Autumn Edition 2

COMMENT The Big Debate: Free Speech >> p7

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LIFESTYLE

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Weird and wonderful weekend getaways >>p19

The Ryder Cup >>p19

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The Official Weekly Term-time Newspaper of Sussex’s Student Union The Official Weekly Term-time Newspaper of Sussex’s Student Union

Funded by the Student Union • Edition 2 • 3th October 2016 • thebadgeronline.com • Twitter: @TheBadgerNews • Facebook: /thebadgersussex • Printed on recycled paper

Sussex pays female staff £6k less than men George Rutledge

Sussex University pays women on average £6,292 less than men, according to a recent report by the University and College Union (UCU).

The ‘Holding Down Women’s Pay’ report ‘names and shames’ universities according to the pay gap between staff.

Although Sussex is not among the worst offenders, the report showed that the university pays female staff roughly 13.2% less than their male counterparts per year.

This was above the national average pay gap of £6,103 a year, with only eight universities managing to close the gap completely.

Frida Gustafsson, Women’s Officer for the Students’ Union said the report’s findings were “absolutely appalling, albeit sadly not suprising and proof that even institutions like the university, that claim to forward thinking, have a lot left before reaching actual gender equality”.

A university spokesperson said: “Two equal pay reviews in 2007 and 2011 established that the university is compliant with the Equality Act 2010 [and] there was no systematic of pay gaps in favour...

Continued on page 3 >>

ARTS

Sussex graduate prospects soar despite fall in rankings • University falls nine places in world rankings to 149th • Sussex beats Oxford in graduate prospects • ‘Best in country’ for prospects in English, History and Biology

“It’s beautiful when you think about it: a body that knows how to rain”

Original poetry and photography >>p17

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The Badger 26.09.16

NEWS

Bridging the gap? Sussex pays women £6k less than men George Rutledge Continued from front page ...of one gender.”

The spokesperson also said that a pay gap is expected if there are more staff of one gender in lower paid jobs than another, adding: “Here at the University of Sussex we have committed to increasing, and have increased, the number of women in senior posts and will continue to do so.”

The report, released in March this year, also found that 31.5% of Sussex staff are on casual or zero-hours contracts, a figure significantly lower than other universities in the country.

On the issue of casual contracts, the university announced

that it has reached an agreement with UCU to end zero-hours contracts in teaching, which will be implemented from January next year.

However, a university spokesperson contested the data from the report, claiming “it differs significantly from our data.”

They added that only 20% of teaching staff were on casual contracts, and said that their use is appropriate as many PhD staff need the flexibility to focus on their studies and and leave for research.

In a statement, UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “These colleges and universities should not have allowed such shameful levels of pay to persist.

“It is nearly 50 years since the

Equal Pay Act came into force and they’re still flying in the face of it.

“We would like to see a firm committment from sector leaders close to the gap and are offering to work with instiutions to make equal pay at every university a reality.”

The Students’ Union has encouraged any teaching staff that are on casual contracts to participate in their ‘Fighting Against Casualisation in Education’ campaign.

UCU

STATS BOX

Gender pay gap by uni, p. year

Warwick - £10,485 (18.7%) Oxford - £8,526 (16.7%) York - £8,139 (15.4%) Southampton - £7,399 (14.4%) QUB - £7,522 (14.5%) UEA - £7,432 (15.7%) Edinburgh - £6,805 (13.4%)

Sussex - £6,292 (13.2%) Kent - £5,783 (13.1%) Brighton - £4,468 (9.3%) Goldsmiths - £2,920 (5.8%) * Brackets indicate % difference National average - £6,103

Staff on casual contracts by uni

Warwick - 70.7% Edinburgh - 67.5% QUB - 63.6% Oxford - 59.8% Goldsmiths - 59.4% York - 59.3% Southampton - 55.8% UEA - 48.5% Kent - 45.4% Brighton - 32.9%

Sussex - 31.5%

All figures: Holding Down Women’s Pay report, UCU

Sussex falls in THE - Badger speaks to PVC Mackie Daniel Green News Editor Sussex has dropped nine places in a recent world university league table.

The Times Higher Education’s (THE) annual world rankings saw the University of Sussex fall from 140th in 2015/16, to 149th in 2016/17.

The university has now fallen 70 places in the world rankings since the start of the decade, with some former 1994 Group members having overtaken Sussex in the table in recent years.

However, Clare Mackie, Pro Vice Chancellor for teaching and learning, explained that the reason for the drop is because of changes to the methodology of the rankings over time.

She said: “They [the THE ranking] was very much a UK centric league table and they wanted to expand it to a world league table.

“Most league tables have changed over time. Whenever you get a significant drop, it’s normally because the metrics have changed.

She blamed drops in the world rankings on damage to the university’s reputation from repeated occupations, as teaching and research reputation makes up roughly one third of the score, as well as the decision to double the number of universities included in the 2015/16 rankings from 400 to 800; the 2016/17 table featured 980 universities from across the world.

She also said that a decision to limit the cap the number of authors on citations, which makes up 30%, have also impacted the university’s position.

“Physics papers were excluded

because of the cap. Our CERN work is a collaboration with 650 universities worldwide, but every time there’s more than two authors, that’s out.

“Some fantastic work has been excluded.”

Sussex also performed poorly in terms of teaching quality in the rankings, placing joint 84th with Liverpool with 79.7%.

Sussex remained in 23rd place nationally in the rankings, behind former 1994 Group members Durham (96th), Exeter (126th), York (129th) and Lancaster (137th).

Brighton University placed between 600th and 800th on the world rankings, coming in 65th out of the 91 UK universities included.

On the performance of former 1994 Group universities, Professor Mackie said: “Durham, York

STATS BOX Sussex top tens for grad prospects Physics and Astronomy - 1st Mathematics - 1st French - 1st Biological Sciences - 1st English - 1st History - 1st American Studies - 1st Chemistry - 2nd Philosophy - 2nd Anthropology - 2nd History of Art - 2nd Psychology - 2nd Sociology - 3rd Accounting and Finance - 4th Media Studies - 4th Social Work - 5th Economics - 6th Anatomy and Physiology - 9th Business Studies - 9th Music - 10th

and Exeter were former ‘94 Group universities that went to the Russell Group.

“If you’ve got the Russell Group badge, that gives you a bounce”.

The university also claimed in a statement that the national ranking “places us in a stronger position than last year”, as the number of UK universities included in the annual ranking has risen from 78 to 91 this year.

Sussex did perform very well in graduate prospects, with 86.2% of students either in employment or further education.

This places the university 6th nationally for graduate prospects, beating LSE, Nottingham and Oxford, who placed 11th.

Only univerisities in London and the Univerity of Cambridge beat Sussex, with St George’s, London placing first with 95.1%.

The university also featured in the top 10 universities for prospects in 20 courses of the 26 that Sussex does, with the university being top of the class in seven subjects including English, History and Physics.

In another national ranking released last month, the Good University Guide, Sussex remained in the top 20 universities in the country, in 18th, and put the university in pole position in the south east for graduate prospects.

Although she said she was pleased with the position Sussex had come in both rankings, Professor Mackie said: “It’s not the be all and end all. I think Sussex students actually see past the varies of how the league tables are compiled.

In a statement, Vice Chancellor Adam Tickell said: “There has been a lot of fantastic work in nearly all areas of the university to make sure that our students are able to

This graph shows the number of places Sussex has fallen or gained each year in the THE World Rankings.

Daniel Green get the very most out of their time with us, and once they leave us.

“I would like to thank everyone at the university for their efforts.”

Oxford topped the world rank-

ings this year, beating California and marking the first time since the league table’s creation in 2004 that a British university has placed first globally.

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COMMENT

The Badger 03.10.2016

THE BIG DEBATE

The Right to Free Speech is Absolute IN FAVOUR Will Saunders “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Well done if you agree with the sentiment of this statement.

But, if you think these are Voltaire’s words, you’ll be defending to the death my right to call you an uninformed nincompoop, as the quote most frequently associated with freedom of speech and the defence thereof, is also the most frequently falsely attributed; Voltaire never said this.

However, a second bravo is in order if you still agree with it, because you’ve done the most important part of political maturity: realising that the civil liberties afforded you by western liberal democracy are of overwhelming benefit to you as an individual, even if their use against you by others is, on occasion, irksome. I might insult you today, but you can criticise your government tomorrow.

“Freedom of speech is the most fundamental right, as without the unfettered liberty to speak our minds, we cannot defend any other.”

Freedom of speech is the most fundamental of these rights, as without the unfettered liberty to speak our minds, we cannot defend any other. We did not become the most advanced species in the history of our planet through enforcing intellectual homogeneity; our relentless march toward, over and beyond ever more dazzlingly innovative horizons has been utterly dependent on the precious intellectual diversity responsible for both art and science alike.

Our right to shout our most sacred beliefs, loves, desires - and yes, fears and hatreds - is a sacred gift to the raw expressiveness at the heart of the human condition.

Therefore, my opponent, despite his inevitable but disingenuous argument that certain people must be protected from the vicissitudes of opinion, is wrong. They wish to cut the nose off every human, to spite the face of some. Yes, freedom of speech is frequently used to make despicable arguments. But to claim

that this must be outlawed, in order to protect minority groups, is not just patronising, but deeply harmful, as it forces these ideas underground, where they fester in a subterranean disquiet. Allow people to make despicable arguments, with all the gusto lent them by their causative bigotry - and allow their opponents to argue back. Iinvoke the pageantry of a millennia of human progress, driven by tolerance.

I feel confident humanity can triumph over its very worst ideas, without the sacrifice of its very best.

Another counter-argument may be that, without regulation, freedom of speech allows only the opinions of “white, privileged males” to rise to the top. But, whilst there may be disproportionate representation, we would be making a fatal mistake to combat collective inequality through individual discrimination.

Each person must feel equally able to express their opinion - but where inequality exists, we must not fight it with further, institutionalised discrimination. The disempowered must be empowered, not the empowered disempowered; in terms of ideas, the former is the way to wealth, whilst the latter the path to poverty.

History is also often invoked as an argument for censorship - and this invariably features a certain 1940s Austrian man with a square moustache. But to argue that it is logical to restrict free speech just because a society with free speech eventually became a genocidal, totalitarian state, is to forget the distinct possibility - if not likelihood - that there would have been many other such stories, had freedom of speech not become more and more ubiquitous.

More importantly, it fails to recognise that, whilst freedom of speech allowed the Nazis to gain steam, they could never have been so murderous in government had they been prevented from curtailing liberties such as free speech.

Therefore, history shows us that freedom of speech is a guarantee of our rights, not an enemy. As a species, we have achieved the remarkable, and made possible the impossible - but this has only been the case where societies have encouraged their citizens to express their deepest thoughts, and consider up for examination every principle save for that fundamental, inaugural one of examination itself. Freedom of speech is not just our dusty history and embattled present: it is our only hope for a future.

AGAINST William Singh Comment Editor The ‘right’ to freedom of speech is an oft-quoted principle, held up as a shining example of virtue upon which we all agree without question. But free speech is not a clear-cut absolute right, rather it is a messily defined social freedom in competition with other, equally valid and no less valuable, freedoms.

We all respect the right to freedom of expression on political debate, the necessity of the ability of the citizen to question their government, and so on through many widely varying implications of a belief in a ‘free speech’ principle. If what we meant by free speech started and ended here, there would be no argument.

