The Chronicle 2022

The

Chronicle SUMMER 2022

welcome

4

The Editors

5

Contributors

science

6

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Musicians in the Future?

8

Is Cloning Ethical?

ROSEANNA

ALICE

10 An Holistic Approach to Mental Health Suffering

PHOEBE

12 Has the Covid-19 Pandemic Affected Vaccine Development Now and in the Future?

15 Thalidomide Tragedy

DOXA

ethics

20 Why Should Lessons be 45 Minutes?

SIENNA

21 Transgender Women in Female Sport: Fair Play?

LILIA

22 Dress Codes: Encouraging Studies or Encouraging Sexism?

FREIYA

24 Is the Development of the Humane Prison Beneficial to our Society?

26 Should Horses be used by the Police?

CHLOE

28 In What Ways is Dairy Farming Causing our Cattle to Suffer?

30 The Tulsa Race Massacre

NIA

JEMIMA

32 Game Shooting – A Harmless Recreational Activity?

MICHAELA

LUCY

HARRIET

languages, arts & music 34 What is Art?

NATACHA

36 What is Music Therapy?

CHRISTY

40 Is MSJ Right to Include The Arts in the Focus on STEM Subjects?

42 Etymology

CLAUDIA

ALYSSA

43 How Does Music Affect the Brain?

MORGANNE

geography & the environment 44 Climate Change – Big Steps Forward or Too Little, Too Late?

46 Rising Sea Levels in Antarctica

ROMILLY

LILY

48 ‘Jaws’: The Aftermath CYRA 50 Should we be Encouraging Globalisation in Developing Countries?

creative writing 52 Something Real

HELAINA

53 Unreal Achilles Heel

ISABEL

54 An Open Letter to Younger Students 56 St Agnes

JEMIMA

58 House of Cards

MICHAELA

ALICE

JESS

editors

We are delighted and grateful to be a part of this years’ school Chronicle. All three of us study English Literature, but have different and varying accompanying subjects.

Floria studies Business and Computing; Lucy studies French, German and Geography; and Michaela studies History and Religious Studies.

MSJ is a school filled with bright, academic, and creative minds, something that is mirrored very strongly throughout this edition. Every girl who contributed an article or a piece of writing has done so with a great deal of passion which shines through in each piece of work published. Subjects of a wide variety have been tackled in depth, such as ethics, medicine, human rights, and the arts, and we are sure you will all enjoy finding out what they have to say. This year, we have chosen to include a section of high-quality creative writing pieces, including poetry, descriptions, letters and short stories, to demonstrate the diversity of writing styles our school holds.

We would like to say thank you to all the writers who contributed to this year’s edition of The Chronicle and wrote such amazing articles. We’d also like to thank Dr Jones for all the guidance she’s given the editors and the writers from beginning to end to ensure this project went smoothly. We hope your experience reading this year’s Chronicle is just as enjoyable as it was for us editing it.

Floria, Lucy & Michaela

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meet the

contributors

YEARS 7 TO 9

YEAR 10

YEAR 11

YEAR 12

YEAR 13

Helaina Claudia Isabel

Natacha Roseanna Jemima Alyssa Sienna Lilia Alice

Freiya Romilly Jessica Morganne

Lucy Lily Nia Michaela Harriet Chloe Cyra Phoebe

Christy Doxa

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

5

WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REPLACE MUSICIANS IN THE FUTURE?

By Roseanna It is easy to worry about the implications Artificial Intelligence may have on the jobs of musicians, but have you ever considered the possibility of it augmenting the music industry, rather than replacing humans?

In a time of ever-changing musical culture and trends, Artificial Intelligence and its tools seem to be rising through the music industry. When you hear about ‘AI and music’, it is likely that you think of robots creating and composing music. This understandably comes together with a fearful and critical perception of robots replacing human composers and performers, but is it likely that AI will replace musicians in the future, and which factors could potentially lead to this?

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Is performance a limitation for Artificial Intelligence, or is this just a human assumption? Since the start of the pandemic, fans have missed out on going to concerts.

To fill the void, a company called Authentic Artists has introduced a large collection of AI-powered virtual artists who can deliver new musical experiences. Artificial Intelligence can reproduce the sound of an orchestra fairly easily and with a high degree of fidelity.

Their animated virtual musicians generate original compositions to play on screen and respond to audience feedback. Performance is not a limitation for AI, but what about composition?

Beethoven’s 10th Symphony, no longer unfinished… Beethoven, the most renowned composer of all time, began to compose his 10th symphony before his death in 1827. Only a few handwritten notes briefly detailing his intentions for the piece survived, with most just being incomplete ideas or fragments of themes and melodies. Despite countless attempts, nobody was able to complete his 10th Symphony, until a group of music historians, composers, and computer scientists attempted to finish it using AI, and were successful. They taught a machine how to take a short phrase, or even just a motif, and use it to produce a more complicated musical structure, just as Beethoven would have done.

Using Artificial Intelligence meant they were faced with the challenge of ensuring the work remained faithful to Beethoven’s vision for the piece. They were proven to be successful, as an audience of experts were unable to determine where Beethoven’s phrases ended, and Artificial Intelligence stepped in. The AI composed and orchestrated two complete movements, each over 20 minutes.

So, if it is possible for Artificial Intelligence to successfully finish the work of the greatest composer

of all time, what is stopping it from replacing musicians altogether?

The intent to form new concepts and convey them with a unique purpose has so far been an elusive element to AI, which is due to the inherent limitations of computers.

Creativity stems from inspiration; it is not programmed or confined by the boundaries of linear thinking.

The melodies and lyrics we hear in live performances are inspired by a collection of human emotions and experiences, whether a love, a loss or a loathe. Artificial Intelligence can’t produce anything truly impactful on its own, as computers lack emotional depth and sensitivity. A team of Chinese researchers set out to make Artificial Intelligence that could learn to write music based on existing pieces. It could recognise harmony, texture and form, but lacked certain elements of music composed by humans. Despite how convinced you might be that the latest pop hit was created by a machine rather than a human, getting Artificial Intelligence to understand the various aspects of music is easier said than done.

Describing things like musical structure, texture, harmony and form can be difficult enough when speaking with somebody who does not study music theory, let alone a machine. Although Artificial Intelligence can achieve technical perfection, people who attend concerts want an emotional connection to the music. If Artificial Intelligence is only able to study patterns and compose based on those patterns, how is it going to create anything new? When you take a look at some of the most famous composers, they are famous precisely because they break the boundaries and patterns. This, alongside the inability to feel emotions and have a connection with the music it’s composing, is primarily why Artificial Intelligence could not replace musicians.

People gravitate towards music composed by humans because it gives insight into the mind of the person who composed it, in addition to the listener being able to relate to it on a personal level. In conclusion, the role of composers is to create a unique voice that resonates with the ever-changing culture and trends. Although AI can easily analyse music and replicate its patterns, it is not the foundation of music composition. Composing music has no formula to it; it is the expression of emotions. It is unlikely that Artificial Intelligence will ever be able to create lyrics that are emotionally meaningful to humans, and it is also impossible for it to compose anything original.

Ultimately, regardless of whether AI can successfully perform and compose music, the judgement of whether we could consider it as art is still up to humans, so it is unlikely that AI will replace musicians and more likely that it will enhance the music industry instead.

REFERENCES www.sustainablereview.com/aimusic/ www.classicfm.com/composers/ beethoven/unfinished-tenthsymphony-completed-by-artificialintelligence/ www.sciencefocus.com/news/aibeethovens-symphony/ www.influencive.com/how-artificialintelligence-is-changing-the-musicindustry/ www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/8applications-ai-music-industry www.inverse.com/ entertainment/56750-jacob-batalonon-music-and-ai www.rocknheavy.net/why-ai-willnever-fully-replace-human-madeart-bc83175083dc www.forbes.com/sites/ bernardmarr/2021/05/14/ how-artificial-intelligence-ai-ishelping-musicians-unlock-theircreativity/?sh=775795177004

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

7

IS CLONING ETHICAL?

By Alice

Ever since 5th July 1996 after Dolly the sheep was the first animal to be successfully cloned, the ethics of cloning has become a widely debated topic.

There are three types of cloning: therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning and commercial cloning. Therapeutic cloning is when a human egg cell comes from a donor which has the nucleus removed and then discarded. The nucleus is transferred from the donor egg cell, where scientists stimulate the cell to divide. This then develops into an embryo, where stem cells are created. Stem cells from the embryo are taken and used to treat diseases. Reproductive cloning is used to create an animal that is genetically identical to a donor animal, through nucleus transfer. This embryo is then placed into the uterus of the surrogate animal, where the embryo can develop and become an animal. Commercial cloning is used to clone domestic animals. This can cost around £25,000-£40,000 depending on the animal.

Therapeutic cloning is legal in the United Kingdom, United States and Turkey, but is banned in Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands and other countries. In addition to this, Ireland, Norway and Denmark and Ecuador have limited research of the use of human embryonic stem cells. Despite being banned in many countries, therapeutic cloning has many benefits. It can be used to treat cancer and has the potential to create organs. Currently, people have to wait for a potential organ donor and some organs, such as kidneys, have to have a donor with a matching blood group. If an organ is donated and there is a matching blood group, there is a 10-15% chance that the body will reject the organ.

Another advantage to therapeutic cloning is the possibility to treat genetic diseases. An undifferentiated stem cell can be used to alter DNA if there is a risk of genetic diseases. The DNA in the nucleus would be altered and the cell would be corrected so that the cell would undergo mitosis and reproduce genetically identical copies of the corrected DNA.

Although there are many benefits of therapeutic cloning, these are often accompanied by risks.

Embryos do not always divide correctly and can cause mutations to occur. Others do not agree with cloning. Extracting stem cells from an embryo is viewed as murder by some, as they believe life begins at conception; they regard cloning as unnatural and preventing a person from coming into existence.

Reproductive cloning is often more widely discussed in terms of ethics. Dolly the sheep was the first animal to be cloned in the world.

Scientists used three ewes in the cloning process: one to provide the egg, another for DNA and the third one was to carry the cloned embryo. Dolly was created through somatic cell nuclear transfer.

This is when the nucleus of a cell is transferred to an unfertilised egg that has had its nucleus removed. The cell was stimulated to divide where it developed into a blastocyst. Even though this was not human cloning, it was still a big advance in medicine demonstrating that human cloning would be possible. The reproductive cloning of humans has been banned by approximately seventy countries.

Some countries allow some forms of human cloning for scientific use, but it is not widely accepted.

Although illegal, reproductive cloning has the potential to become very useful. People who are infertile and same sex couples would be able to have children from genes of both parents.

Lesbian couples could have a child without having to use donor sperm

and gay couples could have a child without genes from an egg, but a surrogate would be needed. If reproductive cloning were used for this reason, the brain would not be reproduced. The technology would allow couples to ensure genetic abnormalities were not present.

More controversially though, they could choose characteristics of their child such as eye colour, hair colour or skin complexion. These characteristics could be different from the parent whose nucleus was used.

Even though reproductive cloning can help prevent infertility, it does not eliminate the prospect of unsuccessful implants or genetic abnormalities. Natural diversity of DNA can be reduced, for example appearance, where many parents will choose the features they find most attractive.

Religion can affect people’s views of reproductive cloning. In Hinduism, therapeutic cloning is considered acceptable, but tampering with nature, such as infertility, is not. Muslims have similar views. Islam opposes the cloning of the entire human body and human cloning as this contradicts the diversity of creation. They also believe that the relationship between donor and clone cannot be determined.

In Judaism, reproductive cloning is non-controversial amongst liberal Jews, as all life is treated equally, even if formed by cloning.

Orthodox Jews, however, disagree.

In Christianity, reproductive and therapeutic cloning is opposed where Christians believe it causes,

“Grave offense to the dignity of that person as well as the fundamental equality of people.” Some Christians consider that cloning is playing at being God. Commercial cloning is the cloning of animals for money.

This includes cloning pets, livestock, competition animals and endangered and extinct animals.

Commercial cloning is done by using genes from an animal. This is done through somatic cell nuclear transfer. Dogs cost around £35,000 to clone and cats cost around £20,000. It is now possible to clone endangered animals. Scientists have been able to successfully clone the endangered blackfooted ferret using preserved cells.

However, the genetic defects are known and could cause unbalance to the food chain therefore potentially causing other animals to become endangered. Many attempts are being made to clone endangered animals. Whilst many can see that the merit in cloning endangered animals, others worry about bringing extinct animals back to life. Cloning of pets has less support.

In conclusion, I believe that cloning is ethical. It will help to cure diseases, allow infertile couples to have children and will increase the population of endangered animals.

Although there are disadvantages of cloning, such as genetic mutations, less DNA diversity and the fact that it is not always successful: cloning has a better impact on the environment and will be a big advance in dealing with genetic defects.

REFERENCES www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zs8y4qt/revision/7 https://stemcell.ny.gov/faqs/what-difference-between-reproductive-and-therapeutic-cloning#:~:text=Reproductive%20cloning%20involves%20 creating%20an,it%20can%20implant%20and%20develop www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-patchwork-of-laws/ www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/organ-donation-and-ethnicity/#:~:text=Kidney%20donors%20and%20recipients%20 are,requirement%20to%20match%20tissue%20types https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cloning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_animal_cloning https://jme.bmj.com/content/31/11/654 www.geneticsandsociety.org/internal-content/reproductive-cloning-arguments-pro-and-con#:~:text=of%20Reproductive%20Cloning-,1.,2. www.viagenpets.com/faq/#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20cost%20of%20dog%20cloning%20and%20cat%20cloning,paid%20in%20two%20 equal%20installments www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/black-footed-ferret-clone-conservation-milestone#:~: text=Scientists%20have%20successfully%20cloned%20an,cloned%20in%20the%20United%20States

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

9

AN HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH SUFFERING

By Phoebe In light of the recent mental health crisis affecting teenagers, especially due to the pandemic, I have become interested in looking at the ways in which Doctors and Psychiatrists diagnose or treat patients with mental illnesses, and whether there could be a better approach.

There are two standard systems used worldwide (ICD-10 and DSM-5*), both of which treat mental health as an illness, with a focus on a diagnosis based on symptoms. But I would like to investigate alternative options for clinicians to use, based on a more holistic approach.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FORMULATION

TRAUMA INFORMED APPROACH (TIA)

POWER THREAT MEANING FRAMEWORK (PTMF)

One option is called ‘Psychological Formulation’. This process involves creating a story that helps patients understand the root cause of their problems and the ongoing conditions that exacerbated them. At the beginning of treatment, or when new information comes to light, this story can be changed and developed. This method is useful because it helps people understand that they are not necessarily to blame and that their environment had a large impact.

Trauma Informed Approach (TIA) is another method that stems from the belief that we shouldn’t be treating ‘patients with illnesses’, but we should instead be viewing them as ‘people with problems’. This encourages caregivers to not just look at the obvious issues, but to dig deeper and look at the underlying factors. It shows that trauma, particularly in childhood, leads to many various forms of distress, including anxiety disorders, Bipolar disorder or Schizophrenia.

