e Independent Student Newspaper
Issue 796 Friday 30th October 2015
Published in Cambridge since 1947 www.varsity.co.uk
12 Interviews: Huppert 13 Comment: Boycotting BDS 21 Features: Tinder Horror Stories 28 Reviews: SPECTRE
E DYKE New Addie’s chief exec appointed
Tom Freeman News Correspondent
WELLINGTON COLLEGE; GREG HINKS; IB TIMES UK; FREDDI e new Chief Executive of Addenbrooke’s Hospital was appointed yesterday following the resignation of his predecessor just before the hospital was put into special measures. Roland Sinker, who previously served at King’s College Hospital in London, will take up the post next month, replacing Dr Keith McNeil, who quit a week before a Care Quality Commission report rated the hospital “inadequate”. Sinker has worked in senior opera- tional roles in the NHS for ten years, most recently working to turn around King’s College Hospital. He joins Addenbrooke’s alongside Sir Ron Kerr, previously Chief Executive of Guy’s and St omas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who joins part time alongside his current duties as Executive Vice Chairman of Guy’s and St omas’. Jane Ramsey, chair of Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said she was “delighted” to wel- come Sinker and Kerr on board. Rolling out the red carpet Labour MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, welcomed the news, com- menting: “It is good for patients and Exclusive interviews and analysis as the divided left descends on Cambridge staff that Addenbrooke’s now has a new Chief Executive, who we all hope the challenges ahead, and then anoth- War II veteran and NHS campaigner, politics, and has previously sparked will provide the stability and leadership Tom W lson er to St John’s History Society about spoke at Fitzwilliam College Debating criticism and controversy over his to guide the hospital through what is Sen or News Ed tor Marxism. Following Corbyn’s leader- Society on Tuesday evening in support views, including his links to Saddam likely to be a challenging winter.” ship win, he formed a Parliamentary of the motion “ is House welcomes Hussein and his praise of the Soviet McNeil recently warned of a “signifi - group dubbed “the Resistance” to chal- the return of Old Labour.” Despite Union. cant nursing vacancy” at the hospital, Public fi gures from across British left- lenge signifi cant aspects of Corbyn’s supporting Ed Miliband in the run-up All off ered diff erent takes on the though he said it was “nowhere as bad wing politics came to Cambridge this left wing platform. to May’s General Election, he has since future of the left, from Hunt’s call as during winter last year”. week after a summer which has seen Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek become an even more vocal supporter for Labour to put the public’s con- Zeichner continued, however, by deep-running divisions and antago- Finance Minister who rebelled against of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership bid. cerns fi rst, to Varoufakis’s battle with criticising the government for “not nism boil over. the August bailout package and then George Galloway completed the the European Union, and from Leslie grasp[ing] the scale of the fi nancial Tristram Hunt, ex-Shadow became one of around 40 Syriza “trai- week’s left-wing quartet, also appearing Smith’s adamant support for the new challenge” the NHS faced. Education Secretary, member of tors” to be “kicked out” by the party, at the Union on Monday. e former leadership, to Galloway’s crusade “I am sure that staff will pull behind Labour’s moderate and Blairite wing, and who describes himself as a “liber- MP and current London Mayoral against western intervention and the new Chief Exec... but they also need and historian, give one talk on Monday tarian Marxist”, made an appearance candidate, who defeated Labour in a Blair’s infl uence over the party. a Government and Health Secretary to Cambridge Universities Labour at the Union on the same day. shock win in Bradford West in 2012, For interviews and analysis, that will work with them, not under- Club about May’s election defeat and Harry Leslie Smith, the World is known for his fi rebrand socialist see pages 4 and 5. mine them,” he said. INSIDE: FOSSIL FUELS, COUNTY COUNCIL CUTS, STREETLIGHTS, MENTAL HEALTH 2 Editorial Friday 30th October 2015 he student politics conundrum
For good or for ill, politics dominates Cam- Monday’s latest in the fortnightly CUSU Council assertive mode of thinking, as Lola Olufemi put it bridge. Not simply in the sense that the recently meetings was only attended by one student who in last week’s issue, you might have thought every unseated Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert has was not already on the CUSU Executive or a vot- politically minded student would attend meet- taken up a position at POLIS, but rather in its ing JCR representative, and that was a Varsity re- ings for the opportunity to present motions and broadest sense, from the smallest discussions to porter. But decisions are taken in that body on debate with the elected oicers of their students’ the biggest protests. he no-platforming contro- our behalf that can afect students’ daily experi- union. Indeed, we sometimes see this at a college versies at other universities take on a particular ences of Cambridge. Recently the Woman’s Of- level. Corpus in particular has high turnouts in vehemence here, leading to an unprecedented icer of Trinity College Students’ Union launched its JCR elections. Open meetings are very well at- referendum at the debating society over issues a petition about the Council’s decision to turn of tended, and are almost never inquorate. felt so strongly that its Women’s Oicer felt com- streetlights between midnight and 6am, aiming pelled to resign. he multiplicity of campaigns, to keep them turned on. On Monday, CUSU de- Perhaps this is part of the problem – debates organisations and pressure groups working on an cided to start its own petition in response to criti- about street lighting are hardly as glamorous as staggeringly wide range of issues – from animal cism from the representative at Fitzwilliam that a sit-in outside the Senate House as part of the testing to fossil fuel divestment, access initiatives the paths and roads originally noted in the irst #endweek5blues campaign. But that does not to mental health provision and Marxist discus- petition would not take into account students at make them any less important, certainly for is- sion to feminist campaigning – make the task of Fitzwilliam, who would be left in the dark. sues that regard student welfare. When CUSU drawing the university’s political map diicult, to uses its mandate to act on behalf of and repre- say the least. For a university full of students seemingly de- sent all students across the university, yet no lay termined to put the world to rights, this reticence students attend its Council meetings, there is an EDTIORIAL Yet for all this activity, it is deeply regrettable is perhaps curious. Given frequent criticisms of issue. But involvement, like charity, needs to start that this does not extend to an institutional level. its domination by a white masculine, politically at home.
SCIENCE Techwatch: Swapping Bodies Varsity Writers’ Meetings Technology columnist Charlotte Gifford explores the body swapping possibilities of virtual reality (page 11) Varsity will be INTERVIEW Venus Envy holding meetings for aspiring writers, his week’s Varsity Introducing discusses music-making with the band of Selwynites and Cantab grads (page 12) photographers, illustrators, designers
COMMENT and sub-editors every Monday in our Lola Olufemi ofices at 16 Mill Lane at 6:30pm. he Varsity columnist blasts the University’s use of David Starkey in its ongoing fundraising eforts (page 15) Come along, or CULTURE email [email protected] to find out more. Haul of Horrors Mariam Ansar counts down the top ive horror ilms in Vulture’s Hallowe’en special edition (page 18) Letters to the Editor [email protected] FASHION Sir, Congratulations to Vidya Ramesh for an excellent article on the perils of white feminism. I was, though, perplexed by her Hallowe’en Couture description of the UK as a “multiracial society where the Anglo-Celtic ethnic group was historically the dominant one”. If Take a walk on the dark side through the arches of St. John’s you’re looking for one large group in the UK that’s been the victim of historical oppression, you’d be hard-pressed to ind a in the irst Varsity fashion shoot of term (page 24) better example than the Irish Celts. For centuries, Irish Celts were seen as racially inferior to Anglo-Saxons - barred from jobs, banned from practising their popish religion and demonised as racially inferior to Anglo-Saxons. Catholics were only admitted to Cambridge in 1871. his discrimination continued well into the 20th century - particularly in Northern THEATRE Ireland - and even today in Scotland Irish Catholics are several times more likely to be the victim of sectarian attacks than Protestants. Celts have hardly been a “dominant” group - even if today they largely ly under the radar. héâtre du Grand-Guignol Xavier Bisits Let Laura Robinson guide you through the gruesome his- tory of Paris’ infamous theatre (page 26) Trinity College
E Tom Freeman @.. D E James Sutton @.. M E Eleanor Deeley @.. B M Mark Curtis @. . P E Daniella Mae Briscoe-Peaple (Senior) Kenza Bryan, Callum Hale-homson, Megan Lea, Alice Chilcott, Joanna Lee, Sanjukta Sen @.. A E Peter Lloyd-Williams @.. N E Tom Wilson (Senior), Joe Robinson & Jack Higgins (Deputies) @.. S N C Louis Ashworth, Keir Baker & Harry Curtis C E Bret Cameron @.. I E Julius Haswell & Dermot Trainor (Deputy) @.. C E Noa Lessof Gendler (Senior), Nancy Hine, Husna Rizvi & Imogen Shaw @.. S E Georgi Rusinov & Saeed Kayhanian @.. E Tom Wheeldon & Finny Taylor @.. C E Emily Bailey-Page & Shefali Kharabanda @.. T E Jonathan Shamir & Sarah-Jane Tollan @.. F E Meg Honigmann & Hannah Parlett @.. R E Amelia Tudhope @.. M E Michael Davin @.. A S E Peter Rutzler S E Charles Martland & Angus Satow @.. I E Eddy Wax & Naomi Obeng @.. O E Luisa Callander & Ellie Matthews C S-E Eliza Jones P E Simon Lock @.. I Ben Waters, Alex Shuttleworth, Megan Lea V B Dr Michael Franklin (Chairman), Prof. Peter Robinson, Dr Tim Harris, Michael Derringer, Michael Curtis, Talia Zybutz (VarSoc President), Tom Freeman, James Sutton, Eleanor Deeley NEWSPAPERS SUPPORT Varsity, 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX. Tel 01223 337575. Fax 01223 760949. Varsity is published by Varsity Publications Ltd. Varsity Publications also publishes the Mays. RECYCLING Recycled paper made ©2015 Varsity Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. up 78.9% of the raw material for UK Printed at Iliffe Print Cambridge — Winship Road, Milton, Cambridge CB24 6PP on 42.5gsm newsprint. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. ISSN 1758-4442 newspapers in 2011 NEWSPAPERS SUPPORT Friday 30th October 2015 News 3 CUSU votes to fi ght light switch-off they will go to the City Council, which Lou s Ashworth is more “student friendly”. Sen or News Correspondent He described the County Council
THOMAS HEYLEN as “constituted largely of old men”, and NEWS IN Cambridge University Student Un- said that it “just doesn’t see students as ion’s decision-making Council voted a priority group”. on Monday to “actively campaign” e CUSU Council also discussed to stop the Cambridgeshire Country the scrapping of student maintenance BRIEF Council switching off the streetlights grants, and voted on three other ordi- on Garret Hostel Lane, Grange Road nary motions. and Trinity Lane. ey moved to support the National e Council decided to back an ex- Demo for Free Education, after a few isting petition to stop the streetlights, amendments which included removing located in an area densely populated “tax the rich” from the slogan. A vote with students, from being turned off – to support the Cambridge University due to take place from 1st April next Calais Refugee Action Group failed by year. ey also voted to create their four votes to three, with the majority Police planning to Skype own petition, which would cover a of participants abstaining, after ques- victims wider selection of roads. tions were raised about the amount of Cambridgeshire Constabulary are e original Change.org petition, funding required, and the precedent trialling a scheme where victims of created by Trinity College’s Women’s that would be set. crime speak to a police offi cer via Offi cer Beth Cloughton, has already e Council also voted on a sec- Skype. In response to large budget attracted 2,168 supporters at the time ond motion proposed by Roemer, cuts in police provision, the police of writing. e petition, which asks which criticised the current running force is off ering victims of crime the the County Council, City Council and of CUSU. e proposal stated that at- opportunity to speak to an offi cer Colleges to “work together to pre- CUSU has decided to campaign against cuts to street lighting tendance at CUSU Council is “unde- over the Internet rather than going vent lights from going off and outing population. 12am–6am in many residential areas. sirably low”, and that the “reputation down to the station. citizens in danger”, emphasises the im- e decision was taken to launch Several councillors have raised con- of CUSU is low, especially compared portance of a “perception of safety”. a second petition after Fitzwilliam cerns with the plan. to other JCRs and University Student e petition highlights a study by College JCR’s Vice-President Damiano “ is proposal to dim or switch off Unions”. e motion sought to force the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which re- Sogaro pointed out that Cloughton’s lights has already been implemented CUSU Offi cers to bring forward their vealed 83 per cent of women feel un- original petition does not cover all throughout our neighbouring author- policy ideas to the Council on a “con- safe in unlit areas. those student-frequented areas which ities in Essex, Hertfordshire, Suff olk tinuous basis”. e motion to support the eff ort are currently set to lose their lights. and Norfolk,” said a County Council e Council passed an altered ver- University saves “degener- to stop the lights being switched off Roemer said the decision was taken spokesperson. sion of the motion, maintaining only a was proposed by Cornelius Roemer, to launch a petition independently, as “ ere has been no evidence of any set of resolutions that involved keep- ate” archive President of the Trinity College CUSU is “slow on the move”. increases in either crime or traffi c re- ing the Council’s list of active resolu- e university has secured the re- Students’ Union. Speaking to Varsity, e County Council spends lated accidents in these areas”. tions up-to-date. maining archive of the work of Roemer emphasised that it is “crucial £270,000 each year on lighting in Roemer criticised the “ludicrous” Under current rules, any motion Arthur Schnitzler, who was branded to ensure that the lights remain on Cambridge, from a total of £1.1 mil- decision made by the County Council, passed by CUSU expires after three a “degenerate” by Hitler. Smuggled without gaps”. lion towards street lighting across the saying that “street lights contribute years, unless refreshed. It was suggest- out of Nazi-occupied Austria, more Cloughton told Varsity that light- county. It emphasised the savings that strongly to a perception of safety”. He ed that the Council should discuss the than 40,000 pages of the Jewish au- ing is a town-wide concern, and not can be made from the plan, which said that TCSU will continue to appeal questions raised by Roemer’s motion thor’s work will be preserved for pos- exclusively an issue for the student involves turning off the lights from to the County Council, but if that fails, at a later date. terity at the UL. MP criticises “cruel and colossal” £120m cuts to County Council
took the opportunity to criticise ar- Cuts under fi re eas where government spending was increasing, claiming that he had wit- Fancy running a pre-built dotcom startup but Conservatives DANIEL ZEICHNER nessed Tories looking “embarrassed” and not looking Labour MPs “in the ... without the Þnancial risk? say that the books eye” during committee meetings on inheritance tax changes. We are looking for either an individual but more must be balanced Mr Zeichner did not respond to likely a team of Cambridge students to monetise Varsity’s request for details about any excellemon.com in a part-time 6 month project (with Jack H gg ns alternative economic policy concern- ing the council cuts he or Labour were half-way review/mutual break-point). Deputy News Ed tor proposing. Cambridge Universities Labour We will allocate a project budget and pay the Cambridgeshire County Council Club echoed Zeichner’s concern, student team a modest base salary/loyalty payment, has announced cuts of £120m to pub- telling Varsity that “it will be many lic services over the next fi ve years. of those who rely most upon council but the real potential to make money will be via a Whilst plans are not fi nalised, likely funding and support who’ll be most revenue share. If after 6 months the project is targets for savings will be ending the adversely aff ected.” successful, we are prepared to negotiate a new deal mobile library service and removing Conservative leader at the County funding for school crossing patrols. Council, Steve Count, said the cuts around a share of equity in the business, offering It is anticipated that the biggest cut, are “starting to hit at the front and the potential for a follow-on full-time job and career. of approximately £10m, will be to the that must inevitably include vulner- council’s care budget. able people”, but said people are not Amongst your team, ideally you would have a mix of “directly at risk”. However, the Cambridge University skills including marketing, coding and client Conservative Association told Varsity relationship management. Above all however, we that the cuts “demonstrate how diffi - are seeking a leader with real entrepreneurial zeal Speaking directly to Varsity, he add- cult the task of getting our books bal- prepared to channel concentrated energy into the “(CUTS) MUST INEVITABLY ed that the Tories “know that while anced for the benefi t of the next gen- they’re stuffi ng wads of cash into eration is.” project. INCLUDE VULNERABLE PEOPLE” their own pockets, local services are eir spokesman also added that crumbling.” the council has recently spent £90m Write to us at [email protected] to learn more. “I hope every student reading this delivering a “package of developments Responding to the proposals, Daniel will make sure they are registered to to roads, libraries and other public Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge, vote – because that’s the next Tory services.” stated that “these are colossal and trick: keep people off the register, so Representatives of the Labour cruel Conservative cuts that will the rich and powerful can keep running and Liberal Democrat groups at the devastate the lives of many people in the system to their own advantage.” County Council are yet to respond to Cambridge.” Further to this, the Cambridge MP Varsity’s request for comment. 4 News Friday 30th October 2015
FINANCIAL TIMES analysis: the left in crisis? Hunt: Corbyn “is the leader until he is not” Tom W lson Sen or News Ed tor Tom W lson Labour supporters polled in ad- “People are going to be vance of the election held strong smashed by the government’s Sen or News Ed tor views on redistribution and the policies, and we can only help Firstly, it’s important that we look delivery of public services, the them in government.” at the political range of the speakers “If we’re not clear about what general public cared far less “ ere is no desire out there who visited Cambridge this week, happened and why, we’re going about these issues, instead be- for David Cameron,” he added. from just one half of the spectrum, in to be in trouble.” ing more concerned with defi cit Rejecting the idea that divi- the context of the turbulent landscape e Bowett Room at Queens’ reduction and what they saw as sion was a bad thing, Hunt re- of the left since the General Election. was overfl owing on Monday as a welfare system too generous sponded to one audience mem- May’s shock result, in which the students and members of the to “people who aren’t prepared ber who wanted to know how to Conservatives achieved a majority Cambridge Universities Labour to work hard”. criticise the leadership without and Cambridge kicked out the popu- Club, some with anticipation Hunt also highlighted the gulf being too negative. lar incumbent MP Julian Huppert, and others scepticism, waited between public views on the two “ e way you serve the marked a sea-change in British poli- for Tristram Hunt to give a talk party leaders, showing that al- Corbyn leadership is to be as tics. David Cameron secured a win entitled ‘Principles, Politics and though Corbyn was believed to dissenting and creative as pos- which even most of his top support- Pathway to Power’. be more sincere and principled, sible,” he argued, calling for a ers had not been expecting, forming e former Shadow Education Cameron was overwhelmingly “period of intellectual renewal”. the fi rst Conservative majority in 23 Secretary, one of many ex-shad- preferred as a strong, compe- “My fear is algorithmic poli- years and being the fi rst sitting Prime ow cabinet ministers to resign tent and patriotic leader. tics [where because] everyone Minister to increase their vote share their post upon the election When asked about Corbyn’s shares the same views as you since 1900. Meanwhile, Cambridge of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leadership, Hunt replied that on social media and in your so- elected its fi rst Labour MP in a dec- leader, had been invited to give “60 per cent of members voted cial circles… you become a sect ade. ese events mark just how dra- a talk on the topic of Labour’s for Corbyn” and that he “is the rather than a party.” matically politics is changing. election lost. leader until he is not”. Ending with a call to arms, Locally, and elsewhere, left wing Adapted from reports by Jon However, Hunt was keen to Tristram managed to close the students punished the Liberal Cruddas MP, the discussion emphasise that all is not lost. event without the tensions or Democrats, instead putting their sought to dissect why Labour As well as highlighting a antagonism that has character- trust in the hands of Labour or the lost the election and what obsta- “strong record in government”, ised the post-Miliband Labour Greens. Nationally, however, Labour cles it would need to surmount including reductions in child party. frequently went backwards against if it is to win power again. and pension poverty as well as “You are the top one per cent. the Tories, and were nearly wiped out Cruddas’s fi gures made for a 75 per cent drop in youth un- e Labour Party is in the shit. by the SNP north of the border. bleak reading, as one may imag- employment, he also claimed It is your job and your respon- If some commentators had viewed ine following an election defeat that despite the election loss, sibility to take leadership going this as evidence of a new period of on a scale that no one appeared there was no love for the cur- forward.” polarisation and division, virtually to see coming in May. While the rent government. none anticipated the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, the unassuming veteran left winger who had run for leadership simply to “broaden the debate”. In Europe, increasing polarisation ICON BOOKS towards the eurosceptic left and right seems to continue unabated, with the Polish far right winning a majority, and with Syriza and the EU having spent the summer at loggerheads. In both cases, the centre-left parties that used to dominate have vanished. It is in this context of right wing con- and the Great Depression”, meaning Blair’s