But the right to free speech has been quoted in defence of a great many things beyond this: from ‘protest’ read, hurling abuse - outside medical institutions carrying out abortions, to the ‘right’ of corporations to buy a political system, because using their money is an extension of their right to free speech.

Rights are social fictions - they come to exist only in a social setting, and as such may be restricted where they cease to be useful to that society, and where the process is administered justly by due democratic process. It is perfectly legitimate to hold that the right of women having had an abortion, or the families of soldiers having their funerals picketed by anti-LGBT bigots, to be spared from the psychological torment of a mob is more important in these specific examples than the ‘right’ of those abusing their free speech.

Asserting that I have a right to something means believing that those with whom I live have an obligation to respect that right - and as such carries obligations on my own behaviour.

Every right implies responsibilities.

This is not an illiberal position.

Liberalism - and, indeed, politics - is precisely the act of balancing competing rights. Unlike the right to life and to my own body, the right to free speech does not concern only the individual speaking - it is a speech act as much as it is an articulation of beliefs, and like every act it has social implications. Where the social implications of exercising that right outweigh the value of the right, it may be limited - not because we as a society do not respect the principle, but because where it comes into conflict with other principles we would be misguided to hold any given one up as absolute and inviolable.

“Asserting that I have a right to something means believing that those with whom I live have an obligation to respect that right- and as such carries obligations to my own behaviour.”

The government’s ‘Prevent’ strategy may reasonably be criticised. It is of course possible for the government of the day to overstep its legitimate ability to limit speech - and where it does we as citizens should hold it to account.

But we must also recognise that the government of a liberal democracy must juggle the competing goals of freedom and security. There is an undeniable and very real danger to human life of terrorism stemming from extremist views, and a worryingly increasing receptiveness of young British people to be seduced by those views.

Given that, we may disagree with the specific policy but we would be foolish indeed to resist any attempt to preserve security because of a misguided absolutism regarding free speech. To do so would turn the back of government

to its role in protecting its people. This, too, is liberalism; we must be tolerant of everything except intolerance - without that caveat society cannot defend itself against those who wish to destroy its way of life.

Finally, ‘absolute’ is an implausibly high standard for any principle to reach. British law has always in the modern era held limits on speech.

The right, for one, of individuals to be protected from defamation. I can say ‘X-politician is a bad leader’ - that’s legitimate political opinion; I cannot say ‘X-politician is a pedophile’ - that would be defamatory, besmirching their reputation and leading some people who hear or read me say that to question the character of X-politician possibly beyond repair and to the detriment of their right to live their life without the interference of others.

The right to security, too: I cannot yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre, for in the ensuing panic some may be crushed to the point of injury or death. We might even say that a law against perjury is nothing more than putting legal penalties on a certain kind of speech - lying - in a certain context. From this we see the root justification of restrictions on speech in ways like Prevent, or noplatforming of bigoted views, or hate speech, is perfectly justifiably, indeed necesary, in a liberal sociiety.

It is not good enough to assert that you have the right to offend and thus the conversation is over - you certainly do, but not to a point of absolutism.

You may disagree with each and any of censorship, safe spaces, no-platforming, Prevent and so on - but a more complex disagreement is required than simply asserting the absolutism of the right to free speech.

This is basic liberalism: I can do what I like so long as it does not get in the way of others exercising their right to do the same. Speech, like any other act, can interfere with others, indeed interfere with their own right to free speech - and as such cannot be absolute.

Flickr: Newtown Graffiti

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The Badger 03.10.2016

COMMENT

As a mature student, balance is the key

Lauren Wade Music Editor

The start of university often proves to be a difficult time for new students to adjust to, with an abundance of (overwhelming) experiences to get used to in the first few weeks of moving to a fresh and unfamiliar place. This is something that often occurs regardless of age, and it’s quite common for mature students to be amongst those struggling to settle down.

Two students who fall into the ‘mature’ category were overheard on the number 25 bus saying that university isn’t the place to go for a party; it’s a place you go to learn and whilst it’s a statement that brings up countless arguments for and against, they certainly have a point. Thousands of students flock to Sussex year after year but it’s not always as smooth-sailing as they might have initially hoped.

Speaking to a current mature student, he told us that: “When I was 18 I wouldn’t have been able to focus at university. Being that little bit older has given me more determination to succeed than my younger self ever could have.”

This is a point that rings true to an extent as university is often the first experience many young adults have of being away from home and there’s a lot for them to get used to.

A lecturer, who asked to remain

anonymous, voiced his opinion that the average first year student is too young to deal with the pressures and challenges of university.

“18/19 year olds are too young to be here. Often they lack the relevant skills needed to thrive in an environment such as this.”

“‘Being that little bit older has given me more determination to succeed than my younger self ever could have.’”

It’s worth taking into account that whilst his opinion may apply to some, it doesn’t apply to everyone. Students who have boarded at boarding schools and young people who have gone on gap years are more likely to have developed the life skills and attitudes that will assist them in coping in their new environment. Although, it’s the former group who are arguably more likely to be better equipped to adjust to the kind of lifestyle that university presents.

For students who have boarded throughout their formative years and adolescence, they would have had to deal with gaining independence away from their family home years before venturing to univer-

sity. The residential campus environment allows boarders to become immersed in an educational setting, similar to university, in which learning is the central aim and is complemented by social interaction and activities. Introducing students to this setting from a younger age is undoubtedly beneficial and yields confidence, even for the most reserved of personalities.

Boarding schools may not be the be all and end all of whether a student thrives academically and socially at university. However, it’s difficult to ignore the deeply ingrained elements of camaraderie, friendship, trust and honesty that boarding schools instil in their pupils, thus enabling them to carry forward to succeed in adult life.

Boarders are also considered to be better conditioned for the academic rigor and heightened social interaction of universities. You don’t get the same sense of independence when you go to state schools after all.

Speaking to a second year mature student, he commented that none of last year’s freshers events were geared towards him in any form. This was perceived as isolating as a new student who didn’t yet know anyone and presents itself as an issue the Students’ Union should strive to work on in fu-

ture years. Mature students need better representation on campus to ensure they adjust as well to their studies as anyone else, it’s all about being inclusive, right?

From a different perspective, it could be argued by many that the nightlife and partying that inevitably comes with the university lifestyle might not appeal to all but it’s still a major aspect of student life, no matter how old you are. The mature students on the bus noted that the nightlife and socialising would have been a distraction for them if they had studied when they were in the younger years. Although, socialising is a big draw to many institutions and often enhances the experience of being away from home for the first, second or even tenth time.

“Life is about balance and that applies to university as well.”

Different universities are known for the varied lifestyles they are able to offer, and at Sussex the students are known for being partial to a bit of lively, political debate – a common factor for many when choosing to study here. If the nightlife was to be stripped from universities altogether then you’d be left with many institu-

tions all resembling each other and barely any distinguishing factors between them. Going out and grabbing a pint is useful because it allows you to meet new people, make connections and to expand your mind-set beyond what you’re taught in lectures and seminars.

That social aspect of university life also has the ability to lead to potential job prospects in the future, due to the contacts you stumble across when socialising. Sure, you might have met someone on a shared module anyway, but the chance to get to know them away from the academia is unrivalled and often lets people relax and communicate better.

To those mature students who’d like to deny us our chance to socialise and enjoy nights out, we have this to say to you. Life is about balance and that applies to university as well. If you don’t like the nightlife on offer, don’t engage in it, although socialising is arguably just as crucial as your degree. We all need to switch off and let our hair down every now and then.

So, get the balance. Go out and party one night but study extra hard the following day. Your university experience will be what you make of it and will ultimately reflect the sort of person you are and that’s regardless of age.

Labour MPs: Let Corbyn get on with it

Frank Murphy

No doubt many of my comrades whom are members of the Labour party but for whatever reason do not find themselves supporting Jeremy Corbyn, the Dark Lord of The Sith, J will have been disappointed by his re-election as Labour leader on Saturday. I certainly was when I was crying into my signed photograph of Tony Blair (I leave it to you to figure out whether I’m joking or not). A lot of you are probably going to continue criticizing him on your social media platform of choice.

I’ve got a message for you. Give up. Leave him to it. It’s not going to achieve much.

The one thing that I dislike more than (probably at this moment in time) unelectable leaders of the labour party, is Labour MPs losing their seats. Now make no mistake, the electorate hate disunited parties – just look at 1997 when a disunited Tory party was decimated to my one-year-old self ’s glee. Or on a more depressing note look at Labour’s defeat under Michael Foot in 1983. A mainstream, united party will always defeat a disunited mainstream party.

This is regardless of what policy platform a party is on.

So, to my fellow non-JC supporting cretins I say this: Let him get on with it. There’s noth-

ing we can do about JC leading the Party at the moment. Too much of the membership since his initial election is there to support him and him alone, as sad as that may be. To that end, unless another catastrophe or some kind of scandal unfolds he probably isn’t going anywhere. Carry on leafletting and such and don’t engage with the minority of his supporters who secretly worship Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but are too scared to admit it. Disunity doesn’t help the party, nor does it help the downtrodden in this country that need a Labour government, whom should be our number one concern.

Do nothing and all this deselection of perfectly good MPs busi-

ness should stop as the perpetrators will lose support. Don’t respond to provocations from his supporters unless they’re a trot or completely insane, in which case – go for it.

There’s no way to remove Jeremy’s slimy lizard claws from the party at present, with such a large number of his supporters that have joined up since his initial election. So to that end, just wait. Either he’ll improve as a leader and create a Labour government come the next election, if for whatever the reason Tories are disunited, or he won’t. Either one’s good. If the party is defeated, or some kind of catastrophic failure on his part unfolds, then

he can be removed, if he is not already pressured into resigning and no one in the JC camp will be able to blame moderate members for an electoral failure.

Flickr: DavidMartynHunt

The Comment section are always looking for writers to submit content every week. If you hold a particularly strong opinion you would like to air, we welcome you to contact us to pitch an idea or submit an article by email at Badger-Opinion@Sussex.ac.uk or to come along to one of our regular writers’ meetings on Fridays at 11am.

Our section aims to represent the views of all students and so relies on its readers to express themselves. No matter how polarising or controversial you feel your input may be, we would love to have the opportunity to publish it!

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FEATURES

The Badger 03.10.2016

The War on Education is Tearing Students Apart

The government’s financial assault on higher education seems to be unstoppable, and is testing the unity of the United Kingdom’s student body.

Flickr: Bob Bob Georgia Grace

T

imes have never been so bleak for students in the United Kingdom. Since tuition fees were first introduced in 1998, the government has launched a series of cuts to higher education.

Students starting university this year will be the first to miss out on the government’s now scrapped maintenance grants, meaning those from a low income background will be leaving university with £51,600 of debt.

But while in the past government attacks such as these have brought the people that bear the brunt together, it seems that these changes are pushing students further apart.

The now abolished maintenance grants were one source of conflict amongst students. While they opened the doors to people from low income backgrounds to attend university, many people who are financially classified as coming from middling backgrounds found the system unfair. One student commented via online forum The Student Room “what difference does it make to me whether or not my parents have money if I’m paying my way through uni like every other person?”

The assumption of the government appears to be that parents from middling incomes should financially assist their children through university, but this is not always feasible. Parents may appear to have a substantial income on paper, but may also have to support other children and relatives, or have large debts, neither of which are taken into account.

Nationality is another divisive issue for students. Tuition fees for

international non-EU students at Sussex now range from £14,800 to £27,405 per year. These students are also not entitled to student finance.

