Issue 230

“One thing I think we can realistically fix is St Andrews’ image problem”

Thursday 25 April 2019 Issue 230

Jamie Rodney, Association President-Elect Page 6

Boxing and Fight Club comes to blows over safety SEORAS LYALL

News Editor

Boxing Club fear sport being brought into disrepute

Photo: Toby Lowenstein

Fight Club insist they are properly licensed Event accuse Boxing Club of hypocrisy

Full story on Page 3

Fife Councillors “have failed the youth of St Andrews” over controversial HMO decision -Association President ANNIE SMITH

Deputy Editor

Fife councillors have recently agreed on a 0 per cent increase in HMOs, or houses of multiple occupancy, in St Andrews, sparking outrage particularly amongst the University’s student body.

The Fife Council considered research commissioned by the University of St Andrews and led by student representatives of the Students' Association, which examined the nature of locked-off bedrooms in the town due to the HMO threshold.

The report found about 145 reports of "wasted" rooms and advocated for a 3 per cent increase in HMOs to re-

solve this issue.

HMOs are mostly used for student living and are required when three or more people who are unrelated are sharing a home.

Of the report, Councillor Linda Holt said to The Courier, "It is amateurish, it has not been independently verified, it is not open to public scrutiny and it raises more questions than it answers as there are many reasons why not every room in a rented property is let out as a bedroom. It is no basis on which to make policy.”

Other councillors spoke against the report, claiming more research was needed to change the policy.

Outgoing SRC Accommodation Officer Lucy Allatt, who led the research on locked bedrooms, responded to the criticism of her report by Fife

councillors.

She said to The Saint, "The research that was carried out was not done as a quick fix. Many months before the survey was sent out, there was a lot of research done about the methodology behind making a survey. The survey was set out in a way that every student that answered it knew the definition of a privately rented property, locked bedroom and under-used rooms, meaning that all the responses that we gained fitted with the definitions that would be used in the report.”

Ms Allatt stated that the Students’ Association did not offer an incentive for students to answer the questionnaire, like the chance to win a voucher as other surveys offer, so that its only aim was to “gain more of an insight into student housing within St

Andrews.”

The questionnaire had a 25 per cent response rate from students, and the survey programme used meant each student could only answer the survey once.

Ms Allatt continued, “It is disappointing that Fife Council reacted to the research in the way that they did.

The research was not intended to just be of benefit to the university but to the wider town. It is highlighting a problem that is shown to be widespread and potentially wasting a lot of bedroom spaces within the town.

“I still hope that the research that was carried out will be able to be used in the future to compare the impact of the widespread issue of the HMO ban within St Andrews in the future with the current research that has been car-

ried out.”

Students received a survey in their University email and private residents were sent a paper survey in the mail from Fife Council ahead of the meeting on Thursday 11 April 2019.

On the decision, President of the Students' Association Paloma Paige said, "It is my view, on behalf of the student body, that Fife Councillors have failed the youth of St Andrews who overwhelmingly asked for a three per cent HMO threshold.

“The phenomenon of 'locked-off' bedrooms has until now been only anecdotal. Nonetheless, it has had a detrimental impact on students' experience living in private accommodation.

Continues on Page 3

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What’s Inside?

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News

THE SAINT EDITORIAL

VieWPOINT

Goodbye St Andrews, hello affordable accommodation

Features

Photos

EVENTS

Arts and culture Page 23

SPORT

I’m deeply saddened that in the course of my four years at this university, the issue surrounding HMOs has yet to be resolved.

The decision to maintain a 0 per cent increase on the number of HMOs in this town for the next three years is a significant disappointment, second only to how councillors have characterised the report into “locked rooms” led by the Students’ Association. The “locked room” syndrome in this town is very real and I worry that councillors are being dismissive of the research carried out by the Association.

Evidence to support an issue present in the town of St Andrews has been dismissed as “amateurish” by East Neuk Councillor Linda Holt.

As someone who has worked in PR, I might remind Ms Holt that it was amateurish when she declared that University of St Andrews students were taking part in “social cleansing” and turning the centre of town into “an exclusive student ghetto”.

The students of St Andrews have engaged in this topic with more dignity than this elected councillor could ever hope to achieve.

I highly commend the work of the Students’ Association and the University of St Andrews in their efforts towards producing the report.

I highly commend the work of the Students’ Association Nonetheless, more could be done towards providing students in this town with affordable accomodation.

In an article in the previous edition of The Saint, it was revealed that the University was struggling to meet returning students’ hall preferences. Instead, some returners were

being offered places in accommodation which was £1,400 more than their previous halls’ fees per annum. Fife Council and the University must recognise that students are suffering the consequences of the lack of affordable accomodation.

Throughout my time at this university I’ve lived in a room smaller than Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs, a house rampant with seemingly invincible black mould, and student halls with a broken desk and a radiator for a headboard. Not to mention that double glazing is yet to be discovered in St Andrews.

The one thing that unites all of these undesirable living conditions is that I paid too much for them. This is a problem that will not be soon rectified, as it seems to have only worsened with my four years living in this wonderful corner of the world.

Alas, I must now graduate in order to begin paying off the crippling debt I’ve incurred whilst studying here. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time as Editor-in-Chief, bringing you the stories that matter most to the St Andrews community.

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News Editor: Seoras Lyall Deputy Editors: Bear Hutchison, Tamara McWilliam, Natalie Pereira, Samantha Philipp, Miguel Soto news@thesaint-online.com

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HMO story, ontinued from page 1...

Prices are too high and competition for resources too intense “The new policy will be reviewed and its success measured over the next three years. I highly doubt that it will succeed and the Students' Association continue its work advocating for students and for balanced evidence-based solutions.”

Many Fife councillors, including convener of the committee, Judy Hamilton, stated that they would work with the University of St Andrews to explore the town's options for accommodation so as to satisfy both students and residents.

A spokesperson for the University stated of the Council’s decision, “We are committed to playing our part in sustaining a balanced and fair community in St Andrews, but very doubtful that an HMO cap will achieve that.

“The University already provides more accommodation for students per head than any other UK university, and will continue with work to build another 900 rooms for students as well as developing a 64-bed affordable housing scheme for our early career staff and postgraduate students."

Exceptions to the HMO cap will be made for applications currently being processed or for the renewal of HMOs and purpose-built student accommodation.

Photo: Ranald Dinsdale

“The research commissioned by the University, which was based on a survey completed by nearly 25 per cent of eligible students, not only proved that this phenomenon is real, it also gave a clear indication of the scope and scale of the problematic practice.

“I am proud of what the University and researchers have achieved here and every student who took part in the survey should also be proud.

Councillors' criticisms of the research do not change the results: over a hundred reports of wasted rooms.”

As the HMO policy in St Andrews will not be reviewed again for another three years, the Students’ Association is now tasked with finding alternative strategies in making student accommodation more affordable and accessible in the town. On this, Ms Paige added, “We need to ensure that properties are fully utilised. Prices are too high and competition for resources is too intense for us to ignore wasted rooms.

Boxing story, continued from page 1...

The University of St Andrews Boxing Club and St Andrews Fight Club have become embroiled in a war of words over licensing and safety, with allegations being made of hypocrisy and bringing boxing into disrepute.

On 15 April, the day before the Fight Club event in Dundee, the Boxing Club issued a Facebook statement condemning it as White Collar boxing, making it unlicensed, dangerous, and an affront to amateur boxing.

In response, Fight Club insisted that its event was safe and cast doubt over the Boxing Club’s statement as hypocritical, suggesting that members of the Boxing Club committee had applied for the event, with one even competing last year.

Fight Club’s twelve competitors are typically inexperienced fighters, who are trained for three months before they compete.

White Collar boxing differs from amateur boxing in that it is not governed by the International Boxing Association (AIBA), meaning that the rules and regulations of such events are not standardised, leading to safety concerns.

In their initial Facebook post on Monday, the Boxing Club said, “The University of St Andrews Boxing Club would like to remind you that we are in no way affiliated with the ‘St Andrews Fight Club’ event that will be taking place tomorrow. “‘Fight Club’ is not an amateur boxing event, but instead a White Collar Boxing event. The former is governed by AIBA, the authority in charge of international amateur boxing including the Olympics, whereas Fight Club showcases a type of ungoverned boxing, that is not only comparatively lacking in skill, but is dangerous.

“Furthermore, boxers at Fight Club only receive a couple of months training. Not only does this increase the risk to the fighters, but downplays the dedication of amateur boxers who train for hours on end each week for years.

“We thoroughly believe that the laboured promotion of an event that is not only risking the health of participants, but marketing poor quality boxing to viewers, is highly unprofessional of the organisers.

“If you are keen to get in the ring yourself, please consider joining our club. Not only will you become a more skilled fighter than a White Collar boxer, but we will ensure that you have maintained access to training and equipment to keep your boxing career going for years to come.

“Should you prefer to watch some quality boxing, come along to our home show later this year! Last November we showcased ten bouts from skilled amateur boxers and raised £2000 for YoungMinds!”

When speaking to The Saint a spokesperson for the Boxing Club said, “People have been mistaking Fight Night as an event associated with our club. Like we wrote on our page, we feel that it's important to distance ourselves from the poor health and safety practices of White Collar Boxing.

“The concerns of AIBA and Boxing Scotland, our governing bodies, are so great regarding the safety of White Collar Boxing that our affiliation with such an event would risk our coach losing his license and our club being shut down.

“The Boxing Club also felt it was necessary to comment given the amount of publicity Fight Club gets despite students of St Andrews knowing very little about the controversies surrounding it.

“We hope to help keep people safe

and educated regarding the sport of boxing.”

In response, Jim Peters, a spokesperson for St Andrew Fight Club said, “We would simply like to place on record that our event is fully sanctioned by the World Kickboxing Association who host thousands of boxing, kickboxing and MMA competitions each year.

“Competitors go through a highly intensive training program for three months leading up to the event and undergo a rigorous medical check before and after the event by fully trained and licensed paramedics.

Competitors generally give up drinking altogether during the training and drastically alter their diets, adopting much healthier lifestyles. With the well-publicised issues regarding binge drinking within student bodies at UK universities, we can only see this improved lifestyle as a positive.

“Tuesday night was our second fight night event which saw ten incredibly balanced bouts contested.

“Many competitors expressed a desire to reapply to take part in the event again and to continue their training after the event.

“We would also like to place on record that the captain, president, treasurer and secretary of the University of St Andrews Boxing Club all applied to take part in last year's event, and the treasurer did indeed take part. Members of the University of St Andrews Boxing Club once again applied to take part in this year's event, whilst other members of the club were seen enjoying themselves as spectators on Tuesday night. As such, their comments seem to linger on the side of hypocrisy.”

In response to these allegations of committee members participating in Fight Club, the Boxing Club said: “The University of St Andrews Boxing club would like to make it clear that

no members of the current or previous committee have taken part in Fight Club. Any members of other past committees who have taken part did so at the risk of their own amateur boxing careers and the welfare of the club at the time. We condemn their actions and hope to make it apparent that the present stance of the club and the stance it will take for the foreseeable future is that expressed by the public statement of the current management committee.

We have no issue with club members spectating Fight Club “As the club is under different management and has a different coach to when the supposed incidents took place, we do not see any hypocrisy in our statement. This year it was made clear to members who wished to take part in Fight Club that they could not do so whilst training with our club.

“Those who continued to pursue White Collar boxing were no longer allowed to take part in training sessions. Furthermore, we have no issue with club members spectating Fight Club. Although we do not condone the event, it is not the club's place to dictate how its members spend their own time and money.”

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Gender neutral language now in constitution BEAR HUTCHISON

St Andrews student close to raising over £100,00 target to help with rare bone cancer TAMARA MCWILLIAM

Deputy News Editor

“Time is not on my side” — St Andrews PhD student Scott Stinson is campaigning to raise vital funds to treat a rare form of inoperable bone cancer.

Scott Stinson, 25, is a chemistry graduate from Dundrum, Northern Ireland, who specialises in cancer research at the University of St Andrews.

Scott Stinson has had his right arm and shoulder amputated Graduating from Heriot-Watt University in 2016 with an Master’s degree in chemistry and nanotechnology, Mr Stinson was selected for a place at the UK Research Councilfunded Centre for Doctoral Training in Critical Resource Catalysis here at St Andrews, under the supervision of Dr Euan Kay. In April 2018, during the second year of his PhD studies in chemistry

and nanotechnology at St Andrews, Mr Stinson was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, located in his right shoulder.

Three months later in August of that year, Mr Stinson had to have his right arm and shoulder amputated at Birmingham Royal Orthopedic Hospital after the only known curative chemotherapy drugs currently available for the disease were not able to suppress the cancer.

Due to its rarity, osteosarcoma does not have a market large enough to gain support and resources for discovering treatments for it. After exhausting all possibly curative treatment available to him on the NHS, the cancer has now spread to Mr Stinson’s lungs.

Mr Stinson states, “Now, a year after my diagnosis, the cancer has metastasised to my lungs and my oncologist has advised that any further treatment would be life-extending only.”

Mr Stinson’s friends and family have recently launched a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising enough funds to pay for private drug treatments, not yet available on the NHS but licensed and shown to be effective in other countries, which Mr Stinson would like to pursue.

His mother, Jill Stinson, set up the GoFundMe page. She states that “We need to consider urgently other realistic treatment options in the likely event that treatment in the UK will not be prescribed.” However, the family are still pursuing the possibility of receiving immunotherapy in the UK. Ms Stinson outlined that funding of treatment options abroad is an issue for him and his family, and so the funding campaign has been created with the target of raising £120,000.

This money is vital in covering the treatment package costs. These can be up to £55,000 a time as well as including indefinite monthly follow-up care of up to £4,000. Funding is also vital for travel and accommodation costs incurred during treatment visits.

Stating that “time is not on [his] side,” Mr Stinson hopes “to raise enough funds to begin the first round of treatment by the end of April.”

Raising these funds means I have a chance to continue living my life The funding campaign has received widespread media attention and within just 10 days of launching, Mr Stinson’s GoFundMe page has been donated to by 2,500 people and has reached £87,000 so far.

With many donating hundreds of pounds towards the cause, there is less than a third left to be raised until Mr Stinson reaches his target. £40,000 of this sum was raised within the first three days of the appeal being

launched. The page has also reached a staggering 3,700 shares on Facebook and is a trending campaign on the GoFundMe site. Mr Stinson’s friends and family have also set up an accompanying Twitter page under the handle @seeyasarcoma in support of the campaign.

As well as raising funds for his further treatment, Mr Stinson would like to spread awareness of such a rare disease as osteosarcoma. The uncommon form of bone cancer usually develops in growing bones and is usually found in amongst teenagers and young adults, particularly in young males. Any bone in the body can be affected, but the most common sites are the arms and the legs. More information about osteosarcoma can be found on the Macmillan website.

Mr Stinson receives unconditional support from those closest to him.

Ms Stinson added that his “strength and determination since April are immeasurable and we continue to be grateful to Scott’s amazing girlfriend, Becky.” Mr Stinson’s partner, Becky Hollis, has paused her Master’s degree in Costume Design in Edinburgh and moved to Northern Ireland to live with and care for Mr Stinson in Newcastle, County Down.

To accompany the GoFundMe page, Mr Stinson’s friends have set up an online store, “Scott’s Helping Hand”. The online shop stocks art, photography, jewellery and more which has been donated by Mr Stinson’s friends and family, as a means of helping him hit the campaign target of £120,000.

Ms Stinson added, “I understand this is a huge amount of money to ask from people. But raising these funds mean I have a chance to continue living my life with my wonderful girlfriend, family and friends.”

The Student Services Council and the Students’ Representative Council have both passed a motion to update language in their Constitution to fit current practice.

The minor changes included updating “himself/herself” to read “they”, reflecting the commitment of the University to equality in their fiveyear strategy.

In this strategy, a commitment to a diverse St Andrews is laid out, saying, “There is evidence that shows that diverse organisations work smarter, encourage innovation, and maximise the creativity that is fundamental to academic excellence.

“Our approach to diversity and inclusion will therefore foster an environment that enables staff and students to engage with intellectual challenges while realising their own potential.”

The amendment was one of many changes made at the meetings, and reads as follows: “On page 5, point 8, there is a sentence reading ‘he/she will recuse himself/herself’. This text should be amended to read ‘that person will recuse themselves.’”

Parker Hansen, LGBT Officer for the University, spoke to The Saint, saying, “When I saw the proposed motion, I was happy see that one of them was to update ‘himself/herself’ to read ‘they’ in a couple of places.

“I'm proud to see that this motion was passed, both because it reads much more smoothly, and because we at the Students’ Association strive to be as inclusive as possible.”

Nick Farrer, Director of Wellbeing, echoed Mr Hansen’s remarks, saying, “The singular 'they' is much, much tidier than what existed beforehand. It's also inclusive of anyone who doesn't identify with the labels 'himself/ herself'.

“My opinion is that it's important that the constitution matches current practice and is inclusive.”

The University of St Andrews is not the first university to take such measures, as the use of gender-neutral language has become standard practice across many universities in the United Kingdom.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Scott Stinson GoFundMe Page

Deputy News Editor

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

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SAMANTHA PHILIPP

Deputy News Editor

where we are from, how old we are, or how long we plan on staying to show our beautiful diversity to the world.”

Those that attended the event were encouraged to bring their own banners and flags to the parade to celebrate St Andrews’ diverse community and to show support for PRIDE and the St Andrews LGBT+ society.

Professor Ruth Woodfield, Assistant Vice-Principal (Diversity), said before the event, “I very much look forward to the PRIDE day in St Andrews. Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our strategy going forward and we hope to see as many people as possible at the event.”

The parade and reception were free to all those that attended. The parade lasted for 30 minutes and the reception ended at 5 pm.

Filled with lots of fun activities such as music, food, and rainbows, PRIDE 2019 provided an open and accepting environment to celebrate everyone regardless of their background.

Photo: Noa Lee

PRIDE St Andrews, Fife’s longest running event celebrating the LGBT+ community, took place on Saturday 20 April.

This event, celebrating love and diversity across the St Andrews community, was organised by Saints LGBT+. The parade ran across town starting from North Street to South Street to Church Street to Greyfriars Garden, and the parade ended at the Students’ Association building where attendees were encouraged to attend a welcome reception.

Paloma Paige, President of the Students’ Association, said, “The Students' Association exists to represent all St Andrews students and it is with great pleasure that we support this year's Pride St Andrews parade and everything it stands for, not least its positive and inclusive message.”

Saints LGBT+ is an organisation at St Andrews that promotes the wellbeing of everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender background, and to support an open and safe environment for the St Andrews community.

Because Saints LGBT+ is part of the Association subcommittee, every student at St Andrews is automatically a member of this group and is always welcomed at its events.

Students’ Association LGBT+ Officer, Parker Hansen said, “LGBT+ pride events are the only times that we, as a community, step out and say to the world that we are here, in public spaces.

“Pride is also important as a protest, to remind the world that even if St Andrews is a relatively accepting place, there is still so much work to be done to make sure that being proud to be LGBT is no longer a radical act.”

Hansen also added, “The point of a Pride parade is to come together as an LGBT+ community regardless of

University release Find Space search feature MIGUEL SOTO

Deputy News Editor In a post on their Facebook page, the St Andrews University Students’ Association announced the launch of Find Space, a search feature that allows students to locate available study spaces for independent or group work. The tool is available via MySaint.

The post acknowledged the tool’s launch in advance of revision week.

After an increase in the demand for study spaces when the University Library was in peak use, the Dean of Arts, Professor Frank Müller, having spoken with various student representatives, suggested the development of Find Space “to enable students to make the most of University learning space resources,” Christine Tudhope, Senior Communications Director, told The Saint in an email.

Find Space was developed by Lee Coomber in IT Services, Moira Sinclair and Kendra Scott in Planning, Rowan Gard in the Proctor’s Office, and Amina Shah and Andrew Wilson

in the University Library.

Ms Tudhope said, “When not being actively used for lectures and teaching purposes, classrooms often sit empty.

Therefore, it makes good sense for these learning spaces, when not in active use, to be made available to students from Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, when the University is already heating, lighting and caring for these areas.”

Students can find seminar rooms, PC computer classrooms and “a range of Library spaces” with Find Space.

The email stressed Find Space was not a reservation system. Its use was for a “day-by-day drop-in only context.”

Students can reserve spaces through the Main Library and some of the Schools.

The University hopes Find Space encourages students to seek out available study spaces throughout the University in the hopes that each student finds a study space fit for their studying habits, perhaps in “off-thebeaten-path areas,” the email said.

This includes reading rooms and 24hour computer classrooms.

“Through empowering students

to find the learning environment that works best for them, whether that be in the bustling Main Library, the Rector’s Café or a quiet classroom space, the University is actively working to support learning and academic growth,” the email said.

The University will gather data from Find Space after a three-month period and review whether it will need to open up more study spaces to students.

The tool is located in MySaint “The student experience, especially around issues of learning and academic growth, matters greatly to the Proctor’s Office. Staff are continuing to work on improving the student experience with a number of exciting and dynamic projects currently in the works,” the email said.

Illustration: Ella Matza

PRIDE march enjoys sunny day

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Government confirms Out of Hours funding availability NATALIE PEREIRA

Deputy News Editor

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, MSP Jeanne Freeman, confirmed the availability of funding for a new proposal regarding the out-ofhours service in St Andrews.

At the Scottish Parliament, Fife MSP Mark Ruskell enquired about opportunities to finance a new model proposed by the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (FHSCP), which would see the re-establishment of the service.

This would include keeping GPs and clinicians at St Andrews Hospital to 10 pm on weekdays, from 8 am to midnight on Saturday, and from 10 am to 8 pm on Sunday.

The service would also involve car-based home visits by clinicians and, when required, access to St Andrew’s Urgent Care Centre.