recent statement advocating the solidation and left wing division that that when he went to war in 1941 he deployment of British troops in Syria, Cambridge hosted four fi gures from believed that “we would not come Leslie Smith says “he gets us into war across generations in the British and back to those living standards and that in Iraq and now he wants us to go into European left: ex-Shadow Education those standards were not worth fi ght- Syria. Hasn’t he done enough?” Secretary Tristram Hunt MP, repre- ing for”. Leslie Smith recently received senting the fl ailing Labour right that e NHS is a particular passion press attention for defending Jeremy dominated British politics in the nine- for Leslie Smith. Last Wednesday he Corbyn’s decision not to sing the na- ties and noughties; the shrewd and di- spoke at a rally in Leeds for junior tional anthem at a Battle of Britain visive campaigner George Galloway, doctors, fearing that sly privatisation memorial service, but considers the a vocal opponent of interventionist will leave the NHS “sold off in parts to rest of the political class – who wear foreign policy; the World War II vet- the highest bidder.” poppies but deal in arms – as hypo- eran and staunch “Old Labour” man critical. With sharp wit, he suggests Harry Leslie Smith, whose personal that Britain is mad to supply arms to story from before the welfare state corrupt regimes: “we send over our left the Labour Conference in tears; men to get killed by weapons we sold and the Greek Marxist and academic their opponents.” Yanis Varoufakis, who found himself I AM HISTORY Despite his age, Leslie Smith’s deter- on the front line of a war against the mination to make a diff erence is not European economic consensus. waning. He is currently in talks about e left still appears to be over- Leslie Smith: “Cameron’s Britain would writing another book to coincide with whelmingly male-dominated, but be- Speaking about life before the NHS, the EU referendum, and has an active yond this, the extent to which these not have been worth fi ghting for!” he says “before 1948 I had never seen presence on Twitter. divisions, generations, and back- a doctor. Hospitals were private, we History, from Leslie Smith’s per- grounds are overshadowed by a com- Return of Old Labour’ on Tuesday, couldn’t aff ord to go,” adding that spective, is repeating itself. As the mon place and purpose is striking. Sarah Coll ns Leslie Smith’s voice is quiet but de- when Labour won the election in 1945 NHS is dismantled, he remembers the ey may have presented relatively News Correspondent termined as he condemns Cameron’s he felt “immensely lucky”. time without it, and as child poverty diff erent levels of comfort and con- government. He describes to me how “We came home to the promise of increases, he remembers what it was fi dence in the face of the future, but At 91 years of age, Harry Leslie Smith he was left “gob smacked” by the out- the NHS and in two years, like a mira- like to grow up in such conditions. talking here in Cambridge they were is certainly still standing. e author come of May’s General Election. “I cle, it was built.” Leslie Smith, his memories, and his all aware of their movement’s place of Harry’s Last Stand – shortlisted for thought: there’s something crooked Leslie Smith remembers the tri- passion for the welfare state are warn- in history and the heavy burden they ‘Polemic of the Year’ – is angry and going on here.” umph of the welfare state after years of ings that we should heed the lessons of carry as bearers of its legacy. despairing of Conservative Britain, Born into poverty in Yorkshire in suff ering and poverty, acutely fearing the 20th century. Tristram Hunt, perhaps the most fearing that Osborne’s austerity will 1923, Leslie Smith has unique insight, not only a reversion to an age of aus- As he himself observes, “I am not a uneasy of the quartet, was keen to send Britain back in time. his experience of life before the NHS terity but also that “if we are not care- historian but I am history. And I fear drive home upon his sympathetic Speaking from beneath the rim of in the interwar years informing his ful there will be another war, things its repetition.” Perhaps we should lis- audience just how much was at stake a fedora after a Fitzwilliam College writing and politics. have become so extreme.” ten more carefully. in politics, inviting the Labour Club Debating Society event discussing the Leslie Smith says that his generation His ire is not reserved for the With additional reporting from to consider their party’s successes motion ‘ is House Welcomes the “suff ered so dreadfully under austerity Conservatives. Commenting on Tony Sebastian Fuller St Arrowman. Friday 30th October 2015 News 5 and imagine the prospect of a future without it. It was not a eulogy but an appeal to history and to the future, one that could only be given by a man very aware of both its constants and capacity to deliver sea-changes. Harry Leslie Smith, the self de- scribed “man of history”, instead ex- uded a kind of hope that only some- Varoufakis: “Europe is a cartel” one who has spent a lifetime waiting for it could lay claim to. Despite the Ministry of Finance which saw him that “history of economics … is going event in which he took part seeing Joe Rob nson forced to resign after his opinion dif- to report that EMU was designed to
Labour supporters fi ercely debate the FREDDIE DYKE Deputy News Ed tor fered from that of the Greek people fail” and his presentation focused at virtues and even existence of his be- over whether Greece could sustain length on the follies of a single curren- loved “Old Labour”, Harry carried the Yanis Varoufakis is a man who has withdrawal from the euro. cy without the requisite “investment same optimism as the young left, but been both within and without elec- e talk, which lay somewhere be- pillar” to balance weaker areas. paired it with an appreciation that toral politics. An academic economist tween a speech and a lecture on his- His second line of attack was his that sense of hope may not last, as specialising in game theory, his career tory, politics, economics and inter- contention that the creation of the forces within Labour begin to organ- took him from Athens and Sydney to national relations, gave Varoufakis European Union was not the triumph ise against them. Texas and, yes, to Cambridge in 1988. an opportunity to lavish praise on of the free-market nirvana of popular e insecurity of their two posi- In January 2015, however, he was Cambridge’s Keynesian school of eco- parody. Instead, Varoufakis argued tions stood in marked contrast to thrust into the spotlight when he nomics, which, for him, is in short “we are experiencing … the failure of George Galloway’s ebullient address was made Finance Minister in Alexis supply in the corridors of Brussels. a cartelised Europe that is also democ- to the Union, which perhaps surpris- Tsipras’s Syriza government, a far-left Unsurprisingly for a self-described racy-free” and has “no recourse to the ingly passed without controversy. administration that swept to power “erratic Marxist”, the theme of histori- popular will”. Despite also celebrating Corbyn’s win, harnessing popular discontent, armed cal inevitability suff used his presenta- Despite his unremitting attack on he is a man defi ned by his grievances, with a mandate to “end austerity”. tion, drawing heavily on the contem- the failure of the European project, about the party he loved and against After voting against the European porary relevance of Keynes’ work. Varoufakis argued that, for Britain, his those who kicked him out of it. Due bailout terms supported by his own His analogies between Keynes’s experience was “not a reason to get to stand against Labour’s London government in August, he was ‘kicked warning against the post-World War out of it”. Interestingly, he thought that Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan, and out’ of Syriza along with other MPs, I gold standard and his own protes- the organisation which had instituted still having not been readmitted de- dubbed “traitors”. Unlike many of tations about the pitfalls of European a bailout plan intended to “crush” spite his demands, Galloway remains these MPs, he did not however join Monetary Union (EMU) made clear Greece was actually capable of demo- a fi gure apart from the mainstream, the new Popular Unity party. that he, like Keynes, was a lone voice cratic reform. and yet oddly symbolic of it, his pre- In an event jointly hosted by the of sanity in a wilderness dominated by While he held out little hope for vious victories being testament and Cambridge Union and the Marshall the desolate austerity off ered by neo- the success of David Cameron’s ne- perhaps an early signal of the shifting Society on Monday, he defended his classical economics. gotiations on the terms of Britain’s political landscape. actions in government. Despite his Varoufakis’s critique of the European membership of the EU, Varoufakis If these three fi gures represent the reputation as an intractable negotia- project has two main threads. e fi rst placed some faith in the powers of a deep-seated divisions and bubbling tor, he claimed that he wears the ire of was the economic illiteracy of the sin- “pan-European movement” that could grievances on the British left, then Greece’s creditors “with pride”. gle currency, which he contended had act as a driver of change, placing pres- Yanis Varoufakis represents the po- He claimed that he has “no regrets” “failed spectacularly”. sure on the continent’s supranational litical repercussions when these bat- about his seven-month stint in Greece’s In prophetic fashion, he intoned institutions. tles are fought both domestically and on the wider world stage. ough in Britain, this is being fought on fi rm- e Agitator: George Galloway’s comeback politics ly Labour ground, in Greece it was fought between parties, with Syriza Corbyn as the rope supports the hang- asking Galloway about his opinions on supplanting all others in response to Lou s Ashworth ing man”, describing himself as “doing Union’s recent Julian Assange refer- the Greek economic crisis, appar- Sen or News Correspondent quite well”. endum, given that in 2012 the former ently leaving the centre-left PASOK Having on several occasions criti- MP described Assange – wanted on for dead. George Galloway is a man used to cised him publicly on Twitter, he sees suspicion of rape – as guilty of “bad Ultimately failing to see his eco- scrapping. Cutting a sombre but dis- Khan as no threat. “My experience to sexual etiquette”, claiming that he had nomic vision fully realised in Greece tinct fi gure in a black suit and his sig- date,” he says, “is that the vast majority been the victim of a “set-up”. after clashing with the EU, Varoufakis nature black trilby, he spoke to the of Muslims in London will be voting After briefl y contesting perhaps completed the cycle that the press in the Mountbatten Room at the for me.” Parathalingam’s defi nition of rape – other three fi nd themselves caught up Cambridge Union. Beside him sits his During the Labour leadership cam- his repartee to the former president in, resigning at the moment that his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, who nods paign, Galloway stated that he would of both King’s College’s and the uni- party split in two in reaction to the as he answers questions and occasion- be interested in re-joining Labour if versity-wide Law societies that “you’re bailout deal. ally reinforces what he says. Jeremy Corbyn won. Now, he is “de- obviously not a law student” drew a lot a stream of ad hominem abuse” and It is as yet unclear whether Syriza Having lost his Commons seat in manding” they “rescind his expul- of laughter – Galloway began to ad- “not worthy” of response elicits a fi rm will become the new PASOK, or a landslide defeat in May, he told the sion”; if they were to do so, he would dress what he perceives as a “fi x” by round of applause. is doesn’t stop whether a Corbyn-led Labour Party media he wasn’t “in his grave” just automatically be reinstated into the the United States in order to extradite the questions, however – the former can defy history and unseat the yet and a month later, the controver- Labour Party. Assange, subject him to a secret trial MP is quizzed again on his involve- Conservatives on a strongly leftist sial former MP – expelled from the Met with applause and a simmer- and imprison him. ment with Iranian Press TV and his re- platform, or rather wilt and be re- Labour party in 2003 – announced his ing of boos as he takes sit seat in the “Julian Assange should receive the fusal to participate in a debate against placed by a renewed Labour right. intention to run for Mayor of London. Chamber, there is a clear tension in Nobel Peace Prize,” he proclaims, a an Israeli student at Oxford last year. But whatever happens, it is very fi rm- Speaking about the upcoming elec- the air as people wait for him to say murmur of laughter spreading across After the event, I speak further with ly with history and legacy in mind tion, he dismisses his rival Sadiq Khan something controversial. the chamber. Galloway on the phone and ask what that today’s politics is being fought. – perceived to be his clear rival on the His interviewer, Sachin Galloway is certainly confi dent in he plans to do if he does not succeed But however grandiose this context left and who is leading in early opin- Parathalingam, began by asking about his delivery: his oratorical style, which in becoming Mayor. Sidestepping makes contemporary left-wing poli- ion polls by a substantial margin – as Corbyn. Galloway, who spent nearly won him the Spectator’s ‘Debater of the question, he responds by saying tics seem, it would be wrong to allow a “very boring man” who “supports 30 years as an MP in four diff erent the Year’ award in 2001, is clear and “I don’t regard my political life as a this to mask everyday realities, and constituencies, emphasises his close- compelling. At times, however, he let career.” the people for whom these arguments ness to the new Labour Leader by say- the mask of confi dence slip. He’s been embroiled in a lot of con- are held. However dramatic politics ing: “Jeremy Corbyn has my absolute “I’ve given my enemies opportuni- troversial topics over the years, but seems, it is remarkably consistent. loyalty and support and love.” ties to attack me,” he says. is is no Galloway remains infamous for his Few get involved in politics with FREDDIE DYKE He goes on emphasise his faith in the surprise given that he seems a man appearance on Celebrity Big Brother malice in mind, and divisions seem British people to elect Corbyn in 2020, who considers himself an outsider in a in which he impersonated a cat, a to be often stronger between those rather than his probable opponent, battle against mainstream politics. subject I dare to broach with him – who actually aspire towards the same George Osborne, whom Galloway dis- And it doesn’t take long for his oth- does he think it damaged his political goals. At its most basic level, all poli- misses as a “pasty-faced product of the er controversies to catch up with him. reputation? tics is about is people, their princi- English ruling elite”. Soon, the obligatory questions about Unsurprisingly, he responds in an ples, their ambitions, their disagree- When speaking earlier to the press, Israel, of which he is a vocal critic, exasperated tone, denying that peo- ments, and their history. Galloway had conceded that Corbyn Hezbollah, and Iran were raised—he ple even remember it. I point out Cambridge has been a brief host faces problems, “the principal dif- is certainly not short of a history when that this cannot be true given that to the turbulent and seemingly dis- fi culty being that, though elected by it comes to ruffl ing feathers. David Dimbleby mentioned it during tant world of modern politics, but it a landslide majority of the members, “ is feels like a trial,” he responded the BBC coverage of him losing his is likely that it will be those of us at the great majority of Members of at one point. Bradford seat. “More fool him, but it’s Cambridge now who will be among Parliament are not with him.” But he Perhaps he’s not far wrong, given not something that troubles the aver- the leaders of tomorrow. It will be is not pessimistic about the Labour that the fi rst question from the fl oor age voter,” he replies. our generation, not those of Hunt’s, leader’s future. comes from a Christ’s student, who, He stands at the foot of the great- Varoufakis’s, Leslie Smith’s, or “I think he’s going to continue as among other parts of a confused and est political mound he has ever tried Galloway’s, who will resolve today’s the leader. I don’t think they’re going angry speech, says the former MP to climb, but George Galloway is a challenges and carry on a cause... or to be able to push him out, which is reminds him of the WH Auden line: man used to making comebacks. For be the ones left to pick up the pieces. what they constantly threaten and talk “ e Ogre stalks with hands on hips / now, he still has a fi ght left in him, and, about,” he said. While drivel gushes from his lips.” tempting though it may be, he can’t Parathalingam continued by Galloway’s dismissal of this as “just quite be written off . 6 News Friday 30th October 2015 Startups and applicants: Oxbridging the gap EU demand fuels SIMON LOCK rise in Oxbridge HELEN HADEN applications
Harry Curtis Senior News Correspondent
Applications to both Cambridge and Oxford have increased from last year, with the latter facing record competi- tion for places, according to spokes- people at the respective universities. While Cambridge reported an in- crease of 1.5 per cent, taking the total number of applicants to around 16,400 potential students, Oxford reported Regius Professor of Medicine. “But often allowing faculties to hold copy- that applications had soared. Oxford overtakes we’re reeling it in.” right over their research, saying that By the UCAS deadline of 15th Bell is a non-executive director at “Cambridge employees have much October, Oxford had received 19,500 Cambridge for Isis Innovation Ltd., a University of more freedom”. applications, representing an increase reapplying are doing so for medicine Oxford company licensing intellectual he University typically demands a of around 6.6 per cent. courses, 620 fewer students had re- startup investment property from Oxford researchers and lower equity stake in spin-of compa- he increase means that the number applied by the deadline compared to develops start-ups in the city. nies than rival institutions. of students vying for places at Oxford last year – a decrease of about 11.8 he University of Cambridge has Despite the success, both universi- has reached record levels for the sec- per cent and a far steeper decline than Louis Ashworth been a hub for top research compa- ties remain relatively small in terms of ond year in a row. among international students. Senior News Correspondent nies since the founding of Cambridge global venture capital funding for start- Meanwhile, despite the total number In fact, the number of EU-based Science Park, funded by Trinity ups. In the third quarter of this year of applicants falling last year following students who are reapplying actually College, in 1970. Buoyed further by alone, companies in the San Francisco the introduction of more stringent en- increased, with a surge in applications he University of Oxford has over- the creation of the St John’s Innovation Bay Area, home to California’s Silicon try requirements, Cambridge is seeing from European Union countries ly- taken Cambridge in raising funds for Centre in 1987, a University-driven Valley, raised £6.41 billion in invest- demand creep back up in the current ing behind the modest increase in start-ups so far this year. system of local investment emerged, ment, dwaring Oxford’s £109.2 mil- application cycle. the overall number of applications to As part of its ambition to become a both developing start-ups from lion, and Cambridge’s £52.5 million. In he rise in Oxbridge applications Oxbridge and other courses which global technological hot-spot, Oxford- University projects, and also attract- Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to comes as data released by UCAS re- have early deadlines. based start-ups raised £110.7 million ing companies to base themselves MIT and Harvard, £374.9 million was veals signiicant changes in where ap- in venture capital in the months lead- near the town. he high-tech business raised in the third quarter, far exceed- plications for early deadline courses ing up to October, according to Dow cluster around Cambridge has been ing Oxford and Cambridge.’s eforts are coming from. Jones VentureSource. In contrast, dubbed “Silicon Fen”. he data encompass many medi- those start-ups based in Cambridge In August, he Economist dubbed cal, veterinary and dentistry courses 6860 raised £102.6 million – the only other Cambridge “the most exciting tech- as well as all Oxbridge undergraduate NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS time that Cambridge raised less fund- nology cluster in Europe”. courses, which have earlier deadlines ing than Oxford in a year was 2012. he area around Cambridge al- in the UCAS application system than RECEIVED FROM EUROPEAN Oxford has lagged behind ready plays host to the headquarters “THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT courses at other higher education UNION COUNTRIES THIS YEAR, Cambridge for some time in venture of computer chip-design company institutions. AN INCREASE OF 8.2% ON LAST YEAR funding and the creation of tech- ARM Holdings, and the pharmaceu- CAMBRIDGE GOT THE TECH According to UCAS, the number related companies. Attempting to re- ticals giant AstraZeneca PLC is in of UK-domiciled students applying dress that balance, Oxford has begun the process of moving its research THING WAY AHEAD OF US” for early deadline courses before 15th Of the total 56,630 applications re- a project of investment in building and development headquarters to the October has dropped by 1 per cent to ceived, 6,860 were applications from facilities for technology- and science- Cambridge Biomedical Campus, near 38,330, meaning the rate at which ap- the EU – an increase of around 8.2 per related companies, including a new Homerton. Microsoft has a research Among Cambridge’s greatest start- plications from within the UK is de- cent on last year as the trend of ever- 17,000-square-foot research centre centre on Station Road, and Apple is up successes is artiicial intelligence creasing has slowed after it dropped more applications from EU countries focusing on biotechnology. reported to be developing its UK R&D company DeepMind Technologies, by nearly 5 per cent last year. continues. Located opposite Oxford’s Medical Headquarters in the town. bought by Alphabet Inc., owner of However, this fall in the number of Since 2012, the number of applica- School, this centre will host Oxford’s Corpus Christi and Trinity Hall Google, for a rumoured $400 million UK-based applicants has been fuelled tions from the EU for courses with a “Bio Escalator”, designed to accelerate Fellow Professor Andy Hopper, who last year. Cambridgeshire is also home signiicantly by a drastic fall in the 15th October deadline has risen year biotech start-ups. helped build Acorn Computers and is to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, cre- number of UK-domiciled students on year, though never by as much as in “here’s no question that Cambridge Head of the Computer Laboratory, was ated by Cambridge researchers, which reapplying for early deadline and the current cycle, which far outstrips got out there with the tech thing way ebullient about Cambridge’s future. promotes computer science and de- Oxbridge courses. the 4.4 per cent rise in EU-applicants ahead of us,” said John Bell, Oxford’s He praised the University for velops the Raspberry Pi computer. hough the majority of those seen two years ago.
