Comment’s mental health special edition
What next for Britain’s export of espionage?
Comment discusses mental health p.14
Indigo Film and TV takes a look i10
Durham’s independent student newspaper
Palatinate
No. 777
Thursday 5th November 2015| FREE
www.palatinate.org.uk
College mascots of all shapes and sizes get ready to get ready to welcome the Durham Freshers of 2015/16 Expect to see more stunning light displays when Lumiere returns to Durham next Thursday
Photograph: Durham University Photograph: Arne Kuilman
Students to hold the University to account on sexual violence policy
Daniel Fox News Editor Student groups, in conversation with Palatinate, have criticised the University on how it deals with claims of sexual violence. Emily Whiteside, a member of It Happens Here - a student group which campaigns on the issue of sexual violence - has listed three demands to the University. These are: mandatory staff train-
ing on sexual violence and dealing with disclosures, an official policy on sexual violence, and proper signposting for all students through the process. Speaking to Palatinate, all nine feminism societies at Durham have backed these demands. All nine societies also called on the University to introduce compulsory consent workshops for all its students. The student groups have prom-
ised to hold the University to account if it does not act on the issue. Stephen Burrell, a PhD student in the Durham Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse spoke to Palatinate on the issue. “Currently there appears to be a denial by universities across the country that sexual violence is affecting, and being perpetrated by, many of their students, and a denial that this is something universities have a responsibility to deal
with. “One of the excuses universities give for being so timid in relation to this issue is the 1994 Zellick report. “This leads to the ridiculous situation where they are willing to deal with less serious crimes but not ones such as sexual violence which are actually having the most damaging impact upon their students.” Continued on page 6
An Apology to Robinsons Estate Agents We’d like to apologise for the poor choice of image on the ‘Third year law student to take letting agent to court’ article on pages 3 and 6 of the last edition. Furthermore, we’d like to clarify that Robinsons Estate Agents are not involved in the court case and bear no relation to the article.
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Editorial Sexual violence: it does happen here The statistics are damning. 20% of UK women over the age of 16 have experienced sexual violence. 3 out of every 20 UK males have been victims too. And 1 in every 4 female undergraduates in the UK has been victims of some sort of sexual violence. These figures, taken from the NUS’s 2010 ‘Hidden Marks’ survey, paint a picture of a country desperately struggling to tackle the issue of sexual violence. And it’s reflected in universities across the UK. There are so many surveys and studies that I could quote to you, but the conclusion that they all point to is simple enough: too many students are affected by sexual violence, and too many victims don’t get the help and support that they need. Durham might be regarded as one of the safest universities in the country, but it is not exempt from these issues, as The Tab’s recent survey has highlighted. Although Dan Fox’s excellent front-page article draws on comments from several highly prominent and intellectual people, the most important of these is undoubtedly from a student
who spoke to Palatinate about their experience of sexual violence. “After my experiences, I did not feel that I could report them to the University. “For me, the issue with the University is that there are not too many places that you can go and discuss experiences like mine”. Similarly, Catherine Crook, the President of Durham University Feminist Society, claimed that, during their campaign meeting last week, some attendees said they didn’t know who they’d speak to if they were victim to an instance of sexual violence. It’s worrying to think how many other students have had this experience - unable to get the support that they need. To put it plainly, the University needs to do more to prevent sexual violence, and to support victims. The implementation of the Sexual Violence Task Force will hopefully help to do so, and it’s encouraging to see Durham putting itself at the forefront of UK universities when it comes to dealing with this issue. But the details of this Task Force are, as yet, unclear. Will it have the power to make genuine change? Will
it represent students when it comes to making decisions? The answer to these questions simply has to be ‘yes’. As Emily Whitehouse of It Happens Here, and representatives of all nine Durham feminist societies point out, we need a clear policy on sexual violence, mandatory training for all staff on dealing with it, and proper signposting for all students. Furthermore, it’s been fantastic to hear about the positive impact that It Happens Here’s workshops on consent have had on many Durham colleges. The more frequently these take place, the quicker the number of instances of sexual violence will fall, and the University needs to do all it can to support them. More information on the support available for can be found at: https://ithappensheredurham.wordpress. com/getting-support/resources/ Henry Clare
Thursday 5th November 2015 | PALATINATE
Inside 777
Editorial Board
News pages 3-8
Editors-in-Chief Henry Clare and Josh Smith editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editor Sandy Thin deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors Daniel Fox and Ryan Gould news@palatinate.org.uk News Features Editor Siena Morrell news.features@palatinate.org.uk Deputy News Editors Mirriam Brittenden, Jasper Cox and Charlie Taylor-Kroll deputy.news@palatinate.org.uk Politics Editors Sofya Grebenkina and Rob Littleton politics@palatinate.org.uk Profile Editors Will Fremont-Barnes and Oliver Mawhinney profile@palatinate.org.uk Science and Technology Editor Bruno Martin scitech@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editor Alex Cupples comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editors Ellie Mullan and Oscar Rocklin deputy.comment@palatinate.org.uk Sport Editor Kieran Moriarty sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors Charles Richardson, Matt Roberts and Kishan Vaghela deputy.sport@palatinate.org.uk Indigo Editors Patrick Brennan and Sraddha Venkataraman indigo@palatinate.org.uk Features Editor Ellen Finch feature@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Features Editor Cristina Cusenza deputy.features@palatinate.org.uk Food and Drink Editors Adrian Chew and Charlotte Payne food@palatinate.org.uk Travel Editors Megan Thorpe and Laura Glenister travel@palatinate.org.uk Fashion Editor Sally Hargave fashion@palatinate.org.uk Film and Television Editor Rory McInnes-Gibbons film@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Film and Television Editor Hugo Camps-Harris deputy.film@palatinate.org.uk Stage Editor Isabelle Culkin stage@palatinate.org.uk Music Editors Jacqueline Duan and Will Throp music@palatinate.org.uk Creative Writing Editor Celeste Yeo creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk Books Editors Hannah Griffiths and Ellie Scorah books@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editor Jane Simpkiss visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Chief Sub-Editor Marianna Mukhametzyanova sub-editing@palatinate.org.uk Sub-Editors Sarah Boreham, Ollie Mair, Ciara Murphy, Maddy Winnard and Becky Wilson Online Editor Jessie Honnor online.editor@palatinate.org.uk Web Editor John Morris web.editor@palatinate.org.uk Photography Editor Venus Loi photography@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Photography Editors Verity Rimmer and Grace Tseng photography@palatinate.org.uk Illustrations Editor Mariam Hayat illustration@palatinate.org.uk Events and Publicity Officer Morgan Hayden-Kent publicity@palatinate.org.uk Advertising Officer Jess Sham advertising@palatinate.org.uk
SciTech page 9
Profile pages 10-11 Politics pages 12-13
Comment pages 14-15 Sport pages 18-20
indigo
Editorial page 2 Stage page 3
Visual Arts pages 4-5 Books page 6 Music page 7 Features page 8-9 Film & TV page 10
Food & Drink page 11
Creative Writing pages 12-13
Fashion page 14 Travel page 15
Get involved! Interested in joining the Palatinate team? No experience is neccessary! Where you’re an illustrator, photographer or writer, there are plenty of ways to get involved. To write for us , email the relevant section editor from the email addresses to the right. We hope to see you in the paper soon .
The best of Palatinate Online www.palatinate.org.uk
Travel: The other side of island - exploring Tenerife
Politics: Are the Conservatives committed to the Northern Powerhouse?
Matt Brown recalls his unconvential experience of Tenerife, and discusses the other side of the island.
Adam Smith considers the impact of the decline of the UK steel industry, and the government’s response, on George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse agenda.
Books: An audience with Philip Pullman Katie-Harling Challis looks back at her experience with Philip Pullman - a force to be reckoned with - at the Durham Book Festival.
Sport: Are managers right to shun interviews? After Jose Mourinho refused to face the media, Lewis Wright questions whether managers and players are right to shun their media duties.
Palatinate is published by Durham Students’ Union on a fortnightly basis during term and is editorially independent. All contributors and editors are full-time students at Durham University. Send letters to: Editor, Palatinate, Durham Students’ Union, Dunelm House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN. Alternatively, send an e-mail to editor@palatinate.org.uk
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PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
Union President’s Column
www.palatinate.org.uk
News
News
@PalatinateNews
In June this year, Palatinate reported that 75% of surveyed students saw the National Union of Students (NUS) as irrelevant.
Until a couple of weeks into my term as President, I would’ve said exactly the same thing. NUS was nothing more than a discount card to me, and I had no idea what it was for, what it did or why the Union paid an affiliation fee to be a part of it.
But since being in office, I’ve spent a fair amount of time at NUS training events, conferences and committees and have come to realise that yes, NUS is broken – but we have to be the ones to fix it. As the only national union of students’ unions, it is the only body that can speak with credibility and legitimacy on national issues affecting students – such as the recent changing of maintenance grants to loans, campaigning for the liberation of under-represented groups (LGBTQ+, women, disabled and ethnic minority students) and the Government’s new Prevent agenda on counter-terrorism in Universities.
It’s also the best source of support we can access as a Students’ Union for working better and winning for students as much as possible. So if it has the potential to be great, what can we do to fix it?
Moody skies loom large over the Cathedral as Durham moves towards the Autumn season Photograph: Venus Loi
Controversial Men’s Issues debate cancelled
Vice Chancellor considers fossil fuel divestment
Amnesty petition Prime Minister on refugees
Photograph: Paul Carr
Photograph: Freya Palmer
Photograph: Anna Murphy
This week, Esther (Community Officer) and I took a step to trying – we were elected onto the Zones Committees for Welfare and Union Development, respectively. This means we’ll sit on national committees shaping the work and policy of the NUS VicePresidents, working to put the needs of Students’ Unions at the forefront of NUS’ work, and hopefully improve its relevance to our students on the ground.
NUS can (and should) be much more than a 10% discount card – I’ll keep you updated as to how we’re improving it from within!
Turn to page 4 to read more
Turn to page 5 to read more
News in brief
Turn to page 7 to read more
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UNIVERSITY INVITES PUBLIC TO SHARE EXPERIENCES OF REST
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER BALLOTED ON STRIKE
Durham University has been recognised as a global leader in Arts and Humanities, rising six places to 28th in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings subject league tables. This success builds on the QS World University Rankings 2015-16 in which Durham was ranked 44th in the world for Arts and Humanities.
Durham has called on the public to rest, inviting people to share their experiences of rest as part of a national ‘Rest Test’. The survey’s aim is to investigate the nation’s resting habits alongside their attitudes towards business and relaxation. Thousands of people are expected to take part in the survey.
Staff at the University of Manchester are being balloted on strike action after the University and College Union (UCU) said more than 250 staff are in fear of their jobs after managers ignored agreed procedures. UCU regional official, Martyn Moss, said: “We not feel we have no alternative but to ballot for industrial action.” (via BBC News)
DURHAM EXCELLS HUMANITIES
IN
ARTS
STAFF
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www.palatinate.org.uk
Thursday 5th November 2015 | PALATINATE
Controversial speakers cause Men’s Issues debate to be cancelled Jasper Cox Deputy News Editor A debate organised by the newlyformed Men’s Issues Awareness Society has been cancelled after the society failed to get permission from the University for the speakers to attend. The event, to debate the motion “Are men a privileged group in modern Britain?”, featured Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel, both controversial speakers who were recently banned from attending events by Manchester University Students’ Union. Yiannopoulos is a journalist and Bindel is a feminist and author. Both have been accused of transphobia, while Yiannopoulos is a prominent critic of feminism. A spokesperson for Manchester University Students’ Union claimed he was a rape apologist. Adam Frost, the president and founder of the Men’s Issues Awareness Society, told Palatinate he planned to hold the debate in the Durham Union Society chambers, but the University refused to be associated with the speakers without prior permission. The fourth-year says the debate will still go ahead: “I want to make a point that free speech is important, as it is being eroded on British campuses at an alarming rate, in the name of reducing harm.” He told Palatinate: “I have made an official request for permission for these figures to speak on campus, and I hope the University will allow this, considering that their free speech policy forbids the banning of a speaker based on their views.” The event which triggered the linguist to set up the society was a friend’s suicide. This prompted him to investigate male suicide rates.
