Stagecoach accused of discrimination - The Boar

An employee working for a major bus company serving Warwick students has been accused of dis-crimination against a disabled student.

A Stagecoach employee is alleged to have denied a wheelchair user access onto the 10.50pm service from Warwick University to Leam-ington Spa on 6 February 2013.

A wheelchair user was among a number of individuals attempting to board the crowded Unibus at the Arts Centre stop, but was alleged-ly prevented from boarding by the employee due to the presence of another wheelchair user already aboard the service.

An argument took place between the employee and student, with the several options put forward, such as temporarily storing the chair whilst its owner made use of one of the chairs reserved for disabled passen-gers, dismissed.

After insisting only one wheel-chair user could board the service at any time, the Stagecoach em-ployee then permitted able-bodied people to board the bus, leading to accusations of ableism.

Further issues students have found include a lack of services between Warwick University and Leamington Spa, despite efforts made by Stagecoach at the begin-ning of the current academic year

to increase the number of Unibus services they provide.

Welfare and campaigns officer at Warwick Students’ Union (SU), Cathryn Turhan, was unhappy about the treatment of the disabled student in question.

Speaking to the Boar, she com-mented: “We are shocked by the account of a disabled student dis-criminated against by Stagecoach staff.

“The University have made a complaint to Stagecoach and we are eager to see the outcome of this.

“Above all, we want to see a bet-ter deal for people with disabilities.”

Sam Fry, disabled students’ of-ficer for Warwick SU, agreed with Ms Turhan.

“I am very disappointed that Stagecoach have such limited ac-cess arrangements for wheelchair users.

“In addition, buses come very in-frequently when it’s late, so if a bus isn’t accessible it means a long wait for the next one.

“This situation isn’t acceptable and I hope Stagecoach change their behaviour quickly.”

Steve Burd, managing director for Stagecoach Midlands, was quick to defend the decision of the Stage-coach inspector.

“Although our inspector was not able to allow a second unfolded wheelchair to board, he was in a po-sition to permit further able-bod-ied passengers to get on the bus as it was not yet at its full capacity.

“The wheelchair user who was already on board the bus had no legs and could not get out of his wheelchair and fold it up.

“The second wheelchair who wished to board had a large motor-ised wheelchair which could not be folded.

“Had the second passenger had a normal sized wheelchair and been able to fold it and board the vehicle unaided, then our inspector would have made room for it.

“All the new vehicles which Stagecoach Midlands orders are fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant.”

Second-year Maths student Ste-phen Smith commented: “It’s hard-ly discrimination; the employee was clearly just following the rules of his job.”

Joe Baker, a second-year Phi-losophy undergraduate, added: “I think the wheelchair user is within his/her rights to claim there should be more space on Unibuses, but not that they should have been let on in this instance, particularly if it was unsafe for the inspector to do so.”

President of Warwick Enable, Andrew Thompson, responded.

“Myself and the SU disabled stu-dents’ officer are bringing a motion to the Student Council on Monday which will mandate our sabbatical officers to lobby bus companies to make sure that they adequate-ly cater for disabled students, so that they are not treated like sec-ond-class citizens.”

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Stagecoach accused of discrimination

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A bake sale organised by mem-bers of the Boar raised £66.56 for Warwick Youth Phab, a stu-dent-run youth club for disabled and able-bodied young people in Leamington.

While handing out the latest is-sue of the newspaper, organisers offered passers-by the opportunity to donate to the charity in exchange for home-baked goods.

Set up a year ago, Warwick Youth Phab runs five nights a term in-

cluding games, crafts and themed events.

Daniel Mountain, former Com-ment editor at the Boar who has been involved in the charity, said: “Our hope is that the club will con-tinue for a very long time and we’re always looking for both student and local volunteers to come and help out.”

He added that the bake sale, held in the Students’ Union atrium on 6 February was a “huge success”, es-pecially as it took place on a strike day when campus was largely “de-serted”.

“We even had to compete with a

graduate recruitment stall dishing out free cupcakes!”

Mr Mountain said: “The work done by the Boar in fundraising for us is going to make a huge differ-ence.

“The money will be going to-wards ensuring we can continue to rent out the centre we operate in, as well as taking our young people out on a day trip.”

Raghav Bali, film editor at the Boar, second-year Economics un-dergraduate and organiser of the bake sale, has confirmed that a Boar pub quiz will be running on Week 8 to continue fundraising.

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Science minister David Wil-letts has announced £8.5 mil-lion funding for medical micro-bial bioinformatic research led by the University of Warwick.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) has made an investment of £32 million across five major awards in order to improve capabil-ity, capacity and capital infrastruc-ture in medical bioinformatics.

Professor Mark Pallen, Warwick Medical School, will lead the MRC Consortium for Medical Microbi-al Bioinformatics (MRC CMMB) which will receive £8.5 million.

The medical bioinformatics initiative will build new ways of linking across complex biolog-ical data and health records to solve key medical challenges.

The five major strategic awards aim to strengthen collaborative links, improve tools and infra-structure for researchers and hope to support the safe use of biolog-ical and patient data for medi-cal research across all diseases.

The MRC CMMB will be led by Warwick Medical School along-side co-applicants Swansea Uni-versity, Cardiff University, Pub-lic Health Wales NHS Trust and the University of Birmingham.

Universities and science minister Rt Hon David Willets said: ‘’Mak-ing the most of large and complex data is a huge priority for govern-ment as it has the potential to drive research and development, in-crease productivity and innovation and ultimately transform lives.’’

The University of Warwick

was happy with the investment: ‘’The new Division of Microbiol-ogy and Infection [launched April 2013] is the ideal home for this, with the state of the art facilities, academic talent and ambition to make the Consortium a success.’’

Professor Pallen discussed the significance of the de-velopment on a global scale.

“We think that this will prob-ably be the largest computa-tional facility dedicated to med-ical microbial bioinformatics anywhere in the world, which re-flects recognition within the UK of the importance of infection on the national and global stage.”

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Fascists on campus

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Uni leads way in research

Stickers from the fascist youth group National Action were found around campus last week.

Students alerted the Warwick An-ti-Racism Society after finding the stickers in the ground floor library toilets and on lamp posts outside Tocil and the Humanities building.

The group is a small, clandes-tine organisation of students, committed to far-right activism and are currently recruiting white males between the age of 15 and 29.

Their previous stunts have included banner drops in Bir-mingham and a flash demo in Coventry against halal meat, which they contend is “not fit for human consumption”.

Their website includes a de-tailed program aimed at appealing to “generation hate…. desensi-tised, brutalised, and completely irreverent of their parents’ values”.

It berates, amongst other things, ‘cultural Marxism’, liberal politics, and so-called moderate nation-alists who don’t openly identify as racist. The articles also con-tain highly anti-Semitic senti-ments and various racial slurs.

The group’s presence on campus – whether in the form of stickers or indeed members – has ignited fears amongst the student, and es-pecially its many ethnic minorities.

Chinwe Pamela Nnajiuba, a third-year History and Spanish student said: “I am appalled that such a group is being allowed to advertise itself on campus, I am all for freedom of speech, howev-er when this infringes upon the

liberties and the comfort of a large section of the student body, I think it is unacceptable and offensive.”

So far no-one has been caught distributing National Action’s ma-terial and at this point there is lit-tle that the Students’ Union can do, despite evident violation of the Equal Opportunities by-law and incitement of racial hatred.

Rumours have been circulating that suggest members of the group may in fact be connected to the Uni-versity; in reality the nature of the group is still shrouded in mystery.

Various students have howev-er decided to make a stand, and a coalition of Warwick’s many libera-tion societies will hold an anti-fas-cist demo in the coming weeks.

Ayesha Mittal, Campaigns Of-ficer for Warwick’s Anti-Racism Society stressed the need for co-operation and counter-action.

She said: “Incidences like this make clear we need to have more of a dialogue on race and rac-ism at Warwick. Societies need to work together to combat such negative, dangerous attitudes.

“Hopefully through a collab-orative, sustained approach, we can remove this group from cam-pus – no matter how big or small their influence might be at War-wick – and make it a safe space for ethnic-minority students.”

A Warwick Staff Assembly meeting has passed a motion calling for the University to use its influence to help re-solve the national pay dispute.

The University is expected to do this through its influence with-in the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA).

The meeting, held on Tuesday 11 February, passed the motion through a majority of 104 votes to four, with an additional 20 abstentions.

The Assembly acknowledged the University of Warwick’s fi-nancial successes, noting that the University “consistently produces healthy surpluses”.

According to the Assembly, these surpluses in the past three financial years are in excess of £70 million.

The Assembly also voiced its concerns that staff members at the

University earning over £100,000

are not subject to the same pay decreases as all other staff.

Professor Dennis Leech, branch president of Warwick University and College Union, said: “The pay dispute is very damaging because the staff of universities are very an-gry that their pay is being kept down when we know the universities have put up fees by much more than they need to pay the costs of the courses.

“To break even the level of home/EU fees would have been about

£7,800 per student on average.“So they have made

a profit of £1,200.“That is why they have so

much money in their surplus-es and to pay big increases for vice chancellors and the few at the top earning over £100,000.”

Peter Dunn, spokesperson at the University, responded to the As-sembly’s motion: “Most staff have seen salaries rise in real terms as the majority will have had increases of around four percent in the last year, including their base pay increase and their normal annual movement up each point of their salary scales.”

Despite concerns over national pay, the Assembly was presented with the University’s outline capital plan, which plans to invest £250 mil-lion of capital investment into the University over the next five years.

The Assembly heard that the plan will seek to invest in a range of areas including new teaching and research spaces.

The plan, dependent on the Uni-versity meeting its funding goals, proposes a £4 million investment to improve centrally timetabled rooms on campus; new sports fa-cilities; a new Humanities build-ing and new student residences.

Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor at the University, supported the plan.

“This is a bold programme that builds on our confidence that Warwick’s success will con-tinue to allow us to generate the income required to reinvest a quarter of a billion pounds in our campus over the next five years.”

» Dennis Leech. Photo: WML

Derin Odueyungbo

Staff Assembly calls on University to settle pay disputes

Rose Carr Kristina Drake

» UCL. Photo: Flickr; Selket R.

To see more news articles

Visit us online:theboar.org/news

National Action oppose so-called moderate nationalists who don’t openly identify as racist

A successful staff equali-ty campaign at the Univer-sity of London , Tres Cosas, was the subject of a guest talk at the University of Warwick.

The campaign is fighting three areas of disparity be-tween the University of Lon-don staff and contract workers: sick pay, holidays and pensions.

It is claimed that there is a dis-parity in rights between staff at the University, with cleaners and out-sourced workers at a disadvantage.

The Warwick event was hosted by Protect the Public University (PPU) and is part of a national speaker tour.

It took place on cam-pus on Monday 17 February.

Tres Cosas achieved some suc-cess when the University of London agreed to grant sick pay and holi-day to contract workers, includ-ing cleaners and agency workers.

These changes followed a number of strikes from more than 50 out-sourced staff who were joined on the picket lines by supporting students.

The Tres Cosas speaker tour be-gan February 17 and covers 15 UK locations including the Universi-ty of Oxford, Edinburgh Univer-sity and Nottingham University.

The talks will help to “spread awareness of and build support for the Tres Cosas campaign, and to promote discussion of re-cent student-worker struggles”.

A second tour for late Feb-ruary covering the south of England and London is to be announced at a later date.

The name – Tres Cosas – is translated to ‘three things’ in Spanish which is the primary nationality of the University of London’s outsourced workforce.

Tres Cosascan be translated to “three things” in Spanish

» Medical School. Photo: WML

£ 70 mThe University surpluses in the last three years

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Reports of students unable to sit down in overcrowded lectures

The Home Office has suspended government-approved English language tests run by a major firm after systematic fraud in the stu-dent visa system was uncovered.

The fraud was discovered af-ter the BBC’s secret filming of the TOEIC (Test of English for Inter-national Communication) tests showed candidates having answers read out for them and tests done for them.

The government has stopped 700 colleges from bringing in non-EU students and has suspended all further TOEIC tests done in the UK through ETS, the major firm which hosted the fraudulent tests.

Home Secretary Theresa May

called on the educational sector to do more to tackle fraud.

A BBC researcher who went un-dercover at an immigration consul-tancy called Studentway Education in Southall, west London, was told that a “guaranteed pass” would cost £500 – about three times the origi-nal exam fee.

The BBC was told that Student-way could get around compulsory English tests even if the applicants spoke no English. BBC researchers were also sold fake bank details to show they had enough funds to stay in the UK.

Non-EU students are restricted on the amount of paid work they can do and require a bank state-ment to show they can cover fees and living costs.

Henry Smith, a fourth-year Me-chanical Engineering student, said: “If people are cheating in the exams and are caught out, then that’s a good thing. It’s a bit worrying that the BBC had to find out for them though.”

Isabelle Ng, second-year Ac-counting and Finance undergradu-ate, commented: “I can sort of sym-pathise for why the government

would need to clamp down on ille-gal immigration.

“But I feel like the immigration rules can be quite intimidating for non-EU students, as if it’s say-ing that they are required to speak good English. The restrictions on the amount of paid work may also be interpreted as a constraint on the amount of part-time work they can do.”

Home secretary Theresa May told the BBC: “I’m grateful to Pan-orama for the work they have done in showing this abuse.”

She said that the government was taking action to change the im-migration system.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This investigation shows Theresa May is presiding over a failing immigration system which too often focuses on the wrong thing.”

The University of New Jersey in the US has recently announced that they will be offering a degree in the politics of Beyoncé.

The class uses Ms Knowles’ ca-reer to explore American race, gen-der and sexual politics. Students will also analyse her lyrics along-side readings from black feminists.

Unconventional courses are not a first at American universities. The prestigious Berkeley University of-fers a module that uses philosophy to analyse hit show The Simpsons. Meanwhile the University of Bal-timore offers a whole degree in Zombie studies, and a range of US universities offer courses in under-water basket weaving.

UK universities have their fair share of unusual subjects too. War-wick’s neighbour Coventry Univer-sity hosts a degree in Parapsychol-ogy, a course which questions the existence of ghosts, haunted houses and life after death.

Durham University has made

headlines for their Harry Potter module, while a 12-week course at Staffordshire University allows un-dergraduates to study David Beck-ham’s changing hairstyles and sex symbol status. Other options range from Heriot-Watt’s course in brew-ing and distilling to the Central school of speech and drama’s highly competitive puppetry course.

Amy Guest, first-year Theatre and Performance undergraduate commented: “some of these courses may be more relevant when you put them into a contemporary context, especially things like the sociology aspect of it is what is relevant to-day.”

Emily Stevenson, first-year Lit-erature student was positive about the idea of studying Harry Potter: “it might seem like quite an easy module to do if you really love the book and it is quite interesting to study it in a broader context.”

Stephen Perry, second-year Medical Microbiology and Virol-ogy student, however, said: “Most of these degrees have no real-life use and sound to me like a waste of money.”

Following reports of students unable to sit down in lectures, numerous Warwick heads-of-de-partments (HoDs) told the Boar last week about their difficulties with timetabling.

Some complained that the Uni-versity does not have enough large lecture theatres, while others ex-plained that they are forced to make estimations about module popularity and later face problems of overcrowding.

Most HoDs agreed that the cur-rent timetabling system is problem-atic.

The Maths HoD, Professor Colin Sparrow, explained the need to “ac-commodate two or three hundred people” for core modules and cited “the availability of rooms that are large enough” as “the major con-straint”.

Physics academic Dr Mark Had-ley admitted that he is often forced to choose between “a good timeta-ble slot in a room that is technically too small” and a move “to an un-popular slot in a larger room.”

He compared this to other uni-versities, where he believes that “room utilisation is better and lec-ture clashes are systematic.”

Kelly Parkes-Harrison, the senior press and communications manag-er for the University explained that

the administration is “currently ac-tively reviewing the teaching time-table”.

She specifically mentioned “short term investment” in “a number of teaching spaces across the campus” and also the long-term “design and construction of a new £15m build-ing on Tocil field.”

The HoDs responses revealed that timetabling problems can also be caused by the underestimation of student turn-out to lectures.

Departments have been forced to guess the popularity of a module based on previous experience.

Many HoDs such as those of Psy-chology and Life Sciences admitted that this has caused problems in the past when more students enrolled than expected.

First year PPE student Daniel Parker confirmed this. He said: “Lecture rooms were so full [at the start of the year] that the depart-ment had to run two lectures on the same day to accommodate all of the students”.

Some departments also assume that a percentage of students will not attend lectures, and this is re-flected in room allocation.

Dr Hadley admitted that: “We are always aware that if 100 students are registered on a module then a lec-ture room of 95 will always be big enough. And with room to spare if it is a 9am slot!”

However, HoDs such as those of Statistics and History were ada-mant that all students registered for a module should be able to attend their lectures.

The head of Statistics, Professor David Firth commented “it’s im-portant to us [and to our students, we believe].”

Departments such as Economics, Law, and Film and Television stud-

ies also explained that they do not use probability-based allocation for timetables.

“In Law, we book for numbers subscribed for a course and then add some for external students” claimed Professor Alan Norrie, HoD for Law.

Despite this, Salome Apeawin, first-year Law and Sociology stu-dent explained that for her legal theory module there is “not enough space, have to get there early just to get a space otherwise you’re sitting on the floor, you’re standing.”

The department of Physics ex-plained their advanced probabil-ity-based-allocation system, and representatives from Maths and Engineering admitted that they saw the benefits of such a scheme.

Professor Ball, the HoD for phys-ics explained that students are per-mitted to register for many modules at first, and later “de-register when their preferences have crystallised”. He claimed that students “appreci-ate this”.

Maths and Physics masters stu-dent Luke Smith agreed: “it gives you the chance to have an expe-rience in a module and choose whether you still want to go ahead with it or not.”

Third-year Engineering student Eduardo Giardino commented: “Since Italian Universities are state run, the problem of overcrowding in lectures is even worse. We’re lucky that it’s not that bad at War-wick.”

Student visa fraud in language testsBeyoncé degree introduced at University of New Jersey

Josie Throup

Ann Yip

700 colleges have been stopped from bringing in non-EU students

Secret filming of TOEIC tests showed candidates having answers read out for them and tests done for them

Warwick was compared to other universities where “room utilisation is better and lecture clashes are systematic”

“If 100 students are registered a lecture room of 95 will be big enough. And with room to spare if it is a 9am slot!”

Dr Mark Hadley

» Photo: Flickr; A2Z School

» Students have had to stand up in lectures. Photo: Giulia Zecchini

April RoachJosie Throup

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The University of Warwick invites you to be part of the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile in Coventry!

Dust off those trainers and walk, jog or run (or hop, skip, jump) around the beautiful campus grounds and stunning lake. Don’t delay; snap up yourplace today!

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The ‘U’ at the top of the main Students’ Union (SU) build-ing on campus blew off last

week, after the extreme wind and rain from the UK storms. The let-ter has still not been replaced and the incident has received a lot of attention on the Overheard at Warwick Facebook page, with one student commenting: “Please let a candidate for democracy officer (or whatever it’s called these days) run with ‘Putting U back in the SU’...”

News in brief

The Warwick Climate Forum 2014 is to take place on Sat-urday 22 February. It aims to

offer a debate platform so students and others alike can enrich their understanding of climate change as well as prompting action around the issue. This year’s forum has the theme of “Market Solutions or Revolution?” and will feature talks by professionals, panel discussions, and workshops. It will take place in L4 on the Science concourse. Tickets can be purchased at www.eventbrite.co.uk.

Birmingham, Leamington Spa and Coventry trains were se-verely disrupted last week as

a result of the UK storms. Trains between Birmingham New Street station and Coventry were the worst affected, with a vast number of trains cancelled after problems with the power supply. Services on London Midland were suspend-ed, with delays on Cross Country and Virgin trains. Line problems caused knock-on delays elsewhere, however these issues have now been mainly resolved. Students are advised to travel with caution and expect delays.

Sian Elvin

Firefighters from Canley were called out to rescue a woman who got stuck up to her waist

in mud last week. She was walking her dog in a field off Pound Close in Berkswell, and many places in the field had turned into a bog. The fire officers were called to the scene at around 2pm on Thursday 13 February, who also had to avoid falling in the bog themselves. The woman had to be checked over by paramedics, however her family re-ports that she is now fine.

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Plans for new high-speed railway scrapped

The economic case for High Speed 2 (HS2), a planned high-speed railway, has fallen apart, a leader of the Green Party claimed at this year’s Warwick Economics Summit.

Natalie Bennet, the Green Party leader, answered questions con-cerning energy and transport as part of a panel of politicians, which also included Chris White, Con-servative MP for Warwick and Leamington, Lorely Burt, Liberal Democrat MP for Solihull and Jim Cunningham, Labour MP for Cov-entry South.

In response to a debate related to the HS2 project, Ms Bennett stat-ed: “The economic case for HS2 has fallen apart. One of their ini-tial claims was that business people don’t work on trains. Then, the HS2 consortium’s own figures showed 72 percent of its journeys would be into London.”

Ms Bennett clearly felt the pro-ject would not benefit the business-es of the North as she argued that HS2 would not help to “rebalance regional development towards the North and the Midlands”.

While she acknowledged that the UK needed to invest in trans-port and communications, Bennett suggested that this should be based around “local ‘active’ transport” such as walking and cycling.

She also added: “We need good local and regional bus and train services, and links between the West Midlands and other regions, not just links centred on London.”

Other panel members echoed Bennett’s concerns about the rail project. Conservative MP Chris White noted: “We are a south east centric economy and there is a fear that the development of HS2 will simply add to this focus”.

Ms Bennett viewed the West Midlands as an important area for the future of this country as she has visited the region several times

since being elected.HS2 will provide faster rail links

between London and major North-ern and Midlands cities.

The journey time between Lon-don and Birmingham will be cut to just 49 minutes from the current one hour and 21 minutes.

Saveena Mangat, a first-year Economics student, disagreed with Bennett’s stance: “The HS2 scheme is a brilliant mechanism for the i tegration of the West Midlands to London and other major cities

which will increase labour mobility and reduce unemployment in the area.”

However, Ms Mangat agreed that priorities should be given to local transport links: “Compared to London where there are buses every five minutes, Coventry and Leamington buses are a nuisance: the council needs to improve the long waiting times and perhaps in-troduce a scheme like the Oyster Card.”

Connor O’Shea

Government MPs announce economic shortcomings of the plan

» High-speed trains at London St. Pancras. Photo: Flickr; J. Curnow

49 minsTime it would take to get between Birmingham and London using HS2

Pregnancy ‘entrance exams’

Warwick Medical School re-searchers, Professor Jan Brosens and Professor Siobhan Quenby, have discovered an “entrance exam” of the womb which is es-sential to a successful pregnancy.