1 2 3 4 5 6
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20 19. Go east or west, bread is the same (4) 12. Massive diferences between a timeless risotto and pesto 21. Unwilling, feeling low (3,2) (8) 21 22 22. One had seven wives but several voiced worries (7) 15. His wail frightened African people (7) 23. heatrical type weaves shirt worn by Bond (10) 16. Wounded king is angling for it (6) 18. Ignite a romantic prospect (5) 20. Confused horse falls into river (4) 23 Solutions will be available online at www.varsity.co.uk after the irst correct entry is submitted to [email protected] Congratulations to last week’s winner, Zoe Maria Walker IX FIX PR E
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caferouge.com 8 News Friday 30th October 2015 Churchill to vote on CUSU disaffi liation
from a platform produced for BME CUSU networks for individual col- Aur ane Terk -M gnot women in Cambridge University in lege’s JCR offi cers including welfare News Correspondent partnership with CUSU. offi cers and access offi cers. Speakers arguing for disaffi liation
Current Churchill Access Offi cer CHRISTOPHER HILTON Churchill JCR hosted a debate on their focused on the fi nancial aspect of Natasha Michael stated that organis- CUSU affi liation on Monday night their membership. e fi rst speaker ing the college’s Shadowing Scheme ahead of a referendum on the issue for referred to recent student press re- would have been impossible without members, due to close on Friday 30th ports, claiming that CUSU suff ered the training and support she received October at 1am. from “endemic fi nancial mismanage- from CUSU. Refusing to “make an e debate, held on Monday, ment” – with Mensah retorting that argument about value for money”, saw discussion between a group of this had been misreported in the stu- Mensah underlined the centrality of Churchill students supporting disaf- dent press in a way that was “verging college affi liations to CUSU’s power to fi liation, and CUSU President Priscilla on libellous” and “based on a poor eff ect change within the University. Mensah making the case for the uni- reading of minutes”. “If you disaffi liate, the message you versity wide students’ union. e Junior Treasurer at Caius at the give is that a central students’ union Polling for the referendum was time of the college’s disaffi liation in is not necessary. I would be happy if scheduled to close on Friday 30th 2013, invited as a guest speaker, con- you could extend an alternative… but October at 1am, with results due a few tinued the debate, arguing that CUSU there are hundreds of meetings where hours afterwards. “does not give you value for money”. decisions are taken in this university Around 40 JCR members, out of a that are sometimes very problematic total of 485 undergraduates, attended for students, and I don’t know what the meeting with the debate being led would happen if CUSU wasn’t part of by JCR committee members. these meetings.” e referendum follows votes at When asked to provide evidence Churchill’s vote follows disaffilations by Caius and Corpus both Gonville & Caius and Corpus “CUSU’S COMMUNICATION that CUSU was the best organisa- Christi that saw their JCR’s break off tion to promote and enforce changes about lived experience.” Of those, a redesign of the CUSU from CUSU. HAS BEEN POOR IN THE PAST” within the University, Mensah cited She responded to criticisms of bulletin to allow students to click Last year Fitzwilliam JCR also con- actions taken recently by the CUSU some autonomous campaigns, nota- through and immediately see how sidered disaffi liation, but the student team – including training for sexual bly CUSU LGBT+ and the Women’s they can get involved with campaigns; body voted not to have a referendum He stated that college JCRs would consent workshops, providing sup- Campaigns for so-called “no-plat- weekly communications reviews; plans on membership. be better off “taking responsibility port to organise Shadowing Schemes forming” controversies, by stating that to increase opportunities for consul- e head of the “leave” campaign for their colleges” by seeking to con- in diff erent colleges, and giving out she “would not apologise for the fact tation by encouraging JCR and MCR opened the main proceedings before vince their college councils to grant sanitary products to protest against that we fund these campaigns.” committees to report CUSU’s work to Mensah arrived, joking: “Not only them the money used for affi liation the tampon tax. Churchill JCR com- Mensah conceded to a student ac- students and ask for their opinion; and does Churchill not need CUSU, but for spending on college welfare, sports mittee members added to this CUSU’s cusing CUSU of low engagement with direct involvement by CUSU commit- CUSU, as shown by its President be- and music committees; or to out- role in preventing cuts to allowances the wider student body that “CUSU’s tee members in the student press, ing late to the debate, clearly does not source to charities other than CUSU for disabled students. communication has been poor in the were all mentioned. Mensah under- need Churchill.” for offi cer training. Mensah went on to declare that past” and outlined several steps the lined this change by stating that she Mensah justifi ed her lateness ex- Speakers arguing against disaf- many of the services provided by current committee was taking to rem- was “the fi rst president in the last fi ve plaining she had just left a meeting fi liation pointed out the centrality of CUSU “are not about numbers but edy this situation. years getting involved with e Tab.” Universities criticised for breach in consumer law
Ke r Baker GINNY News Correspondent
A probe into university web- sites, conducted by consumer- watchdog Which?, has found that some universities have failed to ensure their websites contain up-to-date informa- tion. Analysing the information imparted by the websites of 50 UK universities in reference to a psychology undergraduate course starting in 2016/2017, the watchdog found that nearly two in three of universities had staff qualifi cations and exams. Cambridge.’ breached consumer law by fail- Which? did outline certain He continued, saying that ing to provide information with universities whom they felt the website should merely suffi cient accuracy. had provided necessary infor- state: ‘cancel your Netfl ix, learn Vital information unavaila- mation with a high degree of to like coff ee and don’t even ble to prospective students in- clarity in many of the inspected thinkabout a social life.’ cluded the number of contact categories: clear entry require- Cambridge’s workload has hours, expected workload and ments; detailed course descrip- been subject to scrutiny over even the latest information on tions; contact hours; expected recent months, with a high- fees. Indeed, tuition fees aside, workload; quality of lectures; profi le campaign called #end- four in fi ve of the probed uni- fees and extra costs. weekfi veblues gaining notori- versity websites failed to have Indeed, the University of ety on campus in its call for the any information concerning Cambridge was recognised addition of a reading week to further fees that many stu- for the precision with which help alleviate the pressure on dents may not take into ac- it provided details of expected students snowed under with count when budgeting for workload on the course page work. their course, included for the including what a typical day is is not the fi rst time that paying of fi eld trips and other will look like for a student on universities have been criticised essentials that are required for the course. for fully failing to disclose cer- graduation. at came as little con- tain crucial pieces of informa- Furthermore, Which? found solation to a 2nd year HSPS tion. Earlier this year, Varsity 47 out of 50 universities failed Selwynite, who pointed out reported how some UK univer- to provide information to help that, as far as describing the sities had drawn fi re for refus- students decide on the course expected workload of their ing to divulge how they spent quality, such as contact hours, students, ‘it isn’t hard for the their income from tuition fees. HUNGRY? DON’T BE Cambridge’s favourite restaurants now deliver
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Tom Freeman SHELL to customers, and from refi ning hydro- university to divest from fossil fuels. carbons to investing in a low-carbon A CUSU motion was passed on 11 News Correspondent future.” November 2013 calling on the univer- BP, Shell and EDF also sponsor the sity to “explicitly commit to pursuing Figures released by Greenpeace show universtiy Engineering Society. BP has low-carbon assets and withdraw their that the University of Cambridge has an Executive Sponsor for Cambridge, investments from companies whose accepted £26 million in research fund- David Eyton, currently BP Group’s main business is the extraction or pro- ing and donations from mining and Head of Research and Technology, fi rst duction of fossil fuels”. fossil fuel companies. joining the company in 1982 after grad- In May 2015, the University Council e data, obtained by the or- uating from Cambridge with a degree voted to support an investigation into ganisation in a series of Freedom of in engineering. Student divestment making the university’s endowment Information requests, shows that groups were dismayed at the news. more “environmentally and socially Cambridge received £15.5 million in A Shell liquefied natural gas plant on the Qatar coast Angus Satow, Campaigns Offi cer at responsible”. donations and £10.2 million in research the Zero Carbon Society, which cam- Ellen Quigley, CUSU’s Socially funding from energy companies over only £11.3m in received funding. change. paigns to make the university free from Responsible Investment Offi cer and the last fi ve years. However, the true total could be far ey are also concerned that the fossil fuels, said: “ e fossil fuels indus- spokeswoman for Positive Investment 39 universities who responded higher, as the university included only independence of the research pro- try has its tentacles wrapped around Cambridge, hailed the “courageous to Greenpeace’s requests received estimates of donation income and pro- duced from such funding could be in our university. step, unique among institutions wres- £134 million, the organisation found. vided no fi gure for its partnership with question. “With £25 million of dirty fossil tling with this issue”. Cambridge’s fi gure is second only to Shell under corporate confi dentiality. “Such large funding can and will fuel money pouring into Cambridge “ e university has shown us great the University of Manchester, which Environmental groups fear that ac- infl uence research agendas, steering University’s coff ers, how can it possibly respect and is working with us to de- took £27.7 million. cepting the funding is unethical and [universities] towards fossil-fuel-relat- foster an independent research envi- velop a clear-eyed, evidence-based e University of Oxford declared hampers eff orts to combat climate ed R&D rather than urgently needed ronment? If our University is serious and morally sound investment policy alternatives,” said Dr Stuart Parkinson, about its commitment to the future it that will serve the needs of future gen- Executive Director of pressure group needs to reclaim its independence and erations and guide future decision- Scientists for Global Responsibility. kick these polluters out.” making,” she said. “ is is very likely to undermine A spokesperson for the Zero Carbon e renewed calls for the univer- progress in tackling climate change.” Society also said: “ ere can be no role sity to divest from fossil fuel invest- BP, one of the companies revealed in for fossil fuel companies in a sustain- ments follow last week’s decision by Greenpeace’s fi ndings to have invested able future.” Cambridge City Council to pass a mo- signifi cant sums in Cambridge and “Last week the university issued a tion resolving to end investment in fos- other institutions, has a longstanding fundraising plea entitled ‘Dear World’, sil fuels and carbon-heavy buildings. Advertise with us association with the university. positioning itself as the driver of a It makes the council one of only sev- In 2000, the company donated better future. If it wants anyone to re- eral in the country, including Bristol To advertise in any of our print publications or on our website, £22m to establish the BP Institute for spect that, it needs to ditch the fossil City Council, to make such a pledge. please contact our Business Manager Multiphase Flow “to understand how fuel links and get dirty money out of e motion also calls on the County gases and fl uids move”. Cambridge.” Council to similarly “consider an ethi- Telephone: 01223 337575 A 2009 university press release into Student-run ethical investment cal investment policy and disinvest- Email: [email protected] the centre states: “Multiphase fl ow is campaigns have been growing in size ment from fossil fuels” and to consult an area of great interest to BP as it un- in recent years, with the CUSU Ethical local groups and businesses to “ex- Website: www.varsitypublications.co.uk derpins all parts of its business: from Aff airs team and Positive Investment plore the potential for supporting the enhancing oil recovery to delivering it Cambridge also pressuring the move to a fossil-free future”.
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Discover the world at Leiden University Friday 30th October 2015 Science 11 Mental health: more than Week 5 Blues
thought that other “normal” people example, ‘the doctors are trying to did fl irt with becoming a physiothera- Schizophrenia: had Controllers too.” silence me’. e worst-case scenario Interview: Dr pist!” e deciding factor, though, was Another defi ning symptom of is the ‘revolving door’ patient, who is a love of science and a lifelong fascina- not just hearing schizophrenia is delusional perception hospitalised, treated, discharged, and Bianca Jupp tion of the human brain. e sense of – perceiving abnormally signifi cant then stops taking medication due to wonder at “how that pound of mush voices meaning from an insignifi cant event. the side eff ects. e schizophrenia of- Joy Thompson creates who we are” continues to in- One person learned about fractals and ten then returns. form both her research and teaching Sc ence Correspondent Laura Nunez-Mulder suddenly thought he was a genius and A person with schizophrenia can in the Psychology Department today. could solve the universe with maths. try dozens of diff erent drugs before Her PhD was the fi rst neural imag- Sc ence Correspondent Another person saw a coin on the they achieve stability in the long-term. I’m sitting in the lab where Bianca Jupp ing study to track disease development ground and believed they were des- Although new drugs are continually works, surrounded by glass beakers in an animal model. is meant imag- As you read the word ‘schizophrenia’, tined to be the next President. being developed, it is extremely dif- and microscope slides, and we’ve been ing the brains of individuals before what do you imagine? Perhaps you Other symptoms of schizophrenia fi cult to improve treatments when talking about coff ee for over fi ve min- they developed epilepsy symptoms, think straight away of Split Personality involve thoughts; perhaps the belief so little is known about the causes of utes. is is a bit ironic, considering then repeating the scans over time as Disorder. Perhaps you jump to the far- that one’s thoughts are controlled schizophrenia. It runs in families, so that I’m here to interview her about the disease progressed. is allowed fetched idea of dancing pink elephants by an external force, or that they are it is likely to be partly genetic. But it her research into addiction – but we researchers to distinguish between and a mysterious voice commanding broadcast so that everyone around is also more common in people who still agree that Hot Numbers makes seizure control – the focus of most a crazy person to rule the world. Or can hear. is belief grows out of have migrated, and in people who some of the best coff ee in Cambridge. other epilepsy research – and the un- perhaps the only thing you could say paranoia. Matt’s delusions about his have smoked cannabis – so there are “My work aims to understand the derlying brain diff erences generating about schizophrenia is: “ at’s the one thoughts arose because he felt he was clearly environmental factors too. neural basis of impulsivity and addic- vulnerability to seizures in the fi rst where they hear voices, right?” always being watched by what he calls As of yet, schizophrenia has no tive behaviours,” Jupp explains. “Many place. After her PhD, Jupp moved into e reality is that most people know ‘THEM’. is suspicion deepened clear-cut molecular or cellular point- of us might go to the pub – or have neuropsychiatry to study addiction, very little about this mental illness. until he saw every event in his life as ers. Depression, on the other hand, that cup of coff ee! – but only a small an area with even more unanswered Here in Cambridge, there is huge something caused by THEM, and he has a strong association with neuro- proportion of the population will be questions. “It was another chance to awareness of illnesses like depression could not separate any part of reality transmitters such as serotonin. With predisposed to addiction. We want to use imaging techniques”, she says, “and and anxiety – a blessing to those who from THEM. At this point, it seemed so little known about it in the medi- know why the brain is more vulner- animal models of addiction were also can access support systems without THEY were controlling his thoughts – cal sphere, it is not so surprising after able to addiction in these people, and often lacking”. Her fi rst postdoc, in the fear of stigma. But illnesses that are and hearing them, too. all that the typical layperson has only whether there are pre-existing diff er- Howard Florey Institute, was the basis rarer, such as schizophrenia, remain is sense of being under control an impression of what schizophre- ences there.” Knowing the basic biol- to apply for a fellowship in Cambridge, outside of common knowledge. by an external force can apply to the nia is. A list of causes, symptoms and ogy behind addiction is an important where she has been for the past 4 years. In 10,000 people, 72 will have a di- emotions, senses, and even actions of treatments can only do step towards better treatment, espe- She’s now working towards a perma- agnosis of schizophrenia. It develops someone with schizophrenia. With so much when cially as “the translation of positive re- nent, independent research position. most commonly between the ages of this in combination with paranoia, the someone is sults from experimental models hasn’t Her current research uses simi- 15 and 25, and, for reasons unknown, world becomes a dangerous and un- experiencing always worked as well”, says Jupp. lar approaches to her epilepsy work. often presents more severe symptoms familiar place. Lily’s son would stare a reality far is is partly because psychologi- “Neural imaging is key,” she says, ex- in men than in women. for hours at his hands, not recognising diff erent to cal disorders like addiction have pre- plaining how imaging the brain in ani- Auditory hallucinations are perhaps them. Mark’s family appeared to be the one that viously been approached in terms of mal models of addiction allows us to schizophrenia’s best known feature. unrealistically short, and he conclud- the major- symptoms instead of see it in a ‘pre-morbid’ state, and thus e hallucinations are usually a voice, ed that they had been replaced. e ity experi- underlying causes, or, tease apart the underlying biology or many voices, but the nature of world of a schizophrenic is diffi cult to ence – and as Jupp puts it, “symp- from confounding eff ects. “Too often, them varies hugely. Some people with imagine; it seems to be as chaotic and experiences it tomology not physiol- research doesn’t look at the underlying schizophrenia hear echoes of their uncontrollable as the world we all ex- alone. ogy [...] A ‘disorder’ is disease. You can look at the immedi- thoughts, and others hear a third- perience in dreams. defi ned by a disparate ate eff ects of a drug and the reward person narration of all their actions. Yet people with schizophrenia can collection of symptoms mechanisms that light up when taking Often, people with schizophrenia de- reconnect with the reality that the – so, for example, ‘im- the drug, or the actual disease process scribe the voices they hear as angry, majority of us experience and con- pulsivity’ is actually a of addiction.” But why animal models? hateful and deriding. Janet, writing tinue with relationships, studies, collection of neural prop- “ ey’re very powerful. You can do online about her own experiences, and careers. e treatment is by erties manifesting as one the same behavioural studies in peo- describes one particular voice that she no means ideal; many antipsy- behaviour. Neuroscience, ple and get the same result. But with called the Controller: chotic drugs dampen dopamine on the other hand, really people, we can’t study the brain before “ e Controller started demanding activity, the main neurotrans- wants to drag psychology addictive behaviour manifests – we’d all my time and energy. He would pun- mitter associated with pleasure and psychiatry kicking have to scan the brains of all the hu- ish me if I did something he didn’t like. and reward, and therefore have and screaming into the mans in the world to do that!” He spent a lot of time yelling at me and side eff ects such as depression 21st century!” So what is a typical day in the lab making me feel wicked. I didn’t know and anxiety, which can dull the Jupp started her neu- like? “ ere isn’t one! e great thing how to stop him from screaming at personality. roscience career back in about science is that I can use my ana- me and ruling my existence. It got to Understandably, these side eff ects Australia, where she stud- lytical brain but also indulge my crea- the point where I couldn’t decipher lead people with schizophrenia to ied epilepsy for her PhD at the tive side. And there always has to be reality from what the Controller was stop taking their medication, and can University of Melbourne. “I fell into time for coff ee – it’s a wonderful cog- screaming. So I withdrew […] I really even contribute to their paranoia, for neuroscience,” she says, “although I nitive enhancer.” PANDIS: NATALIE GLASBERG Virtual reality: body swapping experiments
