'We can no longer trust Servest...' | Roar News | January 2017

Roar January 2017

THE NEWS-Y THINGS FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE OF KING’S

BA-DUM DOUCHE! STUDENTS are campaigning to get douches fitted in campus toilets.

Does King’s need more douches installed or not? Sameer Merali from KCL Radio weighs in on the issue.

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roarnews.co.uk

98% CLEANERS AGREE TO JANUARY STRIKE

We can no longer trust

GKT special A QUEUE FOR COMEDY REVUE

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DANK Page 17

GTA marking scandal continues

By MARIA GEFTAR

GRADUATE teachers continue to be “exploited”

by King’s as they’re made to work for unrealistically long hours for free with no training.

with their promises

Full story - Page 6

Marathon to married!

Full story - Page 18

— CLEANING STAFF

lCleaners endure illnesses from work ●Rampant bullying in the workplace

theDiary SEE PAGES 2&3

TEMPEST AND THE TRUMP PAGES 14 & 15

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS REVEAL I

By RYAN CHANG, Editor-in-chief

King’s cleaning staff contracted by Servest have faced ongoing problems with the private company over the last few months, with unmanageable workloads and lack of cover staff.

Cleaners described “hellish conditions” with bullying managers and supervisors, no sick-pay for health issues caused from work and having a shortage of cleaning equipment.

The private company made redundant more than half of cleaning staff over a two-year period, since the London Living Wage was introduced in the College.

230 cleaning staff were employed to work at King’s in 2014 before Servest arrived. Two years later less than one hundred cleaners remain, and they say that the workload has actually increased.

90 members working for Servest have lodged a collective grievance by the end of last year. A formal dispute was launched and public service union Unison met multiple times with Servest through government conciliatory organisation ACAS, which resolves disputes between employers and employees.

Servest has given “no concrete action”, the union claims, as an eighthour long meeting was held with ACAS last Friday. Union members voted overwhelmingly to continue with strike action today and tomorrow.

The College will decide soon whether or not it will renew its contract in with Servest, due to be signed in August.

Treated like

Workplace injuries In interviews with Roar, a number of cleaners revealed that they were taking on porter’s responsibilities, which include lifting heavy chairs, tables and equipment.

Regular cleaning duties have also increased, with many cleaners saying that they are cleaning twice or three times as much for the same amount of time.

One cleaner was tasked to scrub 2 whole buildings at the Strand Campus by herself - 60 offices, 15 bathrooms and 4 kitchens - in the space of a 7-hour shift.

At one point she fell down a flight of stairs while carrying cleaning equipment and was off work for two weeks. She did not receive any sick pay or compensation, and her manager blamed her for rushing down the steps.

Another cleaner was rushed to hospital one morning after carrying heavy recycling bins, and was put on a saline drip until 9pm at night. She said, “I didn’t receive any condolensces from Servest for my troubles.”

As cleaning staff are tasked porter responsibilities, many of them have developed injuries in their arms and back. One cleaner injured both his elbows from carrying chairs in and out of classrooms.

He added: “That used to be the porter’s work and ascribed to three people, but now I have to do it on my own.”

A cleaner who developed neck pain due to work stress said “it is necessary” for Servest staff to get sick pay, because their health issues are a result of excessive workloads.

He added: “This is the reward given by Servest: illness through stress, and what is more, they don’t pay you for it.”

‘We are in no-man’s land’

Psychological bullying A cleaner at Strand sat down with Roar and described his past experience working with a Servest supervisor as “humiliating”.

“She was always saying ‘Don’t you see that we are paying you [the cleaners] £9.40 so we need you working at 500%, because 100% is not good enough!’”

Two cleaners from Denmark Hill recounted a meeting with a Servest line manager, who told them in a meeting that they were all ‘just numbers’.

Another cleaner working in Guy’s Hospital, who had to clean four floors by himself, echoes the same opinion: “They treat us like robots here. They only care about the work, nothing else.”

Payment problems Alex Nightingale, Unison’s KCL branch secretary, described Servest as “a joke of a company,” explaining how supervisors had not received a promised pay increase in line with Living Wage.

“Supervisors got a letter to say

ROAR reported back in February 2014 that cleaners were not paid in line with the London Living Wage - one had to borrow money just to pay council tax.

Since the Living Wage has been implemented, Servest has cut down on staff numbers by more than half.

their rate would be increased accordingly back in April, but the increase has never been paid.”

A supervisor from Denmark Hill confirmed the fact that the London Living Wage increase was delayed for at least three months. From January to April 2016, supervisors were paid less than Servest operatives.

No gloves for cleaning near dead bodies One cleaner shockingly revealed how he was given little to no adequate equipment to work close to cadavers, whilst cleaning in a laboratory in Guy’s Campus.

The cleaner said that he asked Servest for equipment, specifically

for gloves and a mask, but “to this day, they have made a joke of me and they have not done it.”

He also suffers from asthma and psoriasis that covers his hands and feet, and says that everyday is a “struggle” with the smell of dead bodies.

“It’s banned to have accidents, and [Servest] doesn’t have insurance to cover workers. I thought it was a dream that something like this exists here well into the 21st century – that there would not be insurance for workers to cover accidents at work.”

When Roar interviewed the cleaner, his co-worker at the building was off work because she fell down a flight a stairs carrying a bag of rubbish.

“She got nothing for it.”

He reiterated, “Nothing. Nothing. She’s crying because they won’t pay her, won’t cover for her.”

“We are in no-man’s land.”

College says: critical areas will be cleaned during strike A spokesperson from King’s College London has issued a statement, saying “While respecting the employees’ right to strike, Servest will be carrying out critical cleaning duties on the King’s campuses to ensure the university can continue to operate, this includes the cleaning of toilets, clinical and lab areas and areas in which there is a legal requirement to carry out daily cleaning.”

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IMPOSSIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS

e machines ... pro LET TER ater gre posing ds with workloa ners a less cle

CONSULTATION WITHOUT CARE All King’s cleaners recieved a letter announcing a “consultation period” and that all jobs were “at risk of significant change or redundancy”.

Servest claimed that the changes were made because King’s College London asked for cleaners to work early morning hours when staff were not around.

Cleaners were immediately outraged and concerned for their livelihoods, culminating in protests on 25 November and 5 December.

The cleaning contractor issued a second letter to clarify its position, saying that workers had misunderstood their intentions.

Unison organiser Colin Inniss responded to the accusation, saying that “the misdirection, mis-instruction, the misinformation is coming from Servest.”

He added, “Every problem that has come up, they [Servest] have said it’s the workers The m isdirecti misunderstanding.” on, mis-instr “Maybe one person can uction, th misunderstand, maybe a e misinfo rmation couple. But not everybody, is comin because everybody is quite g from clear based on these proServest. posals they will have their hours reduced, they will have greater workloads, and they are at the risk of redundancy if they don’t agree to them.”

REPEAT OFFENDER This isn’t the first time Servest has been involved in contractual disputes.

Last year, four Servest cleaners working at the auction house Sotheby’s were suspended from work because they attended a protest for better sick pay.

Sotheby’s requested banning the four cleaners for “disrupting business” and damaging their reputation, in a story that made national headlines in July 2015.

Since then Servest came up with a Whistle Blowing Statement, letting employees know that they can raise concerns without being afraid of being bullied or victimised by the company.

CHRISTMAS STOLEN... Protest on Strand, 5 December

l “This rewar is the d

by Ser given ve ness t st: illhroug stress h .”

SERVEST CASHING IN THE MILLIONS BULLIED INTO SIGNING FAKE TRANSCRIPT OF A MEETING Cleaner “Teresa” described her ordeal negoti- lets, hand-wash and urinal basins, totalling 116 ating with Servest line managers. “Teresa” met with her supervisor to complain, but a Servest transcriber who recorded the meeting omitted her complaints, creating the impression she worked less than she did and furthermore, coerced her to sign the record.

I talked with my manager about my work-load, and I told him “it’s too much for me”.

I’m doing three people’s jobs, cleaning almost the whole of the King’s building, South-East Block and South-West Block. I clean all the toi-

facilties. I fix 53 soap dispensers a day and mop up all the floors.

The supervisor followed me for one day, to see for himself what my workload really was. He agreed that it was too much.

However during my meeting with managers from Servest, the records on the counselling form created an impression that thoughout the week I only work two days.

I will not sign the counselling form as the details are incorrect.

Servest has seen its revenues increase to £240m last year, but are still determined to cut staff and save costs.

The Suffolk-based company also declared operating profits of £10m at the end of 2015, according to financial records available online.

The company has been working at King’s College since September 2014, after winning a contract to provide cleaning services across the campus.

At the time, the College stated that they hoped the new contract would “provide our cleaning staff with better working conditions, including improved hours and a London Living Wage.”

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KING’S CARBON EMISSIONS DOWN 20% Energy-saving tips

By RYAN CHANG

KING’S recently completed a series of major projects aiming at reducing the College’s carbon footprint. Moreover the College has set itself a challenging goal to further reduce carbon emissions by 43% by 2020.

GREAT DOVER GETS A MAKEOVER... Solar panels at GDSA

Studentswitchoff.org suggests tips to save energy for students, and to cut down costs. n Open your curtains during the day to let in sunlight/heat and close them when the sun goes down n Take short showers (saves water too!) n Wash your clothes at 30 degrees n Cook together – saves energy, money and is nice and sociable too n Batch cook and freeze the rest for speedy microwave dinners n If you’re using your oven use it to cook multiple dishes, don’t just use it to heat one shelf at a time n Allow your food to cool down before putting it in the fridge/freezer so it cools naturally first n Defrost your freezer when you get a build-up of ice – it makes it run more efficiently n Use a bowl to wash up rather than a running tap n Set your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them n Heat only the areas of your home that need heating n Draught proofing is important as you will lose some heat through draughts around doors and windows, gaps around the floor, or through the chimney. n Switch to more efficient lighting. You can now get LED spotlights that are bright enough to replace halogens, as well as regular energy saving bulbs (‘compact fluorescent lamps’ or CFLs). They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and fittings n Turn off the lights. Turn your lights off when you’re not using them. If you switch a light off for just a few seconds, you will save more energy than it takes for the light to start up again, regardless of the type

As King’s College London is one of the initial signatories for the Paris Pledge for Action on climate change, it sets a challenging target for the College to lead by example in the goal to fight climate change.

