Lent 2016 Issue 4

RAG Jailbreak

Andrew Marr

Why the campaign needs to be reformed to fulfil its potential

On his time interviewing Obama and Osborne

→ Comment, p.16

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk

Landslide yes vote in DSO referendum Full-time Disabled Students’ Officer to be introduced

A

full-time Disabled Students’ Officer will be added to CUSU’s current team of full-time sabbatical officers, following a University-wide referendum. 92% of voters (4315 people) voted yes.

Voters were asked the question “Do you accept the proposed constitutional changes, which would add a Disabled Students’ Officer to the full-time Elected Officer Team?”, with the option to vote yes or no, or abstain by submitting a blank response. Quoracy required 10% of Cambridge students to cast their votes.

4679 students, representing 21.4% of the electorate, logged onto the referendum voting page in the space of one week, with the referendum opening last Wednesday, 27 January, and closing this morning at 9am.

According to Jemma Stewart, CUSU Returning Officer for 2016, this represents the highest voter turnout in a CUSU referendum since online records began.

With rising pressure from the CUSU Disabled Students’ Campaign, a petition was formed consisting of signatures from over 350 students calling for a referendum to introduce a full-time Disabled Students’ Officer.

The new officer will work 36.5 hours a week and lead the campaign, with the same salary as other full-time officers, currently £20,000.

They will be elected along with the new sabbatical team when elections take place later in Lent Term, via a

Sweet eccentricity with accessories from ARK

→ Interviews, p.14

→Part 2, pp.8-9

The

04 February 2016 Vol. 17 Lent Issue 4

Hayden Banks Deputy News Editor

Fashion shoot

ballot system open only to self-defining disabled students.

The Yes Campaign cited statistics such as that 2080 students at the University (11%) have disclosed a disability, according to the Disability Resource Centre, and that in the 2014 Big Cambridge Survey 44% of students with mental illness cited University support as “Poor” to “Very Poor”.

The Disabled Student’s Campaign held a debate on 26 January, just prior to the referendum opening, with the Yes Campaign tackling the issue of funding by claiming that a small proportion of the University’s vast wealth should be invested into spearheading discussion and action on disability and mental health issues.

However, some have raised concerns that CUSU, as a charity, do not have a spare £20,000 to spend on another sabbatical officer’s salary.

Second-year Pembroke student Tonicha Upham commented that: “The vote in support of a sabbatical officer is a huge step forward.

“We should be proud that, as students, we are concerned enough about equal representation to enforce such an impact on a students’ union which is sometimes considered to be somewhat out of touch with students.’’

The CUSU Elections Committee will now hand over the reins to the Union Development Team, who will work with the CUSU Trustee Board and the Council Committee for the Supervision of Students’ Unions to bring about the new constitutional changes.

The Disabled Students’ Officer for the 2016/17 academic year will be elected along with the rest of CUSU’s sabbatical team later this term.

Cambridge Student

Oxbridge academics press for divestment Sherilyn Chew News Editor

Over 300 academics at Oxford and Cambridge have signed a joint statement pressuring their universities to pursue more “morally sound” investment policies. This is particularly in relation to fossil fuels, in the face of “looming social, environmental and financial pressures”.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, are among the signatories.

The move is seen as a significant moment for student movements Positive Investment Cambridge and the Zero Carbon Society.

A spokesperson for the University commented: “The University seeks to invest responsibly for the good of the University in accordance with our mission to contribute to society.

In summer 2015, the University commissioned a thorough and unique review whose broad purpose is to explore fully environmental, social, and governance aspects – including, but not limited to, fossil fuel investments – in investment decisions.”

The statement from Cambridge academics praised the University for endorsing the creation of a working group to investigate and review the impacts of the investment policies adopted by the University.

40 University of Cambridge JCR and MCR committees joined the academics in their support.

Lord Deben, Cambridge alumnus and Chairman of the UK’s independent Committee on Climate Change, told The Independent: “This open letter, signed by so many esteemed Fellows, is a sure sign that there is widespread support for positive investment among Oxbridge academics.”

Organisers of the campaign have said that they hope to create a model Many colleges flew the rainbow flag on Monday to celebrate the first day of for ethical investment that other LGBT+ History Month. | Editorial Comment page 15 Image: Jemima Jobling universities will be able to copy.

2

04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

Editorial Team 04 February 2016

Editor-in-Chief Deputy Editors News Editor Deputy News Editors

Investigations Editors Deputy Investigations Editors Comment Editors Features Editors Interviews Editors Columns Editor Sports Editors Theatre Editors Fashion & Beauty Editor Lifestyle Editor Food & Drink Editor Books Editor Music Editor TV & Film Editor Escape Editor Images & Design Editor Chief Sub-Editors Sub-Editors

Directors

Volume 17 • Lent Issue 4

Elsa Maishman Stevie Hertz Jessie Mathewson Amelia Oakley Sherilyn Chew Hayden Banks Lili Bidwell Bea Lundy Lydia Day Freya Clarke Jane Lu Victoria Braid Tom Bevan Izzy Ryan Micha Frazer-Carroll Lola Olufemi Sriya Varadharajan Anna Bradley Taryn Challender Lydia Sabatini Maddy Airlie Julia Stanyard Tom Richardson Paul Hyland Jack Ranson Leyla Gumusdis Eve Rivers Ariel Yuqing Luo Lucy Roxburgh Charlotte McGarry Arenike Adebajo Ollie Smith Jack Whitehead Ed Ashcroft Jemima Jobling Urvie Pereira William Tilbrook Cameron Wallis Jessica McHugh Josie Daw Rosie Mearns Dikshali Shah Elsa Maishman Jack May Freya Sanders Thomas Saunders Jemma Stewart Tonicha Upham

The Cambridge Student takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation rules and the Editors’ Code of Practice enforced by IPSO, and by the stipulations of our constitution. Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent by email to editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk or by post to The Editor, The Cambridge Student, Cambridge University Students’ Union, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX. Letters to the Editor may be published.

tcd

• tcd@tcs.cam.ac.uk • AN IP FOR AN IP

TOM DORRINGTON

Labour MP and Magdalene alumna, Stella Creasy, found herself this week victim to online trolls, who edited her Wikipedia page to include: “She also enjoys trips to morocco [sic] to enjoy belly dancing and hashish”, and changed her religion to ‘Islam’.

Creasy confirmed that she couldn’t have done so as she has a fear of flying, and that she is not in fact a Muslim. Political blog Guido Fawkes went on the hunt for the assailants and tracked an IP address down to the University of Cambridge.

This Diarist knows full well the temptation to produce libellous content as an extreme form of procrastination.

PASTIME WITH GOOD COMPANY

This Diarist relishes the thought of the coming iteration of the ritual ‘Senior Editors’ Dinner’, a hackish but amicable meeting of student journos, which this year features this publication’s four female (and feminist) Senior Editors up against the (re-)founder of Cambridge Students for Life, Xavier Bisits.

THRICE BITTEN, NEVER SHY

Hesham Mashhour, man about town, Editor of media startup, Blue Specs, and once Editor of Get Real, shared one of his publication’s articles with the tagline: “If you’re going to read anything today, make it this and not

anything on TCS”. This Diarist only hopes that such a visceral reaction to the writings of this publication has nothing to do with two previously unsuccessful applications for Section Editor positions, and one for the top job itself.

PROTEAN EFFORTS

The ‘fearless journalists’ at The Tab have given us an insight into the names that will go down in Cambridge history with its ‘biggest BNOC’ competition, the poll for which ends as we go to print. One such ‘NOC’ is Chris Jammer, a Caian once interviewed by, and featured as a model in this newspaper (see left).

After an appearance in Cambridge University Charity Fashion Show’s promotional video (feat. Jeremy Paxman saying: “Chris Jammer? Who the hell’s Chris Jammer?”), he was spotted in the Daily Mail in the corner of a photo of Jess Impiazzi going wild in Watford.

Perhaps most star-studded of all, however, is an intervention by renowned swap venue Sesame who posted on to Jammer’s Facebook: “Did you know our signature sesame toast is high in protein?

Given your evident deficiency, I’d recommend you come along and give it a go.”

PHOTO CREDITS FIRST PAGE: ALEX KING, CHRIS BOLAND, OJOE AU

3

The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

News

Student voters cut following electoral reform Cambridge’s electoral register decreases 11% in the past year due to new registration method Sherilyn Chew News Editor

This comes months before the local, “The Government can act by issuing assembly, and mayoral elections in May. guidance to universities to support Gloria De Piero, Labour’s shadow them with voter registration – we hope Since changes to the electoral roll, the Cambridge electoral register has shrunk minister for young people and voter they listen.”

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman has by 11%. Nearly 800,000 have dropped registration, commented on the commented that individual registration off the register nationally, according to is essential in tackling cases of voter figures compiled by the Labour Party.

“Now it appears that “We have worked hard with Under the new system of individual students are a casualty of fraud: local authorities for years now to clean electoral registration (IER) people must up the register – any entries removed register themselves, rather than being the Government’s hasty will be people who have moved house, added to the register by their head of changes” died or never existed because they were household or university.

This has led to university towns seeing alarming fall: “The Government registered fraudulently.”

De Piero has written to John the greatest reduction in the number of ignored independent warnings not to registered voters, and students facing the rush through IER, and now it appears Penrose, constitutional reform minister, that students are a casualty of their calling for universities to offer voting greatest risk of being disenfranchised. registration to students upon enrolment.

Canterbury has seen a 13% drop, hasty changes.” while Dundee West has had an 11% drop. These statistics come from the estimated number of registered voters in December compared to the year before.

The government introduced the IER in a bid to remove “phantom voters” and to reduce electoral fraud. However,

voter registration were being trialled across the country.

Before the switch to the IER system was completed ahead of schedule last year, the Electoral Commission warned about the rapid pace of the change, saying that up to 1.9 million people might fall off the register if there was no concerted publicity drive.

Universities across the Since then, the Government and country are trialling third parties have embarked on voter registration methods, registration drives. with some success This spread as far as the CUSU Freshers’ Fair, where doughnuts were Penrose has responded by saying that given to newly registered individuals. it is “not quite that simple.” He continued by mentioning that several methods of In this letter, she stated: “As you will know, IER prevents universities from block registering all their students in halls of residence,” and concluded that, “measures should be taken to ensure that it is as easy as possible for individual students to register.”

SECRETLONDON123

800,000 Electors who have fallen off the electoral register in the year up to December 2015

11%

Voters can register up to three weeks before elections. However, the December list is used to redraw districts.

One student said of the changes: “Students already have a low voter turnout so adding an extra barrier would always be dangerous. Particularly for students in Cambridge when there’s always something that needs doing, it’s so easy to forget to register to vote.

Considering that our MP has a majority of 599, 11% could easily be the difference in an election.”

Decrease in number of Cambridge voters between December 2014 and 2015 Labour has expressed concern that the drop mostly comprises its supporters.

An overall 1.8% of voters are estimated to have dropped off the register.

Peterhouse appoints first female Master

Oxford reveal students who fail

Stevie Hertz Deputy Editor

Lilli Bidwell Deputy News Editor

Peterhouse has announced the election of its first female Master, Bridget Kendall, following her election on 1 February.

Peterhouse was the penultimate college to accept women, with the first female students matriculating in 1985.

Bridget Kendall is a journalist at the BBC – her previous work includes reporting on the break-up of the Soviet Union – and is currently the host of the talk show The Forum on the BBC World Service. She is also currently in a relationship with fellow BBC journalist, Amanda Farnsworth.

Kendall attended Lady Margaret Hall and St Antony’s College, Oxford.

She was also a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University.

Kendall commented: “I feel very

“We’re certain to get at least one portrait of a named woman now!”

privileged to have been chosen by the Fellows of Peterhouse to be their next Master. This is an exceptional college with a distinguished history and record of academic excellence.”

Ellie Myerson, JCR Women’s Officer, shared this excitement, commenting: “It really marks a big shift for Peterhouse and shows how far the college has come and what changes it is intending to make in the future.

Apart from anything else, we’re certain to get at least one portrait of a named woman now!... This appointment makes me proud to go to Peterhouse.”

Peterhouse JCR’s LGBT+ Officer, Julian Sutcliffe, was also thrilled, commenting that it was “an historic moment for a college that will hopefully mark a change from Peterhouse’s reputation as the most conservative college”.

The department sent out an email to all second-year students

Oxford University has been criticised for sending an email containing details of students who had failed their exams.

The Chemistry department accidentally sent out an email to all the second-year undergraduate Chemistry students, which contained information about how many of the year group had failed their first year exams. The email specified the name and college of each of the students who had failed an exam.

It is not the first time that this has happened; in October and January, the Chemistry department made a similar error, sending the file as an attachment to all of the 189 secondyear Chemistry undergraduates.

The University has apologised for

the error and has explained that it was completely unintentional.

However, Edmund Little, a secondyear Chemistry student at Corpus Christi College, said: “An Oxford Chemistry degree can be really tough, and it is very humiliating and upsetting for somebody to go through the stress of revising for an exam, only to have the fact that they have failed broadcast across the whole student body.”

He concluded: “I’m sure this was just an administrative error, but it is still really disappointing, and suggests serious incompetence.”

The University has made it clear that steps have been taken to ensure that this mistake is not repeated. However the fact that it has already occurred twice suggests some carelessness on the part of the department.

4

04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Investigations

Opinions divided over the va Massive variation across colleges

Jane Lu Investigations Editor

An investigation by The Cambridge Student can reveal stark differences in Kitchen Fixed Charges (KFCs) between colleges.

The KFC is a compulsory charge that students pay – regardless of whether or not they dine in college – that subsidises the catering facilities of the college and meals for undergraduate students.

Numbers show that most colleges at Cambridge University charge KFCs and the numbers vary considerably. Corpus Christi College charges £191 per term, and Peterhouse charges £179 per term.

£191

students. Students living in College have a termly basis. to pay a KFC of £131 per term, or £35 per Through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, TCS can confirm that Churchill College, instead, provides a per capita subsidy to enable catering to be provided for students, staff, and Fellows three to four times per day throughout the year from its unrestricted income.

Clare Hall also adopts a similar subsidising system – all students enjoy a free meal on Thursday evenings.

An estimated average of KFCs Priscilla Mensah, president of the across colleges Cambridge University Student Union (CUSU), comments, “It is indeed a real term for students who live outside College concern that students can enter the At Fitzwilliam College, the amount of University and have evidently different KFCs charged depends on the Minimum financial experiences based on the college Meal Count (MMC). The College charges to which they are admitted.” students £153 per term for KFC, or £205 Accommodation affordability, with per term for students who choose not to catering included, is one of CUSU’s main pay MMC. At Corpus Christi College, the pirorities this year.

KFC paid is dependent upon the type of lease. Students with long lease contracts pay a greater KFC of £241.

As well as Fitzwilliam College, Selwyn College and Peterhouse also have a MMC on top of KFC. Undergraduates at Peterhouse have to pay a KFC of £179 each term and are required to eat 35 meals in the College per term. Homerton College, Termly KFCs at Robinson on the other hand, does not charge KFC, College but requires students to pay £85 MMC on

£120

“The College felt that it was less confusing for students and fairer for those living out of College”

Termly KFCs at Corpus Christi College

£0

Some colleges such as Churchill College, Homerton College, Robinson College and Clare Hall do not have a KFC system.

The calculation of KFCs also varies among colleges. The KFC at Selwyn College is dependent upon the accommodation of

Analysis: Are Kitchen Fixed Charges a good deal?

Jane Lu and Tom Bevan Investigations Editor and Deputy There is no doubt that personal finance is one of the major concerns for many students. The Kitchen Fixed Charges may seem expensive at the first instance, but for some colleges it is justifiable.

KFCs subsidise costs for college catering, enabling college to provide quality meals at cheaper prices.

Most colleges adopt a democratic approach in setting the required amount of the KFC. At Magdalene, the college discusses KFC proposals with both the JCR and the MCR Presidents at the termly consultative meetings. The proposals are then considered by the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

Fair pricing is a significant issue behind compulsory the KFC. Many students who do not live in college tend to self-cater: not only to save time, but also, potentially, to save money.

When asked about the rationale behind not implementing a KFC system, Jennifer Brook, senior bursar at Churchill College replied: “The College felt that it was less

“30 plus kitchens are never going to have the same running costs.”

confusing for students and fairer for those living out of college.”

Amanda Walker, bursar of Clare Hall, explains that the college decided against the KFC option, “on the simple pretext that the values of the college are best upheld through fair pricing for students.”

To some, disparities between colleges’ KFCs is further proof of an unfair system.

Flis O’Toole, Corpus Christi College’s JCR catering officer, offers an alternative view, “30 plus kitchens are never going to have the same running costs. They all vary in size, number of staff and quality of products and these costs won’t always be proportional to the number of students.”

Flis O’Toole continued to point out that transparency is the main issue behind the KFC system: “Is this something that all prospective students think about when considering colleges? Probably not.”

“But the information should be much easier for them to access than it currently is.”

According to Priscilla Mensah, CUSU President, CUSU continues to support

greater transparency from colleges on the living costs incurred by students.

Although there are concerns that college canteens are not providing enough options for students with special dietary requirements, and that it is unfair for colleges to charge these students the KFC, colleges like Peterhouse have addressed these problems.

Eleanor McDonald, a student with a special dietary requirement, told The Cambridge Student, “[Peterhouse] does not provide kosher food so I am exempt from sign outs and the KFC, meaning that I do not pay for food I can’t eat.” However, such approaches are not standardised across colleges. Harry Jones, a vegan at Corpus Christi College reported being unable to access appropriate meals, but still being charged a KFC. One Muslim student at the college added: “I don’t think the KFC is fair at all, especially when particular dietary requirements for certain people are not met. It’s not true that the KFC encourages all people to go to hall. It doesn’t.”