you open your eyes to fi nd yourself perfect chance to creep on someone experiences. But using this technolo- reality has some altruistic uses, at looking not at a computer-generated in the name of science. But there’s gy is a way of really making an impact a time when many people are rais- world, but at what appears to be the more to it than that. It’s thought that and unlocking a genuine emotional ing concerns about the technology. same room as the one you’re cur- the experiment could actually help to engagement with someone else; a ere’s a general fear that virtual re- rently sat in. You stand up, and look make people more empathetic. Once way to literally see the world from ality is about to enslave young people down to see that the only thing that’s the participants have synchronised their point of view. with an entertainment system more changed is your own body. You’re their movements, they begin to feel Because of this, the technology immersive than any before. e Be now a member of the opposite sex. as if they’re inhabiting the other’s could make us more understand- Another experiment is evidence that, e Be Another Lab is using virtual body. e Be Another Lab is also a ing and tolerant of other people. in fact, virtual reality has some really reality to help people see what life is fi rm believer in the power of com- Studies conducted by the University fascinating experiences to off er us. like through someone else’s eyes. It bining body-swapping with story- of Barcelona and Royal Holloway Keep in mind, though, that one does this by equipping Oculus Rift telling, and conducts similar experi- University have found that it may thing virtual reality is still trying to headsets with fi rst-person cameras ments where one participant narrates actually decrease implicit racism. overcome is the barfogenic zone. and then feeding the live footage their experience of the world to the Volunteers who occupied the vir- at’s geek for motion sickness. Use TECHWATCH from one headset to another. As a re- other. e user will see what the tual body of someone with a diff er- it to your heart’s delight. As it turns sult, the wearers see everything from story-teller is seeing whilst interact- ent skin colour were shown to have out, opening your eyes and suddenly with each other’s perspective. One of the ing with objects meaningful to them a reduced racial bias after the ex- fi nding yourself in an entirely unfa- experiments conducted by the Lab and listening to a pre-recorded nar- periment. Whether this experiment miliar world can be a bit disorientat- Charlotte is the gender-swapping experiment, rative of their life story. Afterwards could increase empathy in the long- ing. Your brain can struggle to catch in which a boy and a girl in separate, there is a chance for the two partici- term is uncertain. But the experiment up with the images bombarding you, Gifford identical rooms strip to their under- pants to meet in person and discuss is clearly an eye-opener, and several and react to it by having you perform wear and have a good look at each the experience. It’s no secret that to medical uses for the technology have an exorcism of the stomach. So if So you’re trying out virtual reality other’s bodies. bring two people from very diff erent been suggested, such as using it to you’re prone to motion sickness, vir- for the fi rst time. e headset’s on, Nothing to worry about, then. backgrounds together, you should help those suff ering from anorexia. tual reality might not be for you. Or and you feel faintly ridiculous. en So far it may just sound like the get them talking, get them sharing It’s reassuring to see that virtual at least have a bucket nearby. 12 Interview Friday 30th October 2015 Varsity introducing
Guitarist Jackson Caines and drum- our sound because I think that’s song ‘Improvise’ is about someone in his extensive use of pedal efects. mer heo Vincent Wells, both from best left to other people. A losing conidence in their ability I lirted with a few diferent guitar Selwyn, are two members of the ive- theme that seems to emerge to make good romantic judge- styles when I was learning in my strong indie-rock band. in feedback is that we’re ments. ‘You Don’t Know teens, including jazz and classical, so channelling ‘90s bands. I’m Me’ is about an obsessive I tend to play intricate, inger-picking Obviously the band name is a pun not sure exactly what that relationship driven by lines rather than, say, power chords. but what’s the story behind it? means, but I think most competition. ‘alternative’ bands today How has being at Cambridge af- Jackson: he band name came about are heavily indebted to What’s the band fected your creativity? because our irst gig as a ive-piece that decade. dynamic like, how do band was a student night inspired by you come up with a heo: I would have to irst acknowl- riot grrrl, the feminist punk scene Let’s talk about the inished song? edge that we have been using their
from the 1990s. We’re not a punk way you play as a band. JIM TURNBULL WALTER facilities the whole time for practising band per se, but we would all call heo, how would you Jackson: here’s no and that has been key. Being able to ourselves feminists and as a band describe your style on ringleader; our creative play here for free with reasonably de- which includes two women we were the drums and what is process is very collabo- cent equipment is appreciated. hat asked to play. As a phrase, it’s not as your intention when you rative. Some songs will being said, the student music scene original as we might have initially as- play? be more or less written is dire, but who was ever under any sumed. You’ll know we’ve hit the big entirely by one member and illusions before coming here? time when we beat Venus Envy the heo: When I play drums I am presented to the band to be transsexual comic strip to the top of very happy, it is very important to arranged. But others will emerge Now that three of you have gradu- the Google search results. me. When I play drums for a band from a collective jam, often start- ated, what does the future look like I am playing for the song; the worst ing with a bass line written by Ellie. for Venus Envy? heo: We didn’t intend for the name drummers play for themselves. I like Anything can happen. to be permanent. I also remember to play interesting, intricate beats Who writes the lyrics? Jackson: It’s make or break time for ‘Poon-Tang Clan’ being suggested but with lourishes and shules, but I How do your musical backgrounds us. It will take more efort and com- the event organiser was not happy have an inclination towards heavy, Jackson: We all get very nervous and inspirations come into the mitment to keep rehearsing, writing with it. We’ve had a couple of name powerful hitting when a song is when we have to talk about lyrics. It’s mix? new songs and playing gigs but I crises, but it has held strong thus far. driving that I have to watch out for. a very personal thing, and when you think we all want to make it work. Try not to be too loud, try not to be submit them to band critique people Jackson: heo played in a punk After we’ve recorded some more How would you describe your too showy. he best drummers are can get hurt. I had a whole set of band as a teen and that shows in his songs, we’ll have to be more strategic music? noticed by no-one in the crowd, only lyrics for one song replaced by better muscular drumming style. Franklin about getting our music out there. by all the other drummers watching. ones. I was upset at the time but now is a big fan of shoegaze bands like Jackson: I’m reluctant to describe I can see it was for the best. Our My Bloody Valentine and that shows Venus Envy spoke to Eddy Wax Lib Dems were “grossly and unfairly treated” Julian Huppert talks to Jack Higgins about returning to academia and his party’s fate following the general election
really could have won.” conditions was that the Lib Dems lamenting the Conservatives’ “absurd with a smile that he’s rediscovered Normally such a phrase ut- back all future tuition fee increases. priorities”. No doubt the government’s “‘weekends’ and ‘evenings” and will be “Itered by a defeated politician Regardless, for Huppert the Coalition recent policy on tax credits would re- taking time to “reconnect”. his doesn’t is hardly astonishing, a form of cop- was better than “letting the Tories do ceive his ire. mean he’ll be politically inactive in the RICHARD NICHOLL ing with defeat perhaps. But in the what they want.” With a majority Tory government meantime, far from it. While he refus- case of Cambridge’s former MP Julian and a great deal of fear across soci- es to badmouth his competitors and is Huppert, this seems far from the ety, Huppert believes that liberals are not a “surrogate MP”, he says that des- truth. “Over one hundred people have facing diicult times. He’s undeniably perate constituents still contact him told me they’d have voted for me had concerned about the Conservatives regularly because they aren’t getting they not assumed I was going to win,” being in power, but lacks the concern the help they need in time. he claims, with a smile and an accept- “I REALLY HAVEN’T DECIDED some have about the Labour lead- It is apparent during our conversa- ing tone. er’s ability to hold them to account. tion that he is frustrated at his limited How did it feel when he lost then? YET” Speaking about Corbyn, Huppert tells political power, telling me that he sees “It was a very tough night across the me he “gets on very well with him, country for the Lib Dems,” he says af- more so than many other Labour fably, adding that he believed his party It must hurt, then, to feel that the MPs”, before praising the Islington was “grossly, unfairly treated.” Tories have essentially been able to MP’s consistency in his principles. “he question at the election be- take credit for the progressive poli- Huppert is also supportive of came – are you scared of Labour cies they actually fought the Lib Dems Corbyn’s attempts to change Prime “PARLIAMENT IS, and the SNP, or are you scared of the on. “he Tories outgunned us at the Minister’s Questions– although he Tories? Lib Dem isn’t the answer to last election,” he tells me, agreeing has his doubts. “Parliament is unfor- UNFORTUNATELY, FAR, FAR that question,” he responds. “We were that Cameron’s party took credit for tunately far, far too childish, there are seen to be the average of the other two. all the good policies. “It was Lib Dem plenty of people who are just pathetic,” TOO CHILDISH he was an undergraduate. He inds Nobody votes for the average.” pressure on the Tories that caused in- he explains, adding that many young people stake more on exams than they Chatting in Cambridge’s Politics de- equality to fall during our time in gov- female MPs shy away from PMQs sim- ever used to – perhaps due to the cost partment, where he is teaching for the ernment”, he asserts with conviction. ply because of the hostile atmosphere. a lot of things he cares about that aren’t of higher education – and that many next year, Huppert is certain that, in hroughout the interview it’s clear He recalls a “completely unacceptable” receiving enough attention, such as are afraid to discuss mental health his case, fees were not to blame for a that Huppert is deeply passionate instance when a male MP shouted LGBT+ issues, education and mental because it can wrongly be seen as a defeat, citing his endorsement by the about helping people and his party, at “phwoar, what a woman!” while ges- health. he latter is of particular inter- weakness in such a competitive aca- National Union of Students. He does one point reciting verbatim the start ticulating – Huppert leaves me almost est for Huppert, who last year called demic environment. think that his party “messed up” on of the Liberal Democrat constitu- speechless when he provides a re-en- for the government to invest an extra He also thinks that Cambridge stu- tuition fees, but doesn’t regret that the tion. Clegg, for him, had consistently actment – to show that she had large £500 million a year in mental health, dents frequently sufer from ‘imposter party went into government. failed to extol the positive virtues of breasts. stating at the time it had “been ne- syndrome’, where students “feel they “Overall, we were a massive force the Liberal Democrats and the impor- On top of this, he recounts MPs glected by consecutive governments.” don’t deserve to be here”. Does he, a the good,” he says, referring to free tance of removing obstacles such as pulling faces to mock another mem- He also tells me that he was involved graduate of Trinity College with a PhD school meals, same-sex marriage and, poverty from people’s lives. ber with cerebral palsy. It’s no wonder with a survey evaluating mental health in biological chemistry, class himself a with a surge of enthusiasm, lifting As we’re shifting to the topic, I ask then that he considers the Commons in Cambridge University, campaigning suferer? people out of income tax. him what he thinks of the Tories so- a place of “brutal tribalism” that pol- for a better student environment. “Yes,” he replies, “of course.” he former MP thinks that to an called ‘assault on poverty’. “I’d happily lutes the entire political system. If this “We do pile too much stress on,” he Soon our time is up as he has to dash extent his party was trapped in a cor- support the Tories if that’s what they is the case, will he be shying away from says in regards to the university, add- of to a council meeting that he’s been ner in 2010, claiming that during that were doing. But they are just not re- politics come 2020? “I really haven’t ing that mental health provision here invited to. Somehow I feel politics year’s negotiations one of Labour’s moving poverty,” he replies, before decided yet” he says sincerely, adding “used to be a very good service” when hasn’t seen the last of Julian Huppert. Comment Friday 30th October 2015 Comment 13 SCOTTMONTREAL
The wall is actually 90 per cent fence is is why we should be boycotting BDS
he Boycott, Divestment and law (enshrined in the declaration position therefore polarises the de- indeed against them. Boycotts also Sanctions (BDS) movement of independence): there are active bate further. On its website, the BDS assume a monolithic ideology runs T operates under a thin guise of Israeli-Arabs in Parliament and in states that Israel’s “population trans- throughout the country, and there- “freedom, justice and equality”. e many leading walks of life. e dis- fer, apartheid and colonialism are pro- fore constitute collective punish- movement does not support a two- crimination they face is akin to the hibited and constitute internationally ment. It becomes irrelevant what state solution to the Israel-Palestine discrimination any minorities in the wrongful acts which render unlawful you believe, even if you are Muslim, confl ict – the only just and practical world face, and while discrepancies Israel’s entire legal and political re- Christian or Jewish: if you have an solution to realise both parties’ le- exist between Jews and Arabs, the gime.” Even if these allegations were Israeli citizenship, you will be indis- gitimate national ambitions and the government itself, triggered by the true, it is a unique phenomenon to criminately punished. Rather than framework upon which all past nego- Or Commission in 2000, has taken render a state illegitimate on the basis promote debate, they want supress tiations have been based. It also fails and is taking dramatic steps to reduce of its action: it didn’t even occur with the opposition narrative. is is why to acknowledge several binding inter- inequality. In fact, Barghouti himself Nazi Germany; yet, for some reason, their calls for an academic boycott national resolutions and bodies which studied at Tel-Aviv University, with it occurs with Israel. do not surprise me. e movement recognise the legitimacy of Jewish as- the university resisting widespread Its website states: “ e apartheid- singles out Israel as being culpable in pirations in Mandate Palestine. Omar calls for his expulsion. In the occupied character of Israel’s rule in the OPT this century-long confl ict, and thus Barghouti, the founder of the move- territories, in the words of Professor is amplifi ed by the fact that Israeli absolves the Palestinians of any of the ment, has said that his organisation’s Alan Johnson: “Israel’s security poli- civil law is applied to the (de facto) necessary commitments or sacrifi ces work will continue beyond the end of cies are best understood as the tragic annexed Jewish settler and colonies, that will be required for peace in the Jonny Shamir the occupation. So what are the aims and temporary response to the failure whereas martial law is applied to the future. is is a dangerous culture to of the BDS movement? of repeated peace negotiations and occupied Palestinian population.” is promote. e BDS outlines three goals: the terrible reality of terrorism, and discrepancy is painted as a parallel to I understand people’s frustration at “Ending the occupation and coloni- not as an Israeli intent to rule over apartheid Bantustan, but this is far the stagnancy of this intractable peace It’s an unprecidented zation of all Arab lands occupied in the Palestinians as superiors holding from the truth. e BDS fails to men- process. If we do have the same goal – June 1967 and dismantling the Wall; down inferior helots, apartheid style.” tion the Oslo II Accords, an interim a two-state solution with safe and se- and irresponsible Recognizing the fundamental rights is is not diffi cult to substantiate measure carving the West Bank into cure borders for both peoples – then of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel considering how many times Israel three administrative divisions until a there is no reason we cannot work attack on a nation, to full equality; and Respecting, pro- permanent solution is reached. Per together. e impetus is already mov- tecting and promoting the rights of contra, if “Israeli civil law” applied to ing in the direction of organisations and it’s not going to Palestinian refugees to return to their the Palestinian population in the areas (One Voice, for example) that recog- homes and properties.” e desire to allocated to the Palestinian Authority, nise the responsibility and rights of solve anything. end the occupation is shared by over that would be imperialism because it both the Israelis and the Palestinians, 65 per cent of Israelis, but this must ECONOMIC STRANGULATION would mean applying Israeli law to and fosters the conditions for peace occur through negotiations ensuring land under Palestinian administra- to come about. ere are signs of Israel’s safety: immediate unilateral HURTS THE PALESTINIANS TOO tion; the diff erences in law merely progress as we speak: Israeli indus- withdrawal would be irresponsible refl ect the international agreements trialists are involved in the building and would amount to bloodshed. e which outline who governs which of the new Palestinian city of Rawabi, ‘wall’ the group identifi es (over 90 parts of the West Bank. Moreover, Israeli café owners are off ering half- per cent of it is a fence) was erected has extended its arm for peace, some- this would go against what the major- price discounts for Arabs and Israelis to protect Israel from terrorist at- thing the BDS conveniently ignores. ity of Palestinians, Israelis and the in- who converse together when they eat, tacks, and does so successfully. e Its position on the right of return is ternational community desire. and one of my heroes, Mohammed Palestinians also have the right to ap- not only fantastical, but if it were to e titular methods it promotes Dajani, was leading Palestinian stu- peal to the Supreme Court if they feel materialise, would also see the end of are also counter-productive in the dents to Auschwitz in order for them the wall’s route is problematic; in over Israel as a Jewish state, thus ignoring extreme. At present, more than one to understand the mental trauma 100 cases these appeals have been any rights or aspirations of the Jewish quarter of all wage income in the and narrative of their counterparts. successful, though there are prob- people to self-determination. If such a West Bank comes from Palestinians e fi rebombs and death-threats lems with access to lawyers for many ‘right of return’ was applied with con- working in Israel; economic stran- which he faced following this brave Palestinians and thus not all griev- sistency across the world in regards gulation hurts the Palestinians too. endeavour are a symptom of the ances are expressed. to displaced people in the twentieth Netanyahu played on a culture of fear BDS mentality: there is one correct e second aim is indicative of the century alone, the resulting tumult to win the most recent election, and narrative, and any attempts to build intellectual dishonesty which un- would make the current world un- the besiegement of boycotts on Israel, bridges are denounced as ‘normalisa- derpins the movement. Within the recognisable. Even the PA tacitly ac- singling them out as a pariah state tion’. Attempting to remove nuances, Green Line, Israel is a multi-ethnic knowledges that this demand has to warranting boycott, only empowers reducing this multi-faceted confl ict democracy in which every citizen is be abandoned, and only calls for the the Israeli Right by convincing the to simplistic binaries, is not only dis- guaranteed equal rights under the boycott of settlement products; its majority of Israelis that the world is honest, but is ineff ective too. 14 Comment Friday 30th October 2015
College ines: hardly a draconian punishment
ine is what happens when Fines are a middle ground. A stern shouldn’t be doing. Harassing por- live-in academics who would like to you decide to break col- telling of works for some, but others ters is demeaning and unacceptable. enforce a 9pm bedtime. A lege rules but aren’t smart will shrug it of. Yet sending a stu- Damaging college property causes the College life is always going to be enough to avoid getting caught. Most dent down for possessing contraband college expense and ruins the experi- a strange mix. In many ways, we all of us will have broken a college rule (i.e. a rice cooker or similar) verges ence for everyone else. live in a fancy boarding school. At at some point. After all, we live in a on overkill. A compromise must be A lot of these things seem minor the same time, everyone is an adult place where walking on the grass is reached. A modest but meaningful i- and amusing when you watch some- and knows how to act like an adult. heresy and unauthorised gatherings nancial penalty will teach the wrong- one else do it in a drunken haze. But You would be unsurprised, hav- are liable to be dispersed by former doer right from wrong. Put the fear of colleges are not only the places where ing smashed up a bunch of Cindies’ soldiers who, at Trinity, wear bowler college into them. we live. Academics have to do brain- property, if Cindies decided more hats. hese rules are all pretty petty, “But what about those who can’t af- was needed than a ifty pound ine and so are the punishments. We can ford to pay?” you cry. I, for one, would and stern word. Cindies would prob- survive a stern word from a porter or be surprised and disappointed if a ably charge you the full value of the matronly despair from a bedder. college imposed a ine which would items destroyed (and sue if you didn’t Sometimes, of course, things go cause inancial hardship. he huge pay) and maybe even call the police. a little further, like when your night sums which the University puts into his would probably stop you getting goes extremely well and your mate bursaries and hardship funds suggests IN MANY WAYS, WE ALL a job at One Canada Square, which stains the stonework in Queens’ with that the University does care about its LIVE IN A FANCY BOARDING has always been the dream. Peter Lloyd-Williams his bile, or you pinch one of Trinity’s students’ inancial well being. Cash Maybe we should be glad that most expensive custom-made candlesticks talks. For the rest, ines are meant to SCHOOL. colleges go no further than ining. All from formal. hese are the things a be diicult. hat’s the point. of us will want to commit indiscre- great night is made of. “Okay”, you say, “but they ine you tions at some point. Fastidious adher- People complain However, you’d be getting ahead of for such little things.” his one may bending work in among us. Grads try ence to every rule is unhealthy, and yourself if you thought your college actually be true. Pembroke will ine to hang onto the last threads of youth. will really hinder you when you try about college fines, would agree. Colleges are big, compli- you £25 for disturbance if you violate Porters and bedders keep us safe and to show some esprit de corps at your cated organisations. hey have lots of noise and music curfews. his sounds comfortable. Colleges don’t make corporate mixer. but as the saying goes: valuable property and complex legal trivial, but remember that sleep dep- rules because they want to return to So let’s be pragmatic. Fines are obligations. It doesn’t matter whether rivation through music is the respect- a mid-Victorian paradise. hey have great. hey help manage college rules are there for a they really care how you act. Order able Westerner’s torture. As ever, if to accommodate lots of diferent without things getting too draconian. reason must be maintained. Property must you got caught, you were probably types of people. Prohibiting public If your college really wanted to throw be protected. Charitable status must annoying in the irst place. delinquency is one way of doing this. the book at you, they could do far be ensured. Most ines are for things you really Furthermore, there are surely some worse than a hundred pound ine. Friday 30th October 2015 Comment 15 e David Starkey problem with our publicity