Changes behind the scenes Many of the university’s major changes across campuses happened behind the scenes - improving lighting, installing timers and sensors, upgrading headting and cooling equipment.

£9,140

Money saved each year

Visual footprint of College energy use (2008-2009)

However a number of projects stand out as having created a major difference in long term energy use.

Most notably were the solar panels installed at Great Dover Street Apartments (GDSA) last year, which saves the College up to £9,140 in costs per year.

King’s Sustainability also successfully completed its Combined Heat & Power (CHP) project at Champion Hill, which will see a 4.5% reduction in energy use compared to the 2014/16 academic year.

Along with other Russell Group universities King’s purchases the majority of its energy from the Energy Consortium (TEC) for best rates.

Whilst the source of the Consortium’s energy is still powered by fossil fuels, researcher Tytus Murphy reassures that cheaper sources of sustainable power are “catching up in terms of value” and that it would be possible King’s energy supply will be from greener sources in the near future.

Do your bit to help out!

Speaking of the ways in which students can make a difference, starting from their consumption habits, Head of Sustainability Kat Thorne says, “Apart from reiterating that it really does all add up and reduces the impact on the environment, all they need to know is that it will save them money in life.”

“Although students are not directly the bill payer at the university, it means that it keeps the running costs of the university lower and the money can be spent in other areas.”

from GDSA solar panels

Want not, waste not!

TURNING OVER A GREEN NEW LEAF SUSTAINABILITY WEEK 2017

n King’s College VegFest 6 February 12:00 - 14:00 S-1.01 Strand Campus Fancy a free and sustainably sourced lunch? All ingredients ethically procured.

The majority of food provided will be vegan and there will be vegetarian options. n Sustainability & the Environment 6 February 18:00 Edmund J Safra Lecture Theatre King’s Careers & Employability have put together a panel event to discuss current and future careers in sustainability and the environment.

n Careers in Sustainability: Corporate Social Responsibility 7 February 18:00 G.73 Franklin Wilkins, Waterloo Interested in a career in Corporate Social Responsibility?

King’s Careers & Employability have put together this event to discuss the current and future careers in Corporate Social Responsibility. The evening will highlight the role sustainability plays within the private sector and the positive contribution businesses can make to enabling environmental sustainability.

n Panel Debate: Overconsumption vs Overpopulation 8 February 18:30 - 20:00 S-2.18 Strand Campus How do we contain global warming?

How do we feed, provide for and educate the 10, 11 or even 12 billion people expected this century? And what about biodiversity?

The headline event of King’s Sustainability Week, the event will include a host of panellists for a lively debate on the most pressing issue of our generation.

n Film Screening: Tomorrow (2015) 9 February 18:30 - 21:30 S-2.18 Strand Campus Tomorrow is a 2015 French documentary film directed by Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent.

Cyril and Mélanie, together with a team of four people, carried out an investigation in ten different countries to figure out what may lead to this disaster and above all how to avoid it.

n Why Should Healthcare Professionals Care About Climate Change?

10 February 12:30-14:00 Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Denmark Hill Join Medsin KCL- Student Action for Global Health and King’s Sustainability to learn about why the health community is taking climate change so seriously.

This event open is too all members of the health community - whether you are a biomedical researcher, a medical student, psychologist or simply interested in the implications of climate change for human health.

Ben: “Stand together to make King’s more representative” Comment by BEN HUNT

When I was LGBT+ Officer I carried on a campaign that had been running at King’s for several years to make the window representation at Strand more representative of the King’s community.

LGBT+ students over several years had been concerned with the portrayal of Lord Carey of Clifton as an alumni who should be celebrated due to his views expressed during the debate regarding gay marriage.

A petition was signed asking for his

removal by hundreds of students several years ago, as well as policy being passed through our democratic system endorsing the Union to take this stance.

Motivated in part by this campaign, but also by a desire to ensure that the diversity of students and alumni at Kings was represented, I worked with the University on the digital display content which currently shows images about the past achievements of King’s, our present student and staff community and what mark King’s wishes to make in the future, in Service of Society. Over several years we have also worked on a number of other projects that seek to express the diversity of the King’s community.

The digital windows express a com-

munity which strives to be accepting of diversity and inclusive. It comes after a campaign of several years which was concluded through collaboration and a shared will of the Union and College to do more to represent what all of the King’s community does in service of society. It is this message, one of collaboration and inclusion, which I would like to emphasise.

ful and harmful. It creates a tone of division which this project does not represent.

I hope that my reasoning has been made clear. The campaign was a representative one and I ran it in my capacity as an elected officer.

It is positive that we now celebrate a more representative sample of the King’s community, past, present and future which can inspire students, and alumni to look beyond the walls of King’s and outside into the world. The intention was never to create a climate of division in the King’s community, instead, to emphasise all of our strengths in accepting and supporting each other.

Hurtful and harmful, and creates a tone of division.

‘Gaystapo’ For journalists to employ language like ‘gaystapo’ which has very negative connotations for LGBT+ groups, as well as for people of colour and the Jewish community, is hurt-

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Security alert The head of a terrorism think tank in King’s College London has recently been appointed special representative to the world’s largest security organisation.

Professor Peter Neumann, heading of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) will now be advising the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) in policy-making decisions with his research.

Air pollution (m)apped A new app has been developed by researchers at King’s for pin-pointing areas in London that are heavily polluted.

Designed in conjunction with the City of London, the app City Air lets users know days when pollution is forecast to be high and plans alternate routes through areas with lower pollution levels.

9,400 deaths people die in one year as a result of air pollution, a King’s College London study found.

SPRAY-PAINTING THE STRAND

by VICTOR CHAIX

The front facade of King’s Strand building was chalked last Thursday by King’s Climate Change Emergency activist Roger Hallam, to protest the College’s continued investment in fossil fuels.

Roger, the main activist at KCCE, was ordered by a baffled security to stop his actions.

Ignoring the orders, Roger finished his spray-painting, observed by a handful of startled students going about their usual business on a sunny Thursday morning.

A College spokesperson has issued a statement saying: “We are disappointed that a student chose to spray red chalk graffiti on the front of the Strand building yesterday morning as part of a climate change campaign.”

“The university has worked closely with the student-led Fossil Free King’s organisation over the last year to develop a socially responsible investment plan and we published our position in September last year.”

“We recognise the rights of our students to campaign for change but do not accept that damaging King’s property is an effective way to achieve this and welcome the statement from Fossil Free King’s condemning this act. The matter has been referred to Student Conduct.”

“I can’t believe you’ve just done that...”

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HEAR US

ROAR

Cleaners need King’s support THE apalling conditions cleaners work in reveal the two realities that exist within the four walls of King’s, and how far apart they really are.

Interviews with cleaners around campuses (pg 2 & 3) reveal just the tip of an iceberg of the exploitative practices of the cleaning industry, and it’s happening right in the corridors of our university.

Cleaners are vital to the College’s daily operation, and it is common sense that the College should ensure that they have a proper standard of living and work environment.

Most universities in London outsource their cleaners as a way to save money and increase efficiency. But the cheaper deal comes at a human cost - the mental and physical strain inflicted on understaffed and overworked cleaners, many of them suffering health issues from the extreme workload.

King’s has a reputation to hold as a world-class institution, but outsourcing cleaning staff to private companies that care as little about their own employees as Servest does, will only reflect badly on the College itself.

King’s College London must seriously think twice before signing a new contract outsourcing employees to private companies, and consider having cleaners work in-house.

“King’s answers with war” KING’S investment in companies such as BAE Systems, Caterpillar Inc., Elbit Systems Ltd., General Electric, Hewlett-Packard Company, Lockheed Martin, are not only unethical, but deadly.

Student journalism survives in print ANYONE who works in student media will tell you that it isn’t always a walk in the park.

There is no doubt that the role of the student journalist is changing. Traditional forms of print have been disrupted by the click-bait generation of media. And a large amount of the time, it’s what people want to read. But to dismiss the idea of print media entirely and all at once, would arguably be foolish. Print media on campus, unlike in mainstream, is cardinal – a physical reminder of media presence that is difficult to ignore.

Despite the changes that will inevitably take place over the coming years, maybe print media is one tradition we can afford to keep.

n Tune in to “The Lens” on 2 February, 7-8pm on KCL Radio for an in-depth discussion on demilitarising King’s.

Students at King’s have raised the issue of arms investment for over 10 years now, and the university has failed at making any progress in cut-

All work... still no pay

ANONYMOUS QUOTES FROM 5 GTAS

Go green, get mean THE College deserves applause for choosing to work with students and researchers on sustainable initiatives, and for proving that “sustainability” isn’t just a by-word; it’s a promise backed up with action.

Climate change is the number one issue of our time, and big changes don’t happen overnight from a single institution. It comes from each of us making conscious everyday choices to eat less red meat, recycle our waste, and switch off lights we don’t use.

Our university has lofty goals for its own transition to green energy, but students can also start small and make a difference.

ting connections with the arms trade.

This time they demand that King’s listens. Students will be taking direct action on Friday, January 27th demanding King’s to treat divestment with a matter of urgency and responsibility.

OPEN LETTER by DEMILITARISE KING’S

‘I was actually told by a female professor of Education that female teachers shouldn’t wear too bright colours because you’ll distract the male students’.

By MARIA GEFTAR, President

Graduate teachers continue to be ‘exploited’ by King’s as they’re made to work for unrealistically long hours for free with no training.

Some graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are expected to mark 4,000 words per hour while others have only one or two hours to prepare for seminars. This means that teachers have no choice but to decrease the quality of their marking and give less detailed feedback at the expense of students.

‘We are expected to work many of our hours for free and our training and support are both abysmal. All the while, our senior management team is both larger and better remunerated than Theresa May’s cabinet and our principal, Ed Byrne, earns £458,000 annually’.

Editor-in-chief: Ryan Chang.

President: Maria Geftar.

Deputy Editor: Rebekah Evans.