5

The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

Investigations

alue of Kitchen Fixed Charges INFROGRAM

It’s not about the money: The cost of lunch in hall is not just financial

Tom Bevan Deputy Investigations Editor Attending college hall for lunch or dinner is a Cambridge ritual that supposedly promotes a sense of collegiality and provides a space for students to communally gather between lectures, supervisions, extracurricular activities and naps. Normatively promoted as a key element of an undergraduate’s lifestyle here, ‘going to hall’ is for some is an efficient way to socialise, eat, and have a break from academic or extracurricular tasks.

Yet, while for some, hall culture is a space for quick meals at a reasonable cost; for others, this normalised practice simply typifies wider marginalisation faced in Cambridge. In colleges that impose a Kitchen Fixed Charge (KFC), and in some cases a Minimum Meal Count (MMC), students suffer a hefty financial penalty for opting out of attending hall. Fitting perfectly into the contemporary narrative of the UK’s painfully privatised higher education system, this institutionalised spending in college is dressed up in a romantic depiction of hall as a means of ‘collegiate unity’. Clearly, this notion can only be deemed acceptable if colleges JORGE ROYAN

The college dining experience is, too often, not plated up fairly

make a greater effort to make these spaces accessible for all.

There are other serious issues that colleges need to address if they wish to maintain the tradition of compulsory, or financially incentivised, dining. Decorated in portraits that may alienate women and BME students, many college halls continue to be intimidating spaces for some students.

The pressures of collective dining can be unnecessarily stressful for those with social anxiety or other mental health issues, and in cases discussed here (see page 4) dietary requirements for religious, health or ethical reasons are simply too often not catered for appropriately. I know too many people who are not able to go to hall and are still forced to pay the KFC. Especially when combined with the revelation of often inadequate cooking facilities in college gyp rooms, the whole concept of the KFC is met with shock when mentioned to friends at other universities. The relatively arbitrary lunch and dinner timings subtly manipulate a student’s timetable and the assumption that collective dining, as opposed to cooking, somehow contributes to group unity isn’t convincing to many at all.

Subsidising meal costs does mean making food in hall more affordable for the majority of students. But, if the culture of your college lunch and dinnertime hall only continues to cater for the needs of the majority, imposing compulsory KFC on all students is sinister and arguably unfair.

University catering across the UK Jane Lu Investigations Editor Cambridge is almost unique among British universities for having such an institutionalised culture of catered accommodation.

Whilst some universities that provide catering do require a Kitchen Fixed Chargeequivalent payment, their dining systems are quite different.

International Hall at King’s College, London, is one of the University’s few catered accommodation halls. Their equivalent of the KFC is included in their hall fees, but unlike some Cambridge colleges, no Minimum Meal Count system is implemented.

In St Cuthbert’s Society, a college at the University of Durham, a ticketing system is adopted. Students have a choice of either booking 10 meal tickets for £45 or 20 meal tickets for the price of £88. Alternatively, students can choose to pay £1,083 for a

Other universities’ catering systems are quite different

meal package, which includes 10 meals per week, during term time annually.

At the London School of Economics, one meal per day is provided in catered accommodation, as part of the cost of daily rent. In other words, students do not have to pay extra for food in their cafeteria after paying the KFC-equivalent. Moreover, vegan, vegetarian, and halal meal options are served alongside meat.

At New Hall, Oxford, the catering system is similar to the one that is adopted at most Cambridge colleges.

Undergraduates at New College have to pay a £259 prepayment for meals, in addition to a non-refundable kitchen charge at £123 for “staff wages and upkeep”.

According to the College website, students can specify the type of meal that is required in advance: vegan, vegetarian or standard options are offered. In addition to this, meal preferences can be set to default for convenience.

6

04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

College Watch

Images: Jessica McHugh

Queens’

Jesus

Wolfson

Robinson

Students returning from a night out on Thursday were the first to witness a landslide on the riverbank in Queens’, which forced College staff to call in structural engineers and cordon it off.

The cause of the collapse was an old retaining wall breaking down, with Cam Conservators River Manager, Jed Ramsey, saying that the college had not been able to inspect the section beneath the water “for some time”.

Staff at Queens’ contacted Ramsey and other experts to assuage fears that the landslide may be a “navigational hazard” for punters.

Thankfully, the world famous Mathematical Bridge (pictured above), which is Grade II listed, was not affected by the landslide. Urban legend states that the bridge was built by Sir Isaac Newton, a fellow of Queens’. However, it was designed and bulit in 1749, long after his death.

Sources have highlighted that the structural integrity of the bank has not been checked for three years, since the system draining rainwater was replaced by “hundreds of tonnes of soil on the bank”. The area remains cordoned off.

Hayden Banks

Jesus College May Ball Committee announced this year’s theme as the ‘Uninhabitable’ at their launch night on 2 February. Guests were invited to go on a journey to the “extremities of this world and beyond”. They have also announced that the ball will feature minor headliner Coasts, who just released their self-titled debut album last week, featuring their international hit ‘Oceans’.

This year, the College’s highly popular May Ball will take place on Monday 13 June. Ticket sales opened on 3 February, with the priciest going for £179. There will also be the option to make a £2 donation to the College’s chosen charities as part of a ticket application.

For the first three days of sales, Jesuans will only be able to buy an additional two guest tickets.

However, non-Jesuans will be glad to note that the limit will be extended from 1pm on 6 February, after which all Jesuans may purchase a total of up to four guest tickets in addition to their own.

Remaining tickets will go on sale to the rest of the University on 10 February at 1pm.

Sherilyn Chew

Wolfson College has cancelled its June Event, with the President of the Wolfson College Student Association, Ahmed Elmi, citing “time constraints and difficulties”.

The college issued a statement saying, “Nobody from the 2015 June Event Committee nor any other students had stepped forward to help run an event in 2016, and it was only down to the newly elected Committee of the Wolfson College Students Association (WCSA) in December that any interest was shown in putting on an event in 2016, although this was already far too late.”

The previous June Event president, Alfie Lambert, commented: “Last year, we held what was widely regarded as the best June Event ever at Wolfson...yet for some reason they have cancelled this year’s event and blamed my committee for it.”

Wolfson is a mature College with many one-year graduate students. The decision to cancel this event likely means that many will have lost the chance to attend a June Event at their college.

Lydia Day

Robinson College has come under fire this week for the organisation of a ‘drag’ themed bop.

Ents Officers Will Scott and Ben Morris have decided to continue the tradition of an annual ‘drag themed’ bop, despite several students expressing a wish for its discontinuation. Since the announcement, both the Student Association’s President and the LGBT+ Officer, Martha Krish and Matt Kite, have questioned the decision in an email sent to all Robinson students.

The email said that students should think about “the context and the history of drag” and that “There are....many people who face the realities of the intolerance that our society has for people percieved to be outside of gender norms when its not been painted as a gimmick, but is a reality of who they are.”

Peterhouse similarly hold an annual ‘Miss Peterhouse’ bop, when men campaign to be crowned the queen of the college. Many Petreans have argued that it is time for the tradition to be retired. It remains to be seen exactly what the new Ents Officer, Alice Rogers, will decide.

Brendan Kelly

7

The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

News

Cambridge to introduce universal admissions tests Hayden Banks Deputy News Editor

The University of Cambridge has confirmed proposals to introduce a standard entrance test, varying between subjects, coming into effect for those applying in October 2016 onwards.

Dr Sam Lucy, Director of Admissions for the Cambridge colleges, today sent out a letter to Heads of Sixth Form and Oxbridge Coordinators informing them of the change to the admissions procedure. The move comes in the wake of a meeting held last week with teachers to gauge opinions on the introduction of entrance tests to replace AS module scores. The letter does not specify the nature of the tests, but does say that ‘‘written assessments will be undertaken either preinterview or at interview, depending on the course applied for’’.

The entrance tests will apply to the new joint-honours History courses, however Medicine and Veterinary Medicine applicants will continue to be tested by the Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) before coming to interview. The letter specifies that Mathematics and Music applicants will be exempt from the standardised entrance tests, however ‘‘colleges will assess aptitude, knowledge base and potential through short tasks at the time of interview’’.

Dr Sam Lucy told the BBC that ‘‘this move is a result of responding to teacher and student feedback, a desire to harmonise and simplify our existing use of written assessments and a need

to develop new ways to maintain the effectiveness and fairness of our admissions system during ongoing qualification reform’’.

With government plans to separate AS-levels and A-levels meaning that module scores are no longer always available at the time of application, the Admissions Coordinators require additional information to differentiate between candidates. The letter states that the tests will range between one and two hours in duration, depending on when they are taken. The letter also stresses that ‘‘no advance preparation will be needed, other than revision of relevant recent subject knowledge where appropriate.’’ However, Olly

“No advance preparation will be needed”

Hudson, President of Sidney Sussex JCR, has expressed dismay, calling the move ‘’the worst thing to happen to access, like, ever’’. He continued: ‘There is no such thing as an un-teachable test, and the kind of resources independent and private schools can dedicate towards these things are huge.’’

Helena Blair, CUSU Access Officer, said in an official statement that “CUSU shares concerns voiced widely across the Higher Education sector that progress in attracting pupils from less privileged backgrounds will be negatively impacted by secondary school reforms.” She maintained that all admissions information will be looked at holistically by tutors.

PETER CHURCH

A Cambridge student based in Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) has “mysteriously” gone missing in Cairo.

Giulio Regeni, who is originally from Italy, was last seen in El Dokki on 25 January, the 5th anniversary of the Tahrir Square protests.

In the lead up to the anniversary, police had been warning against protests and detaining activists. The authorities say that he has not been arrested or held.

The 28 year old, who is studying for a PhD at Girton College, was conducting research for his dissertation regarding Egypt’s trade unions.

According to the Italian Foreign Ministry’s website, Italian Foreign

Tours inside colleges available now on Google Street View Google Street view has made images of the insides of various Cambridge colleges and sites available for viewing by the general public.

The photographs, taken last year, create tours of several sites; among them the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, Great St Mary’s Church as well as several colleges.

A spokesperson for Google UK, Laurian Clemence, commented that this latest Cambridge addition to Street View meant that “anyone with a desire to see the University at close range, can access it like never before”.

The highlights of the new virtual Cambridge include the tour of St. Johns College, where staff ensured that famous items from the college were strategically placed within the camera’s view.

Cambridge Environmental campaigns make headway Universities across the UK will be calling for a divestment from fossil fuels on the upcoming ‘Go Green Week’, from the 8-13 Feb. Organised by People and Planet, it aims to increase awareness about how much universities are invested in fossil fuels. The ‘Zero Carbon’ campaign has been running protests across Cambridge, demanding they follow the lead of the 19 universities who have already divested.

Meanwhile, another green debate is taking place.

A new proposal by the council to create a bus lane for Milton Road would mean destroying the cherry trees which line the road. Local residents have started to attach signs, hoping to draw attention to the campaign as the trees are at their most beautiful.

Police in Cambridgeshire to use drones for first time ever

Cambridge student disappeared in Cairo Sherilyn Chew News Editor

NEWS BULLETIN

Minister Paolo Gentiloni has contacted his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, whom he asked to “do his utmost to trace the Italian student and provide any possible information on his condition.”

The post continued: “The Embassy in Cairo immediately activated direct communication channels from the very first hours after his disappearance and coordinated activities with all the competent Egyptian Authorities.”

“It is now awaiting information on the dynamic of the disappearance. The Embassy and the Ministry are keeping close contact with Giulio’s parents.”

A spokesperson for Cambridge University said they were aware of Regeni’s disappearance, and commented: “On behalf of the college and the University our thoughts are with Giulio, his family and friends,

He has not been seen since 25 January

and currently we are waiting to hear from the Italian authorities.”

An Italian newspaper Messaggero Veneto is reporting that the Italian Foreign Ministry has rejected claims that the disappearance was due to kidnapping by Jihadi groups.

In 2015, a Croatian man was taken from the outskirts of Cairo by so called IS. He was later beheaded.

A friend of Regeni, Amr Assad, has said: “That particular day he wanted to visit for a friend’s birthday.

He sent me a text message about that.

When I called him back his phone was off. The next day...I knew from another friend who was waiting for him in the street that he never arrived.’’

Friends have since started an online campaign to help raise awareness, using #whereisgiulio.

The Cambridgeshire Police Force have recently confirmed that they are testing surveillance drones with the aim of expanding the fleet if trials prove successful.

‘DroneCops’ cost around £1000 per unit and are being trialled in three counties. The Police Force plan to buy four aircrafts and train a dozen operators to aid road crash investigations and airport security.

However, the introduction of drones has raised public concern surrounding the extent to which their surveillance tools will be used and how this may impact on Cambridge residents. The decision whether or not to deploy drones permanently will be taken by the Force in the summer, but reassurance about the technology’s use will be needed to ease public anxiety.

University campaign to stay in the European Union begins The ‘Cambridge for Europe’ campaign was launched last Friday at Pembroke College. The campaign aims to highlight the extensive financial gains from remaining in the EU, for example, £68 million of the University’s annual research income comes from the EU. The joint Chair of ‘Cambridge for Europe’, Sarah Squire, commented that “‘Cambridge is leading the way as one of the first places in the UK to launch a local proEU campaign. It’s great that the campaign is already drawing in people from right across our community, who all share a concern to see Britain prosper as a strong member of the EU.”

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04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

News

BME graduates losing out on employment and pay

Teachers’ advice hinders Oxbridge applications

British ethnic minority (BME) university graduates have fewer chances of finding a job than their white counterparts for half a year after graduation, and pay disparities persist for years afterward.

The striking gulf was revealed in a new study, conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. Examining data from the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education survey, the study is the first to compare how social status, university choice and parentage impacts students’ employment chances and earning power. The upshot is that BME graduates with similar socioeconomic backgrounds, credentials and opportunities are still less likely to have a job than their white peers, six months after leaving school.

The study also found wide differences among different BME graduates, and that women experienced bigger pay gaps than men. Right after graduation, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Chinese graduates were 10-15% less likely to be employed than British graduates.

In particular, black Caribbean, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi women earned between 3% and 7% less than white women with similar

A recent study has revealed that teachers are not necessarily helping students as much as they might think with their applications to the most competitive universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge. It has been found that students receiving help with their personal statements from their teachers may not actually have a better chance of a successful application.

It appears that there is a large difference between what teachers regard as a good personal statement and what the university admissions tutors at the most elite universities consider to increase a student’s chance of receiving an offer. Some teachers could be ruining their students’ chances of getting into Oxbridge by giving them poor feedback on their personal statements.

The Sutton Trust carried out a study of the personal statements of 44 state school students. All of the personal statements were read by a teacher and a university admissions tutor, and both were asked to grade the personal statement depending whether or not they thought it would improve the applicant’s chances of being accepted.

The results of the study showed

Sherilyn Chew News Editor

backgrounds and credentials. Three and a half years after graduation, the disparity in earnings between the groups stretched to almost 10%, whilst black Caribbean and black African male graduates earned 19% and 12% less respectively than white graduates.

Karen Blackett, chair of the media agency MediaCom, and the first woman to top the Powerlist 100 most influential black Britons, has previously commented to the Daily Telegraph: “Stats show that one in four kids at primary schools are from a black and minority ethnic population, yet only one in eight go into employment. Something has to be done. That’s not right.”

Black Caribbean graduates face the smallest gap of around 3-4% and Pakistani and Bangladeshi graduates the largest gap, as they are 10%-15% less likely to be employed than white British graduates.

At three and a half years after graduation, we still find employment gaps, although they are smaller.

Among women, all groups – except for Bangladeshi and Chinese – are significantly less likely to be employed.

For men, the largest gaps are for black African graduates, who are still 9% less likely to be employed than white British graduates.

“Something has to be done. That’s not right” -Karen Blackett

Lili Bidwell Deputy News Editor

“Students receiving help from their teachers may not have a better chance of a successful application”

there is a great disparity between the grades awarded by the teachers and the admission tutors, with only ten personal statements being given the same grade by both. Many of the personal statements received quite different grades from the teachers and admissions tutors, 20 differed by one grade, 13 by two grades and one by three grades.

These findings have led to calls for university admission tutors to make it more clear what they want from a personal statement, and that this be better communicated to teachers. In some cases, the study found a teacher to rate a personal statement as slightly improving the applicant’s chances, whilst, conversely, the admissions tutor found it to slightly decrease their chances. Clearly the teachers do not have a thorough understanding as to what exactly the admissions tutors are looking for when reading statements.

This demonstrates the lack of transparency on the university’s part as to how the personal statement is used.

Questions have been raised about the universities’ ability to engage with teachers and convey this information.

There have since been calls for more teacher training in this area in order for teachers to be better prepared students for the application process.

New campaign to target students’ mental health

Rare works on show to celebrate 600 years of UL

Student Minds Cambridge, alongside CUSU’s Welfare and Rights Officer, Poppy Ellis Logan, are launching a new campaign to tackle misconceptions about mental health in Cambridge.

The campaign, #NotJustFive, and is aiming to improve provision of mental health support across the University and end the idea of ‘week five blues’.

Student Minds Cambridge said, “We believe that the use of the phrase ‘week five blues’, and the additional welfare provisions it often features as an anticipatory measure, sometimes encourages a self-fulfilling prophecy, with students, especially freshers, feeling pressured to feel down or to only seek support in this week.

“The suggestion that all students feel ‘the blues’ during this time threatens to normalise and trivialise developing and serious mental health issues that students may be struggling with, whether in this week or any other.”

