Freshers’
24 Hour Magazine 9 October 2015 - 10 October 2015
Contents 3
UCL news round-up
4
Pi Debates: Deciding your future at 16
6
Collective blame or preventing extremism?
8
The alternative extra-cirricular
9
Language policing and the case of Buhar Mustafa
10
Corbyn: The new Clement Attlee?
11
You’ve been Trumped!
12
National Poetry Day
13
Light is...
14
The Nobel Prize re-examined: Are “we” choosing a worthy winner?
15
Lupus: The big bad wolf
16
UCL Advances App Lab: The app store for UCL students
17
Science and superheros
18
Venice from below
19
Interrailing: The best way to go backpacking?
21
Editorial Contributers
news | 24 hour magazine 2015
UCL
UCL rises to 14th in new world university rankings Sam Fearnley and yan yu discuss the ucl news of the week
T
he recently released THE (Times Higher Education) rankings place UCL 14th in the world for the academic year 2015-16. The rankings were measure according to a number of different factors: teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook. Perhaps unsurprisingly, UCL’s strongest category was its research. UCL has long been known for the quality and quantity of its research and performed very strongly in the last RAE (Research Assessment Exercise).
tinctive strengths, but we do follow them with interest and know that they are influential in terms of the study destination choices that students make. So it’s really pleasing that, looking across a number of recent league tables, there is a consistent pattern showing UCL in the top 15 universities in the world. ” 1
Caltech
2
Oxford
3
Stanford
4
Cambridge
5
MIT
Dame Nicola Brewer, who is the UCL Vice-Provost (International) said of the new rankings:
6
Harvard
7
Princeton
8
Imperial
“We welcome our rise in this key international table, which follows a rise in another recent table, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Of course, no single ranking can ever fully reflect our dis-
9
ETH Zurich
10
Chicago
In a follow-up to the main table, the Times
UCL recognised for working towards gender equality Athena SWAN Silver Award received at institutional level
5p bag charge to fight dementia - Supermarkets pledge support for new UCL Dementia Research Institute
U
F
The vast majority of universities in the UK count more women than men among their students, with major exceptions including the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and Imperial College London. By contrast, the percentage of female students at UCLhas steadily risen over the past decade to 54%. The award represents an achievement for the university’s governing body, which implements a new five-year Equalities and Diversity Strategy this month.
Professor Nick Fox, director of the UCL Dementia Research Centre, said: “Dementia already devastates the lives of far too many families across Britain – we urgently need to find more effective ways to prevent, delay or treat the diseases that cause it.”
CL has become one of seven UK higher education institutions to gain the Athena SWAN Silver Award, aimed at furthering the cause of gender equality for women in academia.
our UK supermarkets (Iceland, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose) have promised to donate funds generated from the new government levy on single-use carrier bags to the construction of UCL’s new dementia research centre, a £350 million project that will bring together researchers from across UCL and UCH to fight the causes of the debilitating disease.
will be publishing a new subject specific table each week from 14th October 2015. The subjects will be arts and humanities; clinical, pre-clinical and health; engineering and technology; life sciences; physical sciences; and social sciences. The editor of the rankings, Phil Baty, released a statement saying: “The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, now in their 12th year, apply rigorous standards, using tough global benchmarks across all of a global research university’s key missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The results are trusted by students and their families, academics, university leaders and governments. For UCL to make 14 in the world is an outstanding achievement to be celebrated.” London universities performed especially well in the latest articles.
Hong Kong fellowship scheme funds 200 PhD scholarships Research Grants Council aims to attract “best and brightest students in the world” to study abroad
T
he Hong Kong Research Grants Council is offering 200 PhD students funding to study in one of eight Hong Kong universities for the 2016-17 academic year under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, established in 2009. Candidates may receive an annual stipend as well as a travel allowance for up to three years. They will be assessed on their academic record and reserach potential., amongst other criteria. The deadline for applicants is 1st December 2015.
Page 3
24 hour magazine 2015 | Comment
Pi Debtates: Decidin FOR F
or anyone who has a passion for a particular subject from a young age, early specialisation can help to encourage the development of their interest and allow them to pursue their dream career at an earlier stage. American student Ankhit Pandurangi , a Psychology student, prefers the British system as it: “allows for an early specialisation and lets you move out of the school system quicker and onto your graduate studies and the workplace”. Amongst current ‘highbrow’ discussion of academia and focus on league tables, it is easy to forget that the majority of people are genuinely more naturally talented at particular subjects. By forcing young adults to continue with lessons which they struggle with, we could potentially be damaging their future prospects – and we certainly wouldn’t have been accepted into UCL if forced to take A level maths! Even the thought of quadratic equations still brings many of the English freshers out in a cold sweat… All joking aside, forcing students to continue studying subjects which they find difficult could deter them from continuing their education past the point at which it is compulsory. It is rare to find a student who is a true academic all-rounder, therefore our current system does indeed favour the vast majority of pupils. Although in some cases people do drop out of university because they have chosen the wrong course, this is very rare. The relatively low dropout rates at British universities (according to Times Higher education, UCL has a particularly low rate of one per cent) support the argument that early
specialisation does not have a detrimental effect on a student’s higher education experience. In fact, the ability to specialise at A level can be hugely beneficial in developing a skill set suitable to a particular degree course. For example, if both of us had not done A level philosophy, we would probably have had a breakdown and cried in our first lecture, in which the word tautology was used at least ten times! Another important point is that systems such as those in America encourage students to be a ‘jack of all trades’, with a little knowledge in many subjects. Surely it is more beneficial in the long term to focus on fewer subjects and leave education with a more detailed knowledge base? Jason Lockyn Chan, a Philosophy student from Hong Kong, agrees that: “early specialisation is efficient in developing the skills and knowledge required for particular fields and it reinforces commitment to those fields instead of having noncommittal students jumping from one to another without honing relevant sets of skills”. In today’s difficult job market, it is true that many employers would value a worker who is highly skilled in their particular trade and has relevant experience over one who is able to ace the general knowledge section in the office pub quiz! In any case, it doesn’t look like our friend Dave (Cameron that is) is going to be changing the British education system any time soon, so perhaps we should all learn to embrace the advantages of specialisation – the most important of which is the obvious NO MORE MATHS (not that we’re biased at all).