he ‘Dear World… Yours is something inherently animalistic, links with him demonstrate the lack disadvantage BME applicants. is is Cambridge’ campaign recent- savage and nihilistic about blackness of any critical thinking about how more than just a matter of disagree- T ly released a video aimed at and black culture. is is an idea that they market themselves. If the aim is ment. Being able to work alongside alumni and donors, in an attempt to legitimises the use of excessive force to present Cambridge as a world-class people with diff erent opinions is im- Lola raise two billion pounds to fund the against black bodies; it is this kind institution that produces “future lead- portant, of course; but not when that university and its various projects. of thinking that means that we are ers,” surely Starkey is a deterrent. opinion fundamentally undermines e video is part of a long list of always viewed as a threat. It is why somebody’s right to exist and perpet- Olufemi similar attempts at publicity that many cross the road when they see uates their dehumanisation. Cambridge, like any institution, must black men approaching them. e intellectual and emotional la- use in order to keep itself afl oat. Personally, I fi nd it diffi cult to un- bour that BME students at this uni- e problem many had with the vid- derstand how such a respected his- versity expend is infi nitely greater eo was the use of David Starkey as one torian could not see that he had bor- USING DAVID STARKEY IN than their white peers, but often it of its key fi gures; he opens and closes rowed his language from centuries of feels as if attacks on our humanity are it, and has a substantial speaking role. the same racist ideologies that worked THAT VIDEO DEMONSTRATES A relentless; if not from white curricula Anyone with a long memory probably to secure the subjection of black bod- BLATANT DISREGARD FOR THE and everyday microaggressions, then winced, like I did, when they watched ies. What is particularly harrowing it is from the continued institutional it. Here is a university supposedly com- about Starkey is the confi dence with WELFARE OF BME STUDENTS. approval of ‘academics’ who express mitted to ensuring the best working which he was able to air such opin- their acceptance of Enoch Powell’s environments for all, using the face of ions. is is what makes them so ma- “them and us” rhetoric under the guise a man who has expressed a particular licious: there is no ignorance here. How must his face look to prospec- of “just speaking plainly”. is critique disdain for anything non-white exist- He was fully aware of what his inten- tive BME students who are already is not aimed at the participants in the ing in a British context. His comments tions were when he spoke. Perhaps woefully underrepresented? How video: who knows if they knew they on multiculturalism and treatment of this confi dence came from his under- must it look for Cambridge to cuddle were working alongside Starkey? Each other non-white staff members have standing that no matter what he said, up to a man that seems quite proud of them probably had complex rea- lead to direct clashes with members his position and reputation, as well as of his bigotry; in what way does that soning. It is a call for a greater under- of his own faulty (Richard Evans and his links to this university, would re- communicate to them that this might standing of how Starkey’s presence in Joya Chatterji). is alone should have main secure. Such is the confi dence be a place worth studying at? How this video as part of a billion pound been enough to send alarm bells ring- of white men who are allowed to be must it look to BME alumni who are campaign legitimises his ideas and ing for anyone who wanted to portray nuanced; while he faced just criticism in a position to give back? e mes- opinions. It is a call for recognition A man with David Starkey’s Cambridge in a positive light to the for his remarks, Starkey’s defenders sage it conveys is that they were not that it further alienates current stu- international community. came out to argue that his language even considered because our idea of dents from any sense of belonging. views should not be the Using David Starkey in that video had been ‘taken out of context’ or the ideal Cambridge student, the ideal One thing that the video suggests demonstrates a blatant disregard for ‘overblown’; repeating the idea that he donor, is still one who shares Starkey’s is that our ethos is one of pride; pride the welfare of BME students. So many couldn’t possibly be racist; he couldn’t characteristics. To ignore the violence at each college’s unique history, pride face of university publicity of the comments he has made in pub- perpetuate violent ideas because they of his comments, to brush them under at the achievements of our alumni, lic demonstrate a deep-rooted rac- knew him; they could vouch for him; the rug because of his well respected pride at being at the forefront of cut- material. ism. When he declared that the rea- he is a ‘good’ person. status as an academic is tantamount ting research, and so on and so forth. son behind the London Riots of 2011 Using him in the video solidifi es the to this university admitting that they But how are BME students supposed was that “the whites [have] become silence and invisibility of non-white care more about money than main- to engage with that feeling when we black”, what he suggested was there students. is university’s continued taining structures that continually are continually disregarded? Modern-day formals are just dire is week, Rosie argues formals are no fun at all, while Lana says we just need a while to get used to them Rosie Best Lana Crowe
generously sized starter of pretentious- make full use of this time in trying to remem- ormal Hall: the University of Cambridge’s I’ve adapted and settled in to Cambridge that ness, followed by a steaming plate of ber which spoon I am supposed to use fi rst. answer to Nandos. When looking for I’m now totally comfortable with it. It’s a good A rowdiness and, fi nally, a dessert of Arguably the biggest downfall of formal is F somewhere to chill with the squad, it is opportunity to talk to new people: nothing ce- disappointment and regret. Any coff ee with the food. At our matriculation formal last year the fi rst place you turn to. It has a cult status ments a budding friendship like a bit of cheeky that? Formals have become synonymous with the main course was guinea fowl and, call me in Cambridge life as the home of classic banter. pennying. You are provided with a three-course Cambridge life but they are not all they seem uncultured, but I didn’t even know what guinea Yet rather than being provided with Portuguese meal for a delectable price: a restaurant could – behind the classic Harry Potter image of fowl was, never mind whether or not I was go- mood music and chicken motifs, we get crests, charge double, or even triple, for food of the beautiful ceilings, candles lining the tables and ing to like it. Not wanting to fi nish your meal at gowns and Latin graces. Formals are the one as- same quality. gourmet food is the reality of bizarre traditions formal leads to awkward glances from peers or pect of the romanticised Cambridge image that In a lot of ways, going to formal hall epito- and customs which should, more accurately, be even to waiting staff leaving your plate in front is not crushed by reality, but lives up to expec- mises the experience of the modern Cambridge likened to the mad hatter’s tea party. of you, assuming that you simply haven’t fi n- tation. If this is as close as it gets to Nandos… student. It’s steeped in tradition, full of gran- From the seating arrangements to the crock- ished your stuff ed crow. Dietary requirements we are not in Kansas anymore. deur, intimidatingly decadent; yet we roll up ery; formal is an undeniably pretentious expe- also force one to endure a painfully uninven- e antiquated beauty of most college halls donning Primark suits rience. e Latin blessing – did tive formal menu; it must be hard to watch your is breath-taking. It would be hard for even and carrying the fi nest he just say nostril? – is surely friends devour a plate of ice cream and choco- the most anti-establishment among us not to Sainsbury’s vintage understood by less than 10% late tart while you are presented with a bowl admire the beautiful panelled walls, the me- that can be acquired of the student population and of fruit salad – apparently the only dairy-free ticulously detailed ceiling, the portraits of mas- for £4.50. does anyone actually know dessert available in Cambridge. ters gone by. To look down a long table of be- which side the wine glasses Pennying has also become a dangerous, cut- gowned scholars glowing in warm candlelight are on, or which bread roll throat sport designed to get friends as drunk as is to be transported back in time. is theirs? e fact that possible, as quickly as possible. e actual use Attending formal hall is a nice excuse for a students must stand of pennies is unhygienic; while it is true that, by little occasion: it gives you the opportunity to upon the late entrance the time the penny is fi nished with, the layers take a break from working, get dressed up and and early exit of high of dirt accumulated on the penny’s surface are relax with you friends. It can be surprisingly in- table is nonsensical and removed and dissolved into your wine. Next formal for something called a ‘formal’; by the the serving of the Master time you’re downing your glass of wine, egged end of the meal, voices are louder, manners are and Fellows at least 15 on by the chanting of friends, remember that a forgotten and gowns are undoubtedly a little minutes before everyone percentage of that could be… well, I’ll leave it to jaunty (as, of course, nothing screams mad 1 else is an unnecessary your imagination. with the ladz like a jaunty gown). display of an outdated Yes, the prospect of a formal can be intimi- college hierarchy al- dating at fi rst: however, it’s a testimony to how though, admittedly, I 16 Comment Friday 30th October 2015 CULC’s Halloween Social should give any self-respecting Labour supporter the chills
ow do you “dress as a Tory”? worker – mocking political oppo- the Conservatives laughing all the see when they get round to taking a Do you get a discount at nents as an ‘evil’ horror worthy of way to the next election. Be it Andy fresh look at the party, it needs to do H the fancy dress shop if you Halloween. In most people’s eyes, the Burnham wearing a ‘Never Kissed a better job of keeping all that behind rent the full costume? Does black joke would be on them; so why is it a Tory’ T-shirt to this year’s Pride, closed doors. If it doesn’t, it’s not just tie count? Or do you then risk being any diff erent when the political shoe or new Shadow Chancellor John bad for Labour – the lack of an op- mistaken for a Champagne Socialist? is on the other foot? McDonnell having said that he would position which could conceivably be And how do you avoid looking pretty like to go back in time and assassinate elected will leave both our govern- much the same as everyone else who’s Margaret atcher – so often mem- ment and democracy poorer. dressed as a Tory? Profound questions bers are sending the message to vot- And even if, as they so often say, such as this, will, I’m sure, be racing ers that the party is more concerned it’s not winning elections which is through the minds of members of with feeling good about itself than important to the new generation of the Cambridge Universities’ Labour IT SMACKS OF AN INSULAR policy and winning elections. Labour supporters – if it’s exclusively Club as they prepare for their ‘Dress Were it run by any other stu- their principles – they would per- as a Tory’ Halloween social tonight – SELF-SATISFACTION dent society, this fancy dress social haps do well to reconsider more fully unenvied by the likes of us for whom wouldn’t really matter. If we still live exactly what those principles are. a ‘dress as your subject’ bop poses in a world and attend a university However wide the gulf in opinion may enough of a creative challenge as it is. where a second-year drinking soci- be, a rush towards the kind of polar- But, in truth, it is for more than prac- Putting aside how little attention ety can invite fresher girls to an event ised smears, name-calling, and mak- eo Demolder tical reasons that I am glad not to be supporters of the party led by Corbyn dressed as ‘crack whores’ and it not ing enemies of opponents which has going. Although I would not catego- seem to be paying here to his desire hit the headlines, Cambridge’s Tories come to characterise the American rise myself as a Tory, and have friends for a ‘kinder politics’, the whole con- might just have to take this one on the system (as a glance at Wednesday attending, whom I both like and re- cept of being able to ‘dress as a Tory’ chin. But this isn’t just any society; night’s Republican debate would have spect greatly, to me – however light betrays the crudeness of the class war this is the youth wing of the country’s told you) will do no one any good. CULC isn’t doing hearted this event may be intended to caricature which exists in the minds Offi cial Opposition, at the university It is bad, lazy politics. So although I itself any favours be – it smacks of the insular self-sat- of many Corbynites. For them, the from which some of the party’s great- wish friends and readers attending an isfaction into which the Labour Party idea that political rivals might have est fi gures started. Without doubt, enjoyable evening, if the CULC and with polarising seems to be retreating. honourable intentions is as strange as members of all parties do and say its members are truly serious about Imagine the Cambridge a ‘Tory’ looking pretty much like they things which make them look more spreading Labour values and making jibes at the Tories Conservatives publicly advertising do. And do not think that this is just concerned with their Manichean po- this country a better place to live in, a ‘dress as a Labour supporter’ night a case of one questionably-themed litical bubble than the lives of the 98 they need to recognise that this sort of – turning up, for a laugh, one would social event being taken too serious- per cent of the electorate who don’t self-indulgence will do them no more presume, in shabby Corbyn-esque ly – it is becoming increasingly clear belong to any political party. But if good than those Bullingdon Club din- attire, or the uniform of a blue collar that Labour’s idea of a joke will leave Labour wants voters to like what they ners did George, Boris and Dave.
patch. OMG Hugo has litro got his tastes nice” I answer. “Exactly.” mean it’s litro SUCH a chill room. Se- litro continues with the Telegraph Columnist Ellie Coote honey everywhere!!! Like, did he even riously, it’s like actually chilled to like cryptic. I’m like #Rude. Talk about a recently uncovered a diary put a lid on it?! #AreYouHoneyBee- So like now that Hugo has been totes keep all the actual fruits and whole Crossword, like, this is like one #Seri- ingSerious. So like yesterday was fully initiated into #WholeGrain life, grains like super fresh #FreshQuince. ouslyPissedOff Word. Hugo’s like “So buried beneath the fl oorboards Hugo’s initiation into Sereal Soc I’ve been invited on like the actual So like as we scan the room for like I was litro under the impression that of an undisclosed room in an which now means he’s like a litro Oatie Bar Crawl (which is litro exact- future memoire quotes it like totes this was like the Buller of the actual undisclosed college. In this fully fl edged Wheato! #A-Maize- ly like the Boatie Bar Crawl but with dawns on us that there’s like actually snacks world?” #LetDown. remarkable extract, we are Balls. Litro ever since we bumped like a hamper of actual whole grain not a farmyard fellatio act in sight. given an exclusive insight into into the sticky man (who we now snacks!!! #Random). Litro so #Qui- Hugo’s like, “Where’s the PAR-D @?! OMG so, like, litro just wait for more the world of Chelsea socialite know is like totes far more Teff than noa for all the #CrayCray events! #Rye-otClub!!!” but like everyone just frivolity #NextWeek... Katrina Kettlewell, who seems Toff ) it’s been an actual Rolled-Oats- We’re like so totally Nutri-Grain A-Coaster... to this whole thing! G2G now, #SS unaware of her diary’s discovery awaits! and shows every intention to “Like, what is this actual ELLIE COOTE continue writing. Names have place?” I shout into the So like we get to the archway been changed to protect the totes pitch black void. A li- and Hugo smears manuka innocent. tro solitary voice responds: “Where honey across the stonework, which do you think all of those like actual totes promptly starts revolving. An whole grain snacks come from, Miss actual like staircase is revealed and Kettlewell?” “Waitrose?” I ask tenta- we like totes majestically descend Previously on #TSDOKK: So like tively. “In 1478, the college Master into the Grain Emporium for like the Hugo and I are like litro just snack- like totes lost control of the lawns of second time this week. Litro as soon ing on some actual free-range nibbles the college through a gambling match as we arrive we’re like totes jumped in a candlelit archway at the edge of with my great-great-great-great on by like two burley Barleys. “Like the Bop when a guy litro drenched in grandfather, Miller Rice. In an at- what on Oat is she doing here?” de- honey and covered in oats runs into tempt to restore order to the grass he mands one of them to Hugo. “Yeah, us and like totes knocks a scotch egg like off ered Miller a deal he could like no Wheatessess allowed!” growls like actually out of my hand. Litro totes not refuse… So now we litro con- the other. Hugo’s like “Back off men, before we can even say #Toff Off the tinue his legacy selling whole grain I’ve got like an actual permit!” He li- stone archway like totes starts revolv- snacks to the college at extortionate tro fl ashes them his #Honies permit, ing and Hugo, the sticky man and me rates.” I’m like actually stunned, like, and they like totes back off . “OMG are like litro plunged into like actual my #Digestion is litro corrupt! I’m li- Hugo you’re like so #Refi ned” I gush. darkness… tro secreting the Mafi a (I think inside “ ey don’t call me Endosperm for my brain)! He’s all “Like you can totes nothing” he chuckles. Litro just awoke to the trust me, it’s like fo sho above board.” smell of like actual honey So I’m like “But like why keep it a se- So like we’re litro just taking in our suff using my bedsheets… I roll over cret?” “Why put honey and oats to- surroundings and everyone’s just like and litro land straight in the sticky gether?” he responds. “Because it chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool. I #AreYouHoneyBeeingSerious #Yummy #Honey #Hunny #Hugo JOHANNES HJORTH
Vulture
CULTURE ■ FEATURES ■ FASHION ■ THEATRE ■ REVIEWS 18 Vulture Culture Friday 30th October 2015
panning to alarm clocks showing the terrifying 2am witching hour, Emily Rose’s ‘possession’ is depicted alongside a court HAUL OF horrorS case attempting to fi gure out the details. Derrickson trusts the knowledge of the viewer, playing the rational against the sup- posable in a very clever, very scary few hours. Treat yourself with Mariam Ansar’s picks of the best horror fl icks 2. e Evil Dead, (1981), dir. Sam Raimi What makes the horror genre so brilliant is that it doesn’t care and Aja build on the fear of the ‘other’ by having their antago- Five college students decide to go on holiday in an isolated about the sensibilities of its audience. Well. actually, it does. It nists removed from humanity, and yet, not wholly removed cabin in the woods. Unleashing demons and spirits after fi nding just doesn’t care about preserving them. To be sat in the cinema from being human. It’s enough to make anyone’s skin crawl. an audiotape, e Evil Dead is a gory low-budget horror which about to watch something scary is to be sat in preparation for gained rave reviews from Stephen King. It’s an instant clas- the confronting of any demons and any paranoid fears. For a 4. Ringu ( e Ring), (1998), dir. Hideo Nakata sic, playing up to every stereotype of the horror fi lm: bloody, few hours, a gruesome retelling of an urban legend or spiritual Before the 2002 American version of e Ring reached us and charged with adolescent hormones, and featuring disembod- myth is made real and lingers in one’s subconscious. But that became an instant classic, the original Japanese version existed ied voices humming and laughing to truly unsettle the viewer. fear was already present, what horror writers and directors do is and still reigns supreme. Nakata’s directing style is simple and Raimi’s cast is compelling and suited to the genre, a mixture of simply coax out the anxieties of a collective consciousness and full of leading camera shots, while the depiction of the dark- naïve and American. While the narrative may be predictable, make them ‘real.’ ey add a little weight to those fears. ere’s haired girl crawling through the TV is used without the escap- it doesn’t seem to matter. Predictions may be correct but the a genius in that. e goosebumps, the hands covering the eyes, ing eff ect of background music. It focuses on the relationship fi lm, regardless, is deserving of its cult status, scary in aiming to those are all reactions to the nuance of the horror genre, built up between the viewer and the fi lm: we become concerned about be nothing but scary, and made even more so with low-budget of leading camera shots, unassuming protagonists, and a queasy our activity of watching TV because it is integral to the nar- cosmetics, a good cast, and a demon-fi lled plot. unsettlement that lies like a thick, dense fog inside the room. rative. e girl crawls towards the protagonist and we remain e following fi lms are testament to that. rooted to the spot, watching, half-expecting the phone to ring, 1. Ils ( em), (2006) dir. David Moreau and Xavier Palud half-expecting the girl to appear before us too. A French-Romanian horror said to be based on true events, 5. e Hills Have Eyes, (2006), dir. Alexandre Aja the terrifying power of Ils is that, unlike the other fi lms on this A remake of horror royalty Wes Craven’s 1977 original, e 3. e Exorcism of Emily Rose, (2005), dir. Scott Derrickson list, the antagonist is not a spirit, a mutant, or a video-tape. A Hills Have Eyes takes the conventional bus-breaking-down-in- Based on a true story, e Exorcism of Emily Rose takes the young teacher moves to Romania with her lover and discov- the-middle-of-nowhere trope to new extremes. As a family are fear of the spirit world and places it into the life of a student. ers the idyllic nature of the countryside is not all that it seems. terrorised by a group of mutants, the horrifying eff ect of this Whether the real life Emily Rose, Anneliese Michel, suff ered Psychologically driven, the pair are terrorised for just over an terrorisation lies in the means by which it is employed. Brute from spirits or simply required medical assistance as a suf- hour. Escalating from the throwing of mud at a car to intru- force and being burned alive are only a couple of the methods ferer of epilepsy, the fi lm’s use of disembodied voices, religious sions inside a house to brute force, Moreau and Palud build the group uses. While watching people being hunted, we realise symbolism and the combination of slowly tilting one’s head up a string of events to a truly unpredictable ending. e fi lm the dangers of something as common and everyday as surveil- while smiling means it still seeps into nightmares today. With concludes but leaves behind a tangible unsettling atmosphere, lance. e hills have eyes, and those eyes aren’t passive. Craven a combination of sweeping out-of-body shots, and the camera one that persists for days.
