Palatinate 796

Palatinate www.palatinate.org.uk | FREE

Thursday 15th June 2017 | No. 796

Women in Politics

Sport interviews GB women’s hockey captain

Books reviews Harriet Harman’s memoir on fighting for workplace equality

Women in Sport Masters in Social Work under review Reece Moore Deputy News Editor

Hot air balloons gather on the outskirts of Durham for the first Balloons in Durham event at the end of May

(Barry Armitage, Durham Photographic Society)

First success for #RippedOff campaign “This is something we’ve been pushing the University for, not just through this campaign but through my work, and the work of other student representatives” Sophie Gregory Deputy News Editor In response to the SU’s campaign #RippedOff, which was launched

by SU President Alice Dee last month, the University has committed to establishing a group to explore how college accommodation fee structures could be altered in order to make pricing fairer across different kinds of accommodation.

The campaign aims to combat the problem of rising accommodation fees. Alice Dee, writing for Palatinate, emphasised the motivation behind the campaign: “I’ve launched the #RippedOff campaign to condemn historical price hikes and push to break the cycle

of annually inflating fees that are already artificially high. Accommodation fees threaten the college, and fundamentally, the Durham experience.”

College residence charges have recently been raised again. For a standard fully catered single room the charge for 2017/18 has been raised from £7,058 to £7,141. This increase is seen to be pricing potential students out of attending Durham University.

Owen Adams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience) said: “We have listened to our students and understand that they would like to see a range of accommodation packages that go beyond what is currently offered.

“I can therefore confirm that a

Residential Accommodation Differential Pricing Group has been established to consider various options for the setting of differentiated residence charges from the 2019/20 academic year onwards.

“The Group is made up of senior colleagues from within our Colleges, University catering and finance professionals as well as student representatives.

“They will meet regularly and make recommendations to the Scholarships, Fees and Awards Advisory Group (SFAAG) for residence charges.”

Responding to this first success, Alice Dee stated: “This is a fantastic success for the #RippedOff campaign, because a review that examines the option for students to pay

different amounts depending on room facilities is one of the key outcomes we set out to achieve.

“This is something we’ve been pushing the University for, not just through this campaign but through my work, and the work of other student representatives over the last few years.

“The willingness of the University to come to the table about this is something I’m very grateful for, and that demonstrates that we’re creating an understanding of the impact this issue has on students and the importance that the student voice be heard on it.

However this recognition and willingness to listen needs to be followed through on, with action Continued on page 4

As a result of Durham University’s new ten-year strategy (20172027), which aims to “ensure the University’s long-term sustainability and continued world-leading position in research, education, and the wider student experience”, there has been a review of the School of Applied Social Sciences’ taught postgraduate provision, including its Masters in Social Work.

Durham University’s Masters in Social Work is a 21-month programme, which according to the University’s website: “engages students with the knowledge, skills and values that underpin social work practice with individuals, groups and communities… [and] provides strong foundations for practice in any field of social work.”

A key recommendation that stemmed from this review is “to stop recruiting to the Masters in Social Work at the end of the 2016/2017 recruitment cycle.”

The University recognised that despite “Durham social work graduates [being] highly valued”, they only account for a “very small proportion of the entrants to the profession from providers of social work training in North East England.”

Students that have already been recruited will continue their tuition until the end of 2018/2019, while “Social Work would [...] continue as an academic activity within the School.” According to the University, “this move would allow the University to further invest in strengthening its internationally renowned research in areas such as communities and social justice.”

According to a summary of the review, “the number of UK students studying social work at Durham University has declined in recent years, reflecting a decline in the number of applications to study at Durham.”

Furthermore, it has been difficult for the University to convert Continued on page 4

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

2

Editorial

So long, farewell As I sit here attempting to begin the arduous and yet uplifting, saddening and yet elating process of writing this editorial (my last), T. S. Eliot seems with me more than ever. “What we call the beginning is often the end.

And to make an end is to make a beginning,” Eliot wrote. “The end is where we start from.” Eliot’s feelings then are mine now.

I knew it was always going to be difficult to dot the i’s and cross the t’s when the time came. Perhaps I never really appreciated exactly how difficult it might be to sign off from a project and say goodbye to an incredible group of people—an incredible group of friends—after three years of working on it and with them.

Like many others, I arrived in Durham in October 2014 knowing that it was time to lend my skills to something else. I quickly realised that that something would be Palatinate: it was my destination, and I knew I’d take however many journeys I deemed necessary to find myself immersed there. I wanted to make a difference and leave a mark on what is among the best student newspapers in the country.

Three years later, having been Deputy News Editor, News Editor, and now Editor-in-Chief, there isn’t a project or group of people I love more. It has been an honour, an enormous privilege to have edited this newspaper and, with it, to have edited the work of the unparalleled minds who make it happen day-by-day, week-by-

week, edition-by-edition.

That being said, my time at Palatinate hasn’t been without its challenges. To write and edit the news(paper) (and indeed sometimes to read it) is not easy—and neither is it meant to be.

Palatinate has not, and will not, shy away from the present reality.

It is not contentious for the sake of being contentious, and yet neither does it play safe for the sake of maintaining the status quo.

Palatinate will always stand up to the issues that affect us most, as harsh as they may sometimes be.

Palatinate has taught me far too many things—journalistic or otherwise—to list in the columns here. I will never forget, however, how Palatinate is responsible for forming some of my best friendships, and importantly, how it allows us to come together— regardless of opinion—to produce something with the best interests of students, our readers, at heart.

That aside, in Comment, Jazmine Bourke reflects on #RippedOff, Durham SU’s latest campaign against rising accommodation fees, with a particularly sentient concluding line: “if there’s even the slightest chance of impact, wouldn’t you rather try?”

Indirectly though it may have been, Palatinate has long supported the campaign against rising accommodation fees, and applauds the Student Officers’ sustained commitment to putting pressure on the University in this

Inside 796

area, forcing it to at least rethink its one-size-fits-all approach to student living.

This edition also includes a well-timed, thorough News investigation on the threat Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) developments pose to this wonderful city. We all need a place to live while we study here, but with more and more bedrooms poised to make a home of their own in Durham, the bubble may just be about to burst.

Sport have interviews with both Helen Richardson-Walsh and Eddie the Eagle, which are both well worth a read. Books also has an insightful review of Harriet Harman’s new memoir, in which she reflects on her efforts to achieve equality in the workplace.

As I inch towards the end of this column, I can’t help but recall Jack Kerouac’s line from On the Road: “There was nowhere to go but everywhere”. Palatinate is in good hands. Goodbye and good luck for the future to all those who are graduating this year.

Ryan Gould

News pages 4-8 Comment pages 9-11 Profile page 12 Politics pages 13-15 SciTech page 16 Sport pages 17-20

indigo Editorial page 2 Travel page 3 Visual Arts pages 4-5 Food & Drink pages 6-7 Features pages 8-9 Music page 10 Film & TV page 11 Books pages 12-13 Stage page 14 Fashion page 15 Creative Writing page 16

Follow us on social media www.facebook.com/ palatinate Follow us on Twitter @PalatinateUK

The best of Palatinate Online www.palatinate.org.uk

STAGE: “Wasted” preview: refreshing and edgy

STAGE: The Durham Revue presents “Allstars”

FILM & TV: Review: “The Handmaid’s Tale”

FILM & TV: The Power by Naomi Alderman

This exploration of youth culture breaks new ground.

A racuous night of comedy reviewed by Palatinate.

Dystopian nightmare hits close to home.

Sci-fi and the patriarchy are the subject of this book review by Freya Neason.

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

Editorial Board

Editors-in-Chief Ryan Gould & Adam Cunnane editor@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Editors Ellie Scorah & Anna Tatham deputy.editor@palatinate.org.uk News Editors Emma Pinckard & Hugo Harris news@palatinate.org.uk News Features Editor Ben Sladden news.features@palatinate.org.uk Deputy News Editors Sophie Gregory, Eugene Smith & Reece Moore deputy.news@palatinate.org.uk Politics Editor Kate McIntosh politics@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Politics Editor Eloise Carey & Cameron McIntosh Profile Editors Jack Reed & Charlie Taylor-Kroll profile@palatinate.org.uk Science and Technology Editor Luke Andrews & Tommy Pallett scitech@palatinate.org.uk Comment Editor Tania Chakraborti comment@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Comment Editor Emily Smith & Danny Walker Sport Editor Nick Friend sport@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Sport Editors James Martland, Ollie Godden & Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero Chief College Sport Correspondent George Bond Indigo Editor Yongchang Chin indigo@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Indigo Editor Olivia Howcroft deputy.indigo@palatinate.org.uk Features Editor Sophie Paterson feature@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Features Editor Matthew Chalmers Food & Drink Editor Divya Shastri food@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Food & Drink Editor Robbie Tominey-Nevado Travel Editor Harriet Willis travel@palatinate.org.uk Fashion Editor Victor Schagerlund fashion@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Fashion Editor Emma Denison Film and Television Editor Simon Fearn film@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Film and Television Editor Olivia Ballantine-Smith Stage Editor Alison Gamble stage@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Stage Editor Christye McKinney deputy.stage@palatinate.org.uk Music Editor Beth Madden music@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Music Editor Tom Watling Creative Writing Editor Anna Gibbs creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk Books Editors Aaron Bell & Tamsin Bracher books@palatinate.org.uk Visual Arts Editor Lolita Gendler visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Visual Arts Editor Lucy Sara-Kelly Chief Sub-Editor Ollie Mair sub-editing@palatinate.org.uk Sub-Editors Harriet Cunningham, Jack Heeney, Inka Karna, Grace Long,Violet Nicholson, Angelos Sofocleous Web Editor John Morris Photography Editor Max Luan photography@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Photography Editor Rob Hardyman & Will Michaels Illustrations Editor Faye Chua illustration@palatinate.org.uk Deputy Illustrations Editors Katie Butler & Akansha Mahesh-Naraindas Digital Coordinator Craig Bateman

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

3

Archive

‘I am so excited that Durham University has committed to establishing a group to review how accommodation fee structures could be changed to make pricing fairer across different college accommodation offerings! This is a fantastic success for the #RippedOff campaign! A review that examines the option for students to pay different amounts depending on room facilities is one of the key outcomes we set out to achieve.

This is something we’ve been pushing the University for, not just through this campaign but through my work, and the work of other student representatives over the last few years.

The willingness of the University to come to the table about this is something I’m very grateful for. It demonstrates that we’re creating an understanding of the impact of accommodation fees on students and the importance of putting student experiences at the heart of the conversation.

However this recognition and willingness to listen needs to translate into action to remedy the arbitrary steep increases in accommodation fees in recent years. Our #RippedOff campaign was planned to culminate with a demo on Wednesday 7 June as the Scholarships Fees Awards Advisory Group (SFAAG) met, to agree their recommendations on accommodation fees to be put to the University.

Unfortunately the University unexpectedly cancelled this meeting just two days in advance – which I’m really disappointed about. The consequence is that the group will meet outside of term time when fewer students are around to make their voices heard and demonstrate how much we care about the issue.

To ensure that the depth of student discontent with college accommodation fees is understood, I will be hand delivering a hard copy of our petition to the Vice-Chancellor this week, with demands for an assurance that the review of pricing will not be the only action on our high fees.’

From the archive: Palatinate No. 475, 8th November 1991

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

4

News

Van Mildert students complete over 6,300 volunteering hours during the academic year Hugo Harris News Editor

“

We are one of the largest colleges but undoubtedly the one with the biggest heart

It has been confirmed that students at Van Mildert have completed over 6,300 volunteering hours during the 2016/17 academic year.

Six student-led community outreach and volunteering schemes which rely on the support of 200 volunteers have contributed to the achievement.

They are the: Young Persons’ Project (YPP), Primary School Project (PSP), Carers Respite Committee (CRC), Community Visiting Scheme (CVS), Secure Centre Monitoring Scheme (SCMS), and Environmental Conservation Committee (ECC). The YPP began formally in 2002, whilst the PSP will be 10 years old in 2018.

Notable fundraising initiatives have included Van Mildert’s JCR Executive Committee taking part in a Tough Mudder Race which raised over £2,000.

Van Mildert is unique for being the only college to have an Outreach Officer as part of the JCR Exec. The college was nominated for every category at the Durham University Volunteer Awards 2016 and won six awards including that for Outstanding Community Partner through the CRC. Professor David Harper, Van Mildert’s Principal, has praised the college’s achievements: “There has been a very long tradition in outreach and volunteering in Van Mildert College.

Starting with prison visits and widening participation nearly 30 years ago, we now have six very different outreach programmes involving over 200 students and over 6,300 volunteering hours per year. We are one of the largest colleges but undoubtedly the one with the biggest heart.

