Cycling accident Am iuscidunt vendipi ssequat, vullamet adio od min ullaor in ut volorting erilis niamet, quate tat, ❝sectet utat einciniatem essence nullam volor of ad del us dolore❞ feuguerFREE iliquip hotspots 6 enisci blaore feui erostio del ipsumsandit velessim zzriusci blan eu feu feugiat.Take a Sit lor suscillaore dit, commolesecteLanguage tio con ut am,and sustrud identity do odipsusto odcopy etue do consequisit lam iurem volortion eum irit lore doloreeFeatures tummodolum 18-21 esequis nisci- duis dolenismod te faccum deliquis aliquamet veliquat vel ut am alis nonsed tate te digna ad modoleniam, sum vent lum zzriusto do consed min velessi. INTERVIEW Andit aut ipsummoMeals luptatis dolobortis on wheels autpat la core faccum ilit eu feu facil ipsusto Author corem quatem doloreet, e best quam, food commod vans tissiin Cambridge tio odignis nullandre tat. Duis nos nos John Boyne at. Pat, commy nulluptateVulture conum24-25 nonum erit wis et lor inci blan vulla facidui psus- News 8 trud ming ectet ip elessequisi blan heniamet prat. Em zzriusto ea facillu ptatio ea feuguer ciduismod ming et lutat, vercinis non ute tet utem vel ea facilla facing ea 70   No. 823 Friday 10th February 2017 varsity.co.uk Championing independent student journalism in Cambridge for 70 years

Outrage at Queens’ ballot changes

Merlyn  omas Senior News Correspondent

Students at Queens’ College have ex- pressed their outrage over a change to the room balloting system at the Col- lege which has let second-years feeling disadvantaged. Under the changes, students are no longer permitted to select other people to ballot with, meaning that they cannot be assured of living with their friends. Previously, the students were allowed to ballot in groups of four, six, or eight students.  e new system has caused particular problems for second-years. Queens’ o ers second-year students a certain number of walk-through rooms which function as shared sets with an en suite. Previously, all those who applied to go into shared sets for their second year were placed in a priority group, mean- Senate House was lit up yesterday, as organisers prepared for the e-Luminate festival, which starts today ▲ DANIEL GAYNE ing they came before everyone else in the ballot.  is was intended to incen- tivise students to choose these rooms.  ose who did not receive a set were as- sured of a single room. As a result of the Privacy laws threaten Class Lists changes, however, students who apply for a shared set will be obliged to take one, regardless of its type and of who is living around it.  e law will not come into e ect until was  rst revealed by Varsity in April. A an unconditional opt out system,” but Many students are also unhappy with Louis Ashworth May next year – meaning that questions student campaign, ‘Save  e Class List’ added “we may need to rethink how the arrangement of pairs in the room bal- Editor-at-Large over Britain’s continued membership of also called a referendum of the student we can honour this mandate while not lot. In the past, the ballot had operated the EU could now come into play.  e body, which took place in November. In breaking the law” if data protection rules by giving the pair consecutive numbers. Ater long campaigns and two referen- University has sought legal advice, which it, students voted to keep the current change.  is meant that those who did not re- dums in which Cambridge students and indicated that the new rules may mean system of publication, but called for a “Until the legal situation has been ceive a shared set could still live near Fellows opted to save them, new privacy students have to give explicit permission more simpli ed system for students to clari ed,” she said, “I will keep pushing their friend, but now that numbers are laws may mean that Class Lists disap- for their results to be published. opt out from having their results dis- allocated to each person at random, they pear ater all. “ e University is currently consid- played. Lists are may be hundreds of places apart. EU data protection laws, which will ering the potential e ects of this legis- At present, there is an opt-out system published in Queens’ students attempting to live come into e ect in 2018, mean that Cam- lation,” a University spokesperson told in place for students who do not wish front of Senate with their friends have also faced an ad- bridge may have to introduce a system Varsity, “including the possibility that the their results to appear to opt out, but House at the end ditional hurdle since last year.  e overall where students have to opt-in to having public display of class lists may change it requires several stages of approval. of each year plan of room allocations is only available their exam results displayed. to an opt-in system – but no decisions  e student referendum’s demands to view in the room when you choose, Varsity has seen an excerpt from un- have yet been made.” were based on the possibility of there for a review of the current opt out system and will not be seen by students before con rmed minutes of the General Board Class Lists, bearing the names and being a checkbox online, which exam to make it simpler and less restrictive for they make their choice. No ‘running list’ Education Committee. In it, Pro-Vice- grade classi cations of students, are candidates could untick should they not students this academic year.” of room choices made will be made pub- Chancellor Graham Virgo, who led a currently published at the end of the wish to have their results published. If  e legal issue at stake, however, is lic during the process. review which called for the abolition of academic year – appearing both online, the new EU rules come into e ect, this not entirely clear-cut: under the terms Before last year, the room balloting the Lists last year, said new rules “place and on boards in front of Senate House. could be replaced with a system in which of the new EU law, the General Data system was supervised by the JCR. Now, greater emphasis on active consent be-  ey have been the subject of some con- students instead have to explicitly con- Protection Regulation (GDPR), “explicit however, a committee comprising the ing sought from data subjects for data troversy, following campaigns claiming  rm they want their results to be seen consent” is required for handling “special College sta supervises the choosing of collection and use, and it had been sug- they are damaging to student welfare. publicly. categories of personal data”, but it is not the rooms. gested that moving to an opt-in system In December, fellows and senior Roberta Huldisch, CUSU’s Education clear whether exam data falls within  e college warned students that for publication of Class Lists might con- members voted to keep the Lists, over- O cer, said the student union is “com- sequently be necessary.” turning a motion for abolition which mitted to supporting class lists with Continued on page 7 ▶ Continued on page 4 ▶ 2 Friday 10th February 2017 EDITORIAL News Brexit means... University report what exactly? Equality and Diversity report shows BME and disability happened to be in Brussels on 23rd June last year – EU Referendum day. I have generally been open about having misgivings about the the past two years. More students with European Union, despite ultimately being a Re- Aoife Hogan disabilities sought support from Univer- Imain voter. I bought into none of the ‘Take Back Deputy News Editor sity bodies in 2015-16, rising 14 per cent Control’ arguments – that well-worn refrain over the past year. his relects eforts of the populist uprising; the same but diferent across he University’s Equality and Diversity by the University to better represent the centuries – but found other, legitimate reasons for Information Report, released last week, these students and diminish “any per- concern. I was, nonetheless, hoping for a Remain win, revealed an increase in representation of ceived stigma around the disclosure of and, like most of the country, I was surprised by the BME and disabled students, but showed disability”. he University hope to make result. Market Ward in Cambridge might have been continuing gaps between men and wom- further progress as the SPACE network, particularly surprised (see opposite). en amongst students and staf. which will host key internal diversity Walking through Brussels on 24th June was a strange he report, published annually, re- events such as the 13th Annual Disability experience. he discomfort I felt was all of my own mak- vealed an increase in the number of Lecture and the Annual Race lecture, will ing, of course, borne of an impression that passers-by BME undergraduates from 23.2 per cent be formally launched in 2016-17. both knew I was British and cared. Speaking to British in 2013-14 to 25.3 per cent in 2015-16. Al- Furthermore, the proportion of male colleagues in Belgium, there was a recurring theme: no though BME students only made up 20 and female students has remained rela- one knew what to think, what to say. he confusion of per cent of all accepted university places, tively even over a number of years at that June day has barely dissipated in the seven months BME students were awarded more Firsts both undergraduate and postgraduate since, and moments where it seems we might inally be than their fellow students who identify levels. Female students were more likely approaching some clarity rarely come through. as being of white ethnicity, at 24.3 per to be ofered places at the University, Wednesday of this week seemed like another of those cent and 23.2 per cent respectively. making up 49.7 per cent of all admis- opportunities for clarity. We’ve been told that ‘Brexit In the report, Vice-Chancellor Sir sions despite 55.4 per cent of applica- means Brexit’, but what does ‘Brexit mean Brexit’… Leszek Borysiewicz commented that, tions coming from men. However, the mean? Well apparently, for now, it means triggering “he University’s diversity plays a key percentage of undergraduate women Article 50 – the oicial procedure for notifying the EU role in sustaining its academic excel- who gained Firsts was considerably of the UK’s withdrawal, which MPs voted to approve lence. Cambridge has always thrived lower than their male counterparts, at this week by a majority of 372. by seeking to maintain an open and 22.7 per cent compared with 31.6 per While clear in terms of outcome – it is an incontro- inclusive multi-national community.” cent, showcasing a gender attainment vertible step towards leaving the European Union – who Non-UK nationalities also constituted 2.1% gap of 8.9 per cent. 8.9% voted what and why created a whole fresh storm of 34.3 per cent of academic and service While the number of female under- controversy. Do MP’s voting loyalties lie with their con- staf of known nationality, representing graduates in STEMM (science, technol- stituents or with the wider population? Should they vote 111 nations. ogy, engineering, medicine and math- according to personal conscience, the will of the majority Students with a disability comprised Increase in the ematics) subjects has risen 0.5 per cent More irsts or the party whip? As Labour MPs voted en masse to of 6.9 per cent of total conirmed stu- number of BME since 2013-14, women only constitute awarded to men trigger Article 50 on Wednesday, no one seemed to have dents, an increase of 0.9 per cent over undergraduates 36.1 per cent of all STEMM students, than women deinitive answers to any of these questions. Daily headlines and political melodramas may sug- gest that Brexit is a matter just for politicians to squabble over, but the EU, and whether we are in it or out of it, has a real aimpact on our day-to-day lives. he latest news of an updated EU data protection law, coming into force Market Ward had biggest remain in 2018, which may make class lists as we know them a thing of the past (p. 1, 7), is one such example. he truth is that Brexit means many things – it’s con- fusing. But as we move ever closer to the inal Big Brexit, tween Cambridge’s irm vote to remain I hope we are also approaching some clarity. Sam Harrison and his party’s increasingly strict policy Senior News Editor in favour of Brexit. In Parliament he vot- ed against the triggering of Article 50, editor Millie Brierley [email protected] he BBC has revealed that Market Ward which would set in motion the process deputy editor Anna Menin [email protected] magazine editor Daniel Gayne [email protected] in central Cambridge delivered the high- of leaving the EU, and told Varsity that deputy magazine editor Patrick Wernham [email protected] est Remain vote in the country in June’s he intends to continue doing so: “I have online editor Harry Curtis [email protected] referendum on Britain’s membership of argued consistently against leaving the editor-at-large Louis Ashworth [email protected] business manager Mark Curtis [email protected] the European Union. European Union and will continue to news editors Sam Harrison & Sophie Penney (Senior); Matt Gutteridge, Aoife he ward, which contains Corpus vote against leaving.” Hogan & Caitlin Smith (Deputy) ∙ senior news correspondents Ankur Desai, Charlie Fraser, Charlotte Giford & Merlyn homas [email protected] Christi, Christ’s, Emmanuel, Downing, Dr Julian Huppert, former MP and investigations editors Tom Richardson (Senior) & Monty Fynn (Deputy) Peterhouse, Pembroke, Jesus and Sidney Lib Dem candidate for the next general [email protected] Sussex colleges, delivered an 87.8 per election, told Varsity: “It’s wonderful to comment editors Peter Chappell (Senior); Noah Froud, Matt Green, Emily Robb & Sarah Wilson (Deputy) [email protected] cent vote for the Remain side. see that every single ward in Cambridge interviews editors Keir Baker, Anna Fitzpatrick & Joel Nelson interviews@ Every other ward in Cambridge also voted to stay, and in particular that the varsity.co.uk voted to Remain. he largest Remain vote City Centre had the highest vote to re- science editor James Alvey [email protected] features editors Anna Hollingsworth & Anna Jennings [email protected] after Market was in Castle Ward, at 81.2 main in the entire country. culture editor Ellie Howcroft [email protected] per cent, while the lowest was in King’s “he people of Cambridge are well fashion editors Elizabeth Huang & Flora Walsh [email protected] Hedges, at 54.8 per cent. aware of the disastrous efects that theatre editors Molly Stacey (Senior); Sian Bradshaw (Deputy) [email protected] Cambridge as a whole returned a 73.8 Brexit could have, and this is just a re- music editor Ben Haigh [email protected] per cent Remain vote, making it one of minder of why we have to keep ighting film & tv editor Pany Heliotis [email protected] the strongest Remain-voting cities in to protect their interests, and those of so sport editor Paul Hyland ∙ sport reporters Devarshi Lodhia (Senior); Andrew Derrett & Imran Marashli (Deputy) [email protected] the UK, narrowly ahead of Oxford at 70 many across the country. sub-editors Jay Vinayak Ojha (Chief); Hannah Jones, Imran Marashli & Sara per cent. “Despite the clear response from Rasul [email protected] photography editor Lucas Chebib [email protected] Speaking about the indings, Daniel Cambridge, we must accept that there video editor Charlie horpe [email protected] Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, said: “I are people, particularly older people, arts editor Jade Cuttle [email protected] ∙ production editors Olivia Childs & am very proud that Market Ward here who did not feel the same way. here are Siyang Wei (Senior); Bex Swaney & Carl Wikeley (Deputy) [email protected] blog editor Danny Wittenberg [email protected] in Cambridge turned out to be the most people who felt left behind by the way radio editor Nick Jones [email protected] pro-EU in the country. I was deeply sad- society was going, and wanted to kick social media editors Bea Hannay-Young & Alex Ridley dened that the result was not replicated the establishment. We must ensure that varsity board Dr Michael Franklin (Chairman), Prof. Peter Robinson, Dr Tim Harris, Michael Derringer, Talia Zybutz, Callum Hale-homson (VarSoc across the country but at the same time there is enough economic development President), Louis Ashworth, Richard Berg Rust (he Mays), Millie Brierley we saw strong results across the city. across the country, support for our NHS,

©Varsity Publications ltd, 2017. all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be He added, however, that “it is impor- housebuilding and everything else that 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. tant to understand why, even in Cam- is needed to ensure people do feel the Varsity, 16 Mill lane, cambridge cb2 1rX. telephone 01223 337575. bridge, so many people voted against our beneits. Sadly, the increasingly appar- Varsity is published by Varsity Publications ltd. Varsity Publications also publishes he Mays. membership of the European Union.” ent harm that will come from Brexit will ▲ Wards of central Cambridge. he yellow shading is in pr Printed at ilife Print cambridge – Winship road, Milton, cambridge cb24 6PP on 42.5gsm newsprint. registered as a newspaper at the Post oice. issn 1758-4442. Zeichner has had to negotiate be- simply hit those worst of the hardest.” of their Remain vote (OpenStreetMap contributors/Nilfani Friday 10th February 2017 3 News

WONDER OF THE WORLD reveals gender gap Digital forests Zdravko Zahariev investigates the ecol- ogy of the future. Polly Evans looks at compared to 58.5 per cent in the Arts how our new-age travel its into this bal- progress but women found to be losing out and Humanities. An admissions gap of ancing act between exploration and pro- 10.4 per cent exists between female and tection. Finally, James Alvey describes male applicants for STEMM subjects, in a cutting-edge technique for managing comparison to a gap of 7 per cent in the mosquito-based disease. Pages 10–11 ▶ Visualised Ethnic and gender make-up Arts and Humanities. Professor Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chan- BEND IT FOR BECKHAM cellor for Institutional and International Relations and Chair of the Equality and Arise, Sir David? (100%) Diversity Committee, commented that White the indings will “inform our activities Footballing heartthrob David Beckham 100% Undergrad to promote equality and diversity”, and got himself into a spot of bother recently Grad (all) foster an “inclusive environment for when a set of leaked emails revealed 90% work and study”. some choice language when the star was Academic Gender disparity did not prove ex- denied a knighthood. Devarshi Lodhia Academic-related 80% clusive to students, with the proportion explains why, like him or love him, David Researcher of women in academic rolls remaining Beckham should ind the highest acco- Assistant 70% below the average percentage for Russell lade in the honour system winging its Group institutions. he report expressed way to him soon. Page 31 ▶ a “focus on developing good practice 60% and positive interventions for female EGALITARIAN AGENDA researchers and academics”, however, (100%) Female Male (100%) despite increases over the last three Equality must be years and the promotion of ive women 60% to professorship roles in the last aca- for all demic year, women currently represent

70% only 35.2 per cent of University lecturers Olivia Lam argues that the celebrations and 18.3 per cent of professors. over the news that more women were he report asserted that 2015/16 was “a admitted to Cambridge than men are 80% period of consolidation to build on our misplaced. We should be looking at the progress so far”, but acknowledged the statistics with a broader range of focus. 90% importance of “identifying new areas Race and class play an important role of focus in order to develop a high-level in determining an applicants chance of 100% ive-year equality strategy”. getting in. Pages 14-15 ▶ 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% BME (100%)

▲ Scale showing numbers of white vs BME people and men vs female people in University positions

vote in the country ARCHITECTURE ADVANCED MATERIALS AND NANOSCIENCES Breaking down the Remain vote BUSINESS AND FINANCE CHEMISTRY It came as no surprise that Cambridge Cambridge’s population above the CIVIL ENGINEERING was among the most Remain-sup- age of 50 was, at 25 per cent, sub- porting cities in the UK at the time of stantially lower than the average for ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING the referendum on EU membership England and Wales, 34.6 per cent. FINE ARTS last year, delivering 73.8 per cent for As for education, just 7.1 per cent the pro-EU side. of Cambridge residents aged 16 to 64 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Market Ward, home to a number of have no qualiications, the fourth- MECHANICAL ENGINEERING colleges, could have been expected to lowest igure in the country, while deliver a huge Remain result. But Cambridge’s Remain vote cannot necessarily be ascribed to its Cambridge student population. Most students market is the Brno (Czech Republic) is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with a student spirit would have been leaving the city at centre of Market thanks to its 100,000 students. Centrally located among 3 capitals (Prague, the time of the referendum. In fact, Ward (Lucas Vienna, Bratislava), Brno is known to be the centre of science and research. Cambridge’s year-round demograph- Chebib) ics are enough in themselves to make One of Europe’s safest cities, it is a great place to start studies and career. it a Remain stronghold. he most likely demographics to 47.3 per cent have qualiications Brno University of Technology (est. 1899) vote Leave nationally were older vot- above A Level. In England and Wales, . largest engineering university in the Czech Republic ers and voters without degrees, which 22.7 per cent have no qualiications between them accounted for some 80 and 27 per cent have qualiications . excellent academic staff and university environment per cent of variation between the re- above A Level. . state-of-the-art research and sports facilities (Olympic standards stadium) sults in diferent wards. Younger and But even if Cambridge was always . 5 of its own research centres and participation in 2 centres of excellence university-educated voters inclined likely to vote Remain, nonetheless towards Remain. students do seem to have made a dif- . Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. programmes in English In 2011, the national census found ference. hree of the four strongest that 25.4 per cent of the ‘usual popu- Remain-voting wards, Market, Castle, . research and development cooperation with IBM, FEI, Honeywell, Bosch, lation’ of Cambridge was between the and Newnham – all of which returned Siemens, Škoda AUTO, Red Hat, AVG Technologies, Avast Software, etc. ages of 20 and 29. Across England and over 80 per cent of their vote for the Wales, that age group makes up 13.6 Remain side – contain Cambridge col- per cent of the population. leges, while the fourth, Petersield, w shading is in proportion to the size Meanwhile, the proportion of contains Anglia Ruskin University. www.vut.cz . [email protected] . BrnoUniversityOfTechnology /Nilfanion/MaxxL/Sam Harrison) 4 Friday 10th February 2017 News Scholars’ ballot Meritocracy gone mad?

