associated with monstrous riffs, cacophonous drumming and demented vocals.

Yet as any metalhead will implore, the term ‘metal’ actually covers innumerable sub-genres that feature a vast range of styles and subtleties.

A reason why many are reluctant to listen to metal is that it is in fact much more than a genre — it is also a culture and a whole way of life for some. Many believe that to get involved in the metal scene you have to wear the clothes, grow the hair and get the tattoos. Given that this image isn’t perceived as being particularly cool, it is perhaps unsurprising that metal is shunned.

But could metal finally be making something of a crossover? Recently we have seen Lou Reed working with Metallica, Skrillex collaborating with Korn, Justice remixing Metallica and Mastodon moving over to the mainstream, even managing to sneak onto Jools Holland’s show. Maybe now is the time to give the much-maligned genre another try.

Joseph Gallagher

54

OF METAL

P R E C U R S O R S / E A R LY METAL Although some of these earlier bands may not sound ‘heavy’ to modern ears, they undoubtedly helped to shape the metal genre in the decades to follow.

In the early to mid 1970s, the riff was king, as shown by classics like Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, and Kiss’s ‘God of Thunder’. What’s more, if you find the sound of later metal too harsh, bands such as these can act as a great way to ease yourself into the world of metal.

THE RISE AND RISE OF METAL

GLAM METAL

Glam metal ultimately represents for metal what Duran Duran represented for pop – a musical equivalent of the decadent ‘80s. Most Glam features typical ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ lyrics, copious guitar solos, and the type of chorus that you can’t help but shout along to (think Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’). It’s also probably the most consistently ridiculed subgenre of metal, with the make-up, the big hair, and the cheesy lyrics all making it a pretty easy target for its detractors.

If you can get past the image (or if you love the image – each to their own), there are some real gems to be found within this subgenre.

NU METAL

THRASH METAL Some of metal’s most important bands and albums came out of the Thrash subgenre, which fused the technical musical ability and imagery of metal with the speed and aggression of punk.

This was revolutionary at the time, and thrash’s ‘Big Four’– Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax still influence many of today’s young metallers. As time went on, however, much of the music released by Thrash bands became more cerebral and less focussed on all-out speed – check out the amazing Eastern-sounding acoustic guitar solo on Megadeth’s ‘Holy Wars’.

Nu metal emerged in the late 1990s, fusing elements of metal, grunge, industrial, and hip hop, among others.

Despite being focussed mainly on metal instrumentation, Nu metal rarely featured elements otherwise commonly found in metal, such as guitar solos; instead DJs were often used to create an entirely different sound. In addition to this, many Nu metal vocalists such as Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and Corey Taylor of Slipknot incorporated rapping, as well as the more traditionally metal screams and growls, into their music. By the mid-2000s, nu metal’s popularity had waned, but it has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity, with Slipknot and System of a Down headlining festivals worldwide in 2011.

William Gulseven

It’s been over 25 years since Metallica released their seminal album ‘Master of Puppets’ and metal’s popularity arguably reached its peak. But in 2012, is it really still relevant, and does it still retain the power and fan-base it once had?

Ask metal fans who they think the biggest artists in metal are today, and it’s likely they’ll reel off any number of names such as Machine Head, Mastodon and Trivium – the list goes on and on. However, it is not just these old gods of the industry who are keeping the genre going; a wave of new bands inspired by the original titans are now flying the flag high for metal.

Across Europe every year, thousands flock to festivals such as Sonisphere, Wacken, and Hellfest, all of which cater to fans of heavy and extreme Early metal (1969-1980) Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin II’ (1969) Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’ (1970)

music. The UK’s biggest metal festival, Download, attracted 70,000 fans in 2011 - almost as many as Leeds Festival. These festivals are home to the biggest names in the business, but they also promote smaller acts on the road to glory. Rise to Remain, for example, played the tiny Gibson stage at Download 2008. By 2010, they were playing alongside names such as Bullet for My Valentine and The Dillinger Escape Plan on the second stage.

If you look hard enough, it’s possible to spot metal in the mainstream media as well. Radio One’s daytime playlist champions a track by trance metallers Enter Shikari. In America, talk show host Conan O’Brien regularly features live performances by bands like Megadeth and Lamb of God alongside Eminem and Lady Gaga. Arguably the most prominent exposure metal has had in recent years was in 2009, when, as a biting retort against the Slayer – ‘Reign in Blood’ (1986) Megadeth – ‘Rust in Peace’ (1990)

Thrash metal (1981-1990) Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’ (1986)

Where Is The ‘Com’ In Sitcom?

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/MUSIC

By its very nature, metal will never be as popular as other genres and you probably won’t be seeing bands like Suicide Silence in the top 40 any time soon. However, metal’s cult following is part of its appeal for its die-hard fans, who are much of the reason it has been able to grow up to the present day. To the outsider looking in, metal may seem to be an aggressive or even primitive type of music, but for those who revel in it, it is a way of life. Yes, metal is still very much an underground genre, but just because it can’t always be heard across the airwaves, that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed.

William Gulseven and Josh Levy

Photography Competitions

Groove metal (1990-present) Pantera – ‘Cowboys from Hell’ (1990) Lamb of God – ‘Sacrament’ (2006)

Nu-metal (1997-2005) Slipknot – ‘Slipknot’ (1999) Limp Bizkit – ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water’ (2000) System of a Down – ‘Toxicity’ (2001)

Metalcore (2000-present) Avenged Sevenfold–‘City of Evil’ (2005) Bullet for My Valentine–‘The Poison’ (2005) Rise to Remain – ‘City of Vultures’ (2011)

JANUARY 2012

FOOD

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Discovering Nottingham

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/FOOD

FASHIONABLE FOOD

FUSS FREE FAJITAS

Ingredients (serves 2): 2 chicken breasts 1 onion 1 pepper Sachet of fajita mix (I prefer Old El Paso Original Smoky BBQ) Garlic paste Carton of passata or tomato pasta sauce (Sainsbury’s Tomato and Smoked Bacon works especially well!)

Wraps Salad/sour cream etc for finishing touches.

Preparation time: 5mins Cooking time: 15-20mins First, slice your chicken breasts into long, thin strips, and then add them to a large, oiled frying pan on a medium heat. While the meat is cooking,

chop up your onion and pepper, and add them to the pan. Always add the vegetables second, so that they retain a crunch and freshness, rather than getting over-cooked.

Next, sprinkle about a quarter to a half of the packet of fajita mix onto the pan’s contents, depending on the level of flavour you’re after; remember, you can always add more later. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can have a go at making your own seasoning by mixing different amounts of spices together. The commonly combined ones are chilli powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and cumin. Whatever combination you choose to use, always add a pinch of salt to the mix as this will help to bring

all the flavours together. Remember to be creative!

Stir the pan to make sure everything gets coated by the mix. It will combine with the oil in the pan and the juices to form a sort of paste. Add a small amount of garlic paste, and stir that in as well. Finally, add some of the passata or tomato sauce – just enough that it coats everything, not enough for it to be swimming in tomato. This adds a lovely sweetness and extra layer of flavour to the dish; stir it all in and leave it simmering while you prepare your wraps.

Place two or three wraps per person on a plate in the microwave, and heat for about 40 seconds, until warm and pliable. If you’re a fan of sour cream and salad, spread them evenly over the wrap, not too close to the edges though. Finally, add the chicken mix.

The best way to wrap and avoid spillages? Place a spoonful of the filling on the right hand side of the wrap, about half an inch from the edge. Fold up the bottom, wrap tightly from right to left, and hey presto!

Tasty, healthy fajitas to enjoy.

Food isn’t the first thing that you would think of when it comes to fads and trends. In fact, the two are very often seen as mutually exclusive. Despite this unlikely coupling, the relationship is most definitely alive and well, and we are all victims of it. Have you in the past year, for example, bought an atrociously priced cupcake? The answer to that is quite likely a yes, as over the past ten years sales of the American export have dramatically risen and seen a stratospheric rise to the upper echelons of stylish fodder. In 2008, cupcakes made the number one spot for ‘fastest rising recipe searches in the UK’ according to google’s annual zeitgeist list, featured alongside other winners such as Sarah Palin and Gordon Brown. And it’s not just frequenters of faux-twee Chelsea bakeries, which have felt the cupcakeeffect; the retro cake-bake is now an omnipresent and inescapable feature of the Portland Building. Finally, and most bizarrely, is the enthusiasm for posting the photographic results of baking efforts on social networking websites.

It is not only the cupcake, which has been seemingly plucked from obscurity to reign supreme in the hierarchy of

foods. Pork belly is now a menu staple of British gastro pubs and restaurants.

Just a few decades ago, however, this fatty cut of pork was seen as a cheap, poor-man’s substitute for now less popular cuts such as the loin. This rapid image transformation may be partly attributed to the adoption of the belly cut by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver.

Waitrose, for example, reported a 25% increase in the sales of pork belly following Oliver’s Buy British campaign, in addition to the ever rising sales of his cookery books which contain a plethora of pork belly recipes.

Ah, Waitrose. It isn’t too long in any food discussion before the small matter of where you buy your food pops up.

You may think you have got your foodfashions sorted, publicly eating edamame beans for a snack with as much relish as a Twix, but if you’re caught out in Iceland then all that hard work pretending to like sushi goes to waste. You could even go one step trendier and claim to buy all your food from an inner city deli posing as a local farm shop and pay £5 for an organic avocado.

But it is not only what we eat which

reflects the desired projection of our selves, but also what we don’t eat. Diets are now based upon vast and lucrative businesses and the diet that you follow can say a lot about your fashion knowledge. The Atkins diet, for example, is now relatively obsolete. Since Atkins’ untimely death after a life of following his own eating plan, the equally absurd Dukan diet formulated by the French ‘dietician’ Pierre Dukan, has taken over as the diet du jour. The diets of mega stars are, meanwhile, plastered all over the pages of gossip magazines from Beyonce’s supposed cayenne pepper and lemon juice ‘Master-Cleanse’, to Madonna’s un-appetizing Macrobiotic diet.

Imogen Storrs

Deborah Murtha

Miles Harrison

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Don’t Bother Dieting

62 Are you Sur-Real?

We can see, therefore, that from what we eat, to what we don’t eat, to where we buy it from is largely a matter of what society and celebrities dictates. Perhaps, there is also more than a hint of class snobbery in our foodie fashions and the way that we view others’ culinary choices. We would all do well, therefore, to stop and think the next time we snigger at those Iceland adverts.

A QUICK BITE This month we go to the student’s staple, a take away, and the big problem when you are ordering food with your housemates - how to split the bill!

However, this is no longer a problem when ordering you food online as hungryhouse.co.uk has come up with an ingenious little feature, which works out how much every person owes towards the cost of a meal. This is great, as it means no more quarrelling over who owes what or silently seething because your friend’s korma has come out of your bank balance.

To avoid getting the calculator out after a meal just order from Hungry House; although it is not as established as some other larger take-away websites it does have some top features and is worth checking out.

For some of our take away reviews go to www.impactnottingham.com/section/food.

Stephen Fry Is Only Human

Machine Head – ‘Unto the Locust’ (2011) Skid Row – ‘Skid Row’ (1989)

ISSUE 214

After the delicious indulgence of Christmas, it can be nice to lay off the heavier dishes in the New Year and try something lighter but equally tasty.

This quick and simple recipe for fajitas is both healthy and full of flavour, but light enough to give your belly some room to breathe. With fajitas, you can go as spicy or as mild as you like by changing up the spice mixes. Everyone cooks fajitas a little bit differently, so feel free to experiment!

Livin’ On A Prayer

domination of the charts by X Factor singers, Rage Against the Machine achieved the Christmas Number One spot with ‘Killing in the Name’.

Glam metal (1983-1990) Mötley Crüe – ‘Dr Feelgood’ (1986) Bon Jovi – ‘Slippery When Wet’ (1986)

Kiss – ‘Destroyer’ (1975) Founders of Metal Motörhead- ‘Overkill’ (1979) Iron Maiden – ‘The Number of the Beast’ (1982)

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Creative Writing Competition

Congratulations On Being Pretentious

Tom Gamon

JANUARY 2012

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NEWS

A TERM IN THE LIFE

Impact caught up with the Students Union Executive Officers to see how they are getting on after their first term at the helm of the SU.

Alex Corck-Adelman (President) What have you achieved so far this year?

The biggest thing that I was handed over and told I’d be working on is the restructure of the senior management team. We’ve handled the redundancies of the senior management team and have gone through the recruitment process and appointed a new Chief Exec, who’ll be starting towards the end of January, so we’ve been without the most senior member of staff since end of September now. In terms of things on the ground at a shorter-term level, most of them are still on-going really. The main things I’ve spent a long time working on are the exec review, which is part of the referenda that will hopefully be happening in February.

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What are your plans for the rest of the year?

To ensure that the referenda happens and happens smoothly, and then if they are voted ‘yes’, help to implement those changes before we finish our term of office. I’ve got a meeting with the Director of Information Services about my campus card scheme which was on my manifesto and is something that I’m still really keen to push for and I would like to get to a position when I leave of having agreement from a number of parties.

Car-parking on campus. From September they’ve introduced carparking charges on campus, and they haven’t really left any room in there for any discretion. Obviously if you’re working on campus and getting paid to do it, paying 100-200 quid for parking isn’t as bad as if your volunteering or doing something for a Student Run Service such as Impact, NUTS, Tec, but you still need that car, you don’t want to be paying 200 quid of its budget to pay for it. I’m still struggling with it and I hope we will make some leeway on it.

Daniel Fine

If the referendum for allowing two sabbatical terms passes, will you run again?

No, I was one of the most keen people to be on Exec - I really, really wanted it and I am enjoying it - but I wouldn’t run again because of the restructure we’ve been going through.

I think it would be really good for the organisation to have a fresh start. So I’ve essentially just guided it through this period of instability. It would be best for the organisation to start from scratch almost and then start to work on developing the union further, and I think it would be hard for me to do that having the year that I’ve had. I think if there were projects that I could see needed taking on that would make me run again but no, not intending to run again.

Are there any policies which you have struggled with?

Danny Barry (Democracy Communications Officer)

and

What do you think is the most important thing you have done since becoming the Democracy and Communications Officer?

Probably the thing that I was most pleased with was taking the plan to

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/NEWS

OF THE SU EXEC Paris Moore council about the referenda. Getting it approved by a two-thirds majority was probably the high point so far because I didn’t think that it would pass as easily as it did, and because I’ve spent much time on the whole project of democratic reform. It was good to see that councillors were happy to let it go through and be decided on by students.

During your election campaign you mentioned that you wanted to reach out to students on a face-to-face basis. Would you say that people know who you are?

Well I don’t whether they definitely know who I am, but I’d say that I have really made an effort to go out and do as much face-to-face interaction as I can. One of our main aims this year was to make sure that we interact with students as much as possible, and we’ve really made a concerted effort to go out at every opportunity; we call it ‘ GOATing’ and it stands for Go Out And Talk to students. During Freshers’ Week we were around every night to help the Week One Exec, and this provided us with a great opportunity to meet new students and talk to them.

We use Twitter and video logs as well, which we put on the website to try and keep people up to date with what we’re doing. I’d say that’s one of the things we’ve worked hardest on. I think that that’s really been lacking in the last few years. When I was campaigning, I was asking students if they knew who the Exec were and no one could name more than two people, so hopefully by the end of this year people will know

who we are, and how the SU exec can help them during their time here One of your pledges was to encourage faculty coordinators to meet with students from their schools, because students don’t even know who they are. What have you done to help the situation?

Well so far, that’s one of the main things I haven’t really managed to get to grips with. Because of how busy everything else has been, in terms of referenda and preparing for the possibility of democratic reform, it has been on the back burner slightly, which is a real shame and something that I am going to address after Christmas, when I am hopefully going to be working with Elizabeth Goddard (Education Officer). But it is crazy this year. I know everyone always says, “I never get a chance to do my manifesto pledges”, but it is very difficult to manage the different aspects of the job whilst dealing with all the things that come up. However, I will get that done because I hate people making excuses.

Another one of your aims was to make sure that the media Student Run Services were working to their potential, so what have you done to ensure that they are the best they can be?

like if there was any way I could be of service to them to make sure that they got more publicity, or could work or operate as well and fully as they wanted to. The first meeting went really well and there were ideas coming up and a few things that were quite easily addressed, and there were a few things that were highlighted to me, with regards to the direction that each SRS was heading.

Since then it has been quite difficult to get everyone together. We still maintain regular contact through email, and the meetings are something we are trying to keep going but it is difficult because the three of them are incredibly busy balancing their SRS commitments with their academic workload. . As a result, fitting in an hour on a Monday morning isn’t always their primary concern. I’ve tried to remain open and accessible so that they know that they can come and speak to me. And I do drop by their offices to stay in touch with what they’re getting up to. . But I think over the coming months, with coverage of big events such as The Summer Party, The Big Ask, Varsity and SU elections, working closely with the media SRSs will be really important.

Dammy Ikeola Full interviews with all of the SU Exec can be found at www.impactnottingham.com/section/ news.

Well, what I did this term was to try to set up fortnightly meetings with the SRS heads, to try and find out what the issues were that were affecting them,

JANUARY 2012

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NEWS PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY BREACH IN NUH

Charlotte Albert The Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) and Nottingham City Hospital, has admitted that there have been 29 recorded cases of patient confidentiality being breached in the last three years, the worst of any hospital trust in the country. The main offences were the breach of data protection laws through patients’ details being accessed or passed on to a third party.

The material was compiled between July 25th 2008 and July 25th 2011 through Freedom of Information requests sent to every NHS Trust in the UK and collected by the organisation Big Brother Watch. The results were subsequently published in a report entitled ‘NHS Breaches of Protection Law’ which exposed the string of incidents at the NUH NHS Trust, 11 of which involved medical personnel.

Of the 29 cases found, a range of punishments were given. Eight employees were dismissed, one for posting a picture of a patient on Facebook. Six were given warnings and another five received informal action. One person, with the additional charge of damaging trust property, resigned. However, in nine instances it was found that there was no case to investigate.

Ginny Klein, Chairman of the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, was unable to explain why the NUH’s record was so bad compared to the rest of the UK. In a statement, she said: “It’s hard to comment on why that might be. All staff employed within the hospitals have to sign up to patient confidentiality so something is obviously going wrong somewhere.”

Peter Homa, Chief Executive of NUH, reassured the public that the Trust does all it can to “fully investigate all claims”, and that it took appropriate action when certain cases were deemed serious. He added: “We will continue to deal severely with anyone who breaches [patient confidentiality].”

Daniel Kennedy

HMO LEGISLATION PASSED BY COUNCIL Nottingham City Council has voted in favour of the ‘Article Four direction’, despite huge opposition from the University of Nottingham Students’ Union. The article requires landlords to seek planning permission if they wish to convert any house into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMOs), which covers student housing in areas such as Lenton and Dunkirk.

The Students’ Union is against the proposal because they fear that it will move students out of houses and into purpose-built accommodation.

They argue that this accommodation would likely be further away and more expensive.

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However, on the 22nd November, the Council agreed to the proposal, which comes into effect on the 1st March 2012. Julia Seal, Accommodation and Community Officer for the Student Union, is unhappy with how some of the Council members handled the opposition, stating, “It is not surprising that the Executive Board have voted in this way but it is certainly disappointing”. She and other members of the SU Exec will continue to work with the Council to ensure that they are not implementing student quotas across the City.

Upon reaching the verdict, Councillor Jane Urquhart, Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for Planning and Transportation stated, “We have

considered all the objections raised. We are very proud of Nottingham’s status as a top University city, and I hope students are clear that this decision does not affect existing HMOs and will not suddenly reduce the housing stock available for them as it will only apply to new proposals.”

Suzi Collins

Megan Jolley

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/NEWS

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS BAD NEWS FOR LARRY OF DOWNING STREET Over recent months, England has been wading knee-deep through turmoil and calamity, riots and economic crisis – but an even more devastating debacle has arisen. Larry Cameron, resident cat of No. 10 Downing Street, is charged with serious allegations of incompetence and neglect of duties. The scandal of the season appears to be Larry’s inability and lack of motivation to catch the mice frequenting the corridors of Downing Street, preferring instead to spend his time sleeping or with his girlfriend, Maisie. The crisis reached a pinnacle when David Cameron was witnessed hurling a fork at a mouse, which endeavoured to make an appearance at a dinner with Cabinet ministers. Despite outraged cries for Larry’s swift removal from service, a Downing Street spokesperson has come to his defence with the claim that “Larry brings a lot of pleasure to a lot of people”. It seems that in these troubled times even Larry’s position as mouse-catcher has fallen into realms of precarious uncertainty, leaving us to wonder: what hope is there for the rest of us?