This discriminatory system can make international students feel vilified, and ensures only those from rich families can get in, creating a class divide. Should Brexit go through, prospective EU students will likely face the same extortionate fees, and current students may also be affected. This system contributes to racial and xenophobic prejudices and divides across UK institutions.

One in four non-EU students at the University of York, for instance, said they felt discriminated against because of their ethnicity. The University of Warwick in particular has noticed a surge in racist behaviour in recent years - last year, Warwick’s cheerleading society ran a Django Unchained-themed slave auction social. More recently, a black Warwick student discovered racist slurs had been graffitied on her bananas by fellow students in her accommodation complex. The University’s problem with racism seems to be related to a (relatively) large population of racial minorities, with 28% of students coming from outside the EU.

“Inequality in funding and blatant government bias has drawn a wedge between the arts and sciences” Another division arising among students is between subjects. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010-2015 cut all direct funding to humanities subjects, and increased government auditing of universities. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) last year contributed £200 million to 73 higher education institutions which was to be invested soley in STEM subjects. STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – are favoured by the government due to their application to high-earning, high-profit industries.

This inequality in funding and blatant government bias has drawn a wedge between the arts and the sciences – a wedge that we as students have failed to challenge. Back in February two opposing Norwich Tab articles appeared proclaiming the superiority of BAs and BScs respec

Wikimedia Commons tively. Alice Cachia, who wrote the initial article arguing the superiority of BAs, claimed the subjectivity of arts degrees made them more difficult, and that they were more applicable to the real world due to their focus on people and communication. She also complained about the teasing she had received from science students: “What’s the point to your degree?”, “Haven’t you learned to read yet?”, and so forth. Emily Kench’s reactionary article, “Stop being stupid, BScs will always be harder than Bas” made a stab at what she considered the relative easiness and unemploybility of the arts. The articles attracted a huge number of shares on social media and hundreds of comments by people keen to ridicule and aggravate what they deemed to be the “opposition”.

This seemingly petty feud poses a threat to the inter-disciplinary style of education that universities have been striving for. The University of Sussex, since its inception in 1962, has been dedicated to providing students with an education less limitted that the traditional, elite institutions that once defined British higher education. Initially opposed to the umbrella schools and faculties that it has since adopted, Sussex’s vision was to create students skilled and educated in a variety of disciplines who understood the importance of looking beyond their specialised field.

Today, the university continues to encourage interdisciplary study, with elective modules available on many

courses and a high intake of joint honours students. Last year’s intake of history students for instance included 96 students studying single honours and 93 studying joint honours. However, even these joint honours degrees are becoming more limited. Students applying for 2017 entry will not be able to study the likes of chemistry, biology or genetics alongside any subject outside of the life sciences. Joint honours degrees are more prevalent and expansive within the arts and social sciences, which a skeptical person may argue is encouraged more for employability purposes than for freedom of academic exploration.

“With so few job prospects, University can seem to many to be the only option” Another issue worth touching on is the trend in criticising people for going to university for the “wrong reasons”. Some conservatives insist that the reason to study at university ought to be to train for a particular career – studying law to become a lawyer, studying medicine to become a doctor, and so on. More liberal individuals still turn their nose up at people who go to university because they do not know what else to do.

Admittedly this may seem like a rather measely excuse for

spending £9,000 a year, but with so few job prospects for school and college leavers, university can seem to many to be the only option. It is getting increasingly harder to seek employment in the UK regardless of your education, but surely obtaining a degree can only increase your opportunities. This issue then is also reflective of government failures – in this instance to generate employment opportunities.

Certainly there has been a great deal of student activism to tackle the government’s attacks on higher education. The Free Education Demo in London last November, which many Sussex students attended, attracted around 10,000 protestors. The event was a great example of a social group uniting against an oppressive force.

We have seen these struggles time and again throughout the 20th and 21st century, whether that be in the Civil Rights movement, the miner’s strike or the LGBT rights movement.

However, the student movement seems to lack the commitment to active and public protest. One of the major reasons for that is division.

So long as students continue to bicker, they are ignoring the main issue. It is the government’s cuts to higher education that are causing these problems. Any movement to oppose this must be inclusive of people from all backgrounds and all faculties.

9

The Badger 03.10.2016

ARTS

Politics meets Popular Culture: The Unfavourable Position of Hillary Clinton Freya Lord-Jones

In a world in which women over the age of thirty are consistently written off as being past their prime, shrouded by the cultural trope of Betty Crocker and seemingly better suited to be baking cakes rather than running for President, Hillary Clinton has been shown to struggle with offering a genuine identity to the politically active youth of America.

“Clinton’s inability to be seen as culturally in touch with American society without appearing to be blatantly pandering to voters leaves her future in politics ambiguous”

representations of women like her in American political history, it is perhaps easier to mock her than it is to admire her enough to feel secure under her leadership.

Clinton herself has said that it is important to communicate in a way that makes the population of America say “Ok, I get her”, and that this approach is more challenging for a woman due to a lack of positive female role models in positions of power. She understands that the political tactics that work for her male components are not going to work for her, and resultantly Clinton has been forced to carve out a place for women in politics herself, a task that seems to be proving difficult.

In her attempts to appeal to the

Clinton’s inability to be seen as culturally in touch with American society without appearing to be blatantly pandering to voters leaves her future in politics ambiguous, even with an opposition as despicable as Donald Trump. Barak Obama himself even admitted in late July that Clinton’s victory is by no means set in stone.

But why is gaining popular support such a problem for Clinton?

One reason is Clinton’s position as a women in politics, particularly American politics. With no other positive

Jack O’Mullane From its first trailer last year, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice looked really damn bleak. From the muted colour palette to the themes revolving around xenophobia, immigration, and religion, you could just tell it wasn’t going to be like a Marvel film. There’s always been a friendly rivalry between the two comic titans - and this year it was an actual war.

Both teams released big budget films that featured a large talented cast (the Marvel offering being Captain America: Civil War). The consensus is that Marvel won by a landslide dominating BvS both critically and financially. It seems one of the biggest complaints against DC’s long anticipated feature was that it just wasn’t fun. It was void of humour, likeable characters and it was an hour and a half before the promised fight even took place. Marvel have been building their Cinematic Universe for 8 years and have seemingly found a perfect formula for making successful films. DC’s Extended Universe, however has only had 3 years of world building and, at the time of BvS’ release, one other film (2013’s Man of Steel) so it’s fair to say they’re still working out the kinks, but why

youth, Clinton appears as being out of touch, or worse, embarrassingly false. During her appearance on “The Breakfast Club”, a New York Hip-Hop radio station, Clinton responded to a question about an item that would always be found in her purse with “Hot Sauce”.

This answer was quickly seen as a direct attempt to pander to the young black listeners of “The Breakfast Club”, a means of securing the minority, millennial vote rather than an authentic statement. “I got hot sauce in my bag” became a popular refrain after the release of Beyoncé’s single ‘Formation’ which sought to reclaim many of the characteristics and stereotypes that were once deemed undesirable.

However, Clinton’s love of hot sauce has in fact been documented for decades. Her tolerance for spiciness has been said to border on surreal. Furthermore, all candidates are guilty of pandering to voters, even Obama himself who recently appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”. Perhaps Clinton was pandering, or perhaps she does just really love hot sauce, either way, she is held to a higher standard because she is a woman who has had to fight to appear strong in order to get to where she is. As a result, she is unable to shake the media crafted image of a calculating pragmatist.

With many years in the political game under her belt, Clinton is often perceived as cold, aloof and unemotional, but rather than criticise her we should perhaps understand that she has long been forced to control her emotions in order to protect herself as a woman. As a result, Clinton has sacrificed the possibility of appearing personable and in many people’s eyes, human. Her attempts to appear relatable are often cringe worthy and fall flat, but if American society, culture and film had examples of strong elder woman who were celebrated, Clinton could stop having to carve it out for herself.

thesource.com

ART COMIN’ UP Georgia O’Keefe Tate Modern, London Pablo Bronstein: Historical Dances in an Antique Setting Tate Britain,London William Eggleston Portraits National Potrait Gallery Jamie T O2 Brixton Stonewall Quality Walk London Remember to vote online to give your input in Sussex Sour Apples!

Contact our Culture Editor Rosie Dodds at badger-arts@ sussexstudent.com

Marvel vs DC: Dawn of Comic Book Movies do they insist on making their films “grim and gritty”?

Now, Batman is obviously well known for having the super power of masculine grumpiness, but Superman isn’t. Throughout their whole history, the two characters have pretty much been the antithesis of each other.

“These characters are beloved by children and arguably written for them, you have to give them something to hold on to” They often draw the comparison of night and day. However, this year’s film featuring the characters failed to highlight this, making both characters depressing, boring, and cliché. I don’t think anyone can argue against the point that, had they followed the day/night contrast, we would have had a much more interesting and enjoyable movie. By bogging Superman down with the on the nose, poorly executed themes of religion and immigration we’re left with an uninteresting hero who otherwise would

have been a great foil to Batman’s equally depressing dark knight.

The third act of the film is full of problems, the main one of which is spoiler alert - the death of Superman, which is undoubtedly meant to suggest the death of America or some other rubbish that no one really cares about (he’s not really dead though, as is revealed later). The problem with this plot point though, is that it is utterly alienating to new fans. There have been reports of parents having to explain to their teary eyed children that Superman isn’t really dead.

These characters are beloved by children and arguably written for them, you have to give them something to hold on to. The reaction from adults is even worse, because they don’t care about the character at all. Over two movies he’s done nothing but look gorgeous and sulk.

Civil War on the other hand managed to make us believe that there were actual stakes. This is because we’ve known and followed these characters over 8 years and 13 movies, making us care about them more. Seeing all those familiar faces fighting each other makes it seem somewhat more realistic and intense. However, what

stops it from being a chore to watch is the humour throughout it, particularly from another insanely famous superhero - Spider-Man. Both films feature narratives that mirror real world topics and politics, which is a good thing, but humour stops making it seem too serious. The idea of a superhero is so utterly ridiculous that the genre should never take itself so seriously because when it does it just becomes boring and laughable.

When compared with Civil War, it’s all too apparent that BvS had the main objective of making a film that

is not a Marvel film. As with every major film, the objective should have been to make an enjoyable film that is accessible for everyone. By turning it into a competition, DC ended up shooting themselves in the foot, creating a bland movie that no one really liked or appreciated. If DC want to be on par with Marvel’s success they need to be less grim, less gritty, and way more funny.

And don’t even get me started on Suicide Squad.

Marvel Studios

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The Badger 03.10.2016

ARTS

Theatre Theresa Rappold

‘Hi Zero’: An ode to poetry at the Hope and Ruin

The first Hi Zero poetry reading of the term was as a well-visited and successful event.

The reading took place at the Hope and Ruin Pub in Brighton on the 19th of September. It was the 44th event of the poetry series, and hosted by Joe Luna throughout the evening. Three different artists shaped the event and created an engaging and creative night that was all about the written and spoken word. The work of Kat Sinclair, Laura Kilbride and Dolly Turing varied in style, performance and experience. With its broody and relaxed atmosphere, the Hope and Ruin served as an ideal location for the artists to present their poetry.

After a short introduction from Joe Luna, the first poet of the night, Kat Sinclair, took to the stage. Sinclair, a student and musician who has not yet published her written work, was visibly nervous as she started reading out her first poem ‘Pathos in Anecdote’. Her nerves quickly turned into

a minor matter as her style of presentation and the sequences of words caught the audience’s attention.