NEWS: Editors: Irina Anghel & Gaby Bissett. Reporters: Brittany Bokzam, Nico Parfitt, Maiken Anderberg, Isabella Hilber, Charlotte Crang, Victor Chaix, John Kim, Emily Gulla, Jack Revell, Catriona Reilly, Amy Fallon, Shahad Ismail COMMENT: Editor: Mathilde Betant-Rasmussen. Reporters: Serena Buccoliero, Maxime Le Guillou, Maryam Dharas CULTURE: Editors: Emma Betty & Kadambari Bahl. Reporters: Beatrix Swanson. MUSIC: Nikhil Kanukuntla FILM: Andreas Karmiotis SCIENCE: Charlotte Cliffe FASHION & LIFESTYLE: Editor: Zoya Afzal. Reporters: Aashfaria Anwar, Amy Venn, Frances West STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Editor: Cathy Wang. Photographers: Gina Meile, Naïké Kabore & Afifa Suhail SUB-EDITOR: Stuti Shankar DESIGNERS: Siri Hedreen & Maku Itakura © ROAR NEWS 2017. Roar News, Tutu’s, KCLSU, Surrey St, London WC2R 2NS.

A survey conducted by a campaign launched by GTAs at King’s found that 96 per cent of King’s GTAs regularly work past their contracted hours.

After staging a marking boycott last year, the campaign was able to lobby for a decrease in essay marking from 5,000 to 4,000 words per hour and the removal of the six-hour weekly cap.

Only four hours of training However, teachers are still not receiving adequate training and

How am I supposed to encourage my students to spend days on their essays, if I’m only going to be dedicating 30 minutes to them myself? That seems horribly hypocritical to me, and as a result I - along with most of my GTA colleagues I’m sure - always work much beyond my contracted hours.’

support, and feel ‘ill-equipped’ to teach undergraduates.

GTAs currently go through only four hours of training per year, which has been mostly unpaid, though this is promised to change.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Higher Education (PGCAP), a formal teaching qualification offered by universities across the UK, has been scrapped with no sign of it being reintroduced.

n Do you have more on this story?

Email news@roarnews.co.uk

‘I currently have 15 students in each (philosophy) seminar class. These are no longer seminar numbers and it’s dispiriting having to admit that facilitating an equal conversation between 15 people is not really possible.

And then I have to provide information on how the students are participating, when I just can’t keep up with that number…’

WE LOVE YOUR STORIES

We are always after good stories – celebrity, a human interest story, scandal or anything else that you think the good people of King’s would want to read about. Just get involved, chuck us an email or phone up our newsdesk – we might even invite you to our office for soggy biscuits and whatever else is in our fridge.

Call our newsroom 0207 848 2692 ... or email our team editor@roarnews.co.uk

ROAR GET INVOLVED Y’ALL

You can talk to our team anonymously whether you’re student, staff or alumni – just let us know.

‘Being a GTA, I am quite exhausted and overwhelmed by the workload. Not only is it exploitative but I feel so dreadfully sorry for the students I am teaching, knowing that they they are not getting enough support during their degrees and feedback for their work.’

‘NMS (Natural & Mathematical Sciences) tried to change my contract midways, didn’t ask me if I wanted to, and changed the hour allocation every year according to random standards.’

CLARIFICATIONS & CORRECTIONS Roar aims to have the highest editorial standards (seriously, not kidding) in the paper and on digital. You can help us by letting us know if we’ve made mistakes. You can email us at editor@roarnews.co.uk or write to us at Roar News, The Macadam Building, Surrey St, London WC2R 2NS. We aim to correct significant (and insignificant) factual errors as soon as we can.

JANUARY 2017

LOANS RETRACTED LAST MINUTE

APOLOGIES ... SFE sends letter to livid students

EXCLUSIVE

TWO students who had their student loans revoked have described their experience so far as “difficult” and “incredibly stressful”.

Hannah Collis and Toby Pitts were plunged into financial difficulties weeks into their masters degrees after their loans were cancelled – despite initially being promised they would receive the funding.

Both of the King’s students had applied for the MA loans in July 2016 and, after receiving a confirmation letter from Student Finance England (SFE) in August, put down a deposit on their London accommodation.

However the payment date passed and no money was deposited into their bank accounts.

Toby Pitts, who is studying full-time for a Masters in Digital Humanities, said he called up SFE for an answer – only to find that his loan had unknowingly been revoked.

He said: “Upon ringing SFE up to check the first payment I was told that my loan had been revoked and initially I was just utterly shocked. The fact that they hadn’t even contacted me about it and had not let me know before the start of term was awful.”

As a result, Toby has had to work more than he originally planned to fund his studies.

“It’s been difficult to juggle both,” he said.

“I’ve been working a lot more then I would have liked alongside the degree and obviously this is going to have some impact on the amount of time I can devote

By GABY BISSETT News Editor

to study.”

“I’ve had to borrow money from other places and it’s been really stressful not having the financial security.”

And the story is similar for Hannah, who is studying for an MSc in Climate Change: Environment, Science and Policy.

After noticing the money had not gone into her account, she called up SFE and was told her loan had been revoked due to ineligibility.

She said: “I was completely horrified and could do nothing but cry for quite a while as I tried to comprehend how awful the situation was. This later turned to anger at the incompetence of SFE. “It was incredibly stressful for the first few weeks whilst I tried to sort out my financial situation. It now means that I will have to work alongside my MSc to sustain me but this will inevitably distract from my studies to an extent.”

Both students received an apology from SFE alongside an offer of £200.

Roar contacted SFE for comment but no response had been received at the time we went to print. n news@roarnews.co.uk

Lecture un-capture

Game of loans

“I could do nothing but cry for quite a while”

ROAR 7

By MATHILDE BETANT-RASMUSSEN

Lecture capture is a well-loved part of university life for most students. It is a reliable option in case lectures are missed or need to be revisited. This semester King’s has changed how lecture capture functions.

Some lecture recordings are audio-only, some are online only for 24 hours, and some lecturers have opted out of lecture capture entirely. Removing modules from lecture capture raises the questions of how unavoidably absent students will access material.

Comparative Literature lecturer Nora Parr has opted out of lecture capture.

Responding to the question of unavoidable absences, she says that lecture capture should be used ‘for emergencies, rather than something that’s an everyday’. However, the current situation is that lectures are either recorded or they are not; there is no personalised provision for exceptional circumstances.

Parr says that lectures should be about interaction and creating community. She argues that ‘lecture capture and fostering non-participation might stifle that’. However, students often find that real-life lectures lack interaction, so the lecture capture experience does not necessarily mean they are missing out.

Some English department lectures are now available online only for 24 hours after the event. This solution provides a backup for those who miss it but prevents students from relying on lectures for exam revision.

Parr says that lecturers are still working towards a solution and are listening to student feedback. However, students would like to control how they undergo their own learning, without having it decided for them.

NSS BOYCOTT: “DON’T DO THE SURVEY!” Comment By ANDREW WARREN

KING’S plans to raise tuition fees – and they want your help to do it.

As part of a national campaign by students and staff against the reforms, we are organising a boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS) and the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey (DLHE).

“Nine grand a year is cheap.” That must have been what went through the College’s senior management’s heads when they decided they want to raise tuition fees – again.

Tuition fee increases are part of drastic reforms to higher education planned by the government. Their vision is to transform universities into

businesses competing in a market for ‘customers’ – rather than a public good for students, staff and society.

With the scrapping of maintenance grants, the retrospective loan repayment hike and cuts to the Disabled Students Allowance, the government seems determined to bury us in debt.

At the centre of the reforms is the ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ (TEF), a new ranking system in which universities will compete for the right to raise fees, with year-on-year increases. Fees could eventually rise to the levels seen in the US. Universities that do well in the TEF can charge more – those that score badly could face cuts, course closures and redundancies.

What is the NSS?

The National Student Survey is an annual survey of final-year undergraduates. It is one of the metrics the TEF will use to rank universities.

Metrics such as graduate earnings data and another survey taken 6 months after graduation (DLHE)have little to do with good teaching.

The lecturer’s union, UCU, has long opposed the NSS, arguing that it is superficial and has little relationship to what actually goes on in lecture theatres, labs and seminars.

The result will be to put even more pressure on already over-worked staff to hit arbitrary targets at the expense of what they want to give and students want to have – genuinely top-quality, research-led education.

Low TEF scores increase the risk of courses being outsourced to pri-

vate companies to save money - the companies will profit from providing courses that don’t cater to student and staff’s needs.

In the face of these attacks, we refuse to roll over An NSS boycott give us real, ma-

terial leverage over what really matters to them – their money and their reputation. And all we have to do is not fill out a survey.

We have an opportunity to build a powerful national campaign that uses a variety of tactics against these destructive reforms and takes the fight to a government that cares more about the ideology of free markets than it does about us.

We are also standing up to the

KCL management who are putting short-term financial interests ahead of their own students and staff. Asking nicely is not enough – Sheffield has announced a fee increase despite their vice-chancellor opposing tuition fees. King’s wants to raise fees despite huge failings like the I.T. crash which stopped students from submitting work for weeks and lost international student data, putting visas at risk.

Senior management craves good NSS scores – we can use this to put pressure on them to drop the proposed fee increase and come out against the reforms. By taking collective action, we can show KCL and the government that if they want to use our NSS scores to raise fees, they’ve got a fight on their hands.

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ROAR

JANUARY 2017

BRUTAL-LIST FEEDBACK ON BARBICAN Should we graduate at Royal Albert Hall?

YOUR RESPONSES

BARBICAN’T CUT IT

by REBEKAH EVANS, Deputy Editor

A petition to bring back the Royal Albert Hall as the location for Kings’ graduation ceremonies has recently gained traction online.

KCLSU petition gains traction Students say “Bring it back!”

The campaign, started by Liberal Arts student Charles Gillett, now has over 500 signatures. It surpassed the 150 initially required within the first four hours of being live on the KCLSU website. Speaking to Roar, Charles outlined his passion for the petition.

When looking for more information after applying to King’s, he noticed that the College used to hold graduation at the Royal Albert Hall and that KCLSU advocates for students ‘taking an active role in changing and bettering their university experience’.

Student from Pharmacology and Molecular Genetics “YES!!! It’s about time we have a say in this, as it is us who pay A LOT OF MONEY for the graduation! Albert Hall! The Royal Albert Hall is a place much more suitable for graduation, compared to the awful Barbican! We succeeded in changing the location for the exams, why not change this as well, it is so much more important!”

Masters student in Environment and Development “Yes, at a university which is advertised as prestige and is seen as prestige and world reknown, graduation should take place at the Royal Albert hall. When I found out about graduating at the Barbican I was disappointed. King’s have some of the prettiest buildings on campus and the Barbican is the complete opposite.”

Students ‘dissatisfied’ with the Barbican

The Barbican gives off a dour impression

An ugly brute?