He also thought back to when he suffered from an eating disorder as a teenager. He told Palatinate: “The support system for me as a male was not there at all. My family were amazing, but most of my peers didn’t realise guys could get anorexia.” Frost tried to get the society ratified by the Durham Students’ Union, however he says the application was rejected on the grounds that the group’s aims were the same as those of the Feminist Society. The fourth-year complains that the groups are not compatible. He points to a document entitled “Femsoc Policy on Multiple Discrimination (Intersectionality)” which claims “it would be extremely unreasonable to expect this space to support and cater to
the needs of men (however else those men may experience oppression).” The Feminist Society did not reply to Palatinate when asked about the Men’s Issues Awareness Society and the prospect of Yiannopoulos and Bindel coming to Durham. Daniel Pryor, another member of the Men’s Issues Awareness Society, was pleased the debate was now not going ahead. He told Palatinate: “I share the concerns of some members that people will interpret such a debate, especially as our first event, as a declaration of the wider direction of the society.” Nevertheless, he maintains Bindel and Yiannopoulos “should be allowed to speak.” He said: “Universities are where
we can best confront challenging, offensive ideas, and the students who want to should be given that opportunity.” Some of the criticism levelled at the Men’s Issues Awareness Society has centred on its relationship to feminism. Palatinate spoke to Lucy Brotherton, Co-President of Van Mildert Feminist Society. She said any sector of society that feels marginalised should be able to form a group to discuss issues “under the condition that they remain respectful and rational towards the society in which they exist.” However, given “the difficulties feminists face regarding convincing sceptics that we stand for gender equality, which encompasses awareness of men and women’s
issues,” she feared that, with the creation of the Men’s Issues Awareness Society, “the aims of the Feminist Society to convey their passion for gender equality on all levels is undermined.” On the subject of Yiannopoulos and Bindel coming to speak in Durham, Brotherton said “freedom of speech is a basic human right, but people are just as entitled to not be marginalised, insulted or disrespected by others.” Sarah Fletcher is the Men’s Issues Awareness Society’s Feminist Relations Officer. She describes herself as a “radical-leaning feminist” but is critical of aspects of contemporary feminism. She told Palatinate: “I feel that men are often told that contemporary feminism will solve male issues, while simultaneously being lambasted for taking too much space in feminism.” The third-year said that “men should be given a space to discuss issues that are gendered against them, as well as topics such as male violence, outside the realm of feminism.” While Fletcher says she disagrees with Milo Yiannopoulos “on nearly everything” and finds “many of his views distasteful and offensive,” she says she is distressed by the “censorship” of university feminism. She told Palatinate: “I am against no-platforming… The bottom line is that if someone’s views may jeopardise one’s mental wellbeing, they do not have to attend the debate.” When questioned by Palatinate on the debate and the Men’s Issues Awareness Society, a Durham University spokesperson said: “The speakers have not been banned. “We are considering the request to hold the event on University premises under our Code of Practice for the Freedom of Expression at Meetings Policy.”
on campus and to “disrupt rape culture and support those affected by these issues.” According to a survey carried out in 2010 by the National Union of Students (NUS), 68% of female students will experience some kind of verbal or non-verbal harassment during their time at university, with one in seven becoming a victim of a serious physical or sexual assault. Lewis Martins, Van Mildert JCR President, told Palatinate that “including It Happens Here in Freshers’ Week was an obvious and easy choice to make.
“Having seen the effort they put into raising awareness of sexual violence at Durham, it was very important for us to show how seriously we take the issue at Van Mildert,” Martins said. Martins said that the It Happens Here Frep training programme “empowered our team to utilise their positions of responsibility to create a safe atmosphere at Van Mildert, and opened an important dialogue on sexual violence on campus that they engaged with really positively.” “Freshers received a full It Happens Here consent talk, which I
have received nothing but praise for. The freshers were incredibly receptive to such a significant topic and many commented that they felt better educated on a subject that hadn’t been properly addressed at school,” Martins said. Writing in a blog post on It Happens Here’s website, member Gina Cuomo said that “sexual violence is not about ‘a stranger in a dark alley’ – you are five times more likely to be a victim of sexual violence at the hands of your partner than a stranger.” Alice Dee, JCR President at St Aidan’s College, told Palatinate:
“We were so grateful to the team at It Happens Here – they were great at accommodating our requests, especially at short notice and when they were so busy! “We are hoping that the work done this year will pave the way for Durham SU-led consent workshops in future years,” Dee said. Nikolaus Krahé, JCR President at St John’s College, echoed Martins’ response, stating that “several students commented afterwards that [the workshop] was very informative, as it was the first workshop about this topic that they had attended.”
Milo Yiannopoulos has been accused of transphobia and is a critic of feminism
Photograph: Le Web
Colleges laud success of ‘It Happens Here’ workshops Ryan Gould News Editor
JCR presidents from some of Durham’s colleges have lauded the presence and success of sexual violence workshops during this year’s Freshers’ Week. Various colleges, including Van Mildert, St Aidan’s, and St John’s, included sexual violence and consent workshops, run by It Happens Here, as part of their timetable for Freshers’ Week. The aim of the workshops was to encourage students to think about the reality of sexual consent
PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
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Vice Chancellor considers fossil fuel divestment The newly appointed Vice Chancellor, Professor Stuart Corbridge, has opened up the possibility of Durham University divesting in fossil fuels, providing there is a considerable “student force.” In a meeting organized by Durham University’s People and Planet Society, Professor Corbridge did not rule out the University withdrawing investments in fossil fuel companies, but said the change would require a wide breadth of support from student bodies across the University. In March 2015, Palatinate discovered through a Freedom of Information request that the University had invested over £4.5 million in fossil fuel companies – a portfolio that included BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Anadarko Petroleum. The University told Palatinate in March: “The University investment policy does not proscribe
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...we have no plans to withdraw from investing or engaging in research financed by fossil fuel companies.
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investment in petroleum companies. We have no plans to withdraw from investing or engaging in research financed by fossil fuel companies.” Durham University came seventh out of 39 universities in terms of the amount of money being invested in fossil fuel companies, according to an investigation carried out by Greenpeace. With enough support, divestment could be on the University Executive Committee’s agenda as early as January 2016. If successful, this would lead to a staffstudent consultation followed by a council decision. Professor Corbridge said: “It would set a bad precedent if the
University Executive Committee and I were to respond to individual students. There needs to be an organized student force.” A major force pushing for the divestment of fossil fuels has been the University’s People and Planet Society, who organized the meeting with the Vice Chancellor. People and Planet are driving the campaign, having staged an event on Palace Green in the last academic year that involved protestors covering themselves in black treacle to encourage the university to divest. The President of the People and Planet Society, Freya Palmer, told Palatinate: “The Vice Chancellor has given us a clear way to get divestment to the top of the University agenda, and that’s through a big show of student support.” Secretary for Planet and People, Robyn Bright, said: “Corbridge is clearly impressed by what students have done so far but we need to become big enough that we can’t be ignored.” People and Planet Society have set up an ongoing online petition for people to sign in order to support University divestment, which has already got over 1,000 signatures. The society also held a Halloween-themed event outside and around the Bill Bryson Library, encouraging people to sign up to the petition through the use of creative costumes and leafleting, They gained over 400 signatures. Durham Students’ Union passed a motion in March of this year supporting the Fossil-Free campaign, but is yet to act upon the motion. College JCR support of the issue is also paramount to the success of the campaign, with the issue being added to the agenda in JCR meetings. Freya said: “Since hearing about our meeting with the Vice Chancellor, lots of people have already started making their own JCR motions in support of divestment.” St Chad’s College has become the first college to pass the motion in favour of divestment, achieving an overwhelming majority. Senior Students’ Union Representative for St Chad’s and member of People and Planet, Isaac Abraham, told Palatinate: “The JCR response to the motion was overwhelmingly positive. “The questions that came up were about the effectiveness that passing the motion would have on University policy, but in light of the Vice Chancellor’s call for a show of student support, the motion was fulfilling a very specific goal.” Isaac also emphasised the im-
Halloween-themed divestment action at the Bill Bryson Library portance of college JCR support in achieving divestment in fossil fuel companies: “Common rooms have a much greater mandate from the student body to represent them than the Students’ Union, and as such, the policy decision taken at common room level is hugely indicative of student sentiment.” He added: “If a large number of common rooms do what St Chad’s have done, it will put out a very strong, collective message that Durham University students don’t want their university investing in harmful, unethical, and unsustainable fossil fuels.” Last year Glasgow University became the first academic institution in Europe to divest from the fossil fuel industry, followed in July by Warwick making a similar decision. Oxford University also recently partially divested in fossil fuels. Freya strongly believes that the environmental benefit of divest-
People and Planet’s campaign poster
ment in fossil fuels strongly outweighs any economic impact. She told Palatinate: “The risk associated with switching from fossil fuels to other investments is negligible.” The Executive Director for Scientists for Global Responsibility, Dr Stuart Parkinson, warned of the risks of Durham’s investment in fossil fuels. He also said he supports the campaign to divest. Parkinson told Palatinate: “Universities’ investment in fossil fuels help to prop up the unsustainable business model of the fossil fuel industries. “Divestment on a large scale is needed to help ensure they change their behavior and start acting in the interests of society and the environment.” In a statement to Palatinate, the University said: “Students and staff would need to demonstrate a real strength of feeling on the issue of divestment and convince the Vice Chancellor that this is a
Photograph: Freya Palmer
priority for the University community, in order for it to be considered by the University Executive Committee, “Whilst it would be wrong the pre-empt the view of the University Executive Committee, it is likely that this would lead to a broader discussion so that there is opportunity for all views to be heard.”
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The risk associated with switching from fossil fuels...is negligible.
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Charlie Taylor-Kroll Deputy News Editor
Photograph: Sam Wain
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islation,” she said. Much of the criticism is focused on how the University deals with claims of sexual violence. Emily Whiteside spoke to Palatinate on the issue. “There is no set procedure for recording or dealing with sexual violence, which I believe should be the absolute bare minimum measure in place.” She outlined how the lack of a standardised procedure deterred people from seeking help and affected those that did. “The fact that staff in positions of care do not undergo mandatory training for dealing with disclosures of sexual violence, and then [there is] no standardized procedure to follow from there, has a hugely negative impact on survivors who do report their assault to the University. “The fact that there is no immediately available document
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[As] men [we] need to look hard at ourselves and think about how our behaviour might be impacting upon other people.
alone could not solve the issue. Stephen, who is also a founding member of Yes All Men, a subgroup of Durham University Feminism Society, called on students to take action to help tackle the issue of sexual violence. “I believe that students, particularly men, have a responsibility to recognise that this is something which is going on around us, and that we each have a part to play in stopping it. “[As] men [we] need to look hard at ourselves and think about how our behaviour might be impacting upon other people in ways that mean they do not feel welcome, safe, or equal. “We have to have the courage to stand up and say that we are going to refuse to take part in a culture which excuses sexual violence and enables it to take place, and we [have to] refuse to stay silent when those around us behave in ways that contribute to that culture.” Catherine agreed that all students had to take a stand on the issue. “Simply brushing off people’s concerns with a ‘well, not all men do this’ detracts from the real issue, and can potentially make survivors feel as though their stories are not being valued. “If you are in a position to do so, then challenging what you consider to be threatening behaviour by other male students is invaluable.” A Sexual Violence Task Force (SVTF), was set up by Durham University this summer. It is the first university in the United Kingdom to do so. Professor Westmarland, along with Stephen and Hannah Bows, undertook a rapid evidence assessment on behalf of the SVTF. She spoke to Palatinate on the importance of the Sexual Violence Task Force in tackling the issue. “I think Durham University, at the moment, is at the forefront of doing this type of work. “I think we are further ahead because we are not rushing into just implementing one of these
things. “We are taking a considered view and it is being led by ProVice-Chancellor with other senior members of staff on board.” According to the SVTF’s Mission Statement, its purpose is “to make policy and practice recommendations.” It does not have any actual powers to enforce any of those recommendations. This has led some, including those who spoke to Palatinate, to express concern that the recommendations of the Sexual Violence Task Force might not be followed through properly. Professor Westmarland warned that students would have to continue to put pressure on the University to ensure that the strategy is actually implemented. “The test will come in terms of when resources need to be put in to the implementation of the strategy. It is all very well having a strategy, but we need to make sure it is implemented and funded adequately. “I am very confident that the students of Durham will make sure whatever the strategy contains does get implemented and funded well. “That (pressure from below) is what has made universities act.” Stephen echoed her call for students to hold the University to account on its implementation of the policy recommendations. “We have to make sure this leads to real change on the ground, because we cannot allow universities to continue to fail victims of sexual violence.”
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I am truly hoping that the creation of the Task Force is a step in the right direction that will engender some real change.