GOOD NEWS FOR PIZZA FANS

Helena Murphy

Students and pizza-lovers across the US are ecstatic at the news that Congress has affirmed that pizza is “a vegetable”. The apparent justification of this move is that the tomato sauce on a slice counts as a half-cup serving of vegetables.

This outcome originated in a bid to make federally financed school lunches healthier and more nutritious. The Agriculture Department (USDA) suggested that potatoes should be replaced with fresh fruits and vegetables, for salt to be reduced, and of course for pizza to no longer be classed as a vegetable. Yet, as a result of powerful lobbying by frozen food giants, Congress decided to block the USDA’s proposals, which were considered “overly burdensome and costly” according to a bill summary released by Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee. Although perhaps not the best strategy to counter high obesity levels – especially now a third of American children are considered to be obese by the government – the average university student is unlikely to complain about the chance to justify that second Dominoes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS... THE POWER OF THE PINT

Sedef Akademir

Derbyshire Police arrested 19 criminals last November thanks to an unusual, “cost-effective” tactic: the offer of free beer. Officers at Chesterfield Police Station relied on the power of the pint to lure the suspected criminals into their welcoming arms. Wanted for a number of crimes, ranging from robbery to sexual assault, the criminals were sent letters supposedly from a marketing company, offering free beer. This advert encouraged them to call a number printed on the letter to claim their free crate; little did they know that it was the police who sat eagerly at the end of the phone lines. The unwitting criminals arrived to enjoy their light carbonated refreshments only to be arrested. While this story may seem like an innocuous one about police ingenuity, it does tap into a wider issue ever-present in the criminal world at the moment: the lack of sheer common sense. It must then fall to David Cameron to decide what the British Government can do to ensure the levels of criminal cunning do not fall in this time of gumption recession. It is an issue not often covered, but one that needs addressing, not only for the sake of our criminals, but our police shows as well. After all, how far are we from an episode of Midsummer Murders in which the criminals are foiled by forgetting to tie their own shoelaces or running with scissors?

Ben James and Elizabeth Almas NOVEMBER 2011

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NEWS

REFERENDA ON SU REFORM Four different referenda will be held in February in a series of proposals that the Students’ Union are calling ‘The Big Ask’. The referenda suggest a number of changes to the way that the Union is run, including whether the SU should change their executive structure and decision-making structure. It will also ask whether the SU should allow students to become members of the Board of Trustees and whether serving sabbatical officers could run for a second term.

The proposed change to the Executive structure will see the removal of four of the current positions – Financial & Services, Equal Opportunities & Welfare, Environment & Social Justice, and Accommodation & Community – and the roles of the remaining five positions will be redefined.

The second referendum will ask students whether they wish to approve

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a shake-up of the democratic process.

Under the new system, students could submit their ideas for change online and those that are voted most popular with students will be taken to debate at Union assembly. Ideas that are deemed to be important but not necessarily ‘popular’ will be assessed

by Representative or Executive Officers. The plans also include the proposed rebrand of the SU Council, which will become ‘Union Assembly’. Although elected officers will attend these meetings, only the elected Union Representatives and a randomly selected representative group of student panellists will be able to vote.

The third proposal is the introduction of students to the Board of Trustees, the body that oversees decisionmaking. Currently, the Board consists of four Exec Officers and four external Trustees. Under these proposals, an

additional four Student Trustees will be appointed by a panel and then approved by Union Assembly.

The final component of the Big Ask would give first year Sabbatical Officers the chance to run for a second term. Currently, officers are unable to stand for re-election, but under this proposal the students would be able to decide whether or not to make this an option for the future.

The referenda will be the first to be held by the SU since 2003. A public debate regarding the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ sides to each referenda will be held on the 6th of February, with campaigning and voting taking place from the 8th to the 14th of February.

Fiona Crosby Image by Sarah Graham

COMMENT

IS CHANGING AND PROBABLY NOT FOR THE BETTER UCAS have announced that they are attempting to introduce perhaps the most radical change in their application system for fifty years.

Whereas the current system relies on students applying for courses with their predicted grades in midJanuary, waiting for the decision of the university and then finally receiving their results, the new system will push exams two weeks earlier to allow for students to apply as soon as they have their results over the summer. These changes could be implemented as soon as 2016.

Under the proposed system students will apply in three ‘phases’. Each phase will consist of an application to two universities and if a satisfactory offer is not reached they progress to the next phase. The new system will bring an end to the clearing process, which at times haphazardly scatters applicants to courses across the country.

UCAS are proposing these changes due to issues within the current system. One of these is the reliance on predicted grades, fewer than 10% of which are completely accurate, and although 90% are within a grade, that grade can make all the difference when getting into university. UCAS argues that if applicants know their grades they can make more informed choices about university. The system is intended to be more representative of an applicant’s actual ability rather

than their predicted one.

However, the new system already has issues before it’s even been implemented.

The Oxbridge application, which relies heavily on interviews and entry exams, is yet to receive a concrete timetable with which to interview applicants over the summer. The new process will also force universities to rush their decisions; a process, which currently takes months, will have to be condensed to a few weeks. Furthermore, students applying for accommodation as well as loans and bursaries will not find out until the summer before the start of term whether or not these applications were successful. This could make the application more stressful for prospective students.

The decision to change the UCAS system has also coincided with the application of 27 universities to lower their fees from £9,000 as of next autumn to £7,500 as well as a 15.1% drop in university applications.

It would seem that both UCAS and universities have realised that applicants are weighing up the decision to go to university far more heavily than before. It is also interesting to note that the number of foreign applicants has increased, suggesting that UK applicants particularly are less prone to apply for university when it is so costly. As such, applicants need more encouragement to go to

university. For universities this means lower fees, and for UCAS, a change in the system.

Personally, I feel that while the UCAS system is in need of a change, it should not so severely restrict the time for application, but instead should make the system more representative.

The proposed system may make the process quite rushed, but it would end the use of inaccurate predicted grades, and the guesswork involved with following them. However, applying for University is a serious matter and requires a large amount of time and consideration; the proposed changes seem to encourage quickly and poorly made decisions.

Overall, it seems that the new system would be more accurate, but hastily so.

Whilst allowing applicants to go to the best university available to them, it has led to accusations that this will make universities too grade-orientated.

Presently schools and universities are in talks with UCAS on their views of the proposed system changes.

The Russell Group of universities have shown no desire to change the status quo and the government has been quoted as saying they have “no appetite” for change, while many head teachers have come out in support of the proposals. UCAS will decide on a response to their views later this year.

Ben James JANUARY 2012

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COMMENT

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

AND THE CHARLIE HEBDO

In early November 2011, the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo printed a caricature of the prophet Muhammad on its cover with the comment “100 lashes if you are not dying of laughter”.

The publication also named the prophet “editor in chief” and renamed the magazine “Sharia Hebdo” for its next issue, to ‘celebrate’ the victory of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party in the September election. The reaction to this: the paper’s offices were destroyed at the hands of enraged Islamists, resulting in the publication’s editor stating, “We no longer have a newspaper. All our equipment has been destroyed.”

minorities within some religions have taken away the right to freedom of speech. After all, this is by no means the first irrational reaction of its kind.

The first major example that lingers in a lot of minds was the global outrage sparked in 1989 by Salman Rushdie’s now infamous novel The Satanic Verses.

Similarly to Charlie Hebdo, the novel was considered by many Muslims to be an affront to the religion, and Rushdie was accused of blasphemy. The repercussions were unprecedented. Rushdie was forced into hiding as a fatwa ordering his death

The response to this attack has been varied with some voices in the world press insisting that the media has to remain respectful of pluralism in society, and that because the paper disrespected a major faith, they inevitably got what they deserved. Bruce Crumley, Time Magazine’s Paris correspondent, expressed little sympathy for Charlie Hebdo, stating that the magazine had “published another stupid and totally unnecessary issue mocking Islam”. Romina RuizGoiriena, an assistant producer at France 24, lambasted the paper for “burgeoning anti-Muslim sentiment”.

However, Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine which mocks all manner of people and institutions, from political leaders to Christianity, not only Islam.

The paper is part of a long-standing anticlerical satirical culture, in a nation that is proudly secular. The paper did not do this just to upset Muslims, but to make an important political point, that “No religion is compatible with democracy from the moment a political party representing it wants to take power in the name of God”.

As the editor stated “What would be the point of a religious party taking power if it didn’t apply its ideas?”

So we are left wondering if overzealous

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was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. The case of The Satanic Verses has greatly impacted on how freedom of expression has been viewed in our society thereafter. More recently, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy caused uproar in 2005, where the prophet was depicted in 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper.

The depiction of the prophet is strictly prohibited in certain strands of Islam, and the result of this publication was yet another violent storm of outrage worldwide.

Ironically, the radical religious reactions to such cases are self-defeating, resulting in more exposure to the offending items.

This has been the outcome in all three episodes. Donations to revive Charlie Hebdo are now flooding in, the Danish cartoons were reprinted in more than 50 other countries, including in the Charlie Hebdo, to demonstrate solidarity, and The Satanic Verses became a worldwide bestseller.

So given these past cases, should the editors at Charlie Hebdo and Jyllands-Posten have still printed the offending material?

Certainly the editors were courting controversy when they released these pieces, printing pictures that go against the beliefs of a religion, but the violence that ensued was disproportionate and unnecessary. As Nathalie KosciuskoMorizet, the minister of economy, stated: “You don’t negotiate the freedom of the press with bombs...If you are not happy with what’s in a newspaper, you take it to court”. Caving into the demands of the repressive few not only presents a serious threat to freedom of speech, it also grants legitimacy to a minority that is unrepresentative of their religion. The majority of religious believers in our country value freedom of expression, and would object to the hijacking of their religion by the actions of a violent handful. Thankfully, the editors of the Charlie Hebdo have not bowed to these pressures; the first issue that came out after the firebombing showed a Muslim man and a Charlie Hebdo writer kissing passionately. Writing from a liberal stance involves a certain amount of tolerance of intolerant people, but we must begin to question the extent to which we remain tolerant of atrocity if we want to avoid trapping ourselves in a Catch 22 situation.

Sedef Akademir and Helena Murphy

SPORT A GOLDEN CYCLE OR FIVE MINUTES OF FAME?

Josep Guardiola’s Catalans strolled to victory in 2009, marking a third, near-impeccable season for Guardiola, and sparking the inevitable debates currently raging throughout the football community: are Barcelona the best club football team ever?

After witnessing the smooth, yet utterly destructive tiki-taka showcased at Wembley, you’d be forgiven for jumping on the bandwagon and counting yourself lucky to have witnessed Barca’s brilliance.

But if sport has taught us one philosophy, it is that greatness is mercurial, and what goes up often comes sliding down in a most sobering fashion. Or, in Tiger Woods’ case, what goes up comes crashing down in a heavily publicised sex scandal.

The golf ace, winner of 14 major championships and a record 10 PGA Player of the Year awards, pretty much had it all going for him. With great form and a huge fan base, Woods was the global face of golf. Then, in 2010, a tabloid published a story claiming that Woods had been involved in an affair with a nightclub manager. His wife later revealed that he had confessed to sleeping with over 120 women behind her back, leading to a downward spiral that saw him end the year ranked #58

in the world, his lowest rank since his rookie year in 1996.

No matter how brilliant an athlete may be, there is no escaping the eventual drag of time. Even the greats get old: Ali, Lomu, Gascoigne…well, maybe not Gazza. When most athletes realise their body is no longer up to performing at the aerial benchmark that professional sport and its fans demand, they decide to call it quits and bow out. However, when a group of excellent athletes bow out at the same time, from the same team, the team faces certain decline; such was the fate of the 1980s West Indies cricket team. A team which boasted the only ever 5-0 whitewash while on tour in test cricket history, the West Indies’ only notable defeat of the era was a surprising loss to India in the 1983 World Cup final. The decline in form began as the 90s loomed and the likes of Jeff Dujon, Clive Lloyd, and Gordon Greenidge announced their retirement. It is a trend in test that has seen Australia decline, admittedly not to the same extent, and now faces India too.

In fact, the only team that have seemed to escape this Golden Cycle of sport are the New York Yankees.

Their 27 World Series Championships

makes the pinstriped Yankees the most successful, most profitable baseball team ever. However, it is their continued re-investment, not possible in many sports, that has ensured this level of success, to the extent that in 2008 their payroll was $80 million higher than their closest rival. This explains why the second most successful team, the St. Louis Cardinals, have won a comparatively unimpressive 11 championships.

Around now, you’re likely feeling embarrassed for assuming that Barca will continue to meander upwards to a Guardiola-inspired pedestal of holiness.

Yet, it is the Real Madrid team of the 50s who are remembered by many of the old guard as the ultimate team, the epitome of brilliance. They won 5 back-to-back European Cups before a steady decline in form. Coincidentally, Sir Matt Busby claimed, “Any team that reaches the top is apt to be past it within five years of reaching it.” By my reckoning, Barca have been on top for three years, so it’s in their hands to prove Busby wrong or right. All we can do is sit back and enjoy the football: either way we are lucky to have witnessed their brilliance.

Peter Klein

JANUARY 2012

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SPORT

A SPORTING UEFA EURO 2012

The draws up, the schedule set, and that English sense of pre-tournament optimism is on the bubble. Euro 2012 is officially on its way and the Three Lions have to be pleased with a favourable draw, in which they have a good chance of gaining a top place finish in a group consisting of Sweden, host nation Ukraine and the once formidable France. Therefore even without Wayne Rooney (who is suspended for the opening two games as a result of his ‘assault’ on Miodrag Dzudovic in England’s 2-2 draw with Montenegro) there is cause for hope.

There is little doubt over Rooney’s selection as his expertise will be crucial in navigating the latter stages of the competition; England will most likely have to battle it out with Italy or European and World Champions Spain, who will be showcasing their resplendence in group C, unfortunately for Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland.

Of course, it would be naïve to be conclusively despairing over Keane & Co.’s chances, as they hit some good form in qualifying and the Azzurri were shockingly bad in their last two major tournaments. However, currently such is the strength of depth in European football. This is not even the tournament’s ‘group of death’; this honour goes to group X consisting of Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Portugal, whilst the tamest group falls

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into the hands of co-host Poland.

What will be interesting is Capello’s squad selection. The more experienced names such as Gerrard, Ferdinand and Lampard are all unfit or ageing noticeably, so will there be open berths for spirited young guns to duel over? The likes of Jones, Walker and Welbeck have all proven that the kids are alright. But can England win?

Well, they beat Spain, so surely that makes them the best in the world.

Right?

Peter Klein VARSITY As the BUCS season draws to a close for our esteemed athletes, the pressure begins to build ahead of 2012’s Varsity series between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent.

The series boasts an impressive range of sports, from those hailing from across the seas such as American Football to the distinctly English experience of watching Rugby in the pouring rain. The jewel of the Varsity crown is undoubtedly the Ice Hockey, which never fails to sell out the 7, 000-seater

National Ice Centre, making it the most watched Ice Hockey game outside of North America.

The competition is set to be fierce, with Trent gaining the upper hand in most of the recent BUCS fixtures; however, the atmosphere and intensity of a Varsity series often throws form out of the window. Nottingham’s strengths lie in their Swimming, which they have not lost since the creation of the Varsity series, and the Men’s Basketball team, who went into the New Year unbeaten. The Rugby, Football and Hockey double-header (Men’s & Women’s) is so often where Varsity is decided, with the Women’s Hockey and Rugby team showing the most potential at this stage of the season.

To get a taste ahead of Varsity, there are a number of Clashes before the Series gets under way.

1ST FEBRUARY, MEN’S RUGBY LEAGUE VS. TRENT @ HIGHFIELDS 5TH FEBRUARY, WOMEN’S RUGBY UNION VS. TRENT @ HIGHFIELDS

Jake Batty

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/SPORT

GUIDE TO 2012 OLYMPICS 2012

assuring us, everything will be ok!

RUGBY SIX NATIONS

With Danny Boyle directing the opening ceremony, it is certainly set to start with a bang, but will it really be a golden Olympics for Team GB? It will be a tough ask for Team GB to beat the ranking they received in Beijing, a commendable 4th, but there is a lot of optimism that some of the younger athletes could be ready to make a name for themselves on the world stage in London. In the recent Olympic event for boxing, Team GB managed to take home an impressive 5 gold medals, a cause for some celebration.

Two keywords will dominate the Six Nations this year: consistency and rebuilding. All the teams are in need of either one or both. However, bar a minor French miracle, realistically the Wales vs Ireland fixture will decide the title.

Wales will be looking to consolidate their World Cup form and in a backline where the oldest member is 25 (Jamie Roberts) they are positively bubbling with hard, straight runners who have the luxury of youth on their side.

Ireland are dangerous, but ageing.

Unlike Wales, they stand at the other end of the scale age-wise. With so

France and England can be spoken about together, as both must rebuild around new coaches. France have the luxury of a permanent coach and a core of quality that, as ever, just needs consistency. England will have a whole new team and players picked by a caretaker coach, and we will see the emergence of new international talent but do not expect much cohesion as a unit, especially since the entire squad could be out of the door when the new permanent coach arrives.

Scotland are rebuilding after yet another World Cup disappointment, and unfortunately have very little talent to call on, their only bright spark likely to lie in Joe Ansbro. Otherwise expect big forwards and unimaginative backs, hard-fought wins and depressing losses. Italy under new coach Jacques Brunel, formerly at Perpignan, must continue to unearth new talent and are helped by Aironi and Treviso in the RaboDirect PRO 12. They have some world-class veterans and fans of every country will be hoping for more Italian fireworks.

Another favourite that could bring home gold is Dai Greene: after winning every title possible, the 400m runner just needs that last title to complete the set. These are just a few of our medal hopes in 2012, and you never know, with home support, 3rd place may not be totally out of sight.

However, not all things are looking positive for the games; for instance there has been some worries with regards to the special transport lanes that will only be introduced two days before the games. There are reservations, as Vancouver and Beijing had theirs in place for over a week to allow their residents to get used to the system. But, as Lord Coe keeps

way out soon. The good news is their ageing warriors (O’ Driscoll, D’Arcy and O’ Connell to name a few) will have their years of experience to call on; that and an exceptionally powerful (if slightly one dimensional) back row definitely places them in the top 2.

Jamie Loyd many players who will retire before the next World Cup (or should), they will be looking for one last hurrah whilst trying desperately to find replacements for some talismans that will be on the

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SPORT SPORTING TRAGEDIES: RUNNING THE RISK

Risk is an inherent factor in any sport and what some spectators and participants find so appealing about it. Naturally, the mental and physical skills required are also reasons for the popularity of a sport. There have been, nonetheless, occasions in sport recently that have brought spectators and participants back down to earth with a sobering thud; when we are fully reminded of the fragility of the human body.

In October 2011, Marco Simoncelli’s fatal accident during the Malaysian MotoGP shook the motorsport world. This fatality was the second installment of an unfortunate double whammy for motorsport enthusiasts, after having learnt, only a week prior, of the passing of Dan Wheldon, a fellow motor sportsman, due to a collision during the IndyCar World Championship. This ill-fated turn of events has certainly raised an issue over safety in sport, but should there be more safety measures? And if some deaths in sport are down to fate, how can others be prevented?

The fact remains that fatalities in sport are not common; very rarely does a sportsperson die during play. Of course, when they do, the death, often hits the spectators the hardest. The demise of Marc Vivien Foé, a renowned likeable character, during an International football

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match in 2003, shook the sporting world to its core. It was later found out that the Cameroonian died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a rare heart condition in athletes where a muscle in the heart is dangerously thickened. But, despite his death being unpreventable, more safety measures were put in place by Sepp Blatter, including cardiological checkups before games and defibrillating machines in every stadium. The same response, however, had not been issued by MotoGP race director Paul Butler. Although Butler had said investigations into the accidents will take place, many prominent figures in motorsport have not hesitated to defend the actions taken to ensure the well-being of the racers. Schumacher declared that “To have total safety… is impossible”, backing up the opinion of Fraco Uncini, the MotoGP riders’ safety representative. Uncini believes that “plenty” has been done for safety and “…we don’t have the power to change fate”. Theoretically, any sport can benefit from more safety measures and precautions, but it appears that, for the majority of deaths in sport, little can be done to prevent what Uncini calls “fate”.

