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It has come to Concrete’s attention that UEA staff and students continue to be dissatisfied with the service they are receiving from First Bus, the company who operates the 22, 25 and 26 (formerly known as the 25a) buses which run from campus.
On 1st September 2014, First Bus announced that: “there are major improvements to service 25 which will now run via Unthank Road every 10 minutes from Monday to Friday”. However, this is not the level of service which has been experienced by UEA students and staff, with many taking to Twitter to air their grievances. Nicholas Walsh, a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at UEA tweeted in reference to the service between 08:00 – 09:00: “Dreadful bus service from @FirstNorwich for UEA staff and students. Huge delays for people getting in.” Others complain over lateness, buses generally not showing up, or being full when they arrive at their bus stop. In some cases, commuters complain that they had contacted customer service and received no reply, even after the
promised 14 working days. However, it seems as if the blue line, which
incorporates the number 25 and 26 services is not the only line with problems, as students who live in Bowthorpe also express concern. Courtney Pochin, a third year Film and English Studies student said: “I get the 21/22 from my house and always end up waiting ridiculous amounts of time for it to arrive and find that some of the drivers are a lot ruder than those on the 25. Also they’ve been moving the first bus stops in the city centre around a lot lately, I don’t have a clue where to get my bus from anymore!” Rob Drury, a third year Film and Television Studies Student, added that: “It’s great that so much work goes into the 25/26 route but it’s not the only route that needs to be made better!”
There are also more general concerns that don’t relate to specific services, as Madeleine Hickish, a third year English Literature student commented: “I’d like to know why ‘young person’ stops at 20, when most students reach at least 21 before they leave uni”.
When approached for comment, First Bus said: “The changes which were implemented on September 21 have seen resources moved
from the X25 service to services 25 and 26, which has created more capacity.
“We are aware of occasional journeys where capacity has been an issue and we are closely monitoring this. It naturally settles down as student demand for services spreads across the morning peak. We make every effort to provide the best possible services and only operate double decker vehicles on this high frequency route.
“Unfortunately we have experienced lateness on some journeys due to heavy traffic and congestion caused by roadworks in the city centre. These major infrastructure improvements are due to be completed in early November and this will, in turn, improve the reliability of the service.
“We welcome all feedback about our services and thank those passengers who have already been in touch. Our customer services charter states that we will respond to queries within 14 working days.”
Anybody concerned about the service received from First Bus are encouraged to contact the UEA’s Travel and Transport team by emailing [email protected] or by calling 01603 592353.
The National Union of Students (NUS) stepped into the debate on the minimum wage by criticising the recent 5p pay rise for apprentices earning the minimum wage. The wage, which is the minimum amount apprentices can be paid, rose from £2.68 to £2.73, a total rise of just 5 pence, while wages for adults in employment rose by 19p and wages for 18-20 year olds rose by 10p.
In a press release, the NUS attacked what it called the ‘poverty pay’, highlighted by such a small rise and called for a clampdown. Toni Pearce, NUS President stated: “Apprenticeships create fantastic
opportunities for both apprentices and employers, but it’s high time they were awarded a decent pay rise”.
She also claimed that the ‘meagre’ pay on offer to apprentices would be a deterrent to the young people wanting to take up apprenticeships across the country. However, government figures suggest that since 2011 over one million people have taken up apprenticeships; a figure higher than in the three academic years prior.
The NUS is backing this month’s “Britain Needs a Pay Rise” campaign organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which will hold a demonstration in London on the 18th October. The organisers are calling for a fairer and properly enforced minimum wage, higher wages where possible, and crackdowns on
executive pay, arguing that overall wages for everyone (outside the financial sector) have been shrinking since the 1970s.
The TUC’s demonstration provides a platform for the NUS to show the student
body’s commitment to fairer pay. The issue has been raised by a number of political parties looking to maximise voter support in the run up to the general election in May.
In its attack on low wages for apprenticeships, the NUS has also argued
that there is a larger problem with the very nature of apprenticeships in the UK. Research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there are huge discrepancies in the amount paid to apprentices.
Those doing what are seen as traditionally male dominated apprenticeships – such as engineering and construction – tend to be paid more than those people doing apprenticeships in childcare or hairdressing, which are traditionally seen as more female dominated.
The EHRC’s findings, however, go further, and suggest that apprentices doing engineering and construction also get more classroom time and on-the-job training as well.