Mr Ruskell asked, “A new multi-disciplinary model is emerging that could save the services that we have all been fighting for, but it will require additional resources.

“Will the Cabinet Secretary commit to providing additional funding for training prescribing pharmacists and advanced nurse practitioners to deliver that new, modern model for out-of-hours delivery across Fife?”

Ms Freeman acknowledged this request. She said, “I am aware of the proposals that are in hand. We have additional funds available to help both prescribing nurses and pharmacists in those matters.

“We will look at the proposal when it comes to me specifically.”

Those involved in the campaigning to maintain the functioning of the service have welcomed the Cabinet Secretary’s remarks.

Chairwoman of St Andrews Out of Hours Group, Dr Angela Anderson, said to Fife Today, “We are very pleased that the Health Secretary is taking such a close interest in the work being done to redesign the St Andrews out of hours service.

“We are also delighted that she has additional funds available to help train prescribing pharmacists and advanced nurse practitioners to deliver OOH services across Fife.

“We look forward to this training beginning as soon as possible so that the newly designed OOH service in St Andrews can be introduced and the other OOH services in Fife better

supported.”

Similarly, Penelope Fraser, vice-chairwoman of St Andrews Community Council, said to Fife Today, “We applaud the far-sightedness of the Health Secretary and look forward to seeing sustainable solutions for OOH care in Fife.”

This progress comes months after an online petition rejecting the closure of the Out of Hours Service instigated

by Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, attained more than 6,000 signatures from students, staff, and local residents of the town.

Previously, FHSCP had planned for the permanent closure of the service, but the following complaints made them review this decision.

There are currently no confirmed details on the new model for the service.

Dr Anderson said, “The model we have come up with still needs some work, some details require clarification.

“It has to be formally sanctioned by the members of the integration joint board, and it will be important to monitor and review it once it is operational.”

The new proposal is predicted to be introduced to the FHSCP’s integration joint board (IJB) this month for authorisation.

FHSCP will also examine the Urgent Care Service on 26 April.

Speaking of the movement for the new model, MSP Willie Rennie said to Fife Today, “It will be a major step forward if people in north east Fife won’t have to travel to Kirkcaldy to receive out of hours primary healthcare.

“If this proposal is agreed by the board in April it would mean the original plans to close the facility in St Andrews Hospital will be abandoned. That would be great news.

This service would be possible and sustainable because the minor injuries service and minor illness service would be combined; the evening service would start later and finish earlier when demand is typically lower; an in/out overnight service would be adopted freeing up clinicians to meet demand for home visits; and there would greater use of advanced nurse practitioners and other clinicians.

“Working together with the community and health professionals, Fife Health and Social Care Partnership has come up with an innovative solution that I hope the board is able to accept.”

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25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

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InFocus: Jamie Rodney The incoming Association President speaks to The Saint about his time as an influential campaigner and the power of social media in his election campaign Deputy News Editor From the moment that nominations closed for Association President at last month’s student elections, it was clear there would only be one winner.

Combining a mix of sensible and aspiring policies with a compassionate and caring personality, fourth year English student Jamie Rodney from Glasgow swept all before him. He beat the incumbent Paloma Paige and fellow challenger Josh Stevens in the first round of voting, securing over 50 per cent of the total vote. As President, he will have to tackle issues such as the closure of Out of Hours services in St Andrews, the Universal Credit campaign, and the HMO ban. But before he takes on these tasks, he still has to finish his last ever undergraduate essays. Taking a break from the library crush, Rodney sat down with The Saint to discuss his path to presidency and plans for next year.

It’s human empathy that we want to help It speaks volumes about Rodney that when asked to give an overview of his extra-curricular activities as an undergrad, he only details the ones he is “proudest of”. He played a prominent role in the team that got Srdja Popovic elected as Rector. He has also been highly involved with Amnesty International’s St Andrews student branch. Perhaps his proudest achievement is setting up and running St Candrews, which collects for Storehouse North East Fife, the main food bank in town. He said, “We’ve collected a couple thousand items, mainly food, but also other household goods over the past few months.

We’ve actually just chosen our new committee this week, it’s a little bit emotional handing over.”

However, Rodney is cautious to paint himself as an activist. He said “I’m slightly wary of the term, it’s got connotations of handcuffing yourself to barriers or hurling abuse at politicians through a megaphone, which isn’t really me.

“I prefer campaigner because it implies being part of something bigger than yourself which I think is one of the big things students at St Andrews have going for them, this kind of collective identity, this idea that we have each other’s backs. Obviously, there are barriers to that, due to some of the elitism here and due to some of the unique challenges folk with chronic mental and physical health conditions have. That idea that we’ve got each other’s back is really important and

if I achieve one thing as president, I hope it's entrenching that.

“Because we’ve got such a small student population, it’s much more difficult to ignore these problems that are going on. Obviously, some folk get more involved than others.

Unless you and your entire social circle are really, really lucky, it’s very difficult to be here and not know anyone who’s dealing with some kind of problem. I guess natural human empathy is that we want to help out of friends. Once people start standing up and speaking about their problems, generally speaking, folk start to buy into that.”

All this campaigning has shaped how Rodney views St Andrews. “On the one hand, it’s made me angry about a lot of things which I guess is important. On the other hand, I think it’s given me more of an appreciation of what people-power can achieve.

While obviously there are and have been ongoing problems with how the Union and the University work, some of the stuff I’ve seen fellow students here achieve has been absolutely inspiring. That’s right up from a friend of mine who set up a group chat for folk having mental health issues which helped out a lot of people in tough circumstances, right to the great work Paloma [the current Association President] has done on the Universal Credit Campaign or Nick [Farrer, the current Director of Wellbeing] with the Out of Hours GP service campaign.”

However, this image of Rodney as a prominent campaigner helping out those in need has not always been a feature of his time at university. He said: “While I’m quite involved now, when I was in first year and for the first part of second year, I couldn’t have told you who most of the sabbatical officers were. I didn’t leave my room a lot, I didn’t really involve myself in a lot of things. Partly because I am a type-one diabetic, partly because of things going on with my mental health.

“I was in this really weird place of on the one hand being pretty miserable - I thought about dropping out quite a lot - and on the other hand being really, really annoyed at the way things go on. The third part of it is me being completely ignorant about why things were the way they were. That sort of motivated me to get involved in stuff. Looking back, it wasn’t necessarily the healthiest reasoning but mid-way through second year I was like ‘right I’ve screwed up my time in St Andrews, I’m not going get anything out of this, I may as well try and help other people’. Looking back this is a) extremely unhealthy and b) extremely arrogant statement to make in second year.”

When asked if there was any one moment when he decided to change his approach to University, Rodney replied, “When I was in first semester of second year, I was at my lowest point: I was thinking pretty hard about dropping out, I had been

actively and passively self-harming; I was peripherally involved in a few things; I had sabotaged a lot of the relationships I had been in. On the morning of the EN2003 exam, I threw up on the way there and obviously had to defer. I started talking to other people who had had similar problems and realised a) problems were quite widespread here and b) people had problems that were much more severe than mine but, like me, hadn’t given up and hadn’t retreated into things. So more out of shame than anything else I started involving myself in different projects and speaking to people who were having problems with how the University worked.”

Whereas Rodney’s turn to campaigning can be neatly seen originating in this defining moment, his drive for presidency was a longer-term aspiration. He had been thinking about running since the end of third year, but had only started the necessary planning at the end of September.

Nearly seven months later, Rodney is now in the handover process for the very job he sought. He said “I’ve been to Joint Council meetings, I’ve sat in on interviews for different subcommittees and stuff, I’ve had the opportunity to speak quite a lot to Paloma about the process so far and she has been incredibly professional and helpful about the whole thing and that’s made it much easier. It’s been really positive so far. I am really looking forward to it.”

Rodney’s time working on Srdja Popovic’s campaign team proved to be a vital experience in his own efforts.

He said “Obviously the position of Rector is very differe n t from the po-

sition of Association President and Srdja being a much, much bigger personality in every sense of the word than I am, we had a bit more freedom to run a more ‘memey’ campaign. I think the main thing I learned from Srdja’s campaign is that if you want to run a successful campaign, it can’t be about you; it has to be about the people whose problems you are trying to solve. That’s what I tried to achieve with the campaign.”

One particular facet of Rodney’s presidency campaign was his use of social media. At over 650 likes, his Facebook campaign page was by far the largest page of any person campaigning for an elected position.

Creative infographics, manifestos, and small videos were all shared there. Supporters were photographed with the famous woollen hat that became a symbol of his campaign.

Rodney even documented himself dumping a bucket of sea water on himself next to West Sands as part of a pledge to get more people to like the page. The only reason he did not go in the sea itself was because he was advised not to by his diabetes clinic in Glasgow.

Rodney said, “While I am quite confident in my ideas and can be reasonably persuasive at times, I knew it was quite likely that whoever it was I’d end up running against was going to have the edge in terms of public speaking. I am not a natural public speaker. I figured if we can’t communicate as well as the others will be able to in that way, we can communicate in other ways. Social media was a big part of that. Moving from tactical concerns, we figured that you can learn much more and read much more in-depth about ideas and policies online than you can get from a two-minute speech or a thirty-second answer. Even if we don’t win, getting those ideas and concerns out there would be helpful, so social media was a really important platform for that.”

Rodney was certainly at his most engaging when he was talking about his main passion: helping people. When asked what his realistic expectations were for next year, he said, “There’s only so much that can happen in one year. Problems with widening access are ongoing ones and people are going to have to keep pushing for it for as long as we have a university here.

“One thing I think we can realistically change is fix St Andrews’ image problem. That can happen in more practical terms. At the moment it’s unnecessarily unclear about where you can go to get bursaries, what you can do if you are having money problems.

I complained quite a lot about Photo: Polina Sevastyanova

SEORAS LYALL

this during the campaign. For example, we have an orientation app for incoming freshers, [and] there’s a whole section there on student finance. Last year there was nothing about bursaries for that whole section. Given the price of accommodation here and given the high cost of living here, knowing there are bursaries here and how to access them is quite important for allaying concerns that students from less well-off backgrounds might have.

Also, it would be great if we could increase the number and availability of bursaries, but that will be a longerterm project.

“As well as that, I think we need to find, again this is maybe a more long-term thing, we mentioned the idea of students having each other’s backs being a really powerful thing. I think if we — we being the Union — try and relay and promote that sort of idea. For example, the Universal Credit Campaign was set up by Sandra Mitchell and now it’s a proper national campaign. If it’s successful, it will remove one of the biggest barriers to education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds across the whole country. Putting aside the fact that that’s a really good thing in itself, being able to say that St Andrews was the place where that happened because we’ve got each other’s backs, because we as a students’ Union listen to students, I think that would go some of the way to getting rid of the elitist reputation we have.”

Finally, Rodney addressed some

The idea of students having each other’s back is powerful of the cynics who say that student politics does not matter. He said, “If you look at what Paloma has achieved this year, she has helped the Universal Credit Campaign happen, obviously Sandra’s the one who started it up, but it couldn’t have come to national prominence without Paloma.

If you look at the GP Out of Hours campaign, that was largely led by the Students’ Association. Marks Out Of Tenancy, again a Student Association initiative. If that takes off next year, and I’m hoping I can make sure it will, then that means students will have much more power holding bad landlords to account. The problem with ‘Union hacks’ like myself is not that we don’t do anything, it’s that we are not as good as we could or should be at communicating to other students about why what we do is important and how they can get involved if they are not satisfied with it. Obviously fixing that is better said than done.”

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Viewpoint Editor: Archie Batra Deputy Editors: Milly Butters, Jurin K. Flores, Matthew Leighton, Depali Rai, Joe Waters

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Careers, exams, and existential panic

“Attempts to “network” with everything that breathes

Oh, and the only way to get ahead, it seems, is to play a very, very rigged game, where ability, dedication, and intelligence count for very little. (Not that I possess these traits in any large quantity.) In discussing my concerns with my family, mother dearest wasted no time in telling me that the son of a family friend had just been offered a highly-paid summer internship in the city. Clever bloke, you may surmise. Ha! Of course he isn’t. He just plays golf with one of the traders, and schmoozed him in between strokes.

He’s not even that good at golf, for pity’s sake.

Photo: Colin and Kim Hansen

Not that I really have a right to complain: I haven’t the faintest idea of what I want to do after I graduate.

This uncertainty is quickly becoming a luxury I can no longer afford, and I really am getting a bit bored of the classic “I don’t know” response to the ubiquitous questions about my future career.

But, I think this is normal. (Well, I hope it’s normal.) Shouldn’t we be a bit suspicious of people who claim to know what they want to do with their life by their early twenties? As much as people try and hide it, I seriously doubt that anyone really wanted to become a quantitative analyst for Deutsche Bank when they were growing up. But, these people, with their platitudinous LinkedIn profiles and their constant, transparent, cloying, slippery and positively repugnant attempts to “network” with everything that breathes will be the ones earning the big bucks when they finally escape the bubble so, as much as I despise them, they’re clearly getting something right.

It may be tempting to follow these sheeple into the sunset, and start debasing yourself in increasingly desperate attempts to find something “proper” to do after you finish your four-year beach holiday. However, I’m increasingly of the opinion that this is just about the worst possible thing you can do to yourself.

This is mainly based upon observations of my more career-inclined peers. Of course, their CVs are as enviable as they are intimidating, and they undoubtedly have bright futures ahead of them. They may well become a captain of industry, the next Atticus Finch, or even a new wolf of Wall Street. But, when I look at these shells of people, these poor souls who have had to prostitute themselves to Goldman Sachs, Slaughter & May, or any one of Britain’s titanic and faceless corporations, I don’t look at someone I want to be. (Or, to be honest, someone I’m particularly impressed by.)

They are, almost without exception, incredibly tiresome and boring individuals, to whom concepts such as “original” and “interesting” are completely alien. And, in a way, I suppose they have to be: how else would they fit into the dull bureaucracies that they’re throwing themselves into? It’s very much not my cup of tea.

I think I’d be itching for the shotgun after a few weeks working in the city.

But even if you’re strange enough to actually want this sort of career (or, to put it another way, you really, really, really like money) you have to think about what you’re losing by choosing

this path. Friends, family, fun: these are the three Fs that must be sacrificed upon the altar of success for a lot of these fields, and these aren’t trivial offerings that the nation’s CEOs are asking you to give up. I’d rather not wake up one day and realise that I have no true friends, that my children have grown up without me, or that the last bit of “fun” I had was at the office Christmas party with Bill from accounting. Again, this is certainly, definitely, absolutely not my cup of tea.

“

I’d much rather enjoy my time at university

“

I somewhat dread leaving St Andrews and going home. I’m in the extremely annoying position of having very successful old schoolmates, who have — rather selfishly, I might add — completely sorted their lives out and are doing quite well for themselves.

Not only this, but, because I made the dual mistake of both choosing a fouryear course and also taking a gap year before starting it (Bali was amazing, thank you for asking), I’m going to have to cower in the searing heat of their achievement for at least 14 more agonising months.

Of course, I’m happy for them, I suppose, but it does make presentations, coursework, and exams even more nerve-wracking, something I hitherto thought impossible. Not only has the stark reality of how important university is suddenly slapped me around the face, but it turns out my friends’ relative prosperity is ready and waiting to give my other cheek a good wallop as well. Yes, the nation’s new intake of civil servants, financiers, and managers have got it easy.

When will we, honest and hard-working students that we are, get the break we deserve?

Not that I’m particularly comforted by what people are doing up here, either. A frustrating amount of people that I know have had the sheer gall, the cheek, the jaw-dropping audacity to rack up plenty of work experience whilst at university, and they have actually managed to build impressive, substantial CVs. And, somehow, they’ve managed to do this whilst balancing a healthy social life while getting top grades. I wish it were possible to learn this power.

So now I’ve been left with the rather disturbing realisation that I probably need to start preparing

“

ARCHIE BATRA Viewpoint Editor

for a career, not that I know how to.

Sagacious as ever, my father tells me to “get your arse into gear, mate”.

Yes, thank you, Dad, but it was all very well and good for you when you went to university in the 1800s, and the mere act of getting in made you some sort of übermensch. Everyone and their cat seems to be going for a degree nowadays and, rather worryingly, about three-quarters of them will leave with at least a 2:1, whether they deserve to or not. It seems that distinguishing oneself from this graduate horde is now a prerequisite for mediocrity, let alone success, and I’m not sure I’m all too thrilled about it.

Illustration: Rosie Catcheside

How do I prepare for life after St Andrews?

My scepticism has been vindicated by talking to old school friends.

They’ve all walked the well-trodden path of top school, top university, top career, and they’re not exactly on cloud nine. They desperately regret their ascetic, drone-like undergraduate days, and aren’t particularly enjoying their jobs, however prestigious they are.

So, to avoid this absolutely hellish fate, I’ve decided that the best way to prepare for life beyond the bubble it to, erm, not. If you honestly have no idea what you want to do with life after university ends, don’t stress yourself into an early grave by obsessing over it. Not knowing what you want

to do with your life just yet is definitely not a handicap, so don’t treat it like one. It’s always struck me, for example, that you don’t have to have studied law as an undergraduate to be a lawyer, or have read finance at university to become a heartless, ruthless financier. Why bother prostituting yourself for these careers now, when we still have our whole lives ahead of us?

I am very much of the opinion that university isn’t merely a convenient springboard into some nondescript, upper-management role in consultancy. (Or, you know, something equally bland.) It’s an incredible opportunity to learn, grow, and mature, so I wouldn’t waste it. Besides, I was always told that the modern worker will change careers half a dozen times throughout their life anyway, so I don’t really see much point in dedicating myself to one now.

I’d much rather enjoy my time at university, and become a somewhat interesting person that employers will look kindly upon. (Maybe even someone they’d like to have around the office, hint hint.) At least I wouldn’t be a mindless, boresome drone, whose only interest was getting the job in the first place.

So, I am distinctly not worried about life beyond the bubble.

Worrying about your future just seems a bit pointless and unproductive at the moment and, let’s be honest, a degree from St Andrews won’t exactly close any doors. Instead, I think the best course of action is to enjoy yourself, explore what you may or may not be interested in, not limit yourself to anything, and to not waste the undergraduate experience by whoring yourself to any sort of minor career enhancement that may come your way.

Que sera, sera, as they (probably) say.

The views expresseddo innot Viewpoint do the not views represent theSaint viewsbut of The but are individual opinions.

The views expressed in Viewpoint represent of The are Saint individual opinions.

VIEWPOINT

Devil’s Advocate

9

Should students protest in St Andrews?

We’ve all got a lot of affection for the things about St Andrews that characterise it. As the University is spread all over the town, students can’t help but interact with the town itself and its residents daily. In my opinion, however, what makes it particularly special is the cosmopolitan body of people and global outlook that makes it distinctive. Far from its size being a reason to argue against the utility of student protests, it seems to me it only enhances their effectiveness.

Considering students make up a far greater proportion of residents here than bigger cities like London (where a reasonably small student protest is highly likely to be swallowed up by “bigger” news), our protests are likely to have a correspondingly larger impact on the town and its people — thereby increasing the visibility of the cause among residents and students alike.

The power of this shouldn’t be underestimated. Some might argue that unless student protests are large enough to attract the attention of the media and other national sources, they aren’t worth bothering with.

This might well be true. But national change doesn’t have to be the goal of every protest — making even a small number of people aware of the issue of climate change who hadn’t previously given it much thought should also be considered a win for a student protest. Just because we have to scale down our goals a little in order to be realistic for St Andrews, that doesn’t mean the whole institution is arbitrary. Further, the more intimate relationship between student and resident facilitated by a small-town environment means individuality isn’t lost. Someone might easily feel a group of a couple of hundred people are more approachable than thousands. In this way, one could suggest that a small student protest here has greater potential to invite conversation, and thus persuasion, leading more effectively to real world behavioural change.

After all, being a student is designed to be your first foray into adulthood, with university serving as a place to experiment with finding and using your adult voice in the public sphere. Student protests are a safe and potentially productive way of exploring your attitudes to issues that

will face our generation. They also foster solidarity. As much as university is about “finding yourself” and learning what it is that defines you as an individual, it’s also about finding your people. Student protests give people the opportunity to network and share ideas. In such a small town, this kind of communication is vital for social cohesion and finding friends.

Secondly, as I have already mentioned, the range of communication opportunities are that much richer and broader, yet remain fantastically easy to access. Considering this, St Andrews is well-designed to facilitate student protests, so why should we not encourage them? As students, we always want better representation of our views and wishes both nationally and through the institutional structures of the University itself. We are clearly a group of people willing to engage positively and constructively with issues our generation faces, and we definitely shouldn’t be seeking to suppress this. In telling students they are the “leaders of tomorrow”, we must give them the opportunity to practice this — if not for a large impact now then certainly for the future.

Many might consider a student protest of a hundred people in a small Scottish town to be of little importance, or even a pointless exercise.

I encourage you to reconsider what makes a successful protest. Does it have to result in dramatic national change? By that narrow definition, I would have to agree that us students here probably shouldn’t waste our time, paint, or cardboard on protests.

Or are there other ways to measure the success and “point” of a protest?

Does local impact matter? I certainly believe it does — after all, local impact eventually adds up to national change. If 10 people went home after the climate change protest and thought a little more carefully about how they chose to dispose of their plastic waste and its implications, or felt motivated to write to their local MP to urge them to consider this issue on their agenda, I’d consider that a successful exercise with a point to it.

Maybe for St Andrews we must measure the “point” of student protests in smaller ways. Protests are as much about their immediate impact on the people around them in fostering change as they are about national recognition. Use your voice to stand up for what you believe in — it really does have the power to change St Andrews and the wider community.

“Use your

20% No Number of votes cast: 305

Joel J. L. Moore No!

voice to stand up for what you believe in

Yes or

No? “

Will this singular protest really make a difference?

“

Milly Butters Yes!