This approach allows room for people to come to terms with their emotions and memories.

“Don’t ask what’s wrong with me, ask what’s happened to me”, is a phrase that encompasses TIA’s values.

The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) is a nonmedical approach to why people struggle with their emotions and experiences. PTMF encourages clinicians to view mental distress as an inevitable result of our society and culture, rather than the individual’s actions. It doesn’t just focus on ‘mentally ill’ people, but instead everyone and, by doing this, the method helps people to realise that we need to change some of the terms we use, namely ‘illnesses or disorders’ to ‘emotional suffering or mental distress’.

*ICD-10 - International Classification of Diseases DSM-5 - The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

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Power is something that impacts everyone; it can be positive (good education, privilege, close family), however there are many circumstances where power, particularly an imbalance in power, can result in negative things (abuse, neglect, bereavement, and discrimination). It is therefore important to take the Power Dynamic into context when looking at diagnosing and treating mental distress.

One kind of power that PTMF looks closely at is called Ideological Power, which has a particular impact on young adults. This is the ability to shape social norms; for example, how one should look and behave and what people should aspire to. When this power is exploited, it can lead to vulnerability. One example of this would be the beauty industry hiring social media influencers to promote an unrealistic idea of what is beautiful. This could encourage dissatisfaction in young people towards their appearance and cause distress, making them more likely to seek out beauty products and services. Companies are putting profits before the mental wellbeing of the consumer. This ideological power causes people to struggle with self-worth and identity. Power is therefore considered first and foremost when using the PTMF approach.

PTMF looks at four core questions to base their approach on: What has happened to you?

POWER

How did it affect you and what did you have to do to survive?

THREAT + THREAT RESPONSE

What sense did you make of it? MEANING Encouraging people to consider the answers to these questions helps them feel more hopeful instead of blaming themselves. As a result of a threat, we all do our best to respond to it (our threat response). Threat response is an alternative term to symptoms, like self-harming, overworking, and panic. This method views the healing practices of non-western cultures as useful rather than unscientific. This process requires various forms of therapy and social support. It acknowledges the benefits of using medication in some cases, but alongside additional support to address the root causes of the mental suffering. PTMF looks to tackle the problems within society, whereas previous diagnostic techniques only scratched the surface, focusing on the individual’s problems. This method is not supposed to replace our current practices, instead complement them and provide a more holistic approach to mental health care.

Given the dual pandemic of COVID and mental health problems being experienced at the moment across the world, I personally believe that clinicians should be more open to alternative and perhaps more holistic approaches, drawing from the most successful elements from the different practices.

REFERENCES https://www.bps.org.uk/power-threat-meaning-framework/introduction-ptmf https://iai.tv/articles/beyond-the-mental-health-paradigm-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-auid-1803

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

11

HAS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECTED VACCINE DEVELOPMENT NOW AND IN THE FUTURE?

By Harriet Virology has never been reported on as frequently or as in depth as it had been since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. There also seems to have been a greater rate of development of vaccines and technology surrounding vaccination during and due to the pandemic.

The truth is, before the rise of SARS-CoV-2, we already knew quite a lot about coronavirus, how they are structured and how to mitigate them because of the previous SARS and MERS epidemics. This means that as soon as the emerging virus was identified to be a coronavirus, no one was particularly surprised as there had been two epidemics of coronavirus in the past twenty years. Over the course of the pandemic, two novel forms of vaccines have been approved to add to the three previous forms of vaccination. There was also a new parallel development scheme created whereby the vaccine was being produced as testing was being done. The previous forms of vaccination are: INACTIVATED VACCINE This is when a killed version of the virus by chemical treatment is used as inactivated vaccines don’t have ability to interact with cells or produce proteins which therefore does not causethe patient’s body any harm. However, if the immune system of the individual is exposed to enough units of the killed pathogen, an immune response can be induced. This, however, will be weak and will need ‘booster’ vaccinations to cause a sufficiently protective immune response for when the wild virus enters the individual’s body. Examples of this type of vaccine are the polio vaccination as well as some more topical COVID-19 vaccines such as Covaxin, produced by an Indian company, Bharat Biotech. It has an efficacy of 78% against symptomatic patients and a 64% efficacy against asymptomatic patients. This type of vaccination hadn’t been changed or developed over the course of the pandemic.

LIVE ATTENUATED VACCINE This is the original form of vaccination. This form was used 300 years ago by Edward Jennerto vaccinate the public against smallpox. The vaccine contains a weakened version of the pathogen which, once injected, produces weakened versions of the pathogenic proteins, training the immune system for when the virus enters the body wild. This causes a longer lasting immune defence than the inactivated vaccines, thus needing few follow up vaccinations. However, live attenuated vaccines can cause mild disease, all be it weakened. Protein is being produced thus immunodeficient patients may need to consult their General Practitioner before receiving the vaccine as it can cause more severe and longer lasting damage. An example is the MMR vaccine which is administered to babies. This type of vaccine has been totally unaffected by the pandemic as there has been no live attenuated COVID-19 vaccinations, thus causing no development or change to the vaccine or how it is produced.

SUBUNIT/RECOMBINANT/PROTEIN SUBUNIT VACCINES These vaccines can, but don’t always, contain a chemical called an adjuvant. This stimulates the immune system causing a more effective immune response. An example is AS04 in an HPV vaccine called Cervarix. It is made up of monophosphoryl lipid A and Aluminium salt. Subunit vaccines take the genetic information of one appropriate protein, usually the spikeprotein, and produce it using an alternative method using molecular biology techniques.

This is then injected into the body. As there are only fragments of the pathogen entering the body, not the whole virus, the fragments are rendered harmless so the immune response is still triggered, thus still developing an immune response against the pathogen. This also makes the vaccine very safe, allowing immunodeficient patients to have a vaccine without any problems. Examples include the vaccine against hepatitis B. There are many COVID-19 vaccines using this technique, the most popular being Nuvaxovid (approved in 36 countries including the United Kingdom.

Vaccine structure or development has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, although many types of subunit vaccinations have been made for sars-cov-2, very few have been approved or been effective.

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The two types of vaccine that were most recently WHO approved are: MRNA VACCINE

REPLICATING-DEFICIENT VIRAL VECTOR VACCINE

Research into mRNA vaccines started in 1990 and the first study was published in 1992 showing that encoding mRNA instructions for a therapeutic protein improved patient’s response to the virus. By 2015, the current model of modified-nucleoside mRNA-LNP vaccines had been created. The COVID-19 PfizerBioNTech Comirnaty vaccine was the first ever mRNA vaccine to be approved and the second was the Moderna spikevax vaccine. However, as seen in the brief history of this type of vaccine, the use of this type of vaccine was well underway regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccine works by encoding a protein, again usually the spike in the case of SARSCoV-2, in some mRNA.This is a form of RNA that encodes the formula for proteins, thus can harness the host’s cells to produce the protein for which the immune system will develop its response against.The mRNA itself contains modified nucleosides because usually our cells don’t let mRNA from outside the cell into the cell, unless something has gone very wrong and thus the cell will recognise the foreign mRNA and send off danger signals causing them to become inflamed.The modified nucleosides code instructions to tell the cell how to produce the required protein which will no longer be foreign to the cell. For example, Uridine is one of the conventional building blocks of mRNA setting off danger signals and is combatted using pseudo-uridine, a modified nucleoside, which is a natural variation of uridine and can be found in cells in excessnaturally. This is safe because it is degraded using normal pathways in our body so it won’t cause side effects after being administered in the modified mRNA vaccine. mRNA is also unstable and is quickly degraded by RNA degrading enzymes, RNases. RNA is also large and difficult to get into the cell in order to start protein synthesis. This is done through placing the mRNA into protective Lipid nano particles (LNPs).

These protect the mRNA from the RNases and allow it to enter the cell safely and efficiently, leaving the mRNA unaffected.

This is a technique that has been around for a long time as it dates back to the 1970s whengamma-retrovirus was able to acquire cellular genes. Adenovirus was first used as a vector in the 1980s showing promise for gene therapy to correct genetic mutations.The viral vector vaccines involves putting the genetic material into the non-replicating vector thus becoming a viral vector.

This is then injected into the body where the vial vector infects the body’s cells where the expressed protein’s DNA is translated using the cells RNA polymerase (enzyme) into mRNA and then uses this type of cell to produce the desired protein, triggering animmune response. The first replicating-deficient viral vector vaccine to be approved in the UK was the Oxford/ AstraZenica vaccine, followed by Johnson&Johnson and Sputnik V vaccines.

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

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PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT OF VACCINE PRODUCTION AND TESTING

This has allowed for vaccines to be administered as soon as trials have been completed and passed.This has allowed for efficient and safe delivery of vaccines.

It is important to note that just because the process of vaccine development had been accelerated, it doesn’t mean that it is any less thorough or any less valid.

Vaccine production had never had to be this drastic before, and thus its limits have never been tested on this scale. The faster development has allowed for further pandemic planning to be more effective. An example of this is that the Defense Advanced ResearchProject Agency (DARPA), an area of the USAs department of defense, is starting an initiative todevelop an improved approach to treat and stop future pandemics in sixty days. This is done through using mRNA technology to encode the antibody proteins needed to protect a person from the emerging pathogen. This won’t be a long term solution, but an initial attempt at slowing the spread of the emerging pathogen. This production plan differs from the normal schedule as vaccines are normally vigorously tested before mass production, thus taking a much longer time to administer the new vaccine to the public.

Both of these types of vaccines have been in the making for quite some time and were already in the stages of creating vaccines for other viruses such as Ebola and Zika. This leads me to believe that the pandemic may not have accelerated approval because both forms of vaccine were in the processed to

be approved anyway. It is also my belief that without the development of vaccines such as these, the pandemic will have played out differently especially in the latter stages.

This is because the technology is modern, quicker and relatively easy to manipulate for other viruses thus developing a vaccine quicker and more accurately than previous methods. Out of the two new techniques, I believe that modified-nucleoside mRNALNP vaccines have the largest scope for further development. This is because of their simple design, quick production and their manipulative qualities,for example, the idea of harnessing new CRISPR technology.

This ability to change the DNA of a cell in order to treat genetic defects such as sickle cell anaemiais revolutionary and still a blossoming technology. By using mRNA-LNPs to encode CRISPR proteins to directly alter the genes of patients could be a cheaper and more efficient way of administering them. This has infinite possibilities which is both incredible and scary, but by harnessing both techniques you could have the power to do anything with the genes in our cells.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected vaccine developmentbut not to the extent as thought by the general public.

I think that the greatest difference it had made is thrusting virology into the media and allowing the scientists who were never going to be known by the vast majority of the public now to be household names. It has also given virology the attention and the appreciation that it needs and deserves.

REFERENCES https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/vaccines/25/https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-johnson-johnsonsingle-dose-vaccine-approved-for-use-in-the-uk-12319122 https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/covid-19-vaccines www.edx.org/course/the-covid-19-pandemic-and-the-use-of-mrna-vaccines?index=product&queryID= 22e418c3af689a33b62d7d77c7118ea9&position=1 NewScientist, 14 August 2021, ‘What we know so far’

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THALIDOMIDE TRAGEDY

By Doxa

Have you ever wondered how one of the best-selling drugs in the 1950s led to one of the largest medical disasters in the world?

Thalidomide was developed and produced by the German pharmaceutical company Chemie Grunenthal in the late 1950s. It was intended as a sedative and tranquilliser initially, but soon people found it useful in treating other conditions like cold, nausea and morning sickness in pregnant women (Science Museum, 2019). There were misleading advertisements such as, “Distaval can be given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effect on mother or child”, which was claimed by The Distillers Company Ltd in the United Kingdom, though there was no evidence from studies in humans to support their statement (MedicalNewsToday, 2020) and there was a lack of drug trials on both humans and

animals. Most importantly, there had been no tests on pregnant animals. Thalidomide was seen as a very safe drug where no prescription was needed, as it would not do any harm to humans and even pregnant women could take it. As a result, thousands of pregnant women purchased this popular drug, which was widely used in 46 countries while not knowing that it could be passed through the placental barrier and could possibly do harm to their developing foetus in the womb (Science Museum, 2019). Later, the next year, over 10,000 infants worldwide were born with severe birth defects such as brain damage and Phocomelia, with nearly 40% of the affected infants having passed away (PMC, 2011). This is the Thalidomide Tragedy; an event that caused the end of many infants’ lives. It was also the start of a change in both the way drugs are tested and peoples’ views on the importance of drug trials and drug

development.

At that time, not knowing what had caused the tragedy to happen in the first place and having a lack of knowledge of Thalidomide, Dr. Widukind Lenz was the first researcher who noticed a link between this drug and the birth defects. He pointed out that the mothers who gave birth to babies with birth defects had all taken Thalidomide. He therefore carried out research and many investigations to study Thalidomide in order to prove his hypothesis. In fact, Thalidomide is a chiral molecule that exists as a pair of optical isomers; pairs of molecules that are non-superimposable mirrorimages (Kerboodle.com, 2022).

Through the chromatographic separation technique, scientists suggested that Thalidomide is made up of enantiomers R and S, where enantiomer R is an effective sedative medication and enantiomer S is responsible for the MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

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teratogenic side effects (Nature, 2018 and PubMed, 2022). They are extremely hard to separate and were supplied as a racemic mixture; a mixture of equal amounts of two optical isomers of a chiral compound (Kerboodle. com, 2022). Debates on whether this man-made disaster could have been prevented have always been a popular topic to research on.

Some scientists suggested that if just the enantiomer R had been used or marketed, this tragedy could have been averted, while others argued that people would have ended up with some of the S enantiomers in their bodies even though only pure R enantiomer is used, as it will eventually be converted to S-thalidomide in the human body (Kerboodle. com, 2022 and Nature, 2018).

Besides, working out whether Thalidomide plays a role in causing birth defects or understanding how Thalidomide causes birth defects is also important for improving the development of drugs in the future. Although the

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mechanism of Thalidomide activity has remained unknown (c&en, 2014), many hypotheses have been proposed by scientists to explain the molecular mechanism of Thalidomide, particularly regarding birth defects. For instance, Scientists Jürgen Knobloch and Ulrich Ruther have carried out an experiment on human skin cells and chick embryos to identify the mechanism of Thalidomide. They focused on two specific proteins which are responsible for cell division and differentiation of neighbouring cells. They are Bone

Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) and Wnt Proteins respectively.

In 1962 and 1963, three studies were published by Knobloch and Ruther. They noted that the chick embryos have similarities limb truncations - to those seen in humans, and explained that BMPs are responsible for inducing apoptosis during embryonic development and will also occur when expression of a proapoptotic factor called Dickkopf1 (Dkk1) is promoted.

While in contrast, the Wnt pathway blocks the apoptotic pathway in order to protect cells from apoptosis.

They also suggested that Thalidomide generates oxidative stress, which limits upregulation of the BMP signalling pathway and causes hyperexpression on Dkk1. This leads to downregulation of Wnt signalling pathway and hence, infants’ limbs cannot develop properly in the womb (Knobloch and Rüther, 2008 and​​Asu. edu, 2018).