The campaign is hoping to achieve

An exhibition is being prepared to mark 600 years of Cambridge University Library, displaying Shakespeare’s first folio, drafts of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which are dotted with drawings by his children, and a record of England’s first public dissection.

The UL, older than both the British Library and Vatican Library, was first mentioned by name in two wills in 1416. The library now holds nine million books, journals, maps and magazines, as well as iconic cultural and literary treasures.

The exhibition, called Lines of Thought, will show rare literary texts, such as the earliest reliable text for 20 of Shakespeare’s plays, and the more modern A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

Moreover, much older texts will be shown, including a second century AD fragment of Homer’s Odyssey, and the Nash Papyrus, which is a 2000-yearold copy of the Ten Commandments.

Lydia Day Deputy News Editor

‘Week five blues’ become a “self fulfilling prophecy”

change in three areas of university life. Their first measure is to set up meetings with Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, Professor Virgo, to discuss how supervisors can best facilitate discussions about mental health.

The second area of the campaign will be through JCR Welfare officers; the campaign will ensure they effectively signpost the support networks available to students.

The final area is working to encourage students to anonymously submit experiences of mental health through their Facebook page.

Statistics published by the National Union of Students suggest that 13% of students have had suicidal thoughts; according to the Priory Group 16% of those diagnosed with mental illnesses feel that they lose friends after talking about their problems.

43% of first years feel uncomfortable discussing mental health problems with friends.

78% of students report problems with mental health in the past year.

Bea Lundy Deputy News Editor

“A chance to celebrate one of the world’s oldest and greatest research libraries”

As well as Lines of Thought, there will also be dozens of celebratory events throughout 2016 to mark the special occasion, a highlight of which will be the main UL’s 17-storey tower being lit up as part of the e-Luminate Festival in February.

A free iPad app will also be released to give readers the chance to interact with “six of the most revolutionary texts” in the library’s collection, including Newton’s annotated copy of Principia Mathematica and William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into English.

A second exhibition will be launched in October 2016, which will replace the texts of Lines of Thought with unusual curiosities and oddities.

University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: “For six centuries, the collections of Cambridge University Library have challenged and changed the world around us.”

“Our 600th anniversary is a chance to celebrate one of the world’s oldest and greatest research libraries, and to look forward to its future.”

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

News

Report reveals low prospects for Oxford and Cambridge’s disadvantaged youth

Hayden Banks Deputy News Editor

Children from poorer families in Oxford and Cambridge have a lower chance of attaining good exam grades and attending elite institutions, compared to similarly disadvantaged children in London.

The findings are the result of a recent investigation from The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (SMSPC), which has ranked various city councils based on several benchmarks at different stages of children’s education.

These included the level of the child’s development by age five, the proportion of children gaining five good GCSEs, and the percentage progressing to a high-ranking University such as Cambridge.

City councils in London and the commuter belt performed significantly better than the North of the country, with Trafford and Fylde being the only Northern regions making it to the highest part of the index. The researchers noted that there were a surprising lack of opportunities for children from the poorest backgrounds in some of England’s wealthiest regions.

Some of the most startling findings of the report revealed that not one pupil eligible for free school meals in Cambridgeshire got into Oxbridge in 2014, and no Oxfordshire pupil managed it in 2013. A government spokesman said that “we are determined to spread...educational excellence everywhere.”

The report highlighted a number of shortcomings in educational

attainment across the age spectrum.

Fewer than four in ten achieve a good level of development by age five. By GCSE age, only one in four children achieve five good GCSEs, including English and Maths, Meanwhile, in Oxford, only 4% of pupils in receipt of free school meals progress to a highly-ranked Russell Group Insititution, while Cambridge sends just 2% of its poorest secondary school children into Russell Group universities.

The Chairman of the commission, Alan Milburn, claimed that the findings were a “wake-up call”. He continued: “It is shocking that many of the richest areas of the country are the ones failing their poorest children the most. I hope the government will

put itself at the head of a new national drive to ensure that, in future, progress in life depends on aptitude and ability,

The Government is committing to social justice

not background and birth”.

A Department for Education spokesman said the Government was committed to social justice, citing the improvements in Ofsted inspection reports since 2010, as a result of government reforms to the education system, as an example.

Yet despite this, the North-South divide continues; with London regions occupying 36 out of the top 40 positions on the index, and many Northern cities coming out as average.

A second-year history student commented: ‘‘This is a worrying trend that has been indicated for some time, and highlighted by this report.’’

WOODLEYWONDERWORKS

Student devastated after theft of unique PhD papers and files A Cambridge student has been left devastated after discovering that a year’s worth of his PhD papers were stolen in a night-time burglary.

The 21 year old burgular snuck into the house at 9:30 pm whilst the three students were watching a film together. The burglar went unnoticed, and managed to make off with a MacBook laptop, a Kindle, several bottles of alcohol and a pile of papers which included the PhD notes and paperwork.

Not only has the PhD student had his notes taken, there were also files on his laptop essential to his studies which were not backed up and have been lost in the theft.

The victim has explained how devastated he is, and how it will be difficult for him to move on. The case is being passed on to the Crown Court due to its severity.

Cambridge cycling campaign criticises new bike park The Cambridge Cycling Campaign has criticised the new £2.5 million CyclePoint bike-parking area at Cambridge railway station, set to open on 15 February at 6am.

The railway company will grant the over 1000 users of the current cycle parking 18 hours in which to move their bikes to another location.

Campaigners also expressed their concerns that the new bike racks are not compatible with UK cycle frames, with one adding that the new racks do not appear to “enable the frame of the bike to be locked”. However Peter Meades of Abellio sought to defend the bike park: “From our point of view, we believe the racks will meet people’s expectations and will be secure and fit for purpose.”

After ‘careful consideration’ Rhodes statue will not fall

Cameron orders Oxford to improve Access Freya Clarke Deputy News Editor David Cameron has voiced a desire to see legislation that reveals Oxford’s admissions policy regarding ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged applicants.

The Prime Minister, who completed his undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the university, said he believed the institution was not doing enough to attract talent from across the nation.

His statement is a result of the astonishing statistic that only 27 black students form part of Oxford’s university-wide intake for 2009 and he has pledged that the new laws will shame the elitist practices that take place in the UK’s top universities.

NEWS BULLETIN

“It is right to highlight the wide gaps, both in Access and outcomes.”

The University of Oxford has responded with the argument that the impacts of socio-economic disadvantage and inequality occur even before primary school; it can and should not be the responsibility of higher education institutions alone.

Cameron’s Business Secretary Sajid Javid is set to chair a meeting with education leaders to discuss the issue of the applicinto higher education institutions that seemingly places those from challenging backgrounds at a greater disadvantage.

Cameron’s decision has been strongly supported by Les Ebdon, head of the Office for Fair Access, who stated that it is “right to highlight the wide gaps – both in access and outcomes – between students of different ethnic backgrounds”.

The accusation by the Prime Minister

comes following a heated debate with Oxford University about whether Oriel College’s statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes should remain standing despite his exploitation of Africa and its people.

However other elite universities also face the challenge of admissions imbalances, with recent figures detailing how Durham, St Andrews and Cambridge have also struggled to increase representation of the most disadvantaged social groups within their student bodies.

Given the Prime Minister’s new drive to tackle the Access issue, more emphasis is likely to be placed on university sponsored access schemes and projects at Oxbridge and other elite institutions, and heightened scrutiny of those which do not improve their diversity statistics.

Despite the fact that Oxford Union’s Debating Society voted by 245 to 212 earlier this month in favour of the statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes being removed, Oxford’s Oriel College has nevertheless insisted that it will remain.

Supporters of the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign argue that Rhodes goes directly against the University’s policy of fostering an “inclusive culture”. They have called the decision “outrageous, dishonest, and cynical”.

However, the college has argued that the statue stands as a reminder of the complex nature of history and the legacies of colonialism.

In addition, the college said it received an “overwhelming” response to its consultation indicating that people wanted the statue to stay.

12th Cambridge Dragon Boat festival to raise funds for ACT In celebration of the Chinese year of the monkey, the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) and Gable Events are launching the 12th Cambridge Dragon Boat festival.

The Festival will take place on 10th September this year at Fen Ditton.

Over 40 teams from all around Cambridgeshire are anticipated to battle it out over the 200m race course, while raising funds for ACT. The team that raises the most money for the trust will receive a trophy, and also be be treated to a prize of a three-course meal at Cafe Rouge on Bridge Street, Cambridge.

10

04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

My future ‘plan’: winging it Sarah Wood

I

t’s time. This year I’ll be stepping through the gate of honour into the empty void of adulthood. My friends are planning their weekly lunch breaks in the city, and I am planning which cardboard box I’m going to live out of.

The future: jobs, amb

2019 Topshop wouldn’t hire me (I never liked their clothes anyway) but I finally found a job! You’re looking at your latest assistant of the assistant of the assistant to the editor.

2020 I left my assistant job when I realised it was going to be another five years before I did anything other than make coffee.

In other news, I think I’ve met the man of my dreams. I’m 26 now, which means I only have another four years before my biological clock really starts to tick. Maybe I’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. If I’m going to be having children soon, I can’t build a career from being an assistant 2018 Turns out Bali isn’t that cheap when to the assistant to the assistant. you’re spending every night partying. My funds slipped through my fingers like the 2021 perfect white sand on the beaches, and That was stupid. The man of my dreams now I’m back home. The ‘personal growth’ turned out to just be another nightmare.

I experienced when travelling doesn’t seem I’ve been offered a marketing job – turns out to be attracting any employers. My mum they thought my year off was worthwhile gently suggests I lower my expectations after all. I guess you never know where slightly, and try and get a job at Topshop: you’ll end up.

“Just to tide you over dear.”

2017 My job prospects look bleak, so I book a one way flight to Bali. My Facebook is flooded with photos of people who are already there having a whale of a time, so I don’t see why I can’t join them too. Besides, once you get there, I’m sure everything is pretty cheap anyway.

BROWNPAU

The best five-year plan: goals for organised people Taryn Challender Features Editor

I

’ve always held the belief that if you aim towards something, the only thing stopping you from achieving it is yourself. That’s why, five years ago, I decided that I wanted to go to Cambridge. Yes, the age-old cliché: “So did everyone else!”.

Perhaps everyone did, but no one I knew.

You see, going to Cambridge wasn’t something people did at my school; it wasn’t merely a slight deviation from the norm, but downright alien! Regardless, I had my heart set on going to Cambridge, and it was this very drive within me that kept me going through the tedium of self-taught GCSE Triple Science.

Fuelled by Cambridge and caffeine, I lived in a sort of dreamscape existing somewhere between the reality of being in an inner-city comprehensive and a far-off imagined future where I could pirouette in flowing robes and read books to my heart’s content; where bunsen burners were long-banished to the depths of hell.

Fast forward to the present day, and I’m here studying English. I might not pirouette in my college gown, but sometimes I

A life infiltrated with coffee and books is what I want

feel like I’m wearing a cape, and for that precious millisecond I metamorphose into Batman. As for the books, I can’t even begin to fathom how many pages I’ve turned since I arrived here in October. Thousands, tens of thousands.

It still feels surreal to wake up in the morning, not in my own bed at home to the sound of my mum hoovering and my little brother watching some generic American sit-com, but instead to the incessant drone of the gyp room microwave, separated from me by mere milimetres of plaster, as my neighbour attempts to cook rice at 9am.

This is what ‘normal’ now is to me, and it is strange to think that something which seemed so far-off a year ago has become inseparable from my identity. I live and breathe inside the Cambridge ‘Bubble’, and it is only when I have my daily phone conversation with my mum that remember life beyond Cambridge.

But at the end of the day, I remember that I need to cherish every moment I’m here and that this isn’t going to last forever as time and tide wait for no man. I may have achieved my year nine goal, but that doesn’t mean I should just abandon the notion of

recalibrating my targets; I’d hate to think that at nineteen I’ve reached the zenith of my life and that the rest will just be a downhill descent from here. How grim indeed.

That’s why I’ve mapped out a skeletal structure for the next five years...

By 2021: I will have graduated from Cambridge and lived for a short period of time in the world’s biggest cities, such as Berlin and Los Angeles, during the first few years post-graduation before moving

back to Manchester and getting a job at MediaCityUK. I will have two Persian cats called Snowchum and Furboi, and live in an apartment furnished with items collected from all the places I visited: a mahogany book case and a majestic copper coffee machine as the centrepiece of the kitchen.

Looking at it, it seems that a life infiltrated with coffee and books is what my life goals seem to revolve around. Hey, I’m not really complaining.

JOHN O’NOLAN

Part 2

2

Low budget cinema on the up

3

Improving diversity in publishing

The Cambridge Student 04 February 2016

10

How to get stuff for free

PHOTO: OJOE AU

2

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 04 February 2016

Culture

Measure for Measure: a sneak peek

Reading Home

Leyla Gumusdis Theatre Editor

The Cambridge Student explores the books that make us think of the places we come from.

T

he Cambridge Student met with some of the cast members of Measure for Measure, which will be showing at Cambridge Arts Theatre next week.

The production is to be directed by experienced, freelance theatre director Tom Littler.

What attracted you to Measure for Measure?

Marco (plays Angelo) (MO): I was attracted to this production because of the opportunity to work with a professional director, and to perform in the Arts Theatre.

I’ve done a number of Shakespearean shows in my time here and this is the highest level that student theatre aspires to, working with a professional director. It is an interesting play because it has tragic and dramatic moments which are offset by comedy.

Is it hard following in the footsteps of so many other productions?

Alexandra (plays Isabella) (A): The nice thing about doing a show like this is that it is not one of the really well-known JOHANNES HJORTH

Shakespearean plays. I can’t think of a definitive production of Measure for Measure – it is kind of freeing, because you aren’t constantly comparing yourself to an iconic performance.

What do you think draws both actors and audiences to Shakespeare time and again?

Mark (plays the duke) (MK): In terms of Measure for Measure, it wasn’t actually that popular until the 1970s then had a massive boom in terms of people finding the text and finding resonances in their lives. I find the more you get into the play, the more relevant it becomes.

MO: What I found really amazing about Shakespeare was that he presents human scenarios and human thought processes and human emotions, all performed in a poetic language. As an actor he gives you such beautiful language at your disposal and your challenge is to make sure your audience understand the underlying experiences and grasp the relevance.

A: For any character in any Shakespearean play there are hundreds of things going on – every line has double, triple meanings. When performing you have to pick one of those and go for it. We could do this same play twenty times and it could be an entirely different show each time.

Was it difficult to find the right tone between tragedy and comedy?

MK: Tom (the director) has been eager to question the idea of a problem play – it is listed as a comedy, and there are definitely comic elements, but we have been very careful to shape the tone of the piece and make sure where there are crazy elements that we don’t let it slip into farce.

A: It’s about making sure it all makes sense within the world that we have created. Obviously there are characters who are having a more lighthearted time alongside characters who are on death row pleading for their lives. They actually complement each other well – the drama is more shocking having come after a lighthearted scene, and the comic scenes act as a relief.

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre evocatively describes Gateshead in a way that always reminds me of home: “I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quite solitary churchyard, with its inscribed headstone; its gate, its two trees, its low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly-risen crescent, attesting the hour of eventide”. It is not quite Gateshead as I know it, but there is something in its “pale blank of mist and cloud” that resonates. When I am in Gateshead it feels as if it has stripped itself of all fronts for me, and in spite of its bad jokes, smoker’s breath, and probing questions, I am irrevocably at home. Niamh Ryle The Redemption of Alexander Seaton makes for pretty grim reading. It opens in the windswept town of Banff, just up the coast from me: I can affectionately describe it as a god-forsaken cluster of grey stone clinging to the cliffs. It’s a suitable setting: the opening sees a local woman expelled from the town for an extramarital pregnancy. That closeminded judgement may not have vanished entirely: but I can safely say that the north east of Scotland has come on a long way since the 1600s! Jessie Mathewson Born and bred in Brontë country, I’ve always felt an affinity with Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë perfectly captures the bracing, moody wildness of the hills I call home and nothing makes me pine more for my native Yorkshire lands than this gorgeous novel. Jemima Jobling PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTË

The rapid rise of low-budget cinema Jack Whitehead Film Editor

F

ollowing (1999), Primer (2004), Tangerine (2015) – what do these three films have in common? They were each made on a budget of less than $10,000 dollars, and collectively they make the bloated production budgets of Hollywood flops like last year’s Jupiter Ascending and The Gunman look like exercises in burning money.

Yet this gross wastage of capital might be the least important reason for eschewing studio blow-outs and promoting independent cinema. That low-budget means an increasing degree of creative control seems surprising in the art world, yet when applied to the film industry, this dynamic becomes exposed to a number of variables.

Fundamentally, films are not cheap to make – why did The Hobbit trilogy cost $745 million? Locations, CGI, Martin Freeman – these things don’t come cheap, and yet the correlation to cinematic quality is just absurd.

The filmic art form is perhaps unique in this imbalance.

To write a novel, assuming that you’re literate and that someone has shown you how to hold a pen or jab an iPad screen, costs next to nothing. Obviously there are expenses

involved in research, editing, publication and so on, but these are still secondary to the finished piece of art. If art is held to be an intrinsic quality, regardless of its release to the market and the masses, then the novel is the poor person’s choice.

Film is another matter entirely. Without sinking in too deep to questions of what constitutes a film, cinema is a medium that is inherently expensive, because of its reliance on relatively ‘modern’ technology. While you could technically make a film with a £30 ‘Barbie Photo Fashion Camera Doll’ from Amazon, for the sake of argument it’s helpful to understand film as that of cinematic quality.