“These programmes help the local community, provide Van Mildert students with experience in the volunteering sector, together with fundraising and leadership skills; and we hope they will retain this ethos (and the College motto sic vos non vobis) throughout their lives. We are so proud of our students, the work they do in local communities, in addition to their academic and other commitments. They do make a difference.”

Van Mildert’s schemes, which have a range of external partners across County Durham and the wider North-East including primary

and secondary schools, have also garnered praise from students themselves. A YPP volunteer told Palatinate: “The project gave me a special opportunity to have a hugely positive influence on the lives of young people. I’ll never forget how much they

individually developed and grew in confidence during the project”.

A former CRC volunteer spoke about the career and employability benefits of such schemes: “From online applications, to telephone and video interviews, right up to the assessment, day CRC gave me

something unique to talk about and demonstrated a ‘can-do’ attitude that graduate employers desire.”

Continued from front page to remedy the arbitrary steep increases in accommodation fees in recent years.

The key things that will really make a difference in the lives of students are reduction and freezing of fees until a more transparent and fairer way of managing these fees and their increases can be established.”

A protest was scheduled to take place on the 7th June at the Science Site regarding college fees; however, this was cancelled due to the University postponing their meeting at short notice.

Instead, the campaigners plan on delivering the petition, which reached over 1,700 signatures directly to the Vice-Chancellor.

Continued from front page applications into enrolment.

For example, the review claims that for each international student who joined the Masters in International Social Work in 2016, twenty other offers were made, which were met with no enrolment. This does not look to improve either, with evidence suggesting that “the overall number of students wishing to study social work at postgraduate level is not significantly growing.”

The University also depends very heavily upon bursaries provided by the Department of Health in order to recruit students from the UK, and this is at risk due to a lack of medium-/ long-term commitment by the government to continue to support this.

This, combined with national trends, which suggest that “the market of students for the programmes offered at Durham is not growing”, means that the

“programme is not at a cohort size where it is financially viable” to continue the Masters in Social Work.

Durham University has looked at ways to make the programme more sustainable via a “reassessment of the fees for the programme”, however this would lead to the Durham programme being “increasingly expensive relative to Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside.”

This would have serious adverse effects on the programme and recruitment, which is already low, due to the “dependency on regional students”.

The University does not see the programme as sustainable. Durham is “committed to excellence in research and [delivering] research-led education,” thus they expect all programmes to operate efficiently in a way that “contributes to the cost of the research activities of academic staff as well as meeting the overhead costs of running the programme,” which

according to the summary “the social work programmes do not”.

However, there are alternative training provision schemes such as Step Up and Frontline, which the government have committed to. These “fast-track schemes” aim to deliver 25% of new social workers by 2018, and they have seen significant investment of around £100 million in recent years.

These schemes are recruiting more graduates nationally in the North East than Durham University, with Durham being a “smaller contributor of social workers to the region than just Frontline in 2017.”

The University has decided that “future investment in academic staff in the School should be prioritised in support of strengthening the sociological core within identified peaks of excellence,” which Social Work is not seen as part of.

“Even if all recommendations are taken on-board “the pro-

gramme would be unlikely to meet the costs associated with the research activities of the staff who deliver the programme.”

Obviously, the ceasing of the Masters in Social Work may have implications for jobs. The University states that a “further piece of work will be undertaken to identify, consider and consult on the staffing implications.” This assessment will be done on a “caseby-case basis”.

The final decision hasn’t been made yet, but the University “is currently consulting on the findings of the review both internally with staff and students and externally with key stakeholders,” and the final decision is expected to be made in July by the University Executive Committee.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Social Sciences and Health), Professor Tim Clark, who is leading the strategic review, said: “the University executive team will take extensive evidence into account when making our final decision.”

The campaigners plan on delivering the petition, which reached over 1,700 signatures, directly to the Vice-Chancellor

”

▲ Van Mildert JCR Executive Committee raise money for the Outreach projects (Van Mildert College)

The final decision is expected to be made in July

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

5

News

University rakes in £34m from private donations Eugene Smith Deputy News Editor Durham University has received £34,485,774 in private donations since April 2012, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

The FOI was submitted by local news service Chronicle Live, who also acquired figures for other North-East universities such as Newcastle, Northumberland, and Sunderland.

The statistics show a significant recent increase in donations to the University, with annual income ballooning from £3.1 million in the 2012/13 academic year to over £10.6 million in 2016/17. Among these contributions were four donations of more than £1 million, which between them totalled over £6.5 million.

The most lucrative source of this donated money has been alumni donations, who have provided their alma mater with more than £15 million in the last half-decade.

Durham’s total makes it the dominant figure in the North-East region, with Newcastle University receiving £25 million over the last

five years and the University of Sunderland a mere £956,230.

The University of Northumbria, meanwhile, raked in only £282,885 over the same period, a figure 122 times smaller than that received by Durham.

In a statement, Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Corbridge said: “The donations we receive are used to support the University’s Strategy which focuses on the key areas of world-leading research, excellent teaching and a wider student experience that is second to none.”

Speaking to Palatinate, meanwhile, Durham’s Chief Operating Officer Jane Robinson commented: “Over the last ten years, the gener-

“

The donations we receive are used to support the University’s Strategy

▲ Palatine Centre (Durham University)

NEWS FEATURES explores the University’s donations in detail (page 8)

osity of our donors has supported a range of projects such as the establishment of new buildings and academic programmes of study, the re-development of Palace Green Library, the establishment of new

or improved research facilities, student scholarships, and helping to build a fund to enable every student the opportunity to access the many experiences and opportunities that being a Durham student provides.”

” Durham University falls to 78th in international league table “ We are

Hugo Harris News Editor The QS World University Rankings 2018, published last week, have placed Durham University 78th in the world, a fall of four places from last year.

This is the second consecutive

year Durham University’s position has gone down in the international league table.

QS’s 2016 rankings, which considered the performance of 959 universities in research, teaching, employability and internationalisation, placed Durham 61st in the world.

Durham were ranked 34th for

▲ The Pemberton Building (Durham University)

employer reputation specifically.

Nevertheless, the Universities of Glasgow, Warwick and Bristol, as well as the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, were all ranked higher in an ‘overall score’.

Responding to the news, a Durham University spokesperson said: “Durham continues to perform extremely well globally and is listed in the top echelon of universities in the world within these latest QS rankings.

“We are particularly pleased that the QS rankings recognise our strong reputation amongst academics and employers around the world.

“We are also consistently ranked as one of the top five universities in the UK according to The Guardian University Guide 2018 and The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017.

“Our new University Strategy includes ambitious proposals to ensure that we build on our strengths so that we can continue to deliver world-class research, education and wider student experience.”

51 out of 76 UK institutions analysed by QS have fallen down the international league table.

Ben Sowter, head of QS research, has not attributed this fall to Brexit, blaming a squeeze on university resources for their decreased capacity to deliver world class teaching.

particularly pleased that the QS rankings recognise our strong reputation amongst academics and employers around the world

”

“Much of the data we collect for these tables has been collected over a five-year period, and the first year of post-Brexit internationalisation scores suggests that there has, thus far, been a minimal impact on international student and faculty rates at UK institutions.”

WANT TO READ MORE? palatinate.org.uk/news twitter.com/palatinateuk

6

News Purpose Built Student Accommodation

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

“I blame the present situation with stu

Palatinate investigates the rise of Purpose Built Stud

Emma Pinckard News Editor

The City of Durham has seen a sharp increase in the construction of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in recent years, with a staggering number opening across the Viaduct, Claypath, and Gilesgate Bank areas.

Further PBSA projects are in development, with two schemes being built at the bottom of Claypath as well as the redevelopment of the former County Hospital in the Viaduct. Each of these are expected to hold between 350 and 450 beds.

The Neighbourhood Planning Forum (NPF) outlines that, at the start of the 2016/17 academic year, there were 787 beds in PBSA in Durham, with many left vacant. Chapel Heights, run by Fresh Student Living, is currently showing 44 out of 198 rooms to be vacant. 1,027 are under construction and are expected to open for the 2017/18 academic year, and still another 3,438 are planned to open in the coming years.

There has been considerable opposition among local residents to the construction of more accommodation blocks of this kind, with concerns being lodged against the levels of occupation and the impact on family housing in the city.

Councillor David Freeman, representing the ward of Elvet and Gilesgate, explained that he has opposed the majority of these developments because “Durham City needs more affordable housing for the local community, but instead nearly every site has been bought by property developers.

“When the applications started being made, it was also not evident that Durham University was planning to expand its number massively up to 2020, so there was not a perceived need for the developments,” Mr Freeman said.

“It was also a concern that the new developments were not linked with Durham University and therefore would not have the pastoral care or security of the colleges. Now that some PBSAs have been built, my concern is the under-occupation of them and the very high rental costs. The two could well be linked.”

Mr Freeman pointed to the planned increase in student numbers in Durham to reject the idea that PBSAs will have a positive impact on family housing in the city. “I do not believe that PBSAs will have any positive effect on reducing the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation

(HMOs,) which was the argument put forward by developers. This is because the number of beds in PBSAs and the two new planned Durham University colleges mirrors the planned increase in student numbers, so there will not be students leaving HMOs to move to PBSAs and therefore free houses to become residential again.”

Mr Freeman’s argument was firm.

“Ultimately I blame the present situation we have with student housing on Durham University. In the 1990s it started expanding but failed to build colleges to accommodate the increased numbers. They created a market for landlords to buy what were then cheap (but now expensive) terraced properties and former Council houses.

“This has led to many streets losing any balance between residents and students. This is not good for residents who have empty streets for many weeks each year or I believe students.”

He called for the University to cooperate with these schemes “to ensure that students are getting a fair deal, but also [to ensure] that it can provide some of the care and security it provides in its own colleges.”

I do not believe that PBSAs will have any positive effect on reducing the number of HMOs

Bill Williamson, a former professor at Durham University, highlighted his concerns over the prioritisation of the construction of PBSAs over other areas of development in Durham.

Mr Williamson told Palatinate: “During the election campaign, I canvassed in Gilesgate/Pelaw ward where a 300 bed PBSA is being built.

It is right beside a poor area of the city and its presence there shows up some of the wider divides of our society and the craziness of current planning and housing arrangements.

“Gilesgate—and I’m sure this is true of many older areas of university cities—needs renewal and development and decent housing for families. PBSAs contribute nothing to this need. I noticed that some of the former council properties in that area are being bought up by landlords and the result is immediately visible in neglected and/or paved over gardens,” Mr Williamson said.

“PBSAs are expensive; landlords will find a ready market for students wishing to live together in ordinary

▲ A mock up of Sheraton Park, a PBSA project that will become Durham’s newest postgraduate college (Alumno Development)

◄ Sheraton Park under construction (Alumno Development)

► Chapel Heights Studios, Gilesgate (Ashcourt Group via Twitter) houses at a lower cost. The longer term effects on the urban fabric of the city will be a damaging one. We need tougher, more imaginative planning guided by a strong understanding of

what urban areas need to become vibrant, productive communities.”

Roger Cornwell, Chair of the City of Durham Trust, and Chair of the NPF, also commented that the in-

crease of around 6,100 students in the city due to the University’s plan to increase student numbers “is a matter of great concern to all of the residents’ groups.”

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

7

Purpose Built Student Accommodation News

udent housing on Durham University”

dent Accommodation in Durham and its criticisms

Although the increase, as part of the University’s new ten-year Strategy, will be gradual, many of the PBSAs in development will open in 2018 or 2019. This will lead, in Mr

Cornwell’s view, to “a short-term over-provision”. He continued to express the concern that, although the PBSAs might fill up in the long term, this was uncertain.

Mr Cornwell also detailed how patterns demonstrate that PBSAs appear to be more attractive to overseas students and that UK students tend to choose HMOs over such forms of accommodation. He addressed the concern that, although the University intends to increase the proportion of international students to 35%, “Brexit, and in particular a hard Brexit, will reduce the number of immigrants,” which might result in PBSAs struggling to find occupants for their rooms.

Addressing these concerns about a drop in applications from international students, Professor Alan Houston, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), Durham University, stated: “At the undergraduate level, international non-EU applications have grown, while EU applications have decreased. Nonetheless, we have slightly more EU students now than we did two years ago. We hope that the recent announcement that those EU students applying to start courses in 2018/19 will pay the same fees as UK students will mean that Durham continues to be an attractive destination for EU students.”

Mr Cornwell also drew attention to the University’s intention “to enter into agreements with some, but not all, of the PBSA providers,” highlighting that “life could prove difficult for unaccredited PBSAs.” Addressing the development of PBSAs in Durham, Owen Adams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience), Durham University, confirmed the University’s desire to work with several of these schemes, stating: “Our aspiration is that the percentage of students living in collegiate accommodation will rise to over 50 per cent. Consideration will also be given to working with the private sector to utilise developments which already have planning permission in a managed way”.