by Lucy Rogers and Sabrina Matica-Hickey
page 4
comment | 24 hour magazine 2015
ng your future at 16 AGAINST A
t 16, I found A-level choices daunting. It felt like I was deciding my future in four subjects, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. For a person who changed their career plan daily, it seemed impossible to pin my options down. In a world where new jobs are invented everyday, it seems ridiculous to make a choice as a teenager, hoping it’ll prepare you for life. It’ absurd that when you’re not even old enough to vote, you have to make a choice that has an equal, if not a bigger effect on your life. If 16 year olds are too immature to make an informed decision about the government, they can’t be old enough to choose potential career options. Kate, an Arts and Sciences student, agrees. “Iit’s] foolish to try and force 16 year olds to decide …Unless you want to study a really specific science or maths field it is almost completely irrelevant what A levels you do. …there’s lots more things we should be getting stressed about with regards to 16 year olds, they can do significantly more to fuck up their future …” Although some people consider themselves mature enough at 16, this isn’t always the case. People often choose A levels for the wrong reasons. Whether it be your friends, a dreadful teacher who made an interesting subject dull, or the ever-prevalent stereotype of STEM being for boys, and Arts for girls, young people may not always have the right motivations behind decisions . Therefore, I believe people should be able to continue a variety of subjects until they reach eighteen. Yes, not everyone will realise their true passions lies in equations after continuing maths, but there’ll be some who decide a subject they initially hated isn’t really that bad. Who knows? Maybe after studying maths and sciences for longer, more girls will want to defy stereotypes surrounding STEM careers. Even if they
decide not to persist with a subject, they’ll at least have a greater knowledge, which can be carried through life. Not to forget, there are many ways to transfer skills between subjects. A research scientist could use the essay writing skills in research papers, or a programmer could use modern language learning skills to help them learn programming languages. Diane, a Science and Engineering major in Arts and Sciences, describes her experience of taking dozens of subjects in the French Baccalaureate. “…it has given me a larger view on the world and fueled further curiosity… It reminded me how many further studies were available so that I could make a confident choice in selecting a uni course… when I found [out about BASC] was … I jumped at the opportunity to continue exploring all the topics I enjoyed...” There are also benefits in allowing young people to learn a variety of subjects outside of the traditional ones. Within many systems such as the US model, where students are able to take modules from a range of departments, they often find a passion that lies somewhere outside of what they expected. Won’t that opportunity be missed if someone never has the opportunity to try certain subjects? Surely something must be going right with this more flexible model, if most of the highest ranked universities in the QS World Ranking and Times Higher Education league tables offer this type of subject exploration. Kylie, an American exchange student “appreciated the amount of time … to make a decision that impacts our future career. I can wait till my third year of university to select a department… that gives me a more diverse education in the first… years…then when I …pick …I’m more confident … it’s the right choice for me.” Let’s change the system!
by Toni Ayonrinde page 5
24 hour Magazine 2015 | politics
Collective blame or preventing extremism? jaafar Alfekaiki examines Prevent and the government’s counterextremism initiatives
T
he typical adolescence of the Bethnal Green girls is chilling: the runaway jihadis can be seen clutching handbags, neck pillows, and water bottles in the video of them leaving Gatwick. It’s no wonder the Home Office has introduced new guidelines applicable to universities and colleges, even if only to be seen to be doing something. Against the rising threat of Islamist extremism, the government is facing criticism of incompetence and over-leniency in its approach. The government’s response is to implement the latest revision of the Prevent strategy, which entrusts universities with the responsibility to recognise, report and investigate suspected cases of radicalisation. Starting from 21st September, it’s an attempt at tackling extremism from the grass-roots level.
Lower standards have become the norm on university campuses when speaking about people from ethnic or religious minorities. This trend for home-grown British jihadism pre-dates even the recent ISIS phenomena. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, president of UCL’s Islamic Society between 2006 and 2007, went on to become the conpage 6
politics | 24 hour magazine 2015
victed “Underwear Bomber”. Or more subtly, the democratic election of Tarik Mahri and Jamal Achchi as Union president and vice-president at Westminster University in 2011. Both men were associated with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organisation promoting the violent establishment of a Caliphate.
But those who would have been radicalised will still be able to find these speakers online relatively easily, or come across these ideas later in their academic life.
media outlets take it too far and end up further driving away British Muslims
A former-member of the organisation, Maajid Nawaz, who later became an advocate for anti-extremism, recalled his time at Newham College while he was part of the organisation in 1995, in an article in the Daily Mail in 2013. “I was president of the Student Union at Newham College in East Ham. The union was nothing but a front for The government’s latest implementation of Prevent on campuses HT [Hizb ut-Tahrir].” comes after Eric Pickles’ letter to Proponents of the Prevent strate- 1,000 Muslim leaders in Britain in gy say it’s a long overdue response January, urging them to do more to to almost wilful naivety on behalf promote “British values” and tackle of university authorities in recog- extremism within their mosques. nising Islamic extremism. Lower The response from the Muslim leadstandards have become the norm on ers was critical of the way Muslim university campuses when speaking communities are be held responsiabout people from ethnic or reli- ble for radicalised individuals.