In this case, film is inextricable from its medium. If you dragged a brush across a mirror and hung it in a gallery then you’d have your piece of art (albeit a questionable one).

If you filmed your garden with an old MGM Camera 65, used for Academy Award record holder Ben-Hur (1959), and hung the camera in the gallery then you’d have a museum. There is no way to view the actual film.

Cinema is a medium that entails mediation: there’s editing, sound design, score composition, colour grading –

all aspects now inherent to film, and even then you’ve got to have something to watch it on. Staring at a hard-drive with the project files just isn’t going to cut it.

Yet, all this is changing. It is no secret that the vast majority of us walk around with the technological equivalent of the room sized computers, the street-corner payphones, and the oak encased cameras of the past century, all just sitting in our pockets.

Devices are now so powerful that cinema grade film is well within our grasp. Tangerine set a new benchmark, when director Sean Baker only used three iPhone 5s to shoot his entire feature. Without going to such extremes, cinematic equipment is more within our grasp; the advent of 4k resolution has made 1080p DSLRs that much cheaper.

Most importantly, low-budget film is exciting because its restrictions promote new talent. Chris Hemsworth isn’t going to come and star in your film, so you turn to the resources you have available, like the dramatic scene in Cambridge. The same is true for film score composers, locations, screenwriters – low-budget helps to promote originality of experience.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 04 February 2016

3

Culture

Marvel at the advent of the comic book anti-hero Grace Dickinson

S

ince Iron Man was released eight years ago, the super-team composed of Marvel and Disney has dominated the box office, giving rise to a superhero genre that is comparable in its popularity to the Western. As we enter “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s assumed that this trend is set to continue. But will interest in the MCU begin to fade?

For the next four years there are more Avengers sequels planned, individual superhero sequels and yet another Spiderman reboot in 2017. It’s all starting to sound very familiar. In an alliance with Warner Bros., DC will directly compete with the MCU by adopting Marvel’s recipe for success, in other words producing a set of Justice League films. Yet it seems that DC has a trump card to play, namely this year’s Suicide Squad.

The MCU owes much of its success to its eclectic mix of superheroes as well as the light-hearted tone they adopt.

A tonic to Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, the MCU offers complete escapism without raising difficult moral and ethical questions. It is surprising that the MCU has managed to survive as long as it has without making many films that could be considered ground-breaking. Apart

from the hugely popular The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, most of the sequels have been average at best.

Much of this is due to the fact that the MCU does not possess interesting, developed villains. With the exception of Loki, carried by Tom Hiddleston’s captivating performance, all of the MCU villains are formed from the same mould – caricature aliens (or robots), bent on destroying or ruling the Earth. No wonder Joss Whedon has bailed on Avengers’ sequels; even he must realise this formula cannot be sustained much longer.

And so DC tactically plays its trump card. This year will give rise to the anti-hero film. According to a recent analysis of social media trends, interest in Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad is up 500%, leaving Captain America: Civil War flagging. I predict without hesitation that Suicide Squad will be the most popular of these films according to critics’ and fans’ reviews, even though the overall tone and plot of the film remains shrouded in mystery.

The first teaser for Suicide Squad was an eerie, creaking trailer, that concluded in finally revealing the anticipated return of the Joker. In an extreme close-up, Jared Leto stares directly into the camera lens, uttering the words “I’m just

going to hurt you, really, really bad.” With this teaser fans were reassured that DC hadn’t lost its darker side. Yet the latest trailer confuses the picture. In stark contrast to the teaser, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is used to perfectly evoke the insanity of the DC villains. It certainly seems that DC has tapped into a darker humour that will satisfy fans whilst moving away from the more serious Dark Knight Trilogy. If the film lives up to the marketing, this anti-hero film will defeat its superhero adversaries.

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Improving diversity in publishing Editor’s Playlist Ollie Smith Music Editor

Arenike Adebajo Books Editor

F

ebruary is the month when the hunt for vacation work really gets going. As the prospect of the long summer ahead looms, internships and work experience can be valuable ways to productively use time and enhance your CV. As an English student, who is constantly reminded of my dire employment prospects after university, the process takes on a real sense of urgency. Add to this the recent news that black workers face a huge pay gap as they achieve more qualifications. According to The Guardian, new research suggests that there is “a 23% gap in hourly pay between black and white university graduates”. As a total book-nerd, I would love to work in publishing, but the industry has a dismal record with diverse hiring.

Most of the furore surrounding diversity in publishing has been directed at the lack of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) writers being published. Recent controversies include the all-white list of titles for the 2016 World Book Night which prompted the popular social media movements, #DiverseDecember and #ReadDiverse2016.

The unrepresentative spectrum of books being published might be tied to the lack of diversity within the British publishing industry itself, in terms of staffing and BRITTANY STEVENS

managerial roles. The industry is mostly concentrated in London and the South East, and a recent report shows that although “28.8% of the working population of London are BME, only 7.7% of those working in publishing are from a non-white background”. Additionally, a mere “4% of editorial staff were found to be from a BME background”.

This lack of representative staffing has been flagged up time after time, with successive reports highlighting failures in the industry with very limited progress being made. It has been suggested that the prevalence of unpaid internships is a factor that limits the pool of employment.

Work experience within the industry is often listed as an important way of getting a foothold in the industry, but many can’t afford higher living costs of expensive cities like London without a salary.

However there are some existing schemes that help young people from BME backgrounds like Creative Access, a charity that works to link young people with paid internships in creative industries.

Although the publishing industry has much to do to improve access and diversity within its workforce, as awareness continues to increase, there is progress being made slowly, but surely.

YOUTUBE

Sick and tired of hearing Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift on constant repeat? Need a new set collection of songs to revise to, or a soundtrack to your free time? Below is a small selection of five of my personal all-time favourite songs. With any luck, there should be a little something for everyone...

1. Radiohead, ‘Sit Down, Stand Up’ This has to be number one. From the album Hail to the Thief, this song is often overlooked by critics and by the band itself, who rarely play it live. For me, it’s up there with the best. That piano groove just gets me.

2. Moderat, ‘Therapy’ Moderat are probably at the pinnacle of the Berlin electronic scene. The group will be releasing their third album, III, in April 2016.

3. Led Zeppelin, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ A relic from my pre-teen love of rock. AC/DC no longer do it for me but Led Zep aren’t going anywhere.

I reckon this has to be one of Robert Plant’s best vocal performances ever.

4. Claude Debussy, ‘Deux Arabesques: No. 1’ Music that makes you feel good. I just wish I could play it myself.

5. Thom Yorke, ‘Cymbal Rush (Live on The Henry Rollins Show)’ What I love about Thom Yorke’s solo material is that underneath the electronics lie some absolutely beautiful songs. This performance of ‘Cymbal Rush’ is proof, if you needed it, that this man is a genius. I don’t actually care much for the studio version, but strip it back to basics and this song is one of the most gorgeous around.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 04 February 2016

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Culture

Re-visiting children’s literature Haroon Mohamoud

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or much of my childhood, I didn’t take a liking to fiction. The non-fiction aisles of bookstores and local libraries held the most interest for me.

One week, I’d be reading about the pyramids of ancient Egyptian civilisations, the next, I could be reading about Napoleon’s successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars before his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

Since most children’s libraries have disproportionately more fiction titles than non-fiction, I quickly exhausted the available titles at the school library and had to discover books that satisfied my love for all things factual. I soon found what I’d been searching for: the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary.

The unconventional, tongue-in-cheek manner of their composition was a nice antidote to the conformist narrative of history lessons at schools; the gory, unpleasant aspects SAN JOSE LIBRARY

giving any piece of children’s fiction more than a run for its money. A cross between education and entertainment, these books provided me with many hours of interesting reading.

The titles were an introduction to a completely different world: everything from the Angry Aztecs to the Barmy British Empire to the Groovy Greeks and the Vicious Vikings.

The series’ popularity – having sold over 25 million copies by 2011 – meant it was ubiquitous and readily available

Everything from the Angry Aztecs to the Barmy British Empire to the Groovy Greeks whenever the teacher’s call came to signal “Reading time”.

In retrospect, with their use of accompanying comic cartoons, I admit the books don’t necessarily present what STEVE CADMAN

one expects from the practice of academic history. Nor was that the intention of the author who candidly said of himself, “I’m not a historian”. In fact, Deary is distrustful of the establishment, often portraying those in power as the villains, and drawing his heroes from less privileged groups.

Beneath the generic literary conventions and simple prose style, many serious points are presented: for example, the author comments on how the modern era can be just as vile as the past, comparing the imperialism of the Romans with that of 20th century colonialism.

At its heart, the series seeks to engage and enthuse the young reader into pondering about the past and probing further into its many mysteries. Looking back as a history undergraduate, I find that this ethos – of unravelling, understanding, and explaining past events and experiences – is what fascinates not only students but also academics in their day-to-day pursuits.

YOUTUBE

Five young artists to make you jealous Ollie Smith Music Editor Here are five artists all under 21 years of age who traded in writing essays for making music: Låpsley, 19 Listen if you like: Jack Garratt / Jessie Ware Låpsley’s music manages to do something quite rare in bridging the gap between great pop songwriting and inventive electronic production. She’s already played at Glastonbury and has put out some tracks that have got traction with Radio 1, notably with ‘Falling Short’ and ‘Painter (Valentine)’. With her debut album Long Way Home coming out in early March, it definitely seems that the only way is up.

Tom Misch, 20 Listen if you like: Erykah Badu / J Dilla I came across Tom Misch a few weeks into my first term and was blown away by his laid-back brand of neo-soul. Since then, his chilled-out, soulful sound has become a mainstay on my pre-night out playlist. This guy is an unbelievably talented multi-instrumentalist who produced two ‘Beat Tapes’ last year and is set to release his debut album in 2016.

Combining old-school hip hop beats with funky guitar, Tom Misch is one to watch.

Raury, 19 Listen if you like: Kanye West / Chet Faker You may be familiar with Raury. He first hit the limelight in 2014 when he featured in SBTRKT’s ‘Higher’ and ‘Lost Souls’, his own song, made it onto Lorde’s soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1. 2015 saw the release of his debut LP All We Need, which strikes out its own path between hip hop, electronic and folk. If you want to get an idea of the ambition of this guy, he hosted his own music festival (Raurfest) and released his debut EP to celebrate his 18th birthday. His 21st is going to be wild.

Ibeyi, 21 Listen if you like: FKA twigs / Lianne La Havas It’s not often you come across an artist as unique as Ibeyi.

Hailing from France and Cuba, the heritage of these twins is clearly reflected in their music; traditional Afro-Caribbean instruments are partnered with samples and drum machines. Singing in a mix of English and Yoruba, the two are pushing the boundaries of what we expect from Western pop music. The result is an emotional journey that is better heard than described. Try ‘River’ and ‘Mama Says’ from their debut album, Ibeyi.

THE COME UP SHOW

Haus, 19-21 Listen if you like: Foals / Bombay Bicycle Club Having released just two singles to date (‘Haze’ and ‘Blinded’), it may seem a bit premature to be singing the praises of Haus, but this five-piece has been making waves in the capital with their raucous ‘Haus Parties’ over the last couple of years. Reminiscent of early Foals, Haus are raw, unrestrained and put on a ridiculously good show. Like Foals, they are lucky enough to have a diminutive frontman with a huge voice in Ashley Mulimba. What’s more, they are unbelievably cool. Just check out their Instagram page to see what you’re missing out on: @Haus_Band.

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Culture

Uni Tunes: Access DnB Ollie Smith Music Editor

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ill Charnaud, under the guise of Access DnB, has been producing drum and bass tunes on the down-low for the last four or five years. A Cambridge local who is now studying in Leeds, Access’ output has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Having navigated his own way through the intimating landscape of oscillators and compressors, he is now equipped with the knowledge and technique to make some top-level tunes, so it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for this young producer.

He has navigated his own way through the intimidating landscape of oscillators and compressors Access’ production has a depth and clarity you’d expect from a veteran rather than the new kid on the block. And it’s not just me saying this; he’s been getting interest from a number of labels who want to help him take the leap into the industry. This might be a good decision if a comment JONNY KINGSTONE

from NeTTuMs is anything to go by, saying “take my money” in response to Access’ most recent track, ‘Radon’.

He’s been getting interest from a number of labels who want to help him take the leap into the industry ‘Radon’ kicks off with an arpeggiated synth line and soon builds to its first drop at around the 1-minute mark. Vocal samples provide variation and help elude the repetitiveness that is so frequently wielded as criticism against the genre.

It’s a genuine floor-filler, although, granted, perhaps more at home at the Junction than at Cindies.

Not to be limited by conventional sampling, Access has recently been experimenting with recording live vocalists.

The benefit creating your own samples is clear: it gives you ultimate creative control over the process. This is an exciting development and could see vocals playing a more significant role in future material.

Will is currently releasing tracks through his SoundCloud page. Search ‘Access DnB’ to check out his work.

WILL CHARNAUD

Listings

Thursday 4 This House would have no Diplomatic Relations with Iran.

Debate, Cambridge Union, 7:30pm.

Friday 5 The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club. Cambridge Junction, 10pm.

Short Stories: New Student Operas. Trinity College Chapel, 8pm.

Cambridge Impronauts: Quickfire. ADC, 8pm.

Saturday 6 The CULS Masquerade Spring Ball 2016. Old Naval College Greenwich, 6pm.

The Pink Week Ball 2016. 8pm.

Sunday 7 The Cambridge Super Bowl Party 2016. Cambridge Union, 9pm.

Monday 8 Pink Fog Panel. Cambridge Union, 7:30pm.

Tuesday 9 Pink Cheeks Yoga Class. The Palmerstone Room, St. John’s College, 4:30pm.

KRGJUMPER

Healthy Supper Club. Espresso Library, 7:30pm.

The White Devil. ADC, 7:45pm.

Philadelphia Here I Come. Corpus Playroom, 7pm.

Wednesday 10 Mean Girls - Pink Week at Christ’s Films. Christs College, 9pm.

Compiled by Lucy Roxburgh

Book Review: Under the Udala Trees Anna Hollingsworth

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n January 2014, Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan criminalized same-sex relationships, now punishable with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.

Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees is written against this backdrop of intolerance and persecution, forming the newest addition to the author’s effort to documents the lives of gay and lesbian people in Nigeria.

The novel succeeds in this effort and beyond, offering not only a social commentary but also a heartfelt, beautifully written coming of age story.

In the depths of the Biafran crisis, young Ijeoma’s life is shattered as her father is killed in a bombing. Her mother reduced to a shadow of her former self, Ijeoma is sent to work as a servant in another town; here, she finds shelter from bombs in the form of another girl’s love.

After the inevitable discovery of the forbidden relationship, Ijeoma faces an existence of condemnation and hidden relationships, “choking under the weight of something larger than us, something heavy and weighty, the weight of tradition and superstition and of all our legends”.

Under the Udala Trees follows Ijeoma’s journey from secret rendezvous as a schoolgirl to a clandestine gay bar and an attempt at marriage and ‘normal’ life in an environment where “a woman without a man is hardly a woman at all”. In attempting to cover all of this, Okparanta takes on a vast mission: the novel straddles being an account of war and tribal conflicts, chronicling the hopes and fears of an individual, and raising awareness of the situation for lesbian and gay people in Nigeria.

To take on this task in one novel may seem a huge risk, but Okparanta manages to deliver on all fronts with impeccable style, a talent for story telling, and an acute sensitivity to the protagonist’s feelings through confusion, torment, and finding and losing love. Impressively, Okparanta retains a sense of hope throughout the novel, where many tales would wither into plain tragedies.

Under the Udala Trees really is a tour de force of brave and beautiful descriptions of what it is to love and to be loved when that love is not allowed; it excels both as a story of an individual and as a contribution to LGBT+ culture.

THE PALM PRINT

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04 February 2016 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

Reviews Massive Attack: Ritual Spirit Ollie Smith Music Editor

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ans of Massive Attack might have been surprised, if not disappointed, upon hearing that the six years since 2010 album Heligoland has culminated in a collection of just four songs. However, things may have changed when it was revealed Ritual Spirit isn’t a normal EP. The record was first released through Fantom, a smartphone app designed by band member 3D (Robert del Naja). The group refers to it as a “sensory music experience” which offers users the ability to create ‘personal’ versions of the four new tracks. The app uses the camera, motion sensor and clock of your phone to alter musical elements in real time, allowing you to remix the tracks according to your surroundings. In 2014, Radiohead put out a similar project, PolyFauna.

The tracks lend themselves to this kind of audio-visual experimentation; the songs feel warped and other-wordly before you even get remixing. Opening track ‘Dead Editors’ overlays the vocals of veteran rapper Roots Manuva on unsettling industrial beats. It’s undoubtedly a forceful

start but is the least listenable of the four songs. The title track has a chillingly cinematic feel, while ‘Voodoo In My Blood’ pushes into the contemporary scene. Collaborating with 2014 Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers, Massive Attack leave behind the sound of the ‘Mezzanine’ era for something that could be mistaken for a Young Thug record.

This is all reeled back for the final track ‘Take It There’. Crusty snares and bassy kicks underpin vocals from long-time collaborator Tricky. As is true for much of their best material, ‘Take It There’ is not complex, but rather makes its impact through simplicity.

Massive Attack, through Ritual Spirit and Fantom, challenge the notion that studio music is somehow deadened. They question that its creative life ends at the mixing desk. Some may see the app as gimmicky but I see it as wholly in keeping with the artistic ethos of a group who have continually pushed boundaries for nearly 30 years.

9/10

JOHANNES HJORTH

Review: A Life of Galileo Eve Rivers Theatre Editor

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ertolt Brecht’s A Life of Galileo is a wacky, wonderful experience, in which the audience is immersed, visually and emotionally, into the life of the great mind of Galileo Galileli.