Mr Adams also responded to the idea that students may seek alternatives to college accommodation due to the recent announcement of a further increase in fees. “The cost of providing our college residences rises year on year and we have to review prices on an annual basis to ensure we can continue to provide a high standard of accommodation and services. When reviewing our college residence charges, we consult extensively, including with student representatives. We strive to offer good value for money to our students.

“We have listened to our students and understand that they would like to see a range of accommodation packages that go beyond what is currently offered. A Residential Accommodation Differential Pricing Group has been established to consider various options for the setting of differentiated residence charges from the 2019/20 academic year onwards”, Mr Adams said.

Student landlord Peter Smith, director of Bill Free Homes, has also expressed concern over the construction of PBSAs, warning that high prices and a low desire among students to live in such accommodation, as opposed to University accommodation and

“

There is no evidence that developers have canvassed local students for opinions or had much interaction with [the] University

”

“Our aspi-

ration is that the percentage of students living in collegiate accommodation will rise to over 50 per cent

”

HMOs, will cause many of these properties to struggle.

Smith told Palatinate: “In Durham there are 1,690 studios currently being planned or constructed. This represents about 10 per cent of bed requirements for the whole University (only 4 per cent can afford this level) and about 41 per cent of the postgraduate bed requirements for whom it is said to be aimed.

“I feel that this is overly ambitious given that the average cost is almost double that of an HMO room, whilst it can be conceded that it represents good value for couples who previously have not been catered for except in one university-owned property in Durham.”

He highlighted that “some PBSA schemes will prosper either through exceptional location (or with good transport links), great design, keen pricing or excellent management, however these are unlikely to be in all studio schemes.”

Smith expressed particular concern for developments such as Chapel Heights and the proposed site at the Berendsen Laundry, which he feels seem “if not doomed to failure then perhaps doomed to very challenging times ahead”. He highlighted that “there is no evidence that developers have canvassed local students for opinions or had much interaction with Durham University.

They appear to be relying on national trends and hoping that ‘one size fits all”.

He highlighted that the influx of 2,500 students in line with the University Strategy is “the great unknown factor” regarding the occupation of PBSAs in Durham, but that “any increase in students yet to be announced may create a situation where extra students may be introduced to Durham but without any greater ability to pay the requirements of the rents demanded by the PBSA”.

Addressing the issue of family housing in Durham, Smith commented: “Durham University is unlikely to close and therefore city occupancy patterns are unlikely to change unless tourism fills the voids. Whilst residents who had previously railed against HMO and now feel that PBSA are an equal problem, there is no solution, evidence shows that even if the HMO properties were emptied of students it is unlikely that families will return”.

This increased investment in PBSAs is not a phenomenon unique to Durham.

Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy, has estimated that the market for PBSAs in the UK is worth £46 billion, with cities across the UK, particularly London and Manchester, witnessing a rise in the investment and development of student accommodation buildings.

James Pullan, head of student property at Knight Frank, said that demand for investment in this area was still high despite the concern that Brexit would impact the number of international students coming to the UK to study.

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

8

News Features

Freedom of Information request reveals fiveyear high in donations made to University

By Ben Sladden News Features Editor An atmosphere of optimism shrouds Durham University as the academic year draws to a close.

The University has launched its £700 million investment programme and, with ambitious infrastructural plans, the face of Durham - a city that has grown in conjunction with the University since its humble foundations were laid in 1832 – will change significantly. For a University with such ambition, fresh investment is essential.

Palatinate can reveal that donations to the University are at a five-year high as donors reach generously into their wallets and purses to fill the University coffers.

Information obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shed light on the amount of donations endowed to the University from the financial year beginning 2012 to the end of May 2017.

This wealth reportedly comes from sources ranging from charitable trusts and foundations, commercial companies, to individuals - many of whom are alumni of the University. Alumni have been the most generous sources of financial support, bequeathing more than £15 million over the last five years.

The University in the 2016/17 financial year thus far has received two donations over £1 million. One donation in the sum of £3 million came from a single individual intended for infrastructural purposes.

The amount of anonymous donations, however, is on a downward trajectory peaking in 2012/13, making up over 15 per cent of the total donations.

In the five years that our FOI request highlighted, zero donations were rejected by the University.The University has abstained from revealing the specific names of top donors, regardless of whether or not they had donated under terms of anonymity.

In a reply to our request, the University’s Information Governance Officer, Elaine Richardson, said: “We believe that disclosure of the information would prejudice the commercial interests of Durham University itself. The University’s ability to raise funds from private sources depends on cultivating and sustaining good relationships with donors.

“Donors would not reasonably

(Ben Sladden)

expect the University to place information about them and their donations in the public domain and, in fact, many donations are made with explicit instructions regarding anonymity.

“As such, the University believes that by breaching current donors’ expectations of privacy and confidentiality and deterring prospective donors from giving to the University in the future, it would suffer commercial detriment.”

Despite citing a reluctance to put information about donors into the public sphere, the University annually releases a “donor roll” – a public document listing the names of benefactors to the University – on its alumni website. The latest roll is a hefty 18 pages long in total, listing a staggering total of 1,858 donors and/or sponsors. The names listed range from commercial companies, to charitable foundations, religious groups, and even memorial funds, with generous alumni bequeathing funds to Durham through their wills.

The list consists mainly of individual donors, but is punctuated by well-known names, such as the banks RBS and Santander UK, as well as other financial companies.

The natural resources companies British Petroleum (BP) and Danish Oil & Natural Gas (DONG) Energy UK are also listed as benefactors.

One name listed on the roll is the controversial former Kuwaiti prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-

Sabah who stepped down from power in the Middle Eastern sheikhdom following corruption charges during the height of Arab Spring tensions in the Middle East. The Kuwaiti Sheikh, whose son attended Durham, has over the years endowed large sums of money to the University – previously offering a gift of £2.5 million. The University currently keeps an academic Chair in his name.

British universities have come under fire in recent years for the

(Donations help) to build a fund to enable every student to access the many experiences and opportunities that being a Durham student provides

ease with which they have accepted foreign donations.

Palatinate earlier this year revealed that a centre for Russian culture in Durham was sponsored with a £85,000 donation from a government-funded foundation described as a “propaganda” arm of the Russian state; this came in the midst of heightened tensions between the West and Russia, with accusations of Russian meddling in the electoral processes of Western nations.

In a similar vein, controversy emerged earlier this year when it was revealed that the name-

sake of Durham’s School of Government, a ruling family of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had been ousted as embroiled in accusations of human rights abuses in the Arab state.

Separate FOI requests available in the public domain have shown that from 2001-2015, Durham received over £4.2 million in donations from Middle Eastern nationals and non-governmental organisations; around half of these donations were made to courses with significant Oriental Studies, Islamic Studies, or Jewish Studies elements.

The upward surge in donations is a trend that is being bucked nationally; in 2016 for the first time, donations to universities across the country hit £1 billion in a “growth in USstyle philanthropy”.

The latest Ross-CASE survey of higher education revealed an increase of 23 per cent in a year in donations across 110 British universities. £35.5 million in philanthropic gifts were endowed to Russell Group universities.

The Times listed Durham amongst Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick as universities graced with “benefactors with deep pockets”, citing the 2014 donation by the Ogden Trust which gifted £3.35 million to open the Centre for Fundamental Physics, which stands on South Road.

Donations to Durham remain impressive, but unsurprisingly paled in comparison to Oxbridge, whose financial endowments are in the billions - the only British

universities able to boast this.

The University of Oxford has received astonishing lumpsum donations: recently the university received a £75 million donation for the establishment of a school of government, bequeathed by Leonard Blavatinik - a USSR-born billionaire oligarch.

In the North East, The Northern Echo has shown that Durham has dominated its regional rivals in terms of financial donations, showing a huge wealth gap compared to its regional neighbours Newcastle, Sunderland and Northumbria. The last of which received donations 122 times less than Durham.

In a statement to Palatinate Jane Robinson, Chief Operating Office, said: “The donations we receive are used to support the University’s Strategy which focuses on the key areas of world-leading research, excellent teaching and a wider student experience that is second to none.

“Over the last ten years, the generosity of our donors has supported a range of projects such as the establishment of new buildings and academic programmes of study, the redevelopment of Palace Green Library, the establishment of new or improved research facilities, student scholarships, and helping to build a fund to enable every student the opportunity to access the many experiences and opportunities that being a Durham student provides.”

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

9

Why I fell out of love with Durham Kate McIntosh Page 11

Comment

►

“The rent is too damn high”

Durham SU’s #RippedOff campaign is as realistic as it is necessary Jazmine Bourke

T

@JUSTJAZZYB

here are certain things in life you don’t like, but you just have to accept. For example, a very disappointed four-year-old me had to come to terms with the fact that ‘ginger hair’ was not something she could request in her letter to Santa, nor could it be achieved by aggressively chugging Irn-Bru every day.

Six-year-old me had to accept that, although Maisie from after-school club did in fact steal my Polly Pocket, pulling her chair out from underneath her was probably a bad idea and perhaps I deserved the following sanction.

Even now, twenty-year-old me is (gradually) coming round to the idea that re-watching David Tennant’s performance as Hamlet for the millionth time does not count as revision, especially with eight

other Shakespeare plays that require attention.

When it comes down to it, there are lots of ideas you have to admit are firmly in the realms of the ‘unrealistic’. But this applies to nowhere near as many things as people would have you believe. Often, the things that are branded as unrealistic are the most attainable, and done so out of disillusionment or, worse, plain deception.

This is where the #RippedOff campaign comes in.

Before continuing, it’s probably necessary to address the glaringly obvious: no, the #RippedOff campaign is not a new concept.

If there were universities back in

The history of campaigns behind #RippedOff are its source of strength the Stone Age, there would probably have been cave drawings of “Cut the Costs” protests, with angry political banners strung from mammoths or giant

sloths (I accept my historical analogy may be somewhat inaccurate).

Within my two years at Durham alone, I can instantly recall three previous campaigns with remarkably similar, if not identical, aims: the Funeral for Accessible Education, the Durham Alternative Open Days, and Durham for Accessible Education have all, through their various means and methods, fought for the financial rights of students. Come third, fourth, and even fifth year, you would probably accumulate a small shopping list of such movements.

Thus, it seems almost inevitable that sceptical voices will emerge, querying whether the goals of #RippedOff and its brethren—to freeze and ultimately reduce the college accommodation fees for students—could ever be realistically attainable.

But rather than being a sign of failure, the history of accommodation campaigns behind #RippedOff are in fact its source of strength: not only does it demonstrate the persistence and determination of the student community, its ability to adapt and learn from previous attempts, but it also fulfils a fundamental need within the student community.

Because we do need it.

According to the figures produced by the #RippedOff campaign itself, the cost of college accommodation has risen by 50 per cent since 2009, despite inflation rising by only 23 per cent. Even disregarding this fact, it remains clear that Durham University outdoes the prices of university accommodation for other institutions in the region: whilst a catered nonensuite room will relieve you of £5,325 in Newcastle, the standard catered room in Durham will cost you a grand total of £7,171, almost £2,000 more.

The Funeral for Accessible Education took place in December 2015 (Charlotte Warmington) Whilst this would be perhaps slightly more excusable with a solid system of financial support in place, once again Durham falls flat. With the not-so-recent cuts to the Durham Grant, anyone with a household income over £25,000 is automatically disqualified from consideration. It is estimated that two adults working full time will earn £29,952 per annum on the

The Durham Grant shuns many workingclass students on the basis of two working parents minimum wage. Despite the undoubtedly fantastic support provided to those students falling below the £25,000 threshold, the Durham Grant shuns many working-class students purely on the basis that they have two working parents.

I could continue hurling figures at this article until the cows come home (and if you ever broach the subject a few ciders down, I probably will). But no matter how many statistics I cite, five or twenty-five, the ultimate outcome remains the same.

The only financial commitment

Durham makes to its students is that it will fail them, determinedly, consistently and continually. Without the persistence of campaigns such as #RippedOff, the army of protests that have happened in the past and will occur in the future, this would be undoubtedly be set in stone.

I’m no idealist. I have no grand vision of accommodation fees crumbling into dust, whilst staff members fire £1,000 wads of cash at unsuspecting students. But I do believe that, like many social changes, the reduction of college costs will be a gradual descaling and deconstruction of present injustices. It may not have half the satisfaction of instant gratification, but continual dispute, dialogue and negotiation between the university and its students can affect change.

Each movement can build on from what was learned in the last, and each time could see the university give way that little bit more until something significant is achieved. Something significant has already started to occur in the past couple of years: not only did the Alternative Open Days reduce the proposed inflation of the 2016/17 accommodation costs, but Durham for Accessible Education was successful in getting the university to backtrack entirely, lowering its proposed tuition fees from £9,250 back to £9,000.