The music of nightmares Everyone watches fi lms at Halloween. OK, that’s a generalisa- role in informing them. While the young Linda Blair gave an tion, but it’s a fairly accurate one: people watch stories made of astonishing physical performance in e Exorcist, a huge part images and sounds smashed together when they want to scare of the fi lm’s power resides in her overdubbed voice spitting themselves. sexual obscenity and giving form to the test of dignity and faith It might be a little basic, but that combination is important. presented by the invading demon. Some of the most visually adventurous and fundamental fi lms Soundtracks can also recontextualise a fi lm’s content – the in horror are the silent German expressionist works, such as most brilliant example being Sam Cooke’s doughy version of e Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu. As striking as their ‘Blue Moon’ playing through the extraordinary, seminal trans- design is, watching them today is an uncanny experience. So formation sequence in An American Werewolf in London. It comprehensively conditioned are we to expect a hefty chunk of gives the scene a bizarre, pathetic tone, more nuanced than sim- the narrative delivered through sound, hearing just an orches- ply assaulting the audience with nightmarish plastic wizardry. tral score leaves a modern audience bereft. One of the legs It need not be to lighten the mood though. Howard Shore supporting that particular emotional giraff e seems to have been has won Oscars for his work on e Lord of the Rings, but he amputated clean off . Poor giraff e. learned his craft scoring David Cronenberg fi lms. While his What has emerged since this unifi cation has obviously been early body-horror work, such as Videodrome and Dead Ringers, a changeable thing. e most iconic sonic moment in horror is displays real mastery of genre fi lmmaking, Cronenberg’s out- the shrill string stabs of Psycho, but for many years, in its 90’s standing work is 1996’s Crash, a crushingly apathetic retelling torpor, the best anyone could come up with was the twee, sub- of JG Ballard’s similarly titled novel about a group of people gothic shlock accompanying every single Tim Burton fi lm. And with an obsessional, paraphilic relationship with car crashes. indeed, for our own era, a new vocabulary has emerged. Shore’s soundtrack is a sharp, icy thing, sliding sleekly over the You’ve probably heard it. It probably scared the shit out of fi lm’s surfaces, all fl at guitar and twisting arpeggios. It is one of you. It’s really, really simple. It goes like this: quietquietquiet- the few elements of the fi lm that pierces its numbly detached BANG. QuietquietquietquietquietBANG. existence. It reminds you that these people do not deserve
With the advent of superpowered surround sound multiplex / DECLA-BIOSCOP AG PICTURES, PETER-GRUBER COMPANY THE MOVIE NETWORK, TELEFILM CANADA / POLYGRAM empathy, nor should they be considered ‘real’. ey are, instead, screens, the sheer visceral impact of blasting the audience has a vile projection; repressed violence made fl esh. e movie only proved to be the most eff ective way to provide consumers what becomes a horror fi lm in refl ection, and the score exists to point they seem to want – lots of jumpscares – and because it’s so the way. easy, it has provided a cop out for directors. ey don’t need Once that leap is made, once sound becomes a component to motivate action, they don’t need to make you care about the of the fi lm’s expression, once the audiovisual giraff e has been characters, they don’t even need to show you what you’re meant reassembled, a vast swathe of new possibilities is unlocked. We to be frightened of. It has reduced horror to formulaically can only imagine how the creators of the future will chill us, whacking the FX on. creep us out, and frighten us like little children. Or they could is has shortchanged the genre. Horror is capable of explor- go BANG really loudly again. ey could always do that. ing and expressing complex ideas, and sound plays a huge Michael Davin Friday 30th October 2015 Culture Vulture 19
TMAB2003
Leanne Walstow is haunted by a long-forgotten poem penned in the cover of a book
One thing I simply cannot bring myself to do is write in many of the books there it contained a block of barely legible translations exist, but all are essentially just as grim. e quot- books that I love. It just feels like graffi ti – how can my banal calligraphy. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised the writing ed stanza implies that until you have died and somehow been scribblings sit comfortably next to the immortal words of was in German. German writing dated two years before the reborn (‘become’), you’re going to have a bloody miserable time Shakespeare? However, it’s quite a diff erent story when I’m start of World War Two, in an English book that had somehow on this gloomy rock – uplifting stuff . e more superstitious shopping for second hand books: I actively seek out old tomes found its way to an obscure bookshop in Northumberland may have seen this as a sign to get rid of the book – yes, it’s containing notes, dedications, declarations. Perhaps it’s the – one thing was for sure, I had to have this translated. is defi nitely creepy, but from a historical perspective it’s absolute- anonymity that makes these marginalia so fascinating to me – turned out to be more diffi cult than expected. e poem had ly fascinating. On the cusp of the most concentrated period of who were these people, what were their lives like and what did been transcribed in a dialect that was no longer used in mod- loss of human life the world has ever seen, someone scrawled this book mean to them? ern Germany and thus the text had to be sent to the translator’s a few lines on an inside cover about how death is necessary for (a middle-aged man himself) grandmother back in Germany. rebirth. World War Two marked the death of a conscience that My absolute favourite second hand bookshop is Barter Finally I received the following lines: existed previously; humanity altered beyond recognition in Books in Alnwick, Northumberland. Situated inside an old those six years and at the end was reborn from the ashes of the train station, it’s an enormous treasure trove of ancient pre- And as long as you have not attained death they had wrought. owned books stacked in giant shelves linked by a toy train set is; Die and become!, that whizzes above the heads of shoppers. Basically it’s a book- You will only be a gloomy guest It may only be coincidence that someone decided to note lover’s nirvana. On the dark earth. down these lines of German poetry in an English book in 1937, but nevertheless the words ring with an almost prophetic fore- Wandering between the shelves a few years ago, a blue cloth- is is the fi nal stanza of a poem entitled ‘Blessed Yearning’ boding of the horrors that were to come in the following years. bound edition of Oscar Wilde’s stories caught my eye, and like by Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1814. Various other Leanne Walstow
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Friday 30th October 2015 Features Vulture 21 ......
I liked a guy from Tinder: at raci ve, I was in Germany and thought it’d be similar interests, all was going well. On My friends fi nally managed to convince He looked like the poor man’s version of Picture this: an upcoming Tinder date fun to go on a date with a local. I was our second date we went for a meal, me to go on the date with X Tinder Man. the least fl at ering picture on his profi le. with a worldie. A current RAG Blind Date We agreed to meet at a pub next to the Greasy hair, stained shirts and broken chai ng to someone on Tinder and had then back to mine. At er we’d had some with a lovely but very average Trinity Monday free – why not? He seemed River Cam. Sii ng at the bar waii ng for Converse have never been my favourite fun, he fell asleep quickly. Oh. That Mathmo. So Upcoming Tinder Date sits keen but said he couldn’t make it, he had Mystery Man to appear is no one’s idea look. I started to quesi on my decision to down opposite me in the Vaults with would have been fi ne, except he kept of fun. No one ever talks about how to be with his family. Not impressed, I whispering “I love you” in his dream. come to the Vaults. Conversai on began his own RAG Blind Date. I recognise him kept trying to persuade him: “abandon nerve-wracking it is to wait for a blind with him asking me about “how I Tinder” immediately. I say ‘hey’ in a cute way, he No, not to me. Did I forget to meni on? date; every swing of the door makes you your family, I’ll be loads more fun, show He’d been in love with another guy for – I si ll don’t know what that even means. ignores me. I coni nue to try and make me round Munich.” He said he wanted four years. I waited half an hour for the sit up in ani cipai on. At er 30 minutes he He went on to tell me his strategy is to eye contact, despite being on a date to but couldn’t. I kept saying “forget fi nally strolled in, casual. We got chai ng say yes to every girl, pulling them in with mut erings of sweet nothings to end. with Lovely But Average Trinity Mathmo, about them!”, but eventually he stopped and things went from bad to worse. Turns a “good one-liner” that normally draws who, it transpires, is in a threeway open They didn’t. Eventually I drit ed off to replying. It was only as I was about to get sleep with the guy I liked unconsciously out he was a lawyer, and I should have let them all in. That felt nice. Conversai on relai onship with his college wife and on the plane home that I got this text: declaring his undying love to someone at that point. Conversai on began with moved onto drinking habits: “Yeah, son. I can’t take my eyes off Upcoming a discussed of the safety of Cambridge “Sorry, I’d loved to but I’ve got to stay by else. It didn’t work out. somei mes I think I should stop, too.” Tinder Date and eventually I make the my grandma’s side before she passes.” tapwater (he only drank San Pellegrino). When I ask why, he tells me about the move; I lean over and whisper “It’s me, As more pints were drunk, conversai on i me he woke up in an unfamiliar place Tinder Ruth” in his ear. He looks startled. descended into heated debates over the with blood all over his hands. What do He leaves the Vaults with his RAG Blind “real defi nii on of consent”. Just as I set you even do with that? Throughout this Date almost immediately. Half an hour myself up to leave he excused himself I was very aware of his fi xated stare, later I receive the message: “Sorry, I to go to the bathroom. 5, 10,15 minutes almost like he wanted to lick my face. can’t make Thursday, I didn’t realise but passed. At er 20 minutes I received a text The date ended with a climai c “you I have other plans”. I see him in Cindies saying “sorry I had to run!”. Turns out you profi le. Except he was fi ve foot nothing. I know what? For a Tinder date, you’re the following evening, gei ng with a new can be stood-up mid-date. The evening alright”. Once home, I crawled into the girl. He coni nues to ignore me. am 5’10”. At er 20 minutes he sidled over, ended with the bartender catching up to ... met my gaze and ut ered “nice haikus” foetal posii on and checked Tinder. A But I don’t blame Tinder. I just need to me with the tab. £20, an empty chair and under his breath. Words failed me and new message from another guy popped stop going for twats. Last Michaelmas I matched with a guy an empty heart, the perfect end to my I ran from the room. I was desperate to up asking if he could ‘sit on my face’. I’ve The Tinder search for the Third Year Tinder career. on Tinder and, this being Cambridge, we write for the Tab, but the experience was decided this app isn’t for me. Boyfriend coni nues. spoke only in haikus. The poetry fl owed too much. Now I write for Varsity. and I was asked on a coff ee date, but Tinder dates freak me out (no mat er how desperate this chica gets) so I chickened out and never replied. That very evening I ventured to the Tab squash. Mr Haiku was standing there, looking very similar to his From let to right: MGM TELEVISION, WARNER BROS., HAWK FILMS, RED BANK FILMS, UNIVERSAL PICTURES, TELECINCO CINEMA
ate all the sweets as soon as you bonding. And with that new kind of last Hallowe’en. For those who chose got it, as a snack between houses. ritual we managed to preserve some to celebrate the night ended in Or maybe you were like me and of the magic of Hallowe’en. Spoons, and dressing up was a game Past the Pumpkin laid each piece out, admiring your of meeting the bare minimum. stash before beginning to devour it. But even that began to fade. For Hallowe’en was the one time a year those who weren’t scared by the “Don’t let down the kid inside” Lucy Morgan on growing out of Hallowe’en when even adults deemed it fully horror fl icks, high school parties a friend once said to me. While socially acceptable for kids to dress followed shortly. Costumes were it might not be the most elegant host stories, grotesque blown witches, superheroes, and a up, scare each other, and eat more mandatory of course, but over time quote, it certainly is poignant, and pumpkins, extravagant few complex outfi ts that had entire junk than any doctor in their right many of them became more and unfortunately I think Hallowe’en is BLACK STAR G costumes, and exorbitant backstories. mind would recommend. And we more last minute. We were already one of those times when we, or at quantities of sweets: that’s right, it’s revelled in it. pretending to be full on grown ups; least I, have failed. Make no mistake, Hallowe’en again. Nowadays this Picking out the perfect gourd to there wasn’t much need to put on Hallowe’en is still an enjoyable way time of year arrives too quickly. But modify was a task as endless as pick- For a while. Flash forward to the another mask. to spend time with friends, but it’s if I stop and think about it, my mind ing out a Christmas tree. Choosing end of middle school. e friends no longer special. e mystery and is fl ooded by the diff erent friends and carving the right face became as were still there, and free sweets By the time my fi rst year of uni- magic that used to swirl amongst the with whom I’ve celebrated, and much of a family aff air as decorat- were great, but was it still worth the versity rolled around, amid essay falling leaves has faded. Somewhere childhood memories of prancing ing said tree would be a month later. strange looks, freezing cold, and deadlines, fresher’s fl u, and a million along the way we became too busy around in the most decadent outfi t I I remember scooping out gooey eff ort of coming up with a great new faces I still couldn’t match with and grown up to dedicate an evening could fi nd. pumpkin innards, and designing costume? It was during those years names, I didn’t even realize it was to pumpkin carving, screeching gruesome albeit very simple images that I learned the joys of horror Hallowe’en until barely two days in shamelessly during horror fi lms, and Pre-packaged outfi ts have lined the that often invoked smiles rather movies. Nothing is quite as bond- advance. e result was a hastily getting drunk off sweets. shelves of stores since mid-Septem- than shock from passers by, but it ing as everyone shrieking when thrown together pillowcase and fake ber, but as a kid it was always more was still worth it. your friend’s cat jumps on you just blood style outfi t. e college bar is year I challenge you to change fun to dig through the dressing up as Freddie Krueger’s nails pierce was fi lled with many similar concoc- that. Grab some of your friends, bin, or scramble together pieces Early in the evening of the 31st, unexpectedly through a mirror. I tions: zombies were people who take a few hours out of your busy from all over the house to make us neighbourhood kids would go still have a small scar from where my had ripped their shirt, and vampires university schedule, and relive some some fantastical disguise. Deciding running around to diff erent houses, friend scratched me in the middle were dressed in all black. A few of those childhood rituals – or more what to wear happened months half-full bag of candy in hand and of Insidious 2. To this day that’s the diehards persisted with full outfi ts, satanic, spiritual ones if you want to in advance. For years the schools parents traipsing along in tow. closest I’ve ever come to getting a props, and facepaint that likely took be historically accurate. Come on, costume parade consisted of full Maybe you were one of the kids who tattoo of someone’s name. Defi nitely hours, but they were a rare breed it’ll be fun, I promise! 22 Vulture Features Friday 30th October 2015
FLICKR: POPPET The road less travelled FLICKR: ALEX BROWN
A B stand it. I’ve even started being deliberately that’s a good thing. But what shall come in- to the hollow narration of old times with antagonistic in seminars just to try and create stead? Will it be Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, mates that I once had. a sense of confl ict. I fi nd solace in an extreme or even Tinder? Will we become Facebookers, opinion, the gasp of fright that follows and Twitterers? It’s a world I don’t want to know. One complication, however. To produce a can’t recall Cambridge clearly. After the then the amazement at the self-righteous sense of extreme detachment and irony, I both unremitting boredom of exam term, the Cambridge graduate, a type so hackneyed but I sometimes use my Classics knowledge to include and distance myself from Cambridge. I weeks which followed are bathed in a so persistent. give the impression that my mind is elsewhere, I have to put in the odd comment about how heightened reality. ose two weeks have put far away on higher things beyond the narrow I found it all really lame. at one time in all three years into the shade. ose last two Many of my fellow postgrads had already and puny confi nes of ‘Confl ict’, ‘Security’ and Life when we got in the hot tub, yeah it was weeks are all I remember now. In my mind’s met over Facebook, which I must say, threw ‘Development’. I interject in seminars with wicked! We have these things called formals eye, the light still fl ickers behind the trees, me. One even expressed regrets that another half formed references to Virgil or Homer or and pennying as wel but that was fun in 2012, and on the backs it is always sunny. Nothing postgrad had failed to get his visa on time. some obscure poet I did an essay on in Week not so much 2015. Swaps were fun at fi rst but else remains in the poetic memory and I don’t Where had they met, I thought? Were they 2 of Lent Term in 2013. Everyone gazes at are actually really lame, and that wasn’t my think that image will ever fade. old friends? Colleagues? In fact, they’d met me as if I’m an old man with only half a brain. thing in my fi nal year because I was over that. on Facebook through a page for incoming Often the chatter of the international students ese stories are greeted by shock or bore- I’m now a postgraduate in a course whose freshers, added each other and exchanged turns to the repulsiveness of British university dom, depending on how much I’ve exagger- name itself I hardly understand at King’s messages. And, of course, alienation only culture. Everyone comments sincerely that ated my exploits. College London. I study a ‘Confl ict, Security breeds helplessness which must be expressed they’ve never seen drinking on such a scale. and Development’ masters. e cohort is very in anger. Old identity markers will soon cease And it falls to me as the sole product of our On the whole I’m glad that Cambridge is over. international. Everyone thinks of them- to matter. Country, religion, family, class, all backward and moribund culture to defend my I’m glad I’m out of it. I’m glad I’m far away. selves as so ‘nice’, so ‘friendly’ and I just can’t these things are redundant now. And maybe patch. My conversational tropes are reduced And yet I can’t stop looking over my shoulder.
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24 Vulture Fashion Friday 30th October 2015
Taking inspiration from the likes of Darren Aronofsky’s cinematic masterpiece Black Swan and shot in the neo-gothic New Court of St John’s College, Varsity presents you its homage to Hallowe’en’s compel- ling and fascinating contribution to the world of fashion and aesthetics.