The set design (by set designer Al Ro) is minimialistic, which works to great effect when it is combined with the brilliant projections (the brain child of Radu Thomas) which allow the audience to see where the scene is meant to be set, giving the audience room to imagine the 15th century setting as it was back then. The video projections, paired with the ambient song choices (chosen by Francesco Anselmetti) allow the audience to inhabit the same world as Galileo: when he looks through the telescope and sees the moon, the audience can also see the moon as it is projected on the walls.

Sometimes, these projections are quite

jarring, and at other times, it can distract from the events of the play.

Elinor Lipman, in particular shines as the impertinent serving woman Mrs Sarti, whose charming accent and persona creates audience attention, whatever scene or role she is in. However, more could have been made of Ludovico, interpreted

by Adam Butler-Rushton, who adds great comedic value to the play, especially in his early interactions with Galileo, played by Adam Mirsky.

The content of the show, while engaging is sometimes hindered by the slow pacing and convoluted dialogue that could have been made snappier.Therefore emotional and comedic monents are sometimes disjointed. Overall, a very enjoyable watch!

7/10

Spring Awake simplistic and Vanessa Upton

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et me begin this review by saying that if you have never seen a performance of Spring Awakening then you should go and see this show. The original is a good musical, but unfortunately, this particular production is quite stale.

The pace of the performance is quick,

The original is good, but unfortunately this production is quite stale which works really well in the first half and keeps the audience engaged, but it’s too much in Act Two. The second half of the show is a series of intense emotional

scenes and the power of these scenes is lost in the pace of the show.

For people unfamiliar with the plot, it becomes very difficult to register what is happening. It feels like the director, Rebecca Vaa, is avoiding properly dealing with the difficult scenes, which leaves the ending falling somewhat flat.

However, many of the musical numbers are infused with energy. My favourites are ‘The Dark I Know Well’, sung by Amy Carmichael, and ‘My Junk’, a full cast ensemble. There are some really effective uses of levels and groupings, but the group work is weakened by the choreography, from Megan Thorpe. A lot of the choreography is very simplistic and synchronised. At several points in the

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DANIEL KARAJ

Reviews Television: Mr. Robot Arenike Adebajo

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r. Robot grabs your attention from the get go; the moody, throbbing synths in the show’s stark opening credits establish the mood of acute unease that dominates the first season.

The show is a zeitgeisty exploration of hacker-culture, nefarious corporations, and digital activism. By day, its protagonist, Eliot Alderson (Rami Malek) is a cyber-security engineer working at the deceptively bland sounding Allsafe, by night, he’s a vigilante hacker.

A zeitgeisty exploration of hacker culture As well as being a computer genius, Eliot is an addict and suffers from depression and social anxiety. His mesmeric monotone is the voice that guides the viewer through the show, but as his paranoia increases you’re left increasingly unsure of what is real and what exists simply in his head.

After being initiated into ‘fsociety’, an Anonymous-style, hackctivist group, which is headed by the mysterious Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), Eliot is then tasked with helping to bring down a

sinister corporation, E-Corp, that we come to know as “Evil Corp”.

You don’t have to be into tech to enjoy the show: Mr. Robot’s writers ensure the jargon remains accessible, but you’re mostly focused on the various twists and

You don’t have to be into tech to enjoy the show turns of the fast-paced plot. Mood and intensity are the show’s selling points, aided by excellent performances from Malek, Slater, and the supporting cast. The show does a good job of dismantling the notion that tech is a male dominated field, without making a big deal of it.

However, despite the diversity of the cast, some of the roles could do with being fleshed out to avoid mere tokenism – Trenton, an Iranian-American woman who is a member of ‘fsociety’, barely says a word the entire season. Mr. Robot certainly lives up to the hype, and at only 10 episodes long, it’s an excellent bingewatch if you’re between shows or looking to watch something new.

8/10

Student Film: Ivory Tower

ening: Stale, I d confused

Sam Hobson

vory Tower is the latest film offering by writer/director/‘BNOC’ Patrick Brooks, and provides an exciting yet surreal look at student left-wing politics. It follows the student Radical Action Group and their mission to occupy the Cambridge Union building. But things begin to take a sinister turn as the shadowy leader of the group, Tom (Chris Born), arrives on the scene.

show, the actors line up at the front of the stage which feels both overwhelming and boring.

The intense emotional power of the scenes in the second half is lost This quite generic choreography undermines the singing, which is generally good. A particularly good singer is Joanna Clarke who plays Wendla,and who opens the show with ‘Mama Who Bore Me’, immediately engaging the audience. The quality of acting within her songs is really admirable and reflects a genuine talent for musical theatre, rather than separate

singing and acting talent. One really outstanding aspect of the show is the set design, from Jack Parham. There are angular raised platforms on the stage, hanging light bulbs and a modern tree

Many of the musical numbers are infused with energy that creates a minimalistic and fresh tone for the show. It’s a shame that the performance itself isn’t quite as fresh.

6/10

An exciting yet surreal look at student left-wing politics First and foremost, Brooks has achieved some stunningly executed shots, and really experiments with the style. The first half of the film has two particularly exciting tracking shots and there was definitely a hint of Iñárritu’s Birdman when the action proper begins.

This is helped by an excellent supporting cast who capture the self-seriousness of the characters well. Unfortunately, we only get to explore two or three of them to any great length, because the short film format makes it difficult to expand too far.

Rose Reade, in particular, captured the real nuances of her decisions and was certainly the stand-out performance. Chris Born also acted very well, being suitably

creepy as the Left-Wing (and this really does need capitals for emphasis) cultleader Tom. Occasionally, Born drifts into the Tom Hardy/Bane pitfall of losing the serious impact of his lines.

It is this that is perhaps the biggest problem with Ivory Tower. Brook’s previous film, About Last Night, dealt with a serious issue – sexual assault among students – in an entertaining but thought-provoking way. You can’t help but feel Ivory Tower had even more potential considering the glut of radical action

The film’s biggest problem: a loss of the serious impact of the matters at hand? groups in recent months, from the noplatform debates to ‘Rhodes Must Fall’.

The climax of the film plays almost as a parody of the issues involved.

This being said, the film is perhaps the strongest effort yet in Cambridge student filmmaking and shows plenty of potential for what’s yet to come.

7/10

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Lifestyle

04 February 2016 • Part 2 • The Cambridge Student

From left: black briefcase (£65), lilac rucksack (£88), trilby hat (£17.50), yellow triangle leather clutch (£86), agate stone necklace (£60), agate stone bracelet (£25), eye clutch (£48), blue leather saddle bag (£39.95), blue dinosaur toy (£9.95), ‘How to Win Games and Beat People’ book (£9.99), Annie Sherborne beetle brooches (£57), sterling silver and semiprecious stone ring (£55), red lips leather purse (£23.50)

Photography Ojoe Au Direction Ariel Luo & Jemima Jobling Models Heather Fantham, Kat Karpenko, Katherine Smith, Ollie Webster

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Lifestyle

Sweet eccentricity ARK Cambridge This week, The Cambridge Student collaborates with ARK for a brisk and playful fashion shoot. With the usual materials (leather and acrylic) ARK achieves an element of surprise in the design. The slogan – “gifts for interesting people” – really speaks for the shop. From heritage briefcases to agate stone necklaces, the products at ARK have that sense of sweet eccentricity that we all look for when it comes to buying a present or treating ourselves.

Love the lilac rucksack, or the yellow triangle clutch (nicknamed “dorito” by our models)?

Pop into ARK at 1 Peas Hill or visit http://www.arkcambridge.co.uk to find all of the featured products. A new collection is also arriving in store very soon.

For more photos and the story behind the scene, read about the fashion shoot online at www.tcs. cam.ac.uk.

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The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 04 February 2016

Lifestyle

Pink Week: Healthy Supper Club Charlotte McGarry Food Editor

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his year Cambridge’s very own version of the charity initiative Pink Week has taken on a new foodie venture that’s guaranteed to delight. On Tuesday 9 February, Cambridge café Espresso Library will host Pink Cheeks Tuesday’s first ever Healthy Supper Club.

The event has attracted some major players in the health food world. Up first: undisputed queen of clean eating, Deliciously Ella, who has created a recipe exclusively for the night. Annie Clark, the yogi and wellness warrior behind Mind Body Bowl will be giving a talk on mindful living, whilst Hen’s Clean Cakes, The Raw Choc Pie Co. and Naughty Fork amongst others will send boxes of treats.

The menu for the night is equally impressive: a vegan extravaganza including lemon, tahini avocado salad, Vietnamese tempeh rolls, wholegrain chilli kick bowls, raw chocolate brownies, green juice and plenty more.

As a student-run campaign, the event provides a perfect platform for student health bloggers to show off their skills.

University of East Anglia student and health blogging star Superfood Siobhan will be present, whilst I’ll be representing Cambridge with a recipe from my own blog, Glowing Healthy.

The event ties in well with the rising popularity of mindful eating, demonstrated by the widespread popularity of Veganuary and the recent addition of many healthy options to restaurant menus across the country. It’s clear that the Cambridge population is backing the trend; tickets sold out in under eight minutes.

The Supper Club has already proven itself to be one of the most popular events of the year’s campaign. It seems that the lucky ticket holders are in for a real (nourishing, superfood, and vegan) treat.

CHARLOTTE MCGARRY

HENRIETTA INMAN

SIOBHAN O’BRIEN

THECOFFEEOFFICINA

THECYMBALWENCH

WWOOFing: What’s in it for me?

Natalia Rye-Carriegas

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or cash-strapped students, ‘voluntourism’ has become increasingly popular as a way to travel the world whilst spending less. It is based on the assumption that for a few hours’ of volunteering a day, you get free food and lodging for the duration of your stay. Websites founded on this concept range from humanitarian aid projects to classic au pairng.

WWOOF, short for World-Wide Opportunities for Organic Farming is the original ‘voluntourism’ organisation.

It has links with countries all over the world, from European destinations in France and Italy to more exotic locations such as Thailand and Australia.

Registration is simple: just create an account with the relevant WWOOF branch (WWOOF España for Spain, for NATALIA RYE-CARRIEGAS

instance) and subscribe. Subscription costs around £20-30 depending on the country and lasts for a year, giving you access to a whole list of participating farms and projects.

Opportunities range from harvesting potatoes in Ireland to picking grapes in Southern Australia.

Last year, I took the opportunity to travel to the EmiliaRomagna region in Italy and I am so glad that I bit the bullet and went - I had the opportunity to learn a huge amount in a truly beautiful location.

WWOOF, for me as a linguist, represents an excellent opportunity for language-learning. In preparation for Cambridge, I was keen on practising Italian without my English comfort blanket. At the end of the month that I was away, there were days that I didn’t speak English at all, NATALIA RYE-CARRIEGAS

chatting away almost unconsciously in Italian. Of course, there are placements in which the hosts do know English: it is only a matter of asking.

WWOOFing is also a brilliant opportunity to visit many different places without spending a fortune on hostels.

Being only a train-ride away from major cities, I was able to do daytrips to Bologna, Florence and Verona, and would have been able to go to Venice had I stayed there longer.

Being in a countryside setting, the people that you meet are genuinely local and are more than happy to tell you all about the country that you have decided to visit. For me, being able to hear Ferraris drive by outside (the house was close to their factory) underlined the unconventional, yet stereotypically Italian experience that I was living!

NATALIA RYE-CARRIEGAS

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Lifestyle

Review: Stir Cambridge Georgina Wong

S

tir, on Chesterton Road, is the latest neighbourhood café to open up its doors in Cambridge. From its sleek exterior, to the abundance of cushions scattered across the seats inside, this establishment invites you to stay and linger from the get-go.

Choose to sprawl yourself across the sofas at the back, or perch at one of their window seats overlooking the road; the spacious interior and range of seating options makes it a welcoming spot for groups of friends and solo visitors alike.

At weekends the coffee shop has a relaxed and friendly feel: families and couples step inside for some respite from the cold outside; comfort appears in a warming cup of hot chocolate or coffee. The coffee is excellent, made using beans roasted by Butterworth & Son, specialty coffee roasters in East Anglia.

The cake selection is also devilishly tempting: a varied selection of freshly baked goods is on offer every day, from croissants to delicious spelt banana bread - perfect treats to see you into February. Brunch is served at weekends, and never fails to satisfy: avocado toast garnished with radishes and lemon, a traditional fry up, and bacon, halloumi and avocado sandwiched in a toasted brioche roll are all regulars on the menu.

Stir isn’t just your average coffee shop though – aside from offering up tasty food and coffee, the space is also used

to house social events and classes in the evening, ranging from yoga and sewing, to children’s art classes.

If you can make the trek, I highly recommend taking some time out to visit Stir. Although it may not be located in the most convenient of places for the majority of Cambridge students, the free WiFi and calm atmosphere means that you will want to stay here all day. Bring a laptop and a friend with you – from their signature orange coffee cups, to the friendly baristas, there is something about this cafe that will have you coming back time and time again.

HANOLSSON

GEORGINA WONG DD-ANG2S

Strategies for student savings Mary Nower

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Bea Hannay-Young Columnist

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eing in a long-distance relationship (my unfortunate boyfriend currently lives 5500 miles away), I’ve recently become very well acquainted with my fingers. Specifically, the first and second fingers on my left hand, and the magical effect that they seem to have when aggressively flicking my bean (such a charming euphemism): like a narcotics trip and a big cuddle rolled into one.

I was pretty late to the self-pleasure party: probably an effect of my crazy-puritanical family, and the gnomes that apparently inhabit the gap between their legs where most people’s genitalia are. Couple that with a healthy dose of patriarchal crap and you have a sure-fire recipe for the kind of girl who thinks that the second you reach for your nether-regions the devil himself will pop out from between your labia and waggle his eyebrows.

Procasturbation: it’s more than my favourite portmanteau, it’s a way of life

GEORGINA WONG

tudents: an infamously miserly lot with a – admittedly well-deserved – reputation for doing anything to get free stuff. Nothing is too low (lying about your degree subject at careers fairs to maximise the number of pens and tote bags you get is totally legit), no lengths are too extreme in the search for bargains.

Some of these are very Cambridge specific. You can get paid £50 to do YouGov surveys, but you have fill in one hell of a lot of political opinions to get your hands on that booty.

An easier way to get paid for surveys is to volunteer for psychological studies, often advertised on CUSU emails or in departments. These tend to take very little time and you can be paid up to £10 a session.

For those searching for something specific, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, Freecycle is your friend.

A student specific way to save is free swag. I personally regard a careers or Freshers’ Fair a complete waste of time

A loving guide to procrasturbation

if I don’t come away with a bag of free stuff. Sure, there are the classic pens, bags, post-its, but I’ve also got shot glasses, flip-flops and a thermos. Companies and societies will stop at nothing to attract cheapskate students!

If you have a birthday coming up, make sure you take advantage of your £5 voucher (Paperchase), free pancake (Crepeaffaire) and free juice (Boost Juices).

I find the realm of getting money off full-priced items is more my domain. Loyalty cards and apps are your friends here. Have a separate email inbox for the marketing emails, so they don’t annoy you day-to-day, and when you want a bargain you can scroll through for the best offers. But the best weapon in my armoury is my student card. Discounts range from the stingy (5%, Hotel Chocolat), to the acceptable (15%, Jack Wills) to the downright excellent (40%, Pizza Express, Mon—Thurs). So go out and enjoy student life, now with a hefty price discount.

Taboo still means that less than half of women will admit to masturbating more than once a week, but I’m pretty sure lying is worse for the soul than owning up to a strum on the lady-guitar. Time and boredom, however, pretty quickly drew me to the path of sin, and I’ve never looked back.

Actively locating my clitoris was a rite of passage as important as my first kiss, or training bra. Penis-owners, I’m not really sure how this worked for you, but I’m pretty sure it was a happy, happy day when you discovered that you could make fireworks go off in your head by tugging on the old meat-monkey. My congratulations.

So, procrasturbation. It’s more than my favourite portmanteau (procrastination plus masturbation), it’s a way of life. Cambridge is a high stress environment, I’m a busy woman, and my bed is uncomfortably small for two people: a conspiracy, I’m sure.

For these reasons, I’m here to convince you to beat out a couple of orgasms a day. There’s even some handy science behind it: read up and you might not feel quite so guilty next time you ditch the library for the bedroom (or public toilet, if you’re desperate. No judgement).

A good wank is invariably better than a bad shag Dr Piers Steel from the University of Calgary recently undertook hymen-breaking research which suggested that the rush of hormones achieved during orgasm stimulates a much larger portion of the brain than something like brain training-exercises. In the moments after orgasming all that blood that was raging around downtown suddenly floods back into your brain, giving you a stimulating burst of energy. Next time you’re up to your eyeballs in Chaucer or the Krebs cycle, take some you-time and get reacquainted with your not-so-privates. It has to be more satisfying than memorising half of Buzzfeed (‘12 Life Changing Ways to Eat Eggs in 2016’ is a personal favourite), or stalking your significant other’s exes on Facebook (which as a mature adult I have obviously never done). Besides, it’s good for you. And if nothing else, a good wank is invariably better than a bad shag.

P.S – Dr Steel: if you ever need any new subjects for your experiments, I am ready and willing.

The Cambridge Student • Part 2 • 04 February 2016

12

Lifestyle

Best of the cosy book nooks A good reading spot can help make almost any essay crisis more bearable

Anywhere that has cake and coffee is a great spot to get some reading done. Susan Chan

Reading in bed is the dream, as long as I don’t fall asleep.