This “entrance exam” determines the success of an embryo implant-ing to the lining of the womb.

Understanding this process could help improve success rates with IVF which most often fails due to implant failure.

The research shows that high quality human embryos secrete a chemical, trypsin, which renders the lining of the womb supportive of implantation.

In low quality embryos this chemical signal is deregulated and causes an alarm response in the womb, leading to either rescue or elimination of the embryo.

The study began in 2012 in col-laboration with University Hospi-tals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and was supported by researchers at the Universities of Southampton and Utrecht.

Approximately 15 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Recurrent miscarriage – losing three or more pregnancies in a row – affects one in 100 in the UK.

Professor Brosens explained: “If the lining of the womb is not well prepared for pregnancy you may find that abnormal embryos will implant or high quality embryos will not be supported.

“Both scenarios can lead to preg-nancy loss or even late pregnancy complications.”

“Speaking in terms of an en-trance exam; a poorly prepared womb will either make the test too rigorous or too lax – decreasing the chances of a successful pregnancy.”

Professor Quenby said: “This work adds to a growing body of evidence that assessment and opti-misation of the lining of the womb may be the only effective way in preventing infertility and pregnan-cy complications.”

Professor Brosens added: “What we’re looking at now is how to alter the lining of the womb so it can set this entrance exam at the right level and prevent miscarriages.”

Lucy Broughton

New blood preservation method

Researchers at the University of Warwick have recently discovered a method of preserving blood for longer than the limit of 42 days.

A polymer that holds a similar structure to wood glue is shown to disrupt the behaviour of crystals in a non-damaging way, which allows blood to be kept for significantly longer periods of time.

Currently, donated blood can only be refrigerated for a short pe-riod keeping the demand for blood donors high. The emergence of more stem cell therapies and the growth of bio-banks constantly call for technological advancement and new blood-preserving methods.

In countries such as the United States, methods such as cryopres-ervation are used, but this requires large quantities of organic solvent in order to prevent the growth of ice crystals which detrimentally tear the cells apart.

However, researchers at the Uni-versity of Warwick have used poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) to great effect.

PVA is a common polymer that mimics the antifreeze properties found in certain fish, and works by inhibiting the growth of ice crystals

during thawing.It can remain in the blood whilst

it is defrosted, so can be used rap-idly.

Dr Matthew Gibson, assistant professor from the Department of Chemistry at Warwick University believes that the discovery is revo-lutionary: “It reduces the need for organic solvents, and crucially, it reduces the time between defrost-ing and having transfusion-ready blood.”

Rosanna Hiscock

» Photo: Flickr; tyfn

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God Bless America (but only if you’re white and speak English)

9

theboar

Editors’ Letters“A little bit

more kindness”

Sam CarterMusic Editor

“It’s a real sport, honest”

Recently, Coca-Cola launched a powerful advert celebrat-ing multi-culturalism during

the Super-Bowl. The ad, featuring a rendition of ‘America the Beau-tiful’ sung in multiple languages, seems to have ironically divided the USA, as outraged right-wingers have criticised Coca-Cola for ‘tar-nishing’ an iconic American song. Former Congressman Allen West took his anger to Facebook, posting “The words went from English to

languages I didn’t recognise... This was a truly disturbing commercial for me, what say you?” I say that the man’s bigotry is astounding, given that he’s living in the 21st century and in a country once famously de-scribed as a cultural melting pot.

Unfortunately, he’s not alone. The fact that someone can argue that an ad which promotes ethnic diversity is trying to politically di-vide the country boggles my mind. Inadvertently, I suppose the ad has divided us into people who were genuinely charmed by its message and racists who couldn’t stand the fact that other races are present in

an ad glorifying a country which has depended on the success of im-migrants.

What annoys me is that the me-dia have failed in calling out con-servatives on their racist bullsh*t. Weeks prior to this ‘controversy’, Cheerios launched an ad with a bi-racial family which was met with torrents of online abuse. When MSNBC tweeted “Maybe the right-wing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family”, the Organisation of Conservative Americans bullied the news group into deleting the tweet and firing

the employee who launched it. The reasoning behind this attack was that it was unfair to label a bunch of politically unaffiliated internet trolls as people of a specific polit-ical persuasion. Yet weeks later we have right-wing-affiliated pundits doing exactly the same thing!

It is depressing that people are still so openly racially intolerant in a country that was founded on pro-gressive principles and cultural co-hesion. Yet I find it even more de-pressing that few have the courage to take a stand against this bigotry in the USA and that those who do take a stand lose their jobs over it.

COMMENTEditor: Daniel Cope

[email protected] Twitter @BoarComment

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STUDENT SOAPBOX

“Lectures missed, lessons learnt”

Lewis Holden

When your university is gripped by the militant leftism of ’lazy lecturers’

and the inconvenience of industrial action, you almost certainly need a dedicated team of principled fellow students fighting to save your edu-cation from oblivion. At Warwick, our prayers were answered, by a group of History students bravely stepping in to limit the damage (to our pockets at least) of our lecturers decision to strike.

However, the intentions of the group claiming to stand up for stu-dents was laid bare. As comforting as it would be to know that this attention-seeking storm remained resolutely in the campus teacup, the organisers were instead given noto-riety in both the local and national press. They got their 15 minutes of fame... but our academic staff? Still underpaid.

We were reassured that the moti-vations of the group were not ideo-logical, but merely stirred by a gen-uine concern for students’ learning. Yet the logic behind this apparent-ly altruistic mission is painfully short-sighted.

The organisers have oversimpli-fied the current debate in higher education. Their populist hyperbo-le may have brought some students to their replacement lectures, but it failed to mention the complexities of what the recent dispute means. Once again, egos were satisfied, the real issues, ignored.

Like most students, I’m disap-pointed to be missing lectures, they are after all the reason we’re here and ongoing industrial action will no doubt disrupt my timetable. Yet I don’t blame the academic staff for this, whose conscious decision to withdraw their labour was under-mined by the student-run lectures. Rather, as students, we should be channeling our frustration at the obstinacy of the university elites who refuse to dignify the academic profession with sustainable pay.

Maybe we owe the organisers some thanks. I completely agree that the ‘learning will go on.’ War-wick has learnt one very important lesson: a group of untrained under-grads (who claim Katie Hopkins as their spiritual leader no less) can never replace our lecturers. Com-paring my loss of an hour–long lecture with an interest for the live-lihoods of the academic staff who work to give me opportunities – I know where I, and the majority of students, will stand.

When I tell people I play Ultimate Frisbee, their response is usually a mix-

ture of confusion and laughter. You won’t be shocked to hear I had no such issue when I played football or tennis – two sports that are sensible enough to involve things that are spherical rather than disc-shaped.

I try not to get involved in the whole “my sport is better than your sport” argument. Instead, what I am trying to say is that sometimes the things you do in your free time – be it the sports you play, the societies you’re part of, or your post-Ne-on fast food choice – make people think about you in a certain way.

It’s the same reason I waited un-til my degree was half-over to start writing for our student paper: “But it’s so Boar-ing! [chortle]” And so is that joke, but that doesn’t change the impact that other people’s opin-ions can have when you’re 18 and so many of your decisions are based on one question: “What will people think?”

Instead of signing up in first year I resolved to do what many other freshers do and avoid soci-eties altogether – a decision I still regret today. I’ve since learned how important clubs and societies can be during the few years you spend here. They give you a new network

of friends, an outlet away from coursework, and, vitally, an excuse to go to the SU dressed as a charac-ter from The Lord of the Rings.

Work and time constraints are a factor, of course, and there are times when getting involved in stuff at uni can feel as awkward and frantic as boarding the U1 at rush hour. In my year of inactivity I eagerly signed up for everything from Rowing to Real Ale, only to be stopped in my tracks by the re-minder that essay deadlines are still a thing.

Committing to a single sport or pastime can become even more dif-ficult when you’re presented with literally hundreds of options here at Warwick. Still, I wonder how many of our readers are holding them-selves back simply because they worry that it’ll change how people perceive them. I know I certainly did.

I doubt I’ll be able to avoid the reactions I mentioned earlier. The fact of the matter is the sport I choose to play has a name that, admittedly, sounds quite silly. My conclusion? When it comes to clubs and societies, do whatever the hell you want. And if somebody finds that amusing, laugh along; they don’t know what they’re missing.

When I was growing up, the one phrase I remember hearing the most was ‘if

you can’t find anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’. Honestly, I rarely took it to heart. But as I’ve gotten older – and a little bit wiser – I’ve realised that this phrase isn’t always as dismissive as I thought it to be.

Now, I’m not saying that every occasion requires you to bite your tongue. Holding in your opinions is only going to get you so far: within two weeks of keeping quiet you’ll probably be a seething, bubbling mess of pure frustration. However, in a world where anonymous bul-lying over the Internet has become an international pastime, I have to wonder if we could do with becom-ing a little bit kinder.

Unfortunately, trolling has be-come a global phenomenon. Look at the comments of any given news article published online and I guar-antee that you will find at least two people spewing vitriolic, hateful garbage. This number increases when articles deal with issues sur-rounding racism, sexism and hom-ophobia, and it is by no means lim-ited to news sites. It’s everywhere: on YouTube videos, in the occa-sional ‘edit-war’ on Wikipedia and, of course, all over social media.

It is suddenly not only accept-able, but also easy, to take cheap shots at people based on their gen-der, religion, sexuality or their race, and this has spilled over into our behaviour in the real world, par-ticularly the world of comedy. Rac-ist, sexist and homophobic jokes are a common part of everyday life. The problem I have with this kind of behaviour is that it’s completely disrespectful. Dark humour can be a way of coping with the most depraved aspects of humanity, but you don’t have the right to belittle someone else’s personal experienc-es just because you’re telling a joke.

Empathy and compassion have gone out of style. People no longer care about the negative impact their words can have if they know they’ll get a laugh out of it. When did we start to value a cleverly-constructed insult over the feelings of the per-son it is levelled at?

I don’t pretend to be a saint. I’ve been guilty of valuing my own pithy insults over the feelings of others in the past, and it’s something that I deeply regret. But as I move for-ward in life, I want to make sure that the one trait I value most of all – kindness – is something that I can find in myself, and that will always be much more important to me than some cheap joke.

Casey Davison

Sponsored by:

Joanna HarwoodLifestyle Editor

7theboar.org

In an age of theological scepti-cism, the question I feel needs answering is: “Can we be reli-

gious without subscribing to su-pernatural beliefs about a God (or Gods)?”. Much religious discussion in the modern day focuses on how religion can extend beyond belief in God and so why one doesn’t need to believe in the supernatural in order to be religious. It sounds ideal to the modern day spiritual sceptic, who can reap the benefits of religion without wholeheartedly endorsing its content.

Undeniably, religion is a fantastic civil unifier, binding communities and creating a sense of social trust, as the great atheist Emile Durk-heim once argued. It also guides us morally and gives a marker by which to judge our actions. Sounds perfect doesn’t it? Well, perhaps not. It’s all well and good following the religion without accepting its roots, but can we truly be religious if we don’t have anything to believe in, or rather, if we ultimately have “non-belief ” at the centre of our “religion”? Is this all just one big contradiction? We can’t seriously advocate religion as a moral guide-line if we don’t accept the objective core from which these guidelines stem.

Alain De Botton, in his recent book ‘Religion for Atheists’, stimu-

lates this exact debate, suggesting that he has been liberated by his being religious without believing in any supernatural power or force. This takes a moment to sink in, but it certainly isn’t uncommon

to combine ‘atheism’ with re-ligion. Don Cupitt’s ‘Sea of Faith Programme’ speaks from the same script as Botton. The aim of this or-ganisation is to “promote religion as a human creation”. For these atheists, religion has a continuing importance in everyday lives even if it is merely a human construct.

Scientific thought is providing an incessant challenge to ortho-dox belief in God. We are living in a world where belief in aliens now

outweighs belief in God, and only 15 percent of individuals attend church at least once a month. Ac-cording to Botton, this shouldn’t be the case. Why should religion need to fall along with theism? If one

says ‘NO’ to God, then one doesn’t need to say ‘NO’ to religion!

Perhaps this is unrealistic. An individual who adopts ‘non-belief ’ in the supernatural generally tends not to attend church on a regular basis. However, if religion benefits communities in terms of bring-ing individuals together through a common belief, why can’t atheism do this exact thing? For centuries religion has congregated people who all have a core belief in com-mon. So why shouldn’t atheism be-

come its own religion? Seems pretty absurd I know, but that isn’t to say it’s not already happening. The ‘Sea of Faith’ promotes exactly this, as does Botton’s ‘Religion for Atheists’. Of course it clashes with what we commonly perceive religion to be – a belief in a transcendent power – but religion has adapted enough over the last few centuries to dis-miss this.

In my opinion, there is of course an underlying contradiction which keeps me from accepting the idea that religion can be at the centre of an atheist’s life. How can religion aid one in being moral if the mo-rality which they follow is of no ob-jective value? It seems a stretch too far to coalesce these two seemingly opposing forces in the twenty-first century.

Botton’s book certainly provides a compelling case to suggest oth-erwise. Atheism isn’t as simple and straightforward as non-belief, nor should religion be so deeply rooted in theism. He remarks, quite pow-erfully, that “religions are in the end too complex, wise and fascinating to be abandoned simply to those who happen actually to believe in them”. Whatever you believe, you have to admit – he’s got a point! This certainly is a timeless debate, but never has it seemed so relevant.

Faith without God: is atheism a religion?

10 |

Harrison Coldray explores the controversial idea of a religion for atheists

I am the prisoner of hope’ were the words spoken by Rev Reeves, founder of the Soul of

Europe initiative, as he discussed how difficult it is to break down deep–rooted barriers of faith and race in Eastern Europe. Listening to his missionary work in Bosnia and Serbia gave me deep reservations about the ability of human beings to respond to peace, when peace it-self is considered a dirty word.

The discussion, run by the in-imitable One World Week Forum team, was one of the most intel-lectually stimulating two hours of my time at Warwick. There was no room for rhetoric or dogma in the packed out Woods-Scawen Room of the Arts Centre, as each speak-er eloquently gave a unique and intellectual take on the topic. One of my personal highlights was the presentation by Hull PhD student, Zhaleh Boyd, who discussed the ever–present danger of slavery or trafficking in our society.

She commented: ‘The existence of slavery is dependent on the pro-cess of constructing otherness – the use of these differences allow cer-tain minorities to have power over others.’ Her conclusion reflected the fact that race and religion were tools to differentiate individuals from their common values, and to focus on obscure, physical details in order to manipulate them. It was a frightening thought that some-one’s name, skin colour, strength, place of birth, sex could be used to dehumanise them, and it is even more frightening that in some soci-eties it is more commonplace than we think.

The most interesting aspect of the debate for me was the idea that religion and rationality could be used in the same sentence. It has been clear to me, especially living in a secular society, that those who have religious or spiritual beliefs are deemed to be irrational. It was refreshing to sit in a room with ac-ademics that could see the merit or religion in a world that seems to be constantly fighting it.

There is rationality in race and religion even if we choose to ig-nore it. Our very own chaplain, Rev Dr Alistair Kirk said: ‘The world is a religious place’ and we cannot continue to undermine this fact. We have to learn to embrace the fact that religion and race contin-ue to do good in parts of the world that we have no contact with, with work that is funded on pittance and beans. Where only faith endures.

Even from the prosperity of One World Week itself, we can see that diversity is celebrated and promot-ed at a multicultural university. It is now time that our attitudes shifted towards maintaining these atti-tudes throughout the year. This is the legacy the co-ordinators hope to create.

Race, Religion and Rationality

Hiran Adhia

Immigration: a topic constantly in the media, used by the gov-ernment in an attempt to create

much needed popular policy and exploited by the far-right as an ac-ceptable form of mainstream rac-ism. The fact that immigrants are made scapegoats for the latest do-mestic problems, from unemploy-ment to a burgeoning benefits bill, is no new phenomenon, but as the next general election draws closer this issue needs to be re-evaluated.

What if there were no illegal immigrants? What if all migrants were able to work and contribute to the economy? What if there was a way to end the human traffick-ing and slavery of foreign workers in the UK? All these issues have a common solution: the abolition of immigration controls.

Due to the plethora of myths surrounding immigration, it is al-most understandable that this sug-gestion would be met with horror. I dismissed this question myself when it was first raised at the 2014 One World Week Conference but, in reality, this proposition actually makes genuine humanitarian, eth-ical and economic sense. Far from the irrational fear of a tidal wave of unskilled immigrants burdening an already over-populated coun-try and taking advantage of welfare systems, open borders would actu-

ally have a positive impact for both those seeking better working and living conditions, and for the coun-tries in which they arrive.

A principally economic stand-point can easily deconstruct these unreasonable fears of overcrowd-ing and ‘benefit scrounging’. Rahila Gupta, the first speaker at the con-ference, argued that migrants only seek work overseas if they have to and many aim to be able to return home. If strict border controls did not limit movement so vociferous-ly, then workers could arrive and leave according to job demand, contributing to economies in the short term without being forced to settle permanently.

Furthermore, it is unreason-able to blame immigration for ‘over-crowding’, or to even per-ceive a large population as a neg-ative asset. Monaco is one of the richest, but most densely populat-ed cities in the world: clearly a pro-portionally large population is not irreconcilable with a flourishing economy. The basic economics of increased supply and demand re-flects that more migrants working and spending in the UK will clearly

benefit prices and wages. It would also encourage

trans-national companies to stay based the UK, to recruit interna-tional labour but still contribute to our economy.

The true economic issue in the UK today is the aging population: stress on the welfare system is not caused by immigrant families, but the pension and health care bill of aging generations. The en-couragement of a larger young, skilled working population (31% of UK doctors are already educat-ed abroad) could only support this system. This truth lies very far from the stereotype that immigrants put extra pressure upon the welfare system. In fact, EU migrants have to wait three months before access-ing job-seekers allowance and ille-gal immigrants would struggle to access benefits or healthcare at all. A 2013 report actually reflects that EU migrants contribute a net fiscal impact of 0.46% of the GDP and non-EU migrants pay 2% more tax than they received in state services, unlike natives who, on average, pay 11% less than they receive. Migrant populations do not drain our wel-fare system, they help to fund it.

The Morecambe Bay Trage-dy and more recent cases of UK slavery reiterate that immigration controls force the desperate to risk their lives in order to merely access better living conditions. If immigration controls didn’t exist, neither would smuggling, human

trafficking or slavery rings which cause vast suffering to many peo-ple. Thousands die in transit, have their passports taken and are im-prisoned in the UK. This is a hu-manitarian and ethical travesty that should not be justified for econom-ic self-interest.

The fear of immigrants ‘steal-ing our livelihoods’ is by no means a new concept – just look back throughout Jewish history. But this is currently being exploited by far right groups, exacerbated by the economic downturn, to cre-ate a arena of sociably acceptable racism. For example, changes to Bulgarian and Romanian immigra-tion rules this January led to mass hysteria about the expected influx of migrants. This did not occur, once again reiterating the level of inaccuracy that envelops percep-tions about immigration. Econom-ic self-interest is not an admissible form of racism, and yet 47 percent of the UK believes that immigra-tion has a negative economic im-pact. Neither is it permissible for government to form policy based on popular, and frankly racist, mis-conceptions nor to allow these un-truths to go unchallenged. We need facts, not fears.

Is it time to abolish immigration control?

It is unreasonable to blame immigration for over-crowding

Demelza Griffiths

» photo: Flickr/ murdelta

Are open borders the answer to the

immigration problem?Tweet: @BoarComment

10 theboar.org

It has been a few weeks and the world has moved on to more pressing matters since then,

but I still have a bone to pick with a certain Mr Tom Perkins. For an-yone who needs reminding, he is a venture capitalist who made the exceptionally offensive comparison between the “demonised” Ameri-can upper class to the Jews of Ger-many during Kristallnacht and the Holocaust.

Before anyone accuses me of flogging a dead horse, I want to ac-knowledge the fact that Mr Perkins has indeed apologised profusely about his tasteless analogy. In fact, I am not going to talk about the com-parison at all. It is the statements he made during his apology that have got me so worked up.

Mr Perkins said that while he deeply regrets the comparison he made, he still stands by the essence of his initial statement. Namely,

that any time a minority is attacked by a majority, it is just plain wrong. And, with the top one percent of the US population clearly being a numerical minority, it is unfair that the remaining 99 percent should bully them so.

My short response to this state-ment is a snort of derision accom-panied by a few choice words too colourful to print. The longer ver-sion has a few points to it.

First of all, what Mr Per-kins has so wonderful-ly glossed over is the fact that the top one percent is not vilified nearly as much as he thinks. Celebrity culture being what it is, the majority of the world, and certainly the majority of the US, are quite happy to ig-

nore the obscene riches of Mr Per-kins’s type and focus their attention on rebellious child stars, a charis-matic but weak head of state, and the grandeur of a sporting event held halfway across the world.

The top one percent are not all representatives of greed and ego-centricity; consider the philan-thropic work of Bill and Melinda Gates for instance. However, the

fact remains that the richest 85 people in the world have

the same amount of wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion. And most of them are quite hap-py to play the victim whenever someone raises even the faintest of objections, while splashing their money

on ex-

travagant lifestyles instead of put-ting it to good use.

Mr Perkins also forgets how much influence his persecuted mi-nority really wields. It is no exag-geration to say that in a capitalist world, the rich have more power than the poor, but this is even more so in a place like the US.

Individual donations can in-fluence legislation and financially powerful groups can sway Con-gress away from doing what is mor-ally correct. Examples include the influence of the tobacco lobby with regards to smoking legislation and the NRA with regards to squashing attempts at gun control.

Consider further the economic arguments against something as desirable as universal healthcare (the Affordable Care Act) or sexu-al minority worker rights (ENDA),

and you realise exactly how deep the influ-ence of Mr. Perkins and co. really goes. If I was able to have so much power over what my country

does, I would be quite hap-

py to tolerate criticism, especially if it is warranted.

There is also the added fact that I find Mr Perkins’s equation to the rich being a mistreated minority insulting to the very real harass-ment that minorities around the world have to face.

It is bad enough that Perkins then goes on to whine about the fact that people who are now struggling to make ends meet – many due to the financial meltdown precipitated by the upper classes – would naturally not be happy about the situation. It is far worse that he then dares to compare himself explicitly to a historically persecuted minority and, in his apology, implicitly to the countless racial, national and sexu-al minorities facing prison, torture and death day in and day out.

I do not know Mr Perkins. I have no right to judge him on a personal level. But I have no qualms in une-quivocally despising his comments and what they stand for.

If Mr Perkins thinks that he has managed to get away with his shambles of an apology, he has an-other thing coming. And while I doubt this is going to grab his atten-tion, I hope that others in his posi-tion do not make the same ignorant mistake.