“it was a great joy for the audience to explore the creativity of a young and aspiring poet” Even though her presentation could have used some breaths and breaks in between each poem, her quick reading style and entertaining voice gave her work a certain uniqueness and relatability. Kat Sinclair had a story to tell with all her poems and she successfully conveyed her emotions to the audience. She seemed to open a window to her personal thoughts and it was a great joy for the audience to explore the creativity of a young and aspiring poet.

Laura Kilbride, the second poet of the night, was a contrast to the first act with her soothing and carrying voice. Kilbride’s work has been published in the poetry anthology ‘Dear World And Everyone In It’ as well as in several magazines such as

the Chicago Review. She presented nine poems out of her collection, all heavy with meaning and long in text.

Rather than working with punchy sequences, Kilbride’s poems, distinguished through their wordiness and her steady presentation, held the packed room in silent awe. In comparison to Kat Sinclair’s poetry, Kilbrides work was less relatable and at times harder to follow. However, she provided high artistic value and proved that poetry does not always have to be understood completely by the audience, and rather works through leaving room to think and question. Asked about her experience on stage she said: ‘Having over thirty people in a room quietly listening to you is terrifying!’.

For Dolly Turing, a multitalented artist who has plenty of experience in show business, a big audience was easy to tackle. The artist has presented her work, which varies from poetry to experimental music, at the Sussex Poetry Festival, Festival 23, pubs and venues, among other

things. She has also had work published by Datableed and the Litmus Press. Instead of simply reading out her poems, Turing created an entertaining performance on stage, using sounds and light effects to complement her poetry.

Her poem ‘Cosmic Trigger Warning’

Josh Cook

was especially engaging thanks to the use of rattles, bells, electric sounds and disco lights. Instead of distracting from the actual content, the background music stressed the meaning of her words.

Her positivity and obvious joy present on stage was contagious and clearly marked the peak of a creative night.

Each of the poets presented great work to the audience, who ended up entranced by the diverse and creative presentations. The event clearly built up throughout the night and reached its climax with Dolly Turing’s unmistakable performance. Those who feel inspired to join an evening of the written and spoken word, should come along to Hi Zero’s monthly poetry readings.

Hi Zero Number Forty-Five will take place on the 25th October at the Hope and Ruin in Brighton, featuring artists Lisa Jeschke and Lucy Beynon, Imogen Cassels and Kate Kilalea.

SMuTS Upcoming Events Sussex Musical Theatre Society (SMuTS) may have finished their auditions, but they have a number of events coming up that you can get invloved in!

Open Mic Night: The first SMuTS Open Mic Night of the year is here! Past acts include singing, dancing, poetry reading, acting monologues and much more!

So whatever your talent is, get involved and come along to a night of fabulous performances.

Tempest Heading to Brighton Festval Next Year

Contact us at facebook.com/sussexmusical if you wish to perform in what is sure to be a fantastic evening!

The performances begin at 7pm on the 14th October in Room 76. There will be a £3 entry fee.

SMuTS Musical Quiz:

SMuTS

Interested in Theatre Journalism?

Are you a musical theatre enthusiast?

Then grab your friends, form a team, and test your musical knowledge in the SMuTS Musical Quiz Night! We will be putting your knowledge to the test in a series of musical themed

rounds on the 4th October at 7pm in Room 76. There will be a £1 entry fee.

Follow us at facebook.com/sussexmusical to be kept up to date on all the details!

Brighton Festival has announced Kate Tempest as it’s 2017 Guest Director. The festival, established in 1967, selects a different director each year, and has this time opted for the multitalented poet, playwright, musician and novelist.

Tempest will be heading to Brighton a bit sooner for a gig at All Saint’s Church on December 9th. For those interested in reading more about Kate Tempest and her relation to the spoken word should read our article in last weeks edition, which can also be found on our website.

Miles Fagge, Theatre Editor

If you’re interested in theatre and want to get involved then email badger-arts@sussexstudent.com and we’ll get in touch. Writing for the theatre section can mean attedning perfomances to review them, interviewing performers and those working in productions amongst other things. We would love to work with you!

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The Badger 03.10.2016

ARTS

Reviews FILM Captain Fantastic Ciaran Doyle As a Danish-American socialist who supported Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential candidacy, it is not surprising that Viggo Mortenson and the role of Ben Cash found each other. Cash is an anti-American, Marx-loving survivalist who lives with his six children in the rural far north west of the USA, apart from the spirit draining and epidemically obese society of modern America.

Captain Fantastic conveys Cash’s journey with his family into the all too familiar world of 21st century capitalism; a world from which he had willingly detached himself from years before and one from which his children have been kept their whole lives. During the first hour or so of the film, this journey seems to be rather predictably aimed at challenging the audience’s perception of the society we live in and satirically alerting us of our self-destructive and unsustainable consumerist ways. However, gradually and rather pleasingly, Cash’s idealistic vision of the world he has created for his children is confronted, not by the crass magnetism of the video games at his less-radicalbut-liberal sister’s suburban home, nor by the family’s hilarious ineptitude for interaction with strangers, but by the blindingly obvious fact that, for all its shortcomings and inadequacies, Western society provides us with a network which protects us from the dangers of the primal, instinctive human condition.

Although the film would stand alone as both poignant and extremely funny without him, Mortenson comes through as the most successful aspect of Captain Fantastic. Usually cast as far more serious charac-

BOOK

When To Rob A Bank Bianca Serafini Arts Editor In 2005 economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journo, Stephen Dubner, debuted Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. At first impression it sounded very much like Economy For Dummies, a watered down account of how the economy ‘works’ and the peculiars of finance.

But it ended up being far more than just that. It took basic and non-basic economic principles and applied them to concrete situations, such as in chapter five: ‘The negligible effects of good parenting on education’. The book particularly uncovered criminality in detail, like

ters (they don’t come much more serious than the Father in The Road), he applies his bluntness to a series of faultless comical deliveries throughout the film. In one of the most sidesplitting movie moments of the year, a publicly naked Ben Cash reminds a horrified couple of elderly holidaymakers that ‘it’s just a penis, we’ve all seen one’.

And Mortenson doesn’t stand alone; the children are equally hilarious and, to credit the script writers, at exactly the right moments in the film. A feat of extraordinary acting, considering that child-actors Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell can each be no older than 11. George Mckay, playing Ben Cash’s eldest son Bodevan, provides a very strong supporting performance, which isn’t without its amusing moments.

Yet like any satire, the comedy in the film is coupled with scathing moralism. If this film is remembered (which it should be), it will not be simply for its hilarity but for its complex presentation of both the individual and the family. Cash imposes on his children a life many of us, including sympathisers with the left, would consider unnecessarily radical, selfish and damaging – something which Cash comes to realise throughout the film. Yet it is emphasised that his project has created six children thoroughly talented in conceptual and scientific knowledge, musical aptitude and in physical ability. What they lack is the undeniably important capability of emotionally adept human interaction.

In accurately portraying the balance between these concepts, Captain Fantastic neatly scrutinises what we may ourselves question about our society, yet reminds us of the importance of what we hold dear, and what our Western world facilitates. 4/5.

in chapter three’s ‘The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low earnings and abject working conditions of crack cocaine dealers’ and chapter two’s ‘Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents’. The book took a sociological approach to economics, raising much criticism and acclaim for the section on how legalized abortion impacted crime, Levitt’s argument being that it’s reduced almost half of criminality witnessed throughout the ‘90s. It’s safe to say that Freakonomics became one of the most popular non-fiction economics book read by lay-people and professors alike, selling over four million copies worldwide by the early 2000s.

Since then the duo have written Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance; Think Like a Freak and lately, When

MUSIC Boundary Festival

Glenn Houlihan Deputy Editor Situated a stone’s throw away from Sussex’s campus at Stammer Park, Boundary – driven by a fierce marketing campaign – allured Freshers and returning students alike, with the slick line up of renowned DJs and thrilling live acts proving an irresistible union.

Jungle got the party started with a perplexingly early DJ set, arriving just after 2pm. Unsurprisingly, the initial attendance was sparse – student lie-in clichés ringing true – but J and T soon attracted a rambunctious crowd intent on subverting the unseasonable time slot. Dropping occasional samples of their acclaimed debut album, the London boys crafted a polished set, smiling their way through the afternoon mix whilst catalysing the appetite for their follow up project.

“Talking my way backstage to witness Seth Troxler spin his stuff at the elrow X The Arch arena was undoubtedly the day’s indelible highlight”

Armada, the ageless Superstylin standing out among their legion of hits.

Talking my way backstage to witness Seth Troxler spin his stuff at the elrow X The Arch arena was undoubtedly the day’s indelible highlight. After grabbing a few free drinks and nervously edging my way onto the stage – soon realising everyone was having too much fun to bother asking a smiling journo to decamp – it was a case of watch and learn as Seth dropped an exquisite blend of tech house. Floating an acid remix of The Stone Roses’ ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ across the set, he was undoubtedly in his element.

Jaguar Skills showcased his spectacular ability on the Boundary Bandstand stage, ably supported by two dynamic dancers. With the crowd spilling onto the surrounding hillside, the balaclava clad DJ demonstrated exactly why he is considered by many the finest mixer on the festival circuit, chopping and pasting between choice samples. A thumping drum and bass screw of Kaiser Chiefs’ 'I Predict A Riot' was blithely received by the appropriately unruly congregation, the set gradually building into a drop heavy extravaganza.

Bondax were the only disappointment of the festival, their set irreparably hampered by an appallingly bass heavy sound. Although their mixing skills are undisputed,

Gentleman’s Dub Club lived up to their outstanding live reputation with an exhaustingly energetic set, the nine-piece band offering a deliciously distinctive blend of postreggae dance which went down a treat with the galvanised crowd.

Next up on the Mixmag X Concorde stage were electronic heroes Groove To Rob A Bank. The Douglas Adamsesque titles give us a little insight on what content to expect, odd and somewhat funny accounts of applied economics, and the latest installation doesn’t disappoint. Written in the personal/ quasi-essay style that has allowed for the other editions to have gained such wide readership, one chapter accounting a night out in Vegas, ‘So Levitt and I were in Las Vegas this weekend, doing some research. (Seriously: it’s for a Times column on Super Bowl gambling). We had a little downtime and decided to play blackjack’. Consistently told in the present tense, the story follows various life experiences of the writers, with their initials at the top of every story. They give us a very real understanding of how economic principles work, how they can be applied to every day life, they almost make it seem easy. But alas, it’s not easy, the story illustrates a friend

it was shame they couldn’t alter the wayward equalizer, the static crowd testament to the poor quality audio.

Craig David’s TS5 were an apt headliner, although the spectacle of Craig playing the backing tracks on his laptop whilst singing was slightly bizarre; nonetheless, he proved time really isn’t an issue as he powered through his multitude of hits.

Opening with an acapella ‘When The Bassline Drops’, he masterfully turned back the clock with his earnest stage presence, dropping the perfectly appropriate ‘Rewind’ with a wry beam.

WRITE A REVIEW See a film recently you absolutely loved?

Or been to a gig you couldn’t stand? Tell us!

