NEWS STUDENTS RESPOND TO MAGHRIBI’S ‘MACHO’ UNION
B RU N E L U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R
GREEN WEEK GOES POP 11
FEATURES DIVE EXIT: MAKING A MUSIC VIDEO
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CULTURE
THE NETFLIX BOOM
UNION-ORGANISED ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS WEEK MARRED BY PROTESTS AND ALLEGATIONS OF ‘MALE-DOMINATED’ ATMOSPHERE 32
Danny Judge Chants of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Water not slaughter’ erupted from Brunel University London’s campus, as students protested against CocaCola’s involvement in Green Week on Monday 9th February. Students from the Friends of Palestine Society and Brunel Green Society took to the grounds of Brunel University London to protest against the Union of Brunel Students’ (UBS) decision to invite Coca-Cola onto the campus to run an awareness campaign about recycling for Green Week. Ali Milani, 21, Societies Guild Student
Chair and International Politics student at Brunel, was leading the campaign.
Ryan Giltinane explains his ‘pro-coke’ views on Page 17 of Le Nurb.
He said: “Coca-Cola is complicit in holding the West Bank (of Palestine) captive. It is our duty to keep our campus free from despicable corporations.”
Coca-Cola has faced many accusations since the 1960s over its support for Israel, leading to many accusing the company of being ‘complicit’ in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
As the anti-coke protestors stood with their “Unthinkable Undrinkable” banner, a group of students gathered on the concourse to represent a ‘procoke’ stance and disagreed with the protest.
Coca-Cola’s environmental track record has also been called into doubt in recent years after claims that the company has ruined water tables, flow, and quality in countries such as India and Mexico.
Members of Brunel Conservatives bought coke cans and handed out over 200 of them to students passing on the course.
Brunel Politics and History student Ezra Walker, 18, said: “I can’t believe that the student union has allowed
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a company with such a poor environmental track record, and who are complicit in Israel’s terrorism in Palestine, to be on our campus.”
SPORT HIDDEN GEMS: BRUNEL RACING
When questioned about the protests against guests invited to campus by the Union, the UBS Chief Executive, Craig Lithgow said: “We’re always happy to support our students. They wanted to protest, so we helped them to do it peacefully” The representatives from Coca-Cola refused to comment and directed us to their environmental initiatives on www.coca-cola.co.uk/environment
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WELCOME TO ISSUE 5: FEBRUARY 2015
This Month... 04
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YOUR NEWS BRUNEL ‘HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT’ FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH
UNION NEWS STUDENTS RESPOND TO MEHVISH MAGHRIBI
FEATURES DIVE EXIT: MAKING A MUSIC VIDEO
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IN DEPTH HUMANS OF BRUNEL
The Team
Simply put, if you’re a current Brunel student, you can write for Le Nurb. There are a few things to bear in mind:
EDITORIAL
YOUR ARTICLE - Your article should be saved as a Word document (.doc or .docx). - Its filename should contain your name, student number, and a suggested headline. - We don’t accept PDF, Works (.wps), OpenOffice (.odt), Pages (.pages) or other formats. - Publisher files (.pub) are particularly horrific, beastly things. Please don’t send any, ever. - It may sound obvious, but please run a spellcheck before you submit your article!
YOUR IMAGES
CULTURE THE KINGSMAN FILM REVIEW
SPORT WHY ARE THERE SO FEW BLACK FOOTBALL MANAGERS?
Contributors Le Nurb would like to thank the following people for contributing an article to this month’s issue.
News
Culture
Oliver Ronaldson Kat Clementine Martin Zaranyika Kirsty Capes Danny Judge Alasdair Lane Mehdi Punjwani James Schubert Marcus Stein Molly Lempriere Ellis Davies Joshua Connolly Luke Vogel Martin Zaranyika Sana Sarwar Shakoofeh Shah Arthe Kandeepan Sonia Banghu Ellie Woolcott Elisabeth Mahase
Cayle Hotene David Bennett Filippo Cartoni Jasmin Nahar Ellie Wiltshire Kirstie Woolhouse Daniel McLoughlin Molly Lempriere Sophie Bredbere Victoria Sanusi Martha Salhotra Parveen Bhambra Emma Challis Jasmine Brathwaite Suzanne Bavington-Drew Hon Jiun Wong Eddie Leggett Jade Pepper Kate Taylor
Features
Sport
David Bennett Elise Hounslow Joshua Connolly Panny Antoniou Stefan Knap Teresa Francis Ryan Giltinane Chris Rathore Elisabeth Mahase
Submissions
Cameron Gaffney Chris Brown Jonny Girling KC Swain Mehdi Punjwani Ryan Giltinane Ryan O’Donovan Shelley Spooner
Editor
Kirsty Capes
Deputy Editors
Ryan O’Donovan and Kat Clementine
Chief Designer
Jo Emma Gregory-Brough
Online Editor Eddie Leggatt
Deputy Online Editor Oliver Ronaldson
NEWS
Section Editor Shakoofeh Shah
- If you like, you can suggest specific images for your article, or take your own photograph and include it with your submission. They’ll need to be separate .jpg or .png files. - Don’t embed your images into the article document - this compresses them too much for use on the page. - Any image filenames and image credits (who the photographer is) should be listed at the end of your article. - Images you submit must not be copyrighted by another individual or organisation. - Please don’t just nick pictures off Google Image Search (we can’t use them 99% of the time!) please use Flickr Creative Commons instead.
Chief Sub-Editor
YOUR CONTACTS
Online Editor
Enquiries, advertising & complaints: Kirsty - media.chair@brunel.ac.uk Design queries and feedback: Jo - dt11jeg@my.brunel.ac.uk News articles: Shakoofeh - en12sss@my.brunel.ac.uk In-depth articles on a given topic: Emma - en11ejj@my.brunel.ac.uk Reviews and culture articles: Victoria - victoriasanusi@ymail.com Everything sport-related Panny - 1204476@my,brunel.ac.uk
Arthe Kandeepan
Sub-Editor
Elisabeth Mahase
Online Editor Molly Lempriere
FEATURES
Section Editor Aidan Milan
Chief Sub-Editor Emma Jeremy
Sub Editor Erica Wilson
Teresa Francis
CULTURE
Section Editor Victoria Sanusi
Chief Sub-Editor Hon Jiun Wong
Sub-Editor
Jasmine Brathwaite
Deadlines
Online Editor
The deadline for the January ssue is
Section Editor
Friday 20th March 2015
please email submissions to lenurb.brunel@gmail.com
Advertising Le Nurb is distributed eight times a year, across campus, to a network of 15,000 students. We offer great rates to advertisers, plus discounts for on-campus clubs, societies and organisations. Find out more at bru-media.co.uk/ lenurb To book an advertising slot for March, call Bonnie Crate on 01895 267215.
Jasmin Nahar
SPORT
Panny Antoniou
Chief Sub-Editor Ellie Woolcott
Online Editor Mehdi Punjwani
DESIGNERS Oliver Ronaldson Kirsty Capes
PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Rathore Ben Lunato-Doyen
ILLUSTRATION Rowan Frewin
ONLINE
Stefan Knap Ellis Davies Sophie Bredbere
All articles and pictures © their respective authors unless otherwise indicated. Views expressed are those of the writers and do not reflect the official position of UBS or Brunel University. All comments and complaints about content in Le Nurb should be addressed to the Editor in the first instance: media.chair@brunel.ac.uk. Complaints will only be entertained where it can be proven that an article or graphic is: factually inaccurate; breaches the Press Complaints Commission’s Editors’ Code of Practice; breaches the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Conduct; breaks the law; or encourages readers to break the law. No complaint that fails to satisfy at least one of these criteria will be upheld. Published by: Union of Brunel Students, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH. Printed by: Harmsworth Printing Derby, Northcliffe House, Meadow Road, Derby, DE1 2BH.
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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Editor’s Letter Kirsty Capes
Dear reader, As I write this letter in my screenwriting lecture on a sunny Wednesday afternoon I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff student media will be involved in this term. The two big things for us are Varsity and Union Elections. Varsity, which takes place on 18 March on Brunel campus, is the annual sports day where Brunel sportspeople go against St Mary’s in a number of sports. This is the seventh year of the event, and last year St Mary’s won the trophy for the first time. It’s hugely important that Brunel wins the trophy back - especially as we are hosting the event at home this year. Support from students will be vital to help our sports teams perform their, best so I hope you can all make it on the day in your blue and yellow. We are also looking for volunteers to help with our coverage of the event, from match reports, photographers, editors and camera operators. If you
think you can help please do email me at media.chair@brunel.ac.uk or search “Bru-Media does Varsity” on Facebook to find the group. This month nominations are open for the Union Elections. With the new governance structure being implemented next year and our UBS elections running alongside the general and parliamentary elections nationally, we can certainly say that it is a SPICY time to be interested in politics at Brunel. We are hoping to welcome parliamentary candidates for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency (Brunel’s constituency) to a parliamentary hustings on 19 March, and there will also be a number of question time events and coverage for the UBS elections running alongside this. If you’re interested in running for a position, the nominations are still open. Having been through the process myself I can recommend it to anyone who has seen something within the Union that they think can be done better. It’s no use whining about how things aren’t being done
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properly if you’re not prepared to make a change yourself and get involved and engaged! If Union politics isn’t for you, the least you can do is get out there and vote - both at Brunel and in the local and general elections. We are slowly seeing a shift in voting habits across the country as young people are becoming more engaged in politics and as a result parties are catering their policies far more towards the younger generation. DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE and make sure you turn out the the polls when it counts. It’s definitely an exciting time to be a student at Le Nurb, and as always we want to hear from students about what you make of it all. Submissions on any topic are always welcome and if ou don’t get published in the print edition we will publish your work online. Get involved with Le Nurb by searching “Le Nurb ontributors” on Facebook or drop an email to the editorial team at lenurb.brunel@gmail. com. See you next month! xxx
PHOTO CREDIT: ALASDAIR LANE
MAN DIES ON VINE LANE IN ‘TARGETED’ GUN ATTACK Alasdair Lane A murder investigation is under-way after a man was shot dead outside an Uxbridge home on Tuesday 3rd February. Police were called to an address on Vine Lane at 18:59 by paramedics battling to resuscitate a 38-yearold multiple gunshot victim. The Father-of-three, Redwan El-Ghaidouni, 38, was pronounced dead at the scene approximately an hour later. The suspect - a lone male - is still at large having fled the area on foot towards nearby Saunders Road. Paramedics fought for almost
an hour to save the victim’s life. Neighbours in, what is usually a peaceful London suburb, have expressed their shock at the incident. One witness, a Saunders Road resident, described hearing “five or six gunshots”. “At first I thought they were fireworks. When I heard it the Paris shootings were literally the first thing I thought of that’s what it sounded like. “My uncle and boyfriend both went to see what happened. They saw a guy being resuscitated on the floor of the driveway outside the house. “My mum always sees loads of different people coming out of
that house. I think there are kids that live there too,” she added. Another local witness, who asked to remain anonymous, described hearing a “succession of a few loud bangs followed by little ones.” “When my husband went to see what happened, armed police stopped him. They were there in minutes.” Police cornered off large portions of the area around the crime scene. In a statement, The Metropolitan Police said: “At this early stage it is believed the victim was inside his parked car on the driveway when he was approached by a lone male suspect.
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“It is believed this was a targeted attack, rather than a random, attack. However, detectives retain an open mind about the motive.” Next-of-kin were informed and formal identification took place following a postmortem examination, which was held at Fulham mortuary. No arrests have been made. The Vine Lane area is an affluent suburb with house prices topping a million pounds. The £22,000-a-year ACS Hillingdon International School - which remained closed on the day - is situated just metres from the crime scene. It is believed the suspect fled
down a private alleyway backing onto residential gardens. Local road closures were in place as forensic officers conducted their investigation and detectives carried out door-to-door enquiries. Mother-of-two, Emily Munemo, was recently stabbed to death less than two miles from the Vine Lane shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 0208358-0300 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
04 NEWS
CREATIVE WRITING DEPARTMENT TO ‘HOSTILE RELEASE SECOND SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY BRUNEL ENVIRONMENT FOR FREE Mehdi Punjwani £5, but there are only a limited found at ‘www.brunelwriter.com’, for number available so get yours quickly! more detailed information on the SPEECH’, SAYS SPIKED James Schubert For more updates follow the anthology. On the 11th of March 2015 a team of creative writing students, led by Dr. Bernadine Evaristo, will be launching Brunel’s second anthology of student-written short stories titled ‘The Psyche Supermarket’.
anthologies official twitter account @ CWBrunel and the Brunel Writer blog,
PHOTO CREDIT: KIRSTY CAPES
Following the success of last year’s ‘The Voices Inside Our Heads’, the second incarnation of the anthology will offer up writing from a new range of young and imaginative writers from varied backgrounds. There’s no limit on genre, style or form so you can expect a colourful array of stories exploring all sorts of themes and topics written by the next generation of daring writers. The anthology will also feature a team of student editors comprised of BA students Marie-Teresa Hanna, Kate McKim, Kelly Pells, Chris Winn and MA students Emma Jeremy and Romany Stott who were also editors for ‘The Voices Inside Our Heads’. The launch of the anthology will take place in the Antonin Artaud building, on the 11th of March at 7pm. It will be part of the monthly Arts @ Artaud event, alongside a selection of other performances, and as such the turnout is expected to be close to a hundred.
Elisabeth Mahase Brunel University and UBS ‘collectively create a hostile environment for free speech and expression’ according to online magazine Spiked, as part of their free speech university rankings.
The event will see a selection of readings from the writers who contributed their short stories to the anthology and Bernadine herself also dropped a hint about the possibility of complimentary wine.
‘Banned and actively censored ideas on campus.’ A red ranking, received by Brunel, is for universities which have ‘banned and actively censored ideas on campus.’
After the readings, copies of the anthology will go on sale for around
EX-BRUNEL STUDENT SCAMS £113K TO COVER GAMBLING DEBTS Joshua Connolly A former Law student at Brunel University has been implicated in a scheme to scam migrants looking for legal advice to the tune of £113,000, Croydon Crown Court heard in January. Abdul Farooq, 28, provided this advice under the pretense of being a fully qualified lawyer, charging up to £13,000 per client facing deportation. His girlfriend, 31 year old Angali Patel, worked as an executive officer for the UK Border Agency (UKBA), giving her access to client’s personal information within the UKBA systems. She then used her position to advise Farooq. The prosecuter, Karen Robertson said that ‘‘The information she provided enabled Farooq to tailor advice to applicants and she gave advice to Farooq on how to subvert the application process.’ Both parties had acquired significant gambling debts, resulting in the use of pay-day loans. Mr Farooq was said to have had gambling losses of £12,000.
Many of his clients were immigrants from Bangladesh, Columbia and Pakistan. One of them, Maria GarciaZuniga, a cleaner who had been working in Britain illegally for over a decade, parted with £2,000 to remain here after being told that Mr. Farooq was ‘her solicitor and she did not need anyone else to help’. Her frustration with the lack of help she received led to her filing a report with the police, resulting in the pair being arrested. Both have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, as the charge against Ms. Patel of laundering £73,000 in criminal property was dropped earlier due to an aborted trial.
PHOTO CREDIT: THE GUARDIAN
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The university was noted for restricting ‘offensive’ speech and printed materials through its dignity, leafleting and social-media policies. Within the Dignity at Study Policy, references to bullying and harassment include restrictions on ‘displaying or distributing offensive posters, photos, jokes or e-mails.’ The magazine also refers to the university’s social media guidance which states ‘entitlement of freedom of speech within the law’ but then goes on to recommend that student’s avoid ‘communications that would defame the university’ or ‘damage the reputation.’ The overall inclination of the university is to avoid negative representation and limit harassment; resulting in their amber grade, ‘chilled free speech through intervention.’ Comparatively, UBS scored red through its zero tolerance policy and stance on Social Events, Initiations and Alcohol. The zero tolerance policy outlines antisocial behaviour as: a person’s words or actions that ‘cause alarm, harassment or distress’ and threatens to bring serious consequences: ‘details will be passed to the police... enforce a follow up visit and may issue a fixed penalty fine’ which would remain on the police database. Such behaviour would also result in a ban from UBS venues.
But who makes that judgement? In light of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the paper’s martyr ‘the right to blaspheme’ it is clear that expression is subjective to the receiver and therefore so is the appropriate response. This raises the question: who makes that judgement? The union also holds a no platform policy, which means they must approve any invited speaker. This was seen in action in 2012 when Abu Usamah Adh Dhahabi was invited to speak at Legend’s week by the Islamic Society. Abu Usamah had previously been stopped from speaking at UCL on two occasions and had appeared on Channel 4 dispatches where he was seen making hateful comments towards women and homosexuals. However, there was controversy over the editing process of the programme. At the time the university had this to say, “The talk is going ahead as we have a legal duty to protect freedom of speech and we have asked for assurances from the Union of Brunel Students that this person will not breach the policies of the university, such as those on equality and diversity.” One of the most notable actions by UBS highlighted in the ranking was the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ‘against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights’ (BDS). Last term this motion was passed during student assembly, with UBS mandating public support for BDS. This was a controversial move that has since been paused by the union while it is reviewed with the university. The article finishes by stating that the overall ranking of Brunel’s free speech was marked red due to ‘the students’ union’s policies and actions.’ Other universities such as UCL and Warwick also received similar feedback, with the student unions labelled more restrictive than their universities.
NEWS
Av
! y a d o t Reception s n o i r n U ’ u s nt o y t he S tude t e m o g r f nline or aliable o
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06 NEWS
MAYOR’S STUDENT COMPETITION TO MAKE LONDON GREENER Kat Clementine
Brunel students are being encouraged to take part in this year’s Mayor of London Low Carbon Entrepreneur Awards 2015. The competition is open to London students and recent graduates with an idea to reduce London’s energy use and carbon emissions. Last year’s top categories from Brunel were transport in the city and energy efficiency. Katherine Eames, Senior Project Officer at City Hall was pleased to see the rise in entries from Brunel and ‘hopes it continues.’ She said: “There was a massive jump in applications last year which was really nice to see. Enterprise is obviously taking off at Brunel!” Ms Eames had tips for any students hoping to win this year:
“The best ideas that come in are when work that’s gone into it from City students have spotted something in Hall as well being involved in the own their own lives, whether that be consultation phases. From my where they live or their hobbies, and personal experiences student houses come up with an idea of how it can be are always so cold! I’ve never lived in done better. Those are the ones that a warm one!” really work because the solutions have been designed MBA General by someone Management who came across “The competition is open to student Rajan that problem Dua received a London students and recent certificate from themselves.” graduates with an idea to Boris Johnson Paul Ouro, an in recognition MBA student, reduce London’s energy use for his work as is entering his Low Carbon and carbon emissions.” housing website Entrepreneur ‘Stars Key and Ambassador Hutch’ into the competition. 2014. He said: “We’d like to promote the good, energy efficient landlords who adhere to the legislations and consider these energy constraints when they let their houses and advertise their houses.” With new laws soon to be introduced on energy efficient housing, Ms Eames though it would be a positive if Brunel could contribute in any way. She said: “There’s been a lot of
He added: “The journey in itself is very rewarding and you get to learn a lot as a participant. So there is nothing to lose! It just takes an initiative and bright idea to change lives of individuals and society as a whole so I would definitely encourage all to participate.” Winners receive a £20K seed fund for their idea and help and advice from City Hall to set up their business.
He said: “I felt happy, excited and proud as we had second highest number of participants from Brunel last year”
The eight entry categories are: Product design Transport In the city Materials/reuse and recycling/circular economies Behaviour change/networking Energy efficiency/capture/generation Food/food waste Water management Other – any other idea to help create a sustainable future for London!
Brunel’s participation in the competition rocketed from just one entry in 2013 to 19 in 2014.
The final deadline for submissions is the 19th February, then entries are judged before a panel of 10 judges.
Mr Dua thinks it’s a great opportunity for students and will enter again this year.
PHOTO CREDIT: ANNIE MOLE
SUBTV BLUNDER TURNS LOCOS INTO ‘BAR CALLED HYPOCRISY’ Ellis Davies
convicted peadophile, interacting closely with children as part of his role.
On the night of Superbowl XLIX, Sunday 1 February, one of Locos’ busiest nights of the year, Sub TV was seen to broadcast a Lostprophets video onto the small screens in the Union bar.