Why Tom Perkins infuriates me so much: A tactless fiascoIbtisam Ahmed

11 |

Last month it was revealed that women are now a third more likely to apply to university

than men. One of the main reasons for this is that women are grossly outperforming their male counter-parts at both GCSE and A-Level. The number of female applicants rose by almost 2,000, whereas male applicant numbers plummeted by nearly five and a half thousand.

The gravity of these figures even led Professor Alan Smithers, direc-tor of the Centre for Education and Employment at Buckingham Uni-versity, to comment, “universities should now admit men on lower grades – although I suppose at the moment that could be illegal.”

Warwick prides itself on gender equality. According to the Com-plete University Guide, the make-up of our student population this year is 51 percent to 49 percent in favour of the men. This is an in-crease in women students in the 2010-11 academic year, when the percentage stood at 47.61 percent. Even though this latter percentage still seems fair, it was actually the third-lowest percentage of female students at Russell Group univer-sities.

It is important not to criticise Warwick just yet, given that these numbers predate the news given by UCAS in January. While many may simply say that Warwick’s nigh-50/50 ratio is balanced and just, the question is: how fair is too fair? In other words, shouldn’t we expect to see more female students in October? If so, then a potential-ly detrimental gender gap may be created. If not, then our student de-mographics would appear to be at odds with the statistics in order to maintain the appearance of gender fairness. In other words, it’s a lose-lose situation, whereby equality and inequality are inextricably and paradoxically entwined.

But considering social ‘conse-quences’ of a female-dominated Warwick in, say, three or four years’ time is absurd. To wonder wheth-er there will be implications within Warwick gives the impression that more female students pose detri-mental effects. Universities and their students are proponents of equality, so in order to enforce the notion of gender fairness, it should not matter whether there are more or less students of either sex.

Questioning social effects upon the dynamic of Warwick further separates men and women, as though students of different sexes bring with them different penal-ties. Although Warwick plays part in this topic as a university, it is important to separate it as an edu-cational institution and as a social community when the question of a potential gender gap arises.

» photo: Flickr/ jdlasica

Please mind the gender gap

Mr Perkins calling the rich a mistreated minority insults the real struggles of minorities

» photo: Flickr/ jdlasica

Alistair DrennanConsidering further study at Warwick?

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“Universities should now admit men on lower grades – although I suppose at the moment that could be illegal.”

Professor Alan Smithers

14 theboar.org

In simpler terms this motion would allow the SU to mandate the rules concerning sports club

and society members dressing up at SU events to be a lot clearer and thus dictating what can and cannot be worn.

The motion does aim to prevent discrimination against characteris-tics that can offend people such as

gender, age and race; however the way in which

the motion would have done this is questionable.

This con-f u s i o n

w a s inten-sified at the

meeting, with the

p r o p o s i n g speaker advo-

cating that students vote down the motion, which sure-ly must be a first in ASM history. Both the proposing and oppos-ing speakers put forward the view that the meeting was not the time or place to discuss the motion and that it should go back to Student Council, which is probably the best outcome considering the confusion from many ASM speakers regard-ing the motion’s exact intent.

In my view, one key question, which needs to be clarified before the motion is to be re-presented, is who decides what themes and cos-tumes are offensive? This was not

made clear during the debate itself and until such an important point is cleared up, any successors of this motion must also be voted down until it is clarified.

I remember being horrified to see instances, shown in the me-dia, of people in both this country and America dressing in costume of those such as Jimmy Savile, the Twin Towers and a Boston Mara-thon bombing victim and I think it can be readily agreed among many that such costumes are undoubted-ly offensive and penalties should be instituted. However, my main concern is that while there are cos-tumes that seem unanimously of-fensive, we also differ on other defi-nitions of offensive. For example, is dressing up as a priest offensive to atheists or not? Is dressing as a ‘nerd’ offensive to the academically intelligent or not?

Until we can all agree on what is offensive and what is not, (which will never happen because we are all different), decisions about what is offensive or not are likely to be left in the hands of a small minority or go through a long, bureaucratic process which will also not work.

We should stick to the current system of complaints about cos-tumes being forwarded to the Sab-batical officers rather than seek to regulate costumes based on the in-dividual views of some.

12 |

Opinion MatrixSU: Don’t speak for me

Michael Wrench

Max Ethan Rodgers

The recent motion at the ASM to make rules surrounding themed events stricter in

terms of anti-discrimination, whilst noble, are ultimately misguided. The first thing that has to be tak-en into account is that stereotypes, whilst sometimes offensive, are a fact of life. There is literally a stere-otype for everything and everyone, and to try and deny these would make any kind of themed event very hard to see through.

There are some stereotypes that are more offensive than others, but most societies and Unions would recognise which stereotypes are more likely to cause mass offence, and legislation wouldn’t make any difference. Rather, it would create an environment in which com-plaints and accusations run rife, distracting the Union from dealing with actual issues of discrimination within the university.

Themed events are the most popular at the SU since they offer unique experiences. In banning the possibility of themed events, the SU runs the risk of making the chances of students going even less likely, as the surrounding clubs would likely compensate, luring more students away. It would also make the stu-dent body more apathetic towards the SU thus resulting in an ineffec-tive student council.

What may be considered gross-ly offensive by one person may be considered a harmless joke by an-other. Although there are some la-bels that are universally unpleasant,

intelligent and tolerant individuals can identify these. Trying to im-plement legislation on this subject would lead to rules that are almost unworkable and impossible to im-plement, as the very idea of what is tolerant would be dictated by sub-jective judges.

Most stereotypes, especially those based on a country, tend to be only mildly offensive at best, and have some basis in truth. Albeit some labels can encourage an up-leasant discriminatory atmosphere. Howev-er, it’s unlikely that dressing as a Mexi-can would cause an atmosphere that was unpleasant to them. Many minority groups have conflicting or overlapping views, and it would be difficult to define what is truly offensive in everyone’s eyes.

The proposition has good inten-tions and seeks to create a more har-monious student body but it runs the real risk of having the opposite effects. Effects such as; creating a paranoid and suspicious student body that has no wish to engage with the council, whilst driving many students away from what is actually a very-well equipped SU, seeking themed events off-campus. Ultimately, seeking to minimise discrimination through legislation is futile, and is unlikely to produce the desired effect.

Nicholas Buxey

Whilst I agree with the stance that the motion required some amend-

ments, I am defending it fully on principle. Often, ethnic minority students who need the most help will not come forward. Even after facing some form of discrimina-tion, they don’t want to be accused of ‘kicking up a fuss over nothing’ or ‘playing the race card’. I fear that the arguments made in the ASM only serve to reinforce those fears and dissuade students from speak-ing up on issues of race and seeking help.

What message are we sending to international students and individ-uals from minority backgrounds when members of the student body argue, completely straight-faced, that their ‘freedom of expression’ is more important than the safety and welfare of other students? To me, it speaks volumes that some stu-dents are more concerned that the variety of circling themes for ‘Pop!’ would be compromised, than the welfare of students from minority backgrounds. Every student has a right to feel safe and welcome on campus.

I feel that it was inappropriate that the majority of the student body was given a say on minority issues by being allowed to vote on the motion. The motion should have stayed in Student Council and

only be voted on by elected repre-sentatives of council. From the out-set, the motion was never given fair consideration due to the misrep-resentation of the motion through social media.

There was nothing in the mo-tion that does not already exist in the SU’s By-Laws. The proposal was simply meant to clarify these rules and create a simpler complaints procedure.

The motion was actually read and understood by very few peo-ple. It was misrepresented as ban on all forms of cultural dress, cre-ating an environment of fear for societies, when most have little to worry about. I would like to point out that nowhere in the motion is the word ‘ban’ used, yet every argu-ment against was based on the no-tion that students’ ‘freedom of ex-pression’ would be impinged upon should the motion pass. However, ‘freedom of expression’ simply means that an individual is allowed to hold opinions and express them without governmental interference. It does not mean that students can act and dress as offensively as they like without facing any repercus-sions form the SU or their peers.

This motion would have gone some way towards challenging ig-norance and prejudice on campus and I am disappointed that it has been disregarded in such a manner.

Cindy Asokan

If I hear one more terrible use of Nigel Thrift’s surname I think I might scream. ‘Thrifty by name,

not by nature’, ‘thrifty with the truth’. But since I’m a student I am a left-wing liberal automatically, and as a matter I object to anything that damages my preconceptions of free-speech, morality and equality. And therefore I approve of terrible punning, I attend all the strikes and demonstrations, I do not respect Thrift’s authority.

This is all a tad exaggerated but it is overwhelmingly true that the SU and other student run bodies of-ten release political statements on behalf of ‘the students’. And even then, when statements aren’t writ-ten on behalf, they’re written by the body that represents students. The SU’s mission statement states many things, including that it is representative, a voice to Warwick students, welcoming and tolerant.

Tolerant, that is, I feel, unless you disagree with something vaguely left-wing. For example there are student councils which boycott things for their own moral purpos-es - how many of Warwick Univer-sity’s 22,944 students realistically stopped drinking Bacardi because the SU told them that that was a terrible thing to do? We’re all adults here, ladies and gentleman, and if I don’t like something I’ll choose not to buy it, thank you.

This matters very little to me. Normally I’d dismiss it as the petty machinations of student politicians who chant their own socio-polit-ical beliefs like a war cry, but now education is being damaged. I am, of course, talking about the stu-dent-run lectures debate. In fair-ness I can see the arguments from both sides of the political spectrum, but I think, in reality, many of our 22,944 students don’t care about strikes, they care about the educa-tion they are paying for. Some peo-ple use university as a springboard for jobs, some choose courses that they find interesting, and some, like me, are just escaping the real world for as long as possible - some man-age to do all three at once (kudos to you). But by and large, they don’t really care as long as they get what they pay for - education.

Here’s a brutal fact - the SU is a students’ union, not a teachers’ un-ion. It should have solidarity with its pupils; with the University’s pur-pose of providing education; and with the student’s right to that said education.

So yes, I’m tired with awful puns. What Thrift is paid matters little. If he used his money to conduct orgiastic parties at which he chant-ed, naked, demonic rituals whilst standing on his head, I still wouldn’t care. It’s my education that matters and that should matter to the SU and other student bodies. It’s those organisations that are thrifty with the truth when they try and speak ‘for’ students.

Cartoon by: Luke Brown

ASM: Clarifying Rules Regarding Themed Events

13theboar.org

Months of preparation and thousands of miles trav-elled from students and

speakers alike had brought together a group who now, standing in the Ramphal foyer, were eagerly antic-ipating a weekend that is known to be the best academic event of any campus. There was a tangible excitement filling the room and a palpable buzz of optimism as stu-dents looked forward to the many engaging speeches and debates that lay ahead. The Warwick Economics Summit had began.

The 2014 proceedings were start-ed by Simon Gaysford who deliv-ered an interesting talk on ‘bring-ing microeconomics to life in the commercial world’ and the impli-cations of behavioural economics for business. Gaysford’s fascinating talk certainly raised the standards from the off and enlarged many expectations for the weekend. In-deed no student felt any opportuni-ty cost of missing a Friday night in Kasbah for the start of the Summit!

Saturday morning and the high-light was Dr Nasser Saidi and his talk on the often neglected sub-ject of economic performance in Arab countries. Proposing new growth enhancing policies and ‘game changers’ for these countries, the former Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade delivered an

insightful and topical presentation. As the day progressed and the

audience sizes began to grow the di-versity of the students attending the Summit became apparent. Students had descended on Warwick from all over the globe and one such attend-ee was Segun Adegemi who had travelled all the way from Nigeria.

Segun, who had been looking to come to the Summit for five years, was finally given the opportunity in 2014 after winning the Warwick Economic Summit Scholarship.

The economics student at La-gos University said ‘the Summit has been really fun so far and I’m enjoying every moment. I par-ticularly enjoyed Dr Nasser Saidi’s talk and I’m very much looking forward to the remainder of the weekend’. He also added ‘the event has been really well organised and I have had a great experience here at Warwick. The five year wait has definitely been worthwhile.’

As well as engaging talks the Summit also provided a panel de-bate which saw four MP’s from the leading political parties dis-cuss a variety of issues from Eu-ropean immigration to HS2. It

also gave the chance for students to articulately grill and remon-strate with the politicians - an op-portunity many seemed to relish.

The award for the best speech of the day had to go to Professor Sam Potolicchio who closed Saturday’s proceedings. His animated and en-gaging talk on ‘what makes a great political leader provided the perfect finish for what had been a great day.

Despite the infamous Sum-mit ball continuing into the ear-ly hours of Sunday morning, the lecture theatre was still full for the first speech on the final day deliv-ered by Luke Johnson. The former chairman of Pizza Express gave an inspiring and refreshing talk on entrepreneurship and encouraged students to pursue their dreams.

The penultimate talk of the Summit and the most eagerly an-ticipated was Eric Maskin’s pres-entation about game theory. The American economist and Nobel laureate had flown in from Har-vard to cast light on the interest-ing topic of mechanism design. The keynote speaker didn’t fail to disappoint and provided an en-lightening talk on the ‘engineering parts of economic game theory’.

As the event drew to a conclu-sion, the buzz of optimism that had been present on Friday and indeed throughout the week-end was replaced by a sense of sadness. 18 esteemed speakers, 7 informative seminars and a live-ly panel debate had all flown by.

Summit organisers Chloe Hon-eyborne (Deputy Talks Coordina-tor) and James Sullivan (Talks team member) said ‘this year’s summit has been absolutely fantastic and has been the smoothest event run to date. We have laid some of the best foundations for future sum-mits by really engaging with ex-ternal delegates and building great relationships with some of the world’s leading academics’. Neither could agree on a single highlight with James opting for ‘the lively speech Professor Sam Potolicchio gave’ whilst Chloe said that she ‘re-ally enjoyed the live panel debate’.

However one thing they were both adamant about was the im-portance of the 50 member strong Summit coordination team and said that ‘although at times or-ganising the event was hectic and hard work it had all been worth-while and a very rewarding expe-rience’. They added that ‘the whole team must take credit for what has truly been a thrilling event’.

Indeed, the 13th Warwick Economics Summit certainly eclipsed the success of previous years; economics was brought to life, students left enriched by academic insights and the Summit reached new heights.

The Office of National Statis-tics’ (ONS) recent numbers for labour productivity and

employment illustrate the “pro-ductivity puzzle” facing the UK at this time. There are 30.15 mil-lion people (aged 16 and above) in employment, up 280,000 from the previous quarter. However, on an output per hour basis, la-bour productivity decreased by 0.3%. This fall is reflected by the sluggish output growth towards the level before the global finan-cial crisis. What is baffling is why firms continue to employ workers who are producing less in a con-tracting economic environment.

Rather, the financial crisis was a prominent factor in the makings of this tradeoff between employment and productivity. We observe pro-ductivity continuing to fall, with brief periods of improvement to-wards the pre-crisis benchmark serving merely as glimpses of yes-teryears. The latest output per hour decline of 0.6% in manufacturing doesn’t lend a helping hand to the situation as firms struggle to fi-nance new investments that neces-sitate high productivity. It would seem that banks are still scarred by the events in 2008 and reallocation of capital from less to more produc-tive firms is unlikely to happen until the credit concerns are addressed.

A firm would only have the in-centive to hire more disinclined workers if the wages they paid to them take consistent dips. That is, firms will give a higher nominal wage so long as inflation thins real pay. The UK’s considerable con-sumption demand will motivate firms to do this. This fall in real wages played a role in reducing labour productivity by allowing firms to employ more workers than they would otherwise have done.

Some firms would continue to hoard labour through a down-trend with the promise of readi-ly available human capital when growth resumes. In a competitive world this makes sense, with the firm employing the larger work-force being able to respond quickly and take full advantage of a boom.

Should we be worried about the productivity puzzle? In short, yes in the long run and no in the short run. Over time, the cost to the economy may be severe. A high productivity economy is im-portant not only for sustained output, growth and competitive-ness but also for the development of technology which further en-hances workers’ ability to produce.

We can continue to live with this tradeoff because the im-mediate tomorrow is one with people doing jobs, earning a liv-ing and (slowly) contributing to the economy. The worry is what will happen the day after.

Aiz Mza

Perplexing Productivity

MONEYEditor: Benjamin Shaw

[email protected] Twitter @BoarMoney

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Economics summit reaches new heightsHundreds of students packed into the Ramphal Building for the weekend event

» We knew it was going to be a good one. The Warwick Economics Summit exceeded expectations! photo: warwickeconomicssummit.com

Alice Cobb

What did you think of the Summit?

Tweet: @BoarMoney

Despite the infamous Summit ball continuing into the early hours of Sunday morning, the summit room was full next

13

15theboar.org14 theboar.org Features

“We can have Manning for MVP at 2.8, and if we place on a Sea-hawks-Seahawks ten point lead and victory we can have fours. Ed, do you want a piece? A tenner on the winning margin being less than 11.5 points?”

Call me unappreciative of for-eign sports, but I didn’t even know you could score half

a point in the NFL. Yet such was the impenetrable mix of American Football know-how and gambling terminology that overtook my house on Sunday evening. Our res-ident American has, to my mind, infected the rest of my housemates with an obsession for the world’s slowest moving game, and in true U.S. of A fashion we were having a Superbowl party. The Seattle Sea-hawks took on the Denver Broncos in what was billed as ‘the biggest world event since last year’s Super-bowl’.

“Remind me what a ‘first and seven’ is again, please”, I ask for what will be the first of many times in the night. Coupled with such insightful observations as “so actually they never even touch the ball down” or “that’s not a proper scrum”, the other seven members of the party would surely have had reason to ask me to leave, were it not my house and all. Oh yes, and the fact that

they were more concerned with the hundreds of pounds of spread bets they had on the game. Now, I don’t intend to paint a picture of me in complete innocence, abstaining manfully against the debilitating world of gambling; even though my father has called any form of a flutter “a mug’s game” each time the topic has come up in my twenty years on Earth. No, I enjoy a wager as much as the next man. Just not if the next man was someone else at that party. For whilst I was buzzing from the pure adrenaline released by a ten pound bet on the Seahawks to win (I was intrigued, having nev-er seen a sea hawk before – turns out it’s an osprey, but the ‘Seattle Ospreys’? Please.), my friends set to work on spreading bets wider than Manny Ramirez’s pass to Pe-yton Manning after twelve seconds (zing).

The bets placed ranged (to my luddite mind at least) from the nor-mality of result and score, through the intricacy of total completed passes or yards made by individu-als, to the frankly bizarre of how many times ol’ Peyton would say “Omaha” in his team’s huddle. Ap-parently it refers to an offensive play by the Broncos, not Manning asking whether any of his team-mates want to play cards after the game. Once the bets veered away

from the throwing and catching of an odd-shaped ball, then gamblers madness really had descended on Leamington. The national anthem, apparently, was a certainty to be sung in over 2 minutes 25 seconds, and anyone not placing money on such a patently incalculable oc-currence was barely worth being included in the joint bet being run on whether or not Anthony Kiedis would be performing with or with-out a shirt. The sartorial choices of the Red Hot Chili Peppers aside, Barack Obama was guaranteed to be a Broncos fan. Or was it Sea-hawks? I forget. One of the tensest moments of the entire night came when Joe Namath tossed the coin to decide ends for the start. One housemate is enthralled. “Come on, tails! Tails never fails!” he bel-lows at the screen. And despite the maths disagreeing with him, tails it is, netting him the princely sum of two pounds. The room erupts.

The game itself barely lived up to billing of any sort. Even I could tell that when you have to perform a sort of touchdown in your own goal area within a few seconds of the match starting, things aren’t going to go your way. The Broncos were brushed aside by the Seahawks (hooray for my tenner), and hardly any bets came in for those who had wagered on the Broncos. Even Pe-

yton Manning, star of the season, failed to bring in the cash for my housemates or their buddies. In fact, I was surprised that all bets weren’t off when he started throw-ing the ball directly to the opposi-tion. The living room was split then, once the five-hour TV marathon of ‘English commentators showing barely more knowledge than me on the subject of the Superbowl’ was over, between winners and losers. Or rather, those ‘up’ or ‘down’. That phraseology has always been in-triguing to me, for it suggests that, even though events might not have gone the gambler’s way tonight, to-morrow he’ll be bouncing back, for he’s heard of an absolute guaranteed result in the NBA, or on the football pitch, or anywhere in fact. Forget the money lost today, tomorrow it’s coming back with interest. It’s the endless and boundless optimism of those who constantly try to beat the odds; always down, but never out. For me, the whole experience was summed up by a housemate turn-ing to me, eyes burning with the gleam of a man who has found ‘an edge’.

“I can get odds on who the MVP will mention first in his post-match speech”, he cries, “and God’s at three to one!”

Perhaps Owen Feltham was right, even four hundred years

ago, when he reminded us that the things we lose through gam-ing are “our time and treasure: two things most precious to the life of man”. Under the excitement and anticipation of fractions (whatever happened to proper odds?) being traded across the room, behind the veneer of expertise on yards, passes and potential unnecessary rough-ness (what a name for punching someone), lies the old truism that gambling is destructive. Dress it up on the internet, hand out free bets, entice the uncorrupted into the world of few highs and many lows. But just walk into any bookies in the country, and wince at the sight of yourself in thirty years.

Not that I have too much time to worry about that. One of Resident American’s friends has introduced us to a new card game called ‘gootz’. I presume it to be of Germanic ori-gin, until everyone else points out that it’s called ‘guts’, making me racist against northern accents. I am mortified. To make up for it, I continue to play cards well into the night (including, as Peyton Man-ning would approve of) Omaha. In fact, I won’t sleep until Tues-day morning, and when the cards are put away, I seem to have lost a load of money. Oh well, I’ll make it back tomorrow, I think. I might be down, but I’m certainly not out.

» The NFL Superbowl is huge across the pond photo: via podcast.co.uk

Edward Clark reviews the UK student’s experience of gambling on the SuperbowlMay the odds be ever in your favour

Want to write for Features? Let us know! E-mail [email protected] to pitch your ideas

Access for all: Widening Participation

Access for everybody or de-grees as an elite qualifica-tion? As has been reported

by the Boar recently, Russell group universities have been accused of being too exclusive and not doing enough to attract students from low-income backgrounds. At the same time fears of qualification inflation and rising tuition fees threaten to make going to univer-sity less attractive.

I have talked to Christina Hughes, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning and a pro-fessor of Women and Gender, about the University’s efforts in the field of Widening Participation, specific programmes, the gender gap in university applications and larger political issues with regard to access to university.

Being asked about the biggest success in the field of Widen-ing Participation, Hughes had to think for some time because she

said there were so many successful programmes being pursued, it was rather difficult to pick one.

Among other examples, she mentioned the Assistive Technol-ogy Project, which has been de-veloped by the Warwick Manu-facturing Group (WMG) and the Department of Computer Science in cooperation with Hereward Col-lege.