❝ Caitlin Smith Deputy News Editor A First he Governing Body of St. Catharine’s is not College has voted to abandon the schol- possible for ars’ ballot, amid growing pressure from students across the University to make everyone, room allocation systems fairer. and he vote, which took place on 2nd February, means that the college’s ac- probably commodation will now be allocated through a random ballot. Under the new isn’t the system, students about to enter their goal of the second year will be allocated a random ranking, which will determine the order majority in which they can choose their rooms ❞ for the next year. he ranking is then re- versed as the students enter their third year. his system is in place in the major- ity of colleges at the University. Under the former scholars’ ballot, however, students who received a First or high 2:1 in their exams were entered into their own separate ballot, through which they were able to choose rooms before other students. So-called “scholars’ ballots”, or sys- tems which gave preference to the most academically high-achieving students, were historically much more prevalent in Cambridge, but in recent years col- leges have opted in increasing numbers to update their procedures. Contrary to reports in other newspapers, seven colleges still retain some form of aca- demically-weighted allocation system: Christ’s, Corpus Christi, Fitzwilliam, Gonville & Caius, Pembroke, Peterhouse and St John’s. he vote at St Catharine’s was trig- gered after a student referendum in November of last year revealed that 64 per cent of voters supported the abolish- ment of the scholars’ ballot. 40 per cent removed all academic weighting from ▲ A Trinity below them.” with the scholars’ ballot. According to of the student body participated in the their room allocation systems were also College room that Some students at colleges still using another Christ’s student, this “unique referendum. generally satisied with the way their many could only a scholars’-ballot style system expressed traditional concept of Cambridge” works Rachel Balmer, a fourth-year Modern ballots were organised. dream of (LUCAS dissatisfaction when speaking to Var- as “a good motivator to do well and and Medieval Languages student at St. At Newnham, concerted eforts have CHEBIB) sity about it. A student at Christ’s said: study hard.” Catharine’s, told Varsity that the vote been made to make the room alloca- “Everyone has worked hard to get here, Speaking to Varsity about the scholars’ had “been a long time coming”. “I’m glad tion system as equitable as possible. A no matter their background, and the Uni- ballot system at St John’s, the college’s the JCR and the Governing Body have college spokeswoman explained: “he versity should aim to reinforce this fact, JCR president, Tom Newton, comment- decided that it is unnecessary that we same rent is paid for every room within rather than risk putting students under ed, “the JCR recognise the arguments create a further ‘elite’ group of students each year-group for the duration of their unnecessary academic stress by teasing against scholars’ ballot systems. We are within the college community, solely undergraduate careers, so cost is never them with the prospect of extra echelons working with students and the college dependent on their degree class, and a factor in room choice. As students of domestic luxury.” He added: “A First is to consider potential alternatives for the have made this move towards a more progress through College, they get a not possible for everyone, and probably allocation of rooms at St John’s.” democratic system.” better room each year, as they choose isn’t the goal of the majority.” Dr Paul Chirico, the Senior Tutor of Students at other colleges which have before the undergraduates in the years However, not every student disagreed Fitzwilliam College, defended the use

“ghettos” of rowdiness. year, meaning that students are not Queens’ ballot Students have responded, however, given prices when they are told to sign that disruption is more commonly up for a room. caused by students walking across the Many students have voiced their wor- ‘detrimental to college to see friends, which will now ries about the inancial implications of become a more frequent occurrence. the college’s decisions not to provide welfare’ he changes were introduced last year the igures for their rooms’ rent in ad- to encourage greater mixed living be- vance. tween the year groups.In a statement at Room layouts are not provided when the time, the college proposed that they students sign for rooms. As such, room ▶ Continued from front page would “ensure that no student feels co- numbers do not accurately indicate the erced in respect of room choice” as well loor plan, making it even harder to guess any attempt to publicise the room choic- as “increase choice for all students” and where friends may live. es generally, or create a map of the choic- “prevent problems that arise from clus- One second-year Queens’ student told es, would lead to their removal from the ters of students who have a detrimental Varsity of their fury at the changes.“As a room ballot. efect on others”. second year who is not sharing this year, he college has said that they do not Nor are these the only accommoda- I don’t think I can aford to be put into want to create an environment where tion-related grievances in Queens’ at this an expensive room next year but I don’t there are too many friendship groups time. Rents for each room are decided think I have a choice. living in one area, for fear of creating by the Bursar’s Oice in June of every ▲ he iconic Mathematical Bridge of Queens’ College (LUCAS CHEBIB) “here’s a high chance that I will be F  10 F   2017 5 News

CUSU President calls Oxcam for resignations in launches on Oxford racism row Sidgwick Charlotte Gi ord Senior News Correspondent not welcome you.” Matt Gutteridge Alongside calling for HMC to make an On Wednesday, the newly-founded Deputy News Editor “unreserved apology” for the treatment Oxfam Cambridge University Society of Mr Nylander, Doku said “I think some- (or Oxcam) held a stall on the Sidgwick CUSU President Amatey Doku has taken one needs to lose their job and everyone Site promoting its rst campaign, ‘Even to Facebook to condemn a case of alleged involved needs to undergo racial aware- it up’. racial pro ling in an Oxford college. ness training”. Its aim is to raise awareness for Sta at Harris Manchester College “ at training should involve real Oxfam’s latest report on global inequal- (HMC) circulated an email last week, con- cases like this one,” Doku continues, ity, which found that just eight of the taining a CCTV image of Femi Nylander, “explaining the impact this has on the world’s super-rich own the same amount a prominent activist in the ‘Rhodes Must individual, and how this reinforces, insti- of wealth as the 3.6 billion people who Fall’ decolonisation of education cam- tutional, national and even global forms make up the poorest half of the world. paign, and a warning that “we must all of oppression.” Oxcam represented this with eight do our bit to maintain vigilance against Doku also echoed Mr Nylander’s ac- students dressed as bankers, standing unauthorised persons in College.” cusation that Oxford is guilty of “institu- next to half of a globe made of papier-  e email encouraged students to re- tional racism”. Nylander had previously mâché. port Mr Nylander to a member of college been stopped and asked to prove he According to the  iers Oxcam distrib- sta if seen, or even to call the Oxford was a member of the university at sev- uted, one in 10 people survive on less University Security Services. “We are eral other colleges, including Brasenose, than $2 a day.  e  ier also included a unaware of the intentions of this indi- Magdalen, and St Hilda’s Colleges. statement from the Executive Director vidual”, the email continues; however,  e email in question notes that the of Oxfam International: “Inequality is the College suggested it was unlikely college previously, and incorrectly, be- trapping millions in poverty; it is frac- there was “any level of danger, to either lieved that Nylander was associated with turing our societies and undermining persons or property”. All Souls College. democracy.” Nylander, who graduated from Re- Last year, as part of a protest against Varsity spoke to the co-founders of the gent’s Park College last summer, had the founder of the Codrington Library society: its president, Miriam Quinn, and been working in a friend’s o ce over- at All Souls, plantation owner Christo- its secretary, Emma Walsh. For them, night ater being inadvertently locked pher Codrington, Nylander painted “All raising awareness for global inequality in to HMC the previous evening. In the Slaves College” onto his chest, and stood in a way that was fun and engaging for morning, he was approached by college outside the college wearing a chain on students was crucial. porters, with whom he had an “amena- his neck. “We want to bring exciting campaigns ble” conversation. In a statement pub- Doku also used the incident to high- to the University, and spread Oxfam’s lished in the Telegraph, the college said light a survey of Cambridge students message of ending global poverty and “the email made clear that the individual which will take place this term, as part of inequality and climate change through in the photograph was not thought to the university’s participation in the Race fun, creative ways,” Walsh told Varsity. present any danger, but we felt students Equality Charter. “I have no doubt that “We’re trying to get people engaged with should be aware of the matter”. similar stories will come to the surface the campaign, and with Oxfam gener- In an extended Facebook post made as the result of that process”, Doku said, ally.” of a scholars’ ballot system as “a reward on Wednesday, Doku said that Nylander’s “but for Cambridge at least, it should Walsh spoke to us about the issue of for our many students who achieve rst experience sends “the message to all mark the start of a process of these in- global inequality which the ‘Even it up’ class results, and is certainly regarded as prospective and current black students, stitutions being forced to confront these campaign was focusing on: “ ese peo- a substantial incentive.” black alumni and black members of the issues and to demonstrate they are deal- ple that get more wealth just accumulate Speaking to Varsity, Sophie Buck, public that these ‘elite’ institutions will ing with their entrenched prejudice.” more wealth at a ridiculous rate that’s at CUSU’s Welfare and Rights O cer, ex- the detriment to half of the world. Obvi- pressed her support for the abolition of ously, Bill Gates is one of the eight richest the scholars’ ballot. “ e non-randomised men and he does lots of stu for charity, balloting system reinforces the notion so we’re not attacking the richest people, that students’ worth is dependent on it’s just the economy’s not working if the grade they attain, which is not only there can be that much inequality.” damaging to wellbeing but is particularly Quinn spoke of the advantages of hav- problematic in light of numerous attain- ing such a fresh start: “We’re a brand ment gaps between di erent groups of new society, so we just sat down at students.” the beginning of term and said, ‘We’ve got a completely blank canvas so let’s think as creatively and innovatively as we can.’” completely separated from my friends, Oxcam does have a history at Cam- as most of them did share and even those bridge University, Quinn explained: “At that didn’t might be very far away from some point, we haven’t quite worked me in the ballot, which I feel would be out when, it sort of faded away. But we very detrimental to my welfare.  e fact were determined to bring it back and that college is not giving me a chance get it up and running, because we really to have a voice in any of this make me think Oxfam is such a major and such extremely angry.” an important charity that to not have a Speaking to Varsity, Queens’ College president of it here in Cambridge seemed JCR said: “We are disappointed in the like such a shame.” way that the ballot has turned out for  e Society holds weekly meetings students, and understand it will inevita- every Sunday.  ey also have numerous bly be di cult during this transitionary speakers events planned: on Sunday 12th year, but at this point there is not much February, Pushpanath Krishnamurthy, a the JCR can do. We are aware of con- Global Campaigner from Oxfam India, cerns for welfare around this issue and will attend their meeting. On 27th Feb- are working to make student opinion Breaking news, ruary there will be an event featuring known to College.” around the Dame Barbara Stocking, the president Varsity has contacted Queens’ College clock of Murray Edwards and former Chief for comment. varsity.co.uk Executive of Oxfam. 6 F  10 F   2017 News Vulnerable spots for undertaking cyclists revealed

ible to the driver, which is particularly Charlotte Gi ord dangerous when the vehicle in question Deputy News Editor happens to be a bus or a lorry. If the vehi- cle turns suddenly, or even shits slightly Newly released police reports from the to the let, an accident could occur. Department for Transport have revealed A cyclist is particularly likely to un- the areas in Cambridge in which cyclists dertake a vehicle while ‘ ltering’ through are most likely to have an accident. tra c, the name given to the practice Every year, between four and ve cyclists of moving past slow or stationary ve- are involved in such accidents in the city, hicles. according to the reports.  e accidents recorded all involved a Number of cyclist attempting to undertake a vehi- accidents from cle, though none of the accidents proved 28 undertaking fatal. Between 2010 and 2015, there were in Cambridge 28 cycling accidents of this nature in between 2010 Cambridge. and 2015 Magdalene Street and the junction of East Road and Broad Street by Anglia Neither undertaking nor ltering is Ruskin were identi ed as hotspots for illegal, but the Highway Code urges cau- cycling accidents in Cambridge. tion when attempting these manoeu-  ese were found to be particularly vres. hazardous areas for cyclists, with ac- Cyclists are advised to undertake only cidents occurring more frequently when certain tra c will remain station- here than in any other area in the city. ary while they manoeuvre.  ree accidents had taken place near Furthermore, it is important that cy- Magdalene Street, while four cyclists clists do not go too fast when ltering had been injured at the junction of East through tra c, as they should ensure Road and Broad Street. manoeuvres. ▲ A cyclist on As a move, undertaking is considered that they have enough time to predict Both Magdalene Street and Broad  e accidents in question all occurred Magdalene Street much more dangerous than overtaking, what moves to make next. Street are particularly narrow streets. when a cyclist was undertaking a vehi- (LUCAS CHEBIB) which is when a cyclist passes on the  e report follows ndings from a re- Cyclists are vulnerable when cycling cle on the road. ‘Undertaking’ is when right hand side. cent alcohol survey in Cambridge, which in spaces where they may be closer to a cyclist manoeuvres past tra c on the  is is because on the let side, the revealed that 35 per cent of students said other vehicles and have to make tight let-hand side of a vehicle. passenger side, a cyclist will be least vis- that they had cycled while drunk.

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DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ LITTER-AL CARNAGE New EU privacy laws Christian Union host Homerton student café in Cindies union ined after bop may mandate opt-out he Cambridge Christian Union has Homerton students have been emailed been hosting a pop-up café in Cindies by their student union HUS about “a this week as part of ‘Unexpected’, a huge amount of litter and signiicant contradicts the guidance of Government week of events discussing diferent as- damage done to the lower beds” dur- ▶ Continued from front page oicials, regarding an eU regulation that pects of the Christian faith. he café has ing a recent bop. he union has been is unlikely to be implemented following been open between 2-4pm this week, issued a ine of £500 in order to pay these categories. Brexit, should not be used to undermine for people to “chill out, enjoy tea, cofee for the damage caused. It described here is also a question over whether the votes of majorities of students and and cake, and chat to friends and other the situation as “frustrating” and urged the law will be implemented. Professor fellows.” guests”, according to their website. he people to be more responsible. Last year Catherine Barnard, Professor of euro- hey said they were “sceptical” that week also features a series of talks, as Homerton cancelled some of its bops pean Union Law at Trinity College, told the new laws would mean the lists could well publishing stories from students after excrement, vomit and urine were Varsity that “even with a hard Brexit, the not be published, pointing to existing discussing various aspects of their faith. discovered around the college grounds. UK has committed itself to giving efect guidance for schools which allows exam he group ran a similar event last year he college is hosting a Pink Week bop to all eU regulations and so the GDPR results to be released. called ‘noilter’. on Saturday. would at present be included.” Yet the Nadine Bachelor-Hunt, one of the possibility remains that the law could leaders of the ‘our Grade, our Choice’ be repealed if the UK exits the european campaign – which initially campaigned AVIATOR ON CLOUD NINE Union. for an opt-out, but eventually backed Smiley face seen over It also still leaves up in the air the abolition during the student referendum question of how this year’s results will be – tentatively welcomed the news. Cambridge handled. Professor Graham Virgo, who “It is currently unclear how Brexit will led the review which initially recom- afect class lists in the future”, she said mended abolition, is now heading up a “as this legislation is coming from the An aeroplane drawing a smiley face in working group on the future of publica- eU – and who even knows what Brexit the Cambridge skies was spotted over tion policies. means – but right now it’s good to see the weekend by Katie Turner, a library At CUSU Council on Monday, Presi- the University taking serious steps in assistant at Selwyn. She told Cambridge dent Amatey Doku said that the stu- changing a damaging process. I sincerely News that she had seen the plane a few dents’ union was pressing for reform to hope that the University keeps in mind times before, though not usually with publication of Class Lists. He told Varsity how damaging and problematic class the exhaust. She added “He’s excellent. that he expressed support for an opt-out lists are to so many minority groups at I always keep an eye out for him when I “at the very least.” ▲ Regent House the University when they make their hear him coming.” he photo was taken In a joint statement, the leaders of faces having inal decision on this matter.” on 4th February, and since then other the ‘Save he Class List’ campaign – Jack its decision he future of the lists now hangs in people have stated they have also seen Drury, Rajiv Shah and Nicholas Taylor – overturned the balance, and the University’s hands ▶ Cheery skies the aeroplane. It is not known who the said that “speculative legal advice that (LoUIS ASHWoRTH) may be tied. (MATT LeTTIS) aviator is. 8 Friday 10th February 2017 Interview John Boyne ❝ I don’t aim for cleverness. For me, the reader should put down the book and it’s been a personal experience ❠ ● Keir Baker talks to he Boy in Striped Pyjamas author about iction, homophobia and his new book, he Heart’s Invisible Furies, which traces Ireland’s story from the 1940s to the week after the Marriage Equality referendum