“It’s alarming to see the number of British Muslims who’ve left England to join the so-called Islamic State, and I think radicalisation in either religious centres, universities or colleges, and the internet really ought to be taken seriously. But,” she added, “some media outlets take it too far and end up further driving away British Muslims rather than integrating them, through the whole ‘them vs us’ narrative. I can’t deny that I feel very out of place.” Extremism can’t be beaten by force from the outside, and the government understands this. But the biggest challenge is how to empower Muslims with the means to counter extremism, rather than hold them responsible for it. If anti-extremism measures are not implemented tactfully, Muslims will end up feeling collectively blamed rather than collectively empowered.
gious minorities. For instance, before the Prevent strategy, speakers Saliha Naqvi, committee member in who may have said reprehensible the UCLU Ahlul Bayt Society, says: things regarding gay people, adulterers or other religious minorities were warmly welcomed as Muslim academics or Muslim civil rights activists, with a blind eye turned to the intolerant views they’ve expressed in the past.
But do we not trust our Muslim students to recognise reprehensible views when they see them? It may be true that a speaker with a Wahhabist or Caliphatist slant may spark the interest of some impressionable young man or woman, and lead them down the path to extremism. Prevent requires universities to pro- The Bethnal Green girls preparing to fly from Gatwick to Turkey, in ortect its student body from radicali- der to cross into ISIS-controlled Syria. Image credit: Metropolitan Police sation, by banning such speakers. page 7
24 hour magazine 2015 | Politics
E V I T A N R E T L A The R A L U C I R R U C A R EXT
ondon
sity of L r e iv n U e h t t a s r e aign ent protest camp
s to stud k a e p s s n e r h A l r Pea
“I
f you think you didn’t have mental health issues before you went into the detention centre, you will have them coming out.” Early into the workshop on Thursday evening at the SOAS occupation, and the atmosphere is already intense. The speaker from Movement for Justice continues: “You will know what depression is. Self-harm is routine, and the nurses on private contracts can’t handle situations which require more than a paracetamol.” This workshop is part of the Anti Freshers’ Fair, four days of events intended to introduce London freshers to local campaigns. On the wall of the room is a banner “Solidarity with…” over 20 current left-wing campaigns as diverse as Focus E15 and “Support Bahar Mustafa”. Another of the slogans written on the banner is “Justice for Cleaners”, which is an 8-year campaign to bring the SOAS cleaning staff in-house. The campaign has worked closely with the SOAS Student Union, producing research reports on the cost-effectiveness of bringing cleaners inhouse. Maham, a former student who was involved in the cleaners’ campaign, told me: “Queen Mary University brought its cleaners in-house and saved money. But it’s also about cutting the connection with dodgy companies like ISS. ISS provide services to detention centres all over Europe. SOAS shouldn’t be tendering contracts to companies which are involved in the machinery of
Page 8
endangering people’s lives.” Justice for Cleaners’ frustration with the undemocratic structures of SOAS recurs among other London university campaigns, including at UCL. The UCL Cut the Rent campaign is fighting back against the provost with democratically organised decision-making.
a cohesive fightback must be organised by students Angus O’Brien, UCL accommodation rep, says “The meeting on Wednesday voted to demand an immediate 40% rent cut. Our final demand would be that UCL sets an affordable rent for students of all backgrounds”. He added that: “the university is not run democratically. The lack of proper power structures means what students say can be easily ignored by the management. It’s important that students organise in Halls themselves, because collectively, they have more power than they think.” Pascal LeTendre-Hanns, UCL external accommodation officer, agreed. “Ultimately the money comes from us to them… If
we’re not happy with how things are, we can stop paying. Landlords need tenants.” Pascal says the involvement of students in the fight to achieve housing goals outside universities is equally important. “The management of the universities get together to lobby for tuition fee increases, and use the same strategies for rent increases. So a cohesive fightback must be organised by students, including solidarity with other London housing campaigns such as Focus E15. Students must recognise the power they have, and have always had, to bring decision-making structures in universities back to a place where they have the confidence to ask for better, without being sidelined as greedy or selfish.” Back in the detention centre workshop, another speaker is talking about the movement: “The people clearest on what the fight is and why it needs to happen, are the people who have come out of detention. Demonstrations organised by people inside and outside, together, have the biggest effect on stopping stigma, fear and isolation on both sides and improving communication. It’s about building a movement on both sides of the walls, so the purpose of detention is undermined and its fragility exposed.” At the end of this week, it seems that if significant victories are to be won, connections must be made between both student and non-student campaigns and Unions, such as Justice for Cleaners and Movement for Justice.
politics | 24 Hour magazine 2015
LANGUAGE POLICING and the case of Bahar Mustafa Jamie Boylan-O’Rourke considers our rights and their limits
F
reedom of speech is something that should not be taken lightly. Its very existence is crucial to our democratic rights, but it feels like sometimes it’s taken for granted, and even ignored at times. Bahar Mustafa, the 28 year old welfare and diversity officer at Goldsmiths University, was recently put under the spotlight for some controversial statements including the hashtag “#KillAllWhiteMen” on Twitter, and organising events that excluded whites, and cisgender men. She also claimed she could not be racist as she is an “ethnic minority woman”. This all seemed to die out when a poll to have her removed from the union did not achieve enough of votes to have her removed.
Bahar Mustafa is not a threat to our society However, she was charged on 6 October with “sending a communication conveying a threatening message” and “sending a grossly offensive message via a public communication network”. On the one hand this seems ridiculous. If this type of speech is criminal, then half of the “SJWs” on the Internet are criminals too. Bahar Mustafa is not a threat to our society. She believes her words support her cause, but
in the grand scheme of things they are pretty much harmless. I am strongly against language policing, especially on university campuses. We are all rational and critical human beings, and can tell the difference between extreme racial hatred, and a phrase, albeit disgusting and nasty, that seems to have been used in a non-serious manner. We can all make up our own minds, and don’t need to be mollycoddled by censorship because something is “offensive”. Debate needs to have a range of views, and the banning of Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel from Manchester University (ironically from a debate about censorship) highlights the censorship on our university campuses. But if the right wing and the cultural libertarian voices are being banned, why aren’t the religious extremists that talk on campuses being banned too? Freedom of speech requires having to listen to opinions you don’t agree with being discussed. In the case of Mustafa, there is another side to this that cannot be ignored. She was in a position of power and authority, and it could be argued that she abused this power. She is one of many people in this country and online that have these “extreme” views, and maybe a trial like hers, scheduled for November, will be the thing to nip this in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue than it already is. But isn’t this a university issue, rather than a police issue? Isn’t this something that should be put to university students to de-
bate, and to voice their opinion on, rather than the courts? Saying that these issues need to be legally adjudicated suggests that university students are incapable of autonomous thought, and that we cannot be presented with words deemed to be offensive. We really do have thicker skin than that. Of course, I do not believe in racial segregation in universities. I also do not condone the use of the hashtag “#KillAllWhiteMen”. But the same intent that has seen Bahar Mustafa arrested, is the same intent that is trying to censor our university campuses. Language policing does not solve anything, and suppressing already angry voices just makes them angrier – look at the issue of immigration over the past decade.