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There is no set procedure for recording or dealing with sexual violence, which I believe should be the absolute bare minimum measure in place.
to students on disclosing sexual violence - how to do it, who to go to, what will happen after that deters people from reporting and accessing the help that they need.” A student, who wishes to remain anonymous, spoke to Palatinate about their experiences after being the target of two serious incidents whilst at Durham. “After my experiences, I did not feel that I could report them to the University. For me, the issue with the University is that there are not many places that you can go and discuss experiences like mine, without the terrifying thought of actually having to report it there and then. “Obviously college welfare is fantastic, but with something so personal, it is hard opening up to people who may know you. Although it’s completely confidential, it is very difficult to discuss something so difficult as dealing with sexual assault and rape. “I feel that the University could really help people like myself by making it clear what procedures and help they offer. I feel a lot more people would be comfortable talking about their experiences and getting support if it was made clear how you can go about getting it.” An NUS study, published this October, revealed that two thirds of first-year students are not aware of sexual harassment reporting procedures at University. Palatinate spoke to Catherine Crook, President of Durham University Feminism Society, about her concerns. “There seems to be no centralised initiative as to what the University’s stance is on even reporting incidents of sexual harassment in the first place. “During our campaigns meeting last week, many attendees, both freshers and returning students, did not know who they were supposed to speak to if such an incident happened to them. “ Professor Westmarland agreed that the current lack of a specific procedure on sexual violence was an issue. “I think it probably depends on who you make that disclosure to at the moment, so I think it is probably not yet a consistent response to sexual violence. “We have been training members of staff on responding correctly to claims of sexual violence but obviously that is just the people who choose to come along, so it is probably the people who are already aware of the issues. “Yes, there isn’t a current procedure that is specifically in relation to sexual violence. “Yes, there needs to be one.” Emily Whiteside called for the procedure “to be clear, give full control and choice to the survivor and involve the minimum number of people possible.” All the people Palatinate spoke to agreed that University policy
When asked if she, along with It Happens Here, would hold the University to account, Emily replied “absolutely.” “This cannot just be a box-ticking exercise that goes nowhere,” she said. “I am truly hoping that the creation of the Task Force is a step in the right direction that will engender some real change. “However, I am currently concerned that there is no student
representative on the Force. “I think it is important that they involve the most major stakeholder - the student - to ensure that they realise how major decisions will affect the student population. “To do otherwise - to decide [on] a policy that will affect us on our behalf - is beyond patronising.” Emily also called for the introduction of compulsory consent workshops - a demand which Stephen and Catherine repeated. “It gives people the opportunity
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We have to make sure this leads to real change on the ground. because we cannot continue to fail victims of sexual violence.
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Continued from front page The Zellick report was a collection of guidelines written in 1994 by law professor Graham Zellick, which advised universities against investigating “serious” criminal offences. This approach has been criticised, particularly with reference to modern human rights law. The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) conducted a legal briefing this year, which has demonstrated that universities are legally obliged to ensure women students are safe and equal whilst they study. Universities UK is conducting a new report into the subject. Professor Nicole Westmarland, of the Durham Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse, told Palatinate that she thought the new inquiry would supersede the previous guidance of the Zellick Report. “I think EVAW has convincingly argued that the Zellick principles are inconsistent with modern leg-
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Thursday 5h November 2015 | PALATINATE
to open an informed dialogue on a subject that has too much myth and stigma surrounding it,” she said. “Having workshops not only educates people on a serious issue, it signals a culture shift towards zero tolerance, towards supporting and believing survivors, towards a more positive and safe atmosphere for all students.” Palatinate spoke to all nine feminism societies, who agreed to add their voices to the demand. The University issued this statement to Palatinate. “Durham University has set up a Task Force to review its approach to the important issue of sexual violence. “The Task Force includes representation from students and staff and is chaired by the former Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Justice, Professor Graham Towl who is a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Durham. “The purpose of the group is to research and review University practices in this area, current forms of support for those who have been affected by sexual violence and programmes aimed at generating cultural change in the area of sexual behaviour and sexual violence. “It will make recommendations in each of these areas, as well as management and governance structures required to implement and evaluate their effectiveness. “The Task Force is inclusive and, where needed, works closely with the police, rape crisis and other organisations in this field.”
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PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
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Durham Amnesty petition Prime Minister on Refugees
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86% of the world’s refugees are being hosted by developing countries.
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Durham University Amnesty International (DUAI) have recently launched a petition urging the Prime Minister to do more to offer sanctuary to refugees coming to Britain. It asks David Cameron to take more urgent action for refugees around the world, especially those from Syria. It also calls for Britain to give refugees a “safe route to sanctuary”, and above all argues that the UK should be welcoming far more refugees than at present. The petition builds on Durham City MP Roberta BlackmanWoods’ call on Durham County Council to act on the growing refugee crisis and offer asylum to a number of Syrian refugees, and demands “bigger change from the top.” Over the course of Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd October, DUAI collected 880 signatures whilst campaigning in market square and outside the Bill Bryson Library. Milly Rainford, President of DUAI, told Palatinate: “The current refugee crisis is a problem for everyone around the world, not just the countries most directly affected by it. “Britain needs to do more to
give sanctuary to those fleeing desperate situations. “86% of the world’s refugees are currently being hosted by developing countries which have much less resources to cope. “Of course we can’t house every refugee, but the scale of the crisis calls for urgent action.” Milly called the UK response to the refugee crisis so far - its offer to provide sanctuary to 20,000 people by 2020 - “wholly inadequate.” The Durham Liberal Thinkers Society and the Durham University Labour Club strongly support Durham Amnesty’s petition and stance on UK refugee policy. Co-Chair of the Durham University Labour Club (DULC), Jade
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Amnesty demonstrating outside Library
Photograph: Anna Murphy
Azim, spoke to Palatinate on the issue: “Cameron is not doing enough. He is worried about political expediency when people’s lives are at risk.” DULC “support” Yvette Cooper’s idea to have ten refugee families welcomed in every UK town and would like to see the NUS and DSU lobby effectively on this issue. Expressing similar sentiments, Geeks Teh, Chair of the Durham University Liberal Thinkers society, (DULT) said the society “absolutely” supported the petition. “20,000 refugees is a disgust-
ingly low number. The United Kingdom is capable of far more It is deplorable that Germany, France, Spain and Poland, to name a few, take in far more than we do.” DUAI told Palatinate that generally the student population had been “receptive” to the campaign and happy to sign the petition. The real challenge however, Milly said, was persuading those more sceptical about the cause. George Jackson, Political Officer for the Durham University Conservative association (DUCA), offered a more sceptical view.
the police force faces challenges in achieving a more diverse workforce whilst outlining his commitment to achieving this. “We absolutely agree with the Home Secretary that it is vitally important that we represent the communities we serve. “We work closely with the Black and Asian Police Association (BAPA) and have a range of initiatives to actively promote diversity in the workplace.” Chair of Durham BAPA, DC Waheed Mughal, echoed the words of Durham’s Police and Crime Commissioner. “Both the Chief constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner are fully supportive of the BAPA and are always receptive to ideas from members about how
diversity in the workplace can be promoted and what can be done further to ensure that the force is representative of their communities.” Durham Constabulary have recently been named as the top performing force in the country after receiving the highest possible grading by inspectors from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). Durham Constabulary Deputy Chief Constable Steve Watson said: “We are a high performing force and we are proud of our workforce who perform brilliantly as a team. “We are an active organisation and strive for our workforce to be representative of the people of County Durham and Darlington.”
Durham Police: Workforce is culturally diverse enough
Charlie Taylor-Kroll Deputy News Editor Home Office statistics suggesting that Durham Constabulary is not culturally diverse enough are based on inaccuracies, according to Durham Constabulary. They have refuted the claims by the Home Secretary that Durham police force does not have any black officers. Theresa May, who was speaking about the need for police to represent the communities they serve, singled out Durham alongside Cheshire, Dyfed-Powys and North Yorkshire for not having a single black officer. Durham Constabulary, however, have refuted the claim which was
based on Home Office statistics. Police Crime Commissioner for Durham, Ron Hogg, said: “It is factually incorrect to say that we have no black officers, as has been reported today, and in fact we find it wholly disrespectful to our diverse police community for the Home Secretary to single out one ethnic group.” Despite the Home Secretary’s words, the percentage of black and minority ethnic staff (BME) in the police force is proportional to the BME population in County Durham, according to BME data. Statistics issued by the police shows Durham Constabulary as being one of the closest to proportionally representing the local BME population. Hogg, however, accepted that
Amnesty is a global movement, so each signature contributed or letter sent is an accumulation of voices which are more likely to be listened to.
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Miriam Brittenden Deputy News Editor
“We believe that a responsible solution to the refugee crisis can only be found if we address both the crisis itself and its root causes in the conflict in Syria.” With this in mind he said that 20,000 refugees over the next five years is a “proportionate” response. “Our efforts are best spent assisting the most vulnerable refugees in Syria and neighbouring countries. We believe this to be a more measured response than simply accepting more refugees from the European continent.” Jackson added that DUCA “would be happy to help organise a debate with the other political societies in Durham in order to increase student engagement” with this “pressing issue”. When asked what impact she thought the petition would have, the DUAI President said that it should be seen in the broader context of Amnesty groups around the world. “Amnesty is a global movement, so each signature contributed or letter sent is an accumulation of voices which are more likely to be listened to.” Anna Murphy, the society’s publicity officer, advised students on what else they could do to engage with the crisis. “Talk to people, properly do your research so you really know what the implications of welcoming refugees into the UK are, and be creative! “There are loads of charities you can get involved with and online petitions you can sign.”
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Thursday 5th November 2015| PALATINATE
Archaeology Department assists UNESCO Earthquake Excavation There’s just a small chance that you remember exactly where you were on the morning of April 25, 2015. For one recent graduate, that day is unforgettable. “I was in the shower! My first reaction was to think, ‘No, that’s not an earthquake, that couldn’t happen to me.’” After graduating from St John’s College, Flo Joly de Lotbiniere found herself in Pokhara, Nepal, on the day an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck just east of the Kathmandu Valley. “I think the quake lasted for about 30 seconds but it felt a lot longer,” Flo said. “We were quite confused when it stopped, perhaps because where we were, the buildings didn’t come down; had I stayed in Kathmandu or the Kathmandu Valley where there was huge destruction, things might have been very different for me.” Putting her travel plans on hold, Flo decided to volunteer to help the recovery efforts. She tried to get to Kathmandu, but the earthquake had caused landslides and enormous rifts had split the roads to the capital in two. In a nation as poor and politically-paralysed as Nepal, the chaos was not limited to structural damage: the news that reached Flo in Pokhara was of extreme inflation, food shortages, looting and disease outbreaks in the capital. After a few weeks, Flo made it to Kathmandu, where she realised the extent of the damage. “Buildings either looked like dominoes toppled over, or had completely disappeared,” she said. “Luckily I didn’t have to experience seeing bodies removed from buildings, but I’ll never forget the Nepalese people
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My first reaction was to think, ‘No, that’s not an earthquake, that couldn’t happen to me .’
who shared their losses with me. A very simple conversation that would start with a woman showing me pictures of her grandchildren would often end with her saying, ‘They’re dead now.’” With the help of other volunteers, Flo established the Free Nepal Kitchen in Balaju, a very poor area that had been badly hit by the quake and its subsequent aftershocks. Very soon, they were feeding over 800 people a day. The immediate objective of international and national authorities was alleviating human suffering in the wake of the disaster, and emergency services were mobilised to recover victims and provide assistance to the injured. Over 60 countries, as well as the United Nations and other international agencies, provided emergency relief and humanitarian assistance to the affected population. The next step in the recovery of Kathmandu was for heritage specialists to stabilise the fragile monuments left standing and to undertake a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). The PDNA estimated that April’s quake caused about $169 million of damage to hundreds of sites of cultural or historic significance. Now that the monsoon season has passed, plans are tentatively being made in preparation for the reconstruction of the city. The Nepali government has outlined a recovery strategy with a special focus on the restoration and reconstruction of all damaged and destroyed buildings of historical or cultural importance. To investigate losses and help communities recover and revitalise their traditions, the Nepali government, in collaboration with UNESCO, has mobilised a team of archaeological experts to undertake rescue excavations in advance of rebuilding. The director of the project is Robin Coningham, UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage, and Professor of Archaeology at Durham University. “We’ve been invited by both UNESCO and the government of Nepal to undertake a Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the three main royal – or Darbar – squares of the Kathmandu Valley, followed by three rescue excavations at three monuments, one at each site,” Professor Coningham said to Palatinate. The Darbar Squares are typically teeming with tourists, marvelling
at the magnificent colourful temples, palaces and statues. Each year, hundreds of thousands of tourists would bring in enormous revenues for the restaurant and hotel industry of Kathmandu, and provide employment for tour guides. The Asian Development Bank estimates tourism accounted for about eight per cent of the Nepalese economy. April’s quake and its many aftershocks have put visitors off, though, and an assessment by the Nepalese government and development partners reckon that losses to the tourism industry will total around 40 per cent over the next 12 months and 20 per cent over the coming two years. The severely damaged ornate temples of wood, brick and tile in the capital city were not only of economic value, but they also were places of worship for locals who commune with their guiding goddesses and gods through these temples. “There is some expediency here, both to meet the ritual needs of Kathmandu’s inhabitants as well as protect the unique cityscape and skyline which foreign visitors to the Kathmandu expect,” said Coningham. Durham and UNESCO have
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They tried as best they could to carry on as normal, despite living out of a tiny tent. [...] Their optimism was incredible and inspiring.