The aim of the programme is to use the expertise of disabled stu-dents from the college with regard to assistive technologies and the potential of 3D design and printing for developing new devices. Moreo-ver, the students are encouraged to access higher education by working at university and discovering new talents.

Hughes pointed to the specific importance of the project: “We want to engage those students in understanding that science and technology informs and supports

their lives because all of the mobil-ity aids that they use come from those areas. So to encourage them to think about that as possible ca-reer routes, we have been working with them on 3D technologies. They are doing adaptations to their assistive aids, and in this area small things make huge differences.”

Giving the example of the War-wick RSA partnership, Hughes em-phasised the need to have a long-term orientation to the projects: “We will be working with young people from year seven. From that age they will be exposed to univer-sity all the way through their school career and every faculty is engaged in this. And by the time these young people get to 16, 17 or 18, the idea is that university will be a normal part of their lives.”

But Widening Participation is not only a success story, there are also lots of problems. Hughes stressed that because the issues of low participation were complex and multiple, it was better for uni-versities to work collaboratively: “It is very hard for one institution to be able to be able to make the societal change that relies on sustained, in-depth work, but we aspire to do it.”

But she also highlighted prob-lems in both the school sector and education policy-making. She said that due to the disaggregation of the school sector and the plurality of types of school, it was a difficult terrain to negotiate with the aim of reaching more universal solutions.

Moreover, she criticised the gov-ernment’s unreliability: “The way the government changes policy overnight does not help. The na-tional scholarship funding was changed overnight, and so it is very hard for us to plan. We responded quickly, we have done everything to support our students. But the problem is not only policy change but also policy vacuum. We have been promised a national strategy for Widening Participation since October. We have not seen it yet.”

Hughes also pointed to the di-lemma of Warwick being one of the UK’s most renowned universi-ties and trying to secure this status while at the same time attempting to improve the diversity of the stu-dent body.

“We want to maintain the high standards that we have at Warwick. So one of the ways in which we are attempting to meet our aspirations

for diversity but at the same time recognising the levels at which we require students to be at to thrive at Warwick is that our strategy is actually focused towards raising achievements.”

As an example she mentioned the programme Transformations in English which aims at preparing pupils for university by having uni-versity students teach them addi-tional skills after school. Improved skills and also grades in English will qualify the students not only for a wide range of different subjects but also for different universities across the country.

With regards to figures suggest-ing a relatively poor performance of Warwick in attracting students from manual occupational back-grounds, Hughes highlighted the new WMG programme with ap-prentices in Jaguar Land Rover. This is enabling students, all of whom are the first in their families to go to University, to both work and take a degree.

She also noted, however, that much of the outreach work that Warwick does benefits the sector as a whole. As she maintained: “Our programmes, such as Realising Op-portunities or Pathways to Law, re-sults in many of these pupils going to other universities. And of course these don’t contribute to our own figures.”

“In that kind of way what we are doing is raising achievements for society. Of course we want students to come to Warwick, but that is not why we are doing it fundamentally. We are doing it because of our civic responsibility.”

With regard to the widening gender gap in university applica-tion which lead to widespread fears of young men being left behind, Hughes was rather more reflective: “I think it is a great success story for young women.” She stressed that the University had a general responsibility to have a diverse stu-dent community – with regard to socioeconomic factors, ethnicity, disability and also gender.

But in addition to this, she also emphasised: “There are pipeline ar-guments about getting women and also men into specific disciplines. But what is actually still happening, when you look beyond university, is that you still have that pyramid where men are at the top.”

Are the rising tuition fees and the phenomenon of qualifica-tion inflation factors discouraging young people from low-income backgrounds from going to univer-sity? The statistics do not suggest that this is the case and Hughes stressed that not only people from low-income backgrounds decided that it was not worth going to uni-versity from a purely economic perspective.

She said that the increased tuition fees had affected the considerations of people from all social groups and that it had challenged the automatic presumption that young people had to go to university.

Hughes also proposed an in-creased role of the state in the fi-nancing of higher education: “All of these things cost an awful lot of money, they have to be paid for somehow. Personally I prefer to pay more tax and fund higher educa-tion through a collective societal effort. If you vote for paying less taxes, you get what you get.”

In this regard she stressed that both taxation and education policy were very much about ideology and that there was still a huge battle to be fought.

With regard to the problem of qualification inflation, she stressed the importance of supporting stu-dents in their attempts to enter uni-versity: “Our concerns are to actu-ally think about the life course of the student and to ensure that they are supported all the way through. So we help to get students in, make sure they are supported while they are here and then ensure that af-ter the graduation they are further supported.”

This support can include specific programmes for postgraduate stu-dents including financial support but also bursary support for low-income students doing internships.

In addition to efforts of universi-ties, she also stressed implications about our society gained from the qualification inflation debate: “You have to question what kind of soci-ety we are living in which requires you to be doing more and more.

“I think we overweight the eco-nomic argument for education. I think we should rebalance it in some way, so that we recognise the social and the cultural contribu-tions that we make when we are educated. Only thinking about get-ting a good job is such a transac-tional mode, while what we really want is our students to be transfor-mational.”

Claudia Zink interviews Christina Hughes about University Widening Participation

» Claudia Huges photo: via www.warwick.ac.uk

“We will be working with young people from year seven [...] every faculty is engaged in this.”

Christina Hughes

[Warwick] is enabling students, the first in their families to go to University, to both work and take a degree

What do you think of these schemes?

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14FEATURESEditor: Roxanne Douglas

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CurvatureYodsapon Chirawut

First Place

This isn’t just the literal meaning of photography, it is the way we now use to tell stories, to keep memo-ries and to document moments.

The photography section of The Boar has finally seen the light. With the hard work of our website designer and the contribution of many photographers we now showcase a sec-tion on the website and we will have the cen-tre spread in alternate issues which will serve as a platform to announce the winners and runner ups of the competitions set up each fortnight.

With the announcement of these regular competitions such as the ‘Winter’ one which has just terminated, we expect to rapidly fill the website with beautiful images and allow everyone with an interest in photography and artistic expression in general to contribute to our content. Don’t fret if you aren’t a profes-sional photographer, none of us are! We are looking for a wide variety of shots and dif-ferent perspectives on the themes that will be assigned, creating an assorted gallery with contributions from all Warwick University

students. Hopefully this will become an on-going tradition and a way for students to ex-press themselves with different means and see their art published.

The photography section at the Boar is a growing part of the paper and we pride our-selves in having a small but passionate team who every fortnight supplies the editors with quality images to go alongside stories. To en-hance our enthusiasm and participation we have decided to start a section purely dedi-cated to photography, where each fortnight we will assign a theme that will allow photog-raphers to express their artistic side.

There are several ways of keeping updated on our regular competitions; through the Boar website directly, by emailing [email protected] or by joining our Facebook group “Photography at the Boar”. On these different pages you will find updates regard-ing the Themes assigned, winners of the competition and how to participate.

Writing with lightOur Photography Editor explains what the new section is about

Winter’s Warm GlowEmily Matthews

The Way UpJeremie Amoroso Liesse

Second Place Third Place

Theme: Winter

Winter is the season of pure whiteness. The world seems to go to sleep. The ground is hard, the air is cold. This months theme is to represent the current season, the frozen nature, the slow running of time.

Winter Solitudeby Matsuo Basho

Winter solitude –in a world of one color

the sound of wind.

Liam Simmonds

Jessica Hayne

Monica Mylordou

Benjamin Edmonds

Giulia Zecchini

PHOTOGRAPHYEditor: Giulia Zecchini

[email protected] Twitter @BoarFeatures

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Giulia Zecchini

Check out our new photo site online:

theboar.org/photography

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14 theboar.org

LIFESTYLEEditor: Joanna Harwood

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18

Want to live your life with-out buying anything that may have harmed the

environment or animals? This can include following a vegetarian or vegan diet in order to avoid con-doning unethical farming practices and avoiding certain fabrics, such as fur or leather. You can take living cruelty free further by boycotting certain companies that may be as-sociated with testing their products on animals. It can be hard to find acceptable substitutes, as living an-imal cruelty free is still a relatively unknown phenomenon, but on the dietary front it has become more widely publicised and accepted that a significant portion of society are either vegetarian or vegan.

The horsemeat scandal of last year made people reassess the reli-ability of what companies say they produce and what they actually produce. Although there have been no actual studies to see whether there are links between the pub-licising of the horsemeat scandal and an increase in vegetarianism/veganism, I say from personal ex-perience that it definitely made me question what meat I was going to buy (Tesco’s Shepherd’s Pie was off the menu). I didn’t become a prop-er vegetarian, but I would say that I saw myself looking for meat-free

alternatives following the horse-meat scandal. The range of vegetar-ian food amazed me and made me realise that becoming vegetarian would not be as much of a chore as I had first believed.

It’s a nice thought, but the prac-ticalities of actually carrying the whole concept through can be tough. The question is whether you want to spend your shopping trip holed up in Boots, digging through the shelves to find a product that wasn’t tested on animals, or do you want to nip into Boots, get whatev-er is cheapest and save your money for a night out?

As university students, we are losing our naïve views tainted by the rose-tinted glasses of adoles-cence and becoming more aware of the cruel ways of the world. There are a number of societies at War-wick that are dedicated to raising awareness of animal cruelty and advocating living a cruelty-free life. Yet it is at university that we are released from the safety net of our parents’ bank account and sent into the world of deciding wheth-er alcohol or food will benefit our life more. As students, should we look to uphold our morals or pre-serve our bank account? Again, this brings up the practicalities of living cruelty-free; living organical-

ly, choosing meat substitutes over the real thing and buying the more expensive cosmetic brands can all add up. It’s true that most students would rather be economically cau-tious than ethically minded.

Getting help from flatmates who may not be aware of living animal cruelty-free can also pose prob-lems, as you have to make even more of a conscious effort to not be led astray by those eating meat or buying cosmetics that have been tested on animals. However, this can be a test for strengthening your will power, and who wouldn’t want to strengthen their will power? That increase in will power might even spill over into other aspects of uni-versity life. It might be ideal to fi-nally kick the habit of leaving essays until the last minute. Who knows?

The small print on cosmetic packaging can also hinder those wanting to buy products that hav-en’t been tested on animals. Some companies don’t declare whether their products have been tested on animals, while some cosmetics are packaged in too small a way to allow space for the fine print telling the consumer that a product has been tested on animals. It’s also a very time-consuming business looking at numerous labels – wouldn’t you rather just go home and have a nap?

We are bombarded by celebri-ties taking their clothes off for the newest PETA campaign and vid-eos on Facebook of animals being subjected to horrific treatment all in the name of testing new make-up. However, wouldn’t you rather an animal showed a reaction in a controlled environment than for you to buy a new product to find it was not safe? It’s a hard choice but at the end of the day the cosmetic companies are doing it because of the health and safety rules that the government impose on them; it’s sometimes a necessary evil.

While your conscience may take a battering, it’s the time and money involved that can really put people off making an ac-tive effort to live an animal cruelty free life. It would be nice to think that society has made it easier for us to car-ry out an animal cruelty free life, but it is ultimately the economic angle that, par-ticularly as students, we would struggle with.

The idea of following the lat-est trends often seems sur-rounded by a certain neg-

ativity, that is to say, the image of us all becoming Topshop clones, completely broke and devoid of any individuality. However, following fashion does not really have to in-volve any of this, and can sim-ply be an enjoyable way to keep your wardrobe up-to-date and limit those last minute ‘what shall I wear?’ panics.

Following the trends does not mean sacrificing your in-dividual style. Instead, the trends suggest a se-lection of staple items, and leave you to get creative in terms of how you wear them, what you wear them with and how you acces-sorise. There’s still plenty of room for expressing yourself through what you wear, which is, of course, what fashion is about. When you’re struggling for inspiration, shop

windows, fashion magazines and blogs are often the best places to look. They will point you in the di-rection of clothes which will remain popular throughout the season (it’s a misconception that follow-ing trends means weekly shopping sprees and excessive spending!)

and, although admittedly there are some very ques-

tionable trends, if some-thing is the must-have item of the moment, it’s probably because it looks pretty good and is suited to the cultur-

al environment at the time. Following the trends

is ultimately one of many ways to engage ourselves and our identities with the constant devel-opments in popular culture which influence the dynamic nature of fashion. We take an active interest in the latest music and films, and there’s no reason why fashion needs to be any different.

Fashion has always been some-thing that has confused me. I have never been a person that’s

followed any trends, and I only got the ‘Florals? For spring?’ joke in The Devil Wears Prada about a year after I watched the film.

The fuss over following whatever latest trends there are doesn’t really make sense to me. Why should you decide what to wear based on what someone else thinks is ‘fashionable’?

Maybe I’m just a more practical kind of girl, but I’d rather wear something comfortable, or something that makes me feel pretty; following a trend for the sake of being… well, ‘on-trend’ seems very impracti-cal. Not to mention, these fashion trends are created by designer la-bels and fashion magazines looking to cash in on the people who will buy their products in order to keep up. There are enough rat races in all

of our lives, surely not engaging in another one – and only to do with what you’re wearing – would be a wise choice?

I wear things that make me happy. I’m totally okay in wearing a t-shirt and jeans everywhere, because they’re comfortable and I

can layer hoodies and jackets and jumpers over them in

the cold English weath-er. That doesn’t mean I don’t love dressing up once in a while, but I’m just not interested in having ‘pure fash-

ion alchemy’, as Vogue puts it, on my body. If

keeping up with fashion makes you happy, that’s cool

– but I’ll stick to my bunny-eared hoodie and pyjama shorts, thanks.

VSFashion: Who cares what’s trending?

Get creative with trends Emma Jones

What’s all the fuss about? Christine Wong

I remember my course induction at university, where a good four hundred students were herd-

ed like cattle into a lecture thea-tre at Ramphal building. There was a man who greeted us with a half-hearted smile before directing our attention to everyone else sit-ting around us.

“Look around you. You could be sitting in the same room as your fu-ture husband or wife.”

When you’re in your first week at university, that seems ridicu-lous. In reality, 10% of all Warwick graduates will marry someone that they met here. If you scroll through the Warwick Weddings webpage, you’ll find story upon story about how people met each other during Freshers or at the long-retired Top Banana SU night, and in a couple of cases even just on the way to lec-tures.

I’m graduating this year and there’s been some twittering in our ranks about what’s go-ing to happen to couples in our

year once we leave university. Who’s going to break up with who? Who’s going to get en-gaged? Who’s going to move in together?

Regardless of what any of those answers might be, I personally don’t think

it’s a good idea for anyone to get married straight out

of university. Everything is laced with uncertainty, job applications and CVs. You’re going to move into new jobs and new environments, you’ll be

surrounded by new peo-ple and there’s going to be much more demanded of you. There’s no knowing how that will change you (or if it will even change you) but it seems like a mistake to marry someone when you’re both at such a crucial transitional stage in your life.

By all means, continue dating and being generally in love. I’m not saying that you should never get married, but rather that you should allow each other the chance to explore the nooks and crannies of your own lives. When you marry someone, you’ll have to make con-cessions in order to orbit around each other and it’s not fair to ei-ther of you at such a young age. Let yourself change and be changed by everything around you; sometimes it’ll be for the worst but know that sometimes it’ll be for the best, even if it means that you start spinning in different directions. If you’re still together after a year out of univer-sity when you’ve both learned what it actually means to be a working adult, maybe then you can talk about getting married. Don’t feel like you have to rush into anything though, you’re only in your twen-ties.

Megan C. Hills

So you fancy a uniwedding?

» Photo: (left) Flickr/hartlandmartin; (right) Flickr/martineno

Cruelty-free livingAilsa MacLachlan considers the cost of maintaining a cruelty-free life

» Photo: Flickr/epSos.de, jerryfer-gusonphotgraphy

15theboar.org

For those that do not know, vegans ‘‘partake not in the meat, nor the breastmilk, nor

the ovum, of any creature with a face’’ (a quote from Scott Pilgrim where vegans have telekinetic pow-ers – mine haven’t developed yet). I came to university as an omnivore and soon evolved into a herbivore therefore experiencing campus life following both lifestyles.

There is no better time than uni-versity to go vegan as you can cook for yourself without the guilt of rejecting your parents’ (question-ably) delicious cooking. Actually living on campus makes veganism easier as you can prepare hot meals in halls between lectures and meet-ings. Commuting onto campus each morning, however, results in more of a reliance on campus cui-sine.

Unfortunately, veganism on campus can be difficult. For some, no markings on vegan options means they avoid certain outlets. Although you’d assume it’s obvious if something is vegan, this isn’t al-ways true; the vegetable thai green curry in Bar Fusion and the hum-mus wrap in Costcutter both con-tain fish paste despite sounding

vegan-friendly. Thankfully, Xanan-as does specify which dishes are vegan but I fear this may only be because it is in the SUHQ where everything must be politically correct and accessible to every-one (hence their ‘Gender-Neu-tral Accessible Toilet’), not that that’s a bad thing.

As there’s a strange obsession with slapping cheese on any-thing without meat, most restau-rants have only one vegan option (usually vegetable noodles which I could cheaply and easily make). Although sometimes it’s feasible to order vegetarian options without cheese, it leads to a frankly bland meal. I appreciate that restaurants don’t have to attend to everyone’s needs as it’s ultimately your deci-sion to visit, but these are outlets designed to provide an accessible and diverse range of food for stu-dents.

To actually eat a varied diet I bring leftover dinner, reheated and stored in a thermos, to cam-pus making me look like a creepy adventurer extraordinaire. Failing this, I venture to Costcutter where couscous, hummus and bean sal-ads can be purchased individu-ally for extortionate prices be-fore being assembled into a meal

(there are no vegan sandwiches unlike the Library Café). Ironical-ly, lunch ‘Chez Costcutter’ can get pricey. Thankfully, the Bread Oven has an almost infinite sandwich range comprised of different com-binations of hummus, falafel, salad, roast vegetables and caramelized onions. In terms of satisfying your sweet tooth there are few vegan options leaving nothing to compli-ment my soy latte when at Curios-itea. Fortunately, the student-run Food Co-op provides ethically sourced products including vegan snacks.

Despite these problems, people seem open-minded about a vegan lifestyle especially as it is cheap, healthy and makes you part of an excellent community. For more in-formation on veganism there is a Go Veggie Campaign in Week 7.

theboar.org/Lifestyle | @BoarLifestyle | LIFESTYLE 19

‘Dairy’ of a born-again veganShaan Jindal reflects on the trials and tribulations of being a vegan on campus

While the drug scene in Warwick isn’t as ded-icated as London and

Manchester, illegal substances un-deniably play a prominent role in university life.

There are different levels of drug takers in Warwick. Just as you could work for a month on an es-say and cram a module into a week before an exam, drug users in War-wick often take varied approach to ‘partying’ where the drug culture is often inconsistent and sparse over months. Going out in Leamington you can find yourself on several nights out with sweaty revellers and drunken photos on the Neon dancefloor without ever encoun-tering an illegal substance.

However, you can just as easily find yourself amongst wide-eyed, clammy-handed and sleep-de-prived students.

While some students are only

occasional drug users, the night life at university can greatly affect both your exposure to, and the pressure to take, drugs.

There are some clubs (that do not need to be named) where everyone can have a good time. The top ten radio hits are on, girls are dressed to impress and guys’ eyes are prowling the dance floor. There will probably be a fight, at least one major fall and a genuine distaste for one bouncer or another. While the negative implications of many party drugs are obvious, it is at these please-all events that drink becomes your demon. I have never been offered drugs in these clubs and the pressure is (to my knowl-edge) non-existent. When you are drunk you want to sing along and allow the music not to overpower the night, but to be a backing track for your ever-occurring adventures.

Other clubs that also do not need

to be named harness these pres-sures to be seen as cool or different and it is often here that the drug culture truly flourishes in Warwick.

On a club night where drugs are enforced there is a different vibe. Wide eyes scan the dance floor for someone to say ‘I love you so

much’ to. There will be a person in a trance in the corner staring at lights with a slow fist pump and to some this is unsettling. It is easy to feel uncomfortable around people on drugs when you see zombies be-ing created out of usually loud and lary drunks.

However dehumanising the

drugs seem to be, when you step back and ignore this factor these places can be seen in a different light. It is due to the stereotypes of what a high is and what doing drugs implies about you as a person that creates a dingy environment. I have never seen a fight in these clubs, never even a disagreement. Idiots hugging each other and chat-ting for hours on end is a common occurrence, but it is often the peo-ple that do not take any substances at all that enjoy these environments most. For a non-drinker, being able to have a lengthy conversation with someone can be a breath of fresh air.

As Warwick students we are supposed to be strong willed inde-pendent learners; not only academ-ically but socially as well.

How each individual chooses to experience university is entirely up to them, and I feel many students

have their priorities under control. The odd lecture may be missed due to a lazy day in and there might be some more trips to Tesco than an-ticipated but it is very rare to see a sad case of drug overdose on stu-dent nights.

The level of pressure to drink al-cohol is incredibly high due to our sports culture and in comparison I would not say the drug scene in Warwick demands as much. Every university has their dealers and on the whole, common sense appears to prevail over reckless and de-structive hedonism.

Clubbing here at Warwick is a lot different compared to back home in the sunny

lands of Dubai, the main differ-ence being I never left my room over there. My first few weekends here were spent endlessly trying to test my ability to go without sleep as I partied the night away with a multitude of random strangers, who danced like they were having spasms, to the beats of every other person in the UK who was given a ‘Be your own DJ’ set for their 15th birthday.

While that was all well and good, it got quite boring after a while and I thought I’d take a break from par-tying and see what else this univer-sity has to offer. Hoping that you’ve recovered from the initial shock that there is something else to life besides clubbing I thought I’d share with you what there is to do besides simply going out every other night.

Listing out the stereotypical ‘al-ternative’ such as watching movies is a bit 80s so I’d thought I’d give you guys something more ‘inter-esting’. For starters, Warwick Sport has got a bunch of UV activities that are simply out of this world. If you ever wanted to feel like Tron and test your cyborg abilities then this is the place for you. Word of

caution though, go easy on the UV Rollerblading, it’s not that gentle on the rear.

Speaking of rears, why not sit down and relax at Curiositea with a giant mug of hot chocolate and couple of friends and cascade yourself into a dangerous game of monopoly that’s sure to ruin your friendship while the rain outside crashes against the glass windows. It sure beats getting soaked while waiting to buy a queue jump ticket. If you’re still hungering for the club atmosphere, why not simply throw a house party, where you can de-cide who can come. Just remember to go easy on your bank balance or it’ll be the one with a hangover in the morning.