would say there are two to come to terms with his homosexual- types of writers: the intellec- ity. Boyne explains that “in his younger “Itual writer and the emotional life, [Cyril] is very frightened – mainly writer”, says John Boyne. because he’s living in a society where Having read his best-selling novel, homosexuality is illegal – but then, as he Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, with such time goes on and the country changes, regularity that my copy has become he starts to come to terms with it.” dog-eared and creased, I am conident Boyne admits that Cyril’s account, I know in which category he falls. “I’m which is written in seven-year jumps, very much the emotional writer”, he does draw on “some memories and per- says, proving me correct. “When I write sonal experiences” but denies there is a novel, I’m trying to draw emotions out any autobiographical element to it. In- of the reader, whether that be making stead, he tells me, “it’s more interested them laugh or cry or scared. hat kind in how [Ireland] went from a place with of emotional response to a story – that’s that prohibition [on same-sex marriage] what I want from the reader.” to being a country which would be open It is hard to deny that the Irishman enough to permit it”. has been successful in inducing such But while there may be an under- emotions from his readers. Over the current of historical analysis, Boyne is years, his novels have invariably tackled clear that his trademark ability to pro- some of the most evocative of subjects duce a novel that is poignant and where and human experiences through the thought-provoking remains uninhibited. prism of a historical background. “he thing I don’t like,” he tells me, “is I wonder if this can lead to diiculties when someone says ‘that book is very for Boyne in regards to sacriicing histori- clever.’ I don’t aim for cleverness; for me, cal accuracy for the purposes of telling the reader should put the book down and a story, particularly in cases where his it’s been a personal experience”. novels touch some of the most signii- Perhaps it is this drive and ambition cant points of human history, such as to produce books that tug at the reader’s World War One in he Absolutist or the heartstrings that explains Boyne’s in- Holocaust in he Boy in the Striped Pyja- ternational success. Indeed, this would mas. Indeed, as Boyne admits, “there are substantiate his theory that “all writers times where you have to decide whether relect in their work what they want it to stick to the actual fact or not. It’s a to mean to themselves”. Interestingly, balancing act: working out what is im- however, there may be another factor portant and what you can aford to play to his success: his education. with.” After having discovered Boyne holds a For Boyne, however, it is usually ine degree in English Literature from Trinity to “play with it”. After all, he explains, College, Dublin, and continued onto the “your responsibility is ultimately to the University of East Anglia, where he stud- story you’re telling, and to your audi- ied Creative Writing, I am keen to know ence, to make it interesting, moving and how he views such courses: in particular, sometimes challenging.” I ask him whether writing is something Yet I am keen to push him on this that can be taught, or it is more a case of point. Referencing he Boy in the Striped a talent being reined and honed. Pyjamas, a book often studied in schools, “I think it’s the latter,” Boyne says I ask him whether the balancing act with conviction, observing that, “crit- changes in the knowledge that he may ics of those courses generally argue you not only be entertaining but also edu- can’t teach writing, but nobody ever says cating. But he remains unmoved from that when people go to art school and his position, telling me “I would always drama school.” He continues: “there’s respond by saying ‘if you want that, go never really an element of teaching in read a piece of non-iction’. I’ve always the sense of trying to get everyone to maintained that he Boy in the Striped Py- that he hopes comes from the book – jus- characteristically hard-hitting fashion. write in the same way – it’s much more jamas is a fable and a work of iction, and ❝ tifying his description of it as a “fable” Only his second novel set in his native of a personal experience, where you take if you write a historical novel, the reader It’s partly – is that “there are still ights in society Ireland, the book “follows the story of the natural writer and hone them, and is reading it for entertainment – and it’s against racism, sexism, homophobia Ireland for 70 years from the 1940s to the channel them, and help them ind their up to them how they understand it.” a drama, and other prejudices that we need to week after the Marriage Equality refer- own voice to construct stories.” He continues, noting the importance engage in. Hopefully, children will read endum through one person’s eyes and of encouraging engagement with the his- but there that book and think about prejudice and follows how Irish society has changed ● John Boyne will be giving a reading from, torical event, which can mean that “even are some its consequences.” during that time. signing copies of, and answering questions if the reader is a child, to have [the story] Boyne’s work has often oscillated “It’s partly a drama, but there are some about his new book, he Heart’s Invis- completely accurate is not necessarily elements of between being targeted at adults and elements of comedy, too”, Boyne tells me, ible Furies, at 6:30pm at Hefers bookshop what you want.” Backing up his point comedy children. With his most recent novel – before explaining how the reader follows on Monday 13th February. Details about earnestly, he notes that in relation to entitled he Heart’s Invisible Furies – he Cyril Avery, the protagonist. he Heart’s the event, and how to buy tickets, can be he Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the lesson ❞ has returned to the older audience in a Invisible Furies documents his struggle ▲ JOHN BOYNE found online. “ TPP has the really good combination “ What makes TPP great is the people of technically demanding work that that work here. Everyone wants you to is also meaningful and gives me a do well, and everyone wants you to chance to contribute to society.” succeed. So if you need help you can just ask for it and someone will always come and give it to you.” Luke, MEng Informatics, Girton College Barney, Trinity College, MSci Physics 10 Friday 10th February 2017 Science Biodiversity How do we balance

diversity in rice species grown in the ❝ irmly shaped and has the ability to be he future of the Yunnan province, China, has led to better dynamic. Biologically bold actions at- fungal pathogen resistance. his has led The ecology tempt to restore ecological processes. planet is in all to increased agricultural yields in the re- Re-wilding is such an example and a ma- gion. Research has also shown that green of the jor conservation challenge. It involves our hands space exposure decreases the incidence future the introduction of non-native species rates for all-time mortality by promoting to replace functionally equivalent but mental well-being. he global value of is still not already extinct ones. On the Mauritian Zdravko Zahariev these ecosystem services is estimated firmly Islands, for example, giant tortoises Science Correspondent to be anywhere in the range of $16-54 played a key role as herbivores for the trillion per year. shaped maintenance of grass lora diversity. Ec- he projected rise in the world’s popu- It is unsurprising, therefore, that ologically-equivalent species have been lation to 10–12 billion by the end of the humans are having widespread efects ❞ recently introduced and shown promis- century, and the increasing per capita on land and at sea. he population of ing results on the Île aux Aigrettes and use of resources, have led to the wide- the African forest elephant, for exam- Round Islands. spread argument that we have entered ple, has declined by more than 60 per Our ability to combat the current the epoch of the anthropocene. cent over a decade due to hunting. In trends in biodiversity losses is not as he wonders that Sir David Attenbor- tropical regions, we risk the realisation negligible as many would expect. his ough has been showing us over the past of empty tropical forests. At sea we re- might be achieved by administering few months seem to be at stake, as our move larger-bodied, higher trophic-level better control on resource exploitation efects on the natural world continue to species, greatly ofsetting natural proc- through active conservation of endan- drive biodiversity losses and alter the esses. We threaten ecosystems through gered ecosystems, or through advocating structure of ecosystems globally. climate change, oceanic acidiication, the increase in the resources we invest in Vital for human welfare are ways to eutrophication, introduction of invasive nature management. On a personal note, manage the ecosystems we live along- species, and habitat alteration – factors key changes in our behaviour, such as side. hey include regulating services that have even a greater, unexpected ▶ The Aldabra shifts in everyday diet, re-building a per- such as the climate, pest, and disease ▲ It is up to us impact through intricate interactions giant tortoise has haps misplaced connection with nature, control, as well as provisioning solu- to ensure species or cascading shifts. a long history and an indication of the conservation tions that can bring about a potential are protected he ecology of the future has a great of conservation success stories worldwide can certainly economic reward. For example, greater (PEDROS SZEKELY) risk factor attached, but it is still not (CHILDZY) ofset some of the current trends.

cent of the world’s population is at risk not present in the Aedes aegypti mosquito. ❝ A case for according to the World Health Organisa- he simple question remains then, how tion (WHO). Both diseases are carried by does one ensure every mosquito carries New and bioengineering the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the focus of the bacteria? Rephrased, this is really a current eforts. question of population dynamics. innovative It is unsurprising given the scale of To discuss this further, we irst give solutions James Alvey the issue that new and innovative solu- a quick explanation of how the bacteria Science Editor tions have emerged. One such idea from propagates. It works like this: if a female have a group called Eliminate Dengue concerns is infected with Wolbachia, then all her emerged Hundreds of countries are alicted by a bacteria known as Wolbachia. he bac- eggs will certainly be infected, irrespec- various infectious diseases that put bil- teria are found in over 60 per cent of tive of the infection status of the male. ❞ lions of lives at risk. Two such examples species of insect, and as such is naturally here will, however, also be fewer eggs are that of dengue fever and more re- occurring in a wide range of ecosystems. compared to a non-infected female. If a cently, the Zika virus. he occurrences he key feature of the bacteria is that, for female is not infected, but the male is, of dengue, a lu-like endemic which can mosquitos carrying the dengue virus, the then her eggs will be infected but they cause severe complications, have been presence of Wolbachia appears to inhibit won’t be viable. Finally, if neither is in- observed to increase by over 30 times in the ability of the insects to transmit the fected, nor will the eggs be. So, we see the past 50 years. Currently over 30 per disease. Unfortunately, the bacteria are that there is a careful balancing act be- F  10 F   2017 11 Science our exploration with our impact?

travellers from 137 countries, they ◀ Halong Bay, internationally-owned corporate found that that ability to book using Vietnam SKEEZE hotels, bridging the gap between mobile devices is now the second big- ▼ Are we just tourists and locals.  ey open doors gest consideration ater price. looking for directly into people’s homes, en- I experienced  rst-hand how easy planned sponta- couraging a type of travelling that technology makes travelling when I neity? KATERHA is about sharing cultural values went alone to Japan a couple of years and experiences.  ere’s no point ago. I would have been lost without romanticising a lost age of travel in it – I used Skyscanner to help me which everybody got lost and ate  nd the cheapest  ight, Memrise to horrible food.  ese technologies help me learn some basic words and only start to seem absurd when phrases and Tabimoro to assist with they try to exploit our obsession Polly Evans everything from organising train times with authenticity, and maybe this Polly Evans to general advice on life and culture. is something we need to work out. Would I not have been able to do the A glance at Britain’s colonial past trip alone without my iPad? Of course reveals our long and troubling I would have, but the di erence prob- history of exploiting and commodi- We are in a new ably would have been that I would fying cultures as we ‘explore’ the have had to research my trip a whole world, and so our obsession with lot more beforehand, and maybe spent capturing and recording facets of age of exploration a few months trying to learn a bit of di erent cultures to bring back as the language  rst. In e ect, I think I tokens should be treated with cau- n the early 19th century the would have made more of an e ort to tion. Perhaps we should stop trying Iinvention of the steam engine properly engage with the culture of to locate the ‘authentic’ facets of revolutionised travel, allow- the country I was visiting. another culture as a means of sat- ing people to traverse the country days has for many has changed from  ere are of course many bene ts isfying our own egotistical desire in a matter of hours rather than the simple desire to relax and take to the way that technology facilitates to broaden our cultural horizons, days or weeks.  is altered life time out into a mission to  nd and experiencing another culture – sites and try to enjoy another country so dramatically that time itself absorb an ‘authentic’ cultural experi- like Airbnb encourage you to stay in through what it has to o er to us, changed as a result, and local times ence. We’ve become culture addicts, other people’s houses rather than in not what we can take from it. became synchronised according and technology promises to facilitate to railway time. Britons found our cultural quick  xes. We can turn themselves able to leave their to blogs like Lonely Planet to help us small villages and enter a larger, wander ‘o the beaten track’ or urban European community. Brexit aside, exploration apps like Dérive to help us perhaps 21st-century technologies get ‘lost’ in a city’ in ‘random un- are the post-modern steam engine planned way’.  e idea that we might equivalent – the ability not only to need help getting lost seems absurd TAKE A MOMENT...  y across the world, but to do so at to me, but the fact that tools like this the click of a  nger, has made the exist point to our obsessive tendency world a smaller and more intercon- to want to gain a ‘real’ cultural experi- nected place. Tools like Eurostar ence. A Forbes article from 2015 cites a Snap or Skyscanner enable us to study by Topdeck Travel that surveyed make a snap decision to swing by 31,000 people from 134 di erent Paris for the weekend or jet o to ❝ countries found that 98 per cent of the Bahamas for the week. We can younger generations ranked ‘eating book a  ight on our iPad, hop on We are local cuisine’ as something that was an aeroplane, and one sleeping pill now able to very important when travelling. If you and a glass of red wine later we’ve want to cut out the process of wander- woken up on the other side of the experience ing past numerous restaurants until world, groggy and dislocated. All another you  nd the right one, you can turn to we have to do is move our watches apps like Zomato or Trip Advisor to do forward and somehow, we’ve liter- cultural all the hard work for you. ally travelled through time. It seems ironic that we might  e way that we can zip from landscape wish to turn inwards to our iPhones one country to another in a few with to help us  nd an authentic external hours has messed with our spacial experience, but statistics show that and cultural awareness. We are speed and technologies aren’t just considered a now able to experience another efficiency useful aid to travelling, but are now cultural landscape with speed and integral to the process. In a survey by e ciency. Going on holiday nowa- ❞ New Horizons III of over 34,000 young Clubs & Societies - we want YOU! Our innovative service, and mobile app, will help tween unhatched eggs, infected females, de Janeiro in Brazil.  ey have seen a you communicate effectively with your members. and the rest of the population. great deal of success, with observations Given these constraints, we can use of almost 100 per cent of mosquitos in a simple model to examine just how a test population carrying the inhibitor Find out how to get involved by joining us at one of our FREE events, coming faesible the introduction of Wolbachia ater the trial has run its course. soon to a college near you. mosquitos may be in establishing a To conclude, it’s worth comparing this stable, widespread protection. It turns to past attempts such as the DDT eradica- out that assuming enough infected are tion e orts in the ’40s and ’50s.  en, we introduced, the bacteria spreads rapidly saw an active e ort to solve the issues First 51 clubs & societies to register with us via [email protected] through the population. of vector control, in comparison to this will receive the unique *WizPar gift set.  e Eliminate Dengue programme has subtler, more passive e ort which aims taken this model on board and put it not to eradicate, but rather modulate ◀ Golfer Rory through years of research. Collaborating the behaviour. Whether this is more suc- McIlroy pulled with governments and communities, an cessful has yet to be seen, but it certainly out of last year’s We're recruiting! Python / Dotnet integral part of the process, it has run marks a new era of bioengineering. Rio Olympics Core developers, please email trials across the world, including areas over Zika fears [email protected] *gifts must be collected at event such as Northern Queensland in Aus- ● For more information on the project, visit TOUR PRO GOLF tralia, Nha Trang in Vietnam, and Rio www.eliminatedengue.com CLUBS 12 F  10 F   2017 Comment We have lost sight of what torture is

e  lm industry, politicians and history have Because this isn’t just endless twisting, and supposed purpose can disassociate ture as ‘bad’ and inhuman is somewhat wreathing, Beckettian torment, but rath- it from that lingering medievalism. It is reductive and naïve. Torture generally di erent views on what torture actually is er something with a purpose, something telling that Donald Trump has latched in the context of Western, non-author- functional. At the heart of this de nition upon the term torture as part of his itarian regimes (and yes, this too, is an of torture, then, whether we believe in it pseudo-populist clampdown on ter- ideological perspective) comes from a or not, is an aim, an outcome which is its rorism. It is undoubtedly an extremely dark, di cult place of wanting to ‘ x’ orture. A lot of the time it’s a ❝ raison d’être. And anyone who supports evocative word. something, and seeing this as the last word, a practice, an idea, which or is complicit in torture operates under And yet in spite – and perhaps be- possible resort. Twe like to forget about as we But the assumption that this potential end cause of this – torture is a thing we We can’t get data on the e ciency of go about our everyday lives, (generally of information) justi es the struggle to ‘see’ properly. It is endlessly torture, or quantify its outputs. But it pretending it’s not part of our modern sometimes ‘inhuman’ means of getting there. sensationalised and quasi-romanticised comes down to a similar debate as that world but rather something ‘medieval’. just We like to dismiss this kind of torture in  lms such as Zero Dark irty and Si- of animal testing – if you can save 10, But sometimes, just sometimes, it might as Medieval, but on an etymological level cario, which use torture as a way to elicit 20, 100 lives from a terrorist attack by be something we can justify. sometimes, at least this is a miconception. As an Eng- a visceral response from their audiences, causing one human temporary su ering, Anna Jennings is Part of the issue surrounding tor- it might be lish word, torture is a Renaissance term, a plot device to turn us against those is that justi able? Of course, it’s not that Features Editor ture is that it is a word which resists appearing  rst court documents around who enact the torture. simple, but sometimes it just might be. and studies simplistic interpretation. Let’s start by something the 1550s. It is a Tudor concept arising But the narrative which casts tor- I’m fully aware that this article has English at thinking about where it comes from. My with the increasingly unstable monarchy refused to form a  nal ‘judgement’ on Clare College trusty friend, the Oxford English Dic- we can and religious division across the land – a torture as unequivocally bad or some- tionary (did I mention I’m an English justify. product of a society which attempted what justi able. But that’s the point. student?), tells me that torture derives to become increasingly ‘civilised’, us- Torture isn’t one thing at all, but many from the Latin tortūra, meaning twisting, ❞ ing torture as a weapon against those di erent things at di erent times, to dif- wreathing, torment. at’s kind of what who challenged these e orts to create ferent people. it still means today when we describe unity of religion and rule. Torture and In an era of clickbait news and sen- something  ippantly as ‘torture’ – 9am civilisation are not as dichotimised as sationalist politics, the mistake I fear lectures, perhaps, or,  nally doing the we may think. we’re making too oten is to make simple mound of washing-up which you’ve let Leaders today oten shy away from judgements. at the EU, and immigra- until you have literally no plates, cups or the term torture. Under George Bush’s tion are ‘bad’ – or ‘good’. at Donald saucepans out of which to eat. Presidency, ‘enhanced interrogation’ be- Trump’s politics are ‘right’ – or ‘wrong’. But the torture the serious newsread- came the term of choice to describe CIA Global decision making is in nitesimally er enunciates, speaking of some distant activities ranging from waterboarding to complicated, and we need to remem- authoritarian government, is di erent. “threats to sexually abuse the mother of ber once more to appreciate that nuance Implicit here is a sense of justi cation a detainee”, as if swaddling the concept rather than be quick to establish binaries