It seems improbable that sportsmen and women don’t know what they are putting at stake every time they play their sport. All players of sport participate aware of the potential consequences of their actions. Two

time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso turns the tables: “The love for the sport, the adrenaline you have…blocks out the risk”. Lewis Hamilton supports this emphatically, stating that “If I was to pass away, I cannot imagine a better way”.

The sentiment is also shared by a Cameroonian reporter, in connection with Foé’s passing, who stated that “To die on the football field, having minutes earlier sung the national anthem of his nation and guided his teammates into the final of a major competition…few are granted the chance to end their earthly voyage in such beauty”.

It seems that, no matter what or how many efforts are made by the governing bodies of each sport to continuously improve safety, for the most part, the death of a sportsperson is unforeseeable and unpreventable, therefore deepening the tragedy and shock of such an event. Spectators and participators should take solace in the fact that these accidents act as timely reminders of our mortality. We must never forget that these athletes take part in these sports to enrich their lives. It’s just a shame that the sport sometimes takes back something that is not theirs.

Michael Timbs

THROUGH THEIR EYES IMPACT INVESTIGATES THE PLIGHT OF YOUNG REFUGEES In 2002, the Ay family, Kurdish asylum seekers from Turkey, were imprisoned in a British detention centre for 13 months.

Four of the detainees were children whose ages ranged from 7 to 13 and in January 2012, the Ay’s were compensated for their incarceration with a six-figure payout. This story prompts us to question how such an injustice was executed and to discover how exactly young asylum seekers and refugees are received in the UK. An asylum seeker is defined as a person who has applied for sanctuary and is unable to return to their home country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution [...] for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” according to the 1951

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Once in the new country, asylum seekers can be granted refugee status if they are able to prove that their need for protection is in line with international law. It is estimated that there are around 1,055 asylum seekers in Nottingham, accounting for less than 0.4% of the city’s population, with many hailing from Afghanistan, Kosovo and Eritrea. Asylum seekers and refugees have unfortunately been the victims of yellow journalism, typified by the media sensationalising and deploring the flux of immigrants into the UK, and publications like The Daily Mail announcing, “Foreign workers take yet more UK jobs as number of Britons in work plunges and youth

unemployment hits one million.” (17th November 2011) This ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality is evident throughout the media’s rhetoric; many people fail to evaluate the plight of asylum seekers objectively, without fearing it to be to the detriment of society. Yet, despite tabloid scaremongering, it appears that the UK only hosts 3% of the global refugee population compared with countries such as Pakistan, Syria and Jordan, who accommodate the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers.

When reminiscing on the final year of college and sixth form, most students will remember their 18th birthday parties and frantic UCAS applications.

But for some, the most lasting memory is the horror of war, which forced JANUARY 2012

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them out of their country. Veronica* is one such student, who was forced to flee her country amidst hardship and war. “It wasn’t safe anymore and people were being killed in front of their families. I left my country to stay alive and seek out opportunities that I was not provided with.” After being granted leave to remain in the UK, Veronica worked for a few years to send money back to her family in Eritrea, before finally enrolling at Brunel University, “It was hard leaving home at 18 for good, especially when many young people remain with their families until after education here.” University, a difficult enough transition for any student, let alone a refugee, has been especially hard for Veronica and she talks of the challenges arising from culture, language and age. “I had to study English for 3 years before coming to university. I was classed as a mature student and I felt socially isolated from my peers.”

Veronica also missed the fact that she couldn’t spend the holidays with family or return anytime she wanted to, like most students, “Sometimes I

think about how blessed I am having been given these opportunities, but feel sorry for some of my family and countless others who got left behind in my country.” She talks of the difficulties of adjusting to British life, citing culture shock, especially once at

and asylum seekers under the age of 18 are to be looked after by a local authority who must, according to the 1989 Children Act, promote the educational achievement of the child.

By law, refugee and asylum seekers are to be in full-time education until

‘‘Asylum seekers are denied the permission to work, with many relying on the paucity of welfare provided to them by the government, as well as on charities and friends.’’ university, “All of this would be made easier if I could be with my family and they could help me. Unfortunately, they were not in a position to help me.”

Since then, Veronica has graduated with a degree in Chemistry and was heavily involved in political societies at university. She says, “If I couldn’t help because I wasn’t at home, then I could raise awareness right here in the UK,” and she fondly remembers her time campaigning against injustices abroad.

Upon entering the country, refugees

age 16, with fewer continuing onto further and higher education. For most students, an impressive string of GCSE and A-Level grades may be enough to secure them a place at university; however, due to financial constraints, many immigrants with the same or similar qualifications are effectively unable to join the higher education system. Asylum seekers and a small proportion of refugees who have been given discretionary leave (which means that their stay in the UK is contingent on conditions in their country) are classed as overseas students and forced to pay on average of £11,650 per year for their degree, with no access to student loans, bursaries or grants. Additionally, asylum seekers are denied the permission to work, with many relying on the paucity of welfare provided to them by the government, as well as on charities and friends. Despite this, some universities have the power to charge home fees to asylum seekers and the University of Manchester offers concessions to those awaiting their status. Kamena Dorling of the Migrant Children’s Project at the Children’s Legal Centre argues, “Until these students are granted indefinite leave to remain, which may not be until they have been in the UK for over six years, they are cast into limbo at a crucial time in their lives.” Fortunately, unlike asylum seekers, most refugees are treated as ‘home’ students and are supported by their local authority until they finish their degree.

Philippa McIntyre, Advocacy Officer for the Refugee Council notes that

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“Being able to access higher education is crucial for asylum seekers and refugees, not only to enable them to fulfil their potential and get the qualifications they need, but also to help with their integration into society.

Many refugees and asylum seekers will have had to overcome traumatic experiences in the past, and as a result often need to be particularly dedicated to their studies in order to achieve.”

For the now-grown Ay children, their biggest regret is the diminution of their educational attainment whilst

in incarceration. Beriwan, then 13, had hopes of becoming a lawyer, and Newroz, then 12, wished to be a doctor. “When we arrived in the UK in 1999 we learned English very quickly and excelled at school,” said Beriwan.

“In detention we didn’t get much of an education and since leaving detention, we’ve all found it much harder to study.

The Home Office stole not only part of our childhood but also our future.”

The government should ensure that education is a priority for young refugees and asylum seekers, especially in their formative years, to provide them with the same opportunities that British children have. A Freedom of Information request submitted to the University of Nottingham revealed that since September 2009, Nottingham has enrolled 13 students

with refugee status, but admits that the number could be higher. This is a meagre amount when considering the fact that there are 1000 young adults of refugee and asylum seeker status in Nottingham city alone and it is estimated that there are at least 82,000 refugee children in schools around the UK. Student Action for Refugees (STAR) is a national organisation that has branches in many universities; it was founded by University of Nottingham undergraduate Andy Davies, who was

shocked that nothing of the kind already existed. Its aim is to improve the lives of refugees in the UK and facilitate greater access to higher education for refugees and asylum seekers. The University of Nottingham branch of STAR is working in tandem with the Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum to help refugees and asylum seekers improve their English, particularly as poor language skills are shown to be inimical to social cohesion. Veronica says, “I was able to study English to a high standard before university, but many other refugees and asylum seekers who hadn’t were struggling a lot more to integrate into the community because of this.” David Cameron notes the importance of learning English so that those immigrating can “be more

integrated into our country”; however, his statement is incongruent with legislation passed last year which restricted the number of immigrants who could access fully-funded ESOL courses (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Those on ‘active benefits’ i.e. jobseekers allowance or employment support allowance would be allowed to access fully-funded ESOL classes; those on ‘inactive benefits’ such as income support and housing benefits or on low incomes would be forced to pay for half of their course fees, with courses potentially costing up to £1000 per year. Even 50% of these fees are an exorbitant amount for anyone relying on state welfare and this restriction of ESOL funding from an estimated 80,000 is perhaps an attempt to force asylum seekers and refugees into searching for employment. This begets the question of how they might find a job when their English language skills are somewhat lacking and their ability to communicate is impaired. Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, denounces this move as “a mockery of the Big Society rhetoric,” and notes that these changes would affect the most vulnerable and hinder integration.

Ultimately, it would behove society to view immigrants not as a symptom of a chimerical problem threatening to engulf Britain, but rather as traumatised and helpless victims who are seeking a better life. Veronica attests to the effectiveness of state aid to her success, asserting that “without all the scholarships I was provided with, the financial aid and all the parttime jobs I held, I would not be where I am today. I am exceptionally lucky to have been able to progress onto a second degree and obtain a good job doing what I love. I now have 4 children of my own who are attending top British universities and this level of prosperity would not have been possible without the help of the government.”

Settit Beyene *This person’s name was changed to protect their identity.

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CITY BOY : In the future, children will sit down in history lessons and be taught about the dramatic global events of last year.

2011 will be regarded as the year when the globe exploded in a cacophony of famine, revolution and recession. As tents and banners appear in the centre of Nottingham, it is clear that the voices of protest and revolt have been blown on to our doorsteps.

The masses have turned on the world’s elite and those who have attracted the most blame are the bankers. Indeed, the current global recession has been called the fault of an unregulated and corrupt banking world and the Occupy Movement has manifested the frustrations of many with what they perceive to be an egregious system, perpetuated by the greed of ‘city boys’.

At the heart of this debacle is one man who shed light on the world of banking and the insidiousness and corruption of it all. Following his retirement as a utilities sector analyst, Geraint Anderson revealed all about

the girls, drugs and debauchery of the banking industry in his whistleblowing novel, City Boy.

Upon meeting him, there was a sense that his hedonistic lifestyle had not yet fully abated, as he greeted me with blurred eyes and in a largely dishevelled guise. But even with the effects of last night still on his breath, he did not express any guilt at his chosen career path or the lifestyle associated with it.

“I don’t believe in regrets… what it did was provide me with a lot of money in a short amount of time…

I made a decision that I wanted to retire at thirty-five and still be young enough to have fun,” he explained. “It was kind of a pact with the devil, so to speak. I was supposed to just do it for five years, but after five years I was earning £300,000 a year and it was very hard to give that up. It was the boom times.”

Given his abundant retirement package and his lifestyle as a trader, it was difficult to see why he struggled to

get out of the business. But he added: “When you start mentioning the money, the champagne, the cocaine, the strippers, the Michelin star meals and the expense accounts, to some extent I was saying this is terrible, don’t do what I’ve done but there is a part of me that says, ‘God I had a good f*cking time.’”

Throughout his book, we see the gradual progression from a selfprofessed leftish hippy to a young man who had helplessly fallen in love with the glitz, glamour and allure of the City. Given the attractive perks of the job, one can easily see how the world of banking can transform the most authentic of men. And yet he assured me, “I never saw a correlation in the City between how rich people were and how happy they were. Having said that, it’s always the people who have got a bit of money who say that money is not important.”

GET RICH OR DIE TRYING However, despite the warnings littered throughout City Boy, Anderson was still willing to give advice to students hoping to go into the banking industry: “If you can, you have to get yourself an internship in the summer; exploit any friends or family to get some unpaid work experience. When you send the application form off as well, just make sure you know what you are talking about, and you know the company you are going for, what it’s done and who the chief executives are. But it’s a really tough time to go into banking at the moment.”

Despite his criticisms of the City and the evils bankers impose upon the UK, there was still no question in his mind of the industry’s importance. “We are f*cked without the City. Say what you like about it; in 2007 alone, it gave us around £24 billion in corporation and income tax.”

His beliefs on the current economic crisis were also very much of the realist position. “Capitalism is quite resilient and there is a huge amount of people who have a massive self-interest in ensuring that it thrives and continues.

I think we might have five bad years, but we will get out of it eventually.”

“The problem with the system is when the Berlin Wall came down; Thatcher and Regan influenced by Friedman

were convinced that the market is God, and we started to deregulate and make the market more and more powerful with less and less control and scrutiny”, he explained. “It’s all well and good until you realise that there is a group of people who are greedy, ruthless and clever working the City who are not necessarily looking after society’s best interests. They are looking to make their own money.”

“I believe the credit crunch was caused by individual bankers who knew that this toxic debt would bring the house of cards down, but because of the bonus system they made so much money before it did, that they didn’t care,” he continued.

Throughout the interview, however, it was evident that Anderson attached blame to the system in general, rather than to those individuals who were at the centre of the crash. “It’s a natural element of capitalism with the way it is that the rich are getting richer.

I do think that capitalism appeals to the most base of our urges to be materialistic and greedy arseholes. As 50 Cent said, ‘get rich or die trying.’”

He also suggested, “City boys were the people who helped propagate that. I get a bit worried about the younger generation, because you had religion, then you had left-wing

idealism and now it does seem that accumulation of wealth is the basic agenda for much of the youth.”

This concept of accumulation of wealth by whatever means seems to be applicable to the University of Nottingham graduate, Kweku Adoboli, who cost UBS $2 billion in 2011 due to a series of ‘rogue’ trades.

And Anderson concluded that: “City boys are not in it for the benefit of society. They are in it to make money. I used to see a lot of insider trading and a lot of spreading of false rumours. There are a lot of nasty people out there making money from other people’s suffering.”

We are now in a position where never before so much has been owned by so few. We have entered an epoch of hedge-funds, billionaires and the super-rich, while large parts of the world are still rife with recession, poverty and famine. It is evident that change and reform in the banking sector is well underway. Still, I can’t help but feel that our generation will be remembered for the recklessness of its city boys. Irrespective of those who label him a hypocrite, Geraint Anderson has played a big part in revealing the corruption of the banking world and brought home many uncomfortable truths about today’s society.

Jack Gilbert Image by Katherine Whitehead JANUARY 2012

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BLAME IT ON THE For the modern student, little attention is paid to the backstage of Nottingham’s night scene. Sifting through the layers of its various power structures, it is sometimes hard to pinpoint the forces that shape our nights out in Nottingham as we know them. The crux of the whole system, unsurprisingly, is alcohol. Whether it’s a blues cocktail bar offering a dazzling array of slightly overpriced beverages or a sticky-floored club churning out Jägerbomb deals and fishbowls bigger than your head, alcohol is undeniably the bread and butter of any eveningtime venue, and consequentially, night-life commerce.

At its worst, ‘Shottingham’s’ reputation precedes itself, and despite crime rates being comparably lower to its previous years, it is still higher than in most cities. At its best, however, Nottingham’s nightlife has been a honey-trap for the city’s economy and continues to attract those searching for what one stag review website described as a “rough and ready” night out. But when it comes down to deciding who gets the liquor license and who doesn’t, not everyone agrees with the way the system works.

To James Anderson, a licensing solicitor, the problem is that the council and the police have made it increasingly hard to apply for liquor licenses in the city centre. Anderson claims that this is not only a detriment to new businesses but also damaging to the quality of the city’s night life.

At the root of the local authorities’ power is the Licensing Act of 2003.

Working toward a less centralised form of control, the Act handed the responsibility for issuing licenses from the government to local councils.

Statistically, between 2003 and 2010, Nottingham City Council managed to cut crime rates by half, and of June 2010, Nottingham proudly received a Purple Flag status acknowledging the safety and standard of the city’s nights out.

In Anderson’s opinion, however, this has come at a cost. “Nottingham isn’t the same atmosphere as it used to be – it doesn’t provide the range of entertainment that this city’s size and standing should do.” Bars that have already lost their licenses, like Sugar and Cuba Libra, have been warned by the police that they would oppose re-applications. “The policies have made it virtually impossible for any liquor licenses to be granted in the city centre. To my knowledge, I know of no actual new liquor licenses that have been granted in the last 6 years“.

“What is frustrating me now though is the fact that Nottingham has significantly lower crime rates. Isn’t it time to start relaxing the laws?” On the contrary, the new coalition government is working toward increasing the power of the local authorities in a crackdown on crime in the UK. In Anderson’s eyes, the agenda is regressive, especially in the current economic climate: “It’s completely anti-business.”

Talking to a police inspector in the city centre, however, this is not the case. Echoing the sentiments of many who have seen the uglier side of drinking effects, Inspector Andy Townsend praises the 2003 Licensing Act as a useful tool for constraining Nottingham’s notorious bingedrinking problems and alcohol-related crime.

In the early years of the new law, applications were granted quickly and freely in a bid to kick-start Nottingham’s slow-moving economy.

“The council were just saying yes to everyone”, says Townsend.

In 2003, Nottingham could boast 356 bars in just one square mile, attracting as many as 100,000 people on a weekend. In 2004, the city was experiencing its worst drug crime rate and in 2006, it became known as ‘the crime capital of England’ with the highest city murder rates according to the think tank Reform. “I remember when we actually had the Home Office coming down in person and asking us, ‘what are you doing?’”

Over the years, the council and police worked together to refine the application process by introducing a more selective filtering system. “And we’ve been a lot better for it”, says Townsend. Drinking venues are safer and actively work toward anti-binge drinking policies, which is recognised

Impact’s Columnist Tom Clements

ALCOHOL and rewarded with schemes such as the “Best Bar None” awards. Now, plastic glasses are being offered during peakdrinking hours, pitchers are advertised as ‘to share’, and sneaky psychological sales tactics once used to encourage fastdrinking have been dropped.

Vodka Revolution in The Corner House is one of the longstanding bars which, because of its responsible approach towards alcohol, won a “Best Bar None” award. The manager, James McGowan, takes no issue with the policies and is proud to have good relations with the police: “In general, I think students have benefited from these measures that prevent an excess of drinking. It hasn’t affected the quality of entertainment we have to offer and the number of alcoholrelated incidents we have has definitely declined.”

Regardless of these regulations, many bars and clubs continue to slip under the police’s radar. Mirage, for example, has advertised deals on vodka and coke for 45p. For Nottingham student Ninka Mbaye, there is a fine line between a good cheap night and a cheap night spent in the emergency room.

“I learnt from Fresher’s that deals like that really are too good to be true“.

“From what I’ve seen, the application process has enriched the choice and quality of Nottingham’s night life, which favours venues that bring something else to the table other than just serving alcohol”, says Andy. Despite good intentions, however, Nottingham’s local spirit and edgy reputation are considered to have somewhat ‘softened’, because of the decline of the old-style community pubs and clubs, which has redirected many locals and visitors to West Bridgeford. As for students, it seems that the restrictions contain the best of both worlds, with safer drinking venues and a more dynamic selection of entertainment. And for those slightly more strapped for cash, it is simply the case of knowing where to go to find the bars which quietly overlook some of the more restrictive regulations.

Nadia Alexandrou

In Defence of Berlusconi Maligned for his tactlessness, his womanising and his corrupting influence, yet still defended to the hilt by his supporters, former Italian prime minister Berlusconi was perhaps the ultimate love-hate figure in Italian politics. Indeed, the Milanese billionaire in many ways epitomised the spirit of the Bel Paese: its visual panache, its love of sensualism, and its dark heart.

On coming to power Berlusconi proved himself to be a shrewd businessman and a canny political tactician who parroted the Thatcherite notion that big government was to blame for Italy’s economic ills. Though projecting himself as an inspirational, charismatic figure poised to remedy these ills, he in reality, employed a string of tenuous economic policies in which the illegal and legal were often confused. With many of his right-hand men also implicated in Mafia involvement, it often appeared during Berlusconi’s administration, as if criminal activity had effectively been given a green light and that Italy was basically a nation being run by petty crooks.

Coupled with his criminal bent was his tendency to turn politics into theatre; conducting his politics more through pose, gesture and iconography than through any reasoned debate. He championed a sort of tribalistic political mentality, whereby Italian politics during his era became essentially two-sided and bellicose. As such, his administration drew many obvious comparisons to a sport Berlusconi was heavily involved in: football. Though primitive, his footballing mindset was often popular, and something many working-class Italians could readily relate to.

For years, I remained convinced that this divisive mentality infused with his blurring of good and bad could only be detrimental in politics. But for all the scandals, he was never a hypocrite; he was transparent about what he was doing and perpetually wore his heart on his sleeve. After all, someone who is honest about his vices is infinitely more trustworthy than someone (usually on the politically correct left) who is dishonest about their virtues.

Accentuating the quirky sociological habits of an entire nation, Berlusconi brought into sharp relief the nuances of a national psyche that can be both cerebral and amoral at the same time. For all his criticisms, his legacy was incredible and the lengths many went to defend it bore witness to his sheer charisma.