In all honesty, clubbing isn’t such a bad way to spend your night out. Simply make sure to go with a bunch of friends, stay within your limits and don’t go out when you have class the next day or you will regret it. Still once in a while, there’s nothing wrong with just kicking back, relaxing and stream-ing endless episodes of Friends in the comfort of your own room, or as I like to call it ‘my weekend’.

Ready for the drop Drugs at Warwick: all it’s cracked up to be? Henrietta Bennett investigates

Where the party at?Danesh Sethna looks at alternatives to clubbing

What’s your experience of drugs at Warwick?

Tweet:@BoarLifestyle

» Photo: Flickr/Fitness Emu, Leo Reynolds

» Photo: Flickr/Katie Sara Anderson

» Photo: Flickr/Elentari86

The night-life at university can greatly affect both your expo-sure to, and the pressure to take, drugs

16 theboar.org

20

» Daniel Gordh and Ashley Clements as Darcy and Lizzie in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries photo: YouTube - Hank Green, Bernie Su

What’s on

YouTube should be considered a platform for creative exploration, says Hannah Bettison An art form we should subscribe to?

For most people, YouTube is the home of the ‘Harlem Shake’ and sneezing pandas which, although entertaining, are somewhat the equivalent of what

Toddlers and Tiaras is to TV. Yet despite this generalised and rather degrading view, this article focuses on YouTube as a form of new media; YouTube as a platform for the arts.

“At the core of it [YouTube] is always something creative” says Phil Lester (Amaz-ingPhil), who is featured in Becoming You-Tube (ninebrassmonkeys), a YouTube docu-mentary exploring the website as a creative platform. The film captures what is thought to be the main motivation behind making YouTube content and suggests that the user uploaded videos are worthy of being consid-ered artistic. Vlogging, or ‘video blogging’, is perhaps what YouTube is best known for (aside from its videos of hilarious cats) and which gives people an outlet to share their views and opinions on camera, enabling them to reach a huge audience. One of the most famous vloggers is Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike), who after setting up his YouTube account as a bored teenager, has managed to capture the attention of over 1 million subscribers. Since then, he has had the opportunity to make short films – his audience providing him the perfect platform for showcasing his art. Likewise, Bertie Gil-bert (BertieBertG) has also made short films, whereas PJ Liguori (KickThePJ) has com-bined art and video making to create imagi-nary animated adventures, while Jack How-ard’s comedy sketches have also caught the attention of YouTube viewers. With such a range I expect even the most sceptical might find them self accepting at least one as a form of art.

The uniqueness of the YouTube platform seems to be best described by Ben Cook, creator of Becoming YouTube, as “a hub of

raw, untethered talent, a place where we can engage, create and experiment in a way TV can only dream of ”. Any art that is offered to the world on traditional platforms, TV for example, remains as a monologue inso-far as although open to interpretation and engagement, it cannot respond in the way that YouTube can as a ‘conversation’. The feel-ing of a one-to-one relationship between the creator and their viewer is constructed in the way videos are both made and watched on the platform, which seem to imitate that of a video call with a friend. This intimacy works with the wider YouTube community estab-lished through communication via YouTube’s comment and tag features.

YouTube ‘conversation’ uses the internet to be both instantaneous and global which often creates rather special opportunities. Jack Harries began vlogging as a gap year project, but now, alongside his brother Finn, works on ‘curating the best of the web’ on jacksgap.com: a platform for people to find, share and interact with the best of global art in all its varying forms. Take this a step fur-ther and you get the platform www.hitrecord.org, created by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his brother. The open-invite website encourages and enables collaborative art projects which result in a variety of merchandise, books and YouTube videos, without breaching anyone’s copyright. The website is a gold mine of crea-tive people and pieces; it exhibits anything from traditional, fine art to the doodles of a student bored in a 2010 University of War-wick lecture. The power of collaboration can be seen in the instant transformation of one voice recording (which shares similarities with someone who has drunk too much pur-ple) into a profound animation regarding the independent nature of society.

Among all the creative content being pro-duced, it is important to consider how You-

Tube has enabled creators and artists like Alex Day to buy a house, thus allowing the artist to thrive and live off their creative out-puts. Similarly, Hit Record on TV (an expan-sion of www.hitrecord.org) has announced its proposal to divide, based on percentage contribution, $50,000 per episode among all those who contributed via the internet. The beauty of such platforms is the utter freedom of the artist, over both what they create and how they do it, which means such platforms seem likely, as one of the first YouTube con-tent creators John Green said, to “remain rel-atively independent while people run in and try to take the money.”

Some students are already beginning to get involved with this expanding platform. In-spired by The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, a mod-ern interpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice broadcast as a web-series in vlog format, members of Warwick’s Freshblood drama society, Emily Nabney and Olivia Cole, have adapted Austen’s Sense and Sen-sibility into a similar format which is due to feature online (queen-marianne.tumblr.com) around May or June of this year.

Our student years offer us the chance to doodle in lectures, meet and be inspired by a diversity of people, and find ouselves bored in front a computer; we can ramble on about the meaning of life, wine bottle in hand, at 2am in a way that we will probably never experience again. Surely, that in itself makes these moments worth recording, in all their messy creative glory. After all, as clichéd as it sounds, life is art, right? Nonetheless, the rise of YouTube: the arts platform; YouTube: the new media, is identified by John Green as be-ing part of a ‘decentralisation’ of existing ar-tistic platforms that “will be good for media but also quality of discourse on the planet” and surely that is something anyone would want to be a part of.

Until 11 May,National Theatre,

£5 with Entry PassTaboo-breaking 50s

play about female spirit, premiered by

Joan’s Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop.

A Taste of Honey Moon on a Rainbow Shawl

20-22 February,Birmingham Rep,

£10-£12 Tawala Theatre

Company and the NT tour Errol John’s witty

play about Trinidad and London.

3-4 March,The RSC,

£35Talks and practical sessions exploring

Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Hear

from Hilary Mantel.

Moore Rodin

Until 31 August,Compton Verney,

£13.50 for StudentsReopens after winter

closure. Ground-breaking exhibition

of Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin.

ARTSEditor: Rebekah Ellerby

[email protected] Twitter @BoarArts

fb.com/groups/BoarArts

In Conversation

An eruption of applause broke out as Sir Alan Ayckbourn, British theatre legend, entered Warwick Arts Cen-

tre’s Woods-Scawen theatre. When described as “the greatest British playwright living” by his biographer and interviewer Paul Allen, he grimaced and swept away all pretensions with a wave of his hand, as if embarrassed to have such praise heaped upon him. Com-ing off as approachable, modest and good-natured, he did seem to be one of the nicest characters I have encountered in theatre.

With over 50 years of playwriting and di-recting under his belt, and 78 productions to date, Ayckbourn is one of the most successful and esteemed living playwrights and direc-tors. He chattered on good-naturedly, like a grandparent recalling a story, chuckling to himself occasionally on recalling a humorous anecdote from productions past.

One of the productions at the Arts Centre was a re-visitation of Ayckbourn’s 1992 play Time of My Life. Paul Allen questioned the decision to allow it to resurface, and whether it was due to an unsatisfactory first run. This did happen to be the case. Without divulging too much, Ayckbourn described a ‘feud’ that developed once the play was taken to Lon-don’s West End and the insistence on ‘star casting.’

‘My plays were written for five or six peo-ple, not one plus four,’ he stated, criticising the overshadowing that can occur with a ce-lebrity addition to a cast. He felt a ‘terrible sense of betrayal’ at the removal of two of the original cast members, and defined the play as ‘a family play’ that ‘relies on intense team-work.’ He discussed how the use of a ‘celeb-rity’ actor in a play, which was meant to have fairly equally balanced characters, it can be-come imbalanced, which was unfortunately what happened in this case.

Ayckybourn attributes J B Priestley to his interest in the theme of time. One anecdote shared was the first time Ayckbourn met Pristley, early on in his career. Being intro-duced, Priestley reportedly said: ‘You’re a very good writer,’ to the then young play-wright, ‘…or so I’ve heard,’ he then added. Ayckbourn laughed heartily at this recollec-tion.

He emphasised the importance for him of actor-led performances, with the direc-tor acting only as a sheepdog figure, guiding the production and actors into place. ‘What you say is very important,’ he said, suggest-ing that a good director tries to resist instinc-tively exploring actors’ methods.

Talking about his younger days under the tutelage of the late director Stephen Joseph, Ayckbourn said his mentor once challenged him: ‘Why don’t you write a well-made play with all the rules you know?’ Rebelling against traditional theatre, Ayckbourn re-fused, preferring experimentation to confor-mation. That is, until it became a bet. That bet became his first West End hit. Once he learned the ‘rules of theatre’ he was able to successfully break them, seemed to have been the lesson he learned.

But what exactly does Sir Alan Ayckbourn write for? According to the man himself, he writes characters that we can recognise in those around us. Here he recalled how one couple left a theatre commenting, ‘Well at least our marriage isn’t as bad as that!’ He continued: ‘I’d like them to know more about the human race… another perspective… and have a bit of fun on the way.’

RSC Student Conference

Sponsored by:

Boar Arts sent Katherine Price to find out what Alan Ayckbourn says about theatre success and the director’s role

» Richard Stacey and Emily Pithon in Time Of My Life (photo: Tony Bartholomew)

21theboar.org

Nearly everyone with a clout of fa-miliarity with the videogames market will understand the concept of “free-

mium” software where only the very basic veneer of the game is provided for free, while enhancing features are barricaded behind paywalls. At what point however, does freemium software blatantly cross over into the territory of transparent exploitation? Where can we draw the line? Given the recent on-line furore over it, Dungeon Keeper for mobile may well be one of the best places to start.

Attempting to replicate the feeling of the classic PC games of its namesake, the new Dungeon Keeper maintains the dark, satirical humour and the ability to command a horde of toiling imps to dig out tunnels and caverns and build intricate dungeons. While the effi-

cient imps of the old Dungeon Keepers could accomplish a decent-sized chamber in a few minutes, a single block of rock can take be-tween four and twenty four hours to dig out in this version. The solution around this stag-gering case of ransom is of course to open up

your wallet to Electronic Arts to dial down on the waiting. You do

this by purchasing gems, the only currency in the game

of any intrinsic worth. Successfully circum-

venting this temporal barrier, reality hits that there is an abundance of other blocks to dig out, each one about to psychologically pummel

you with timers of its own. This prompts immediate

questions. Where is the game? Where is the actual gameplay?

Where is the core of enjoyment that warrants this to be called a game, unless one’s idea of fun is to foolishly offer their wallet as if a chalice of tribute to the gods of avarice?

It is perhaps apt to dispense with the idea of Dungeon Keeper and its similar ilk such as Simpsons: Tapped Out as games. They should

be likened to cynically-designed cash courier systems, only without the effort to even dis-guise the fact. To define these forms of pre-mium software as games will be to do injus-tice to many other games in the App or Play stores because there is no ounce of gameplay involved in Dungeon Keeper. There is no satisfaction in accumu-lating large amounts of in-game currency which turns out to be worthless because the real cur-rency of any value is attained through real money transactions. There is no accom-plishment to be had in paying for something to happen when the inher-ent nature of videogames since their inception is to accrue reward through mean-ingful interaction and effort and conquering challenges.

Free-to-play is not inherently scammy as a business model. You can see the folks of Tribes: Ascend, Path of Exile and Warframe as examples of developers who have been able to successfully produce games adhering to

artistic vision and earn good money through the goodwill of the players. Free-to-play works when a studio is focused on delivering a game to a player that is worth their time. It works when the player gets something out of the game and offers to support the endeav-

our of the developer by paying mon-ey for fairly apportioned optional

content that does not drastical-ly alter the game unfairly for

non-payers. The model becomes a

farce when the player is besieged, cajoled and psy-chologically pummelled into paying for virtually nothing. There is some-

thing appropriate about a demon doing the cajoling

in Dungeon Keeper, mind you. EA’s newest demon child

is an excellent representation of the dukes of decadence and the gran-

dees of greed that sit on top of the company’s corporate ladder. They seek a glorious green Jerusalem, albeit one composed of dollar bills, attained through the most despicable of methods.

21 GAMESEditor: Tolga Kuyucuoglu

[email protected] Twitter @Boar Games

fb.com/groups/Games.TheBoar

Breaking free of ‘freemium’ gaming

Flappy bird, we hardly knew ye. For the past few weeks the internet has been scarcely able to talk of anything but this free mobile game – a combina-

tion of frustrating gameplay and crude Super Mario knockoff visuals that make the protag-onist's bulbous beak look more like a giant pair of lips.

It was hardly original, either: the formula of navigating a bird through a series of green pipes by tapping the screen to flap its awk-ward little wings aped everything from old arcade titles like Lunar Lander to the heli-copter games that once dominated school computer science classes.

And yet Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen was reportedly making $50,000 a day from the game's ad revenue before he made the sudden announcement on Satur-

day that he was removing it from the market. So how did this ugly, awkward game become the most-downloaded app on the Google Play store?

Gameplay-wise, there are a couple of things that made it a little bit different. Instead of scores that reach the thousands or millions, most people do well to reach double figures, one pixel-lated obstacle at a time. In fact, the lack of any kind of margin for error (the bird perishes at the mere suggestion of a collision) means that every minor im-provement requires a Herculean effort. Few things are as nerve-wracking as watching your score inch slowly upwards be-fore the familiar, disheartening sight of your feathered companion plummeting to earth.

For those who still own the game on their phone, this development generally elicits two types of response: while some players quite sensibly realise that Flappy Bird is a game

that you never truly beat until you delete the app, others immediately resort to the familiar mantras of “just one more go” and “I've got a good feeling about this one.” The latter is understandable given that, in theory, players

can always improve. No pipe is more difficult than the others, and if you

can pass one, you can pass a hun-dred more.

All of which helped level the playing field when it came

to the frenzied pursuit of bragging rights. For a while, all you've been able to hear in my house is fin-

gers tapping away at phone screens, followed by the

occasional muttered expletive a n d the sound of smartphone hitting carpet at terminal velocity. Even now, the sheer endurance required to leapfrog your friends' totals is worth it – if only because doing so ensures that, until you're overtaken, you no longer have to play the damned thing.

But I suspect the appeal is also down to something else entirely – namely the avoid-ance of clutter. Want to post a competitive

score on games like Temple Run or Dots? Not until you've spent enough gems/coins/actual cash on the extra upgrades that you'll need to get there. There has been a backlash of sorts against this model, and Flappy Bird's com-plete disregard for in-game purchases and micro-transactions feels like a welcome trip back to gaming's past.

Really, the game's swift end seems fitting. Just like the on-screen bird we've learned to loathe, Flappy Bird finished its flight without warning. Still, out of death comes life, and Rory Cellan-Jones might just have a point when he called Nguyen's shock decision 'the birth of a marketing genius'.

The developer has culled his prized asset before it lingered too long and in doing so he has elevated it to the status of a collec-tor's item. With Nguyen set to keep creating games, it seems that even Flappy Bird's re-moval from the market can't stop it making people come back for more.

Did you get hooked on Flappy Bird? Let us know!

Have your say Tweet: @BoarGames

The lack of any kind of margin for er-ror means that every minor improve-ment requires a Herculean effort.

Sam Carter looks at the legacy left by irritating sensation Flappy Bird

Worth getting in a flap about?

» Left: flickr/srjm Right: flickr/emabulator

» The gaming sensation was removed from online stores by its creator. Photo: flickr/ThanhPham

Aaron Lee

23theboar.org22 theboar.org

Dubbed ‘sensory fiction’ by the sci-entists and researchers at the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the ‘wearable’ book is de-

signed to produce physiological effects in tandem with the protagonist’s own emotions or feelings, thus augmenting and supposedly enhancing the experience of reading.

It is the major premise of the project, how-ever, that represents my main point of depar-ture, with the said researchers’ claim that the technological tools ‘can be wielded to create an immersive storytelling experience tailored to the reader’ seeming improbable at best. In fact, the sensory element it prides itself upon represents not only an unnecessary addition but one actively of detriment, reductive in its production of faux-emotional responses.

How conceivable does the read-er suppose it is for the supple-mentary belt’s heartbeat and shiver simulator to replicate the blood-curdling horror of Shelley’s Frankenstein, for instance; for its local-ized temperature fluctua-tions to mimic the biting cold of Wuthering Heights; or its body compression to capture the physical restraints placed upon the protagonist in Gulliver’s Travels? Realistically, the calibre of writing sensory fiction would have to resort to in order to yield some suc-cess would be akin to that of E.L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey- that is, writing with an emo-tional complexity tantamount to a spanking paddle. Now, this really would pull in the

customers…On this (rather fitting) note, it is impor-

tant to remember that such a move towards these limiting pre-programmed stimuli would, in essence, be to equalise the entire literary spectrum (regardless of the texts’ quality). Since the degree to which a novel is well-written hinges on its capacity to con-vey complex emotions to the reader, to adopt sensory fiction on a wider scale would be to consign every work to the same intellectual plane- ultimately, that of mediocrity.

Finally, a book’s unique charm (grounded within its simplicity) would be found dis-tinctly lacking in the cumbersome vest suit provided. Although it is important to regis-ter that the model is merely a prototype, it

remains true that, no matter the degree of refinement, the vest will never

capture the simplicity required of it. Put simply, I can’t envis-

age people casually whipping out their sensory simulation vest mid-transit on the un-derground any time soon.

Whilst this prototype does undoubtedly consti-tute an impressive scientif-

ic and technological feat, a means of provoking fascinat-

ing discussion if nothing else, its employment on a wider scale would

be nothing short of a literary travesty. On reflection, despite its merits, ‘sensory fic-tion’ should remain exactly that: a fiction.

Thomas Bell

For many of us, there is nothing more harmlessly enjoyable than Page 3. It seems barbaric to object to it, this at-tractive diversion from our mundane

lives which we peruse with pleasure in the living room, the doctor’s surgery, or the te-dious morning bus ride. Yet that beguiling third page of which I speak belongs not to the The Sun but to the novel, the first side beyond the frontispiece and title sheet on which the text itself begins.

We may safely scrutinise the Page 3 of a book in total isolation from the gaudy images of naked girls and long worn out misogyny. Or can we? One party-pooping technicality which is often raised against plans to end the Sun’s most famous feature, comes in the accusation that one cannot object to the sex-ualised exposure of breasts in a newspaper without simultaneously taking a pitchfork to the contents of the average art gallery. It’s a tricky accusation to counter; one has to be a fairly grim sort of cultural Puritan to argue that art—from Emin to ancient stat-uary—ought to be censored too. To be per-fectly frank there aren’t enough fig leaves to go round. But what of literature? When we examine the history of breasts in the novel, we find that books, like the visual arts, are as guilty as Page 3.

Consider Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, one of the great early novels of the eighteenth

century. Here, our protagonist dashingly res-cues a woman from a male assailan, but isn’t quite heroic enough to introduce himself be-fore having a good ogle. “Her clothes being torn from all the upper part of her body, her breasts, which were well formed and extremely white, attracted the eyes of her deliverer.” Out-rage, naturally, ensued. The controversy did little to deter a nineteen year old Matthew Lewis from penning a similar scene several decades later in The Monk, a tale which reads rather like a teenage sexual fantasy. As a girl tears open her clothes and threatens to stab herself, the repressed cleric Ambrosio cannot help but linger lecherously on the sight she thus reveals. “The weapon’s point rested upon her left breast: and, oh! That was such a breast! The moon-beams darting full upon it enabled the monk to observe its dazzling whiteness: his eye dwelt with insatiable avidity upon the beauteous orb: a sensation till then unknown filled his heart...and a thousand wild wishes bewildered his imagination.” Indeed.

Even the twenty-first century novel makes no great digression from the theme. In Rob-ert Harris’ 2003 bestseller Pompeii, the oblig-atory damsel is unknowingly gazed upon as she steps out of her bath.“She was wearing a shift of thin material that came down almost to her knees and as her body emerged from the water she placed one dripping arm across her breasts and the other between her thighs, like

some modest Venus.” How then, in light of these examples, can one be a believer in the uncensored expression of literature—even that which objectifies the female body—and simultaneously call for an end to Page 3? Is this not the very worst sort of middle-class hypocrisy: “down with The Sun but up with painted Aphrodites and juicy pornographic descriptions?”

There is, of course, a difference. And it is by no means a trivial one. Neither art nor literature requires misogyny, Page 3, as it stands, does. If every book or painting offered a reductive view of women and a voyeuris-tic mode of sexuality, many would shun the gallery halls and library shelves. When we choose a book at random we may be equal-

ly thrilled or appalled by its contents; when we pick up the Sun, we already know what is waiting inside. Sexism exists in books, but is far from a part of their DNA. In fact, the very nature of the novel is to be variable and, as many modern writers have done, one can bend the form to the opposite approach. Whilst one author scribbles furiously on the subject of ‘beauteous orbs’, another might well be reporting on a mother breastfeeding her child. As one tale acts the peeping Tom on its heroine in her various stages of undress, the next may offer the woman’s own perspective and a condemnation of a purely lustful gaze. In an ideal world, opening the Sun would re-veal a page dedicated to human beauty in all its forms, sometimes erotic, sometimes even questionable, but open equally to a panoply of visions just as art has always been. But for now, those of us who believe in liberty of ex-pression must campaign against the fixity of a feature which has proved itself incapable of mutability, of transformation and of progress. For those who continue to support the Sun I have only this to say: if you want a Page 3 which truly represents uncensored freedom, take a walk in the aisles of your local library and trust me, you’ll find thousands.

22 BOOKSSensory fiction: succsesful mimicry or sheer gimmickry Two of our writers give their take on the latest sensory craze literally sweeping the literary world...

Editor: Poppy [email protected]

Twitter @BoarBooksfb.com/groups/BoarBooks

When I first heard about the phe-nomenon of sensory fiction, I must admit I was nothing if not alarmed. But the more I

thought about it, the more I began to appre-ciate the potential advantages and ambition of the concept.

These MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology) inventors are by no means mechanical of mind and cold of heart; they understand that reading is primarily an emotional experience, of-ten heavily informed by the contexts we find ourselves in. Where I imagine the ‘wearable book’ comes into its own is in allowing ac-cess to reading environments that are no longer commonly available. When reading gothic fiction, for example, not everyone has the option to consume it as it was popularly composed: in a dark and sinister manor house by the light of a single flick-ering candle. If the next best thing is hav-ing the book literally send a shiver up my spine, I’d say we’re doing Mary Shelley proud.

A sensory book read in public is its own marketing strategy. If the person sitting across from you on the train starts having palpita-tions as a result of the novel they are so des-perately clutching, you know it’s worth a read.