Anna Jennings that someone, somewhere believes in. in a cotton-wool blanket of fancy words ▲ SHANE T. MCCOY, U.S. NAVY of opinion. Feeling ‘other’ is still a problem at Cambridge Yukiko Lui Pale, Stale, Male

ambridge wasn’t built for me. surrounding the university oten also just accepted them as part of our lives forward-thinking. As students at e people who dreamed up serve as a reminder that we—women, as Cambridge students. But otherness Cambridge we are in a position to Cthe chapels and courtyards nonbinary people, people of colour, state doesn’t have to be outwardly exclusion- challenge the single story, as Chima- of this city lived in a di er- school kids—are still considered strange ary, and oten it’s the insidious kind that manda Ngozi Adichie put it, and we ent time, when minorities didn’t have interlopers here. takes the heaviest toll on marginalised can do it without compromising the a say in how things were run. Cam- e  rst time I really understood what students. It’s particularly visible in our essence of our university or its tradi- bridge wasn’t built for many kinds it meant to be ‘other’ was in Cambridge. curricula. e students at SOAS asking tions. We can wear our gowns and of people and despite that, those e concept is somewhere in between for Asian and African philosophers to be talk about Rumi or James Baldwin or people now roam its streets, study exclusion and ostracisation—it means, included in their courses are highlighting Murasaki Shikibu at the same time. in its rooms and dine in its halls. But literally, to feel like you are other, not one a fundamental problem that many mar- ere is nothing inherently ‘Cam- even our best e orts to of the nebulous but power-wielding ‘us’. ginalised groups experience at schools bridge’ about a restricted reading carve spaces out for I had felt othered before by media repre- and universities. Institutions like to tout list. But Cambridge is now made up ourselves and other sentations (or lack thereof) or by my gen- ❝ their internationalism and their global of those who wouldn’t have been let like us haven’t dis- der in certain situations, but Cambridge outlook and reach, but without a varied through its doors a century ago, and placed the feeling of is a whole other planet. Call it prestige or ere’s curriculum those statements are empty our traditions need to give us room otherness that’s history, but there’s something inescapa- something of meaning. It’s only right that in a world to grow, not restrict us. ey also still alive in ble in the air and in the walls that makes where both our similarities and di er- need to belong to us: the students the very heart this place feel like Cambridge, for better inescapable ences have been laid bare by the inter- who make up the university. In a of Cambridge. or for worse. Cantabs past and present net, we recognise and validate diversity Cambridge that is, demographically, Things that take pride in tradition and doing things that makes of experience. Online, public space has worlds away from its predecessors, are quintes- the way they’ve always been done, and this place been made democratic, making it easier this means sometimes choosing the sential parts in doing so we’ve become used to the to access public forums. e other has welfare of current students instead of Cambridge eccentricities of things like formals and feel like gradually bled into the mainstream, and of respecting those few traditions and underpin the use of Latin. Cambridge we are hearing marginalised voices turn which try unsuccessfully to turn the the wonder Wearing a gown is a novelty for any- from whispers into shouts. clock back on diversity and all the and mystique one born in the last century, and we’ve ❞ is is what it means to be truly ▲ LIZZY O’BRIEN progress we’ve made thus far. F  10 F   2017 13 Comment Cartoon by Ben Brown Online

Opposition to private universities is elitist by James Snell

We moan, but we’ll miss Cambridge by Flo Sagers

Column  e death of local news Guy Birch e best words

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varsity.co.uk/comment Opinionated? Join the conversation Sign up at varsity.co.uk/ get-involved Polari priest was correct to ‘queer the liturgy’

Polari, a form of gay subculture slang, was used in a service at Westcott House an anglican training college

hen one thinks of Lon- of secular values upon a religious rounding LGBT+ issues within the C understandable as the service was don gay subculture, the establishment. Is a historical and of E can be seen as an exempli ca- not o cially authorised by either Wcolourful, dynamic and cultural celebration actually relevant tion of the Church’s internal battle the college or the Church, I do  nd vibrant Pride marches in a spiritual ceremony or are con- between traditionalism and progres- it disappointing that Westcott House are more likely to come to mind than gregation members being asked to sive liberalism. It seems as though described the service as “hugely re- the activities of a Cambridge theological compromise their theological integ- they are constantly trying to  nd a grettable”. Even though the manner college, nestled away in Jesus Lane. It rity in order to  t with a twenty- rst- balance between remaining true to in which the service was carried was therefore surprising to many that at century agenda? their historical origins while remain- out was unauthorised, this attempt Millie Rietkerk Westcott House, a Church of England (C I struggle to accept this view as ing relevant in contemporary soci- to open a discussion about LGBT+ studies eoloy of E) college, a service was given entirely it assumes that discussion of LGBT+ ety. I can’t help but wonder if this rights should be merited. What is, at St Catharine’s in Polari, the language of historical Lon- rights and issues has no place within ecclesiastical ambiguity caused by in fact, regrettable is that the col- College don gay subculture. While the trainee spiritual and religious communi- the Church’s identity crisis is at least lege did not utilise their ‘mistake’ priest gave the service in order to mark ties. It is exactly because it seems partially responsible for the public’s in a positive manner and instead the beginning of LGBT History Month, out of place to discuss such ques- disillusionment with the Church. shut down the conversation com- the decision has been slated for its break tions in a religious environment  e dwindling congregation sizes pletely. from the permitted C of E liturgy, result- that they should be talked about. do suggest that the C of E needs to What makes the C of E unique is ing in an apology from the college.  e service’s LGBT+ theme raised do something in order to re-engage that it is home to a spectrum of be- It is hardly surprising that such awareness, making space for further those who have strayed. Maybe a liefs, both liberal and conservative, a break from tradition would cause thought and engagement about the Polari service was the kind of radi- re ecting a similar plethora of views controversy within a Church com- relationship between sexuality and cal move needed? It is possible that in wider British society. As the estab- munity. A ter all, C of E services are spirituality. by being anti-establishment, the lished religion of the country, they generally required to be delivered A ter all, sexuality (particularly Church could rea rm their position have an obligation to remain acces- in line with o cial and approved homosexuality) is still a contentious within the establishment. sible and welcoming to all, including liturgy. For some, this conservative issue within the C of E. For example, ❝ If there is any place for trying out those in the LGBT+ community. use of material creates a sense of the priesthood continues to be split new ideas, surely it is a theological By engaging with and reaching stability and continuity, reminding over whether they should have the Such college?  e Principal of Westcott out to this community, they could them of the Church being a tradi- right to bless or o ciate same-sex institutions House, Reverend Canon Chris Chiv- help demonstrate that the Church tionalist pillar at the heart of the marriages. Clearly, LGBT+ rights ers, noted that such institutions are is open to a more positive relation- British establishment. According are far from irrelevant within the are “places of experiment and enquiry”. ship between faith and sexuality to this attitude, any deviation from Church and by stepping away from It seems irrefutable that there is a than they previously permitted in the normative service is unaccept- ancient liturgy (which is inevitably “places of di erence between having a Polari the past. Even though Polari serv- able, regardless of any positive social in uenced by its heteronormative experiment service in an academic theological ices are not the only way to achieve message. context) even for one service, the institution and a church in a sleepy this, such strong condemnation of Furthermore, the radical decision Church had an opportunity to initi- and rural hamlet.  eological colleges an attempt to open the conversation to change an age-old tradition to ate a positive discussion about this enquiry” have the opportunity to pioneer between religion and LGBT+ rights commemorate LGBT History Month topic. the future of the Church’s faith and only reinforces the historically nega-

Millie Millie Rietkerk could be perceived as an imposition I  nd that this controversy sur- ❞ theology. While their apology was tive relationship between the two. 14 F  10 F   2017 Comment Political elites Despite admissions stats, have failed us Recent gures mask the inequality

Politicians have failed to Noah Froud is in race and class in Cambridge, Deputy Comment articulate a message outside Editor and argues Olivia Lam studies HSPS at the Westminster bubble, argues Sidney Sussex ast week, news broke that for the ▶ LOUIS ASHWORTH College rst time in history women now Noah Froud Lreceive more Cambridge o ers from men. But news is a game of hat will the next genera- the ‘populists’, aren’t much better. Farage statistics, and before we begin preemp- tion of politicians look was a commodity broker and Trump is tively celebrating this big step towards Wlike? We have let be- the richest man to ever take o ce in the gender equality, we need to consider hind the generation of White House.  ey have hardly got ‘life whether this gure actually means that polished professional politicians.  ese experience’ that makes them more in all women are being treated fairly. supposed experts, many of whom stud- touch with the average person on the  e discussion has celebrated gen- ied at Oxbridge, have paradoxically lead street. But they successfully portrayed der equality based on simple numerical to the popularity of outsiders such as themselves as outsiders to the bubble comparisons. It has been suggesed that Trump, UKIP and Corbyn, the very peo- of Ollie Reeders, and it was this that has female students’ success is predicated on ple these SPADs (special advisors), media allowed them to shake the old order. university admittance, brushing over the managers and spin doctors were meant  e issue isn’t careerist politicians most important issues faced by young to protect us from.  is outsourcing of in themselves. It isn’t just the fact that women in education.  ough it might political management to experts created politicians have only been politicians. It’s surprise you, an o er from Oxbridge an ‘elite’. One that the masses are now this whole issue of a distant elite seen to does not de ne the quality of education fed up of. live a separate existence. For example, young women in this country receive. TV shows like e ick of It capture if you’ve lived in Islington, Notting Hill, UCAS’s 2016 End of Cycle reports perfectly people’s perception of poli- Cambridge and Oxford your whole life, contain a few other worrying statistics tics, albeit in an exaggerated fashion. that in itself sets you apart. You’ve ex- that deserve much more attention, espe- It shows a world of incompetent elites isted in bubbles which are alien worlds cially when the statistics of Cambridge whose actions are, largely, meaningless. to the rest of the country. are compared to the rest of the country. For example, policies are ditched at the  e thing that most surprised me Across the UK, women are more likely beginning of an episode, then later resur- when I rst set foot in Cambridge, even to apply to universities than men. In rected, creating a media disaster. with its massive problem of homeless- England, the di erence is 35%. But in Even Malcolm Tucker, the infamous ness, was how nice everything is. If you’d Cambridge men and women have the profanity-using spin doctor modelled on lived here forever, you would be forgiven same application rate. Could it mean Alistair Campbell, has no actual choice or for thinking that the recession wasn’t re- that women are just less quali ed than agency. He may strike fear into the hearts ally a problem; that only a small number men? O er rate statistics do not suggest of every other character in the show, but of people you could brand as racists so.  ose young women who applied he himself has no control over the direc- were weary of immigration, and that actually had a higher chance of success tion of policy. Constantly reacting, he whichever party could say “long-term than their male counterparts. And the demonstrates how politicians and their economic plan” would most convinc- gap is widening. sta ers are actually doing nothing. In at- ingly win every election.  is observation is coupled with ex- tempting to stay ‘in the loop’, politicians What is crucial is not whether these tremely gendered applications by subject fail to o er real change. bubbles of prosperity really exist or are in Cambridge. According to the Universi- What is the point of being in politics as elitist and di erent as I’m saying. ty’s Undergraduate Admissions Statistics their academic abilities, and therefore then? What is the point of politicians, What matters is that the public perceives report for the 2015 cycle, applications to are less likely to apply to top institutions. aside from claiming expenses?  oughts them to exist.  e politicians of the fu- Economics, CompSci, Engineering and On top of that, boys and girls alike as like this are inherently unhealthy for our ture need to understand that.  ey need Mathematics are dominated by males, gender groups show obvious preferences politics, for they breed populism. e to understand that people want politi- with CompSci being the most imbal- ❝ of some subjects over others.  ey either ick of It may be comedically exagger- cians who represent them and work hard anced one (87 men to 13 women). Among never develop interests in certain sub- ated, but it still highlights the way poli- for them, and won’t simply jump to a the sciences, not all degrees are domi- I applaud jects because of how they are brought tics was perceived. It’s funny because nice V&A directorship when they don’t nated by male applicants, but those that every up or educated, or they are too intimi- the audience see a kernel of truth in it. seem likely to get a powerful cabinet are skewed towards females are PBS and dated to apply to a course because of Negative perceptions of the elite aren’t a position soon.  ey cannot come from Veterinary Medicine, science subjects woman gendered conceptions. Research released product of TV shows, they are a product the top universities and assume they are that would be considered “soter” sci- by Princeton University, New York Uni- of the media-managed bubble politics of the top one per cent with an automatic ences or acceptable for women to study that has versity and the University of Illinois last the last few years. ability to lead. while retaining their “femininity”. made it month showed the disheartening results While Tucker caricatures one man, What matters is  ese all point to an alarming conclu- that girls, as early as the age of six, think Ollie Reeder is a character who repre- not how clever sion. No one could actually know why into that they are less clever and talented sents a whole generation of politi- they are, but some women did not end up applying, Cambridge than boys. cians. Reeder, a special advisor, is whetherw h e t h e r but one of the reasons can be that young So far I have only addressed the fac- an accurate caricature of the ‘golden they can ac- female sixth-formers have less faith in ❝ tor of gender in university admissions, generation’ of politicians who have tually artic- never had a job outside politics and ulate what jumped straight from Oxford or Cam- people want. bridge into Westminster. Dubbed an If they don’t Who is a Jew? Miikka Jaarte 28 per cent fear “Poxbridge twat” by Malcolm, Ollie do that, they demonstrates the career path of a deserve far n talking about anti-Semitism Jewish father, is sometimes called a Jew, plethora of politicians: the Miliband worse than a and Jewish experience, it would and sometimes calls himself a Jew. brothers, George Osborne, David Cam- bad rep from TV Ibe handy to answer who actual- I’ve never been a religious person. I eron, Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander and shows. ly is a Jew. Judaism is a religion, went to the synagogue for the same rea- Yvette Cooper.  eir careers have solely ◀ BBC WORLDWIDE/ but Jewishness is much more than sons most people go to church on Sun- been spent in politics, albeit sometimes YOUTUBE that – a culture at least, maybe an days – your grandparents aren’t gonna be with a short stint in a city law rm ethnicity. Whether the religion, cul- around forever so you might as well do beforehand. ture or ethnic parts need to be there one thing to please them if you insist on ❝ As well as their back- for a Jew to be a ‘real’ Jew is a matter not being a doctor.  e rst time I felt like grounds, they have all that spans a considerable academic a Jew was when a fellow eight-year-old Persecution is fallen from favour as the spectrum, with nuanced arguments at school told me that my parents suck. undeniably new populism sneaks in. on all sides appealing to religious, Asking him why, he explained matter-of- It appears the age of this cultural and historical sources. factly that my parents sucked because a source of Oxbridge educated elite Disclaimer: I am no scholar.  ere they killed Jesus. If I were to have this might be over. will be no facts and no answers.  is conversation now, I’d probably appeal identity But the opponents of is the rambling of someone who has a to historical records which show that it ❝ the ‘golden generation’, F  10 F   2017 15 Comment women are not equal Macron: the French Trudeau?

e French elite have found their own Simon Percelay studies HSPS at version of the Canadian Prime Minister, St John’s College argues Simon Percelay