“

80% Yes

Number of votes cast on Facebook: 279 221 Yes / 58 No Number of votes cast on Twitter: 26 22 Yes / 4 No

O tempora, o mores. This rather grand Latin phrase means something along the lines of this: we live in a bad society. It is inevitable that everyone has at some point felt discontent about their situation, and what better way to show your dissatisfaction than taking to the streets and waving around a piece of cardboard for an hour or two?

We all know what these student protests look like: a pleasant morning Latin tutorial is disrupted by the rhythmic chants of an oncoming demonstration. Outside the window, a horde of informed students march down the quaint streets of St Andrews, protesting against the manifold injustices of the world, hoping to change the mind of the fat cats in Washington, London, and beyond. A single question springs to the mind of all those who witness such an event: will this singular protest really make a difference? The answer is simple: probably not. Unfortunately, the assembled voices of the demonstrators are probably not loud enough to be heard by the powers-that-be, sitting in their leather wing chairs many miles from our sunny town in north-east Fife. Indeed, it is highly unlikely that the decision-makers will even know that this protest happened, unless they are loyal readers of such a hallowed publication as this.

Despite these practicalities, those that decide to take to these medieval streets have many reasons to do so: it raises awareness, it makes a statement, and it is probably better than sitting at home and grumbling to one’s housemates for the 17th time today. Indeed, to convince a die-hard student protester that their fight is futile would take a gargantuan act of persuasion that I am not equipped to undertake, nor does the word limit of this column allow for such a magnum opus to be composed. Therefore I will argue my case based on mundane practicalities, hoping that you, dear reader, will soon realise that protesting, like many other university activities, is simply not worth it due to the amount of time it requires.

As students we can be sure of one thing that unifies above all else: an innate desire to stay in bed. Protesting not only requires you to be out of the house, but it also involves an awful lot of moving and shouting. Some recent demonstrations have taken up

the best part of an hour or more! Can you imagine walking for longer than the five to twenty minutes necessary to get to your lecture?

I certainly cannot, and student demonstrations do not even count towards your final grade. This is coupled with the excruciating fact that you would have to do a substantial amount of homework; imagine having to find a large sheet of cardboard for a sign, and then toiling for hours over a witty and inventive slogan. All this sounds like an awful lot of effort.

Would it not be far easier to simply post a short rant online and be done with it?

The inconvenience does not stop there. All this time taken up by an arguably futile demonstration could better be spent in the library, either eating a spicy meatball panini or working towards that degree that may be costing you thousands of pounds a year.

By taking to the streets, precious marks are being lost on the next coursework assessment, meaning that you may not get a first in Greek prose composition, placing you achingly further away from that coveted Deloitte internship.

Consider this: if you spend too much time protesting, you may inadvertently jeopardise future career opportunities, meaning that you may never be in the position to enact the change that you desire. With this in mind, student protesting may seem a fool’s errand. Indeed, you might be tempted to lie low and bring about the revolution later on, with a few years of work experience to back it up. This could well be the wisest and most resource-effective solution.

However, perhaps I paint an overly bleak picture, and perhaps my arguments are unfounded and inconsequential. But would you take the risk? It would seem that it is far better to stay inside, have a lie in, and perhaps find something to put on your LinkedIn profile.

If only there was a way to show your frustration with the world while also gaining something impressive to put on your CV. If only there was a well-known and well-regarded vehicle for voicing your ideas that can spread your message across St Andrews and beyond. If only there was a way to combine strong opinions with strong prospects. Thankfully, a path to this utopia exists. And so I urge you, dear would-be protester, do not take it.

The views expressed The views expressed in Viewpoint do not represent the viewsin of The Saint but are individual opinions.

10

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

VIEWPOINT

What’s the point of golf?

Seriously, what’s the point of playing?

Should we have exams?

Are there alternatives?

DEPALI RAI Deputy Viewpoint Editor As we draw closer to exam season, it is only natural that one takes a step back to consider if exams should even exist.

There are certainly alternatives and given the lack of knowledge I have on any of my subjects, it is a good time as ever to reflect on the system that we have currently.

There are some notably redeeming features of exam testing. All the students taking the exam answer the same questions and are given the same amount of time to answer them.

The strict rules of examination venues ensure a degree of equality. The level playing field allows for the institution to make considered evaluations on an individual’s competency and performance by means of standardised testing and taking into account overall performance of all students.

Exams may even help in the long-

“There are

obvious problems with exams as a form of assessment

“

run. They are said to reinforce useful, real-life learning skills such as time management and dealing with stressful situations, a sort of tough-love kind of learning that hopefully will pay off.

Yet, there are obvious problems with exams as a form of assessment. They often have a lot riding on a single exam. For all my subjects this semester, a single exam constitutes 50 per cent of my final module grade. Whilst I can sort of (emphasis on sort of) handle this fact, it is nevertheless a deeply uneasy thought. Is it

fair that one exam will be used to represent 50 per cent of my learning this entire semester? Three days, three exams all within a short space of each other, a sort of stress-filled pressure point in my semester. Exam success appears to ride on memorisation, individual stamina, and the ability to cope with stress, as opposed to academic competency.

As a form of testing, the endgame of a year or semester’s worth of learning can also limit development.

Exam testing has shown to hinder creativity and original thinking in individuals, therefore favouring those in more non-creative disciplines.

Regurgitating information does little to enrich the individual.

Whilst stress levels certainly peak during the gruelling two- to threehour exam itself, the journey to our seat in the sports hall is far from a pleasant stroll either. The long days, incessant highlighting and stacks upon stacks of revision cards that I will inevitably misplace — the entire revision process is a painful slog.

So what are the alternatives?

Shorter testing throughout the semester is an option. My Social Anthropology module last semester was all coursework. There were obvious benefits to this: I could work at my own pace and my essays are often better and more coherent when I’m not under immediate time pressure.

But non-exam forms of assessment also have their limitations and own problems. Essay-only testing can engender inequalities too. Whilst prohibited, being able to do coursework outside controlled spaces may lead to some individuals benefiting due to external help. Similarly, there are limitations to other forms of assessments such as group presentations and class participation as they often favour those more extroverted and confident in public settings.

In short, despite the blaring limitations of exams and how unrepresentative they can be, there are equally disadvantages to all forms of assessment. Different styles benefit different types of learners. So as much of a bitter pill this is to swallow, exams are useful and have qualities that justify their position as the most common form of assessment.

“Perhaps

when I’m a bit greyer and a bit staler

“

Illustration:: Monica Burns

Now, call me a pleb as much as you wish, but I really don’t see the obsession some folk in this town have with golf. Unrefined as I am, I simply cannot see the enjoyment in it. Every morning I wake up at 7 am, and by the time I’ve rolled out of bed at half-past, the view from outside my window is awash with what I assume to be half of Britain’s freemasons carting themselves to the Old Course, apparently in competition as to who can don the most obnoxious outfit possible. And for what? The only thing that could possibly have me up so spiritedly so early would be the promise of the second-coming of Christ. Even then, I reckon the Lord our Saviour would only get the pleasure of gazing upon me in my comfiest pyjamas and my fluffy yeti slippers.

I’ve tried golf precisely twice before coming to St Andrews, and both times I found it hideously boring.

Very little of the time you’re actually doing anything (besides researching the initiation ritual to the secret society you’re very obviously trying to join) and most of the time you’re either walking trying to find where you’ve hit the ball or watching other people not enjoy themselves as they line up to take their go. The only enjoyment you get out of golf is the chin-wag with your fellow Masons and the walk itself to where your ball isn’t, and both of which you can do without getting up ridiculously early, being battered by the wind in the open or having to spend a small fortune on a set of bats and balls.

As legend has it, Woodrow Wilson played 1,000 rounds of golf during his presidency — you know, the presidency which involved dealing with the then largest war of all time — and honestly perhaps I can imagine how it might relieve a bit of stress. Perhaps he imagined the ball was the Kaiser’s head; who knows?

However, the folk who swarm the Old Course every morning generally don’t look all that stressed and, even if they are, I can think of many cheaper ways to deal with it than making the trek all the way to a remote Scottish town and paying £125 a day to tee-off. In terms of decadence, no activity is more eye-wateringly grotesque as the one on our town’s very doorstep.

This brings me onto my next point. How can it be so eye-wateringly expensive? A decent annual club membership at my local club (not exactly the most prestigious either) will set you back close to a grand.

Hit yourself up with some shiny bats and a silly branded jumper and you’ll be topping off close to 1,300 smackers. This is before you even get started. After all, you’re going to

“

It’s costly, it’s boring, and generally you look a prat

“

JOE WATERS Deputy Viewpoint Editor

need to impress your prospective future lodge-brothers by showing that buying several of those sixty-quid martinis absolutely has not caused you financial ruin. In theory, the cost of golf should be self-defeating — if you’re rich enough and successful enough to be in a position to afford golf then surely you must have some ability to recognise good value for money… which ought to prevent you from playing it.

Now, as I’ve said before during this piece, my inability to understand the appeal of golf may be rooted in my nature as a proletarian heathen, but I’ve spoken to some bourgies as well who say the same thing. You know, perhaps some people are genetically predisposed to golf. That is the only explanation as to why one can be so irrational with regards to money.

I’d like to point to the three wise

men of Top Gear who, in their immortal wisdom, take the absolute piss out of golf at every opportunity. In Series 18, in fact, I saw something that was truly remarkable: James May (yes, James May!) called something boring!

And do you know what? It was golf!

Now, as someone who models their entire image and personality on James May I can tell you that it takes quite a lot for us to find something boring.

Checkmate.

It’s costly, it’s boring, and generally you look a prat whilst doing it. The folks at the Old Course may guffaw at this, assuming they read The Saint, before ordering me to be bungled into a van at golf club point but, before they do, I will say I am open to enjoying golf. Perhaps when I’m a bit greyer and a bit staler. Or maybe when I start to want a decent career.

Illustration:: Thomas Hodge

The views expressed notare represent the opinions. views of The Saint but are The views expressed in Viewpoint do not represent the viewsinofViewpoint The Saintdobut individual

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

VIEWPOINT

11

The final countdown: a fourth year reflects I’ll miss St Andrews when I graduate, despite all of its flaws

AMY ELLIOT Former Viewpoint Editor Almost four years ago, as a quintessentially naive fresher, I wrote an article in response to the news that St Andrews had received top-five rankings for student satisfaction in three major university review publications. Imbued with the sort of dogged self-belief which only a first-year can be, I argued that satisfaction was a dubious and relative concept; that potentially, universities should look to inspire dissatisfaction as an ostensible ‘way forward’.

The intense hypocrisy of the article I wrote about student satisfaction, of

“But a little

batter is not all bad, and I should know

course, was that when I wrote it, I was ceaselessly in pursuit of satisfaction, the very thing I argued was so insubstantial. Like many first year students, I was enlivened to the numerous pleasures and intrigues of university life, and, probably envisioning myself as some sort of Epicurean pin-up girl, I set out to acquaint myself with as many of them as possible.

As fate and perhaps karma would have it, I have experienced a significant amount of dissatisfaction in my time here, and this seems to be par for the course as far as university life goes. I don’t know many final year students who are not a little more bruised, a little more battered, than they were when they first showed up to St Andrews. But a little batter is not all bad, and I should know, because I used to work in a fish and chip shop.

In my earlier article I suggested that ‘satisfaction’ was a shallow goal; I still think this, although of course universities should be aiming to satisfy their students. ‘Student satisfaction’ as a criterion of assessment encompasses a great deal more than just seasonal whims and desires. As a side note, if you didn’t already know, the University of St Andrews claimed the top spot in the 2018 National Student Survey. Whether we like to admit it or not, our university is an institution which, as a rule, really does prioritise the welfare of its students, and thor-

oughly deserves this achievement.

It’s natural to want to be satisfied, but satisfaction is a transient feeling which offers very little which is grounding or stabilising. Careening between different satisfying experiences is not, for most people, a viable way to live, and deliberately avoiding instances of dissatisfaction — boredom, frustration, ennui — can occlude the possibility of positive experiences which are more enduring and worthwhile.

Until quite recently, I was under the impression that doing something for ‘posterity’ meant doing something that as a wizened old lady I would be glad to say that I had done — documenting a particularly memorable experience with a photo or a journal entry, for example, or making the effort to take part in something, all in the name of the making and preserving of memories. How wrong I realised I had been when I learned that ‘posterity’ is actually defined as ‘all future generations of people’. As ‘millennial’ as I am sure I am in some ways, I am not so narcissistic that I would assume ‘all future generations of people’ would find much value in a mirror selfie I took before Welly Ball because I thought I looked quite nice.

I doubt I am the only one, however, who has come to the wrong understanding of the word. (Or at least, I hope I’m not, otherwise this article is

pretty much redundant). Maybe it’s a result of the pervasive influence of social media, which has without a doubt capitalised on the possessive, nostalgic lens through which we are inclined to view the present. Dichotomously, platforms like Instagram suggest to us that it is just as easy and important to be able to discard memories as it is to preserve them, encouraging us to curate and to cull as we see fit. There is something problematically artificial about this, because we cannot ever really ‘keep’ moments, and we also cannot really rid ourselves of them.

Trying to say anything new about the insincerity of social media can seem like an exercise in futility, however, and can also feel a bit alarmist: there is such a thing as taking things too seriously.

A week or so ago I was discussing with a friend how strange it felt to be so rapidly approaching ‘the end’: with graduation just a few weeks away, ‘posterity’ — in its misunderstood definition — has been on my mind a lot. How best to honour things that have passed? Is it even necessary to honour them at all? My expectation, when reaching purported ‘milestones’, or pivotal endings, is always that I will intuitively know how to face them. On the day I graduate, I will don that sweaty black gown and I will not even notice that I am sweaty, so consumed will I be with the gravi-

“Maybe it’s a

result of the pervasive influence of social media

“

ty of it all, the fact that I am leaving behind this fraught and full way of life, the four long years, the things I will never have again: the coastal air, the hundreds of pounds spent on Zest lattes, the heroic treks to the gym, the apologetic office hours, the Kinnessburn ducks, wandering around Tesco in hot and indecisive pursuit of snacks, the expanses of water, the printer credits, the pints and pints of tears shed, that time of year when the air loses its bite and spring feels close, the castle after dark, running into the sea on 1 May, the fear, the openness and the skies, the laughter, all of the remarkable sadness, and the many, many joys. In reality, this is probably unrealistic. My conclusions are never as succinct as I’d like them to be.

“

How do I know what social class I belong to?

British class distinctions have become blurred LAURA BEVERIDGE It’s 9:30am. I sit in the library, fingers poised over computer keys. I have miraculously managed to leave Agnes Blackadder Hall before 10am in order to dive head first into an essay. The title has been typed, but the remainder of the screen looks back at me accusingly blank — but, alas! I cannot start.

I am struck with a question that I have been dithering around since I arrived at St Andrews University, and in my frantic search for the answer, I text my father “Dad, what class AM I?!?”.

I had finally decided to face the question that had been playing on my mind since I first left my small home town in Fife six months ago. So, I stopped writing my essay and found myself in a place I had been many times before: staring into space in the library. The topic is not something I had considered much before I arrived at university. I put this largely down to the fact that everyone I had encountered thus far in life had not been

all that dissimilar to myself, and yes, while there were variations in income, experience, and politics, I would never have considered these people to be on a different level or indeed, of a different “class” from myself.

This changed when I came to St Andrews and I gladly jumped into a new, diverse ecosystem of people. My opinions and preconceptions of the world were challenged. I had thought I had known people who were well travelled or had come from money.

Oh boy, did I not! It made me question where I belonged amidst this diverse range of people.

Although it is undeniable that the concept of “class” has changed in Britain since its manufacturing heyday; that new class categories have emerged such as “the underclass” and the “liberal elite”; and that the traditional impact of social class on things such as voting behaviour has decreased, it nevertheless remains true that in general conversation, people still hold tight and identify with traditional class definitions and values.

But what is the problem? you ask; Why, Laura, are you having such a hard time determining which class you belong to? On paper, I have to admit that I am, despite my partiality to a good bit of Marxism, middle class: I spent half my school years in private education, and despite growing up surrounded by ex-mining towns, my neighbours made the daily commute to Edinburgh for work.

However, while on paper this may be true, in reality I have struggled to keep up the middle class appearances of many of my peers — I won’t be leaving university debt-free; my parents don’t have connections to the most influential people in their field; I don’t pronounce “yeah” as “yah”, and worst of all, I don’t even own a Barbour jacket.

So, how can I possibly be middle class if I don’t feel any affiliation with or possess all the nuances it truly takes to identify as middle class? My parents both come from traditional working class backgrounds: the children of tradesmen, and both the first in their

respective families to go onto tertiary education. In fact, my parents today, particularly my father, still proudly identify as working class through and through and, as a result, have taught me all the nuances that come along with it such as putting “eh” at the end of sentences (much to my English teacher mother’s dismay), and a deep hatred of Margaret Thatcher the Milk Snatcher.

Speaking of Margaret Thatcher, I also feel a deep affiliation with the tradition of Scottish working class voting behaviour: a Labour vote, and since the centralist shifting of the party, an SNP vote (I guess this isn’t all that surprising given that I grew up a mere 15 minutes away from a street named after Yuri Gagarin and one of Fife’s only wards with a Communist councillor).

This has, however, not made me immune to associations by my peers with “Champagne Socialists”, and while I do undoubtedly find this amusing and can see where it comes from, I don’t find it true as I have never possessed the bubbled lifestyle

to justify it. My phone pings in my hand. As I open my father’s response, I come to the conclusion that while class has changed, what hasn’t are the notions and stereotypes of social class in the public conscious.

My father reaffirms my suspicions: that I am, in fact, middle class on paper. But, he continues: Wayne Rooney is also middle class on paper, so too are the many Oxbridge and St Andrews educated Labour and SNP MPs and MSPs. I close my freshly opened basket on Barbour.com – it appears I have been too hasty. He concludes, “Class isn’t just what appears on paper, it’s more complex than that — it’s a culture, it’s a state of mind. Also, Mum wants to know if you’ll be home this weekend so give her a call.”

Even with this nugget of wisdom upon my phone screen, I still was not clear about what class I am, although I did feel a step closer to establishing an answer. The crisis had been averted, and finally, the essay writing could begin.

The views expressed in Viewpoint do not represent the views of The Saint but are individual opinions.

12

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

VIEWPOINT

On Mozza’s new menu...

Potatoes and mayonnaise don’t belong on pizza!

Photo: Annie Smith

erences. If you liked Mozza’s pizza number 11, please write a letter to the editor explaining why and how it is a better option than the rest (like number 8 – gorgonzola, parma ham, and artichoke).

“It’s almost

like walking in a hot desert with only vinegar to drink

I am unable to comprehend how someone could even find it edible.

Not only for the revolting taste, but health wise, that’s carbs on carbs on carbs. I understand that it’s already unhealthy to be eating the oily pizzas in the first place, but this pizza is the worst of the worst.

I get it, potatoes are bland. Mozza probably thought that adding mayonnaise would amp up the taste.

However, you know what else could go with potatoes? A really good cheesy, creamy white sauce. Even a tomato sauce that the potato slices could really soak up would be make a world of difference. If Mozza badly wanted potatoes on pizzas to be a success in St Andrews, they should be adding an actually delicious sauce instead of lazily adding some mayonnaise.

I am not saying that mayonnaise is bad. I actually really like mayonnaise. Whether it’s burgers or in Japanese fried chicken, it works really well, especially when mixed with other types of sauces (for example, the katsu sauce in Combinico has mayonnaise in it — yum).

Even potatoes themselves are not bad. If cooked right, they could be moist and with the right sauce, they could be divine (take potato gratin for example).

Potatoes are good, mayonnaise is delicious, and pizzas are to die for.

But a combination of them is pure hell.

So please, dear Mozza, stop breaking my heart. Take the number 11 out of your menu. If you want to keep it, that would be disappointing but fine, I will try to lower my standards. The only thing I am begging you is to please take out the mayonnaise. Grazie.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Mozza is one of my favorite go-to places to eat in St Andrews. Their pizzas and deals are ideal for students who want to eat out on a budget. For £5, I can get a pretty good pizza that satisfies my salty cravings. Herbed ham swimming on melted mozzarella as they lay on the bed of a really soft dough? Yes please! Aubergine and courgette as a vegetarian option?

Absolutely delicious! The £1 pizza that they offered during Freshers’ Week 2017? Genius!

But now, despite all this, I have a bone to pick with them. Mozza, why are there potatoes and mayo on your pizza?

Mozza details their pizza number 11 as “mozzarella, Italian sausage, mashed potato, rosemary, black pepper, mayo, olive oil.” Yes, you read that right: POTATO AND MAYO ON A PIZZA. And, yes, it tastes as disgusting as it sounds. It’s hard to describe the taste, but it’s almost like walking in a hot desert with only vinegar to drink — just a horrifying combination.

I immediately asked my Italian friend if this combination was acceptable. “ABSOLUTELY NOT,” she replied, adding, “Italy has pizza with potatoes but NO MAYO.” Even though I find it atrocious that carbs could be topped with way more carbs, I guess I have to forgive

Mozza for the potatoes on pizza idea.

But I will not abide the mayo. Italy’s pizza con le patate just has finely sliced potatoes, rosemary, virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper. That’s it. There is no mayo in the pizza con le patate.

There is absolutely no reason for them to put mayo on a pizza.

This is not the first time that there has been a pizza with mayonnaise on top. After angrily googling, I shockingly found that there are already too many pizzas with mayonnaise in existence: mayo and peas, mayo and tomatoes, mayo and ham. It was even more traumatizing for me when I found out that Japan’s Domino’s has already produced a pizza with potato and mayonnaise. As someone who’s half Japanese, this makes me ashamed of my country. Maybe it is common for Japan’s potato salad to have mayonnaise embedded in mashed potatoes, but having mayo on top of potatoes ON A PIZZA is just never the right combination.