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AN AID WOR THROUGH HI Less than one week after his return from Afghanistan, Impact spoke to Henry Gray, an emergency co-ordinator working for the humanitarian medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. He recounts for us his experiences of working with one of the most prominent international aid organisations.

After graduating from Aberdeen University with a degree in biology and environmental chemistry, Henry tried his hand at investment banking in the City before training as a water engineer. But Henry’s life hasn’t followed the ‘student-job’ trajectory that most of us hope for in the nottoo-distant future. A sudden change of heart brought about by the 2005 tsunami in the Indian Ocean acted as the impetus for Gray to turn his hand to volunteering overseas. An initial setback in his pursuits was followed, around 18 months afterwards, with an offer to work with MSF and six weeks later he found himself on a flight to Congo. His life now involves coordinating large-scale medical relief efforts in disaster-plagued and wartorn countries, the likes of which we as students may find hard to witness on television let alone involve ourselves in firsthand.

Founded in 1971 in response to the Nigerian civil war, MSF functions internationally to provide medical

“It’s a horrible, horrible business.

People who were killed, they didn’t have to be killed and somebody has pulled the trigger or used a machete...”

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care and much needed facilities during disasters, epidemics and periods of conflict for those unable to get treatment themselves. As a volunteer and trained water engineer, Henry’s efforts within the organisation are twofold: helping to establish public health facilities in and around hospitals, alongside his more recent role as an ‘emergency coordinator’.

Henry’s life involves a delicate balance between missions abroad and stints at home where having “crazy stuff like electricity and water” is enough to excite him. As of late, he has put his life in the UK on hold to concentrate on his work abroad with MSF; he tells us that working as an engineer at home “doesn’t compare with the job satisfaction I get working with MSF”.

He adds, “initially, the first few times I came back from a mission I would get quite depressed, certainly down, because I wasn’t doing what I really enjoyed doing — the MSF work.”

When asked what the most shocking thing he’s had to deal with was, Henry struggles to narrow it down to one particular moment, admitting that he’s had “shock after shock” in the past few years. Dealing with the horrific things he has seen “probably does” get easier in time, but he acknowledges that “if I didn’t find it difficult then I would probably stop, because I think that the moment you

get to a stage where you no longer feel, you can no longer empathise, and you know bagging bodies should never be the easiest thing to do”. Henry continues on to say that he finds war the most difficult thing to deal with.

“It’s a horrible, horrible business.

People who were killed, they didn’t have to be killed and somebody has pulled the trigger or used a machete and that is very difficult to deal with.

You can deal with death from disease a lot more easily than you can from a violent end.”

However, there is a brighter side to Henry’s work: “Seeing a family that has just been reunited, or watching somebody who’s been at death’s door, at a cholera treatment centre; three or four days later after treatment, they get up and walk out under their own steam. That’s kind of why we do it, rather than as just a response to the terrible stuff, because the terrible stuff is terrible and if we only focused on those things then I think that we’d burn out very quickly. There’s probably more good stuff than the terrible stuff but it’s like in the media; the good news doesn’t sell, people want to know about the bad stuff and it’s very important that people hear about it.

We will speak out for populations that can’t be heard.”

KER ‘LIVING ISTORY’

Settit Beyene, Ellis Schindler & Claudia Baxter

Henry reminds us that while a lot of us are quick to write off war-torn places, they do have another side that gets lost amongst the angst. “Afghanistan is a beautiful country. The people I met were absolutely lovely. I would love to visit it again.” He also speaks of his time in Libya, where he helped to set up a maternity clinic and a mental health hospital in Misrata, “Libya’s another beautiful country; it’s a fabulous place.

I loved it there.” It seems that the

countries Henry has been to and the people he has met have had quite an effect on him. “[The future of Libya] is in the hands of the Libyan people.

I can only hope for a nice future for Libya. Even though there’s a lot of terrible places where people wouldn’t even think of going, generally the people you meet are really nice and it’s just a shame that that they’re having to go through the crisis they’re going through, whether it be a natural

disaster or a political armed conflict.

At the end of the day, people are people. Our job is often to try not to be there, to do ourselves out of a job.

We will make sure that we train the people if they don’t have the skills, so that we’re not needed. Whilst I would love to go back to some of these places, I’d want to go back as a tourist and preferably not professionally, because if I go back professionally it’s because they need it.”

When asked about the most rewarding aspect of humanitarian work, Henry listed meeting and hearing their incredible stories; I suppose you’re living through history.” He speaks of being caught up in the civil war in the Ivory Coast and witnessing firsthand the past events in Libya. Knowing that “You live through significant events in history and sometimes get to play a small part in it” makes the job incredibly worthwhile. He cites his experiences with MSF as having a positive influence on his character, positing that a complete transformation in his personality was effected after his first mission, during which he developed from a “superconfident, some might say arrogant, person” to a humble and “more reflective” man.

In the future, Henry will continue to carry out humanitarian work until he “burns out,” but for now being an aid worker of no fixed abode and effecting change in the world is enough, but at some point he will have to stop, acknowledging that “settling down is a part of growing up”.

For more information on MSF, check out their website www.msf.org.uk

JANUARY 2012

23

SHOULD THE VEIL BE At the beginning of this academic year, the full face veil was banned in universities in Tunisia. When the University of Sousse, 140km south of Tunis, refused to enrol one woman who was wearing the niqab, 200 people stormed the building in protest, carrying banners demanding the students’ right to wear a veil. Secularists then called for a counter-protest against religious violence, which also involved around 200 people.

Whilst 98% of the population is Muslim, Tunisia has a secular constitution. In fact, the full face veil has not been seen in public places for twenty years, as ousted president Ben Ali had banned the hijab (which covers the head but not the whole face) in 1981.

The BBC calls Tunisian political culture “profoundly moderate” and claims that it is considered to be “one of the most liberal Arab countries.”

But with a different government, this reputation could change. Reuters say that since the president fled in January, “conservative Muslims [have been] free to express their views and adopt the outward trappings of their beliefs.” The website On Islam says that whilst many Tunisians are proud of their secular constitution, “Ben Ali was accused of using the spectre of fundamentalism to beat up on his opponents and stifle religious freedom.” Now that he’s gone, women have been allowed to wear the hijab in ID cards since April last year and men are allowed to have beards in them.

This said, Ennhada (‘Renaissance’ in Arabic), a moderate Islamist party which won the most seats in the elections last autumn, supports the ban in universities. Their leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, has vowed to

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“uphold women’s rights and not try to impose strict Muslim values on society.” He ambitiously claimed that his party could “find a balance between modernity and Islam.” In fact, the relaxing of rules about what men and women are allowed to wear in ID cards being followed a few months later by the banning of the full face covering in universities points less to balance than to inconsistency in policy.

But can it ever be right to ban the full face veil in universities? I asked students, and the responses were varied. Numerous practical considerations arose. Covering the face hinders communication, a vital element in a course like medicine where students have to learn how to put patients at ease. Group presentations and seminars become more difficult without the cues we naturally pick up on from people’s expressions and gestures and it would be more difficult to understand a lecturer who wore one. Identification becomes much harder and one person pointed out that it would allow someone to sit in for someone else in an exam.

The concept of a full face veil was criticised too. Some argued that it represents oppression of women and insinuates that the female form is something to be ashamed of. Many students expressed concern over the wearing of the full face veil after admitting they suspected most women who wear them to have been forced to do so by a male relative.

Among those who said that it was right to ban the full face veil, there was a general consensus that it carries a greater meaning when worn in Britain. People find it intimidating, and some even take it personally when a woman chooses to wear one, as if

this is a statement against Western society and a rejection of Europe.

“The University of Nottingham welcomes the diversity of appearance that people from different religious and belief backgrounds can bring.”

But there were many who said that they didn’t believe that a university or even a state has the right to ban the full face veil. The university’s ‘Policy Statement on Dress Code’ stipulates that, “The University of Nottingham welcomes the diversity of appearance that people from different religious and belief backgrounds can bring.”

Whether or not you believe that covering your hair or your whole face is required by Islam, whether or not you think such a requirement is right if it does exist, and whether or not you feel this practice is compatible with life in Britain, a broader consideration is that of the right to freedom of choice.

More important than any abstract and undefined ‘western values’ is the right to express yourself and your religion in a peaceful and harmless way, and the right to accept and be accepted on a level of openness and understanding.

It is interesting that in the Tunisian interim government, which was responsible for deciding to ban the veil in universities, there were actually

BANNED AT UNIVERSITY? only two women. In fact, in an article in Think Africa Press, the first months of post-Revolution Tunisia were described by Valentine Moghadam, an expert in social change in the Middle East and North Africa, as a “democracy paradox”; the author of said article, Kristine Goulding, also called it “a post-protest period of democratic freedom that simultaneously witnessed the disappearance of women’s representation.” Goulding went on to explain that many women who had been involved in Ben Ali’s government were excluded in the transitional government for that very reason, while others were hindered by “massive structural impediments.”

There is something very wrong with a government, made up almost exclusively of men, talking about what dress code to enforce upon women,

whilst asking those very members of society affected by such changes to wait outside while the grownups talk.

There is certainly a strong argument in this debate that centres on human rights. In France, where covering the face behind a veil was made illegal earlier last year, women who protested against the ban talked of their “civil liberties” and many vowed to take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights if stopped by police.

A ban such as this has been seen by many as a sort of message to the Muslim population. In an article from The Guardian, Samy Debah, head of the French Collective against Islamophobia, said: “The niqab law is a pretext to reduce the visibility of Muslims in public spaces. It exposes an

old French colonial reflex, that ‘Arabs and blacks’ only understand force and you can’t talk to them.” Even banning the wearing of religious symbols in schools, as a continuation of the policy of separation of religion and state, has been used in many cases to target Muslim students and make them feel unwelcome. The danger here is the motivation behind the ban.

That a person should have the right to express his or her identity in a way that doesn’t hurt anyone is expressed beautifully in the actions of Rachid Nekkaz, a wealthy French businessman and the son of Algerian immigrants, who has vowed to put aside money to pay all burqa fines. He said last year, “one million sounds a lot, but to protect one’s liberty, it’s not much.”

Rose Bewick

JANUARY 2012

25

The Problem With H u Stu As any student will tell you, every hall has its reputation. And as any young lady from Rutland will tell you, some are more salacious than others.

For many in their first year, ‘hall life’ is synonymous with ‘university life’.

But it seems wherever you end up, the routine’s the same. Each year a new generation of freshers (read: fresh meat) are indoctrinated into a culture of pitifully middle-class dissipation by a troupe of peppy BNOCS-in-the making known as the ‘Student Reps’.

And even the best of us might confess to forsaking our inveterate values in a last-ditch attempt at social mediocrity.

Oh, the follies of youth...

However, considering my experience in halls was, like for many others, an unremittingly joyless one, it seems strange to admit that my concerns today are predominantly centred on their social composition.

Hailing from a small, conservative neck of the West-Midlands, I recall embracing the notion of Nottingham as a diverse, internationalised university.

What I instead discovered leaves

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no doubt that some of our hallsof-residence – namely Hugh Stewart and Cripps – serve as sorry examples of how, in an age of putative equality in education, the student body can still be stratified according to socioeconomic status. Translating, of course, to a lack of ethnic diversity.

Objecting to the current condition of hall life is not simply a case of overzealous multiculturalism, however – the statistics just don’t add up. According to recent polls, 7% of British teenagers graduate from private education.

Oughtn’t we to question, then, why a significant proportion of a single hall is comprised entirely of members of that small, privileged minority?

Again and again, certain ‘problem halls’ seemed to Charlotte have immunized Albert themselves against the fact of social diversity in an eerie microcosm of the white-flight mentality which plagued Britain ever since the first wave of post-colonial immigration in the 1960s.

Right of access to a hall should not be prohibitive. But this is exactly what appears to have been happening.

It’s been suggested that certain beneficiaries of Hugh Stewart Hall have imposed a caveat on their contract which guarantees a 70% quota on private-school entrants. I spoke to older undergraduates and, while none could confirm these rumours, they had indelibly become part of university folklore. “I’ve heard that and it definitely makes sense”, says one third year English student, “The same sorts of students keep turning up each year and most of them are from private schools.” I contacted representatives from the hall and they refused to comment.

These stipulations, if true, would demonstrate a deliberate attempt to circumvent the progress made to diversify the student population. And with a proliferating ethnic minority population, is it really appropriate for two of our halls to be seemingly ‘whitewashed’ and middle-class? The university has reformed the admissions process on the website to make it harder for prospective students to specify their preferred hall, but results appear to have been unforthcoming.

One student, who has asked to remain anonymous, informed me: “People find ways to get around it. If you really want to go [to a particular hall], there’s nothing in place to stop you.”

The current state of hall-life bolsters anxieties that leading British universities are still elitist in character, and it is our responsibility, as students, to raise awareness of this in an attempt to combat the prejudices that lie within higher education.

Izz y Scrimshire

THE BIG

QUESTION

Are comediennes as funny as their male-counterparts?

YES Never known to mince words or resort to anodyne sensitivities, the late, great Christopher Hitchens infamously proclaimed in 2007 that women are “not funny”, never were, and never will be. Putatively, women are evolutionary programmed to be receptive to humour in men, but generally lack such facilities themselves. This isn’t spurious reasoning. If you happen to be a gatherer type, slightly pallid, and perhaps even a little verticallychallenged, you’ve at least got to be able to make them laugh. Women, more often the object of advances, aren’t as often required to have men

No. I’m sorry but, categorically, ultimately and eternally; no.

Actually I’m not sorry, because it’s their fault entirely. I don’t like comediennes for the same reason that I don’t like Omid Djalili, Stephen K. Amos and missionary position. They’re dull, repetitive and upsettingly safe. Comediennes seem to take one aspect of their personality, race or background and run with it.

Then jog with it for a while before sort of doing a few keepy-ups with it and ending up just strolling along, lazily bouncing it against a wall. They squeeze the single joke they ever wrote for everything it’s worth, flogging the dead horse ad nauseum. If you’re Omid Djallili, it’s the fact you’re an Iranian with a British accent, living in a predominantly white, middle-

rolling-in-the-aisles (think Funny Girl.) This doesn’t preclude funny women entirely. It just makes it a bonus instead of a requirement.

I don’t have the wherewithal to affirm or deny Hitchens’ claim. It falls decidedly into that category of trivial knowledge that sounds like it could be true so one automatically assumes it is. But to believe that “women don’t have to be funny” doesn’t negate the fact that many female comedians are incredibly funny. And they’re giving their male counterparts a run for their money.

Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin, then-vice-presidential candidate, was not only an excellent poke at the former Governor’s questionable intellect but was also

class and conservative country. K. Amos works on a similar proviso, replacing Iranian with ‘Nigerian’ and occasionally ‘gay’.

If you’re a woman, well, it’s the fact that you are a woman (unless of course we are referring to Shappi Khorsandi who is both a woman and Iranian. Two for the price of one!). Female comedy is for some reason dominated by middle-aged, overweight housewives, writing comedy for middle-aged, overweight housewives about middleaged, overweight housewives. They tell jokes about hoovers, husbands who fart in bed and, as far as I can tell, that might be it. There’s none of the ingenuity and creativity prevalent in the comedy of their male peers.

You’d never see a female comedian weigh up the pros and cons of being

alleged to have swayed voters from crossing ‘Republican’ on their ballot box.

Who did you say wasn’t keeping up?

Indeed, the real, working comediennes out there display a considerable talent that warrants better treatment than to be undercut by foolish remarks that their comedy is for the coterie and not for the masses.

It’s an axiom that not all of us are gifted with a good sense of humour. But it seems this latest offence in the ageold war of the sexes is a particularly dispiriting one. Men can be funny. So can women. Now, as a species, can we move the f*ck on?

Izz y Scrimshire raised in a forest by wolves in the style of Eddie Izzard, or, like Stewart Lee, spend a good five minutes talking about why the word ‘crisps’ annoys them. Truth is comediennes don’t need to be interesting. They’ve got a niche and, for the most part, they’re more than happy to stay within its bland, uninspired parameters. Mainstream female comedy will have to break free of these self-imposed shackles before it’ll ever hold a candle to the originality and verve seen in the male arena.

Alex Mawby

NO JANUARY 2012

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WAVE YOUR RAVE

The Kindle

For many students the sheer horror of receiving the inevitable and exhaustive reading list at the beginning of each academic year causes us to recoil in dismay. It is a time when bank balances plummet and Blackwells seems to be steeped in the harsh glare of pound signs and poverty.

That was until the Kindle saved my sorry soul.

Admittedly my first reaction to the Kindle was an irritable, “ptschh”; surely nothing could replace the joy of picking up an actual book.

The smell of freshly printed pages, or library copies well-thumbed, crinkly and old, was an essential part of the reading process.

Yet the Kindle offers a vast array of delights which are slowly but surely discovered as successive days pass by. Being lightweight and compact, the Kindle is perfect for throwing in a bag for a long day’s slog at the library and decreases baggage weight from books considerably.

The online Kindle store is expansive and even offers a range of free downloads. Works from the likes of Shakespeare, Austen or Dickens amongst innumerable others, can be downloaded for zero pennies.

Not only that, but the Kindle has a dictionary which is both easy and intuitive to use; simply scroll down to a word on the screen that needs to be clarified, and bam! Definitions quite literally at your fingertips.

Furthermore with a long-lasting battery life, plus an annotating and

highlighting feature, the Kindle is the perfect study aid for students.

For those who are still sat firmly shaking their heads, stubbornly resisting the advancement of technology, the Kindle may serve as a sneaky psychological trick to encourage the younger generations to read. Society’s recent obsession with electronic gadgets and gizmos has rapidly accelerated over the last two decades, leaving the archaic notion of ‘reading’ (who does that anymore?) far behind. However, if the Kindle re-popularises reading and makes books attractive to younger children and even teens, then I’m firmly setting up proKindle camp, and waving my Kindle flag.

Helena Murphy

VENT YOUR SPLEEN

January Sales

Ever seen Mean Girls? That scene where the shopping centre turns Take note: if you invite me into your into a jungle? A solid comparison January Sales shopping posse, the if there ever was one. Fully response you’ll get is a blank stare. functioning humans turn into An 150,000m² shopping centre, animals, literally fighting over a filled to the brim with abusive reduced pair of shorts, profanities customers, moody retail assistants flying everywhere. Hundreds of and a distinct lack of breathing buggies lock together, creating space isn’t how I like to spend the an impossible maze, screaming toddlers included – it’s like the first month of a new year. mothers do it on purpose, to stop I have never understood the you searching through the 75% obsession with January sales. I’ve reduction section before they do. always regarded shopping as a I remain baffled as to why anyone leisurely activity; that indulgent way would willingly subject themselves to unwind from your busy week and to such chaos, just off the hem of a to catch up with your girlfriends, relaxed Christmas holiday. particularly in the holidays. But no more; shopping centres in January Most shops pride themselves on are like battlefields and frankly, it’s their customer service, but this seems to go up in smoke in the New infuriating.

Year. Any other time of the year, a

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sales assistant would easily check stock for me. In January however, a dismissive attitude with rollingeyes is a more common response.

It’s practically insulting, so much so that last time, I snorted, dropped the pair jeans on the floor in front of her and strutted out the store.

Hating your job and the seasonal stresses it brings doesn’t mean you can get away with rude behaviour, nor should my shopping experience suffer.

Regardless of the incentive of a great bargain, I’m just not interested in the January Sales. Last season’s collections, inevitably a size too big, just aren’t worth the excessive stress and panic.

Rosie Feenstra

Be Inspired in 2012!

Come along and try some new sports and activities for FREE! Dates: Saturday 10th March @ University Park Sports Centre

Saturday 17th March @ Sutton Bonington Sports Centre

Saturday 24th March @ Jubilee Sports Centre “Tonnes of fun! A wonderful eye opener. I would recommend it to any-body!”

Find out more at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport or on the “Any-Body Month 2012” Facebook page

Try It, Play It, Enjoy It in 2012!

Try or get back into football, touch rugby, netball, korfball, handball, badminton, table tennis, dodgeball, cricket, trampolining or AQUA Zumba for just £1

Dates: Monday 6th February to Sunday 25th March “An amazing opportunity to take part in sport with your friends without having to be in a uni club!”

Find out more at: www.nu2sport.com, www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport or www.facebook.com/nu2sport.

