Post 16

Literary

Journal December 2020

Volume 1

1 Welcome! To the 1st edition of the Post 16 Journal

Firstly, we would like to welcome you to our very first edition of the Post 16 Journal; a collection of the best literary pieces in our community. When we were beginning to collate this edition we were shocked at how many of you actively engaged with it and produced some outstanding pieces that we’re sure will entertain, inform and provoke profound thinking. For us this has been a chance to discover hidden talents and embrace those passionate about writing, giving them a space to express their devotion to the arts. It’s also been a chance to reflect, obviously this year has been difficult and as we close the book on this hellish chapter we hope our journal will be a chance to consider what it really important and the changes that have come with 2020.

As editors, we are so excited to bring this to you and we hope you love it as much as we do. We have been working on this project since September to ensure this is the most entertaining and beneficial to us as young adults, this has included an emphasis on politics to get you thinking about your voice when the time comes to vote. It was also important to us that we embraced the creative side of writing, for academia so often doesn’t recognise it; this has included a submission around loss to coincide with Remembrance Sunday and some incredible photographs depicting nature in its glory, when this year so many of us have been forced to turn away from social media to the real world and in our temporary release from the confines of our home, nature has been at the forefront of our minds.

Contents: We would finally like the thank all who contributed for they have truly made this issue what it is and say thank you to you all for reading! We are very ex- cited to be releasing our next issue soon.

From your editors,

Carys, Chloe, Jen and Louise

2

• Colourism in Films — Kaira- Lily

• Trumps Effect on Politics— Kate

• Death Sentences—Pavan

• The Nagorno- Conflict—Jaskirat

• Home (Remembrance)

• Titanic—Adrian

• Birth Stone—Molly

• Photo Gallery—Sara What happened in

the news and why you should care?

Corona Virus vaccine: • The first Corona virus vaccines have been given out!

• The vaccine come from the company Pfizer and are slowly being rolled out to those who need it most throughout the country.

3 • For the vaccine to work you need two shots two weeks apart.

• We’re still not quite sure how long the vaccine will give immunity for but either way this vaccine would be the quickest way to create herd immunity and drop the rate of infection to below one.

Why should you care? The more people who get the vaccine the sooner lockdown can become a thing of the past and we can return to some kind of normal.

National Lockdown: • England has now been placed into a tier system

• In all tiers, shops, hairdressers and other similar thing remain open.

• However, the system limits the amount of people who can meet up with up to 6 people outside being the strictest rules (tier 3 which Coventry is now in) • There is some hope though, Coventry is on the very edge of being in three and could be moved into tier two shortly.

• Additionally, between the 23rd and the 27th of December up to three households can form a bubble and meet indoors

households for 5 days.

• The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson has confirmed that all four UK nations are trying to work out a plan to allow families from to travel across the country to meet for Christmas

4 Why should you care? Well, this mean that you can continue shopping and going to school as normal but still can ’ t meet up with friends or family in rd large groups. Although from the 23 you can spend Christmas with two other

Family Christmas: • BBC health correspondent has said that any rule change would only last for a limited time (no more than a week)

Why should you care? It means that whether you celebrate Christmas or not for a few days at the end of December you might be able to meet up with close family and friends and celebrate the end of 2020.

American Election: • In the simplest of terms, Biden won, and Trump lost.

• However, Trump still refuses to concede and is staying in the White House until January 16th and continues to threaten lawsuit.

• Realistically, there is no way Trump could sue Biden out of presidency. Come January Biden will move into the White House and Trump’s presidency will be over.

Why should you care? There’s a couple thing which could come out of this for Britain. As we near the end of talks for Brexit the trade deals we make with other countries outside of the EU are incredibly important. We may end up relying on America for any imports we used to get through the EU. So, having a President who is willing to build ties with the UK is really important.