Multiple cushions is a must. Amelia Oakley

Downing has so many suntraps – perfect for reading and fulfilling your fresh air quota at the same time. Polly Grey

Battery-powered tealights add a touch of class to my bedroom reading cave. Jemima Jobling

I found this pretty cool little reading room in Sonshan Cultural Park in Taipei. Charlotte McGarry

This secret cubby in Peterhouse’s Ward library is ideal for mid-afternoon naps. Stevie Hertz

Clare gardens are a prime spot for pretending to work whilst actually just listening to punters spiel. Maddy Airlie

I spend way too much time in my room so in summer I hog Newnham’s swing seat to do my reading. Lucy Roxburgh

The library is my go-to zone. The individual cubicles make smuggling in snacks more subtle. Kate Bell

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

bitions and ray guns

Features

“When I grow up”: The reality Miriam Longman

M

ost children have high hopes for their future. Some people I know have had a career in mind since they were five; others used to want to be an astronaut and now are scared of aeroplanes. Personally, I wanted to be an angel when I grew up.

I’m not sure how old I was – less than six – but while this desire might seem adorable at first, it’s actually pretty concerning. You see, at this time I believed that when a person died, they became an angel.

If that was my ambition, my parents were essentially faced with a small girl telling them that when she grew up, she wanted to die. No wonder they were worried about me.

My other major ambition was to be a mummy. Not an Egyptian corpse, but a mother. A natural enough goal for a small girl in a heteronormative world, perhaps, but hilarious to anyone who knows me and my total disinterest in relationships, sex, and children. I don’t know where my mothering instinct went, but it’s gone.

It’s probably just as well I wasn’t asked

about my childhood ambitions at my Newnham interview: “I want to have kids and then die” doesn’t seem to fit the ethos of empowerment. Fortunately, by about the age of eight I’d settled on a few other goals: I wanted to be an actress!

And a musician! No, an actress and an author! Or an actress and an author and a musician, all at once!

Once I figured out I couldn’t act, ‘actress’ got knocked off the list. Ballerina popped in there for a while. The library stamp I was given for Christmas when I was about 10 foreshadowed the weeks I spent working in a library last summer.

‘Musician’ and ‘author’ stuck around longer, and by the time I was 13, writing for a living was my main goal.

I’ve been working towards it ever since, with the single-mindedness I mostly only show when marathoning yet another show on Netflix. Sometimes it still seems just as far out of reach, but I know I’ve got closer since I wrote my first novel at 13.

And while the sentiment behind my desire to be an angel may not have entirely fled (particularly during essay crises), I think I’m unlikely to be a mother any time soon.

MIRIAM LONGMAN

Imagining Cambridge in the future: Essay wars can we use to save our skins?

Jack McMinn A simple ray gun would be a good start – the “aliens blew up my homework” riting essays is absolutely the excuse would now, for the first time, be worst thing ever (well, not backed up by immediate forensic evidence really – but for the sake of (which is presumably more pleasant than journalistic hyperbole, just go along with it, thanks).

The “aliens blew up my Most of the time, you can’t just copy homework” excuse would out the lecture notes and lob in some fancy language to give off the impression definitely work now that you have some kind of integrity and control in the mindless chaos of the immediate forensic evidence for “my Cambridge University. dog ate my homework”).

Luckily, as usual, the cold heartless The problem with this is where you draw machines might be at hand – technology the line – evaporating your supervisor blokes are evidently wasting their time by might raise a few eyebrows, but you might trying to change the world in meaningful, be able to get away with that. intelligent ways, and should instead invest I’m actually surprised that this their skills in helping a very niche group of university ray gun strategy hasn’t been Cambridge students cheat in their various adopted under a Republican presidency. academic pursuits.

The equal mix of uncontrolled It would be really easy to produce some fire arms and poor education sort of device which automatically writes would warm even the coldest cockles an essay for you, but if we stuck to that, of Donald Trump’s barnacle-encrusted then this article would be too short. So, heart – but I would understand it if they assuming that we have no intention of were actually saving up for an automatic writing any form of essay, what technology excuse generator (which would be handy

W

for the aforementioned government if you had, say, bombed the wrong country or something).

For the average university student though (in other words, one without nuclear weapons), the device would allow you to explain in detail why your essay is absent by simply selecting from the pop-down menus of various characters, scenarios, action scenes, dialogue and/or musical numbers.

(This last one is optional, given its mixed success in convincing supervisors for your case – on the bright side, I am thinking about taking one of my latest creations to Broadway next year. An exciting prospect.)

But I’ve saved the best till last, or at least in my particular perspective: a time machine that takes me back in time to before I wrote this article.

I have two long essays I have to write this weekend, and instead of getting right down to it and tackling them, I’ve managed to spend my time procrastinating by writing about evaporating your supervisor, with a laser gun.

C’mon, Elon Musk, don’t fail me now.

ALICE LAW

12

04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Features

Looking for love in A week in the life: Clare College bridge

Cambridge Week three: A walk in the park

*As imagined by Lydia Sabatini

Monday I didn’t ask to be iconic, and in more selfies than the Kardashians kombined.

You’d think when you’re the oldest surviving bridge in Cambridge people would understand that sometimes you need a rest. Nowadays I need a break Secret Dater more than ever.

You know, people really are getting his was not a usual feeling for me. My palms heavier. I remember the good old days were sweaty, my knees were weak (mom’s during the Civil War… people crossed spaghetti etc.).

I’m beginning to appreciate the accompanying with purpose – no faffing around with selfie sticks. adrenaline rush of dating strangers. In no other walk of life would I find myself associating with such categorically Tuesday Doing a mental tally: how many horrendous people – let alone enjoying it. Following the disastrous events of my previous two dates (both sprinkled people have walked over me today

T

compared with through King’s College.

I had a bet with the Orgasm Bridge that I was more popular, and so far I’m winning with 75-66!

Not that I need the validation.

Thursday Lots of large tour groups today. They always stop right in the centre and the guide tells the story of the missing piece in one of my boulders.

They always say something like “the college never finished paying so the builders never finished the job.” You’d think they’d invent a sexier fake story for it! All the while I am laughing, silently, remembering the true epic tale that has now become lost in the realm of time gone by…

I will not pretend to be unamused if they fall in

Friday Rain and wind and people running across me in a hurry, not even bothering to stop and admire. Tonight the drunks will come across me as they always do and sway precariously close to my edge. I will not pretend to be unamused if they fall in.

Saturday The weekend means fewer students and more tourists. More each year, praising me in all the languages of the world. They think they come to Cambridge for King’s College Chapel, but when they get here and happen to come (literally) across me, they realise that the epitome of old Cambridge actually is, surprisingly, a bridge over the Cam! DEREK HARPER

The savage truth is I have never and will never reply to a message of “hey” with sobbing and a dash of misogyny for flavour), I decided I was going to veer in a different direction.

This week, I was meeting Rosie, an Anglia Ruskin English Literature student. Choosing the lucky individuals to date from my influx of Tinder suitors proves to be a real struggle, so I’ve devised criteria that essentially boil down to: they don’t open with ‘hey’. The savage truth is that I have never and will never reply to a message of “hey”, mostly as it suggests that my match is a bowl of mashed potatoes hoping to pass off as a human.

Rosie, on the other hand, didn’t have to open with anything. She was gorgeous, and her bio had me lovestruck – “I’m aware that I look like the Netto’s own brand version of Daenerys Targaryen.” Doth my eyes deceive me? A witty human upon the deserted wasteland of toxic masculinity that is Tinder? She was a vision, and I foresaw her as the muse for my next column. I went for it.

Dates tend to go pretty well when you don’t give a shit. However, if we fast-forward to me sitting in a bar which holds approximately 2.3 individuals at one time, the nerves hit me like a train. Shit. I actually cared how this date went. How novel… how rogue. I was breathing so heavily that the couple next to me moved away (to the next table around 3 centimetres away).

Was this all a set-up? I’ve seen Catfish, I know what the technologically-astute are capable of. It’s possible she’s only after my money. Is she going to drain the remains of my student loan? Is she, in fact, going to turn out to be my cousin whom I pushed out of a tree when I was 13, who has now vowed to avenge me? Maybe, after I’ve proclaimed undying love, the camera crew will appear and scream “PUNKED” and I will bite off my own arm out of embarrassment. She arrived.

“Hey, it’s a bit stuffy in here – shall we go for a walk?”

I would have said “yes” if she’d asked me to papercut my

Is she going to drain the remains of my student loan? Is she going to turn out to be my cousin? own armpit. She was ethereal.

We walked along to Jesus Green, discussing the implications of intellectualising gender and racial politics – by which I mean she talked, I dribbled and grunted. She held my hand. She asked to sit by the river and talk about her relationship with her parents.

For the next four hours we did, and when she started to tear up at 2am she left me with a kiss on the cheek. What a night. What a person.

Cheaper than your average club night Jessie Mathewson Deputy Editor

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s January grinds into February, the usual monotony of mid-term is doing its worst. Another Wednesday night Cindies, another misjudged (and slightly hungover) Thursday night Lola’s. You’ve even strayed into Life this week. By Sunday night your hands are a mess of increasingly blurred entry stamps, and your bin is crammed with a variety of takeaway trays, the contents of which you only vaguely remember. The sad fact is that it gets harder and harder to avoid the repetitivity of Cambridge nightlife.

The sensible option: swap Lola’s for the library. Luckily, a much more appealing solution has probably already appeared on your Facebook or in your Hermes inbox: May Ball launch parties have kicked off, and each event description promises glamour, mystery and copious free alcohol. But what can you really expect?

The formula is simple: the committee

launches the ball by announcing the jealously guarded theme, and that’s excuse enough to spend the rest of the night ignoring impending essay deadlines with the help of friends and free-flowing champagne.

Clearly, launch parties are all about hype – and the hope that you’ll fork out £120 plus for a ticket to the main event. But with no obligation to attend the ball, launches are worth paying attention to as stand alone events.

Tickets rarely cost more than a tenner, and tend to include club entry (or at least a discount). Even an arts student like me can do the maths; and when the alternative is pre-drinks in your gyp, in the company of glens and own-label cola, the decision isn’t hard.

Location is a key attraction: Clare is hosting their event in Hidden Rooms, while Caius has opted for the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

And who can honestly say they haven’t dreamed of partying against a backdrop of early hominid tools and nineteenth century Fijian art?

Add into the mix live music and free alcohol, and you’ve got a recipe for

May Ball launches are worth paying attention to as stand alone events

the pre-drinks of your dreams. Tired of your friends playing Justin Bieber’s mindless lyrics on repeat from their iPhones, while you wince down a bottle of Sainsbury’s house red? A DJ set or jazz band is bound to be a better alternative - and let’s face it, the drinks can’t really be much worse.

At the end of the night, Life will still be Life, and Cindies will still be the club you love to hate. But with prepaid entry, you won’t feel quite so bad about throwing your embarassing drunk dance moves around a sticky, sweaty windowless box. Even better, you’ll feel completely justified in ending the night with the obligatory pitstop at Gardies or the Van. The whole May Week machine is one of those bizarre quirks of Cambridge life: slightly questionable, sensationally expensive and – for most of us – the kind of experience that we’ll wave goodbye to come graduation. It’s a novelty, and one to make the most of.

And if that means slightly ridiculous over-hyped launch parties, so be it. We may as well embrace the May Week experience while we can.

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

Features

Student Spotlight: CUSU Shadowing Scheme Lydia Sabatini Features Editor

I

was a little apprehensive about doing the scheme before it started.

I didn’t know if someone following me around for two days would provide the genuinely inspirational and accessible experience of Cambridge that the Access Officers had in mind.

But I think worrying about giving your shadow the perfect or the essential version of Cambridge life misses the point. Sometimes letting them see that you are slightly winging it through your hectic and pressured student life can itself be a good dispeller of myths about Cambridge.

In order to do the scheme, DBS checks were required, as was attendance to a training session. We

were given advice on how to make Cambridge seem more accessible and less of a bubble- so jargon like “bop”, “gyp” and “plodge” were out.

On the Thursday of arrival, you collect your shadow in the midafternoon. Both of the students I have met have been absolutely lovely and filled with lively curiosity about life at, and admission to, Cambridge. I filled the free time with a walking tour around Cambridge so they could get a feel for the scope and atmosphere of this unique location. I went with other shadow groups if I could so the shadows could get a wider perspectiveeach Cambridge student’s experience is so different after all.

The students were given timetabled activities, such as an ‘informal formal’

I felt like a prospective student again

dinner at one of the older colleges – where the meal was formal but the dress code completely casual so the students could feel the grandeur without the intimidation.

The next day’s schedule was peppered with optional activities, and I also got to take to my shadow student my lecture. I thought that she might be bored by the legal jargon, but fortunately she found it really interesting and seemingly gained new insight into the subject. I only had one lecture that day; we again spent the day exploring colleges and Cambridge.

I felt like a prospective student myself again, visiting colleges I hadn’t ever been to. I think the experience is a mutually beneficial one and – room donation aside – a lot of fun too!

Trials of a cynical third year: Losing your self-esteem: Part one.

Mary Nower Columnist

J

ob. Who knew that such an innocent, innocuous word could illicit more fear, apprehension and, (in third year), downright terror than a scary supervisor and an angry porter combined. Luckily for you, I’ve laid out the steps on your job application journey.

1. Live, for an extended period (say, all of first year), in ‘Oblivious-land’. A happy-go-lucky place, full of rainbows, unicorns and a complete lack of awareness of any world outside the department-college-Sainsburys triangle. In PIXABAY this magical land, just going to Cambridge is surely going to get you a job when you graduate!

2. An unwilling and unsatisfying move (much like from your bed to your 9am) to ‘This isn’t happening, shit, SHIT Island’ follows for the second year. Slightly smaller than Oblivious-land, this island is your home for the posthoneymoon period of your uni job-hunting career. Like the realisation that ‘buttery’ is a synonym for ‘pretentious canteen’, there is a suspicion creeping into your mind.

Maybe, just maybe, university isn’t going to last forever?

You laugh nervously when your grandma asks you what you are doing with your life.

3. Welcome to ‘bloody hell, this is happening!’ iceberg!

Questions about ‘future plans’ are now answered with hysterical laughter, bulging eyes and hands grasping for the nearest paper bag. Mysterious terms like ‘LinkedIn’ and ‘bucket CV’ remain things you are aware you should know, but don’t,as elusive as a reasonable workload, a drink you can afford in the Maypole, or an edgy/hip song in Cindies.

4. Horrifically aware of your iceberg melting away beneath your unsteady feet, you seek out solace in that refuge that remains the domain and last resort of the lost, the directionless and the no-hopers/’misguided’: The Careers Service. Like a self-confessed sinner at the Rapture, you pray at the altar of careers booklets, seek answers on the walls of job advertisements and proffer your CV to the font of all wisdom (careers advisor), only to have your sacrifice rebuffed (‘This needs a lot of work’).

Only when you trail out, despondent, your fate to the doom of the Dole Office practically sealed, are you offered a lifeline: The Holy Text itself: CVs and Cover Letters.

5. With the manual of success clutched in your clammy hands, you open it eagerly. The realisation hits you.

Yours is the example of a no-hope CV! Horror-struck, you devour the rest of this handbook and get to work on “Batman: his villains are so good” “2: he can finish his portion of ‘mystery your next offering. Day-long workshops are embellished “Batman of course: he’s a bro!” into odysseys of discovery. Part-time shop work Will Amor Tom Costello fish’ at Caius hall.”

Matt Savage grudgingly performed at weekends becomes a hitherto unsuspected example of conflict negotiation. The seeds of university societies blossom into trees of proficiency and accomplishment, bearing many fruit such as ‘time management, ‘seizing responsibility’, and ‘learning agility’.

6. With your new and improved CV in front of you (basically the same but without the rookie error of putting ‘CV’ at the top: they know what it is), and a vague, halfformed ghost of a career plan floating in your peripheral vision, you find a grad scheme that you are pretty sure you can lie convincingly/bullshit about. Of course you have always wanted to work in HR/insert soulless corporate evil “Superman- because he can fly” “Power Puff Girls!” role here! You find their website. And, almost immediately, Anna Bradley Taryn Challender find that applications for your ideal job; the one that you have wanted for, well, minutes are closed.

7. Cry.

Student Chat: Which superhero is your favourite?

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04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Interviews

Andrew Marr: Osborne, Obama and other animals

CHRIS BOLAND

Julia Stanyard Interviews Editor

A

s one of the most well-known faces of UK broadcasting, with several years of presenting the BBC’s headline Sunday politics show under his belt, Andrew Marr clearly knows a thing or two about what makes political figures tick.

Yet according to Marr, learning to be a successful interviewer is a continuous process, and striking the balance between pushing your own agenda and letting the conversation flow freely is a difficult skill to perfect: “I never finish an interview thinking I’ve done it well, or I’ve got it right.

I always think I should have done more or I should have pressed harder or I jumped in too fast.” He uses the example of Rona Fairhead, chair of the BBC Trust, whom he interviewed in January about the potential big cuts to the organisation. “I asked her the crucial question just too late in the interview. She knew I’d run out of time, she knew it was all over. If I’d

“I never finish an interview thinking I’ve done it well, or I’ve got it right. I always think I should have done more” asked the question literally a minute earlier or two minutes earlier, I’d have time to have honed in on it. Those kind of things are very difficult, but that is in a sense the skill of the job.

Every week you learn something new,

and you change your technique.”

As seen time and again on The Andrew Marr Show, Marr generally goes for a style of polite persistence for an answer rather than theatrical hostility. “I don’t like expressions of contempt – curled lip, rolled eyes, grunts and so forth – they can be quite effective, of course, because they can unsettle people, and I understand that there’s an element of theatre in it all.