Fifth-year student in Medicine MBBS “Support moving venue back to Royal Albert Hall. I feel the Barbican is a poor choice as a venue for graduation.”

Charles asserts that ‘several students and I have expressed our dissatisfaction with the Barbican Centre as the prospective graduation venue’. He said the Freshers’ Fair truly enlightened him on the issue, where it soon became common to hear in conversation ‘I can’t believe we’re actually going to graduate here’ or, if someone was hearing this for the first time, ‘No way, why?!’ He said that ‘anyone I brought it up with agreed’.

When asked why there was such loathing towards the current graduation venue, Charles said the negative reaction was a result of the building’s ‘dour impression’.

Graduation had traditionally taken place at the Royal Albert Hall until 1992 when, in a shock move, the College decided to move the ceremony to the Barbican Centre. The College has not provided a reason as to why the venue was changed, sparking further student outcry as justification is sought.

Matter of tradition KCL Alumni “Not sure if Alumni are considered in this petition. I would have definitely preferred The Royal Albert Hall as the graduation venue.”

Third-year Dentistry student “Bring it back!”

Another master’s student in Environment and Development “I definitely think Royal Albert Hall is a better venue for students graduating from KCL. A prestigious university like KCL and students who have worked hard to maintain that standard deserve an equally deserving graduating venue.”

! s ’ g n i K a r o f t fi Finally

Adam Huber, First Year English Student Representative and supporter of the campaign, said he thinks the Royal Albert Hall is a beautiful and prestigious venue. When he heard it had been the graduation location for 100 years, he thought it was ‘a great idea to bring back an old tradition’.

Tradition seems to fuel the campaign.

Charles argued that graduation is a ‘very meaningful time’ and ‘one of the proudest days’ in a student’s life. He said that though the Barbican Centre was ‘an important and interesting feature in London’, the Royal Albert Hall was ‘very much an iconic and much-loved venue, not just in London but around the globe’.

The petition has thus far gained support from a myriad of departments and societies across all branches of the College. n Burning issue in your heart? Contact comment@roarnews.co.uk!

JANUARY 2017

ROAR 9

A HELPING HAND IN JORDAN FUNDRAISING £43K FOR REFUGEES

by MATHILDE BETANT- RASMUSSEN, Comment Editor

Members of the Students4Syria society at King’s travelled to the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan with the Human Relief Foundation during the summer of 2016.

Before the trip the students conducted a major campaign to raise money for building a rehabilitation centre at the camp. They received £42,976 in donations, exceeding their goal by almost £3,000.

The S4S students travelled to the Zaatari camp at the end of July and spent a week there. Amin Habib, a fourth year medical student at King’s, was part of the expedition.

‘I was a bit apprehensive beforehand,’ he said, ‘I didn’t know what to expect.’

The Zaatari Refugee Camp, or Zaatari Village, is also called ‘the open-air prison’ because of the high security there. Its population is now close to 80,000. The living conditions are harsh, especially because of the hot and dry climate. ‘Living there, I just can’t imagine it,’ said Amin.

When they arrived in Amman, the capital of Jordan, the S4S students first visited refugee families living in government housing.

They were particularly affected by the story of Ahmed, a 4-month-old boy suffering from congenital heart disease.

‘It was a story that struck us, because a young child, it could have easily been our younger brother,’ said Amin. The group of students went back to the camp that night and started an intensive online fundraising campaign. ‘We ended up raising 10k in just

one hour and a half’, said Amin. Later, the students surprised Ahmed’s family with the news. ‘He was in disbelief,’ Amin said about the father, ‘he wanted to check it was real.’

The main problem faced by Syrian refugees in Jordan is the severe lack of employment. ‘They [the Jordanian government] can’t even give their own citizens jobs,’ said Amin. The refugees are then forced either to live off food coupons that only provide the bare necessities, or to find illegal jobs that can pay for more serious expenses.

Another problem in the refugee camp was the absence or inadequacy of medical infrastructure and equipment. Amin said, ‘There was only one functional clinic there, and it would get around 600-700 patients a day, and all the doctors working there were volunteering.’ The S4S group was also shown the patch of land where the rehabilitation centre they had helped fund would be built.

During their trip the students interacted with Syrian families within and outside the camp. But, according to Amin, the situation seemed equally critical on either side of the fence: ‘It was just a lot of unfortunate cases.

Everything piles up and all the unfortunate things in life happened in one gulf for these people.’

Helping the Syrian refugees is not an impossible task. The misinformation surrounding the refugee crisis needs to be addressed first.

When Amin asked refugees how those back in England can help them, he seemed to get a unanimous response: “What they want to see is that you’re spreading their stories and that you’re making people aware.”

“The response and support from the public has been overwhelming and we would like to thank you all.”

College publishes warning: emails are monitored s

Blowing loans on gym & drinks

By REBEKAH EVANS

A third of students spend their student loans frivolously, according to a recent survey. The survey, conducted by popular website The Student Room, suggests university students blow their monthly loan predominantly on gym memberships, alcohol, and shopping sprees.

The survey was conducted to track the habits of the typical university student. Of of the 1500 students surveyed, many

chose to spend their maintenance loans quickly rather than budget wisely. 16% of those surveyed stated they spent their whole loan in a month of university living. A significant number of students stated they had not been given any financial advice on arriving at university.

In some of the survey’s most open responses, students also admitted to using their loan to undergo cosmetic surgery and visit strip clubs.

2013 research from VoucherCodes suggested that London students were the best at making their loans last with an average of eight-and-a-half weeks. However, with this new information from The Student Room, it is difficult to determine whether the average university student is as penny-pinching as is usually thought.

EXCLUSIVE by BRITTANY BOKZAM

King’s has published a new warning on the university’s email sign-in page. The warning reiterates the College’s right to monitor and record all activities on the system. It also acknowledges the College’s compliance with the UK government’s Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, known also as PREVENT.

This policy is designed to stop people from becoming radicalised, or drawn into extremist or terrorist activities. Should “system personnel” find evidence of either criminal activity or activity that violates PREVENT, they “may provide the evidence of such monitoring to law enforcement officials.”

A spokesperson for the College clarified that actual monitoring policies and practices have not changed, but the new statement on the sign-in screen provides transparency and establishes the College’s compliance with PREVENT. “We are not actively monitoring IT activity but are simply notifying users that we have the obligation and right to do so if required, which has been the case

for some time,” the KCL spokesperson said. “King’s College London is proud of its diverse and inclusive community and any monitoring would form part of the usual security process.”

KCL student union vice president for education Mariya Hussain, speaking on behalf of the student officer team, said in an email that they had been unaware that students’ correspondence could be sent to law enforcement as a result of PREVENT. “It is a violation of students’ trust,” she said.

She believes the PREVENT strategy is flawed, especially its mandate that university staff must report people they consider to be at risk of radicalisation.

“The PREVENT policy lacks clarity in what it deems to be factors that can demonstrate someone is ‘at risk of radicalisation,’” she said.

According to PREVENT, some of the indicators of being vulnerable to radicalisation include “being at a transitional time of life,” “a desire for political or moral change,” and “relevant mental health issues.”

Hussain went on to say that the

PREVENT agenda has had a negative impact on university campuses.

“Students - particularly Muslim students who are most affected by the Prevent agenda - are reluctant to voice political opinions in seminars. They are concerned that if they attend a counselling session to help with their mental health they could be referred to Prevent,” she said. “And now what they write in their emails is subject to scrutiny and investigation under the eye of ‘radicalisation.’”

She is far from the only one to feel this way. A national anti-PREVENT campaign, Students Not Suspects, “has been formed to campaign against this discriminatory Prevent duty and to achieve its repeal.”

Last year, more than 350 academics published an open letter in the Independent condemning the PREVENT strategy.

“PREVENT will have a chilling effect on open debate, free speech and political dissent. It will create an environment in which political change can no longer be discussed openly, and will withdraw to unsupervised spaces,” they wrote.

“Therefore, PREVENT will make us less safe.”

It is a violation of students’ trust

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JANUARY 2017

NIGHTCLUB INSTITUTION REOPENS

Happy to see... we are Fabricless no longer!

by ASAD ZULFIQAR OUR KID

FABRIC has been granted back its licence, and the legendary club reopened in early January.

All you freshers, well by now it’d be a shame if you hadn’t tasted a bit of nightlife that made you marvel at London, but if you haven’t yet and cutting shapes to techno in a sweat dungeon until 7 in the morning sounds like your cup of tea, rejoice!

Indeed, in what can be dubbed by all a victory for common sense – in a year fraught with some pretty iffy calls (damn you 2016) – the council reneged on its decision.

License revoked... major blow to the “culture”

They revoked the club’s license because it was not doing enough to police illegal drug consumption within its walls. Which if you’ve been to Fabric-like venues, you’d recognise that reason as either crazy or only valid if then literally every other club cut from the same fabric – whey – does significantly less.

As someone who preferred other venues and had no intentions to go to Fabric again, it’s important to outline that this decision is beneficial to me and to anyone into the “culture.” What Fabric represents, and the contributions it has made are significant, and its reopening can only be good for the culture, whilst on the flipside its closure was a major blow.

More work for the NightCzar

SOME of the fallen... personally bitter about plastic people

So cheers Sadiq Night-Time-Economy Khan, you really sorted that one out, which is to say you made a silly situation that shouldn’t have happened unhappen, which really plops us back at square one. But hey, the night tube, I’ll give you that. Even if you didn’t accept my application to be London’s Night Czar.

The #saveourculure was started in the wake of Fabric’s closure, but the job’s not yet done with the reopening of one club in a city that has seen over 1,411 clubs close since 2005 (that terribly specific number was the count in 2015), there is work yet to be done.

Right to left...

Rob Calder, Elle Wadsworth, and Lindsey Hines

NOT SURE what the facts are behind drug and addiction news stories? Don’t worry - researchers from King’s College London have got you covered.

Three researchers from the National Addiction Centre in the College have created an all new podcast series “What’s the Crack” to bring to light the science behind the hottest media topics on addiction.

Rob Calder, Elle Wadsworth, and Lindsey Hines teamed up to apply their expertise in the science behind drug addiction, from cannabis use, to the dark web, to the use of e-cigarettes.

Lindsey Hines writes, “Whether we’re thinking about how the brief closure of Fabric fits with what we know about modern MDMA use, considering why Dry January isn’t always the right choice, or anticipating future headlines by interviewing researchers about their

emerging research, we’ll be bringing new perspectives on the stories you’ve read.”