No deal Brexit: • To be honest the EU currently has the upper hand in Brexit negotiations. Britain is relatively at the mercy of the EU any deal we propose has to be

5 accepted but the EU doesn’t have to accept anything they don’t want to and are well within their rights to just leave us without a deal. To make matters worse UK chief negotiator Lord Frost, is not optimistic about the UKs chances of finding a deal that everyone is happy with and says that talks are essentially “over”

Why should you care? Being a part of the EU trading agreements means that we all share the same rules on the standards of products. This means that the thing we export to the EU are of the same quality as the things we import. With this not only would it become more expensive to sell British products abroad and more expensive to buy European products in Britain, but we no longer have the quality of products guaranteed. Without a good deal any product coming in from the EU could be way too expensive for half the quality. It also could make it much harder and more expensive to travel to

Ban on petrol and diesel cars:

• Under the prime ministers new Green Plan cars solely powered by petrol and diesel will be banned by the year 2030.

• Some hybrid cars will still be allowed but the PM is calling for what he calls a “green industrial revolution”

• However, critics say that the PM has not allowed nearly enough money to create change on such a huge level. And of course, this alone won’t be enough to prevent or even reverse climate change and if we don’t implement a sustainable source of electricity across the country then this change will have no impact at all.

• But it is predicted that the plan could create 250,000 jobs. So, anyone considering a career in engineering can look forward to a range of different future prospects

6 Why should you care? Cutting carbon emission on such a huge scale is the type of action we need to truly slow down the effects of climate change. But plans such as these coming from the government are a step in right direction, being an island nation climate change is something that we really have to prevent unless we are prepared to live under the ocean. Also, it is a great time to be preparing to study engineering.

7

I Colourism in Films By Kaira - Lily

f you’ve been paying attention to your screens or binging Netflix recently (which I’m sure most of us have been over quarantine) you might have noticed a popular trope rising in your favourite teen dramas. The Token Mixed Character. Why is it such a popular trope for there to be a typically lighter skinned character accompanying the main, predominantly white, character? My guess is to throw in some kind of diversity points without casting dark skin actors or actresses. There is also a huge issue with casting black actors in general, a technique called the Paper Bag test is often recognised in casting in shows such as Grown-ish where most actors are no darker than a paper bag. Coming from a light skinned/racially ambiguous aspiring actor, I recognise this ‘trend’ will probably make it easier for me to be cast in a role compared to my dark skin counterpart, which is horrible and disgusting to think about, but is unfortunately true. I think about cases where a darker skinned actor would have been more appropriate e.g. Amandla Steinburg in The Hate U Give or Zendaya in The Greatest Showman, but lighter skinned actors where given the role, simply because they have the ‘Hollywood Look’. Now that movies and shows can’t get away with having an all-white cast with very little representation, instead they cast ethnic actors who are white-passing or are closer to the euro-centric beauty standards to get away with being ‘diverse’ without damaging their chances of their art being consumed by a white- dominated audience. Which makes sense, right? Because white people make up a majority of the population, why wouldn’t they want to cater more to that audience? The problem is by doing this, it almost denies the existence of other races and creates a colourist beauty standard that is already so prevalent in many cultures.

Speaking of other races, I have also noticed a common trope with People of Colour (POC) in movies. They are often used as either background characters or comedy relief. According to the Hollywood Diversity Report 2020*, 3/10 lead actors in film are POC, often leaving them with less