alf a year ago, no one would ▼ GOUVERNEMENT signi cant di erence: whereas Macron have believed that Emmanuel FRANÇAIS incarnates the positive, punchy, ener- HMacron would be a front-run- getic, and oten idealistic vision of a ner in the French presidential liberal future, Fillon incarnates a more elections. And yet, he is now one of the pessimistic, realistic, ‘blood, toil, tears top candidates. Having gone through and sweat’ approach. a private Catholic institute, the Lycée What can we expect will happen to Henri IV, Sciences Po and l’ENA, Macron Macron and his campaign? His candi- is one of the most perfect examples of dacy’s future is as unpredictable as this the French ruling elite. presidential campaign has been so far. Notorious for having worked for the He has no real party structure, no man- Rothschild bank, he became President date, little experience and small repre- Hollande’s economic advisor following sentative support. His centrist candidacy his election, and later his Minister for the may be compromised if François Bay- Economy and Industry in 2014. rou, a historical centrist  gure in French Much of the criticism against him has politics, decides to run in the election as come from the traditional let, rebuked well. Little of his presidential programme by his elite origins and his ‘volatility’ has been revealed yet, and his numbers between the public and private sectors. might decline when his campaign comes Refusing to adhere to any speci c party under stronger public scrutiny. and reiterating several times that he was Macron is an oddball: while he essen- not a socialist, Macron has built his po- tially represents those in the elite that litical image on his independence and have led to the rise of populism, he also unapologetic liberalism.Despite his role appears as the candidate most likely to as the architect of Hollande’s economic contain it. He appears as the establish- policy, oten regarded as a political fail- ment’s adaptation to the new rules of ure, he has somehow managed to main- the political game: a young, modern, tain a popular image. energetic candidate, with more style In fact, Macron’s campaign has been and less substance, more soundbites blessed with a surprising amount of and fewer details. luck: Hollande’s renouncement to run In fact, parallels are oten drawn be- for re-election has given him a political tween him and Justin Trudeau: privi- space for his campaign; with the tacit leged and likeable, he represents those support of much of the media and the oten referred to as the ‘winners of glo- establishment. balisation’. Macron has also been able to attract Macron’s main objective is to repre- but there are multiple facets of identity cation tradition that favours men. But representatives from both centre-let sent the political renewal of the estab- that come into play here. above all, I applaud women of colour, and centre-right to build his own politi- lishment. He seeks to reorganise French If the Cambridge brochure had been women of disadvantaged socio-econom- cal coalition. And so, slowly, his numbers politics under a progressive/populist more realistic, it would feature 17 white ic backgrounds and especially women of in the opinion polls started rising. As divide. students, three Asian students, 0.3 black both who have made it here. You have Marine Le Pen’s numbers remain con- Macron is oten seen as the ‘corporate’ students. 10 of them would be male and de ed statistics. stant, it appears for now that the true candidate of this election, and yet, he 10 of them would be female. 12 of them When your application is being read contest of the presidential election will might now be the let’s best chance. Still, would be able to a ord an extra co ee by the university’s admission o cers, be about deciding who, between Macron this could play in the latter’s advantage: at Starbucks ater the photoshoot,  ve you are reduced to your name, gender, and Fillon, gets to face Marine Le Pen in by giving her his main opposition role, of them would be content with eating ethnicity, GCSEs and AS grades. the second round of the election. Macron has helped Le Pen in building out once in a while, three of them would Application statistics fail to tell the  e programmes and ideas of Ma- her image as the candidate of the ‘los- struggle to pay their college bills. stories of men and women alike who cron and Fillon both have their core in ers of globalisation’, leading a French  e fact that women are getting more are told to or forced to put a check on liberalism. Some anti-liberal, let-wing crusade against the  nancial and cor- Cambridge o ers than men says some- their ambition, because of their skin col- commentators might even cynically say porate forces. thing good about the education girls ours, their gender or how much money that their political beliefs are identical, French politics seem to be reorgan- receive in this country. I applaud every their parents have in their bank account. subordinated to the requests and desires ising around new class cleavages that woman that has made it to Cambridge.  ey forget that they could as well be of corporations. might underpin the political develop- You are reversing the centuries-old edu- an anomaly. However, to many voters, there is a ments of the coming decades. was actually the Romans who were more characteristic that seems to transcend  is understandably makes some peo- persecution, and whose identities are concerned about Jesus as a revolutionary both these de nitions. People who are ple uneasy. It might be seen as giving up built from di erent materials. It’s per- than his fellow Jews, and to the fact that not religious or don’t have Jewish moth- our autonomy to de ne ourselves and fectly consistent that other people feel my parents aren’t 2,000 years old. At the ers or don’t meet other stringent criteria giving it to those who historically op- other things make them Jews – religion, time, I just hit him in the face. are still treated as Jews. pose us. But persecution is undeniably tradition, ethnicity, whatever. Anyone Okay, maybe that’s not the best way It should be quite obvious that race as a source of identity, whether based on making a habit of telling other people to solve your problems, and maybe the Nazis conceived it is piece of pseu- anything real or not. It certainly is for they’re not Jewish, on top of being there’s more to being Jewish than being doscience – there is no skull-shape or me – I happen to like Woody Allen, chal- rude, is erasing that person’s meaning- o ended by the charge that your par- platonic form of a ‘Jewish nose’ which lah and having a beard, too, but I don’t ful experiences associated with their ents killed Jesus. Orthodox Jews main- determines who is a Jew. But even feel I could suddenly become un-Jewish, identity. For me, those experiences are tain that someone who has a Jewish though race isn’t real, it can have real even if I wanted to. Even if I threw away largely ones of persecution – for others, mother is a Jew, whereas many liberal consequences on individuals and their my copy of Annie Hall, just ate regular they may be ones of religious clarity, Jewish scholars argue that being a Jew identities.  e fact is that all Jews were bread and shaved, there would still be culture or tradition. is merely a matter of religion. But my persecuted in accordance with the Nu- some asshole wanting to burn down I appreciate the struggle of de n- experience, not just with a single eight- remberg laws, which targeted anyone my family’s place of worship. ing what really constitutes the nature year-old, but all the surprisingly normal, with at least one Jewish grandparent  ere is of course much more to be- of Jewishness. But an alternative and socially respectable adult anti-Semites or a Jewish spouse.  is de nition, ing Jewish than being called names. much simpler de nition seems more who attacked me for the background of while not in line with tradition, is still  ere are (I’d hope) plenty of Jews attractive to me: if you feel like you’re my parents, does point to one common oten used to de ne Jewishness. who never have to face this kind of a Jew, you probably are one.

Vulture

Language and identity An intimate portrait Bridgemas(18-19)

Style tribes Exploring the sartorial jungle of at last!Cambridge nightlife (p.23)

A (very tired) FresherBattle relects of the Vans Best of Cambridge’s food trailers on their irst term. (p.24-25) 18 Vulture Friday 10th February 2017

I speak therefore I am: Identity and

t’s actually a pretty hard task to write an Tá Gaeilge agam. Agus tú? Iarticle, with words, about words. his I have discovered investigating the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis, a perhaps now outdated onas atá tú?’ ‘Tá mé go maith, My tongue might trip over the sounds and my theory which considers how our native lan- agus túsa?’ ‘An bhfuil cead brain might struggle to decode the complex guage afects the way we think. In it, I am agam dul amach go dtí an lei- word order, but I keep coming back. born into a pattern of existence laid out by ‘Cthreas?’ British, Irish, or both, the national identity the language I use. here ends my knowledge of my homeland might be fought over in the Typically, these days, we think of language of the Irish language – so far. I’m trying to Assembly or on the streets – but my personal as a means of self-expression – but what if learn more, however: Duolingo provides ex- identity is mine alone to determine. Living in the converse were true? What does my lan- cellent procrastination fodder in the library, a kind of limbo – too Irish to be completely guage have to do with my identity? And why and I can make the excuse that it’s still more British, too British to be completely Irish – my does it matter? My own language, English, is mentally stimulating than watching Parks cop out was to just be both and be done with a language of saying one thing and meaning and Recreation (although maybe not quite as the whole thing. Recent events have changed something else: a language of politeness that entertaining). I’m often asked whether I speak that, however – the petty nationalism we saw sometimes lacks compassion, a language that Irish, or can even read it – and met with confu- pre- and post-Brexit prompted me to rethink Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen share in. It sion when I explain that, save for a few words how I consider my national identity. Am I now is one of hesitation and meaningless illers, found dotted on road signs and the phrase more Irish than British? How could I reconcile one of beautiful and precise olfactory sounds, ‘tiocfaidh ár lá’ (google it), it may as well be all the things I love about the UK – our NHS, one of passive constructions and purpose- Greek to me. Actually, I did Greek GCSE, so love of queueing, cynical sense of humour, lessness. technically Greek would be better. willingness to help those in need – with all It is a language that uses convolution to Unlike in the Republic of Ireland, Irish lan- the things I hated in the campaign to leave the mask irony, which masks self-ridicule, which guage education is not provided or required EU? I found refuge in my Irish-ness, it became in turn masks a deep-reaching self-doubt. It on the Northern Irish curriculum. Schools that an escape, a refuge in a world that seems to doesn’t deal often in unrealisable subjunc- do teach it are often divided along sectarian have gone mad. tives and layers of conditionality. Instead, it lines, further enforcing the idea that the Irish While Donald Trump was a mere rumbling is a language lived in the present continuous, language is the cultural property of one com- in the distance, Ireland became the first coun- not one that inishes, but one that is always munity and not the other – such that the very try to legalise same-sex marriage by plebiscite, in the process of inishing. act of speaking it or teaching it becomes tied with a massive 60 per cent mandate. While Do these lines explain who I am? Is this why up in identity politics. fear, intolerance, and bigotry spread across I say ‘sorry’ all the time even when I’m not, Ah, identity politics. It’s a phrase often ban- the Western world, Irish women stood up, why I am constantly told not to over-com- died about in modern political discourse, of- and are still standing up, for autonomy over plicate my sentences when I write in other ten pejoratively aimed at the ‘snowlakes’ of their own bodies, and the tide of opinion has languages? Or do I use English to express an the student left by Daily Mail columnists with shifted so far that, when that barrier is finally identity that I already have in common with almost as much free time as they have empty broken down and the eighth amendment is other British people? space in their heads. As far as the identity poli- repealed, Ireland’s transition to a modern lib- he Sapir-Whorf hypothesis doesn’t always tics lottery goes, I’ve lucked out – two possible eral democracy will be complete. From be- make sense to me, however. I study MML, and nationalities and a sexual minority? I expect ing ‘the most Catholic country in the world’, the idea of language is always loating about Katie Hopkins is practically frothing. so much so that to greet someone in Irish is in my mind. I divide my personality – or, I am In Northern Ireland, however, identity (usu- to say ‘Dia duit’, ‘God be with you’, Ireland’s divided – between three diferent languages ally pronounced aye-den-da-dee, shouted for turnaround in the space of just 20 years has each day. When I read in translation, I know greater efect) is a universally recognised cur- been profound. that I’m missing out on something, yet in rency. Where do you live? Derry or London- In a world where the unthinkable seems French and in German, I feel separated from derry? How do you say the letter ‘H’? DUP or not only thinkable, but inevitable, the instabil- myself. Often, a thought will be trying to break Sinn Féinn? Catholic or Protestant? Football or ity of my nationality and my nation becomes out of me, but I can’t vocalise it, because I lack GAA? here are some people in Northern Ire- an opportunity. When everyone else seems to the words. In my communications in a lan- land who, unfortunately, can’t see past these be moving backwards, Ireland, both North guage not my own, my thoughts are stretched binary oppositions. You’re either one or the and South, is moving forwards, slowly. So, tá like a ine spider’s web, full of the holes of other. One of us, or one of them’uns. Gaeilge agaibh? ● things I can only express in English. Which brings us back to me, sitting in the Ted Mackey In diferent languages, our thoughts are library, practising Irish. pinned to the corkboard of life in diferent It prescribes I feel such a strong con- ways. Are we, then, conined to an Orwellian identity: it nection to the collection restriction, à la 1984, of what it is possible to of jumbled letters on the think by the very fact of belonging to a nation expresses the page, which when read and employing its language – “But if thoughts essence of us and pronounced properly can corrupt language, language can also cor- lilt and elide into a myste- rupt thought?” even before rious and alluring tongue If so, every language becomes Newspeak we begin to – neither Romance nor by its very deinition. No matter how many Germanic, but Celtic, a words a language contains, or how many of use it. language family that can them we know, there will never be enough to be traced back to the irst express all identity. millennium BC. Since de- Only maybe I have more ‘say’ than I think. ciding to try it out on a Nascent thoughts, uncapturable by language, whim a few weeks ago, exist. I can conceive of an idea and not know I’ve developed a strong how to express it in words. Hence, we seek to connection to Irish. It feels deine these thoughts, and ourselves, as a na- mine somehow, not in a tion via the shared language that we employ. sense of property, but as We infuse it with culture and make it belong part of a cultural heritage, to us, so that we can wave it as a banner of our keeping a language alive distinctiveness. So, is language not something ❠ that, even in recent his- that we wield control over? tory, has been suppressed. Perhaps I wear a language like the clothes Friday 10th February 2017 Vulture 19

Meus idiomas language he Day I Found s a mixed race international student in Cambridge, spending holidays in Out that I Drunk APortugal, skipping Korean school as a kid, and experiencing some other fantastic MML cultures along the way, I often ind myself Talk in Cantonese thinking about how language afects my per- sonality. Speaking a certain language or jargon Growing up speaking only Cantonese, I am always amazed can be the key to unlocking a certain aspect of by how quickly English has taken the place of my native and I your personality. In Cambridge, when I speak language in the last six years – well, not completely. I still English, I’m your average History student: cannot pronounce ‘crisps’ properly. If you envy those of us annoyingly fast-paced, full of big words but who are bilingual, don’t. Instead of being able to manoeuvre often lacking any real coherence. between the two languages, most of the time we’re stuck But in those few occasions when I get to in the middle, not good enough for either. speak Portuguese, be that with the Brazilian catering staf or someone from the surprising- I don’t think the English me and the Cantonese me get ly large Portuguese community in Cambridge, along quite well. the traits are diferent: probably still annoying, Sometimes they have to speak together, but more informal and snarky. here is always And my sentences get muddled up a certain theatrical quality in these moments, In strange accen-s, sentence wrong structures and almost as if I’m trying to remind myself what My apologetic smile. it’s like to be in Portugal again. One could at- tribute this to homesickness, but in my rather he English me is sarcastic, spontaneous and coni- (un)educated opinion, language is not only dent, associated with a particular place. It gets as- he Cantonese me is mild, self-disciplined and senti- sociated with certain kinds of emotions. mental. My evidence in support of this hypothesis comes from playing sport. hree years of play- he Cantonese me never swears, ing university basketball has shown me that But the English me does. Oh yes, she does. for certain individuals, rage can only be ex- pressed through one language. Just ask our he English me is a heavy drinker, Swedish captain to demonstrate the near- he Cantonese me sips red wine from her dad’s glass. yodelling rhythm of his swearing when he’s having a bad day. I seem to have developed My Cantonese me cannot write essays, a tendency to shout mata (literally ‘kill’ in But my English me cannot pick a ight with her broth- Portuguese) whenever I or my teammates er. execute a play under high pressure. During a pre-season trip in Belgrade, our he English me mumbles when she eats her scrambled Serbian teammate made sure we had mas- eggs wrapped in bacon, tered a range of diferent Serbian expressions. he Cantonese me mumbles when she chews the pre- Just blurting these out in the most random served eggs in her congee. instances was enough to impress the locals, who took us in and made sure we experienced he Cantonese me ofends her parents, real cultural immersion. Oh, and the English me has never met her parents. But language can also be a barrier. Learn- ing a few words of a language as a tourist is he Cantonese me stutters, impressive, but the expectations are much he English me also stutters. higher if one wants to be seen as a native. It’s always been rather strange for me to have Do not mistake me for being two-faced, South Korean citizenship and not be able to I am just torn. speak Korean like my mother or her side of the Too foreign for here, too foreign for home. family. Speaking Korean half-luently makes Drifting through continents, me feel like I am only halfway in touch with hrough life, ▲ Original I choose every morning to go to lectures in. a part of my identity. I know that if I went Like post-colonial Hong Kong, Photogra- I it inside these clothes, but I still choose to Korea now, people would respond to me Like my lovers’ tangled tongues when they pronounce phy by whether to wear the red jumper or the blue. in English when hearing my Korean – ine if my name, Lucas In the same way, I grow into a language that you’re tourist, but annoying if you’re looking Like the bad bubble tea (too sweet and the bubbles too Chebib has been set out for me, but the choice of how to blend in as a native. hard) I found to employ it is mine. his is because speaking Korean is the only In a rundown Chinese restaurant on the street corner To use my languages gives me immense way you can really think like one. Korean soci- hat fails to translate yang zhou chao fan into Eng- pleasure. I know that I will never have com- ety is Confucian, which basically means that a lish. plete control over them, but in this realisation, clear sense of social hierarchy is imbedded in I’m halfway there. our culture. Whenever speaking to someone But on the day I found out that I drunk talk in Can- he Sapir-Whorf hypothesis may appear of greater seniority, be that due to age or em- tonese, outdated, but it still resonates in the current ployment status, the suix yo (with a Scottish I became whole. moment. In an inevitable paradox, language rather than American pronunciation) must be My Drunken Consciousness, both opens and closes doors for us. It pre- added to every verb as a way of acknowledg- Mixed with my gin-lavoured vomit, scribes identity: it expresses the essence of ing this diference. Language does not just Grows into long, long roots, us even before we begin to use it. However, it facilitate communication, it allows one to Extending themselves across oceans and lands, is also a way for us to airm our identity. We understand the values embedded within a Anchoring to the space underneath my bed at home, may sometimes feel like Orwell’s protagonist particular culture. Where my mum stores all my winter clothes, Winston Smith. Ultimately, being multicultural can be prob- hat the English me has grown out of, But, just as he writes illicitly in his diary, lematic if one yearns for a sense of belonging. Unknowingly by nanometers, we speak and we write. Language is a self-re- Language can overcome this feeling of being When she dreams in Cantonese every night ● lective tool, and we have to use it. Ultimately, ‘from nowhere.’ But this requires complete Olivia Lam it is the only means that we have to analyse luency ● Eduardo Baptista ourselves ● Lydia Bunt (Full version available online) 20 Vulture Friday 10th February 2017

play a role, so too does the prospect of in- ternational ‘social mobility’ (no matter how If you miss home, nebulous that term is). For some, the idea of living independently in a world away from home is a major boost; for others, coming to Cambridge means gaining or (re)claiming, access to a pool of resources (ahem, repara- why did you leave? tions) that will help them make the world a better, fairer, place. Many of us do so in light of immense privilege: we have the means, Jun Pang on what being an international student or we have sourced the means through our respective national governments or other or- has taught her, aside from academia ganisations to study abroad. We can afford to leave our homes behind (not just financially but because, for example, we don’t have duties n Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, bic immigration ban, I’ve been thinking a lot of care) to pursue education elsewhere. protagonist Nina sings a song called about what it actually means to be an inter- These reasons are less important to me ‘Breathe’ which never fails to give me national student (to countries in the West when talking to other international students Ichills: “Hey, guys, it’s me! / he biggest especially). Because despite continually being than how we are each navigating the in-be- disappointment you know / he kid told that we are not welcome, that we are not tween: how do we recount our experiences couldn’t hack it, she’s back and she’s walkin’ wanted, we keep coming back – through the to those who might never see our university real slow.” As the irst person in her immi- feelings of displacement and discomfort, the with their own eyes, never feel the weight of grant family to go to college, she returns to ignorant comments, the exorbitant fees and, history that bears down on us every time we New York after a year on the West coast and in some cases, the racism and xenophobia. step outside? If you’re lucky, you get to be gives voice to what I think is a feeling that The question, then, is why? 100 per cent honest with your friends and many students here can probably relate to: The cop-out answer is that every interna- family about both the joys and pressures of the fear of disappointing those at home, the tional student has a different set of reasons university life. You get to tell them about the anxiety that comes with not living up to the for going abroad. When it comes to Cambridge strangeness of formal dinners in age-old halls, expectations that come with the privilege of in particular, the answer probably includes and other people’s sincere fascination with studying abroad. the institution’s ‘prestige’ (founded, ahem, where you’re from – whether you eat dogs, or In the wake of The Guardian’s finding that on centuries of Western epistemic colonial- believe unquestioningly in authoritarian dic- the Home Office is considering cutting inter- ism), and the attendant promise of academic tatorship. You can be unabashed in your criti- national student numbers at UK universities and intellectual rigour, as well as the wealth cism of your institution, knowing that your by nearly half, and, of course, Donald Trump’s (quite literally) of potential future opportuni- loved ones accept that your existence there heinously xenophobic, racist, and Islamopho- ties. Familial and/or other types of pressure matters more than the institution itself. If not, you learn to straighten your spine and smile when asked about your experiences – to describe the strange weather, the odd and polite way strangers offer you tea, instead of how much you miss home. (And, of course, home is not the same for everyone, but re- gardless of whether it’s your ancestral home or the local noodle shop, it is always just out of reach). You don’t talk about the number of evenings you spend wondering why you decided to leave in the first place. You lie by omission, for fear of being accused as ungrate- ful for the opportunities you’ve been given to spread your wings, or more often than not for fear of worrying loved ones who can’t practi- cally do anything to help you – even then, you have to time your moments of sadness to align with the appropriate time zones. You tell the partial truth so not to disappoint those who see in Cambridge something bigger than your- self, a marker of a success previously believed unattainable by people like you. Of course, I’m not saying that this is an experience unique to international students – everyone encounters disorientation when they first enter university, and this can be even harder and persist for much longer for those who experience overlapping structures of oppression on the basis of race, class, and disability, for example. Raise the weight of this experience to the power of 10 at Cambridge, an institution originally built for a tiny sub- section of the world’s population, and you would still remain unable to fully articulate the experience of alienation and isolation that comes with being ‘one of the only ones’ of a particular identity group in your year, college, and course. But over the last year, I’ve encountered peo- ple who have made the argument to me that the privilege of being able to study abroad makes up for the ignorance and oppression that international students face as they pursue their degrees. There is an overwhelming lack of understanding among the latter about the     Vulture 21