We should welcome free speech, and we should welcome offence We should welcome free speech, and we should welcome offence. As Shami Chakrabarti clearly put it in a recent Oxford Union debate: “Everybody loves human rights, including free speech. They love their own. It’s other people’s [that] are a bit more of a problem.”
page 9
24 hour magazine 2015 | Politics
CORBYN: The new Clement Attlee? ADIL SAIT LOOKS AT THE HISTORICAL PRECEDENT FOR THE NEW LABOUR LEADER’S POLITICS. “For the first time we have […] a Labour Government in power, a Labour Government supported by a great majority in the House of Commons, a Labour Government carrying out the policies of the Socialist Movement.” –Clement Attlee, Bournemouth, 1946
C
lement Attlee’s address to the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth after their win in the 1945 general election gave a clear message: democratic socialism for Labour. What happened next is history. However, if the Labour Party should, somehow, win the general election in 2020, these could easily be the words of Jeremy Corbyn, the first “socialist” leader of Labour since the 1980s. Within UCL there has been much talk about support for Corbyn, and what he represents for the left wing of the Labour Party. Some argue that, far from militant, Corbyn represents a democratic socialist tradition that has all but been forgotten. Conservatives will point to Margret Thatcher or Winston Churchill as the most influential British politician of the post-war era, but the same could be said for Clement Attlee, Labour’s leader between 1935 and 1955, and British Prime Minister between 1945 and 1951. Attlee was responsible for the political world that we recognise today. He created the NHS, the modern welfare state, greater workers’ rights and the post-war Keynesian consensus that survived more than thirty years. He nationalised the utilities
Page 10
companies and the railways in the 1950s to ensure greater social welfare for workers and consumers, and also started the process of decolonisation, giving independence to former colonies and ending the mandates that were imposed after the First World War. In effect, he altered British perspectives and priorities. It is in this tradition of Labour’s past that Corbyn’s socialism, as the leader of the Labour Party, must be viewed. Corbyn’s views may seem alien to the modern consensus of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He rejects austerity, the nuclear deterrent, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, privatisation of the utility companies and the government’s use of quantitative easing. Opposition to these policies has a venerable tradition in the figure of Clement Attlee. However, there are clear differences: Attlee supported a British nuclear deterrent to counter the rise of Stalinist expansion in Eastern Europe, though he was unwilling to use it. Attlee had been a soldier in the First World War, which influenced his positions in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War. Corbyn has none of these roles, though notably as a backbench MP he has held posts such as
chair of the Stop the War Coalition, and has been a member of the CND movement. Therefore, Corbyn’s polices are far from extreme, but simply emerge out of an almost forgotten perspective in Labour politics, harking back to Clement Attlee, which was lost after the rise of New Labour. Agar Epps of UCL Marxist Society argues that “for the first time in generations a party leader is not under the control of the establishment and it is vital to defend him from the malicious right wing attacks of the Tories, the media and members of his own party”. While it has surprised many both within and outside the Labour party that Corbyn won the leadership contest by 59.5%, Corbyn, like Attlee, has presented a radical alternative to what has been accepted as the norm in British politics, and this begs the question: is Corbyn the new Attlee? Corbyn is an heir to the traditions of the democratic socialist agenda of Attlee’s Labour Party that helped them win in 1945, although Corbyn faces a much more complex and a constantly changing world. He may well be the new Attlee, but only time will tell.
politics | 24 hour magazine 2015
YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPED! Alex Clyde gauges the reaction to America’s most provocative candidate
A
s we move into the winter, the machine of the American presidential primaries fires into action. Often this season is marked by unusual candidates, previously relegated to the fringe, suddenly surging into preeminent positions in the polls. This year is no exception. Billionaire property magnate, reality TV show persona and double comb-over aficionado Donald Trump is this year’s Republican manifestation of the phenomenon. Trump has gained notoriety during his campaign for his controversial statements about Mexican immigration into the US, and threatening to build a kind of giant reverse Berlin Wall across the US-Mexico border.
People are fed up with professional politicians He maintains a twitter account from which he has in the past pronounced “The concept of Global Warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”, “I have never seen a thin person drink diet coke”, as well as “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest – and you all know it! Please don’t feel stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.”
It’s not clear whether these statements are serious expressions of his feelings and opinions, or a kind of ironic postmodern caricature of his own persona and celebrity. The idea that his tweets are serious is undermined by the fact he tweeted in January 2013 “I still can’t believe we left Iraq without the oil”, whilst maintaining that he has always opposed the Iraq war in the Republican debates and citing a cover story from esquire in 2004 in which he condemned the war. So is Trump a serious candidate with a serious chance of becoming president? We asked UCL students from the US what they thought. Katie Pak, a third year History and Political Science from Michigan, thinks he cannot win: “I don’t think he could win the nomination, because the Republican Party needs to pick someone more moderate to win the election”. She adds: “The danger is he runs as a third party candidate”. However, even in this case, she thinks he cannot win the presidency as it is “impossible as a third party candidate”. Katie also takes a negative view of Trump’s candidacy, saying that “Trump is pretty damning to the international perspective of American politics”. In contrast, third year History student Nick Srivastava from Chicago, says: “People should definitely take [Trump] seriously”. He argues that “ignoring a candidate just because he’s had a television career is a sure way to be on the wrong side of a 49 state landslide”. (This is in reference to
Ronald Reagan’s victories despite his Hollywood career.) On the subject of a potential Trump presidency, Nick is enthusiastic. “I think it’s great. People are fed up with professional politicians.”