I can see the appeal, even the logic, behind scepticism. But being sceptical does not help the students who max out their overdrafts on rent, and it certainly doesn’t negate the fact that lowering accommodation fees is not only viable, but crucial.

So before you roll your eyes, or scroll past the petition, or ignore the organised protests that the #RippedOff campaigners have organised, ask yourself this: if there’s even the slightest chance of an impact, wouldn’t you rather try?

HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION?

Tell us what you think by emailing us at comment@ palatinate.org.uk.

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

10

Comment

Mental health: Actions, not words

(Mariam Hyat)

Emily Smith

A

cross the UK, University ‘non-continuation’ due to mental health issues has increased threefold since 2009, according to data recently made available by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Though it remains essential to avoid being reductive—it must be remembered that each experience of mental health (or problem thereof) is unique.

Nevertheless, these trends highlight worrying developments within higher education (as well as within wider society) which we, as students, voters, and politically involved citizens, must actively work to combat.

The de-stigmatisation of mental illness has become somewhat of a

media fad. From the Royal Family to Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga to Ruby Wax, a diverse range of celebrities have shared their equally varied experiences—creating a polyphonic symphony, seemingly advocating acceptance. This is admirable trend irrefutably is rooted in good intentions.

Yet it has reduced the concept of ‘awareness’ to nothing more than a buzzword; such awareness has done little to promote action.

This disjunction between thought and action can be seen throughout society, not solely within higher education.

The NHS, though admittedly troubled at the best of times, is particularly notorious for its deficiencies in mental health care.

The reporting of these failures illustrates the positive impact of attitude changes—the very fact that mental health can be reported on so frankly, and with the expectation that its under-representation will

be responded to with shock and disdain, demonstrates the shifts in the conceptualisation of mental health.

However, it also illustrates how such attitude changes do not reflect, nor necessarily bring about, equally positive actions in governmental policy.

Simply put, the adjusting response of the public towards mental health issues has not been matched by the response in Parliament, nor within the societal structures which it shapes.

Similarly, the increasing awareness (and more importantly, acceptance) of mental health issues has had little actual effect upon University provisions.

This problem is partly self-perpetuating—the more comfortable people are with discussing potential issues, the more people will wish to seek help—but nevertheless, the deficiency in services is pronounced.

Six months sat upon a waiting list is far from unheard of.

ADVERTISEMENT

The analogy of mental illness to a broken bone, though undoubtedly trite, springs to mind; imagine waiting sixth months for a bone to be set.

By the time treatment is accessed, the bone would have reconfigured itself in entirely the wrong place— causing damage which, if not irreversible, is much harder to mend than it would have been at its initial presentation.

Mental health issues are much akin to this; patterns of thought and behaviour become entrenched without treatment, and as such when an issue is left it actively grows more severe.

When this lack of treatment is combined with an academic atmosphere such as Durham’s—inherently competitive, stressful, and demanding—it is little wonder that mental health issues find the perfect conditions to flourish.

Though student-led services such as Nightline and college welfare teams fulfil a crucial role, it is essen-

tial to remember that they are not professionals. Another analogy: your next door neighbour may be a skilled carpenter, but that doesn’t automatically qualify him to perform surgery.

Durham University prides itself on having one of the lowest dropout rates. Whether this is due to the collegiate system, resources such as Nightline, academic prestige, or simply luck, is up for dispute.

However, what is certain is that this reputation cannot, and will not, sustain itself.

Intervention is necessary in order to maintain this enviable statistic; a greater focus is needed on improving the quality and accessibility of mental health facilities.

Awareness may have positive implications, but to cause real change we must use all our political abilities – not just voting, but also at the local area and within the University itself – in order to encourage real improvements in mental health provisions.

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

11

Comment

Kim Jong-Un: A mad ’un with method to the madness Nick Connor

B

efore Donald Trump swashbuckled his way onto the global stage, the title of world’s worst hair amongst national leaders had little competition.

In recent months, Kim Jong Un and North Korea have shown no sign of letting up a missile-testing programme; their warlike intentions each day more unequivocally clear.

Whilst fevered attempts to bring their mission of destruction into the realms of feasibility have brought little success thus far, North Korea could one day present a very real danger. Trump’s hair is right to stand on end.

Despite the threat North Korea poses, we, the West, seem unable to think practically about this peculiar state beyond ridicule and mockery.

The ‘Great Leader’ is, in our eyes, plainly and unequivocally a madman. CNN published an article on 25th April entitled, quite simply, “You can’t out-crazy Kim Jong Un.” Who could possibly believe a North

Korean mission of world conquest to be a realistic venture?

But, when we only look past the absurdity of North Korea, its laughable ambition, and endless empty rhetoric, it becomes clear that his agenda is nowhere near as “crazy” as the media might suggest. There is method to the Great Leader’s madness.

North Korea’s hyper-aggressive foreign policy is no pipe dream, but a clever piece of strategy and one that is working.

This is not to say, of course, that North Korea could succeed in a war against America.

It seems fairly clear to even the least politically savvy that against the might of the United States, one of the world’s most powerful military forces, together with South Korea, Kim Jong Un’s intentions are comically ambitious.

Instead, their ruling regime is far cleverer than we would like to believe.

As North Korea publicly warmongers, boasting outrageously of her nuclear weapons programme and regularly firing missiles into the Sea of Japan, the country has propelled

itself in remarkable fashion into the public limelight.

What hope could a tiny, isolated and resource-poor nation have on an international stage against the likes of China and Japan without making a noise disproportionate to its size?

And how better to attract the attention of more presumptuous neighbours than by threatening mass destruction on an untold scale?

“A tiny,

impoverished nation has the United States scrambling

”

Israel and Iran have shown all too well that the best way to gain an international voice is by nuclear armament, and North Korea’s ‘mad’ foreign policy has won China as an ally.

There is little more that the North Korean regime could have hoped to achieve. Without mass militarisation and hyper-aggressive warmon-

gering, the country would have no voice; dismissed and ignored by the world as an antique of a bygone age of isolationism and dictatorship.

Instead, a country – once a footnote in South Asian politics – has become one of its key players.

As such, North Korea’s very survival depends upon such outlandish policy; they have a great deal to lose.

Over decades of careful state building, they have created a system of mass-indoctrination as successful as any seen before. The blind, fanatical loyalty of the North Korean people seems absurd. Some in North Korea, it is said, believe Kim Il-Sung created the earth. This is not the work of a fool.

Just as terrifying would be the example of Assad’s government, who resisted revolution and saw their country collapse into a perpetual and bloody proxy war.

As even the slightest hint of revolt amongst his people could spiral into a US-backed operation to topple the regime, Kim Jong Un has, so far with great success, sought to reaffirm his position via mass armament.

Nuclear missiles not only rocket North Korea onto the international stage, but provide perhaps the best insurance policy against external meddling.

And what North Korean would rebel against a leader in possession of the greatest weapon mankind has yet produced?

Kim Jong Un may be a character of laughable ambition and a woeful hairpiece, but his regime is founded upon cold hard fact.

When faced with the reality of North Korea’s situation, their seemingly rash and ridiculous foreign policy is far less out of touch than it would seem.

In order to protect such a system from a rapidly shrinking world, a policy of aggressive protectionism is all but required.

As much as we may ridicule the absurdity of Kim Jong Un, we cannot hope to understand his intentions while we simply dismiss him as deranged and backwards. A tiny, impoverished nation has the United States scrambling and squabbling, and the world on tenterhooks. This is no madness.

Why I fell out of love with Durham COMMENT EXPERIENCE

Kate McIntosh

A

s I get ready to leave Durham, I’ve been thinking about all the things here I’ll miss. I can’t help it – it’s an unavoidable reaction to being told constantly that a lot is about to change.

I think a lot about friends and flatmates, and nights in Bailey bars. A side effect of going somewhere new.

For all the comfort of familiarity, there’s plenty about Durham I’ll be happy to shrug off. It’s expensive, it’s small, and whilst I’ve been here I’ve met people who make me think everything my Dad told me about posh people is true.

And I’m not alone - it’s an unspoken truth, but Durham is full of people who aren’t so fond of it.

We have a university which acts against the best interests of students, either ignorantly or vindictively, a persistent

problem with sexual violence and endemic ‘lad culture’ that leaves many students isolated and uneasy.

How many times have you heard someone explain away incompetence or elitism with a casual ‘that’s Durham for you’?

My particular gripe in this instance, says nothing of originality

I’m no Columbus discovering the Americas or Edison detecting electricity or insight. I’m no Columbus discovering the Americas or Edison detecting electricity.

My inspiration is only my day -to-day experience of Durham. It’s tutorials, time spent on the river, nights out, arguments with housemates and days in the library.

The common theme? Endemic, naturalised sexism. And what’s worse, we pretend it isn’t there.

If you don’t believe me, here’s something to think about. Female friends and I expect to be spoken over in seminars or debates.

We see fewer women in prominent academic positions. Go to a Union Society debate and a tiny majority of those who ask questions are women, even fewer are BME women.

Time after time I have experienced visiting speakers pass me by to introduce themselves to male friends.

But those same friends I’ve known cast off their pretence of progressivism as soon as they’re a few drinks in.

When I mention getting heckled in a rowing boat of eight women, by men in their forties in a pub garden, to my male friends who row the same stretch of river

The common theme?

Endemic, naturalised sexism. And what’s worse, we pretend it isn’t there all the time, they’re bemused and surprised.

When I try to convey my uneasiness to let a drunk friend walk home along, or be walked

home by a stranger, they can be ignorant and vapid.

When I talk about feminism, they are sheepish, defensive or even accusatory.

As Politics Editor of this paper I have experienced more talking down and harassment than I ever expected, and more than my male predecessor.

Among friends who are more politically minded I have seen a skewed feminist agenda referenced to tick boxes, but cast away in reality.

After all it’s easier to excuse sexism if you see it as a fault of political ideology rather than a personal attack on the value of your existence.

Durham’s fierce academic environment, culture of affluence and elitism, and intense social calendar contribute to a unique brand of Durham sexism, characterised by ignorance and apathy.

These problems might be widespread, but we’ve got to recognise what it is about Durham that fuels their persistence here.

Particularly, why do they seem worse here? At the intersection of whiteness and maleness - Durham’s speciality – there’s something peculiar going on.

A lot of it has to do with lack of understanding and disbelief A lot of it has to do with lack of understanding and disbelief.

That naivety fuels the idea that women who vocally denounce the treatment they get have a vendetta against men, instead of just to remedy their own situation.

Not all is lost. We’ve got some of the most vibrant liberation campaigns and associations in the country. We have a welfare system which supports survivors of sexual abuse or harassment on home turf. But overwhelmingly, my feeling of Durham is one of a place stuck in the past.

At least I hope the world outside the bubble will turn out to be a little different.

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

12

Profile

‘Communities defeat terrorism’ Profile speak to Durham alumni police chiefs about recent terrorism threats, student crime and life as a Durham undergraduate Jack Reed Profile Editor

Students live a particularly privalesged existence, especially in Durham due to the unique mix of Town and Gown. They live in a small bubble of social life, study and sport ily what three Durham alumni are trying to do in their roles as police chiefs in their respective regions.

Sara Thornton CBE QPM, Head of the National Police Chiefs Council, Simon Cole QPM, Chief Constable at Leicestershire, and Giles York QPM, Chief Constable of Sussex all attended Durham throughout the 1980s.

I was particularly interested in finding out about their memories of Durham and how the university had changed over last 30 years.

Like many alumni, Durham University is remembered as a special place to study.

For Sara Thornton CBE the,“mix of history and change” was a “great recipe for success,” with many of the timeless features of Durham still featuring at the epicentre of the University and city as a whole.

Past students are able to come back to Durham and remember their time here, but equally acknowledge the incredible changes that have occurred.

Chief Constable Giles York talked about significance to him of

DURHAM UNIVERSITY

The recent terrorist attacks over the last three months has undoubtedly thrown the UK’s national security into a state of crisis. Britain has previously faced violence and chaos during the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 and during the London riots in 2012. In 2017 alone, has seen three terrorist attacks in as many months: two in London; one in Manchester.

At a time of heightened terror threat where properly funded police forces and counter terrorist organistion are paramount for national security, much has also been made of the budgetary cuts to the emergency services. Our security appears at risk and we rely on the police and anti-terrorism services that stand to protect the public.

Protecting the public is primar-

”

the of the ‘Durham bubble’ and the effects that this can have on students. “Students live a particularly privileged existence, especially in Durham due to the unique and exceptional mix of town and gown.

They live in a small bubble of social life, study and sport.”

In relation to crime, students are no different from local residents and so increasing student numbers should not have an adverse effect on crime in Durham.

Thornton argues for this point, suggesting that, “students are like the rest of the population - the vast majority are well behaved most of the time.