Sub TV’s Head of Broadcast Simon Marriot told Le Nurb that the broadcast was of “great concern to us here at Sub TV as we had taken all steps we could to make sure all Lostprophets videos had been removed from ALL our systems. This step was taken as soon as the allegations arose.”
The music video in question was A Town Called Hypocrisy by Lostprophets, a well known rock band who recently disbanded.
He further e l a b o r ated “The video depicts Watkins, that the video now a convicted paedophile, “wouldn’t have as a children’s TV presenter.” been broadcast nationally as these tracks have been removed from all our scheduling systems.” Ex Lostprophets front man Ian Watkins was sentenced to 29 years Following an investigation, Sub for a string of child sex offences on TV gave update on the situation. 18 Dec 2013. Following a very public Responsibility for this investigation trial process, Watkins pleaded guilty was given to the “technical to 13 individual sex offences, and department who have indicated that was labeled as a ‘corrupting influence’ the video in question was selected by Mr Justice Royce, elaborating that via the touchscreen located in your Watkins showed a ‘complete lack of Union bar.” remorse’ for his actions. The final conclusion arrived at The video that was played on the by Sub TV was that ‘someone evening of the Superbowl at Locos manually selected the video via your depicts Watkins as a children’s TV touchscreen on-site.’ Therefore the presenter. Scenes from A Town Called video in question was chosen by a Hypocrisy show Watkins, a now patron of Locos on Sunday 1 February,
and was consequently shown on all the smaller screens positioned around the bar. Sub TV reiterated that “all videos from the band were taken off the schedule, and mobile app as soon as the allegations came to light. At no point did Sub TV schedule any of the Lostprophets videos for broadcast.” Sub TV “have now removed the videos manually from your Union system”. Locos management is yet to comment on the matter, and it is not known whether Sub TV have had any contact with management over this issue. Sub TV were efficient and quick to act on the matter once the incident was brought to their attention, conducting a swift and thorough investigation into the broadcast. No Lostprophets music videos are now available to be played through Sub TV at Locos. Le Nurb has contacted UBS Nightlife for comment but recieved no response.
PHOTO CREDIT: ELLIS DAVIES
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ONE WORLD WEEK SPECIAL
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ONE WORLD WEEK 2015
D WEEK L R O W ONE
Proudly Sponsored by
ONE WORLD WEEK: COME AND TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD AT BRUNEL UNIVERSITY! Annalisa Galeone One World Week is a weeklong event to celebrate Brunel University’s multicultural community of staff and students from over 110 countries worldwide. The aim is to create an engaging environment to promote integration and help to educate others to cultures, traditions and values different to their own. One World Week will take place from the 23rd till the 27th of March on campus. Brunel students, staff and local community will be involved in more than 100 events over a
five day period. Each day will be dedicated to one continent: Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Middle East, Australasia. Do you want to try Italian or Vietnamese treats? Or have you ever tried a Kangaroo burger? Then you should join the World Food Fayre happening on Thursday 26th March, where you can taste delights from all over the world. Would you like to have a go at African Drumming, attend a Belly Dance show, or dance like a Bollywood star? Then look at the rest of the week events, as there is sure to be something for everyone, from fashion, music and dance from around the world.
events were Wheelchair Basketball, African Drumming and Brunel’s Got Talent. Furthermore, the community was involved through the Be Brunel project which invited Year 5 students from Whitehall Primary School onto Brunel campus to provide fun, and create lessons and workshops in various sporting and creative activities. Have a great idea for One World Week? Then find out how you can get involved by emailing Emily. timmins@brunel.ac.uk for more information. Come to One World Week and you will not need to buy a ticket to have a trip around the World, but instead let Brunel bring the world to you!
Last year some of the most popular
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ONE WORLD WEEK SPECIAL
ONE WORLD WEEK AMBASSADORS
Shrai Jamwal, Artistic and Visual Ambassador Games Design and Creative Writing BSc ‘My name is Shrai Jamwal and I am an Undergraduate student in Games Design and Creative Writing. I enjoy travelling, fencing, drawing and the creative arts in general. I am excited to take on ‘I would like to celebrate the cultural, the role of Artistic religious and international diversity at and Visual Ambassador in order to Brunel be a creative voice and be part of the through a vibrant visual atmosphere on active Brunel campus.’ community. I would like to celebrate the cultural, religious and international diversity at Brunel through a vibrant visual atmosphere on campus. People can learn new things about different cultures, get involved in fun activities and celebrate the rich diversity. Moreover, the food from around the world served for just £1 a plate at the Food Fayre!’
One World Week is an event for students and it is organised by students: 5 Ambassadors were selected to represent the Brunel community and help in the organisation of the event. Let’s introduce them:
Aaron Lowman, Sports Ambassador Sport, Health and Exercise Science Msc
‘I will try to gather as many Uxbridge residents as I can to the university as this is also a good chance for college students to have a visit here.’
‘Hi, I’m Aaron Lowman, a fourth year student studying a masters in Sport, Health and Exercise Science, and I’m the OWW Sports Ambassador. I’m part of the B r u n e l athletics club ‘My role is to provide a whole host of and a keen middle diverse sporting opportunities ranging d i s t a n c e runner. My role is to from wheelchair basketball, provide a whole host of diverse Netball’s ‘dribble up killi’ event, to table s p o r t i n g football tournaments.’ opportunities ranging from wheelchair basketball, Netball’s dribble up killi event, to table football tournaments. Everyone should get as involved in OWW and celebrate the diversity at Brunel!’
Elisa Alexieva, Environmental Ambassador Sustainability, Entrepreneurship & Design
Polyxeni Maragkou, Community Ambassador Project and Infrastructure Management
‘My name in Polyxeni Maragkou (Xenia) and I’m Greek. I am studying Project and Infrastructure Management MSc. As a Community Ambassador, I will also be supporting the Be Brunel project, as well as delivering my own outreach project to further develop the relations between Brunel and its wider community. OWW will give the possibility to every Brunel student and any Uxbridge resident to get to meet other cultures and foreign people. Although the exact program of activities is yet to complete, I can assure a great week with lots of food, games and activities from all over the world’.
‘I hope to spread more awareness about environmental issues, highlight the direct impact of people’s actions and provide tips for a more sustainable living.’ ‘My name is Elisa Alexieva, 23 from Bulgaria. I am a postgraduate student in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship & Design, and I am the Environmental Ambassador. My background is Graphic Design and Multimedia, and my personal interests include photography, green living and healthy (vegan) nutrition. During the OWW I hope to spread more awareness about environmental issues, highlight the direct impact of people’s actions, provide tips for a more sustainable living, as well as to relate those to the big picture of our sustainable future. I encourage people to attend the OWW to feel part of something big and share their personal views’.
Ezra Walker, Environmental Support Ambassador Politics and History BSc ‘I am part of One World Week so that I can help foster diversity amongst a generation that most appreciates diversity’ ‘I’m Ezra Walker, a first year Politics and History Student. I am part of One World Week so that I can help foster diversity amongst a generation that most appreciates diversity. I became an Environmental Ambassador because environmental issues are something that effect the world as one, regardless of culture, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. People should attend OWW because it’s a great way to learn about new cultures and broaden your own horizons in a fun and exciting way’. Bagels
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To support the Media and Marketing activities in order to promote One World Week, Annalisa Galeone, the Marketing and Media Ambassador will be sustained by its Media Sub Team composed by three enthusiastic Ambassadors:
Annalisa Galeone, Marketing & Media Ambassador Marketing MSc ‘During One World Week I want to promote Brunel University’s friendly and multicultural environment with the help of my Media Sub Team.’ ‘I’m Annalisa Galeone from Italy. I am a postgraduate student in Marketing at Brunel University. I have a Bachelor in Linguistic Sciences and a Master in Media Relations. I am passionate about new cultures and foreign languages: I can speak six languages! I decided to become an Ambassador for One World Week because I wanted to take part in an international event and put into practice my Media Relations and Marketing skills. During One World Week I want to promote Brunel University’s friendly and multicultural environment with the help of my Media Sub Team. Come and join us to travel around the world in just five days!’
Hamere K Kassa
Ashlee Moyo
Amika Gandhi
Marketing & Media Sub Team Ambassador
Marketing & Media Sub Team Ambassador
Marketing & Media Sub Team Ambassador
Business and Management BSc
Business and Management BSc
Politics BSc
‘I want to be able to publicise the event effectively by using all the publication we acquire in order to make the event successful.’
‘I hope to gain more experience in event organising and the marketing of events. I’m also looking forward to learning about different cultures.’
‘I hope One World Week will unite the Brunel community to celebrate the diverse world we live in through all the events”
Tuesday
Market
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10 UNION NEWS
UNION NEWS STUDENTS RESPOND TO MAGHRIBI’S ‘MACHO’ UNION Kirsty Capes Students have responded to allegations of a ‘macho’ atmosphere and ‘male dominated groups’ made by Mehvish Maghribi last week in the wake of the Green Week Coca Cola protest. Mehvish Maghribi - the Union’s Environmental Chair and co-organiser of Green Week - responded to the Coca Cola protest, held on Monday 9 February, by releasing the following statement to Le Nurb Online: “The ‘macho’ atmosphere of our Student Union, exemplified by Monday’s protest where women were in a vast minority, and the inappropriate behaviour of a handful of officers and chairs in recent weeks, has made the Union a hostile and negative place to be a volunteer. “Giving my spare time to campaigning on environmental issues is my way of contributing to make things better at Brunel. Instead, these male dominated groups have publicly harassed me on Twitter, denounced my character to groups of students, and ignored my repeated requests for help.” Le Nurb understands that, at one point during the protest, a small number of protestors led a chant which mentioned Maghribi by name. Protestors were unhappy that Coca Cola were invited onto campus to take part in Green Week, as the enterprise has a poor environmental track record
they wanted to do originally. The plans and organisation were in place, it was simply a matter of pushing someone from the Green Soc to actually help run the stall that day.”
Le Nurb asked other student representatives what they thought of Maghribi’s comments of a “’macho’ atmosphere” and a “hostile and negative Union”. Vice President of Student Activities Hannah Jones said, “In the past, our student leadership team [...] has been predominately male. However, this year 57% of the elected team are female. I believe women are more empowered to stand in the elections, as demonstrated from the statistics of those who stood in our 2014/15 Spring elections.”
involvement of women within the protest, and rebuts Maghribi’s claims that criticism of Green Week was “male dominated”. Westwood told Le Nurb, “I feel it is misguided to assert that the groups organising the protest are “male dominated” when a woman did the vast majority of the leg work in preparation: making and designing the banner, publicising the event online, engaging with societies to get them involved etc. Whilst there is some basis to the idea that the Students’ Union at Brunel is facing a gender imbalance with more male students being engaged in societies, this is not the case within the protest.”
Yohanna Sallberg, Union Campaigns Chair, echoed Jones’s statement: “I highly disagree with the statement that the Union would be hostile towards women. I have in my time being involved with the Union been encouraged to pursue what I have suggested and always felt supported just the same as the male members of the Union.”
Westwood, who is the Inclusion Officer for Brunel Greens, added, “I understand the difficulty in getting women involved in societies and the potential for events to appear male dominated, however this argument undermines the core reasoning behind why the protest was viewed as necessary by the Brunel Greens and Friends of Palestine societies.”
Union RAG Chair Kate Taylor adds, “I believe there can be a hostile environment, however I don’t believe it’s sexist at all. I never feel demeaned or not taken seriously because I’m a woman, I just think due to strong differences in opinions there can be tension and “hostile” feelings, but I think it would be unfair to associate this with sexism.”
Contrary to ignoring Maghribi’s “repeated requests for help”, the Brunel Green Society has been involved in a number of Green Week initiatives, including a food bank and a “Grow Your Own Garden” workshop.
Student Cameron Wall points out that Miss Jones is the first female sabbatical officer to be elected at UBS in three years: “Am I the only one who is staggered by the lack of representation of females in the highest positions of our Union in the last three years? 1 in 12.”
Maghribi says that this is down to her repeated chasing: “I had to repeatedly badger the Greens to participate in Green week as they never got back to me to confirm anything. ‘Grow Your Own’ was something I put them in with the help of the University’s environment group; it was not what
Wall continues, “I worry on the reflective nature of these results and if woman are being given as much support in running for jobs as Sabbaticals. Hannah Jones, who by all accounts is a very competent officer, has proved woman are perfectly capable running our union, so why
and is currently operating within Palestine.
One of the Coca Cola protest organisers and a committee member of Brunel Green Society, Kushti Westwood, has told Le Nurb of the
Others have acknowledged that sexism is an issue everywhere and that Maghribi’s insinuation of its existence with the Union of Brunel Students is valid. Ali Milani (Societies Guild Chair) and Aaron Lowman (Postgraduate Students Chair) told Le Nurb: “It would be absurd to claim that sexism does not affect our Union, because it is a very real and prominent issue in society. There needs to be a an open and honest discussion on how we address the institutional and societal sexism that our students and officers face.” Milani is named as one of the protestors who led chants which mentioned Maghribi by name in Monday’s protest.
aren’t there more of them?”
Despite this, Jones asserts that “The Union, in my experience, has never been hostile and negative towards women and has fully supported me since becoming the first female officer in 4 years.” Last month a motion was submitted to Student Assembly month which, among other things, calls for the introduction of a Womens’ Liberation Chair within the Union, similar to the Women’s Liberation Officer at NUS. The motion fell. Milani comments, “[The introduction] would have helped women self organise, promote and campaign for issues that affect them.” In an interview with Radio Brunel on Wednesday 11 February during ‘Officers’ Question Time’, Union President Martin Zaranyika commented that all allegations of sexism are “taken seriously” and “will be investigated.” Despite being marred by protests and allegations of sexism and harassment, Green Week appears to have been a success, with a number of events taking place throughout the week and the Union seeing involvement from a large number of societies, sports clubs and third party external organisatons such as Access Sport.
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12 UNION NEWS
PHOTO CREDIT: BRUNEL UNIVERSITY LONDON
EVANS’ PILOT PROJECT TELLS STUDENTS: “LET’S COOK!” Sana Sarwar Leon Evans, Vice President of Community Welfare, turns into Jamie Oliver teaching students the craft of cooking in his new pilot project, Let’s Cook, launched in October.
engaged around 100 students. The large budget of Let’s Cook has raised questions for Evans in Student Assembly, with some students asking whether the money could have been better spent to engage more students.
According to VP Leon Evans this The project consisted of two parts, the project “is the first time anybody from first being kitchen invasions, where across NUS has taken up a cooking students nominated their housemate, initiative to this extent and I hope it’s or themselves, allowing the Let’s not the last.” Cook team to come and teach them how to cook healthy balanced meals VP Leon Evans explained his reasons behind launching for the whole flat “Students have seriously the project, saying and even did the affected their health by that “We have had washing up at the many case studies end. having nowhere near a in Brunel where balanced diet, and for students have The second part me what you eat is the seriously affected of the project their health by took place in foundation of staying having nowhere the Let’s Cook healthy.” near a balanced kitchen, where diet, and for me, ten students were given the opportunity to cook with what you eat is the foundation of top guest chefs Ginacarlo Caldesi, staying healthy. In my opinion even Matt Dawson, Kate Caldesi and Paul more so than playing sport and other Rankin who were invited to teach their exercises.” culinary skills. On February 3rd, the Let’s Cook The project was given a budget of project hosted their fourth chef event £10,000 by the Union and has with the event being a Let’s Cook
UNION SOURCES SPACE FOR OFF CAMPUS COOKING
‘Valentine Special,’ where couples were invited to learn how to cook by husband and wife chef duo Ginacarlo Caldesci and Kate Cadesci. Mason Francois, who took part in the Valentine Special event said, “I thought the programme was really good for couples, giving them a chance to bond in an area they may never have done before together. The event allowed me and my partner to help each other on areas of cooking where we were not good. It was great proof of team work and that we could work well together”. Joann Ishmael, who also took part in the Valentine’s Special said, “The best part for me was gaining the experience of cooking with a professional chef which was amazing and fun”. To find out how more on the project and take part in the kitchen invasions and chef specials, visit brunelstudents. com/letscook and like their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ LetsCookBrunel
THE BENGUINS ARE BACK: NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR STUDENT LED TEACHING AWARDS
Union Staff
is located within the ground floor of the Michael Sterling building, are now nearly complete. The University The Union of Brunel Students has Estates Department has made some announced that it will be opening alterations to the spaces which now a kitchen space for off campus includes work surfaces and a sink students to prepare food on campus. and will in the coming week have microwaves a small fridge and a One of the Union’s long term concerns seating area. It is hoped that the area will be open is that there is no “Refurbishment works on and accessible to dedicated space some on campus for off the kitchen, which is located students campus students within the ground floor of time in February. to be able to prepare food they the Michael Sterling building, Martin said of the have brought in are now nearly complete.” a n n o u n c e m e nt : “having been from home. This an off campus often leads to them being given no choice but to student for majority of my time at purchase food on campus, which of Brunel I understand the challenges course can be very expensive. When facing those who have to travel in. elected in 2013, Union President I am glad that we have finally found Martin Zaranyika promised to tackle a suitable location, every time when this issue by lobbying for a kitchen it seemed like we had a solution, a for off campus students so that they barrier would appear. This time, we can have a place to prepare a packed literally had to knock out a wall down lunch or reheat a meal prepared to allow for students to access the at home. Over the last 12 months kitchen.” Martin has been pushing that agenda relentlessly with the University, The kitchen is the first of its kind and and today the Union is happy to there are further plans to increase announce that his persistence has space provision for those who live off been successful and a location for a campus in the near future. new student accessible kitchen has been secured. Refurbishment works on the new student kitchen, which
PHOTO CREDIT: MARCUS STEIN
Marcus Stein The benguins are back! And that can only mean one thing – it’s time to nominate for the Student-Led Teaching Awards! Legend has it that the benguins originated from the idea that staff members tend to huddle together, avoiding interaction with students. All students know that one member of staff – the one that stands out from the crowd, and goes above and beyond to engage, support, and inspire students – these are the golden benguins!
PLEASE RECYCLE
The SLTAs take place every year, and provide a platform to acknowledge and reward these members of staff. Students can nominate a member of staff for any number of the awards, which cover teaching, learning, and support – the criteria for these, along with the nomination form, can be found at www.brunelstudents.com/ benguins. The nominations submitted provide a means to showcase what students really value when it comes to their learning and teaching, which informs the education policies and strategies developed by the University.
The overall result is an event that provides the tools and knowledge required for staff to improve their individual offerings, which in turn benefits the students! In this respect, the more students take part, the more they ultimately get out, so I would encourage as many students as possible to submit a nomination!
UNION NEWS
13
UNION RESPONDS TO STAFF SURVEY RESULTS management themselves.
Shakoofeh Shah Brunel University’s student union has held its first ever 2014 UBS Staff Engagement Survey.
Craig added: “We treat our staff fairly and we try and spread the load as much as we can so we can provide employment for students.
“Student staff are restricted to work 20 hours a week to enable as many to work as The lengthy 81 “Employee wellbeing scored possible, to avoid work becoming a page survey was published with 88% from the student staff problem to study and to not just all the results vote.” distribute the work of performance amongst those ratings that the staff who took part could vote that would want to choose to take on more shifts.” positively or negatively on. A particular area that had more than half of the student staff voting negatively was when the question arose about being informed on any mistakes they had made in the workplace on time Craig Lithgow, Chief Executive “We treat our staff fairly and so they could make in senior we try to spread the load as i m p r o v e m e n t s . voted management much as we can so we can 56% negatively. Craig of the Union provide employment for responded to said: “The survey this: “We need to was definitely a students.” be open about good investment the things we because it has given us the first step of trying to disagree and agree on so we can understand how our staff feel. We make improvements. Our staff are our need to go back to the basics to make strongest asset and we probably don’t utilise that as best as we could. improvements where needed.” It consisted of many areas such as communication and employee wellbeing, which in particular, scored 88% from the student staff vote.
The UBS Survey has a breakdown of all the staff member groups who took part, from the HR team to the senior
PHOTO CREDIT: UBS NIGHTLIFE
creating a forum for our staff to share their thoughts and meet up to talk about these issues – it is on the venue and senior management’s agenda.” “Communicating backwards is key and we know that this is something we can’t do well but we are working on it.” Craig added that “an organisation needs to be pro-active and its much better now than it was 11 years ago, of course it does go through its peaks and troughs.” The union is taking every step to ensure that the views of its staff are heard and mainly prioritising the needs of the students. The next UBS Staff Engagement Survey will be conducted in October 2015 and is due to go live in February 2016. Results will be released April 2016. A motion is due to go to Student Assembly this month asking the Union to support the Living Wage and endeavour to implement it within its own staff structure.