In addition, a team of scientists led

by Eric Fischer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, have later announced that they managed to collect evidence in their studies on identifying a potential binding target of the Thalidomide-Cereblon complex that might potentially contribute to the compound’s teratogenic actions after they have done a proteomics screen of human embryonic stem cells (c&en, 2018). They found that Thalidomide can directly bind with Cereblon, which is a highly conserved protein that forms a CRL4-type E3 ubiquitin ligase complex (CRL4CRBN) and plays a fundamental role in limb outgrowth. They suggested that Thalidomide initiates its teratogenic effects and promotes degradation of SALL4, a transcription factor when it binds to Cereblon in the human body.

This mutation of SALL4 can cause Limb Deformities Syndrome, and strongly suggests how Thalidomide induces birth defects, though further investigation into the mechanism of Thalidomide is required. (c&en, 2018, eLife, 2018 and Nature, 2018).

Having spent five years finding the link between Thalidomide and the birth defects, alongside different investigations relating to Thalidomide being done by different scientists, Dr Widukind Lenz finally announced that there is a correlation between

Thalidomide and birth defects, thus, Thalidomide was officially banned in 1961 (SciShow, 2017 and PMC, 2015).

However back then, before carrying out any research on how Thalidomide could affect the developing foetus, the United States was in the process of having 2 million Thalidomide tablets ready to be marketed, and the drug was almost approved by the FDA (The New York Times, 2013).

Fortunately, the tragedy was largely averted in the United States due to the straight continuous rejection made by the medical reviewer, Dr Frances Oldham Kelsey (FDA, 2019).

Although Thalidomide had always been seen as a safe drug to take at that time, seemingly without any side effects, even in large quantities, Dr Kelsey recalled a study she performed on rabbits as a young post-doctoral pharmacologist at the University of Chicago. She had noted that there were differences between the ability to metabolise the drug by pregnant and embryonic rabbits, comparing to adult rabbits.

Furthermore, she noted that the drug did pass through the placental barrier between the mother and the foetus (AMA Journal of Ethics, 2001).

As a result, despite constant pressure from the company, she adamantly insisted to approve the application for Thalidomide because it lacked sufficient evidence of safety, through rigorous scientific studies and clinical trials. By refusing to compromise on exacting standards for patient safety, Dr Kelsey prevented a similar scale of tragedy from unfolding in the United States and saved thousands of children in the US, hence her remarkable achievement has been widely recognised and she was seen as the hero in American history (Washington post, 2015 and Smithsonian Magazine, 2017)

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Now, even after the ban of Thalidomide, pharmacologists continued work on this drug and tried to create safer Thalidomide with fewer side effects, for instance, Lenalidomide and Pomalidomide (Kerboodle.com, 2022 and Mayo Clinic, 2021). Although Thalidomide does not appear to be useful for pregnant women, ongoing research has led the FDA to approve the use of Thalidomide for treating Leprosy. On the other hand, research has shown both Thalidomide and its immunomodulatory (IMiDs) analogs inhibit the cytokines tumour necrosis factors. It also noted that they co-stimulate primary human T lymphocytes inducing their proliferation, cytokine production and cytotoxic activity, which lead to an increase of the T cells anticancer activity (PubMed, 2005). Having indicated that Thalidomide has the activity of anticancer, it enhanced the process of approving the use of Thalidomide in the treatment for multiple myeloma. This not only brought medical research and drug development to a higher standard, but also allowed Thalidomide to be one of the potential treatments for treating cancer in the future.

In conclusion, Thalidomide has changed many people’s lives, however at the same time, it has played an important role in reminding us of the importance of drug trials and drug development in both the medical and pharmacology fields. It forced governments and medical authorities to change the way drugs are tested by tightening drug approval regulations as well as reviewing and reflecting on their pharmaceutical licensing policies regularly. These changes, as a result, could potentially save many more lives in the future.

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REFERENCES www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/thalidomide www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-the-thalidomide-scandal-led-to-safer-drugs#Completesafety www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123518/ www.kerboodle.com/api/courses/17391/interactives/137638.html www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35457-6 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/583234/ https://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i29/Mechanism-Thalidomide-Found.html www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/cc.7.9.5793 https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/effects-thalidomide-embryonic-development https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/biochemistry/New-thalidomide-nuance-revealed/96/i33 https://elifesciences.org/articles/38430 www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19202-7 www.youtube.com/watch?v=41n3mDoVbvk www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-history-exhibits/frances-oldham-kelsey-medical-reviewer-famousaverting-public-health-tragedy https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/protecting-public-profile-dr-frances-oldhamkelsey/2001-07 www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/frances-oldham-kelsey-heroine-of-thalidomidetragedy-dies-at-101/2015/08/07/ae57335e-c5da-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/woman-who-stood-between-america-and-epidemicbirth-defects-180963165/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrTHfBCduRA&t=27s www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/thalidomide/art-20046534 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146335/ www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4737249/ www.softenon.nl/uploaded/Library/1998Wasthetragedypreventable.pdf www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-the-thalidomide-scandal-led-to-safer-drugs www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2013/scientists-discover-how-thalidomide-likedrugs-fight-cancer/

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

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WHY SHOULD LESSONS BE 45 MINUTES?

By Sienna This article looks at one side of the debate on the length of lesson times and considers the merits of shorter bursts of concentration.

Thirty minutes through the lesson and many students find themselves lost, only to be found staring at the clock. Based on research and scientific evidence, psychologists can now confidently say that the average attention span of an average fifteen-year-old ranges from thirty to forty-five minutes although that does not apply for everyone.

Though a longer lesson allows teachers to cover a whole chapter rather than presenting many small fragments only to be put together at a later date, it may actually mean that around twenty minutes of content maybe forgotten. Shorter lessons maybe easier for a class to control their concentration and may allow pupils to take in a larger portion of the content covered. It is also a well-known fact that distributing study sessions over time is more effective for embedding information into the long-term memory. Teachers can also set pieces of homework and essays; a topic that is also frequently under debate.

People in favour of homework often argue that it further secures the information into the longterm memory. The same can be said for shorter lessons. The boost in productivity it creates means that more work is done, and that the brain is more engaged in its surroundings.

Other than the fact that a shorter lesson allows pupils to take in more of the material it also creates more time for other classes and therefore promotes a more diverse timetable.

This allows students to stay alert throughout the day due to the constant change of environment whilst also being beneficial for the students’ mental health. Some scientists say that shorter activities stimulate curiosity and improve motivation whilst others say that it improves

mood as a result of more frequent breaks. This application is not only suggested for lesson timetabling but also for study sessions in order to prevent cramming and climbing stress levels; a situation that most students can relate to.

In a world where teenagers are constantly found with heads buried in phones, a quick ten-minute break can offer the time to increase social skills. This, consequently, boosts the ability to work well in team projects and enhances conversational skills used when putting forward ideas. This is important in later life and a key skill when working in an office or project team.

This may mean that adding in space for students to consolidate their learning in a longer lesson would be one solution.

In conclusion, the evidence used for this article supports the idea of shorter lessons. Shorter concentration times are beneficial to students when taking in and processing information. It also reduces the stress if a pupil’s mind moves off topic and it may reduce the potential for disruption. It also allows pupils to remain concentrated and focused before having a short break that is important for mental health.

Perhaps the conversation now needs to be about how we use the time in the lesson, whatever the length, so that pupils can have breaks in order to reset their concentration.

REFERENCES www.dhm.de/blog/2018/08/15/stories-why-are-school-lessons-in-germany-45-minutes-long/

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TRANSGENDER WOMEN IN FEMALE SPORT: FAIR PLAY?

By Lilia According to guidelines in late November 2021 from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), transgender women are no longer required to reduce their testosterone levels to compete in women’s sports. Consequently, there has been some controversy as to whether this is fair.

There are several reasons why many people view the IOC’s new guidelines as unfair. Most obviously, this is due to the physical advantage males have over females, especially without the need for testosterone reduction. Transgender females naturally have more testosterone levels, which research has demonstrated, increases muscle size and strength, enhances aerobic endurance, decreases fat mass and accelerates recovery from high exertion. These factors all enhance performance hugely.

Moreover, taking testosterone to improve performance is illegal, further enforcing the extent of an advantage this creates. However, testosterone levels are not the only factor that gives transgender women an advantage, proving that even when testosterone levels are reduced, transgender women competing in sport can still be viewed as unfair. For example, the

haemoglobin levels in transgender females are also naturally higher, allowing for more oxygen to be transported to the working muscles and therefore improve performance.

Furthermore, 45% of a male's body is muscle tissue, whereas this statistic is 36% for women.

This gives men a huge physical advantage over women. For example, Britain’s fastest female runner, Dina Asher-Smith holds a personal best of 10.83 seconds for 100m but is still slower than the under-15 boys’ English boys record of 10.8 seconds.

On the other hand, many people believe that the new guidelines are fair, and far more inclusive for transgender people. The IOC have included transgender women in female sport since 2004, and since then, there has not been a single medal won by a transgender person. This suggests that transgender people might not have as great an advantage as many people presume. In addition, ciswomen have their own natural advantages over other ciswomen,

such as having stronger muscles for weightlifting and longer legs for sports such as high jump in athletics. Therefore, it could be argued that the advantages transgender women have over ciswomen are the same as those that ciswomen have with each other. Moreover, some examples show that transgender women are not always necessarily stronger than women. For instance, Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand was accepted into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and failed to lift 125kg, resulting in her not being placed. However, she was 43, so she was much older than all her other competitors, which may have influenced the result.

In conclusion, I believe that although the new guidelines of the IOC are more inclusive, there are still concerns that need addressing.

I would say that it is important that sporting competitions are fair for all competitors. This debate needs to be part of further research as the evidence at present is mixed.

REFERENCES www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20210715/do-trans-women-athletes-have-advantages www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/transgender-olympian-laurel-hubbard-fails-win-medal-olympic-debut-rcna1568 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/582651-understanding-new-olympic-guidelines-for-trans-athletes www.insider.com/ioc-trans-women-shouldnt-reduce-testosterone-to-compete-at-olympics-2021-11 https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00118.2006#:~:text=The%20differences%20between%20the%20sexes, of%20body%20fat%20than%20women www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/16/trans-women-should-not-have-to-reduce-testosterone-say-new-ioc-guidelines

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

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DRESS CODES: ENCOURAGING STUDIES OR ENCOURAGING SEXISM?

By Freiya Dress codes, at first, they seem like a great idea for teachers; they encourage discipline in children’s mindsets, discourage bullying in the classrooms and can help identify intruders in school if they are wearing something outrageously different. However, dress codes over the years seem to have morphed into yet another way to oppress girls and can pressure them into covering up for the benefit of men.

The definition of dress code is ‘a set of rules, often written, with regards to what clothing groups of people must wear’. Why, then, are dress codes usually aimed at girls? The simple answer is sexism. Sexism is the “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex” and this is clearly displayed in dress codes not just all over England, but worldwide. The fact that dress codes often seem to be aimed at adolescent girls is not unknown to those who must conform to them, so why can they be bad?

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Firstly, dress-codes directed towards girls teaches them to be ashamed of their clothing and their bodies, whilst subsequently suggesting to boys that it is right for women to cover up. This can teach them that if a woman does not cover up, then it is alright to objectify and harass them.

This idea is backed up by a 2021 investigation that found that 86% of women between the age 18-24 have been sexually harassed. This discrimination in school is harmful because it can enforce the victimblaming mindset surrounding rape culture into the minds of the young and impressionable.

Dress codes are often enforced by members of authority, so it is hard for children not to immediately believe the subconscious message being promoted.

Secondly, when teachers remove girls from learning situations due to their outfits (whether that is sending them to the headteacher's office or in some cases sending them home), it prioritises the education of boys over the education of girls. This is harmful because it normalises injustice towards girls growing up in an environment that should feel safe. Additionally, it makes getting good grades for girls harder, since they could have to catch up on missed work on weekends and have to put in more effort for the same schooling that a boy receives in the lesson. Furthermore, if a normal outfit is going to be a 'distraction' for some boys, then it poses the question, ‘why is it not the boys that are removed or sent home?’. If they cannot deal with girls wearing casual clothes, that is not the girl’s fault, but their own.

Thirdly, a dress-code ends up promoting the sexualisation of

girls from an early age with the average age of puberty starting for girls at eleven, and in some cases as young as aged eight. It is unlikely at this age that children will be thinking about gaining the attention of boys. Dress codes often have many things that girls must cover up, but one that is very commonly reported is brastraps. From Year 6, children are educated about the developments of puberty for both their own and the other gender, so it is not an unfamiliar topic. This, perhaps, suggests that wanting girls’ bra straps to be covered is mainly due to the sexualisation of women in society. This is an item of clothing that half of the population wears – just like socks.

To conclude, I understand what a dress code intends, which is to stop people turning up in a swimming suit or an outfit not suitable for the environment.

However, humiliating girls over showing a bra strap or wanting to wear a tank top on a warm summer day should not be allowed. Forcing girls to cover up promotes the victimblaming mindset which is likely the reason that 96% of sexually harassed women don't report it. Overall, this leads me to one final question - is the problem with dress codes caused by the dress codes themselves or by our society as a whole?

REFERENCES https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/dress-code/m03h530?hl=en www.lexico.com/definition/sexism www.openaccessgovernment.org/97-of-women-in-the-uk/105940/ www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/almost-all-young-women-in-the-uk-have-been-sexually-harassedsurvey-finds

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

23

IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

“HUMANE PRISON” BENEFICIAL TO OUR SOCIETY?

By Lucy

The Prison system is outdated: prisoners should be rehabilitated rather than penalised.

In 2019, 54,501 people were sentenced to time in prison in the UK. For individuals sentenced to less than 12 months jail time, 59.7% will once again be convicted. This vicious cycle continues with our convicted criminals reoffending multiple times, having been offered little to no education, therapy or any other forms of support whilst incarcerated to help them address their issues.

Let’s look at Norway.

This country that was once plagued by a staggering 70%

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reoffending rate for prisoners, is now abolishing the outlook that prisoners should be ‘locked up and punished’ and instead focusing on rehabilitation. The results have been outstanding and recidivism rates in this country have fallen by 25% in the last 5 years alone.

However, Norway was left shaken in July of 2011 when Anders Breivik detonated a bomb near the Government Quarter in Oslo, and then proceeded to open fire on a summer camp taking place on a nearby island that same day, killing 146 people in total and leaving 319 injured, only for the Norwegian courts to sentence him to a meagre 21 years in prison, as part of their policy that opposes the life sentence. In the

aftermath of this, the devastated nation was shocked to discover that not only was Breivik going to be serving a finite sentence, but he was able to spend his free time in prison playing video games, watch his own private TV, go on his computer, read newspapers, and was even able to build a gingerbread house as part of a prison competition at Christmas. This provoked a public uproar as many of the victims’ friends and families felt that they were being betrayed by the Norwegian justice system. This evoked many questions. What does the humane prison look like? How effective is it? Does the development of a ‘luxury prison’ adequately punish offenders or just give them another reason to commit crimes?