Moreover, films and television shows cre-ate remarkable atmosphere precisely by play-ing off more than one sense at a time. A shot of a character staring out to sea is effective enough; underpin it with some minor key

piano, and the emotional thrust intensifies dramatically. Why shouldn’t the same mul-ti-layered immersion be applied to literature? Credit is still given to the reader’s emotions; they are simply given an extra nudge. No one ever ruined ice cream by putting choc-olate sprinkles on top (if this newspaper was

sensory, a puff of Eau de Chocolat would spritz out of the page right now,

and we’d all feel better for it). Above all, rather than shun-

ning the wearable book as another example of the over-technologizing of lit-erature, I propose that it paradoxically achieves the opposite. In taking the technology to the next lev-

el, we are moving away from the blank impersonality of

e-readers towards a renewed appreciation of the book as an ac-

tive, physical entity. Traditionalists rev-el in the scent of a second-hand novel, the coffee stains on the cover, everything that takes the reading experience beyond solely the words on the page, which – so it seems – sensory fiction delivers to the nth degree.

I can’t say whether or not this will catch on as a mainstream way of consumuing lit-erature, but for those particular evenings when you fancy turning your reading ex-perience up to eleven, I’d consider reaching for both the ice cream and the sprinkles.

Pheobe Demeger

Boobs and books: the Page 3 debate in literature

theboar.org/Books | @BoarBooks | BOOKS 23

What book are you reading at the moment?

At the moment I’m reading The Acid House, a series of short stories by Irvine Welsh (the guy who wrote Trainspotting). They’re abso-lutely great – once you get your head around the Scottish dialect, there’s few better writers out there.

Who is your favourite literary character?

I really love Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What a man. He had cha-risma coming out of his ears.

What is the first book you remember read-ing?

I have a really vivid memory of reading a book called Cool by Michael Morpurgo when I was quite young. It was about a boy called Robbie who was hit by a car and sur-vived against all the odds. I’ve read it a few times since and cried every time (I’m just too cool…)

What is your all-time favourite book?

I’m going to follow up on what I said earlier about Irvine Welsh and go for Trainspotting. It was on one of my modules last year and I couldn’t get enough of it. The film’s pretty good too – although it’s pretty grim in places, I’ve got to admit.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would be the title?

Hmm. I have never thought myself worthy of an autobiography! It would probably be a lazy rhyme with my surname: ‘Isaac Leigh: A Story about Me’ with ‘I’m Sure You’ll Agree’ as the subtitle. Man, that’s awful. Sorry every-one.

Kindle vs. Book?

As an English student, I’ve got to say books – I’ve never been able to get into a Kindle, hard as I’ve tried. I’ll have to go with the cliché about there being nothing quite like a living, breathing book.

How much is a pint of purple?

I have to admit that I had one last week, so I have absolutely no doubts in saying that it’s £1.50. A bargain, in my book!

Pint of purpleSports Editor

Issac Leigh takes on our bookish questions in this week’s column

Free Norway Books – Sandeep Purewal

Due to a new initiative by the Norwe-gian National Library, more than 135,000 books will be going online for free in Norway. Those lucky Norwe-

gian citizens will have free access to most books published before the year 2001! I am seriously considering applying for citizenship…

What does this mean for the authors? Well, it seems that the scheme will be of great benefit for them. For a start, authors will be paid for partak-ing in the initiative: Kopinor, the organization which represents authors and publishers, will be paid four pence per page until the online collec-tion reaches its target of 250,000 books, when the sum will decrease to three pence.

While this sum of money may not seem very impressive, Moe Skarstein, the head of the Nor-wegian National Library, makes a great point: when the novelty of books wears out, ‘they sink into oblivion’. The scheme will give a new lease of life to previously forgotten books, giving au-thors an opportunity to profit.

Furthermore, there are warning signs that the rise of the eBook will lead to wide-spread pira-cy of books. According to the research company GfK, a whopping 90 percent of Dutch eBooks haven’t been paid for. It ‘s not far-fetched to suggest that the initiative will help fight piracy: people will have access to books for free, while authors will continue to get paid for their works. It seems that everyone can, for once, be happy!Authors do retain the right to pull out, however only 3500 books have been removed from the collection. Most of these are children’s text-books, a major source of profit for publishers.

But authors won’t be the only people to benefit from the scheme. Life can be hectic, and many simply cannot find the time – or the energy – to take a trip to the library in search of something to read. When people have a spare twenty min-utes in the evening, it can be easier to just stick the telly on rather than hunting for a book. How-ever, this scheme will allow citizens to browse through a large collection of free books from the comfort of their own homes. With access to works from crime writer Jo Nesbø, as well as translations of non-Norwegian literature such as Stephen King, people will be reading more. This can, of course, only be a good thing, especially following recent reports that reading really does make people smarter.

This scheme claims innumerable benefits and advantages, and should certainly be trialled in other countries (take the hint, Mr Cameron).

Rebekah King considers how we, in the world of literature, should tackle this fierce debate...

Free books for all? No-way Norway! Norway announces a free library of 135,000 books, but where does this leave us?

The demise of the books - Karishma Jobanputra

Being a writer is notoriously difficult, this is an undisputed fact. Therefore being a successful writer is even more difficult and an admirable feat, one which thou-

sands of aspiring writers wish for as they endure the pointed questions about when they will get a “real” job and no longer have to be a waiter/barista/assistant to make ends meet whilst they work their way to literary success. So whilst al-lowing some books to be put up online and ac-cessed for free may have a lot of benefits does it not undermine the achievements of authors by allowing access to their hard work for free? This moral dilemma is also compounded by the very real detrimental effect on book publishers and bookshops.

It is possible for certain books to be removed from the initiative (being carried out by the Na-tional Library in Norway) and publishers have decided to do exactly that with some 3,500 books being taken off the online list. Surpris-ingly, this has not included best selling novels but rather school books and children’s books, two genres which are incredibly profitable for publishers. Therefore, the removal of such prof-itable genres from the list indicates the worry publishers have of losing out financially. Whilst those in favour of the scheme assure authors and publishers they will be paid when their book is accessed there are still concerns over what this means for the publishing industry and book-shops in particular.

Whilst it could be argued that the project en-courages reading as books will be free and so available to more people, it is perhaps not taking into consideration the fact that libraries also pro-vide this. In addition, although the scheme will mean books can be accessed more quickly, easily and conveniently, it does not take into account the fact that buying a copy from a bookshop or online website, or even visiting the library is not an overly difficult or laborious process.

Perhaps driven forward by good intentions, it seems this is just another way to ensure the end of good old-fashioned books through the pro-motion of digitised reading, another nail in the coffin for actual, physical books. All those (my-self included) who will forever be on the side of books when it comes to the books vs digitised reading debate will be disheartened but perhaps understand the inevitability of the situation as we are truly living in a digital age, where paper-less takes priority over tradition.

Most great stories are completed before their publication. This one couldn’t wait.

Some of the People is an infu-riating, sickening (at times) and unbelievable account of one man, David Einhorn, and his struggle against corporate America and a multitude of Governmental organisations.

Einhorn is a talented analyst who, at 27, leaves a job to start his own hedge fund. Six (highly successful) years later he’s giving a speech at a charity dinner on investment ide-as and talks about an American corporation he believes to be pulling the wool over the eyes of investors, via aggressively-generous accounting practices.

What the subsequent pages guide you through is the backlash of a management team adamant that Einhorn is playing a game, trying to unscrupulously damage the

reputation of their company for his own per-sonal financial gain.

‘Accounting and Finance 101’ it ain’t; it reads like a carefully constructed detective story, made only more gripping and jaw wrenching by the fact that all the events are true. You’ll be tearing your hair out over Government inaction, shaking your head in disbelief at Wall Street’s actions and incredibly inspired after witnessing the hard work of a talented group of individuals relentlessly pursue the truth. This is a man who nine months before the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy called in to question the quality of their financial report-ing. There are no prizes for guessing how this story unfolds.

If finance floats your boat then what Ein-horn pulled off is the stuff you dream of. If nothing grinds your gears more than hearing of corrupt individuals take innocent people

– including the honourable taxpayer – for a ride then there’s plenty of material here to fuel your impassioned disdain.

Regardless, for a 400-page tome it is high-ly readable and the story unwinds at a per-fect pace. There’s enough detail included for those with more than a passing-interest in in-vesting, whilst those just seeking an account of the shenanigans, you won’t get bogged down and bored in jargon.

The extended second version of the book sees the story through to its conclusion and you’re left in no doubt as to the desperate need for regulatory overhaul in financial ser-vices and more stringently enforced conse-quences for securities fraud and Government theft.

Ali Ceurvors

Fooling Some of the People All of the TimeA review of the biography whose story has scandalized the financial world

» photo: weburbanist.com » photo: geeky-gadgets.com

» photo: weburbanist.com

» photo: ntnu.no, olimex.files.word-press.com, tqn.com

20 theboar.org

24 FILMEditor: Raghav Bali

[email protected] Twitter @BoarFilm

fb.com/groups/BoarFilm

Whilst I had my problems with Man of Steel, I believe Zack Snyder is showing some great knowledge of the inherent source material in casting Eisenberg as Luthor. Whilst this casting means we will never see Luthor become the

President (one of the comics’ best storylines), it is a risky move none-theless, bute one that I believe will pay off.

Luthor, at his core, in all of his various incarnations, has always been one thing, and one thing only - a self-made man. Luthor as mad scien-tist, occurrent in the 1940s, relied entirely on his own work. Luthor as fascist CEO, prevalent in the 90s until today, made his billion dollars entirely on his own. So what is the modern image of this self-made man? None other than the modern youth moguls, particularly those such as Mark Zuckerberg.

Luthor as a youthful, arrogant, intelligent, and wealthy genius makes so much sense, and is a brilliant update of Luthor’s origins. Eisenberg has displayed all of these characters brilliantly in David Fincher’s The Social Network, so it makes a lot of sense to cast him in the role. Perhaps because of his turn in films such as Zombieland, ostensibly targeted at a younger demographic, popular culture has an image of Eisenberg as a teenager. However, oddly enough, both he and Henry Cavill are the same age - 30 years old! It makes so much sense for Luthor to be remodelled in this form, and Eisenberg is perfect for the role.

Furthermore, it will provide an interesting contrast to the elder Bat-man/Bruce Wayne as played by Ben Affleck. From what is known of the plot so far, this Bruce Wayne will be a recluse, and a leftover from this previous era of business - a business styled by CEO capitalist dom-inance. This remodelled Luthor will be completely at odds with Wayne Enterprises, and perhaps more brutal.

To address Bryan Cranston - or shall we call him Heisenberg - as Luthor: he simply would not have been right for the role. I think Cran-ston’s performance as Walter White would have bled too much into the role, and would have added menace, but not the right type of menace. Cranston would have been a gruffer, older, and grimier Luthor, where-as Eisenberg perfectly captures the manicured version of the character that we see in the comics. He may be violent, but Luthor is distinct from other villains in that he has never been a street character; he op-erates from his kingdom on the top floor of the Lexcorp building. Es-sentially, he believes himself not a man, but a god; and this dimension of arrogance will be brilliantly performed by Eisenberg.

Director Zack Snyder alienated comic-book fans and cinephiles alike when it was announced last week that actor Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor in the Man of Steel se-quel. Why all the animosity? Well there are multiple reasons,

actually. The first lies with Eisenberg himself, who arguably doesn’t have the look, age or personality to adequately pull off the role. Lex Luthor is commonly portrayed in films and graphic novels as a me-thodically sinister yet charismatic older man. Eisenberg has a history of being typecast to play neurotic and socially awkward characters. He also looks like a 20-year old despite being in his thirties. Combine this with the fact that he’ll have to be bald for his performance as Luthor and you get a rather comical image of a dysfunctional, almost infant-like, man-child. Not my idea of an evil genius.

Secondly, there are multiple actors out there with the chops to do the role justice, chief among them being Bryan Cranston. No stranger to playing bad guys in need of follicle implants and/or hair restorers, Cranston left his mark on the small screen and popular culture in gen-eral through his portrayal of Chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-dealer Walter White in Breaking Bad. The winner of 3 consecutive Emmy awards also made clear his interest in playing the villain in an interview with Metro last year, saying “Give me a call. I like Lex Luthor”. I guess Warner Bros. have been living in a cave for the last decade with only a copy of Zombieland to keep them entertained.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Snyder’s casting choices for the project have come under scrutiny. Casting Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader left fans divided, at best, due to his mediocre portrayal of the Batman-clone Daredevil. Seriously Zack: he’s a better director than actor. Then there was the announcement that Gal Gadot, a slim and virtually unknown actress, would be playing Wonder Woman. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be thinking about how Wonder Woman could really do with a sandwich when I see her on-screen.

I’ve wanted to be really hopeful about this film. I loved Man of Steel. But Snyder’s casting choice for Lex Luthor has been the last straw for me when it could have been an act of redemption. I am aware that fans criticised Christopher Nolan for casting Heath Ledger as the Joker be-fore he epitomised the role. I have to retort by saying that bold choices only work out when everything around them is solid – director, cast, studio – all on the same page. The Dark Knight ticked these boxes. I think this sequel is going in the opposite direction.

A genius or a joke?

“A perfect update of Luthor’s origins”

REVIEWS

Will Jesse Eisenberg play a faithful adversary as Lex Luthor in the Man of Steel sequel?

“I said Heisenberg, not Eisenberg!”Andrew Sztehlo Casey Davison

» photos: Top: zdeai.com Right: static.squarespace.com, smcinema.com

Her

Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twom-bly, a professional love letter writer suffer-ing from an imminent divorce. To cope he buys himself an Operating System that ca-ters to all of his needs. Beautifully voiced by Scarlett Johansson, the OS calls herself Samantha and has the ability to evolve and grow psychologically. Naturally, they fall in love, and the plot progresses from Theo-dore’s mixed feelings towards this.

Given the world we already live in, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine falling in love with your computer or mobile. As well as being concerned with the transient na-ture of love, Her shows the ways technolo-gy, although obviously enriching our lives, leads us to disconnect as people. Her is a film that bravely explores its themes with-out the need for irony. This is cinema at its most beautiful and moving.

Redmond Bacon

The Book Thief

Once the announcement was made that The Book Thief, the New York Times Best-seller, was to be adapted into a feature film there was great potential for the project. The much beloved story is set in war-torn Nazi Germany, and features a family qui-etly undermining the principles of Adolf Hitler and his enforcers. But what should have made for a wonderful, touching film, is sadly an attempt that ultimately falls flat.

It feels as if the film was too afraid to truly explore the nature of Nazi Germany in order to maintain the family friendly ap-peal of the film. It opts to present a bomb-ing, which marks the film’s most violent moment, as a surreal non-violent montage of sleeping citizens. Even in the aftermath, the surviving characters seem strangely disaffected, leaving the audience unfortu-nately in a similar state.

Olivia Cole

Read the full reviews: theboar.org/film

21theboar.org

As is typical during awards season, prediction trends change up until the very last minute. For example, towards the end of 2013, Bruce

Dern was hot property for the Oscars: after winning Best Actor at the Cannes film fes-tival for his career-defining performance in beautifully melancholic Nebraska, he seemed a shoe-in to win. A few months later, nobody seems to know he exists. Using this theory, Matthew McConaughey is currently tipped to win the award for Dallas Buyers Club but I’d like to suggest, once the ceremony arrives, 12 Years A Slave will sweep the board and Chiwetel Ejiofor will take home the gong for a brave, soulful and endlessly inspiring per-formance as Solomon Northup. The moment he joins in singing ‘Roll Jordan Roll’ with his fellow slaves is a crippling, heartbreaking moment of acceptance and his face expresses this perfectly. Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio may be the most prolific actors in the category but unfortunately, the perfor-mances in their respective films are either too safe or wild respectively for the academy.

Tom Hemingway

theboar.org/Film | @BoarFilm | FILM 25

» photo: becksmithhollwood.com

Last year was the best year for complex and intelligently-written female char-acters in a long while, and I sincere-ly wish that all the nominees – Amy

Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep – could go home with an Oscar statuette. Considering the pool of talent, picking a ‘Best Actress’ feels like a slightly arbitrary choice. However, I believe Cate Blanchett’s performance as the fragile, egotistical Jasmine in Woody Allen’s latest offering is likely to net her the award. Although Dench gave a pitch-perfect turn as Philomena, the Academy have a habit of pri-oritising flashier performances, which I be-live gives Blanchett the advantage. She has al-ready won the Golden Globe, and it appears her only serious competition is Amy Adams – nominated for four Academy Awards, and winning none (so far). But since Adams gets overshadowed by Jennifer Lawrence and the cast’s outrageous hairdos in American Hustle. I believe it’s unlikely that anyone will triumph against Blanchett’s dominant and memorable performance in Blue Jasmine

Emily Nabney

It’s been a long time since the category for Best Supporting Actor has been this star-studded or exciting and if it was up to me I would pick at least three winners.

The nominees are as follows: Michael Fass-bender for 12 Years A Slave, Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club, Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street, Bradley Cooper for Ameri-can Hustle and Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this category is that despite the quality of the performances on display, it appears to be a relatively simple prediction at this point. Jared Leto has picked up almost every pre-cursor award so far and it looks like he’ll con-tinue this streak through to the end of awards season. Jared Leto is truly revelatory and transformative in the role and is certainly de-serving of a win. It is a slight shame though that Fassbender isn’t a bigger favorite con-sidering his portrayal of racist slave owner Edwin Epps is, to my mind, one of the most transfixing and frightening performances I have ever seen.

Matthew Kent

This past year has seen a fantastic va-riety of brilliant and intriguing per-formances by women in film. The nominations for this year’s Acade-

my Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a testament to such a range of female talent. While I loathe thinking only one of these brilliant actresses must ultimately win, I believe it will be Hollywood newcomer, Lupita Nyong’o who walks away with the Oscar. Her performance in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is one of visceral, raw emo-tional power; a performance deserving of the numerous awards she has already received. While Nyong’o must contend with Holly-wood heavy-weights such as Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lawrence, she is already clear-ly a favourite amongst the film community, with Brad Pitt reportedly aiming to take her under his wing in order to support her career. Indeed, Nyong’o is an actress whom I hope will have every success!

Alexandra Ricou

While American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club are ma-jor contenders elsewhere, my bet - acknowledging the histo-

ry of winners in this category - is that their screenplays will go overlooked in preference of Nebraska’s understated realism. Her is a strong competitor but will possibly prove too offbeat, while the unfortunate likelihood is that recent media controversy surrounding Woody Allen will compromise his chances with Blue Jasmine. I still fancy Nebraska to emerge victorious. If so, Bob Nelson’s screen-play will owe victory to its humanity and bal-ance. Protagonist Woody is characterised as ‘a man of few words’, yet he is as vivid as any hyperbolic Tarantino construct, and infinite-ly more real. The sparse dialogue between dysfunctional characters is broken up by hi-larious non-sequiturs. For its relatable char-acterisations and sparing dialogue, Nebraska is my pick for glory.

Jacob Mier

In the Best Director category, there are two outcomes to be wary of. Neither consider Alexander Payne or Martin Scorsese (despite past pedigree). The

winner should be Alfonso Cuarón for his audacious work on Gravity. Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is many people’s favourite to win big on the night, but this is one of the few categories where I see the movie slipping. No, should Cuarón fail, it will be at the hands of David O. Russell, whose American Hustle is the weakest of the nominated features, yet has found forceful favour with awards’ bodies this year. If Hustle wins it’ll be a case of a split vote between Gravity and 12 Years, but with The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook still visible in the rear-view mirror, that’s more likely than you might think. A conservative gambler would make Gravity his horse, but those fond of risk should consider the genu-ine possibility of O. Russell emerging as the night’s victorious underdog.

Daniel Kelly

An interesting category this year, with each screenplay displaying unique strengths that make it hard to de-termine a frontrunner. It would be

fair to rule out The Wolf of Wall Street due to some of the Academy’s reaction to the film, as well as the far too quiet and reserved, yet no less elegant, Before Midnight. Out of the nominees present here, I would be inclined to say that this is John Ridley’s for the tak-ing. His script for 12 Years A Slave is pow-ered with emotion and delivered with a play-wright’s grace, balancing the tragedy with moments of human emotion and reflection (if the film is to take the top prize, it needs an accompaniment such as this). Its greatest threat is probably in the form of Billy Ray’s tightly structured Captain Phillips, which took home the Writer’s Guild of America prize last month, while the wit and warmth of Philomena could make the film somewhat of a dark horse.

Andrew Gaudion

Each one of the nine finalists this Os-car cyle encapsulated their own cor-ner in our cinematic minds. In any other year, any of them could rise

triumphant, but alas there can be only one. Despite some heart-breaking performances from old-timers, the blurring of genres from Nebraska and Philomena may hinder their chances. Edge-of-the-seat thrillers like Cap-tain Phillips and Gravity never fail to arouse the academy, but I see them partial to land-based film this year. ‘Actors acting awesome-ly (but not much more)’ should be the tagline for both American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club. After the second sex scene and the for-tieth cuss, The Wolf of Wall Street lost half the voters and while Her proved to be infinitely more than its concept, those old academy fo-geys are still stuck on dial-up. The film that will take the prize is 12 Years A Slave, a re-markable dissection of slavery that depicts its subject matter at its most terrifingly human.

Raghav Bali

Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Best Picture Best Director Best Original Screenplay Best Adapted Screenplay

The Boar’s 2014 Oscar Predictions

The Film team places their bets on who’ll be taking home a golden statue on the night of March 2

23theboar.org22 theboar.org

Awards ceremonies are rarely with-out their controversies, and this year’s Oscars have already provided a source of heated debate around

the film industry.Lana Del Rey’s ‘Young & Beautiful’ and

Taylor Swift’s ‘Sweeter than Fiction’ both missed out on Academy Awards glory this year, so many followers of the awards were perhaps understandably surprised to see the comparatively unknown indie film Alone Yet Not Alone appear among the competitors.

Even more suprising, however, was the Academy’s decision to remove the film’s title song from the running altogether. The deci-sion came about after songwriter Bruce Broughton allegedly used his posi-tion as a member of the Academy’s music branch executive committee to promote the film’s title track, which features hymn-like vocals from performer Joni Eareckson Tada.

Broughton, however, claimed that his actions – in which he reportedly emailed fans and fellow members to raise awareness for the song – represented little more than a “grass roots campaign” com-

pared to the large-scale promo work of his competitors.

It wasn’t the first time a musical nominee had been shunned by the Oscars – The

Godfather’s score was disqualified in 1973 because writer Nino Rota was said to have recycled music from his earlier work.

There’s a silver lining for Broughton’s song, though; the add-

ed publicity from this controversy has boosted sales for ‘Alone Yet Not

Alone’ on both iTunes and Amazon.

It’s the music streaming app which grants almost immediate access to a hither-to-unthinkably broad library of music, but after the company’s fifth birthday in

October, the jury is still out as to whether or not Spotify is a negative force in the industry.

Lynchpin detractors like Thom Yorke seem to think the Spotify issue is “simples”: a case of The Man crushing the little guy into penniless submission.