The criminologists call this normative compliance.” Students reflect society inside their own isolated bubble.

Cole, York, and Thornton all developed their interest in the police in contrasting ways. Leicestershire-based Chief Constable Simon Cole recalls he made his decision to pursue a career in the police during the summer half way through his time as an undergraduate at Durham.

“At the end of my second year I went inter-railing. We made it to Istanbul, via various rooftops and night trains. It was whilst travelling that I decided to explore Policing as a career.”

Similar to the current generation of students, Cole and Thornton felt a pressure to forge a career path quickly to get ahead of the game. For Cole along with Thornton, now Head of National Police Chief Council, career path was guided by a ‘familiarisation’ course, which usually lasted for 2 days and gave people a chance to

▲ (Left to right) Giles York QPM, Sara Thornton, CBE, QPM (NPCC website) and Simon Cole (Twitter CCLeicsPolice)

“

Everyday we ask police officers to put themselves in the way of harm; to cross the road towards those in society that so many would cross the road to get away from

”

try something new and test whether they were interested in that career. Thornton notes how, “it is sad those courses no longer exist and they’re a great loss.”.

A principle challenge for modern day police forces is terrorist threats which compromise national security. The first of three terror attacks to occur this year in Britain involved the tragic death of PC Keith Palmer in Westminster and all three officers emphasised their feelings of pride with regard to and what these stood for Palmer’s actions and what his actions stood for. York extended this sentiment this to the wider police community as a whole.

“Everyday we ask police officers to put themselves in the way of harm, to cross the road towards those in society that so many would cross the road to get away from and increasingly to live their professional and home lives with unswerving values.” In a similar vein Cole, was quick to praise commitment of acting officers: “we are not perfect, who is? But every day we do things that make the world a better place.”

While our police forces and emergency services in general perform admirably and bravely when they are called upon, the larger issue is the increasing threat of terrorist attacks on national security.

There is a growing call for a revaluation of an anti-terror strategy, a strategy to counter the attacks that we and many other countries have faced. One theme that emerged from the views of all three was the idea of communities collectively acting against terror.

For Thornton “communities de-

feat terrorism” and that attitude the public adopt in order to deal with the threat of terrorism quickly and effectively is essential York argues that the only way we can deal with terrorism is, “by having absolute transparency and retaining the high trust the public do have for the police in the UK.” Terrorism is an issue that affects us all and we are all affected by its impacts. For these three officers, the only way to defeat it is to stay together and work together as a community.

The general election was initially an election centering around the issue of Brexit negotiations, but as a result of events, it quickly became the focus for key debates concerning the question of national security, which party was the most capable of protecting our country from terrorists threats, issues of police funding and role of ordinary people

We need absolute transparency and retain the high trust the public have for police in the UK and communities. Thornton recognises this: “it may seem like nothing but they are a small piece of a very large jigsaw.”

They are the people who see their community and society operate each day. They are the people who know each other and know when something is wrong. They are the people who can stick together and prevent more monstrosities occurring. Togetherness and solidarity is key in these times where our day to day security is in jeopardy.

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

13

Politics

Politics News in Brief: What you missed

First gay Prime Minister

Women MPs don’tfaceprejudice

Trump to quit climate deal

From terrorist to Tory

Unrest in Morocco

Kate McIntosh Politics Editor

Jessica Derwent

Julia Atherley

Ireland will welcome its first openly gay Prime Minister in the next weeks, as outgoing Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is replaced by Leo Varadkar. Varadkar’s election is significant for several reasons; he’s son of an immigrant Indian Doctor and is committed to workers’ rights protections. He’s also the youngest leader to date. Until recently Ireland was considered one of the most conservative states in Europe. largely due to its Catholic cultural heritage.

Homosexuaity was only legalised in 1993 – many point to Kenny’s acension as evidence of a profound generational, social change.

Fans paint him as Ireland’s answer to Trudeau or Macron.

May and Abbott are awkward politicians. They have made numerous interview errors which they have been fairly criticized for.

The kind of criticism they receive is often sexist, such as the Daily Mail’s front page comparing May and Sturgeon’s legs. Abbott has also spoken about the daily sexism she receives online. Yet the intense media scrutiny they have received reflects the media’s, and the public’s, increasing frustration with politicians and politics more generally. As well as the pervasive use of social media that allows for immediate and often extreme responses.

President Trump has announced that he will withdraw from the Paris agreement. As the leading global export of cultural values, this is a huge step backwards for action against climate change. Given the First Daughter’s personal commitment as an environmentalist, this further affirms her lack of influence over her father despite public appearances. Trump declared “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris”. The move is a reaction against Obama’s commitment to cutting carbon emissions. Despite Trump’s apparent defiance, no country can fully leave before 2020. The decision has faced opposition from scientists and global leaders alike.

Last October a spark was lit when fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri was crushed by a rubbish truck. Thousands of protesters took to the streets against corruption and abuses, and these protests have showed no sign of cooling down.

The Berber population of the Rif region has long felt neglected by the government and the Islamist group Al Adl Wal Ihssane has recommended that its followers join the protests. Although the government has promised major development projects they have also responded to the protesters with violence and arrests, prompting criticism from human rights organisations, and likely fanning the flames of rampant discontent.

With scandal as a central weapon in smearing members of political parties, as demonstrated implications of Corbyn’s terrorist sympathies, it is surprising that Maria Gatland has so successfully slipped under the media’s radar.

Gatland has served as a Conservative councillor since 2002, but more interesting is her previous dalliances with the armed wing of the IRA. Although somewhat unorthodox that she has been able to fulfil a public role without mention of this ‘terrorist link’, perhaps it is refreshing that the media, even if inadvertently, have focused more on her current participation in politics than her stint as the

Photograph: Alessandro Prada via Flickr

Photograph: Philip Collins via Flickr

Photograph: Haymartxo via Flickr

Photograph: Rytc via Flickr

Photograph: Cafecreate via Flickr

Corbyn’s war on terror Claudia Mulholland “We must be honest about what threatens our security”, cried Corbyn, condemning British intervention in the Middle East as a major contributory factor to the situation of terror the UK faces today. Accentuating links between Britain’s military action and terror attacks launched against British citizens, Corbyn’s rally against the West’s war on terror became a focal point for his historic election campaign. But, should we consent to Corbyn’s assessment of terrorism or reject it as an unfounded exaggeration from the man with links to the IRA? What is for sure that last week’s election result has made him a greater force than ever be fore thought; gone are the days of Corbyn as a prime target for media ridicule. But in spite of his newly proven popularity and the quelling of the press’ ammunition against him, it remains undeniable that where terrorism is concerned his views remain illegitimate.

Corbyn’s hypothesis is inadequate in explaining historic cases of terrorism. He conveniently forgets that 9/11 for example must be attributed to something more than

the US War on Terror, given the former’s taking place in 2001 and the latter’s beginning in 2003.

“

Corbyn misunderstands the ideology of ISIS

”

In relation to recent terror related incidents, Corbyn’s philosophy falls short again. On examining the motivations of the Islamic State, clearly Corbyn’s fundamentally misunderstands the ideology of ISIS, holding at its core an inextricable commitment to the defence of Islam against ‘kafir’ influences.

It is disbelief that ISIS intends to shatter. Retaliation against foreign intervention is secondary.

Corbyn doesn’t excuse terrorism and is passionate about bringing the perpetrators of terror to justice. However, ideologically Mr Corbyn is biased.

Corbyn’s commitment to nonintervention is not linked to its effectiveness as a defence strategy, but to its effectiveness as a measure to balance the blame for terror incidents between western governments and the terrorists themselves. For Corbyn, the importance of non-intervention simply lies in the de-demonization of the groups that threaten us today.

Martha Muir

Eloise Carey Deputy Politics Editor

Qatar isolated Luke Cornforth Saudi Arabia and a host of other Middle Eastern nations, both in the Gulf and in North Africa, have unexpectedly cut ties with Qatar in a row over the increasing backing of rebel and terrorists groups

by Qatar across the region.

Saudi officials, emboldened by a meeting with President Trump, announced a severing of all diplomatic ties with Qatar. They have closed their air space and the border to their neighbours. Officials stated that this move is a bold measure in the tackling of extremism and designed to cut off state funding to extremist groups in the region.

“

A bold measure to tackle terrorism

”

(Ben Rowe via Flickr)

‘prettiest girl in the IRA’.

In reality the motives for this action is more complex than that of simply stopping funding to terrorists. Rather, this decision was taken as part of the ever increasing rivalry between the Gulf States

“

Punishment for Iranian relations

”

and Iran. Qatar has recently had better diplomatic relations with Iran, with both sides successfully helping to negotiate ceasefires and evacuations in Syria.

It seems as though this decision was made in order to punish Qatar for their Iranian relations and to discourage other Middle Eastern nations from following suit. It certainly has had a damaging effect on Qatar, with the stock market tumbling and Qatar Airways services being hugely disrupted due to closed airspaces.

In addition, Qataris residing in these countries are being forced to return home and food shortages are expected as Saudi Arabia has closed its sole land border. This will have devastating impacts as 40 per cent of Qatar’s food comes over the Saudi Arabian border. This swift and extreme diplomatic action has left Qatar completely alone and isolated in the region.

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

14

Politics

Labour lives: Honourable defeat for Corbyn

Kate McIntosh Politics Editor In a night that could have destroyed Europe’s largest membership party, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour stormed to a more than honourable defeat. Swiping key strongholds away from the Tories, right under the pollsters’ noses, Labour proved prediction after prediction wrong as it romped to victory in twenty-seven previously Conservative seats.

But what went right for Jeremy?

Banking on the 18–25 vote paid off for Corbyn’s side, as did increased turnout, which probably means Labour convinced thousands to vote who hadn’t done so previously. The anti-establishment protest-voter fleeing UKIP was captured in some parts of the South-East and North. Across the country however, Remainers united behind Labour workers’ rights-themed Brexit, whilst hard Brexiteers looked to May to steer them through the rough waters of Brussels.

After polls showed a twenty point lead in March, and Labour moderates feared a 200 seat Tory majority, Labour’s unprecedented

(Chatham House)

success in areas like Plymouth, Bedford, Canterbury, and Kensington was quite the welcome surprise. In a peculiar shift in electoral geography, the Conservative government is propped up on a scattered selection of ex-SNP seats

around Scotland. Meanwhile, Labour is dominating in London, with a four per cent swing in favour of the party.

The strength of the campaign can be explained in multiple ways.

Firstly, Labour activists and or-

ganisers were on the defensive, with predictions so dire that constituencies like our own in Durham City weren’t taken for granted. MPs – fearful that the Corbyn brand might do them more harm than good – fought local campaigns on the doorstep, pushing local issues and strong representation. Meanwhile, the national campaign targeted the young and disenfranchised with a substantial social media presence, a raft of celebrity supporters, and TV appearances that just about worked because of Corbyn’s off-the-cuff, honest charm. There’s a noticeable shift towards Labour in university towns like Warwick, and Sheffield, where ex-Liberal Democrat leader and tuition-fee-Judas Nick Clegg lost to Labour.

At its heart, the Labour manifesto dealt with the concerns of the majority. Good schools, the crisis in the NHS, new affordable homes, an economy that works for everyone. Popular policies like free university tuition and universal free school meals made for meaningful soundbites. The Tory strategy of calling every Labour policy uncosted failed when it turned out that Labour was the only party

to cost everything. It won over experts and voters alike, and as such will establish a new norm in Labour policy for the coming years.

“

A new norm in Labour policy

”

Theresa May now clings to power, with only the DUP — the parliamentary front to a terrorist organisation — to help her.

Labour needs only continue the upward surge to propel this weak government out. Three by-elections could topple May’s minority, and a handful centrist Tory MPs could defy the party line on fox hunting and new Grammar schools. Whilst Labour has plenty of ground to make up, soon seats like Thurrock and Hastings could all be within Corbyn’s reach. Labour hasn’t just survived, it’s performed like a party machine in full working order, and preparing for government.

Theresa’s Mayday signal to Tory rivals White, male parliament?

Cameron McIntosh Deputy Politics Editor As Theresa May and polling companies discovered last week, elections are unpredictable. From a seemingly unassailable lead in the polls to a hung parliament, the Prime Minister’s gamble has backfired in spectacular fashion. If only she could rewind two months to her walk in the Welsh countryside.

Jeremy Corbyn’s astonishing campaign defied all expectations to produce one of the biggest upsets in parliamentary politics. Despite this remarkable feat, it should be acknowledged that the Conservatives won the general election. As the largest party in the Commons, albeit not commanding a majority, they will extend their time in government beyond seven years, with the DUP content to play the role of kingmakers. How long that government will be headed by Theresa May is unresolved.

The election was called for personal gain. It ended in personal defeat. Dressing up political opportunism as a Brexit-inspired duty to the British public fell on deaf ears and the mandate she sought was not forthcoming.