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Siena Morrell News Features Editor
a longstanding relationship, and since 2008 staff from the Department of Archaeology have collaborated with UNESCO at a number of World Heritage Sites across South Asia, including Anuradhapura and Polonnaruva in Sri Lanka; Paharpur in Bangladesh; and Lumbini - the
Excavation pits at Khastamandap, a temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, one of the sites staff from the Department of Archaeology have been excavating. Photograph: UNESCO
birthplace of the Buddha - in Nepal. During this time, Professor Coningham said: “Durham students of all levels have been offered the unique opportunity to participate in the projects; at present, due to the scale of the cultural disaster in the Kathmandu Valley, the department is discussing the prospect of additional work in the future. “Focusing on the royal and ritual hearts of the Kathmandu Valley’s three great mediaeval city-states, we are combining archaeological geophysics, geoarchaeology and excavation in order to assist future planning,” said Coningham. In addition to the functional advantages of exposing the foundations of collapsed buildings to assist engineers and architects in the capital’s redevelopment, Professor Coningham hopes the excavations will provide a special historical insight.
“Much of the early history of the Kathmandu Valley is oral and our use of scientific dating will provide an additional source of evidence as well as tracing the development of the Valley’s pagoda architectural form.” The excavations will also provide information on historical responses to previous earthquakes, and the resilience of the inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, something Flo said was easily identifiable during her time in Nepal. “Nepali people astounded me. Although some were understandably saddened and at a loss, I found that because they had no choice, they just had to get on with living again. […] They tried as best they could to carry on as normal, despite living out of a tiny tent. […] Despite everything, their optimism was incredible and inspiring,” Flo said.
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PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
SciTech
A study from Columbia University has revealed that following a Mediterranean diet could slow down ageing. A cohort of 694 multi-ethnic elderly people, with an average age of 80.1 years, was divided into two groups: those that adhered to a Mediterranean diet and those that did not. In the ageing process, the brain tends to shrink and this has been associated with loss of cognitive ability and development of Alzheimer’s. Using MRI scanning, the researchers found that the total brain volume of those following a Mediterranean diet was up to 13.11 ml larger than those who did not. This corresponds to a difference of five years of ageing. A Mediterranean diet consists of lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, grains and mono-unsaturated fats, such as olive oil. The diet also involves eating a large amount of fish, but only minimal amounts of meat and dairy, and allows for a small, regular intake of alcohol. However, the head researcher, Yian Gu, warned that the study does not track the effects of the diet over a prolonged period; the results correspond to one data set. Nonetheless, their work strengthens the case for following a Mediterranean diet, especially given the link with improved brain health later in life. Jennifer Hack
BEAM ME UP!
Engineers from Bristol and Sussex have developed a sonic ‘tractor beam’, not unlike the ones in science fiction, that can grab and lift objects without touching them. The device works with an array of 64 miniature loudspeakers that emit high-pitch and high-intensity sound waves, surrounding the object in an acoustic force field. So far it has been tested successfully to keep pea-sized objects airborne and move them in real time with no contact; the object is kept in a ‘quiet’ region of space that moves as the hologram of sound waves around it is altered. The team note that this technique could have wide-ranging applications, from sonic production lines that transport and assemble delicate objects to precise control of drug capsules or microsurgical instruments through living tissue. Bruno Martin
How useful are animals as model human systems? Tommy Pallett The nematode worm, fruit fly, zebrafish, African clawed frog, chicken, and mouse. What do these animals have in common? They are the most widely studied organisms in the world. When using model organisms, the ultimate goal is to understand human biology, so why are we beating round the bush and poking at a load of other (relatively unrelated) animals to learn about ourselves? The mouse, of course, is the most famous: the stereotypical lab animal – you have probably heard of that time a scientist grew a human ear on its back. Research groups at Durham have in fact used mice to study everything from the development of skin to how ionising radiation causes cataracts. For the latter case, Professor Roy Quinlan, from the Biophysical Sciences Institute at Durham, describes how the mouse is “an excellent animal model because of the wealth of genetic and molecular tools” available, and because “the
[eye] lens is very accessible and easy to dissect.” This “accessibility” is a key motivator in the use of model systems. It refers to how easy it is to study an animal without being overly invasive. In other words, can you look at an embryo at a particular stage without having to terminate its development through dissection? If the answer is yes, you’ve found yourself a pretty accessible embryo! Zebrafish are the new favourites, as their developing tissues can be imaged without dissection, enabling the observation of genetic mutations and the progression of disease in a
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We can’t say the study of models has been fruitless.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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Of mice and men
Reader’s Scigest A QUICK LOOK AT SCIENCE
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living organism. So it would seem that model organisms are the way to go – but these animals are exactly that: models. The jump must be made to humans, and results obtained from a model don’t always correlate in a straight-forward way. For example, Prof Quinlan notes that “zebrafish have duplicated part of their genome”, which means that in some cases where a human would have a single protein, the zebrafish might have two. Another example: mice embryos develop ‘inside out’ compared to human embryos – at a particular stage in development the embryo flips. Surely this throws into question the applications of animal research to human biology? Well, it does, but to dismiss them would also be a rather shallow view of the insights that model organisms provide us. Many biological processes are universal. Take ‘segmentation’, the development of repeating body sections: many organisms use this strategy during development (for example the vertebrae in our spinal cord), and our earliest knowledge of
this process was gleaned from chick embryos, which are so unlike our own. Furthermore, studies on rats have provided almost everything we know about cancer drugs; mice can be genetically engineered to serve as models for Alzheimer’s disease; and worm studies have given us everything on ageing. We can’t say the study of models has been fruitless. In these cases we could not even consider studies with humans. Nor should we – genes are often conserved across species, so a particular gene found to cause problems in humans can be studied in a model animal that has it. It would also be rather impractical: development of a human embryo takes 9 months, a grown adult 18-21 years, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s at least 60 years. The fast life cycles of these models mean that the developmental process or effects of diseases can be observed with relatively little expense in both time and money. The take away message, however, is not that models save money. Models are useful and,save human lives.
Exploring Antarctica from Palace Green
Shubhi Sharma “The risk one runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas is so very great that I can be bold enough to say that no man will ever venture further than I have done and that the lands which lie to the south will never be explored”. Captain Cook said these words on board the HMS Resolution in 1775 after he became the first person to circumvent the South Pole. More than a hundred years later began the Age of Heroic Exploration, which revealed to the world the marvels and mysteries of the continent on the South Pole, known to us today as Antarctica. This winter, Palace Green Library houses an exhibition entitled “Antarctica: Explorers, Heroes and Scientists”. The exhibition has two galleries (“With Scott to the Pole” and “Antarctic Witness”) with items on loan from the Royal Geographical Society, including photographs of Scott’s ill-fated expedition and Shackleton’s trans-Antarctic journey. A third gallery is dedicated to current Antarctic science, with a focus on contributions made by Durham University’s own professors. Through
these displays one has the unique opportunity to relive the discovery, exploration and science of Antarctica – a place that even today is considered one of the most remote and mystifying locations on Earth. With Scott to the Pole In June 1910 the whaling ship Terra Nova set sail from Cardiff. On board were mechanical sledges, dogs, ponies, and an expedition team led by Robert Falcon Scott with the single goal of reaching the South Pole for the first time. We relive Scott’s journey through a series of photographs taken by Herbert Ponting, member and official photographer of the expedition. Two years later, Scott and four men began their journey. On the 17th January, they reached the South Pole, but only to find that they had been beaten by a Norwegian party. Roald Amundsen, leader of that expedition, left an eyepiece behind to prove his record – the item is currently on display at the exhibition. Scott and his team died on the return journey from the Pole; their bodies were discovered eight months later just 11.5 miles from the Safety Depot. Scott’s diary recounts their story of bravery in the face of death.
Scott’s Terra Nova expedition team.
Antarctic Witness A decade earlier, in 1901, Ernest Shackleton had been selected to go on an expedition to the South Pole led by Scott. The team trekked through extremely difficult conditions and set the record for coming closer to the South Pole than anyone had before. In 1908, Shackleton returned to Antarctica as a leader of his own expedition, and two years after Scott’s death, he travelled there again with the goal of crossing the continent via the South Pole. Early in 1915, their ship Endurance was trapped in an ice pack, and sank ten months later, leaving the men stranded. The photographs displayed in this gallery are testimony of Shackleton’s heroic efforts to save his crew. It is for this ex-
Photograph: US Library of Congress
pedition that Shackelton is remembered, but he did return to Antarctica one last time, in 1922. Early in this fourth expedition Shackelton died of a heart attack; at his wife’s bequest, his body is buried in Antarctica.
Antarctic Science Today Here we learn how scientists currently live and work in Antarctica. Their research is more important now than ever before as this continent reveals details of Earth’s climate better than any other part of the world. Antarctica is a crucial piece to the global climate puzzle: the threat of rising sea levels and reducing ice cover pushes us to focus more of our attention on this continent that was once solitary and obscure.