Contact badger-arts@ sussexstudent.com for a space in the reviews page

Boundary Brighton Ltd of Levitt’s, Brandon Adams, who the authors refers to as one of the best poker players in the world (and a great writer as well, apparently), who ‘makes so much money playing poker that he will likely never finish his economics Ph.D at Harvard’. The book possibly insinuates the evils of gambling and the ‘classic example of opportunity cost’ (what investopedia.com describes as ‘an opportunity cost refers to a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action’).

Levitt beats Adams and makes it to the next table, the book goes on to describe a blackjack round that has Levitt at 82% chance of winning the right hand, and if he had, he would have had 90% of the chips, making it impossible not to get into the final table. Yet, he looses, ‘the Cinderella story had come to an end.

I was out’. The chapter highlights well-known tales of gambling, we all

know that the house always wins, but to what extent? Well, if Levitt, a UChicago economist couldn’t win, then who does? One might just imagine it was all down to luck.

The book is filled with these kind of stories, my personal favourite being ‘More Sex Please, We’re Economists’, which starts with a story by Dubner: ‘Breaking News: Soccer Fans Not As Horny as Previously Thought’. It gives an informative account, in bullet points among prose, of a Sex Tax. Whether you study economics or just want handy (although at times dubiously useful) food for thought, do have a read. It’s funnier then you’d imagine, plus I know you want to know ‘bout the Sex Tax. Fancy the chance of winning a free copy of Freakonomics?

Head to our facebook page to find out how! facebook.com/thebadgersussex

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The Badger 03.10.2016

ARTS

Music

Interview: Fickle Friends

Lauren Wade and Glenn Houlihan Music Editor and Deputy Editor From the moment The Badger met up with Brighton-bred Fickle Friends they’re buzzing with energy and excitement, a theme that continues throughout our discussion with them. They’re in high spirits and it’s infectious, perhaps a factor in why they’re converting a legion of fans onto their side and rising throughout the ranks swiftly.

The band consisting of Natti Shiner (lead vocals), Jack Wilson (keys), Sam Morris (drums), Chris Hall (guitar) and Harry Herrington (bass) have been hopping between continents all summer for debut album recording sessions in LA with legendary producer, Mike Crossey, and their set at Brighton’s Together The People Festival is what brings them home again - even if only for the shortest of visits.

Despite racking up more air miles than your typical international businessman, the group maintain a calm approach to their music and haven’t let the near-constant travelling affect them too much.

“It’s a bit weird,” begins frontwoman Natti. “We go out there (to LA) and we do a four-week session and then your head is all in the game but then you have to come back and it becomes a bit fragmented. We do a lot of writing out there though, because we have a writing room.”

Previous material such as the band’s first cut ‘Swim’ was released over two years ago initially but didn’t quite achieve the desired result. “We put it out online and we

paid a small amount of money for a bit of PR for a month and it happened to catch on, on the blogs, which was amazing and everything we’ve done is because we put that song online.”

They’ve come a long way since ‘Swim’ first appeared on music blogs nationwide but the band decided to revamp the single. Natti tells us they “made it sound a bit more like it does now and then it got spot plays and it got playlisted everywhere. It jumps up 200,000 plays on Spotify every other day and it’s mental.”

“Everything we’ve done is because we put that song online” That’s the thing about Fickle Friends, they remain as modest as when they first broke onto the scene a couple of years ago and they can’t quite perceive the success that’s (rightfully) come their way, even if they wholeheartedly believe in their brand and the music they’re putting out.

When the conversation turns to the financial side of the music industry, The Hunna naturally came up as an example of a group who are shifting records and racking up the cash, even if they’ve been seen by others to let their folk origins slide as a result.

“You can’t criticise people who are seliing out venues all over the UK, as obviously something is working,” says Natti. “You may hate it or you may think it’s very rudimentary indie-rock music, but it’s just

opinion and people like to be bitter.

They’ve got a huge fanbase and people love them, people were screaming their lyrics back to them at their set at Reading. Fair play to them.”

“You can’t criticise people who are selling out venues all over the UK” The approach that Fickle Friends take is different, preferring to spend money on “making songs that we think are great” is what keyboardist Jack states their focus is as a collective.

Reading Festival was a whole other experience for them. “It was just mental. I’ve never been to Reading before, I don’t think anything can prepare you for the crazy kids.” The post-GCSE rite of passage is the kind of event that artists embrace and they love the energy the younger audience bring.

“They’re all really young kids, they’re really into it.” Jack explains

whilst Natti continues that “They’re up at the crack of dawn, they’re through the doors.” It’s this kind of young and impressionable audiences that are the most vital to their continued success as an established act on the British music scene and they understand this and try to adapt to it.

The five-piece also understand the massive influence and impact the radio can have on getting their music out there to more people. “People obviously do well without having any story at radio but for a band like us with a target audience of the main bulk of Radio 1 listeners, which is 16-25 year olds, that’s our target audience. It would seem stupid not to do everything we can to do well at radio.” And doing well they are...

Fickle Friends may still have some way to go before they reach their golden moment but they’re well on their way and nobody should doubt them. They’ve got a solid debut album in the works, an ever-increasing fanbase and absolute 80s inspired pop belters under their belts, which sounds like a winning formula if we’ve ever heard one.

Gigs this week Oct 3 Lonely The Brave The Haunt £13.75 Oct 3 Young Kato Komedia £9.00 Oct 4 Louis Berry The Green Door Store £8.50 Oct 6 Black Honey Patterns £8.05 Oct 6 All Them Witches The Haunt £10.35 Sep 30 Hannah Wants Patterns £16.50

GazClarke Jones Xavier

Preview: Oxjam Brighton Lauren Wade Music Editor Brighton’s biggest charity music festival, Oxjam, returns for the day on Saturday 15th October to showcase a wide variety of Brighton’s local music talent in a one day, multivenue festival environment.

The month-long festival will be held all over the UK with various cities staging takeovers, such as the one due to take place in Brighton next month. All of these events are organised and run by volunteers who know and love their local music scene and all the money that is raised from these events helps to save lives around the world.

Venues participating in the festival include: The Prince Albert, The Globe, The Gladstone and Marwoods Coffee Shop & Stu-

dios amongst many other notorious Brighton haunts. Scene experts, BN1 Magazine and Give It Back Magazine are just a few of the companies running their own stages at the festival this year and they’ve managed quite an impressive line-up.

“witnessing a killer line-up in support of the charity’s fight against global poverty and hunger” BN1 are partnering up with legendary London Road venue, Bleach, to bring you local five-piece, The Island Club. The young talent behind smash single ‘Let Go’ are regulars when it comes to playing gigs in the city centre but each new set brings an edge

of excitement and we can never say no to a chance to listen to their (yet to be released) new material live.

Across town, Marwoods will be playing host to Devonshire via Brighton foursome, Breathe Panel. The band come hotly tipped and have recently landed a deal with local record label Fat Cat Records and all it takes is a listen to their stomping debut single ‘On My Way’ to see exactly why.

If you’re on the hunt for something a bit different, look no further than The Globe and Give It Back Magazine’s “night that swoons around psychedelia, punk, and rock’n’roll.”

Expect riveting local talent in a cosy, intimate setting that will no doubt see you make a return visit for more than just the music.

Give It Back Magazine never fail to pull off a great shindig and the local live music insiders have been operating in Brighton and Hove for the past

two years. Their aim has been to uncover sections of Brighton’s subculture and underground music scene that might not necessarily be heard of otherwise and they’re doing a marvellous job bringing new music to the masses. Be sure to head down to The Globe to top off your Oxjam experience in style and keep an eye out for acts such as The Rocking Horse Club and MOONOVERSUN who will feature on the night.

“Give It Back Magazine never fail to pull off a great shindig” If you’re more of an electronic music fan, head to The Joker for Brighton Noise’s day of electro, with live acts appearing throughout the day and DJ’s taking over afterwards.

Brighton Noise has been labelled as the city’s definitive gig guide in the past; you should trust their opinion when it comes to live acts.

If you’d like to see what all the fuss is about at Oxjam 2016, wristbands are available to purchase that grant you access to all ten venues and will only set you back £9 (plus booking fees). We recommend that you buy your wristband as soon as possible to avoid an increase in price closer to the festival.

So if you’re free on 15th October and you’re a fan of music, support Oxfam and Brighton’s live music scene by attending the festival and witnessing a killer line-up in support of the charity’s fight against global poverty and hunger.

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The Badger 03.10.2016

ARTS

The Street Some of Brighton’s most captivating aspects can be found in its colourful streets, you can find just about anything over here, all you have to do is look. On this Street corner we will be displaying Sussex students’ very own creative work, and just like the streets of Brighton, it will be truly one of a kind.

We’re always looking for new submissions —be it poetry, photography, cartoons, and everything in between — to showcase any creative talent.

Help us fill up this new page!

THE CARPENTERS LOVER

I’ve got layers of skin through which to love you through which to hold your flesh within and I feel you like a carpenterkeep on sharpening those corners you’ll be a work of art I promise or you’ll be a wooden bed of flowers

for me to plant myself in swallowed up and swollen in dirt and grime I go fishing in the deep amber of your molten arms and begin to hold a sense of something dusk begins to dawn early in the equator of equilibriums so we take the four o’ clock train home damp and wriggling in our carpeted seats

Contact Lucie Andrau at badger-arts@ sussexstudent.com for any contributions full porfolio available online !

WASHED AWAY DAYS

I think that maybe I’ve lost more than a few days and the world crosses between the night and the light yet still the dawn doesn’t bring relief from the news that obtrudes and grants us an absence of truth.

My body and mind are trying to find a truce one wants to sleep until the days don’t exist one wants to run until the hours are minutes And my life flashes before my eyes.

And my life flashes before my eyes. so it’s carparks again and concrete farms and glass houses with no stones to throw even if I wanted to.

Even if I needed to my hands are tied and I can’t live my life and change it at the same time because my hands are tied.

caught with my gaze out the window I watch your strangers eyes wash out my strangers fears with deep knowing ignorance and unyielding figures of speech.

And I must eat enough to sleep and sleep enough to eat and get drunk at the weekends so we can remember how to think in unity.

You play a piano on my heart to find the blitz in my being tracing fingertips which break in the dark.

It’s beautiful when you think about it: a body that knows how to rain to take the colossal drought away and a sky that knows how to touch and reach out to a mind

Your arms almost hold me and yield to me and our bones almost meet and then I’m falling over mile high curbs back to supermarkets and newspapers.

Back to a brain that hides in a body and eyes that stay still like stone so I stretch out your paper coloured limbs Into beds and sofas and breakfasts

eating with my mouth full of words I climb up concrete cliffs and startling realisations of selfhood

and I seal myself in - like a jewellery box velvet and secretive and knowing wind me up-

and watch me spin and spin and spin into your flesh and your bones and your knowing arms.

and at times I think I’m just waiting for the tides to roll in and wash us all away so the trees can be beautiful again and we can just live on in the memory lines of their skin.

J.J. Farndon PHOTO-POETRY L.A : When did you start writing/ taking photos ?

J.F : I have kept diaries off and on for my whole life but I really started writing poetry when I was about 14.

I was always interested in photography but I didn’t get my first SLR film camera untill college; I have been shooting regularly on film since then.

L.A : What do you want to do after your degree ?

J.F : I plan on hanging around Brighton for a year to build up my portfolio and apply for a photography MA abroad, somewhere in Europe. After that, it’s on to finding a million different ways to live that don’t involve working a 9-5 office routine. I would like to use photography and writing in a way which contributed to a more positive world but I’d also like to work freelance or start my own business so I need to find a way of building up capital first.