Photographs by Johannes Hjorth, Make-up, styling and direction: Hannah Parlett & Meg Honigmann. Models: Alice Blow & Grace Ding Alice wears: is page: red dress (editor’s own), fur stole and fur gilet (Topshop), Next page: black velvet dress (American Apparel). Grace wears: lace dress (Topshop), fringed waistcoat (H&M), black masque (vintage). Friday 30th October 2015 Fashion Vulture 25 26 Vulture eatre Friday 30th October 2015 The House of Horrors Laura Robinson explores the gory history of Paris’ Théâtre du Grand-Guignol
1897, Paris. Oscar Méténier, a chien de commissaire – la Terreur’, or Prince of Fear, by his contemporaries. Working and poisoned by a scorpion, as well as meeting many more one who accompanies prisoners to their deaths - and a writer, in collaboration with Alfred Binet, a psychologist, de Lorde overtly sadistic fates. Overall, she was murdered more than buys a chapel in the 9th arrondissement and turns it into a would produce a number of unsettling plays that focused on 10,000 times using more than 60 diff erent methods. Maxa, who theatre, its purpose being to provide a space for his naturalis- insanity and the mentally deranged. Characters would include enjoyed immense popularity during her time at the Grand- tic plays. Despite being the smallest arts venue in Paris at the a necrophiliac in ‘L’Homme de la Nuit’, and a father commit- Guignol – ‘the Sarah Bernhardt of the impasse Chaptal’ – was time, it was named ‘le éâtre du Grand-Guignol’, translated ting infanticide against his daughter in the chilling ‘La Dernière incredibly aware of the attraction of the theatre as a space that as ‘the Big Puppet Show’, Guignol being the French puppet Torture’. Playing upon the public’s fear of disease and its im- met with reality: “In the cinema you have a series of images. equivalent to Britain’s Punch. mutable spread, many productions during this era Everything happens very Situated in the rue Chaptal in focused on characters infected with rabies and quickly. But to see people in Montmartre, a street brim- syphilis, tapping into a reality that was all too the fl esh suff ering and dying ming with prostitutes and familiar with its audience. Maurey measured the at the slow pace required bohemian artists, Méténier success of his productions not by the income they by live performance, that is constructed a unique space generated, but by the number of spectators that much more eff ective. It’s a from the reverted chapel: a fainted during each one. Whether to add to the diff erent thing altogether”. shady, dark street leading general vibe and publicity of his theatre, or out of After Choisy’s business into a small, highly intimate human compassion for the faint-hearted among partner, Jack Jouvin, took the Gothic-style chapel, with two his clientele, he hired a médécin du service for reins in 1930, the popularity large, carved angels hanging each run of productions, and introduced comedy of the theatre waned dra- over the small stage. Here he into the program, creating la douche ecossaise, matically. A shift from blood would stage his naturalistic a ‘hot and cold shower’ of terrifying dramas and spattering horror to a focus plays, the characters of which farcical comedies. Whilst some spectators fainted, on psychological drama, as were largely drawn from others discovered a sexual energy in the scenes well as the removal of crowd the criminal underbelly of being relayed to them; the boxes underneath the favourite Maxa and a con- Parisian life. Méténier’s pro- balcony, originally used by nuns to watch church trolling, isolated managerial ductions, including ‘Lui!’, a services, were discreet enough for sexual wanton- style, Jouvin was the death short tale of a prostitute’s en- ness to occur. is was at times, however, to the knell for the theatre. With trapment by a serial killer in disgruntlement of the actors, who would call for the terror and aftermath of her bedroom, were successful silence in the boxes, ensuring that the moans on World War II lingering in the although prone to demands the stage would not be mixed with those from public consciousness, and for censorship. However, other sources. low audience numbers, the it would only be after the With the onset of the First World War in 1914, theatre closed in 1962. conclusion of his directorial role that the Grand-Guignol would Camille Choisy was instated as director, and the Grand- After entertaining the become synonymous with graphic, heart-pounding horror. Guignol reached the gory, blood-drenched summit that it is masses with morbidly honest ‘slice of life’ productions and One year later, in 1898, Max Maurey undertook the role of known for today. Placing emphasis upon the spectacle rather outrageously sadistic, gory masterpieces, the theatre could not the Grand-Guignol’s director – the exacting reasoning be- than the narrative, he bought an operating table as well as compete with the horrors that had grasped the world. As the hind Méténier’s surrender of it still unclear – and until 1914 equipment for one production, and hired actress Paula Maxa, theatre’s fi nal director, Charles Nonon, declared: “We could established it as a ‘House of Horrors’. Whilst Méténier primarily who would become the Grand-Guignol’s resident Scream never compete with Buchenwald. Before the war, everyone be- wrote the productions himself during his tenure, Maurey’s reign Queen. Over the course of the productions she acted in, she lieved that what happened on stage was purely imaginary; now brought in André de Lorde, a playwright dubbed ‘Prince de would be raped over 3000 times, disembowelled, guillotined we know that these things – and worse – are possible.” DEVIANT ART The Stage: Scarier than the Screen? he horror fi lm is a mainstay in modern culture, and has been since the in ‘Titus Andronicus’ is permitted, of course: ‘it’s Shakespeare, darling’. 1940s and 50s, when ‘ e ing from Another World’ and ‘Invasion of the It would be disingenuous to categorise horror solely as a bloody spectacle of TBodysnatchers’ were inducing blood curdling screams in cinema audiences murder and innards. ‘ e Woman in Black’, a ghost story set in Victorian England, with little to no technical prowess. e immense marketability of the horror genre and the second longest-running stage play in the West End, relies upon psychologi- (2013’s ‘ e Conjuring’ produced $137 million at the Box Offi ce) is not a cinematic cal horror, on the paranoia and uneasiness that this engenders, to install a sense phenomenon, for its popularity extends into video game and literary territories as of terror into its audience. Incredibly successful in its intentions, it is diffi cult to well, with the Gothic fi ction produced in the 18th and 19th centuries catapulting imagine how the production manages to frighten thousands of spectators within an the genre into mainstream consciousness. e one area, it seems, that the genre has auditorium – some peering around a pillar and others squinting in the upper circle. not stained with its blood spattered fi ngers is the stage, a peculiar absence given Its technical design is limited to that which a play can achieve, and it cannot boast the history of gory revenge tragedies that had marked the wooden boards with a the same tingling, weary breadth of scenery as James Watkins’ fi lm version can. reputation for the unbearable. e success of the play lies in its shared space that ties the stage and the audience Of course, the stomach churning gore of ‘Titus Andronicus’ still fi nds an together: the noises in the darkness are within the same room, rattling in your ears audience today, mainly because such visceral and unapologetic scenes of horror from a distance, and not from a sound system. e theatre is distinctive in that it provoke the type of spectator response wanted through the straightforward use of can make even the largest spaces seem intimate, and therefore the vision before you artifi cial limbs, fake blood and wailing actors. Blood and guts. Whilst this category entirely unescapable. It is quaint to note that ‘the Woman in Black’ was initially cre- of horror has enjoyed Box Offi ce success, and produced a number of ated to be low in production costs and quick to stage. clones, from the ‘Saw’ franchise to the ‘Hostel’ series, its produc- Horror can and does succeed on the stage: the theatre having tion on the stage is limited to those Elizabethan and Jacobean been culturally and socially placed as the locale for the genteel, revenge tragedies that terrifi ed both the groundlings and the as well as the horror genre’s intimidating prowess at the Box nobility in their boxes. It is the cultural shift of the theatre Offi ce – the anxiety that it cannot be reproduced with a simi- as a space of entertainment that has caused this absence: lar technical fl exibility in the theatre – displace the theatre’s the cinema is for the everyman, the stage for the cultured legitimacy in being a producer of horror. e popularity of echelons. Gore is too much of a cheap trick, too melodramatic 2010’s ‘Ghost Stories’ proves that there is an audience for the and inextricably associated with the mass market horror fi lm genre, that it can be successful, but the scream from the thea- to warrant a place on the same stage on which Beckett and Ibsen tre can never be as loud as the scream from the Box Offi ce. are performed. Lavinia’s mutilation and the cannibalistic climax - Jonah Hall From the start of their careers, CELEBRATE BEING BRIGHT our people make JOIN YOUR CAMBRIDGE PEERS AND BE PART OF THE CAREERS NETWORK a big impact FOR THE BRIGHTEST STUDENTS
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lse.ac.uk/GradVarsity 28 Vulture Reviews Friday 30th October 2015
Books: The Top 5 Novels for Autumn ED MCGOWAN
he cold has settled in. he up in a graveyard. he book follows 4. he Lady and the Unicorn, by pumpkin spice is wafting Nobody’s life as he grows from a tod- Tracy Chevalier Tinto every crevice. he days dler into a young man, joining him are getting shorter. he clocks have as he learns the rules of humans and his novel is lit like a forest in been turned back. Hallowe’en, with how these will govern his experi- October, in fading orange and gold. its glitter and gloom, is upon us. It’s ence of love. In a setting dominated Chevalier, here, is soft and slow. She time for a warm blanket and a good by the dark nights and cold breezes draws love stories as if they have novel. of a ghostly homestead, the reader is already ended. She draws youth with brought into a world that is as earthly the melancholy of old age. he book 1. he Girl Who Circumnavigated and substantial as his own. In a is compact: thick and rich. Its words Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own season where the boundaries between are snugly placed, and its passions Making (From the Fairyland se- our world and others seem to thin tightly wound. he story follows ries), by Catherynne M. Valente and blur, this book could serve as a the imagined creator of a series of lantern of sorts: lighting our way to a medieval tapestries in his romantic If hot chocolate had a literary deeper understanding of foreignness and sexual travels. It is a very sensual counterpart, it would be this book. and the afterlife. book, but a very lonely one. A bowl of Striking an unsettling balance soup at the end of a cold day; it leaves between the sweet and the dark, it 3. Miss Peregrine’s Home for you feeling warm, but mellow, and is both hopeful and corrosive to the Peculiar Children, by Ransom numb at the edges of your ingers. arteries. A young girl escapes World Riggs War Two Nebraska for a world of wy- 5. Grief Is he hing With verns and libraries in a coming-of-age A combination of prose and old Feathers, by Max Porter story written for adults. hose who vernacular photographs, this novel is enjoyed Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s as much a visual as a literary pursuit. his is a book that is gently eerie, Labyrinth will ind in Fairyland a It is also a very strange book. Some but warm and full of beauty. It tells similar, but gentler, sense of beautiful of the pictures are deeply disquieting, the story of a family coping with the menace. In its shadows and blurred and the tale itself verges on the bor- sudden loss of a mother and wife. boundaries, the story seems set in der of reality and a shadowy afterlife. In their London apartment, the two a world of perpetual autumn. And he young protagonist searches for young boys and their father are vis- guess what? he heroine is called his grandfather’s past in an aban- ited by a crow. he three are in turn ‘September’. It can’t get much more doned orphanage. He inds a set of guided and antagonised by the visitor season-appropriate than that. children with abnormal abilities, into an acceptance of love and loss, whose lives seem to be suspended and begin to heal. In its bittersweet 2. he Graveyard Book, by Neil in an earlier age. he book is sinister melting-together of humour and Gaiman enough for Hallowe’en, and pleasant unbearable sadness, this book carries enough for a cloudy afternoon spent in it the melancholy and nostalgia of Modeled after Rudyard Kipling’s curling up against the radiator. he autumn. he Jungle Book, this is a collection photographs could provide an inter- of short stories about a boy growing esting source of costume inspiration. Sophia Gatzionis Film: Back to the Future
win Pines Mall, Hill Valley, ilms such as Marty’s self-lacing Nike Back to the Future is an old fash- USA, Saturday, October 26th, Mags (which inally became a reality ioned ilm relying on actual stunts T1985 – an aged, reclusive in 2015), or the Mattel hoverboard and special efects as opposed to Film: SPECTRE lat on. inventor and his young high school which has inspired numerous exciting computer graphics, and is blessed Charming, sexy, sincere, and explo- assistant set in motion a generational prototypes today. with the convergence of numerous sively adept in tackling the threats he story that deines the word ‘seminal’. Back to the Future is an existen- career-making performances. faces, Daniel Craig strongly upholds Back to the Future is a ilm Spielberg tially self-aware ilm. It capitalises on Crispin Glover as the wimpy his incumbency as Bond. he ilm’s once called “the perfect movie”, as the 1980s’ preoccupation with the George McFly and homas F. ensemble is equally another high- foundational to cinematic storytelling 1950s and inspired nostalgia for the Wilson’s comic strip bully Bif Tannen he opening chase sequences point of the movie. Ralph Fiennes is as butter-popcorn. 80s even before the decade was out. provide indelible performances that for Bond ilms serve to more than worthy of picking up the It is diicult to encapsulate what Marty McFly is an 80s kid. He listens will continue to resonate with audi- Tkick-start our adrenaline: role of M which Judi Dench previ- BTTF means to its millions of fans to Van Halen, drinks Pepsi, skate ences. Lea hompson still looks im- SPECTRE attempts to do so, but ously so wonderfully played. Naomie (both casual and devotee) around the boards to school, wears Calvin Klein, possibly good today and Christopher wobbles in its success. hough the Harris’s Moneypenny was playful, world as it turns 30 this autumn, or plays Nintendo and wants to buy a Lloyd hasn’t seemed to age at all. continuous shot which follows Bond Rory Kinnear as Tanner was comfort- what treasures it might hold for new Toyota SUV to ride with his high- Michael J. Fox, chosen for his por- through the Mexican Day of the Dead ing, and Ben Whishaw’s take on Q is viewers, as few ilms of the past 30 school sweetheart. When he inds trayal of enterprising teen go-getter festival is immersive, the opening excellently refreshing and fun. Monica years have inspired such love. himself displaced in time these same Alex P. Keaton in hit sitcom Family chase sequence which follows has Bellucci and Léa Seydoux’s roles as he ilm was originally released at likes and desires are juxtaposed rela- Ties, is lawless. His physical comedy too few dynamics to be truly excit- the ilm’s Bond girls are strong, strik- the height of the Reagan era, when tive to the year he inds himself: a tool is sometimes out-and-out slapstick ing: Bond chases the villain down the ing a balance between determination America was pulling itself out of that helps the character and audience and renders Marty an incredibly street and they ight in a helicopter, and vulnerability. Dave Bautista’s Mr recession and the Cold War through explore the meaning of time. loveable hero. Robert Zemeckis, once in which its ability to do lips in the Hinx delivers everything you could gargantuan spending fuelled, in part, he 80s were the quintessential Spielberg’s protégé, focuses on how sky, albeit spectacular, is used one too want from a Bond ‘bad-guy-hitman’. by a boom in consumer goods. ‘feelgood’ decade, where a former individual choices create temporal many times to the extent it becomes At the helm of SPECTRE itself is Back to the Future is unique in its movie star was president and a divergences, and treating time as a repetitive. Nor does it have the ele- Christoph Waltz. He delivers another use of familiar brands as storytell- profound sense of adventure and spatial phenomena uses the sequels ment of surprise, since nearly the en- excellent portrayal of villainy (though ing devices in and of themselves in optimism coloured much of the ilm, to journey back into the irst ilm tirety of the opening chase is revealed one which is slightly too similar to his a seamless blend of product place- music and television of the time. in ingenious double cut-scenes that in the trailer. he main title sequence role in Inglourious Basterds), and yet ment which enhances the presenta- BTTF combines the music of Chuck create a whole new form of narrating is strong, and as ever, the visual efects what’s frustrating is that the script tion and makes the ictional world Berry, ZZ Top and Huey Lewis with a cinematic time-travel. achieve an artistic micro-story of doesn’t facilitate for his character appear more ‘real’ in every time carefree relection of how American Above all, Back to the Future is a their own. Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s on enough. His backstory is weakly put period the trilogy covers (which is society evolved in the years 1885 – story of a boy who wasn’t in time for the Wall’ works well, striking a key of together and his sinister claim to be the whole point of good sponsor- 2015 by looking at the lives of the classes and wasn’t in time for dinner, emotional depth and maturity which “the author of all [Bond’s] pain” is very ship). For decades, fans have obsessed McFlys and their perennial competi- until one day, he wasn’t in time at all. the rest of the ilm unfortunately falls poorly substantiated in the plot: he over branded future goods from the tors, the Tannens. Yaz Jung Friday 30th October 2015 Reviews Vulture 29
Event: Father John Misty Music: John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure EON PRODUCTIONS
he beards of Cambridge were out in force on rey Tickles, Black Pressure – an amalgamation of Tuesday night, as Father John Misty brought his sar- Icelandic and Turkish describing a nightmarish T donic but poignant act to the city. Father John Misty, Gmid-life crisis – is an apt title for John Grant’s new- (otherwise known as Josh Tillman) has arrived back in the est work. At 47, and now in a stable relationship in Iceland, UK, touring his latest accomplished album, I Love You Grant’s focus shifts somewhat away from the painful self- Honeybear. It is an album about the erratic nature of being deprecation listeners have been used to in his previous two in love, with tales of both joy and tribulation, and Misty’s albums. Grant’s midlife crisis seems to be a peak in which poignant work of romanticism and cynicism promises to his problems are put in a new perspective; he realises in the enthuse the crowd in its live format. title track that “there are children who have cancer… I can’t Misty’s band fi ll the stage – they are all shrouded by a mass compete with that”. His dark, witty humour never ceases to of beard and hair, fi tting the Mumford-esque “folk-rock” elicit an uneasy smile. stereotype that the self-deprecating Misty mocks in his own Grant has built upon the electronic infl uences in Pale Green music. As the chords to his latest album’s title track begin, Ghosts, and his melodic and piercingly poignant lyricism is Father John Misty saunters out on stage, before running to- out in full force. A recitation from Corinthians, 13:4-7, in- wards the microphone and throwing himself into the song. troduces the album, framing it as a discussion on what love As a performer, he exudes energy, dropping to his knees in truly means. Perhaps he has started to believe the message the throws of the song’s chorus. e members of the front that “love is kind”. A feeling of scepticism and irony is nev- row are immediately drawn close as he creates a deep lev- er far away though, of course. e seedy bassline of ‘Snug el of intimacy with the audience, making you feel like he Slacks’ suits his low, smooth, salacious voice asking to “see only has eyes for you. Father John Misty has reclaimed the what kind of punch your manhood packs”. dad-dance aesthetic and made it cool. roughout his set e introduction to ‘Disappointing’ appears to be similarly he sashays across the stage, exuding an appeal that seemed sleazy, but the song is in fact the most endearing on the to leave everyone at least a little confused about his or her album. Unlike previous bittersweet tales of a love lost, here sexuality. Grant relishes the present, where “there is nothing more Father John Misty’s material is often humorous, adopting beautiful than your smile”. A “metaphor for fear”, ‘No More a satirical interpretation of modern romance: the issues of Tangles’ is a reminder that despite his new relationship, the internet, long-distance relationships and (of course) Grant suff ers from previous encounters, and still feels far capitalism. ‘Bored in the USA’ is accompanied by a laugh from invincible. track, providing the ballad with an almost sadistic element Fans of his debut Queen of Denmark need not worry, despite that the audience relishes. At one point, Misty takes a phone the albums strongly electronic feel. e warm and upbeat from the hands of an audience member, taking the chance acoustic guitar on ‘Down Here’ is reminiscent of his former to introduce himself to the YouTube viewers who will inevi- band e Czars’ ‘Paint the Moon’. Also ‘Global Warming’ is tably watch the video. Father John Misty’s stage demeanour an example of what makes John Grant most immediately is often a little acerbic, but it all contributes to his power approachable. e beautiful mixing of retro synthesiser, as an entertainer. You fi nd yourself in awe of his eff ortless violins, and undulating vocals make it a familiar, homely de- suavity, and even if the act can seem a little off -putting, he light to listen to. Also familiar is the bassline of ‘You & Him’, would defi nitely be good company on a night out. taken directly from ‘Black Belt’, album track on Pale Green Father John Misty’s 2012 debut album Fear Fun is fi lled with Ghosts. Grant has also created a leitmotif