Ex-convict Jessica Kent from Aurora, Illinois, speaks about her prison sentence and states that:

‘Whilst we were in there, we were treated like animals; never given any respect and most basic human rights, such as healthcare, were only handed to us after either extensive pleading with the guards or after our mental or physical state had deteriorated so much to the point that it was almost life-or death. We were degraded, dehumanised and humiliated, and this psychological trauma installed into us had a major effect on our lives and caused many of my cellmates to reoffend in later years’.

On the other hand, tranquillity does not come cheaply. A place at Norway’s newly-refurbished rehabilitative prison, Halden Prison, costs about £98,000 per year. The average annual cost of a prison place in England in Wales is now about £40,000, or £59,000 in a Category A prison. In addition, the architecture of Halden Prison has been designed to minimise residents' sense of incarceration, to ease psychological stress and to put them in harmony with the surrounding nature - in fact the prison, which cost £138m to build, has won several design awards for its minimalist chic. Although many people may object to this, the Norwegian prison system’s definition of punishment focuses on reduction of liberty and being away from friends and family.

However, they believe that prisoners should not be deprived of so many liberties that they become treated like animals, or people to be feared or shunned, because if society treats them that way they will act that way, but if we give them trust then we are allowing them to grow as individuals.

Although the rebuilding of our prison system into a therapeutic atmosphere rather than a penal one may come at an expense, in the long-term and from an economic perspective, rehabilitation can also make sense. A recent study undertaken across England and Wales provided examples of the changes of sending more people to prison (a proxy for a model that emphasises punishment) versus community sentences (a proxy for a more rehabilitative approach). Based on a statistical model, using data on case disposals and crime rates across England and Wales, it provides estimates of how changes in case disposals affect crime rates. For example, sentencing 1% fewer offenders to prison for property offences (including theft and handling), is estimated to increase next year’s recorded crimes by 2,693. However, a similar 1% increase in community sentences reduces these offences by 3,590. When one considers that community sentences cost on average a quarter of prison sentences, it appears there is scope to reduce property crime more cost-effectively and humanely through a greater use of community sentences instead of prison.

In conclusion, building a therapeutic rather than a penal atmosphere in our prisons helps to end the negative spiral that can occur when people commit crimes and are sent to prison. How are the prisoners who have often had adverse upbringings or struggled with drugs or mental health supposed to reintegrate into society upon release if they have received no chances to tackle their underlying reasons for going to prison in the first place, or no opportunities to widen their studies or gain qualifications which they may not have obtained before their imprisonment? How are released prisoners supposed to behave like people, if they have been treated like animals during their incarceration?

Let me finish on this thought: The Norwegian prison authorities focus on working with each individual inmate with the purpose of making them good neighbours. If you were given the choice, would you rather have an ex-convict, who had been poorly treated by the prison system and was left with a plethora of mental health and addiction issues as a result of their incarceration, or would you rather live next door to somebody who had done time in prison, but through extensive therapy, exercise programmes, and education opportunities, had bettered themselves and left prison determined to make something of themselves and prosper in the outside world?

I’ll leave that for you to answer.

REFERENCES: https://theprivatetherapyclinic.co.uk/blog/ therapy-in-prison/ www.thestoryinstitute.com/halden/ https://shstalon.com/2021/05/07/norwayshalden-prison-revolutionizes-incarceration/ www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/ the-radical-humaneness-of-norways-haldenprison.html https://hlm.no/en/projects/halden-prison www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35813470 www.theatlantic.com/international/ archive/2012/08/a-different-justice-whyanders-breivik-only-got-21-years-for-killing-77people/261532/ https://prisonprofessors.com/jessica-kentssuccess-after-prison/

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

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SHOULD HORSES BE USED BY THE POLICE?

By Chloe

Since 1760 there have been equine officers patrolling the streets of London. Horses are integrated within history and modern-day culture, as they serve not only as a policing force, but also as a subtle symbol of the irreplaceable role horses played in our society.

What started out as a way to prevent highwaymen stealing from people walking around central London, expanded in 1805 from 8 horses to 50. The Mounted Police were then moved to rural areas to help prevent livestock theft as the city developed and trains became more common. The modern-day mounted branch was created by Lt Col Laurie in 1919.

Horses can take from 6 months to 2 years to be ready to go out on jobs and despite how the training that the horses undergo has developed, the tasks the officers and their horses are given has barely changed. Yet, cities are rife with traffic, urban areas have become more crowded and littered, and demonstrations and riots have become more common and more violent. So, should the police still be using horses to control these scenes?

REFERENCES https://animalsinhumansocieties.weebly.com/police-horses.html www.scienceabc.com/social-science/why-do-policemen-in-somebig-cities-still-use-horses.html www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/mounted-policeuk.html www.horseandhound.co.uk/tag/police-horses

There are many advantages to the police using horses. One mounted officer has the same effect as 1012 officers on foot, because they have a higher vantage point and can move faster when necessary.

There are numerous real-life examples in the UK, when 3 or 4 mounted cops managed to scatter a rowdy crowd after several dozen riot-geared policemen on foot were unsuccessful in doing so.

Riding is much faster than walking or driving so when conducting a search and rescue operation in a remote area more ground can be covered to find the missing person. Horses can be used in places where cars cannot possibly go, such as through a narrow park entrance or in areas of wilderness.

The horses encourage more interactions between the police and members of the public as people come up to see the horses and are more likely to engage in conversation with the officer on horseback than the officer on foot. At the same time, horses can also come across as intimidating therefore deterring criminals.

Larger horses weighing between 600 and 800kg are very useful for

moving crowds due to the sheer size and strength of the horse and the fear people have of being trodden on or kicked. Horses can have a calming effect on crowds which helps officers disperse crowds collectedly, and a welltrained horse should not spook at loud noises or sudden bangs. The police force takes the welfare of the horses very seriously, so they are treated extremely well and to a high standard, partly due to the large amount of money put into the production and maintenance of the horses. An example of this is that it is common for ex-police horses to end up in sanctuaries and rescue centres to provide them with a quiet, loving home for them to live in for the rest of their lives.

However, there are many disadvantages to using horses for crowd control. If a crowd begins to get violent, which starts making the horse anxious, dispersing a crowd peacefully can very quickly go downhill. The horses are often used for crowd control, and as a barrier to move people in a specific direction. Whilst they are trained to push against resistance, no horse or rider can be prepared for every situation.

Furthermore, horses are naturally flight animals, which means they will run from danger rather than stay to fight it. If a horse

encounters a situation they have not been trained to handle, they will most likely run, which can result in the rider, horse and/or civilians being injured. A danger to the public is imposed, as they could potentially be trampled by an animal that weighs over 1000lb.

A police horse can also suffer from heat stroke or dehydration, or runs the risk of breaking a leg if its hoof gets stuck on objects when it gets spooked. When crowds turn violent, horses are often subject to many dangers as objects may be thrown at the officers and horses such as glass bottles, bricks and stones to name a few.

To conclude, I think horses should still be used by the police force as they create a lot more interaction between police and the public, and make people feel safer. However, I do not think horses should be used as riot control as there is very little space for the horses to move and many get injured during these riots. As a flight animal, conflict goes against everything they naturally do and they very rarely get a choice as to whether they are involved or not.

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

27

IN WHAT WAYS IS DAIRY FARMING CAUSING OUR CATTLE TO SUFFER?

By Nia The first issue I’d like to raise about dairy farming is the process by which getting the milk is carried out. In order to produce large quantities of milk for commercial usage, dairy cows are forced to endure a constant cycle of pregnancy and birth, which means their bodies are under constant strain. Just so we can have the milk in the fridge ready for tomorrow’s cuppa.

We exploit the cow’s reproductive systems in an unnatural way, using artificial insemination to impregnate the cows – meaning that even the most basic and natural process of mating is done forcefully. The powerful hormones used in this technique force the mothers to produce large numbers of embryos which are then surgically removed and implanted into surrogate cows, to increase the number of milk-producing mothers available. Not only does the surgery cause pain and suffering for the cows, the calves born are often taken away from their mothers within just 24 hours of birth. This cruel and unnatural separation causes anxiety for both the mother and the infant, which is yet another form of suffering that we impose on the cattle in dairy farming.

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Milking machines are the next cause of suffering for our cattle.

Usually, in a state of freedom, cows in the UK typically feed their calves for approximately 6 – 8 months, where milk is secreted at a rate of about 8-10 litres per day. Overall, the mother produces less than 1,000 litres during her lactation, storing around two litres in her udders at any one time. However, in modern dairy farming, mothers can be expected to produce between 6 and 12,000 litres during their ten-month lactation. This means they may be carrying as much as 20 litres at any one time. Can you imagine the weight of that? Producing this much milk puts the cows’ bodies under enormous strain and this, therefore, is another way dairy farming harms our cattle.

Housing of the cattle is yet another cruel aspect of dairy farming. Whilst being restricted to only half a year on pasture, for six months dairy cows are kept indoors. The housing of the cattle usually consists of concrete cubicles around a central communal area, which are separated by metal bars. This containment not only restricts the cows but also causes suffering as it is practically bare and unnatural environment. Also, this sort of housing is associated with behavioural problems such as aggression and bullying amongst the cows, which can cause suffering for those who fall victim. In addition, the close proximity of the cows in housing may damage their health, by increasing the risk of mastitis (infection of the udder), lameness and other contagious diseases. Did you know that nowadays, at least 10% of dairy cows in the UK are now being housed all year round?

Could you imagine being locked in your house for a year? Housing, therefore, causes suffering of the cattle as it prevents them from

expressing many of their natural behaviours as well as putting them in an unnatural environment and making it more likely for them to fall ill.

What happens to the calves and the cattle, you make ask? Cows naturally live up to 25 years old, but by the time they reach four or five on a dairy farm, they are most likely to be physically exhausted, lame and infertile. Savagely, these cows that can not keep up with our demands are sent to a slaughterhouse. The fate of the calves may also shock you. Each year, over half a million unwanted calves are born in the UK. Many of the females replace their mothers in the dairy herd; however, the males are often regarded as waste by-products. Some are allowed a few months to live, others are killed for mince and food products and some are simply shot in the head shortly after birth.

This means every year in the UK tens of thousands of calves are slaughtered just so that farmers can sell their mothers’ milk. This shows just how much pain and suffering humans cause for all lives of all cattle in dairy farming – from birth right up to death.

On the other hand, however, there are people who don’t see the ways that dairy farming is causing our cattle to suffer. Perhaps they take the view that as the cows produce milk, and milk makes money, they are just tools to gain profit rather than living creatures, such as ourselves, and do not need affection or proper care.

Others may believe that the wellbeing of the cows simply does not matter, as long as production is cheap and efficient. Although the quantity of people who believe this is unknown, those who do will be the hardest to convince that their methods – our methods – of dairy farming are actually harmful and cruel to the cattle.

What can we do? In a world where consumption of dairy products results in this treatment of farmed cattle, we can help by using alternatives such as soya, coconut, oat and nut milks. This would reduce

demand and would need to be a conscious choice worldwide for this to be effective. Moreover, we can instead find a way to communicate with farmers and improve the care of farmed cattle so that a few of the ways in which they suffer can be ameliorated – such as the issue of housing and disease.

Regardless of this, using milk alternatives should be a choice so – reader – do not feel pressured into doing so. This is just one possible option to helping reduce the suffering of cattle, but if nothing changes in this industry, farmed cattle will continue to live in endless cycles of pain, disease and death.

REFERENCES www.animalaid.org.uk/the-issues/ our-campaigns/animal-farming/ suffering-farmed-cattle/

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THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE

By Jemima As the whole world knows, in May 2020, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Derek Chauvin, a serving US police officer. The killing shocked the world and galvanised the Black Lives Matter movement.

But 99 years earlier, the single worst incident of racial violence in US history took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Greenwood district of the city was completely destroyed, and hundreds of African Americans were killed. So, why has it taken 100 years for us to find out about it? The late 1910s and early 1920s were a very dark time for race relations in America. Segregation was increasing and in 1915 there was a rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan, the largest and most powerful terrorist group in US history. Race riots and lynchings were commonplace.

On the afternoon of May 31st, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune, one of the city’s white daily newspapers, published an inflammatory frontpage story claiming that a 19-yearold African American shoe-shiner named Dick Rowland had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old white female lift operator in an office building. The story was entitled “To Lynch Negro Tonight,” and within half an hour of the newspaper hitting the streets, a white lynch mob began to gather outside the courthouse where Dick Rowland was being held in a cell.

When the town of Greenwood found out later that evening that the white mob was planning to storm the courthouse, 75 African American World War 1 veterans went peacefully to the courthouse and offered their services to the sheriff to help protect the prisoner. But as a white man attempted to disarm one of the veterans, a shot was fired and the massacre had begun. The Tulsa police then arrived, and instead of stopping the violence, they provided

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members of the lynch mob with arms, inciting them to attack the peaceful African Americans.

For the next few hours, crowds of white people murdered innocent African Americans throughout Greenwood, taking part in drive-by shootings in residential streets, firing into parlours and children’s bedrooms, setting fire to houses and looting businesses owned by African Americans, killing any who resisted and imprisoning those who did

not.

Not only did the police and local National Guard units fail to stop the white lynch mobs, they also fired on African American citizens using machine guns, even dropping sticks of dynamite from private aeroplanes. Before the violence finally ended the following afternoon, more than 1,000 African American homes were destroyed and over 10,000 were made homeless, their homes reduced to ash and rubble.

To this day, it is still not known how many were killed, although estimates suggest it was as many as 300. Initially the massacre was front page news across the US, and it was even mentioned in British newspapers. But the white politicians and businessmen who ran Tulsa soon realised that the massacre was a big public relations problem and so they planned to bury it. Official records were stolen, incriminating articles were cut out of archive newspapers, and photographs were seized. For 50 years, the city’s white newspapers did not mention the riots or resulting massacre, and anyone who attempted to talk about it or write about it was threatened, some even with their lives.

But the massacre wasn’t discussed, at least not in public, in the African American community either. Many survivors suffered from PTSD for the rest of their lives, and many did not want to burden their children and grandchildren with the painful recollections of what they had endured.

So, they just didn’t talk about it.

Many of the African Americans killed were hastily buried in unmarked graves, while their family members were still being held under armed guard in detention camps. 99 years later, a mass grave was discovered in Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, containing the bodies of some of the victims, and the process has now started to extract DNA from some of the bones, so that some of the victims may be identified by name, and honoured, and crimes against them acknowledged and apologised for.

The African American citizens of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were let down by their city, their state, their country, but worst of all, by their fellow human beings. Even the insurance companies refused to honour their claims, leaving families destitute for generations.

It is up to our generation to stop the hatred, to stop the violence, and ensure that nothing like the Tulsa Massacre, or the death of George Floyd 99 years later, can ever happen again.