phobic. Moments of successful escapism are COLUMN rare. Strategic conversations in smoking areas and careful groupings on the dance floor are the mainstays of Cambridge nightlife. There are different nights associated with sports teams, drinking societies, and the Union com- mittee, and on certain nights certain colleges will invade specific areas of a club. I’ve found some incredible friends here who I hope to remain in close contact with for years to come, but this doesn’t stop the Cambridge nightlife What makes scene as a whole from feeling suffocating: on Cambridge nights out, the conversations and friendships we have at Cambridge turn into forms of self- clubbing so advertising. Unlike my hometown where clubbing in- cliquey? volves high heels and a lot of preparation, here anyone, regardless of gender, can just rock up to Kuda in jeans, a pair of trainers, and a T-shirt. Even this in itself is a social expectation. Flirting in most other places is pretty overt, sometimes uncomfortably so. here is a particular sort of existential Somehow Cambridge has managed to trans- Tmoment that occurs in Cambridge form it into a subtle academic art form with clubs. It’s about 2:15am and you’re on its own unsettlingly self-conscious code of the dance floor at Life but wishing you were etiquette. I’m not exactly saying conversa- at Gardies. Perhaps you’ve had one too many tion transforms from an in-depth analysis of tequila shots and the salt has left an uncom- Theresa May’s approach to handling Brexit fortable burning feeling at the back of your to sexual innuendo, but this is not far from mouth. One of your friends is in the toilet, the truth. It is as though we spend too much and you’re walking through the clumps of time in supervisions so that the only form of dancing people to try and find your other communication we feel comfortable with is friends, all set to that atrocious remix of R either intellectual or about Cambridge. Kelly’s ‘Bump n’ Grind’ booming through the Granted, the dynamics change over the scratchy speakers. years: freshers are eager to branch outside diverse experiences of international students. You can’t find them, and some lanky fresher their college friendships and spread their There is the startling experience of being ra- keeps shoving into you with their overzealous wings to uncharted territory. For the most cialised for the first time, the continual fum- and off-beat dance moves. Instead of moving part this is due to many VKs and a lot of self- bling for of words to describe the process of away, you just freeze for a moment, absorb consciousness. Second-years have established becoming a minority to yourself, the pressure your surroundings, and ask yourself: “Why connection with first- and third-years while of becoming a proxy for your entire country on earth did I agree to come here?” they’ve also got the enviable position of know- and culture, the camaraderie that comes with Whether you’re a Turf goer or a devout ing that their grade at the end of the year is meeting someone else who also went through Wednesday Cindies follower, clubbing in of little importance. Third year has been a your school system, and the joy of finding a Cambridge is uncomfortably image conscious. nice escape from the social pressure since supermarket that sells a version of your fa- Even nights out are like job interviews or net- friendship groups are consolidated, but this vourite comfort food. Add to that the constant working events for many. It’s a sort of ‘Cin- in itself relies on a basis of networking over self-questioning and self-rationalisation of derella shall go to the ball’ moment in which their first two years here. The whole thing is what, if anything, makes being away worth the studious student beavering through their a form of self-advertisement. it. In turn, there is an ignorance of or perhaps work in the day becomes a loquacious social- Take the recent ARCSOC Cabaret night: an unwillingness to engage fully with both ite by night, only to have the dream whipped tickets seemed to sell out faster than Glas- ▲ Our the privileges and problematic aspects of the away from under your feet by the unwelcome tonbury. It is a fun night, but the tickets did personal experience of studying as an international sound of the next morning’s alarm and the not disappear so quickly because the event belongings student. This is not a judgement so much as sweaty rush to a 9am lecture. rivals a globally famous festival. Rather, they can be a a recognition that in many cases it is easier In theory, nightlife is liberating. The techno did so because people want to be seen there. key way to not engage, to try to survive the three-year scene or early rave culture was able to provide And they want to be seen wearing the most to stay in degree and take comfort in communities that a space where one’s identity could slip away: elaborate and creative fancy dress they will touch with already ‘get it’. sexuality, gender, race, class, or religion could probably spend atrocious amounts of money our herit- In my own experience, learning to articulate be forgotten for a moment. Music, or at least on. And the photo needs to go on Facebook, age my experiences in terms of Other-ing was in- drugs, meant no one noticed these things. ideally to be a credible profile picture. I’m credibly healing. It allowed me to understand Music, drugs and booze are hardly absent as guilty of all my claims as anyone, so I feel myself not in isolation, but always in context. from Cambridge clubbing, and yet who you fairly certain about making them. But it’s not It taught me the importance of engaging with are, whom you know, what you do, and what all bad: there’s always not going, not caring, my communities and expressing and acting in college you attend seem to make a regular or drinking till it stops mattering ● solidarity with others who, despite not hav- appearance. ing the same experiences, made the effort to I understand that clubbing is relate and to care, and whose own issues were an incredibly voyeuristic activ- important and in need of attention. ity regardless of the location. In this political climate, there is no better We put a lot effort into select- time to think of existing in the interstices as an ing our outfits and preening identity that can be mobilised in recognition ourselves in front of a mirror of both our differences but also our capacity because we know we will be for solidarity. This begins with acknowledg- watched. There will be club ing that although each of us may be forging photos to feature in or snap- an existence in Cambridge in our own way, chats to take, people to flirt and we do have things in common and fights to friends to dance with. This is rally behind together. Ultimately, if we learn not unique to Cambridge. But Photos e Cambridge clubbing anything of value from our time here, it’s not there is the added sense that scene may look casual and by Lucas inclusive, but it’s all about going to come from books or lectures, but the social circles that we move Chebib self-advertising (vavva_92) from each other ● within are incredibly claustro- 22 Vulture     Culture

meaning is ‘nervous’, which used to mean Online vigorous, originating from the Latin word for COLUMN sinewy, ‘nervosus’. It came to mean ‘of the nerves’, a meaning it still has in the present day, in the 1660s, which makes it seem strange that its modern meaning is to do with lacking nerve or courage.  is probably comes from its 18th-century sense, which was linked with disorders of the nervous system, and so began to be associated with weakness or in rmity.  ough our modern meaning has moved away from any medical connotations, we can see how this might have led to today’s de nitions of anxiety and fear. Peculiarly, the word ‘sad’ used to mean Georgie steadfast, rm, or full (of food and drink). orpe It comes from the Old English ‘sæd’ which means ‘sated’, and is linked to German words discusses like ‘satt’, which still means full today. Over the course of time, the idea of being full changed changes of into the idea of being too full, or fed up of de nition something, and in the 14th century it nally came to mean unhappy, as we use it today. It over wasn’t until 1899, however, that it developed the slang meaning of being pathetic, quite time distant from its original meaning of being xed or tough. Perhaps more concerning (well, concern- ing to some people) is the change that the ’m sure some of you will have heard the word ‘egregious’ has undergone.  ese days, Icomplaint being made (most likely by it’s de ned as meaning ‘outstandingly bad or someone of an older generation) that shocking’, but it didn’t always mean that – it Jia Yuan Loke using ‘sick’ to describe something good just used to mean outstandingly good. It comes doesn’t make any sense. And at face value, it from a Latin phrase, ‘ex grege’, which means really doesn’t. Why would a word de ned as ‘out of the herd’, and had a positive sense of Review: Love Art A ter Dark ‘a ected by physical or mental illness’ mean standing out from others. It’s not really clear ‘cool’? how or when this word came to mean spe- by Emma Slater Words changing meaning in this way is ci cally something bad, but one suggestion actually a very common phenomenon, and is that it happened due to changing attitudes not unique to current slang words.  e idea towards uniqueness. Over time, standing out of language being a living, breathing thing from the crowd came to be a negative thing, might be hackneyed, but it’s essentially true: especially with the rise of consumerism and a a language’s ability to develop and change is culture of advertisement that relies on being Don’t Miss ▸▸ what prevents it from becoming extinct or able to pigeonhole people. It was no longer falling out of use.  is means that, over time, good to be ‘ex grege’, but distinctly frowned words can come to mean even the exact op- upon, and according to this theory it was this posite of what they once meant, and there are change that led to the meaning reversing in a lot of words in our vocabulary today that this way. have done just that.  ere are even some words that have main- ‘Bully’, for example, originally meant a tained their double meanings in dialect into 1 sweetheart of either gender, and later came the modern day. My mum, who grew up in e Junction/ to mean a ne fellow. It comes from a Dutch the north of England, can still confuse me and word, ‘boel’, which meant ‘lover’. It wasn’t my dad by announcing, “I doubt it’ll rain,” and Ahbab festival until the late 17th century that it took on the then warning us to take umbrellas. To her, 10th-12th February 2 meaning it has today.  e process of change ‘I doubt it’ll rain’ means ‘I think it will rain’, came from the idea that a dandy gentleman and she can’t explain the di erence between An Arabic music festival Jesus College/ might also be rather blustery and overpow- that and cases in which ‘doubt’ really does celebrating themes of love in ering, capable of picking on people with a mean ‘doubt’. music and lm, featuring Omar John Hughes Arts weaker personality, which then later de-  is meaning used to be common, and Souleyman and ‘Two Sisters: An Festival veloped into the notion of a bully. In North crops up in a lot of literature from the 17th Arabic Opera’, alongside various American slang, some of the old meaning is through to the late 19th centuries. It probably lm screenings and a market ( e 10th-12th February still retained, most notably in the phrase ‘bully arises from the original meaning of ‘doubt’, Souk) selling products and food Highlights of this year’s for you’, meaning ‘good for you’. which was ‘be doubtful’ or ‘be afraid’. When from the Middle East. arts festival at Jesus College Another word that has drastically changed my mum says ‘I doubt it’ll rain’, she means include a poetry slam and and ‘I’m afraid it’ll rain’, but this snapshot photography class. meaning has largely been lost in other English dialects. So next time us millen- 3 nial snow akes are accused ADVERTISE of butchering and distorting Cambridge Corn Exchange/ the English language, rest Cambridge Univsersity Charity WITH US. assured: it’s a centuries-old Fashion Show phenomenon that’s actually To advertise in any of our print publications or key to the development and 15th February, 6.30pm online, please contact our Business Manager: survival of the language. And it’s anybody’s guess what Featuring headliner Princess Nokia, the Charity tel : 01223 33 75 75 English will look like in 100 Fashion Show is a creative display in aid of Florida- email: [email protected] years when even more of based charity  e Douglas Bader Foundation. web: varsitypublications.co.uk these changes have hap- pened ●     Vulture 23

Fashion Check out Varsity Fashion’s Instagram photos: instagram.com/varsitycambridge behaviour Pack ◀ Too cool to care…

Stan Smiths or Nike AF1s, baggy jumpers, leggings, messy hair and possibly a token choker – this girl has ‘honestly’ just come from the library. Although Cambridge nightlife is desperately lame, she must attend every Wednesday Cindies other- wise people will forget how nonchalant she is. Oten attempts to attend Turf on a  ursday, but usually too hungover from a mad one the night before.

Ospreys ▶ Overdressed and Sporting girls are probably the least self-conscious (especially compared to the previous two tribes) as to Confused their clothing on a night out.  e inevitable swap be- forehand, the copious drink and, of course, the queue Arriving at Cindies in heels and jump means that they are unlikely to be let shiver- a miniskirt, clutch in hand, ing in a queue while dressed as a cave woman. Loud to be confronted with sports and proud, these girls don’t give a hoot how they’re teams dressed as zebras and dressed on a night out because, well, they are prob- inebriated swap-goers in vari- ably stronger than anyone who dares to insult them. ous states of undress.  is rare breed of Cambridge club goer tends to dwindle over Michael- mas, but is occasionally seen at the beginning of Lent, when a new wave of Freshers decide to embark on their rst night out. ▶ ‘Road Men’

 e all-important inverted commas give the game away when it comes to this ironic tribe. While dressed in all the trappings of the new ▼ Rugby boys Insta-skating generation – think Palace, Supreme, Who knew they made suits in such Carhart, Bape, Addidas, and gargantuan proportions? It’s probably that ‘vintage’ (read over- lucky these burly men are allowed a priced) North Face anorak queue jump, otherwise the rest of the – the vast proportion of this Cindies queue might be turned to a tribe has, in fact, never seen pulp by the time they get to the rst a skateboard in their life, round of barriers. To their horror, by let alone used one. “Far too the end of the night their Cambridge dangerous… my invisiline Rugby Club ties have invariably been only came o two years ago, stolen by overexcited girls (“Wait – bruh.” Sunday means Fez, you’re a Blue?”), which means another never Life, and their natural £35 will be sacri ced for a strip of habitat is the (very edge of fabric *sigh*. the) mosh-pit. Flora Walsh takes a tongue- in-cheek glance ▶ Black tie out of context at the sartorial stereotypes of “Why am I wearing black tie in the club, you ask? Oh, well… I had a very special ‘dinner’ (wink, wink) with a ‘society’ that doesn’t exist (nudge, Cambridge’s nudge).” To name no names, Cambridge’s underground student drinking societies are remarkably conspicuous for being so secret. Look out for the unmistakeable clubbers, from drunken gentleman in a tux with bow tie undone, ‘Road Men’ to hair dishevelled and public school slurs slipping o his tongue while sprawled over Cindies’ faux- Ospreys. Which leather sofas, like 007 has really let himself go this style tribe time.  e pinnacle of sophistication ● would you call your own? 24 Vulture Friday 10th February 2017 Food he best of Cambridge food vans

Cambridge Taste of Crepes Cambridge

where can i ind it? – Merging point of Sidney Street where can i ind it? – Market Street and Market Street when should i eat here? – Lunch (and deinitely when should i eat here? – Breakfast/brunch time before 4pm closing time) best bites – any Nutella combination best bites – Four Season Falafel Wrap or Roasted Vegetable Pizza Wrap

For such a small van, Cambridge Crepes really ofers Vegetarian? Vegan? Gluten Free? Taste of Cambridge an incredible range of both sweet and savoury goods. ticks all three. Freshly made before your eyes, the wonderfully more- Renowned for its incredible falafel wraps, Taste ish scent of vanilla-y crepe batter streams from the of Cambridge clearly takes the edge when it comes tiny kitchen, making this van the perfect place to grab to catering for dietary requirements. At a reasonable a breakfasty bite. price (around £4-£5 for a wrap), the fresh falafel, Peruse the huge menu to ind a favourite, or if you’re latbread, tahini, hummus and hits of harissa make pressed for time, try our recommendations: the Nutella for a beautiful eating experience – and one that feels combinations come highly praised – try adding banana healthy and nourishing too. he staf are smiley and and strawberry for an extra-decadent treat – or grab a cope well with the long queues that stack up at peak Our food writer Jess deliciously wholesome, warm cheese and ham crepe lunch time. Take your food to the wall outside King’s for a satisfying snack. Don’t be afraid to try something College which catches the sun at around midday, for a Lock picks the best new and experimental – we haven’t encountered a particularly lovely lunch. disappointing lavour combo yet! spots for street food in Although the tourist trap doesn’t come cheap (you Cambridge could ind yourself paying up to £5 to eat here), for a once-in-a-while treat, no-one does it better than Cam-

PhotograPhy by bridge Crepes. Louis ashworth Friday 10th February 2017 Vulture 25

he Hot Sausage Uncle Van of Company Franks Life

Where can I ind it? – Market Street or Fitzroy Street Where can I ind it? – Market Street, facing towards Where can I ind it? – Market Street, facing towards (mr. Grafton Centre) Grand Arcade Rose Crescent When should I eat here? – When you want a small When should I eat here? – Late at night When should I eat here? – Late at night lunch or a decent snack Best bites – Chips, chips, and chips Best bites – Classic chips, add cheese for a divine Best bites – Extra Large Sausage in Bun (with onions experience and relish)