“We are trying to get as much feedback from our staff by doing smaller local level surveying and
RADIO BRUNEL REPORTS ARC UPDATES FEBRUARY 2015 324% INCREASE IN BROADCASTING HOURS Luke Vogel Radio Brunel has reported an increase of 324% in broadcast hours during the three months of first term up till the 31st December 2014, figures revealed this month show.
Engagement with the station has also sky-rocketed over recent months, going from a team of only three people in August 2014, to almost sixty individual show hosts (including a full committee of seven people) as of January 2015 – an increase of almost 6000%!
Radio Brunel “The final quarter of 2014 is currently The final quarter of 2014 saw saw the student-run station looking for an Content the student-run broadcast an estimated 368 Online Manager to join station broadcast hours worth of material.” the committee, an estimated total and still has slots of 368 hours’ available for term worth of material, 2, so if you would in comparison to an estimated of 113 hours of material like to get involved, or simply want to find out more information, visit in the same period for 2013. the website at bru-media.co.uk/ The station, which was broadcasting radiobrunel. You can also tweet them from the Antonin Artaud studio @UBSRadioBrunel or find them on during term one due to renovations Facebook. to the student media building (worth over £2000), resumed broadcasting on the 19th January and is now on air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Early indications suggest that the station will exceed the term one broadcasting hours figure by early February.
Joanna Smith
Independence Day 12.03.15, 1-3 pm, Concourse The Advice and Representation Centre will hold an INDEPENDENCE DAY to celebrate and advertise two of our core commitments to students: our independence from the University and confidentiality when dealing with enquiries. We will be on the main concourse on 12th of March between 1 and 3 pm with chocolate eggs and plenty of useful information. Whilst working closely on many issues with the University, we are an entirely independent body, as we a part of the Student Union. This allows us to represent and advocate on behalf of our clients without bias or being restricted by conflict of interest.
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Equally, we understand that confidentiality is very important to our clients and we have set of rules which protect their privacy. Come to talk to us or ask about what we do, and enjoy a chocolate egg, courtesy of INDEPENDENT ARC. Universities need consumer law
a
lecture
on
Which? is a leading consumer rights organisation. It has recently issued a report about universities making changes to courses when they are not necessary or could be foreseeable. Half of all surveyed insert terms into their prospectuses which allow such changes, even though these could be avoided. A smaller section use unlawful terms. Although Brunel is not among those listed as displaying unlawful practice, it has been described as a “provider with terms reflecting bad practice”.
Check out the report findings at brunelstudents.com Applications for student finance 15/16 now OPEN The SFE application cycle for Academic Year 2015/16 is now open. Apply nice and early in order for your funding to arrive on time. If you are apply by 30 June, your student loan and grant should be available to you on time of enrolment. If you apply after those deadlines, SFE say they cannot guarantee timely processing. European students can start applying to SFE as of 23rd of February. Student Centre’s Fees and Funding team will be running SFE Clinics on 5th; 12th; 19th & 26th March - 1pm to 3pm, Lecture Centre 001. If you have any queries or difficulties regarding your SFE application, please visit one of the SFE Clinic events or contact advice@brunel.ac.uk
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NEWS
15
BRUNEL BHANGRA PLACES 3RD AT UK’S BIGGEST BHANGRA SHOWDOWN Sonia Bhangu
Arena.
An addition level was added into this The Bhangra Showdown 2015 took years showdown: the Head2Head place at Wembley Arena on Saturday wherein two rival teams battle. It 9th Feb 2015, with Imperial College also included performances by the London placing first, followed by the Bhangra Showdown President Jazzy B University of Birmingham and a tie with a full live band, Violinder, Roach between Brunel University and King’s Killa, and Benny Dhaliwal. College London in “Bhangra is the traditional The show was third place. dance form originating hosted by Bhangra is the from Punjab India. Within Noreen Khan and Tommy Sandhu traditional dance the UK it has developed from the BBC form originating Network. from Punjab, India. professionally and become a Asian Within the UK, competetive dance form.” Every year, the s h o w d o w n it has developed donates all of the professionally profits to charity. and become a The Charities for 2015 include: competitive dance form. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors The Bhangra Showdown is the oldest Without Borders), UK Friends of the established Bhangra competition Unique Home (Punjab), and Variety: in the UK providing a platform for The Children’s Charity. university Bhangra teams to compete. The show is organised by the Imperial College Punjabi Society, which aims to raise money for charities whilst showcasing Punjabi culture. For the last few years the event has been held at the Hammersmith Apollo, however this year it took place at the Wembley
PHOTO CREDIT: BRUNEL BHANGRA
CHRISTIAN UNION GEARING UP FOR MISSIONS WEEK
PHOTO CREDIT: BRUNEL CHRISTIAN UNION
Ellie Woolcott
As always in the month of February, the Christian Union at Brunel has been busy planning and organising for their Events Week. This year the team has been headed up by second year student, David Guest, and is looking to be very promising, with a number of free events happening each day on the week beginning 23rd February 2015. These events are designed both as a fun break from routine and lectures (usually with free food!) and as a chance to find out a little more about the Christian faith.
The overarching theme of the week is ‘God Is?’ This will involve exploring different aspects of the Christian God and the way He is represented in modern culture through a number of short talks throughout the week. On Monday the 23rd events will be kicked off with a pub quiz, hosted by Christians in Sport, at the BeActive Bar above the sports centre at 7.30pm. Bring friends and join a fun evening of drinks, laughs and quizzing. On the Tuesday evening it’s ‘Free Cake’ evening. Yes, this does mean you can turn up at any point between 7.30pm and 9.30pm and grab a slice of home-baked cake! Have a chat with
one of the CU members and listen to a short talk about God as a Saviour. It should be a fun, informative and sociable evening and you’re welcome to stay for however long you wish. On the Wednesday evening the CU will once again be hosting their Acoustic Night. Headlined by Emma Connolly, a second year music student and supported by musicallyinclined members of the society. Again at the BeActive Bar at 7.30pm, it’s a great opportunity to come along, have a few drinks and listen to some great live music. Thursday leads us to an event we haven’t attempted before; a Comedy Night. In conjunction with the comedy
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society, BUCU has invited comedian Mark Palmer (for more on him, see his website markpalmer.co.za) along for an evening of stand up and entertainment, as well as a short talk about God as Love, held in AA001 at 7.30pm. On Friday at 7pm, there will be a ThreeCourse Meal offered completely free of charge which will be accompanied by a short talk on God being For Us. Due to lack of seating at The Meeting House, this event will be ticketed! If you’re interested in coming along, get in touch with the Christian Union, or keep your eyes peeled for the posters providing more information on how to get yourself a ticket.
As well as all these events, there will be a free lunch bar hosted by the CU on the Quad every day, open from 12pm – 2pm, where you can pop out after your lectures, grab some lunch and chat with other people. All events are completely free of charge and we encourage everyone to come along. For more information, search us on Facebook at Brunel Christian Union, or look out for the posters and flyers around campus. We hope to see you at these events!
16 FEATURES
FEATURES
PHOTO CREDIT: EMMA PIERCE
DIVE EXIT: MAKING A MUSIC VIDEO Stefan Knap As with almost every great story, this one starts at the pub. Half of Dive Exit were in their aforementioned natural habitat when I started vibrating. “Allo” came the cockney-coated voice of Harry, the guitarist, over the phone. “Do you wanna go skydiving?”. It was probably my second weirdest call of the day, so it took me a second to reply “…yeah, alright”. ‘…F**k’ he said. It turns out he was expecting me to say no, so he’d fobbed off the frontman, John, with an “I’ll only do it if he does it.” What a poor move, Harry, especially for someone quite scared of heights. So it comes to October and I’m staring bleary-eyed at a tent roof wondering what exactly I was doing with my life to be voluntarily falling from 14,000 feet strapped to a guy who I was hoping would be a good sport and open my chute before I high-fived the floor with my face. Armed with the knowledge that he’d done this before at some point, I set out (with my best boxers on for guaranteed safety) to face the day. Harry was going first (possibly not in his best boxers) so it was a little wait while they got ready to push him out. Everyone was at least faking calm
pretty well. John’s a veteran skydiver, hence the band name Dive Exit, so he was fine. The rest of us had a pretty good grip on things, maybe because the billions of shows we played last year got us acclimatised to nerves. We decided it was probably bad to take the guitars up with us, and probably worse for drums, so instead we stuck to some hard-core air guitar/ bass/drumming/head banging on the way down. In the spirit of true rock, there was no screaming, no “ohgodnowhatnonono”. We went to the door, we jumped and we rocked. None of this ‘shoegaze’ nonsense. As we jumped out, we flipped over a few times – and then came a feeling like holding your face against six industrial strength leaf-blowers. Maximum bass-face (see video) had to be engaged to prevent my cheeks from flapping and creating drag. The freefall was awesome, and the canopy even better, literally like sitting in a swing looking down a mile to the ground. Pretty cool. Harry was ready for another soon as his feet touched the ground. Fast forward a few weeks later, and I’m lying on my face wondering exactly why I was back north of Watford again, and whether ‘5am’ is a something that happens a lot here. I asked around, but I guess I hadn’t managed to make words as all I got for
a reply was an unidentified burp. Still unsure, the film crew, band and I piled into cars loaded with gear, including my very sexy dark Thunderbird bass with its strings gleaming in the soft morning glow. Or rather in the backlight of Harry’s van, because it was so RIDICULOUSLY EARLY.
There was still about an hour until sunrise when we arrived at the same airstrip as we took off from a few weeks ago. Everyone got out and, very slowly, unpacked and ate. The crew were John’s girlfriend’s mates, awesome at what they did and all really cool – especially as they were up that early and not getting paid. Hats off to them! We started to set up with multiple different instructions flying around from the director, Lee, producer, Kelly, and frontman John.
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I sat quietly and waited until I was spoken to like a good bass player, and tried playing behind my head like Hendrix, which turned out to be much more painful than it looked. The makeup was the first really weird thing. Having never worn any before (no, really), a face-paint at the school fair is the lamest but also most accurate comparison I can make. After a harrowing session deciding how many eyebrow hairs Martina the makeup artist was allowed to pull out of me, we settled on two, but she managed to sneak a third before I ran away. The second really weird thing was having someone running up to me every time I even thought about scratching my face, which I did a lot. She got a good workout, and I looked pretty at least. When we started, we had the amps turned off, but soon realised we were pretty much just standing there like lost sheep. We decided to find an extension cable to plug them in which did two things: One, being musicians, we played around on the guitars constantly between shots annoying everyone and two, whenever we weren’t playing around, the crew were listening to the same song over and over again. It must have totalled about 40 times in one day. Looking back, it’s actually pretty crazy nobody hit us, I know I
would have. Again, hats off to them! The third and weirdest thing was having a camera pointed at you and being told to perform. That, without looking like a prize muppet, is also the hardest thing I had to achieve that day. Without a crowd reacting to you, there’s nothing. Our best shows are made the best by the people that come and love the music with us – it’s a dialogue constantly made better by the energy you give each other. Without that, it’s like dancing with no music, or filling in your part of the conversation with no-one replying. THAT was strange. All that aside, the whole experience itself was amazing, and the video turned out incredible! I won’t go on about it – find out for yourselves. Search for ‘Dive Exit Living Dangerous ‘, and if you like it, help us by liking and following us. We’re nothing without our mates! Dive Exit is hoping to play soon at The Academy with a great mix of covers and originals – come support us and we’ll give you a great night! Keep an eye out on our Facebook for details.
FEATURES
PHOTO CREDIT: FACEBOOK
IS PEPSI OKAY? Ryan Giltinane
The Students’ Union is here to represent us, the students. Building a good working relationship with the locally based Coca-Cola GB is beneficial to all, despite the tiny minority of students - dare I say specifically 15 students? - who feel otherwise. The benefits to the students of a good working relationship are as follows: 1. That they are willing to come to our university and participate in an event in correspondence with the Union’s ‘‘Green Week’, promoting recycling. 2. Students at Brunel benefit from parttime jobs, internships and graduate level jobs, all working for Coca-Cola. Being seen as a local university who
Brunel Conservative and pro-Coke demonstrator Ryan Giltinane says: “Coca Cola are still on campus and students seem pretty happy about it.” are happy to work with Coke puts any Brunel students applying for jobs in a vastly improved position. 3. The civil engineering departments recent partnering with Coca-Cola, presenting them with the opportunity to work on a new landmark for Uxbridge, the ‘Happiness Tree.’ Could all academic departments not benefit similarly if our union has a strong working relationship with Coca-Cola? In the interest of objective argument, it is only fair that the opposing argument
of the protesters be addressed.
of everyone’s everyday activities.
It seems to me that there are two different issues which were protested. Firstly the ‘Friends of Palestine’ argument that by operating in illegally occupied areas of Palestine they are in some way ‘promoting genocide.’ Coca-Cola operates plants all over the world, three in Palestine, with a further two under construction, all three of which are owned and managed by Palestinians. They are Palestine’s 3rd largest employer and fifth largest investor. They sponsor children’s football coaching in Palestine and have provided 20,000 computers for school children there. The argument that they harm Palestinian interests is flawed. Coca-Cola, who operate a subsidiary in Palestine, such as the subsidiary which operate Coca-Cola GB, are helping Palestinians a lot more than they are hindering them.
Returning to a previous argument, how many students have successfully gained employment for these companies? How much can we let such a small group of people damage our employment prospects? Must we all be labelled as coming from an antibusiness University? The ridiculous thing is, even if we all were to boycott a great majority of products, as the protesters would have us do, how much difference would it make? Would Benjamin Netanyahu lose any sleep over it? Would it right the injustices of the world? No.
Furthermore, if we are to suggest that Coke are responsible for promoting genocide, as the protesters did, then who else can we also tar with this brush? To name just a few companies who have won awards for services to Israel, we have Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Pepsi and Starbucks. I’ve used all six of these companies’ products whilst writing this article. Where would Friends of Palestine suggest that we draw the line? Should we all revert to using AskJeeves? Will we never buy an Apple Phone or Computer? Must we only buy CostCutter branded cola products? The point is it becomes trivial to attempt to block these corporations when they make up the majority
The next matter is the Green Party argument. The Greens justified their protest by pointing to the central issue of Coca-Cola’s abuses of water in India. It is important to note that the water disaster in India occurred around 2010 and was a disaster caused as a result of local management incompetence. To suggest that Coca-Cola, as a brand, intended for the disaster to happen is incorrect and frankly libellous. Moreover, the company attended Brunel to promote recycling and sustainable living. If they were here advocating abusing local water supplies then a protest would have been more justified, but they clearly were not. I’m also concerned that the Green Party, who you would expect to be up to their necks in organising Green Week and helping with the running of events; instead, could think of nothing better to do than protest a company who came here to try and do some
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good - perhaps as part of an effort by Coca-Cola to right any past wrongs. On the same day as the protest, myself and 4 friends decided to stage an anti-protest protest, that is, a protest against the Coca-Cola protest. We decided that the best way to show that the original protest did not have the support of the majority of the student body was to buy, with our own money, and with no affiliation with Coca-Cola, as many cans of Coke as possible and distribute them to the student body directly next to the ongoing protest. Overall we spent £70 and gave away 248 coke cans to passers-by in under 30 minutes. The main goal of this demonstration clearly shows that the vast majority of Brunel students are happy to keep Coca-Cola on campus and refused to be intimidated by a small group of protestors. This seems to make a mockery of Ali Milani’s claim that “Brunel students [were] successful in kicking Coca-Cola off our campus!” Since the event I have been bombarded with messages from students, congratulating us for our actions and wishing they could have got involved. I will keep my pop, if it is all the same to you? TL;DR. Coca-Cola is still on campus. Students seem pretty happy about it.
VICE COMPANIES ARE TARGETING US AND IT’S TIME WE FOUGHT BACK
Joshua Connolly Two years ago, the student community faced being targeted by the pay-day loan company, Wonga. In its attempts to woo students, we were told that Wonga was far superior to the loans we received from the Students Loan Company, despite the latter charging only 1.5% of interest per year compared to Wonga’s exorbitant 4,214%. In Wonga’s own words: ‘The problem with student loans is that they potentially encourage you to live beyond your means …Student loans are usually far cheaper than your standard personal loan. But there can be a downside – you potentially end up borrowing more than you need, while a nasty debt accumulates for your graduation that could take years to repay.’
And we as students told them in no uncertain terms to go Wonga themselves, with the National Union of Students describing the firm as ‘highly irresponsible’ for such ‘predatory marketing’. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, a charity set up to provide debt advice to consumers, called the strategy ‘pretty cynical’. And indeed it was. Wonga had attempted to push a group already in a new territory of debt, with the increase of student tuition fees, even further into the debt abyss. We found it vile that a company would attempt to profit off student loans, and we pushed back. Yet Wonga is only one of the examples where this has happened. Now, there is a new predator on campus. Uni-Casino describes itself as ‘The number one Casino app for students!!’
according to their first ever tweet. They offer a lot to entice, including free starting funds and deposit bonuses if we put in more money, according to their Facebook page. The styling they use in their promotions are similar to that on many university hoodies, and they are frequently on the screens on Sub.TV in Locos and presumably other universities’ union bars as it targets exclusively students. If Wonga was so despicable to expand its market to students, shouldn’t we be as equally or further outraged that a company of vice now is targeting us exclusively? I point them out not to be part of the nanny-state, as some would doubtlessly now be thinking. It’s not my mission to prevent students from participating in drinking, smoking, gambling or using pay-day loan companies. But when organisations that fit into any industry that needs
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a warning label begin to target a group that is the most susceptible, then such criticism is due. Not to mention the fact that there is not only a government website warning of the risks but also multiple charities set up to aid an increasing number of those who have fallen foul of them. We are facing a growing epidemic of students falling further into debt due to gambling. It is estimated that around 127,000 young people have a problem when it comes to gambling and with the revisions to The Gambling Act, this is only going to worsen as advertisements can increase and memberships are no longer required. Just recently, an ex-Brunel student was charged of running a massive scam on migrants causing them to lose £113,000 to cover both his gambling losses of £12,000. This is not to say that
gambling was the main cause of his behavior, but it was certainly a catalyst. It is estimated that 20% of students now engage in gambling according to a survey conducted by Save the Student in 2013, in comparison to the 2% who admitted to using payday loan vendors. If we went up in such arms when Wonga attempted to flaunt its excruciatingly high loans on to students, then isn’t it time we did the same to a company that shamelessly targets us and us alone to become its gambling clients? If you are concerned about the amount of time or money that you or someone you know is spending gambling, you can talk in confidence to a Gamcare adviser, by phone on: 0808 8020 133 (available to people living in England, Scotland and Wales).
18 FEATURES pretty simple. The year I joined we did ‘Romeo and Some Chick’, which was about 50 minutes, and we had about 15 people in again, so the amount of people that get involved are usually about the same, and because it’s Shakespeare it’s always been the same sort of roles as well. S: Though with Midsummer’s there are quite a lot of subplots, all these different threads. R: Yeah, to organise rehearsals, I’ve created four different Facebook chat groups: so we have the fairies, we have the lovers, the mechanicals and the royals, because those are the main kind of groups, so it was a lot easier to coordinate them as a group .
What would you say has been the most effective way of promoting the play, and how do you go about that? I know people put up posters, but does that draw a lot of people? R: One of the difficulties with advertising is that so many different people on the concourse are out there flyering and people get so much spam email about all these sorts of events, so if you just go and do all that you become one of those people, and it’s very easy to just ignore it. It can be the most hurtful thing when you’re handing out flyers and someone doesn’t even look at you. The most useful thing for advertising – which I’ve done for Arts@Artaud before and we did last year for ‘Shamlet’ – is getting in character and flyering on the concourse. For ‘Shamlet’, and for this play, we’ve had people in costume put on the concourse, selling tickets in character.
PHOTO CREDIT: KIRSTY CAPES
ARTS AND DRAMA AT BRUNEL: A MIDSUMMER’S WET INTERVIEW Teresa Francis Brunel Drama Society’s winter production of ‘A Midsummer’s Wet Dream’ was performed at the Antonin Artaud building on the 17th of February. A few days before its debut, Le Nurb spoke with the play’s director, Robert Parritt, and one of its actors, Sophie Bredbere, about their experience with the play and other arts events.