May’s personal authority has suffered an irrevocable blow and

with Brexit negotiations imminent, herl eadership has been fatally undermined, both within her own party and, most significantly, in Brussels.

Martha Muir

“

It ended in personal defeat

”

Although Tory insiders have been disciplined to date, talk of an impending leadership election will no doubt intensify over the coming weeks and months. The two most obvious contenders being Brexit Secretary, David Davis, and fellow leave campaigner and Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson. While Ruth Davidson, the architect of Scottish Conservatism’s phenomenal revival, is often touted as a future leader, she does not have a seat in Westminster and is therefore ineligible.

Amber Rudd has also established herself as a strong candidate, despite the scare she suffered in Hastings, where a recount saved her the embarrassment of a Michael Portillo moment.

Theresa May has affirmed her

(Matt Brown via Flickr)

desire to continue as Prime Minister, to ensure the stability that her campaign failed to convince the electorate of. But a lame duck Prime Minister will not serve anyone’s interests, not least those negotiating the Brexit deal. A caretaker government appears most likely for the time being, with a Tory leadership contest almost certainly on the horizon. By the autumn of 2017, don’t be surprised if number ten has a new resident.

When polls closed last Thursday, Jeremy Corbyn declared that “the face of politics” had been changed.

He is right in more ways than one.

His party’s erosion of Theresa May’s majority defied predictions of what the electorate will vote for.

However it is also a game changer in terms of who the electorate vote for.

In 2015 41 members of Parliament were from a BME background.That figure now stands at 51, an all-time record. This includes an increased total of 15 Muslim MPs, the first female Sikh MP, Preet Gill, and the first turban wearing Sikh, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who celebrated his victory by visiting the Slough gurdwara.

There are now 207 female MPs, up significantly from 196 in 2015.

However perhaps most notably, Britain now holds the global record for the highest number of LGBT+ MPs and an astounding 20% of the SNP’s cohort identifies as such.

Although Sophie Cook narrowly missed becoming Britain’s first trans MP, she cut Tory Tim Loughton’s majority to 5,196 votes.

However these strides should be taken with a pinch of salt. Parlia-

ment still falls short of being truly representative of the population, as still only 32% of the Commons identifies as female. Roughly 6% of the UK population do not identify as straight, which lines up with the 7% of the MPs who do not either.

“

Britain now holds the global record for highest number of LGBT+ MPs

”

Yet considering that the DUP, which has voted 5 times to block gay marriage and are anti-choice, are set to cooperate with the Tories in the next Parliament, it is uncertain that they will feel the fruits of increased representation.

As Parliament is more diverse than ever, the face of politics has literally changed. However it is as yet unclear if this will lead to the UK’s population feeling truly represented, even if they are on paper.

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

15

Politics

How Theresa May’s DUP pact will affect you Simon Green After a humiliating loss of her majority in the House of Commons, Theresa May is being forced into a pact with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party. Although this would only give the Conservatives a majority of two, it seems the only option the PM has to form a government, whether or not it is a credible one.

“

Famously , the DUP are antiabortion and antigay marriage

”

Naturally, there will have to be some concessions to the DUP and therefore minor changes to the Tory manifesto, although it didn’t seem May was too troubled in making u-turns during the campaign, so there should be no real

issues there.

Economically, the DUP are very similar to the Conservatives in wanting to increase the Personal Tax Allowance and the National Living Wage, both important for those of you with the horrific possibility of going off into the ‘real world’ after graduating.

However, there will be a crucial difference in that the DUP will demand all things Northern Ireland, perhaps including a complete replacement of EU subsidies for the country, which could cost the new government more than they had bargained for. The DUP also want things such as the abolition of air duty, which could also cost the Treasury dearly.

There will almost certainly be no change on tuition fees or maintenance grants as a result of this pact, as the DUP are, economically, far from the socialist policies of abolishing tuition fees that gave Labour such an appeal among the 18-25 year old bracket.

The key difference between the two parties is on social issues. The DUP are famously antiabortion and anti-gay marriage.

Although this will make very little difference to Tory policy on these issues, it is still potentially worrying that they would form a coalition-style agreement with a party that seem so conservative on issues of equality.

“

There will be no change to tuition fees

”

When Theresa May called this snap general election two months ago, she was enjoying a lead of over 20 points in the opinion polls and looked set to win a majority of over 100 seats. The vast miscalculations of the pollsters in the 2015 election and the 2016 EU Referendum simply didn’t seem possible again.

But the tide began to turn with the publication of the party manifestos a few weeks into the campaign. Jeremy Corbyn now had a popular manifesto, but polled low approval ratings, while Theresa May started off in the polls as a popular leader, but misfired with several controversial policies in a manifesto which has since been described as ‘disastrous’.

polls told her she would. At polling stations, policy trumped personality in a way the opinion polls, and the Prime Minister, never saw coming.

Although all pollsters accurately predicted a tightening in the race, the extent to which it had tightened was missed. Most polls in the days before the election showed a 7 or 8-point lead for the Conservatives, but the ballot box told a very different story - Corbyn finished just 2.4% behind May, picking up more votes than Tony Blair did in his 2001 landslide victory.

After YouGov’s published its first seat projection poll on the 30th May, Conservative donors and analysts dismissed its find-

(William Murphy via Flickr)

ings and actually laughed in a Sky News debate. YouGov was the only major pollster to have predicted a hung parliament, and it did so in all of its seat projection polls, but few took them seriously.

An air of complacency clearly surrounded the Conservative campaign. The polls told Theresa May she was unbeatable, and she believed them.

The woman who told us she was ‘strong and stable’ with her double-figure poll lead is now leading Britain’s first elected minority government since 1974; the irony couldn’t be more apparent. How long she’ll stay as leader is something the polls cannot predict.

“

Getting into bed with the DUP is the naughtiest thing Theresa has ever done

“

Samantha Johnson-Audini Forty per cent of British voters chose the Labour Party on Thursday in a shock swing. Overwhelmingly this support came from women, with forty-four per cent stating they intended to vote for Labour, in comparison to only thirty-seven per cent of women supporting the Conservatives.

On the other hand, May’s less than spotless record on supporting women’s rights is somewhat unsurprising, due to her disinterest in being labelled a role model of any kind for aspiring female politicians or her gender in general.

“

”

”

(The Kremlin)

The decision to get into bed with an anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, Hard Brexit-supporting, climate change-denying party to form a ‘government of certainty’ at any cost could be far naughtier than anything the PM has ever done in a wheat field.

Labour welcomes women voters

An entire page of their manifesto was dedicated to women

Polls told Theresa she was unbeatable Theresa May built her whole campaign around herself, her image, her strength. Some may call it narcissistic, others strategic to win the election in the way the

Largely therefore, don’t expect any drastic change in the Tory policy to end the unfair burden of debt on students or an avoidance of a ‘Hard Brexit’, as a result of the DUP’s influence. However, their presence as kingmakers should put into question the kind of party Theresa May is willing to co-operate with to regain power.

”

Tories ignored pro-Corbyn polls Jack Parker

Furthermore, there is the potential for clashes on issues of climate change, demonstrated by DUP MP Sammy Wilson’s denial of the existence of global warming whatsoever, dumbing it down to a ‘natural phenomenon’.

With many Durham students and the university itself very concerned about energy efficiency, recycling and other ways to help the environment, this is another potential worry should the Conservatives need to rely on the DUP to form a government.

May’s time at the Home Office was no feminist utopia, with domestic violence services slashed and most notably her failure to act on the declining living conditions in Yarl’s Wood. In addition to this, the past few years have seen the closure of more than 350 Sure Start centre. Comparatively, Corbyn has been noted by many feminist

organisations for his willingness to listen to their concerns and act upon them. A prime example of this being Labour’s new Women’s Advisory Board in order to examine the way policies affect women.

The Labour Party appears to be in tune with women’s priorities.

In this election, women’s top vote decider was the NHS. The NHS is overwhelmingly a Labour priority; forty-one per cent of the electorate believed a Labour government would be best at handling the NHS. The Labour manifesto further developed and explicitly dealt with women’s concerns. An entire page of their manifesto was dedicated to women - containing pledges such as appointing a specific commissioner to tackle violence against women; incredibly important in the current climate with approximately 1 in 4 women experiencing some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.

Retrospectively, it is even more understandable that women prefer Labour to the Conservatives, as post-election the Conservative government hinges on working with the DUP - a party campaigning to massively restrict abortion rights in Northern Ireland.

Therefore, it is unsurprising that women prefer Labour over a party that is willing to negotiate away women’s rights in a weak stab at ‘stability’ in a political climate of chaos.

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

16

SciTech

Durham professor says drug tests should be provided at music festivals Luke Andrews SciTech Editor Recently, music festival organisers have been encouraged to provide facilities where revellers can test drugs before they consume them to ensure that they are safe. As the production of illegal drugs is unregulated, dangerous versions of drugs such as ecstacy and crystal meth may be accidentally sold and consumed.

They may even be life threatening, as shown by drug-related deaths at music festivals in the UK over the past few years. Providing testing facilities may help to combat this risk.

Professor of Criminology at the School of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University, Fiona Measham, is Director of The Loop, the organisation looking to provide the drug safety testing facilities. Last Thursday she appeared on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme to discuss the importance of provid-

ing these facilities at festivals. She was joined by Shirley Cramer, ChiefExecutive of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPB), and Elizabeth Burton-Philips, who set up the charity DrugFAM in memory of her son who died from heroine.

On the programme, Fiona outlined why she thought that providing these drug testing facilities at music festivals is necessary.

“Drug use is going to happen anyway [at music festivals] and this is a pragmatic response in relation to that”, she said.

“We’ve found that [drug testing facilities] were a valuable educational tool.”

Byprovidingthefacilities,Fiona hopes to reduce the risk of fatalities that occur when people take ‘bad’ drugs.

The Loop tested the effectiveness of providing these facilities at a Secret Garden Party and Kendal Calling festivals in 2016. They found that one in five people discarded their drugs once they found out the con-

tents. This may have saved lives.

They also found that after taking the drugs and having a bad experience, people came to the facility to get another drug from the same batch tested to find out what had happened.

Commenting on the pilot, Fiona said that people were “engaging productively”.

“It was a positive thing that they wanted to engage with it”, she said about festival goers.

Shirley supported the idea of providing these facilities, as they may minimise risks to illegal drug users.

She described them as a “harm reduction plan”.

However, Elizabeth was more sceptical of the use of drug testing facilities on the Victoria Derbyshire programme. She stressed her concern that providing these facilities may “normalise” illegal drug taking behaviour. This may lead to more people taking illegal drugs, which challenges the strength of the law.

As an alternative strategy, Elizabeth

suggested displaying pictures of what drugs can do to you at festivals in order to discourage people from using them.

In 2010, ten people died at festivals from Ecstasy. By 2015, this number had risen to 57. There is mounting pressure to invent new ways to combat this rising trend.

Other countries like Holland have already begun to provide drug testing facilities at festivals. This summer in the UK both Reading and Leeds festivals and a number of other live music events are also aiming to introduce drug testing facilities to help minimise the risks to revellers.

Asked about the idea, a Durham student said that it seemed like a “good thing”. “If people are going to take them you might as well make sure they’re safe before using them.”

However, they added, “but if people die from drugs that have been tested and are supposedly safe, what happens then?”

(Mia & Steve Mestdagh via Flickr)

Why does music give you goosebumps?

Tommy Pallett, Katie Moberly Think back to the best club you’ve ever been to, or the best concert, or that time you laid down shut your eyes and let your favourite track just engulf you. Ever wondered why it feels so good? Music has for thousands of years enchanted the human race; even before we could generate melody, the rhythmic beat of drums was central to celebration and communication in most tribes across the world.

Music alone has the power to activate more brain regions than any other stimulus we know.

Many people experience a strong emotional response to music, known as ‘chills’, that range from goose-bumps to feelings of ecstasy proven to activate the same brain areas as when experiencing sexual orgasm or consuming euphorigenic drugs. Previous research shows that rhythmic perception creates a future-oriented series of expected pulses, and that chills may be produced when ac-

tual rhythmic events deviate from these expectations.

Records show that as early as 800 BC, humans have been intrigued by the emotional powers of music. It is unique in being able to produce moments of intense emotional psychophysiological response in humans, and this has since been philosophically debated, discussed, and scientifically examined. Psychologists and neuroscientists have proven that music indeed activates areas of the brain associated with emotion, pleasure, and reward. The term ‘chills’ refers to this strong emotional reaction to music, more specifically, the physiological sensations experienced at certain moments within a musical piece.

A musical chill typically means goose-bumps and tingling sensations on the back of the neck or on the arms. One major issue with researching chills is their incredibly subjective nature. Another issue is deciding how to measure chills. Is it more reliable to detect physiological changes within the body, or to rely on descriptive lan-

guage alone? A combination of the two would be preferred of course.