Yan MalinowskiNews reporter
Geri ScottEditor-in-Chief
National Union of Students launches attack on low apprenticeship pay
301Issue14.10.14
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05Neil Ward: improving assessment & feedback
Should we be preparing for a zombie apocalypse?12
“It’s high time they were awarded a decent pay rise”Flickr: Pete Forsyth
Josh Patterson reviews Gone Girlvenue
Students dissatisfied with First Bus servicePhoto: Flickr, Steven Hughes
2 Editorial
Union HouseUniversity of East Anglia
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www.concrete-online.co.uk
Editor-in-chiefGeri Scott
Deputy editorPeter Sheehan
Managing editorElla Gilbert
Website administratorWill Cockram
NewsElliot Folan & Dan Falvey
CommentJoe Jameson
GlobalOliver Hughes
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TravelJodie Snow
LifestyleRebecca Bemment
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Chief copy editorsHelena Bradbury & Frances McKeown
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Got a [email protected]
The University of East Anglia’sindependent student newspaper
since 1992
Concrete welcomes all letters and emails, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Letters should be addressed to the editor-in-chief, and include contact details. All emails should be sent to [email protected]. We will consider anonymous publication, and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Anonymous article submissions are permitted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the newspaper. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced through any means without the express permission of the editor, Geraldine Scott. Published by UUEAS Concrete Society ©2014 Concrete BMc ISSN 1351-2773
editor’s columnTHE
I want to start by saying a massive thank you to everyone who came out to the Big Meet on 3rd October. We had a turnout of just over 150 people, which was incredible, and our mailing lists are now bursting at the seams! But that doesn’t mean that you can’t still get involved, if you’re still interested and couldn’t make the Big Meet, drop me an email on [email protected]
In the same thread, Concrete are recruiting! We’re looking for an Art and Design Director, a Social Media Co-ordinator and a Social Secretary. If you want to find out more about any of these roles, or to apply, head over to the ‘Get Involved’ page on the Concrete website. The closing date is Friday 17th October at 17:00, so get a wiggle on!
As for this issue, we’ve got some excellent contributions from new writers and also those who are more seasoned into the rhythm of Concrete. Comment features an engaging debate on whether the West should be intervening in Iraq to fight against Islamic State, while in Travel we have a guest writer from Helsinki profiling his experience in Lake Toba, Indonesia.
In Venue, Fashion looks at how to wear monochrome this Autumn, and Film reviews the new must-see film Gone Girl.
Something which I am really excited about
this week is the University Writers’ Service Training Workshop. The University Writers’ Service is a UEA-led initiative that provides online businesses with content writing services by employing talented students from every school of study. It’s a brilliant way to start getting paid for your writing and also access professional training. The University Writers’ Service is open to all students in their 2nd, 3rd and post-graduate years, so head along to Lecture Theatre 1 on 15th October from 15:00 – 17:00 to find out more.
Finally, two UEA students have gained national coverage in the last few days for their #gowiththeflow campaign. Inspired by the success of Brazilian eco-group ‘SOS Mata Atlântica’, who encourage people to save water by going for a wee while they are in the shower!
Debs Torr and Chris Dobson have adapted this for the university, estimating that over the time period of a year the 15,000 students at UEA could save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The duo are representing UEA in nPower’s national Future Leader’s Challenge, which encourages students to come up with an environmental initiative on campus. Take a look at Debs’ article in Features to find out more!
In issue 300 (Operation Beautiful UEA) we incorrectly called Operation Beautiful founder, Sarah-Joy Wiskes. Her name is, in fact, Sarah-Joy Wickes. We Apologise for any confusion caused.
In the the supplement From the Archives, the date of the article “UEA’s rising star” was not indicated. This article was from issue 200 which was published on 14th February 2007.
Complaints
If you wish to make a complaint about an article in the paper or on the website, or about a social media post, please email the editor ([email protected]) to explain the precise nature of your complaint and to clearly indicate the relevant article, passage or sentence. We will be pleased to respond as soon as we are able.
Corrections, clarifications & complaintsIt is the policy of Concrete to correct errors of which we become aware.
Geri ScottEditor-in-Chief
AskMarxRevolutionary lifestyle advice from the father of Communism
Dear Marx,Where do you stand on
the North-South divide? An’ does tha’ care for a pork pie?
Comrade! I give my unwavering support to the proletariat in their struggle for dignity in work and their quest for freedom from the oppression of the bourgeoise. I am very much on the side of the North, the eventual and undoubted victor in the great class struggle of our time.
I love the simple, humble food of industrious workers: the pork pie is the pinnacle of the class war.
Dear Marx,Tell us of your vices. Are
you partial to a Kit-Kat?
Comrade! I delight in any confectionary that comes in such a brilliant shade of communist red! And it is all the better that you can split it in two so easily: one part for the worker, one part for the state.
Thus, the Kit-Kat is the embodiment in chocolate of the great maxim of the party: “from each according to his ability; to each according to his need!”
It is a shame that it is made by such a dirty capitalist company. But I like to think that by using their products as a symbol of the ideology of the workers, we may, as it were, give a Kit-Kat salute to the bourgeoisie.
Dear Marx,I need to drink to deal
with the pressures of university life. What do you advise?
Comrade! Drink vodka, the great drink of the proletariat! And being potato based, it is a good source of carbs.
Dear Marx,Where is the ideal
ORFDWLRQ�IRU�D�ğUVW�GDWH�IRU�two star-crossed workers?