8 important roles or less screen time and ultimately, less representation. I’ve noticed this specifically with East Asian characters in TV. More so in older movies and shows, Asian people tend to be the butt of the joke, naming characters ‘Ling-ling’ and throwing in a gong sound and “Hey! There’s your representation!”. Its similar with South Asian and Indian representation, they always seem to be cast as the comedy relief or have a strong accent that the other characters laugh at or imitate. I can’t speak for other marginalised groups but I can imagine that it doesn’t feel great that the only people that look like you on TV are made fun of. Of course, TV and Film is becoming a lot more inclusive now and hopefully if we continue down this road, the future of TV and Film is bright and hopeful for the youth minorities who get to see people like them on their screens playing the hero, the love interest or any role that isn’t over-looked or mocked. Take Black Panther (2018) or A Wrinkle in Time (2018), two very well- received movies that had both a black main character and black directors. Another example of this happening in mainstream media is Never Have I Ever on Netflix directed by Mindy Kaling, a WOC comedian. What I love about this series is that it’s a show about POC written by POC, for POC. Only 1.5 out of 10 film directors are people of colour and 1.5 out of 10 are female. Plus, only 1.4 out of 10 film writers are POC. That makes Kaling almost in a sense. By having more minorities in the directing chair and in charge of their own narratives ensures that the representation is included and most importantly, accurate. Inevitably, the show has a few criticisms, as does every show, and most people I know that have watched the show were enticed by the male lead and I doubt even read the plot before pressing play, it’s a view nevertheless. One bone I have to pick is with the character Fabriosa. Again, another show guilty of the token light-skinned side character merged with another popular Netflix trope, the token queer POC. Before you say anything, my issue isn’t that she is gay, if anything I applaud the show for the LGBTQ+ representation (which is something film is also working to include). However, it is a very common theme now in these teen dramas to make the only person of colour a part of the LGBTQ+ community e.g. Toni Topaz from Riverdale, Dina from I Am Not Okay with This, Emily from Pretty Little Liars, Santana from Glee etc. It seems to me that the show writers are just trying to double up on diversity points without making an effort to be actually inclusive. Of course, I am not trying to invalidate queer POC’s experiences or deny their existence but I am growing incredibly tired of the struggle stories. It seems whenever a minority 9 is introduced into a show, their character development and storyline is revolved around their race, sexuality etc. and the trauma they experience from it. It would be much more refreshing to see the queer POC character celebrated and experiencing joy from being who they are instead of suffering throughout the series.

Despite this, I am hopeful for the future and am excited to see how we will progress as a society once our generation is in charge of the media. I believe this is the generation of change and if you’d like to be a part of the narrative and help in the fight for better and more representation, I encourage you to join the Drama and Film Club currently being held in the Sixth Form block! If you are interested, please use the email on the posters around the school. I look forward to seeing you there!

*STATISTICS FROM THE HOLLYWOOD DIVERSITY REPORT 2020 https:// socialsciences.ucla.edu/hollywood-diversity-report-2020/ Trump’s Effect on Politics By Kate

ollowing the Democrats’ win of the 2020 election, we can F lookback and analyse the effect of the past four years of trumps presidency. It goes without saying trump was divisive, and that his divisive rhetoric

led to a surge of political rivalry among the American public, all the way to some concerning levels. Let's begin with the republican party itself, which trump represented. The party is said to be going through an identity crisis following all of trumps far right ideals and policies, such as his harsh anti-immigration stance which former republican president George Bush was completely opposed with for

10 example. Whilst the republican party is based around traditionalism and conservativism, there was very much an idea of individual liberty, democracy and adherence to the constitution, something which ‘STOP THE COUNT!!!!’ doesn’t really scream in my opinion. Though things we see on the internet don’t always represent the true nature of things, there is something to be said about the glorifications of politicians such as trump. Admittedly there is examples of this on the left, but there seems to be an almost cultish population of trump supporters who deify and idolise him, refusing to accept any of his flaws as a political leader. This group of people are extremely loud with their beliefs, going as far as to decorate themselves, their houses and their social media with trump affiliated merchandise and slogans. All this is done under the guise of nationalism, creating an America first ideology which can be extremely harmful especially in terms of such a powerful country as America. Furthermore, there are also groups of minorities which show their support in a very unusual way. At Trump rallies there can be signs seen such as “women for trump” or “LGBTQ+ for Trump” and even (as inappropriate as the term is) “blacks for trump”. The reason these statements are so curious, is because why would being a minority and supporting trump be mutually exclusive?