So, to start off, what kind of projects have you both been involved with before this one? R: Back in my first year, I was involved in Arts@Artaud, which happens once every term, and did the lighting and backstage stuff, which is very fun and useful. From that I’ve then been asked to do stuff for the Artaud forum, which is an academic event for lecturers
from around the country who come down to the Artaud building and watch performance pieces and review them, which was also quite fun, and I got paid for that one! S: If this is specifically for university, this is technically the first one I’ve been involved with, but before that it was just sort of school productionsR: with
You’re also involved Le Nurb and Radio-
S: Oh, I thought we were just talking about drama! Yeah, and I’m involved with the drama society as well.
easy to organize rehearsals because we all have the same lessons. When you’re trying to organise rehearsals for 17 people on about 10 different courses and different years, it gets quite difficult and hectic. In terms of the actual rehearsal process, it’s quite similar to what I’ve done before, so it’s fairly straightforward in that sense. S: Pretty much, it’s been what I’d expected. I was involved in the writing process at the very beginning, but it’s only been the last couple of weeks that I’ve been doing a lot more. Rob assigned me to help with promoting so I’ve been in the Atrium the last couple of days selling tickets.
Before getting into this project, do you feel like you accurately predicted how much work it would entail?
And in projects like this one, how many people are usually involved?
R: Nowhere near! In the past I’ve directed things for my course, but that’s been with two to five actors all in the same course, so it’s been nice and
R: Well, four years ago Drama Society did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and they had about 10 actors I think, which was heavily edited and about 10 minutes long, it was
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S: That’s a tried and tested method. Last week, we sold 20 tickets and that was no one in character or anything. Today alone, we sold, about 23 tickets just by having two people going around in character and that was pretty amazing.
How did the idea for ‘A Midsummer’s Wet Dream’ come about? R: It was because of one particular line from the original play which is ‘Puck in’. Last year, after we finished ‘Shamlet’, me and Jamie McArthur, who was vice president last year, went to the pub. We were talking about what we would do next year and he said we have to do ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for that line.
What do you find have been the most challenging parts of acting and directing respectively? S: Rob looks like he’s going to have a breakdown just thinking about it! R: The difficult thing for me is that I was both the director and producer of the play. The director will usually go to the rehearsals to direct the show and do some research to come up with an overall idea for artistic design.
The producer will organise rehearsals, production, and backstage stuff. So it’s two full time jobs, and the main problem for me is not getting any sleep. S: For acting, it was quite low key last term. This term, we’ve been doing four, five hour rehearsals. I came in last night at eight and didn’t leave till about midnight. And I know others have said they’ve had long rehearsals as well. R: Because drama is an incredibly physical thing, you’re using your entire body, your voice and your mind, you have to warm all of those up. You have to do physical exercises, vocal exercises, and mental exercises, which takes time. S: It is intense, but it’s what we need, and personally, I enjoy it.
What will you miss most about the play once it’s over? S: I’m going to miss Quince, and being able to wear a tracksuit on a daily basis. R: I’m going to miss the banter. When you perform a play, there’s a lot of adrenaline going around, because you’re performing in front of a live audience, so the atmosphere is tense. When the moment it’s over, you see it through quite rose-tinted glasses, and your immediate thought is: ‘That was awesome, I want to do it again now’. You forget all the bad stuff that you hated about it, and say let’s do another one.
Any upcoming projects on the horizon? R: We’re hoping to, in the future, get the rights to perform Zach Braff’s play ‘All New People’. It’s going to be very different from this one, there’ll be a much smaller cast and much less prep work.
And finally, what tips do you guys have for students who are looking to get involved with arts or drama at Brunel who maybe would like to start their own projects? R: Make friends with the technicians! That is the key thing. S: Join drama society! And befriending the committee has really helped. R: Back in my first year, I was incredibly optimistic, and tried to put on a performance, and got a really good piece of advice: go to people with an answer rather than a question. If you want to put on a performance, don’t go to someone and say can I put on a performance, say I’m interested in doing a performance, I think we should do this, it would have this many actors, or musicianS - go with a plan, and then ask what they can add to it. As for drama society, it really is very much like a family in that if anyone comes to us we will try and help them, even if they’re not a member.
Look out for our review of ‘A Midsummer’s Wet Dream’ in the next edition of Le Nurb!
WHEN ART MEETS ART
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20 FEATURES
‘What countries are you guys from?’ ‘ Turkey.’ ‘Nigeria.’ ‘Zimbabwe.’ ‘India.’
HUMANS OF BRUNEL
PHOTOGAPHY: CHRIS RATHORE | WORDS: ELISABETH MAHASE
‘Albert Einstein once said problems cannot be solved from the same level of thinking that created them.’
‘To put it into context her character has a spear and is an Amazonian. We also have a man who is only wearing fur and is bare chested and can kill bears with his abs.’
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21 FEATURES ‘I commute from Bristol...This is the best course in the country. I do games design.’
Inspired by the Facebook phenomenon Humans of New York (HONY), this feature showcases the Humans of Brunel. A diverse and cultured University, Brunel is home to some amazing people.
‘If you could design your favourite game what would it be?’ ‘Something about helping people. I hate the games with shooting in.’
So in the style of the HONY creator, we took to the concourse with a camera and a voice recorder and started asking questions. Met with both curiosity and confusion, we spoke to a huge variety of people, many with interesting stories or quotes to share.
‘I’m actually on placement here. I’m in the operations department over in the Eastern Gateway building.’ ‘How would you describe your time at Brunel?’ ‘It’s been pretty amazing. Very different. A lot to learn and a lot to experience.’
‘We’re just here for an interview.’
‘I’m a politics student... I wish someone would start an argument with the lecturer.’
‘Today one of our design teachers said that we probably have a worse lifestyle than a prisoner... live in a room smaller than a prison cell. It’s like a prison. But a good prison. A designed prison.’
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PHOTO: WENDY SELTZER
DESIGN: OVERCOMING THE CREATIVE BLOCK Elise Hounslow As designers, we are constantly looking for ways to speed up our design process. “How does she get so much done in such a short amount of time?” Well it’s simple, she knows how, and where to look. We’ve all grown up in a digital age and we all know what the internet is, so why aren’t we using it to its full potential? The internet is packed with design aid tools that, well let’s just say, we aren’t all aware of yet. In the past 4 years or so we’ve seen popular sites such as Pinterest take-off, with a growth rate of 57% in 2014, and although most designers are aware of these sites, they don’t see the power they hold as design tools. They can make your life so much easier! Using websites is a major part of all web designers’ design processes, influencing “every stage of the design process from concept to development” says Matthew Langer, a web designer. Web designers use sites such as Firebug to inspect HTML coding and modify style and layout in real-time. This allows them to create prototypes to help visualise ideas for their clients. But what sites can Product, Graphic and UI Designers use to help them?
An important part of designing designer at Hasbro) is a fan of the site, successful consumables is to know saying “It has become a very useful about current trends. James Eaton in brain-storming and to see what (current Product Designer at Puma) people relate to certain words, great uses Tumblr and Instagram 24/7 for iconography”; this has become the to keep up-to-date with “what is most useful element of the site for inspiring others”. Creating Pinterest me as well. boards for every project can help you explain your design reasoning For those interested in iconography to others, and is quick and easy to and graphics, Creative Boom rated do. I’m constantly finding new things Identity Designed as their no.2 that inspire me in this way! Gordon inspiration for graphic designers, Smith, Product Engineer at Hasbro, calling it a “brilliant showcase of all recommends Yanko Designs and things related to brand identity”. Bored Panda if you are looking to be Colour palette is essential to our inspired by trends. Touch of Modern, process and Adobe Kuler can help though clearly It allows you to “People might say that us! geared towards browse thousands men, is the site for of colour “no-one likes the unyou if you’re into combinations by known”, but as designers, putting in your clean, slick, stylish, we do! ” modern products. feature colour and then dragging People might say that “no-one likes adjacent points around a spectrum the unknown”, but as designers, we until you find a desired palette. Perfect do! There are many more sites out combinations in seconds! there that we would benefit from being aware of, that in the future Another way to get inspiration for will be a part of all designers design imagery is stock libraries. Richard process. One of the unknowns to Heayes, an established Product many is The Noun Project. As a Designer, uses Shutter Stock to source first year design student I would images for his designs. Although spend hours creating icons to use on Richard pays for this content, it is a prototypes and infographics before good source of inspiration and useful I was introduced to this sharing site for brainstorming and producing by a fellow designer. The site allows mood-boards. It also helps create indesigners to upload their icons and house presentations as placeholders, share them. They are quick and easy for it only holds photographs that to download. Alex Gibson (UI app are suitable for using in the way we
need them, eliminating the jargon we shuffle through on Google Images.
the time and the result looked better than mine. GrabCAD objects are great for constructing scenes and bringing your product to life. Check it out if you haven’t already!
To keep those stresses away, follow things that you love. For example StumbleUpon, which is very popular in the USA. This is a nice tool that finds These tools aren’t only useful for the best webpages on the internet of creating the ideas, but also sharing your favourite interests and compiles them. This can be for self publicity them on to one page. You never know with projects such as Kickstarter, where your inspiration will come where you can pitch your concepts from, and who doesn’t like looking at to the general public to get funding in order help them pictures of cute “To keep those stresses become realised, puppies? If you have an interest away, follow things that or sites that allow you to share your in graphics or you love. For example progress with packaging, Good clients. James Design Makes Me StumbleUpon, which is Lamb (designer Happy is a great very popular in the USA. ” and owner of site to make you Lamb Industries) smile too! finds Slack and Talking of things that make you smile, Basecamp useful to share product there’s nothing more satisfying than development with clients around finding the CAD you need in order the world, an integral part of any to explain your concept. GrabCAD designer’s design process in 2015. allows you to download and share CAD creations, often available in Hopefully this article has given you many formats, allowing you to some sites to get your creative minds manipulate them into what you want whirling again, allowing you to speed and speeding up your design process. up your design process and get back For example I once spent ages trying to doing the other stuff you love! Let to distort, warp and manipulate an me know if you discover any more image of a hand in Photoshop in order great sites: elisehounslow@me.com to make it look like it was pushing on a soap-dispenser I designed. I went to the presentation and a colleague had manipulated a hand he got off GrabCAD instead. It took him half
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Panny Antoniou
war and instability in the aftermath of the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi. Sanctions against Russia, the world’s largest producer of oil and refined petroleum products, have also resulted in decreased production as they are unable to sell to Europe and cannot acquire the Western-made technologies which allow them to drill in previously uneconomical oil fields.
From a price of over 100 USD/bbl in the summer of 2014, crude oil prices have dropped dramatically and are now lower than 60 USD/bbl. The idea of ‘Peak Oil’, first expanded upon by M. King Hubbert, where oil production peaks and then enters into terminal decline, has been The sanctions which the European pushed further into the future as Union has imposed on Russia for new reserves of oil are discovered their proxy war in Eastern Ukraine and and the fracking revolution in the illegal annexation of Crimea expire United States has made the largest in July of this year, with unanimity consumer of oil a net exporter. This needed amongst EU member states to keep the drop in prices is sanctions in place. also partly caused “Despite this dramatic Any one member by the oil cartel OPEC which drop in oil prices, they are state may veto in November still significantly higher these proposals which seem pledged to than they should be.” increasingly likely m a i n t a i n as the new Greek production levels Prime Minister in its member Alexis Tspiras’ states – ostensibly administration has made overtures to to maintain their market share. Russia in recent weeks, possibly in an However, despite this dramatic drop attempt to increase their bargaining in oil prices, they are still significantly power with their European creditors higher than they should be, and ahead of negotiations on their artificially so. This is due to instability repayments. This, therefore, means in oil producing regions such as Syria that sanctions against Russia will and Iraq where ISIS has been taking likely be lifted in July and the country over production of many oil facilities will once again begin exporting oil to in order to raise money for their Europe and the West in general – thus Jihadist crusade. In addition, Libya, further decreasing oil prices. once one of the largest producers of crude oil, has been torn apart by civil The fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is making slow and steady pace. There
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WHY OIL PRICES WILL FALL EVEN FURTHER has been more cooperation between Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces – due in part to a recent deal signed between Baghdad and Erbil, giving wide ranging autonomy to the Kurds of Iraq. Furthermore, Jordan has stepped up efforts to destroy the Islamic State in response to the murder of Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh, conducting 56 airstrikes against ISIS positions on the 8th of February. The UAE has also re-joined the air strikes campaign, having previously voiced concern about a lack of search and rescue missions over Syria. This is in addition to the group suffering defeat on the ground, losing the strategic border town of Kobane to the Kurdish YPG militia. Indeed, John Kerry, US Secretary of State said that ISIS has lost around 700 square kilometres of territory of ‘one fifth of the area they had in their control’. This means that more and more oil fields will fall out of ISIS hands and into the hands of legitimate governments, which means that production can once again resume at full capacity, thus pushing oil prices lower still. Although, this is a long term driver of the oil price drop as ISIS shows no
sign of being defeated entirely and has proved resilient whilst fighting on However, predictions such as these on multiple different fronts. oil prices are notoriously complicated A third factor which will drive oil prices and therefore it is incredibly difficult lower is the fact that new reserves to correctly predict what – if any – which were previously regarded as effect geopolitics and the invention unobtainable are now far easier to of fracking will have on oil prices. extract due to hydraulic fracturing Indeed, many analysts argue that the techniques – or drop in oil prices “Certainly there are fracking. Indeed, is a temporary E u r o p e a n significant doubts that blip and that they countries have will soon rise as large shale Europe will enjoy a shale more countries deposits and gas boom similar to that of i n d u s t r i a l i s e analysts predict and demand the US. ” that there could be outstrips supply. as much as 600 Certainly there trillion cubic feet of are significant recoverable shale gas reserves which doubts that Europe will enjoy a can increase Europe’s energy output, shale gas boom similar to that of the thus reducing prices of all fossil fuels US. Chevron one of the largest oil including oil. In addition, Europe is companies in the world has pulled not the only place where there have out of a natural gas venture in Poland been significant deposits of shale gas – one of the most shale rich countries reserves. Nations such as Argentina in the European Union – and the and China have also discovered Scottish Parliament has announced large reserves of shale gas, therefore a moratorium on fracking subject to increasing the chances of more further studies on the effect it will countries having an energy revolution have on the environment.“The tragic and being able to create a domestic scene of the death of Hussain will energy surplus, and thus decreasing awaken the sympathy of the coldest crude oil prices. reader.” – Edward Gibbson
DON’T BELIEVE THE FRACKING LIES David Bennett An earthquake is an occurrence one may expect to encounter in those equatorial regions of earth, at which tectonic plates meet and rub together at the behest of Mother Nature: this is not something one would expect to encounter in the illuminated seaside town of Blackpool. However, in 2011, two such earthquakes did occur in the Blackpool area, with responsibility taken by Cuadrilla, the energy company conducting hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, at the time. Personally speaking, it is quite difficult to imagine any situation in which the causing of an earthquake would be justifiable, but surely there must be a legitimate reason? Fast-forward to 2015, and we find the British government scrambling to amend the Infrastructure Bill before the next election in an attempt to deregulate the restrictions of fracking companies, like Cuadrilla. This would allow them to frack pretty much wherever they see fit, despite opposition from 99% of people asked in a poll (The Guardian, September 2014). So in the face of all the dangers posed by fracking – such as earthquakes, contaminating drinking water with
harmful chemicals, massive water wastage and most importantly the distinct lack of economic viability – why is the government so hell-bent on allowing this practice to be continued? The government’s arguments for fracking appear to be cheaper energy prices and energy independence, yet both of these arguments are shown to be somewhat invalid when the surrounding circumstances come in to play. “The consensus seems to be that shale gas will not be [an economical] ‘game changer’ in the UK”, states the House of Commons in their own write-up on fracking. “The Royal Society have reviewed the risks associated with fracking.” Stated parliament.uk’s official PDF on shale gas exploration prospects, continuing; “They concluded that the health, safety and environment risks can be managed effectively in the UK, by implementing and enforcing best operational practices.” The Prime Minister, David Cameron, as quoted by The Guardian in March 2014, is certain that a “lack of understanding” is the reason for public opposition to fracking, and that by going ahead and digging wells, people will soon see how great it all is and “enthusiasm for it will grow.” Cameron’s stance seems to be one of patronising dismissal of his employers – the public – and a flippant “we know best” attitude.
Everywhere you look, the official statements regarding fracking are loaded with ambiguity, uncertainty and often outright dishonesty, all wrapped within the emotive concept of ‘bettering people’s futures’. The facts simply do not equate to such an ideological outcome.
Ukraine itself is known to hold massive gas reserves within its landmass, thus making it suspiciously coincidental for the U.S. to be meddling in its seemingly unrelated conflict; not to mention the son of U.S. vice president Joe Biden being on the board of a Ukrainian shale gas company.
The findings of the Royal Society – those of gas extraction being safe by ‘implementing best operational practices’ – in no way helps to enlighten the public on the history of the terrible, incompetent operational practices conducted by the shale gas companies. And when Cameron was speaking about ‘getting a few wells up and running, and people will become more enthusiastic’, he conveniently forgot about the whole ‘earthquakes in Blackpool’ thing.
The rise of the so-called Islamic State and their capturing of Iraqi oil fields further brings into quandary the push for shale gas in Britain. And the fact that Saudi Arabian oil is still a factor may unravel the strange occurrence of the west openly supporting the Saudi regime, who publicly behead ‘criminals’ on an alarmingly regular basis, yet condemn the ISIS beheadings as the world’s worst atrocities.
Perhaps the reasons for such insistence upon the use of fracking are far more conceited than any politician, government-funded organisation, or shale gas company would let on. It may not take much of a stretch of the imagination to figure out the correlation between Britain and the west’s disintegrating relationships with fuel-producing regions. Russia, for example, was a massive supplier of gas to the European market via pipelines travelling through the now-tumultuous Ukraine; the very same Russia whom the west have branded as the latest super-evil.
This chaotic tip of the international fuel politics iceberg all leads back to the UK government’s insistence that fracking – despite it causing earthquakes – is a great idea. It is NOT a great idea. Perhaps a greater idea would be to have a government which didn’t go around the world destroying international relations out of pure arrogance and landing all the consequences on its own people. Regardless of all this, fracking only serves to take the attention away from the real solution to all fuel problems, and a large proportion of environmental problems, too: green energy. On February 10th, 2015, Adam Vaughan wrote a piece for The
Guardian, entitled ‘UK spent 300 times more on fossil fuels than clean energy despite green pledge’. The title alone highlights the government’s attitude towards fixing the energy problem. “The Tories and Lib Dems [coalition]”, said Vaughan, “promised in 2010 that UK Export Finance (UKEF), a small government department, would ‘become champions for British companies that develop and export innovative green technologies around the world’.” However, since the current government undemocratically came to power, UKEF has “given just £3.6m to green energy projects”, whereas fossil fuel energy operations have been “allocated £1.16bn.” Wave power, wind turbines, solar panelled roads and a plethora of other innovative technologies designed to harness the power of earth, in alignment with the earth, are the obvious way forward (though it would be hard to justify charging people for the infinite energy of the sun). Fracking is in no way a clean or sustainable energy source, and to conduct exploration in the volume it would take to be economically viable on a piece of land as small as Britain, would mean breaking up the land until it crumbles into some fracking earthquake-induced chasm.
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PHOTO CREDIT: CLEANSLATEMUSIC
GIG: CHARLIE SIMPSON Molly Lempriere On Tuesday 10th February Charlie Simpson closed his solo acoustic tour in the Academy Halls in Islington. Having been a part of Busted, and later the frontman of Fightstar, Charlie has recently released his second solo album entitled Long Road Home, as was his tour. Charlie said the tour was inspired by one of his favourite artists “Jackson Brown, and he did a similar thing with Bo Diddley, who he wrote with for years and years. They did a show at the Royal Albert Hall where
it was basically just a guitar.” This influence is clearly seen in Charlie’s pared down performance, a million miles from his previous bands, but incredibly effective.
Charlie was not alone in making an impression. Joining Charlie were some fantastic supports, including We Are Blackwell and Emma Blackery. We Are Blackwell consisted of a bass player, and singer and pianist Andrew Blackwell, creating an unusual yet fantastic sound. The duo, usually accompanied by drums, have a distinct style. Reminiscent of Mika, they instantly become stuck in your
head. Following We Are Blackwell was Emma Blackery, a vlogger and musician well known for her Google song. If there is one overarching feature of Emmas performance it is her strength, not only of her voice, but of her stage presence and style. Her clear, occasionally reedy voice captured the attention of everyone in the Halls, whilst her lyrics had mix a humour and care which made them particularly appealing, particularly within Undercover Lover. Her music lacks the originality of tone that we saw in We Are Blackwell, but it was undoubtedly a fantastic performance by a talented musician.