Drawing on research from around the world and across different age groups, the trio tackle in their latest podcast the issue of “Dry January” a concept advocating temporary alcohol abstinence.

Their findings suggest that people who partake in Dry January return to drinking with reduced levels of harm to their bodies, and the health benefits continue beyond the month.

Rob says “There is very little evidence for the rebound effect: where people quit alcohol for a month, but on the first day of February go out and get absolutely hammered. Only a very small minority get affected by that.”

@WhatTheCrackPod #CrackPodIdea

Int’l students stay over at VPAD’s new lounge

By MOMIN SAQIB

KCLSU takes pride in optimising students’ experience while at university and this December bore witness to its sheer tenacity to stick to its motive. We extended our support to students beyond term-time and made our presence felt during the festive period. Since some of us aren’t always able to go home whilst the University is closed over the holidays, the

Global Lounge was launched to provide space for any King’s student, (from anywhere in the world, including the UK), to relax and socialise to ensure that students could evade loneliness and keep their social lives afloat.

Vice President for Activities and Development, Momin Saqib, with the assistance of International Students’ Officer Haider Abbas, worked with the college round the clock to develop the Global Lounge

JANUARY 2017

over the Winter break. When asked, Momin quoted, “Not going home doesn’t mean no fun! The lounge was situated at the Atrium at Waterloo Campus (Café area) and opened from 1.00pm until 9.00pm every day from 19 December - 2 January, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.” It was staffed by 12 trained student ambassadors( also became a source of providing part-time work opportunity for students ) and included Indoor games(Table Tennis), free sandwiches and other light refreshments galore and a ‘Virtual Cinema’ which hosted Film and Quiz nights.

A particularly popular event was the New Year’s fireworks when student ambassadors led the students to London Eye to witness the

ROAR 11

spectacular display of pyrotechnics.

Based on the positive response that this project received, we will need to and will give our best to make sure that the Global Lounge would be live again during the Spring Break.

Muhammad said, “Global Lounge kept King’s heart running in comatose. Absolutely amazing.

We enjoyed playing table tennis occasionally during the breaks while studying and we didn’t have to worry about food as there was an endless supply of delectable sandwiches. On top of that snacks were offered copiously. Film nights and the fireworks excursion were the prominent highlights.”

King’s needs more douches

by SAMEER MERALI

No, not that kind of douche. These toilet water pipes, also known as ‘shattaf’ in Arabic are a common feature in lavatories in the Middle East and Asia.

They are used to cleanse the nether regions of an individual after using the facilities and are frankly a more hygienic route that leaves you skid mark free. And it’s about time King’s invested more in them too.

It was great to see the survey from the International Students Association appearing on my feed. With only two questions, it would be great if they are inundated with responses (presumably those of a positive nature). They cite various reasons that someone might desire the douche.

Be it for hygienic or cultural reasons, comparisons with other universities, or the main reason I have found, are that of religious reasons. Think of it an essential post-toilet purifier, which if not adhered to, prevents an individual from praying afterwards.

Now one of the great things about being in such a culturally diverse city and university is the acceptance and tolerance of different ideas and ways of living. Say if this piece was

in the Daily Mail, I dread to think of some of comments that may appear.

“Bloody foreigners coming over here, changing our toilets” “If they don’t like our toilets they can go back to where they came from” “British bums for British toilets” *shudders* No thank you. Nobody would be forced to use it, in the same way that nobody is forced to use lavatory paper. It’s just there. An option. And one that you may even find yourself liking if you give it a go.

And it’s probably cheaper than you think. We thankfully already do have a couple at King’s with one on Guy’s campus and another in Waterloo. But for a university with such a large international student body, it makes sense to invest in these further. We have made great strides for toilet accessibility with many disabled and gender-neutral ones. Perhaps the shattaf should be added to the toilet to-do list too. I mean it doesn’t have to boil down to the ‘shattaf’ as the sole option.

We could install bidets, which they tend to have in France. Although that would naturally be more costly and slightly impractical as the toilets aren’t exactly spacious enough to place an oval basin in each cubicle. We could install Japanese hi-tech toilets that have a water stream button attached.

Again, great, but pricey. The douche is therefore the glistening gold at the end of a grubby tunnel. The chance to continue with your day’s activities feeling clean, refreshed and comfortable. So please King’s, invest further in these brilliant contraptions. At fifteen pounds a pipe, we could have douches everywhere! Couldn’t find the douche? Let me know! @SameerMerali

Nitrogen dioxide levels breached at Strand

By CATHY WANG

Researchers at King’s College London, who run the London Air Quality Monitoring network, have found that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels at Strand have breached the EU limit.

The EU law concludes that the ‘average hourly level of NO2 must not exceed 200 micrograms per cubic metre more than 18 times a year’.

Violations have been found on many other of London’s busiest roads, culprits including Oxford Street and Kings Road.

One of the most egregious infringements of this EU law being on Brixton Road in South London, which exceeded the annual limit 19 times in the first five days of the new year.

SUSTAINABILITY WEEK

6-10 FEB

VEGAN LUNCHES, FILM SCREENINGS, DEBATES

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JANUARY 2017

AQ

COMEDY R

faced newcomers, 2016 saw the ever popular GKT who I’m sure we will see for the next Comedy Revue enter its 291st show,

By AASHFARIA ANWAR few shows, as Antonia remarks, an age old tradition spanning the “Whilst it takes a lot of comedic skill, long and rich history since Guy’s itself began. A three-day extravaganza, enjoyed by determination and thick skin to get into the Revue, GKT students and staff alike, full of outrageous once you’re in, you’re in for life!” The cast and proand witty sketches, boisterous spectacles of duction team spent 4 long months working excepwell-parodied videos, dance and song numbers tionally hard writing, auditioning and rehearsing to create the magic of the show. The amount of time, and of course, the snogging and nudity!

All three nights saw the Greenwood lecture theatre packed, with RAG raking in a whopping £7605 in ticket sales, the highest amount raised since the show began! These proceeds were donated to RAG’s chosen charities; Guy’s Cancer Centre, Evelina Children’s Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Foundation for Disabled People and Build With Nepal.

The theme for this year’s show was a spin on the Oscar’s, aptly named The OSCEs. For those that do not know, the OSCE’s are a series of grueling, clinical exams that medical students (as well as other health science students) undertake each year. Director Antonia Karus-McElvogue explains “The Oscars are obviously held annually thus remaining relevant every year, but so are our OSCEs and so it seemed like an ideal choice. This theme allowed us to take the exams that blight the lives of so many of GKT to the stage, where we could create a far lighter hearted atmosphere than could ever be expected in the OSCEs.” Previous years have seen themes relevant to that particular year, for example last year commemorated the release of the latest Bond film. However, this year’s theme was utilised well throughout the production, presenting several “awards” such as “Best Supporting Actor” with nominees showcasing hilarious, parodied film clips, making for a cohesive and effortless production. Antonia comments, “I wanted a theme that wouldn’t be dated in a couple of years.”

I don’t think anyone will ever forget Ben Taylor-Davies’ winning performance of “When Harry Met Barry”, it adds a whole new perspective on prostate examinations…

Familiar faced “veterans” returned to the cast this year as well as welcoming some brave, fresh

dedication and work that go into the show is remarkable, and as I’m sure many of you that saw the show will agree, it all paid off, producing a spectacular performance.

Every year the Revue satirizes current affairs of the world and closer to home, GKT life, its students and faculty. There were plenty of brilliant and hilarious skits, but a crowd favourite was definitely the second year fake OSCEs. The cast from the show filmed a mock OSCEs session for innocent second years to practice. However, these unbeknownst second years were in for the strangest OSCEs they’d ever take. With cast members acting as patients, presenting the most unconventional ailments for routine medical examinations – an armless victim having their blood pressure checked while a poor second year, silently begging for cues from the older students nervously attempted to use the patient’s thigh, and a GP patient randomly collapsing to the floor, making it impossible for the student to aid and lift them while she timidly reassured him that “help is on its way”. There was a collective moment of realization from many of the second years sitting in the audience as they were finally made aware that they had been riotously played.

There were of course anecdotes and skits about Trump, Harambe and the stereotypical GKT sports personalities – there were plenty of rugby boy jokes. There was even a “Gexit” sketch, parodying Brexit with the Guy’s and Strand rivalry. Antonia comments “Whilst the long standing GKT-Strand rivalry provided an ideal premise for the video, really it made fun of different sects of GKT (from GPEPs, to freshers, to sports teams).”

In addition to these topical skits, every year there is a sketch made for the enjoyment of the cast, “whilst they may not be audience favourites we as a cast certainly have a ball both writing and rehearsing them so there’s a degree of emotional investment”. This year it was the “Superhero” sketch achieved this role, with witty heroes such as “Wolverenal Failure” “CAT-scan woman” and “Iron Deficiency Man”.

A tradition of the show is to in-

JANUARY 2017

QUEUE FOR REVUE

ROAR 13

A teething challenge

By CATRIONA ROBERTSON REILLY

A team of researchers at King’s stated that new adult teeth can be grown.

In an article in Scientific Reports the team described a way to stimulate cells in the mouth to grow new teeth.

The procedure uses an Alzheimer’s drug to stimulate the growth of “dentine”, which is the part of the tooth under the enamel.

Though the procedure has so far only been used on mice, Professor Paul Sharpe seemed optimistic about public use in the near future.

He stated in an interview that the simplicity of the approach made it “ideal as a clinical dental product”, and that the drug’s previous testing meant it could be exported “quickly into clinics”.

The King’s College London Dental Institute, globally ranked fourth in the QS World University Rankings 2016, has truly revolutionised the field.

This breakthrough means that tooth decay can finally be combated and may potentially cripple a billion pound false-teeth industry.

Rising Star for Irish dentistry

By CATHY WANG

volve the integral and committed medical faculty. The students of course hugely respect the faculty but have such a good relationship with them, that every year the GKT Revue is not complete without parodying and imitating them, often in an amusingly offensive way. However, the faculty have such a great sense of humour, they revel in these satires of themselves. Despo Papachristodoulou,

the Head of Medicine (for years 1 and 2), has a regular sketch each year and there were reoccurring parodies of Professor Stuart Carney, the current Dean of Medicine, who is soon to leave for Australia! A new addition this year, was the “Who is Louise

GKT special Dubras” film sketch, with neither students nor staff recognizing the recently appointed Dean of Medicine – a Southampton intercalating medical student however, instantly recognized their former Southampton lecturer! The faculty are invited to the Thursday performance and always go out for drinks with the cast and crew afterwards, delivering fantastic feedback,

roarnews.co.uk @Roar_News facebook.com/roarnews

Despo even said “It was the best show in over 4 years!”