Call it their attempt at fusion.

After all, pizzas are no longer unique to Italians, but have become a vital part of other cultures. Chicago has their deep-dish pizza, and New York has their own twist, so maybe it’s okay for Mozza to have their mayo and potato pizza, right? Wrong, absolutely wrong. Just like the travesty of putting Philadelphia cheese in sushi (this rant will be for another time), mayo and potatoes pizza is the kind of fusion that should never, ever exist in the first place.

But everyone has their own pref-

“

JURIN K. FLORES Deputy Viewpoint Editor

Reflecting on Notre Dame Out of the flames, there is hope MAX WALLER Former Viewpoint Editor Last week, at the beginning of Holy Week, Notre Dame caught fire, destroying a centuries-old roof made of trees so tall that they are irreplaceable, and causing the cathedral’s famous spire to fall like a candle to the ground below. The photos of the fire will no doubt become famous, like those of St Paul’s Cathedral rising out of the Blitz, but out of this tragedy, there is hope.

The roof of the cathedral may have perished in the fire, as did the spire, but fires are part of the risk faced by ancient buildings. Windsor Castle caught fire in 1992, and St Andrews Cathedral was damaged by fire in 1378, before John Knox and his acolytes, after a powerful sermon, went from Trinity Church on South Street to the Cathedral and desecrated it in 1559.

St Andrews Cathedral, it seems safe to say, is not going to be rebuilt. Notre Dame, however, will be restored. With a billion Euros and counting pledged by billionaires and wealthy companies at the time of writing, money will be no object.

On the day when, according to the gospels, Jesus cleansed the temple of merchants and bankers; on the day, roughly two thousand years later, when Macron was due to give a speech to address the Yellow Vest movement’s concerns about rising inequality, Notre Dame caught fire, only then for millions to be donated

to rebuild the cathedral.

The yellow vests are, understandably perhaps, put out by this development, demanding that Macron tax the rich,.something he has refused to do.

Meanwhile, in London, the Extinction Rebellion, supported

by Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, brought the city to a standstill, making the demand that the United Kingdom should aim to have zero carbon emissions by 2025.

This came to prominence when the movements official spokesman Robin Boardman-Pattison walked out of a Sky News studio after accusations that the “rebellion” was run by “incompetent, middle class, self-indulgent people.”

All this in a week when, according to the religion that Notre Dame was built to celebrate, Christ was crucified, and came back from the dead.

The yellow vests methods have been effective and have imperilled Macron’s presidency.

The extinction rebellion turned itself into a joke when its spokesman was unable to handle criticism. But at the heart of all of this, there is a similar theme of hope.

Hope that Macron will address the concerns about rising inequality, hope that Parliament, despite its members being dispersed back to their constituencies, will hear the protesters in Parliament Square calling for action to be taken on behalf of the environment, and hope that Notre Dame’s spire will rise and once again grace the skyline of Paris.

The Saintbut butare areindividual individualopinions. opinions.

Theviews viewsexpressed expressedininViewpoint Viewpoint do not represent the views of The Saint

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

VIEWPOINT

13

Lammy was right to call out our ‘white saviour’ narratives They only serve to perpetuate backward, colonial attitudes MARIANNA PANTELI There are many debates on Twitter.

Most are stupid because, as soon as we cast a gaze on that infamous little blue bird, we revert to toddler-hood and began randomly smashing our keyboards. Yet every now and again, I find Twitter giving me a cause to do some serious reflecting and this happened recently. A Twitter storm broke out when Labour MP David Lammy criticized much loved documentarian Stacey Dooley for a series of Instagram posts shared after a Comic Relief trip to Uganda. Lammy says that the photos, of Dooley with a bewildered looking Ugandan child, were emblematic of a wider problem with comic relief’s media output. Lammy argues that this propagates a white savior narrative. He is correct to bring this to our attention. I also believe that this raises larger questions about how we conduct debate and discussion and the importance of nuance.

‘White savior’ narratives in a charity’s publicity, in this case Comic Relief, fuel a colonist attitude of the advanced European going to help the hopeless rest of the world who can’t help themselves. This is what

the stalwart Comic Relief segment of sending celebrities out to countries in Africa, and all of the associated media output, plays on. It is a narrative where the celebrity has the voice and the people they have gone to help remain passive. After over 30 years of existence, Comic Relief needs to progress from this old trope. Comic Relief should give some of their very privileged access to the BBC to let people tell their own stories. The stories of how the charity helps areas of the continent could easily be told by, as Lammy notes, “the hundreds of African comedians, filmmakers, celebrities, and everyday people who live on the continent”. The solution is fairly simple, they need some new storytellers. David Lammy tweeted “I want African people to speak for themselves, not UK celebs acting as tour guides”.

These segments may be carried out with good intentions, but they are still harmful. It shows Britain’s ignorance of its history of imposing its narrative on other countries. Also, it is just lazy.

It would not be difficult for Comic Relief to shake up this tired format, get people to tell their own stories, and inject some life into their media output.

As a public service broad-caster the

BBC should feel a moral duty to not allow for African voices to be ignored in this way. They should also feel a duty to educate the people it serves.

I would feel more served by the information I would glean from stories by people telling their own stories, information they are well versed in, than I currently do from harrowing tales that pull on my heartstrings. These segments make me feel sad; of course they do, I’m not a monster. However, my ignorance and my misconceptions are not challenged. In many ways, these Comic Relief segments are safe because they do not make someone like me, a white British person, feel any discomfort at the role Britain has played or continues to play on the world stage. I am not made to learn anything about African countries that challenges stereotypes. I can just donate money, pat myself on the back, and bask in the glow of what an amazing person I am. The BBC and Comic Relief should and can easily do better than this. David Lammy has not merely criticized them but shown them, through his various tweets, the direction Comic Relief should go in.

Lammy as the MP for Tottenham is right to call out Comic Relief because his job title requires that he has a duty

to represent his constituents. If he believes his constituents have grievances with Comic Relief’s media output, as he says they do, then he is only doing his job by addressing it. Given its place, on the BBC, Comic Relief shares this duty.

Many commentators found it objectionable that he targeted Stacey Dooley. Dooley has dedicated her work to bringing a voice to the unheard. She seems like a genuinely good person and there seems to be a pandemic of bad people on our screens big and small at the moment.

I sympathise with the frustrated sighs of exasperated commentators thinking don’t start on one of the good ones, look at all these bad ones.

However, Lammy did not level any personal attack at Dooley. She is clearly not a bad person. We are all caught up in this paradigm when it comes to charity and Lammy pointing this out is not egregious.

Lammy himself tweeted that on the ground Comic Relief do amazing work. He is merely encouraging that the face of the charity, what we see on TV and social media, to do better in doing away with these worn out harmful narratives. The claim that this could lead to fewer donations is a

slippery slope.

There is no evidence to suggest that this is the case and David Lammy is not telling people what to do with their money. It is certainly not a reason to prevent a conversation from happening.

And this is what I come to finally, because despite all of Twitter’s flaws and reductive arguments, a tweet by a politician has sparked a conversation about race, agency and story-telling.

After clearing away the irrelevant dust particles of some of the more ridiculous and defensive comments Lammy has received, I have found myself more informed.

From both sides of the debate I have learnt more about the economies and social issues of different countries in Africa and how they represented.

The key here is something that is so often missing in public debate, and according to whoever marked it, my last philosophy essay, which is nuance and considered discussion.

I hope now the storm has died down that there will be space for the issues David Lammy has raised to remain in civilized public discourse.

I hope Comic Relief does not forge blindly on when the capacity for positive change is in their fingertips.

FEATURES

Features Editor: Catriona Aitken Deputy Editors: Siobhan Ali, Alice Bessonova, Angus Neale @saint_features

thesaint-online.com/features

Overseas Series: Maya Moritz When you go to Canada, you expect to watch hockey, eat beaver tails, and see Niagara Falls. Maybe you do that, or maybe you take part in a Star Wars lightsaber battle, join a car rave during Nuit Blanche, and watch French horror films in class. Along the way, you introduce two people you met at different events. Those two people become friends and hang out. Before you know it, the friend group you wanted so badly is losing thrift shop fake fur coats at Halloween dances, visiting each other’s universities, meeting for birthday mezcal, and spending so much time making fun of each other’s accents that you pick up a few words.

“

pressure to impress and more of a chance to be yourself

I didn’t imagine any of these events happening when I was applying to study abroad in St Andrews.

Despite how commonplace studying abroad seems to be, leaving your university is a daunting concept. You are in St Andrews for four short years, yet I and many other students choose to spend a quarter of that time somewhere else. Before I left for a whole year, I worried whether I’d find committee positions or research opportunities for my resume, if I’d miss important classes, even if my friendships would be the same. That’s not to mention the fears that come with living in a strange place after you’ve just become accustomed to St Andrews. All these anxieties surrounded my time abroad, but none of them stopped that year from being the best year of my life.

I thought my year abroad would be a year at home. When I applied, the School of Economics only had study abroad options in North America.

After living with Scottish students for two years and seeing them go home for a weekend or having friends come visit, I was looking forward to spending some time near my family in America. Imagine my surprise when the option that came through was the University of Toronto, seven hours away.

The months after my acceptance did little to allay my fears. My future

school was nicknamed “U of Tears” because of its difficulty, the winters would show me what actual cold meant, and a confusion about a housing form led me to a search for private housing in a city I’ve never visited.

I was unreasonably nervous when we packed up a car to take the drive from New Jersey to Toronto. Most of my fears surrounded my social life.

Toronto wasn’t St Andrews, where most people around you at least go to the same university. Toronto was a city, filled with busy people who were more interested in getting to work quickly than making friends or helping you get to class.

That first month in Toronto was a culture shock. I walked through a student club fair with a cheerleading team and a club for every religion, nationality, and interest. My room in a stranger’s basement was 40 minutes from my classes, but I hardly spent any time there. The Toronto Film Festival began, and I waited in line to see every movie. I saw Brie Larson present Unicorn Store and was too busy sobbing through First They Killed My Father to care that the director, Angelina Jolie, hadn’t made an appearance. I went to every event for international students, but never spoke to the same person twice. There were so many of us, spread over three campuses. There were two other St Andrews students in Toronto who I didn’t meet for months. The city was that big and my concern was growing.

In late September, things began to fall into place. Classes were demanding from the outset, some with weekly assignments. Coming from St Andrew’s usual setup of two exams and an essay per class, the work was overwhelming at first. Sometimes, it felt like high school more than college, as professors gave me assignments to make sure I was doing my readings.

My research on classes hadn’t been enough to stop me from taking Game Theory and struggling throughout, but I was at least finally able to navigate public transport.

One Wednesday, a German exchange student asked on the study abroad group chat if anyone wanted to go to the AGO, a small art gallery with rotating exhibits. We’d all gone the week before, but it’s hard to appreciate oil paintings when you’re struggling to remember anyone’s name or even what country they’re from. I nearly missed the meeting because of my continuing struggle to understand geography, but we did meet up and managed to discuss our confusion about some of the art. A security guard pointed out the creepiest sculptures in the museum to us and, by total luck, I left the museum with my future best friend.

“The first

month in Toronto was a culture shock

“

“You have less

Out of convenience, I began to combine my acquaintances. My German friend met my Australian friend when I decided last minute to catch the opera instead of the hockey game. A French friend brought her Dutch friend to drinks on the German friend’s porch. Over sushi burritos, one of the workers heard me mention summer camp and joined the conversation. She became our Canadian friend. By the time first semester ended and most of the group needed to return to their home countries, I’d made friends I appreciated more than some of the relationships I’ve had my whole life. Knowing people for such

a short time in such an experimental, exciting part of your life leads to honesty and freedom. You have less pressure to impress and more chances to be yourself and, if you can’t do that, to find yourself.

My concerns about my social life also turned out to be the least of my worries. It turns out “U of Tears” was pretty apt. On a campus with 80,000 students, you can get lost in your busy schedule of five classes a semester. But having so many classes to choose from meant that I was able to finally specialise in my classes. I applied for research projects and took classes on economic history, the roundabout logic of economic law, and the economics of slavery. I read studies for classes and discovered that the author was my professor. I even managed to take courses on the Vikings and horror film. For my film class, I was so invested in my essay about vegetarianism in horror that I tried to publish it. At the same time, some classes blindsided me with their difficulty and workload. For my naïve lack of research into professors, I was lucky to take as many amazing classes as I did.

Second semester, the whirlwind of social and cultural events subsided.

Toronto’s winters are cruel. I walked bent over with the top of my head to the wind because the snow and ice hurt my face so much. Socialising became rare as it was painful to even walk to class. I luckily still had my Canadian and German friend, now my boyfriend, to keep me company when the weather was so cold that you’d pay the high fee to go one stop on the streetcar.

Second semester was also when I began to meet full time students. With less people coming to study abroad, we reached out to people in our classes. The highlight was a trip to the north of Ontario through the university. Four hours away, we stayed with a host family. I felt like the boring American surrounded by students from every continent, but the culture up north was just as strange to me as it was to my fellow foreign students. We rolled maple syrup in ice, made indigenous bread on a stick, snowshoed, and cross country skied. When each student gave presentations about their home country, I didn’t even know which one to choose. I ended up telling jokes about whiskey despite never drinking any myself.

Afterwards, I was shown up by African dances and Taiwanese lessons.

When May came, I realized that I hadn’t gone home much more than I had when in St Andrews. When I did go home, it was to show my friends New York and introduce my family to them. My nerves came again when I thought about going back

to St Andrews. I applied to do a thesis and be on At Home and Abroad Society committee, to return to my old life. I wondered if my friends would be the same, if seeing them would be different. I hadn’t even considered

“

I thought Toronto would only be a year, but it was so much more

“

MAYA MORITZ

that I may have changed.

According to friends, I have changed. I’m more keenly aware of what I want to do and know how many responsibilities I can handle. I try to pursue social, cultural, and academic opportunities rather than agonize over their pros and cons. I grew up while in Toronto, surrounded by Danish students who had seen the world and students from Singapore who were already starting businesses.

I saw that college wasn’t just a race to a job and now hope to pursue a master’s degree to work in a field I’m passionate about. My original plan had been to use my year abroad as a break from St Andrews, to experience something new and then come back to my job pursuit. Instead, I brought Toronto back with me. I changed my life plan, still talk to my Toronto friend group, and am still with my friend from the AGO. I thought Toronto would only be a year, but it turned out to be so much more.

Photos: Maya Moritz

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

feATURES

The Misery Mentality

is not a character flaw, it’s a human flaw

“

You’re lost. You walk to Pret while being serenaded by the prog rock (depending on who you ask) anthem Wish You Were Here; the truth is that you listen to Pink Floyd to mask the insecure realisation that you’re vacuum, absent of even a modicum of culture or inspiration. Since you have the IQ of a mollusc and are embarrassingly impressionable, one line chimes with you so much that you think it was written just for you – the song You’re so Vain would be far more fitting. “We’re just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl” - you breeze over the implication of the pronoun “we” and decide you’re in the depths of an existential crisis. In reality you have the depth of puddle and no capacity to feel the raw emotion that produces true art. Then your idol, who provokes so much jealousy, announces that they’re having a crisis too. How dare they? They have it all figured out. You cannot help but blurt out your own woes too.

Unbeknownst to you, your nemesis shares the same opinion, but directed back at you. Your adversary thinks, “How can they complain?

They have it all figured out! I’d pay for that brain! Their nuanced understanding of Shaun the Sheep.”

When you were younger, what did you desire? For many of us, it was to be older, wiser, and have more freedom. Yes, such freedom was burdened with responsibilities but at the end of the day you had power over oneself. When 17, for many in the UK,

Illustration: Marianna Panteli

“Boredom

num, there is no improvement in emotional wellbeing. Below this threshold, increasing wealth demonstrated a diminishing improvement. Yes, money helps, but only to a degree.

Hedonic Adaptation, or the

“With

meaning, one can survive anything

Hedonic Treadmill, refers to the human tendency of habituation to new circumstances, often reverting to a stable, set point of happiness or unhappiness. The theory is a classic piece of pop psych, but ultimately worth discussing as it is an idea you can apply to day-to-day life. Many live according to the maxim “When I have ‘X’ I will be happy”, such as a new career or material possession. In St Andrews, it may be when a deadline has passed, that final exam, when I get that elusive internship, or when the holidays come and you can flee from the bubble. Michael Eysenck, a British psychologist likened the concept to a treadmill: no matter what you do in the pursuit of happiness, you return to the same spot, yet, at the same time, you still need to work to maintain this level of happiness.

The Adaptation originally served

to protect and enhance perception by avoiding complacency; yes, the weather might be lovely, but you’re a Palaeolithic human and everything is out there to kill you.

This aspect of the human condition, a biological adaptation to keep us alive, now appears to be a curse.

It is suggested that such a setpoint is a moderately heritable characteristic, with the researcher Sonja Luyubomirsky suggesting that if you drift towards sadness, there is little you can do about it. It’s a sting against your life. Fortunately, it does also allow us to adapt to negative events.

The same study on lottery winners looked at accident victims who faced life changing disabilities; these individuals returned to a level of happiness close to their hedonic set point.

So how do you break from the Hedonic treadmill? Unfortunately, you can’t. Potentially in the future, genetic technology such as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) may be used to edit this pain of an inhibition out of our genome; lifelong bliss could be normal, but for now you’re stuck. As much as you reinvent yourself your happiness will wane.

Unless you can reinvent yourself as infinitum, there’s little you can do.

Boredom is not a character flaw, it’s a human flaw. So, when you ask how a certain person can be depressed, realise that someone less fortunate than you is positing the exact same question, but about you.

Today we do not measure success as survival. When ambling down Market Street there are few predators which threaten to maul you to death. When you return home, you have access to safe drinking water, something more than 2.1 billion people lack. Since our lives are so simple,

with less time devoted to not dying, is there a formula for our happiness?

Firstly, you can break from routine, whether it be changing your commute, breakfast, or something more drastic. Lyumbomirsky also noted that indulging in smaller pleasures can be more effective than bigger luxuries - a short city break as opposed to a grand tour of the continent (American students take heed).

Generosity is also a good start. One study where subjects were given a sum of money found that those who spent it on others rather than themselves felt happier. Finally, experiences, not material things, have a longer lasting impact on our happiness.

However, these behaviours are ultimately limited, and often dependent on money.

One critical thing you can do is give up the search for happiness entirely. Instead, do as Harvard Lecturer

“

Is there a formula for our happiness?

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Some people are miserable gits and in your sanctimonious opinion they have no right to be. These admirably subtle and charismatic angels have socio-economic backgrounds to die for, astonishing career prospects, strong and stable relationships built on firmer foundations than any religion or nation state, blistering degrees of intelligence and wisdom, and four handsome Irish Wolfhounds. Four of them! Meanwhile, you have just come to the realisation that for two thirds of the lecture you were staring blankly into the middle distance, contemplating how formative Shaun the Sheep has been on your world view.

You panic. You’re not Will Hunting or a contemporary Bard. What is this equation? Is this even English? How can a word have so many syllables?

it was driving and, in your late teens, the shift to living at university. But oh how the charm wore off. Do we wake up every day, conscious of the fact we drive anywhere we want, use our passport to travel the world, or rock up to a shop and legally buy alcohol?

No, we get used to it. But you may say, what about responsibility, the paralysis of choice – how can you decide on anything when there’s so much range; surely, we don’t appreciate our freedoms because we have more to worry about? Working to survive, provide, and retire just to desperately spend what little money you have on Saga holidays out of hatred for the Grandchildren – I jest.

Thankfully, you’ve just won the lottery; you needn’t worry about the complexities of existence, you have what really matters, the master key.

That house, Ferrari, or £1,760 Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians to each their own - is yours. However, a 1978 study of 22 lottery winners suggested that this won’t make you particularly cheerful.

Naturally, the winners were happier, rating their happiness as a 4 on a 1-5 scale.

However, the control group averaged a 3.82, only closely behind. The winners also reported deriving less enjoyment from “mundane pleasures”, with some of the subjects ending up unhappier than they had been before.

Though the sample size could be seen to be Wakefield-esque small, further studies did come to similar conclusions. A quick aside, in some instances the upheaval of a lottery win results in fissures in families, people often squandering wealth (70 per cent in the USA who receive a sudden windfall), murder, and suicide. But what about being “quite” wealthy?

One Princeton study suggested that, above an income of $75,000 per an-

“

ANGUS NEALE Deputy Features Editor

15

Tal Ben-Shahar suggested: look for meaning. In the second part of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, an account of his observations whilst in a Nazi concentration camps, he outlines his theory of logotherapy.

He concluded that our main motivation in life is to find meaning, even in the most miserable of circumstances.

Frankl defined the emptiness we feel in our life of routine and boredom as the existential vacuum, something that can be satiated with meaning.

Unfortunately, meaning is elusive as it is entirely individual, something you must discover yourself. However, unlike happiness, meaning does not tend to wane and is itself a source of joy. Frankl believed that this meaning can be created through work or a deed, experiencing something or encountering someone, or through taking a specific attitude.

With meaning one can survive anything. In the crassest novel I used in my UCAS personal statement, Tropic of Cancer, notoriously banned under US obscenity laws in the 1960s, the semi-autobiographical narrator states: “I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”

Henry Miller found meaning in his life.

Stop complaining when someone is unhappy despite having “everything”, because what you see as “everything” may not be meaningful for them. People have their hedonic set point and there is little you can do about it. Enjoy the simple pleasures. Don’t look for happiness, look for meaning.

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25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

FEATURES

Pack up your troubles with Local Student Storage CATRIONA AITKEN Features Editor It’s been an excellent year for student entrepreneurs. Within The Saint alone, we have explored countless stories of successful student start-ups hitting the high streets and online markets, winning awards, and offering much welcomed services for students and locals alike.

Local Student Storage are one particularly notable student led venture which hit the ground running in 2015, and have since gone from strength to strength.