But by and large my preference is: keep your eyes locked on the person, slight smile on your face, and ask them the question they don’t want to answer, again and again.”

This was clearly the case during a recent interview with George Osborne, where he persistently evaded Marr’s question about the Conservatives’ 8 billion pound spending pledge for the NHS an excruciating eighteen times.

About this occasion, Marr says “it was a really important issue, and I had to absolutely demonstrate to everybody watching that he did not have an answer, and the only way to do that was to go batter, batter, batter, batter.”

But on the other hand, he says, “it’s not always the case that you have to crash, you have to batter, you have to be aggressive. Sometimes you get much more by being friendly.”

Something that Marr presses home time and again is that each interviewee demands a different approach, and a different register to the conversation: “I have a very strong view that an interview is never about the interviewer, but about the interviewee”.

Some of the best interviews with

Thatcher, he says, started with the interviewer simply asking ‘Prime Minister, what’s on your mind?’. By contrast, “Cameron and Osborne are very very tough interviewees, because

“[Obama]’s always laughing at me, and he just heads me off at the pass and pushes me somewhere else” they know a heck of a lot, and are very fast at moving something just slightly to one side. So Cameron will give you what sounds like a really wonderful answer sometimes, which is not actually what you asked him, quite.”

He recalls interviewing Obama, in particular, with a mixture of fondness and frustration. “He’s so clever. What you do in an interview is that you have a series of questions where you’re trying to, as it were, corral somebody into a gulley then you’ve got them, and you have kind of ‘sighting shots’, as it were, before you get where you’re trying to go. But with Obama you can see he understands exactly where you’re going, because he’s always laughing at me, and he just heads me off at the pass and pushes me somewhere else… and he’s got a little smile on his face like he’s saying ‘I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not going to go there’. He was very interesting.”

Yet as well as tailoring the conversation to each interviewee, Marr faces the formidable challenge of presenting a mainstream, public

broadcast interview show. Analysing the nitty-gritty political details whilst also engaging general viewers is another balance to strike.

Taking the recent EU negotiations as an example, he cites the details of Cameron’s and Tusk’s agreement as one of his highest priorities. “I’m looking back to what [Cameron] was saying six months ago and saying ‘are these things completely compatible, has he softened his position, has he changed the grounds of it’. I’m looking for, if you like, chinks of light, so it might be

possible to say ‘you have moved your position’.”

But the next moment he turns it around, taking the general view: “the notion that we’re going to vote to stay in Europe, or out of Europe, on the basis of the detail of the emergency brake, and how many different national hands are on that emergency brake after seven years is weird, you know it’s a much bigger subject than that.” It will definitely be interesting to see Marr grappling with this topic, among others, over the coming weeks.

North, South, East, West: Jailbreakers on their adventures Maddy Airlie and Julia Stanyard Interviews Editors

Sophia and Mary MARY KIERNAN

IZZY VAHDATI

FREYA SANDERS

Sophia Wigg and Mary Kiernan, from Jesus College, Cambridge, got that lucky break that every jailbreaker dreams of: the extreme kindness of a stranger. Whilst frantically calling up private jet companies hoping to blag a free seat, they attracted the attention of a fellow passenger who miraculously ended up buying them flights to their dream destination: Rio. It must have been a surreal experience; as Sophia says: “it’s hard to know how to react when a complete stranger does something so unexpected.” Mary said they only discovered the identity of their mysterious benefactor because he typed his bank details into her iPad. The girls spent their time on Copacabana beach, getting a celebratory coconut and mango lassi, and heading off to Christ the Redeemer for a final destination selfie.

Mary said it was the “weirdest but best weekend” of her entire life.

Ella and Izzy

Ella Carr and Izzy Vahdati are freshers at Jesus. Jailbreak can make or break a friendship, but this pair were just fine. with Izzy commenting: “We supported each other the whole way through and had a really enjoyable time together. I now feel like its weird not having her by my side the whole time.”

The team got as far as Copenhagen after fundraising in Cambridge and London. However, personal connections came in pretty handy: “We phoned a friend of a friend’s private jet company who gave us some numbers that could potentially result on us being allowed on an empty leg flights home. One of the flights was going at 9pm that evening to Denmark.”

Arriving in Billund – after a moment of panic when Izzy left her passport on the plane – they got another bus and a train to Copenhagen where they stayed at a friend’s apartment and managed to fit in some sightseeing before returning home.

Freya and Jack

Freya Sanders and Jack May had a slightly more trying time on their journey. It all started well with Jack giving a rousing speech, in French, to school children in order to drum up sponsorship, but day one ended on the floor of terminal five after British Airways had mislead them about the possibility of a free flight. Freya “made sure not to interact with Jack between the hours of 4am and 5am, when he hated the world and everything in it.”

Their eventual flight through Storm Gertrude was also tricky: “Jack, rather than getting the sleep he quite desperately needed, had to spend the majority of the flight to Spain holding my hand and making soothing noises.

So we may not have won Jailbreak but I won the partner lottery.” But all’s well that ends well: “We got to Madrid and decided we just about had the money and energy to go further - and it was so worth it; we raised even more for charity and Toledo is the best.”

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

Comment

‘Counter-terrorism’ so often simply means marginalisation Anonymous

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hen it comes to the deployment of the Prevent policy in university campuses nationwide, one could argue that the Government is merely putting forth a reactionary tactic to diffuse terrorism, responding to “the ideological challenge of terrorism” to prevent radicalisation. To take this simplistic explanation at face value is to close one’s eyes to the creation of a culture of fear, a governmental consolidation of the deeply Islamophobic notion that Muslims are a suspect community in Britain.

As a ‘counter-terrorism’ practice, Prevent avoids an in-depth analysis of the notion of terrorism and chooses instead to operate on the basis of generalisations, encouraging the censorship of any disagreement with UK Foreign Policy. This manifests itself in close surveillance of the activities and behaviours of Muslim students, through monitoring books checked out of the library or rooms booked for an event, being suspicious of student activist circles desiring political change, and training staff to spot and report on ‘vulnerable students’.

At its core, Prevent’s focus on Muslims is not only discriminatory, but lacking in understanding: the number of extremists involved in terrorist activities would never correspond to the actions of the

majority. A government programme which allows such disproportionate attention upon one community does not understand the importance of the relationship between a state and members of a religion. As an extension of the idea that Muslims must condemn or apologise for acts of terrorism, Prevent suggests a collective responsibility to the innocent Muslim civilian, made suspicious through the distortion of an ideology he doesn’t agree with, asking for an apology which is unwarranted. Ultimately, it is an exercise in polarisation.

The programme is rooted in a neoconservative perception of Islam as violent, uncivilised, illogical. It balances these assumptions with the propagation of loyalty to a country and ‘British values’, a blanketstatement used to condemn Muslim communities for “quietly condoning extremism” when the extremism in question results in violence toward said communities and toward the religion itself. By extension, Prevent encourages the concepts of ‘Muslim values’ and ‘British values’ to be at odds, through the depiction of Muslims as terrorists.

In truth, ‘British values’ taught in schools today, as part of Gove’s 2014 curriculum reform, teach ‘good manners, democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different beliefs’: very much the same things I was taught

in my after-school Islamic classes.

To assume the two to be at odds is to negate the identity and experiences of countless British Muslims and to encourage the perceived incompatibility of two things which are not incompatible.

The aftermath of governmental backing of such a scheme is instrumental in creating anti-Muslim hysteria, resulting in an increasing level of attacks on Muslim communities and badly informed suspicions directed at not simply adults, but teenagers and children. To consider the intersection of race and religion is to also recognise the racism of violence against black and brown Muslims and non-Muslims: a stereotypical view of a terrorist providing further ignorance, made brutal through the combination of justified violence.

Prevent is a scheme which is heavy-handed, lazy in propagating a polarisation of a community within the country, using the label of being ‘state sponsored’ to somehow justify it. In breaking down community relations, disrupting the holy nature of mosques and prayer spaces in the placement of undercover terrorist police posing as Muslims or reverts, and using rhetoric which has encouraged farright narratives, it posits a real danger to innocent lives.

Suspicions are inherently dangerous: more so when ill-founded and encouraged by a government.

JONATHAN MCINTOSH

Editor-in-Chief: Elsa Maishman Founded 1999 Volume 17

Student representation

Goodbye tradition, hello flags and female masters This institution is so often hailed as ‘male, pale and stale’,’ and although this is still undoubtedly the case, events of this week have brought the university towards a future of increased diversity and representation.

Unfortunately, the label of ‘pale’ still seems to fit, as our investigation last week indicated that BME undergraduate numbers were even lower than we had thought. It is clear that the University still has a long way yet to go; but some progress, at least, has been made.

This week saw the election of Bridget Kendall as new Master for Peterhouse. Casting an eye at the demographics of the TCS team, it is no great surprise that the election of a successful LGBT+ female journalist caused scenes of raucous jubilation.

Cambridge’s oldest college is often hailed as its most conservative, bogged down by the weight of almost 750 years of tradition. The college was the penultimate to admit women, only doing so in 1985.

Issue Two of this term featured a comment piece calling for greater and more diverse representation in paintings on college walls. Until this point all of the prominant portraits on the walls of Peterhouse have been of white men. Now at least, the college will have cause to showcase a woman,

and an openly LGBT+ woman at that.

This week was a comparatively good one for the LGBT+ community, with so many colleges flying rainbow flags to mark the first day of LGBT+ History Month.

This move may have been criticised by some as tokenistic and unindicative of any real change, but surely it can be nothing but a positive thing that colleges are prepared to so openly declare support for a group that in other parts of the world would be imprisoned just for their identity.

As always, there is still a very long way to go. There were many Colleges who refused to fly the rainbow flag, citing “tradition” and “protocol.”

Tradition is all very well, but it doesn’t make for a very progressive or at times welcoming university environment. This is the fundamental dilemma of both Cambridge and Oxford: it’s pretty, and great fun for those on the inside, but really not so great for everyone else. Formal Hall involves dressing up in gowns and eating guinea fowl; May Balls a single night of £140 pound’s of champagnedrenched revelry, Porters’ Lodges and Bedders a 24 hour lifeline and roomhoovering. Tradition is what brings us the delights of the Bullingdon club, the supporters of Oxford’s Cecil Rhodes statue and the Adonian society, and is often best avoided.

Bigoted politicians should not be welcome in Cambridge POLICY EXCHANGE

Tanya Brown and Vicki Hodgson

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s I write this article, Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, holds an invitation for lunch at Lucy Cavendish College on the 4 February 2016.

This is much to my dismay; a politician who has demonstrated such disregard for marginalised students cannot be made to feel welcome here.

Nicky Morgan has been MP for Loughborough since 2010, after a long career in government, including being Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and squeezing in a lucrative career in mergers and acquisitions for a vast corporate legal machine. However, this

exemplary record lacks one important thing: any sign of understanding and compassion for women, equality, or education. We have a person who only cares about business, looking after subjugated and vulnerable individuals.

If you need proof of this, look no further than her policies.

In 2013, Morgan voted against same-sex marriage, on the grounds that marriage should be between a man and a woman. This scandal led to accusations that Morgan was nothing more than a “minister for straight women”.

However, it appears she isn’t even doing a very good job of that. Morgan made the decision to remove the subject of feminism from the A-level Politics syllabus; only one of the

sixteen prominent figures on the new syllabus is female. This eradication of women from education and history demonstrates Morgan’s blatant disregard for the visibility of women, as well as female students.

Morgan has also agreed to the cuts to higher and further education announced by George Osborne, which will lead to student grants being scrapped.

Despite claiming: “every child, no matter their family circumstances… can succeed if we give them the tools that allow them to achieve that success”, these cuts may prevent students from disadvantaged backgrounds from attending better universities with higher living costs.

Lucy Cavendish College prides itself

on education for women, irrespective of their sexuality, class or economic background.

Our president, Jackie Ashley, proudly presents a picture of students who have battled through hardship in order to attain academic excellence at the best university in the country.

How, then, can the College welcome someone who so clearly threatens everything we stand for? A Minister for Women and Equalities who has helped to perpetuate the glass ceiling and prevent people getting equal rights simply because of their sexuality or class? This cannot be supported.

We must ensure that these politics are condemned thoroughly, or vulnerable people will suffer.

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04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Comment

RAG Jailbreak 2016: It’s time for some transparency and transformation Alex King

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harity is an important part of my life. After my Mum passed away, my brother and I started raising money. The hospice with which we had become so familiar was only 50% funded by the NHS, and we’d seen how donated money changed lives.

So on starting Cambridge a year and a half ago, I was ready to get stuck in and make a difference. But the concept of RAG (Raising And Giving) left me a little confused: their events seemed more interested in escaping the ‘Bubble’ than raising mone, with a great amount of talk about prizes and travelling, but almost none on where the money went. Having fun while fundraising is nothing new to me – I’ve run 10K with a head of pink curls (not a wig; that was my hair). But the focus seemed so much more on what the charity event did for you than what you did for charity. So for a year I did my own thing, doing some volunteer work and fundraising back home. But when a friend suggested that we do Jailbreak, we talked and decided we could do it in a way that kept the emphasis on RAG’s ‘G’ for giving.

Our Jailbreak experience was extraordinary. We travelled over 3,000 miles and finished in Istanbul (dressed as minions, because nothing says approachable like cuddly symbols of

capitalism). My MML partner fundraised in six different languages. While claiming that this money funded a student holiday is reductive, so is claiming that this money ‘goes to charity’. My partner and I tried to avoid this inaccurate simplification, and to be as clear as possible on where the money put into our charity bucket went. But many didn’t ask. Passers-by would see our collection bucket, and our RAG T-shirts covered with this year’s ten charities, and throw their change in. Asking members of the public to pay for your ticket to Barcelona, Rio or Thailand is a dubious practice. To do so while implying that this money goes straight to charity is verging on fraudulent.

This is not to say that Jailbreak is a bad thing. Last year, over £15,000 was raised for charity. But there is no record of how much money was spent on one day return trips to foreign countries. While Jailbreak is still helping, it is inefficient, susceptible to misuse, and it emphasises the travel aspect of the event above actually making a difference. In its worst light, it does almost seem a holiday, with a minimum fundraising clause tacked on in order to justify not paying for it. I cannot help but feel that the original aim – of raising money for charities like Children with Cancer, Rape Crisis Centre Cambridge, and Freedom from Torture – has been slightly lost sight of.

Implying the money goes straight to charity is verging on fradulent

By the end of Jailbreak, my RAG partner and I decided to match the £202 that we had raised for travel with a donation to charity. In other words, the money for the travel expenses will come out of our own pockets, and the generous donations made by friends, acquaintances and strangers will be going directly to charity. It is a deeply troubling thought that the money we spent on train and plane tickets might not have been intended for this cause, and may otherwise have been donated directly to a different charity.

While it is difficult to judge whether money given to Jailbreak might otherwise have been donated to other charities, a few of Cambridge’s Big Issue sellers told us that while Fridays and Saturdays are normally their best collecting days, Jailbreak weekend is their worst of the year.

Jailbreak needs to be remodelled. The motto ‘How Far Will We Go’ has become a concrete maxim, and the money raised a means to the ends of being ‘Jailbreak Winners 2016’. Having fun with fundraising is the best way to do it, but charity work is, by definition, about helping others. I have no regrets over my involvement in Jailbreak, but the focus must be on giving, not receiving. By donating the money that we collected, we’re refusing to lose sight of what charity means.

To read the full article, go to our website: www.tcs.cam.ac.uk ALEX KING

CUSU Shadowin necessary insight Amiya Nagpal

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etting a glimpse into Cambridge life can be a make or break experience for many potential applicants.

For me, the first-year helpers I met at open days were the people who convinced me that Corpus was the only place I could really, truly see myself. I remember sitting in the hall and being overwhelmed by how much this group of total strangers had to say to each other.

And when I finally got in, and came to Cambridge, I got to tell the person who gave me a tour before I applied that she played a large part in swaying me towards Cambridge, and Corpus specifically. This year, I signed up for the CUSU Shadowing Scheme to try and offer the same.

The point of the scheme, I feel, is not to paint Cambridge as something perfect. The point is to be wholeheartedly honest. My shadow, a BME student, said to me that she didn’t see herself here because it was just a “bit too white” compared to London. So we talked about that, and I told her I agreed, but also that as an ethnic minority student, I had found a lot of forums and mediums through which I was able to talk about my experiences and meet other BME people.

When she later went to the organised BME open day, she came back and told me she was already aware of the issues discussed, because we’d talked about them together.

We also went to a two-hour long endocrinology lecture. My shadow was interested in medicine; as a rogue social scientist, I thought she’d love my one science module, but it soon became clear that she was bored. She kept trying to notso-subtly check her phone.

Despite the organised admissions talk, and taster sessions my shadow attended, the most invaluable bits of the scheme

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

MIHNEA MAFTEI

Comment

Cambridge is right to stand up to the government Sriya Varadharajan Comment Editor

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he government’s plans to introduce an Ofsted-like ranking of ‘teaching excellence’, allowing higher-ranked universities to raise tuition fees in line with inflation, has been roundly rejected by the University, and for good reason.

The government has long been criticised for its apparently cavalier approach to access, and its inability at encouraging students from lower-income families to apply to universities, especially Russell Group institutions and Oxbridge.

Since the introduction of tuition fees, it seems that the focus has increasingly been shifted to students to fund their own higher education in some ways; the scrapping of maintenance grants announced last year led to an uproar, with many pointing out that government aid can be the only financial support some students have, and without it they will be unable to go to university at all.