A beloved feature and one most look forward to, is of course the wonderfully notorious dancing boys and girls baring all. Catherine Cook and Alex Theoklitou choreographed this year’s dances, and the boys and girls did not disappoint in their thrilling performances.

The girls, as always exuded the confidence and sexiness you’d see in a burlesque show, even permitting a few lucky dancing boys to a lap dance, certainly getting them hot under their… collars! The boys on the other hand went for a more comical and fun routine, flaunting spandex, capes, mankinis, and twerking that could compete with the girls! At the end of both performances, just for a second the boys and girls bare all and suddenly, lights out! Talk about leaving little to the imagination!

The entire production was a huge success, thoroughly adored by all students and faculty alike. Director Antonia Kraus-McElvogue, producer Josh Sanders, musical director Alice Wilkinson and the cast and crew outdid themselves this year, once again demonstrating the GKT Revue to be a highlight of the GKT calendar!

MORGAN O’Gara, who completed a masters degree in Aesthetic Dentistry at King’s College London, has been nominated for ‘Best New Practice’ and ‘The Rising Star Award’ in the Irish Dentistry Awards of 2017.

Dr. O’Gara founded and now practices at O’Gara dental in Ballsbridge. At O’Gara dental, he specialises in ‘family dentistry, sports dentistry, and cosmetic dentistry’.

The Irish Dentistry Awards highlight ‘individuals, teams and practices that represent some of the finest in the Irish dental profession’.

What makes Dr. O’Gara’s achievement even more extraordinary is that he only established O’Gara dental less than a year ago.

On behalf of the Roar team, we wish Dr. O’Gara congratulations!

A week for wellbeing DANCE classes and tester sessions in Kabaddi are on offer from 6th February, as KCL India Society partners with the Student Union to promote healthy lifestyles.

An additional 20 other student societies are expected to host events for the week.

The wellbeing fair wil start on the 6th February from 11am to 3pm in Activities Rooms 1 & 2 at Guy’s campus.

FOLLOW US ONLINE FOR BREAKING NEWS FEATURES & COMMENT

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JANUARY 2017

ROOTS REASONING

BY NADINE LESFORIS

STUDENTS BRING JAMAICA’S CULTURE TO KING’S Meet Nimai Inniss and Rory Limbs Salters, two musically gifted students who have o n e of the most popular music stations on KCL Radio.

They have brought a taste of Jamaica’s culture to King’s with ‘Conscious their station Roots Reasoning. Their motto, ‘conscious people, people, conscious lyrics, Rastafari music’, inconscious vites listeners to lyrics, be conscious of the words Rastafari behind the music. music’

NOT JUST ALL ABOUT THE BASS For both students Rastafari music is more than just bass to dance to, and the words behind the music hold significant

Big theatrical events in London this year

BY BEATRIX SWANSON SCOTT

1

Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre

This is for Sherlock and/or Downton Abbey fans - Andrew Scott (i.e. Moriarty) takes the title role while Jessica Brown Findlay (i.e. Sybil Crawley) plays Ophelia.

Rosencrantz & Guilden2 stern are Dead at the Old Vic

Daniel Radcliffe stars in the 50th anniversary production of the play that premiered at the Old Vic those many years ago and propelled playwright Tom Stoppard to fame.

3

Angels in America at the National Theatre

The star-studded cast of this revival of Tony Kushner’s epic 7-hour play (in two parts, mercifully) includes Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Denise Gough (People, Places and Things).

The Glass Menagerie at 4 the Duke of York’s Theatre

After a successful Broadway run, director John Tiffany (of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child fame) brings his production of this classic play to the West End.

5

Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre

The sensation that is Hamilton comes to London this November - booking opens January 30!

RE meaning and tell a particular story. They say ‘it’s quite amazing how people are captivated by this music and want to listen to it’.

But, as reggae music has grown in popularity the history behind the lyrics tends to be forgotten. Marley is a great example of how people love the bass, the main chorus, and the feeling without really listening to the words behind the music. His popularity has to an extent commodified him as an artist, but the music still makes people think of what he meant when he sang ‘Buffalo Soldier’.

Having met in Medieval Spanish, the duo’s friendship blossomed from their huge music collection, and they have spent most of their four years at King’s sharing music and bringing a positive vibe. After a spending a year studying abroad their goal this year was

to get a slot on KCL Radio. After their last exam Inniss and Salters hope to create a bass bin, a challenge with building the necessary pieces to get their music production in order.

After their departure from KCL Radio, they hope to play at events and raise money for their bass bin.

‘Popularity of reggae overshadows history behind words’

This is not a student-specific deal, but the £5 standing or ‘yard’ tickets that are available for all shows at the Globe are worth mentioning.

The Almeida

How to see theatre in London for £5 or less

For when you feel like it’s been too long since you did something cultured

The National Theatre

A round-up of the best student deals for cheap tickets to London’s theatres.

The Barbican

n Help us bring cultural things to the good people of King’s! Email culture@roarnews.co.uk with your story.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Sign up for free to Young Friends of the Almeida for £5 tickets to Monday shows as well as post-show talks and other opportunities to get involved.

The Young Barbican scheme get you access to £5 tickets to all the Barbican’s plays, shows, films and exhibitions.

To listen to Roots Reasoning, tune in every fortnight on KCL Radio to hear the conscious sound of Rastafari music.

The National’s Entry Pass scheme for 16-25 year olds gives you access to £5 tickets to all performances (plus £7.50 to bring a friend). But beware – the designated Entry Pass tickets go fast!

Also, the National start selling £5 standing tickets to some popular shows when all other tickets have sold out.

The Donmar Warehouse

The Donmar at King’s Cross is currently running the Young+Free scheme for under 25s. Join and you’ll be able to book free tickets to their Shakespeare trilogy playing until December - if you get in there quick on ticket release days!

5 lesser-known galleries and museums that are a half-hour walk away from Strand campus or closer & free 1

Sir John Soane’s Museum

Formerly the home of neo-classical architect John Soane, this beautiful house on Lincoln’s Inn Fields (near the LSE) holds drawings and models of Soane’s projects as well as the many works of art and antiquities he collected during his lifetime.

2

The Cork Street galleries

Cork Street in Mayfair, West London, is full of contemporary art galleries which are predominantly free.

3 The Courtauld Gallery

Housed inside the Courtauld Institute of Art, the history of art school neighbouring King’s, this gem of a gallery located at the entrance to Somerset House holds many famous works including the Manet of the g hind the bar (You know, th with the mirror?). If you’re b at Strand campus and h been, it’s high time.

The Grant Museum Zoology

4

As you don’t (I hop to UCL, you migh know that the university h a zoology museum cont 68000 specimens coverin whole animal kingdom. If bones and pickled mole your thing.

House of MinaLim

Now for something tle different.. This c ed old Soho town showcases the coloured works of Eduardo and Miraphora Mina, the d duo behind all the graphic the Harry Potter films. Wo visit for any fans of Harry P graphic design and/or cr old townhouses.

5

JANUARY 2017

ROAR 15

the Diary ROAR

Email: culture@roarnews.co.uk EDITORS: Emma Betty, Kadambari Bahl EPORTERS: Nikhil Kanukuntla, Beatrix Swanson Scott, Nadine Lesforis, Aashfaria Anwar

KING’S PLAYERS REINTERPRET SHAKESPEARE’S “THE TEMPEST” FOR A POST-TRUMP WORLD

text as they act as a chorus in the play using ‘spoken word’ poetry. Their interjection in the play exposes the darker side of The Tempest and forces the audience to question the prejudice and oppression they are witnessing on stage.

Malik explains she wanted to tackle racialised police brutality and intolerance in the form of Islamophobia, racism and homophobia, incited from the recent election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. She adds, “When the US president openly advocates racial division, we cannot afford to be silent.”

Discrimination is a complex theme, but the creative team illustrated it

BY FRANCES WEST Director Sara Malik explores racism and gender discrimination through her contemporary reworking of The Tempest. In light of recent political events, her choice to highlight the social implications of the text is a refreshingly modern take on the play.

The production includes two poets, Tane Stevens and Maya Sourie, who put a contemporary spin on the

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Roar’s guide to KCL Radio THE GAMING SHELF Sometimes what stays with us the most is the music. After the discs have cracked, the console’s died, and the community’s moved on, it only takes a few bars or a familiar melody for those bomb-ass bosses, spectacular vistas, and soul-crushing storylines to come flooding back. This is a radio show designed for you, the gamer.

Welcome to the Gaming Shelf.

Alex Adams Wed 9-10pm

A ROOM WITH A VOO

A Room with a Voo.. Nah not a misspelt book about a broad in Vicky England. A KCL radio chat/ music show,

by Jacob Voo, where a different artist is heard every MONDAY at 6-7pm, from Kanye to K-Pop there are plenty of vibes.

Jacob ter Voorde Mon 6-7pm

TUNE IN CHILL OUT

Reject the sesh life with Layla Davis’s too-hipster-to-function chilled tunes, her own unique northern ‘charm’ and top quality banter every Monday night on Tune In Chill Out for KCLRadio.

Layla Davis Mon 8-9pm

ASTROLOGY RADIO

Is it written in the stars? What is all this talk about zodiac signs? Are you compatible? Are you really like your

star sign? Tune in to Astrology Radio fortnightly on a Thursday 12-1pm to find out more Jehona Hashani Thu 12-1pm (fornightly)

ALL ABOUT THE GROOVE Trigger Warning: This show contains hot and spicy funk, stay well clear if you can’t handle its intense heat... for those brave enough to tune an hour of delicious groove awaits you.

Joe Hurrell Tue 12 -1pm

Fri 3-4pm

THE REALIST

The Realist: Every Tuesday from 1100-1200, I discuss international news with unparalleled objectivity, nuanced balance, and a heavy dose of sarcasm. No agenda, no soapbox.

Reality trumps ideology on my show.