REFERENCES “The Ground Breaking: The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City’s Search for Justice” by Scott Ellsworth www.cnbc.com/video/2021/05/28/cnbc-black-wall-street-tulsa-race-massacre-documentary.html www.history.org.uk Images from: USATODAY.com, bbc.co.uk, vox.com, latimes.com

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https://theecologist.org/2018/oct/01/ pheasant-shooting-massive-waste-lifereports-marianne-brooker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_and_ shooting_in_the_United_Kingdom#Game_ animals

Michaela Holmes - Game Shooting – A Harmless Recreational Activhttps://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac. ity? uk/2011/10/pheasant-shooting-bad-forpheasants-worse-for-humans/ www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2020/oct/12/the-guardianview-on-game-shooting-the-threat-is-tonature-not-sport https://whoownsengland.org/2019/04/02/ the-english-shooting-estates-that-rear-20million-pheasants-a-year/ www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/ feb/26/defra-challenged-over-unlawfulrelease-of-57m-game-birds-in-uk www.league.org.uk/what-we-do/shooting/

GAME SHOOTING – A HARMLESS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY?

By Michaela Since the prehistoric ages hunting has been practised in Britain and was a crucial activity for survival.

Game shooting became more popular during the 18th and 19th centuries due to the improvement of shotguns and, under the 1831 Game Act, Game Laws were relaxed meaning anyone could obtain a permit to shoot rabbits, hares and gamebirds, the most popular being the common pheasant. Today, according to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) over a million people a year participate in shooting from the 1st of October to 1st of February. Up to 146,000 pheasants, 5,300 red grouse and 38,300 red-legged partridges are shot every day in the UK, during their respective hunting seasons. As game shooting is legal, and annually participated in, is it simply a harmless recreational activity?

Surprisingly, game shooting does have some benefits. Game managed woodlands had more woodland birds and wood-edge butterflies, evidence of some increased wildlife and habitats in areas that game inhabit. Thousands of jobs in game management and woodland control are also provided every year. Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and deer management, said: “Game shooting is good for conservation, good for economy and

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game meat is very good to eat”. It unites those who have a common passion for game shooting and the countryside, whilst encouraging people to enjoy the outdoors. However, this is perhaps rather trivial when considering the lives of the creatures that are intentionally mass bred and then destroyed as a result of this recreational activity.

There are many negatives of, and surrounding, game shooting. Often, bred pheasants are kept initially in cramped intensive farming conditions before being released onto the estates area. In some USA cases, the birds are kept in cramped spaces before being deposited into the field to be shot.

Many birds are imported from France, Belgium, Spain and Poland, representing nearly half of the UK’s total game bird population. Even though grouse cannot be reared intensively, the heather moorland in which they live on is intensively managed to maximise numbers. In the UK, minimum standards exist for the protection of animals bred or kept for farming; however, this did not apply to birds farmed for the ‘game’ shooting industry. Although landowners rearing game are around 2.5 times more likely to plant new woodlands, high densities of game birds can negatively impact ecosystems, increase predator numbers and create competition for food.

Furthermore, hundreds of other animals and birds are trapped, snared and killed to protect the game birds, which will soon be shot themselves. In early January 2022, it was announced gamekeepers will be able to legally shoot crows, magpies and jackdaws to defend their game birds.

A large volume of lead ammunition is discharged every year over the countryside, causing harm to the environment, wildlife and people. Although the government is considering a ban under the UK’s new chemical regulation system, research by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust shows that 50,000 to 100,000 wildfowl had already died each year due to ingesting lead from pellets. Lead ammunition can make its way into the food chain, harming habitats.

Many people do not eat the pheasants they shoot, so if factory farming animals is justified by the fact that we eat the animals, then how can game shooting be justified? A Savills Shoot Benchmarking Survey in 2017/18 found that on average only 48% of the birds shot will be taken by game dealers, and even less of this percentage will be used further. Even those that shoot with the intention to eat, in modern, developed society this is an unnecessary act, as sustainably sourced meat can be bought from the supermarket.

Rather than food, the game shooting industry is about money.

The guns (shooters) will have paid anywhere from £25 per bird they wish to shoot, and the total number of birds shot can range between 10 to even 400 depending on the budget and quarry. Over several days, large amounts of money will have been collected in exchange for the lives of millions of game.

In many households, children are taken on shoots, occasionally to act as beaters, and to help collect and kill the birds. Children are highly impressionable, so it seems likely they will pick up the idea of hurting and killing as a fun day out, rather than learning to value and protect the creatures living in precious habitats. Should a child be taught that it is acceptable to kill any animal, no matter how small its experience of life is compared to humans? It is important for society to value life, and care for it, rather than exploit it. Wounding in game shooting is common, and according to a 2015 shooting industry survey, 76% of shooters were unable to accurately gauge distance, meaning up to 40% of birds are wounded, rather than killed outright.

A poll by the League Against Cruel Sports and Animal Aid

showed that nearly seven out of ten people (69 percent) in Great Britain want bird shooting made illegal. Whilst game shooting provides a sense of community and has both benefits and negatives in terms of the environment, it cannot be denied that this sport needs changes, not only for the wellbeing of people but more importantly for the game birds. Rather than spending months fattening up bred pheasants so as they’re slow and easy to shoot, people should turn to clay pigeon shooting. Many already enjoy the sport in this form, in which a firearm is used to shoot a special flying target known as clay pigeons, or clay targets.

This form does not result in the death of a bird, but still provides a community, and sense of game shooting; whilst being far better for the environment.

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WHAT IS ART?

By Natacha

Art is a centre point of culture; it surrounds, connects and deeply affects us in many forms. In fact, it is hard to imagine a world without paintings, literature and music, as they have such an impact on both our history and our current society.

However, what makes art ‘art’? Where do the boundaries lie? Who decides what qualifies as art? Is there a true answer to these simple questions?

Even limited to the visual arts, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and subsets of that same area, the definition of art is not firm or precise.

Although analysed and discussed for years, there is yet to be an agreed upon definition of art. However, the most common theme within the range of possible answers is that art is an expression or application of human creativity and imagination that evokes emotion. This theme notably focuses on the activity, or rather the meaning of art rather than its products. As the art critic and author Sir E.H. Gombrich stated, ‘There is no such thing as art. There are only artists.’ Yet we can only stand before the products, sometimes centuries after their completion with no access to the techniques and inspirations that gave rise to them. When we look upon a painting or sculpture and feel moved, or inspired, or confused then the medium is having an impact on us.

REFERENCES E.H. Gombrich’s The Story of Art https://imagejournal.org/article/empty-bed-tracey-eminpersistent-self/ www.britannica.com/art/visual-arts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)

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The first evidential examples of ‘art’ that we have today are from around 15000 BC. These are the cave paintings that depict people and animals, picturing their essence and physical traits.

This core idea of art, although varying widely in practice and detail, remained central to artistic attempts throughout the ages, eras and revolutions. People strived to create sculptures, buildings, sketches, and paintings of the places, deities, patterns, and shapes that surrounded them in order to remove them from their mundanity into a higher state. Of course, the Impressionists did so differently to the Renaissance artists, just as they did so differently from their Medieval predecessors. In more recent times, the boundaries and methods have continued to be stretched and tested by such creations as Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ (1917) and ‘Bicycle Wheel’ (1916).

And contemporary ‘shock art’ by artists such as Andres Serrano and Tracey Emin ensures that the central questions of art are still being questioned along with the existence of a definition at all.

The utter simplicity of Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ led to its notoriety. Twentieth-century artist Marcel Duchamp took an ordinary toilet urinal, signed it with the name ‘R Mutt’, and entered it in the Society of Independent Artists display. Because Duchamp did not physically fabricate, decorate, or significantly modify the urinal, many said it is useless, lazy art or, more likely, not art at all. The artist Grayson Perry, no stranger to artistic controversy, said "When [Duchamp] decided that anything could be art he got a urinal and brought it into an art gallery... I find it quite arrogant, that idea of just pointing at something and

saying 'That's art.'" Some others however boldly asserted that the mere artistic submission of the piece differentiated it from its more functional use; as an artistic display, it became part of a narrative that depended on the unique imagination of each viewer. Art or not, this piece tests the boundaries of creative interpretation and seemingly demands that each viewer grapple with the enduring questions of art.

‘My Bed’ (1998) by Tracey Emin is a perfect example of modern, unconventional, and controversial art. It consists of a full size, messy, dirty, unmade bed surrounded by bottles, cigarettes, food wrappers, a razor, and other detritus of modern life. At first glance (and second and third) it might appear as a cheap and easy way to construct faux art, or simply as a taunting jeer at the artistic community as a whole. However, artistic context seems to redeem this unusual creation. Within the framework of its inspiration, Emin’s very real depressive episode in which she stayed in bed for four days consuming only alcohol, the piece gains meaning. The sundry mess of objects that surround the bed begin to communicate an authenticity that enhances its

connectivity to viewers. Is there anyone who cannot relate to an existential struggle for identity and personal meaning? Can we not identify in Emin’s bed our own messy struggle for a sense of ‘meness’? Just as Van Gogh painted representations of his bedroom in the asylum at Arles, Emin ‘created’ something that has power and significance that transcend its everydayness and solely functional purpose. Like Duchamp, Emin was (and still is) criticised for adopting an artistic form that violates the traditional norms and expectations of viewers. But like ‘Fountain’, the meaning and impact of ‘My Bed’ lies not in its technical creation but in its contribution to a new way of expressing very human experiences and feelings.

This must be understood in order to appreciate it. In a highly unconventional way, Emin has continued the work of the cave painters: the furthering of the mundane into a higher aesthetic for the enjoyment and admiration of the audience.

To conclude, we are entering a new era of art, one that involves abstract ideas and, whether you think it is stupid or not, can evoke emotion to a point that makes us question: is it art?

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WHAT IS MUSIC THERAPY?

By Christy The article in the 1789 Columbian Magazine titled, ‘Music Physically Considered’ is the earliest known reference to music therapy (American Music Therapy Association, 2021a). The definition of music therapy has changed over time.

From, “music therapy is the treatment of physical and mental ills by means of music” (Antrim, 1944), to the modern definition that it is a clinical and evidence-based intervention using music in a therapeutic setting, to achieve personal goals (American Music Therapy Association, 2021b). The defining factors of music therapy is alleviation, change, music, relationship and personal qualities (Bunt, 1988).

Music therapy can be used to help people with communication difficulties, ranging from children with Autism Spectrum Disorder to patients who suffered from brain injuries to elders with dementia (Cleveland Clinic, 2020) (University of Minnesota, 2016). Other applications of music therapy include lessening withdrawal symptoms for individuals with substance abuse disorders and aiding individuals with mental health disorders to understand their feelings (Cleveland Clinic, 2020).

There are numerous approaches for music therapy, for instance, the Nordoff-Robbins method, Cognitive Behavioural Music Therapy, Analytical Music Therapy, and Community Music Therapy (Wong and Gans, 2021). They are all categorised under 4 types of musical interventions (Parkinson, 2020). Firstly, receptive music therapy is when the patient listens to music, either a live performance or a recording, and responds. This approach is more passive, and it can help stimulate or relax the patients, depending on the music choice.

Secondly, recreation music therapy is when the patient is encouraged to play or sing along to a precomposed song. This approach is more engaging, and it helps the patient to develop fine motor skills. Thirdly, improvisation music therapy is for spontaneous music making. This includes patients playing a rhythm on the drum or singing a melody, which helps patients build their relationship with the music therapist or other individuals, if practised in a group setting. Finally, composition music

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therapy is when the patient creates their own piece of music, or a song with lyrics, with the support of the music therapist. This approach allows patients to express their creativity and externalises their thoughts and emotions, so they can understand their feelings.

Each music therapy session is unique and tailored to the individual, and it can be in a group setting or just the patient and the therapist; it can use recorded music, or a live performance by the music therapist or even professional musicians; the session can use a combination of the different music therapy approaches, or it could use just one approach. Music therapists are trained to select the most beneficial approach and pieces to tailor to the patient’s therapeutic goals. Their main role is to build a relationship with the individual so they can achieve any physical, emotional, cognitive, or social goals through different musical activities. A music therapist can either be an experienced musician who is trained to be a therapist or a highly trained clinician who is trained in musician skills (Bunt, 1988). In order to be a music therapist in the UK, it is necessary to complete an approved Master’s degree in music therapy, and be registered with the HCPC1 (NHS, 2015; British Association for Music Therapy, 2021). Music therapists are a part of a multidisciplinary team alongside other healthcare professionals, including psychotherapist and physical therapists. They work with each other to provide the patient with holistic healthcare.

Music therapy is for everyone. Musical training in not required in order to engage in Music Therapy (British Association for Music Therapy, 2021). It is the music therapist’s role to discover and utilise each patient’s natural musicality to offer therapeutic musical interventions.

WHY DOES MUSIC THERAPY WORK? Music has been playing a significant role throughout the evolution of humans. Many primitive tribes use music in their ceremonies and religious rituals (Nettl, 1956), which modern humans also use in the same way. Mothers have been singing lullabies to their babies since around 2000 BC, when the earliest lullaby was recorded (Perry, 2013).

Music can create a sense of social connectedness, for example when we sing our school song or the national anthem. Many researches have showed that music engages multiple areas of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, corpus callosum, amygdala and the hippocampus (JB Music Therapy, 2021).

Music slows cognitive decline, triggers the releases of neurochemicals and can help regulate emotions (Stanborough and Wilson, 2020). Music also brings physical benefits, for example, increasing metabolism (Antrim, 1944), altering breathing rate, therefore heart rate and blood pressure; and can enhance physical performance by helping one’s body exercise more efficiently and cutting down one’s awareness of exertion.

HOW IS MUSIC PERCEIVED? Sounds are processed by our auditory system (Sahyouni, 2014; CrashCourse, 2015; Neuroscientifically Challenged, 2015; Oliver, 2018; McCollum and Resnick, 2019). The pinna catches the sound waves, which then enter auditory canal, and eventually hit the tympanic membrane (the ear drum). This causes the membrane to vibrate. The tympanic membrane is connected to the auditory ossicles – the malleus, the incus, and the stapes, which amplifies the vibration. The stapes is connected to the elliptical window, so when the tympanic membrane vibrates, the elliptical window also vibrates, moving the fluid, the endolymph, in the cochlea. The movement of the fluid causes certain sections of the basilar membranes to move. The basilar membrane is made up of at least 20,000 fibres, which are longer further down the membrane. The different length of the fibre causes them to resonate at different frequency. The longer fibres resonate with lower frequencies; and the shorter fibres resonate with higher frequencies. The organ of Corti translates this movement of fluid into electrical impulses, for the brain to process it. The organ of Corti has hair-like receptor cells, called stereocilia. When the movement of the endolymph causes the stereocilia to move, it opens the sodium gated channels, allowing sodium ions to enter the cell. This change in potential difference could lead to an action potential, and is sent to the vestibulocochlear nerve, which carries the information regarding the auditory stimulus to the brain to be analysed and perceived.

Figure 1. The anatomy of the ear (created on BioRender)

Figure 2. The anatomy of the cochlea (created on BioRender)

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However, music is much more complicated than sound. Music is often defined as, “the art of organising sound” (McLeish, 1993; Martin and Law, 2003; Hutchinson, 2018).

Music is made up of many elements, to name a few – pitch, rhythm, pulse, timbre, texture, harmony, tempo, and dynamics. Music is split into these different elements, which will be processed in different parts of the brain. With the advance in technology, for example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalogram (EEG), and Network Science, scientists now have a better understanding on how each element of music is processed.