It paints the question why people have to compensate for trumps actions by proving there are minorities to support him? The whole thing seems performative and uncomfortable. Of course we know the case to be that trump has been accused of being discriminatory in one way or another to these groups, hence why they need to make a performance supporting him, to conceal the fact that trumps actions in the past have undeniably been wrong. This just again reinforces the idea of this cult of ‘Trumpism’ and how brainwashed these groups have been to support a politician despite all his misgivings. Linking back to the idea of a divisive rhetoric, these supporters seem to be so set on hating their opposition: they refuse to accept any similarities between themselves and the Democratic party. This has caused so much toxicity, such as an increase in ‘anti snowflake’ culture as well as just constant bickering over which ideology is better in general. Hypocrisy. A fatal flaw in far too many politicians, unfortunately including trump too. Trump infamously stated his support for the LGBTQ+ community, detailing how much he has done for them and how much he plans to do. This 11 has proved to be entirely false of course. In the first six months of his presidency, he overturned many protection and discrimination laws for the LGBTQ+ community. And he’s taken away laws which stop doctors from refusing LGBTQ+ patients as well as the same for the trans community in the army. This should come as no surprise because in the early 2000’s he stated in MANY interviews he was anti gay marriage, and that he is such a ‘traditional religious conservative’. Now let's look at the elephant in the room, Covid-19. America is leading in cases and deaths worldwide due to trumps abhorrent mismanagement of the pandemic. He stated for far too long that the pandemic was nothing to worry about, until it was something to worry about. His lockdown rules were weak and far too short and eased. Additionally, his own blatant dismissal for the rules then of course rubbed off on his blind supporters who followed him like sheep. Now there's a massive group of anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers (these already existed in America especially but now seems to be their time to shine with a deadly virus about) and Covid-19 sceptics who refuse to accept basic science in Trump’s image, because it infringes on their personal liberties, no one can force them to wear a mask right?

That’s immoral, it's not like they're only putting other people at risk! These failures have ultimately led to the sorrowful death of many people, which could've been prevented with better leadership. Now to summate with a brief outlook on Trump as a person. Of Course a politician's personal life shouldn’t really be brought up that much, but there's a specific case for Trump here. Trump has 43 allegations of sexual impropriety ranging in severity, some of which involve minors. This pared with his crude comments about women and relationship with known sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are extremely suspicious, and poses the question, how did a man with such accusations against him manage to be elected as president? Of course we all know his famous quote about women, but there are many other alleged things he has said which are just as worrying, such as former workers alleging that black employees had to be out of sight when he visited his establishment. Of course that’s all alleged, but what he has said on record about Epstein having a good taste in women ‘specifically on the younger side’, or the infamous ‘grab them by the [expletive]’ quote, or his comments about ‘flat chested’ women, the list is never ending. America has now turned over a new leaf with Biden, which will be just as interesting to watch unfold. Even as of right now, Trump supporters refuse to 12 concede with the election, thus proving how much trump has changed the meaning of the republican party and western politics as a whole, we can only wait and see what the effect of that will be. But hey, at least Biden believes in coronavirus, right? Death Sentences

By Pavan

he death sentence is often over looked in the UK but that doesn’t T mean it doesn’t exist in other countries. Although there are people in

the UK who would rather include it in our justice system, 86% of residents in the UK agree that vengeance isn’t the way to carry out justice in a civilised world. Due to the heavy influence of media and television, the USA is the most notable country to use the death penalty, largely because it’s westernised and is very much in the post-modern era compared to others that carry out the death-penalty. This is the limit of most people’s knowledge, there are numerous other countries who still use this outdated method of criminal punishment. For example, here is a list of all the countries that still or have currently partaken in criminal executions: , Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, Chad, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, , Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, USA, and Yemen. Does this not show that there is still a huge problem with justice systems; the US was recorded to have 23 death penalties in 2017, Saudi Arabia had 146. In that same year, China was recorded to have over 1000 executions. We aren’t given official statistics because China has refused to publicize those figures which could mean that those deaths are ambiguous but considering the political climate surrounding China, we can assume that these figures are considerably higher.