Trump is pretty damning to the international perspective of American politics The next few months will reveal whether Trump is a candidate with genuine staying power, or just a placeholder who will make way for another frontrunner as the race goes on. For the 2012 Republican primaries there were variety of nutty candidates, ranging from Herman Cain to Michelle Bachmann. They led the polls before the Republican primary voters finally settled on robotic Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, as the best chance they had of beating President Obama. Depending on your perspective, a win for Trump could prove either entertaining or frightening, or perhaps both in equal measure. It’s his race to lose now, though.
Page 11
24 hour magazine 2015 | literature
BEATRICE BACCI AND KATIE PAK EXPLORE OUR ENDURING FASCINATION WITH POETRY AND HOW WE CAN ALL GET INVOLVED
A
lready come and gone, National Poetry Day, on the 8th October was something I wish I had known of
before.
Every year we are invited by the Forward Arts Foundation, the charity behind National Poetry Day, to “break with the tyranny of prose for 24 hours”, and bring back poetry into our lives. How? This time, people have been inspired by the slogan “Make like a poet”, broken into easier bites (“speak, think, act, love, live and dream like a poet”) transformed into posters by graphic artist Anthony Burrill. With this global day for the appreciation of all things poetic, celebrities including Stephen Hawking, Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Juliet Stevenson and Neil Nunes all came together to read some of their favourite poems about light, to encourage the public to participate in the project. These poems were turned into short digital films by graphic and visual artists, with Laure Prouvost, Bridget Smith and Kathleen Herbert all participating in the project. At the same time, for the whole day last Thursday, BBC Radio 4 wove poems into their broadcast, interlinking National Poetry Day with the parallel project “We British: An Epic in Poetry”, which explained the history of Britain through its poetry. This program was also part of a wider initiative of the BBC, which is running the series “Contains Strong Language”, spread across most channels to talk about poetry. The aim of National Poetry Day has not
page 12
changed – it seeks to reach out to as many people as possible, to pause and reflect about the value of poetry. People from all over Britain and children from schools were invited to write poems or sharing their favourite poems in a creative way, with the help of images or without. The best entries were then chosen by Anthony Burrill and displayed on screens as part of the Blackpool Illuminations, an appropriate stage to transmit the value of poetry to the world, with the warm, bright beams dancing against the cold, dark, October sky. Likewise, we cannot fail to count the local initiatives that have been going on elsewhere. In Bristol, for example, the poet Liz Brownlee gathered “light-workers” from the city (including an astronomer, a firefighter, a cosmologist, and a fire-eater) to read poems about light for films to be shown on the big screen in the city centre. ‘Light’ is one of the most poetic words. It constantly surrounds us - gives warmth, gives life, gives hope. The way we think about light is very personal, with each and every one of us thinking about its symbolism in a different way. Even if the National Poetry Day has passed, we at UCL want to highlight the creative core of our students, our diversity and university life in general. This is why we went out and asked our students what words they associate with the word ‘light’. We then made a poem out of it (cool, right?). We know bit late for this year, but hopefully you and I will all be
24 hour magazine 2015 | literature
THE NOBLE PRIZE RE-EXAMINED
ARE “WE” CHOOSING A WORTHY WINNER? BYRON ABAD EXPLORES HOW THE CURRENT SYSTEM FOR DECIDING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE LEAVES ETHNIC MINORITIES DEEPLY UNDERREPRESENTED.
L
ast Thursday, the world joined in celebration of National Poetry Day. However, that same day the literary world also chose Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich as the “worthy” winner of the 2015 Nobel prize for Literature. Yet, as a poll from www.Nobelprize.org has shown, only 12 per cent of 6333 people can claim to have read Alexievich’s work, so can we really say she should have won the most prestigious literary prize? Sara Danius, chair of the Swedish Academy (the organisation which decides this illustrious honour) clearly thinks so, championing the newly titled Laureate “for her polyphonic writings”, which she believes are “a monument to courage and suffering in our time”. As the fourteenth woman to have won the Nobel in Literature, Alexieviech purported that she was at home, ironing clothes, when the award was relayed to her via a phone call from the Swedish Academy. On hearing that she had won the award worth 8m Krona (£691,000), Alexieviech unassumingly called it “a great personal joy”. Previous winners of the Nobel prize include commanding figures in the literary world such as Rudyard Kipling and Ernest Hemingway. Of course, UCL is a university that is not one to be left behind - it has produced Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali British literary heavyweight whose “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse” has received critical acclaim. On UCL’s doorstep, a £50,000 bronze bust of the poet Tagore was unveiled in Gordon
Page 14
Square by Prince Charles in 2011. Whilst the majority of us unknowingly walk past it day-after-day - preoccupied with seminar readings (which, let’s be honest, we haven’t done) or getting to the lecture we are running late for - it is a lasting symbol of the literary accomplishments which surround us in Bloomsbury. Alexievich’s writings can be dubbed as a docu-novel, mapping out life in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet era, which has been a largely polemical response to Russia’s involvement in Ukraine and a rigorous scrutinisation of the Russian President Vladimir Putin as an ‘imperialist’. Danius has given further justification for awarding Alexievich the world’s most prestigious literature prize: “[Alexievich] has offered us new historical material and she has offered us a new genre…”, Danius said Thursday at the announcement of the award. As adept as Alexievich may be at writing, there is more than a noticeable underrepresentation of writers from a non-western background. This asks the question: should we look more widely for writers who are truly worthy of the award? The answer is yes. The underrepresentation that I talk of is evident in Max Fisher’s, former Content Director at the Washington Post, statistical compilation of Nobel Prize winners since 1901, and lo and behold, 83 per cent of all Nobel Laureates have come from the western hemisphere. To my surprise (not!),
it exposes the perennial inequality in the giving of these prestigious awards. It is very much western-centred. A glance at the map of previous winners reveals that the majority of the awards are divvied between Western Europe and North America. Such monopoly, clearly suggests that there is an ethnocentric bias within the organisation. In particular, the Nobel Committee for Literature (the Swedish Academy) is comprised of an inner coterie of middle-class white persons (and as the eponymous name suggests, they are all Swedes!). Although all countries have their own representatives, their role and significance is minimal in comparison to the central role of the Swedish Academy. This is clearly unfair. As a member of London’s Global University, a community that champions diversity, I feel that we need to address why the Western countries seem to have bigger bite of the apple. The reason? It is ultimately ethnocentric. It refers to an attitude that prioritises the culture of one particular ethnic group while disregarding others. In this case: western culture. The nature of literature is inherently subjective anyway. How exactly do we go about judging a literary prize? It reduces something that is supposedly free into something quite mechanistic. Entering literary competitions is, on the whole, as fruitful as trying to empty the Pacific Ocean with a cup. The ‘Nobelty’ will wear off.