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Paddy Ashdown: “Liberalism is the only answer to the condundrums of our time.” Will Fremont-Barnes meets with two veteran politicians to discuss their eventful Westminster career
Will Fremont-Barnes Profile Editor
Free from the diplomatic constraints imposed by coalition, Lord Paddy Ashdown is now at liberty to offer a candid assessment of his party’s erstwhile political partners. During the week of our meeting, the former Liberal Democrat leader had been in the news as the chief critic of the government’s pledge to take 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years, a course of action he dismisses as ‘derisory’. The government’s response to the refugee crisis, he fears, is yet another example of its shortsightedness. “This is a very, very, very bad government”, Ashdown bemoans, repeating the word ‘very’ with ever increasing exasperation, “and it has the potential to be a dangerous government. Mr Cameron, a perfectly nice man, is nevertheless a very dangerous prime minister because of his failure to think about things. He goes around breaking up the system with all the casual vandalism of the Bullingdon Club”. Concerned that David Cameron’s agenda is “driven entirely by the short-term stimulus”, Ashdown imagines the haphazard process of decision-making, that takes place just a short walk from his House of Lords office. “He gets up in the morning, somebody suggests an idea to him, he suggests the idea at breakfast time, it becomes Tory policy by coffee time, it’s through the House of Commons by teatime and it’s a train crash by dinner time.” If the current administration lacks the prudence required for competent governance, how does Ashdown explain the Conservatives’ success, at his own party’s expense, in May’s general election? “People were driven by fear into the ballot box”, he reflects ruefully, blaming for this collective trepidation the “toxicity of Labour” and the fallacy presented by inaccurate polling data of a “binary choice between the Tories on the one hand and Miliband and Salmond on the other”. Having led the party from an equivalently desperate position when he assumed the leadership in 1988, Ashdown is eminently qualified to make a judgement as to the likelihood of a similar recovery this time. Of his early days as leader, he reminisces: “it was within the margin of error of nothing”. His certainty that the Liberal Democrats will “recover much more quickly than most people think” is because of their “reputation as a party that’s now capable of governing”. The election outcome appears to contradict Ashdown’s assessment
of his party’s enhanced reputation. However, he rejects altogether the hypothesis that the Liberal Democrats were punished for pursuing electoral reform, at the expense of their manifesto pledge to scrap tuition fees. “My experience in the election is that it had almost no impact amongst people who were thinking of voting Liberal Democrat.” So the tuition fees policy reversal was not significant at all? “I don’t say it was handled perfectly”, he concedes, though refuses to offer more substantive criticism. “Tuition fees became a lightning rod, a sort of indicator of a belief that politicians betray their promises, and ignored completely the fact that, in a coalition, we didn’t have freedom of manoeuvre to institute all our manifesto. It became a stick by which people who didn’t like us could beat us.” Ashdown, who describes himself as “overly optimistic”, believes that the ideological warfare breaking out within the Labour Party presents the Liberal Democrats with a “real opportunity”. Indeed, the Labour leadership election vindicated an assertion he made in May. “I said after the election that I thought Labour was in a lot more trouble than we are. People treated this with derision but it’s proven to be true and the reason is this: socialism has no traction in the modern age.” To what, then, does Ashdown attribute Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity? He confesses: “In many ways I admire Mr Corbyn, because at least you know what he does stand for. You’ll find the public responding to authenticity in a politics dominated by fakeness. But being authentic isn’t the same as being right”. If, as Ashdown argues, the Labour Party promises “a return to the old days of the powerful state not the powerful individual”, it cannot, in his opinion, “offer a long-term solution to our country”. As far as Ashdown is concerned, “liberalism is the only answer to the conundrums of our time: both internationalism on the one hand, and the extent of human liberty on the other”. Although Nick Clegg will be remembered as the man who led the Liberal Democrats into government for the first time, Ashdown nearly achieved the same feat more than a decade earlier. After a difficult start to his leadership, during which he suffered sleepless nights “worrying that the great party that started with Gladstone would end with Ashdown”, he guided the Liberal Democrats to two respectable general election performances in 1992 and 1997. “I wanted to get my party into and close to power”, something Ashdown strived to do during numer-
Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown
ous clandestine meetings with Tony Blair prior to the 1997 election, and for many months after the Labour government had been formed. Even though the formidable progressive alliance they discussed was never formed, Ashdown is unwilling to condemn Blair as dishonest. “That’s not what I accuse him of at all”, he responds sharply. “I think he meant it”, Ashdown says of Blair’s promise to incorporate the Liberal Democrats into his government, before continuing more assertively, as if to persuade himself: “in fact, I know he meant it, because otherwise why would Gordon Brown have got so upset? It was very clear that he couldn’t carry his cabinet. If he’d done it earlier he could have done”. It was, therefore, Blair’s strategic failure that lay at the heart of this costly failure to reunite the progressive wings of British politics. “He was no good at seizing the moment. Whereas he thought this was important, it wasn’t the next important thing… It would have completely reshaped his premiership.” Ashdown wonders whether his strong personal and professional relationship with Blair developed due to their shared “outsider” status. “I think the fact that Tony and I were born outside of the womb of our parties gave us an advantage in one sense, because it enabled us better to see what was going on out there, rather than in the closed circle of the party. But it was a disadvantage in another sense - sometimes we didn’t understand the extent to which par-
ties are also a conjunction of political spirits as well as a conjunction of political interests.” Ashdown recalls vividly his liberal awakening, not so much a conversion as a moment of realisation. “In 1974, a young man knocked on my door canvassing. I said, ‘come in, tell me about liberalism’, and I discovered I’d been a liberal all my life.” Turning his back on a promising diplomatic career overseas in order to contest Yeovil, “the safest of safe Tory seats”, was “a very irresponsible decision”, though maintains, despite taking eight years to become an MP, “it was the best decision I ever took”. For all his involvement in British politics, the Bosnian War is the event with which Ashdown will be forever associated. Having visited the country on the advice of a colleague shortly after the 1992 general election, he recalls the emotions he felt upon arrival. “The moment I saw it, it just captured me, because I was so confident that this was the Spanish Civil War of our time, and that it was a predictor and a harbinger of what was to come.” Ashdown used his prominent public position to draw attention to the “tragedy” unfolding in the Balkans. Adjusting from this to the daily grind of Westminster politics was, he admits, a psychological challenge. “I would always go out twice a year to Bosnia and Sarajevo and spend a week in the city, and I would come back and was just so cross that people were, in the face of all this, involved in things which were entirely
Photograph: Lib Dem Flickr
petty.” Having discussed such an emotive subject, it seems trivial to ask Ashdown whether he has any lingering personal regrets. “It really spoils my afternoon that I haven’t been prime minister”, he says only half-jokingly, explaining: “this is the liberal age and therefore, obviously, we should have been elected”. Rather than dwelling any further on his unfulfilled ambitions, Ashdown instead reveals his fear that there is something fundamentally rotten at the heart of British society. “Everywhere I look around me, there’s been a catastrophic decline in the confidence of institutions, all those great pillars of the state that we used to believe in: the church, the journalists, the bankers, the doctors, the politicians.” Reciting a passage from W.B Yeats’ poem, ‘The Second Coming’, which depicts graphically the end of time, Ashdown ponders the “sense of dislocation, of disaggregation, of disillusion to the creeds that we hold to, and to the systems that we are supposed to believe in”. After a momentary torrent of pessimism, which he recognises simply could be the “misanthropy of an old man”, Ashdown is reinvigorated when contemplating what his own future holds. “I’m an adventurer”, he declares grandly. “I keep on learning and trying to do different things that teach me more things. The one thing I know that isn’t next is pipe and slippers.”
PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
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Ken Clarke: the life of a “political addict”. As he embarks on what will, in all probability, be his last parliament, it is striking that Ken Clarke still finds himself fighting political battles over the same issue as when he first entered the House of Commons in 1970. “I am astonished that the European issue is still being debated in this country”, the veteran Conservative MP says with genuine bewilderment. “I’d have thought it was so obvious that our role in the modern world is to be a leading, influential player in a union of states across Europe.” Many of Clarke’s colleagues do not share his ardent advocacy of the European Union. “The message that it’s all the fault of Brussels has some appeal”, he concedes, when explaining why he finds himself increasingly in a minority within his own party. “Parts of the Conservative Party are seduced by the escapism of saying we’d be able to cope with all thescomplicated problems much better if it wasn’t for Brussels, and somehow we went back to the good old days when we were on our own.” Clarke argues that this “nationalist nostalgia” must be viewed in the context of the rise of “populist protest parties” in Britain and across the Western world. Referring to Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn to illustrate his point about populism, he observes: “what they all have in common are simple solutions for overwhelmingly complicated problems, faced by populations who have suffered some hardship as a result of financial collapse and recession”. The reemergence of Euroscepticism, he reasons, cannot be treated in isolation from the contemporary climate of populism. Neither can Margaret Thatcher’s resignation as prime minister, which occurred twenty-five years ago this month, be dismissed as irrelevant to the party’s “mad obsession” with Europe. “The Eurosceptic warfare that broke out in the 1990s was, in my opinion, slightly tied up with the reaction to Thatcher’s downfall, and the feeling on the right that Euroscepticism was a way to avenge her.” Until that point, Clarke contends, “Euroscepticism had got very subdued”. This reawakening of Euroscepticism had costly implications for Clarke’s own political ambitions. “I always hoped to be prime minister”, he admits openly, laughing that he “developed this bad habit of running for the leadership of the Conservative Party”. Clarke put himself forward for the job three times: in 1997, after the party’s eighteen years in power had ended; in 2001, after New Labour had recorded another landslide victory; and in 2005, the election inwhich David Cameron rose to the leadership. Was Europe to blame for Clarke’s triple defeat? “Totally. The party wouldn’t talk about any other subject.” Particularly
on the first two occasions, Clarke felt that the elections “became an elimination contest between all the others to decide which Eurosceptic was going to beat me”. Putting aside this disappointment, Clarke nevertheless continues to enjoy a career that has been virtually unparalleled in terms of its longevity and illustriousness. He has served as Secretary of State for Education, Health and, most recently, Justice, as well as occupying two of the great offices of state: Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Following his four years overseeing the Treasury, Clarke, in the words of the Conservative Party’s own website, ‘bequeathed to Labour a golden economic legacy’. “That phrase is frequently used”, he responds when challenged as to its veracity. “It’s flattering so I’m quite happy to adopt it.” The secret behind this success, Clarke suspects, was based on the job security that “insulated” him from pressure. “I always reflected that John Major, having already fired one Chancellor of the Exchequer, would never be able to fire a second. I actually took some quite tough and difficult decisions, and never had too much trouble selling them.” His economic objective, “the combination of growth with low inflation”, was therefore easier to achieve than it otherwise might have been. With that in mind, why did the
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I always hoped to be prime minister.
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Conservatives perform so badly in the 1997 general election? “The government was unelectable because of the state the party was in.” This once again demonstrated the destabilising impact of splits over Europe. Furthermore, in response to opinion polls that put the Conservatives “miles ahead” on economic policy, “Tony Blair and Gordon Brown very skilfully said they would carry on with the same economic policy and would not change any feature of what I was doing. Despite all my efforts to make the economy a political issue, nobody was bothered very much once Tony and Gordon said they would stick to my figures.” If the Major government was themost tumultuous in which Clarke served, he is in no doubt as to which was the most successful. Of the Thatcher years, he says: “it was the best government I ever served in by a long way. Margaret gave us all the courage of our convictions. She insisted that the government was going to do things which most of her
colleagues agreed with but had got used to saying was not politically possible”. This conviction did not produce instant results. “By 1981 we were horrendously unpopular”, at which point there was little sign of the profound transformation to come. “Midway through was when we all began to realise that we were making a bigger change to not only the economy but the culture of the country than any other government since the war.” Clarke’s own involvement in Thatcher’s eventual downfall was significant. He identified “hubris” as having set in towards the end of her premiership, remembering the specific point at which she began to self-destruct. “I heard her, over some completely inconsequential row about something in cabinet, suddenly say, ‘why do I have to do everything myself in this government?’ I’m sure that all of us, silently under our breaths, said, ‘Margaret, the problem is that you are now trying to do everything yourself’.” Realising that Thatcher had “lost it”, Clarke makes no apologies for the forcefulness with which he advised her to resign in November 1990. As the first cabinet member called in to see the beleaguered prime minister, Clarke recalls the “robust exchange” that took place between them. “She wanted to fight again, and I remember saying it’d be like the Charge of the Light Brigade. She told me I was being defeatist. I told her she’d been defeated.” Thatcher may have “run out of steam” after eleven and a half years in Downing Street, but the small state, free market ideology to which she dedicated her career has formed the basis of modern conservatism. Having been at the heart of the Thatcherite revolution, does Clarke suppose that the current Conservative government eventually will be regarded as similarly radical? “I hope so. It is certainly the case that, so far, the present government has achieved a remarkable recovery from the longest, deepest recession
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Margaret gave us all the courage of our convictions.
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since the war.” Whilst recognising that there is “still a long way to go”, Clarke praises this administration for having “taken on an agenda of active reform in practically every sphere of government”. He predicts: “if we do emerge successfully and get most things broadly right, we’ll
Veteran Conservative MP Clarke Photograph: Creative Commons
achieve quite a reputation”. Clarke served in the coalition government, first as Justice Secretary and then as Minister without Portfolio, until July 2014, which enabled him to dispense his “wit and wisdom” on colleagues who had previously been his subordinates. He chuckles when asked whether they compared favourably to his fellow ‘big beasts’ in the 1980s and 90s: “once you start thinking like that you should count to ten and realise it’s about time you packed it in”. He describes the current crop of Conservative ministers, somewhat unconvincingly, as “a decent lot”, reflecting on the surreal sensation of “looking around the table and realising you can remember all these men and women when they first started in politics or were political assistants to your friends”. Clarke is one of the last survivors from the old days in which “people were too deferential towards their political leaders”. Citing the media’s obsession with the private lives of politicians, he worries that the opposite is true today. Although the “whole atmosphere of politics is quite different” now to when he first arrived, Clarke remains enthralled by the profession he first decided to pursue whilst still at primary school. “The fact that I’m still in parliament shows I’ve been a political addict for most of my life.” Clarke’s political life has been fulfilling but is, as yet, unfinished. “I have a very good research assistant
who keeps bullying me into writing my memoirs.” When pressed as to why he has not yet done so, he protests: “I’ve just been too busy. By the time I actually have all the time in the world to write my memoirs, I shall probably have lost my marbles and it’ll be too late”. In the event that Clarke never writes a full account of his life, it therefore would be remiss not to ask what he considers his best and worst decisions in politics. He dwells on his achievements as Health Secretary. “My determination to embark on the reform that became known as the internal market, which has continued to be the basis of the evolution of the service ever since, was the biggest impact I ever made on politics, not least because Margaret Thatcher was quite resistant to the idea.” When it comes to discussing his worst decision, Clarke becomes uncharacteristically coy. “I’m always very guarded about that. Nowadays, politicians are not allowed to get away with their confessions of failure, so I always say driving through the House of Commons the order that introduced road humps, which I did in my very first departmental job as parliamentary secretary for transport.” This neatly illustrates how far the world has changed since Clarke first entered parliament. The nature of Britain’s relationship with its continental partners, however, remains as uncertain now as the day he began his long life in politics.
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Politics
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Interview: Durham Young Greens Sofya Grebenkina Politics Editor President of the Durham Greens, Jamie Penston Raja, talks to Politics Editor Sofya Grebenkina about the society. On the Durham Young Green’s Facebook page you say that you stand for ‘social and environmental justice’. What do those terms imply?
Social and environmental justice in actuality is the three crises of social, economic, and environmental crises that the Green Party try to tackle. So environmentally, we face climate change, which is the biggest threat to our society now. The social crisis is the mass inequality that we see between people, and the lack of change on how politics has been done since the 1980s, which is trying to pit people against one another, rather than finding a unified approach to how politics should work and how everyone can benefit from a political system. The Green party try to fix it, make it more democratic, more accountable, get more people involved in the political process. We always try to interlink the three crises within our policies. For example, our housing policy is that we want to insulate all the homes in this country. Environmentally, it tries to reduce the necessity for heating, and people don’t have to pay massive amounts on their bills. This fixes the economic inequalities and it means that people can actually live in their homes and not rely on state benefits to pay for their extortionate heating costs. How is this relevant to the typical Durham student?