Or follow us on twitter @nu2sport

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IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/STYLE

THE INVISIBILITY VISIBILITY OF ETHNICITY Many people believe that racism is not only exercised within, but also affiliated directly with the fashion industry. It’s one of many controversies to rock the industry, alongside the ‘size zero’ debate, animal rights, and the exploitation of children. Yet, the issue of racism has gathered momentum in recent years with increasing pressure on the fashion industry to accept responsibility for the lack of cultural diversity displayed within it. The downfall of John Galliano, the ex-creative director of Christian Dior, for anti- Semitic remarks in a Parisian cafe catalysed this debate, as well as the evident, increasing lack of black and Asian models as cover girls or on catwalks. Is this just a short-term conservative approach for advertisers to create revenue in today’s economic crisis? Or is it a cemented cultural attitude that it is unlikely to change?

The racist incident with Galliano, followed by immediate loss of his job as creative director, left many feeling that the issue of racism is something, which in fact the fashion industry repeatedly ignores. Although shocking, few of the major fashion publications reported the incident in great depth, as if knowing on some level that racism is an existing fact of the industry. Since the video has been leaked, multiple accounts of Galliano’s racism have surfaced, which leads me to believe that his racist attitude had been previously accepted amongst his close friends and fellow employees at Christian Dior. He is not the only high-profile fashion figure to be accused of racism; earlier this year celebrity hairdresser James Brown, who is a close friend of Kate Moss, was publicly seen hurling racist abuse at Ben Douglas at the BAFTA Television Awards.

Apart from designers and stylists, the modelling industry itself is also often perceived as racist, with many of the world’s leading agencies

supporting only a few women from ethnic backgrounds, in comparison to multiple white models. Carol White, founder of leading modelling agency Premier claims that “it’s down to the inadequacy of those photographers and make-up artists who struggle to find the light or make them [ethnically

We must ask ourselves what impact this is having on young ethnic women around the world, who are forced into believing that their natural skin tone is inadequate.

In 2008, Italian Vogue featured only black models in one of its issues, which saw an unprecedented demand and sold out nationally. The long-term relevance of this issue remains to be seen; yet it was undoubtedly considered to be a landmark for the acceptance of ethnic minorities in the industry.

Nevertheless, it is not just designers and models, which represent the apparent racism in the industry, but leading brands also. French cosmetic giant Loréal were targeted in 2007 by the French campaigners SOS Racisme, when it became known that they had purposely excluded non-white women while casting for their new shampoo promotions. Loréal issued requirements for the women to be of UK size 10-14 and of white descent with blond hair and blue eyes and specifically disregarded women with ethnic backgrounds who applied.

diverse models] up properly.” In 2007, models such as Naomi Campbell and Alek Wek launched a campaign to fight the discrimination faced by young black models in the industry. Wek, one of the world’s leading black models, talked of her embarrassment when make-up artists did not have the products to match her skin tone or when magazines would pay thousands of pounds to airbrush her skin into looking lighter.

The fashion industry must therefore account for the subliminal racism it portrays and the repercussions this might have on vulnerable women around the world. They must move beyond consumerist ideology and accept their responsibility to portray all types of women, whether of different sizes, hair colours or in this case, races.

As noted by Naomi Campbell, “there is a prejudice and we must learn to appreciate other kinds of beauty.”

Lucy Bramley

JANUARY 2012

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JANUARY 2012

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STYLE

THE AGE OF THE RECESSIONISTA Whilst 2004 saw us bid farewell to our dignity and wholly embrace the low riding jean, and 2006 released the fury of the UGG boot, 2008 brought about the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

2008’s Autumn/Winter catwalk season collided directly with the crisis, and designers, buyers, and retailers began to panic about the future of the fashion industry. Prior to the crash, women had been able to keep on top of every trend the fash-pack dared to throw at them. ‘Primarni’ was all the range and the throwaway fashion fad made it easy for most women to experiment. Yet, when the recession struck, these wearonce-wonders began to lose all of their appeal and ‘Investment Fashion’ became buzzwords for fashionistas worldwide; fast fashion finds were out and all attention turned to investing in fewer well-made pieces that would last a life time.

The idea of ‘recession chic’ soon developed into something more than careful buying, and designers began to join forces with high street chains like never before; Matthew Williamson and Julien McDonald were amongst the highbrow designers that teamed up with more affordable brands as a way of cashing in on the demand for discounts.

From the onset of the economic slump, it became very clear that women were not willing to dress themselves in poor quality clothing and even in 2012 the Recessionista remains all about being both cheap and chic, finding stylish steals and being clever with clothing.

Of course, that is not to say that the British public will ever turn their back on a good deal. Since the economic downturn of 2008, retailers have seen Boxing Day sales rocket. In recent years, hordes of women have been found queuing up and down Oxford Street from the early

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hours on 26th December, desperate to bag themselves a bargain - quite often not allowing anything or anyone to get in their way.

Since 2008, the world of fashion has arguably become less elitist and designers have learnt to rely on the British public’s ability to afford their work.

It would be wrong to claim that the recession has calmed British women’s insatiable appetite for fashion; instead women have merely been forced to learn a whole new approach to shopping.

And what about the student body? The recession has seen packs of trendsetters revive vintage clothing as the thing to be wearing. ‘Charity shop chic’ is omnipresent in every indie establishment going, and every it-girl worth copying

Yet, retailers continue to cash in on Britain’s self-proclaimed passion for fashion, with high street stores consistently attempting to flog unappealing items at attractive prices, while Boxing Day has been transformed from a festive holiday to an essential business opportunity.

So although a little more discretion may mean the nation’s eye for true style has improved during these hard times, many of us still fail to spot how retailers

can be found flaunting flea market buys.

Yet, judging by the number of Barbour jackets on campus, it would be difficult to argue that a great number of students have allowed the financial crash to get in the way of keeping up with more affluent trend-setters.

have learnt to exploit our interests, and encourage us to become excited about sale after sale.

Karl Lagerfeld told the BBC, “Very often in difficult times fashion is more interesting than in times when everything is too cool, too safe. In a bad moment change is the best thing that can happen”.

It could be said that the recession has been anything but doom and gloom in the fashion world. But because we are now sucked in by the idea of a great deal, has it really taught us to become savvier with our spending, or have we merely just become victims of retail ploys?

Jessica Newsome

FILM&TV STAFF SCRAPBOOK: TV GUILTY PLEASURES DIAGNOSIS MURDER The diagnosis? Murder. In terms of daytime television nothing comes closer to meeting a variety of audience expectations than the BBC’s staple part mystery, part medical and part crime drama. The show revolves around Dr. Mark Sloan, portrayed by the ever-endearing Dick Van Dyke, a medical doctor who moonlights as a criminologist, aiding his homicide detective son (played by real life son, Barry). What ensues is an often-formulaic plot; complete with a Scooby Doo style reveal at the end of each episode. Nonetheless, the show has a lot of heart, largely due to the affable Van Dyke, who embraces the small screen with the same exuberance that can be found in his cinematic youth. In addition, woven into the dialogue of this farfetched premise is an assortment of cheesy jokes and terrible puns that are guaranteed to cause a few guilty mid-afternoon laughs.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF

Malcolm Remedios

Despite being in my early twenties, I couldn’t help but heavily anticipate Tuesday evenings when a group of middle-aged women would compete for the title of ‘Star Baker’. The eagerness to see if contestants could cook the perfect scone or if their pies had soggy bottoms soon took over. Mary Berry became Simon Cowell in a pinny and it was difficult not to be captivated by the amazing creations that escaped the ovens. The amount of men and women crying over spoilt quiches and macaroons heavily outweighs the drama from your typical Eastenders episode. Everything about this programme asks for a middle-aged audience but the emergence of more cookery shows and the lack of anything to do on Tuesday evenings provides the perfect combination to get sucked into the phenomenon that is The Great British Bake Off.

ONLY CONNECT

Charlotte Hoare

Tucked away in the BBC 4 schedule is a gem of a TV programme. Usually on at 8:30pm, just after University Challenge has finished on BBC 2, this quiz show makes Paxman’s intellectual feast look like The Weakest Link. The tagline is that it’s a quiz in which knowledge will only get you so far; players must work out what it is that links various clues together in order to score points rather than simply give an answer to a question. The two teams consist of trios of peers linked by a common interest (usually something along the lines of model train building or world crossword champions).

Victoria Coren (sister of Giles, daughter of Alan) is the extremely dry and witty host who lacks a studio audience to chuckle along to her quips. All this makes Only Connect a ponderously awkward 30 minutes viewing that delights nonetheless.

TIME TEAM

James McAndrew

There is something I cannot quite put my finger on that makes Time Team such a guilty pleasure for me. It could simply be the fact that it is Tony Robinson presenting, or even the over-enthusiastic archaeologists, such as the eccentric Mick Aston, that accompany him. But I think, deep down, it’s all because the archaeology student in me just loves it. Admittedly, watching something from centuries ago being reconstructed from the ground up might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but personally I think it’s fascinating. While to some it seems to be a bunch of men digging around in the mud and rain for sixty minutes, to others it is so much more than that. Over the years it has gained something of a cult following, with a lot more people watching it than they might admit to. And this may just be the reason for its 17-year long run on Channel 4.

Chelsea Wright JANUARY 2012

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REAL INDIAN CINEMA

When you think of Indian cinema, what comes to mind? Is it a series of well-choreographed song and dance numbers, melodramatic love stories and extravagant sets? Like many people around the world, the common misconception is that this is Indian cinema, when it is simply the Mumbai film industry otherwise known as Bollywood, whose output is often considered to be synonymous and representative of the cultural medium as a whole. Most people are unaware of the powerful and influential social realist cinema, which India is also

renowned for. It is ‘real’ Indian cinema, featuring subtle, character-driven scripts, politically conscious and often poignant performances that will stay with you long after you’ve seen them.

It’s called ‘Parallel Cinema’ in India and began in the 1950s, progressing through the latter half of the 20th century. Also labelled as ‘art cinema’, it was led by the Bengali film industry in the east of the subcontinent by mainly Bengali directors, such as Mrinal Sen. They were often set in the bustling and vibrant Bengali city of Kolkata, where my family is from.

The best examples of the movement are through the career of India’s greatest director, Satyajit Ray, who won awards at Cannes, Berlin and even a Lifetime Achievement Oscar. His Apu trilogy is often considered to be the greatest achievement of Indian art cinema and seen as a starting point for the movement along with Ritwik Ghatak’s Nagarik. One of Ray’s greatest talents was managing to cram so much latent

meaning and visual storytelling into every frame. Also, his character and value-driven plots focused on how Indian society was changing from the traditional past to the modernised future, and films such as Charulata, The Home and The World revealed the change in the role of women.

You might not know this, but Indian cinema has had a direct influence on Hollywood films such as Taxi Driver, Herbie, Nashville, as well as on techniques like the development of boom lighting.

Parallel cinema revealed that India was a major global force by achieving critical acclaim as well as commercial success.

To find out more about ‘Real’ Indian cinema, read Tuhin’s extended article on www.impactnottingham.com/ section/film-and-television/.

Tuhin Chowdry

AN INTRODUCTION TO FAR EASTERN CINEMA Here’s a beginner’s guide to the films of the Far East. What should be your entry point into the weird and wonderful cinema of the Orient?

Japanese Cinema: Akira Kurosawa is by far the most recognised Japanese director with his masterpieces Seven Samurai (1954), Rashomon (1950), Yojimbo (1961) and Ran (1985). Kurosawa is still one of the most innovative directors to have ever lived. Parallel to this, you also have the enchanting genre of Anime, including Cyberpunk masterpieces Akira (1988) and Ghost In The Shell (1996) as well as the Studio Ghibli classics Spirited Away (2001) and Grave of the Fireflies (1988), both of which explore themes of modernisation, nostalgia and paranoia with a profoundly Japanese take.

Hong Kong Cinema: John Woo is

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in many ways the epitome of HongKong film; his work is energetic and although perhaps less artistic in nature, pictures such as Hard Boiled (1992) and The Killer (1989) still offer superb action sequences, succeeding where so many Hollywood blockbusters fall short. In addition, we have the work of actors like Kung-Fu legend Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon (1972), Andy Lau of Infernal Affairs (2002) fame and Jackie Chan whose early career offered martial art gems such as Drunken Master (1978).

Korean Cinema: Korean cinema perhaps has less to boast about than its neighbours, but in terms of introduction there is no place better to start than with Park Chan-Wook’s Oldboy (2003), a surreal revenge tail that will leave you breathless, disorientated

and captivated. Furthermore, we have The Host (2006) a horror film with a sense of humour, a political conscience and above all, a powerful conviction that makes for magnetic viewing.

Ben James

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/FILM-AND-TELEVISION

RETURNING TO OZ With two new interpretations of The Wizard of Oz on the horizon, it’s clear that the story of Oz has not lost its magic.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic childhood story that is loved by grown-ups and children alike, although it has had something of a chequered past. Despite winning two Academy Awards, it was initially a box office failure. And L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, upon which it is based, was once banned in public libraries in Detroit for being too negative and for not being of any value to the learning of contemporary children.

The dark undertones of The Wizard of Oz were significantly heightened in the 1985 sequel, Return of Oz. The director, Walter Murch, wished to

!

deal with the metaphysical issues that Baum raised in the books, such as ‘Where is the self? Can the self survive dismemberment of the body?’ Murch clearly wanted to explore the dark aspects of the Oz mythology alluded to in the original film and then take them a step further.

Oz: The Great and Powerful, which will be released in 2013, is being directed

by Sam Raimi (Spiderman, The Evil Dead). Starring James Franco as Oscar ‘soon-to-be-Wizard-of-Oz’ Diggs as well as Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz as the witches, it tells the story of an ordinary Kansas man, whisked away to Oz where he becomes the eponymous great and powerful wizard. And there’s also, though currently a little further away from

multiplexes, the highly anticipated screen adaptation of Wicked, the wildly successful stage musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Many will ask whether the new films can stand up to their classic predecessors. But it will be exciting to see whether these new films can actually bring anything fresh to the merry old land of Oz.

Harriet Lennard

HEROES AND VILLAINS

M BA

During the 1990s and early 2000s the superhero commodity was seemingly ignored by audiences, producing many box office failures such as 1997’s Batman and Robin. Now superhero films are so prolific that it’s difficult not to notice when the genre gets an underwhelming response. 2011 appears to have been the year when superheroes were given their redundant packages. Although there were some successful releases, will 2012 in fact overshadow 2011 as the year of the superhero?

POW

!

The Green Hornet was the first to grace our screens in 2011 and was quickly quashed for its failure to bring the fun of 1960’s TV series to the cinema screen. With a weak script and feeble acting it was difficult for the audience to decide whether they were watching a superhero film or a mockery of it. After it followed a string of disappointing adaptations including Marvel’s Thor, Warner Brother’s Green Lantern and the pale imitation of 300, Immortals. The third series of Misfits made a return to E4 in October and received mixed reviews. After an award-winning first two series, ratings quickly declined and the series succumbed to predictable plot lines and, tragically, the loss of originality it was once praised for.

Channel Four appeared to put the final nail in the coffin with its First Cut documentary, Superheroes of Suburbia, in which the glamorous job of being a

superhero took form in the unstable and pitiable residents of Torquay and Cornwall.

Although the heroes of 2011 appeared to have been let down by television and film makers, one beacon of hope was X-Men: First Class. The film explored the beginning of the X-men saga and was a welcome return to form for the franchise. 2012 promises to continue in this vein with a multitude of films that are set to mark an incredibly exciting year. The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Wolverine are a few of many big films that will hopefully drag our superheroes’ reputations out of the murky gutter that was 2011.

Charlotte Hoare

JANUARY 2012

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PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER There’s something about the familiarity of a sitcom. Sitting down to watch characters whose quirks you know as though they were your own friends’. According to Stephen Winzenburg in his book TV’s Greatest Sitcoms, “We hum the theme songs, repeat the funny phrases, and even copy the behaviour of the characters that have become our living room friends.” Perhaps that is why some sitcoms have been loved for so long.

Yet, E4 has given up on Friends, its faithful mistress for many years; does that mean the era of the traditional sitcom is over?

New sitcoms often emerge only to be cancelled after one season. Does anybody remember Accidentally on Purpose on E4? – Inoffensively funny, canned laughter and some alright characters, but not worth watching every week. Some other newer sitcoms draw on past formulas, like Happy Endings, a clichéd group of friends spending time in a bar… need I go on? Another, perhaps more offbeat, sitcom on Channel 4 is New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel (the queen of quirkiness) who moves in with three guys. Although it was a hit when it aired in the US, the main character Jess seems slightly too odd for the

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rest of the characters. All of the above become old very quickly; the characters have been in every situation possible and audiences become overly familiar with their predictable traits.

Maybe we must revert to the original sitcoms to see the problem. Domestic sitcom I Love Lucy began in 1951 and ran for 179 episodes. Its classic brash humour and applause every time a new actor walks onto set has permanently affected the genre, but while novel back then, this format has clearly reached its best-by date on modern TV screens.

Modern sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother are perhaps more intelligently written than their predecessors. Told through flashbacks from the year 2030, the creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas manage to use interesting narrative devices to tell the usual sixfriends-in-New-York-story. This more intelligent take has been well received, so much so that the show is now in its seventh season (and we still don’t know who the mother is).

It could be argued that sitcoms have evolved. The IT Crowd, although it uses canned laughter, has a more

unusual sense of humour than other sitcoms. Other shows have become more realistic. The Office showcased intelligent comedians rather than scripted actors, proving that audiences want to see something original.

Peep Show and Miranda are also comedian-led, providing something a bit different from the traditional setup. Others like Outnumbered find the comedy in everyday life, and are largely improvised.

So is this innovation within the genre perhaps being led by British TV? British sitcoms are arguably less predictable and clichéd than American shows. Gavin and Stacey springs to mind.

But shows such as 30 Rock and Modern Family demonstrate that American programmes are by no means strictly traditional either, and in fact both have dominated the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for the last five years.

Still, Winzenburg continues on to say that it is dangerous to “mistake innovation for influence. Many innovative sitcoms have had little or no long-term impact on the situation comedy genre.” This can be seen in the lukewarm reception of new sitcoms such as Fresh Meat and Threesome, which aim to surprise audiences by focusing on unusual subject matters.

Undoubtedly there will be some sitcoms whose influence will last and others, like the recently rebooted Two and a Half Men, who will carry on regardless of whatever else may happen in the world of TV comedy.

The sitcom has undeniably evolved to something more intelligent, with a refreshing sense of humour and, hopefully, less predictability.

Hannah Bright

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION TITLE: ‘ONE WORLD’ WINNER: ALEX TWEEDY TITLE OF PICTURE: TAKING TEA IN TIMBUKTU DESCRIPTION: MOHAMMAD, A TUAREG SALT TRADER, IS ONE OF THE FEW USERS OF THE ANCIENT AZALAI TRADE ROUTE. DEPARTING FROM TIMBUKTU, HE TRAVELS DEEP INTO UNSTABLE REGIONS OF THE SAHARA TO BUY AND SELL HIS GOODS. JANUARY 2012

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PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION TITLE: ‘SUMMER’ WINNER: ATUL MISTRY TITLE OF PICTURE: GRAND CANYON DESCRIPTION: A SHOT OF THE GRAND CANYON TAKEN AFTER LANDING IN THE CANYON’S BASIN, USING A SONY ALPHA 330 WITH AN 18 -55 MM LENS

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PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION TITLE: ‘PICTURE THIS SONG’ WINNER: JOHN BELL SONG TITLE AND ARTIST: ‘FACES’- BY RADICAL FACE SONG LYRICS: AS THE WARMTH OF THE SUN LEAVES MY BACK, AND THESE BRUISE-COLOURED SKIES TURN TO BLACK, NONE OF THESE FACES LOOK THE SAME, BUT NOT A ONE KNOWS MY NAME, OH, I AM A LONG WAY FROM HOME.

NOVEMBER 2011

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StudentS’ union

What is the

Big Ask? In August 2010, following analysis of the Students’ Union Big Review survey, the University of Nottingham Students’ Union undertook a Democratic Review. The result of this process was the production of four proposals.

Should the Students’ Union: 1. Adopt the new proposal for the Executive structure?

2. Adopt the proposed decision making structure?

3. Enable students to be members of the Board of Trustees?

4. Enable the possibility of serving sabbatical officers to run to be elected for a second term?

It is these proposals that form the Big Ask and that you will be able to vote on between 12 noon on Wednesday 8th February and 5pm on Tuesday 14th February.

For further information please visit: www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/studentvoice/bigask/

StudentS’ union electionS Nominations will be opening on Wednesday 15th February for the Students’ Union Elections.