It is understandable that in times of economic struggle, higher education seemed like the non-scheduled bits. Being needs support that cannot always be such a small college, the four of us with funded by the state. Maintaining access to shadows ended up spending a lot of time together and doing things as a group. We walked and talked, hung out in the JCR at the welfare ParTea, and in hall with friends. Through this, we slowly broke down one fear common to many of the Micha Frazer-Carroll different shadows I spoke to; that everyone Comment Editor at Cambridge was socially incompetent, only interested in work, and never took time off. his week, Kate Chisholm, a I recommend the scheme. Not just Darlington headteacher, ended because of its power to encourage people up in a row with parents after to apply, but because it provides, for many, requesting that they stopped doing the an key insight into the ‘Bubble’. I think school run in their pyjamas. Chisholm sometimes we forget it’s just as cut off from remarked: “We want children to know what the outside as it feels to us from the inside. it’s like in the outside world,” whilst many The point of the shadowing scheme is for subsequent social media attacks directed sixth formers to come here for a couple of towards the parents concerned labeled nights and decide whether or not they’d be them as ‘lazy’ and as ‘scummy mummies’. happy to make Cambridge their home. If But to me, and many students out there, the what you want is a love-hate relationship factors that contributed to this situation are with your subject and the amount of work all too familiar. Not having time to change you have, friends who understand when out of your pyjamas isn’t a sign of laziness you say you’d rather write an essay than or lack of care for one’s appearance – it’s a spend a soggy night at Cindies, and – with sign of bloody hard work. specific reference to Corpus – a community No, I don’t have children and I’ve only where you’re on friendly terms with had to drop others’ youngsters off to school everyone, then wholeheartedly apply. Give once or twice in the past. But finding it your best shot. Equally, if you want what myself still in my PJ bottoms at 5pm: eyes is a more typical university experience, bleary from staring at a computer screen don’t. You’ll be much happier elsewhere, for hours on end; stomach growling from and it’s okay to acknowledge that. not having had time to eat that day, and In the end, Corpus had one shadow hair in a state of disarray, is something decide that she definitely wanted to apply that I – and I am sure many Cambridge to Cambridge, but that John’s was for her. students – experience at least fortnightly.

I’ll admit that this felt like somewhat of a And whilst we might not all wander bittersweet victory. But overall I was glad outside in our sleepwear, we all know that I’d signed up. college-dwellers who slink through the We can all agree that Cambridge comes library in slippers and plod over to hall with a whole host of both accurate and not in baggy plaid bottoms. These individuals so accurate stereotypes. It feels important should be respected for their own choice in to paint the truth, no matter how good or attire, because, whilst few feel their absolute bad that might seem. best in their nightwear, many will finish

ng Scheme: A t into Cambridge

Every student deserves to follow the path that will ultimately bring them the most happiness

resources that are often vital educational aids can be costly, and as the University has acknowledged, the aim of ‘recognising teaching excellence’ can hardly be a bad one. However, linking the two together can only result in asking vulnerable students to shoulder the full burden of the cost of higher education, making it completely inaccessible for some.

There has been some emphasis on highlighting career paths that do not involve a higher education, but where they are presented as alternate routes, for many who cannot afford university they are the only option. Apprenticeships and full time work straight out of school are the right choice for many people, and to claim that university is suited to everybody would be ridiculous, but being priced out of university and turning to alternatives as a result cannot be called a choice made out of students’ own volition.

This is in addition to the fact that there are many jobs that require university degrees, and many students who are uncertain of their future careers and would prefer to spend a few years gaining education and experience in other avenues of life before

having to decide.

The country has been through a rough period, and there have been financial cuts in many sectors. However, to suggest that this will be beneficial for both our own and future generations is false, and the university is right to reject this claim.

Every student deserves to follow the path that will ultimately bring them the most happiness and confidence in their future. Furthermore, it is only in this way that we can build a community of people who are willing to utilise their skills – and the success that they gain through this – for the greater good of the country.

In my time here, I have been able to access some of the best resources in the world, offered some fantastic opportunities, and been taught by some of the best academics in their fields. It therefore seems to me to be wholly unfair that rising fees could discourage other talented students from having the same opportunities.

I am glad that the institution that has become my second home is standing up for the rights of other students to live and work here, too; it’s time for the rest of the country to take a stand.

Parents in pyjamas: Haven’t we all been there?

EVIL ERIN

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the day not having got dressed yet due to literally not having had a spare moment, or rather, resorting to comfort in pretty tough times. It’s a bitter truth that sometimes when we’re working our absolute hardest, we have to exercise skills in prioritisation, and looking pretty or presentable for those around us doesn’t always come out top.

And that’s okay. Sure, it might not be the best idea to let your kids believe that they will be able to wear their pyjamas to work every day for the rest of their lives, but I reckon dress codes will make that fairly clear to them as they reach adulthood. So why don’t we cut parents in pyjamas a little bit more slack?

Not having time to change out of your pyjamas isn’t a sign of laziness, it’s a sign of hard work

To me, the school run looks a lot like an essay crisis, a stressful and chaotic rush to get everything in the right place at the right time without upsetting anyone else’s schedule. It can, at times, feel like an impossible balancing act, and many of us go the whole journey alone.

Likewise, at university, it often feels like we’re putting in our maximum effort, just to scrape by and achieve the minimum of what’s expected of us.

And when we do get it done, we sometimes have to make sacrifices we wouldn’t usually make. So if we end up in our pyjamas at the end of all that, you might just have to deal with it.

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04 February 2016 • The Cambridge Student

Sport

The Puzzles Column

BBC’s Tim Vickery on the c Paul Hyland Sport Editor

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t was 1994 when Tim Vickery took the plunge, just after the World Cup. Brazil had scraped past Italy, courtesy of a skied Roberto Baggio penalty in the final in Pasadena that July, and had begun to cement themselves in the European consciousness. Brazil’s first World Cup for 24 years was the opportunity of a lifetime for the current BBC South American football correspondent: “I realised especially then how little we knew about the place and some of the things we thought we knew we really didn’t. I just felt that football was in the process of globalising, and maybe there would be opportunities. I moved over and got a job teaching English, and it was the best thing I could have done – I learned so much about the language, the mentality and so on.

That was a really good introduction.”

Three years of teaching English to native Portuguese speakers eventually yielded to a career in football writing, a transition that Vickery ascribes to a quite unlikely source: “The game changer for me was Nike,” he explains, “in the old days, Brazil was something which only ever figured once every Across 1. Capital of Venezuela and large town surrounds arse; four years, during a World Cup. Nike got involved in 1996 and 1997. Brazil high-brow journalism. (7) 2. Type of egg – inside is yeast, erroneously thought to was everyone’s second team, so they sponsored Brazil.

Suddenly the raise messiah; travelling further from the West. (6) profile of the national team went right 3. Menagerie has last letter and two rings. (3) through the window.

4. Useful, once gutted: has bendy insides. (5) “You were part of that first wave that 5. Hooligan looks in the mirror and sees boy (3)(8) Nike caught,” he explains, referring to the fact that I was just seven years old when Brazil were beaten 3-0 by France Compiled by Cameron Wallis in the 1998 final, “and that 1998 World Cup, all of the Brazil team were suddenly known back in England.

There was such an increase in interest

and the team were able to ride that wave. I’ve been riding it since 1997.”

I ask what he means when he refers to the things we think we know about Brazil but really don’t. Are there any clichés of Brazilian football that just aren’t true? “Yes, first of all, that they don’t care about defence, it’s all happy-go-lucky samba stuff. This is the country that invented the back four. The first time they used it, it was the World Cup in 1958, they didn’t concede a goal until the semi-final.”

In fact, Brazil’s pioneering new system helped them to thrash World Cup hosts Sweden 5-2 in that year’s final. “If you aren’t giving goals away, you’re getting full value for what you do at the other end. The idea also that in Brazil football is all about expressing yourself...just couldn’t possibly be further wrong. I do a weekly TV show over here on Brazilian TV, and as the

Cryptic Crossword

Down 1. Choice of representation is first from very outlandish, totalitarian election. (4) 4. Six loses head when too warm. (3) 6. Kick taken by striker is convoluted tosh. (4) 7. Day of thunder, God starts week. (8)

All quiet in the Fens: Cambridge Un Jack Ranson Sport Editor

Sudoku W

Solutions from Volume 17, Lent Issue 3

hilst Premier League spending topped £1 billion, things were very different in the flatlands of

by Thomas Prideaux Ghee Cambridgeshire. The deals done by the U’s over the last month – including a late loan deal on Deadline Day– focused on youth development, and shoring up a side that has been haemorrhaging goals.

Perhaps the biggest coup for United came on Deadline Day, in the shape of Shane O’Neill. The hot prospect has represented the USA at under-23 level; international clearance permitting, he could be eligible to start in this Saturday’s game against Dagenham and Redbridge.

Next is another hotshot, but a homegrown talent. Charlton fans will be familiar with Karlan Ahearne-Grant

– a regular of England’s under 21 squad – as he’s made 17 appearances for the Addicks this season. He joins Cambridge on a month loan. He was top scorer for Charlton’s Under-18 side in the 2012-13 season and scored his first competitive goal for the senior side last season. Undoubtedly, Ahearne-Grant is one to watch.

Hoping to bring more experience to the side, is 26-year-old James Dunne.

Dunne left his most recent club, Portsmouth, by mutual consent and signed for the U’s on a free transfer.

He won the Scottish Cup with St. Johnstone in 2014 and said he hopes he can help United “push up the league.”

Another youngster on the rise, Lewis Page has come on a month-long loan deal from West Ham United.

Cambridge manager Shaun Derry described Page as a “modern day fullback with energy to burn and a desire

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The Cambridge Student • 04 February 2016

Sport

culture of Brazilian football presenter always says, our national sport isn’t football, our national sport is applauding the winners.”

One of Brazil’s most visible clichés is that football is born in the favela, where young boys hone their craft as an escape from poverty, and a tough life. I ask how accurate this really is. Vickery replies: “Most footballers in Rio come from the working class suburbs, not necessarily the favelas.

The whole poverty thing clearly is a powerful incentive.”

“In that sense, it’s true that football is a dream out of poverty. It’s not just a Brazilian narrative, but it probably is more present in Brazil. Though you do get middle class footballers, even upper-middle class footballers in Brazil. Kaká is upper-middle class; Sócrates, he was a doctor. But a lot of it is an escape from poverty, and that means that the great triumph that

Brazil has in its youth development is [not] necessarily [due to] any kind of coaching methods or anything like that, it’s just the sheer number of kids who are prepared to give anything to the chance of making it.”

For many, the sport is not just a route out of poverty, but a route out of Brazil. Only five members of Brazil’s 23-man 2015 Copa América squad represented clubs in the Brazilian league. Vickery says: “the best example of the European exodus are Ecuador.

They’re top of World Cup qualification at the moment. Part of that is having their players in the Premier League. It’s removed any inferiority complex they used to have. It’s given them exposure to top class experience, and that’s been a real benefit to their national team.”

Visit www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport for the full interview

JOHN SKODAK

nited’s January transfers reviewed to improve”. Despite not yet making a Premier League start, Page has appeared in Europa League qualifying matches for the Hammers. Surely an excellent way to help solidify United’s leaky defence, having conceded 24 goals at home this season.

Shaun Derry, United manager, was

happy with as a whole: “The numbers have come down but the quality in the squad has increased. We wanted to look a little outside the box”.

Let’s hope it pays off. United take on struggling Dagenham and Redbridge at the Abbey Stadium over the course of this weekend.

JOHN LORD

ANDREW CAMPBELL

How Johanna Konta is challenging sport’s gender gap Sophie Penney

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ohanna Konta just reached the semi final of the Australian Open.

Having ranked outside the world top 30 before the tournament, this surprise success went on to become the first British woman to reach a tournament semi-final for 33 years, beating Venus Williams along the way.

Though she was beaten in two sets by the eventual champion, Angelique Kerber, this 24 -year-old newcomer to the top 30 has caused quite the stir among tennis fans and the media alike.

Everyone’s asking the same question: could she be the one? Are we finally going to have a British woman in top-level tennis since Virginia Wade’s success in the 1970s?

Hold on a second. Konta only moved into the top 50 at the end of 2015. At the start of 2016, just before her Australian Open success, she was eliminated in the first round

at the Shenzhen Open and Hobart International. Nobody can deny the scale of her recent achievement, but whether it promises long-term success is still a serious question.

Tennis has always had potential for shock results. It’s one-on-one, so a player having one off-day makes the possibility of an upset all the more likely. Those pinning the hopes of a new generation of British tennis players on Konta should remember that this might be one such freak result.

Her recent successes are certainly not in keeping with her usual results.

The problem is that almost everyone wants Konta to be the one – they want us to have found the new shining light for British women’s tennis. And who can blame them? If a British competitor can consistently challenge at the latter end of major singles tournaments, it could transform the image of British tennis the world over.

But most importantly, the emergence

of a female talisman in a popular sport, with regular media coverage, could have a sigificant impact on gender equality in tennis.

Ayres agrees, citing the potential impact on young women hoping to follow in her footsteps: “This is great for the British junior girls. For a while now, British boys have been able to watch and idolise Andy Murray. To not have any British women on that level has no doubt been a factor in the drop in participation of junior girls in tennis.”

It’s dangerous to pin the hopes of a generation on one player. But there’s no doubt that she has serious potential. If she can maintain this level of performance consistently, British tennis might be well on its way to redressing the gender gap.

Let’s not judge her too quickly, however. She remains a symbol of hope for now – it’s how she follows up that will make the real difference.

Cambridge Pythons look ahead to the Super Bowl Alistair Gempf

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his Sunday, the Denver Broncos take on the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

For the 50th instalment of the NFL’s biggest game, a spectacular show has been planned, including half-time performances by Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.

It’s a game that pits two very different teams against each other. The Broncos have a hard-hitting and impressive defence and a offence led by legendary quarterback, Peyton Manning, who’ll have the chance to add to his haul of five Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards over his career.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are a team with a lot of swagger. Quarterback Cam Newton is the leader of this team, and it shows. Despite this being his first Super Bowl, he plays with a confidence that often leads his team to the win. His opposite number in

Peyton Manning has alreaady declared him the face of the National Football League (NFL) for the next decade.

The two quarterbacks are at very different ends of their careers.

Manning is going to his fourth Super Bowl, having already won one, and there is a lot of speculation that this is probably his final season, after battling injury and declining the past two seasons. Meanwhile, Newton has only been in the NFL for four seasons and looks to have a long and successful career ahead of him.

Have you ever seen an American football game and had no idea what was going on, or what all the fuss was even about? This is the perfect game to start watching the sport if you don’t already. The two best teams in the game are set to go head to head in a showpiece, all-or-nothing affair. And this is probably your last chance to see the legendary Manning, considered one of the greatest of all time, and a

chance to see a rising star in Newton.

And if all of that can’t convince you, surely Beyonce and Coldplay can!

The Cambridge American Football team, the Pythons, are hosting an American-themed Super Bowl party at the Cambridge Union Society on Sunday night, showing the game and offering food and drink.

Fancy joining? Find more details at www.CambridgeSuperBowl.com.

THOMAS HAWK

Sport

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Johanna Konta

How she is challenging sport’s gender gap → p. 19

www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/sport

ANDREW CAMPBELL WILLIAM LYON TUPMAN

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Joe Painter

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his week’s big fixture at home to Oxford opened with a scrappy first 10 minutes. Cambridge began to use home turf to their advantage and monopolise possession for the rest of the half, creating a number of chances and benefiting from set pieces. Alex Gaskell turned in a great performance, unluckily hitting the post and forcing some top saves from the Oxford keeper. Soon after, Oxford grew back into the game, and ended the half on a stronger footing. Gaskell was not to be kept down, though, as he scored only three minutes into the second half thanks to a sublime ball from teammate Andrea Filippa. The chances kept on coming, as Gaskell and Nielsen both went close, and Sherring’s enterprising work down the left flank was particularly impressing. Though Oxford finished the second half with the same energy as they had for the first, Cambridge closed out for a perfect dress rehearsal for the upcoming Varsity Match.

Cambridge Bristol

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Emily Birch

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lthough the Blues had already won the Southern Premiership, Bristol would be a tough last league game, especially with injuries. Despite losing the ball in the first draw, a tight defence and quick midfield transition saw cocaptain Lehovsky put away two successive goals within the first five minutes. In the first half, Cambridge took control of the game with quick ball movement and well executed plays resulting in more goals from Lehovsky, Morrill and freshers Nicholls and Wise. Co-captain Duck skilfully dominated five draws in a row, maintaining the momentum. By half time the score was 8-3, with particular mention going to ‘keepers, Coales and Gildersleeves, who had numerous fantastic saves. With the aim of getting every 50/50 ground ball and draw, Cambridge pushed until the end, resulting in a 13-6 win over Bristol. With 24 days to go until Varsity, the Light Blues look ready to take on the challenge.

Men’s Ultimate

Cambridge Oxford

Women’s Lacrosse

Men’s Football

Men’s ultimate frisbee proves to be the final challenge Cambridge Birmingham

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Jonny Slaughter

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n a tight affair against Birmingham, the University ultimate team, Strange Blue, succumbed to a narrow 13-10 home defeat. Though Cambridge’s efforts were valiant in the face of the title holders, managing to put 10 points past their opposition, it simply was not to be. It was a match full of athletic plays from two teams really on top of their game, but the greater class of Birmingham shone through as they made fewer errors which helped them onto a deserved victory. Highlights came from Rolo Turnell-Ritson, who showed consistent throwing throughout the game, and Danny Hunt, who proved a constant threat to the opposition, scoring three goals. Cambridge team was left licking its wounds and eager to bounce back from the disappointment when they take on second-placed Nottingham away from home, before travelling to Oxford for the annual Varsity event on Sunday 28 February.