of his past lover religious imagery, and his own stage name gently points to- ‘TC’ throughout his three albums. Any love left lingering in wards the holy. It therefore seems fi tting that, as Father John ‘Where Dreams Go to Die’ off Queen of Denmark seems a Misty performs, it is not unlike he is having some kind of re- lifetime ago, compared with his advice on ‘You & Him’ that ligious experience. At moments it is as if he suff ers through “you and Hitler oughta get together”. Declaring that “you the passion of his own performance. As he performs the seem like someone they should chemically castrate” is but manic ‘ e Ideal Husband’, he falls once again to his knees, one of many ruthless insults hailed against him in this fi nal screaming into the crowd. at said, his performance style act of defi ance. For once, Grant does not feel alone – an adapts to his diverse repertoire. When he in turn performs entire crowd of backing vocalists support him. the tender acoustic ballad ‘I Went To the Store One Day’, he In ‘Geraldine’, the album’s penultimate track, Grant ends sustains the same level of intensity, but this time through on a note of cinematic defi ance. e outro repeats the his sudden vulnerability. Corinthians passage, and stridently continues with the air Ending with ‘Everyman Needs A Companion’ (after truly of confi dence that pervades the last few tracks. e child- ripping apart an unfortunate heckler who requested Johnny ish innocence seems to suggest that he is now fi nally able Cash), Misty seemed to create a real relationship with the to discover the positive message he should have felt from audience, and they are all truly infatuated. He is a strikingly a young age. Perhaps fi nally, in his midlife epiphany, John versatile and dynamic performer, and most impressively he Grant can now truly feel (with due scepticism) that love is able to do both his brilliant albums justice. Father John always protects, always trusts, always hopes, Misty in concert is a spectacle, and he embraces the hu- always perseveres. mour and passion of his music, creating an absolutely un- Love never fails. missable live performance. Charlie orpe Perdi Higgs Music Picks of the Week, from Margot Speed asserts that he is the orchestrator of would expect from a classic Bond I start this week with a young American artist, BØRNS, works, and is kept from getting dull by the perfect balance villains in the preceding trilogy and fi lm: a multitude of exotic and im- who I fi rst heard in conversation with Zane Lowe, but this of retro rock-and-roll that fl irts with country, together yet no eff ort is really made into show- pressive locations, chase sequences, week stumbled across again on Spotify (the ‘Browse’ tab with a more modern electric sound. e inclusion of four ing how or why. Bond-girls, a stunning Aston Martin, is actually quite interesting once you scroll through all of the tracks in acoustic session is also reassuring of his old and a villain with a cat and superfl u- the Bieber promotion). You may be beginning to tell by husky sound, while simultaneously proving that Adams re- ous torture methods. But these ele- now that this columnist is fairly partial to synthpop and mains a very talented musician. If you’re looking for doz- ments never quite fi nd their voice in alt-rock, and this may be because of the current appar- ens of bold-new sounding tracks from the artist, it’s not coming together to work, and instead ent saturation of the industry with electronic music, and the album for you, but if like me you’re happy to indulge each aspect feels shallow and nearly athough BØRNS fi ts this genre, he is refreshingly diff erent. the classic sound of a classic artist, Get Up! is not to be LAMENTABLY, SPECTRE always a cliche of itself. e inten- e single ‘10,000 Emerald Pools’ fi rst pulled me in, mixing missed. tion of bringing a ‘classic’ style Bond my favourite things: a walking bass line, tripping beat and Finally, completing a week of solo artist discussion is ULTIMATELY DISAPPOINTS into the contemporary age is cer- perfect vocal harmonies. But I kept listening because of the Seinabo Sey. It is truly a travesty that I only know about tainly a good one, but never follows more eclectic sounds that built up over the album. In some the Swedish-Gambian singer because Kygo remixed her through. We instead have a story, yet places you can defi nitely hear the infl uences of Lana Del track ‘Younger’, as her new album Pretend shows that she e action of the fi lm is to be again, when Bond is misunderstood, Rey’s favourite producer, Emile Haynie, who worked on deserves attention and laudation in her own right. Sey’s commended. Mendes’ belief in real grounded by bureaucracy, gone rogue, the album, but in others the sound breaks out on its own. sound is so diverse that, even by my standards, to try and props, stunts and locations translates and having to fi ght it alone against an ‘Past Lives’ smashes 80s pop beats with futuristic synths, typify her would end up with a ridiculous number of point- incredibly well onto the screen, a ill-explained terrorist super-organi- while ‘American Money’ takes bitter-Americana lyrics and less attempts at genre neologisms. Tracks such as ‘Still’ are particular virtue considering cinema’s sation. SPECTRE’s story lacked depth powerfully underscores them with weighty bass lines and simple, acoustic and beautifully performed, while others increasing tendency to use and abuse and felt tired in its delivery, especially similarly hectic synths, but also a guitar riff that seems like ‘You’ and ‘Pretend’ fl irt with Chicago house and elec- CGI. e car chase through Rome the ending, which was rushed and swamped in white noise. ‘Dopamine’ (the album title) has tro. Tying the range of infl uences that the 16-track work was marvellously choreographed and disappointing in its overly happy tone. a lot going on, but BØRNS undoubtedly pulls it off . throws around is the artist’s incredible voice. It does eve- the hand-to-hand combat sequences e fi lm falls fl at on too many Next up is the Canadian singer-songwriting legend of rything from bringing out the best of some moments of had an impressive rawness to them. areas to impress. It hurriedly ticks ‘Summer of ‘69’ fame, Bryan Adams. e album Get Up! is funk to creating a sense of chilling bittersweet in ‘Younger’, Accompanying the fi lm’s on-screen all the boxes of what would typically the fi rst collection of new work since 2008, but in many of as the vocal track repeats “You ain’t getting any younger action is omas Newman’s sound- substantiate a stereotypical Bond fi lm, the tracks he has gone back to basics. Works such as ‘You are you?” accompanied by a rolling drum beat and surpris- track. Just as in Skyfall, Newman and as a result, SPECTRE ultimately Belong To Me’ (come on, Bryan, it’s 2015, I’m not an ob- ing string instrumental. All of her tracks could bare such unarguably succeeds in achieving a disappoints, and lamentably, only just ject) indulges his classic retro upbeat sound and euphoric a minute dissection of their production and layering, and classically Bond sound infused with deserves a place in the Bond canon lyricism, while ‘Don’t Even Try’ and others are slower and this is a testament to the enduring diversity of her music. his own musical signatures. which precedes it. more indulgent. e formulation of his songs remains Whatever you do, don’t let your only experience of Seinabo SPECTRE has everything one Oliver Yeates simple and focuses on the choruses, but this equation still Sey be via Kygo. Friday 30th October 2015 Sport 31 Cambridge United wants U! Captains’ interview Continued from back page “ ese are really exciting times for Peter Rutzler Speaking ahead of the event, Danny and among a group of students, a tick- them [the Women’s Blues] and it is Kerrigan, the Cambridge United et for the Abbey was as sought after as a fantastic opportunity which should Assoc ate Sport Ed tor re-energise the Varsity Match.” Both Community Trust manager and a ticket for John’s May Ball. PETER RUTZLER former University Blue, also believes “We also hosted the Varsity Football skippers are hoping the women will Cambridge United are off ering dis- it is crucial for the Us to continue to match in March last year, which saw make it two victories over the Dark counted tickets to students tonight for attract students on a match day. a crowd of over 1300 descend down Blues on the trot, in a game played their fi xture against Bristol Rovers, in “We would like to see as many stu- Newmarket Road to support the Light just before the men’s fi xture. a bid to entice more members of the dents at the Abbey as possible this Blues. Evidently, games of this profi le Turning to the men’s game, there university to make the trip to the R evening, but more important to us are the exception rather than the rule has, of course, been additional hype Costings Abbey Stadium. is the hope that this promotion may at the moment, but we would love to created by the availability of Wales Tickets, which are discounted to attract some students to Cambridge engage students on a more regular ba- International and British and Irish just £6, include £3 entry to Life af- United who have never been before.” sis – and our evening games especially Lion Jamie Roberts, who has come to terwards, and are being sold through “We hope that this initial nudge will are great for club socials.” Cambridge for a part-time MPhil at the TeamFirst app, allowing £1 of the help the student population to realise Richard Money echoed this. Queens’ College. While major media proceeds to be reinvested back into a that our stadium really isn’t that far “You could see from the cup tie last organisations will focus on the im- University club or society of the tick- away, and that it is just about possi- year how much interest was generated pact of the Wales centre, Stevens is etholder’s choice. ble to escape beyond a mile radius of not just in the football club, but in the keen to emphasise instead the value Cambridge United manager Richard Market Square in term-time!” brand name of Cambridge which is that his presence will bring to the Money, speaking at the pre-match For those who do venture outside of so important for us, it’s unique, and it team atmosphere: “He’s one of the press conference yesterday, spoke of the city centre, an opportunity awaits gives us a real opportunity to do things best centres in the world, but he’s the importance for the club that stu- to see a Cambridge United side fresh like we’ve done [for tonight’s game]. also a humble, down to earth individ- dents make the trip to the Abbey. from a 3-2 victory over Yeovil Town “Hopefully we can keep those stu- ual, who can have a very psychologi- “We want the people in the city to at Huish Park last weekend. Money’s dents coming for many more games cal contribution to the squad both on really support this football club; we men, who sit fourteenth in League afterwards for however long they are and off the pitch.” While the centre, want people to understand that this Two, have the opportunity to leapfrog in the city.” capped 74 times by Wales, includ- club is not just about the people with- a newly-promoted Bristol Rovers side Cambridge United are already in- Richard Money at the press ing in this month’s defeat to his new in it; it’s about representing the city sitting just one place above them. volved with the University Men’s foot- Conference on Thursday captain’s native South Africa at the of Cambridge, and that means every- Kerrigan believes that last season’s ball side, with Chief Executive and Rugby World Cup, will bring quality body who works or comes here for any high profi le games in Cambridge, both former U’s manager Jez George form- project with a number of MBA stu- to the pitch, he can also inspire his period of time.” against Manchester United in the FA ing part of the coaching set up along- dents. As the Club continues to grow, new teammates to be their best. Money believes that tonight is a Cup, as well as hosting the Varsity side Kerrigan. But the club is eager for there will be more and more overlaps e message from both captains, chance for students to see what the Match against Oxford, boosted the ties to continue to develop. with the University, and we hope to a month before the latest Varsity club has to off er. club’s appeal and profi le to students. “We see our relationship with the continue to build links with the stu- encounter, is that confi dence is “If you come to university in “Over recent years, Cambridge University as very important, and it is dents, colleges, faculties, and all other high, team spirit and togetherness Cambridge, you probably support United’s success on the fi eld has given something we are working to grow. agents within the organisation.” is strong. Most importantly, come something far bigger than Cambridge the Club the confi dence to explore “ e Director of the Judge Business Kick off is at 7.45pm, and hallow- 10th December, their squads will be [United], but while they’re here it new opportunities. e FA Cup match School, Christoph Loch, is now a een costume is actively encouraged. raring to go, with the ultimate aim would be really nice if they also un- against Manchester United meant that Trustee of our charity, Cambridge Students can purchase tickets via the of bringing home the trophy for the derstood that we’ve got a really good for two weeks, Cambridge United were United Community Trust, and we TeamFirst App, which is available on Light Blues, in this most signifi cant football club in the city.” as famous as Cambridge University, are currently working on a business iOS and Android smartphones. of years.
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Sport Countdown to crunch day Charles Martland chats to the Light Blues’ rugby captains in the run up to the Varsity matches
Charles Martland schedules, something corroborated by Sport Ed tor Nikki Weckman, the women’s skipper. Many of the players in the women’s squad arrived at Cambridge without FRASER GILLIES By the time Oxford fl anker Gus Jones substantial rugby experience, yet the crossed the Twickenham whitewash set-up here allows them not only to in December last year, completing a learn quickly, but also to integrate record 43-6 win for the Dark Blues seamlessly into the Blues’ squad. in the process, confi dence had long “It creates an atmosphere of striv- evaporated from Harry Peck’s Cam- ing to be better all the time,” claims bridge side. Yet almost a year on, just Weckman, a PhD Engineering student a month before the home of English at Trinity, who also points to the at- Rugby hosts the men’s Varsity Match tendance of over 70 women at the and, for the fi rst time, the women’s pre-season trials as evidence of both counterpart, there is cause for sig- a growing enthusiasm for the women’s nifi cant optimism for both Light Blues game and the positive competition for captains. For the men, 10th December places within the squad. will be all about redemption and the Indeed, there is a genuine sense prevention of a record sixth consecu- that both captains see this year’s set- tive defeat. For the women, this is a ups as crucial in approaching the chance to repeat last year’s success game focussed and high in morale. and mark their fi rst visit to Twick- Stevens believes his men’s squad have enham, for this event, with a victory undergone a “massive psychological against the old enemy. change,” and are playing for each other If there is one word which recurs in much more than last year as a result Don Stevens, captain for the Men’s Light Blues, in action the conversation with Don Stevens, of a new philosophy implemented be- the twenty-eight year old Light Blues fore the start of the campaign. “We 5-20 against Exeter] don’t necessarily consecutive Varsity victories as a fam- clash between Cambridge and Oxford. captain, it is “family”, referring to this decided as a team who we want to be refl ect what we’re doing as a team.” ily unit, with himself happening to be It is a move which follows that of the year’s close-knit squad, all working to- on and off the fi eld,” says Stevens, who If there is an underlying theme to at the helm. Weckman too is highly Boat Race, bringing women’s universi- gether not only to beat Oxford when returns to scrum-half this season from what both captains say, it is one of reluctant to single anyone out, prefer- ty sport to the biggest stage, in front of the big day arrives in December, but, the number ten jersey to forge a half- progress as a team. Neither Stevens ring to focus on the exciting mix of bigger crowds. Weckman, speaking in crucially, to help each other progress. back partnership with Fraser Gillies, nor Weckman are keen to single out experienced heads and new faces she rugby terms at least, believes that this Stevens, who hails from the South thus establishing a code of conduct individuals, with the former even de- has at her disposal. e Canadian, can only be benefi cial: “It is a really African town of Bethlehem, cannot to which the whole team can adhere. scribing Man of the Match awards as who ended a six-year break from the good move and important for women’s state enough how a newfound familial For Weckman, the high-class coach- “ridiculous” because “when one guy game upon her arrival at Cambridge, sport in general,” putting the female atmosphere has transformed the con- ing, coupled with the opportunity to has success, it refl ects the eff orts of sees fresh players each year as “one of game on the radar and, more impor- fi dence of his squad: “When we go out play BUCS Premier South rugby each the whole squad.” ere is a genuine, the things I love most about women’s tantly, showcasing the highest level of on the pitch,” he says, “there is no-one week, after last year’s straightforward refreshing humbleness to Stevens rugby,” such is its potential to trans- the women’s game for potential young else I’d rather be there with…you are promotion, can only make her side when he says December is about form the squad. players watching in the stands or at automatically in your comfort zone.” better prepared for the contest at rug- much more than righting personal is year’s Varsity Match also takes home. e women’s game is even more Much of the relaxed atmosphere is by’s HQ. “Last year we had a fantastic wrongs from last time out, when his on an added signifi cance, with the exciting than the men’s, Weckman down to the high-class coaching set- season,” she refl ects. “ is year has game ended on a stretcher with an women’s match taking place on the suggests. For Stevens, the move repre- up, intense in its approach, yet also been a big move for us and the score injury. For him, it is about ending Twickenham pitch for the fi rst time, sents an overdue opportunity: accommodating of the players’ busy lines [0-83 against Cardiff Met and Oxford’s record-equalling run of fi ve almost thirty years since the inaugural Continued on inside back page ey think it’s all over: why watch the Rugby World Cup?
been arguably the tournament’s ‘form’ ough it may seem like it, I’m not to normality? Bayern Munich canter- but came against a side shorn of the Edward Th cknesse side. In Dan Carter and Richie McCaw, sulking at the absence of one of the ing away to another title, 20 points leaders who helped them romp home Sport Correspondent New Zealand possess players poised home nations from the fi nal; I never separating them from second place, to victory. Had Scotland not thrown to to realise the ultimate sporting fairy- expected one to get there in the fi rst or Atlético Madrid defying the Real- the back of their line-out in the clos- tale; for Australia, Saturday off ers the place. No, my problem is precisely Barca hegemony and giving Spanish ing stages of their quarter-fi nal, they So, after 44 days, 46 games, and 2,351 opportunity to establish themselves at that the tournament has panned out football a much-required shake up? might have added another scalp to our points, Australia and New Zealand the top of the international tree. in the most predictable of ways, and Djokovic taking tennis to new heights woefully short list. Instead, experi- will, on Saturday evening, compete to ere is a symmetry to all this. If this is not the reason we watch sport. of physicality, or a little-known Italian, ence, logic and order won. be crowned World Champions, in a this were, say, the US Open, the organ- Dominant excellence is of course grat- Roberta Vinci, knocking out possibly e four semi-fi nalists were the best turn of events that has come as a huge isers would be vindicated by the pres- ifying in a way: it is logical, explicable, the most dominant of them all, Serena four teams on the planet. e two fi - shock to … absolutely no one. ence of the world’s best, Djokovic and and essentially meritocratic. It never, Williams, in the US Open semi-fi nal? nalists are the best two. ere is very New Zealand, the reigning cham- Federer, in their fi nal. But how many however, leaves one with any sense And it started so well: Japan’s victo- little between them, but New Zealand pions, are looking to become the fi rst people, if we discount the nationals of of – for want of a better word – the ry over the Springboks on the tourna- will probably win on Saturday, and team to retain the trophy; Australia, each country, really care about the re- romance that can be derived from the ment’s second day tops any of the above thus will confi rm what we already having reached a record-equalling sult? After the fi nal whistle has gone, sheer, breathless insanity that occurs in terms of drama and surprise, and know. Everybody will say they were fourth fi nal, are seeking a repeat of how many will remember anything when these patterns are not just over- suddenly, a World Cup already sewn the best, that they deserved it, and their Rugby Championship-winning other than that result? e most avid turned, but completely ignored. up in the minds of many collapsed that it was theirs for the taking. But victory over the same opposition back neutral can watch the game in total Which is the better spectacle: into a mess of joyous predictions as perhaps it’s time for the sporting gods in May. No one would question either peace, free to enjoy the two best sides Sebastian Vettel, invincible in an in- to which of the giants would be next. to take a leaf out of the book of their team’s right to be where they are: the on the planet play with everything they domitable car, winning seemingly eve- Since then, however, it is nearly im- Euripidean counterparts: sometimes, Aussies are often anointed the “great- have: I will be among them. But what- ry race for four years, or Jenson Button, possible to think of a result that stands no matter how good you are, things est sports team ever to play”, while the ever the result and however good the journeyman driver in a new machine, out as a genuine shock: Argentina’s just happen, and often when they All Blacks have continued their resur- game, the thrill will have gone, along gloriously, unexpectedly victorious for victory over Ireland was a surprise in do, the most compelling dramas are gence under Michael Cheika, and have with the last light of the autumn. just one brief season before returning terms of the manner and the margin, played out.