For more information please email sudemocracy@nottingham.ac.uk

www.su.nottingham.ac.uk

FinAl yeAr StudentS the MoSt iMportAnt Survey you’ll Fill in thiS yeAr...

The National Student Survey (NSS), the 3rd largest survey in the UK, is a chance for final year students to tell the University what you thought of your time here; with questions on everything from teaching and academic support to library resources and course organisation.

You’ve probably filled in oodles of surveys during your time at University, but I can guarantee you that this is the most important one, and here’s why. The University has a special committee just for responding to the survey. As a result of last year’s scores the University has: • • •

accelerated plans to extend wireless networking to areas of campus not covered, and provide wireless access in all Halls committed resources to the redevelopment of George Green Library overhauled the Personal Tutor system ensuring better support for you

... and numerous little changes that make a big difference to your time at Nottingham.

So, final year students, when the survey goes live, please do fill it in, it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes or so. Think back over your time here, and let the University know what was good, what was bad, and what needs to be improved.

They do listen, and you really can shape the University of Nottingham experience for future students!

Elizabeth goddard University of Nottingham Students’ Union Education Officer 2011-12

Be inSpired with Any-Body Month 2012 Any-Body Month is the Students’ Union’s and University’s very own inclusive sporting event, which will be taking place in March 2012.

It provides “any-body” with the opportunity to come down and try different sports and physical activities all for free.

It’s a fun event where you can try anything from dance to wheelchair rugby to goalball to swimming.

If you’re looking for some inspiration and want to be a part of Any-Body Month 2012, please join our Facebook page or go to: www.nottingham. ac.uk/sport/getinvolved/ disabilitysport/initiatives/ any-body-month.aspx

SexuAl heAlth Mot

15th February 12-2.30 in the SU Hub.

Come to Portland for STI testing and access to free contraceptive services. There will be plenty of FREE cinema tickets and other treats so bring your friends!

It doesn’t matter if you aren’t registered at the University Health Service, you can be any age, AND it’s completely confidential!

Student MentAl heAlth dAy

On 22nd February we’ll be on campus promoting positive mental health as well as running a programme of exciting events. If you are interested in mental health and challenging stigma, a great new student led project will be launched on student mental health day. Pop into Portland, sign up and get involved!

TRAVEL

SECRET NOTTINGHAM We all know the Nottingham where you can hit Ocean on a Friday night or stumble out of Cr-isis on a Wednesday, but these generic choices may leave some feeling that Nottingham has nothing better to offer than a cheap drink, chart hits and a greasy kebab. This would, however, greatly undersell the endless variety on offer. So in order to battle this misconception, here are a few places that showcase Nottingham’s secret, diverse and surprising culture.

From the bunny salt and pepper pots to the coronation memorabilia teaspoons, this place has brought afternoon tea and granny chic to the centre of Nottingham.

Indulge in scones and clotted cream or choose from the selection of calorific cakes to go alongside your cup of tea in traditional china. Be prepared for a little bit of good old fashioned queuing though, as this is a teeny place with a big clientele.

Well worth a visit for a touch of the quaint and the cosy. (12 Hounds Gate).

Vintage shopping If you’re running low on over-sized knitted jumpers or need to replace your much-loved tie-dye t-shirt, then take a step into Nottingham’s vintage scene.

Search (literally) high and low in the

vintage warehouse or delve through leather jackets and denim shorts at COW. For a bit of old and new, check out Wild and its partner Wilder; both have a healthy amount of vintage as well as some fresh design. There is plenty here to choose from, making it easy to splash out on some original fashion.

The White Rabbit The White Rabbit can be summed up in two words; quintessentially English.

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The Golden Fleece Banish the mundane, dare to tread the beaten track and climb up Mansfield road and you will find one of Nottingham’s hottest venues tucked away from the sinful sounds of the nightclub. The Golden Fleece, with its olive green walls, tasteful heavy wood decorations and bathroom tile bar beautifully combines comfy pub with up-to-date city centre music. Acoustic delights ooze out if its red brick exterior as every Monday night it gives up its stage to let Nottingham’s budding artists strut their stuff at its regular open mic night. After being chilled to the bone things start to spice up at the weekends as DJ sets hit The Fleece and bring us back into city sounds. The eclectic music genres keep you on your toes with anything from drum and base to reggae reverberating through the night, giving everyone a chance to forget about their headache of a degree. Give your friends a slice of the Nottingham music pie and show off what a talented bunch we

actually are! (105 Mansfield Road).

Bar de Nada This little family-run tapas restaurant is a great cheap eat. With its Spanish and world selection, you can choose anything from tortilla to spring rolls, and polish it off with their impressive selection of world beers. Soak up its carefree atmosphere and indulge your ears with its chilled out beats. This place has a whole lot of character packed into a cosy parcel, all wrapped up in a student friendly price of £6.50 for 3 dishes and bread. This deal has its drawbacks of being only applicable for the early bird who gets there between five and seven on a weekday, but I would say it was well worth it. You won’t just take one friend here; you’ll take them all. (43 Broad Street).

The Hopkinson Gallery This place is more than just a gallery.

It’s a vintage shop, antique shop, café and tea bar, creative studio, drumming session and salsa class all rolled into one.

It provides a place for Nottingham’s art talent to showcase their work in its contemporary gallery upstairs and has an array of furniture, clothes and decorative items in its vast vintage collection. This truly is an Ali Baba’s cave and if for nothing else, it should be visited for its impressive twenty-one varieties of tea.

This strange amalgamation of functions offers an extremely unique experience and displays some of the not-so-wellknown, but extremely vibrant, culture of Nottingham. (21 Station Street)

Sarah Hughes Images by Emma Charalambous

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/TRAVEL

EXTREME, DANGEROUS & BRITISH “I’ve got the willingness and stupidity to try anything. If I think it’s even remotely possible, I’ll do it”, American motocross rider Travis Pastrana once famously remarked. Extreme sport, or adventure sport is the name given to sporting activities that involve a certain level of danger, speed and often height, such as base jumping, body boarding and free running. It’s a common misconception that you have to travel far afield to places like New Zealand or South America to satisfy your need for a thrill, when in truth there are plenty available in the UK. Over the past decade demand has increased considerably and there are now centres all over the country offering countless activities,

adrenaline fix is through motor sports and there is much on offer for the petrol heads out there. If you fancy a taste of off-road buggying, for as little as £70, then head to Kent where you will get to race on grass tracks at high speeds with a professional instructor; these little cars have a power-toweight ratio to match most Ferraris.

If cars aren’t your thing and you like the idea of rolling down a hill at up to 30mph in a giant ball, then try your hand at Zorbing. Also known as ‘sphereing’, this is a new craze sweeping across the UK and as it’s mostly offered as a package for two, it’s ideal to do it with a friend. AquaZorbing is also available; this time you’re not harnessed and in addition to you and your friend, 30 litres of water will also be put into the inflatable ball.

This is affordable fun at only £25 per person but should not be underest imated safety-wise!

ranging from the unbelievably challenging barefoot water skiing to more accessible activities such as skateboarding.

One popular UK way of getting an

Bungee Jumping is probably one of the best-known extreme sports and that too is Elliot Ledger available in the UK. From 100ft to 400ft, you can jump from as high or as low as you like! Prices start from around £60 but some centres offer charity bungee jumps free of charge, if you raise £100 or more for a charity of your choice. But, if 400ft isn’t high enough for you, head

to Lincolnshire for the UK’s highest skydive from a terrifying 15,000ft!

Skydive Hibaldstow will cost a student £225 and although one of the more expensive options, it’s well worth the price tag.

From terrifying heights to fast flowing rivers, white water rafting is another activity loved by adventurers and thrill seekers alike. A day white water rafting will comprise one or more runs down either a natural river or a purpose-built course in a six or eight man inflatable; accompanied by an expert instructor guiding the boat, this is a great social activity and perfect for team building, from around £50. Other water based extreme sports include kite surfing, a perfect combination of surfing, wakeboarding, and windsurfing, which can be found at coastlines around the country. A one-day kite surfing course will teach you the mechanics behind the sport and give you a chance to get to the water and start practicing. If you want to really get to grips with it there are also two and three day courses available from £100.

If you prefer your sports to be landbased, then ice climbing is a fantastic option, and a great alternative to rock climbing. It’s offered at various places in the UK such as London, Manchester and Fort William. You get to complete solo climbs across ice walls of around 300 metres squared using picks and axes. You’ll be provided with all the necessary equipment and will benefit from the supervision of an instructor. Rather than a quick sudden adrenalin rush, ice climbing offers a tricky challenge and an experience very different from anything else, a very worthwhile experience for a reasonable £50.

Charlotte Neales JANUARY 2012

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TRAVEL A WHISTLE-STOP TOUR OF THE UK’S CAPITALS ‘Britain, Britain, Britain. Opened by the Queen in 1937 and responsible for re-inventing the cat’.

So perhaps David Walliams and Matt Lucas aren’t the most reliable spokespeople for British tourism, but our little isle certainly has a lot to shout about. The current popularity of Inca trail treks and Full Moon madness often means that homegrown adventure opportunities can be over-looked. Yet, a glimpse at the UK’s capital cities is proof enough that excitement and cultural diversity don’t have to be exclusive to the daring globetrotter and, perhaps more importantly, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

With Kate and Wills wedding fever still lingering and the Olympic summer countdown, the patriotic party is in full swing, so ditch the passport, maybe grab a brolly, and embrace the best of British.

LONDON (BABY) Our capital is a densely packed cultural playground that can take you from Big Ben to Beefeaters in the blink of a tube ride. The London first-timer will inevitably want to ogle the gherkin and Houses of Parliament from their London Eye capsule, and maybe seek out that royal family photo opportunity, even if it is courtesy of Madame Tussauds. But if you’ve been there, done that, or a red bus sightseeing tour isn’t quite your cup of tea, there’s plenty more to sample in this vibrantly diverse melting pot, which, if you’re careful, can be surprisingly student-budget friendly.

Entry to the main exhibitions at the V&A, Natural History Museum and the brilliant British Museum

amongst others won’t cost you a penny, and how dangerous could a 7-floor window shop at the shopping institution of Harrods be? Hunt out a few bargains amongst the eclectic displays of clothes and bric-a-brac in the bustling and artistic hub Brick Lane and be sure to brave a Vindaloo in one of its famed curry houses before leaving the rejuvenated East End, although you may want to linger and revel in the electric atmosphere of the notorious club venue, ’93 Feet East’.

A scenic walk along the South Bank or a helping of British indulgence at Manze’s, London’s oldest pie and mash shop will provide the perfect hangover cure, and why not follow the smell of cupcake heaven to Portobello

Road’s Hummingbird Bakery for a buttercream-filled desert.

Adrian Barrow

CARDIFF: WHAT’S OCCURIN’?

Although perhaps not quite the cultural hotspot of nearby Barry Island (Nessa’s arcade and Gwen’s omelettes attract tourists in their droves), the Welsh capital won’t leave you wanting for entertainment. As the famous backdrop for the BBC’s legendary Doctor Who, history boffins may spot the odd time lord scouring the ancient environs of Cardiff castle; you can also do a bit of time travel yourself at St Fagan’s open air museum as you weave your way through mini villages of a bygone age and live recreation scenes - although you might have to dodge the odd horde school trip party.

Head over to the convivial Cardiff Bay development where merry-makers

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spill out of thriving restaurants, shops and bars towards the beautiful waterfront, and be sure to catch a glimpse of the lushly iconic Millennium Centre, the mother of all performing arts centres. Hail a water taxi Venetianstyle back towards the city’s heart and take a stop at the beautifully elegant civic centre to spot a few Monets amongst the National Museum’s rich array of Impressionist art, one of the best in Europe in fact,

and all for free. Pack a picnic for an afternoon in Bute Park, a real beauty, and you may even spot the tardis if you’re lucky. Tidy.

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/TRAVEL

Charlotte Albert

EDINBURGH: MUCH MORE THAN SHORTBREAD AND TARTAN Beautiful Edinburgh’s Old Town is a cobbled maze of gothic beauty and lends itself perfectly for sniffing out ‘olde worlde’ pubs and quirky boutiques. A walk up the lively Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle is a must for an experience of true historic Edinburgh. The Old Town Grassmarket area is a great haunt (literally perhaps, as it’s the original site of the gallows!) where you can hunt down traditional pub grub and ales in old taverns formerly owned by

Wordsworth and the notorious Burke and Hare. Under the Stairs is a studentpopular joint as its hearty yet modern food won’t stretch the purse strings too much. And yes, the clue to the cosy setting is all in the title. For those fancying a more active afternoon, attempt the two-hour hike to the top of Arthur’s seat for brilliant views of the entire capital, or alternatively head down to watch a spot of rugby at Murrayfield and let the pros do the running. The delectable Chocolate

Soup cafe on Hunter Square provides the ultimate guilty pleasure with casual chocolate shots and delicious, ahem, bowls brimming with hot chocolate; still the classier alternative to a fried Mars Bar. The Stand Comedy Club keeps the students in stitches outside of Fringe season whilst the hum of house music lures them underground to Cowgate’s thriving Cabaret Voltaire club for a night of dancing and live music.

WHAT’S THE CRAIC IN BELFAST?

The Emerald Isle’s intimate capital is a tale of four quarters. Step aboard a guided tour in the industrial Titanic

quarter and revel in the legend of the tragic liner at its very birthplace, and then wander south to the student central at the heart of the dynamic and artily vibrant Queen’s Quarter.

Teeming with galleries and cozy theatres, you can also take refuge from the cosmopol itan buzz in the tranquil greenery of the beautiful Botanical Gardens, whilst Molly’s Yard eatery provides

the perfect haven for a bit of Belfast blonde on tap and a helping of local Irish mussels. To the west the urban and gritty Gaeltacht quarter can be found, which embodies the Irish cultural revival. Take a walk along the Falls Road, lined with political murals, for a visual lesson in the equal parts colourful and violent history of Northern Ireland. There are trendy warehouse restaurants and watering holes aplenty in the charming Cathedral Quarter, so hold hands with tradition and indulge in a pint of Guinness and a bowl of Irish stew at the old Crown Liquor Saloon, a Belfast landmark.

Charlotte Brabbin JANUARY 2012

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ARTS WINTER CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION WINNERS “Never are voices so beautiful as on a winter’s evening” —Virginia Woolf

A Friend of Dorothy The young boy silently shut the front door as he made his way into the house.

He shook the snow from his hair and threw his satchel onto the grey linen sofa. He then walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of tea from the pot. After a few minutes, he made his way to the front door, planning to go outside and enjoy the freshly fallen snow. As he began to tightly wrap the scarf around his neck, his father was coming down the stairs.

“Hold on for a moment, son.”

The young boy stopped and returned the greeting with a slight nod. “Hey, dad.”

“I just want to talk to you for a minute,” the father said. “Just a little father-and-son time.”

The boy appeared hesitant but relented and sat down on the sofa. His father sat down on the opposite end, a few feet apart.

“So what do you want to talk about?” asked the boy.

“Well, I’ve just been wondering how you’ve been feeling lately,” the father replied. “Everything’s fine at school?”

“Not bad,” the boy paused and took a sip from his glass cup. “I guess how any average kid would feel.”

The father paused for a moment and then asked, “Want to watch some TV?” “Sure, why not,” said the boy.

The father stood up from the sofa and walked over to the television set.

He turned the knob, knocked his fist against the screen and returned to his spot on the opposite end. After a

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while, the father asked, “Has anyone said anything yet?”

“No, not really, I haven’t told anyone else yet except Wally,” replied the boy.

“What did he say when you told him?” asked the father.

“Well, not much,” said the boy. “I guess me and him aren’t such good friends no more.”

The boy’s father shook his head and then asked, “What about Wally’s parents? Did he tell them?”

“They told me they don’t want me messin’ around with him.”

The two sat in silence while the sounds from the television continued to fill the olive-drab room. The father lit a cigarette and stared thoughtfully at his son. He then sat up from the sofa and went into the kitchen. Several moments later, he walked back into the living room with a sandwich.

“You want anything to eat?” asked the father. “I can whip up something for you if you’re hungry.”

“Maybe later,” the boy replied.

“You want to know what I think?” asked the father.

Without waiting for his son to reply, he said, “Well, I can’t say that I mind it too much. In fact, I think it’s more of your own personal choice. What do you think?”

The boy merely shrugged and returned his attention toward the television set.

After a few minutes, he finally replied, “I’m not really sure what to think right now.”

“All right, son. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not something that’s bad. There’s still time, you know,” the father smiled.

“Sure, dad,” the boy replied.

“Your mom and I are right here if you need anything, okay?” asked the father. “We’re still here for you now.

You know that.”

Making no effort to show that he had understood, the boy continued to watch the television program. Unsure of what to say, the father leaned back in the sofa, spread out his arms and watched the program with his son. He glanced out the window and saw that the snow outside had been dirtied by passing cars. After a while, the father stood up from the sofa, extinguished his cigarette and walked over to his son. Patting him on the head, he finally said, “I’m glad we had this talk.

You feeling all right?”

“I feel fine,” the boy smiled after a few seconds. “Nothing’s wrong with me.”

Aaron Chan

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Emma Charalambous Christmas Eve

A Season’s greeting

Approaching midnight lonely streets, defeated by snow.

Still I stand.

Time slowly leaning forward, My fingers forgetting how to feel.

Lips crack in the biting wind.

It’s too dark to see if anyone’s coming.

But there are no muted footsteps approaching, no glint of eager eyes.

Still I stand, I wait.

My breath escapes me In tiny clouds that quickly fade.

And when I hear you Say my name And your arms around my waist I know it’s finally Christmas.

It started after the leaves began to fall: As she trudged her feet among the mass of brown, gold and withered green that littered the streets the bleakness of the coming weeks filled her heart.

The heat of the summer months had made way for winter’s icy glare.

Blue sadness came and settled, heavy, on her mind.

And so, like the morning dew that feels the cold’s embrace; she froze up.

Elexa Rose

The naked trees stood despondent and frosty wind made moan.

They said the season did not agree with her.

It left her feeling under the weather; “Yes her mind was out of sync, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed; It was really quite common with these winter blues”.

Why didn’t she indulge in some Christmassy things? You know: Mistletoe (but not wine), Sleigh bell ringing or carol singing.

The wind refused to whistle and began to howl.

When at night the casements shook, she’d share their cries and Look back to when she had once found the season so appealing.

She thought of: Landscapes covered in endless white, Frosted fir treesOr even a lonely pond in a frozen wasteland If she could lie down, there, she’d happily stay For all she wanted was some Rest; In Peace.

They recommended a change of scene.

Just for a while…

Somewhere safe Until it all passed.

So she went, for a short stay.

Somewhere safe, Where this season’s greetings could be warmly declined.

Scholastica Akech

But all the while the sadness grew.

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ARTS

‘FLASHBACK’

Flashback is a series of touring exhibitions put on by the Arts Council Collection, South Bank Centre.

The Collection’s initial aim was to support emerging artists through the purchasing of their work. Therefore, Flashback is just that, as these exhibitions give the public a unique opportunity to look back at the evolution of key figures in British art, like that of Anish Kapoor.

There are two Anish Kapoors in my life. One is my local GP and the other one is an internationally renowned, Turner-Prize-winning British sculptor with a CBE. Fortunately for us, it is the latter whose work has recently come to the concrete shores of Nottingham.

Kapoor has been making waves since his arrival in London in the 1980s, with bold sculptures and more recently architectural pieces designed for large public spaces (‘Leviathan’, 2011) and smaller, more modest venues.

Kapoor’s works are displayed in The Long Gallery of Nottingham Castle, essentially an empty, white-walled corridor. This setting, with the contrast of red wax and traditional stylised vaulted ceilings, is reminiscent of one of his most memorable exhibitions, held at the Royal Academy in 2009.

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From eye level, his sculptures are framed by the expanse of the white walls and contrasted against the regal, corniced ceiling of the Castle.

As well as the usual gallery appetisers of books, photographs and a beautiful film exploring the works of Kapoor, this exhibition displays a main course of 10 of Kapoor’s sculptures, which will leave you completely satisfied.

Kapoor designs and builds his work with purpose and clear themes. The exhibition has been curated with this in mind and has focused on three common themes in Kapoor’s work: Colour, Reflection and Humanity.

he produced is almost spiritual, with mini-mountains doused in colour and placed carefully onto the gallery floor.