Readers may or may not agree with an account of chills, but it is important to note this does not reduce their validity; it merely exposes factors which may affect the readers’ own personal response to this song, such as musical preference, sex, environment, and other elements which may contribute to chills.

The perception of musical metre is a cognitive process. When humans hear music, the brain essentially processes it backwards in time; analysing previous auditory events to create a future-oriented temporal framework that anticipates upcoming auditory events. Scientifically, ‘metre’ can be described as the anticipation of a series of beats, and ‘pulse’ as a series of temporal expectancies for auditory events.

It is the phenomenon of rhythmic patterns deviating from expected pulse locations which is of particular interest since many researchers have found evidence to suggest chills may arise when our

expectations are violated. Unexpected rhythmic events result in higher attention, and we respond with emotion when our expectations are not met. Chills are experienced when the rhythmic pattern actually heard deviates from the regular pulse of our expectation which underpins it.

An example may be the metrical displacement of the vocal line and the drums (essentially when the rhythms of the two don’t match up). Such mismatches contribute to something called metrical dissonance. Research has actually found that the more strongly a given displacement dissonance approaches a state of alignment, the more strongly dissonant it is. That means that the closer you get to matching two beats, the more unaligned it actually sounds. Whilst that might appear backwards, it actually makes surprising sense: the closer to matching the beats are the more they sound like they should be matching.

Leading straight from this is the concept of ‘anticipating the beat’.

This is a widespread practice in

drumming and other rhythmic instruments, and is essentially playing the beat just ahead of where it is meant to be. It is not out of time; it aims to drive the song forward.

Analysis of a song which induced chills in the co-author of this article, Katie Moberly, revealed that the average interval between each expected pulse was 620ms, however, the back-beat of the drums appeared, on average, 60ms ahead of the pulse. Discrepancies at 100ms or less cannot be perceived as distinct differences, so it is assumed that the anticipation of these snare hits by 60ms is not processed independently, but it will exist as a near-imperceptible discrepancy which may contribute to the chill phenomenon.

The interplay between mathematics, psychology, and music is a fascinating one. There is a science behind music, and discovering the exact nature of the interplay between these disciplines may be the key to unlocking the ultimate sense of music-induced euphoria – a musician or DJ’s dream.

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

17

Sport

“Women’s sport can sell papers all year round’’

Following Britain’s first gold medal in women’s hockey at the 2016 Olympics, Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero speaks to former GB and England captain Kate Richardson-Walsh on that penalty shoot-out in Rio, hockey’s national status and the struggle for gender equality in sport

Penalty shoot-outs are nerve-wracking in any sport. Players and spectators alike know that one miss could be the difference between victory and defeat, joy and despair.

There is little margin for error, but the stakes are even higher in hockey.

Each penalty-taker has eight seconds to dribble the ball from the 23yard line and score.

The shuffle is as tense as the name implies.

And so, Great Britain captain Kate Richardson-Walsh could have been forgiven for some extra nerves as the women’s Olympic hockey final in Rio reached the end of normal time.

A thrilling match against the Netherlands had finished 3-3, and the shuffle was about to begin.

Remarkably, she says she was far from fazed.

“I was actually as calm as I think you can be in that situation.

“I had an overwhelming sense of readiness. I knew how much work had gone into the penalties from the staff, players and goalkeepers.

“Every detail had been thought about, practiced and reviewed there was no more to be done.”

That hard work paid off as Britain edged out the reigning champions 2-0, with Hollie Webb slotting home the decisive penalty to win the first Olympic gold for a GB women’s hockey side.

Richardson-Walsh and her wife Helen also made history as the first married couple to win gold for Britain since 1920.

“Looking back on it, it somehow felt inevitable.”

The image of Richardson-Walsh and her unbeaten side celebrating the winner summed up a remarkable summer for Britain.

They recorded their best medal haul at the Games since 1908, coming second only to the United States.

It may have been one of 67 medals won, but this one seemed to count even more.

And yet, Richardson-Walsh does

“

I had an overwhelming sense of readiness - there was no more to be done

not see the gold medal or her record 375 international caps as her greatest accomplishment.

Instead, she is proud of the collective journey which led to that victory.

“It would be easy to say the gold medal in Rio was my biggest achievement, but I feel being a part of establishing the foundations for the GB central programme back in 2009 was a huge turning point for myself and the whole squad.

“It enabled us to spend so much more time together to build a culture, work on our style of play and set pieces.

“We saw gains very quickly, culminating in that success.”

The 2016 Olympics also represented the culmination of a long journey for Richardson-Walsh herself.

Despite playing hockey regularly at school, she had no realistic aims to become a full-time player, much less an Olympic athlete.

Soon, however, she would be making her debut for Britain.

At 23, she was made captain of the senior side.

That same year, she graduated from Brunel University with a 2:1 in Sports Science.

“As a 23-year-old it was quite daunting, with some big-name players and huge experience in the squad.

“It took me a while to truly find my feet. In the end, I stuck to my values as a person and tried to lead with authenticity and care at all times.”

Those leadership skills were often put to the test, such as when she played on with a broken jaw during the 2012 Olympics.

Despite the injury, she captained the side to a bronze medal, demonstrating her fearless attitude.

But Richardson-Walsh had to cope with several other setbacks over the course of her international career.

The Mancunian singles out her side’s failure to qualify for the 2004 Olympics and finishing 11th out of 12 teams at the 2014 World Cup as her two main disappointments as captain, both of which she felt “very responsible” for.

The latter prompted a threemonth sabbatical and a “lengthy period of self-reflection” following the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

It also led to soul-searching for the squad as a whole.

Richardson-Walsh returned to the fold in January 2015 to help establish a new sense of unity among the side.

The squad became more resilient, ultimately leading to the gold medal.

Twice they fell behind in the final against the Netherlands; twice they rallied back to take the match to penalties.

Given how her team captured

Kate Richardson-Walsh in action for England against Argentina

the hearts of British viewers, surely hockey deserves the same status as other national sports?

“I think hockey should have more media coverage and be broadcast on a more regular basis, but there needs to be changes to enable this to become reality.

“Netball is a great example of a sport that has been boosted hugely by private backing and regular broadcasting on Sky Sports.

“Although the women’s team have brilliant support from our sponsors Investec [who sponsor both England and Great Britain’s women’s hockey teams], we really need more corporate support to ensure we aren’t so reliant on government funding via the National Lottery.”

“It’s a catch-22 situation. Without the TV coverage sponsors are reluctant to get involved and without sponsors we are unable to create a TV-worthy package to showcase the sport.”

Richardson-Walsh left international hockey on a high note following the Rio Olympics, but she does not boast a life of luxury like most retired Premier League footballers.

She says National Lottery funding has been vital, but that it remains “nigh on impossible” to get on the housing ladder in Britain with her average total earnings, which amount to “around £20k” including sponsorship.

The lack of funding is a common thread in women’s sport.

Richardson-Walsh is an outspoken ambassador for the Women’s Sport Trust, and is determined to make a difference when it comes to gender equality.

She sees women’s sport as an “un-

Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

tapped area of growth”.

“It is well-documented that, for a relatively minimal financial investment, companies can get a massive return when choosing to invest in women’s sport.”

The media, she says, have just as vital a role to play in the fight for equality.

It was partly due to the lack of coverage of women’s sport that she was initially discouraged from becoming a hockey player.

“You have to be able to see it. I didn’t think I could ever be a professional female athlete growing up because I didn’t see any in my day-today life.

“The day I open a weekend broadsheet, turn to the sports section and read about male and female sports in equal measure, I know we will have cracked it.”

This seems to be the next challenge on the horizon for RichardsonWalsh.

As in Rio, she is nerveless.

“The media can stop hiding behind the lazy notion that women’s sport won’t sell papers.

“Women’s sport is celebrated and applauded every four years. If it sells papers then, it can sell papers the rest of the year.”

Finally, I ask if she has any advice for students looking to balance sport with academic achievement at university as she did.

“Having attained my degree in Sports Science at Brunel whilst training as an international athlete, I would say the most important thing is planning.

“It sounds boring, but being able to pinpoint potentially busy periods in your sporting calendar and cross-

referencing with your academic calendar can help you plan for any clashes.

“Lecturers and universities want you to complete your studies just as much as you do and can help you juggle all of your commitments.”

“

The day I turn to the sports section of a weekend broadsheet and read about male and female sports in equal measure, I know we will have cracked it

“

Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero Deputy Sport Editor

“

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

18

Sport

T h e C h e l te n h a m s k i e r wh o b e c a m e

As we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the Calgary Winter Olympic Games of 1988 - a unique fort Great Britain’s most famous winter Olympian and a man whose name and character are synonym

Nick Friend Sport Editor

I didn’t have any sponsorship or anything like that so I saved up some money and went to America where I thought the costs of living would be cheaper.

“So I went out there with the in-

“

I was still very much a beginner but what I wanted to do was to get a little bit of attention

“

The story of Michael Edwards is the most British of underdog tales; a Cheltenham-born skiing enthusiast who, via an unusual eccentricity and unrivalled resilience, became one of world sport’s most recognisable names. Michael had become ‘Eddie’ long before an improbable fame found Edwards, but it would be the media’s christening of the Eagle as he flew gleefully off the Calgary slopes back in 1988 that would bring a remarkable unwavering celebrity to the modest part-time builder who, to this day, holds the British record for the ski jump.

Eddie the Eagle, the 2016 biopic in his name that conveys only a fraction of Edwards’ astonishing journey, has added another layer to a legend that last year saw him top a national poll of Great Britain’s greatest winter sportspeople.

Edwards took more than twice the number of votes that 1980 Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Robin Cousins claimed, while staving off competition for top spot from Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean.

The vote, if nothing else, highlights the British appreciation for the trier, for the little guy, for the quirky.

Edwards is all three of those, and he admits that even as he strove to reach the Winter Olympics of 1988 in Calgary, he did so with merely qualifying as his ultimate aim.

“When I went to Calgary”, he explains to me, “doing well in the competition never even crossed my mind because I’d only been jumping for twenty months when I arrived, whereas everybody else had been jumping for over twenty years.

“I was still very much a beginner but what I wanted to do was to get a little bit of attention, especially in the UK because I was Britain’s first ever jumper, and then to turn that attention into sponsorship to make it easier to qualify for the ‘92, ‘94, ’98 and 2002 Olympics and then over those subsequent ten years, I could have become better and better and better.”

For, unbelievable though it sounds in the modern era of professional sport, where the Olympics are considered from the outside to represent the pinnacle of a life’s work, Edwards’ ski jumping experience amounted to little more than a year and a half, having arrived in America with the intention of having a promising career as a downhill skier.

“I was racing around the UK doing the ranking events and seeding events and then I got my licence to race internationally so I started doing that. But it was so very expensive to race on the international circuit;

tention of racing more out there and getting the ranking points required to reach the World Cup. But I ran out of money while I was there and I was in Lake Placid in upstate New York and I saw the ski jumps.

“Suddenly, I just thought and realised we’d had lots of alpine skiers and cross-country skiers and biathlon skiers but we’d never had a jumper so I basically just decided to give it a go, and twenty months later, I was at the Calgary Olympics as a ski jumper.”

The journey is an astounding

tale, laying bare the extent to which Olympic regulations have changed – almost as a direct result of the ‘Eagle sensation’ – as well as quashing the unfair and inaccurate myth that Edwards was a mickey-taking nohoper, whose presence was devaluing winter sport’s premier competition. Indeed, at the time of the 1988 Games, he held the world record for stunt jumping and was the world number nine amateur speed skier.

As Edwards reminds me, even twenty-nine years on from the Eagle’s crowning as a figure of sporting fun at Calgary, the United Kingdom does not boast a single ski jump slope. Edwards still retains the British record for an event so dangerous that with every leap into the air, the jumper gambles with his own mortality.

England is a country without snow, without coaches, without funding or encouragement for those wishing to take up the event. And so, Edwards’ Calgary attempt – finishing last in both the 70m and 90m events – still represents, in logical and realistic eyes, a monumental success.

“I managed to get to those Olympic Games and I did my bit and I did the very best I could. My job was done; I’d got there, I’d achieved my dream, I inspired other people to get out there and fight that fight and for me, that was the greatest thing.

It was just a personal journey and I loved everything about. I loved doing it, it was such a dangerous sport.

Every day jumping was tremendous and I enjoyed every second of it. I am immensely proud of what I achieved and I’ll always remember it.”

Although Edwards acknowledges that there was a ceiling on his development, partially due to the financial constraints of maintaining a training camp in America and partly because of the twenty-year head-start of his competitors, there remains a feeling of frustration and regret – almost three decades on – that the ‘Eddie the Eagle Rule’, as it became known, would cut him down in his prime in 1990. Competitors in Olympic sport would, from then on, have to qualify for the Games based on their world ranking rather than relying on their national ranking. Edwards, of course, was the one and only British jumper.