For the typical Durham student, you can look at the things we’ve done in the community. We’ve got the housing problem, and the price of student accommodation, which is apparently one of the lowest in the country and it makes you worry about how the rest of the country is. I’m on full grant and loan from the government. I am very lucky in that aspect, because my parents don’t earn enough, which I think is a flawed way of assessing that anyway, but it means that I have just about enough to live on and pay for my rent. But it doesn’t leave much room for getting involved as much in university as you’d like. And you can think about people who aren’t in the same position as me, their parents earn a little bit more than mine, so they don’t
get the full grant, but their parents don’t earn enough to pay them through their education, so what they’re stuck with is housing costs which are way beyond their reach. We’ve got a marketised education system whereby you have competition for grades, for university league table places, and it means that you don’t have a focus on the education itself. It’s a focus on who can get the education and what the education gives you, which I believe is a morally bankrupt way of doing it. Education should be for furthering individual brilliance and critical thinking to engage in a critique of society and develop ideas. The Green party supports free education and we tried to do a campaign on it last year, unfortunately unsuccessful, but it showed a lot of difficulties within our Student’s Union. It’s actually quite unrepresentative of what a lot of people seem to believe. Social and economic crises are not currently well linked to one another, and you don’t see the social benefit of education as it is, you just see the economic benefit. That’s what much of our society is geared towards – the economic benefit above everything else. What do you see university education is for?
First off, I don’t think everyone needs university education. There needs to be a variety of education provided. There needs to be a lot more development of technical education. University should not be a stopgap for the middle classes to go to between school and the ‘real world’. It should be seen as an end in itself. University is something you need to want to do. You need to want to learn more about the world around you and how you can try to influence that, and how it operates. When you put an economic value on it, it becomes a means to an end. It’s currently a means to get a job, because you’ve spent so much on loans and you need to pay that back. University is no longer for developing ideas but for skills that can be applied in the workplace. You’ve got so many banking firms sponsoring events because they want to poach the best and the brightest, rather than acknowledging that thought, expression, and ideas are key in society, to paint a vision of a better future. University is meant to challenge the way the world is at the moment. How come your campaign for free education was unsuccessful last year?
We conducted a debate at
Greens protest for free education the Durham Union Society in November 2014 and then we proposed a motion at the Durham Student’s Union to support the free education march in London that’s been happening every year, organized by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. We tried to get Durham SU to support it, to say that we are standing in solidarity with the people who are going to the protest, and the Durham SU Assembly voted against that motion. Our university does not support free education as a policy. Unfortunately I’m not surprised by knowing the Durham student body generally tend to not be the most positive towards that sort of idea. We want Durham SU to say that they want it so that nobody is put off university by cost, and that includes postgrads and mature students, where the university has seen a massive decline in numbers. Something that was quite odd was that last year’s Durham SU President voted against it, and in theory he supported several of the strikes. There was not a lot of surety about what Durham SU stood for but officially there is no support. Why do you think students should go with their ideas through the Durham Greens, instead of going straight to the Durham SU?
Parties have always been quite a good means to unify voices and get a stronger opinion across. The party organizes students who are
Photograph: Durham Young Greens
interested in a certain issue and then pushes for it to happen. For example, we’re trying to work with the divestment campaign, and unify the anger at the fact that the univeristy are investing £1.5 million in fossil fuels of student’s money. Then we can say that as a group which has some financial backing behind us, we can organize events to unify the student body. That’s what parties are there for, not some debating society, or whatever it may be. What do you think is the biggest problem for Durham University right now?
I think that free education is a nationwide thing, it’s not something that Durham can change on its own. The accommodation crisis is not in the hands of Durham as much as private landlords. Across the country property prices are skyrocketing at a very unsustainable rate. All the university can do is make the college accommodation prices cheaper. The divestment campaign is what we want to focus on. It’s the idea that our money is being invested in a way that the vast majority of the student body don’t want it to be invested. We want to move the investment away from fossil fuels and that isn’t a sustainable investment in the long run. Because if you think that 80% of the world’s fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground, to stay within the 2 degrees
target for global warming, then investing in companies that are trying to exploit those resources is a poor economic investment in the first place, and also not the way in which a leading academic institution should be going when there’s such a massive consensus about climate change being a real issue. Edinburgh has divested from fossil fuels, Oxford is about to, Exeter, and Durham is still one of the dinosaurs that’s investing in dinosaur fuels. We need to be a much more proactive and future-looking institution if we want to attract the right sort of investment. What would be an appropriate alternative investment for Durham University, that would also be economically viable?
We now have on-shore wind farms. They are the cheapest investment in energy that you can have. Renewable subsidies are really low, compared to the subsidies the UK government puts into fossil fuels. If the subsidies were put into renewable energy, we could easily have a renewable future in the UK. We already have some projects like the Swansea tidal lagoon which is going to provide the local area with all their energy needs. The technology is already there to create a viable alternative to fossil fuels, we only need the investment. This will give us much more energy sovereignty so we can rely on our own wind, waves,
PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015 solar, rather than relying on Middle Eastern or Russian oil and thereby gain a more independent view of the world. So then we aren’t ignoring Saudi Arabian human rights records or not being able to take on Russia with more economical and diplomatic sanctions because we’re scared of them cutting off our oil. Considering the membership of the Green party and the number of seats you have in Parliament, why do you think people would or should support you?
If we had a proportional system then we would get 24 MPs into the House of Commons from the 2015 General Election result, yet we got one. I think we have got a much larger base of support than the results would make you think. When you go around talking to people, especially in Durham, the
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response is: I support the Greens and I do think you stand for really good things but if I vote for you the Tories are going to get in. That’s the fear that people have. Due to the voting system that we have the Green party will never get the representation which it may deserve. Saying that, we did get an incredible result in the General Election. We got a quadrupling in the amount of votes we received last time. For the first time we were seen as almost a major party by the media networks. We were able to appear on TV and actually put our arguments across. When people were asked to vote on policies and not the party we actually came out with the highest proportion of votes with 24.9%. We do have a lot of support for the policies we push for. The problem is the hostile media environment when it comes
to left-wing views. You see the assaults on Jeremy Corbyn, and to me he isn’t even that left-wing. The Greens will get just the same treatment and worse. We will never elect a leader just because they are electable and have a good media face. We elect them because we agree with what they say. It’s central to what we believe – substance over style.
vanced, his success almost took on a kind of inevitable air. Either way, any talk of a coup must surely be premature and it seemed as if Labour MPs were resigned in accepting the result. Criticism however has become more vocal recently with the emergence and development of the new set of Labour policies. Mr Corbyn admitted himself that being leader of a party involves a fair amount of compromise, but along with his determined supporters he was at pains to emphasise the role of open debate and a climate where everyone can civilly agree to disagree. Certainly, Mr Corbyn would have known that his stance on Trident would polarize, given that the party committed to renewing the deterrent under Ed Miliband and the previous Labour government. But he seemed happy enough to accept this. And we probably should not be too harsh on a man who is simply sticking to his principles. For all the criticism he has received, going back on a position he has held since joining the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) as a teenager would have appeared highly hypocritical, a betrayal to himself and his followers. In this era of a ‘new kind of politics’, so cherished and championed by Labour activists, and more specifically the Corbynistas – whereby debate is conducted in a civilised manner, where each MP is entitled to his or her own opinions, where traditional politicians’ vague, evasive rhetoric is rejected – perhaps Mr Corbyn welcomes honest dis-
plays of dissent and disapproval, but how about resignations? The recent resignations are not going to bring down Mr Corbyn’s government. Neither are they, in themselves, especially worrying for Labour. Lord Grabiner and Lord Warner are both in their seventies and are perhaps approaching their best-before date anyway. Moreover, it was surely to be expected that some party members would resign as a result of Labour’s new direction. The muted response from the party speaks volumes however. With the fear of further alienating MPs, despite the strong criticism directed at the administration, a Labour spokesperson welcomed “Tony [Grabiner]’s continued membership and support of the party”. Yet ‘support’ seems far from the truth when ‘Tony’ has called the party’s new proposals “terribly damaging”. The worry for Labour and Mr Corbyn is a developing uneasiness in the party, an insidious growth of dissatisfaction that might become more and more vocal, displaying a disunity which has negative impacts on two levels. The first is fundamental to the functioning of an effective democracy. No matter how formidable and able a governing party, it must be kept in check with a competent opposition. A party struggling with internal battles cannot do this. The second involves the very future of the Labour party. It is universally known that Labour MPs did not, in their majority, sup-
If you cannot achieve what you need by yourself, do you see the Durham Greens collaborating with other political societies?
Yes, I’m quite a big advocate of the Durham Left movement that’s happening. So you’ve got left-leaning societies like Labour, Greens, FemSoc, Marxists, a variety of clubs within Durham working together on campaigns and just trying to share best practice between us. I think that’s something that
Politics needs to be mimicked on a larger scale across the country. Without proportional representation, the formation of coalitions, you don’t have development on previous policies unless there’s some spillover. For example, the tax credit changes that are being implemented by this government is decimating 13 years of Labour rule. That is not a way to do progressive politics. We’ve opened our arms of friendship to Labour, we stand for a lot of similar things and we want to work with them. However they seem to be still in the tribal mindset of: if it’s not the Tories then it has to be us, saying things like, Brighton is their target seat. What are your aims as a society for this year?
The divestment campaign is the key issue for us, and we agreed
last year that it was something we wanted to push for. We are not a purely environmental party but we always view everything through the lens of environmentalism. We’re trying to get involved with the climate talks in Paris as well. There are talks of a demonstration being held in Durham on the 28th of November at the beginning of the climate talks. We’re looking at going down to Paris for the Day of Action on the 12th of December at the end of the climate conference. We are also keeping an eye out on the referendum on the EU that is suggested to be held in May of next year to start a campaign for the ‘In’ votes. We are only the sum of our parts; we want to see what our members want to get involved with. If you want to join the Durham Greens then check out their Facebook page for information.
Labour Whip Resignations: Disunity and Disaffection
James Lindsay Lord Grabiner became the second peer in five days to resign from the position as Labour whip in the House of Lords. Citing Mr Corbyn’s “terribly damaging” proposals and “disarray” in the party, Lord Grabiner said that he could not “square [staying] with my conscience”. He follows Lord Warner in relinquishing the position; however, both members have maintained they will not defect to another party. Lord Grabiner is to assume a role as crossbencher. Following a dramatic rise to prominence, and a stunning election victory in September, Jeremy Corbyn must have felt like a man under pressure. There was huge anticipation as to how he would cope with the responsibilities of being leader of the opposition, his career having never progressed further than the backbenches, and people, some nervously, some gleefully, wondered whether he would be able to unite his party. A lot of people wished he would fail. Yet after a polished, if dull, first speech at the party conference and an original, if rather ineffective way, of conducting Prime Minister’s questions, it was generally accepted that for the time being Mr Corbyn had steadied the ship. Mr Corbyn does, after all, have a huge mandate to lead the party. His appointment would have been viewed as a real shock in the wake of Labour’s dismal performance at the 2015 General Election, but, as the leadership contest ad-
port Mr Corbyn in the leadership contest. Scraping onto the ballot paper with the minimum 35 MP nominations required it was generally accepted that Mr Corbyn would represent the far left of the party. His defeat would then silence that faction once and for all, Mr Miliband having towed a similar far-left line in the general election. After Mr Corbyn’s victory and now with Lord Warner and Lord Grabiner’s recent resignations, amidst vocal criticism from Lord Mandelson, a former cabinet minister, there is a risk of an inoperable split emerging. Labour MPs, and indeed much of the nation, were shocked at the success of a man to whom much of Mr Miliband’s failings can be attributed.
Mr Miliband was dismissed as un-priministerial, too left wing; some MPs may begin to feel the same about Corbyn. Lord Warner went as far as to say Labour did not have a “hope in hell” of winning the next election. If the policies continue to disaffect and resignations continue, maybe the Labour party as we know it will not even exist by the time those elections come around. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are not representative of Palatinate, and are those of the author only. If you disagree with the opinions expressed, or would like to write for Palatinate in response, please contact the Politics Section at politics@palatinate.org. uk.