Reflection 15 years of Psychoanalysis is enough to make anyone obsessed with inner reflection. Kapoor (for once) doesn’t differ from the masses and many of his concave sculptures explore this theme. In this exhibition, mounted on the wall is a giant, blue bowl. ‘Void’ (1994) is one of Kapoor’s best set of reflective works. It’s a deep, royal shade of blue through which Kapoor draws you into a space that you know is finite, but seems to extend beyond its fibreglass structure.

Colour One sculpture in the exhibition instantly summarises Kapoor’s bold use of colour: ‘White Sand, Red Millet, Many Flowers’ (1982). The first time I saw this masterpiece was in London’s South Bank Centre and I was completely dismissive of what looked like four coloured sandcastles. How wrong I was; these small sculptures were inspired by a trip Kapoor made to India, where he became obsessed with the piles of dyes and pigments on sale in the markets. The sculpture

Humanity The last sculpture in the exhibition is ‘When I am Pregnant’ (1992).

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Seamlessly emerging from the back wall is a white bulge: Kapoor’s representation of a pregnant woman.

Whilst this is an obvious example of Kapoor’s fascination with the softness and weakness of human flesh (in contrast to the harsh materials we have created with our intellect), he is usually subtler. For example, ‘Negative Box Shadow’ (2005), on display in the Castle, is a man-sized cuboid of a waxy, fleshy, red material with a brutal metal disc slicing into it. Kapoor’s attention to detail in his sculpture is absurd, red wax rippling out from beneath the disc like grazed, cut skin. ‘Red in the Centre’ (1982) also on display in the castle, could be taken as simple vapid sexual objects as well as delicate, organic figures carved out of inorganic, cold materials.

In 2008, Boris Johnson commissioned Kapoor to build ‘something extra’ for the Olympic Site. The result of this commission is the Arcelor Mittal Orbit, an observation tower (or rather nicknamed by the press ‘the melted red Eiffel tower/rollercoaster’). This structure has brought Kapoor a lot of criticism from the mainstream press, but if this exhibition proves anything it is how much Kapoor has enriched British art and impressed upon the rest of the world. Criticism from the press barely taints his gleaming halo, as you will see for yourself at the castle; Kapoor still represents what is hot with British sculpture.

Karrish Devan

BLAGGER’S GUIDE TO... …the Sky Mirror(s) Although close to our hearts, Nottingham may not be where you’d expect to find a sculpture that has gone on to influence art in New York City. However, Anish Kapoor’s ‘Sky Mirror’, first commissioned by the Nottingham Playhouse to stand outside its frontage, did just that.

The Man: Kapoor, a British sculptor born in Mumbai, has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s. He has worked with the Tate Modern and the Millenium Dome and his sculpture Orbit has been commissioned as a permanent artwork for the Olympic Park.

The Artwork: In 1995, Kapoor began his work with mirrored surfaces.

Sky Mirror, a large mirror piece that reflects the sky and the architectural surroundings of Wellington Square in Nottingham, was unveiled in

2001. The sculpture’s six-metre wide concave dish of polished stainless steel is angled up towards the sky for its surface to reflect the ever-changing

environment. The physical mirroring of the piece aims to provoke a sense of inner reflection for the viewer by drawing them into its gently distorted image. At the same time it seeks to encourage an experience of connectivity with the landscape from a different visual perspective. At

£900,000, it was, at the time, the most expensive piece of civic art funded by the National Lottery and in the autumn of 2007 it was voted ‘Pride of Place’ in a poll to find Nottingham’s favourite landmark.

A larger version of Sky Mirror, 3 stories tall with a 35-foot diameter, was temporarily installed in 2006 by the Rockefeller Centre in N.Y.C. In relation to this installation, Kapoor has talked about his interest in the idea of the ‘non-object’, a sculpture that “suggests a window or void and often seems to vanish into its surroundings”.

Sky Mirror later moved to Kensington Gardens in 2010, as part of Kapoor’s show ‘Turning the World Upside Down’.

Lisa Neiss

JANUARY 2012

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MUSIC

IMPACT’S TOP ALBUMS OF 2011 The Smith Westerns – ‘Dye it Blonde’: In a quiet year for guitar music, this little gem shone brighter than most. Indebted to glam-rock greats like T. Rex and Suede, the album boasts catchy hooks, quality riffs and is practically bursting at the seams with wide-eyed romanticism and youthful exuberance.

Chase and Status – ‘No More Idols’: The biggest names in dub-step more than excelled themselves on this one, combining a plethora of influences from hip-hop to rock, but always falling back on huge drops and wobbles to provide us with an album that explodes with energy and excitement.

Jay-Z & Kanye West – ‘Watch the Throne’: With two massive personalities at the helm, there was a danger of this album collapsing under the weight of their egos. However, the result was instantly likeable hip-hop, catchy floor fillers, and confirmation of Kanye and Jay as the kings of the hip-hop world.

Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘A Different Kind of Fix’: This record from the now not-so-young things of the indie world is bursting with catchy and eclectic slices of song writing excellence. This album certainly has to be one of the soundtracks of the summer and must be recognised as one of the best of the year.

Bon Iver – ‘Bon Iver’: This hugely imaginative piece of music is centred around lead singer Justin Vernon’s connections with places around the world, and the record is nothing short of an escapist’s paradise. Once more, the assortment of instrumental backing combines majestically with Vernon’s heartwrenching voice to provide us with what must be regarded as a modern day classic.

IMPACT’S HOTLY TIPPED FOR 2012 Dillon Francis: With questions about the longevity of dub-step firmly on the lips of the masses, the search for something new and fresh in the world of beats and bass may be answered

by Dillon Francis. Indeed with the popularity of Moombahton steadily rising upwards, Francis is sure to be a big player in 2012.

Vondelpark: Straight out of the streets of Surrey, Vondelpark offer a concoction of hiphop laced with smooth vocals and ingenious beats. Despite their very low profile on the self-promoting front, the sheer quality of their first two EPs means this trio are becoming more and more recognised as a band

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to watch out for, and an act who are tapping into a new and exciting sound.

Dom: The next big things on the East Coast indie front, Dom are sure to recreate their growing American fan base in the UK in the not-so-distant future.

Just like MGMT and The Drums before them, they have managed to create accessible indie dance floor fillers, and 2012 promises to see their catchy riffs and choruses broken out up and down the country.

Azealia Banks: The new starlet of the hip-hop industry, Azealia Banks brings an insatiably addictive sound that is about to explode on the Internet.

Shockingly, she is currently unsigned, but with tunes such as ‘212’ under her belt, Azealia is primed and ready to make huge waves in 2012.

Frank Ocean: Over the past few years, there have been few more exciting acts than Frank Ocean, and with his effortlessly sleek charisma and his dark and powerful voice he is on course for legendary levels of fame and glory in the coming twelve months. At times, he is the ultimate soundtrack to the dark hours of the early morning, while at others he is delivers the catchiest hip-hop hooks since the glory days of the 90s. Either way, Frank Ocean is set to take 2012 by storm.

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IMPACT INTRODUCES...

1. STEFAN AND TANIA

Riana Sadrudin

Just one year ago this dynamic musical duo were experimenting with the occasional unofficial open mic night around their university halls. Fastforward onto this year and Stefan Cave (guitar) and Tania Sheratte (vocals) are a well-established act on Nottingham’s alternative music scene with an evergrowing following. Frequently found in venues such as The Ropewalk, The Jam Cafe and Alley Cat Cafe, their engaging sets have become something of a local legend. Stefan and Tania’s sets offer something to both locals and students with their winning combination of classics and arrangements of more popular music. While their set consists mainly of covers, their interpretations are unique. Their ingenious mashup of Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’ and ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley is a favourite of many and a fine example of what they’re all about. The twosome has recently recruited a new member, Peter Beardsworth, who plays the banjo and the saxophone. The onstage chemistry between the group members makes them an absolute joy to watch. They have recorded a demo and are hoping to put some of their own independent gigs on soon, so watch this space.

the bands enjoy turning all things up to eleven in terms of synthesisers.

However, where Late of the Pier sound like a bizarre combination of Muse and The Clangers, Swimming bring soaring harmonies into their music. They have just released their major label debut ‘Ecstatics International’, and on this album the band live up to their name while providing a truly fluid musical sound. From the incessantly catchy opening tracks, ‘Neutron Wireless Crystal’ and ‘In Ecstatics’ all the way to the superbly harmonious closer ‘Team Jetstream’, they display a real feeling of fun and experimentation with sound.

The band can be regularly seen around Nottingham in different venues such Nottingham Contemporary and Broadway Cinema; truly, this is some exciting new local talent worth checking out.

RHCP also did not forget their funk roots. ‘Walkabout’ and ‘Falling into Grace’ have a deep funk groove with hammering riffs reminiscent of their older material. While ‘Aeroplane’ may have a bland melodic chorus, Flea thumps out a driving bass over the verse and Navarro’s guitar solo meets the quality of Frusciante. Perhaps ‘Aeroplane’ highlights the problem of the record; there is little coherence in their attempt to bring together funk and a more melodic sound. ‘Transcending’ encapsulates this conflict when halfway through it suddenly launches into a mash of wah-pedal and noise that destroys the

3. FORGOTTEN CLASSIC

Emily Shackelton

Red Hot Chili Peppers - ‘One Hot Minute’

2. SWIMMING

For many, ‘One Hot Minute’ is the awkward, John Frusciante-less, intermediate phase that nobody likes to talk about, namely because of poor reviews and sales. The pressure of starting again with a new guitarist, Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction, and meeting the dizzy success of ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ was too much.

Nottingham-based band Swimming have a lot in common with fellow local band Late of the Pier. Both of

Unless the record was just underrated.

In my opinion, it shows RHCP trying

Liam Coleman

to grow up, tackling issues they were dealing with at the time: death, depression and drugs. Tracks such as ‘My Friends’ and ‘Transcending’ display extraordinary lyrical and melodic depth, especially ‘Transcending’ where the subtlety and ease of the guitar rift intertwine with the effortless, yet complex bass line. It is one of the tracks bassist Flea wrote when drugs made Anthony Kiedis incapable of doing so, showing that success could rise out of chaos.

chilled vibe of the beginning.

This, however, does not mean ‘One Hot Minute’ should be regarded as a total failure. It has moments of ingenuity all wrapped up in the bewilderment of an uncomfortable transition stage. No one would regret Frusciante’s return in 1998, but one wonders about the different heights the band might have reached if Navarro ultimately had not been fired.

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MUSIC

INTRODUCING WHY NOT TRY METAL? FOUR CATEGORIES GLAM METAL Glam metal ultimately represents for Despite not having a single double OF METAL bass drum roll within any of our iTunes libraries, my mates and I recently found ourselves in Pit and Pendulum on Victoria Street. The reason: we were searching for a bar where we wouldn’t have to queue an hour for drinks. This unplanned visit made me think about just why I, and many others with otherwise broad musical tastes, are so reluctant to listen to metal.

A lot of people are probably put off by metal before they even give it a listen.

For many, metal is solely associated with monstrous riffs, cacophonous drumming and demented vocals.

Yet as any metalhead will implore, the term ‘metal’ actually covers innumerable sub-genres that feature a vast range of styles and subtleties.

A reason why many are reluctant to listen to metal is that it is in fact much more than a genre — it is also a culture and a whole way of life for some. Many believe that to get involved in the metal scene you have to wear the clothes, grow the hair and get the tattoos. Given that this image isn’t perceived as being particularly cool, it is perhaps unsurprising that metal is shunned.

But could metal finally be making something of a crossover? Recently we have seen Lou Reed working with Metallica, Skrillex collaborating with Korn, Justice remixing Metallica and Mastodon moving over to the mainstream, even managing to sneak onto Jools Holland’s show. Maybe now is the time to give the much-maligned genre another try.

Joseph Gallagher

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P R E C U R S O R S / E A R LY METAL Although some of these earlier bands may not sound ‘heavy’ to modern ears, they undoubtedly helped to shape the metal genre in the decades to follow.

In the early to mid 1970s, the riff was king, as shown by classics like Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, and Kiss’s ‘God of Thunder’. What’s more, if you find the sound of later metal too harsh, bands such as these can act as a great way to ease yourself into the world of metal.

metal what Duran Duran represented for pop – a musical equivalent of the decadent ‘80s. Most Glam features typical ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ lyrics, copious guitar solos, and the type of chorus that you can’t help but shout along to (think Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’). It’s also probably the most consistently ridiculed subgenre of metal, with the make-up, the big hair, and the cheesy lyrics all making it a pretty easy target for its detractors.

If you can get past the image (or if you love the image – each to their own), there are some real gems to be found within this subgenre.

NU METAL

THRASH METAL Some of metal’s most important bands and albums came out of the Thrash subgenre, which fused the technical musical ability and imagery of metal with the speed and aggression of punk.

This was revolutionary at the time, and thrash’s ‘Big Four’– Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax still influence many of today’s young metallers. As time went on, however, much of the music released by Thrash bands became more cerebral and less focussed on all-out speed – check out the amazing Eastern-sounding acoustic guitar solo on Megadeth’s ‘Holy Wars’.

Nu metal emerged in the late 1990s, fusing elements of metal, grunge, industrial, and hip hop, among others.

Despite being focussed mainly on metal instrumentation, Nu metal rarely featured elements otherwise commonly found in metal, such as guitar solos; instead DJs were often used to create an entirely different sound. In addition to this, many Nu metal vocalists such as Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and Corey Taylor of Slipknot incorporated rapping, as well as the more traditionally metal screams and growls, into their music. By the mid-2000s, nu metal’s popularity had waned, but it has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity, with Slipknot and System of a Down headlining festivals worldwide in 2011.

William Gulseven

METAL

THE RISE AND RISE OF METAL

It’s been over 25 years since Metallica released their seminal album ‘Master of Puppets’ and metal’s popularity arguably reached its peak. But in 2012, is it really still relevant, and does it still retain the power and fan-base it once had?

Ask metal fans who they think the biggest artists in metal are today, and it’s likely they’ll reel off any number of names such as Machine Head, Mastodon and Trivium – the list goes on and on.

However, it is not just these old gods of the industry who are keeping the genre going; a wave of new bands inspired by the original titans are now flying the flag high for metal.

Download, attracted 70,000 fans in 2011 - almost as many as Leeds Festival. These festivals are home to the biggest names in the business, but they also promote smaller acts on the road to glory. Rise to Remain, for example, played the tiny Gibson stage at Download 2008. By 2010, they were playing alongside names such as Bullet for My Valentine and The Dillinger Escape Plan on the second stage.

Across Europe every year, thousands flock to festivals such as Sonisphere, Wacken, and Hellfest, all of which cater to fans of heavy and extreme music.

The UK’s biggest metal festival,

If you look hard enough, it’s possible to spot metal in the mainstream media as well. Radio One’s daytime playlist champions a track by trance metallers Enter Shikari. In America, talk show host Conan O’Brien regularly features live performances by bands like Megadeth and Lamb of God alongside Eminem and Lady Gaga. Arguably the most prominent exposure metal has had in recent years was in 2009, when, as a biting retort against the domination of the charts by X Factor

Early metal (1969-1980) Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin II’ (1969) Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’ (1970) Kiss – ‘Destroyer’ (1975)

Glam metal (1983-1990) Mötley Crüe – ‘Dr Feelgood’ (1986) Bon Jovi – ‘Slippery When Wet’ (1986) Skid Row – ‘Skid Row’ (1989)

IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM/MUSIC

singers, Rage Against the Machine achieved the Christmas Number One spot with ‘Killing in the Name’.

By its very nature, metal will never be as popular as other genres and you probably won’t be seeing bands like Suicide Silence in the top 40 any time soon. However, metal’s cult following is part of its appeal for its die-hard fans, who are much of the reason it has been able to grow up to the present day. To the outsider looking in, metal may seem to be an aggressive or even primitive type of music, but for those who revel in it, it is a way of life. Yes, metal is still very much an underground genre, but just because it can’t always be heard across the airwaves, that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed.

William Gulseven and Josh Levy Machine Head – ‘Unto the Locust’ (2011) Metalcore (2000-present)

Nu-metal (1997-2005)

Founders of Metal Motörhead – ‘Overkill’ (1979) Iron Maiden – ‘The Number of the Beast’ (1982) Thrash metal (1981-1990) Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’ (1986) Slayer – ‘Reign in Blood’ (1986) Megadeth – ‘Rust in Peace’ (1990)

Slipknot – ‘Slipknot’ (1999) Limp Bizkit – ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water’ (2000) System of a Down – ‘Toxicity’ (2001) Groove metal (1990-present) Pantera – ‘Cowboys from Hell’ (1990) Lamb of God – ‘Sacrament’ (2006)

Avenged Sevenfold–‘City of Evil’ (2005) Bullet for My Valentine–‘The Poison’ (2005) Rise to Remain – ‘City of Vultures’ (2011)

JANUARY 2012

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SCIENCE

QI:

QUITE INCORRECT?

Warning: The following article contains examples of eye-wateringly extreme nit-pickiness and a hint of scientific snobbery. You may proceed at your own peril...

Let me begin by acknowledging that QI is probably one of the best things on television. Week after week, Stephen Fry and his team of ‘elves’ manage to deliver a viewing experience that both entertains and educates. I can only begin to fathom the herculean amount of research it takes to produce an episode on such a regular basis.

Hence, mistakes are bound to happen and yet it would be very un-scientific of me to leave these slipups uncorrected.

Think of all the poor blokes who rely on QI for all their chat-up lines and the embarrassment they’d experience when trying to woo girl-who-is-alsoa-professor-in-marine-biology with an incorrect jellyfish fact. And so, in the spirit of über-pedantry, I proceed...

THE TRIPLE POINT OF WATER IS 0.

In Series C, Dara O’Brien drew the wrath of ultra-fastidious viewers when he smugly, but incorrectly, claimed that the triple point of water is 0 degrees Celsius. Said viewers instantly took to their keyboards to alert the elves that the triple point of water is actually 0.01. For us scientists, who work with numbers so tiny that they could fill up a room with zeroes, this was a BIG DEAL. For Dara, and the rest of mankind, probably not so much. Justice was served rather belatedly in the next series, when Dara got his two points for that false statement deducted.

THE EARTH HAS MORE THAN ONE MOON. In Series A, Alan Davies got the buzzer for answering the question “How many moons does the earth

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CC (THE CLONED CAT) STANDS FOR COPY CAT.

have?” with “One”. I was instantly unconvinced that we had a second moon which scientists had known about since as early as 1994, but for some curious reason, were keeping secret from the rest of the public. As it turns out, Cruithne is not our second moon, because it doesn’t orbit the earth. It orbits the sun. It also wasn’t discovered in 1994, but 1986. Shame on you, elves.

MARSUPIALS AREN’T MAMMALS. I spent the first year of my degree reciting vertebrate taxonomies like a madman, so this one was slightly upsetting. Yet, the transcript of the actual episode (Series C) suggests that it might simply have been a slip of the tongue by Stephen.

Jimmy: I’ll tell you what, though. All the indigenous mammals in Australasia are marsupials.

Stephen: Er... are therefore not mammals.

Jimmy: [stares at Stephen in disbelief] Minds are still thoroughly boggled as to how his tongue could have slipped this badly.

Ah, the joys of the aptonym. Wouldn’t it have made perfect sense for scientists to name the world’s first cloned pet ‘Copy Cat’ (CC, for short)? Well, so everyone from The Guardian to the studious little elves at QI thought, but this commonly known ‘fact’ might actually be a myth. The name of the cat does not appear in the original scientific paper, but there is a citation on the Texas A&M university’s website (where the experiment was conducted) that states that “Carbon Copy” is the cat’s full name. This one’s an oversight not even the savviest of elves could have avoided.

RAINDROPS ARE COMPLETELY SPHERICAL. After this statement was made in Series D, one viewer wrote in to point out that according to a BBC Four documentary, raindrops are ovalshaped and have a flat base. Here, the devil lies in the detail. The elves’ research suggests that raindrops are spherical when they begin to fall and raindrops smaller than 2mm retain this shape. Larger raindrops develop a more oval shape and a flat base due to aerodynamic drag. Sadly, only the first part of this fact came up during the show; again, perhaps another one of Stephen’s gaffes.

The above list is far from exhaustive of course, but there is only so much nitpicking I can do before someone tries to get me sectioned. And while we’re at it, anyone know how to become a professional QI elf?