Figure 3. Some examples of area that is engaged when processing music (lateral view of the brain) (created on BioRender) (Husain and Schott, 2016; Johannes Sobotta et al., 2018; Kirollos et al., 2019; Neuroscience for Musicians, 2021)

Figure 4. Some examples of area that is engaged when processing music (sagittal view of the brain) (created on BioRender) (Husain and Schott, 2016; Johannes Sobotta et al., 2018; Kirollos et al., 2019; Neuroscience for Musicians, 2021)

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REFERENCES www.musictherapy.org/about/history/ www.musictherapy.org/about/musictherapy/ www.jstor.org/stable/739403 www.bamt.org/music-therapy/what-is-a-music-therapist Bunt, L. (1988) ‘Music Therapy: An Introduction’, Psychology of Music, 16(1), pp. 3–9. doi:10.1177/0305735688161001. my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/8817-music-therapy www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie2j7GpC4JU https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/heliconhe/music/0?institutionId=7689 www.jbmusictherapy.com/how-the-brain-processes-music/ https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/move/music/0?institutionId=7689 www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/ media/music/your-brain-on-music/your-brain-on-music/your-brain-on-music-the-sound-system-betweenyour-ears/ https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/bght/music/0?institutionId=7689 www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674863408.c2/pdf www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeQluId1hnQ www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/musictherapist www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkGOGzpbrCk https://wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com/the-four-types-of-interventions-in-music-therapy/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21035103 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GB_kcdVMQo&list=TLPQMjQwMjIwMjKGgbJoaj4OHg&index=1 www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-music#community-benefits www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/common-questions/what-music-therapy www.verywellmind.com/benefits-of-music-therapy-89829

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IS MSJ RIGHT TO INCLUDE THE ARTS IN THE FOCUS ON STEM SUBJECTS?

By Claudia As a school we are strong in the STEM subjects and over 50% of Year 13 leavers go on to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics related degree courses at top universities, including Oxbridge, Imperial, Warwick, Bristol and University College London. Statistics also show that students attending an all-girls school are 75% more likely to take Maths A-level, 70% more likely to take Chemistry and 2 ½ times as likely to take Physics.

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MSJ is also very strong in the Arts areas; we have very talented pupils in a variety of years and alumnae pursuing jobs within the Arts. We as a school are very focused on Arts subjects, with scholarships being offered in Drama, Music and Art. We are just as strong in the Arts as we are in more academic subjects like Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. So, surely it would make sense for us to adopt the new STEAM label.

WHAT CAN THE ARTS AND DRAMA SPECIFICALLY TEACH YOU IN LIFE, ARE THEY USEFUL? Drama can help and teach you many things from a young age such as confidence and public speaking skills, which in adult life people value as they provide a very useful and valued skill set. Jobs like politicians and educators use public speaking skills all of the time. Drama is a great creativity outlet, form of self-expression, educates on body language, can help you socially and how to react to certain things, something a lot of people (particularly young children) struggle with. It can also help you view things from others perspectives by learning how different characters react and respond to different occasions. Drama is also a way of anxiety relief, as well as communities and friendships being built through Drama as devising a piece together is a great way of getting to know new people. It is a form of entertainment, and conveys important messages, for example, a pantomimes is not only funny but teaches young people important morals. ‘School in general is so stressful, drama is the only lesson I look forward to every week because I know it’s not going to majorly stress me out’ says a student from Three Rivers Academy in Surrey.

HOW CAN DRAMA AND THE ARTS HELP PEOPLE THAT GO INTO PROFESSIONS WITHIN SCIENCES, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS? Drama can help in many ways previously explained, but it is not just these, as I have yet to mention one of the most important links between Drama/the Arts and STEM subjects.

The most important link between the vastly contradicting Drama and STEM, is the creativity that Drama brings. It provides creativity that is a fundamental, vital, and integral part of day-to-day thinking and life.

Creativity is the basis of every new creation, invention, and medication.

Without ‘out of the box’ thinker’s, fresh scientific theories, inventions in Engineering, puzzling problems in Maths and experiments in Technology would not be curated. Creativity from Drama is used when scientists in the medical field need to come up with a new type of drug to help treat life altering medical conditions. For example, the condition MS (short for Multiple Sclerosis) is a condition which affects the brain and nerves. It

is caused when a hole occurs within a tube in your brain resulting in the immune system attacking the lining of the tubing and/or the nerves. It is a lifelong condition, with no permanent cures, only treatments. One of these treatments is called ‘Tysabri’, which consists of going to the hospital once every four weeks, in which a drip is used to infuse a drug into the body.

The Tysabri travels to the brain and sticks to the cells in the immune system, so the cells are too big to fit through the hole in the brain tube.

The famous scientist and leading creator of the AstraZeneca vaccine Sarah Gilbert said herself that without Drama she would not have had the ability to verbalise and explain the vaccine in an accessible way in her book ‘Vaxxers: The Inside Story of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the Race Against the Virus’. So, Drama really is the glue that sticks all the subjects together.

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WHY ARE THE ARTS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS MORE CORE SUBJECTS LIKE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS? In the UK, mainly in public schools, the arts are increasingly being pushed aside due to having a set number of hours for schoolwork, budgets being under pressure and school inspections saying to focus on ‘core’ subjects. As film producer Alan Parker quoted, ‘Arts in schools should not be side-lined, it should be right there right up in the front because the arts teach you to deal with the world around you. It is the oxygen that makes all the other subjects breathe.’ All the previously mentioned reasons for Drama and the arts importance, show that teaching Arts is just as important as teaching other more mainstream subjects like STEM.

ETYMOLOGY

REFERENCES www.nhs.uk/conditions/multiple-sclerosis/ https://mstrust.org.uk/a-z/tysabri-natalizumab www.tate.org.uk/art/talking-point/why-study-art

By Alyssa WORDS. We all use them and quite a lot. They develop over hundreds of years, with the collision of cultures, new products and experiences that cause semantic changes. Etymology is the origin of words and their change in meaning throughout history.

Some are obvious and direct like autograph which comes from the Greek αυτος meaning self and γραφω meaning to write. However, some are completely unknown, like badge, and others may change their meaning completely.

Amelioration in linguistics is the elevation of a word from a negative meaning to a positive one. The most common example of this is the word pretty, which has a few different meanings in today's society. The word comes from the Old English prættig meaning 'cunning' (from præt meaning 'trick') then 'skilful or artful' (of a person). By 1400 it had

changed again to mean 'attractive' and then 'fine or beautiful in a certain way'. This is what gives us our word pretty today that means aesthetically attractive. [1] However, the word pretty has also undergone pejoration where it can mean demeaning or condescending. Pejoration in linguistics is the opposite of amelioration. It is where a word degenerates, gaining negative meanings. By the 16th century, pretty was used as a patronizing term ('uncomfortable or awkward') but then gained a more moderate tone of being sufficient but not quite 'beautiful', which gives us common phrases like 'pretty much' where it isn't completely right but is close enough. [2] Some words have not undergone complete amelioration where they are seen as good, but they have changed their meaning.

For example, the word sinister

comes from the Latin 'sinister' meaning left. Throughout history, but especially in the Middle Ages, a large stigma has been held around left-handed people that can still be seen today. This included corporal punishment to physically force children to use their right hand by tying their left hand behind their chair; other stereotypes included the left hand being unclean. [3] Another example of this is the word bad which comes from 'bædling' meaning 'hermaphrodite' and 'bædan' meaning 'to defile'. [4] For modern/future ideas of pejoration or changes in words, terms like 'snowflake' have developed, which is used to mock someone as being overly sensitive or fragile and other insults could be deemed pejorative. On the reverse side, the reclamation of slurs and the disuse of others may cause changes within communities and meanings of words.

REFERENCES [1] http://www.word-detective.com/2010/09/pretty/ [2] https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/15/1284995/-Origins-of-English-Amelioration-and[3] https://historyofyesterday.com/left-handers-once-experienced-severe-stigmatization-and-discrimination-f172c2fde6ef [4] https://www.etymonline.com/word/bad

HOW DOES MUSIC AFFECT THE BRAIN?

By Morganne Throughout history music has had a massive impact on human culture.

From the cave men using instruments of bone and rock to the artists playing in the Royal Opera House; the impact music has on our lives is vast.

Every day it motivates us, provides us with an escape, it wakes us up in the morning and accompanies us on our weekly shop. Music is all around us and, due to the improvement in technology in recent years, scientists have been able to discover more about the effects that listening to music and playing an instrument has on the brain.

When listening to music no area of the brain is left untouched. When the brain was studied whilst listening to music it was described as, ‘fireworks all over the brain’. However, the most obvious difference between listening to and playing music is that playing a musical instrument involves fine motor skills. Scientists have described that, ‘playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full body work-out’. Playing music engages practically every area of the brain at once. It combines the linguistical and mathematical precision of the left hemisphere with the more creative aspects of the right. Music has been found to increase the size and activity of the brain’s corpus collosum, which is the bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain and allows messages to get across from one hemisphere to another. This increase allows for messages to get across faster and through more diverse routes, which improves a musician’s ability to solve problems quicker and more creatively in academic and social settings. Studies found that children who have studied music for over three years tested higher for non-verbal reasoning, fine motor skills, auditory discrimination and vocabulary.

Music has both a psychological and physical impact on the brain and body. It distracts your brain from registering your body’s fatigue as well as increasing endurance and improving the heart and muscles. Music can be used in the medical industry to help patients to relearn language. It is used to find other pathways in the brain to trigger

language and speech when the left hemisphere is damaged, as music has access to so many parts of the brain. Recent studies have also shown that music can help to reduce a person’s perception of pain.

Music has a positive effect on memory.

Musicians appear to give each memory multiple tags such as a conceptual tag, an emotional tag, an audio tag and a contextual tag. This allows musicians to create, store and retrieve memories faster and more efficiently.

Listening to music you enjoy triggers the brain to release dopamine and serotonin, which are naturally occurring chemicals that elevate your mood, can make you feel relaxed and can help you to stay focused. However, listening to music you don’t like can also have a physical effect as your brain releases cortisol, the stress hormone.

In conclusion, music has many physical and psychological impacts on the brain and body.

From releasing that feel-good hormone and improving your state of mind, to reducing pain and restoring speech. The incredible impacts of music on the body and mind are felt by everyone all over the world and throughout history.

REFERENCES www.creativesoulmusic.com/blog/what-are-theeffects-of-music-on-the-brain www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRE624795zU www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19Fr-_WaXo

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

43

CLIMATE CHANGE – BIG STEPS FORWARD OR TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

By Romilly

In a year where so much has come to a halt because of the global pandemic, the world's longest under-sea electricity cable, which will transfer green power between Norway and the UK, has begun operation.

The 450-mile cable, which took 6 years to build, connects Blyth in Northumberland with the Norwegian village of Kvilldal, through mountains, fjords and across the North Sea. The joint venture between the UK’s National Grid and the Norwegian power operator, Statnett, cost £1.37bn to build and it is estimated that it will help the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 23 million tonnes by 2030.

Hydropower in Norway and wind power in the UK are both subject to weather conditions and fluctuations in demand. Using the North Sea Link, renewable power can either be exported from the UK when wind generation is high and electricity demand low or be imported from Norway when demand is high and wind generation low. At full capacity it will import enough hydropower to supply 1.4 million homes.

There are four other power cables running to Belgium, France and the Netherlands and it is estimated that by 2030, almost 90% of energy imported in this

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way could be from zero carbon sources.

It’s a big step forward, but it’s not enough.

The world needs a massive and sustained shift in the demand for, and supply of, energy used in manufacturing and industry away from fossil fuels. Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilised, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.

Carbon emissions affect the planet significantly, as they are the greenhouse gas with the highest levels of emissions into the atmosphere; carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned.

This causes global warming and ultimately, climate change.

The world needs to be moving towards low carbon, if it will ever get close to being carbon neutral and then net zero.

As individuals, we need to work towards zero carbon sources in every part of our lives. We need to support suppliers that may not be lower carbon today but have plans in place to significantly reduce their carbon footprint, or better still, become carbon zero. Supporting companies that

are making the effort now is just as important as supporting companies that are already there, because not many companies started life carbon zero from day one.

At the start of the Covid crisis, our government told us that we are all in this together – the climate crisis is no different.

The planet’s carbon budget is finite, and it is running out. But we will need more than cables laid around the planet between different countries to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

We need to look at where the carbon emissions are. That means transforming energy, transport and industry – the sectors accounting for approximately 70% of global emissions. The Paris Agreement was founded on the need to be inclusive, no matter the starting point or stated ambition. Under the Paris Agreement today, major emitters – China, Japan and the US – have all committed positively to becoming net zero in the future.

Take the market for electric vehicles. The US car manufacturer, Tesla, sold nearly 500,000 electric vehicles last year.

But that’s less than 1% of the 73 million cars sold every year.

Toyota, VW and Renault Nissan together sell nearly 30 million

vehicles each year. So, if we are going to drastically improve our global climate crisis, we need forward-thinking companies like Tesla – but we need more than Tesla, we need other companies to improve.

So, we might not be able to choose to have our household power supply from the North Sea Link yet and we may not all be able to drive electric vehicles yet, but we CAN all make a difference through making informed choices, and that’s how we can all contribute to improving the climate crisis more quickly.

We all know the narrative around big companies overcontributing to the climate crisis, but it is up to us as individuals to reduce the demand for climatedamaging products, as this in turn will reduce manufacturing and supply, which will reduce carbon emissions.

If we don’t, our climate crisis will become a climate catastrophe and then we will know for certain that yes, we did too little, too late.

REFERENCES bp.com; nrdc.org greenmatters.com bbc.co.uk

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

45

RISING SEA LEVELS IN ANTARCTICA

By Lily Global sea levels are currently rising at an average rate of 1.8 mm per year since 1961, and 3.1 mm per year since 1993. The main contributions for this rise are from melting glaciers and ice caps, and thermal expansion of the ocean. In addition, the extent of polar snow and ice cover has been receding.

Understanding the Holocene Sea level rise, helps to contextualise the rate of sea level change. The IPCC, which stands for The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible for advancing knowledge on human-induced climate change. They have currently estimated the global sea level rise to be around 1.8 ± 0.5 mm per annum. The melting of mountain glaciers and ice caps accounts for quite a lot of this rise, and this may be because smaller glaciers, which also tend to be steeper, are more sensitive to global warming. Over the last 15 years, glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula have contributed 0.19 ± 0.045 mm per year to sea level rise.

In 2021, the Earth’s northern ice cap showed the impacts of the climate crisis. The Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum, at the second lowest extent seen in four decades. On 15th September 2021, the ice was measured at 3.74m sq km, which marked only the second time that the extent has fallen below 4m sq km in the current record.