Trading in Cambridge for 30 years, he Hot Sausage Uncle Franks - or Van of Death - is the Yin to Van of Van of Life (formally he Trailer of Life) does what its Company is a ixture of the Cambridge takeaway eatery Life’s Yang, the cheese to their chips, the chicken to namesake promises – it resurrects those who need help scene, with great prices and quality meats. their nugget. On arrival to Cambridge, it is essential to to walk themselves home (only for them to wake up Delicious sausages are served hot from the griddle in pledge allegiance to one or the other – only inidels will in the morning and regret everything they’ve done the fresh white rolls, and dressed with a variety of exciting happily trot between the two. night before), and has been doing so since 1992. his sauces – from Jerk BBQ to Creole Pepper and Sweet he late night food competitors, separated by mere van is a staple of the Cambridge experience; its warm Chilli – or extra toppings such as onions or cheese. metres at opposite sides of the Market Square, ofer glow in the night beckons customers with the promise hese aren’t by any means simple American hotdogs similar deep-fried comfort foods. Frank’s takes the of the burgers, chicken and cheesy chips, all served – he Hot Sausage Company carts serve traditional edge with slightly cheaper chips – crispy, lufy, salty, by those dashing chaps in their Van of Life hoodies. English sausages but also boast a changing ‘Special of and doused with sauces or toppings of your choice. If chips won’t hit the spot, grab a hot batch of onion the Day’, which includes mouth-watering lavours such Really, what more could a late night reveler want from rings instead. as Pork & Leek, Cajun, and Caribbean sausage. a trailer which serves greasy, tasty, illing fast-foods? [Bonus: Uncle Franks also does delivery from 6pm to 3am for those all-nighters which require a little greasy willpower] 26 Vulture    

eatre More reviews are available online at: varsity.co.uk/theatre

were.” Online  e representation of ethnic minorities SPOTLIGHT ON RACE and culturally diverse stories is pertinent for Microcosm or Stephanie. She tells me about her experience acting in Behind the Beautiful Forevers in 2014, a play adapted by David Hare (a Cambridge alma mater? graduate, of course) from Katherine Boo’s book of the same name, set in Mumbai. “From the outset they did a very aggressive marketing campaign to the Asian press, inviting them to rehearsals and lots of lots of interviews. Rufus [Norris] knew that because it was a new play Review: by David Hare, it would be from the outset an London Road audience of people who wanted to see David by Genevieve Cox Hare’s new play.”  is admirable perseverance to achieve diversity on stage and in the seats certainly had a demonstrable e ect. “It started out with the white Hampstead middle-class audience who were astounded that the stage was full of brown people and that none of the play at any point transferred to North West London, you could tell. Lots more people let the show at the interval in the early half of the run, not many, but it was really tangible.” Despite the eventual success at diversifying this particular national audience, there is a demonstrable lack of continued interest in, and understanding of, diversity from in u- ential gures.  e writer Sir David Hare is the same man who only a few days ago claimed that European practices were “infecting” Brit- ish theatre. Lasting change is not likely to come from men adapting stories of cultures they know about from afar as a token gesture to ❝ those who have not been supported ere were by the system as luckily as they have. Sir Trevor Nunn, of a similar in uen- more f****** tial theatre standing, uses the peren- dead people nial claim of “historical accuracy” as than brown a justi cation for his 2015 all-white cast of the Wars of the Roses. Had he people done a quick search for the African ❞ people in British society as early Em- peror Hadrian (though why not start with Saint Adrian, Berber abbot in Canterbury in 710AD), maybe he would have learnt a bit Cambridge graduate, about her professional about Britain. Naomi Obeng considers theatre experience, the Cambridge stage, and During our conversation we talked oten Cambridge’s white-washed what prompted her to start this campaign. “It about the ‘institutions’ and the ‘establish- was one thing in particular that really got us ment’ that she had felt cut o from, referring stages as a root of British all together”, she tells me. “Danny [Lee Wyn- to both London and Cambridge. She has great theatre’s race problem ter, fellow actor and co-founder] posted on motivation for invoking this terminological ▲ The 2014 Facebook having seen this ITV drama trailer, bridge. “Unsurprisingly, the people who pre- prod-uction which featured not a single actor of a colour, sided over those [Cambridge theatre] institu- ere we go again, right? I make of ‘Behind but two dead actors.  ere were more fucking tions are running the big institutions out in no mistake in thinking I’m the the Beautiful dead people than brown people. the real world now. You know, Josie Rourke rst to write in Varsity about Forevers’ He reached out to a few people was president of the ADC in my year, Simon Hrace and Cambridge theatre. (Richard in the industry and it kind of Godwin was president of the ADC when I was At some point, while going Hubert built from that really. We a rst-year. You kind of watch that path to through the archives, I stopped wondering Smith) had no agenda becoming a leading light in the real world.” about all the things that need to change, and ▶ Cantabs apart from It would surprise me, though, if anybody in- started thinking about how to change them. Josie Rourke the fact that volved in Cambridge theatre right now would  is series of articles aims to get to those an- and Tom things abso- describe themselves as part of the ‘establish- swers, and I propose to begin on the profes- Hiddleston lutely could ment’.  at is perhaps why the lack of BME sional London stage. It’s 2015 at the Olivier, all (Youtube/ not stay the representation has been so hard to budge for plush purple seats and circular stage, in the Anna Egle) way that they good – no individual student really believes National  eatre. We’re at the Act For Change that they are part of the problem.  e prob- Project debate: actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith lem, however, is tangible. And so it’s on the is grilling NT artistic director Rufus Norris on Cambridge stage that I’d like you to join me diversity quotas, and it’s the rst time I’m in Opening in Week 4 next week – where not only does exporting a theatre audience that features people who Cambridge theatre buoyed by those who’ve look like me. Tuesday 14th Wednesday 15th ursday 14th Friday 14th come before cause issues of accessibility, but Stephanie Street, the co-founder of this A Fool to His Folly BAND Sögur Giselle importing professional London’s standards movement, set out to address growing dis- Corpus Playroom ADC  eatre ADC  eatre West Road Concert Hall and stories, with all their problems, plays a satisfaction with the scarce opportunities 7pm 11pm 2pm 7pm role in the discouraging scene many students for BME actors, LGBTQ actors, actors with (‘til 18th Feb) (‘til 18th Feb) (‘til 18th Feb) (‘til 18th Feb) of colour experience today. disabilities and older actors, on stage and And more... Follow the rest of Naomi’s investigation on- screen. I spoke to Stephanie, actor, writer and line. Next week: students of colour on stage ●     Vulture 27

Music To listen to Fionn Connolly’s playlist, nd our account: musicvarsity

◀ Sheeran’s ‘Castle A ballad a day on the Hill’ uses Vulture TUNES emotion e secrets to appeal with Fionn Connolly to a wide of music audience Originally designed as a hangover antidote, (Eva Rinaldi) Fionn Connolly’s playlist will serve you well as the workload gets heavy in Week psychology 4. Favourites include Radiohead’s classic ‘Everything in its Right Place’, while tracks like ‘Talk Is Cheap’ maintain the peaceful feeling despite adding a little energy into the mix. With no rise and no fall, this playlist is all chill.

Cavalier Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby James Vincent McMorrow Cigarettes A ter Sex

Our Love Comes Back Everything in its Right Place James Blake Radiohead usic pervades our daily lives. Its ing of elation. Similarly, listening to any type harmonies, rhythms and melodies of music will cause the release of dopamine, Ghost Intro Mhave an ability to influence our which will induce similarly happy feelings. Lianne La Havas  e xx psychologies and emotions in ways often Physical or biological processes are con- unbeknownst to us: existential crises stantly at play, in uencing our psychological Still I Don’t Love You Anymore alleviated by quick doses of Pink Floyd, response to a song.  is is epitomised by the ANOHNI lovesickness cured by a Sinatra session or an so-called ‘skin orgasm’, or frisson, that some  e Japanese House (ironic) dose of James Blunt, a stressful day experience when listening to moving music. remedied by an evening of Einaudi. A famous It is oten a response to a harmonic change or Beth/Rest Talk is Cheap statement by Bob Marley goes to the heart of a sudden rise in volume – think Rachmani- Bon Iver Chet Faker the therapeutic power of music: “One good nov’s ‘Piano Concerto No.2’, or, on a very similar thing about music, when it hits you, you feel scale, the simply euphoric key change near the no pain”. end of Westlife’s ‘You Raise Me Up’.  e line Nothing illustrates the potent psychological between biological and psychological proc- impact of music better than the e ect that mel- esses is blurred when it comes to listening to ancholy music has on our emotions. A recent moving music. study of 2500 volunteers, conducted jointly It is clear when listening to popular music by researchers at Durham University and the how knowledge of psychological response has University of Jyväskylä in Finland, played each in uenced the work of artists and music pro- person ‘sad’ music and recorded their emo- ducers. One only needs to listen to Ed Sheeran’s tional responses. Two-thirds of people tested most recent release to realise how carefully art- said that they experienced pleasure or comfort ists target certain psychological or emotional during their listening. Explanations for such responses in order to appeal to the widest pos- a result vary, but one dominant hypothesis, sible range of people. ‘Castle on the Hill’ is a put forward by the psychologist Adrian North, masterclass in emotional targeting: a driving divides the responsibility between two closely- rhythm is overlaid with generic coming-of-age connected academic disciplines: social psy- lyrics, while the ostensibly original image of chology and cognitive neuroscience. a ‘castle’ is something almost anyone can re- Central to the psychological explanation is late to in some nostalgic way. In its harmonic, the notion of ‘downward social comparison’, tonal, and lyrical composition, this song was which describes how the struggles of others designed to be a popular hit. make us feel better about ourselves. In other Despite this cynical view of the state of pop- words: everything will be ne because Tom ular music, it is fair to say that music still has Odell is having an even more torrid time than immense potential to in uence our psycholo- you.  is is why so many artists and songwrit- gies and our mood states. So if you’re strug- ers nd relationship breakups such a fruitful gling through yet another ca eine-fuelled es- subject matter: appeal to a wide audience is say crisis, or are su ering the consequences of guaranteed and there’s strong nancial po- a particularly decadent Wednesday evening at tential in implicitly marketing your song as Cindies, a melancholy ballad (or ‘post-breakup therapy’. A cynic (i.e. me) would two) may be the cure for see Adele as e ectively monopolising this you. As the es- music-making practise with tracks such teemed theologian as the beautifully generic ‘Hello’. Albert Schweitzer From a more scienti c standpoint, said: ‘ ere are two it has been argued that melancholy means of refuge music is linked to the production of the from the miseries hormone prolactin, a chemical associated of life: music and with the curbing of grief. When listening to cats’ ● ‘ e End’ by the Doors, for instance, your Sam Brown brain’s pituitary glands will release the hormone in anticipation of the traumatic event that Jim Morrison builds to – the ctional parricide.  e brain is preparing you for this event actually happening. When it doesn’t, the body is let full of pleasure-inducing opi- nico7martin ates with nowhere to go, creating a feel- 28 Vulture     Film & TV Meet ‘Toni Erdmann’: Life Coach. German Ambassador. Dad.

But Maren Ade’s  lm is not about Toni.  is FILM Finding Love in is Hüller/Ines’  lm: Erdmann is merely a sur- rogate for our inquiry. Hüller captures the stoic su ering of the ambitious career woman, ‘La La Land’ su ering everyday misogyny with a mask of rigid compliance. But this is not a victimised portrait of a woman struggling under the pa- triarchal pressure. Hüller’s letter-box eyes  ap Can romance survive open with quiet fury at every sexist slight she encounters, the character later exacting amid the toxic ambition of revenge in puerile ways traditionally associ- ated with her male counterparts. I won’t spoil Hollywood? Pany Heliotis, anything but to say this: ‘soggy petit fours’.  is is not a character to be pitied but rather nds out to be angered and sympathised with.  is is all down to Maren Ade.  e writer/ director subverts the male gaze, de-eroticising the female form - the body contorted in dis- comfort and saturated by natural light. Her det hand allows the comedy to gently hum in tandem with the story, never overshadowing the drama. A scene where Winifred observes his daughter at dinner is shown completely from Ines’s perspective: in the foreground as mann is an exercise in geriatric eccentricity, ▲▼ Erdmann the character encroaches, out of focus, into Dir. Maren Ade the corner of his mouth curling to the side and Ines the frame. Erdmann is a  ction, kept a blur, a In cinemas now of his face with every tasteless joke his alter navigating guardian angel that only we and she can see. ★★★★☆ ego makes. It’s a façade that marks a well of parenthood  e scene is both funny and poignant, Ade’s concern for his ailing daughter. Just as when and Bucharest formal restraint trusting the action rather than oni Erdmann is a farce told in real time. the clown puts his nose on it becomes safe (Perlmut drawing attention to itself. TJokes are stretched beyond their ex- to laugh at him and him at you, Erdmann’s Productions) Toni Erdmann is a treat pected punchline, exacting their laughs false teeth and wig give Winifred license to for anyone who likes by attrition. In a  lm about emotional exami- mend, pacifying the ‘distant father’ in favour their laughs hard- nation and rejuvenation, this commitment to ❝ of the primal protector. Aghast at the subdued earned and true. Go the awkward melds each joke into a probing horrors his daughter encounters amid a toxic watch it with your question as well as a grasp for giggles.  e The sight corporate landscape, the ironised persona al- mum and dad, and space between gu aws becomes a pause for of this lows him to manage the shock. be thankful for meditation and self-confrontation in a story  is trans guration reaches its apex when their watchful eye of a father ‘acting’ to save his daughter, the hirsute Winifred acquires a Bulgarian Kukeri costume ● Pany Toni Erdmann persona designed to penetrate eyesore (essentially a walking clump of hair with a Heliotis her existential solitude. hairy phallus protruding out of the top) de- Naturally, a film so committed to the ‘pro- is a signed to ward o evil spirits.  e sight of tracted’ needs performances that keep the semiotic this hirsute eyesore in a spare Bucharest audience attentive through the lulls. Peter apartment is a semiotic treat – the arche- Simonischek and Sandra Hüller do this with treat typal protector ostentatiously intruding on aplomb. Simonischek’s Winifred/Toni Erd- ❞ the domestic.

Chimera’s opponent, Pegasus, is meant to Honestly, the best shot of the entire be a majestic winged beast from the heav-  lm was a wide angle of a waterfall, ens, but, as Belleros says, “it’s just a horse”. without any of the characters or beasts Seriously, it’s just a white horse, which magi- involved. It lasted a whole three seconds, What not to ere we are again, exploring the cally acquires wings and armour.  ey even which is coincidentally how long it took Hdepths of the Net ix archives. Sit recycle the same shot of its hooves hitting for Belleros to cut himself free from the watch on Net ix, yourselves down and buckle up for the ground every time it transforms back ropes which detained him several hours Hulu and the fun of Pegasus vs Chimera: you’d be safer into the said horse. It’s a good job every  ght before. than the actors were on that  ying horse, no scene took place in equally indistinct clear- Nothing about this  lm makes sense, Amazon Prime buckling was done there. ings. least of all the strange feeling that the Pegasus vs Chimera was a  lm made for One of the (many) peculiarities of the  lm sound and action were recorded separate- TV in 2012 yet, aside from the CGI beasts, is the fact that nobody ever changes their ly and then laid over each other. As well you could be forgiven for assuming it was clothes. Belleros appeared to be the only as having oddly disembodied voices, the much older.  e CGI itself was not bad, it just character who aged. What’s more, he ages characters seem to have didn’t  t with the rest of the  lm, obviously into somebody who looked nothing like his the ability to teleport fake against the drab background of the live younger self. To be fair, this lack of ageing within milliseconds. action. Fight scenes produced disproportion- was explained – by magic, no less – but If you ever need an ate amounts of blood relative to injuries, yet the lack of laundering wasn’t. example of poor lacked any real gusto.  e characters’ swords Equally questionable was the out- continuity, watch barely made contact with each other, yet  t choices: the only aspect of the this  lm. the combatants come out awfully bloodied  lm that remotely evoked Ancient If you ever need a – some simply died without actually being ▶ Chimera’s Greece were the particularly short giggle at the expense Pegasus stabbed. Equally, the Chimera managed to out for togas, although, to quote my of poor actors and an utterly dismember its victims with a  ick of revenge friend: “a white dress in a forest even poorer production, vs its horns. Oh, and dead bodies either com- (Perlmutter environment is a mistake” this one’s for you. Other- pletely disappeared or ended up in a state Produc- regarding Princess Philony’s wise, don’t bother ● Chimera that would be physically impossible. tions ) out t. Sarah Taylor     Vulture 29

To read more about lm & TV, go to: varsity.co.uk/ lm-and-tv

they do not necessarily lose interest. Nostal- VISCOURSE gia is inherent in this popularity but it is not its sole function. On-screen adaptations can perpetuate or inspire this interest: I dare say that many of us have introduced younger fam- ily members to the Potter universe through the inevitable Christmas reruns of the films. With the generations who have grown up with a proliferation of newly published children’s literature and the commercial rise of young adult literature, filmmakers are increasingly likely to find audiences willing to pay to watch adaptations. The recent long-form TV adaptation of Lem- ony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is a testament to this evolving demographic. As those who queued for the midnight release of The Deathly Hallows grow older and their dis- posable income grows larger, studios and film- makers are catering to these changes. Aside from Snicket, the adaptations of children’s or young adult literature already released this e adulti cation year or scheduled for release this year include: A Monster Calls, Wonder, An Ember in the Ashes, of children’s literature A Wrinkle in Time and Netflix’s adaptation of 13 Reasons Why. This does not mean that audiences are remaining childlike in their tastes, nor are filmmakers simply ‘adultify- ursuing a universally agreed-upon de - ▲ Voldemort cinematic audience of all ages is to overlook ing’ simplistic texts. Rather, screen culture is nition of children’s literature is tricky. as seen the complexities already present in children’s becoming better at recognising the intricacies PIs it a literature de ned by the youth of in Harry books. As an experiment, reread some of the of books often segregated to the back walls those who read it? If so, all of us simply must Potter and books that you read at school. Do not be sur- of bookshops and is keen to broadcast these have lost interest in J. K. Rowling or Philip the Deathly prised if you find a lot of them to be written in overlooked complexities ● Pullman upon waking up on our eighteenth Hallows, a dual address that you did not notice before, Danielle Cameron birthdays and nding ourselves magically Part II with content to please a child transformed into adults (in the legal sense, (Warner but in a style and with a wink at least). Is it a literature de ned by the youth Bros) that interests the adult. After of its protagonists? If that’s the case, then why all, the text may have been is Uzodinma Iweala’s story of child soldiers written for children or teen- in Beasts of No Nation not available in the agers but it was written by an children’s section? For the purposes of this adult. Book-to-screen adap- discussion, I am proposing that children’s lit- tations often simply extract erature and children’s lm are literature and this dual address with its lm predominantly (but not solely) marketed complexities and make them to a readership under the age of eighteen. Alice more apparent. Therefore, the in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Jumanji, Twilight, ‘adultification’ of children’s  e Hunger Games and, of course, the Harry books into film pertains less Potter series all began life as books marketed to making children’s litera- to younger readers. However, they were all ture more sophisticated but, given further chances to capture audiences’ rather, encourages a wider attention in on-screen adaptations. audience to recognise the Book-to-screen adaptations are often treat- value of children’s literature ed with caution, if not scepticism. George as a whole. Bluestone surveys the relationship between However, as the generation literature and film as being both “overtly com- who experienced Harry Pot- patible” and “secretly hostile”. This compat- ter and the Philosopher’s Stone ibility lies in the lure of trying to capture the as 11-year-olds reader’s imaginings onto celluloid: the hostil- in 1997 turn 31 ity is provoked when realising that these at- ❝ this year, per- tempts may never please everyone. Deborah Love it or loathe it, haps they and Cartmell argues “there will be higher demands subsequent on fidelity” when it comes to children’s lit- Rowling’s creation generations erature adaptations. However, these higher was a watershed need fewer re- demands on fidelity have not discouraged minders of the filmmakers in their attempts to cast children’s moment in the importance of literature onto the big screen. Out of the top appreciation and children’s lit- hundred grossing films worldwide in 2016, erature. Love nearly one out of four were children’s films. understanding of it or loathe Furthermore, a third of those films were ad- children’s literature it, Rowling’s aptations. ❞ creation was When contemplating the popularity of a watershed screen adaptations of children’s literature, it is moment in the tempting to look at the possible ‘adultification’ appreciation and understand- of the source texts. As parents are often the ing of children’s literature. ones buying cinema tickets for their children, The return and popularity of studios must be making their adaptations as the wizarding world in both appealing as possible. However, to suggest The Cursed Child and Fantastic that filmmakers always try to augment or Beasts last year spoke to the ‘adultify’ children’s literature to better suit a fact that fans may age, but 30 F  10 F   2017 Sport High- ying RAF leave Cambridge grounded