Turmoil in the ranks? Troubled waters for Corbyn ahead Photograph: DonkeyHotey, flickr
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Thursday 5th November 2015| PALATINATE
Mental health special edition Experience: self harm at university Mental health is entering into the public conciousness; it just needs a bit of a push
Hansen 4 months since relapse
It’s a funny old time to have depression. From dragging yourself through the motions day to day, to fairly useless ‘advice’ (using the term lightly), to oblivious onlookers simply taking you for a dour sod, it’s never exactly been fun. But there are interesting developments afoot. On one hand, a torrent of Facebook posts, ‘relatable’ celebrities, and other well meaning parties will now tell you that it not only exists (which believe you me is progress), but that it is both more difficult and far more common than you think. On top of this, there is much greater interest in mental health awareness generally. A government petition to introduce mental health education to the national curriculum has gathered 24,169 signatures at time of writing, and received a response from government. Having said this, despite this glimmer of light that maybe stigma is beginning to wane and lines of conversation on depression have opened just a crack, there remain a series of curious phantom faces at the window not invited into the discussion. One of these is that of the self-harmer. When I wrote a first iteration of this article, timed for SelfHarm Awareness Day on March 1st as the smell of freedom from summative hell (suspiciously orange and cranberry
tinged) grew more pungent and the promise of spring loomed, I was roundly ignored by a nameless other Durham outlet. Whether this was mere clerical pileup or whether the house that brought us the thunderous revelation that Durham is the homophobia capital of the world is less committed to social issues than it thought, it would be impolite to speculate. Nevertheless it occurred to me that self-harm being ignored
was becoming a recurring feature in Durham life. The people around me have always seemed at ease with the knowledge of my depression and other such ailments, willing even to discuss it if only to the point of the obligatory and useless “You’d never know, you know.” Despite this, the selective ignorance people can display when finding a convenient solution to more serious problems is, at times, astounding. From a casually cocked eyebrow and hint of a wry smile at my bin full of bloodstained rags with a ‘had an accident hun?’ to, when in the middle of term I would be careless with showing lacerated skin and someone would grin and make a comment related to the pitfalls of passionate family pets, (I can only imagine they reared wolverines.) It seemed not so much that there was an elephant in the room as it was one only I bothered to ignore. Perhaps all of this is unfair, though. Self-harmers are painfully private, right? True, sometimes. But maybe just once at 2am while meticulously scurrying around communal bathrooms trying to get every last drop of blood that might have
spilt, or waking up feeling ok with the world until catching your latest artwork’s reflection as sombre reminder, one wishes they could talk. And maybe when you are hundreds, maybe thousands of miles from home and stereotypical tumblr posts aren’t enough anymore, it would be nice if there was a person there instead. But the problem remains that people, even within the supposedly liberal and progressive walls of university don’t seem ready to talk about it. When one is reprimanded for bothering welfare volunteers with an issue so extreme, despite their reputation as being the first, logical, and reliable port of call for everything from homesickness to assault, you too might think twice about trying people you know again. Logical though counselling services are, the thought of talking to a stranger and, moreover, admitting you really do have a problem both out loud and to yourself , is a great leap from zero for many. Of course none of this would dare to attempt to illicit sympathy in the reader, only to illicit thought. Perfectly functional people in your everyday life could be battling this constant clandestine rigmarole they don’t have to be the one sat alone in all black listening to My Chemical Romance (we all lived through the Mid-Noughties, the kid has taste) - personally I was what some would call irresponsibly outgoing. The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm prevalence in Europe, and in 2014 government findings saw an increase of around 70% in 10-14 year olds attending A&E with self-inflicted injuries. This shows that inside as well as
outside of university this is an issue that needs to be talked about sooner rather than later, especially considering that with the intense secrecy around it, the statistics could never really be an accurate representation of the size of the issue.
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My plea to the friends is this don’t bury your head in the sand, keep your eyes open
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And so my plea to the friends is this - don’t bury your head in the sand, keep your eyes open - there’s only a certain extent the excuses can hold water. Don’t suspect everyone who has a nosebleed to clear up, but small signs like coming out of the shower fully clothed, getting their clean outfit sopping wet, or not liberating their woolly jumper in the furnace of Klute’s top floor could add up over time. Have a look at websites with dedicated pages like Mind, to see how you can help, and help in the correct manner. Because, above all else as the nights draw in again, it’s easy to feel an increasing amount of darkness in your life as well, as the independence of university turns into woeful solitude thinking you have nowhere to turn, whether fresher or established student. And to the sufferers - know that you’re not alone; I challenge you to tell one friend. They may not understand, but opening conversation little by little helps us all - and I promise having one person you don’t have to hide from is a huge relief. Mental health is entering into the public consciousness; it just needs a bit of a push.
Illustration: Maria Zaikina
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Durham Comment
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Does Durham University do enough for student mental health? Sam Nutt, Welfare Officer at St. Mary’s college, investigates University and college welfare services Sam Nutt
Every year, around a quarter of British adults will suffer from depression or anxiety. That rate is most likely far higher at university, where students experience rapid change in their lives, which we know will put them at greater risk to mental health problems. The most common cause of death in people in Britain age 20-49 is suicide. As the university has a responsibility to the well-being of its students, they provide a range of services aimed at students who are suffering form poor mental health. This includes the various college welfare teams, as well as a centralised Counselling Service. Over the Summer I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the university, in the hopes of grasping a fuller understanding of the mental health support that the university offers through its Counselling Service. In total, the number of students receiving at least one counselling session has risen year on year from 885 in 2009/10, to 1400 in 2014/15. That is around 8% of all students receiving treatment last year, and one can only imagine that will jump again this year to around 1600. In line with the massive growth of students using counselling, the university has also spent more money on the department: in 2012/13 they spent £345,026, but in 2014/15 they spent £367,433. Students are allowed six free counselling sessions each per year (unless special circumstances necessitate more); most students only used two sessions, but 333 used all six last year. The university was also kind enough to allow me to talk to the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Graham Towl, who was the Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of
Justice and Home Office, as well as the national advisor on mental health to Nightline. He was clearly well positioned to talk about the university’s role in mental health support, and from a personal point of view it was very pleasing to see someone with relevant experience working high up in the university with has a great focus on mental health.
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like sczhizophrenia or multiplepersonality disorders? If we say that the scope of these problems is
The number of students receiving counselling has risen from year on year
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As everyone involved has the same goal of improving and caring for mental welfare, it became apparent with Professor Towl that the crux of the issue was how can we know whether the university is doing enough, when identifying ‘enough’ is so hard? He explained that the university offers considerably more in the way of counselling now than it did five or six years ago, and it offers far more than many other similarly sized universities. In relational terms we can be happy as students with how much the university is invested in mental health support. The natural division of mental health support at Durham particularly highlights the difficulty that any university faces when providing mental health support. College support typically involves students and staff who can help with more minor, often situational problems, which then leaves central university support (the Counselling Service) with the responsibility of ‘everything else’. ‘Everything else’ is obviously be problematic though: for example, should the university be employing nurses and psychiatric experts to help deal with more complicated and specific problems
beyond the university and lies with health services (which in its current arrangement we do), then it forces us as a community to question the principles of how much a university should be do-
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ing
We have the power now to create a system that works for us
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for any (mental) health problems. Why is the line drawn where it is? Why is the university accountable
for mental health problems when they manifest themselves as depression, anxiety or trauma but not something like schizophrenia? These are questions that university decision-makers face. the employment of a psychiatric for the first time this academic year shows that the university is making a concerted effort to provide as much support as it can, given its natural status as a place of learning. Certainly, investing in mental health services will have great benefits for its academic community to pursue its academic ends, but the university cannot commit to the full maintenance of every health problem of its students. The parameters of the amount of support that can be offered, that naturally exist according to its structure as a university, further problematize the question of ‘is the university doing enough’. But, if it is possible to ask this question, the university is performing admirably on a scale relative to its own potential. If those parameters seem too constricting, then a fuller grasp of the network of services available alongside the university should be reassuring. Having spoken to students who felt disillusioned with their time in counselling, I sympathise as a welfare officer, particularly because they have suffered from a failure to signpost the full variety of options. Not everyone is suited to Counselling or a particular counsellor. For example, there is Nightline (as well as similar but more niche services which can be found online), GPs who can prescribe medication to help combat low moods, plus therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which are
incredibly successful and which have free courses through the NHS that one can be referred to through a GP. When attempting to digest the raw facts, there is perhaps a natural cynicism projected as a student onto the role of a university. But given the complexities of mental health, it is vital that we do not simplify any group’s role in the complex ecosystem of mental health support. The question of whether the university does ‘enough’ to help students suffering from mental health is problematic. They do an immense amount relative to other universities and their own past, coping well with the increasing demand of students for the Counselling Service. The university also operates within a network of services that can be accessed as a student that perhaps need to be signposted better, but the positive feedback the Counselling Service receives each year shows that their own service is in great shape. If any student reads this and has any ideas for how the service can be improved, then Professor Towl has made it clear that the university is open to student suggestions.
Illustration: Mariam Hayat www.palatinate.org.uk >> The Comment mental health series continues online...
Loneliness in freshers week By Kirstin Stevely “If someone were to ask me now to describe freshers I would say that it was quite lonely and stressful”
The masculinity crisis By Ellie Mullan “The typical ideal of a heterosexual, rational and strong man does not fit the realities of a modern male, and it is this failure to fit this epitome of manhood that leads to the
www.palatinate.org.uk >>
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Thursday 5th November 2015 | PALATINATE
Battle of the Brands
Team Mary’s, Team Mildert, Team Hatfield, Wood Sport. Kieran Moriarty investigates what these new titles mean and how colleges are rebranding their sports teams to form new distinct identities Kieran Moriarty Sport Editor As a student newspaper at one of the best sporting universities in the UK, it is an impossible task to cover every sporting fixture that happens at Maiden Castle, the Racecourse, in the college JCRs and bars. However over the last two years, Palatinate Sport has found its task made significantly easier due to the social media revolution within Durham colleges. From rugby, to hockey, football to darts, it appears every team now is armed with a Twitter account, to regularly update and amuse their fellow college members (as well as grateful sports reporters) about their various teams’ exploits, as well as to increase collegiate pride and bragging rights. This year, this process has evolved further through the rise of the phenomenon of colleges branding their sports teams under a collective group name. If you browse through Facebook and Twitter this year, you may find
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We are no longer a collection of clubs at the same college: we are Team Mary’s
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yourself stumbling across accounts such as Team Mary’s, Team Mildert and Hatfield College Sport, which are packed with the latest news stories and photos about the exploits of their various sports teams. This relatively new practice has involved the dispersal of a college brand across a number of social media platforms to greatly enhance the distribution of sports news from that particular college among the Durham student population. Additionally, it has also entailed the organisation of big varsity events against rival colleges across a number of sports, to increase the sporting profile of colleges further. Team Mary’s have proven to be the standout example of this social media offensive in action. Following a big promotional campaign across social media, they launched their project in impressive style a few weeks ago, hosting two big varsity football matches against Hatfield D’s and Hild Bede A’s under the floodlights at Maiden Castle. This evening of sport was then followed by a large scale college social. The night proved to be a huge success as respectable crowds turned up to experience the event, while other colleges realised the benchmark had been set for this type of college sport branding. The pair behind Team Mary’s, Jack Tellyn and Becca Hunt, have enjoyed the positive reception that their venture has earned in Durham. Tellyn told Palatinate: “The big idea behind Team Mary’s is to create a unifying identity for all of our college sports teams as well as a platform to publicise results and match reports. “Increased publicity for Mary’s sport was high on both Becca Hunt’s and my agendas so when she came to me with the idea over the summer, we were both keen to have everything off the ground so that the project was ready for the freshers to
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New players and old faces alike are putting in great work to get the best results possible as they know there is now a place to share their success with everyone.
immerse themselves in when they arrived. It seems to have done the trick.” Tellyn continued by noting how the new scheme has galvanised sports teams within the college. He said: “New players and old faces alike are putting in great work to get the best results possible as they know there is now a place to share their success with everyone. “We’re no longer a collection of clubs at the same college: we are Team Mary’s.” However they are quick to modestly point out that it was not a completely new and original idea. Tellyn admitted, “One day while browsing through Facebook, I saw that a person from St Cuthbert’s had shared a page to publicise results and fixtures for their college. We took inspiration from this idea and ran with it, with the intention of improving the concept.’’ To quote Tellyn’s own words, it certainly does seem to have done the trick. Mary’s are not the only college to have adopted this type of scheme. Team Mildert are also operating a similar venture and plan to hold their launch event in November. Like Mary’s, they also utilise their Twitter account effectively, reporting on weekly scores and achievements
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from their teams. They also have ambitious plans for obtaining unified college stash for all teams, as well as introducing centralised fitness sessions to improve the fitness of Mildert sportspeople as a collective, rather than just in individual teams. On top of this, Team Mildert have also organised a series of varsity fixtures against Hill college rivals St Aidan’s to attract big crowds from both colleges. As it stands, each college has one victory apiece. Mildert prevailed 2219 in the rugby three weeks ago but Aidan’s managed to level the scores in the netball round last week, as they beat Mildert 22-20. Van Mildert’s press officer Marta Ozola also spoke to Palatinate about their venture. Ozola described Team Mildert‘s “attempt to centralise the administration of sports, thus making the supervision easier, ensuring better feedback between Mildert teams and Team Durham, as well as trying to get all the sports clubs to follow our example”. There are several other examples of other colleges operating similar projects. The largest college of the collegiate system, Collingwood, have been operating under the banner
‘Wood Sports’ on Twitter to publicise the achievements and results of their sports teams. Also on the Bailey, Team Hatfield have produced their own version of college branding to unite their teams together under one banner and have some big events planned for the future. Needless to say, this college branding idea has proven to be beneficial for Durham’s already superb collegiate sport system. Even in their infancy, these type of projects have been responsible for organising varsity events between other colleges, raising the competitiveness of teams and greatly increasing the amount of sports new students can get involved with. With its combination of passionate sportsmen and women and an enterprising student body, Durham’s college sport can only get better.