L.A : Where do your passions for writing and for photography come from ?

J.F : My passions for writing and photography come from a wish to both understand and express. This has been with me for as long as I can remember and comes from a kind of restlessness which arises out of a dissatisfaction of everyday forms of expression and the confusion that comes with them. I enjoy the simplicity of both the poetic and photographic form and the ability they have to frame such a diversity of things within a small space. My ideas are often chaotic and not fully formed so it helps my work to have the limitations of both space and col-

Jasmine Farndan, English and History student, 3rd year.

our – I predominately shoot in black and white film.

L.A : Top 3 writers for you would be ?

J.F : Kate Tempest, Bob Dylan and Andre Breton. Tempest was probably the first poet who really made me stop and listen, I used to be much more attracted to the spoken word form. I’veseen her live multiple times and she has an immense power to arouse deep feelings from her audience. Dylan is after all a poet and one of the greatest of all. Breton is a fascinatingwriter and widely known as the founder of the surrealist movement which I find endlessly interesting for its insanity and revolutionary ties.

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LIFESTYLE

The Badger 03.10.2016

Single, but without the perks? Long distance relationships at university

Alex Carter Lifestyle Editor Like opting for Vanilla and missing out on the sweet taste of Raspberry Ripple, long distance relationships can often come with feelings of regret and what if’s.

What if I was single at university?

What if I have made the wrong decision? What if I have made the right one by sticking with my safe, trustworthy vanilla? The truth is, I ask myself these questions nearly every day and I don’t have the answer, and maybe we are not supposed to know the answer. Perhaps one day, we hard-core long distance relationshippers will wake up and know for sure that we are doing the right or wrong thing.

I have found, and I am sure I am not alone, that saying you are in a long distance relationship attracts two common responses. Firstly, you have the cliché ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’ reaction which often provokes the dreaded marriage card; “If you can make it through university, you will definitely get married”. The tones of their voices seem to be impressed, almost surprised that we’ve made it, so what the hell, let’s give ourselves a pat on the back. When I hear this, the little doubtful devil who often sits on my shoulder, disappears into thin air. I feel proud that I have almost made it through University in a long distance relationship. It has not been an easy ride I know, but we have resisted temptation and fought hard to make things work. However, I do also want to say to these Tom, Dick and Harry’s…hold your horses.

I don’t want to think about marriage for at least another five years, I don’t even know if I want to get married!

Why does making it through a long distance relationship mean that marriage is suddenly on the cards?

Personally, I have found it so important to focus on the present when in a long distance relationship.

Thinking about the future simply complicates things and stirs up feelings of anxiety deep within me.

Ghandi said “The future depends on what you do today” so I try to live by this, the future is a product of the present. Despite this, we cannot all be ignorant to the future. Discussing life plans with your partner is part of the beauty of being in a relationship. However, you and your lover, distant or not, should try your best to live in the present as much as you can. Be happy spending time together, without worrying about the next time you see each other or about what the future has to bring.

Unfortunately, I am sometimes faced with this second response, in all its pessimistic glory: “It won’t last”. I mean, thanks for your kind words of encouragement. But despite my pro long distance relationships campaign, I fully acknowledge that they are hard work. They require you to really try, more so than in relationships where you both share a post code. I shall not tell a lie, I ask myself too often whether my long distance relationship will last. I quiz myself, demanding evidence and answers as to why I’m doomed or why I’m not! We must all accept that a long distance relationship is not easy, and we will second guess ourselves.

This doesn’t mean we are bad people.

However, a testing relationship is not a reason to give up hope and listen to the ‘It won’t last’ers.

It is no myth that many students have tried and failed to make their long distance relationships work, so I wanted to look into the reasons behind this. Mima Edye-Lindner, English student at The University of Sussex, said that she felt: “For me, the downhill spiral stemmed from an absence of effort from my ex. If you are not going to be 100% committed, save yourselves the heartbreak by admitting that you are not ready”.

Mima and her ex-boyfriend were in a long distance relationship for one year out of their two year relationship. Her ex boyfriend moved to China for his placement year and it was this move abroad which ultimately ended their relationship.

Living in different countries definitely comes with added pressure and complications such as time difference and travel expenses: two aspects of being in a long distance relationship I have resented. When in a long distance relationship, you have to understand that you will, at times, be lonely and fed up of sharing a bed with just your vibrator. You will find yourselves arguing over the stupidest of things because you are frustrated and you miss each other.

The Skypes and Facetimes are not always exciting, they often involve, tear stained faces, snotty noses and in my case, a double chin from replacing my boyfriend with chocolate digestives, Image Text BoxHowever, as a final year undergraduate student, I can say that I cope better than I would have

at the start. I have outgrown the world of excessive drinking and the desperation to be liked. I honestly don’t care if you don’t like me for I have found my true friends and I am in love with a beautiful bearded Parisian man. Perhaps my age has influenced my positive outlook on long distance relationships because I am not embarking on University for the first time. I no longer feel the need to spread my wings and fly, be the overly-social butterfly I used to be and find myself. I used to feel like I didn’t want to be tied down to one person. I now like being tied to that one person. Although I am not ‘free’ to misbehave with other men, there is something truly liberating about feeling so secure in a relation-

ship, that you don’t have a care in the world about them behaving badly because you trust them totally.

How can you trust someone you wake up next to, after meeting them in the smoking area at Coalition the night before?

I don’t doubt that you one night standers may be smiling to yourself, thinking that long distance relationships are like ‘being single but without the perks’ and yes, sometimes it can be difficult. However, when it is with the right person, it makes everything worth it. It has taught me so much about myself, things that perhaps I would never have learnt had I not been in a long distance relationship.

Alex and her long-distance boyfriend reunited

If you find yourself isolated, depressed or anxious at University, what can you do?

Frank Murphy

Last week I wrote an article in The Badger about how to avoid isolation and manage your mental health issues as Freshers settle into term-time life. If all that advice has failed for you so far, or in the future, or you’re like me and you didn’t follow any of it in your first term – then here’s a list of services for mental health-related issues on campus, in Brighton and

nationally.

1 – The Student Support Unit If you’re living on Campus, this should be your first stop if you find yourself frequently feeling down. I personally found them very helpful and easy to talk to. If you have been previously diagnosed with either an ongoing mental health condition or are for example, on the autistic spectrum, you can make an appointment with the Student Support Unit at the

Flickr Katie Tegtmeyer

Student Life Centre and discuss your options. If you are deemed as having a condition that affects your studies, then your advisor may be able to: Request reasonable adjustments such as exam arrangements, extensions for assignments or alternative modes of assessment.

Provide advice and assistance with applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA).

Implement the recommendations in your DSA report, including allocating you to a mentor or a support worker.

If necessary, liaise with your GP, Counsellor, or Health Care Team.

Liaise with Residential Services over accommodation issues.

In addition to this, students that have been recommended may have access to Study Support Mentors, provided that they are currently receiving DSA. Students can meet with mentors once a week for support with their academic landfill.

Fellow student Alex Carter underwent mentoring in her second year

at University and said about the experience: “Seeing Pepi, my mentor, once a fortnight, took a weight off of my shoulders that I didn’t even know needed to be lifted.”

2 – University Counselling Services.

I have found the counselling services on campus particularly helpful, despite the fact that underfunding leaves the waiting lists about as helpful as a chocolate teapot. I received both psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from the Counselling services which really helped me get through first year. In my personal experience, the counsellors were extremely helpful and caring. Their assistance significantly changed my outlook on life, especially through CBT, a talking therapy which helps you manage your problems effectively. However, I was left waiting for around five weeks for an initial interview with a counsellor and had to wait a further four weeks for any actual counselling because of the terrifyingly long waiting list. My

advice…hang on in there!

3 – The Rock Clinic .

The Rock Clinic charity has two clinics in Brighton which offer an association of psychotherapists and counsellors. For a mere £10.00, you can have an initial interview to determine what kind of assistance you need. Waiting lists are also a million times faster than the counselling services available on Campus, being between one and three weeks waiting time. I’ve never personally used this service but I’ve heard ultrapositive things from people who have so this is perhaps something to consider if you are desperate to be seen quickly.

4 – Samaritans.

These guys are awesome. They’ve helped me out a number of times.

Call them on 116123 to talk to trained staff about any negativity you may be suffering or if you are in need of someone anonymous to comfort you in times of extreme panic, depression or anything mental health related. They are available 24/7 and remember that you do not need to be suicidal to call!

15

The Badger 03.10.2016

LIFESTYLE

Top 5 weird and wonderful getaways in Sussex Fancy getting away from the hustle and bustle of campus life for a weekend, without travelling too far?

Here are my top five picks of the quirkiest local escapes.

Alex Carter Lifestyle Editor 1.Blackberry Wood Campsite, The Holicopter

low season. The campsite is located at Streat Lane, Streat, Nr Ditchling, Sussex BN6 8RS. Find out more on their website http://blackberrywood.com/ 2.Bodichon Yurt at Glottenham Castle

mation on this rural treasure, visit the following website: http://www. canopyandstars.co.uk/ and search for the Bodichon Yurt.

station.co.uk/

castlecottage.info/the-tree-house/

4. The Tree House at Castle Cottage, Fittleworth

5. Shepherd hut, The Rolling Downs.

3. The Old Railway station, Petworth

Creative Commons via The Old Railway Station via Blackberry Wood Campsite and Glamping Your eyes are not deceiving you, you can really stay in this converted 1965 Wessex Search and rescue helicopter. It sleeps 2 couples, with 2 double beds! So if you fancy a couples' getaway with a difference, head over to Blackberry Wood Campsite for as little as £55 per couple in the

via Glottenham farm This quaint little yurt, set in beautiful grounds of a Sussex country farm sleeps 5. Although the décor is a little on the feminine side, it is popular for groups of friends, including guys, because of the attractive price of only £85 for all 5 people. It has 1 double bed, 2 single beds, and 1 day bed. For more infor-

The old Petworth train station has been converted into a beautiful B&B, with the option of even staying in one of the 1892 train carriages.

In West Sussex, this little gem is slightly more further afield, a 1 hr 10 minute car journey from Brighton. However, it’s worth it for the experience. There is something romantic about this one too! Check out their website for prices and more information: http://www.old-

Why do we keep pitting women against each other? The Brangelina divorce Josie Kidner When you see ‘BREAKING NEWS’ plastered across every news channel, the fact that a celebrity couple are getting a divorce isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However, recent headlines have been just that – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have split. I won’t bore you with all the details as these have been splashed around social media and newspapers everywhere, the updates are practically unavoidable! However, what is really interesting is the reaction of the public and the bedlam since.

The news has seen society putting words into the mouths of all allegedly involved in the break-up.

Firstly we saw memes of Jennifer Aniston looking smug, followed by memes of Pitt on the phone, calling Aniston to admit he’d messed up.

At first glance, these can be seen as amusing, but I ask you to look deeper into what we are saying when we repost these memes and videos on Facebook. We are saying that one

woman’s pain is another woman’s gain. We are supporting the falsehood that Jennifer Anniston is sat at home, thinking ‘brilliant, karma’s a bitch Angie!’ Perhaps, when we are going through tough times, we find comfort in knowing that someone else’s life is worse than our own.

However, we should not forget that that this makes a complete mockery out of what is actually a very upsetting and testing time for a whole family, including six children. So perhaps their private lives should remain just that, private, and the Jennifer Aniston memes should be saved for something a bit more trivial than the notion of one woman celebrating the failure of another (Which isn’t even happening in this case) The imagined conflict between the two women has been much reported.