LUPUS:
science & tech | 24 hour magazine 2015
THE
BIG BAD
WOLF In light of Selena Gomez recently revealing her diagnosis, Su H. Cho takes a look at the misunderstood disease.
E
ver felt like you’re being eaten alive or you have a brewing conflict inside that you can’t solve? As the puzzle stays unsolved from months to years, it starts to change you irreversibly piece by piece, and little by little. You’d feel like you’re trapped in machinery that you couldn’t escape or change parts of. Well, that’s how lupus patients feel every day Lupus is an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system goes haywire and wreaks havoc by starting to attack one’s own cells. Former child-star & diva Selena Gomez’s recently openly spoke about her diagnosis of lupus, appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It has made recent headlines and boy, were the Lupus patients happy about her opening up about it. Up till now, Lupus has been a silent killer. A disease that even researchers themselves have termed “career suicide” and not many people were aware of this disease, sadly including family and friends of some unfortunate patients. So when an international star like Selena has stepped up to spread awareness about this practically unheard of disease, it becomes remarkably helpful for many who consistently struggle with having to explain it daily. Lupus has multiple causative factors from genetic to medication, and a variety of environmental factors such as diet and environment. The UV rays from sun light are known to be the main trigger of the disease and can cause the recurrence and exacerbation of it. Even though the puzzle is being solved in pieces, it is largely in part, recognized as an idiopathologic disease – meaning no one knows why or how it happens.
”Even after many advances in medicine, lupus is still incurable.” Even after many advances in medicine, lupus is still incurable. The current treatment for lupus includes an intensive course of chemotherapy drug rituximab, which might have been one of the medications Selena was receiving.
Other medications used to treat the condition include bulimumab. Bulimumab is the first new treatment to be FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approved in the past 50 year. It wasn’t an easy straight-forward process as there were many delays due to a nasty patent war between Human Genome Sciences and Eli Lilly & Comp over the validity of the patent claim. This just goes to show how monetary greed can deter life-saving drugs from being made available to the public potentially preventing lives from being saved. On the bright side of things, Lupus could now be managed with medication and lifestyle changes that allow 80-90% of patients to live normal lives. Celebrities such as Selena Gomez, singer-songwriter Toni Braxton, and the musician Seal, who are talking about their diagnosis publicly have been immensely helpful in raising public awareness of lupus sufferers. What is left for Lupus patients now is the hope that new advanced medicines can solve the mystery of the big bad wolf in the near future.
Page 15
24 hour magazine 2015 | science & Tech
UCL Advances App Lab: The App store for UCL students
FRANCISCO CORDOBA TAKES A LOOK AT UCL APP LAB – THE APP STORE EXCLUSIVE TO UCL STUDENTS.
W
hile most universities have their own apps (including UCL), UCL’s centre for entrepreneurship and business interaction, “UCL Advances”, wants to take their efforts in the app world a step further. I am talking about “App lab”, an app store exclusively for UCL students. Their focus is to establish a platform to support the creation and testing of new apps to be enjoyed by UCL students. If the project is successful it could be the most innovative effort from a university in the UK to help students with their apps. On downloading the app my first impressions were good. Firstly, you could win a £100 Amazon certificate just by completing a questionnaire and installing the app yourself, a great deal for five minutes of your time. Although the installation process is a little bit tricky (but come on its not exactly beating every level in Candy
page 16
crush, right?). You need to go to the App Lab website, as it’s not able to be offered via Google or Apples App Store. Then you need to verify that your phone accepts apps from other sources by going through with your security settings, which is all rather fiddly.
one app, which is great for keeping you up to date with what’s on (but the search function needs improvement). “Whatstat” aims to help you to find the best statistics model to use for your research based on a series of simple questions - a must for master students.
The app is divided into 6 categories: Games, Health, Media, Productivity, Social and UCL Apps. There are 24 apps available on the platform so far, but only five from UCL projects. It works the same as in your usual app store: read the description, check the screenshots and click install. The only issue is that each time you want to install an app you need to authorize it, which is mildly irritating but will only takes you about 10 seconds.
App Lab provides a great opportunity for everyone at UCL to discover and test cool new apps to have fun and enhance their university studies. If you have an app prototype you can submit it to the team and they will help you with the testing and provide precise statistics on the usage of your app to help developers improve their products prior to full launch
There were two apps that I found to be particularly interesting and useful for UCL students “Houndly” allows you to access all the information on UCLU events in
So, if you or your fellow students are interested in trying to create the next hit app, this is the best environment to test and develop your idea before jumping in at the deep end of major app stores.
science & tech | 24 hour magazine 2015
SCIENCE AND SUPERHEROES Olena Pfirsch discusses how superhero films can inspire scientists to scientists to help change the world.