We are reaching that time of the semester when, in amongst the frantic stress of submitting those last few deadlines and getting your head down in time for exams, the last thing we need is the added concern of what on earth we are going to do with the seeming mountain of belongings we have accumulated over the academic year. And while I think I have it bad (seriously regretting the three-year continuous rental which must be packed into a measly Renault Clio), St Andrews’ considerable population of international students makes this

an issue faced more commonly than might be obvious.

“My suitcase isn’t big enough!

Where can I buy boxes? How much is it going to cost me to find a safe home for my non-essentials while I spend the summer far away, where the sun shines and I’m not constantly reminded of my semester stress?”

The search for suitable, safe storage space to let from a reputable company without breaking the bank – at a time when, let’s be honest, no one has any student finance left – can seem like one more thing on the todo list that will inevitably be a mad dash, last minute fix kind of situation (you won’t always be lucky enough to track down that extremely rare breed of student friend who has a summer lease and space to spare).

In light of this problem, Local Student Storage emerged as a solution, designed for students by students. The business idea came out of the unfortunate anecdotes of friends and peers, who had had their belongings mistreated, or were grossly overcharged for the privilege of a warehouse shelf. Items reside in their Cupar renting facility, and space is allocated generously, to avoid any mix-

dents to over 300 St Andrews students ups or mishaps. each Summer,” said Mr Bremner.

“We are a student-led storage Success rates have meant that the company that was set up with the student-founded comaim of providing an afpany has been able to fordable and personable broaden their scope, service for students that taking their initial idea either aren’t able or don’t and setting up shop in want to take all of their both Edinburgh and belongings home over Durham, where dethe Summer months”, mand is similar.

Director Harry Bremner told The If the slashed price-tag Saint. “We provide boxes for you to and ultimate convenience pack your items into, we then don’t swing it for you, return to collect your items, you may be instore them o v e r terested the Summer, to hear and reof Local turn them Student right to y o u r Storage’s d o o r new initiawhen you tive, which get back to Illu st looks to posiuniversity!”. ra tio tively contribute Since its n; Re early days, Local to the local comub munity, and address Student Storage have en growing concerns of taken off as a popular M or wastefulness, which will be choice among St Andrews ri strialled for Summer 2019. students: “Local Student D ye “We often find that students Storage has grown from a comr don’t use all of the boxes that they pany catering for 17 St Andrews stu-

order from us, and that many students throw out a large amount of clothes and other items when they leave town,” explained Mr Bremner.

“As such, we’re going to be piloting a new project this summer where we will be encouraging students to fill up any unused boxes with spare clothes or unwanted items, which we will collect for free and donate to the local homeless shelter.”

This fresh idea appears to kill several birds with one stone: the identified wastage problem gains a practical solution; the ‘spring clean’ clear-out benefits those who need it; and students can do a charitable deed, while also avoiding paying to store the things that will only meet their inevitable fate of the back of the wardrobe come September.

Booking with Local Student Storage now equates to supporting student enterprise, the environment, a very worthy charitable cause, your bank balance, and your sanity. At exactly the right time of year.

Local Student Storage can be found on Facebook or at: www.localstudentstorage.com Students are advised to book early to avoid disappointment.

Wake up and smell the KeepCup Amid the climate change strikes taking place and the headlines warning against the eminent threat of plastic, there is a university student staple that is a major contributing factor to the issue of waste production: coffee.

There is an unusually high proportion of institutions serving coffee in St Andrews in order the meet the admittedly humongous demand.

“Headlines

“

warn against the eminent threat of plastic

On Market Street alone, there are six: Rector’s, Mitchell’s, Gregg’s, Preta-Manger, Starbucks and Costa Coffee and, for those looking for a quicker coffee caffeine fix, there are three Costa Expresses located in Tesco, Morrisons and the Shell station.

Most coffees are taken away in disposable cups, and a vast majority of disposable cups are not recycled. The lack of recycling is partially due to the mixed composition of paper and plastic that gives the coffee cup its recyclability mystique. Many coffee companies that like to perpetuate an environmentally conscious persona have taken steps to reduce their waste production.

Costa Coffee promotes a recycling initiative for its cups. Costa cups are composed of a mixture of a paper outside lined with a thin inner lining of plastic to preserve the warmth of the beverage and keep the cup water proof. Costa branches also have recycling collection points in store.

However, this initiative is impractical as Costa offers ceramic cups for sit-in customers, and takeaway coffee is taken elsewhere and likely thrown away at the drinker’s convenience.

Pret also boasts of sustainable practices, citing its goal to have 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging and eliminate all unnecessary single-use plastic, including replacing plastic straws with paper ones. However, due to parallels with Costa initiatives, the same issues that Costa’s plan faces arise with Pret.

Even if recyclable cups are indeed disposed of into the recycling bin, it may not actually be recycled if not processed correctly. The reality of compostable cups is even worse. They need moisture, oxygen and bacteria to breakdown, conditions that are

not met in the average landfill. And if recycled, biodegradable plastics contaminate the recycling loop, making it unusable for manufacturing.

Instead of promoting what is seen as more eco-friendly materials for their disposable cups, Starbucks has instead introduced a 5 pence disposable cup surcharge to encourage customers to bring their own cups, modelled after the successful introduction of charging consumers for the purchase of grocery bags. However,

Illustration; Lucy Robb

some argue that this fee is negligible and not substantial enough to curtail the use of disposable cups. Several MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee are calling for 25 pence charge for disposable cups in order to reduce waste, which was faced with strong opposition by the people who believed that the responsibility should fall on the companies and not the consumer. Those opposed to raising the disposable cup charge argue against the increase by stating that increasing the charge will not incentivise consumers to start using reusable cups, as the convenience of being able to purchase a drink in a single-use cup and then throw it away is perceived worth the nominal charge.

No matter what legislation is passed regarding reusable cups, there is no better time than now to start using a reusable cup. Even for those who are indifferent to reducing their waste production, those disposable cup fees and reusable cup discounts add up, making a reusable cup a pragmatic investment.

A tall latte at Starbucks costs £2.75, and the difference between a £2.80 latte versus a £2.75 is not drastic enough to create an incentive for bringing a reusable cup.

Even for those who do not identify as environmentally conscious, reusable coffee cups are a sensible fiscal investment. Starbucks sells a reusable cup, starting at a reasonably price of one pound. And with its 25 pence discount on drinks with a reusable cup,

it takes less than four drinks for you to get your money’s worth. For regular consumers of coffee, this is a worthwhile investment.

Costa also offers a 25 pence discount on drinks with a reusable cup, with Costa cups priced at three pounds, or 12 coffees. Pret offers the most generous discount, with 50 pence off drinks with a reusable cup.

Pret’s cup, however, is significantly more expensive than Starbucks’ and Costa’s, at ten pounds. Gregg’s also offers 20 pence off with a reusable cup, and a free drink with the purchase of a two pound Gregg’s cup.

“

Reusable cups are a sensible fiscal investment

“

ABBY LI

Whatever motivates you to start using a reusable cup, whether it is your environmental conscience or your wallet, it is time to wake up and smell the KeepCup coffee.

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

feATURES

17

Women in Maths

School President Kamilla Rekvényi

dote that Jessie MacWilliams, was in fact an incredibly talented woman mathematician. To me, this confirms that the typical image of a ‘mathematician’ is painted as a picture of a man. The stereotype influenced even me, another woman mathematician, to picture a mathematician as a man whenever I hear a new name.”

“The problem is not that role models in the field do not exist

Some students also noted the lack of female role models in mathematics, which contributes to the disparity.

Everyone knows how important role models are for children and teenagers, especially when they start thinking about their plans for the future.

“Mathematics can be wonderful, as it has so many applications and I think these should be shown to students at a young age. However, most girls simply don’t consider it, as they often do not know any female mathematicians,” highlighted fifth-year student Ellen Drexler. Fifth-year student Clara Henry extends the lack of female role models beyond mathematics to encompass all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. “The lack of female representation is a problem across all STEM subjects. Girls and young women often get the impression that it isn’t ‘normal’ to pursue a career in STEM because of the shortage of female role models in these areas. Personally, I have missed out on several opportunities in male-dominated subjects at school because I was either discouraged from partaking or felt out of place,” she said.

When I asked St Andrews maths students about their own role models, they quickly came up with many names. Third-year student Kathleen Pitches, along with others, listed Sophie Germain as one of their inspirations in the field. “She was a self-

Photos: Alice Bessonova taught mathematician of the 18th century and wrote to her contemporaries under a male pseudonym. She gained the respect of Lagrange, Legendre, and Gauss alike. She faced many obstacles because of her gender, but it didn’t stop her from learning and excelling in the subject and making significant contributions to the fields of number theory and elasticity theory,” declared Ms Pitches.

Thus, the problem is not that role models in the field do not exist.

However, the deeply rooted stereotypes, along with the underrepresentation of these figures in the media, history books and general knowledge can cause a vicious cycle which can perpetuate the lack of women in STEM fields. Having hardly any women maths and science role models can dissuade girls from taking part in those careers, which will consequently leave a lack of role models for the generation that follows.

However, it must be noted that the disparities in university-level mathematics are not uniform. “I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never felt out of place within the mathematics community because of my gender. There’s a fairly even split between male and female undergraduate mathematics students here at the University of St Andrews and I haven’t experienced any direct sexism” stated Ms Henry, while highlighting that indirect sexism and subconscious bias are a lot more difficult to identify. However, she added, “St Andrews is an exception in this regard as most other universities have a far greater gender imbalance.” On the other hand, Ms Rekvényi recalled more pronounced disparities during her past two summers while doing mathematical research at the University. “Both summers, when I did research in pure math, I was the only woman,” she observed. “I enjoyed the uniqueness most of the time, but I did receive a quite unsettling comment: someone told me that he thought that analysis wasn’t for me and that I should maybe try combinatorics instead, because ‘girls are usually better at that’.”

Thus, what can be done to change the status quo – and bring more women into mathematics, and STEM fields in general? On the academic side, Ms Rekvényi believes that “creating more research grant options specifically for women mathematicians would

be amazing, as seeing smart women succeeding in mathematics would inspire young girls to step into their footsteps.”

Additionally, “Teachers should be trained to create a more equal environment in the classroom and to leave aside any biases they have. Young people should be encouraged to take subjects that align with their abilities and interests, regardless of their gender. As well as this, more girls could be encouraged to pursue a career in STEM by making them more aware of women in the field who can act as role models. Personally, I think this would have helped me make a more informed decision when choosing a career path.” emphasised Ms Henry.

“

Disparities in university level Mathematics are not uniform

“

How often have you heard the recurring stereotype that mathematics is for boys, and not for girls? That boys are faster at maths? That boys are good at maths and girls are good at reading?

That studying maths is difficult for girls? Although nowadays such stereotypes may seem outdated, a study by the University of Washington found that these stereotypes resulted in children applying it to themselves, and made many boys identify themselves with maths, while girls did not.

The gender gap in maths achievement has been widely studied since the 1960s. Since then, the idea that girls are innately worse at maths than boys has been scientifically debunked. However, the gender disparity in quantitative fields remains significant and grows from high school to university. In university-based mathematical research, it is even more pronounced: from 2014 to 2015, data from the London Mathematical Society showed that although 40 per cent of UK mathematics undergraduates were female, only 9 per cent of UK mathematics professors were female. Historically, although women had been able to achieve notability in mathematics for centuries, as demonstrated by distinguished mathemat-

ical figures such as Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Emilie du Châtelet or Sophie Germain, the field remained largely closed to women prior to the twentieth century. Since then, progress has been achieved, albeit at a slow pace.

For instance, in 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani was honoured with the Fields Medal, while in 2019, Karen Uhlenbeck won the Abel Prize. Both were the first and only women to win each prize, which are among the most prestigious awards in mathematics.

Yet, women still encounter recurrent obstacles in the field, stemming mostly from these deeply embedded cultural attitudes.

Inspired by Kamilla Rekvényi, School President of Mathematics and Statistics and fifth-year student at the University of St Andrews, I turned to some St Andrews students who study mathematics to inquire about the various aspects of how it feels to be a woman in such a male-dominated field.

What do you imagine when you picture a mathematician? Chances are that if the first image that comes to your mind is one of a man, certain stereotypes do prevail. On that topic, Ms Rekvényi recalls, “Last year, we learned a very substantial theorem called the MacWilliams Theorem. I immediately imagined MacWilliams to be a man and was stunned to find out from my professor’s anec-

“

ALICE BESSONOVA Deputy Features Editor

However, these academic changes will only be effective if changes are made within society itself, starting with teaching people to not perceive mathematics as a male subject. In Ms Pitches’ opinion, “the non-gendering of children’s hobbies and interests will go some way in allowing girls to foster an interest in Maths and STEM subjects without them wondering if it’s the ‘done’ thing to do.” It is undeniable that progress has been made when it comes to including women in mathematics. “Even though there is still a glass ceiling to be broken, this is a fascinating time for us female mathematicians as we get to witness huge successes of women in the field,” declared Ms Rekvényi. However, determination and active engagement are required to change the culture as a whole, along with many embedded stereotypes. The same phenomenon occurs in many subjects and walks of life – not just mathematics.

Photos thesaint-online.com/photos

Photography Editor: Samantha Chinomona Deputy Editors: Sammi Ciardi and Emily Silk @saint_photos

Youth Strike for Climate On April 12th Town and Gown united to protest the lack of action regarding climate change.

Annie Pritchett-Brown On Friday 12th April, Students from local schools and the University of St Andrews gathered together in protest as part of the Youth Strike for Climate. Banners read slogans such as “Tick Tock Climate Change Won’t Stop” and “Global Warming is Not Cool”, with the aim to spur governments across the globe into change.

After meeting in St Salvator’s Quad, the group marched out into the streets of St Andrews shouting “Who’s future? Our future.” and “What do we want? Action! When do we want it? Now!”. Tourists and St Andrews inhabitants stopped on street corners to watch the procession of students flanked by policemen, some cheering them on, some even joining. Once back in St Salvator’s Quad, Stephen Gethins, the MP for Fife North East came to congratulate the protestors, encouraging them to “keep up the pressure”. Protests like these embody the fact that climate change will affect the futures of all of us, and only by having groups from all across the world protesting together can change be possible.

The protestors gathered on a street corner shouting their slogan “Who’s future? Our future!”

One last chant at the end of the protest in the middle of St Salvator’s Quad

25 April 2019· thesaint-online.com

A student waves his banner with the slogan “tick tock climate change won’t stop”

Photos

St Andrews’ MP Stephen Gethins congratulates the protestors on their dedication

Children from the local schools protested with homemade signs depicting our planet before and after climate change

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Events thesaint-online.com/sport

Events Editor: Alexandra Sicot-Koontz Deputy Editors: Meg Dyson, Stella Gage events@thesaint-online.com

@saint_events

DONT WALK 2019: a Phoenix from the Ashes Photography Editor

After the unfortunate cancellation of the planned event on 2 March due to unforeseeable extreme weather conditions, DONT WALK rose up unmistakably renewed and untouched from the inferno. While having an event almost a year in the making cancelled and reworked in a little over a month caused some furore on Facebook with several attendees seeking to sell their tickets, I applaud the DONT WALK committee for clearly using this time to ensure that they delivered an event to remember.

Unlike what could have occurred, the 20-minute journey from St Andrews to Bowhouse, the new location in St Monans, lent a lively air of anticipation to the experience, and after finally arriving at the venue, this anticipation transformed into an electric excitement that permeated through the entire space. Upon entry, attendees were greeted by an sweeping three-pronged catwalk that provided excellent views of the show no matter whether you were in

standard on the outside, a VIP guest placed in the center of the runway, or on the corporate terrace overlooking the space.

When the show began, the attendees and I were spellbound by the two ballet dancers that started off the show. From the start there was never a dull moment, with a large assortment of collections shown from contributors such as Vivienne Westwood, Maxime, and Environmentally Conscious Outfitters, a label dedicated to promoting sustainability in the fashion industry. While the catwalk saw outfits that ranged from streetwear to ankle-length red puffers, on the ground, the music had attendees dancing and cheering throughout the entire show, so much that one attendee even wondered if they could ask to have it turned into a Spotify playlist.

During the intermission and auction, I had a chance to explore the interesting venue further. In addition to the two bars placed on either side of the entrance, through a hall on the right side of the catwalk event-goers could choose from several food options including some delicious tapas.

The opening of the show’s second half featured red lighting and impeccable choreography that made it one of my favorite parts of the performance. As the night wore on the barriers between those on the runway and the audience wore down.

Fierce model faces transformed to smiles, a kind of lightheartedness I’ve come to to appreciate from DONT WALK. At the show’s conclusion, the models and the committee strutted out accompanied by an impressive show of pyrotechnics that the audience raved about long into the after party.

At the end of the show, one model, still exhilarated from the show’s energy, told me, “I was excited from before the moment the lights came up, and now that it’s over, I just want to do it all over again.” I agree with her, as I thoroughly enjoyed DONT WALK this year: the ensembles were stunning, the choreography was flawless, the models chic and sophisticated, and the lighting and music tied everything together to make a superb show and event I wished would never end.

Review: Bassment

Photo: Anna Kerr

If you’re searching for a way to diversify your nights out in St Andrews from the typical over-priced pablos and 2012 pop songs, look no further than Bassment. In the run-up to the dreaded deadline season, Bassment put on their biggest and last Vic event

of the year. For £3 a ticket, the event promised heavy bass and a boogie, and it’s safe to say the night delivered on both accounts.

As usual, the Vic was split into two rooms, with Room 2 featuring DJs from Wax Collective, and Room 1 occupied by Ziplock and chief selector Skillis. Both rooms were decked out with ASHA sound system speakers, smoke machines, and strobe lights,

Photo: Anna Kerr

NITYA AGARWAL Deputy Events Editor

transforming the Vic into the closest thing we have to a club up here.

Despite a slightly slow start, both rooms were packed with people by midnight, with not a bored face in sight.

Given that this was Bassment’s third event, it was impressive to see Skillis secured as the headliner. He’s performed with the likes of EZ and Wiley before, so it’s definitely promising to see that Bassment is able to bring bigger names up to this corner of Scotland.

Bassment was started by secondyear student Nathalie Nourry, who created it with the hopes of ‘bringing more musical diversity to St Andrews, specifically UK underground genres’.

Given the number of students piled into the Vic on the Tuesday night, Nathalie has clearly tapped into a high-in-demand market here.

Nathalie said to The Saint, "‘This event was definitely our best yet with our biggest line-up. The atmosphere was great and we only have bigger things planned for the future."

"We’re so happy with how we’ve grown this year and we’re so grateful for all the support we’ve received."

If this night was anything to go by, we can only expect bigger and better things next year.

Until then, you can follow Bassment on Instagram (_Bassment) and Facebook (Bassment), and keep an eye out for when they next pop-up on your feed and in the St Andrews music scene.

Photo: Samantha Chinomona

SAMANTHA CHINOMONA

North Haugh Ball

Diablo impresses with an amazing range of musical acts and great food MEGAN DYSON Deputy Events Editor I was super excited to get the opportunity to review this ball for many reasons — of course, as a standard St Andrews ball goes, the decoration was to a theme, it was at a lovely location, and there was free food. But the entertainment really made this event stand out — the committee did an amazing job nabbing some exciting acts, both new and old, making for a fun evening.

Having never been to the Spanish Gardens, it was nice to visit a different venue to the other hall balls this year, and the North Haugh Ball committee, made up of residents from Agnes Blackadder, Andrew Melville, and Powell Halls, definitely made the best use of the space available to them.

I admit I was a little concerned about the choice of Diablo as a theme — my first thought was that it was the completely wrong time of year and around 31 October would have been a better shout.

However, I was so pleasantly surprised — the committee did a great job with matching the decor to the theme and making the atmosphere all-immersive.

The dragon in the centre really

emphasised the theme and brought the whole tent together.

Although I didn’t try one of the special pablos — appropriately called Piablo — it was a good idea to have a themed pablo, which is so central to the St Andrews student culture.

The music was an absolute highlight — with such a wide range of musical acts and entertainment including a ceilidh, there was definitely something for everyone. Gok Wan, who definitely much better known by the Brits amongst us, was a hit with everyone and was a turning point in the evening for getting even more people onto the dance floor.

The Stickmen, who were a roaring success during Fresher’s Week this year, had an incredible set, building up to the climax of the evening. One thing all of the acts had in common was their ability to include the crowd, no matter if they knew the music or not, which made the evening all the livelier and more enjoyable.

Jannettas, as usual. was a huge success, with queues stretching one wall of the tent.

Combined with the amazing range of music acts, the ticket prices — especially for residents — were incredibly reasonable which is always a bonus.

I had a really fun evening, as I know many others did.

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

One of St Andrews’ staple events does things differently in 2019 ARCHIE BATRA When I was asked to review Sitara’s launch event all the way back in February, they impressed me so much that I felt comfortable recommending that, if you could only go to one St Andrews fashion show this year, you should make it Sitara’s. Their launch was professional, slick, and thoroughly enjoyable, with a welcoming atmosphere that meant it was almost impossible to not have a good time. I was therefore very grateful to be invited to review their actual fashion show.

I noticed they had elected to do things a little differently...

I immediately noticed that Sitara had elected to do things a little differently, as they had decided to host the show at Lochaber Farm, instead of using one of St Andrews’ more regular venues. Places like Lower College Lawn are tried and tested and, to my mind, represent a safe (if unoriginal) option that is hard to get wrong. I think Sitara must be commended for deviating from the established norm.

As Paula Akyol, Sitara’s Creative Director, explained, the Sitara 2019 committee wanted the show to be a “totally unique evening, surpassing previous years and representing a new phase” for Sitara, with Lochaber Farm providing a “new and un-

STELLA GAGE Deputy Events Editor

5

touched platform” for them to carry this out. I can’t help but admire Sitara’s desire to do something different, and to inject a little more variety into St Andrews’ nightlife. Take note, student fashionistas.