The world automatically assumes that because of her own experiences with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston would have something humorous or even scandalous to say on the mat-

Flickr:Nils Sautter

ter. Although it has been said (by a mysterious source) that Aniston has described the situation as ‘karma’, I very much doubt that she is bitter.

Since her divorce from Brad Pitt, she has a new husband and has her own obstacles to jump. I’m sure many have been disappointed by the anticlimactic response, for they were probably hoping for some kind of massive Twitter feud followed by an uncomfortable awards night or red carpet event.

Likewise, reports broke out immediately that the divorce had something to do with Marion Cotillard, a French actress who had recently filmed with Brad Pitt in the upcoming World War II film ‘Allied’.

She has since corrected the rumours by writing a lengthy Instagram message on Wednesday: “This is going to be my first and only reaction to the whirlwind news that broke 24 hours ago and that I was swept up into” the actress began, addressing rumours she and Pitt had sparked a romance. She concluded her message by wishing Brad and Angelina well, “I do very much wish that Angelina and Brad, both whom I deeply respect, will find peace in this very tumultuous moment. With all my love, Marion”. Immediately reporters were looking to add another angle to their stories and were very quick to assume another woman was involved and ready to destroy the possibility of friendship between two women.

For some reason there is no acceptance of the fact that women, particularly in such an exposed industry as film, can actually be supportive of one another. Perhaps because sensationalised news makes popular news, it sells, and two women supporting each other

At only a 50 minute drive from Brighton, or a 1hr30 minute train journey, you can get to the sweet village of Fittleworth. Nestled in the forest which surrounds Castle Cottage B&B, is this treehouse. If you fancy reconnecting with Mother Nature, this is the place for you! At £165 for 2 people, including breakfast, this is a slightly more expensive option. However, why don’t you think about it for a special occasion?

Find out more online at http://www.

via The Rolling Downs The Rolling Downs in East Sussex have two of these fabulous little shepherd huts. They are equipped with a king size bed and 2 singles, along with all the essentials you would need! There is also a tree swing, and let’s be honest, no matter how old we are, we all love a tree swing. Set in Bentley Country Park, these huts are perfect for a quirky get away with your pals. Like toasting marshmallows on the camp fire? This is the place for you, and only £95 per hut, per night. Visit the website for more information at http://www.therollingdowns.co.uk/

Fancy writing for Lifestyle?

If you are interested in writing about Fashion, Travel, Food, Wellbeing or anything that falls under Lifestyle, we want to hear from you!

Contact Alex Carter, Lifestyle Editor at ac572@sussex.ac.uk

LETTERS

16

The Badger 03.10.2016

The battle for a woman’s right to choose is far from over Dear Badger, The subject of abortion is controversial to say the least. In terms of subjects to talk about at a dinner party, you’re probably better off with choosing the latest book you’ve read or what you had for breakfast. But ignoring the issue rarely means it gets resolved – and burying it will only make it fester.

In April this year, a Belfast woman was sentenced for inducing her own abortion via pills she had bought online - an act that can be punished by life in prison according to the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861 (which is still the current legislation in Northern Ireland).

The only exceptions are if there is a threat to the woman’s life or a serious risk to her mental or physical health (Infant Life Preservation Act of 1929, extended to Northern Ireland in 1945).

Simply put, not even rape, incest, or fatal foetal abnormalities are considered valid enough reasons to be allowed to terminate a pregnancy

in Northern Ireland, which is the only part of the UK where the Abortion Act of 1967 does not apply. The fact that such different legislation appears in what is essentially one unified country is, quite simply staggering.

In the mostly Catholic Republic of Ireland, things aren’t much better.

The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution (1983) bans abortion completely, equating the life of the foetus with the mother’s. This ruling was only lifted in 2013 after the death of Savita Halappanavar, who had repeatedly asked for an abortion as she was in severe pain and was miscarrying. Her request was denied and she later died of septicaemia, triggering huge protests across the country, which ultimately led to a small change in Irish law permitting abortion if the life of the mother is in danger.

In recent weeks, however, momentum has been gathering to repeal the 8th Amendment altogether, and pressure has mounted on the Irish government to

A Country Divided: An American Perspective Dear Badger, In wake of ongoing issues affecting our country, sitting during the national anthem and refusing to pledge to our flag is a tactic sought after by various groups. This form of protesting an issue is both unsuitable and offensive.

On September 23, the Campus Y, (a student campaigning organisation at The University of North Carolina), wrote to students in an email informing us of various ways to protest. The email read, “We will remain seated during the national anthem.” In my opinion, this is contradictory with what the Campus Y claims to “Honor the communities that enrich and strengthen our work.” Sitting during the national anthem and refusing to pledge to our flag is not honoring the nation; it is opposing the nation and what it claims to be true.

When people sit and refuse to pledge to our flag, they are rejecting the idea of justice, which betters us all as citizens. This rejection equates to not believing that we, as

Americans, can combat issues that affect us all.

I question: Why give up on a nationwide undertaking?

My home county is a prime example of working together when adversary events take place. Bertie County is suspect to flooding every few years due to tropical storms and excessive rains. Just recently, the county suffered from high levels of flooding. The people of Bertie County have now started to work together in repairing homes. It is a project that requires collective work, not individual work.

We must work together as a nation to combat injustices occurring within our nation. When people sit and refuse to pledge, they object to working together as a nation.

A project on this level requires all Americans working together peacefully and civilly. United we stand, divided we fall.

Yours, Clint Conner

have a referendum on the subject.

On the 24th of September 2016, thousands of protesters (including members of my own family) lined the streets of Dublin, with many more around the globe in organised demonstrations in more than 20 cities. Some placards questioned why this was still an issue in 2016, highlighting the divide between the current law and the mindset of the people who must abide by it.

There’s no doubt that the debate around abortion can be decidedly bitter, opposing deeply-held beliefs with seemingly little room for compromise – but legally being able to deny women control over their own bodies is, at best, a deeply troubling state of affairs.

If someone has blood or organs that someone else desperately needs, doctors do not have the legal right to remove any organs or blood, even if the person in question is deceased (unless given express permission – if they are an organ donor, for example). In a nutshell, abortion laws in Ireland seem to give greater

bodily autonomy to corpses than they do to people who can become pregnant. The obvious rebuttal is that the corpse has no use for its organs anymore, whereas a pregnant woman is carrying a foetus that can grow and ultimately be born. But what of the life of the third party? Is the foetus in a woman’s womb worth more than the living person that can be saved by organ transplant?

And what of the woman herself – can you really be justified in forcing someone to carry to term?

The Republic of Ireland made history last year when it became the first country on Earth to legalise gay marriage through popular vote. Let’s hope progress isn’t just flavour of the month.

Yours, Rhianna van Riel

After our disgraceful exit from Euro 2016 at the hands of underdogs Iceland, a country funnily enough around the size of Leicester, lately it has been a horrible time to be an England fan.

This woeful display led to the long overdue sacking of head coach Roy Hodgson, and The FA began the search for his successor. Seeing as Guardiola, Mourinho and co were too busy managing teams that actually win things sometimes, we had to settle for Big Sam Allardyce.

A man whose CV includes positions at world class clubs such as Bolton and Sunderland, and which lists “hoofing it to Andy Carroll” as a top skillset. Well maybe that’s a bit harsh, literally anybody could do a better job than Hodgson right?

Wrong. A mere 67 days into the job, Allardyce has just been sacked for what his agent has described as “a serious error of judgement”.

Apparently offering advice to some chaps from a Far East firm about how to get around the ban on third party ownership of players is

WRITE US A LETTER Read something in The Badger that you want to respond to? Have an opinion on a topical issue? Or just want to complain about an aspect of student life at Sussex? Then we want to hear from you! Feel free to email submissions to:

badger-letters@sussexstudent.com

The best tweets of the week @frasercoppin: You know you’re a geography student when the lecturer apologises for the map projection he’s using #TheBadger @USSU: Morning! What a beautiful day to vote for your Student Reps!

Our football team is a laughing stock Dear Badger,

#TheBadger

considered a bit naughty, especially when the firm’s representives turned out to be undercover reporters from The Telegraph who caught him redhanded. Still, a record of 1 win and 1 clean sheet out of 1 match in charge is pretty impressive, I guess?

So what next for England? Gareth Southgate will take over for the next few games, which is the definition of an unremarkable appointment.

In the long-term it’s clear that a huge shake up is needed, from the FA head honchos all the way down to the grassroots. Players like Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford who regularly impress in The Premier League, indicate that the talent is there. Playing for England though?

They’ll probably end up being stuck in at right back, and/or taking the corners. We invented this sport for crying out loud, and now we’re getting beaten by Iceland!

I think it’s probably time we give up on football entirely and try to win at another sport. Curling perhaps?

Yours, A Frustrated Englishman

@richardosman: So now that the vocal right and the vocal left are wellrepresented in British politics, what about absolutely everyone else? @HillaryClinton: A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his hands anywhere near the nuclear codes. #DebateNight @ThatMiriam: Dianne Abbot calling allegations of antisemitism hurtful.

How the hell do you think it feels on this side.

Tweet us at #TheBadger and you could be published here next week!

The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Student’s Union, unless explicitly stated.

University of Sussex Students’ Union Falmer, East Sussex, BN1 9QF

17

SCIENCE Gonorrhoea can be incurable, pay attention

The Badger 03.10.2016

On the 21st September The United Nations General Assembly held a meeting on the issue of antibiotic resistance and it’s not a moment too soon.

Kate Dearling Science and Technology Sub-Editor

Imagine a time when cancer treatment and organ transplants are impossible, open-heart surgery and hip replacements are high risk and rarely carried out, women die in childbirth and deaths from pneumonia and STIs are common. I doubt many of you thought of the future, but if antibiotic resistance continues at its current rate - it could be. Already more than 700,000 people a year die from drug resistant infections; in 2050 it could be as many as 10 million (which is more than the number of people who die from cancer at the moment). Not only will we lose modern medicine to antibiotic resistance, it will also cost the economy $100 trillion between now and 2050, with annual costs as large as those caused by the financial crisis of 2008.

To understand how we got to this point, a brief lesson in biology is required. Amongst any population, including that of bacteria, there is genetic variation or mutations. In the case of bacteria some of these mutations will code for resistance to antibiotics. If this population is exposed to antibiotics then only bacteria with the antibiotic resistance gene will survive and repro-

duce, forming a bacterial strain that is resistant to said antibiotic. The problem we are now facing is that more populations of bacteria are being exposed to more antibiotics, making antibiotic resistant strains more common and resistant to more than one class of antibiotic.

“Only 2 new classes of antibiotic have been developed in the last 40 years” One of the main reasons that antibiotic resistance is increasing at such a rapid rate is widespread use of antibiotics by people who might not need them. In 2012 antibiotic prescriptions reached an all-time high with 3.8 million prescriptions being given out. Over-worked GPs often end up prescribing antibiotics for symptoms caused by viruses like sore throats, as it’s quicker than explaining to the patient that an antibiotic will not cure such symptoms.

However GPs who take the time to educate their patients save themselves time in the long run as the same patient is less likely to make appointments for the same illness in the following year. Doctors have

MP and Sussex Professor collide over tide

Steve Punter Hannah Richards Our very own Professor Paul Nightingale gave UKIP MP Douglas Carswell a quick science lesson after he criticised his Brexit analogy on Twitter. Nightingale, in support of free-trade links closer to home cleverly compared the situation using the concept of gravity.