Brian Babb Tue 11am-12pm

FINDERS KEEPERS

I host a music show called Finders Keepers that aims to inspire you to discover or rediscover your favourite music! Each week there’s a different theme and I share with you my favourite tunes with some fun facts and interviews thrown in.

Francesca Parry Mon 5-6pm

SOUND ENVISION

Every Wednesday in sound envision, using a musician of the past as a starting point we go on a musical journey, discovering the plethora of artists that have been influenced by him/her/them, regardless their genre and scope (mainstream/ indie) Augustina Economou Wed 5-6pm

LIKE A BOSS

THE BOX OFFICE

‘Like A Boss’ bringing you all the news, views and tunes from the world of entrepreneurship. We are airwaves every Friday 12-1pm and we are on youtube... in 360. Check us out!

Olumide Ogunlola fri 12-1pm

Join Jonathan and George every Monday from 4.00-5.00 with The Box Office KCL. Tune in for topical film news, reviews and interviews especially for students.

Jonathan Combey and George Bradyll-Brown Mon 4-5pm

Footnotes with Char and Fran - each month we chat to Masters and PhD students about the stories behind their research. The brightest minds at King’s give their take on everything from Bodies to Weather, Work to Mortality. And we’re looking for guests get in touch if you want to share your work beyond your essays!

Fran Allfrey and Char Rudman Wed 9-10am (monthly)

Three fellas from three different continents with three different dads discuss the most irrelevant topics with relevance, disrupt each other’s viewpoints with points of view whilst stimulating your mind with heavenly mediocre melodies. The night show.

Mansoor Shirin and Nick Kajendra Fri 9-10pm

FOOTNOTES

FAST FRIDAY

We’re KCL Radio’s one and only Motorsport Radio Show. Tune in from 15:00 till 16:00 on Friday Afternoons to get revved up for the weekend’s motor-racing and receive reviews of the previous weekends’ riveting races.

Christopher Sharp

THE NIGHT SHOW

GEORGIA ON THE MIC Shimmy your shoulders and wiggle them toes' every Tuesday 4-5pm with the girl Straight Out of Croydon.

Dance away & Look Insane, Unapologetically.

Georgia Green Tue 4-5pm

most brilliantly in the set design. The stage is divided into two islands – one for Caliban and the other for Prospera, to show the distance between them.

Ariel is the only character that is able to move between the two islands as he attempts but eventually fails to create a relationship with Caliban.

However, the distance between the two islands is resolved at the end once Caliban makes a bridge between the two islands with two garlands of flowers.

Third year English student Katie Ng said: “I love how the stage is beautifully decorated and set between the audience as an oblong passage, laying out interaction and hierarchy between characters unreservedly to the audience. The setting definitely contributed to an absolutely engaging experience.”

Malik’s careful reimagining of the text also plays with ideas of gender – male characters in the original text are altered into female. She explains that “we had to re-think

the script and character relations entirely when we changed both Prospero and Caliban to female characters; women are so much more easily condemned than men, so we had to tread softly in understanding how to portray the complexity of our female leads.”

Changing Prospero’s gender propels the character into an intriguing dialogue of patriarchy, as Prospera becomes an empowered female who leaves her home and the struggles of a male dominated world in order to find a new nation to rule.

The performance also includes live musicians, singers and dancers who all contribute in creating the ethereal and magical atmosphere of the two islands. The music and dancing was particularly impressive during the carnivalesque wedding banquet scene as the incredibly talented live musicians and dancers worked to create a lively, fun and exciting ambience amidst the drama of Iris, Ceres, and Juno.

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JANUARY 2017

Winter S Care

ROAR

Lifestyle FOUR AFFORDABLE & QUALITY MAKE UP BRANDS

Suffering from dry, dull winter skin? Have no fear, Roar have asked these 5 KCL girls which products they use to make sure that their skin is #flawless at all times. So, read on to get a list of 5 recommended, tried and tested products that will treat your skin to some all important pampering.

Dermalogica’s ‘Foaming Wash’ from their Clear Start range.

Dermalogica’s cleanser is perfect for all seasons, particularly winter as it is non-abrasive but also contains salicylic acid to control unwanted blemishes – perfection in a bottle!

“The foaming wash is a gentle foam which washes away makeup and cleanses the face, leaving your skin feeling soft and hydrated. It is also easy to use morning and night, love it!”

– Hollie, 3rd year student.

Dermalogica

Makeup Revolution

Barry M No longer do you have to turn to luxury brands such as YSL or Chanel to get quality makeup. Especially as students, after paying for extortionate London rent fees, food shops and that weekly Wednesday binge at Walkabout or Guy’s Bar, you certainly don’t have the funds to fork out £40 for a foundation or £30 for one tiny lipstick. You no longer have to worry, as high street brands have really stepped it up over the past few years, delivering high quality products without the expensive price tag. Below is a list of worthy brands to get you that £100 “I woke up like this” makeup look for under £20.

The makeup brand that has taken social media by a storm, utilizing the trend in dupe products. Are you after the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kits, but can’t part with £40? No worries, Makeup Revolution has you covered at only £8! Why pay £38.50 for Urban Decay’s Naked Palette series when you can have Makeup Revolution’s Iconic Palettes for just £4? Makeup Revolution produce excellent dupes, where the quality is just as good as the expensive brands. So, when it comes down to it why pay an extra £30 or more just for a brand name? Definitely check out their eyeshadow palettes, contour, highlight, blush kits and brushes! However, their foundations and concealers are a little hit and miss.

Makeup Revolution

BY AASHFARIA ANWAR

NYX Cosmetics

Finally, the American makeup phenomenon has reached the UK! Now available at selected Boots stores, and a favourite amongst beauty bloggers and makeup gurus, the brand delivers professional makeup artist products at high street prices. NYX has every product you’ll need in your kit, including fantastic quality base products and brushes.

However, their bestsellers lie in their assortment of vibrant eye and lip products.

Their very first product Jumbo Eye Pencils caused the brand to rise to fame in 1999, and no wonder as this makes for a perfect stand alone pop of colour or base for other shadows which lasts all day. NYX were doing matte and liquid lipsticks before their recent surge in popularity; check out their Intense Butter Gloss and Matte Lipsticks which both come in a rainbow of colours and last all day.

Kiko

The Spanish brand, known for their quality products at affordable price points. Presenting sleek and chic stores, a coKiko lour haven for those looking for something a little different and to inject a lot of fun into their makeup.

Kiko is a fairly new brand to the UK, and have something for everyone no matter what skin tone, personal style or price preference. Their foundation range is brilliant, with 12 different styles suitable for oily, dry, and mature skin, or whether you’re going for that full coverage or natural look. They’re available in an array of tones and price points. With the most expensive foundation only £14.90 and the cheapest £6.90, you’ll be sure to find the perfect match. Not only that, Kiko bring out limited edition ranges frequently and often have sales with up to 80% off!

NYX

da Lobo 3Ha4

Soap and Glor y

Lush

Barry M

Your go to high street brand for nail varnishes. Barry M has ranges in all finishes, gel effect, matte effect, metallic, glitters and much more. Their Hi-Shine Gelly varnishes don’t require any base or top coat and the formula means the products adheres to your nail much like a gel polish. They generally last around 10 days but will differ from person to person. Barry M offers a vast collection of colours and at only £3.99 per polish, it won’t be hard to accumulate an abundant collection.

A “Cha Chaan Teng” translates into “tea restaurant”, common in postWorld War II Hong Kong.

With the influx of Westerners and expensive European restaurants popping up to suit the Westerner’s palettes in the city, there was no affordable place for the locals to try out these new cuisines. Cha Chaan Teng’s entered the scene and solved this problem, keeping Hong Kong cooking at the heart of the dishes, but adding a western twist – Hong Kong’s take on Western food.

Cha Chaan Teng restaurant in Holborn, is a recreation of these customary tea restaurants.

They’ve revamped the old style and injected it with plenty of character. As you walk in, you’re met by a

lonely table, an array of paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a stunning graffiti mural. Walking down the stairs, you enter a breathtaking dining area, influenced by art deco and contemporary Western art, mixed with authentic Eastern flavours. It’s London’s take on Hong Kong’s take on Western food – fusion gone wonderfully mad.

With an extensive menu, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

You’ll notice many of the dishes have unusual and intriguing names, but don’t worry if you’re not sure what each dish entails, the staff are incredibly friendly and down to earth. They’ll be happy to explain anything you don’t understand.

Cha Chaan Teng embodies comfort food at it’s quirkiest, with appe-

Nip + Fab

tisers such as the BBQ hoisin and Coca-Cola Ribs, which had such a deep and rich flavor, with meat so succulent it just fell off the bone. My favourite dish, the curried egg spring rolls, a take on Japanese Okonomiyaki, with sriracha and hoisin sauce drizzled on top, I could eat these all day long, they are delicious – the flavour reminded me of the popular Indian street food, Pani Puri, another favourite of mine, which is probably why I couldn’t stop eating these!

FANCY A “CHA CHAAN TENG”?

Hada Labo’s moisturiser.

Treat your skin to Hada Labo’s moisturiser as it is both enriching and lightweight so you can wear it underneath your makeup and keep your skin feeling hydrated all day.

“I have really dry skin but usually hate the feeling of any thick cream on my face. This has a light and thin texture that I really like!” – Katie, 3rd year student.

Soap and Glory’s ‘Righteous Butter’ Indulge your senses and skin in Soap and Glory’s body butter to feel nourished (and smell fantastic)throughout the winter season.

“I love this product because it smells so good and it’s

Bao have been trending for a while now so it’s no surprise Cha Chaan Teng have their own bao bar. For those of you that don’t know, bao are a popular Taiwanese street food, similar in concept to sliders, but made of soft, steamed, white buns and usually filled with pork, but other fillings can be used.

Cha Chaan Teng offers creatively filled bao burgers, such as the crispy duck bao, sweet and sour chicken and a great vegetarian option the sweet potato rosti bao. These are yummy little snacks, however, if you’re a big fan of bao, you’ll realize that there

are better options for a more authentic taste. Nevertheless, it’s still an inspired take on the dish.

Now for the mains, I’d suggest sharing these as they’re pretty hefty. After all the appetisers and bao, you may not be able to tackle a whole crispy

JANUARY 2017

Skin

BY FRANCES WEST

great for keeping your skin soft” – Laura, 3rd year student.

Lush’s Eau Roma Water Top tip -spritz Lush’s toner all over your face and then apply your moisturiser in order to lock in all the hydrating qualities. You can also spray this throughout the day to freshen up your face.