Cambridge refused to be cowed by ing themselves, the next score would Cambridge 7 these back-to-back blows, and respond- determine the outcome of the match. ed in resounding style, with RAF skip- And, with a mere three minutes let per Rob Bell later conceding that his on the clock, that breakthrough went side lost their focus. “I think we got a the RAF’s way. RAF 19 lead too early, if that’s possible, and we A lineout deep into the Cambridge 22 relaxed too much”, he said, as the RAF led to another advancing maul, and it were lulled into playing what he called was Stobbs once more who eventually “champagne rugby”. bulldozed his way over the line to seal Imran Marashli Cambridge then hit back straight the victory for the visitors. Rory Wood’s Sport Reporter away as their opponents dropped o . conversion proved to be the  nal score  e impressive Ed Lotus combined well as the match ended 7–19. ● Cambridge University Rugby Un- with Tim Bond down the Cambridge Re ecting on the evening with Varsity ion Football Club, Grange Road right wing and was hauled down inches ater the match, Cambridge skipper for from the posts. the evening, Tom Stanley, said: “We de- Cambridge University Rugby Union  e resultant scrum allowed Cam- fended a lot in the  rst half, and in the Football Club (CURUFC) succumbed bridge to give the RAF a taste of their second half we had the opportunity to 7–19 to a high- ying RAF out t ater a own medicine: an overload was manu- attack a lot more. It was disappointing, hard-fought and tactically engrossing factured on the right, and Lotus pro- but realistically we’ve got a lot of new game of rugby on Wednesday evening ceeded to exploit the space to get the talent and it was great to see those guys at Grange Road. Light Blues on the scoreboard, which come on with a lot of energy and exu- Having lost 17–39 to an Army team was followed by a superb conversion berance, so it was great to be out there in January, Cambridge were looking to from a tight angle by y-half Michael with a bunch of young and developing build on a 31–28 triumph over the Pen- Phillips. guys.” guins last week, naming no less than 12  e rest of the half remained even.  e Kiwi added: “For the older guys Blues in their starting line-up in this tra- Despite the occasional inroads made by like me, it’s a little bit of a case of hand- ditional annual  xture against the three individual runners, particularly the elu- ing over the torch. Everything is mov- branches of the armed forces. sive Lee Queeley, Cambridge remained ing towards being able to knock o the However, it was their visiting oppo- resolute in defence, counter-rucking ef- Varsity again this calendar year, so it’s nents whose game was the quickest to fectively and winning penalties to cut all building up towards that game now, take o . Some lightning-quick running short RAF possession and territory. and the focus is on going through the and interchange between full-back Matt  e majority of the second half picked standards that we’ve built through this Clarke and wingers Sean Webber and up where the  rst half had let o .  e Blues season so that the guys can carry Dave Ellis burst through some Light two sides e ectively cancelled each it on next year.” Blue tackles and brought the RAF to the other out with their uncompromising RAF captain Rob Bell remarked: “We threshold of the try line. One powerful defensive work, in what was a closely- were looking forward to a really hard maul later, the RAF opened the scor- contested tactical dog ght.Cambridge test, so I think we learnt a lot more from ing through Andrew Stobbs, with the showed lots of promise at the scrum and the young lads in a tight battle like that. try converted by Mike Robinson for a in creating uid phases, but the RAF, y- I think Cambridge showed the respect 0–7 advantage. ing with gusto into tackles and rucks, we deserve by putting 12 Blues out, and  e RAF’s early o ensive play was too showed little sign of cracking under the the game was a real battle from start hot for Cambridge to handle, as more pressure. to  nish.” penalties were conceded on the right- Cambridge captain Tom Stanley re- Happier with the second-half display, hand ank. From the scrum, the RAF gretted the home side’s inability to make Bell analysed: “In the last 20 minutes manoeuvred the ball expertly out wide more of their possession, opining: “we we kept the ball – no silly o oads – and to the let, with Sean Webber creating tended to turn the ball over a little bit I think that showed. We kept the ball an overload that presented Robinson too easily, and we couldn’t exploit the when we won penalties. But we lost last with the opportunity to score the RAF’s opportunities that came our way.” With IMRAN MARASHLI year, so we’re really happy coming here second try in clinical fashion. no clear point-scoring chances present- and getting a win.” Federer: e greatest player who ever lived

major semi- nal 31 months ago, and lenging for the major honours. It was no tor, he is also just as likely as anyone to Charlie Stone Federer had not won a Grand Slam for surprise that most experts had Djokovic win another Slam this year. Sport Reporter  ve years, having not beaten Nadal in a and Murray, the  ttest players on tour,  e reason he’s the greatest is not major  nal in double that time. For Fed- to dominate 2017. just to do with the fact that he’s won so  is year’s Australian Open was all about erer to win the Australian Open across a What, then, can we expect in the many titles. It’s not even just to do with Andy Murray. It was his  rst Grand Slam gruelling  ve sets against his great rival, Slams to come this year? It’s impossible the fact that at the age of 35, he’s won since becoming world number one, and at the age of 35 and not having played to call. Before the Australian Open, I’d another. It’s that his style of play is so he was the favourite to beat Novak Djok- since Wimbledon last year, is simply have said that Murray, Wawrinka, and di erent to all those around him. Tennis ovic, the man he replaced as best in the miraculous. perhaps Djokovic would be sharing the these days is about  tness and defence: world, to the title. What an opportunity It’s not as if he had an easy run to the major titles between them. But now, Fe- Djokovic and Murray have been so suc- it was, too: Djokovic had been low on  nal. Federer overcame US Open winner derer and Nadal are as likely as any of cessful because they are so di cult to form since winning the French Open last Stan Wawrinka in  ve sets in the semis, them. And we can’t rule out players like serve against, and Nadal makes every June, Roger Federer was only just return- ▼ ▶ and  th seed Kei Nishikori in another Dimitrov, Raonic and Nishikori. All the match a physical battle, trying to wear ing from 6 months out with injury, and AUSTRALIAN  ve-set thriller the match before. Nadal Australian Open has done is prove that his opponent down until they falter. the once-great Rafael Nadal seemed to OPEN TV had also been taken the distance twice competition at the very top of tennis is Even Wawrinka, who, with his one- have fallen by the wayside over the past already, and beaten two in-form play- wide open. It’s also proved that Federer handed backhand, has the playing style couple of years. ers in the shape of Milos Raonic and is truly the greatest male tennis player most similar to Federer’s, has had to First a shock that wasn’t really a Grigor Dimitrov. of all time. work hard on his defense in order to win shock: Djokovic’s poor run continued,  e odds on a Williams-Williams Ater the French Open last year, it was his three Grand Slam trophies. With beaten by unseeded Denis Istomin in and Federer-Nadal  nal in the women’s a matter of when, not if, Djokovic would Federer, though, it's nothing but at- the second round. Murray’s path seemed and men’s competition were the same surpass Federer as the all-time record tacking. You could notice it against suddenly much clearer. But, what fol- as those on Leicester to win the title Grand Slam holder. Since then, though, Nadal: he keeping points short, hit lowed was predicted by no one: Murray last year: 5000-1. Aside from showing Murray, Wawrinka and Federer have winners early on, refrain from involv- knocked out in the fourth round, and Fe- what a rough time the bookmakers won one apiece, and now the most ing himself in a physical battle.  e derer and Nadal, the old rivals, the aged have been having in recent times, this likely challenger looks like Nadal at style of his play, with quite devastat- rivals, battling it out in the  nal. re ected the recent trends across the four behind. In all likelihood none of ing attacking shots and a beautiful It’s worth remembering that tour: younger,  tter players are making them will now surpass Federer. Not only backhand, is the most attractive around, Rafael Nadal last reached a their way up through the ranks and chal- is he four ahead of his nearest competi- and undeniably the best. Friday 10th February 2017 31 Sport A broken honours system owes Beckham

“narcissistic schemer,” while renowned Traford, Alex Ferguson – Beckham’s Eastern and Southern Africa. According Devarshi Lodhia moral arbiter Piers Morgan took time out name doesn’t quite it. Hurst has a World to UNICEF, the 7 Fund is helping them Chief Sport Reporter of his busy Twitter schedule of defending Cup winner’s medal to his name, while to provide improved water and sanita- Donald Trump, engaging in #classicbantz Charlton also has a Ballon D’Or. He’s tion to children and their families in David Beckham’s career has been one with Gary Lineker, and calling for Arsène lost his England caps record to Wayne Burkina Faso and provide vital support built on overcoming adversity. he petu- Wenger’s sacking, to draw rather ludi- Rooney while Gareth Bale has proved to and protection to HIV-positive mothers lant boy, sent of for kicking Diego Sime- crous parallels between Beckham and be a greater success at Real Madrid. and children in Swaziland. one in England’s last 16 match against Jimmy Savile. hat is not to negate Beckham’s he truth is that the urge to support Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, was he honours system is unquestion- achievements on the pitch. He’s the irst charities came irst, and the desire for reborn, reformed, redeemed with that ably awash with political cronyism. As British footballer to reach a century of a knighthood came later. Even if all of goal against Greece in 2001, prompting we’ve seen all too often, gifts to politi- Champions League appearances and the Beckham’s charity work was designed the commentator to cry out “give that cal parties are often the easiest way to only Englishman to win league titles in to help ‘Brand Beckham’, that does not man a knighthood”. acquire one. he path to a knighthood four diferent countries, as well as the detract from the fact that he’s actually It’s been 15 years since that free kick generally passes through Downing only one to score in three World Cups. He doing it. He no doubt could’ve taken a deep into stoppage time at Old Traford Street, not Buckingham Palace, which was also an integral part of the famous role on Sky Sports as a pundit alongside and still there’s been no knighthood is why, presumably, David Ord, co-owner treble-winning Manchester United team his old friend Gary Neville or he could’ve for Golden Balls. he leak of emails this of Bristol Ports, was made a Sir in Janu- of 1999. gone into management, but he didn’t. week in which he branded the Honours ary, the reasoning behind which prob- But Beckham’s greatest contribution Instead, he decided to dedicate himself Committee “unappreciative c***s” after ably has more to do with his £930,000 to society isn’t his numerous memora- to charitable activity and he should be missing out on a knighthood in 2013 and donation to the Conservative Party than ble free kicks but his charity work. Even applauded for that. dismissed lesser awards, saying: “Unless his political service and “service to the while playing, he gave his spare time What is clear is that Beckham, once it’s a knighthood f *** of ” have led to community in the South West.” Similarly, to UNICEF and has been their Goodwill again, inds himself on the wrong end questions regarding both the value of Lynton Crosby was awarded a knight- Ambassador since 2005. He has person- of relentless snobbery that footballers the honours system and the character hood in 2016, despite masterminding a ally donated millions and his foundation, often face, rooted in the old idea that of the former England captain. mayoral campaign that suggested La- the 7 Fund, has raised millions more. they, however rich, should know their While a spokesman for Beckham said: bour candidate Sadiq Khan had links to He also donated his Paris Saint-Germain place. heir exorbitant salaries somehow “his story is based on outdated mate- terrorist organisations. wages of about £1.5 million to a French invalidate any positive contribution they rial taken out of context from hacked It would be diicult to suggest that children’s hospital in 2013. make. For Beckham a knighthood might and doctored private emails from a third Beckham deserves a knighthood for his UNICEF has come out to defend not be on the horizon any time soon and party server and gives a deliberately in- footballing abilities and achievements Beckham in the face of claims that his that’s a shame. For his tireless work on accurate picture,” tabloid commentators alone. Look at some football person- charity work is merely a cynically self- the pitch as England’s urgent and darkly have delighted in the news. heir corro- alities who have received knighthoods: aggrandising ploy, citing his visit to heroic captain, to his eforts of it for a sive faux-outrage, evident as Jan Moir in Matt Busby, Bobby Charlton, Geof Hurst, Swaziland in June 2016 to raise aware- variety of charitable causes, he deserves REGULAR DADDy the Daily Mail referred to Beckham as a and Beckham’s former manager at Old ness of the devastating drought afecting to be dubbed Sir David Beckham. 32 Friday 10th February 2017 Sport Hockey Blues stumble in relegation clash

Cambridge 0

▲▼ Cambridge were KCL 2 defeated 2-0 at home by KCL (LoUIS ASHWoRTH)

the irst, but captain homas Jackson’s tunity to put the Light Blues one to the and shortly into the second half he al- Paul Hyland shot was blocked. In came the second, good, but again it wasn’t taken. In came most did. A brilliant lobbed ball out of de- Sport Editor nothing forthcoming. hen the third, and the corner, Jackson received, and drew fence was controlled by Jackson hanging nearly the opener for Jackson but for a a top save out of the King’s goalkeeper of the shoulder of the defender. A turn ● BUCS Hockey South B, Wilberforce great save by Dan Curley. At full stretch with a thumping shot towards the top of pace left his opponent standing, and Road Sports Ground the King’s goalkeeper just managed to right hand corner. one-on-one with the King’s goalkeeper delect it behind with the very tip of his Cambridge hardly came much clos- the ball should have been rebounding Cambridge University Hockey Club stick. er all afternoon. A couple of irst-time of the backboard for 1-1. Jackson’s shot (CUHC) were on the receiving end of a A near sight of goal had given Cam- eforts might have caught the King’s lacked conviction, though, and Dan Cur- 2-0 defeat in a relegation battle against bridge more impetus going forward, goalkeeper of-guard, had they been ley didn’t have to exert himself much to the Guy’s, King’s and St homas’ Hockey and they had King’s on the back foot for on target. Cambridge’s Matt Cockerill turn behind Cambridge’s best opportu- Club, representing King’s College Lon- much of the irst half. But the Light Blues sent a diagonal ball into the circle, close nity of the whole afternoon. don. proved to be their own worst enemy. Had enough for a decent sight of goal, far he Light Blues lived to regret that Goals in either half from Raph Levy and they not continued to squander posses- away enough to leave the goalkeeper on miss. A scrappy penalty corner incident Hashim Dadah condemned Cambridge sion time and again inside the 23 metre his line, but a glancing shot was scooped down the other end saw King’s double to their third defeat of an indiferent line they might have found themselves over the bar. their lead. An unconvincing save from BUCS League campaign, narrowing the on the right end of a much-needed league hirty seconds before the interval, and Fergus Flanagan after a penalty corner gap between these two teams to just four victory which would have ensured their the home side were having to tear up and King’s Hashim Dadah was on hand points with two matches to play. survival in the BUCS South B League. their half-time notes. With Cambridge to poke home. Not exactly a sight for his was a match that really never got For a while, neither game plan was minds apparently elsewhere, King’s sore eyes, but King’s didn’t mind as they going. King’s set about from the open really working. Cambridge couldn’t Jasen Soopramanien won a penalty put clear daylight between themselves to rather frustrate the hosts, with some consistently bring the ball in from the corner from James Larman. Into the and their hosts. impressive containment play from the lanks, and many of King’s passes on the circle it came, for King’s Raph Levy to All King’s had to do was consolidate away side helping to reduce Cambridge counter were overhit just at the moment collect, lummox his marker with a deft their lead, which they did with little dif- to long passes in wide areas, which they looked like they’d break in. Both drop of the shoulder and hammer into iculty. Packing the midield, Cambridge were always just that touch too long teams seemed to rely on cutting around the top left corner of the net. Cambridge began to struggle to link their attack with for the Light Blue forwards to take in the back of the wide defenders, but the goalkeeper Fergus Flanagan could do their defence. Cambridge resorted to the their stride. defences mostly stood irm. nothing to stop his team going into the long pass in behind, but homas Jack- Despite a seven-point advantage over More penalty corners followed for break one down. A sucker punch maybe, son had too much on his plate as their King’s at the start of the day, Cambridge Cambridge, but once again their failure but neither team had had enough of the main attacking outlet. hough they did never really allowed their apparent su- to capitalise cost them. As the Cambridge match for anyone to say that the goal manage a couple more sights on goal, periority to tell. heir best opportuni- no. 8 put in a low driven cross, homas was against the run of play. a irst-time shot squeaked wide of the ties came from penalty corners, a quick Jackson had a sight of goal but the ball Cambridge did raise their game. ho- post, and Jackson’s inal attempt of the series of which provided Cambridge’s rather skimmed of his stick. Two min- mas Jackson looked the likeliest to make afternoon was too high to trouble the best moment in the irst half. In came utes later he had an even better oppor- something happen for the Light Blues, King’s stopper. 2-0 the inal score.