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Charlie walked on stage in the beautiful Halls to cheers of ‘I love you big man’, which continued throughout as he bashfully thanked the crowd. His connection with the audience helped to create an enrapturing atmosphere throughout his set. His expectation that the simple solo nature of the tour will help create a “really intimate connection with the audience” seems to of been proved entirely accurate. Although it is not a new formula, Charlie’s mix of strong vocals and catchy hooks made it instantly entertaining. People stood silent and staring up at the stage, making it
hard to deny the power of his music, especially with his better known tracks such as Comets and Parachutes. The highlight of the show was his cover of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek. Charlie’s voice with the addition of autotune suits the song perfectly, with his voice soaring through unerringly. In contrast, Farmer and his Gun was one of the most upbeat of his set, allowing the audience an opportunity to dance, in an otherwise becalmed set. Look out for Charlie performing at a range of festivals this summer!
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THE OFFICE: UK VERSUS USA Daniel Mcloughlin Kirstie Woolhouse The Boss US: Michael Scott is, for me, one of the funniest characters in television. Of course, he had his moments that made you cringe and hide behind your hands (The Scott’s Tots episode for example) but overall I found him a lot better than David Brent. With David I found I was cringing a lot more than I was laughing. Although, that does purely depend on your sense of humour – I’ve found that some people find him sometimes unlikeable – especially where Toby Flenderson is involved. It was enjoyable to watch Michael Scott grow as a person; changing from a complete ignorant idiot to…slightly less of an ignorant idiot and you got to see the personal and lonely side of Michael which made him all the more lovable. UK: There’s no denying that David Brent is a character that makes the viewer feel awkward and embarrassed. Personally, I often hide behind my hands until these situations have passed; like when Brent pretends to fire Dawn for stealing paper clips and makes her cry! However, if you stick with Brent through these calamities, Gervais and Merchant show us that there is a loneliness and a need to be liked behind his attempts at entertainment. Nevertheless, in contrast to Michael Scott, I don’t think that Brent is a character designed to be loved. While we are invited to feel sympathy for him when things go wrong, I believe that it was more important to the writers that the character stood as someone with a unique blend of genuine belief in his own hilarity as well as his ability to inspire, with a little bit of sadness and loneliness to tug on our heart strings. The Length of the Series US: Obviously, The US Office is a winner here; it has nine series which is barely comparable to the UK Office’s two. What is important though, is that when Michael Scott left (as David Brent did in the UK version) there was no focus on Michael afterwards, there is little to no mention of Michael Scott, how his life with Holly is going and did he get the chance to be a parent and have people love him the way he wanted. UK: From the outset, it has to be remembered that The Office UK was always going to be kept to two series and a Christmas Special, as Ricky Gervais’ later works such as Extras and Derek have continued. I am a big fan of the length and structure of The Office US, with its nine seasons allowing for greater depth and exploration of characters and themes. However, what the short and sharp two series gives you is a snapshot
of a little period of these characters’ lives. We are given neither depth in their past nor much of a look into their future, with the exception of Tim and Dawn’s romance. However, what I feel this gives us as the viewers is room to ask ourselves questions. For example, were David Brent’s main desires in life friendship and romance (which he arguably got in the end)? Furthermore, as it was clear that both Dawn and Tim felt dissatisfied with their accomplishments in life, was their story in the series about each finding someone that could push them to strive for more in life, rather than being content with mediocrity and unfulfilled dreams of illustration and university respectively? By only giving us morsels, the writers leave the viewer wanting more of something they love, answering questions and leaving them open in equal measure. But, what the US version does well is that it accentuates the more subtle longings of the UK characters, such as Gareth’s desire for power, Brent’s longing for friendship and love, and Tim and Dawn’s hope for marriage and happiness after the first kiss. The Addition of New Characters US: Both incorporate new characters in some way, the UK gets members from Swindon, the US gets members from Stamford and then additional characters in the later series like Erin, Pete, Nellie and Clark. What I quite enjoyed is that these characters each had their own real personalities and became core parts of the shows. While they were brought in for small plots to begin with (Erin because Pam quits with Michael) they stayed and managed to be given their own backstories and complex personalities, for example, Nellie’s need for a child. UK: The new characters in The Office UK aren’t really given much of a role, other than in relation to the central characters already mentioned. For example, we only learn a bit more about Rachel when she becomes Tim’s girlfriend, after which she fades into the background leaving an open space in Tim’s life which is later filled by Dawn. This is perhaps symbolic of the fact that the entire show revolves around these characters and that peripheral characters only become important in so far as it affects the few at the centre. The Romance
US: By now it’s obvious that I’m biased. The amount of romances within the US Office is astounding, although as it happens over almost the period of a decade that’s fairly viable. Jim and Pam is a fan favourite and they’ll always be my number one fictional couple; Jim and Pam’s romance was my favourite thing to watch, it had parallels with The Office UK, of course with Pam (Dawn) already having a fiancée and the clear inner pining for one another. But, of course, with The Office US you get to see their wedding, see their ups
and downs and get to see them have adorable children. Plus, Dwight (The US’ answer to Gareth) also manages to have a romance, multiple romances actually, as did most of the characters of the US Office. It was nice to see the characters have personal lives within an office space which I feel didn’t happen very often within the UK’s version. UK: With the short few years over which The Office UK takes place, it is no surprise to me that there is just one central romance. Furthermore, with the mundane, everyday working environment, it makes sense that Tim and Dawn’s love story does not come to fruition until the very last episode. For me, the message here is that love can be rare and difficult to find, and so couples aren’t just going to find each other with ease. Whilst we are given clear indications of Tim and Dawn’s feelings for one another, things don’t just fall into place for them; with both finding themselves in relationships at one time or another that do not fulfil them. It is the contrast between Lee’s lack of consideration and affection for Dawn, as with his lack of belief in her dream of illustration and artwork, and Tim’s unwavering faith and encouragement of Dawn, that makes her realise that, although it is inconvenient for her to break up with her boyfriend, she wants to spend the rest of her life with someone whom she truly loves, and vice versa. Thus, in contrast to the various romances of The Office US, romance is treated as a rare and precious thing, with the viewer kept hoping and wishing until the very end.
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BOOK: ICE TWINS Sophie Bredbere Endorsed as being a book for the fans of Gone Girl and other psychological thrillers, The Ice Twins is author’s S.K. Tremayne’s debut. After one of Sarah and Angus’ twins die, they move to an inhospitable island in Scotland with the surviving twin. But there’s a problem – the surviving twin, Kirstie, is claiming she is Lydia and it was instead Kirstie who died. When Angus travels away for work, leaving Sarah and Kirstie/Lydia stranded on the island during winter, Sarah becomes more and more tortured as she tries to work out what happened on that fateful day. While the concept is good, it takes a while to get into the plot. It’s only around page 70 - a quarter of the way into the book - that they finally arrive in Scotland and from then on, it becomes a little easier to get into the plot. There’s always the idea that identical twins can be ‘creepy’ and ‘unnerving’, and Tremayne really plays on that by having the identity of the surviving twin shrouded in mystery.
Despite the initial premise and some moments, The Ice Twins was not the most imaginative or spectacular book. The writing style was quite repetitive at times nor was Sarah or Angus particularly likeable characters. Sarah comes across as being indecisive and doubtful – not that the situation would not have called for it – but it was at times rather irritating. The setting and the atmosphere it created was pretty much perfect. The isolated island is a typically Gothic setting that does an excellent job of setting the atmosphere, especially later on when it is just Sarah and the surviving twin. However, The Ice Twins is somewhat lacking in its pace: it feel odd with parts that are more slowgoing than others. A tighter editing could have prevented the tangents that do appear now and then. Despite the novel’s faults, it is not a bad book by any means. With the expectations that come with being endorsed with Gone Girl, it can feel a little disappointing. But it is a good enough read. And that was it. Good, just not great.
Character Development US: The Office US is a clear winner for me; the character development is allowed to expand over nine seasons whereas I found that The Office UK, as it is short, it doesn’t allow that kind of growth. Take Pam for example, at the beginning she’s in a relationship she barely wants to be in and she’s considerably more submissive but with the continuation of the series she becomes her own woman, she accomplishes what she couldn’t at the beginning (going to art school in the fourth series whereas in the first her fiancée more or less says that she couldn’t take that kind of opportunity), she grows wiser and she learns to assert her opinions where necessary and stands up for herself. All of the characters develop in some way. Arguably what is bad is that Kevin regresses into a caricature of the ‘large bumbling idiot’ but despite this all of the other characters manage to progress in a positive way. UK: In my opinion, the Americans do a far better job at allowing us to get to know the main characters, as well as the wider cast of The Office. However, as I have said, I don’t believe that the British aim was to give the audience a deep insight into the characters’ lives. For example, we learn that Tim
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PHOTO CREDIT: FANPOP regrets not finishing his university course, that he is dissatisfied with his lack of professional advancement, and that he had feelings for Dawn. However, in contrast to the US show, we aren’t given the deep insight into how Tim deals with his unrequited affection for Dawn, the way in which he conducts his other relationships nor the plans that he and Dawn have for their future together.
Conclusion While both of us tend to prefer The Office US more than we like The Office UK, we implore you to consider watching both and make your own minds up – not only for that but they are great TV shows and you’ll get a good laugh at least!
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PHOTO CREDIT: VULTURE.COM
BEYONCÉ VS. BECK Hon Jiun Wong One of the most irrational and insane debates has been going on all over the internet in the past few days. For some reason, people are split over who should have rightfully won the 2015 Grammy Award for Album of the Year: Beyoncé for her self-titled fifth album or Beck for ‘Morning Phase’. Realistically, Beck’s surprise win would have blown over quite quickly if Kanye West hadn’t decided to have a public opinion about the award. While Beyoncé and Beck are both deserving the award, there’s something inherently wrong with how individuals are framing the argument and how they’re interpreting West’s comments. Kanye’s comment that “Beck needs to respect artistry” is like saying House Leader John Boehner should respect the views of the public he represents or that Nigel Farage should respect the equality of genders, nationalities and ethnic groups. How does one go about define ‘artistry’? A large portion of the internet decided to solve this problem by comparing the number of writers and producers that each album
involved, the number of instruments played by each musician and the lyrics of specific songs. Just for the record, Beck wrote, produced and arranged all thirteen songs and plays thirteen instruments while Beyoncé had a team of sixteen people and didn’t play a single instrument. However, one can argue that Beyoncé’s voice is an instrument in its own right and she uses it pretty damn well. First of all, the comparisons that have been made between Beyoncé’s 7/11 and Beck’s Blue Moon are flawed simply one compares a bonus single with a song that was actually on the main album. This comparison is basically when an image was shared on social media comparing the chorus of Beyoncé’s Run The World (Girls) with a verse off Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody; the levels of complexities that a verse demands differ quite significantly from that of a chorus. If one really wants to set out on comparing the lyrics of Beyoncé and Back, they could use Ghost in which she criticises the current music culture and questions the empty ritual of a working lifestyle. Moving on, if one is basing ‘artistry’ off the number of people involved in
a body of work and that those who Some are of the opinion that Beyoncé work solely on their own are ‘true should have won because her selfartists’, then the power of creative titled album was suddenly dropped collaboration is severely undermined. on the world without any warning or English band Gorillaz produces music promotion - a high risk move for such that is a result of collaborating with a big pop star - or because the album different musicians, while Canadian has sold more than five million copies rock band Broken Social Scene is a worldwide. This sort of reasoning is collaborative that has as few as six or understandable when assessing how as many as nineteen members. It’s much attention each album got, but not that Beck should be commended not when evaluating an album. By for being the only person listed on his that very reasoning, Lady Gaga’s 2012 album’s credits, but album Born This that one should “Kanye’s comments that Way should have realise that some ‘Beck needs to respect knocked Adele’s of the world’s 21 in the 2012 artistry’ is like saying greatest songs Grammy Awards and albums were House Leader John Boeh- after selling over a result of late a million copies ner shoulr respect the night sessions in in its first week of views of the public he a studio, kicking release. around different represents.” sounds and seeing The number what everyone of sales that else thought of. Is an artist the person an album gets is secondary to the who only looks to themselves for amount of work and detail that has inspiration or is it the person who gone to crafting it. Neither should looks around and takes on similarly- the manner of which it has been driven people to work on a project released be considered as a criteria that might be bigger for just one for album of the year. Re-looking back person? Is it inartistic to craft a body to the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, of work with several individuals and it really should come to anybody’s then credit them for their invaluable surprise that Adele’s 21 won Album of contribution? the Year; the themes of vulnerability
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and honest song-writing managed to resonate with millions of people across the world. If the award was renamed to be “Best Release of the Year”, then undoubtedly Beyoncé’s surprise release would have won but the Academy has yet to consider PR and marketing strategy as a category in the Grammy Awards. Not that they really should. Kanye West’s comments are not entirely false but nor do they warrant complete mindless acceptance. When West said that if people “keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration”, his comments would have been better if they were applied to the current consumption and appreciation of music. Preferring singles over whole albums disrespect the craft of making music and under-appreciating the art and thought process behind songs is both disrespectful and harmful to the artist and all who have been involved. Beyoncé and Beck have both worked incredibly hard on their albums, but it is a gross injustice for people to think that sales, credits and something as subjective as lyrics are the basis of an award.
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YIK YAK: THE NEW WAY OF COMMUNICATING Filippo Cartoni The idea is to build a stronger community and with that in mind, students have been using Yik Yak to advertise their social events, share funny stories or update what is happening on campus in hopes of bringing the whole community together. Every year there is a new hot shot tech story that makes student living and social life much more entertaining. Luckily for us, this year’s brand new deal is geared towards University students who are seventeen and over. Anyone who is willing to create a fun and friendly environment now has the
opportunity to connect anonymously with their peers by mass sharing a witty comment, a funny story, or an idea. Yik Yak was launched in 2013 in the United States, and has since spread quickly throughout the whole country before finally crossing over to the United Kingdom. The app has grown so quickly in popularity partially because it makes students feel up-to-date with that is going on around them. It allows them to organize events, share thoughts, and fill up their spare time with something interesting, fun and engaging. You can even use the app without needing to make an account. Users can also
see anonymous posts made by individuals within a 10 mile radius of their current location, and can choose to interact with them by up-voting, or down-voting or replying to their posts - all completely anonymously. The app is also completely free! The top-voted Yaks in your area appear under the “hot” tab, and the more popular your post gets, the higher your Yakarma score becomes, creating the challenge to become a top Yakker! If you’re short of ideas on what to post, or just feel like going one step further, you can use the peek option, which allows you to pick any area in the world and view the Yaks
from there! The use of anonymity may appear to facilitate negative behavior, but the app is not has a strong self-policing feature incorporated into it. If a user encounters a negative Yak, they are able to downvote it and as soon as it reaches six or more downvotes, the post gets automatically deleted. In many universities in the United States, the app is already so popular that even lecturers and professors have begun using the app. They argue that it has become a part of their university’s culture, and thus they strongly felt the need to be a
part of it. They have also noticed that when they post motivational Yaks encouraging students to keep their spirits up during stressful times, it turned out to be a great emotional support for them and strengthens student-teacher relationships. Yik Yak has chosen Brunel University to be their first stop here in England, and they’re looking forward to a warm welcome from the student body. They hope to grow their herd by introducing all the useful features on their app, and adapting it to the Brunel way of life. So Brunel, Yak something worth reading, or do something worth Yakking.
PHOTO CREDIT: SKY
TV: FORTITUDE comes next.
Jasmine Brathwaite Spoiler Alert! A new chilly thriller reached our TV screens on the 29th January in the form of Stephen Brady’s Fortitude. Fortitude is an Arctic town, described a number of times as ‘the safest place on Earth.’ Rich with economic opportunities and discovery, nobody in the town is prepared for what
We are first introduced to Henry Tyson (Michael Gabbon – who many will recognise as Professor Dumbledore of the Harry Potter franchise) appearing to shoot a friend in the head accidentally, while he is being mauled by a polar bear. This is the first of many mysteries sure to unfold in the upcoming episodes. Viewers saw the horrific death of Professor Stoddart (Christopher Eccleston of Heroes and GI Joe) by the time the first episode concluded; surprising, as we expected such a
big name to be a lead character throughout the series. Stoddart’s death is surrounded with mystery after several characters appear to benefit from his death after he unearthed some information regarding the discovery of a mammoth. Eccleston is not the only British actor to appear though. We’ve seen appearances from Nicholas Pinnock (Captain America) and Johnny Harris (Atonement). Pinnock’s
character
Frank
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Sutter,
plays his troubled and adulterous role well, leaving the audience sure of his villainous traits. This makes him an unlikeable character, provoking us to cringe at his slurry of bad decisions. We also see the typical alpha male competition between the sheriff Dan Andersson (Richard Dormer) and DCI Morton (Stanley Tucci), as they fight for control over the murder investigation. Without giving too much away, Fortitude would be most appreciated by those who enjoyed programmes such as The Killing. It is quite obvious
from the first two episodes that the murder of Professor Stoddart will not be simply solved any time soon. The slow, unassuming pace allows the viewer to get comfortable, but not for very long. Watch Fortitude on Thursdays on Sky Atlantic at 10pm.
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FIFTY SHADES OF SILENCE Suzanne Bavington-Drew
Unless you have been living on the moon or on top of an isolated mountain you will have noticed a film by the name of Fifty Shades of Grey is being released this month. British media has decided, collectively, to fiercely publicise this release and we, the public, are being confronted from every possible direction with positive, excitable press. I have a massive problem with this, not least because of the hypocrisy of certain women’s magazines. The same publications that supported Emma Watson’s important speech on gender equality are now actively promoting a film that depicts a relationship between the sexes that could not be more unequal. Christian is predator, Anastasia is Prey; he is abuser, she is victim. Fifty Shades of Grey, the book, has been described by Amy Bonomi, a professor at Michigan State University and leader of two important studies into abuse present in the trilogy, as a “glaring glamorisation of violence against women”. The first of Bonomi’s two studies found that problematic abuse exists in nearly every interaction between the protagonist Anastasia and her ‘dream man’ Christian Grey -
NEARLY EVERY INTERACTION.
to understand why it is dangerous. I see from the amount, and type, of publicity surrounding the release that this is not the case., as found in Bonomi’s study,
I should point out that I have a personal reason to find Fifty Shades of Grey and its romanticising of abuse so abhorrent. I have been there. I “Problematic depictions of violence know what it is like to be with a man who controls, manipulates, hurts, against women in popular culture… intimidates and isolates. I remember create a broader social narrative that feeling as if I was nothing, my identity normalises these risks and behaviours a ghost on a distant horizon that I in women’s lives.” could never hope to reach, my fear of Imagine that you had escaped an what might happen if I tried to leave keeping me trapped. However, due emotionally and psychology abusive mainly to luck, I got away. I survived. relationship, or God forbid are still imprisoned in And I continue to. I am not a victim “Problematic depictions one, and you are via anymore and will of violance against women confronted TV, at bus stops, never be again. I in popular culture... create on the covers am lucky. I have a broader social narra- of magazines found myself and publicity it has empowered tive that normalises these with surrounding a film me. Some women risks and behaviours in which depicts a who have been similar relationship through similar women’s lives.” in a positive light. experiences, or Would you feel are going through them, are not so lucky. It is them I that you could be open about your own experiences? Would you feel worry for. that people would take you seriously, When I see the trailers and posters accept how traumatised you have for Fifty Shades of Grey I remember been? After all, according to the books who I was when newly liberated from themselves and countless online my abuser and I wonder how hard and magazine articles, a Fifty Shades it would be for me to try and get relationship is one women should be over the trauma I had experienced aiming for. We should all be looking in the face of them. I had hoped for our ‘Christian Grey’. Well, I’ve had before the film’s release that people mine. I’ll pass on that type of man in would have woken up to the abuse the future, thanks. the series romanticises and begun
Bonomi’s study also finds that Anastasia manifests “reactions typical of abused women”, such as “altered identity” “constant perceived threat” and “disempowerment and entrapment.” The confidence of a woman who has been abused is low. The abuser convinces them that they are worthless, eventually they believe him. This negative reinforcement doesn’t end when the relationship does. It is a fight to quieten that voice and rediscover their own. It is possible, but I can’t help but feel with so many media outlets shouting about the ‘romance’ of Fifty Shades that the abusers old voice will increase in volume; that the women’s own voice will tell her that she is wrong for feeling upset, hurt, traumatised, and that she should be grateful, after all isn’t this what women should want? I fear it will stop these women talking. In November Women’s Aid and Refuge launched a campaign where women could post a Shhh Selfie to social media. Each selfie represented a crack in the wall of silence surrounding abused women. The campaign was to encourage women to open up, to empower them by talking about their experiences, because taking the first step and talking to someone about abuse you’ve experienced is incredibly hard to do. It was an important and significant campaign, but its exposure and subsequent publicity wasn’t near
to that which Fifty Shades of Grey is currently experiencing. And more shamefully than that, the magazine that launched the campaign is now happily publicising the film. I will save their blushes by not mentioning them (not that they deserve it). Fifty Shades and the continued romanticising of Christian and Anastasia’s relationship, not just in the books or the film, but in the endless promotions and publicity does the opposite of the #shhhselfie campaign. It disempowers women who have been, or are still in, an emotionally abusive relationship; it keeps them quiet, it rebuilds the wall they must hide their pain behind. It binds their tongues. I hope I am wrong, but having been there myself and knowing how the continuing presence of Fifty Shades of Grey as a ‘romance’ makes me feel, I fear that I am not. I wish I could reach out to every woman who needs to talk but feels silenced by it and say ‘you can talk to me. I understand’. But I can’t. All I can do is not give the franchise any money and urge anyone who abhors violence against women to do the same. Don’t see the film. Donate to Women’s Aid or Refuge instead.