“W
ho’s strong and brave here to save the American way?” Or British, or French, or Italian, or whichever way you fancy saving. Since the kick-start of the ‘Marvel© Cinematic Universe’, with Iron Man leading the way, the fandom has become widespread and practically everyone wants to be a superhero. The films to me showcase the best of human ability, as they take seemingly ordinary people and watch them become extraordinary - in some cases with the help of science. A prime example is Captain America. Born a weakling, the runt bravely standing up to his bullies. When World War II comes thundering along he will do anything to stay at the heart of the battle. Steve (the man behind the shield) is given a chance, only a chance, by Dr Erskine a scientist who happens to have developed a “super soldier serum”. It’s a comic book film so naturally anything goes, but what about reality? Are we going to be stuck with protein shakes and steroids forever? If such a serum was brought from the pages into existence we could create the ‘perfect’ human being. In the film Captain America: The First Avenger, the serum not only turns Steve from a tiny twig to a mountain of muscle, but it also cures his frailness as we see him immediately charge through the streets after Richard Armitage with ease. With this in mind, some scientists have jumped straight on the band-waggon.
A ‘Because Science’ video on how the serum may actually work explains one theory about how the serum may have interacted with Steve’s DNA to create Captain America. Other online articles speculate that it consists of a hormone found in ants, which when given in an exaggerated dose at certain points in the larvae cycle can turn them into ‘super soldier’ ants twice the size of a normal ant.
“Are we going to be stuck with protein shakes and steroids forever?” However, all these ideas focus on completely the wrong aspect of the serum. Life isn’t about whether you have more muscles than the next guy, our health is what’s important. For humanity to be enhanced and to evolve we need to start with the basics. Being able to breathe normally for asthma sufferers is the super human ability we should be focusing on. Using this research to figure out exactly what suddenly al-
lowed Steve to overcome his asthma would be the best benefit to us; he still takes our breath away though! So we’re working on the ‘perfect’ soldier. What about his weapon? With the election in the USA coming up, gun laws have once again stepped back into the spotlight. Superhero films = action and adventure = explosions, violence, and guns, and inevitably, they usually shoot to kill. The spinoff TV series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) sees the team of Agents under Coulson’s command use I.C.E.R.s (Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun- they’re a huge fan of acronyms over at Marvel). These guns, previously known as ‘Night-night’ guns, do exactly what they say in the acronym. Instead of killing the target or causing severe blood loss or injury, they are tranquilised to prevent them from posing a threat to or hurting someone. Do we not need this? School shootings striking fear into students, wrongful shootings by police sparking riots - could this not be prevented if the public were only allowed guns that knock-out the apparent threat? A breakthrough like this could possibly see us all one step closer to disarmament, one step closer to world peace, one step closer to saving humanity from itself. Perhaps scientists aren’t focusing on benefits for humanity but more on making a comic book hero come to life. After all who doesn’t need a star-spangled man with a
Page 17
24 hour Magazine 2015 | Science & Tech
Venice
From
Below
Ines Hidalgo Manzana looks at bio-architectural solutions to the decaying state of Venice’s foundations.
B
elow Venice’s buildings of grandeur and mystique, a decaying structure of alder wood balances tonnes of rock and marble; a trembling hut in a tempest. Back in the 5th Century AD, it was nothing more than a lagoon where refugees sought safety, resorting to wood for shelter and security in a space only surrounded by water and mud. As a means of construction, this organic material comes with many faults. The wood is composed of thin and elongated molecules of cellulose packed together into a collection of fibres that provide the material with the necessary sturdiness required in construction. Unfortunately, its organic make-up allows it to be incredibly vulnerable to weathering and decay. Although the constant swelling and contracting due to flooding is not a problem for the city’s foundations, the tides above seep in and out of these beams resulting in its buckling and warping. One problem that springs to mind is if the wood decays under water. Depending on how far below the surface the wood is submerged, fungi and bacteria feed on it as a means to reap energy. Breaking down its cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fibres, this puts the city in great danger as the array of wooden stakes over which everything is erected begin to weaken. Meanwhile above, tonnes of stone and marble are admired by the tourists amid the romantic setting of the city.
Page 18
With this alarming realisation, you might wonder why cities like Venice or Amsterdam still hold. The absence of oxygen in water deep under the surface kills any chance of survival of these microorganisms. Therefore the decay of pillars deep underneath are prevented and the lower sections of the structure remain intact.
“Poised on a delicate array of wooden stakes, Venice hides a construction vulnerability” Poised on a delicate array of wooden stakes, Venice hides a construction vulnerability often overshadowed by the prospect of it flooding as sea levels rise from global warming. With building problems in the foundations of Venice, the development of technologies merging biology and architecture becomes a necessity in an era where
sustainability is essential for our future.
Metabolic materials could be the solution - with pioneering architects like Leroy Cronin and Professor of Experimental Architecture Rachel Armstrong advocating for the power of living architecture. By interacting with their surroundings, these new materials have incredible prospects in building sustainable cities for the future. A prime example of these materials is protocells. Protocells are chemically programmable synthetic structures which can be used as self-repairing materials and contain some of the main biological characteristics of living organisms, such as reproducing and responding to changes in the environment around them. Through current research, humans have managed to chemically engineer a particular strain of protocells to convert carbon dioxide from the environment into calcium carbonate (also known as limestone) which could potentially be used to strengthen other materials. Though the uses for this self-sustaining synthetic organism are endless, it has been Professor Armstrong’s suggestion to introduce these protocells into Venice’s decaying structure. Could we passively repair a city’s scaffolding foundations with protocells by exploiting their ability to reproduce and spread along a structure? Could growing an artificial limestone reef below a city save it?
travel | 24 hour magazine 2015
Interrailing:Interrailing: The best The best way to go way to go backpacking? backpacking?