Eric John

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CLUB MED…BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT - PLASTIC SURGERY

Plastic surgery is frequently carried out for cosmetic reasons rather than lifethreatening conditions and whilst anticipating my week in Plastic Surgery, I wondered whether I might catch a glimpse of a boob job or even a ‘designer vagina’.

SIMULATION IS NOT JUST FOR FIGHTER PILOTS When most people think of simulation, they might think of an expensive pod-like thing, mounted on a few pneumatic rams and filled with computer displays and joysticks - a flight simulator. These are generally used to train pilots to fly an aircraft safely. Modern aircrafts owe a lot to these simulators; pilots are now trained in nearly every adverse event that might occur, including dangerous scenarios that might be difficult to simulate in an actual airplane.

Another use is reconstructing adverse events after they have occurred – many air disasters have been recreated in a simulator and have been fully understood as a result.

Simulation is now used far more widely in training across a range of contexts.

Brain surgeons have moved from using cadavers to practice operations; now they combine MRI scans of their patients with haptic feedback devices, planning and perfecting the procedure before conducting it on a patient.

There are a wide range of simulators buried in the bowels of Nottingham’s engineering department, including

a driving simulator, Europe’s first motorbike simulator and a train simulator. These are used for a wide range of experiments that aim to understand human performance, as well as training people prior to getting on the road (or rail).

Science at large has also begun to reap the benefits of simulation. Perhaps the most pervasive example of this is ‘Complex Systems Modelling’, where a computational model is used to simulate anything from cancer tumours to animal social networks.

‘Agent- based modelling’ has led to advances in topics ranging from psychology and neuroscience to physics and chemistry. As computers get more powerful and our knowledge of the relevant algorithms advances, how humans react to these simulators will allow us to run simulations that could revolutionise science and training. Ultimately, the advances will mean that simulation is recognised as a part of everything we do.

Reuben Kirkham

Alas, whilst I didn’t see any cosmetic surgery, there was the curious case of a testicle that had lost its surrounding skin due to gangrene. It was all shiny, red and weeping like a ripened plum fallen straight from the tree. Surgery involved removing a wafer thin slice of skin from the thigh with a tool that closely resembled a cheese grater.

For this skin graft to attach, the testicle had to be sliced and scratched. And boy, did that testicle bleed. I found it difficult to watch and still can’t imagine how that must have felt for the poor man.

Later on in the week I worked with a hand surgeon who had a reputation of dissecting the students rather than the anatomy. Under an icy stare, I was told to draw out the entire structure of the hand – nerves, muscles, tendons, bones, and blood vessels. Unfortunately, all I could manage were five fingers.

I then met a man who he was desperate for reconstructive surgery after losing part of his nose to skin cancer. Historically, this was done by creating a nose from tissue taken from the arm, the tissue between the two having to be kept linked to maintain the blood supply while the new nose established itself. This required the patient to have their arm in a fixed position in a sling next to their face for many months.

Further operations were then required to fashion this ‘pedicle’ into a nose.

Fortunately, there is now a much better solution – a section of the forehead can be partially removed and twisted round to fashion a new nose. This concluded my week in Plastic Surgery. Join me next issue for my outlook on Obstetrics.

Bethany Moos, Impact Science Columnist JANUARY 2012

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SCIENCE IMPACT SPEAKS TO BRADY HARAN

Image courtesy of Brady Haran During physics classes, Brady Haran used to look up at the periodic table and wonder what the more exotic elements were like. 19 years later this seed grew into what are now Periodic Videos and Sixty Symbols YouTube and Internet sites. These examine the whole Periodic table and the world of Physics, guided by Brady’s innate curiosity. I met Brady to discuss his work.

Brady had always intended to embark on a journalistic career and studied journalism for a year at university.

He was then taken on board by The Adelaide Advertiser. But it was only after moving from Australia to the UK to work for the BBC that Brady was given the opportunity to work with film.

“They quite liked things I was doing and thought I should be making films for TV, so I was sent off to be trained as a video journalist. I always had a bend towards doing science stories.”

His strong passion for science saw him start a side project called ‘Test Tube’ through which he met Professor Martyn Poliakoff. Originally, the idea was to produce a long documentary.

“I was always of the mind that that [the documentary] was not the best way to go. Who would watch a 2-hour long film? So right from the start, I decided to put all my raw footage on

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Youtube.”

with their own ideas.”

Brady began producing short filmlets which focused on how science works through the eyes of the scientists and followed discoveries as they happened.

‘Test tube’ transpired, which also spawned other projects, namely ‘Periodic Videos’ and ‘Sixty Symbols’, all of which have become huge online successes.

Brady’s videos quickly draw views; a video uploaded only an hour before we spoke had already earned nearly a thousand views and a very positive response.

“If you want to deliver online videos, YouTube is the biggest and the best, but the videos are delivered in many different ways. A lot of people who watch the YouTube channel might not know about the actual website and vice versa.”

There is also a direct link from filmmaker to audience that would be missing if the videos were not available on YouTube. “I really like the community on Youtube” Brady commented.“It’s something that starts dialogues and is an active social community which allows for discussion about the ideas in the videos.”

I asked Brady if scientists received the videos well. “Every academic is different, some adopt the idea very readily some are indifferent and then later become very passionate. Most I think are really surprised how much they enjoy it and start to contact me

“A lot say to me that by talking to me for 20 minutes, they are able to talk to more people than they have lectured to in their entire career.”

Not being part of the scientific community has given Brady the freedom to ask questions and shine an enquiring light on to complex topics without fear or preconception. “I’m not awed by titles or publications, I’m on the side of the viewers so I feel free to ask questions, for example if you were interviewing another scientist in their lab and they had a cool piece of kit you wouldn’t ask what it is as you’d already know, but I would be free to.”

What Brady and his project are doing has a far-reaching influence beyond the frivolous; as testament to such, when I watched the videos I wished I had done physics or whatever subject the video was on. “That’s because everything is interesting; you just have to find it.”

James Gurney

FOOD

NEW YEAR, NEW DIET So it’s the new year and the time of festive food has been and gone.

You might breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of escaping the turkey sandwiches or anything else (un) creative that could be done to use up what couldn’t be consumed at Christmas Dinner. Or you may be looking back longingly at that brief moment when good food was aplenty.

One thing that many of us may be thinking is, it’s time to turn a new leaf over with our diet. But in a world where there is a fad diet for every day of the week, is there really any point? We all know it’s going to be an agonising few months of battling between our wants and our self-restraint. Why should you have to pass up dessert for the sake of a new year’s resolution that is most likely to fall flat on its face? Besides you’re only going to have to explain to people “I’m sorry I can’t have that.

I made a new year’s resolution to be more healthy.” in order to receive some seriously doubting looks that simply scream “Well I bet that will only last five minutes!!!”.

Reason Number One: It just isn’t fun stopping yourself from eating the things you like; where is the point in that?! It’s madness. You don’t go shopping for new clothes with a fixed intent on ensuring you leave the shop with only the items of clothing you can’t stand; so why on earth should you leave the dinner table having eaten all the things you’ve spent years telling yourself you can’t stand?

Reason Number Two: Things you don’t like don’t improve your mood.

So why would eating things that you always viewed as rabbit food improve you? OK, so it makes you drop a jean size…maybe. But it’s not all about how you look; it’s also about how you feel and if you’re grouchy 24 hours a day because all you’re eating are carrot sticks and slim shakes then how is a diet possibly helping you!? Truth is, it probably isn’t. It’s most likely changing you into the tired grouch you wish you weren’t.

Reason Number Three: Diets can be far worse for you than sticking to your guns with what you currently eat and doing something like making an effort to walk instead of taking the bus.

Radically changing what you eat can cause your body more stress than a slightly wayward diet. Some diets just don’t allow you to get the things your body needs from food. And if you aren’t getting the nutrition you need then a diet has GOT to be a bad thing!

So who needs new year’s diets?! At the end of the day they’re often just a different way of doing something that could have an equally detrimental effect on your body. Why not just avoid the Bridget-Jones-style embarrassment this new year and shelve your new year’s diet along with all those other bit of pointless brica-brac from Christmas. Don’t give people the opportunity to gloat when you finally give in; just stick to your guns and be happy being you!

Emma Drabble

JANUARY 2012

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FOOD

FUSS FREE FAJITAS After the delicious indulgence of Christmas, it can be nice to lay off the heavier dishes in the New Year and try something lighter but equally tasty.

This quick and simple recipe for fajitas is both healthy and full of flavour, but light enough to give your belly some room to breathe. With fajitas, you can go as spicy or as mild as you like by changing up the spice mixes. Everyone cooks fajitas a little bit differently, so feel free to experiment!

Ingredients (serves 2): 2 chicken breasts 1 onion 1 pepper Sachet of fajita mix (I prefer Old El Paso Original Smoky BBQ) Garlic paste Carton of passata or tomato pasta sauce (Sainsbury’s Tomato and Smoked Bacon works especially well!)

Wraps Salad/sour cream etc for finishing touches.

Preparation time: 5mins Cooking time: 15-20mins First, slice your chicken breasts into long, thin strips, and then add them to a large, oiled frying pan on a medium heat. While the meat is cooking,

chop up your onion and pepper, and add them to the pan. Always add the vegetables second, so that they retain a crunch and freshness, rather than getting over-cooked.

Next, sprinkle about a quarter to a half of the packet of fajita mix onto the pan’s contents, depending on the level of flavour you’re after; remember, you can always add more later. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can have a go at making your own seasoning by mixing different amounts of spices together. The commonly combined ones are chilli powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and cumin. Whatever combination you choose to use, always add a pinch of salt to the mix as this will help to bring

all the flavours together. Remember to be creative!

Stir the pan to make sure everything gets coated by the mix. It will combine with the oil in the pan and the juices to form a sort of paste. Add a small amount of garlic paste, and stir that in as well. Finally, add some of the passata or tomato sauce – just enough that it coats everything, not enough for it to be swimming in tomato. This adds a lovely sweetness and extra layer of flavour to the dish; stir it all in and leave it simmering while you prepare your wraps.

Place two or three wraps per person on a plate in the microwave, and heat for about 40 seconds, until warm and pliable. If you’re a fan of sour cream and salad, spread them evenly over the wrap, not too close to the edges though. Finally, add the chicken mix.

The best way to wrap and avoid spillages? Place a spoonful of the filling on the right hand side of the wrap, about half an inch from the edge. Fold up the bottom, wrap tightly from right to left, and hey presto!

Tasty, healthy fajitas to enjoy.

Deborah Murtha

A QUICK BITE This month we go to the student’s staple, a take away, and the big problem when you are ordering food with your housemates - how to split the bill!

However, this is no longer a problem when ordering you food online as hungryhouse.co.uk has come up with an ingenious little feature, which works out how much every person owes towards the cost of a meal. This is great, as it means no more quarrelling over who owes what or silently seething because your friend’s korma has come out of your bank balance.

To avoid getting the calculator out after a meal just order from Hungry House; although it is not as established as some other larger takeaway websites it does have some top features and is worth checking out.

For some of our take away reviews go to www.impactnottingham.com/section/food.

Miles Harrison

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FASHIONABLE FOOD Food isn’t the first thing that you would think of when it comes to fads and trends. In fact, the two are very often seen as mutually exclusive. Despite this unlikely coupling, the relationship is most definitely alive and well, and we are all victims of it. Have you in the past year, for example, bought an atrociously priced cupcake? The answer to that is quite likely a yes, as over the past ten years sales of the American export have dramatically risen and seen a stratospheric rise to the upper echelons of stylish fodder. In 2008, cupcakes made the number one spot for ‘fastest rising recipe searches in the UK’ according to Google’s annual zeitgeist list, featured alongside other winners such as Sarah Palin and Gordon Brown. And it’s not just frequenters of faux-twee Chelsea bakeries, which have felt the cupcakeeffect; the retro cake-bake is now an omnipresent and inescapable feature of the Portland Building. Finally, and most bizarrely, is the enthusiasm for posting the photographic results of baking efforts on social networking websites.

It is not only the cupcake, which has been seemingly plucked from obscurity to reign supreme in the hierarchy of

foods. Pork belly is now a menu staple of British gastro pubs and restaurants.

Just a few decades ago, however, this fatty cut of pork was seen as a cheap, poor-man’s substitute for now less popular cuts such as the loin. This rapid image transformation may be partly attributed to the adoption of the belly cut by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver.

Waitrose, for example, reported a 25% increase in the sales of pork belly following Oliver’s Buy British campaign, in addition to the ever rising sales of his cookery books which contain a plethora of pork belly recipes.

Ah, Waitrose. It isn’t too long in any food discussion before the small matter of where you buy your food pops up. You may think you have got your food-fashions sorted, publicly eating edamame beans for a snack with as much relish as a Twix, but if you’re caught out in Iceland then all that hard work pretending to like sushi goes to waste. You could even go one step trendier and claim to buy all your food from an inner city deli posing as a local farm shop and pay £5 for an organic avocado.

But it is not only what we eat which

reflects the desired projection of our selves, but also what we don’t eat. Diets are now based upon vast and lucrative businesses and the diet that you follow can say a lot about your fashion knowledge. The Atkins diet, for example, is now relatively obsolete. Since Atkins’ untimely death after a life of following his own eating plan, the equally absurd Dukan diet formulated by the French ‘dietician’ Pierre Dukan, has taken over as the diet du jour. The diets of mega stars are, meanwhile, plastered all over the pages of gossip magazines from Beyonce’s supposed cayenne pepper and lemon juice ‘Master-Cleanse’, to Madonna’s un-appetizing Macrobiotic diet.

We can see, therefore, that from what we eat, to what we don’t eat, to where we buy it from is largely a matter of what society and celebrities dictates. Perhaps, there is also more than a hint of class snobbery in our foodie fashions and the way that we view others’ culinary choices. We would all do well, therefore, to stop and think the next time we snigger at those Iceland adverts.

Imogen Storrs

Tom Gamon

JANUARY 2012

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GRATIS

OVERHEARD IN HALLWARD If it wasn’t for uni, I’d have my own house by now. And a Ferrari. I’m going to flora my bap now. Do you need the Heineken manoeuvre? DH Lawrence was a massive hipster. I’m playing scrabble with a stranger and I just made the word ‘porn’. Would you rather look really bad or smell really bad? Have you shaved your other areas? It’s fine; he’ll be sorry when I write my memoirs. I like giving blood. It makes me feel like I have a purpose. I got so annoyed with his essay extension that I froze his cod liver oil tablets. I really think I might have MRSA. I just can’t get it up. Pringles before 10 is FILTHY! Where have you been?

You smell like petrol and despair. I’ve been loitering around Hallward trying to hear funny things that I can send to Impact… I want to die. Got a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer in my stocking this year… cheers mum. Cystitis is my punishment.

If you’ve overheard something funny on campus and would like to get it featured, don’t hesitate to email editor@impactnottingham.com or to post it on the ‘Heard in Hallward’ Facebook group.

ARE YOU SUR-REAL?!

BA in Pretentious Studies (Hons.) shorts before? If so, did you use that old Do you ever find yourself thinking, “There’s just not enough soy-sauce on my sashimi”? How about, “This painting really exudes a sense of melancholy in its mere existence”? Have you ever turned around and said to your best friend, “I love that album, but it just sounds so much better in vinyl…you can just hear all the little imperfections, you know”?

How about, “Oh it’s alright, I like going to the theatre on my own; gives me time to think”?

Do you own a SEGA Megadrive? Perhaps an N64? “Classic Sonic and Mario; the levels are so much better.” Do you partake in a kooky, outdated hobby? Perhaps knitting/spinning yarn or print-room photography? “You just don’t get this kind of detail with a digital.” Speaking of which…do you own a Nikon SLR circa 1959? Or perhaps an automatic exposure Polaroid circa 1961? Or an old-fashioned Singer brass sewing machine?

Are your floral dresses made out of your grandmother’s old dinner napkins?

What about your dinner napkins…are they made from your grandmother’s old floral dresses? Have you cut up a pair of jeans into a makeshift pair of denim

fashioned sewing machine I mentioned to hem the edges? Once you were done, did you use the leftover material to cover a scrapbook, into which you could gaffertape sepia-toned photographs that you took with your Nikon SLR? Does this include at least one long-shot photograph of your back as you walk absent-mindedly through a lavender field, strumming a ukulele? Did you ride to said field on a bike with one gear and a wicker basket?

Did said wicker basket contain a Nikon SLR and a uku…oh wait, I’m stuck on a loop, really must get that record player fixed at some point.

Are you in an ambient-indie meets funkyhouse-jazz-electro band?

Do you dabble with the synthesiser or the glockenspiel? Are you likely to be found ‘raving’ at a warehouse rave? What about ‘partying’ at an underground party? Do you believe that Morrissey is the king of liberation, and that all vegetarian, animalloving, musical artists who followed after him are mere carbon copies of his freespirited form? “It’s just all so clichéd now.”

If you answered yes to all of these things, then I’m delighted to tell you my sashimiloving, vintage-brandishing, sepia-toned friend that you’ve successfully fulfilled

all of the marking criteria and have graduated from The School of Pretentious Studies with a First. Furthermore, your dissertation on ‘The Art of Making Redundant Items Socially Relevant Again’ is of a publishable standard.

Congratulations!

If you can think of any more suitably hard-hitting journalistic topics you’d like me to cover (bearing in mind I’ve already done iPhone applications, food envy, and have now made up my own degree, so your choices are somewhat limited), please feel free to email me at editor@ impactnottingham.com

Sarah Dawood

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IMPACTNOTTINGHAM.COM

EDITORIAL TEAM EDITORIAL

SECTIONS

Editor-in-chief Eric John Editor Sarah Dawood Associate Editor Victoria Urquhart

News Editors Fiona Crosby Daniel Fine Helen Trimm Sports Editors Jake Batty Matt Williams Features Editors Settit Beyene Samantha Owen Oscar Williams Film&TV Editors Tom Grater James McAndrew Style Editors Hannah Donald Emma-Jane Steele

MANAGEMENT Managing Editor Daniel Gadher PR, Distribution & Social Secretaries Deborah Murtha Nicola Murray Advertising Manager Oliver Elia

DESIGN & IMAGES Design Editors Elise Silsby Luke Taylor Associate Design Editors Alix Blankson Sophia Hall Image Editors Emma Charalambous Troy Edige Helen Miller

WEBSITE Web Editor Ben McCabe Associate Web Editor Divya Bhatia

COVER IMAGE Photography: Helen Miller

THANKS Art Editors Rosie English Melanie Solomon Travel Editors Claudia Baxter Ellis Schindler Music Editors Jack Gilbert Rebecca Hutter Science Editors Daniel Anderson Bonnie Brown Food Editors Miles Harrison William Robertson

CONTRIBUTORS Peter Klein, Tomas MacBride, Jamie Lloyd, Michael Timbs, Dammy Ikeola, Daniel Kennedy, Suzi Collins, Helena Murphy, Sedef Akademir, Ben James, Elizabeth Almas, Emily Tripp, Nadia Alexandrou, Tom Clements, Rose Bewick, Izzy Scrimshire, Alex Mawby, Rosie Feenstra, Jessica Newsome, Lauren Sanders, Hannah Wilkinson, Lucy Bramley, Hannah Bright, Tuhin Choudry, Harriet Lennard, Charlotte Hoare, Malcolm Remedios, Chelsea Wright, Sarah Hughes, Charlotte Neales, Charlotte Brabbin, Joseph Gallagher, William Gulseven, Josh Levy, Riana Sadrudin, Liam Coleman, Emily Shackelton, Karrish Devan, Aaron Chan, Elexa Rose, Scholastica Akech, Lisa Neiss, Emma Drabble, Imogen Storrs, Reuben Kirkham, Bethany Moos, James Gurney

To the designers for working so hard over the holiday/exam period To everyone who contributed to our feature on refugee students

APOLOGIES To Arnd Korn, for removing his article at the eleventh hour.

CONTACT Please contact us via email, at magazine@impactnottingham.com.

Impact Magazine Portland Building University Park University of Nottingham Nottingham, NG7 2RD Tel: 0115 8468716 Email:

chief@impactnottingham.com editor@impactnottingham.com managingeditor@impactnottingham.com website@impactnottingham.com features@impactnottingham.com images@impactnottingham.com design@impactnottingham.com news@impactnottingham.com sports@impactnottingham.com style@impactnottingham.com arts@impactnottingham.com travel@impactnottingham.com food@impactnottingham.com music@impactnottingham.com science@impactnottingham.com film@impactnottingham.com prdistribution@impactnottingham.com

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