FIFTY SHADES OF NOT TODAY, THANK YOU Kate Taylor Unlike many of my anxiously awaiting girlfriends, I will not be going to the cinema on Valentine’s Day, or any day after that, to watch the notorious screen adaptation of every bored housewife’s favourite novel.
least one girl who has a poor, unwitting man with a pre-booked ticket as a ‘surprise’: let’s all take a moment to pray for him. Meanwhile I found the book very offensive for a few reasons, one of which being the appalling way it is written (the grammar and creative writing skills matching that of a GCSE English paper). However, I am not offended by this book for the same reasons that many other people are, which is its graphic content and glorification of BDSM as a sexual practise. I am offended by the misrepresentation and abusive nature of its sexual content in defence of BDSM.
Fifty Shades of Grey became an unimaginable success and one of the most controversial pieces of mainstream literature in 2011, but after reading a few pages of what my friends recommended as ‘the good bits’, I promptly shut it forever, and resisted the “The same rising bile in urge to burn it in solidarity of my my throat was produced retinas, which have when a few of my never quite felt the same. girlfriends told me that
First of all, from what I’ve gathered from excerpts I have read, my general research of the plot and the The same rising this book was being made watching trailers, this bile in my throat into a film.” Christian Grey was produced bloke does not when a few of my squealing girlfriends told me last year harbour the real, strong, trustworthy that this book was being made into a and loving traits of a real Dominant, film, and, surprise surprise, was being but apparently is cold, unloving and released on Valentine’s Day. I can’t tell has suffered emotionally and perhaps if this is a bid to make single women physically at a previous point in his feel lonely and unsatisfied or to make life. All of these things, I believe, are boyfriends all over the country feel a bid to explain his sexual preference inadequate, but either way I know at for domination and violence.
sexist. This is offensive in many ways to members of the BDSM community, as This is not a healthy attitude to push onto girls and it assumes that this women, a lot of type of personality “Fifty Shades of Grey whom probably, and patterns of promotes the idea that at the moment behaviour are what it takes to become this sexual behaviour is a they shut the book for the first a dominant, male ideaology.” time, decided they or that those needed to run out enjoying a healthy and find their own BDSM lifestyle are cold and damaged human beings. ‘Mr Grey’. Of course the liberation of From my understanding in reality, women’s sexuality in the mainstream Dominants are not only sexually media is a wonderful thing, but dominant but emotionally too. There implying that it’s safe for a woman is a lot of responsibility for loving and with no experience of BDSM or nurturing their partners to create a individual preference for it to dive into healthy dynamic for all involved and a relationship as a Submissive with an this is the norm in relationships of this ‘emotionally damaged’ and violent man is the opposite of that, even if kind. he is super cute, super rich AND super Secondly, it promotes the idea mysterious! that this sexual behaviour is a male ideology. The book and film show It was even revealed recently that that the woman, Ana, is pushed into the one and only Christian Grey, the practise of BDSM in a bid to make actor Jamie Dornan, has even directly this guy ‘like’ her, which then allows a insulted the BDSM community serious violation of both her sexuality with his comments regarding his and her personal life by entering preparation for the film. He was into (quite frankly) not a Dom/Sub quoted by Elle magazine to have said: dynamic but rather an abusive one. ‘I saw a dominant with one of his two This implies that women who are submissives, it was an interesting involved in these types of sexual evening. Then going back to my wife behaviours are small minded and are and new-born baby afterwards … I doing it purely for the pleasure and had a long shower before touching enjoyment of the man, which is both either one of them’. The reaction was grossly misrepresentative and very that of outrage. If it wasn’t enough
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that both the book and film were misrepresenting BDSM as a culture, now even its main actor has hinted in so many words that he believes the practice to be dirty and wrong. This opinion of mine will be unpopular with a few of my friends, who would probably call themselves fans of Fifty Shades of Grey. I, of course, believe that consenting adults can enjoy whatever naughty book they choose to, although I doubt this is one you’d pull out on the tube. However, my personal opinion, and the opinion of a large number of people within the BDSM community, is that this material is offensive and damaging, not for its sexual content or its use of violent sexual imagery, but rather for its warped use of it and its insulting representation of those who enjoy this practice. So please, if you want a cinema date on Valentine’s Day that bad, choose to watch The Theory of Everything and feed your intellect and emotional wellbeing. And avoid Fifty shades of Grey, or should I say Fifty shades of killing-your-grey-matter.
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PHOTO CREDIT: MARTHA SALHOTRA
GIG: HOZIER Martha Salhotra From a little town in Ireland called Wicklow emerges Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who has had a stratospheric rise into the mainstream music industry and has transitioned from small-time musician to now Grammy-nominated artist. With number one singles worldwide and performances on nearly every major TV show, including David Letterman and even the Victoria’s Secrets fashion show last year, Hozier played an extremely intimate set at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night, which left audiences nothing less
than enraptured. Comprising a fantastic set-list, Hozier treated fans and played all the muchloved tracks from his debut album - the heart-warming blues and gospel influences flooded in with the opener ‘Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene’, which quickly got the audience swaying and dancing with delight. As a performer, Hozier was simply a sight to remember; the passion with which he strums his guitar and sings is unforgettable, and there is a compelling sensuousness and ferociousness with which he connects to his music and the stage. And what an incredible band he is
blessed with. Although every member is commendable, vocalist and keyboard player Mia Fitzgerald was a stunning to watch and massively aided in bringing Hozier’s music come alive and feel as authentic as possible. A big highlight was Hozier’s performance of ‘Arsonist’s Lullaby’, which tore the stage apart and showed his strength as a vocalist and performer in full force. With his more softer songs such as ‘Like Real People Do’, ‘Work Song’ and ‘Sedated’, Hozier is other-wordly: he is chilling, haunting, phantom-like and magical. Not only does he have a mysterious aura of spirituality and even sensuality about him, every word he sings is
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emotionally rooted somewhere in his (genius) core. On stage he is captivating, staring somewhere far off and yet appearing and sounding absolutely connected with his craft, and this intensified when the band made a disappearance and ‘Cherry Wine’ was played to the audience. With ‘It Will Come Back’ Hozier delivered a powerful vocal and interweaved it with a dangerously seductive edge, which teased out the hint of sexuality evoked in his performances. ‘Take Me To Church’ gave the audience what they had patiently been waiting for, and left fans hanging off Hozier’s every word. By the time he had finished with an
enthralling cover of Amerie’s ‘One Thing’, everyone knew that Hozier is so much more than a one-hit wonder. Since he has transformed into an overnight megastar so quickly, one would imagine that Hozier has succumbed to fame or at least, is showing signs of this. But last night’s simplistic set proved that he remains a witty, wholesome and entirely humble man both in and out of performance. The show took me to church
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FILM: KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE Jasmin Nahar Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn made something of a dream-team last time round. Five years ago Vaughn adapted Millar’s graphic novel, ‘Kick Ass’ into a movie that shook up the superhero genre. This time round the two worked together to create the idea of ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’, before Vaughn gave it the big-screen treatment, and it’s the kick up the backside the spy film genre needs. Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton), a teenager growing up on a rough estate with his mum and abusive stepdad, finds out that his late dad was a member of the Kingsman, an elite group of spies whose hub is in a tailors of the same name. Kingsman member Harry, (Colin Firth), takes him under his wing and introduces him to the fold. Firth is excellent as Harry, a refined gentleman who can batter the life out of a gang of thugs before sitting down to enjoy a nice pint of Guinness and
Taron Egerton plays working-class hero Eggsy to perfection; laugh-outloud funny but never dumb. Samuel L Jackson is part comedy character, part villain, as Valentine; an eccentric billionaire with a lisp and a penchant for garish tracksuits and McDonalds. Valentine’s evil scheme takes a while, maybe too long, to make itself clear but eventually you find out it involves SIM cards and global warming. In a film involving bulletproof umbrellas, it says something that the villain and his plot to destroy the world are the most improbable part of the story. Nonetheless, it’s up to the members of Kingsman to stop the megalomaniac in his tracks. If you watched Kick Ass you’ll be familiar with the massive amounts of violence to expect. If you’re a bit squeamish you may find yourself watching part of the films through your fingers, but if you can stomach it, look out for the scene in a church. They’ve pushed the envelope pretty much as far as you can go whilst being rated 15.
This film is whip-smart and self-aware. It takes the mick out of spy films, but you don’t have to be a James Bond buff to get the references or laugh at the jokes. There’s even a bit where Harry and Valentine chat about their favourite spy movies, and towards the end a scene with a Swedish princess pretty much pokes fun at the Bondgirl clichés that have been trotted out over the years. It also touches on some important themes; there’s the sentimental but nice shtick about how being a gentlemen is based on your actions rather than your accent, and it’s also refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t demonise people living in rough areas; after all the guy who saves the world resides in Peckham. ‘Kingsman: the Secret Service’ is not really a movie driven by plot, there are a couple of twists but they don’t change things much. It is, however, an absolute riot of a film; Hollywood in its impressive visuals but British in its humour (bar Jackson’s hammy performance). Overall it’s as smart and sharp as the suits in the Kingsman’s tailors. A must-see.
FILM: THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Emma Challis There’s definitely a reason The Theory of Everything has been nominated for five Oscars and has already earnt Eddie Redmayne, who plays Professor Steven Hawking in the film, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for ‘Best Actor’. The film focuses on the relationship between Steven Hawking and his first wife Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). We’re taken from the light hearted first encounters of the couple in the world of 1960’s Cambridge University, through Stephen’s diagnosis before finally reaching the relationships heart-wrenching and quiet end. It’s this quiet end that really hits home and there is a lot to be said for the other moments that are played out in total silence in the film; Redmayne’s muted pain affects you deeply. A particular scene in which he silently struggles to climb the stairs alone stands out as one of the most memorable in the film but there’s no denying you are utterly convinced by Redmayne’s performance throughout. Despite this, the brilliantness of Redmayne’s complete transformation into Stephen Hawking shouldn’t overshadow Felicity Jones’ performance as Jane Wilde. She manages to capture a full spectrum of emotions in her slightest movements. And perhaps most importantly, she works an opposing force contributing her own formidable humour and life to the film.
FILM: JUPITER ASCENDING I had been looking forward to seeing Jupiter Ascending since the first trailer was released in June last year. The trailer made it looked like everything I love about sci-fi and more. Stunning visuals, an epic adventure story, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a sci-fi film I’d loved since Prometheus in 2012. I decided not to see the bar high for Jupiter Ascending; I tried to be as open minded as possible and hoped that I would at least be surprised. Surprised I was, but for all the wrong reasons. Within 10 minutes, there it was. Everything you don’t want to see in a $175 million Hollywood Science Fiction film - bad green screen. I’ve seen better green screen in Doctor Who which has a pretty terrible reputation for special effects.
Visually the film isn’t groundbreaking but it’s definitely pleasing to the eye. Despite this the filming is fluid and keeps the story moving where otherwise it might have dragged. The shots contribute to the overall impact of the film quietly and consistently, from scientific theories explained through Artsy coffee swirls to the familiar streets of Cambridge. The film is moving and exceptionally well executed. I left the cinema having laughed, cried, been completely convinced by the actors and immersed in the story. Which, to me, is everything a great film should do.
MUSIC: ‘O SHUDDER’ DUTCH UNCLES
PHOTO CREDIT: IDIGITALFILMS
Ellie Wiltshire
However, while the film focuses on the life and relationships of these two very real people, it does so much more than that. It portrays an attitude to life in general which can be summed up with the much-used quote from the film, ‘However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. While there is life there is hope.’ This underlying message, plus the essential inclusion of Stephen’s infamous sense of humour, gives the film a much needed lift. It serves as a reminder that this is a film about a man’s successes despite the odds.
The plot was so ridiculous I could barely tell you what the movie is about. I was too distracted by the ridiculousness of the whole thing like the distracting whispering of virtually every line from Eddie Redmayne which would turn into a screeching yell in less than a second. Within the first 20 minutes Mila Kunis’ character Jupiter Jones has agreed to sell her eggs in order to buy a telescope? The question mark at the end is necessary; I actually had to remind myself if that really was part of the plot. Channing Tatum plays Caine, a half human, half wolf soldier who is sent to bring Jupiter to Eddie Redmayne’s character Balem, who believes he is next in line to inherit Earth and not Jupiter Jones who Balem’s mother, the matriarch, said would rule due to their resemblance. And then there’s Sean Bean who plays Stinger, Channing Tatum’s old friend, with a very fitting name due to the fact he’s also half bee.
David Bennett Trying to describe the plot of this film is difficult, because it’s all over the place and I wish I could say ‘See for yourself, you may have a different taste to me’, but anyone who enjoys Jupiter Ascending must have been watching Star Wars instead, which it was trying its very best to be. The final 30 minutes just about saved this movie; there was an intense face-off between Kunis, Tatum and Redmayne. It seemed more was spent on the huge spectacular special effects, which of course is necessary, but no effort was gone into simpler things such as backgrounds of scene! This film would just about scrape 5/10 from me; I don’t look forward to the next film I see where I’m waiting for it to end. Let’s hope it doesn’t ruin Eddie Redmayne’s Oscar chances.
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You probably won’t find these guys on one of Radio One’s monotonic daytime playlists, but that is most probably a good thing. Dutch Uncles are a uniquely formed package of vivacious musical elements, and highly entertaining at that. O Shudder, released on independent British label Memphis Industries, is Dutch Uncles’ forth studio album since their debut in 2009, and it is what may be considered part of the logical progression of their highly original sound and style. Complicated and sophisticated song structures merge with off-beat time signatures verging on experimental jazz; elements of 1980s electro pop combine with the lounging piano riffs one might hear in Carpet Right (if you’ve ever been to Carpet Right, you’ll know what I mean); front man Duncan Wallis’ vocals hold similarity to
those of Alexis Taylor’s from Hot Chip; and lyrically, Wallis delivers a poetic intellectually which veers towards the pretentious, but wonderful. All of these elements come together, in O Shudder, with the expertise one may imagine coming from six years and four albums worth of focus on a unique formula. It may be argued that the band’s originality is to the detriment of their commercial success at this stage. However, artistry and the development of a distinctive style to its fullest form trump commerciality – which doesn’t necessarily involve any of these things – every time. It was the Oscar, Golden Globe and seven-time Grammy-winning genius, Prince, who said recently that “albums still matter”, and O Shudder is a fully formed album which matters. A unique and artistic 7½ out of 10!
CULTURE
FILM: EX MACHINA Cayle Hotene At a time when Elon Musk and Bill Gates are laying stakes in the ground on how we should curb the rise of Artifical Intelligence, Garland’s Ex Machina comes at a time when such intelligence is a very realistic probability. We’ve seen films that present AI as sentient and deserving of life, but in a time so pertinent to subject matter, does Alex Garland offer anything new, anything relevant, and most importantly of all, anything instructive? His debut, Ex Machina, fits the mould quite nicely as far as artistic progression goes. The enigmatic creator / programmer of the world’s most worryingly powerful search engine (I won’t draw any parallels here, but I wouldn’t type this sentence into the first search engine that pops to mind) holds a unique raffle to spend a week at his retreat. A lucky programmer Caleb wins, and is flown out to a bond villain’s wet dream; a lair only approachable by helicopter, densely thicketed by a forest and made of sturdy, trusty design. Instantly (Nathan is not a man of extreme subtlety) Caleb is told that he is here to administer the famous Turing test to what the BlueBook man thinks is the first iteration of true Artificial Intelligence. A claim that, if proven, would make him not a man, but a ‘god.’ Nathan likes this idea and asks Caleb to repeat it the next day. Indeed, it is the artificial intelligence,
Ava, that steals the show visually and thematically and too adorns the positively abundant marketing for the film, but this is equally Oscar Isaac’s film; his slow-burning rise is no secret to many moviegoers but it’s not insulting to say he is fairly middling in terms of status; all set to dramatically change with important (integral in some respects) roles in Star Wars and X-Men: Apocalypse. He imbues Nathan with qualities rarely seen in megalomaniacs (though his sense of grandeur and pomp is very, very justifiable on his accomplishments) self-doubt, a need to puff one’s feathers perhaps through this selfdoubt, an ingratiating ability to appear a buddy you could potentially hang out with - he’s utterly unique, to put it short. Perhaps those qualities mirror a psychopath’s, and perhaps he is one. But he is a genius, foremost, and his character weights the film with gravitas constantly; discussing with Caleb how AI will look back at us like we look at fossils. His intelligence and poise is progressively counterbalanced by his murky moral compass effortlessly - he’s quite simply an assured fit. The setting and the subtly unsettling nature of Nathan point towards the path the film might take and indeed probably the film we have in our mind before we watch it - but Garland swabs his picture with enough murkiness to make us question preconceived ideas. Visually, the film is less deliberately misleading: a debut so clear and concise in visual establishment and tone deserves full praise. Within the extremely contained, almost claustrophobic
setting of Nathan’s complex, Garland writes his characters and directs his actors with enough aplomb that the film has movement through their interactions alone. Some of the best moments in this AI film come from the two men hashing out theories over a beer. One scene in particular that showcases Oscar Isaac’s hitherto unknown dancing talents seems destined to enter movie iconography - perfect positioning of actors, perfect lighting, and a note-perfect nestling of comedy within a super-serious narrative. But this is Ava’s film, for all Nathan’s self-aggrandising and Caleb’s will to do something good. It is Ava, Nathan’s creation and purportedly the next step in AI evolution. Not through performance - though the relative newcomer easily holds her own with the other two - instead, because (oh so rightfully) this is a film about intelligence of the artificial kind. She is played deliberately robotic, somewhat infantile socially in speaking to Caleb, but her wonder at the human life and obvious displays of intelligence belie her open circuits and brain. Nathan reveals his gambit midway: she’s there to see if Caleb can process her as a robot and still think she’s human. A beautiful little intellectual nugget not devoured already by other AI works. That it is suggested Ava can genuinely feel and love is no new concept; think Blade Runner; but Ava is a new creation and one that should be welcomed heartily into AI canon. Ava can feel and think and experience, and it’s beautifully told and realised, but in an age where real AI seems destined to pop its self-aware head around the corner at any moment, a more radical, strong-stanced approach could have elevated it from superb to important.