Clement Elliott, Sitara’s head of events, also explained that hosting the show at Lochaber Farm meant that they were not obliged to use bar staff employed by the Students’ Association, which enabled them to increase their profits and raise more money than they otherwise would have been able to for their chosen charities. Perhaps St Andrews’ other charitable fashion shows would like to follow their lead.

It was, however, a gamble. I noticed that the venue was a bit larger than what I was used to, and the rain did make the journey to the toilets somewhat perilous, but I can honestly say that I think it paid off.

Sitara certainly didn’t look or feel as crowded as some of its counterparts, but it did mean that I had space to breathe, talk, and actually look at what was going on. It also introduced a logistical challenge (that is, actually delivering your guests to the venue) that I think the committee handled incredibly well.

Buses were regular, frequent, and dropped guests all off 10 feet away from the entrance, which was enough for you to get a good earful of the bagpipes they had playing. Sitara set themselves a challenge, and they met it.

Regarding the fashion itself, I must concede my lack of expertise; I was incredibly confused when what I could only perceive to be pyjamas and anoraks started appearing on the catwalk. However, Paula very kindly explained that Sitara was showcasing the fact that fashion should be “engaging, loud and playful”, and that they were trying to “celebrate and promote Asian culture through contemporary fashion.” Paula elaborated, explaining that this year Sitara’s fashion team, headed by Mary Barber, had

secured over 30 designers that could effectively showcase Asian brands and cultures. Leona Kirk’s designs were instructive: they “fuse together Japanese cutting methods with visual motifs of skate culture, graffitti, and street art” that “re-energise modern male streetwear.” This is all Greek to me, of course, but I am nevertheless impressed.

I almost forgot that this event was entirely run by students And, even if the fashion wasn’t really my cup of tea, I could hardly deny that Sitara’s show had amazing choreography, brilliant organisation, and lots of novel quirks that made the evening that much more enjoyable. The VodkaLuge was great fun (they let me go back for seconds) and, after I had the good sense to keep my hand down, the auction was hilarious to watch. As Mr Elliott effortlessly glided across the stage and charmed guests into bidding, I almost forgot that events like these are entirely run by students. It was highly, highly professional, and I think the committee outdid themselves.

As I said at the beginning, if you can only go to one St Andrews fashion show (which is, let’s be honest, likely), I cannot recommend Sitara enough. It is a true staple of the St Andrews events scene, and to not go is to miss out.

Ensemble Révélé STELLA GAGE Deputy Events editor For those of you who have not yet heard of Ensemble or what the company offers, I will start by telling you a little bit about it. The company was founded by Margaux Woellner, a second year Psychology and English major who saw a gap in the market and decided she could do something about it. Inspired by Rent the Runway, she brought a similar concept to St Andrews. She believed that she could give women at the University access to cheaper event outfits by having people lend them to the company and then renting them out for low prices. Now, after less than a year of being established, the company boasts around 300 dresses in its collection. Ensemble is growing fast and was ready to make new developments, which was the reason behind their event Ensemble Révélé.

Ensemble’s event at The Adamson on Tuesday was to announce any progress, developments, and changes being made to the company moving forward. The event was well thought-out, and you could tell all of the organizers were very excited to make their announcement.

Unfortunately, the event was on the same night as the Jonny Wookey ice hockey game, which ran later than expected, so the turnout was not quite what Margaux had hoped for,

but the event was still well-attended and it ran smoothly nonetheless.

After giving everyone time to mingle, buy raffle tickets, and enjoy some themed drinks, it was time for Margaux’s presentation. In a passionate speech, Margaux thanked her team and everyone that has supported her throughout the process of starting her company, while also introducing new members of the team like Noemie Jouas. Noemie, who started a company of her own called Noé Dresses, makes clothes and she will begin making dresses for Ensemble that can then be rented out to people in St Andrews. This partnership is quite an exciting opportunity for the company because it means that they will be able to expand their collection as well as having pieces that are unique to their site.

Ensemble also underwent rebranding, streamlining the design of their logo and site. They also claimed the domain name ensembledresses, which was a big step from their old domain name that was long and not as memorable.

Overall, the event itself wasn’t incredibly innovative; it was like many other events that have been held at The Adamson in the past. However, it was the reason behind the event that made it worth attending. The fact that it was open to everyone, free, and was to announce developments in a pretty cool student-run company made it a special evening.

Photo: James Parker

Sitara: the show to see

Top 5 Events This Week

Szentek and Friends

4

TEDx St Andrews

3

Vic Dip

2

St Andrews Film Festival

1

Charity Polo Tournament

Monday, April 29

Saturday, April 27

Tuesday, April 30

Sunday, April 28

Saturday, April 27

Szentek's last event of the year will be compromised of two parts: an art show during the day at Barron followed by funky tunes and good vibes at Bew Co. North Street.

TEDx provideas a platform for individuals to share ideas worth spreading, and their conference in St Andrews allows us to benefit from the TEDx platform. The theme of this year's annual conmference is 'building bridges', which means that there will be a wide variety of speakers who will leave you feeling inspired.

Want somewhere warm to hang out before soaking yourself in the North Sea? Then VIC Dip is the place to be. After their sell-out event last year, they’re back and better than ever with beach bucket punch bowls, Janetta’s ice cream, glow sticks and leis. With tickets at only £4, this sounds like the perfect way to relax and re-energize before May Dip.

The event will be full of screenings, but also talks by industry professionals, culminating in the Award Ceremony where a jury will announce the nine winners of 2019. Whether you are a filmmaker, a film student, or you are simply into filmmaking and film, this event will be for you.

Not only is it a fun opportunity to watch your friends and peers play polo, but it also a chance to support a good cause. What more could you want out of an event than spending time in the sun, drink in hand, knowing it’s all supporting a charitable cause?

Arts & Culture

Editor: Olivia Hendren Deputy Editors: Annabel Steele, Marianna Pantelli, Gabrielle Holliday, Taylor Tee, Milo Farragher-Hanks, Iona Murphy @saint_arts

arts@thesaint-online.com

Illustration: Gabby Wolf

thesaint-online.com/reviews

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

Arts and culture

23

Novellas for a stress-free exam season IONA MURPHY Books Editor Exam season: The two dreaded words that seem to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue. It can be frustrating to be told to ‘take a productive break’ from studying, because let’s face it, no one really knows what that means. Maybe it’s watching an episode (or ten) of your favourite TV show. Maybe it’s listening to loud music. Maybe it’s reading. “But I don’t have time to read for pleasure” is the most common response to that suggestion. But trust me, there’s always time to read. Maybe not time to delve into the depths of War and Peace, but there’s always time for a novella. The beauty of novellas is that they’re quick reads whilst still having the depth and enjoyment levels of a regular novel. Novellas provide the perfect study break: stimulating and quick.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman: A

novella about a hysterical woman, but without the anti-woman undertones, The Yellow Wallpaper is a feminist masterpiece. The speaker suffers with a nervous depression which is worsened by her patronising husband, John. To relieve her anxious mind, the narrator keeps a journal, but being locked in a single room of her house leaves her very little to stimulate her creative juices. She keeps a journal for weeks, slowly depicted her mental decline, reflected through the omnipresent horrors within the yellow wallpapered prison.

longer novellas on the list at just over 100 pages, but it is well worth a read, perhaps even being my personal favourite on this list. Though this is supposed to be a list of quick reads, I myself spent far too long mulling over the few pages this novella offers.

There is so much to unpack in this story, and the cyclical nature and use of imagery is spectacular. If you don’t get too obsessive, then this is a quick read! On holiday with her husband, Edna Pontellier attempts to discover autonomy as a woman in a patriarchal society. Almost mirroring a coming-of-age story, this novella explores the struggle for identity when society restricts female movement. The drama of this story is intense: affairs, children, and a vast amount of pain.

This is far from a dull story. If you like nineteenth-century literature but feel it can be a bit of a drag to get through 400 pages of internal monologue, then this is the perfect read, capturing the essence of the late nineteenth-century literary movement in far less words.

Keep your eyes peeled for all the birds — it means something!

The Ice Palace by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I feel almost embar-

rassed recommending this novella, as I read it many years ago purely so I could say I had read more Fitzgerald than just The Great Gatsby. Whilst my motive to read this was somewhat pretentious, it was a surprisingly good read given that Fitzgerald himself is not a fan of the novella format! This story features the classic Fitzgerald stock character of the Southern belle with a Northern lover. A tale of cul-

tural conflict and prejudice, Sally’s friends are sceptical of her engagement to Harry, a man who isn’t from ‘round their parts’. The lovers visit an Ice Palace, where a series of hallucinations see cultural prejudice enter the unconscious and question the fabrics of relationships within a divided American culture.

Animal Farm by George Orwell: This is a well-known no-

vella, but that doesn’t stop it being a worthwhile read. An allegory for Soviet Russia, this story of a farmyard life is highly politicised. The new leading pigs begin a mission to turn Manor Farm into a paradise of equality. The animals are all assigned jobs, educated and live in this ‘utopia’. But as the story progresses, the utopia becomes a dystopia full of rules to keep everyone in line: equality, but only for the select few. The message behind the story is not subtle, but a fascinating read nonetheless.

Lady Susan by Jane Austen:

The forever-forgotten Austen story which deserves more credit than it gets, Lady Susan is a classic femme fatal, who has men falling at her feet despite the warnings from various women. She tries to marry off her sixteen-year-old daughter, Frederica, to a man whom she does not love, resulting in her running away.

Manipulating married men, single men, and her own daughter all for financial gain, it’s up to you to decide whether you love of loathe Susan.

Entrepreneur or selfish? Can this even be considered manipulation if Lady Susan is doing all she can as a woman living in a patriarchal society, which leaves her with nothing following her

husband’s death? This novella really makes you think about the limited options women have.

The Hunger Saint by Olivia Kate Cerrone: This is a more

recent novella, so if you’re not interested in 19th and 20th century stories, give this 2017 novella a try and you won’t be disappointed. Set in post-world war two Italy, this story follows twelve-year-old Ntoni who works in a mine to support his family, learning the dangers of systematic oppression both physically and mentally. This story is made even more moving by the biographical elements, based on actual Sicilian miner experiences.

There’s always time to take a break and dive into a novella. The average person can read 100 pages in about two hours. That’s about the running time of a standard film.

So take a break

(hopefully) you’ll find more enjoyable.

Reading is a nice way to escape from the stresses of everyday life, making it the perfect way to take a break from studying.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Awakening by Kate Chopin: This is one of the slightly

f r o m one kind of book and dive into one which

This summer at the Byre Theatre TOM HODSON Theatre Editor Despite the fact that this academic year’s theatre season is drawing to a close, it is clear from the Byre’s Mayto-September catalogue that theatre is still well and truly alive over the summer. Indeed, regardless of the dwindling of students from May onwards, the Byre will continue to produce shows of great significance and theatricality and, therefore, it seems wise to cancel tickets to daddy’s summer home in Cannes and instead book tickets to some of the Byre’s impressive summer productions.

Firstly, it is imperative that we pay homage to the Byre for their continued eagerness and persisted efforts in educating and entertaining students across the town with their varied and extensive theatre — a fact which is perfectly evidenced by their latest catalogue, rich with diversity but also universality.

Frankly, this summer season looks

set to have something for everyone.

For instance, on 14 May, St Andrews will be wowed by the

Summer season looks set to have something for everyone National Theatre Live production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, a play which lives and breathes America in the 1940s and encapsulates the brutal reality behind the unattainable American dream.

The show promises to be a worthwhile emotional ordeal, as should be

expected from one of Miller’s timeless classics.

On the other hand, to those interested in more modern stories, then Kruckemeyer’s This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing must be earnestly recommended.

As a “contemporary fairy tale about determination, friendship and the ups and downs of growing older,” the show looks set to be especially pertinent to St Andrews’ student body, but with themes for all ages, and a message which is as universal as all classical fairy tales, this performance definitely shouldn’t be missed.

Kruckemeyer’s show goes up on 15 May and is one which will not only take you back to your childhood but wishes to dramatically change the audience’s perception of what it means to be young.

Literature students will also be especially pleased to hear that St Andrews’ very own St Leonards’ Year Nine and Ten drama students will be bringing an impressive adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist to the Byre on 21 to 23 May.

Created by the ‘visionary’ playwright Anya Reiss, the show looks set to be a more lucid and stylised retelling of the classic story, but nonetheless, it has promised to retain all the timeless features that make up one of English literature’s cornerstones. As such, much respect must be awarded to St Leonards for their dedication to the arts.

The Byre will continue to host a range of musical and comedic performances As ever the Byre will continue to

host a range of musical and comedic performances as well, and this summer will even experiment with less obvious productions such as the interactive and creative performance of Elisabeth Schilling’s Felt on 6 July.

Indeed, it is clear that this summer’s season of art is one which will be a varied mixture of the experimental and the established and, therefore, much praise must again be awarded to the Byre for their bravery and ability in championing the arts.

These performances of course will not have the added appeal of watching your theatre friends squirm on stage as you heckle or applaud them, but what they do provide is an insight into culture which is less personal and, thus, more abstract and detached — allowing for analysis and appreciation without fear of being critical of our peers’ work.

Therefore, all that is left to say is congratulations to the Byre Theatre for being the strong and stable foundation and home of St Andrews culture ­— long may this continue and prosper!

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25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

Arts and culture

The Blackhorn Refugee Project How one meal can make a difference

TAYLOR TEE Food Editor

Photo: Innes Graham

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Libby Edwards and Stanley Parker, the two dedicated students who brought us The BlackHorn Refugee Project. Through collaborating with the student beloved restau-

rant, this organization raises money for the charity Refugee Survival Trust. This Glasgow-based charity is dedicated to alleviating the destitution experienced by asylum seekers in Scotland. Given that these asylum seekers are yet to attain refugee status, they are without doctors, the right to work and even a place to call home.

What this charity does is give a lending hand in gaining access to

these necessities. Although a small charity, it has done an extraordinary job in making an impact on these people’s lives. According to their 20172018 report, the charity was successful in giving out over 1,400 grants to support over 2,000 people.

It is this same passion for helping refugees that drove second-year history student Libby Edwards to come up with the idea for The BlackHorn Refugee Project. Having followed the refugee crisis since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, Edwards wanted to find a way to play a role in refugee aid. Through collaborating with second-year management student Stanley Parker, the duo came up with a creative way to make a difference.

The BlackHorn Refugee project brings aid to refugees through food.

Edwards drew inspiration from her past experience working in the restaurant industry to come up with this simple yet unique approach. After scouring recipe books and organizing tasting sessions, the team added two options to the BlackHorn menu, with all contributions going directly to The Refugee Survival Trust. As pointed out by Parker, people are always going to contribute to the food industry.

For that reason this industry is a great one to tap into, particularly for upholding a long-term contribution.

A large issue faced by asylum seekers is the need for transportation.

Given the mere size of St Andrews, we rarely give a second thought to these barriers. If we are in need of medical help, we can simply walk over to our local hospital. If we have a flat viewing, we can get there in a maximum of 25 to 30 minutes. For many asy-

lum seekers based in Scotland, this is not the case. The BlackHorn Refugee Project contributes to the Refugee Survival Trust through providing the funds for unlimited bus passes for transportation. By contributing to a smaller charity, the BlackHorn Refugee Project makes a direct impact on these lives.

Contributing can be as easy as ordering lunch A major element of success came from the duo’s ability to read into the wants and needs of our community. Through their Facebook page, they were able to communicate with the student body to find products we were missing in the St Andrews food scene. They created a variety of polls for potential product ideas to come up with two vegan- and vegetarian-friendly options — the Rasa Wrap and the Falafel Burger. The Rasa Wrap includes hummus, chickpea falafels, fresh avocado and more. As a token BlackHorn customer, I can honestly say it’s now my top wrap! Never would I have thought to stray away

from the Sinatra wrap, but here I am.

I am yet to try the Falafel Burger, but I already have a good feeling about it. It includes red onions and sriracha mayonnaise and is served on a brioche bun. I felt good about myself when buying the wrap, which isn’t usually the case when I spend money eating out. I knew that 100 per cent of the proceeds would be going towards helping someone in need. If one thing is for sure, it is that I will be making more trips to BlackHorn in the future.

It really is a win-win situation: You help a refugee by enjoying incredible food. It is almost too good to be true.

It is truly astounding how much their efforts have already made. From one launch event that lasted a mere five hours, the organization raised enough money to provide a refugee weekly food shopping for two-anda-half months. The possibilities are endless.

Can we expect any more from these clever students? Yes. Edwards and Stanley have their eyes set on more cafés and restaurants to collaborate with. This coming fall, they are planning to relaunch “Food For Support.” Hopefully in the future we can contribute to refugee aid through a number of restaurants based in St Andrews.

My hat goes off to both Edwards and Stanley. We as students tend to feel invisible when it comes to the global refugee crisis, but their project shows us that contributing can be as easy as ordering lunch. What we have here is a case of think globally, act locally, which fits very well with our little international town. For that reason, this project is a true success.

The Crucible: A review EUAN NOTLEY General A&C Editor The Crucible strikes me as an especially daunting task, not just for its weighty four-act structure and cast of over 20 characters. Arthur Miller’s exploration of paranoia and mob mentality is a relentless and often uncomfortable play. The audience is forced to watch the seventeenth-century community of Salem, Massachusetts, tear itself apart over accusations of witchcraft, fuelled by a lethal mix of religious extremism. These themes ensure that the play never goes out of date. Here, it was reincarnated as the Mermaids’ final offering of the academic year, performed at the Byre Theatre.

It is worth acknowledging that there were a few stumbling blocks preventing me from becoming fully immersed. Firstly, the pacing: the length of the play is largely down to the playwright, and my own biases are coming into play here. However, when an audience is asked to sit for such a long time, the production team has a responsibility to keep them engaged. I found that my focus began to wander particularly in the latter half of the play. Vast stretches comprise of

characters wrestling with their conscience or undergoing an interrogation. There were certainly moments where some livelier direction or a bit more animation from some of the actors was needed to inject energy into the stage. In one memorable instance, a group of young girls faked demonic possession and let out blood-curdling screams — I left wanting more of these scenes that cut through the theatre.

My only other major criticism is with the problem of pacing. The Crucible is not an exact copy of seventeenth-century speech, but it is inspired by court documents from the Salem trials and is deliberately archaic in terms of its vocabulary and syntax. While nowhere near as tricky to follow as Shakespeare, the language does still require a little bit of extra emotion to convey meaning. Some actors managed this better than others, and those instances where I struggled to follow the dialogue contributed to my loss of engagement. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact problem, but as someone who had never seen The Crucible before, I was a little lost at times.

These issues aside, there was plenty to like in director Grace Cowie’s take on the play. The most immedi-

ately arresting aspect of the play was its excellent set design. Throughout the play, three beautifully constructed replicas of stained-glass windows hung above the actors, lit from behind during scene changes. The central window depicted a blazing fire and loomed over the action as a constant reminder of the violence and the destruction that zealotry can lead to. As the curtains lifted, the stage was filled with smoke. When it was cleared, the two nooses dangling in the background were revealed. Although never acknowledged, the nooses informed the audience how far the witch trials had escalated since the last scene, providing a chilling reminder of how high the stakes were.

Despite the grim setting, Cowie and her performers knew how to find welcome moments of humour in the play. Although brief and fleeting, there is black comedy to be found in The Crucible. The play exposes the small-town grievances that underlay the Salem witch trials, and so there is opportunity in the ensemble of supporting roles to ridicule their pettiness. The most deliciously brutal laugh, however, came from the central couple when John Proctor, wracked with guilt over his affair, forgets “thou shalt not commit adultery”

when reciting his commandments.

Lydia Seed’s seething disbelief as Elizabeth Proctor when she quietly reminds him left the audience not sure whether to gasp or giggle.

I left wanting more of scenes that cut through the theatre In the play as whole in fact, Seed’s Elizabeth was the stand-out performance. She felt the least constricted

by Miller’s stylised dialogue and carried all the heartbreak of the character in her voice from her first line.

Her movement too was shaky and uncertain, as if she was constantly in pain. Underneath all the whispers of witchcraft and the devil, The Crucible tells the story of an already troubled marriage that is put through extreme hardship. Seed, alongside Seb Allum’s

John, knew this and gave the play its emotional heft.

Adam Spencer as Reverend Hale offered a particularly fascinating insight into the seventeenth-century mind. Spencer portrayed Hale’s fanaticism as quiet and scholarly, dependent on the pile of books he carries around with him. Hale has a reassuringly simple worldview, where God will always protect the righteous.

Hale must confront the injustices of the witch trials and in Spencer’s furrowed brow we see not just discomfort at the false accusations but a man whose entire conception of the universe is being challenged.

I suspect most of my problems with the play lie with Arthur Miller rather than this production. It is a long, sometimes plodding play, but Cowie and her team clearly approached it with determination to get to its dramatic heart. The stunning set design provided the most immediately obvious example of this. The Crucible is a play with a definite message to get across and by its end, Cowie had succeeded. Even if my attention was not held consistently throughout, by the time John Proctor made his final stand against the madness of Salem, I found that I cared about these characters and the values they stood for.

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

Arts and culture

25

TV of St Andrews

Everyone is watching Game of Thrones, but what else are they watching?

In a golden age of TV, some series bathe in the glow of public and critical adoration, while others of equal quality lay in their shadow. I asked some students to share their favourite underrated shows. Hopefully these will provide some inspiration for revision procrastination over the coming weeks.

But first, how is it that these shows go unnoticed? And how is it that a TV series becomes a phenomenon.