13 Even though there are statistics with numbers that are too high for the modern world, the world is enlightened almost every year as the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty has risen to 106 (recorded in 2017). In 1991, this was only at 48 which goes to show how much the world is progressing and yet some of the biggest countries in the world refuse to accept this change. Murdering murderers only makes them as bad as the criminals, they are “fighting fire with fire.” Shouldn’t justice systems have a higher moral status than those who are in prison or awaiting sentencing? What if someone was charged with the death sentence to then later be found innocent, this punishment could never be re-payed to the victim’s family or loved ones. No amount of money would be able to put a price on a living person. Cameron Todd Willingham was a man from Texas and was executed for the deaths of his three children who died in a house fire. He was charged with arson and although he was not officially exonerated, his case came back up numerous times due to the range of evidence claimed to be found. His case gained widespread attention and there are multiple articles and news reports about his case. So, shouldn’t the governments to these countries look at themselves and understand that prison should be more focussed on rehabilitation rather than punishment. I’m not saying they shouldn’t focus on punishment at all, just that consequences to crimes should be reasonably balanced between re-teaching moral choices and time spent away from society (away from distractions and other influences). Capital punishment can only ruin or end lives, never has it improved someone’s life in any way. Death by lethal injection and the electric chair are the two most common methods, both of these require someone else to essentially murder someone else. Imagine that they have to live with that for the rest of their lives and this can create mental health issues and has been known to be followed with heavy anxiety and guilt. Therefore, the death penalty isn’t appropriate for this modern world we live for so many reasons, it’s immoral, unhealthy and cruel. As humans, we are a destructive species, the death penalty only pushes us backwards

14

The Nagorno Karabakh

Conflict

By Jazkirat and prevents us from moving forward and progressing.

he recent war between the Caucus states and T , which has been raging from September to November 2020, has sev-

eral implications, geopolitical, religious, and ethnic. The border-dispute driving it has existed since 22nd February 1988. This dispute has caused several clashes, including two all-out wars, a guerrilla conflict, and small-scale border skirmishes from 1994 up to the present day. In this article, I shall explain the events leading up to, and during, the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the political and historical causes of the war, and then the numerous border clashes from 1994 to September 2020. I shall not, however, discuss, in any great detail, the war of 2020. The reason for this is that due to its extreme recency, too many details are unknown or disputed. Both sides give different stories, and a definitive truth can hardly be found amongst the evidence available to the public, let alone organised into an informative article. It should be made clear at the outset that although religion was an aggravating factor in the conflict, it was never a root cause. The Background: The primarily Muslim Ottoman dynasty often came into conflict with the local Christian population in Armenia. In the late 1800s, Sultan Abdul Hamid would incite a Kurdish militia, called the Hamidiye, to harass, murder, and destroy Armenian settlements in Eastern Anatolia. The began to fight back 15 and made an attempt on the Sultan’s life. He survived the explosion and cracked down hard. The Young Turks began to rise to prominence, secular democratic leaders who wanted to transform the Empire into a modern state. 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Young Turk’s . Villages were invaded, and people were either shot on sight, or death marched to Syria. Death march meaning they were forced to walk continuously with no rest, food, or water until they died from exhaustion. denies the genocide to this day. Ataturk, upon seeing the failure of his country, in WW1, regrouped his forces, and repelled the British and French, and created the modern, secular state of Turkey. The Empire, however, was truly gone. Nothing but Western Anatolia remained, and Armenia came under the control of the newly formed Soviet Union. The USSR began dissolving in 1988, during which the Caucus states began achieving independence. This included the Christians on the one hand, that is Georgia and Armenia, and Muslims on the other, that is, Azerbaijan. However, the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region was not decided upon properly, and both sides laid claim to it. The First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988 - 1994): The Nagorno-Karabakh War (in Armenia: The Artsakh Liberation War) was a conflict between the Azeri Government and the ethnic Armenians which had been grouped with Azerbaijan during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Armenian guerrilla fighters, who used the mountainous terrain to their advantage, were also heavily backed by the Armenian government. The war unfolded in two stages: 1. 1988 – 1991: Guerrilla war between Azeri Government and Armenian separatist forces. 2. 1992 – 1994: Full-Scale war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. 1988 – 1991: On 20th February 1988 amid growing tensions the ethnically Armenian but politically Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh voted to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia. This happened while the two states were declaring independence from the USSR, thus the Republic of NagornoKarabakh (which was not recognised by anyone) was formed. This erupted into guerrilla fighting as Azeri soldiers were deployed to kerb the secessionist movement. 1992 – 1994: Full scale fighting erupted in 1992. The two countries had several foreign backers. Armenia was backed by the new Russian Federation; Turkey and Israel backed Azerbaijan.