The essential college Twitter accounts to follow Mary’s- @SportMarys
Van Mildert- @TeamMildert Collingwood- @WoodSport15
Hatfield- @Hatfield_Sports Aidan’s- @AidansSport
Josephine Butler- @JoButlerSport John’s- @johnssport
follow us @palatiSPORT
PALATINATE | Thursday 5th November 2015
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Castle and Greys get the ball rolling for Women’s Futsal
Women’s Futsal is the latest addition to the college sport programe. Kieran Moriarty investisgates the sport and its appeal to female footballers Kieran Moriarty Sport Editor The Head of Sport, Quentin Sloper, has always labelled college sport in Durham as “the jewel in the crown.” Whether it be the 70% collective student participation rate, the recognition that Durham sport has received in national newspaper surveys or the sheer diversity of sports that are on offer for students to get involved in, the evidence is overwhelming that the Durham collegiate system represents the gold standard. However to maintain such a prestigious reputation, there must be innovation. The latest of these has been the addition of Women’s Futsal to the rostra of sports available under the collegiate sport umbrella. Futsal is a variation of association football that originated from Brazil in the 1930s. The game is reminiscent of the five-a-side format of the game except for a few minor differences. Predominately futsal is played on indoor hard courts which are significantly scaled down in size compared to traditional outdoor 11-a-side grass
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pitches. Additionally, futsal uses a smaller, heavier ball which bounces less on the surface. The rationale behind these altered playing conditions is to produce a more skill-focused and technical conception of football compared to the 11-a-side form of the game. Futsal has been played among
the DU Football teams for the last three years and has proved to be very popular, with both the men’s and women’s football teams fielding three teams respectively. Yet it is only the women’s teams that are able to exclusively compete in a futsal league in its first year within the college sport programme. The first round of college womens’ futsal fixtures was played on Sunday 25th October, in which Castle A demonstrated how quickly they have come to grips with the sport as they comprehensively beat Grey A 8-3. Castle’s Eleanor Kershaw-Green scored two while April Chen and Danielle Del Vicario plundered a hattrick each. Following the game, Castle A captain Eleanor Kershaw-Green spoke about being one of the first teams to play futsal in a competitive college match. Kershaw-Green said: “For our small college football team, the new futsal league is ideal for the keener players who want to hone their skills and try something a bit different to playing regular 11-a-side matches. It’s not a massive commitment, and with rolling subs it means it’s completely inclusive”.
The Castle captain also made some insightful comments regarding the difference between men and women’s football within the college system and touched upon the privilege of women being able to play futsal exclusively this season. She said: “After the continuing controversy surrounding shorter match times and different pitches for women, it’s great that Team Durham have worked to make the futsal league happen for us. “It’s another opportunity for competition, additional fitness and a lot of fun. We can’t wait for our next fixtures!” The introduction of womens futsal into the college sport programme is further evidence of Team Durham’s continuous effort to make the university sport experience even more varied, by offering opportunities to play new and emerging sports. Futsal certainly will not be the last addition to the college rostra, with several new sports additions potentially in the pipeline. For students, it seems to be a no brainer to follow the traditional Team Durham saying and ‘Get Involved!’
by matchplay master Fraser Christie. It includes three overseas imports: James Glenn, who won the BUCS Golf Tour Individual tournament at Little Aston two weeks ago; Grant Price, who finished 3rd in the latest BUCS Golf Tour event at Northumberland Golf Club and Juan Miguel Heredia, who will be flying to Ecuador in November to represent his native country in The Andes Cup - South America’s version of the Walker Cup. For the first game away at Birmingham, the team will consist of recently-turned professionals along with former England Golf Team members Sami Proctor-Bouzabia and Jack Sallis. The second team have handicaps ranging from 0 to 5, led by Dominic Thurlow-Wood and myself. After a largely mediocre season last year, some good results at the back end kept the 2nds up by the skin of their teeth. However, coming into this season the squad is much stronger and should be more competitive.
In a tough league including two first teams and second strings from other elite golf universities such as Northumbria and Central Lancashire, there is genuine hope of winning the title. The 3rds and 4ths will now play in the same league. Captained by Jamie Joshua and Dan Van Helden, the two teams are both looking to mount a serious title challenge, aided by momentum and interchangeability between form players in each team. The university has undoubtedly recruited fantastically well this year, with all four teams populated almost entirely by single figure golfers. However, it is the change in ambition and commitment that has been so striking since I first started playing university golf. At first, the ambition was simply to be in the top leagues and, in the long term, to stay there. Yet as we approach the start of the season for all four teams, being number one is the goal – and an achievable one at that.
Thanks to our recent success, DUGC received its first package of R&A funding in its history this year. Hopefully this money will be put towards coaching and fitness programmes that will be used to cement our place at the top of the university golf food chain. Two gym sessions a week are now compulsory for first and secondteamers and extra practice will be completed when our studies allow it. Binding all this together, however, is a team spirit that is equal to any team I have been part of both within and without the university. Last season, with a large crop of new players and following the graduation of many of the club’s most sociable – and best - golfers, the team unsurprisingly suffered. Yet with friendships fostered and morale boosted, DUGC can expect to be stronger than ever before and call itself one of the most successful sports clubs in Durham.
It’s not a massive commitment and with rolling subs, it’s completely inclusive!
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DUGC ready to tee off for the new season
Alex Clewett DUGC Club Captain Over the last two years, the university golf club has changed almost beyond recognition. In my whirlwind first year, DUGC outperformed everyone’s expectations, as the 1sts and 2nds gained promotion in spectacular style. Durham became a truly elite golf university. After a more difficult season last year in which the 1sts were unfortunate to finish 5th and the 2nds, by contrast, were lucky to stay up, we can now look back on that as the consolidation of our place in the country’s highest golfing echelon. This time around, we are not merely looking to remain in our respective divisions but to challenge for silverware with the strongest squad DUGC has ever had. The first team is now made up of plus-handicap golfers and captained
Sport Team Profile ‘Quidditch’: What you need to know Becca Lowe
Over the last two years ‘quidditch’ has continued to grow more popular in Durham. Nevertheless, there is still palpable curiosity about the sport among students, as many wonder; how do you play quidditch? Quidditch is essentially a mixture of rugby, handball, and dodgeball. It is a mix-gendered, full-contact, fast paced sport. There are 21 players on a squad with seven players active on pitch; 1 keeper, 3 chasers, two beaters and 1 seeker. The chasers and keeper pass the quaffle between themselves and try to score through one of the opposition’s three hoops on the offense. Each hoop is worth 10 points. The beaters use bludgers (dodgeballs) to temporarily take the opposition out of the game, thus assisting on both the defence and the offence. If you are hit by a bludger you have to run back to your hoops where you remount before you can join in play. Finally, the seeker has to attempt to get the snitch - a tennis ball in a yellow sock tucked into the snitch runner’s shorts. This is worth an extra 30 points and ends the game if it is caught. DUQC has two teams. The 1st string team, Durhamstrang, have existed for two years and have established themselves as one of the top university teams in the country. However, testament to the rising popularity of the sport, DUQC now have a 2nd string team, called the Durham Direwolves, who are hoping to follow the example of Durhamstrang in their first year of competition. The first major tournament of the quidditch season, The Northern Cup, took place last weekend. This tournament was a two day event where 15 university teams converged on Belmont Community School to determine which team is ‘King in the North’. Going into the tournament, the 1sts were confident that they could take the title home and get their season off to a winning start. Whether DUQC have a trophy to their name by the time this paper is released, only time will tell.
Sport
Thursday 5th November 2015 | PALATINATE
College Sport Branding Palatinate investigates the emergence of college sport branding p.18
Women’s Futsal Kieran Moriarty looks at the newest sport in the college programme p. 19
Durham rugby lose lead against Beckett Charlie Richardson Deputy Sport Editor
Members of the University Golf Club prepare to tee-off. Read Alex Clewett’s season preview on p. 19
Photograph: Alex Clewett
Mary’s knock out Floodlit holders Butler Matt Roberts Deputy Sport Editor Men’s Football Floodlit Cup holders, Josephine Butler A, were knocked out of this year’s competition in the last 16 by St Mary’s A. The defending champions went down 2-0 on a misty evening at Maiden Castle last Wednesday. The opening exchanges were promising for Butler – they passed the ball with vigour and controlled the tempo of the game. However for all their early territorial dominance, they lacked ruthlessness in front of goal and failed to test Mary’s keeper Alistair Huse regularly. When they did manage to find the net, the towering header was correctly ruled out for offside. Mary’s gameplan, which has served them well so far this season, was to maintain high intensity levels and make the contest physical. But Butler were certainly on top and in Adam Morely, they had a constant threat down the right and
the quick-footed midfielder came close to opening the scoring midway through the first half. Many of Mary’s problems were self-induced; their inability to keep hold of the ball created pressure and Butler enjoyed periods of sustained possession. On the rare occasions when Mary’s did have the ball, they generally used it poorly – wasting a couple of set pieces and not troubling Joe Colebrook in the Butler goal. With thick fog engulfing Maiden Castle and visibility poor, the first half came to an end with the score 0-0 and chances at a premium. The second period had a different feel to it as Mary’s looked to get on the front foot from the start. On 48 minutes they were rewarded for this newfound endeavour. Chris Rimmer was fouled in the box and captain Rob Wiles, who was originally a doubt for the match with a calf injury, converted the penalty to make it 1-0. In a frantic period of play, Butler barely had time to regroup before Mary’s scored again. Danny Wilson’s
shot was deflected into the path of James Bilton who swept home to double the lead. A shell-shocked Butler now needed to respond but they continued to be frustrated by Mary’s staunch defence and high pressing game. If anything, Mary’s looked more likely to score and Ryan Hulme rattled the crossbar with a fierce effort from 25 yards out. It wasn’t until the final quarter of an hour that Butler really began to look dangerous, as they launched a siege upon the Mary’s goal. However they found Alistair Huse to be an impenetrable wall. The Marian made three astonishing saves: first he pushed a powerful strike onto the bar, then he acrobatically tipped a shot over and, finally, he saved from point blank range following some goalmouth pinball. Those heroics signalled that it wasn’t to be Butler’s night and moments later, the referee’s whistle confirmed it. The holders had fallen at the first hurdle. Huse spoke to Palatinate at full time.
“There was a big difference between the first and second half’, he said. ‘In the first period we weren’t good enough. “We were working hard but we were sloppy, giving away fouls in bad areas. In the second half it was completely different, we posed a threat in front of goal, got ahead and then defended solidly. “At half time we knew we had the quality to play better, we just weren’t showing it. Rob motivated us and we also made a small tactical change to play with more width and it obviously worked well. “It’s always nice to make a few saves like I did at the end but for most of the match I didn’t have to do too much other than organise the defence. “It was a good team performance and the support was great, that helped us a lot.” In stark contrast to Huse’s beaming smile was the obvious look of disappointment on the face of Butler captain Cameron Wild. “It wasn’t our night,” he sighed. “At least we won it last year.”
No one could deny that last Wednesday’s clash between Durham’s 1XV and Leeds Beckett’s 1XV was fierceness and intensity personified. Durham started the brighter on a chilly, wet night at Maiden Castle and were good value for their 3-0 lead. Beckett replied in kind after Durham were deemed to be offside, yet, after Durham managed to add another 3 points after more Beckett indiscipline, their 6-3 lead was completely deserved. However, then came the most ominous of turning points; Durham were unable to live with the ferocious weight of the Beckett pack and they trundled over the whitewash from a lineout catch and drive to take the lead. It was to be the very beginning of Durham’s problems at the set-piece. From this try until half-time they would not win another scrum and the lineout was unconvincing; at the end of the first half, Beckett looked like they would win at a canter. Despite this, Durham rallied and, spearheaded by the superb Henry Slater at fly-half, realised that something special was required to break down Beckett’s defence. After temporarily patching up the scrum woes, it seemed easier for Fraser Mosley to score than to not, but it wasn’t to be. Durham had to rebuild. Rebuild they did. After more sublime work from Slater, Sam Moncur twisted his way over the line after a period of sustained pressure by Durham. The conversion was successful and Durham levelled at 13 apiece. However, Beckett’s power ultimately told. They executed their driving maul with frightening meticulousness and Durham unfortunately had little answer. One more catch and drive try from Beckett was enough to seal the deal at 13-18 on a disappointing evening for the Palatinates.