1959 saw the arrival of Rod Serling’s TV behemoth The Twilight Zone. The first adult science fiction show introduced to an American audience, The Twilight Zone used its genre to make serious social critique whilst dodging the censors. Serling’s series was novel. Its twist endings, self-contained stories, strange imagery and abundance of famous faces were clearly enticing. The Twilight Zone appealed to an America forging its post-war identity and dealing with many national fears, including nuclear paranoia. This climate nurtured a seedling show and enabled it to grow into the giant it was and still is. The Twilight Zone was a great show but it was fostered by the right environment to make it a phenomenon. Arguably no other show could do what Serling did with The Twilight Zone. TV is too well trodden a medium for something to ever again define it in the way The Twilight Zone has done. Yet there are TV series that have found themselves able to emulate its success.

1999 ushered in a new Golden Age of TV. HBO’s The Sopranos was the show that rang the bell to announce that this new age had begun.

It had many of the same features that made The Twilight Zone so brilliant.

Dark themes coupled with comedic moments, characters riddled with contradictions, and its cinematic disposition all served to make the show a masterpiece. Following suit in recent years, we have seen the likes of The Wire, The Office, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones reach astrological levels of success. With the added addition of social media, the following for these shows is even more intense.

YouTube fan theory videos, memes, and the easy access to reviews mean that these shows are well and truly embedded into our lives. They have become part of our cultural lexicon.

However, what about the shows left behind? There are shows that are just as well-made but do not receive a fair share of the praise. Because, for however much we can point to the similar features of these rock star shows that make them astounding, there is no fool proof algorithm to becoming the next Game of Thrones.

When seizing the zeitgeist there is al-

ways an element of timing, of chance, of luck. It’s not enough for a show to be great for it to become culturally iconic. That comes from some spark of magic in a relationship between the show and the environment it finds itself in. And like in all relationships, when and if such a spark will occur can’t be predicted. So, the remainder of this article is dedicated to those shows that have enjoyed a smaller level of success but are nonetheless worthy of your attention.

Please Like Me:

Please Like Me is a show that is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

Australian writers Josh Thomas and Tom Ward both write and star in this comedy, available in the UK only on Amazon Prime. Please Like Me sits along with Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag and Lena Dunham’s Girls in it being one of the few TV shows that genuinely feel relatable. Yet, in comparison, Thomas and Ward’s writing is much more subdued and doesn’t stress so much focus on one character.

Thomas’ self-titled character, Josh, is shown coming to terms with both his sexuality and his relationship with his suicidal mother, but the inconvenience he is most vocal about is the appearance of his face. The most painfully relatable character I’ve come across on TV, however, is Ward’s Tom. Pathetically well-meaning but also passive and comically self-depreciating, Tom’s best outlet is winding up Josh and his ex-girlfriend, the now friendzoned Claire. Unlike sit-coms, such as Friends, these characters aren’t your ideal friends, they genuinely are your friends, for all of their terrible and brilliant qualities. With thirty-minute episodes, Please Like Me fits perfectly into your day, acting as both escapism and self-reflection. It is worth subscribing to Amazon Prime, only to cancel after a month, just to watch the four seasons of Please Like Me — I certainly have done.

Baby:

The Italian series Baby, produced

by Netflix, explores the real events of the “Baby Squillo” scandal, involving two underage girls in Rome’s wealth-

iest district who became involved in a prostitution ring. Not usually one for dark or disturbing topics, I started this show looking to gain exposure to Italian language, without knowing the premise. Indeed, the show doesn’t actually begin exploring the grisly underworld of prostitution until around its fourth episode, by which time I was already hooked. It focuses on the build-up and the events that lead the protagonists, teenagers Chiara and Ludovica, to become involved in the sex industry, focusing on the destabilising effects of an unbalanced home environment, the potentially negative impacts of social media on relationships, and the pressures on young people to grow up too

in front of the girls, and must be presented in a way that appears alluring, showing us the appeal, so that we can then recognize its dangers

30 Rock:

I’m not going to try and argue that 30 Rock is by any means unsuccessful. The show’s creator and star, Tina Fey, is doing alright for herself these days. However, what baffles me is that it never quite reached the near-universal popularity of the other great NBC comedies. It aired over the same period as the American remake of The Office, references to which seem to saturate the internet, but 30 Rock is being undeservedly left behind.

A workplace comedy set in NBC Studios itself, 30 Rock is built on the central relationship of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin as an overworked comedy writer and hyper-masculine network executive, supported by a terrific ensemble of insane TV stars and useless crew members. While its surreal, often cartoonish sense of humour perhaps gives makes it a little tougher to warm to, 30 Rock is ideal binge-watching material. The episodes move at a relentless pace, stuffed with cutaway gags and running jokes built up over years.

Unfortunately, its biggest barrier to wider recognition is its current absence from the major streaming platforms. All of 30 Rock is currently available for free on Channel 4’s catch-up service, but four minutes of adverts for every twenty minutes of television is likely to prove a sticking point with modern audiences.

Photo: IMP Awards

Mariana Pantelli (MP) Maya Marie (MM) Madison Sotos (MS) Euan Notley (EN) Milo Farragher-Hanks (MFH) Laszlo Szegedi (LS)

quickly. While I have read criticism that the show glorifies teenage prostitution, I did not interpret it this way and think that this interpretation is in fact missing the point. It does depict the business as glamorous, but the glitz and glamour sucks the viewer in with the goal of displaying the way in which the characters are sucked in, urging viewers to suspend judgment and dig deeper into the psychological manipulation involved. The glamour and extravagance is presented as a tool for the predators who prey on the girls, enticing them with offers of an escape from their real lives, which are littered with economic troubles, broken families, and social pressures, inviting them to instead join in this world which at its surface appears attractive. Alcohol, parties, and luxury goods are the carrots that are dangled

Hannibal:

For me, Hannibal remains one of the most singular, fascinating television shows of the decade. Adapting Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter novels, showrunner Bryan Fuller gave the familiar material a brilliantly idiosyncratic spin. This might ostensibly be a police procedural, but its woozy, dream-like pacing, haunting hallucinatory images, and layered, disturbing explorations of character psychology make it feel more like a Gothic fairy tale or baroque art-house film - less Luther than Blue Velvet.

Mads Mikkelsen’s Luciferian performance as the title delivers a depiction of the cannibalistic killer every bit as distinct as Anthony Hopkins’, while a cast including Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne and Caroline Dhavernas give nuanced turns that evolve as character relationships take unexpected directions. This was a show that was violent in a manner truly disturbing rather than adolescently crass, that engaged with masculinity without indulging in tired tropes or side-lining its women, that was queer in a genuinely strange and truly erotic rather than blandly affirmational or performatively progressive sense, and that refused to explain or apologise for its own oddities. To have lost it so soon is a great shame, but that something as unconventional as Hannibal lasted for three seasons on network television is a victory in itself.

The Leftovers:

5 years ago, I stumbled on an article about a TV show I hadn’t heard of before called The Leftovers. The piece was highly critical of Damon Lindelof’s first television project since the controversial finale of Lost for its gloomy tone and occasionally brutal violence. Despite the criticism, the plot actually sounded quite intriguing: The Leftovers follows police chief Kevin Garvey struggling with control both in his personal and professional life three years after the unexplained disappearance of two per cent of the world’s population. The show’s first season was indeed surprisingly violent, but the violence never felt as out of context as the article made it out to be. The show had an amazing intro, a beautiful soundtrack (an expansion of German composer Max Richter’s 2003 album “Memoryhouse”), memorable performances from the entire cast (featuring the likes of Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Margaret Qualley and Liv Tyler), and terrifying, ambiguous villains (Peep Show’s Paterson Joseph as a man who claimed he could heal grief with hugs, and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Ann Dowd as a fearless cult leader). It was an impressive exploration of religion both as a delusion and a logical response to an inexplicable tragedy, which provided reasonable motivations to its fleshed-out characters. You couldn’t call Ann Dowd’s Patti an actual villain because her ideology made perfect sense in the chaos she was trying to take control of. Best of all, the show never took the Lost route of explaining all the supernatural stuff, instead allowing the characters to stay in focus.

In its relatively brief three seasons it never failed to surprise both with style and substance (managing to pull off one of the saddest moments in the series to A-ha’s update “Take On Me” in season 3, or the intense season 1 finale to James Blake’s “Retrograde”) and the supernatural aspect remained compelling throughout.

It remains the most emotionally involving TV shows I have ever seen, and yet it’s surprisingly under-seen.

Go watch it!

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25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

Arts and culture

Music Spotlight: Wax Collective ANNABEL STEELE Music Editor

at the click of a finger. But when these guys first started out, according to Harry, “It was DIY [do it yourself].

We had pretty much no idea how to set up speakers, how to do basically any of it.” In addition, Wax isn’t about the money. “We’ve never really been that profit-driven,” Max says. “If we make a profit, it’s brilliant and it goes back into booking new artists. But it’s not what we’re doing this for.”

At their own events, they have never charged more than £3. Compare that to ball or fashion show prices, and it becomes pretty clear why Wax are so popular.

Their Flash Rooms idea is pretty genius: in a town dominated by the success of house parties, there’s no

ally proven itself as a brilliant alternative space. They are so in touch with student culture — it’s not just Wax who do nights there. Aikman’s is so involved with student life, so it was a perfect place to start when we were looking for an alternative venue.”

Since Wax started, St Andrews night-life has undergone quite the make-over. But where is it headed?

“That’s a hard question, because St Andrews tends to work on a fouryear cycle. So next year it will be relatively similar because most of us are still here. It seems really healthy at the moment, but it’s hard to know whether this will stick.” But they are still optimistic about the future, not just in terms of continuing Wax but

want to listen to that kind of music.”

And Max adds, “It’s no accident that they’re there.” From an outsider’s perspective, the most amazing thing about Wax is that they have cultivated an entire community. It’s not just about the music anymore: they’ve basically formed a huge friendship group based entirely around their events, which is honestly crazy. Sure, you have your St Andrews cliques — the fashion lovers, for example, who go to every single show. But Wax is different for two reasons. Firstly, this is a clique which anyone is welcome to join. There’s no exclusivity to the Wax community: if you like music and you’re up for a party, you’re in.

Secondly, it’s pretty easy to build a sort of ‘society’ like this when you can get the money and the resources

better way to get people to an event than by hosting a massive-scale house party. But what about their iconic Aikman’s cellar events? Ben tells us why the cellar nights started: “Initially it was just something a bit different. You could just go in and use the cellar on a Sunday, because they weren’t usually open.” But luck played a part in the association of Wax with Aikman’s. “When we started, we could only use the cellar on Sundays, which was our initial idea anyway, but the owner wasn’t in on a Sunday.

He wouldn’t have allowed us to host an event like that, but he didn’t know.

It was lucky, but then it became successful so it stuck.” So, they struck gold with the Sunday night plan. But the guys also rave about Aikman’s as a student venue in general. “It has re-

about the state of the scene in general. A few years before Wax Collective was formed, there was a similar group putting on different events to give the student body more choice in terms of nights out. Then they died out, and after a lull, Wax came about.

However, that’s not what seems to be happening anymore: it isn’t just Wax. There are so many groups doing things that there is almost an alternative event every night. For the first time in a long time, it feels like you could get through an entire fouryear course with a social life to boast about, without ever setting foot in the dreaded 601. “And there are first years who haven’t necessarily started their own stuff yet but are interested in getting involved,” says Jack. “It actually seems promising.”

Photo:Oliver McKenzie

I hate to use the ‘living under a rock’ cliché but... well, if you’re a St Andrews student and haven’t heard of Wax Collective, I don’t how else to put it. These guys have taken over.

Their events dominate the alternative music scene of St Andrews, and the social scene; they have cultivated a community whose strength could rival a 500-year-old cult; and I don’t think it’s too bold to say that they are almost entirely responsible for the huge shift in the St Andrews music scene over the past few years. What they’re doing is of vital importance to the diversity of the town’s nightlife, so I caught up with a few members — Bastian Geiger, Max Moorhouse, Oli Mckenzie, Harry Woolley, Marcus Cork-Keeling, and Jack Ogilvie-Richards — to find out more about the project, its origins and its future.

When, where and why did it all start? Bastian tells me, “Max and I went to Berlin together in first year, and we really enjoyed the whole techno scene. So when we came back in second semester, we talked about it during a dinner and said we should have more of that scene around here. At first it wasn’t too serious, but then we realised this was actually possible.” He described their first event as “a Spotify playlist and a speaker in Aikman’s” — a little basic, but that isn’t the point. They wanted to develop a new night scene for people who want techno music, and it’s safe to say they’ve got what they wanted.

It wasn’t always Wax Collective, though. They started off as ‘Stechno’, St Andrews Techno Society. “We were figuring out how we wanted to run it, whether we wanted to be affiliated to the uni or not. All we knew for sure is that we wanted to keep it going — so we had a meeting with interesting people. That’s where Oli came up with the new name, Wax Collective, and it all got serious.” Of the name, Oli says, “Wax means ‘vinyl’ so it refers to the format where a lot of the music we appreciate is made. It’s something a lot of people don’t know so there’s a certain mystery to it.”

And, if nothing else, it sounds pretty cool.

So, they’ve got a name, they’ve got a talented group of people, they’ve got the interest of the students — what did they actually want to do with all of this? “We’re quite all-en-

compassing I think. When Stechno became Wax, it was an effort to invite people to play the music they want to play. Now we play all kinds of music.” Oli talks about the uncertainty of Wax nights, both from Wax themselves and from the crowd. Especially during events with visiting DJs, nobody even knows what the artist is going to play. “There is so much left to chance, which is simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking.”

But despite all the anxiety of organising events which go against the status quo of St Andrews night-life, their nights are consistently successful. Jack explains: “It’s very much the alternative night out for people. It’s people who want to be there, who

For the real music-lovers, there’s a massive range of events and a range of music genres to party to. But in terms of the actual organisers, St Andrews has become far more competitive in terms of the underground music scene. However, after talking to these guys, it sounds like all of these collectives have an amazingly healthy relationship with each other — which just proves that they are all doing it for the music. And, even more than that, these guys love the fact that the scene is so diverse now because of the ridiculously inclusive capacity for creative people to shape the whole town. “St Andrews, while often seen as a bleak and barren space in terms of alternative culture in general, really has this thing where, because there isn’t that much, you have space to create whatever you want.”

“And people really fucking go for it!” says Marcus. “It’s all about the people who turn up at 7:30pm and dance for the entire night. And when we get outside artists to perform, they’re always so positively surprised by the reception that they get. Things gain traction so quickly, because St Andrews now has the appetite for this kind of thing.” And, as Ben adds, “There’s a lot more knowledge flying around now, which we definitely didn’t have access to when we started.”

What is so crazy about Wax Collective is that they can honestly be credited with changing the face of the St Andrews music scene. If the music scene really was that dead before they got started, then all the groups making amazing events now — ASHA, BPM and Bassment, to name a few — must have ultimately been influenced by the waves that Wax Collective were making. And it speaks volumes about all these creatives that they support each other, lend each other equipment, help each other and generally work as a team. That, I reckon, is the main reason that the St Andrews alternative music scene is thriving so much now: because all the people who are involved in putting events on recognise the talent here, and see it not as an environment which breeds competition but as something to be celebrated.

The next Wax Rooms event is on 28 April and will feature an amazing collaboration with Edinburghbased collective Witness, who “push forward-thinking electronic music and future beats”. The admission is £2 before 8pm, £3 after, and it’s taking place at Brew Co. If you enjoyed reading this article even a little bit, chances are you’ll enjoy the event too, so get your tickets. Additionally, if you’re a budding DJ and want to get involved with Wax Collective, please get in touch with them. They have a Facebook Page, @waxcollectivestandrews, and an Instagram, @wax. rooms, and they want new people to keep Wax going strong.

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

Arts and culture

27

A guide to Pokemon Go in St Andrews ANNIE SMITH Deputy Editor Most people remember Pokémon Go for the second-half of summer 2016, when it launched in early July and it seemed as if everyone and their mother was out in the park enjoying the sunshine and catching Magikarps or Pidgeys. As such, many would assume that as they stopped playing Pokémon Go after that fateful summer, so did the rest of the world.

However, according to Superdata, more people played Pokémon Go in May 2018 than at any time since the app launched in summer 2016, and its player numbers have continued to rise, meaning only one thing: Pokémon Go is back, better than ever.

I don’t know what came over me to re-download Pokémon Go last month — I was headed to Prague for spring break and missed having a game to play in my spare time. When I loaded the app after nearly three years, I was originally amazed at how much the game had changed; while the original launch only contained one generation of Pokémon, few Pokéstops, and even fewer gyms, the app now boasts about 500 Pokémon to catch, most of which I had never seen before. Additionally, many Pokéstops from 2016 have now been turned into gyms, meaning more

Pokéstops have been added around the world.

In St Andrews particularly, I would estimate over 200 people are currently playing Pokémon Go, with gyms constantly being taken over by other players and lures galore at Pokéstops on weekends. With summer approaching, and as exercise and time outdoors have both been proven to improve your mood and reduce stress (ideal conditions for the upcoming revision period), now is a perfect time to re-download the game and start playing again with new friends.

As the game has changed, and many of us were not St Andrews students when it first launched in the summer of 2016, here is a student guide to playing Pokémon Go in St Andrews.

Quick Tips

When re-launching the game in St Andrews, I would encourage you to invite your friends to do the same and add them as friends on the app. Not only do you receive special items and exclusive eggs when they send you gifts, but if you continue interacting with them, you can gain thousands of XP from becoming better friends with them.

Additionally, the app now rewards you at the end of the week for walking 5km, 25km, and 50km, meaning if you make an effort to take a

long walk outside every day, you are not only rewarding your body and soul, but you are also rewarding your Pokémon avatar.

Finally, if you complete a field research task once a day, you earn a stamp towards your research progress, and seven stamps means that you can unlock rare items as well as a legendary Pokémon. For me, this has been my motivation for attending lectures and walking to the library, as I can often achieve my daily research task on the way to class and almost never from staying inside all day.

Pokestops

A number of Pokéstops are located in town, with three outside of the Students’ Union, three at or near the library, one at the Sports Centre, and a number at West Sands Beach and the Old Course. If you’re planning a walk around town to spin them all, I would recommend starting at the top of the Scores near the Old Course, walking down to the St Andrews Castle, hitting the pier and Cathedral, then making your way back down North Street past St Salvator’s Cathedral.

There are fewer stops on Market Street and South Street as a whole, but I would recommend also visiting the park near the Physics Building and St Mary’s College on South Street for an abundance of Pokéstops and rarer Pokémon.

Gyms

With a new update, you can now spin Gyms for items as well as battling in them, making them essentially superior Pokéstops and worth visiting while exploring the town for Pokémon.

If a member of Team Mystic, or the blue team, you will notice most gyms are already b l u e and thus I would recommend add-

Photo: PNGIMG.com

ing y o u r Pokémon to

them as you stop by (although be wary of a 50-coin limit, so you won’t be able to earn unlimited coins from your Pokémon lasting a day in a gym). If you’re of Team Valor (red) or Instinct (yellow), it is less likely you will have gyms already of your team, but battling against Pokémon will give you the XP equivalent to catching one in the wild, so this is a great opportunity if you are looking to level up.

Gyms are located at St Salvator’s Quad, Younger Hall, two at St Andrews Cathedral, Pavilion on the Scores, The Scores Hotel, Physics Building, Chemistry Building, Agnes Blackadder Hall, Gateway Building, Blackfriars Chapel, and two at St Mary’s College, among some others.

Upcoming Events

Pokémon Go excites with cannot-miss Community Days once a month, where a particular Pokémon usually not found as commonly in the wild appears in overwhelming abundance for three hours, offering the opportunity to not only catch hundreds but to evolve it completely as well, usually for a bonus attack if you evolve it during the event. The May Community Day is on Sunday 19 May 2019 from 3:00pm to 6:00pm with Torchic, which evolves into Combusken and Blaziken. The next Community Day is on 8 June.

SPORT thesaint-online.com/sport

Editor: Harry Dean Deputy Editors: Charlotte Cohen, Lewis Frain, Daniel Ross, Jason Segall @saint_sport

sport@thesaint-online.com

A Birdseye View Harry’s column To witness the final round of the Masters Tournament this year was to witness a moment of genuine sporting history. Yes, I am well aware that this is a phrase utilised far too liberally these days to have any genuine weight, but all you had to do was admire the fervent delirium of the crowd at Augusta as Tiger Woods approached a fifth title (you may have been mistaken for thinking a group of football ultras had got lost and found their way to the deep south, such was the noise generated) as well as the heartfelt reaction from the media and players alike in the following days to appreciate how this was a result that transcended golf and sport itself.

When we were growing up, Woods, alongside maybe the likes of tennis stars Roger Federer and Serena Williams was arguably the most renowned figure in the sporting world, one of the very few figures in the industry who was instantly recognisable the world over. He won his first major at Augusta way back in 1997, when for yours truly notions such as teething and walking were still very much pipe dreams. As Woods waltzed from title to title over the next 11 years it was easy to wonder if, much like the British Empire of the 19th century, the sun would ever set on his ruthless hegemony. But just as the Empire found out when India broke away in 1947, the sun will always set, and when it does, it may never rise again.

For Woods, his empire began to disintegrate in late 2009, when news broke about his numerous affairs in the media. Several companies pulled their sponsorship and subsequently he underwent a rigorous 45-day therapy programme. To rub salt into the gaping wound, his back troubles flared up badly, making walking almost impossible at times. In these darkest of days, he came close to quitting the game altogether. Piece by piece, however, in the subsequent years he began to fight his way back.

Although there were setbacks such as a conviction for drunk driving in 2017, he was slowly returning to the Tiger everyone knew and loved.

In the run-up to this year’s Masters, there were many who allowed themselves to believe that maybe, just maybe, he might rally for one more day in the sun.