PHOTO CREDIT: HEADLINE PLANET
MUSIC: MEGHAN TRAINOR Victoria Sanusi
A song rejected by Beyoncé and Adele turns Meghan Trainor into overnight pop sensation. The ‘All About The Bass’ singer has started her music career positively, charting number 1 in 58 countries. Her second album ‘Title’ debuted at No. 1 on the Billbftoard 2000 in January. It’s a bubblegum pop, bluedeye soul and doo-wop compilation that the charts have been missing since Bruno Mars’s ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’ album in 2012. The 21-year-old starts the album with her beautifully sung acapella interlude, “The Best Part”, which is a precious 25 seconds that you’ll have on loop. Here, she shares the best part of being a singer: ‘singing to the world my song’. Meghan caught the attention of the world with her body-positive anthem ‘All About The Bass’, which in the video starred super-star Viner Sione Maraschino shaking his ‘bass’. The song has received criticism for Trainor apparently skinny-shaming her less voluptuous counterparts with lines like “boys they like a little more booty to hold at night...you know I won’t be no stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll”. However, the Massachusettsborn singer has said in her Spotify
PHOTO CREDIT: VARIETY
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Commentary that “it’s a song about loving your insecurities”. The album has features from the likes of nine-time Grammy Award winner John Legend and rapper Shy Carter. The singer-songwriter shows off her rap flow on “Bang Dem Sticks”, a song about her fetish for drummers and contains a few cheeky innuendoes. The album moves on to songs that are dedicated to college kids: ‘3AM’ is a single about drunk-texting while ‘Walkshame’ is about drunken flings. Both songs showcase a throwback and doo-wop style but with a modern twist. Meghan wants her listener to not judge but also wants them to know “You’re not alone. I’ve done it too.” Her latest debut single ‘Lips Are Movin’ is a retro-soul medley where Trainor sings about how boys are liars and all they want is ‘bass’. It’s a sassy number that has been dubbed “All About That Bass 2.0”, but the feisty singer has reached even greater success, proving that she’s not just a one hit wonder.
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PHOTO CREDIT: NETFLIX
THE NETFLIX BOOM: THE IMPENDING TAKEOVER Parveen Bhambra Due to our new and advanced digital age, we have begun watching our much-loved episodes of The Office and Homeland on streaming websites like Netflix. When we weren’t given the cable opportunity in the United Kingdom, Netflix brought the greatness that is Breaking Band to our eyes through a streamed medium. The streaming giant has even managed to create their very own original productions, series ranging from dark comedies like Orange is the New Black to political dramas like House of Cards and mythical historical dramas like Marco Polo. Now it is time to celebrate the fact that Netflix is sweeping through homes in UK as a number one form of watching
and enjoying TV shows. It’s not just Netflix that’s taking over the nation, but also Hulu and Amazon Instant Video (one of the official sponsors of Sundance Film Festival 2015). As of January 2015, Netflix has 57.4 million subscribers, 5.5 of which are UK subscribers. According to the transcript of monthly Netflix Earnings Call, as provided by Thomson Reuters Streetevents, a total of 50 countries access the streaming site. These statistics are forever growing as a result of its height in popularity, inexpensive rates and an all-round good selection of viewing material. Case in point, the number of UK subscribes rose considerably from 1 million in 2012 to what it is now: 5.5 million. For £5.99 a month in the UK and $7.99 in the US, which is soon to rise by £/$1, you can’t go wrong. Cable and TV companies are in for a shocking decline in their customers
as viewers throw out the whole television and Sky/Freeview/Virgin hassle and instead glue themselves to the up and coming technologies of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video. Soon everybody will be looking down their noses at TV sets and cable-broadcasting services, in favour for even more advanced digital age of watching. Furthermore, it’s not like the productions that these services have generated are sub-par. House of Cards made its mark in the industry of Hollywood entertainment when it garnered multiple prestigious nominations at award ceremonies and festivals. It won three Primetime Emmy’s, including Best Direction and Best Drama, in 2013. With Netflix outbidding famed networks like HBO and Showtime to have this show a part of their name, it didn’t take long for their other shows, like Hemlock
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Grove and Orange is the New Black to be welcomed with similar reactions, with the latter generating more hours viewed in its first week than any other Netflix original series. Marco Polo was met with mixed reviews, but held its own long enough to garner a second season renewal. Backtracking to Breaking Bad, Netflix has continued the Walter White buzz by creating a prequel series. The highly anticipated series, Better Call Saul, follows the life of our favoruite crooked twobit lawyer, Saul Goodman. Future projects confirmed include the Marvel Television/Netflix collaboration for a five-season deal of live-action series focusing on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Obviously, Netflix has provided its viewers with shows of diverse genres and stories, and a superhero deal is just a must, so thumbs up to that. But Netflix is not the only streaming
site that is at the height of its expertise, with Hulu’s diverse set of original programming: the documentary web series ‘A Day in the Life’ and Kevin Smith’s movie discussion show ‘Spoilers’. Amazon Instant Video also has the critically acclaimed Transparent, starring Jeffrey Tambor from his previous Netflix-produced Arrested Development fame. Streaming sites are becoming the new norm of viewing entertainment in this new digital age, but lets not forget that television has played an influential role in our lives. It has provided us with the ability to watch international programming as well as the tradition of watching Eastenders on Christmas day with the whole family. So, we will see where these new technologies take us in the upcoming years. This is simply the beginning.
COFFEE BREAK
33
LE CROSSWORD ACROSS
DOWN
1. That day on which everyone kisses and stuff. Or posts ‘forever alone’ pics on their Facebook.
1. The purply colour you go when you hold your breath for a really long time
5. The heart is one of these. Also Davy Jones plays a pretty bad-ass one.
3. Childminder.
7. Thin. 8. If you go too hard on the predrinks, you might be refused this. 9. Leo DiCaprio doesn’t have one of these. 11. Fifty Shades… ropes and gags…? Give it your best guess. 12. Egyptian sun god.
2. Flashes and forks.
4. Greek fellow who flew too close to the sun. 6. Brunel protested against the Union’s decision to invite this company on campus for Green Week due to its alleged responsibility for irreparable damage caused to the environment. 10. Skrillex ALWAYS drops it. 11. Watering-hole.
13. Useful for smokers.
ESTHER THE AGONY AIN’T Dear Aunt Esther, I am currently a postgraduate student in International Relations, here at Brunel. I’m starting to realise that one of my lecturers actually hates me. Its really awkward. Whenever I go into his lecture, he stares me out with a sense of disgust in his eyes. Its like he’s blaming me for killing a puppy that he was really fond of as a child. The other day he picked on me to answer a question in class, and humiliated me when I didn’t know the answer. Just to make matters worse, this week I found out that he’s been allocated as my dissertation supervisor! I just don’t know what to do! How do I find some common ground with this guy? I have to work with him, so avoiding
him is not a possibility. Thanks. Rob. Rob. You’ll always meet people who won’t like you. This isn’t something bad; its just a fact of life. People won’t always see eye-to-eye with you, and you just need to accept that. But seeing as you have to work closely with this professor, I want to suggest some tactics. These tactics will get you from the doghouse into the “HeyDawgURActuallyReallyCoolhouse” in no time! First, I suggest using the gift tactic. All this involves is taking him a present to say “thanks for all the lecturing”! Bananas work great, and are 100% effective. Just don’t tell your mates
that you did this; they’ll think you’re a major suck up. Failing this, you can always try the frankness tactic. Arrange a meeting with your lecturer and tell him straight: why we not m8s? Lets be m8s! After this brief exchange, find some common ground between the both of you. Before you know it, all that hate will turn into the makings of a budding bromance! A sweet, sweet bromance. Good luck. Esther Out. Dear Aunt Esther, I am currently a third year undergraduate student, studying a BA in English with Creative Writing. I’m finding that the year, so far, is going really well; I’ve managed to get my in assignments early, and
LE HOROSCOPES Aries:
Cancer:
Yes, you can curl up in a blanket burrito. Go on, we’ll wait.
Wear the onsie, feel the onsie, be the onsie.
Taurus: A flap of a butterflies wings can cause hurricanes, so please don’t wear that fairy costume to Academy.
I’m enjoying the content and direction my modules. But I have one problem. This semester, I’m in a class with a boy who persistently talks during lectures. Well, he thinks she is whispering, but, in actual fact, the whole class can hear him! It doesn’t seem to bothered our lecturer; however, its certainly bothering me! I just can’t concentrate. Can you please give me some advice on how I can solve this issue? I think I might have to talk to him, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Thanks, Mercedes. Mercedes, I hear you girl. Nattering during lectures is the worst thing EVER. When I studied a BA in Knitting at Brunel, my classmate Gladys would
Anyway, here’s how I’d deal with your situation. Try some simple psychology in the form of classical conditioning. At your next class, make sure you sit next to him. Every time he whispers, whack him on the head. If him tries it again, whack him once more. Repeat until, finally, he whispers no more. Trust me, its 100% effective. Failing this, I would suggest telling him to shut the fuck up. Esther Out.
Jade Pepper
Eddie Leggatt Virgo:
always chat during our lectures. “Oh, did you see corrie last night? Oh, did you watch Emmerdale?”. No one cares Gladys; save your chit chat for after class!
Sagittarius:
Aquarius:
Avoid circular arguments, as Mars is in its fourth quarter and therefore you should avoid circular arguments.
Leo:
Unfortunately, this horoscope got too many downvotes on Yik Yak, MySpace and/or Bebo. Better luck next time, Virgo.
As Pluto smashes the rings of Uranus, we think our double entendre machine has broken down. Bewbs.
Libra:
Capricorn:
Pisces:
Deadlines are coming. Quick, look busy and maybe they’ll ignore you.
You don’t need no balding beardy weirdo to tell you what to do. You got this.
That wasn’t sugar in your coffee this morning. I’m not going to tell you what it was, but the stars say you should probably get yourself checked out.
Gemini:
Scorpio:
Pastiche and pastas sound similar, but you can only afford one of them!
Try not to stare at his abs. They’re hypnotic. Mhhhm.
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We know you’ve got a lot of essays, but building a shrine to Google books is not an efficient use of your time.
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SPORT WHY ARE THERE SO FEW BLACK FOOTBALL MANAGERS? Chris Brown After securing QPR’s first away win of the season on Tuesday Chris Ramsey was given his chance to manage the west London club. Incidentally it was Ramsey’s first job higher than developmental level in more than fifteen years in the game. Is it because of his colour or is it because the opportunity has never presented itself? In November the Football Association chairman, Greg Dyke said he expects to see some form of the Rooney Rule introduced into English football. The rule, which was established in the United States in 2003 and requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions, the model has been hailed as successful. Speaking at a lecture addressing the issue of discrimination in football and the media at the University of Manchester back in November, Dyke said: ““Everybody’s got to agree. I think there will probably be the equivalent of the Rooney rule, then we’ve got to say, ‘Are we seeing change?’ The people running football all recognise there’s a problem and that was probably not where they were two years ago.” There have been many calls to
introduce the rule in England to try and address the persistent lack of black and ethnic minority managers in the Football League. Currently just 6 of the 92 league clubs in England have black managers. Chris Powell at Huddersfield Town, Keith Curle at Carlisle United, Chris Hughton at Brighton and Hove Albion, Fabio Liverani at Leyton Orient, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Burton Albion and Chris Ramsey at QPR. Yet an interview we have exclusively for you with black former footballer David Howell, who has been in the minority and has managed at nonleague level with Harrow Borough and St Albans City suggests otherwise to Dyke’s claims. Howell said: “People at the top believe that there is nothing that needs to be done, when there is much that needs to be”. Howell, 56, has been in football for the last 37 years and has been involved with addressing the problem of the lack of black managers with the PFA Forum for the last fifteen years. Howell pointed out the example of Ian Holloway who resigned from jobs at Crystal Palace and QPR, but has not damaged his reputation and has walked into another job at Millwall; Howell added “black managers have a struggle to get another opportunity after dismissal”.
management”.
Archaic football Howell said: “They (people at the top) have the view if your good enough your get the chance, but football in this country operates in an archaic way”. “When I was at Birmingham Karen Brady wouldn’t be allowed into the opposition’s boardroom despite Karen being the Chief Executive at the time”. Further evidence of the archaic nature of football at the elite level can be seen through the views of Wigan Athletic’s chairman Dave Whelan who Howell described as “archaic” too.
Preconceived ideas Twenty five per cent of the players playing across the top four English divisions are black however a return of just six managers is dismal. Is it that black players have a preconceived idea of football management? When asked about the preconceived idea Howell talks about the importance of his role with the PFA and the work they do when talking to potential black managers, trying to convince them there is a chance at the top level. Howell said “from talking to players, a lot of the black players do not feel inspired into coming into football
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But the inspiration will only truly come if there is a level playing field according to Howell who said that “all black managers want is a level playing field”.
Rooney Rule But what will level the uneven playing field; will it be the Rooney Rule? It may be however it is still up in the air whether it will be introduced. Howell prefers to look at the positives of the Rooney Rule and not the negative view of former players such as Kieron Dyer and Titus Bramble who described the rule as “disgraceful”. Howell describes the rule as “a chance for a foot in the door, which is a start”. Adding it is important to “break the preconceptions of black managers, but they (the people at the top) don’t understand they have to break the preconceptions”. And breaking the preconception will make it easier for black managers to get the opportunity to manage at the top level of the game, Howell who is experienced at non-league level says “it is still difficult at non-league level but it’s easier than it is at the top for black managers”.
Managing abroad Recently black former footballer and Sheffield United favourite Brian
Deane went abroad to manage after finding no opportunities back in the UK. Deane went to Norway and was a success managing Sarpsbourg 08 which he left after he had a falling out with the board and it remains to be seen whether he will get a job back in England. Howell believes there is no reason why Deane can’t get a job back in English football with Cardiff City stating that Ole Gunner Solskjær got a job from his work in Norway in the Tippeligaen. But Howell says the lure of the Premier League means aspiring black managers avoid going abroad. “The Premier League is the league the managers want to work in, the league attracts the best managers… Making it harder for black managers to break in”. This is a problem in itself with “foreign managers being seen as a better option”. A problem that affects all young British managers white or black. Howell stresses the importance of it being “about the ability of the managers, and it shouldn’t be a matter of colour; it should be a level playing field”.
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EVERYTHING COMING UP HOCKEY AS SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE Shelley Spooner Hockey Women’s First s Brunel 8 - 0 KCL It’s been a hard season for the women’s first hockey team, after losing so many crucial players due to graduating. However this hardship has been met with fight and commitment by all players, yet we all knew that this clash between the top of the table and the bottom of the table would be a hard match to play. The match started off well, with the defence being as solid as ever by breaking down play and preventing any possible shots on goal. However, this was soon to change as a result of a short corner being awarded to Kings. A strike from the right hand side enabled Kings to go 1-0 up. And things didn’t get much better after that. More shorts were awarded which resulted in another goal, a player being subbed off injured, resulting in two more subsequent goals. 4-0. Half time came and went and the team spirit was still high, having known that this was going to be a
CREDIT: KIRSTY CAPES
BRUNEL COMES UP SHORT AGAINST UEL Mehdi Punjwanii
distance, sending even the inimical home crowd into disbelief.
Men’s Basketball Brunel 69 - 94 UEL
The third quarter unfolded in much the same way, as the UEL team’s significant height advantage and their elaborate tactical play could not be contained by a struggling Brunel team, who at one point were ceding a thirty point deficit.
Brunel University men’s basketball team failed to overcome University of East London, suffering a 25-point home defeat. Though UEL put the first points on the scoreboard, some quick end-to-end play between both teams resulted in a high scoring series of opening exchanges. The teams were shown to be closely matched at the end of the first quarter, with UEL narrowly poking in front by 26-21. However, over recent weeks UEL have proven themselves to be a dominant side, and this was more evident in the second quarter as the East London outfit opened up a 19 point lead over Brunel University, following a number of flowing attacks. The highlight for the University of East London came at the end of the quarter, as an urgently executed build up that began with only three seconds on the clock culminated in UEL’s Smith scoring a two pointer from
Brunel University’s Lartey attempted to spearhead a resurgent recovery, scoring nine points without reply from the East London University, including two three-pointers at the end of the quarter, bring the score back to 72-52. Unfortunately, the home team could not capitalize on their gains, as a series of unexploited openings and clinical finishing on UEL’s part meant the comeback was thwarted. In the end, UEL achieved a welldeserved 94-69 victory, keeping them first in the BUCS Basketball Premier South group on a points total of 27, having taken maximum points in all 9 games. Brunel University sit second on 21 points, having incurred their second loss of the season, still 6 points ahead of London South Bank in third. CREDIT: YOHANNA SALLBERG
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tough match from the outset and the result thus far had was not as bad as expected. Although, little did we know that the second half was going to be gruelling. Short corner after short corner were being awarded to Kings, with our midfield constantly running to try and save the defence, and with another player off injured, the help was needed. Furthermore, a yellow card was awarded shortly after, meaning Brunel had only 9 players on the pitch. Even though only 1 goal was scored with 9 players on the pitch, the overall result was 8-0, which was a good score line in our eyes, due to many things not going our way in that match. Brunel are hoping to build on this and get a better result in the final match of the season against Kent.
Women’s Thirds Brunel 1 - 0 R. Holloway The last game of the season had come upon the third team a lot quicker than expected, but they all wanted to ensure that there was a positive end to a not so positive season. With high spirits all round, the whole team were determined to, at the very least, enjoy this last game of the season, especially as for some it would be their last game at Brunel. The match started off well, with Brunel
mostly keeping possession and some skilful runs by Georgie Gregory and Yohanna Sallberg. However, Royal Holloway were persistent in their defence and responded by breaking through the middle of the pitch, only to be stopped by the amazing defence of Emma Arnold and Charlotte Bailey. With only 1 short corner in the first half, Brunel had managed to keep the score line at 0-0. After an inspiring team talk by the captain, everyone was determined to go out there and win, knowing it was well within their ability to take the match. With excellent play by the whole team, Brunel were awarded with a goal from none other than Captain Abbie Parker. After this, the game was very even, as Brunel became slightly unfocused a result of the goal, however were determined not to give an easy goal as a result. Brunel got back into their stride and on the final whistle, the score was a clean 1-0, giving them the victory. Charlotte Bailey was awarded man of the match for her great performance at the back and Brunel’s thirds were happy to go out of this season on a high!
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CHLOE JACKSON: IT’S TIME TO RAISE THE PROFILE OF JUDO Jonny Girling In the spring of 1994, an 18 month old girl watched as her brother competed at various Judo competitions under the guidance and support of a father who also had pedigree in the sport. This young girl would grow up to win a multitude of awards, including the British Championship an incredible three times. Modest when discussing her various honours, yet brimming with enthusiasm when asked about her memories of competing, Brunel Physiotherapy student Chloe Jackson is on the verge of fighting competitively again. This comes after a fourteen month lay-off due to an ACL injury which temporar-
ily ended hopes of adding to an impressive list of tournament victories for the 21 year old hailing from Rainham in Essex.
tion, and Brunel even offered Jackson a Sporting Excellence Scholarship for her second year of study, a show of recognition of her achievements.
Jackson, along with many other voices within the university, believes Judo should be involved in the Varsity competition against St. Mary’s, and would certainly aid newcomers to the sport who are inexperienced in competitive fighting.
The University should be commended for raising the profile of Judo through this scholarship, and National Champions such as Jackson, who also won a Silver Medal at the European Cup in Spain and a Bronze in Serbia, do not come along every day.
In an era where the government have frequently pledged to involve both children and adults in sports across the board in an inclusive manner, Judo certainly deserves to be up there. The success of holding the 2012 Olympics in London increased participa-
In context, the funding of Judo from the governing body mainly focuses on the elite athletes, but with some renowned coaches at Brunel, along with stars such as Jackson, the sport can grow, and the impressive Brunel alumni thriving in sporting arenas may
continue along with it. Despite being an individual sport in practicality, teamwork is required with a coach a necessity, along with a training partner to help develop different skills and the comfort of having people you know surrounding you when competing abroad. There is also the chance to share your elation after a victory and the support to pick you up after a defeat. Having competed at the Youth Olympics, and a former British champion, Chloe Jackson is certainly one of Brunel’s finest sporting assets.