16 During early 1992, Artsakh forces launched offensives to capture Khojaly. In early February, the Azerbaijani villages of Malibeyli, Karadagly and Agdaban were conquered and their population evicted, leading to at least 99 civilian deaths and 140 wounded. The Azeris fled to the town of Shusha, which would also be captured in May of that year. On May 8th, Armenia began a large assault on the town, and would drive them into retreat on 9th. The mountainous was essential for holding Karabakh, and Armenian forces captured and sealed it. This opened a pathway by which Armenia was now connected to Karabakh and could resupply. It was becoming clear that without decisive action, the secessionists would win this war. Operation Goranboy: In mid-1992 Azerbaijan launched a counter-offensive: Operation Goranboy. She aimed at retaking the entire region of Nagorno-Karabakh and ending the war. 8,000 men, 90 tanks, and 70 IFVs were involved in this operation. By early July, Azeri forces had captured dozens of villages and the largest town in the region, Mardakert. The poorly equipped volunteers who had garrisoned the attacked region dissolved quickly. The entire ethnic Armenian population was displaced, prompting the Armenian government to intervene. The Armenians withdrew to the south of . Azerbaijan launched several smaller offensives in Mardakert and Martuni, but these saw limited success due to ’s increasing aid to Armenia, and sanctioning on Azerbaijan (who now had a reputation for civilian killings). Then came winter, during which no large-scale manoeuvres were made. Other than complications with oil, not much happened. 1993 brought renewed hostilities, and both sides were optimistic. Both Bush Sr. and Yeltsin called for ceasefire, but the war was far from over. The superior Armenian armour smashed through the poor defences of , and as a result, the Azeri government introduced conscription, and declared a 2-month state of emergency. Summer Offensives: While Azerbaijan had become politically unstable, the Armenian people mourned the death of one of their most decorated commanders, Melkonian, who died while skirmishing with Azeri light armour units near Merzuli on the 12th June, and was given a state funeral in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Armenia stormed over 5 districts, taking the entirety of the North of the disputed region. By late June, Azeri forces were driven out of Mardakert, their final foothold in N-K, and by July, the Armenians were preparing an advance into Agdam, which was part of Azerbaijan. The pretext Armenia used for taking this land was to prevent Azeri artillery from being able to strike at their gains in 17 the disputed region. On 4th July, Armenian forces began an artillery barrage on Agdam, preceding their invasion, which destroyed a huge chunk of the town. Both civilians and soldiers evacuated, which contributed to part of their success. Azeri soldiers, throughout the summer of that year, constantly abandoned their positions without putting up much of a fight. This is because much of the attacked area was under-manned due to a crisis in the Azeri capital, Baku, and thus, many of the defending units dissolved during the Armenian attack. Now that Armenian forces were now entering mainland Azerbaijan, the Turkish government warned Armenia off continuing their advance, but Russian participation warded them off. Due to the speed of their advance, both then and throughout the war, Armenia was able to capture a colossal number of tanks, artillery pieces, and armoured vehicles. A great number of them were destroyed too. According to Monte Melkonian, in a television interview in March 1993, his forces in Martuni alone had captured or destroyed a total of 55 T-72s, 24 BMP-2s, 15 APCs and 25 heavy artillery pieces since the June 1992 Goranboy offensive. "Most of our arms were captured from Azerbaijan." , the then military leader of the Karabakh armed forces, tallied a total of 156 tanks captured through the course of the war. In fact, a joke had gone round the Armenian military that the Azeri Prime Minister was praised for, effectively, arming their forces. Azerbaijan, becoming increasingly desperate, granted drilling rights in their rich oil fields to an American petrol company, Mega Oil, in exchange for American officers to train the Azeri army. In October of that year, the United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions on the conflict, decreeing that N-K was part of Azerbaijan. But this did nothing to dissuade Armenia from pressing their equally legitimate claim on the land. In January 1994, Azeri solders assisted by Afghan militias recaptured part of the Fizuli region, but not the town itself. On the 10th, an offensive was launched by Azerbaijan toward the region of Mardakert to recapture the northern section of the disputed region. They retook several parts of Karabakh in the north and south but soon petered out. In response, Armenia sent conscripts and Interior Ministry troops to stop the Azerbaijani advance. Armenia called up able-bodied men aged up to 45 years old, resorting even to press gangs to bolster their ranks. Azerbaijan took several prisoners during this time.