For me, Masters Sunday is up there with the best of days the sporting calendar has to offer. Little did I know, however, as I positioned myself on my sofa at 2 pm (much earlier in the day than normal, owing to the fears of thunderstorms at Augusta later in the afternoon) that a few hours

later this would turn out to be a final round I’d never forget. At first Woods stayed patient, holding himself steady behind leader Francesco Molinari and gambling that the Italian, who’d been magnificent throughout the week, would eventually slip up. This proved to be correct, as first fellow group member Tony Finau, then Molinari faded from contention by the 12th hole. The mood amongst the Augusta patrons had now shifted from “he can’t do it, can he?” to “this is really happening!” in rapid fashion.

In the end, as contenders from other groups faded too, the result became something of a formality. As he strode up the 18th needing just a bogey to secure the title, the noise was deafening.

Yet only once his regulation two-foot putt sunk into the ground did he allow himself a famous Tiger roar.

What followed – Woods lifting his hands to the sky and screaming with delight – was about as cathartic a moment as you can possibly wish to see in sport. In one celebratory scream, 11 years of pain, controversy, suffering and disappointment were consigned to the history books. It took someone with nerves of steel not to shed a tear when he subsequently ran into the loving embrace of his children, mother and girlfriend, who at times over this tumultuous decade might’ve seemed like the only people on his side. Ultimately Woods hasn’t been perfect in his decision-making throughout the years; I’m sure he’d be the first person to say he wishes he hadn’t driven into a fire hydrant in 2009, a flashpoint that provided the catalyst for the woes he subsequently faced. Yet this was a victory for all people to celebrate, for we are all flawed and make mistakes, yet Tiger has given us all hope that there can always be light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dire one’s circumstances may appear.

In the spirit of sentimentality, I must now bid my position as your Sport Editor goodbye. It’s a role I have grown to enjoy massively over the past year and I simply must thank my deputies: Charlotte, Lewis, Daniel, and Jason for making my job so much easier as well as of course our readers for making it all worthwhile. I also want to wish Charlotte Cohen the best of luck as she takes over the reigns.

Not only is she a trailblazer as (we believe!) the first woman to hold this position, but her drive and determination make me confident this section will go from strength to strength under her guidance. All that’s left for me now is to wish you all farewell: best of luck with your exams and I hope you all have the best summer possible!

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Harry Dean Sport Editor

Which football team should you support in St Andrews?

LEWIS FRAIN Deputy Sport Editor It may not have the glitz and glamour of the Premier League or the box office of American sports but Scottish football does have much to celebrate.

It’s a game of fierce competition, cult heroes, historic clubs and great entertainment. In your time in St Andrews, try and find one Saturday where you can enjoy the cultural experience of attending a football match. Get your cup of Bovril, have an unreasonably hot pie (vegetarian options are available…usually) and enjoy a sporting spectacle like no other. The question is though, which team should you support whilst living in St Andrews?

Geographically, the closest teams to St Andrews are across the Tay Bridge in Dundee. Dundee United have one of the richest histories of any club in Scotland. The Terrors play in a now iconic tangerine, a colour very few clubs could pull-off with the same success. Their golden period came in the late 70s and 80s under the guidance of Jim McLean, where the club won their only league title, two league cup trophies and had a string of impressive European campaigns. The club famously made it to the European Cup semi-finals in 1984 (unsurprisingly the last Scottish team to do as much) and the UEFA Cup final in 1987. Though they ultimately fell short, United boast European pedigree most other clubs in Britain could only dream of. They also hold a proud record against European giants FC Barcelona. Over four competitive matches Dundee United have four victories over the Catalans. Ole Gunnar-Solskjaer could only dream of such dominance at the Camp Nou last week. Recently the Tangerines have been in some trouble, they currently sit in the second-tier Championship and have done for the

last three seasons. However, guided by manager Robbie Neilson, they look set to seal a place in the Premiership play-offs which should make a trip to Tannadice before the end of term an exciting experience. United also train at the University Sports Centre so we should probably be cheering them on as you might bump into one of the players at the gym.

Just 200 yards from Dundee United’s ground is the home of their city rivals Dundee FC. Though they are the older club and currently play in the Scottish Premiership, they have often played second-fiddle to their (very) close neighbours and look destined for relegation this season.

Nevertheless, there is much to love about the Dark Blues. Similarly to their city rivals, they made the European Cup semi-finals in 1962. They may have only one Scottish Cup to their name but they did participate in a famous final in 1952. 136,495 packed into Glasgow’s Hampden Park to see Dundee face Motherwell, the largest attendance of any Scottish football game that didn’t feature Celtic or Rangers. Dens Park is also a quirky football ground to go to; its stands are wonky and uneven but still have a certain charm to them. More importantly though Dundee wins on the catering front, with its Mexican chilli cheese pie winning a Gold Award at the World Scotch Pie Championships.

Sandy, the long-term barman of the St Andrews Students’ Union, was also a lifelong Dundee fan, hence why two jerseys adorn the walls of Sandy’s Bar. The two Dundee clubs have much to offer but St Andrews is a Fife town after all, and the Kingdom has a rich football heritage of its own. Down the coast in Methil there is the Scottish League 1 side East Fife. With their name suggesting they represent the larger region, St Andreans could even claim this as their local team…maybe.

East Fife were an established top-tier team during the 1950s and have won

the League Cup three times. The historic club, founded in 1903, plays at Bayview Stadium which as the name suggests is right on the coast and exposed to all the elements. These conditions should lead to exciting action, so long as you bring your coat.

Cowdenbeath, another Fife club, also ply their trade in the lower divisions.

An even older club, founded in 1881, they are nicknamed the “Blue Brazil”.

Maybe don’t expect exactly the same style of football though.

Nicholas Anelka’s brother, Claude, once offered £300,000 to become a manager, joined Raith Rovers but it sadly didn’t result in any improvement on the pitch. This episode probably ranks as the strangest in Raith’s history but the Kirkcaldy club has plenty of positive stories to tell. Raith Rovers knocked Dunfermline out of the Scottish Cup this season with a 3-0 win in the first derby between the clubs in two years. Attending that game was former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a lifelong fan of the Stark’s Park club who still lives in the area. Their brightest moment undoubtedly came in 1994, when they shocked the nation by beating Celtic on penalties in the League Cup final to deliver their first major trophy. A short campaign in Europe followed.

Rovers also beat Rangers 1-0 in the Challenge Cup final in 2014, completing an impressive double over the Old Firm in cup finals. As Kirkcaldy is only a short train from Leuchars – you go right past the stadium as well – a trip to watch Raith is certainly one to consider.

Whilst St Andrews certainly lives up to its name as the Home of Golf, there is still plenty that football has to offer in this area. Whether it’s to see the larger teams of Dundee with their neighbouring stadiums or to catch a lower league game that encapsulates the quirky madness that makes Scottish football the fascinating spectacle it is. Give it a go.

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25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

SPORT

Grief in football - have we gone too far?

Andrew Sinclair was Editor-in-Chief of The Saint from November 2017 to November 2018, along with Olivia Gavoyannis.

An ode to sport in St Andrews ANDREW SINCLAIR As one chapter of your life draws to a close, you gradually begin to reminisce about what’s gone before. The good and the bad, the missed opportunities and the times you’ll never forget.

That may be a tad melodramatic, but the fact that this is the final issue of the The Saint I’ll have the opportunity to write for during my time in St Andrews got me thinking. The common denominator of my reflections on what The Saint meant to me all focused on the fun I’d had in covering sport in this wonderful little seaside town.

Sport at British universities, by and large, does not have the scope or profile that it does across the pond.

That does not mean, however, that there are not stories to be told or events to be covered and during my time writing for The Saint, I covered a broader range of stories than I ever imagined I would when I first came here four years ago.

I recall with a sense of embarrassment how nervous I was four years ago, stumbling my way through an interview for the position of deputy sport editor. Somehow that ended in success, giving me the opportunity to cover the Rifle Club, interview members of the Sub-Aqua team and report on scheduled events that never actually came to fruition. Through each of those interactions I learned more about writing and editing but also the nature of sport in St Andrews.

It is not so much the element of competition that drives sport here, although that still plays a role. It is the camaraderie in every club and society, the sense of togetherness that almost every team you see out on a Wednesday night are able to convey.

Watching live sport in St Andrews has also been something central to my university experience.

Wandering down to University Park on a Wednesday afternoon and

watching the men’s rugby team play Nottingham Trent in the rain may not be everyone’s idea of an enjoyable couple of hours, but to me it was always oddly cathartic. The same goes for basketball games on a Wednesday evening, or even rocking up to watch Netball on a Saturday morning. As someone who lives and breathes sport, there has always been an embarrassment of riches for me to watch and for that I’ll always be grateful.

In my first year the historic Scottish varsity game was played at Murrayfield for the first time (thanks to the endeavours of former AU President Sarah Thompson), and since then it has grown and grown.

Being able to sit in press row, the very one where the likes of Bill McLaren and Norman Mair have worked their magic, and provide coverage of the biggest event in the St Andrews sporting calendar for three consecutive years was an unparalleled experience.

Even if they lacked particular resonance beyond St Andrews, I have always been amazed at the success stories of the sports teams at this university. Amongst the standouts over the last four years were Saints Golf winning the Tour Finals in 2017, the men’s football first XI winning the Queen’s Park Shield for the first time in 75 years and the female Water Polo team becoming the first female team from St Andrews to take home a BUCS Championship medal earlier this month. we’ve seen the Boat Club continue to expand, winning their first BUCS points and sending crews down to the world-famous Henley Regatta, the continued growth of the Jonny Wookey Memorial Ice Hockey game and the redevelopment of the Sports Centre, complete with the new multi-million pound Tennis Centre.

There’s the incredible and often imaginative charitable endeavours that various clubs have engaged in and the small matter of former Scotland international Scott Lawson being appointed Director of Rugby almost a year ago.

St Andrews may not be your archetypal sporting university, but this is a university that punches above its weight across the board. No matter where you look in St Andrews, there are sporting stories waiting to be told.

Be they focused on certain individuals or the exploits of specific teams, there is always something interesting to cover and report on. That human side of sport is something I never expected to find here in St Andrews and it’s with a rather large sense of sadness that that chapter is now drawing to a close.

With Sport here, there really is something for everyone When I came to St Andrews in 2015, I had an inkling that sports journalism was something I wanted to do. A pretty big inkling in fact, as that was what got me a position with The Saint. What I never knew was that this place would have such an impact on me and that following sport in St Andrews would become such an integral part of my university career. I wouldn’t change that though, not for the world.

It might not all be about competition, and it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but with sport in St Andrews there really is something for everyone, whether watching or playing. That’s something we should all cherish and be thankful for.

A football game can be an unusual place for dealing with grief. But for 90 minutes, in the confines of those stadium walls, you can forget about what’s happening in the real world. 90 minutes where nothing matters but football. But even before those 90 minutes begin, players and fans alike observe a minute of silence or applause for whoever’s passing requires observation. Football is almost expected to remember every death and disaster that happens in the world when it is simply unable.

When Gordon Banks, long-serving England goalkeeper and “supreme gentleman of football” passed away in February of this year, the loss was felt across the nation. Outpourings of support from fans, colleagues, and fellow sportspeople filled social media. But this wasn’t enough. Three games that weekend observed a minute’s silence or applause; in England’s game against the Czech Republic the fans and players observed a minute’s silence, while the players also sported black armbands in honour of their former goalkeeper.

A minute’s silence was also observed in Banks’s former club Stoke City’s game against Aston Villa and a minute of applause was observed in Tottenham’s Champions League fixture against Borussia Dortmund.

After a tremendous loss, it can be cathartic for fans to remember amongst their peers.

But football cannot grieve for everyone.

In Newcastle’s fixture against Nottingham forest in December 2016, they held three separate minutes of applause. Firstly, a minute of applause before kick-off to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the passing of player Pavel Srnicek. Then again on the 17th minute, honouring those on the MH17 flight that was shot down by a surface-to-air-missile, and finally on the 19th minute in memory of a fan who had been stabbed and killed on Christmas Eve. When there’s so much to try and remember, the sentiment starts to disappear and fans could start to forget what they’re grieving about.

Last week saw the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster which is always honoured in the football world.

Nothing unites football fans quite like grief. Regardless of what team they support, fans can put their differences aside and remember those who lost their lives. It’s a way for the memory of those who died to live on as part of their beloved club’s history. The sentiment behind this will never be lost. It is something that has affected football fans across England. That fact is undeniable. Nor is it something that is forgotten outside the stadium walls. But not everything has touched the hearts of football fans quite like the Hillsborough disaster. We can’t hold everything to the same standard; some things are simply felt harder than others and we shouldn’t pretend that they’re not.

It’s difficult to know what warrants remembering. Not every death can be honoured, so who gets priority? In March of this year the FA came under fire when the Premier League teams didn’t hold a minute’s silence for the victims of the New Zealand Mosque shootings, while having players wear black armbands in solidarity for the victims of the Paris terror attacks in 2015. Football is not a remembrance service, so we shouldn’t be expected to treat it like one.

Not so far afield, the St Andrews football teams have also had their share of remembrance in games. Just last week the men’s Saturday amateur team observed a minute of silence for the passing of one of the opposition’s former players. Several months prior saw the St Andrews teams observing a minute’s silence in honour of one of the club member’s mother who sadly passed away. In this case it is more personal to the players; they have closer relationships to one another and an opportunity to pay tribute to their fellow players’ family is important. We don’t expect them to grieve for every disaster that goes on in the world, so why do we expect this of professionals?

People die every day; disasters happen all over the world and most go unnoticed by the rest of the world.

Why should football be expected to mourn for everyone? It deserves a break. We need to stop holding teams accountable when they can’t grieve for everyone – it simply isn’t fair.

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CHARLOTTE COHEN Deputy Sport Editor

25 April 2019 · thesaint-online.com

SPORT

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Boat Club success south of the border

DANIEL ROSS Deputy Sport Editor Whilst many of us holidayed, or potentially revised during our spring break, this year the London Head of the River Race took place. This is one of the biggest head races in the country. It saw many rowing clubs take part from places as far away as China.

Unfortunately the Women’s race was cancelled due to poor weather conditions, but the St Andrews Men’s Rowing team were busy recording a record finish. They finished 62nd out of over 300 rowing crews. In doing so they won the Medium Academic Pennant Award, and smashed their previous club record in the race.

The women’s race was cancelled due to poor weather conditions In sport, the “iceberg” analogy is sometimes used. In other words, whilst people see the tip of the iceberg (the success), often the hard

work which the team puts in is unknown and under the surface. This analogy is fitting for the St Andrews Rowing club, perhaps literally due the cold, unforgiving climate in which the club rows in Scotland, but also due to the long hours and hard preparation which has gone into this Head of the River success. When people think of rowing, many will perhaps think of the outrageously early training sessions. This is certainly true for the St Andrews crews. Crew member Chris Bock described how some mornings the meet time at the AU can be as early as 5 am in order to get to the Loch where they train. Whilst not all sessions start this early, the crew trains every morning. The testing and extensive rowing season also sees the crew remain in Scotland until July in order to keep competing. Hard work, dedication, and strong will power are clearly evident.

The training this year has not been totally plain sailing. There was a period where there was no director of rowing. That said, the crew were able to persevere and organise their own training sessions and stayed very dedicated and committed. In February the appointment of Jordan Stanley was made. He is a former New Zealand National Universities Rower. Bock and Holly Bartlett (cox and Club President) explained that he was very influential in their final four weeks before the Head of the River Competition. He introduced a number of fresh ideas and a renewed technical focus, which they both felt were crucial for the race.

Near to the date of the race, the Crew went on a week long training camp in Northern Ireland, hosted by the Belfast Rowing Club. Here the crew worked on the specifics of the Head of the River Race, such as the

precise distance they will have to cover in their time trial.

The crew went on a week long training camp in Northern Ireland The crew arrived two days before the race to practise on the water.

Bartlett explained how in this race there were some key differences from what the crew was used to. Firstly due to the crew competing on a loch there is an absence of a stream, which makes quite a difference. Equally as a cox, Bartlett explained the importance of getting to know and studying the river, the various bends and the nature of the stream, and the wind direction. On a race day a cox has a significant role to play in directing and guiding the crew to row in the quickest and most effective direction, how to overtake at the best moment, and when to sprint. Clearly the crew was well prepared for a successful race.

The Head of the River contest is thought of as the pinnacle of head racing for the St Andrews Boat Club.

Bartlett emphasised that for the club,

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Photo: www.ustaboatclub.com

Deputy Sport Editor Daniel Ross catches up with the University Men’s Boat Club in the wake of their promising performance at the Head of the River Race down in London

since the beginning of the new year, Head of the River is the event which is on every rower’s mind. A head competition is not an individual race where all crews compete against each other at the same time. Instead, it is a time trial. For the head of the river contest, every 10 seconds a crew leaves the start line. The London Head of the River Race has significant differences from other head races.

Whilst obviously the number of crews taking part is a significant difference, the race is also significantly longer.

Most head races are an average of 5 kilometers long. The London Head Race is 6.8 kilometers. Bock stated that in rowing terms that is adding a significant distance to the race. In the past and this year other crews burnt out in the first half of the race. Bartlett explained that deciding on when to sprint with this greater distance was a major obstacle which needed to be overcome, and a tactic which needed to be perfected, in order to maximise success.

The success of coming 62nd in the race can first be attributed to the tactics of pacing themselves and avoiding the issue of exhausting themselves early on. Clearly all the hard work and preparation must have played a role in the success. Equally Bock agreed the conditions of the river were relatively calm which helped record a strong time.

This said, Bock explained that another key reason behind the success was due to the incredible strength in depth which the Boat Club has both in the men’s and women’s crews this year. There has been a strong recruitment of freshers this year, such as Monty Jones who was one of the eight-man crew at the Head of the River Race. Bock believes that the squad is the strongest it has ever been.

The high finish saw the crew win the Medium Academic Pennant Award. This meant the crew won their individual university category for the race. So next year they will be classified in the highest category of University classification, Open Academic. Furthermore, the rowing squad is relatively young, as only two of their crew will be leaving this year.

This means they have a squad they can build on and hope to achieve even more in next year’s Race. They will certainly be a force to be reckoned with.

The ultimate aim is qualifying for Henley in July But the Rowing Club’s season is far from over. The club is moving into the Regatta season. Regatta is the format where crews race against each other at the same time instead of in a time trial format. In two weeks time they will be attending a Scottish Regatta. Then they will be taking part in a BUCS Regatta.

The ultimate aim for the team though is qualifying for Henley in July, an achievement which their hardwork and dedication definitely deserve.

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Typhoons avenge 2018 Edinburgh defeat with confident victory HARRY DEAN Sport Editor The Jonny Wookey Memorial Game is an event really like no other in the St Andrean sporting calendar. Over a few short years it has enjoyed an unparalleled rise from a niche occasion populated largely by just a combination of Ice Hockey diehards and friends of players, to a firm fixture up there with the likes of the Rugby Varsity match in September; well ingrained in the consciousness of the mainstream student community.

This has been in part down to fantastic work by the publicity of the St Andrews Typhoons in getting word of the game out there, as well as a series of victories by the team in the matchup over the past few years that convinced the fans to come back and cheer them on again. This year for sure, the Typhoons will tell you order was restored in the rivalry, as attested by a confident 4-2 victory for the home side, sending their rivals back

to the capital empty-handed and making up for their galling defeat in the

The game is an event really like no other in the Uni sporting calendar fixture last year.

As the (figurative) curtain rose on the game’s 2019 edition, it’s safe to say the crowd was in good voice, with many of them enjoying pre-drinks be-

fore catching the bus to the outskirts of Dundee. Those fans still by the bar at the start of the first period missed a high-octane start from the ‘Phoons, who should have gone ahead as they were presented with a great chance just outside the goal crease that Edinburgh barely survived. Only after a frantic scramble was the chance finally cleared. That would only prove a harbinger of events to follow however, as a surging run from deep across the rink saw the puck played to Jack Johnson, with the forward slotting in for St Andrews to cue scenes of ecstasy amongst the partisan crowd.

This delirium wouldn’t last long however as the goal kicked Edinburgh into action. First goaltender Spencer Caminsky had to be alert to prevent a powerful effort by their forward before they did equalise at the end of the period; a break that wasn’t picked up by the ‘Phoons eventually leading to an alert finish to bring the visitors level.

Buoyed by their finish to the first period, Edinburgh pushed hard for the lead and could easily have gained

it, the post denying them early on.

They would be left to rue this opportunity however as the rest of the second period belonged almost exclusively to St Andrews. It was to be Chase McCarthy, with his 18th goal of the season, who got the hosts back in front with a rasping drive that was only awarded after deliberation from the officials as to whether it did cross the goal line (replays showed it was clearly in) before a few minutes later Charlie Whiteley doubled the ‘Phoons’ advantage from a clinical counter-attack. This put St Andrews well on top, and the already welloiled masses in the stands certainly had much to cheer.

The hosts were well on top at the beginning of the third period too, looking for that killer score that would put the matchup to bed. They first came close through a strike that rattled the top of the goal and then a loose Edinburgh pass that was nearly turned in. They were made to regret these missed opportunities though as Edinburgh turned home a cross from the right hand side and then came

very close to an equaliser with nine minutes left. This was proving to be a more nervy finish than some may have anticipated at the break between the second and third periods. True to form though, the ‘Phoons weren’t to be denied. It was fresher Nick Falicia, who ended the debate as he pounced on a loose puck and converted to give St Andrews a priceless fourth goal and allow them to play out the rest of the match savouring the support, as fervent as always, from the raucous crowd.

All in all, this was an occasion that more than delivered. For the fans, as they filed back en masse to KY16 – and many to a highly enjoyable after party in The Vic – a great and largely cost-effective evening had been enjoyed, fan behaviour was also almost impeccable - there was to be no beer throwing or player heckling that sadly became a feature of previous iterations of the match. More pertinently though, the Typhoons warmed up for what could prove to be an extremely memorable National Championship weekend in the best possible fashion.