BRUNEL MEN’S HOCKEY SEES OFF PORTSMOUTH Cameron Gaffney Men’s Hockey Brunel 4 - 3 Porstmouth It was a bitterly cold afternoon at the Brunel University Sports Park, with both Brunel and Portsmouth men ready for a crunch game the umpires signal and blow for push back. PHOTO CREDIT:DIANA MERAZ
THE BRUNEL BADGER IS COMING Ryan Giltinane Now you may be thinking that this article is about a particular Badger which takes advantage of the Brunel Campus to move around and sneak food and other materials from unsuspecting students but unfortunately no such badger exists (that I am aware of). Instead this article concerns the annual inter-University sailing event known the ‘Badger’, the intention behind this name has long been lost to the many pages of history but the event and the name remain. The Brunel Badger is an event orchestrated and organised solely by the Brunel Sailing Club. On Saturday 28 February and Sunday 1 March, sailing teams from all across the country will travel to Datchet Water Sailing Club to participate in a series of competitive races. The event takes place on
The game was a frosty affair for the first ten to fifteen minutes, with both teams looking to get the first goal. Brunel began to dominate the possession; looking the more threatening side, they had the patients to just hold the ball and wait for a gap to open.
cover the wide areas of the pitch very much, allowing the Portsmouth men to drive down the wings and doing this led to the player getting behind the Brunel defence, who had been so resilient up to this point and slip the ball back away from the closing presence of Brunel keeper Mikey and slotting the ball into an empty Brunel goal. With the teams going into half time at 2-1, it was all for Brunel to lose. However with a motivated team talk from the coach, the Brunel men came out firing again winning an early short corner from the restart. Alessandro slung the ball towards the top of the ‘D’ for the readily prepared Ross to stop the ball for Boobbyer who calmly slammed the ball low and hard into the left corner of the Portsmouth goal.
the Queen Mother Reservoir and is completely free, so if you consider yourself a true Brunelian and want to come and support the efforts of the Brunel Sailing team or if you’re more interested in competitive sailing in general then feel free to make your way down and enjoy the activities (food and drink will be available at Datchet!).
This method seemed to pay off as, before you knew it, the unit of Philip Boobbyer made a superb tackle in the middle of the pitch, got his eyes up and slipped pacey attacker Sam Goodwin in for a one-on-one with the Portsmouth goal keeper, who coolly slipped under the keepers sliding body.
For those that cannot come and support the team during the day there is another event. On Friday 27 February at 8pm the winners of the Battle of the Band competition will be performing in Academy, entry is completely and utterly free and you’ll get a chance to mingle with sailors from all across the UK! Come along and show your support, enjoy the free music and the free entry into Academy!
Scoring the first goal put Brunel in control of the game with attack after attack; they won a long corner, Cameron Gaffney took the corner himself driving towards the Portsmouth ‘D’, beating one flat footed Portsmouth player to slip the ball back to Sam who hit it first time, with the initial shot deflecting off the keepers pads into the middle of the ‘D’ all to fall for the boisterous Brunel right back Alessandro to power into the back of the goal.
Brunel were now 3-2 up they took control again and began to build momentum in the game, moving the ball from left to right to create space to attack the Portsmouth goal, with doing so managed to mount a dangerous attack towards the goal.
Brunel were now well in control of the game, winning most of the battles in the middle. However, they did not
Both player and keeper ready the umpire signalled for the flick to be taken, at which point Louis sweetly
If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to email: Ryan.Giltinane@brunelsailing.com I hope to see people there!
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However, the Portsmouth men quickly responded to this goal, scoring one back through an attack down the left which led to a ball being fired across and slipped into the back of the Brunel goal.
After some scrappy and dangerous defending the umpire awarded a penalty stroke to Brunel. The responsibility for this was placed to Louis who had played fantastically thus far.
tucked the ball into the top left corner, but some confusion between the umpires caused for the penalty flick to be retaken, which resulted in Louis going to the same spot but the keeper guessing correctly and saving it. Brunel continued to attack and control the game and with the ball moved out to the right to Russ who passed one player to then unleash a shot towards goal, the shot being slowed in the process the ever needed presence of Grech was on hand to gently push the ball into the goal. Now 4-2 up the Brunel men were well on their way to win the game, all playing so well for one another, not a chance of letting this game get away from them. Yet the Portsmouth men were not quiet finished in this game and with every chance they had carried on hamming towards the Brunel defence, with the defence again doing a superb job in holding out the pressure. Soon, it became too much and the Portsmouth men managed to fire a shot at Mikey who made a couple of superb saves all for the final result being a goal awarded to Portsmouth, making the score 4-3 with just a few minutes left to play. The final whistle goes and the Brunel men had successfully seen off the competition of Portsmouth to take all three points.
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BUCS: BRUNEL MARCH FIXTURES Mehdi Punjwani February round-up
Brunel University’s sports teams have seen an action-packed start to the year, and that has continued into February. Amongst the teams in action were Brunel’s American Football, Badminton, Fencing, Golf, Lacrosse, Netball, Squash and Volleyball. Brunel’s Mixed American Football team played a fixture against City University London’s Mixed team, winning comfortably by a score of 180. The result places them 5th in the BUCS American Football 2014-2015
Our monthly Brunel sport fixtures are back! Here’s what to look out for in March:
Badminton
Men 1 25 Feb - Reading (Home) 11 March - Imperial College London (Away) Men 2 25 Feb - Westminster (Home) 11 Mar - Surrey (Away) Women 25 Feb - KCL (Away) 4 Mar - Medics (Home) 11 Mar - UCL (Home)
Basketball
Men 2 25 Feb - Herts (Away) 11 Mar - Reading (Home) 25 Mar - Brighton (Home) Men 3 25 Feb - Westminster (Home) 11 Mar - Medics (Away) Women 25 Feb - Sussex (Home) 4 Mar - East London (Away)
Fencing Men 1 25 Feb - Holloway (Home) 11 Mar - Imperical College London (Home) Men 2 25 Feb - Imperial (Home) 11 Mar - Surrey (Home)
London group league on six points, two points behind Royal Holloway and two ahead of Westminster. Brunel Women’s Badminton 1st team came up short against Queen Mary’s University, losing 6-2 at the Copper Box Arena, placing them 5th in the South Eastern 2B group leagues. The Men’s Badminton 2nd team are slightly better off at third in the South Eastern 4A group league, having beaten Buckinghamshire New University Men’s 8-0 in the Sports Centre, and the Men’s 1st team currently lead their group by 4 points after an 8-0 win against Brighton. Brunel Men’s 1st and 2nd Fencing
Women 4 Mar - Holloway (Home)
Football Men 1 25 Feb - Brighton (Away) 11 Mar - Chichester (Home) Men 2 25 Feb - Surrey (Away) 11 Mar - Chichester (Home)
teams are placed third and fifth respectively in the South Eastern 2A group league, after the 1st team beat Surrey 135-88, and the 2nd lost 89132 to Royal Holloway. Brunel Women’s Fencing team is placed 4th in the South Eastern 1A league after beating Queen Mary’s 122-108. The Mixed Golf Team is 5th in the South Eastern 2A league, after a 4.51.5 loss to the University of Brighton. Brunel Men’s Lacrosse team are second in their league after a 9-0 loss to Royal Holloway, but the Women’s team are now third after winning 22-1 against Portsmouth. The Women’s 1st Netball team are
Hockey Men 1 22 Feb - Kent (Away) 11 Mar - Imperial (Home) Men 2 11 Mar - Holloway (Home) 18 Mar - Portsmouth (Away) Women 1 4 Mar - Kent (Home)
Men 3 25 Feb - Holloway (Away) 11 Mar - Imperial (Home)
Women 2 11 Mar - Royal Vets (Home) 25 Mar - Portsmouth (Away)
Men 4 25 Feb - KCL (Home) 11 Mar - Kingston (Away)
Lacrosse
Men 5 25 Feb - Portsmouth (Away) 11 Mar - Kingston (Home) Women 1 4 Mar - St Mary’s (Away) 11 Mar - Chichester (Away) Women 2 25 Feb - Roehampton (Home) 11 Mar - Reading (Away) 25 Mar - Reading (Home)
Futsal Men 3 22 Feb - South Bank (Home)
Golf 22 Feb - Chichester (Home)
Men 11 Mar - Kingston (Home) Women 25 Feb - Reading (Home) 11 Mar - Chichester (Away)
Netball Netball 2 25 Feb - Surrey (Away) 11 Mar 0 Chichester (Home) Netball 3 25 Feb - Holloway(Away) 11 Mar - Surrey (Home) Netball 4 25 Feb - St Mary’s (Away) 4 Mar - Surrey (Home) 11 Mar - Portsmouth (Home) Netball 5 25 Feb - Westminster (Home) 11 Mar - Imperial (Home)
fourth in the Premier South league, following a 50-42 loss to Cardiff Metropolitan, and the 2nd and 3rd teams are fifth and sixth respectively in the 2A league after the former beat the latter 51-27. The 4th and 5th teams are both fourth in their leagues, after the 4th team lost 28-24 to Portsmouth, and the 5th beat Brighton 21-11. Brunel Netball Women’s 6th are fifth in the 8A league after a 2513 victory over Buckinghamshire New University.
King’s College. Men’s 2nd Squash are second, however, in the 3A league following a 3-0 win over Sussex, and the Men’s 3rd team are fifth after a 3-1 loss to LSE.
The Women’s 1st Squash team are 4th in the South Eastern 2A league after a 3-1 loss to Portsmouth. The Men’s 1st are last in the South Eastern 1A league despite a 4-1 win over
A list of BUCS fixtures for March can be found below.
Netball 6 25 - St George’s (Away) 11 Mar - West London (Home)
Rugby League Men 1 4 Mar - Essex (Away)
Rugby Union Men 1 25 Feb - Medics (Home) 4 Mar - UCL (Home) 11 Mar - Imperial (Home) 25 Mar - Reading (Away) Men 2 25 Feb - Brighton (Away) 4 Mar - Holloway (Home) 11 Mar - Roehampton (Home) Women 1 25 Feb - Holloway (Away) 11 Mar - Brighton (Away)
Squash Men 1 18 Mar - UCL (Away) Men 2 25 Feb - Surrey (Home) 4 Mar - Portsmouth (Away) 11 Mar - Portsmouth (Away) Men 3 25 Feb - SOAS (Away)
Brunel Women’s 1st Volleyball team are last in the 2A league after a 3-1 loss to Royal Holloway, and the Men’s 1st are fifth, having been unable to field a team to play against Imperial, resulting in Imperial being awarded a walkover.
Table Tennis Men 1 25 Feb - UCL (Home) 4 Mar - Essex (Home) Men 2 25 Feb - Herts (Away) 11 Mar - Portsmouth (Home) Women 1 25 Feb - Holloway (Away) 11 Mar - City (Home)
Tennis Men 1 25 Feb - Chichester (Away) 11 Mar - Sussex (Home) Men 2 25 Feb - Bucks New (Away) 11 Mar - Herts (Home) Men 3 25 Feb - East London (Home) 11 Mar - East London (Away)
Volleyball Mens 25 Feb - Portsmouth (Away) Women 25 Feb - Portsmouth (Home) 4 Mar - Brighton (Home) 11 Mar - Brighton (Away)
Women 25 Feb - Surrey (Away) 11 Mar - UCL (Home)
IT’S COMING
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BRUNEL RACING: BRUNEL’S HIDDEN GEM
PHOTO CREDIT: RYAN O’DONOVAN
Ryan O’Donovan It’s ten o’clock on a dreary Thursday morning and I find myself in a low light corridor deep within the bowels of Brunel University. Pictures of Formula One Supremes such as Ross Brawn and Frank Williams posing with former Brunel students decorate the walls and the smell of oil and engines is rife. For all the showboating and showing off in Formula One, its grassroots seem very humble. I’m here to meet Gareth Gwilliams, Brunel’s Team Principle, and his team of engineers and volunteers who are building this year’s car, the BR-16. Gareth is a Masters student studying Motorsport Engineering and has been part of the Brunel team for five years. In that time he has gone from being the team’s machinist, to helping design the car and then to being the man in charge of Brunel’s fortunes this year, and he is eager to make Brunel
the top UK university team as his lasting legacy. Formula Student is Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition, ran by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Universities
made. The event is the teething ground of future Formula One engineers and mechanics, making competition fierce. So its here, in a building that would be completely ambiguous was it not
Team: Brunel Racing Last Year s Car: BR-XV Last Year’s Finish: 11th Current Car: BR-16 Team Principle: Gareth Gwilliam Race Dates: Silverstone, July 9-12 Twitter: @Brunel_Racing Facebook: BrunelRacing E-mail: brunelracing@brunel.ac.uk from across the globe are challenged to build a single-seat racing car to compete in a number of tasks, which tests the students’ understanding and knowledge of the vehicle they’ve
for the ‘Brunel Motorsport’ letters sprawled above its windows, that the path to Formula One glory starts. But how do you engineering students from Brunel take those first steps?
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Gareth explains. “There’s two parts to the team – there’s the academic side of the team that is the people who are doing primary projects on it and then there’s the rest of the team. “They aren’t necessarily doing final year projects but help us build the car and quite often we try to make it so that people start off with that second group and then do projects later in their degree.
“Most people on the team are completing their dissertations, all of which links in with what the team are aiming to achieve with their car that year.
“Formula Student is Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition ran by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Universities from across the globe are challenged to build a singleseat racing car.”
“Its honestly quite fun getting to make the bits although it seems like monkey work at the time, but when you end up doing some of the management stuff later you often think ‘oh gosh I wish I could go make something’ instead of sitting in a meeting.
“Unlike the rest of the projects for a dissertation, we select the students and not the supervisors. “We actually decide the project title and write up a list of projects which fit in with the car we are trying to build.
“The research and design projects are in the direction that we feel the car should be moving towards that particular year and the hope is some of those components will drive designs that may end up on the vehicle.”
SPORT Driving designs is one thing, but getting to the point where Brunel have a raceable car is a different matter entirely. After building the car from specifications laid out by Formula Student (“This is the formula they provide and its what we follow,” I was helpfully told by engine calibrator Fabian Huber, a third year Motorsport Engineer) rigorous testing is carried out over the course of a month to weed out any parts that don’t work. This year has been even more hectic for the Brunel Racing team after realising they had fallen behind in the development race last March. “The time from the official start of the project to the race weekend is nine months, but we actually started designing this car last March,” Gareth explained outside the workshop. “We had out first team meeting then (in March because we realised the team had probably fallen behind the development race in this competition. “We’ve had to do some pretty big things to catch up as there was a couple of things, particularly involving the suspension tyres, that required an awful lot of work before much else could be done. “It had to be done first because everything after it was completely reliant on it and that’s work that we haven’t really done for a few years so people had to relearn that stuff – the knowledge had been lost within the team on those things.” “This year we are aiming to have a
months worth of testing, so that means we will be hoping to have the car finished by early June. “That months worth of testing will hopefully allow us to find out which parts work and which ones don’t, because inevitably stuff does break - that’s why we go testing and from there we try to tune the performance of the vehicle.”
a student at the university. “The other thing is that they have to not be termed as a professional driver for the UK events, which is annoying because last year we had David Pittard in the team who is a very successful GT racer at the moment.
“He genuinely was a student at this university, was in our team and was on the motorsport engineering course but unfortunately because he’s “We’ve had to do some driven for a team pretty big things to catch that employs up as there was a couple of people he wasn’t for the things, particularly involving eligible competition.
Testing a car, amongst all the technical aspects, requires a driver, and finding one at a university the size of Brunel is not as easy as you the suspension tyres, that “We will tend to may think. There required an awful lot of look at new drivers are strict criteria work before much else in go-karts first, that need to be the moral of the fulfilled in order could be done.” story being don’t for some to race put an unknown for Brunel, set quantity in a by both Formula Student and Brunel Racing, as Gareth vehicle that belongs to you, test them out in someone else’s car which is explained. much better. Then we put them in the “Every year driver selection is slightly car because we only have one car and different. You never know one of they’re very expensive to build. We these years we may work out how to can’t afford to wreck them. do it properly. “The final test is if they quick in one of “If you are a driver on this team you our cars, because its fine being quick are expected to come down and help in a go-kart and its fine being quick in build the car. We aren’t looking for an club racing but that all doesn’t matter. arrive-and-drive driver. If you want to do that, go and pay your way into a “If they aren’t quick in one of our cars it doesn’t matter. We’re scoring on our British GT team or something. car going round a track and if they “Every member of the team has to aren’t quick in our car going round one be registered with the Mechanical of those tracks then they shouldn’t be Engineering Society, so we are kind of in the car.” limited to engineering students in the most part there. They also have to be Last year, Brunel’s BR-XV finished
11th in the UK competition held at Silverstone and was the second fastest non-electric engine in the competition, only 0.02 seconds behind TU Stuttgart of Germany. But Gareth wants to take the team to the pinnacle and gain top UK University team. “We want to be the top UK team. That’s quite ambitious.” He says as a smile appears out of the corner of his mouth. “As well as top UK team we want to make sure we have a top 10 finish this year too. “The main protagonists in the hat are Oxford-Brookes, who did very well last year and I suspect they will have a very quick car again this year. “The last couple of years the University of Hertfordshire have been right up there, doing really well and have been the top UK team for a few years running. They dropped back a little bit the last season or so and had a bad year last time out in terms of their engine choice. “Then you’ve got Bath and they are the biggest budget team in the UK, we believe. They have a hell of a lot of good industry partners and are able to build really advanced cars that are very light as well. Their cars are the quickest in the UK right but they very rarely finish. “It’s a bit of a saying in our team that ‘you’d hate to be the year that Bath finally finished’ because we knew if they did they would probably win.” That competitiveness that Gareth wants from his car starts with his engineers, and its up to them to make sure that they get every bit of
performance from the BR-16 they can. Fabian Huber, 24, is the team’s engine calibrator, and it rests on this young engineer’s shoulders to make sure the engine is giving everything that its got. “I’m here to produce power,” he told me sitting in front of an engine he’s testing from a motorbike on a computer system, “I make it more efficient and try to make it as competitive as possible. “Its tough to do because everyone’s projects affect the engine calibration. If someone is doing a project on the exhaust system, they need to see what changes they’ve made will make to the engine. “All these little things need to come together in order to ensure we have a fast and competitive car this year. “To see the car out on track and know I’ve contributed to it is something special.” If things go right for the team, this unknown quantity from Brunel could soon be its shining light. If Brunel Racing and Formula Student is something that appeals to you, the team are currently looking for website designers, photographers and video makers to help with their marketing process. If this sounds of interest to you, then drop a line to Team Principle Gareth Gwilliam at brunelracing@ brunel.ac.uk.
PHOTO CREDIT: CRIAG ELLIOT
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THIS MONTH... BASKETBALL
B RU N E L U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R
RUGBY LEAGUE ARE SOUTH-EAST CHAMPS
DISAPPOINTMENT FOR BRUNEL VS UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
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FOOTBALL
CHRIS BROWN ASKS: WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK MANAGERS?
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HOCKEY
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TEAMS CELEBRATE SUCCESSFUL SEASON
KC Swain Brunel won a thrilling encounter at home against league rivals Cambridge on Wednesday 4th Feb, all but securing them the title. BRL’s championship status was then made certain a week later when Cambridge lost again to St. Mary’s. Brunel have been in fine form this season, scoring 238 points from their 7 games and keeping a 100% record at home. The league was put in doubt, however, when Brunel travelled to Cambridge on 21st of January and suffered a demoralising defeat. But Brunel forged on, and a narrow win in the reverse fixture virtually guaranteed the celebrations would go ahead.
Brunel took the lead on the day when Ibrahim Kabia spotted an early gap and jumped down the blind side, feeding in Matt Skelding to score. Sloppiness from Brunel then cost them dearly, as knock-ons and other mistakes allowed Cambridge to take the lead with two quick tries. The Big Dogs rallied and pushed Cambridge back to their line, at which point Kabia was the playmaker again and played a fantastic dummy pass to Tim Elliott who dived over the line. BRL then took the lead heading in to half time as Kabia got his hat-trick of assists, setting up a slick try with a cross to Malikhi Lloyd-Jones. However, Cambridge’s conditioning was crucial in the second half, leading
them to two tries out wide and putting them back into a winning position. A penalty in front of the sticks looked to be enough to see out the game and possibly steal the title. After five wins from Brunel’s first five games, all of a sudden the league was slipping from their grasp. But with less than 10 minutes left, Kabia set up Captain Lloyd-Jones for a try almost identical to their last, and the tension from both teams was palpable. With just minutes left, Howard Smith darted out from dummy-half to dive over the line and give Brunel an emotional victory. After the game, Brunel half-back and committee member Chris Meadway said: “The game proved how much we have improved in a very successful
season and highlighted the fantastic team spirit we’ve had all year. “The boys showed a lot of heart to bounce back after the last match at Cambridge where we lost miserably.” But winning the league is far from the end of the Big Dogs campaign for 2014-15, the new league champions are still to play Essex, and also have a tough away game at Manchester in the Cup. Finally, of course, is the crucial Varsity game against St. Mary’s in March.
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MOTORSPORT BRUNEL’S HIDDEN GEM
Meadway sums it up aptly: “It’s been a great year for the club. We’ve become a well-oiled machine and proved that with wins week in and week out. Bring on Varsity.!
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