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The melting is likely to take place over a long period, beyond the end of this century, but is almost certain to be irreversible, because of the way in which the ice cap is likely to melt. Antarctica’s vast ice cap, which covers about as much of the earth as North America and is close to three miles (5km) thick, holds more than half of the earth’s fresh water. Some of this is floating sea ice, which does not cause sea level rises in the way of ice melting from land, but is subject to melting from above and below because of the warming sea. If temperatures rose by 4°C, which some predictions say is possible if the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, then the sea level rise would be 6.5 metres from the Antarctic alone, not counting the contribution from Greenland and other glaciers. The amount of sea level rise facing coastal cities as a result of ice melt could be roughly halved, if the world meets the Paris Agreement’s toughest goal of holding climate change to 1.5°C of warming. Coastal flooding would still worsen, as meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets would raise seas by an average 13cm by 2100, however failure to harness in carbon dioxide emissions, leading to global warming of 3.4°C, would see a 25-cm increase from ice melt.

There are two primary causes of global mean sea level rise added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and thermal expansion. The melting of Antarctica's ice sheet is currently responsible for 20 to 25 percent of global sea level rise. When an ice mass grows on land, the weight of ice sheets pushes land downwards because the upper mantle underneath the crust is a soft viscous liquid. Once ice sheets melt, a process of isostatic readjustment occurs. In addition, some locations experience

accretion and land builds up - this is isostatic sea level change.

The major physical impacts of a rise in sea level include erosion of beaches and inundation of deltas, as well as flooding and loss of marshes and wetlands. Increased salinity will likely become a problem in coastal aquifers and estuarine systems as a result of saltwater intrusion. Although there is some uncertainty about the effect of climate change on storms and hurricanes, increases in the intensity or frequency, or changes in the paths of these storms, could increase storm damage in coastal areas. Damage to, and loss of, coastal areas would threaten the economic and ecological features provided by coastal wetlands and marshes, including flood control, ecological habitat and water purification. Damages and economic losses could be reduced if local decision-makers understand the potential impacts of sea-level rise and use this information for planning, in order to protect the coastline.

One of the main targets of Glaciologists and glacial Geologists is to understand the rates of sea level rise, to allow better predictions of future change. The IPCC predicts future sea level rise based on presents rates of melting and predictions of future carbon emissions and warming. However, there are large uncertainties, because the dynamic interaction of ice sheets to climate change needs to be better understood.

Predictions to 2100 range from 20 cm to 2 m. The best estimate is 0.6 m, mostly from thermal expansion of the oceans and glacier melt.

Accelerated ice velocities, marine ice sheet insecurities and ice shelf collapse all form part of the large uncertainties in estimating future global sea level rise.

In some instances, humans can’t control the rise in sea level.

One solution that cities employ to decrease flooding from tides and storms, is constructing seawalls.

These barriers are often built to a height of five to six feet above sea level and cost £5000 per metre.

When seawalls age or become damaged from constant exposure to saltwater or the impact of waves, they need to be replaced.

They also need to be replaced or built higher as sea levels continue to rise. Similar to seawalls, beaches and dunes can act as a natural wall and reduce the impact of storm surge. The bigger the beach or larger the dune, the more water can be stopped from reaching homes and roads. Towns can add sand to make beaches bigger or to prevent them from eroding. Using this type of natural infrastructure can protect against flooding while maintaining beaches in a sustainable way for the community to enjoy.

Sea level rise is a major indicator of ongoing global change. Modern rates of sea level rise started about 100 years ago, and it is certain that the 20th century rise is faster than rates over the preceding three millennia. The sea level has risen 8–9 inches (21–24 centimetres) since 1880 and in 2020, global sea level set a new record high of 91.3 mm (3.6 inches), above 1993 levels. However, during the Last Interglacial, rates of sea level rise were possibly higher and may have been similar to those predicted in some future climate change scenarios. The geological record of the past three glacial– interglacial cycles shows a strong relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and sea level, and even if CO2 remains at its current level, sea level rises in excess of several metres are likely over the next few centuries.

www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and-climate/sea-level-rise-2/ www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/23/melting-antarctic-ice-will-raise-sea-level-by-25-metres-even-if-paris-climate-goals-are-met-study-finds www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/05/antarctica-ice-sheet-melting-global-heating-sea-level-rise-study www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

47

‘JAWS’: THE AFTERMATH

By Cyra Since the release of ‘Jaws’ in 1975, the image of sharks has been violently changed. Although sharks were responsible for only 73 unprovoked bites worldwide last year, they carry a dangerous reputation that everyone is wary of. A foundation of their reputation was formed by the novel, and later the film, ‘Jaws’ by Peter Benchley. Prior to the release of ‘Jaws’, there was little information about sharks and as a result, few considered them a threat. In fact, in 1940, in the book ‘The fishes of Australia, Part 1, Sharks’, author Gilbert P. Whitney stated ‘we have very little to fear’ from sharks, which comforted only the few that even believed in their existence. However, when Steven Spielberg’s movie adaptation of ‘Jaws’ was released in 1975, the fantastical concept of a monstrous, man-eating shark became the face of the species that people had never heard of before. The first film grossed $7,061,573 within the first 3 days of release, later becoming the first film in history to earn $100 million at the box office. This was followed by four sequels that were released in the following 12 years. The excitement and terror of the public was quickly exploited by the media and triggered what ichthyologist George H. Burgess described as ‘the beginning of the end’ for the shark species, causing the shark populations to plunge in the ensuing decades. Since 1970 and 2018, the population of oceanic sharks and rays had decreased by more than 70%, with up to 100 million sharks killed per year.

‘Jaws’, along with other shark representations in pop-culture, has led to the persecution of sharks. Persecution means we are more likely to use lethal measures, rather than available non-lethal measures to avoid contact, because we feel threatened. Persecution is the persistent hostility towards something on the basis of their identity. The minor threat of a shark attack is avoided by culling and hunting them, although the statistics of this encounter are very low. The mostly likely place to be attacked by a shark is California, where the possibility of being attacked is 1 in 17 million. In Western Australia 2013, the government implemented a cull of all Tiger, Bull and White sharks over 3 metres, in response to a series of 7 attacks in the last 3 years. The cull divided the nation, with over 100 sharks snared, until it was halted by the states’ environmental regulators. On top of this, the use of shark nets is responsible for the death of approximately 12 sharks every week in Australia, with 6,090 killed since 2012. Although they have been proven to kill sharks, the government still allows the use of shark nets over safer methods. Non-lethal alternatives include beach patrols and early prevention methods, but they remain broadly unused in most countries.

‘Jaws’ has lead to a lack of understanding and awareness about the Great White species, and sharks in general.

Studies on public perception of marine wildlife have shown that those who have more knowledge and a positive attitude towards animals, such as sharks, are more likely to support/aid their conservation.

Sharks are critically important for a healthy ocean.

They control food webs, cycle nutrients and promote biodiversity that has struggled since their recent decline. Sharks have been thriving in our oceans for over 400 million years, however in the last 30 years, their global population has decreased by approximately 90%. We kill roughly 1 million times more sharks than people killed by sharks per year, but we are starting to make a change for the better. If we can create a supportive and educated public, we can begin to embrace the return of sharks to their habitats and move towards restoring the health of our dying ocean.

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REFERENCES www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26937924 www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-29170035 www.discoveryuk.com/sharks/the-most-dangerous-sharks-in-the-world/ Friedrich, L., Jefferson, R. and Glegg, G., 2014. Public perceptions of sharks: Gathering support for shark conservation. Marine Policy, 47, pp.1-7.

Hammerschlag, N., Schmitz, O., Flecker, A., Lafferty, K., Sih, A., Atwood, T., Gallagher, A., Irschick, D., Skubel, R. and Cooke, S., 2019. Ecosystem Function and Services of Aquatic Predators in the Anthropocene. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 34(4), pp.369-383. https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/shark-finning-sharks-turned-prey https://saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/threats/overfishing https://saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/threats/persecution https://saveourseas.com/why-are-sharks-important/ https://saveourseas.com/worldofsharks/

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

49

SHOULD WE BE ENCOURAGING

GLOBALISATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?

By Jessica

Do you know what globalisation is? Do you know what developing countries are?

Globalisation is a process of global economic, political and cultural integration. For example, the development of communication or transport which has become widespread across many countries. Many of these developments are used in our lives every day, for example, phones were invented in the US and are now used worldwide, and railways have been built across many countries. A developing country is one that is usually agricultural and poor but hopes to become more economically or socially advanced.

There are definitely positives to globalisation. In India and China, globalisation has increased the number of jobs available. These jobs have decreased unemployment as well as reduced poverty. Due to improved communication, such as phones or the television, the

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relationships between countries have become stronger. These relationships are solidified by the availability of transport across different boarders meaning that, as well as an improved trade network, people can travel more easily. These better relationships decrease the possibility of war, although increased trade can increase the spread of diseases across country boarders, including Swine flu and Bird flu.

Do you ever think about the impact of violent TV shows?

People who come from a peaceful, undeveloped area that has never experienced guns or extreme violence, are now being exposed to this type of violence due to the increasing rate of globalisation.

These shows could have a dramatic impact and this could even lead to civil war. Another example of a negative impact of globalisation is an increased inequality between the rich and poor. At the moment, China and

India are becoming more wealthy countries, whereas South Sudan and Madagascar have the highest poverty rates.

Across Kenya, Nairobi was reported as one of the great cities for success, however the city could not cope with the mass migration of hopeful people, which resulted in the largest slum in the world, Kibera. In Kibera the sanitation is poor, houses are badly made and disease is common. This 2.5 square kilometre slum is an example of one of the worst impacts of globalisation.

It is understandable that some people may wish for globalisation; the easy communication between every place is the world. But is the true aim to be connected, or is it to capitalise from these developing countries? I believe globalisation should happen naturally in each place, but so that everyone will benefit and that countries will reach a stable point in the end.

REFERENCES www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/what-is-globalisation https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-globalizationdefinition-benefits-effects-examples/ www.nationalgeographic.org/article/effects-economicglobalization/9th-grade/

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

51

eth i n g So m

Real

by H

elaina

Water: isn’t it beautiful, trickling down a shimmering stream?

My name is Argentina. My mother told me that my name comes from the Latin word, Argenti, which means silver. I wasn’t named after silver itself, though. I was named after the mysterious Silver River that is in the Island of Dreams.

Apparently, the river is actually made of Silver Water and the magic of the island, and the river will make anyone well and live a happy life until they die. People say that it is just a legend now - that the island isn’t even real.

I am in a beautiful copse of trees with a little spring in the centre, bubbling out of the ground. It is dark, but there are enough fireflies in the air to allow me to see. My father told me to get out of the house and come here when I heard someone scream. I don’t know who it was, or why they were screaming, but it was close. Very.

I wish I could go back; I’m freezing. After all, it’s mid-winter.

SNAP! What was that?! I feel nervous now, and I want to go back home.

SNAP! There it is again.

I look around, wary and wondering what made those sudden sounds that shattered the silence. Then, all of a sudden, a man comes crashing through the trees towards me. I scream, but then I look up into the part of the face the isn’t covered by fur, and my body relaxes. It’s my father, come to collect me.

Hang on, something doesn’t seem right. He looks really worried, and do I see tears in his eyes? Is he crying?

‘Come on,’ he says, and walks off.

I follow him, stumbling as my legs try to learn how to walk again. ‘Wait!’ I cry out, as I try to catch up with him, but he only beckons me with his hand, and continues walking.

Around half an hour later, we are arriving at a hospital, with ambulances wailing into a disconcerting chorus of despair. ‘Dad,’ I say, ‘Where’s Mum?’ But he does not reply. I’m starting to get really worried now.

Dad goes over to talk with some concerned-looking men and I’m left standing there, alone and scared, in a hospital car park. Then, after a few moments, Dad beckons me and I hurry towards him, but this time I don’t say anything; I know he won’t respond.

We journey through the hospital, until we reach some large doors and we stop and wait. Finally, a doctor opens the door, and allows us in.

I gasp.

I’m back in the copse of trees, only this time I don’t sit and appreciate its beauty. I just hurry to the thickest clump of trees and bushes, and I collapse on the ground and cry. I cry until there are no more tears left in me. I just can’t get the image of my mother, my beautiful mother, lying in that hospital bed with dozens of different tubes sticking in her arms, with her body maimed by deep cuts that look serious, if not fatal. Then the doctor asked my father what happened, and he said that a burglar had broken in, that my mother had tried to put up a fight, but the burglar had a knife, and had slashed and cut her. My dad ran downstairs at the sound of her screaming and called the police and the ambulance, then cleared up the blood.

As I’m thinking about her, something else comes to my mind. The doctor said that there isn’t really anything they could do, and they are trying to make her last days the best they can be, but I am thinking back to when I was little and my mother would tell me about the Island of Dreams and the Silver River, that would heal anything or anyone – and that could have healed my mother…

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UNREAL ACHILLES HEEL BY ISABEL Magazine covers, photoshoots, Models showing off the latest boots, Books and movies, TV shows, Deep inside resentment grows, Envy for someone else’s thought, A model whose looks are taught, Hidden behind makeup, an altered mask, ‘How do they do it?’ All will ask.

Erase flaws, hide fear, all go unseen, Make an unbroken, unafraid, copied machine, The same smile, the same face, Soon there opens a gaping space, The want and need to be someone new, Little do you know, it’s all untrue, ‘Look in the mirror, and what do you see?’

Someone new, don’t know who, but it’s sure not me.

The reflection deceives, the reflection tricks, Dragging you down into the Styx, All have a weakness, all have a Heel, Just like Achilles, a spot you can’t reveal.

You hear the myths, rumours, blatant lies, Forcing you to cower in disguise, Nothing is adequate, nothing’s enough, Even when the way gets rough, ‘Get over it, it’s just a phase’, But beneath the surface it’s a wild craze, It’s all an idea, it’s a fictional high, It’s an edit, a filter, a tremendous lie.

Stop trying to play pretend, It never stops, there is no end, See through the edits, see through the polish, See through the walls you need to demolish.

See that you’re perfect, see that you’re fine, See that you are one more unique design, Gorgeous, pretty, delightful, charming, See the human, it may feel alarming, See the beauty, outside and in, See the unbroken, plain human skin, No matter colour, gender, shape or size, All are victims to awful lies, How you should be, what you should wear, How to wear makeup, how to style hair, ‘Why am I different, why won’t it work?’

Everyone is imperfect, all have a quirk.

Reality can never be great, never that great, Never that perfect, not free of hate, Never that dream you have at night, Of faeries and elves, just hoping they might, Be real, be true, it’s just words on a page, Pictures on a screen, filmed on a stage, Not real, not real, don’t feel, don’t feel, Don’t let it become your Achilles Heel.

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

53

AN OPEN LETTER TO YOUNGER STUDENTS

By Alice Do you ever wish you could travel back in time? Unfortunately, life is a twisting, turning, undulating road, that you can never see the end of - until the end. It is full of boulders ready to jump onto the road and littered with trees scattered across. Yet, we are not meant to know how to get around these. There is no manual, no instruction book, nothing. In this letter, I will tell you about what you should do to avoid these trees and boulders in advance.