18 Azerbaijan had reached peak desperation and began recruiting boys as young as 16 and sending them to die in human wave tactics. Soldiers were sent out en-masse to overrun the enemy; it can be effective (Russia in WW2 springs to mind) when enough troops are massed, but it usually failed, and with crippling casualties. Azerbaijan launched 2 winter offensives, killing several hundred Armenians but losing over 5,000. They planned to recapture Kalbajar to put pressure on the enemy forces in the Lachin Corridor, the route by which the Armenian army took their supply lines running directly into the salient N-K. Cutting the Armenian army in N-K from the Lachin Corridor would deal a debilitating blow to the Armenian forces, which would be unable to resupply for one, and would encircle their divisions for two. However, this operation was more wishful thinking on the Azeri’s part, as the lack of training, poor equipment, and unskilled commanders made it entirely unfeasible. In fairness, despite their disadvantages, the Azeris did quite well. They captured the Omar Pass; this was met with little to no resistance. However, in the ensuing battle, the Armenians decisively crushed the Azeris, killing 1,500 off them and sending them into a full retreat, opening the path to Baku. Diplomats from either country met in Gulustan, with Russia as a mediator All parties - Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the - agreed to end hostilities across the front, however sporadic skirmishing continued here and there. The Post-War Scene: The unrecognised but independent Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which maintained its own military, kept Karabakh in its jurisdiction. Azerbaijan would share an oil pipeline through Armenia and into Turkey. The N-K Republic was not recognised by international law, which still assigns the region to Azeri control, but Armenia controlled the land. Low-Intensity Border Skirmishes Along the Disputed Border (1994 – 2020): Since the end of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, small-scale fighting has been waged constantly in the region, starting mainly from 2008. Following protests of the Armenian election, there was much tension in the area, particularly in the district of Mardakert. The protests began on 20th February and lasted 10 days. On 1st March in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, about 1,000 people protested through the night and into the morning against alleged electoral fraud. This protest started out peaceful, but due to the lack of government authorisation it was dispersed. By noon that same day, 10,000s of protestors were involved in violent clashes with police. 1 police officer and 8

19 Death Count for Border -Clashes Between 2008 – September 2020):

Year Armenia Azerbaijan 2008 0 (Arm claim), 12 (Az claim ) 4 (Arm claim), 8 (Az claim ) 2010 0 (Arm claim), 3 (Az claim ) 3 2011 -2013 35 58 2014 27 37 2015 42 64 2016 110 109 2017 22 19 2018 7 6 2019 4 7 2020 6 13 civilians died in these clashes, and 16 officers were hospitalised with bullet wounds. The Present Day and Closing remarks: The culmination of these skirmishes was a second full-scale war, lasting from September – November of this year, 2020. Few details can be confirmed, as many are disputed. Ceasefire has been called again and all parties have agreed to a Russian-brokered peace, for now. It is entirely uncertain how long ceasefire will last, how long this conflict will last before it ends, or if it ever will. Bibliography: 1. Armenia: The Survival of a Nation – Christopher J. Walker (1990) 2. The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh – Claude Mutafian (1994) 3. UN Peacekeeping, American Politics, and the Uncivil wars of the 1990s – William J. Durch (1996) 4. Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Conflict in and after the Soviet Union: The Mind Aflame – Valery Tishkov (1997) 5. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications – Michael P. Croissant (1998) 6. The Politics of Caspian Oil – Bulent Gokay (2003) 7. Azerbaijan Threatens Renewed War – BBC News (12th May 2004) 8. The Caucasus: An Introduction, Oxford University Press – Thomas de Waal (2010)