But it’s this dogged insistence on binaries which is so flippantly unhelpful. Spotify need not exist in opposition to traditional forms of accessing music; instead, it is a springboard which allows greater access and distribution in economically limited times. Especially for earworm-hungry students who are already attempting to scrimp and save in every other facet of their daily lives.

Consider the benefits which have been wrought by the advent of legal streaming sites. There has been a downshift in music and film piracy in recent years, and while legal businesses such as Spotify and Netflix aren’t wholly responsible for such a change, the correlation is interesting to observe.

Furthermore, isn’t assuming that Spotify will bring about the death of the industry rather insulting to the loyalty of listeners? Has Yorke himself forgotten the successful response to the honesty-box release of In Rainbows? Even though a good proportion of customers paid bobbins for the new material, let’s not forget how many copies of the £40 deluxe discbox also got shifted. If the quality is high, real fans will do more than listen pas-sively – and this also applies to Spotify.

Instead, if there is one problem which must be addressed, it’s the same issue which afflicts almost all avenues of distribution: the cut taken by labels and managerial companies. Spotify allegedly works on a meritocratic basis, with 30% of total revenues distributed to Spotify itself, while the 70% bulk is doled out to those in possession of the music rights. Of that percent-age, the cut which goes to the art-ist depends on his/her contract with a label. Some labels offer as little as a 5% share, whereas others (such as Beggars Ban-

quet) offer as much as a 50:50 split.While the debate rages on about how ben-

eficial/detrimental Spotify is to the music industry as a whole, it’s clear that there are more integral issues elsewhere which must be addressed; namely, in how fair the rela-tionship is between artists and their parent labels.

Michael Perry

“You’re just like an old guy yelling at fast trains,” said Moby of Thom Yorke last No-vember, who had in turn attacked Spotify for the somewhat questionable structure the

music streaming service has in place for recompensing artists. The com-

pany has since become slightly more transparent on its pays-per-stream system, but the figures still suggest it’s hard to deny Yorke’s point. Spotify gives a figure of

around $7,000 per million streams. This isn’t a problem for musical heav-

yweights like Moby: these figures suggest he has made just shy of $100,000 for streams

of ‘Porcelain’ alone. The figures become more worrying when

you drop down a tier in popularity. Grizzly Bear, who are arguably one of the bigger names in alternative music, and thus osten-sibly more comfortable money-wise, have around 31 million streams of their ten most popular Spotify tracks. This works out to generate about $220,000 in revenue. Factor-ing in label costs, managerial costs etc. this represents a minimal per-member profit for the band, especially when you consider this is a few years’ worth of streams.

It’s hard to turn down as much music as you want for £10 a month. But looking deeper into the economics, it becomes much more of an issue. Between the two camps of artists big enough to make money off the service and those who are just happy to get their music out there, there’s a decently sized collective of artists who lose out in the end. And your fa-vourite band might just be one of them.

Sam Evans

Our writers look back at some of the definitive albums of a historically influential genre

Rejoice! The latest (and, some would argue, greatest) instalment of awards season is finally upon us. Ahead of this year’s Academy Awards, our

writers discuss who they think should win the prestigious event’s music categories.

Best Original Score

Best Original Score this year is quite clear-ly a two-horse race. The respective scores of Thomas Newman, John Williams and Alex-andre Desplat are simply too familiar to their previous works to truly make them worthy of acknowledgement.

The competition then boils down to a clash between Her and Gravity. Arcade Fire’s effort for Her is an offbeat and sweet affair that embodies a unique musical identity, but I would be inclined to say that Steven Price’s atmospheric score for Gravity is the deserv-ing nominee.

It skilfully blends in with the exceptional sound design of Alfonso Cuaron’s space epic,

establishing a sense of unnerving threat as to where exactly the sounds we are hearing have originated from: the diegetic or non-diegetic space? It is an incredibly important compo-nent to the film’s overall effect on the audi-ence. As a result, Gravity’s score is arguably the only nominee that is truly integral to the film as a whole, marking it as the one to beat.

Andrew Gaudion

Best Original Song

The academy has an odd relationship with big musical acts and rock stars when it comes to picking the nominees and winners in the Best Original Song category. Huge artists such as Sting, Bryan Adams and Jon Bon Jovi have been nominated in the past only to win nothing on the night. So in 2014, why U2’s ‘Ordinary Love’?

2014 is the year of U2’s comeback follow-ing a five year gap since their last studio al-bum, No Line on the Horizon, and beginning the year with an Oscar win might be a good

start. Following the death of Nelson Mandela in December, this song is a fitting tribute to the legendary legacy left by the anti-apart-heid revolutionary after appearing in the film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.

Above all, it’s a great song – Bono delivers a superb performance, masterfully accessing his higher vocal register while the rest of the band provides the classic sonic U2 sound. Nominated in 2002 for ‘The Hands That Built America’, 2014 may be the year U2 win the award. With the soaring ‘Ordinary Love’, they’ve certainly earned it.

Tom Hemingway

26

Andrew Gaudion and Tom Hemingway assess the best of the Oscars’ music nominees

Sing when you’re winning» Gold; always believe in his soul. photo: flickr/Dave_B_

theboar.org/Music | @BoarMusic | MUSIC 27

MUSICEditor: Sam Carter

[email protected] Twitter @BoarMusic

fb.com/groups/BoarMusic

Fire of Love is per-haps one of the most interesting albums of the 1980s, fusing two genres together to create an entirely new sonic experience.

Lead singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s gothic southern punk blues is chaotic, grimy, violent, and – essential to all blues music – full of soul. It reflected the incredibly turbulent life of its writer, whose use of opiates and heavy drinking led to an ear-ly and tragic death at the age of 37.

However, he leaves a musical legacy behind him that’s unlike any other – and whilst he utilised different genres, his music is the definition of late 20th cen-tury blues.Download: ‘Sex Beat’

Andrew Sztehlo

Beginner’s Guide to: The Blues

Michael Perry and Sam Evans weigh in on the debate surrounding the music streaming service

Skip James is now widely recognized as one of the greatest of the Delta Blues art-ists, and yet he was basically unheard of until his rediscovery in the 1960s during

the United States blues revival.James, who was unfortunately hospi-

talised for many years after largely retir-ing from the music industry, was brought back to prominence and began recording again in spite of his poor health.

This album, released in 1965, best dis-plays his iconic, skittery playing in a mix of old and new material, while the pass-ing of time has only made his voice that much more haunting. Download: ‘Sick Bed Blues’

Miranda Wilkie

The NomineesBest Original Score• The Book Thief (John Williams)• Gravity (Steven Price)• Her (William Butler, Owen Pallett)• Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)• Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song• ‘Happy’ (Despicable Me 2)• ‘Let It Go’ (Frozen)• ‘The Moon Song’ (Her)• ‘Ordinary Love’ (Mandela: Long Walk

to Freedom)

For more information on the Academy Awards, visit oscar.go.com.

» Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. photos: musicjobs.com

‘Ordinary Love’ is a fitting tribute to the legendary legacy left by Nelson Mandela.

Local VenueThe Assembly

Ife Akinroyeje takes a look at one of Leamington Spa’s hottest nightspots

There’s a revolution within Warwick’s student nightlife and it’s happening in one of Leamington’s finest venues: The Assem-bly. This multi-function venue has recently opened its doors to those who are craving a change in atmosphere, different from the ar-ray of sticky student clubs Leamington usu-ally has to offer.

The first of The Assembly’s regular fix-tures is the vibrant Nana’s Palace, which of-fers a fresh burst of funk, soul, hip-hop and house. However, with a mix of DJ’s at each event who really know how to target the crowd, this event is one for everyone.

Charlie Sammonds – one of the organisers behind the event – says Nana’s is about ‘get-ting good people together with good vibes for a good time,’ so if you are up for a night that caters to your music needs, gives prof-

its to charity and goes above and beyond any other in Leamington then get grooving to the palace.

The Assembly is also home to Leaming-ton’s newest night, SWITCH. This melting pot of Leamington’s finest DJs is definitely stirring up the nightlife scene. Josh Chin, one of SWITCH ‘s coordinators, claims it ‘sets a precedent with a club night that represents great electronic music’ to the calibre of big cities such as Bristol, London and Manches-ter.

Chin’s words ring true once you step foot into The Assembly and experience it for yourself. Their last event brought to Leam-ington two of the UK’s best underground electronic DJs, Bok Bok and Girl Unit, cul-minating in a fantastic night out that had you dancing till the late hours of the next day and feeling disappointed that it ever had to end.

So whether you’re tired of the same old student nights or just fancy trying some-thing new, The Assembly should be top of your list. It’s not your average night out; it’s a venue which is all about the music, offering a night of great fun, a stunning interior and ex-plosive music while remaining affordable for us students on a budget. Trust me – if Disco Dave ever pulls a night as good as theirs, I’ll eat a copy of the Boar.

To find out more about what’s on at The Assembly, visit leamingtonassembly.com.

With the signature slide guitar twangs and vocal smorgas-bord, the Delta Blues were not only a major influence on the gen-re, but the entire mu-sic industry.

One of the best things about the blues is undoubtedly the names of the artists, and acts like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were at the centre of the movement.

While both were giants in their field, Howlin’ Wolf captures in my mind the true spirit of the Delta Blues. His vocal range goes from tar-coated growls to tru-ly soulful highs; just one listen to Smoke-stack Lightnin’ and I promise you’ll be hooked. Download: ‘Smokestack Lightnin’

Dan Mountain

Howlin’ WolfMoanin’ in the Moonlight

Is Spotify harming the music industry?

Skip JamesGreatest of the Delta Blues Singers

The Gun Club Fire of Love

Boar Jukeb x

‘Best Original Song’ Winners

Caution: may contain Celine Dion.

Henry Mancini: ‘Moon River’ (1961)‘Moon River’ is a unique song in the an-

nals of Oscars’ history in that it has become as iconic as the film itself. Henry Mancini – one of the great film soundtrack composers – wrote the song to fit the vocal range of Audrey Hepburn, and the result sways you in its pure emotion. Despite the Hepburn version not being included on the film’s soundtrack, it has nevertheless gone on to become on of the most iconic film songs of all time.

Andrew Sztehlo

Isaac Hayes: ‘Shaft’ (1971)No theme out there quite encapsulates

the super fly vibe of the 70’s blaxploitation flick better than Isaac Hayes’ funky-as-hell track for the endearingly cool Shaft. Driv-en by sharp violins and the sexiest bass line this side of Harlem, Hayes’ soul & funk in-fluenced theme is tailor made to its character and is guaranteed to make anyone feel like a bad-ass should it come on their iPod while strolling down the street. Can you dig it?

Andrew Gaudion

Alan Menken: ‘Under The Sea’ (1989)We all need to revisit our childhood some-

times, and there are few better ways to do so than by sitting down with an old Disney film. From Snow White to Frozen and everything in between, the company has consistently stuffed its releases with stellar songwriting, and The Little Mermaid is no exception. Se-bastien the crab’s calypso steelpan backing morphs into an entire fishy orchestra of bass, flute and brass, carrying a message that’s both poignant and joyfully simple: “the seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake.”

Sam Carter

Celine Dion: ‘My Heart Will Go On’ (1997)Say what you will about the theme for Ti-

tanic, but ‘My Heart Will Go On’ is without a doubt one of the greatest power ballads of all time. Composed around James Horner’s in-strumental motif that runs throughout James Cameron’s film, the song is full of breathy vocals and arguably over-dramatic lyrics that brilliantly fit Jack and Rose’s romance. With the mother of all key changes rivalled by few, the song ultimately monumentally peaks in a soaringly beautiful manner.

Eleanor Campbell

Eminem: ‘Lose Yourself ’ (2002)Attempting to file ‘Lose Yourself ’ under

a single banner is a futile task. Eminem’s in-stantly recognisable masterwork is anthemic, raw, emotionally urgent, technically sharp, and fist-pumpingly cool all at once. His para-ble of aggression and hope is stretched across five minutes of such relentless vigour that it touches a universal nerve, appealing to hip hop fans, rock nuts, teenage heel-kickers, disenfranchised clock-punchers, and every-body in between. Fuck ‘Fack’ and its ilk; ‘Lose Yourself ’ is testament to Marshall Mathers’ ability to pen truly stunning music.

Michael Perry

Whether you’re tired of student nights or just fancy something new, The As-sembly should be top of your list.

More music news, reviews

and interviews online:theboar.org/music

Shock disqualification in ‘Best Original Song’ category

What’s your favourite local venue?

Tweet: @BoarMusic

» The Assembly. photo: welovecoventry.com

» ‘Alone Yet Not Alone’ singer Joni Eareck-son Tada. photo: flickr/Rachel Ford James

» [Left] Thom Yorke. photo: flickr/radioedit

Sam Carter

26 theboar.org

With summer exams not far away, students will spend hours trying to commit equations, case studies and definitions to

memory. But what is the best way to remem-ber things? Many psychologists and memory experts would claim that this title belongs to the Method of Loci.

It was first developed through ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric literature, and is now often merged with earlier established principles that were given the collective name ‘The Art of Memory’. Commonly called the Memory Palace, this method is a mnemon-ic that uses a deliberate association between familiar locations and the content being re-membered. Practically, the method involves someone recalling the layout of a place, per-haps their home or any well acquainted place that has a number of individual ‘stopping points’ - loci.

In its simplest form, a person would im-agine themselves walking through their Memory Palace and individually relating an item of information with an identifying as-pect of a given locus. For example this could be linking a digit of a phone number with a framed picture that you have on your desk. To recall the items, one simply walks through the Memory Palace and the information is

triggered by the loci. For a collection of re-lated items it is sometimes referred to as the “Journey Method”, with the term “Roman Room” for storing random information.

An experiment was conduct-ed where scientists scanned the brains of people with exceptional memories, revealing an activation of spatial awareness regions of the brain, including the ret-rosplenial cortex and medial pari-etal cortex.

There are a number of expla-nations for this re-markably effective use of our spatial learning, the most prominent theory claiming that as primor-dial human beings we used our brains in a fundamentally different way. Mere survival was a much greater task and relied upon remem-bering information like where food could be found, water sources, and places for shelter. All these key requirements are characterised

by location and therefore have imprinted an advanced spatial memory system, which as modern day humans we can use for other

purposes. A number of English phras-es, such as “in the first place”, are

thought to make reference to method of loci techniques

and the spatial signifi-cance of our learning.

The ancient Latin treatise, Rhetori-ca ad Herennium (anonymous), is the earliest sur-viving rhetoric aged at around 2100 years old. Most notably this book, but also

most other sourc-es, encourage the

method of loci to be ‘elaborately encoded’;

incorporating visual, au-ditory, or any other detail that

adds clarity to the Memory Palace. However for smaller blocks of informa-

tion, just the spatial connection is considered to be sufficient. More modern variations of the method use imaginary places which can

be as large as an entire city. The same meth-od is then applied in the same way as before. Compared to the conventional approach, it has a more taxing setup but it provides the freedom to implement a sort of filing system as well as a convenient path to take. Seperate cities or regions can hold related information and therefore form distinct categories.

Many memory champions claim to have used this method, including Clemens Mayer who used a 300 loci journey through his house to memorise a record 1040 random digits in a half hour. The feats of these champions has little dependence on a well structured brain or intelligence, but primarily based on their ability to apply the spatial learning regions of their brain to memory tasks.

Experts claim that a normal person using this technique could remember the sequence of a deck of cards within an hour, given time to establish a route and associate the infor-mation (Simon Reinhard can do this in 21.19 seconds).

As an accessible tool for students with em-pirically proven results, the Method of Loci may be worth the consideration. Patrick Lane from the ‘The Mentalist’ as well as Sher-lock Holmes have been known to use a Mind Palace, so why not give it a go?

Editor: Ellie [email protected]

Twitter @BoarSciTechfb.com/groups/BoarSciTech

Would you like to write for Science & Tech? Contact us to find out more!

28 SCI & TECHEditor: Ellie May

[email protected] Twitter @BoarScience

fb.com/groups/BoarScience

When you’re feeling down, are you the type to wallow in your sad-ness, listening to the depressing tracks from The Smiths. Or do

you crank up the volume of Beyonce’s upbeat anthems in order to blast away the blues?

Recently published research that looks at the psychological effect of music has shown that the former method - seeking out sad music when your spirits are low - is the most effective method and can be a highly useful method for banishing sadness. However, it’s not as simple as labelling a song as ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ and expecting it to cheer you up. The choice of song and the reason that you have chosen it also makes a different to how it af-fects your mood.

In the study, there was a clear correlation between listening to a sad song and mood en-

hancement - but only when the listener per-cieved the song to be of high aesthetic value! The study surveyed 220 people, asking each one the reason that they chose to listen to a particular song after. Participants who said that they listened to a song “to experience the beauty of sad songs” experienced the great-est change in mood, and were far more likely to feel happier. But the opposite was true if a song was percieved to be of a low standard. The researchers who conducted the study ex-plained this as arising due to it beng easier to concentrate on a beautiful and well-written song, serving as a better distraction from the participant’s sadness. So if you’re a music en-thusiast, listening to Miley’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ may do far more harm than good.

Other factors can also contribute to a song’s effect on mood. Severeal other reasons

that the participants gave included “the mu-sic reminds me of a person”, “the music con-tains lyrics that give me hope” and “the lyrics relate to my situation”.

The latter two reasons had a positive ef-fect on the participants, with their mood improving after listening to the songs. How-ever, when participants gave the first reason for listening to a sad song, the song actually had a strong counter-productive effect. So, if you’re going through a break up, don’t feel afraid to wail along to Adele’s heartbreak-in-spired melodies, but avoid at all costs those memory-loaded songs that you sang along to together.

For those that swear by lively, happy music to drown your blues, this all may seem very counter-intuitive, and you may not be entire-ly wrong. The researchers cautioned that the

psychological effects of music can be very complicated and do vary for different people. It is also not simple to label a song as a ‘happy song’ or a ‘sad song’, as some may not clearly fall in to a certain category.

So next time you’re feeling down and browsing your itunes for something to dis-tract you, choose carefully. Don’t choose the song that reminds you of an ex or a sad time in your life, but do give in to the temptation to listen to tear-jearking ballads and wallow in self-pity and sadness - you could feel sur-prisingly better for it!

Memorise using the Method of LociBen Hayward reveals how both Sherlock and The Mentalist have incredible memories, and how you can too

What do you listen to when feeling down?

Tweet: @BoarSciTech

» Studies have shown that listening to sad music when your mood is low can have a positive effect on your mood photo: flickr/luizfilipe

» photo: BBC/Hartswood

Sad music can make you happierEllie May discusses how listening to sad songs can actually lift your spirits

29theboar.org

For James and Nathan, it made up about 75% of the money they spent. Without it, they would have had an incredible amount of fundraising to do.

“We would not have found the equivalent of what they gave us in terms of commercial sponsorship, the money they gave us was

pretty vital.”Applications must be submitted in the first

week of the autumn term, for Christmas/Easter projects, or early January for summer projects, including a project proposal, a full financial plan and an academic reference.

Ten countries. 3000 miles. 146 days. Ten countries. These are merely the statistics of an amazing adventure that two Warwick graduates under-

took during the summer – by canoe.James Warner-Smith and Nathan Wilkins

canoed all the way from Nantes, France, to Istanbul; the Atlantic to the Black Sea, and were the first in the world to do so. They may have capsized, had all their gear stolen, been arrested, and James even missed his gradu-ation ceremony, but despite a few pitfalls, it was a fantastic adventure that neither of them will ever forget.

After canoeing around Canada during his gap year, James got thinking about the possibilities Europe offered. “I wanted to do something more original,” he said, “and then found that Europe had never been crossed before, so from there I started looking more and more at the rivers of Europe and how they all link up and if it was possible.”

Nathan had in fact never camped before, nor had he ever been in a canoe. “We spent maybe ten days practising in Leamington Spa, on the River Leam,” said James. “It was 146 days of paddling, and before that he had never been canoeing, never been camping before… you don’t need experience to do it, you don’t need to be professional.”

The highlights for them were the random kindnesses of strangers: “The best bit about it is meeting friendly people, and the further away from home you get the more helpful people are.” While the pair were in Bulgar-ia they got lost and, in asking for directions, were offered dinner and a place to stay by a friendly local.

However, the trip did not go entirely ac-cording to plan. “We had a couple of really tough days,” James admitted, recalling a few bad days in Serbia with high winds and a cur-rent manipulated by a nearby hydroelectric dam. “We had to stop for a while and hope the waves passed. We nearly got capsized, that was the scariest bit.”

The duo also had some pretty near misses. At one point the river they were traversing in Bulgaria became too choppy to be safe, so the two landed and headed to the nearest village. James noticed a line of uniformed men in the distance. Then they came across scattered cut out targets. Dotted with bullet-holes.

“We did not say anything, we just quietly got everything and started moving so quick-ly.” However, they were picked up in the vil-lage after exiting the firing range. “They took us back to this navy base, took us inside the base, and kept us there. I went to the toilet with a guy with a gun following me, and I think we were there for seven hours.”

Amazingly, the boys were not particularly scared. “It was crazy, but at the same time by that point we had had to cross a lot of borders and we had got stopped by customs people and border police quite a lot, so we had dealt with a lot of police by that stage.”

“When we were walking with these guys back to the headquarters we could hear the guns firing on the firing range.”

They also had some pretty bad luck – ar-riving in Tours by pure coincidence they hap-pened to arrive on the same day that the Tour de France ended, and were keen to catch the end of it. Hiding their canoes and bags amongst bushes and trees in a nearby field, taking the valuables with them, they spent the day in the city.

Although they caught the tail end of the Tour, their luck was not to last on their return. “Our bags had been opened and everything had been taken.” The canoe was untouched, but the sleeping bags and tents were not.

They were left with only one sleeping bag and tent between them, and it was too late at night to replace anything. “We were worried that someone was going to come back and take the canoe.” So, they took it in turns al-ternating sleep every two hours. “We did that all night.”

They then had to canoe into the city come morning. “In one day we just went around on buses to every sports shop we could find re-placing all the stuff that was stolen.”

They also filed a police report but, with very little French between them, they had to resort to e-mailing and Facebooking all friends that could speak French.

Thankfully, Nathan and James had had the foresight to take a note of contacts living in every country they were crossing that could speak the local language, and this precaution was incredibly useful on this occasion.

Part of the reason the trip was possible was due to the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund at Warwick. The Fund awards financial sup-port to Warwick students wishing to pursue creative, challenging projects of personal de-velopment and research. Grants range from £100 to £3,000 to support a huge variety of projects.

Other projects last year alone included kayaking from England to Finland, produc-ing a photographic report of the effects of the 2004 tsunami on Sri Lanka and studying great white sharks off South African coast.