This is the first lesson that I wish I had learnt sooner. Procrastination is your enemy. At the time, putting off some of your homework may feel like an excellent idea. But that boulder will come back bigger. This boulder will shatter the road and make getting around it much harder. I do not recommend putting your homework off until the day it is due. Your stress levels will rocket and staying up until two in the morning is not healthy. There are many tips to getting over procrastination. This is mine. Tell yourself you are only doing something for two minutes. Your brain will not associate these two minutes with pain. When the two minutes has ended, you may find yourself in a workflow state, where you want to complete the task. If you still do not want to do the task, break it into smaller ones and reward yourself when you have completed these tasks.

Never trust anyone. I wish I could have told myself that earlier. You never know of someone’s true intentions and by trusting them, you are opening yourself to their intentions. By not trusting anyone, you will force yourself to be more independent, both mentally, emotionally and financially. Sometimes secrets feel better to tell someone but “a secret shared is a secret no more”. Trusting someone is a huge risk. There is always the prospect of betrayal. Betrayals can lead to mental disorders, emotional pains and a sense of dejection. There will always be someone that hurts you, and by not fully trusting them, the pain will not be as bad, than if you had trusted them.

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The third lesson I learnt, is that you cannot be perfect. Perfect does not have a meaning.

There is no such thing as a perfect person, a perfect face or even a perfect life. Mistakes do not define your self-worth. You do not become less of a person just because you make a mistake. As commonly quoted: “Mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before”. You will learn quicker what to do and what not to do. By getting something wrong, you are re-examining an issue and finding other ways to develop other solutions or approaches. By admitting you made a mistake, you gain more respect for yourself.

I wish I could have understood that. Making excuses for your mistakes shows that you are not taking responsibility for something. If you need help, it is okay to admit that you need help.

People rarely mind helping someone if they are struggling.

Exercise is key. Exercising increases your life expectancy and lowers the risk of diseases. You can reduce the risk of major illnesses – strokes, type 2 diabetes, cancer, by up to 30%. You will age better by doing more exercise and lower the chance of getting Alzheimer’s. As well as helping prevent diseases, exercise can improve your skin health. By exercising, you can increase your body’s production of natural antioxidants, which protect cells. Exercising can help your memory and the overall health of brain; when your heart rate increases, it forces more blood and oxygen to your brain, which can stimulate hormones that encourage the growth of brain cells. Your hippocampus can grow during exercise, which can improve your memory.

The final lesson that I learnt is to do what makes you happy and be happy with yourself. The happier you are with yourself, the more confident you will become with yourself. We cannot all look like celebrities, and by embracing ourselves, we know our true self-worth. Not the selfworth that others set us with. You will be able to have a healthier relationship with someone.

You will not be plagued by trust issues, insecurities and low self-esteem. Being happy is contagious and the happier you make yourself, the happier you will make others. When a tree blocks your road, happiness helps to combat stress and boosts your immune system so that the tree is easier to get around. Happiness can also increase your life expectancy and could make you more successful. Happy people have a higher probability of doing well in job interviews and are more positively evaluated by others.

I hope that you found this letter useful and that it showed you lessons that will help you in your life and you will be glad you learnt. This letter should mean you do not have regrets of what you wish you could have done and what you wish you could not have done. I hope you will not feel the need to travel back in a time machine and wish you could have done something differently.

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

55

ST AGNES

by Jemima St Agnes is a pretty Cornish mining village, situated on the north coast of Cornwall. It’s a place that I love, with its narrow, winding main street, its sandy coves with crashing waves, and spectacular craggy coastal walks, but it’s the people that give this place its character.

Let’s start the tour at the top of the village; above a patchwork of tiny roofs on the old miners’ cottages and across the heathery moors, you see tall derelict redbrick chimneys rearing above old tin mines, instantly recognisable as the location for many windswept scenes in the television series “Poldark”. It’s funny how many American tourists spend time looking for the houses that also feature in the series; locals LOVE informing them that those houses are actually 150 miles away in Gloucestershire! As you walk down the high street from the village carpark (because the streets are too narrow for on-street parking), the mouth-watering savoury aroma of warm pasties drifts from the door of Denzil’s pasty shop. With the traditional Cornish name of Denzil Trebetherick, his appeal to both locals and tourists is universal, and you’ll never eat another pasty anywhere else in the world without thinking of Denzil, who still crimps every pasty by hand, and greets his customers with “Dydh da”, in his thick Cornish accent, meaning ‘Hello’. Actually, he could say anything at all, and we wouldn’t understand, and would just cheerfully respond “Morning!” The shop door is so low, that anyone tall has to duck to avoid the ancient stone lintel or spend the day nursing a monstrous headache and wondering if it’s actually possible to fracture your skull on the forehead. Then there’s the Old Post Office, a tiny building long ago vacated by the actual post office, but now home to St Agnes’ vibrant, if tiny, café, with seating for just 8 customers. It offers a good range of fair-trade coffees and healthy cakes, but key to its success is its much-envied high-speed broadband connection. Having already had to abandon their Range Rovers in the village carpark, the ‘second homers’ from London couldn’t manage without the one-shot skinny mocha or email access provided here!

Then there’s the veg shop, with rows of knobbly vegetables and fruits stacked in wooden crates, ready for you to fill your brown paper bags and weigh your purchases on old-fashioned scales, only for your overfilled paper bags to then split the minute you step outside of the shop. So, it’s wise to check behind the shop door, where, on the old, scrubbed pine kitchen table in the corner, lie a stack of homemade colourful canvas tote bags, made by the local “Old Bags” (as the elderly ladies call themselves) for locals and tourists to borrow and use for their shopping.

Twenty paces further on, nestling just below the gentle right-hand bend in the road, there’s the church, which is still the heart of the community. To appeal to a younger generation, the vicar has hung inviting twinkly strings of fairy lights to lead you to the sturdy arched door, past the noticeboard advertising all the different year-round community activities to which everyone is welcome, because this is a community that thrives IN SPITE of the second homers, and not because of them!

Opposite the church is the St Agnes bakery; there’s never less than 10 tourists in the mid-morning queue for the warm, crusty loaves, but the locals have been and gone before 9am, knowing well that the bakery sells out by midday and shuts up shop, leaving tourists confused, empty-handed and often hungry! If you’re up early enough, you’ll see some of the locals outside the bakery, a Denzil pasty tucked inside a copy of the local paper, under one arm, and an elderly Labrador waiting patiently at their feet while they chat with friends who have also lived their entire lives in St Agnes.

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Opposite the church is the St Agnes bakery; there’s never less than 10 tourists in the midmorning queue for the warm, crusty loaves, but the locals have been and gone before 9am, knowing well that the bakery sells out by midday and shuts up shop, leaving tourists confused, empty-handed and often hungry! If you’re up early enough, you’ll see some of the locals outside the bakery, a Denzil pasty tucked inside a copy of the local paper, under one arm, and an elderly Labrador waiting patiently at their feet while they chat with friends who have also lived their entire lives in St Agnes.

And then, leading down towards the beach, is Stippy Stappy, a terrace of 6 tiny, crooked terrace stone cottages, originally home to miners and seamen. With front gardens gravelled over for easy maintenance and Farrow and Ball neutral décor inside, they are now second-home holiday cottages, often to Londoners who have snapped up the cottages in spite of having to park their Range Rovers in the car park at the top of the village, and actually WALK around the village.

Trevaunance Cove lies down at the bottom of St Agnes - a horseshoe-shaped sandy beach, with rockpools that teem with tiny crabs, seaweed, and discarded shells after every high tide. Here you’ll find the tourist families gathering, and that’s when the people-watching becomes really amusing - especially when people arrive without checking the tide-times, and are perplexed to find the tide is in, so they can’t actually sit on the beach!

Here you’ll find your average tourist family, usually consisting of Orienteer Dad, who feels the need to walk everywhere with his OS map, wearing unflattering shorts and the most ridiculous hat. He is usually followed by Harassed Mum who takes the sun cream too seriously, and two to four young children who are worthy enough to always choose ice lollies over creamy Cornish icecream! They’re probably staying at the local campsite and will have trudged to the beach along the well-worn rocky coastal path. Their favourite activity is rock-pooling, which Dad spoils by imparting his often-limited knowledge of sea-life, believing he is immersing his children fully into Cornish nature. However, the children have other ideas, forcing mussels apart, tugging barnacles off their rock and keeping the crabs flailing in a bucket for hours on end.

I love St Agnes, but like so much else, it has been changed by the pandemic. You can no longer buy fresh crab from the weathered old fisherman on the beach, who only deals in £5 notes; now you have to buy them from the fancy new deli that only opens May-September and takes card payment only.

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MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

57

HOUSE OF CARDS

By Michaela “Andrew, step back now. And stop distracting the men,” his mother hissed, trying to be quiet and miserably failing. She had never been a discreet woman, he thought, and it was showing.

She would sigh, clap and gasp with extreme expression after every move (or lack of) during the match his grandfather, father, and two other men from the pub were currently engaged in. The game of bridge was taken immensely seriously in his village, often too gravely in Andrew’s opinion. He would never dare raise this point though, for fear of becoming the victim of his mother’s often grating personality and the men who would likely prevent any chance of his reaching manhood.

The small village of Atterly was well-known in surrounding hamlets as the village that was inhabited by worshippers of the art of cards. After supper the men would leave their comfortable, thatched cottages and collect in the pub to practise and compete. It was more than an evening club; rather, a religion. Just last week a duel of whist had run into the Sunday church service. Not surprisingly, the priest did not have a very full church; in fact, there were no pews occupied. Half of the congregation of Atterly Church were huddled in the pub intensely watching the event, whilst the rest were waiting for their husbands, sons, or brothers to accompany them. All were dressed in their Sunday best, and all looked rather out of place, but this did not faze any member of Atterly village, for this was quite a normal ritual.

Usually, the female gender was not permitted inside the premises. However, no man dared to refuse Andrew’s mother's entrance. She was larger than all the men in the village and always demanded to watch her husband play. Andrew was never sure whether his family's history of successes was by pure talent or the consequences the opponent faced when winning to a relative of his mother.

"Andrew, stop breathing." This was rather ironic as the loudest wheezer in the room was of course his mother, a woman whose name was Mrs. Hinton. Criticising her family and keeping the Hinton’s in order seemed to be her favourite occupation, particularly Andrew, her youngest son. Unbeknown to Atterly village, Mrs. Hinton had a certain soft spot for her son, and possibly even loved him. However, her affections only ever consisted of spanking, and derogatory remarks. She was the only one who dared deliver these favours though, as Andrew nor the rest of the village wanted a grudge to be held against them by Mrs Hinton.

Unfortunately, Andrew had not been given the legacy his ancestors had bestowed. Unlike his elder brothers, he did not have a passion for cards, much to Mrs. Hinton’s dismay and this was a rare occasion he was watching.

Usually, he was gathering outside waiting with his sisters and female cousins, not having any wish to stand among filthy men palpitating an overwhelming stench of alcohol or watch four alpha males battle to be the champion of Atterly village for the next year. He would even prefer to discover Lydia Becker’s latest sweetheart, a topic well-discussed in the village, that one never seemed to know the answer to. Andrew was well-known for being the Hinton that was most unlike the Hintons.

Not only his narrow, yet average height appearance, but his attitude towards cards.

Most members of Atterly village could get past the assemblage of freckles and ginger hair; however, his lack of interest for the symbol of the village was inexcusable.

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For years, it had been rumoured Andrew was a gypsy whom Mrs Hinton had taken in as a baby.

However, this was short lived, as no one quite believed Mrs Hinton would ever do such a thing and the village gossip, Mrs Moore, had spread the account, a women often known for stretching the truth beyond reality. Whether this was true or not, nobody knew and although Mrs Hinton claimed against it, she was not the sort to jeopardise her reputation in any way.

Andrew often thought of the Atterly women playing their own game; instead of cards, the art of gossiping and village talk. Most women spent their free time babbling and giggling, which he of course did not have much interest for either. So, it was only when the men trundled down the cobbled paths after dinner to the card room in the evening, that Andrew sat with the waiting women. Even then, he was marooned from the conversations for he had nothing of worth to add to the conference and instead occupied himself with dreaming of life beyond the village.

Lately though, Andrew’s mother had been encouraging him to attend the evening meets. Whether it was by a stern glare that spoke all Andrew needed to know without verbal communication or thrusting Andrew out of the house by the collar, Mrs Hinton was not going to give up. She had a duty to ensure every Hinton attended the games, even Andrew. As a result, Andrew would be forced to walk down the rickety road to the gateway of his living nightmare, and he preferred to oblige. A nightmare he would never be able to wake up from because nothing could make the inevitable disappear.

In the room, a light smog hung in the air reluctant to leave as if it too was watching along with the village, somehow more interested than Andrew. Even in the room, Andrew’s thoughts constantly drifted off to a faraway land and it was only Mrs Hinton’s monotonous pinches or coughs that brought him back to the game at hand. However, on this particular occasion, it was sudden clapping and cheering that consumed the silence and smoke lingering in the air that awoke Andrew. Stunned back into the present he realised his father had won, although he was unsure as to whether this was a good thing.

Andrew’s father was a stout, yet tall man, who clearly enjoyed his wife’s cooking. He was the sort of bloke that everyone expected to win, and he always succeeded in fulfilling this, especially at cards. Despite this, the women of Atterly Village knew Andrew’s father as the husband of Mrs. Hinton; few were aware of his Christian name. She was most definitely the dictator of the relationship. Since marriage, the whole village knew Mr. Hinton would never be a free man again, unless he miraculously outlived Mrs. Hinton, which was highly unlikely for it did not seem possible for even death to defy Andrew’s mother, at least not any time soon. When apprehensive, Mr. Hinton tended to run his finger along the brow of his forehead, a habit Andrew’s mother particularly disliked, but perhaps the only thing Andrew had inherited from his father. The pair were not particularly fond of each other, so had never been close and neither had ever tried to make the effort. Since Andrew was a child, his father noticed there was something different with him, and did not know what to make of it. Rarely, in Atterly Village, was there an individual that did not fit, and of greater unusualness for that somebody to be a Hinton. It was simply easier for Andrew’s father to ignore his bewildering and uncanny son.

In Atterly village, it was customary for the winning pair of the bridge tournament to give a speech announcing the next person to be welcomed into the family business and so was taken just as seriously as the game itself. Every year Andrew watched the boys his age become men, and strangely Andrew had no urge for it to be his turn, for the prospect of being an adult in Atterly Village sickened him. Once again, the smoke hung in the air waiting to hear his father’s words.

“Thank you chaps, this is a great honour. For generations, the Hinton’s have sat at this very table and experienced more victories than any other family in Atterly. So, I think it’s only right that my youngest son, Andrew, joins the Hinton team for the next tournament,” proclaimed Mr. Hinton.

In the next moment that followed, every member of Atterly village in the hall was aghast and his mother remained silent, which was probably the first time in her life she was speechless. In different circumstances Andrew would have enjoyed this rare occurrence. However, all he could do was numbly realise that he would finally have to surrender to the game he had never touched but which had managed to invade his life since the moment he was born.

MALVERN ST JAMES

GIRLS’ SCHOOL

59

COVER ARTWORK BY ALI