“This toner is really good for sensitive skin, contains all natural ingredients and smells amazing” – Dora, third year student.

Nip + Fab’s Glycolic Overnight Purifying Gel A Kylie Jenner favourite, this overnight gel exfoliates your skin while you sleep so you can wake up looking like you’ve had a luxury facial.

“I like this product because it’s basically a lightweight face mask you can wear overnight. It’s also non-sticky and smells of oranges” – Sophie, third year student.

sea bream yourself, which is what we had.

It’s a very impressive, if not a little daunting plate, with an entire sea bream staring at you! It’s very easy to separate the soft and flakey meat from the bone, mix it with Cha Chaan Teng’s secret sha cha sauce, and eat with their garlic sesame rice, and this makes for a hearty and delicious meal.

We were truly stuffed at this point, but somehow allowed the staff to convince us into trying their Pandan raspberry ripple artic roll, an Asian twist on the classic British artic roll.

Lovely and light, this was the perfect way to end our experience at Cha Chaan Teng.

This may not be an authentic Cha Chaan Teng you’ll find in Hong Kong, but it’s a unique and eccentric restaurant serving delicious, comforting food for reasonable prices. Oh and did I mention that students get a 10% discount!

Cha Chaan Teng, 36-38 Kingsway, London WC2B 6EY

facebook.com/memescollegelondon

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ROAR

Sport

DAME ROW-ER!

ALUMNI and Olympian rower Katherine Jane Grainger, CBE, has been awarded a Damehood for services to Sport and Charity.

Grainger holds the title of Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, having competed in the Olympics since 2000. She was

awarded a PhD in Homicide and Law at King’s College London.

Grainger has said “It’s very difficult, because without planning it both my Olympic career and my PhD have met at the same time and the culmination for both is 2012 - not by design.”

KING’S ATHLETICS W OLDEST ATHLETICS King’s College London Athletics Club

Nursing student Linda Eyre was surprised when her boyfriend proposed to her midway running through the 2015 London marathon.

Now the lovely couple is aiming to win London Wedding of the Year with their marathon-themed wedding-do.

Linda married Tim Alexander at King’s College London Chapel on the Strand, and she surprised him by commissioning an extra wedding cake - in the shape of Tim’s running shoes.

Guests to the wedding were also sent home with a ‘recovery pack’ contatining hydration salts, a bottle of water

and an energy bar - nodding to when Tim popped the question to Linda in his 20th mile.

“Our tables were named after big city marathons from around the world.” Linda said. “Our guests had to vote on which one we would run first as a couple.”

“It was a three-way tie, so we decided to compete all three!” n We wish the couple best of luck in winning the title of Wedding of the Year!

King’s have won the 149th United Hospitals Athletics Championships.

The impressive four foot tall shield is the longest-running track and field competition in the world and pre-dates the modern olympics.

Imperial College had dominated the championships over the last two decades, but had to settle for fourth.

King’s were helped along the way by perfor-

Photography by Ed Stone

RUNNING FOR WEDDING OF THE YEAR Need a KCL LACROSSE BEATS IMPERIAL bike fix?

ON-DEMAND bike mechanics are coming to King’s residences this week.

Students can book a mechanic for a free bike checkup at Great Dover Street on Wednesday and Angel Lane on Thursday.

Liam O’Brien from the start-up VonCrank describes the process of booking in a bicycle for repairs or upgrades “as easy as ordering an Uber”.

He added, “We are committed to helping everyone be more active and environmentally conscious at King’s.”

By Mitchell Ward, King’s College London Lacrosse Club King’s Women’s Lacrosse 1sts hopes of winning the league have been given a boost by another crushing victory over Imperial 2nds. The match, which took place last Wednesday, was won 32-1 by King’s owing to fantastic play from freshers Holly Haynes, Wakana Naganuma and Jemima Tsang.

Early goals from Laura Devereux, Haynes and Naganuma set the tone for a face paced game in

favour of the King’s attack. Imperial were a tough opposition with their well coordinated attack forcing an error from the Kings defence, leading to their single goal.

This has given a further boost to the women’s team who are currently top of the South Eastern 2B league table above UCL 2’s with a Phelps-like lead with a GD of 107 (UL 2’s on 11). The Club President, Joanne Ridgley, a third-year Medical Student said about the performance :“I have every

faith that our team can win not only the league but varsity as well”. Wednesday’s victory will give a huge boost to the women’s team for their hopes of winning the league. The game has also helped to settle nerves ahead of this year’s varsity , the trophy is currently held by King’s Women’s Lacrosse. Edmund Conolly, the Women’s coach, added: “We’ve had a great intake of new fresher talent, coupled with some veterans of the Kings lacrosse squad, promising for an exciting varsity.”

mance Max N the 80 the Sh Seco dent, the te points sprint lier in return

JANUARY 2017

WIN UK’S COMPETITION

e athlete and GB mountain runner, Nicholls. Nicholls was dominant in 00 and 3000 and even gave hot Put a go! ond year biomedical stuKishore Kanna Ravi was eam’s ‘MVP’, bringing in 8 s across the 60m and 200m. The ter was beset with injury problems earn the year, but has shown a promising n to form.

The team were also just one point from winning the University of London championships and the prestigious LUCA Championships, which were both won by UCL.

Winning the shield marks a major milestone for a club that has gone under extensive change in recent years. In 2014, the club trained twice a week in Regents park and had no qualified coaches. It now has it’s own Track in Southwark Park, a set of six coaches including GB’s Conrad Williams and Lloyd Cowan (MBE). The club now offers sessions every day of the week.

President of the club, James Findon said “We have made steady progress over the last four years and this victory gives us all the confidence we need looking ahead at the BUCS fixtures and LUCA Outdoors.”

Findon also praised the support of

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KCLSU Sport, Kings Sport and the King’s performance athletes. “We couldn’t be where we are without them. There is a real sense that something special is happening to athletics at King’s”.

Athletics will be included as an official varsity sport for the first time next year.

5 MARATHONS WITH CANCER KCL Fencing wins six gold “Peeing blood in race”

By Sun, KCL Fencing Club You may be asking “what could possibly be better than a gold medal?” Some would argue that it’s the admiration of your fellow teammates, the satisfaction your receive from “foil-ing” your opponent’s game plan, or when you get “piste” later that night celebrating.

We argue that it’s more gold medals.

At this year’s London Uni-

versity Sports League (LUSL) Fencing Competition, the old adage “the more the merrier” couldn’t have been more apt to describe the performance of the King’s College London Fencing Club, who brought home an impressive six medals.

Allie Blankenhouse - Competitive Foil [ML] Sunmeet Kandhari - Intermediate Foil [TL] Aniis Rymansib - Beginner Epee [BL] Mark Ong - Intermediate Epee [BR] Nicola Martino - Competitive Epee [TR] Adam Lock - Intermediate Sabre [MR] Allie Blankenhouse - Competitive Foil [ML] Sunmeet Kandhari - Intermediate Foil [TL] Aniis Rymansib - Beginner Epee [BL] Mark Ong - Intermediate Epee [BR] Nicola Martino - Competitive Epee [TR] Adam Lock - Intermediate Sabre [MR] Despite this being a brand new LUSL event the competition was fierce. A big thank you to all who came, and to the organisers at British Fencing for “piste-ing” it all together.

Congratulations to the winners: Adam Locke [Men’s Intermediate Sabre], Nicola Martino [Men’s Competitive Epee], Mark Ong [Intermediate Epee], Aniis Rymansaib [Men’s Beginner Epee], Alison Blankenhaus [Women’s Competitive Foil] and Sunmeet Kandhari [Men’s Intermediate Foil].

KCL Fencing will certainly be back next year to capture more medals (and probably break more weapons).

Next month is the dawn of the “sweat box”. A fundraising event where several fencers voluntarily don their “tighty whities” for a whole week, in an attempt to raise money for EFDS/KCLFC. If you manage to catch one (they will be pretty hard to miss!) be sure to stop by and receive a fairly sweaty hug.

Whilst most of us by the third week of January have already forgotten about our New Year’s resolution to be more active or join a sporty society, Justin Yoo had the perseverance to run 5 marathons in 27 days with barely any training.

by NADINE LESFORIS

As well as running to raise money for his friend Max, Justin is a PhD student at King’s.

Justin Yoo dedicated himself to running 5 marathons back to back to raise money for his close friend Max Pinarello who has cancer. Max has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on the bone and soft tissue called myxoid liposarcoma. After finding out the unfortunate news Justin partnered up with a three other friends to help raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

With barely any training Justin ran 5 consecutive marathons beginning in Chester and finishing in Athens.

At the very beginning of his first marathon Justin Yoo was peeing blood whilst running whilst running his first marathon finding he had an urachal mass which could potentially lead to more serious health conditions. In spite of the potential health risks and the various different antibiotics Justin was prescribed, he still persevered and continued to run each marathon. Alongside the urachal mass, Justin has ADHD, dermographia and von Willebrand’s dis-

order which prevents the blood from clotting normally. Yet he still has an amazing positive attitude to life and continued to run despite the odds not being in his favour.

How did he keep his spirits up?

“I’ve always been the sort of person who jumps at new opportunities, but also my maturity means I know that I can persevere and I will eventually get there just one step at a time.

I knew if I hung in there, if I just showed up at the front line, I would be able to keep going till the end.”

In total Justin Yoo managed to collect 6 medals and has come close to completely his personal set target. But he isn’t ready to stop there with the goal still not reached, Justin strives to raise awareness for myxoid liposarcoma and raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Justin doesn’t feel proud of himself, but says that “running has helped me as much as it helped raise money and awareness. The mental clarity and peace you get whilst running is always a pleasure.”

Justin’s completion of 5 marathons whilst continuing his PhD thesis should give us the kick we need to complete our New Year’s resolutions.

Feature your sports team in the paper!

• Competitive leagues • Human-interest stories • Incredible feats of sportsmanship

Tweet us @Roar_News Message us on Facebook! or email sport@roarnews.co.uk

20 ROAR

JANUARY 2017

KCLSU AGM The

at Waterloo Campus G.79 Thursday 26 January 6pm

...

g discussin

uate postgrad tation represen

Student Officer

Elections

Stand to be a Student Officer for King’s students Nominations close Friday 17 February at noon

mental health

NSS boycott