He tweeted: ‘Want to understand trade? Think gravity: size and distance matter. UK-Ireland greater than UK-China. Jupiter is big but the moon moves tides’. His planetary comparison was soon met with backlash from Douglas Carswell who responded: ‘Actually it’s the gravitational pull of the sun. The moon’s gravity does Spring / neap tides’.

Clearly Carswell was unhappy with Nightingale’s comparison, prompting his bold decision to argue with a science academic. Nightingale took no time in setting him straight: that although the sun is larger it’s the distance that matters and therefore the moon causes the tides. Carswell, unphased by Nightingale’s reply, exclaimed his surprise that an academic opposed his claim.

The argument went back and forth, others joined in and Carswell didn’t budge. Nightingale’s final tweet silenced the argument, he

provided a link to 1467 examples of evidence in 103 published academic papers that prove the moon causes the tide. Nobody could argue with that mountain of evidence. Carswell later deleted his tweet - he was probably a tad embarrassed.

As most people are aware (with a previously noted exception) the moon’s gravitational pull causes daily tides. Despite the moon’s mass being drastically smaller than that of the earth, the moon’s gravity pulls on different parts of the earth as it rotates, simply because it is so close to us. The gravitational pull of the moon noticeably moves water causing oceans to bulge towards the moon. Interestingly, the ocean on the side of the earth not facing the moon also bulges, therefore gravity is not the only force causing tides.

Inertia is also an important player.

Inertia is matter’s tendency to resist changes in their state of motion objects tend to keep doing what they are doing until they meet another force. So whilst the water that is nearest the moon is being influenced by gravity the water furthest from the moon stays put. Both sides experience both forces, but on the side closest to the moon the gravitational force is greater and on the face opposite the moon inertia is at its greatest. The bulges on either side remain as the earth rotates explaining why there are two high tides and two low tides throughout the duration of the day.

Lastly (so Douglas Carswell doesn’t feel completely stupid) the sun does have some impact on the tides. When the sun’s gravitational pull lines up with the moon’s gravitational pull both gravitational pulls are combined, leading to more extreme high and low tides.

a second problem in that there’s no readily available test to assess whether symptoms are being caused by a bacterial infection or a virus so they have to rely on their own judgment, this results in several prescriptions being made ‘just in case’.

On top of this antibiotics are used in similar quantities in agricultural livestock, exposing even more bacteria to antibiotics. Antibiotics are used to promote growth and fend off costly infections which are common in intensively farmed animals. Many of the antibiotics given to animals do not require a prescription from a vet so their usage is completely unregulated. This means that even antibiotics vital for human health as they can kill some of the most resistant strains of bacteria, are being used widely in farm animals. In the last year a strain of bacteria resistant to Colistin, a last resort drug, was identified in Chinese meat products.

However this issue can’t be resolved as simply as banning all antibiotics in farming; though developed countries with stable food supplies may be able to cope, poorer countries will struggle to produce enough protein for their growing populations if antibiotic usage is heavily reduced.

Adding to the problem of antibi-

otic over-use is the fact that research in the field has been dwindling.

Only 2 new classes of antibiotic have been developed in the last 40 years. Pharmaceutical companies have turned their backs on antibiotic development as it’s low profit and there is more money to be made out of illnesses like cancer and heart disease.

Fortunately these issues are finally being addressed as last month the United Nations General Assembly called a high level meeting on antibiotic resistance. Prior to this meeting only 3 others of this level have been held on health issues: HIV/AIDs, Ebola and non-communicable diseases.

The 193 member states signed a

declaration at the meeting resolving to combat proliferation of antibiotic resistance by encouraging innovation in antibiotic development ($72 million has already been contributed by the UK and China to the global innovation research fund to try and make this happen), increasing public awareness and regulating the use of antibiotics in humans and animals.

It’s a good starting point and will provide advocates with the grounds to enforce change. Hopefully at the review in 2 years time, we’ll find that medicine is continuing to push forward, rather than heading for a gruesome return to the dark ages.

Graham Beards

Tian(long)gong-1: Chinese satellite out of control

China’s first space station is falling out of orbit slowly and painfully, here to grace the planet Earth in late 2017

Duncan Michie Science and Technology Editor

The Tiangong program is aiming to bring China into the forefront of the space race. With Tiangong-1 being its first space laboratory, it was launched on 29th September 2011 with a two-year life span.

During this period the space station achieved three successful dockings from the Shenzhou 8, 9 and 10 spacecrafts on November 2011, and June 2012 and 13 respectively. The latter two of these spacecrafts were manned, which included China’s first two female astronauts Liu Yang and Wang Yaping respectively.

With the first of its series being so successful China is well on its way to achieving its goal of dominating space venture. Tiangong-2 (the sequel) recently followed in its little parent’s footsteps by launching into orbit less than 3 weeks ago.

Now two years after its intended lifespan Tiangong-1 has been decommissioned. A couple of months after that amateur satellite trackers speculated that all control had been lost from the space laboratory, which led to this rather embarrassing announcement: that Tiangong-1 will be reaching our shores in late 2017. The eight and a half tonne monstrosity will most likely burn up on re-entering the atmosphere, however some of the heat proof parts of the spacecraft are likely to survive.

With space ventures being the risky, disaster-prone business that they are, this has happened before, when NASA’s SkyLab, a space station ten times the size of little Tiangong, fell

out of orbit and hit Australia back in the 70s.

Now some of you more paranoid readers might be feeling quite worried by the thought of debris of a former Chinese space station burning into our atmosphere. ‘What if this hits a populated area?’ may be the thought running through many minds upon hearing this news – but not to worry. The chances of that are trillions to one. Though, for interest’s sake, what happens if it’s not your lucky day and the satellite were to hit your bike and obliterate it?

Could you ever get your beloved two wheeled friend back? Well actually yes you can, and China would have to pay for it.

Under the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Object any state can sue another state for damages caused by space debris. In fact, this is exactly what happened in 1978

when Australia sued NASA $400 for littering after SkyLab crashed on the continent. However, NASA actually never paid back the loan, and, to add further complication, if you are going to sue China you would have to get United Kingdom to take up your case. So, effectively, your bike is as good as gone.

When eulogising Tiangong-1, it is safe to say that it had a good life. It achieved China’s dream, and managed to live far longer than expected. It will be sad to see it burn and collide with earth at hundreds of miles per hour. But when they have achieved so much, and when their successor is up in the sky paving the way for the future, for not just China’s space program but the world’s. It is time for all of us to come together, lay down a metaphorical memorial wreath, and echo the words ‘you did good kiddo’.

NASA

The Badger 03.10.2016

18

SPORT Patrick Isitt

Is the loan system making football a numbers game?

Another early tournament exit, a new manager and a disgruntled national football fan base has once again left England’s set-up in the spotlight. But with this supposed ‘new generation’ of youth in English football, epitomised by the rise of Marcus Rashford, is it now more necessary than ever to assess where the future of English football lies?

The loan system has been heavily criticised in recent seasons with big clubs such as Chelsea sending away large amounts of young players on ‘temporary’ loan for one, or even two seasons at a time.

Of the remarkable 38 players on loan from the West London club, just over one third are English.

From the Championship down to the National Conference, and across Europe, the unanswered question is whether clubs such as Chelsea really do see a future for the players that may appear as just numbers in football’s ever increasing business mentality.

With the revenue from television rights being injected into the sport, English football is currently at risk of losing what makes it so great. Rashford’s fairytale story is a prime example of what may slowly deteriorate when even the minnows of the top leagues are

granted funds to look overseas for new and exciting talent.

Experience is something that England’s youth lack across the top leagues, and perhaps the sole reason for so many talented exclusions in Roy Hodgson’s squad selection during the Euros. Rashford was taken, but wasted away on the sidelines for most of the tournament.

We’re waiting for this gap between youth success and first team success to become bridged so that some of these players can actually progress. Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, on loan at Championship side Bristol City, has now scored 10 goals in 12 games in what is his first professional season, second only to a certain Sergio Aguero in goals across England’s top four leagues.

But Abraham may suffer the same fate as some of Chelsea’s other starlets who have dwindled and faded away due to the club’s eye for big-money signings. The big test for clubs in the modern, finance dominated era of the sport is to retain a balance. It’s not an impossible task; Southampton are an admirable example of how young English talent can be integrated into the first team. I write as James Ward-Prowse sees off a West Ham side that only a year ago

hosted the next ‘big thing’ in Reece Oxford - it’s easy for the media to put pressure on such young shoulders.

The next step is to give these young players the freedom to express themselves at the highest level. We’re not asking for 18-yearolds to fill the starting 11 every Saturday, but a bit of optimism in some of England’s young players is what’s needed to prevent another national train-wreck in 2018.

Football has for years been at risk of being one more extortionate signing from the expulsion of all English hope forever, but the players sent out on ambiguous loan deals are the ones fighting back, and rightfully so.

It’s now time for the clubs to do their share of promoting the youth and giving English football the hope and optimism it deserves.

From the FA Cup to the unimaginable achievements of Leicester City last year, football in England has always held the magic and unpredictability that keeps the fans travelling across the country to see their team every weekend.

But if the loan system continues to dismiss the talent we have, the sport is in danger of becoming just a game of numbers.

Wikimedia Commons

Ryder Cup: America takes on Europe Dan Parker It is that time in the golfing calendar once again. Team USA and Team Europe fight it out in golf ’s greatest arena for a chance to raise the Ryder Cup. The match play event, that takes place once every two years, pits the best American golfers against the best European golfers in a race to 14 points over 3 days of intense golf.

After 2014’s European demolition of Team USA in Scotland, this year’s event takes place on American turf, more specifically, Hazeltine Golf Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The course is hosting the Ryder Cup for the first time in its long history and locals have commended the course for its ability to create eye-catching golf for fans and players alike.

Team USA will be looking to avenge the 16.5 – 11.5 loss to Team

Europe two years ago in which they never looked like making it to the 14.5 points needed to secure victory. The combination of out of form senior players and inexperienced rookies meant a damning defeat for USA captain Tom Watson.

This year however, we see a new Team USA as they look set to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2006.

Captain Davis Love III, returning to the job after his role as losing captain in 2012, has collated a team glossed in experience and riding on a wave of good form. With the inclusion of two of this year’s major winners, Dustin Johnson and Jimmy Walker, and FedEx Cup runner-up Ryan Moore, picked as a wild card, Love III has got a rich run of form flowing through his team.

Bolstered by the Ryder Cup experience of Phil Mickelson, making his eleventh appearance, and Matt

Kuchar, making his fourth appear- combination of drunk and lively golf fans and new ones alike. ance, Team USA and their home American fans with hyped up playadvantage are certain favourites ers provides a spectacle for regular to take the trophy from Europe’s hands.

As for the Europeans, things look a lot tougher if they want to recreate their 2014 victory.

European captain Darren Clarke has been forced into fielding no less than six rookies in the team of twelve. To counteract this, Clarke’s wildcard picks included Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer who have fourteen Ryder Cup appearances between them.

The European rookies may have their benefits however. The ignorance of youth in Matthew Fitzpatrick and major pedigree of Masters winner Danny Willet have proved themselves to be well equal to their American counterparts.

Whatever the result for our European team, the Ryder Cup is the pinnacle of the sport. The Wikimedia Commons