20 9. Investigation: Karabakh: Missing in Action – Alive or Dead? – Institute for War and Peace (3rd November 2010) 10. Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot Home (Remembrance) Dear Jo, Hope you are keeping well, Joey. It’s been very cold over here, hasn’t it? Mother has sent socks for me, four pairs actually. I’ve kept three and given one pair to a lad called Graham Longton, whose mother and sister have both died and the poor sod hasn’t got anyone at home to send such things so I thought he could do with some home comforts. It’s been very difficult over here, I lie to mother of course, telling her it’s still very exciting but with you I feel I can be honest. I haven’t slept properly since I’ve got here, there’s a constant adrenaline that runs through you that keeps you awake but exhausts you at the same time. The other day I nearly loaded my gun wrong and made it backfire, luckily, I was called out on it. I got a good scolding for that and all. But apart from that it’s been okay, I’ve grown close to lots of the lads here, so it’s not so bad there’s a sense we are all in it together. I’m beginning to grow a bit of a beard over here, which is rather annoying considering I wanted to grow one back home and I could only manage a scattering of hairs on my top lip. I’m not sure you’d like it though, and I’m positive Mother wouldn’t! Father wrote to me, he says he’s alright and that he’s also wrote to you, so I won’t waste paper in detailing that. I should think you are still working with Dr Poole; I hope he is treating you well. Don’t worry about Mother too much, she’s been keeping fine, apparently Benny comes around every other day and cooks for her. Hannah is always popping in to see her, so I should think she is keeping herself occupied. I haven’t heard anything off John for some time now, so do write and tell me if you should get anything before me. It’s strange how much I’ve longed to be teasing him again, for he’s awfully clever. It makes me laugh, about how

21 different us three are really; John’s the clever one, you’re the girl and… well, I’m not quite sure what I am but I know it’s very different to you two!! I should tell you that I had an awful case of lice last week and was sent to a delousing station, retched things. But nothing to worry your pretty little head about, Joey. I suspect you get lots of men with worse things than a few lice, so I shan’t complain. We have a long march tomorrow, 10 miles or so, which I can’t imagine will be fun. So, I should go and rest. Keep safe, Joey. Yours, Will Or whatever is left of him after a 10-mile march

I smile at the paper, black ink scrawled in his messy handwriting. Naïve, like I was that everything was going to be alright. That we were going to go home. Home to Dad smoking cigars and broken bicycle belts and squabbling. Home to love and arguing and fun. Home to Mum’s burnt baking, John’s laugh, Ellie’s babbling. When whatever’s left of us goes back, there wont be a home to go back to, they’ll be a well stacked collection of bricks and a hanging hopelessness over us. Maybe he got the news after the march. That Dad wouldn’t come home. I can almost imagine it, him rolling on a similar skeleton as a bed as myself, cigarette hanging from his mouth, muscles throbbing, back cringing. A Major coming around with a similar solemn expression as my Doctor in command and telling him. Maybe he didn’t even get that, I realise with a guilty pang. Maybe it was shoved in his hand, dismissively, before another march perhaps and he had to walk all that way; knowing what he did. Knowing that even though his mother and sister and brother might be there before him, the armchair would be empty all apart from a silent ghost who puffs his chalky smoke. I let out a large sob, at that image. His limbs flailing, his body collapsing with the same ache that I am feeling, right now. Maybe he stood upright, lips pursed tightly shut from the cold, his jaw clenching trying to stomach it all. But all he can think about is how badly it hurts and how he’ll never get it back. Seeking the land of destiny, I must survive the stroll to sea, Whilst this may be a quest to me, I follow the trail of ice. 22

Titanic By Adrian

Embarking on this journey, I follow you through the night, You light this path for me, Would I have known you’d be my plight?

I say Oh liberty! Oh liberty! You bring me joy and peace, The brightest star in my sky, I didn’t realise my hands were cold or that my intent was to find this jewel to shatter to remember it was only a poor rock, only a lonely stone. But you are too far to say the least.

Iceberg dead ahead!

Caught within the darkness, I lose my path to bed, Tangled in the sheets of ice, I begin to sink. All these false prophesies, I never reached the Lady, Whilst this is the death of me, I followed the trail of ice.

23

Birthstone

By Molly

I went searching for a pearl necklace and acted like the desire was a coincidence.

Looking through perfect titled shops

I knew it wouldn’t work any other way having the jewel on a silver chain would make it the same closer to my voice, my art, my name, closer to my heart and far away from the place that keeps me sane.

So, I will buy these pearls just to chip every one of them in half because this is your jewel and I'm trying to convince my stars that you are not so good and you are only layered with unhealthy charm.

24 Photography Gallery

By Sara

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