Thomas Hollands navigates the pros and cons of interrailing
I
nterrailing. This manner of European overland travel has long been popular with wide-eyed “Gap Yah” goers, lads and girls holidays, and edgy, introspective solo travelers far and wide. Its popularity cannot be disputed, Eurail estimate that between 180,000 and 200,000 people travelled on an interrail in the pass this year. Is it the best way to backpack around Europe? When backpacking, particularly if you are inexperienced, convenience is king. Eurail offer a one month “Global pass” for less than £300, which allows you to travel to virtually any country in Europe, on virtually any train within one month. A not-so-insignificant part of backpacking is the planning of routes, accommodation, and where besides alcohol to allocate the
rest of your meagre budget. The purchase of an interrail ticket allows you to sidestep route planning. You are not bound to take specific trains on specific days. You aren’t even committed to a set journey either. If after having embarked upon your journey to Vienna, and you actually decide you want to take a detour to Krakow, an interrail ticket facilitates your change of heart with minimal reorganization and fuss. The flip side of the “all-inclusivity” of the interrail pass is just that: interrail trains come in all shapes and sizes, and a variety of different comforts. Your day train from Munich to Berlin with the plush seats and free WiFi is a far cry from the glorified plank of a mattress you’ll have the privilege of sleeping on from Zurich to Zagreb.
Also, many trains require preliminary reservations which sometimes have an extra small fee. While it is certainly true that it is possible to travel all throughout Europe without having to pay for additional reservations, you would be doing so on the slower, less commonly used trains. One perhaps unexpected consequence of embarking upon an interrail trip is the number of friends one can make along the road. Backpacking allows you to make friends with people from faraway countries, with whom the only common characteristic you appear to share is a desire to travel. Travelling is the ultimate icebreaker. There is no easier way to make friends with someone than to have a shared experi-
page 19
24 hour magazine 2015 | travel ence in a city that is mutually unfamiliar. Ask one of your fellow hostel dwellers the inevitable question: “Where have you been so far?” Chances are that if you’ve been on the road for a while, you and your acquaintance will have visited a few of the same places. After bonding over the squalor of Balkan night trains and the splendour of Prague’s Old Town, why not invite Portuguese Paolo for lunch. Voila! A new friend. Backpackers in Europe rarely take the road less travelled, and seeing travellers in more than one city isn’t uncommon. Upon parting ways with dear Paolo after a delightful day in Zagreb, don’t be surprised to bump into him at a bar in
Backpacking allows you to make friends with people with whom your only commonality is your love of travel Budapest a week later. This past week Kayla, an Australian gap year gal whom I met in Istanbul backpacking in August, was in London. We discussed our different journeys to the Shoreditch bar in which we sat over their cheapest cider. Kayla and her friend met two Brazilian guys in Berlin, only to “literally bump into them on the streets of Amsterdam”, where they spent the next few days together. Meeting travellers is not unique to interrailing. Backpacking in general opens doors to meet new travellers, of which interrailing is arguably the most convenient option, if not the cheapest. Kayla, during her three-month journey from Turkey to the Thames, both used a Eurail pass and booked trains, buses and flights separately. She affirmed my belief in the convenience of interrailing, stating: “it was such a relief to not have to be thinking about how to get to the next place all of the time.” When asked what the best mode of travelling was, however, interrailing was not her first answer. “Buses, particularly in Central Europe, are far more comfortable and faster than trains.” I have only travelled on one coach, between Sofia and Istanbul. It had air-conditioning, free WiFi, televisions in the back of the seats, and complimentary drinks and snacks. It was more like taking a relaxing night-flight than a stressful train
page 20
journey. Taylor, a Canadian whom I met in Krakow, swears by night buses. “I’ve been in Europe for a couple of months now, and I’ve only taken one train. Night buses, are cheap, comfortable, and they provide a place for me to chill and think about the next destination.” In Poland, as central as Europe gets, you can buy a bus fare from Warsaw to Krakow for 25PLN, or just over £4. The high speed train between the two costs 49PLN, over double the price. Taking a night bus is also cost-effective because it is accommodation for one night, meaning that you save one night’s worth of money. According to Taylor, buses are the perfect
place to plan your next journey. As he puts it: “Dude, you’re on a bus. Besides sleep, what else are you going to do?” Backpacking, however you decide to do it, is a brilliant opportunity to meet people and experience foreign cultures first-hand. Interrailing, so often the first port of call for fledgling backpackers, remains a cornerstone of European overland travel due to its convenience and flexibility. While it is certainly not the cheapest option, interrailing provides an easy to use platform for experiencing Europe and meeting new people along the way. It is for this reason I believe that for those looking to lose their backpacking virginities, let interrailing be
<E d i t o r i a l Contributers> Editors-in-Chief, Pi Magazine Wyndham Hacket Pain and Katherine Riley
President and Vice President Rebecca Pinnington and Izzy Cutts
Deputy Editor-in-Chief for News and Investigations Sam Fearnley
Editor-in-Chief, Pi TV Anna Borbely
Design Editor Weronika Kuc Section Editors Rafy Hay, Politics Gerard Westhoff, Science & Tech Yang Yang Wang, Science & Tech Melvin Yeo, Travel Jack Ford, Literature Anna Tomlinson, Arts Henry Hill, Sport Jaml Rizvi, Sport Charlotte Palmer, Film & TV Laurie Chen, News Mary Newman, Comment Pi TV Crew 1 2
WRITERS Yan Yu Pearl Ahrens Lucy Rogers Sabrina Matica-Hickey Toni Ayonrinde Jaafar Alfekaiki Adil Sait Alex Clyde
Beatrice Bacci Katie Pak Byron Abad Francisco Cordoba Su H. Cho Olena Pfirsch Ines Hidalgo Manzana Thomas Hollands
“I am an infinite, non-repeating decimal!” cried the .
π
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the very first 24 Hour Magazine Project. You now know what it means to be a Pi. Until next issue!