“Eventually, the authorities had to come up with all these regulations to kick me out and keep me out. Ultimately, I was never going to be able to compete against the big organisations like the British Olympic Association, the British Ski Federation, the International Olympic Committee, the International Ski Federation.

“Unfortunately, when I got christened Eddie the Eagle and I got more attention than the guy that won the event, the authorities didn’t like it and they – essentially – indirectly imposed a ban on me competing by bringing out these new rules and regulations that effectively kicked me out of the sport.

“The British Olympic Association

Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

were okay. They had this policy of allinclusivity – that if you were the best in your country at your event, then you deserved to go to the Games to represent the country at that sport.

“But it wasn’t until I got to Calgary and started to get all this attention, that they changed completely and they tried to get a press embargo on me, and ban me from doing any interviews with the media and it got out of control and that’s when they changed and they started to say that it was wrong and shouldn’t be happening. So, while they weren’t initially against me, it wasn’t until we were in Calgary that they did an about-turn and slammed the door in my face and told me to go away and that they didn’t want anything to do with me.

“I was very upset about it then because the British Skiing Federation didn’t even put up any kind of fight against it. They just went along with it and accepted it because they didn’t like what was happening – they kicked me off the British team and the Olympic team.

“They didn’t like the fact that the guy that came 58th got more attention than the guy that won the event.

They thought I was making a mockery of the sport and bringing it into disrepute and they didn’t fight my corner at all so I was very upset. All these big organisations were effectively kicking me out of the sport for very dubious reasons.”

Perhaps the most dubious aspect

PALATINATE | Thursday 15th June 2017

19

Sport

e t h e O ly m p i c s ’ g re a te s t u n d e rd o g

tnight that also featured Jamaica’s bobsleigh team, Nick Friend speaks to Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, mous with the underdog spirit that both Olympic and British sport hold so dear among their values of the governing bodies’ reasoning behind Edwards’ effective ‘culling’ from world ski jumping, was the authorities’ misreading of the world’s

“

No matter how many people tried to stop me and tell me that it couldn’t be done, I kept going and never gave up

“

reaction to the British ski jumper.

While Edwards admits – as is displayed in the film – there did exist a minority of resentful ski jumpers, frustrated to be losing out on the global media frenzy to the amateur novice, ski jumping felt an enormous boon.

“90% of the jumpers loved it. They were loving it because all the attention that was being thrust upon Eddie the Eagle was, ultimately, being thrust upon the sport of ski jumping.

Everybody thought it was fantastic

because it brought the sport alive. It took the sport from page 47 to page one for two or three years.

“More kids wanted to go into ski jumping, more companies were wanting to put more money into ski jumping, more people were going to watch ski jumping. So it was fantastic for the sport.

“It was just one or two jumpers who thought, ‘Well I’m the best jumper in the world. I should be the most popular’, but not many thought that.

But then, the federations agreed with them and started to think like that.

But most of the jumpers thought it was a great boost and a great lift for the sport in general.”

However, the lack of support Edwards received from the various governing bodies still rankles with the athlete, not least because of what he views as a sacrifice of the Olympic spirit for what he now considers to be a “glorified World Championship.”

“People loved what I represented at the Olympic Games, exemplifying that Olympic spirit, and I wanted to show the world that I could be a really good ski jumper but all of a sudden, my wings were well and truly clipped and I wasn’t able to carry on.

“I feel that the Olympics have gone too far the other way into the professional field. It’s nice to have these professional athletes but it has put a shadow and a cloud over the Olympic movement.

“Ever since they introduced the professional ice hockey players from the NHL and the professional baseball players and now we have football, for goodness sake. How can Olympic football compete against the European Cup, the World Cup the Champions League and the like? It’s the same thing with having profes-

sional golfers and tennis players.

“For me, it’s just gone completely down the wrong way. You very rarely get these amateur sportspeople that the Olympics were really set up for.

I think there’s room for both – the amateurs as well as the professional sportspeople. It’s the only competition where I think it should be allowed.”

The 1990 regulation change meant that competitors would be invited based on the possession of a world ranking within the top fifty, or within the top thirty percent of the sport’s athletes, effectively putting an end to the amateur aspect of the Games, in favour of a drastic professionalisation that has drastically impacted on the number of stories similar to the cult legend of the Eagle.

For Edwards, competing in a sport with so little infrastructure in his home nation, his future was settled. Reaching the required standard would be virtually impossible.

“The rules that they brought out effectively killed the sport for jumpers in many countries. Ultimately, the jumpers in those countries couldn’t meet those rules and so nowadays, the strong nations are getting stronger and stronger but the weaker nations are getting weaker and weaker and disappearing.

“Competition should be all-inclusive and everyone should be able to go along to a competition and compete against one another. Each nation should be able to send their athletes.

“I think that’s a shame because there’s a lot more people out there who want to see the Eddie the Eagles and Eric the Eels of this world rather than the real sports purists who only watch sport to see the winners. Sport is for everyone.”

Edwards’ point here is an extremely valid one, and one made conspicuous by the absence in recent Games of true underdog sensations.

“I think anybody has the potential to be a great Olympian”, he tells me. “It’s a personal thing really. For some, it’s going there and winning a gold medal. But for me, it was just going and taking part.

“I guess it just depends on what your particular ideal is within your sport. For me, I was just doing the best I could at a sport we’d never done anything in before.

“I mean, I chose a ridiculously difficult sport to do and people loved me being there and doing the best I could with what I had, which was nothing. And for me, that embodied one side of being an Olympian.

“But for others, it’s all about going there and conquering your fears of competition and doing your very best and winning a gold medal. I guess it really depends on what sport means to a particular person.

“Personally, I am just as entertained by the Eddie the Eagle and Eric the Eel of this world as I am by the Usain Bolt figures because I believe that sport is a form of entertainment.

“Some people’s personal ambition is just to reach the stage whereby they have qualified for the Olympic games. For others, it’s to win the event.”

Eric ‘the Eel’ Moussambani Malonga secured fame at the Sydney Games of 2000, claiming an unlikely victory in his 100m freestyle heat after his competitors were both disqualified. His time was ultimately too slow to advance to the semifinals, but his story was written in

that moment – a fact highlighted by Edwards.

“It’s nice to see that these people are still going for it and achieving their dreams of going to the Olympics, regardless of their circumstances. It’s important to keep that Olympic spirit alive - it’s not just about the winning, but about the journey, the getting there and the taking part.

“That is the most important aspect of the Olympics. I love these stories like mine. It’s nice to see that these guys are still fighting the system and getting through because I think it means more.”

Since Eddie the Eagle flew the flag for Britain and plucky underdogs worldwide, Amy Williams, Lizzie Yarnold and Jenny Jones have all collected medals in stunning displays of speed and skill.

Yet, in thirty years’ time, it will still be Eddie Edwards whose courageous story continues to capture the hearts and memories of a nation addicted to such gutsy heart and selfdeprecation.

“I’m very surprised that people still remember”, he admits in typically humble fashion.

“But when you think about the message I was portraying, it was such a powerful message that, in a way, I’m almost not surprised.

“It’s such a powerful message of hope and getting out there and achieving my dream of getting to the Olympics against all the odds.

“No matter how many people tried to stop me and tell me that it couldn’t be done, I kept going and never gave up, and I think that with the resilience and tenacity that I used, it became a very powerful message.”

Sport

Thursday 15th June 2017 | PALATINATE

Eddie the Eagle Interview Ski-jumper famed for his efforts at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988 talks to Nick Friend (pages 18-19).

Kate Richardson-Walsh Speaks to Palatinate Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero interviews former England and Great Britain captain about life after retirement (page 17).

Lord’s final beckons for Durham women James Martland Deputy Sport Editor

DULTC women celebrate at BUCS Big Wednesday, helping Durham remain the UK’s top team sport university. Photograph: Team Durham via Twitter

Palatinates Retain Team Sport Top Spot George Bond Deputy Sport Editor A record year of achievement for Team Durham has seen the university retain its status as the UK’s number one team sport programme.

Durham secured a second-place finish in the overall BUCS league table for the sixth consecutive year, surging away from nearest challengers Edinburgh by adding more than 700 points to last year’s total to reach 4797 in total.

The vast increase reflects success across the board, with all three categories – league, cup and individual – seeing rises in points totals.

Having fought off Loughborough to stay at the top of the team sport leaderboard, Durham were only denied top spot in the overall standings by the Midlands university’s dominant performances in the individual categories, which saw them run out convincing winners for a staggering 37th consecutive year.

Tennis has been Durham’s most successful sport this year, followed by fencing and lacrosse. Durham’s formidable tennis programme was victorious for both the men’s and

women’s teams, who also both defeated Stirling in their respective national championships.

Both the men’s and women’s fencing 1sts also made it to their national finals, where the men were victorious and the women were narrowly defeated by Edinburgh.

Durham’s men’s lacrosse team delivered another flawless, undefeated campaign, finishing top of the Premiership for the eighth successive season, and claiming their seventh national championship in those eight years.

Their success was capped off with victory over the England Senior Performance Squad, triumphing 11-9 at Maiden Castle.

The women’s lacrosse squad were equally impressive, dispatching all before them in their league campaign and holding off Exeter in the national championship game. The 2nds also picked up the BUCS WLAX Trophy, beating Cardiff 1sts 15-10 at BUCS Big Wednesday in March.

In hockey, the men’s team’s astonishing unbeaten league season saw them win 18 of 18 and qualify for the end-of-season play-offs to enter English hockey’s Premier League. Although the club were not successful

in gaining promotion, their success remains one of the highlights of this, or indeed any, Team Durham year.

Durham women’s hockey got all the way to the semi-finals of the national championship, before an agonising defeat to eventual runners-up Loughborough on penalty flicks. The 2nds also reached the semi-finals of the Trophy, after having also won their division.

At the BUCS Yachting Championships on the Solent, Durham’s sailing team became national champions for the first time ever. Taking the lead on the second of the event’s three day, the Palatinates never relinquished control, putting in a commanding performance to seal the gold medal.

The men’s and women’s water polo squads brought home championships from BUCS Big Wednesday, having both gone undefeated in 2016/17.

For both teams, this was their first ever national title, pushing the sport up to sixth in terms of BUCS points accrued for Durham this year.

DURFC, currently in the middle of a three-week, seven-game tour of New Zealand, were selected to participate in the inaugural BUCS Super Rugby season. Having finished fourth

after the league series, Durham reached the quarter-finals of the championship tournament, falling to Bath by just a single point.

In football, Durham women went unbeaten to claim the Premier North title, before sealing a league and cup double with a 4-3 win over Northumbria in the BUCS championship final. The men’s side narrowly missed out on a title of their own, after being beaten by Loughborough in the title deciding game.

Alongside numerous outstanding performances across various other sports, these results contributed to one of the most successful seasons in Team Durham history, cementing its reputation for producing some of the country’s top athletes.

The university’s decision to prioritise sport in its new 10-year strategy came on the back of year-on-year improvements in both participation and performance levels, resulting in the full renovation of the Maiden Castle site over the next few years.

This, coupled with rising funding, means that the challenge of overtaking Loughborough at the top of the BUCS leaderboard may not be as unthinkable as it may previously have appeared.

Today (Thursday 15th June) marks the final of BUCS women’s cricket, where Durham Women’s MCCU will take on Loughborough Women’s MCCU at Lords.

Durham will be going for glory having recently obtained a comfortable victory away at Southampton Solent in the semi-final.

BUCS women’s MCCU cricket is divided in two groups of four, a Premier North and Premier South, where every team plays each other twice. After the group stage has been concluded, the top two teams from each division play each other in a semi-final and then final.

Durham have come second in the Premier North for the last five season, and this year has been no different. Impressive victories have occurred over Leeds and St Andrews, both of which Durham have beaten twice. Nevertheless, arguably the best performance of the season came away at St Andrews in May, where Durham were able to put on 307 from their 50 overs, before bowling the opposition out for 49.

A victory over Southampton Solent, the side who topped the Premier South, followed in the semi-final in an equally impressive performance. Durham batted first, accumulating 312/4 off their 50 overs. The innings was steered by a masterful performance by captain Cordelia Griffith who scored 162 not out. Disciplined bowling by Durham limited Solent to 126/7, remarkably less than Griffith’s own individual score, qualifying Durham to the final.

The game at Lords will be a very difficult task. Durham will have to overcome memories of their recent games against Loughborough, where they lost by ten wickets and 181 runs respectively.

However, the victory over Southampton Solent will be a real confidence booster for the side, and with any repeat of that performance, then there is a good chance that Durham Women’s MCCU may well get their hands on the trophy.