“My advice would be for anyone who wants to do it to start getting a proposal well in advance, not to have an idea and leave it to the fund to kind of see your idea and think it is good. It is up to you to show them it’s good.” Several drafts and re-drafts later, “we ended up with something that was really pro-fessional.”

They supplemented their proposal with endorsements from other adventurers, in-cluding Mark Beaumont, who holds the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.

James also contacted author Robert Twig-ger for endorsement, who was the first to complete a 2,000-mile journey across North West Canada by canoe since 1793.

With these endorsements and a fully re-searched proposal, they were awarded the full amount of financial support for their en-deavour.

Older than Machu Pichu, and sub-stantially less crowded, Ciudad Perdida or ‘Lost City’ is the site of an ancient settlement in Northern

Colombia. And there is no train to Ciudad Perdida - you have to use your legs.

The five day round trip, departing from the nearby towns of Santa Marta and Taganga, sees you traversing rivers, sleeping in ham-mocks, meeting the sack-clothed indigenous tribes and being bitten to pieces by mozzies. In fact, the mosquitoes are only outnum-bered by the exhausted, menacing-looking government troops patrolling the area.

These days, only guided groups are al-lowed into the National Park, and numbers are capped at low levels to ensure both the conservation of the jungle and, inadvertently, the feeling of exclusivity for the backpacker.

The trek is physically challenging, particu-larly as the frequent tropical rains leave the hilly paths like mudslides. And if you can’t live without Twitter, this isn’t for you, as there is no electricity along the route. But for those looking for an off-the-beaten-trail adventure, Ciudad Perdida doesn’t disappoint.

Matt Toms

Without a paddle: students canoe across EuropeKatherine Price talks to James Warner-Smith about his record-breaking voyage through the continent

TRAVELEditor: Robert Demont

[email protected] Twitter @BoarTravel

fb.com/groups/BoarTravel

» The trek offers stunning scenery photo: Matt Toms

Hidden Gem: Ciudad Perdida, Colombia

» Views along the French waterways photo: James Warner-Smith

146 days of paddling, and before that he had never been canoeing or camping: you don’t need experience

3000 milesJames and Nathan canoed this far across ten countries in 146 days

29

30 theboar.org

One of the least appreciated jobs in the television industry is that of the creative production team - despite the fact that their contributions are

arguably more visible than the director’s or the writer’s.

Viewers might be able to discern a par-ticularly Steven Moffatish turn of phrase or an Alan Tayloresque sweeping shot, but the efforts of the production teams are constant-ly there, frame after frame. Whether we are aware of it or not, what we see on screen alongside the character shapes our views of the shows as much as elements like acting, writing and directing.

Which is exactly why considering some-thing like costume design is such a fascinat-ing thing to do. Think about Doctor Who for a moment. The eponymous Doctor has gone through multiple incarnations and the most obvious way to tell these apart is to identify the thespians who brought these versions to life. But can we honestly imagine Tom Baker without thinking of his scarf? Or David Ten-nant without his suit? What about Sylvester McCoy without his sweater vest? The clothes

that he wears are just as much a part of his personality as his catchphrases.

Consider this: Christopher Ecclestone was the brooding, guilt-wracked Timelord, so it made perfect sense for him to be in sleek black, with rough textures like leather. Perky and cheerful are not exactly the words that come to mind.

Contrast that with Matt Smith, someone who need-ed to pointedly add gravitas to his role due to his youth, with a bit of tweed and classic cut trousers while balancing that with the exuberance of his col-ourful suspenders and his wor-rying love of bow-ties.

Barring the amusing post-re-generation speeches, the first real image we get of the Doctor is of his outfit. Peter Capaldi’s navy overcoat, matching cardi-gan and trousers (right) were recently revealed and they seem to hint at a more serious Doctor than his predecessor, albeit with an adventurous edge given the coat’s red lining.

Admittedly, there is a risk of reading too much into cos-tumes, and it might be easier to give them world-building

qualities when we already know where the world in question is headed. After all, Tom Baker’s scarf was just the result of a quirky costume designer deciding to use all the yarns available to them rather than the quirk of the Doctor himself. Nonetheless, it would be foolish to think that costumes play no part in shaping how we view characters. The Doc-tor is an alien, which might explain his odd taste in patterns, but it helps to identify with

him when we see him in “human” clothing instead of something more outlandish.

Take another well-loved example. De-ciding to put Sherlock into a modern set-ting would not have worked half as well if he was not wearing contemporary

silhouettes. His coat’s slightly raised collar and the dark palette hint at an

introverted personality, while the scarf seems to have become a modern-day stand-in for the

deer stalker, although the hat does make a few memorable appearances.

Of course, there are those shows who are quite blatant about their use of costume as a means of char-acter development. Perhaps the most intricate at the moment is Game of Thrones. On a basic level, each region and associated family has its own style. Broadly speak-

ing, the Starks have a medieval English tilt, the Lannisters

and Baratheons a more

Ottoman-era Persian feel, and the Targaryens have Ancient Grecian cuts. In addition to al-lowing us to visually differentiate between characters on every level, the mix of time pe-riods and cultures creates a sense that West-eros really is a totally different universe.

There is even more to it, though. Look closely and it is possibly to see how clothing defines individual relationships. King Rob-ert, despite being a Baratheon, dressed more like a Stark, underscoring his upbringing and closeness with Ned. Sansa Stark began to dress like Queen Cersei initially, but adopted a more muted colour scheme and less opu-lent designs as her captivity became clearer. All subtle, often lost in the larger scheme of things, but each one a conscious decision.

Costumes do not make or break char-acters. They are hardly enough to make us change our opinions of how we view shows. However, they are an integral part of the cre-ative process and it would be naïve to assume we do not acknowledge that on some level. Just think about dressing up as a character at Halloween and tell me the clothes don’t mat-ter!

30 TVEditor: Josh Murray

[email protected] Twitter @BoarTelevision

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(Doctor) who are you wearing?! Are costumes an integral part of television programmes? Ibtisam Ahmed fashions a response

After a tense two year hiatus, the much-loved detective series makes a return to our screens, finally re-vealing the outcome of last series’

dramatic cliff-hanger. The poignant final image of the two de-

tectives lying wounded in Durham cathedral left fans unsure of the detectives’ fates, and anxiously anticipating their return. Happily however, this new series hasn’t disappointed.

Taking place one year after the incident, we are imme-diately thrown back into the world of the Durham police force during the tu-multuous sixties.

The opening scene de-picts the police attempting to evacuate people from their homes in order to de-molish the community under the council’s orders. However, the situation quickly escalates when a police officer is discovered, having been attacked and struck on the head.

The ensuing drama provides the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Gently and Bac-chus, but it quickly becomes apparent that everything is not as it was before. We find Gently and Bacchus estranged from each other, as Bacchus struggles to put the inci-dent behind him, haunted and psychologi-cally scarred by the violent episode which he only just managed to survive.

This creates tension between the two char-acters, as Bacchus angrily accuses Gently of ‘not feeling anything’ through his ability to distance himself from the memory and move with his life. It comes as no surprise when Bacchus offers his resignation at the begin-ning of the episode, only staying to work out his month’s notice. It’s down to Gently then to solve the crime and entice his partner back into the world of policing. There’s definite-ly some great amusement to be found in the

new dynamic between the two - from Bac-chus’s childish reluctance to follow

Gently around, sulking in the corner and smoking, to Gen-

tly’s cheeky attempts to make him realise that he was born to detect.

Gently is, as always, proven right, as Bacchus becomes more and more involved in the case and

flashes of his former impet-uous, fiery character begin

to resurface, finally facing up to his fears and recognising that

though the violence of their occu-pation may affect him, he shouldn’t let it

‘change him’. Indeed, the partnership is again reformed as they work to solve the original crime of the episode.

This series then promises to further devel-op and complicate the dynamic between the two, although it is likely that the amusingly characteristic love-hate aspect of their part-nership will remain prominent! The new dy-namics combined with the traditional struc-ture promise an exciting new series ahead.

Inspector Gently does it TV’s Biggest RivalriesWarwick and Coventry are set to reignite

their fierce rivalry when Varsity 2014 kicks off this week, so Boar TV have trawled

through the archives to pick out some of the best face-offs in television history.

» photo: Simpsons Wiki

Tom vs Jerry (Tom and Jerry): The quintessential television rivalry, Tom Cat has been desperately trying to catch Jerry Mouse since the 1940s - with limited success. The pair have got into countless scrapes whilst trying to outwit each other, and the show’s prop department has used more mouse traps than every other show in history combined. Deep down, though, we all know they love each other really.

JD vs The Janitor (Scrubs): Ever since John ‘JD’ Dorian’s harmless comment about there being a penny trapped in the automatic doors at Sacred Heart Hospital in the show’s pilot episode, the Janitor has been hell-bent on having his revenge on Zach Braff ’s hilar-ious character. In fact, it is a surprise that he keeps his job as long as he does really - he spends much more of his time trying to trap JD in water silos than he does actually clean-ing the hopsital. It’s almost as if it is only a TV programme...

Eastenders vs Coronation Street: These are the two most popular British soaps by some distance, and they endure annual bat-tles for the title of Best Serial Drama at the NTAs.

Bart Simpson vs Sideshow Bob (The Simpsons): There’s bound to be bad blood between a pair if one is responsible for having the other imprisoned, and Bart Simpson has a mighty track record for outsmarting the dev-ilishly charming Sideshow Bob. Whether the target of Bob’s villainous schemes is Krusty the Clown, Springfield’s political system, or even Bart himself, such plots always result in fierce contests of intelligence, violence, and extravagant haircuts. But at least Bart can rest easy in the knowledge that he’s not hated nearly as fiercely as those blasted rakes...

Walter White vs Gustavo Fring (Break-ing Bad): In a series fraught with tension and trauma at every turn, the roster of adversar-ies chalked up by Bryan Cranston’s anti-hero is as sweeping as the plains of Albuquerque. Undoubtedly, however, Walter’s greatest en-emy throughout Breaking Bad is the chilling figure of Gustavo Fring: efficient business-man, lovable public figure, and ruthless kill-er. An alliance between these titans of the meth underworld gradually churns into a chilling, elaborate game of chess; one which leaves terrible collateral damage in its wake and culminates in one hell of a face-off.

What is your favourite costume on television?

Tweet: @BoarTelevision

There are those shows who are quite blatant about their use of costume as a means of character development

» photo: BBC, HBO

Lauren Howard

» photo: BBC, HBO

31theboar.org

There have been many occa-sions which have prompted controversy in American

sport. The 1968 Olympic Games in

which Tommie Smith and John Carlos made the black power salute on the podium is one: Mike Tyson biting part of Evander Hollyfield’s ear off is another.

On February 9 2014, a new con-troversy was born when Michael Sam – the best defensive player in college football - admitted on ESPN that he was gay.

Sam, who originates from Texas and has just finished playing foot-ball for the University of Missouri, was likely to be a third or fourth round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft in May. If this happens, then Sam will become the first openly

gay NFL competitor. While some before him have

come out in retirement, Sam would be the first active player to admit his homosexuality publically if picked as expected.

With protests cur

rently on-going at the Winter Olympics in Sochi over gay rights in Russia, with some violent conse-quences, Sam’s announcement is a further reminder that homosexual-ity should not be repressed but ac-cepted.

Naturally this announcement should be a cause of celebration. Sam has taken a brave step towards a more open life, and one which hopefully could inspire many oth-er American figures, sporting or otherwise, to be open about their sexuality.

The effect of British diver Tom

Daley’s coming out can already be seen, with female professional soccer player Casey Stoney citing him as her inspiration to go public about her own sexuality.

While understandably I wish to proudly highlight the Texan roots

of Michael Sam, it is important to consider that until 2003 homosex-uality was technically banned in the state as ‘sodomy’, when the Su-preme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas such legislation was uncon-stitutional.

Coming out is not an easy ex-perience. Sam’s father has already voiced opposition to his son’s sex-uality, stating “I don’t want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment”, and to do so having been raised in Texas deserves par-ticular attention.

Unforgivably, Sports Illustrated

reports that unnamed NFL execu-tives believe Sam will no longer be picked in draft because of his an-nouncement.

This is not the first time Sam has faced hardship to play the sport he loves. His mother, as a Jeho-vah’s Witness, disagreed with his decision to play organised sport, prompting him to live at friends’ houses as a teenager.

According to these executives, a gay player wouldn’t be welcome in an NFL locker room, as it’s a man’s world. Given he came out to his teammates a year ago, and accord-ing to Sam they rallied around him like brothers to support him, such arguments appear weak.

I encourage everyone to watch Dallas sports anchor Dale Hansen’s impassioned defence of Michael Sam. Hansen likens Sam’s situation to that of African Americans, who when attempting to break into the professional leagues were faced with similar arguments by oppo-nents.

It is an uncomfortable reminder that in America there is a need for a second Civil Rights movement – urgently, as Kansas is about to make it legal to refuse to serve a gay per-son.

I want to end this article by wish-ing Michael Sam the best of luck. Radio host Michael Brown may have called your actions “selfish” and suggested that your raging hor-mones may make teammates un-comfortable “walking around na-ked” near you in the locker room, but many people applaud you.

You have sacrificed family and possibly a highly lucrative and suc-cessful career, and you have done what no American in football has dared to do before you. You have publically admitted your homosex-uality.

You have opened yourself up to abuse from a nation divided over the issue of gay rights and where the majority of states have constitu-tional bans on gay marriage.

I pray one day you can look back and say that you inspired a genera-tion of gay Americans to embrace and accept their sexuality, and that our country agrees with you and celebrates your contribution to our nation.

Sadly that day is not near. If you are not picked in the draft, I will burn every piece of NFL merchan-dise I own.

Bath and England fly-half George Ford has come a long way in a short space of time.

The 20-year-old was deservedly called up for the first time by Stu-art Lancaster into England’s Six Nations squad on the back of a fine season in Somerset.

His selection is not surprising.He was nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2009, and became the youngest and first Englishman to win IRB Junior Player of the Year in 2011.

Many saw it as only a matter of time before he received full inter-national honours.

However, some predicted his rise even earlier.

I will never forget playing along-side Ford at school. One game I re-member being down and out until George took matters into his own hands - literally.

Handing off defenders on the way, he got us back in the game (‘us’ being somewhat loose with the truth).

In the next piece of action, with the clock running down, he chipped the ball over the top of the opposition defence,, ran onto it himself and scored the winning try. Impressive considering we were 13.

After that game I turned and said to my friend, “one day we’ll be in

the pub watching George play for England.”

I just wish I’d put money on it!So after his call-up I got in touch

to ask him a few questions for the Boar. Joe Thompson: Firstly, congrat-ulations on your call-up to the England squad for the Six Nations. Having represented your country at U18 and U20 level, are you ready for your first full cap?George Ford: Yes, I definitely feel

I am ready to play in a Test match. The run of games for Bath this year has helped me massively.JT: What has been the greatest highlight of your career so far? Be-ing called up to the England Six Na-tions squad must be right up there?GF: Being selected in the EPS is up there but also winning the Premier-ship with Leicester (last year, with a 37-17 win over Northampton Saints) and playing for Bath.JT: Why rugby union? Why not

league? Or any other sport for that matter?GF: I enjoyed rugby union better, and just felt that there was more to be achieved and experienced in union.JT: How much do you credit Leices-ter Tigers as a platform for your ca-reer so far? Was it hard to leave?GF: I credit Leicester a lot. I’ve had a great four years there with some great people and it was very hard to leave, but I felt I needed to in order

to get more game time. JT: To what extent has Bath devel-oped you as a player since your ar-rival?GF: Coming to Bath has helped me develop massively. It’s a great en-vironment with great coaches and players, and when you couple that with regular game time, it’s been brilliant.JT: Who is your favourite player to play with and toughest to play against, and why?GF: My favourite player to play with is Francois Louw because he never takes a backward step. The toughest to play against is Tom Youngs. He’s so powerful and strong.JT: How do you feel about replac-ing Flood? Does replacing an expe-rienced player add extra pressure? GF: I haven’t really thought about it like that. Floody has obviously decided to go to France and an op-portunity has arisen for me, but I don’t feel like it’s any extra pressure on me.JT: What would you consider to be a successful Six Nations for the team and for you?GF: Winning the Six Nations and gaining some game time of some sort.JT: Any advice for our rugby union Varsity match against Coventry?GF: Go out and enjoy it. The team that keeps their discipline best will win!

theboar.org/Sport | @BoarSport | SPORT 31

Ford bridges the gap for Lancaster’s EnglandJoe Thompson speaks to his old school friend George Ford – now fly-half for Bath and England

Michael Sam: brave and courageous in intolerant society Steve Dunne

Sam has done what no American in football has dared to do before him

» George Ford, in action for Leicester Tigers. Photo: Fearless Fred

Do you know anyone who is involved with sport competitively?

Tweet: @BoarSport

“I turned and said to my friend: ‘one day we’ll be watching George play for England’”

Joe Thompson

32 theboar.org

Homophobia in sport is a global problem, and is discussed at length by pro-

fessional sportspeople at an elite level.

For example, leading figures such as former Professional Foot-ballers’ Association (PFA) chair-man Clarke Carlisle and former Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle contributed to a captivating live debate on BBC Radio Five Live about homophobia in foot-ball.

Most recently, American Foot-ball star Michael Sam revealed that he is gay - an announcement which trended on Facebook and was an unprecedented move in American sport.

But the challenge has always been to educate young people about the issue, enforcing positive and inclusive attitudes from the very beginning.

Sport Allies, a new student-led charity started at Warwick, are at-tempting to do just that after their hugely successful launch in week five of this term.

The charity was born out of the Warwick Rowing naked calendar, and the club have continued to fund their progress.

Chair Lauren Rutter, website content co-ordinator Julia Dor-rington, treasurer Sam Hewlings and PR and marketing co-ordina-tor Josephine Lee – all students at the University – were brimming with excitement when I spoke to them about the future of Sport Al-lies.

Their vision clearly goes far be-yond their series of workshops and events on campus.

“We haven’t even scraped the surface of what we have planned,” said Lauren. Sam agreed, stating that “we haven’t actually started yet. It’s all about building a name and a reputation.”

The idea is for multiple universi-ties to found outreach projects with local secondary schools to ensure

the message reaches as many young people as possible.

“We want to work with univer-sities to create a list of Sport Al-lies-accredited clubs,” said Lauren. “If you have ten sports clubs who are Sport Allies-accredited, then they’ll be rewarded.

“Once sports clubs become ac-credited then they can do their own outreach projects with secondary schools using workshops designed by Sport Allies and registered char-ity EACH (Educational Action Challenging Homophobia).

“If five of these sports clubs did outreach projects with three local schools, assuming there’s 120 stu-dents in each year group, then that’s 18,000 secondary school students hearing the message. And that’s a conservative estimate.”

But what made them want to found their own charity rather than just donating heavily to other char-

ities with established brands?It is clear that the Rowing cal-

endar showed Sport Allies the way forward.

“We had people coming up to us saying that thanks to the work we did with the calendar, they were able to come out to their parents. We got a really good response from the gay community,” said Sam.

The club have used this positive response as a springboard to deliver a unique appeal.

“What we’re creating is some-thing totally different to anything that exists because it uses students who are close age-wise to the sec-ondary schools they’re delivering the message to, which makes the message stronger than if a teacher said it,” explained Lauren.

“We’re not going in saying every-one’s homophobic or not inclusive, but some people hold the mentali-ty that you’re straight until you say

otherwise. “We want a world where it’s eas-

ier for people to come out. A ma-jor aspect of this is language. For example, it would be easier for a gay man to come out if asked the question “Do you have a partner?” rather than “Do you have a girl-friend?”

“Between us we’ve been part of a few different sports clubs, and have realised the differences be-tween them and how the culture of one club can be different from another club in terms of how in-clusive they are.”

Julia agreed, clarifying that “we’re not saying there is a prob-lem everywhere – there might not be a problem – but it’s just about making people aware in general. We’re not going into it with a neg-ative attitude.”

The team have a stall at the an-nual National Student Pride event at the University of Westminster next week, which is supported by all the major political parties.

They even hope that British co-median, actor, writer and present-er Stephen Fry will be in attend-ance.

And it is clear that they have a plan to spread their influence across other universities.

“Our route into other univer-sities is through different student unions and sports officers,” Lauren said. “We want to work with them to work out ways to incentivise sports clubs.

“We’re running an event in Lon-don in the next couple of months, and inviting sports officers from across the country from various universities to tell them what we’re doing and get backing from them.

“We’re still in the process of de-veloping workshops, but the idea is that we’ll launch it all as soon as we’re ready to.”

The message is clear: Sport Allies are doing their bit to ensure that homophobia is never allowed to take hold amongst young people.

Isaac Leigh interviews the co-ordinators of the hugely promising anti-homophobia charitySport Allies looking to go globalSPORT

Editor: Isaac [email protected]

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Results12 February 2014

Basketball

Badminton

Fencing

Football

» Just one sight you can expect to see in the Sochi Games. photo: IOC

Men’s 1st H Leeds 1st 8 0Men’s 2nd* H Derby 1st 4 4Men’s 3rd A Notts Trent 1st 1 7

Squash

Volleyball

Men’s 1st A Queen Mary 1 109 124

Women’s 1st H B’ham City 1st 56 5

Women’s 1st A East Anglia 1st 15 57

Netball

Men’s 1st H L’boro 3rd 2 1

Women’s 1st H Derby 1st 5 6

Women’s 2nd A Leicester 1st 0 7

Hockey

Men’s 1st A Leicester 1st 57 51

Women’s 1st A Lincoln 1st 48 30

Table Tennis

Men’s 1st A Bristol 1st 1 4

Men’s 2nd H Stoke 1st 12 0

Women’s 2nd H Notts 3rd 10 2

Tennis

Men’s 1st A UWE 1st 0 5

Men’s 2nd H East Anglia 1st W O

Men’s 3rd A Loughborough 2nds 0 5

Women’s 1st A Bristol 2nd 0 4

Sport Relief Mile 2014University of Warwick

Choose from 1 mile, 3 miles or 6 miles! Find the University of Warwick Sport

Relief Mile at:www.sportrelief.com

This is your opportunity to give your feedback and help us improve our offers for the future. All completed entries are entered into the prize draw. For a few minutes of your

time, you could win a brand new mini tablet!

Win a mini tablet.

www.warwick.ac.uk/services/sport

HAVE YOUR SAY!

How big can Sport Allies become?

Comment online:theboar.org/sport

» Making a difference: Sport Allies on campus. Photo: Sport Allies

Men’s 1st A Leicester 1st 57 51

Women’s 1st A Lincoln 1st 48 30

Women’s 1st A Ox Brookes 1st 3 0

“We want people to be proactive rather than reactive - we want someone to find it really easy to come out”

Lauren Rutter