Comrade! There is surely no better destination to take your beloved than the factory in which you inevitably met! Together, you will savour in the hard work of your comrades, and the collective spirit will only strengthen
your romantic bond. May your relationship grow as strong as the Iron Curtain and may you bring forth more budding revolutionaries to our great country.
Dear Marx,Where do you stand
RQ�WKH��JRZLWKWKHĠRZ�campaign? Do you wee in the shower?
Comrade! I approve strongly of anything that increases the efficiency of the worker. Urinating in the shower will save time which may then be spent on productive enterprise: working for the good of the cause and for the socialist state.
Do you have a question for Marx? [email protected]
“The Big Meet was incredible, and our
mailing lists are now bursting at the seams!”
As revealed to Peter Sheehan & Geri Scott
Union of UEA Students celebrates Black History Month Page 5NEWS
Union becomes accredited living wage employer
All full-time and part-time staff at the Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) are now paid the living wage of £7.65 per hour.
UUEAS has become an accredited living wage employer, a year after committing to the Fair Campus Campaign, which aimed to reduce pay ratios and introduce the living wage at UEA and nationally. The living wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually, calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK.
Additionally, the UUEAS is now also a member of the Living Wage Foundation and Wagemark Foundation – organisations that advocate income quality and fair standard for companies and organisations. These are achievable, the UUEAS argues, by “rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay”.
Chris Jarvis, UUEAS Campaigns and Democracy Officer believes that there is more to be done to enhance income equality and standard. He says that: “the step the Union took was great but I don’t think we should be the only organization doing so”. The living wage, he said, should be assured not only for directly employed staff at the UEA, but also
UEA’s sub-contracted employees and other workers in Norwich.
The current pay ratio at UEA is still over 15:1, and Jarvis argued that not all students know of their employment rights and benefits of Trade Union membership.
The Union’s “Living Wage and Your Employment Rights” campaign aims to ensure fair working conditions and welcomes all students to participate. For further information, get in touch Chris Jarvis on [email protected]
Photo: Flickr, Karen Bryan
Mai-Vi DangNews reporter
Osborne: apprenticeships should be funded by cutting youth benefits
At the Conservative conference two weeks ago, the Chancellor, George Osborne unveiled plans that he claims will tackle the long term problem of youth unemployment, including removing housing benefit from childless young people, preventing under-21s from claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance if they are still unemployed after six months and using the money saved to create one million extra apprenticeships. The plans will be implemented if the Conservatives win a majority in next year’s general election.
David Cameron told Andrew Marr: “At heart I want us effectively to abolish youth unemployment. I want us to end the idea that aged 18 you leave school, go and leave home, claim unemployment benefit and claim housing benefit. We should not be offering that choice to young people. We should be saying to people you should be earning or learning”.
The Conservatives claim that these new plans would give unemployed 18-21 year olds six months to find work or training, otherwise they would be offered community work to perform. If this work was turned down their Job Seekers Allowance would be withdrawn.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister highlighted his plan to prevent childless 18-21-year-olds from claiming housing benefits. According to the Conservatives, the move will help incentivise more young people to find work or training after education instead of entering into the welfare state and a “life of dependency”. Chris Goulden, Head of Poverty Research at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has said that the increase in apprenticeships would be a welcome move forward but has also voiced his concerns that
these plans may harm the unemployed. He said: “This should not come at the expense of people in receipt of out of work benefits.
“If we want to reduce the welfare bill, we need to address the underlying drivers of poverty; the high cost of housing, low pay and barriers to work, such as affordable childcare”.
The Conservatives say that the money saved by cutting these benefits to young people would be invested into increasing the number of apprenticeships from two million
up to three million. The focus on apprenticeships comes after
the Labour leader Ed Miliband announced plans at the Labour party conference to ensure the number of people starting apprenticeships was in line with the number of people starting university by the year 2025.
At present the number of 16-19 year olds starting apprenticeships has slumped by 12 percent in the last three years. The numbers are down from 129,900 in 2011-12 to 114,500 in 2012-13.
Photo: Flickr, HM Treasury
Cameron BradburyNews reporter
50% women-only rules for NUS elections FRQğUPHGUnion councillors confirmed new rules that all delegations sent to the National Union of Students National Conference must now be composed of at least 50% self-identifying women.
UUEAS will be releasing a statement expressing concern over the rule change, and urging the NUS to consider including non binary people in the new “fair representation” rules so that representation of non-male genders generally is boosted. The change means that at least two out of UEA’s five NUS delegates must now be women.
Ethical Steering Group agreedCouncil endorsed a proposal for an “Ethical Steering Group” that will review the products purchased by UUEAS to see if they conform to its ethical standards. The group will include UUEAS officers and staff.
Free education discussion delayedCouncil voted to delay a discussion on supporting a November 19th free education protest. Proposing the delay, Undergraduate Education Officer, Connor Rand, said that he should have been consulted on a motion affecting education, and argued that there would still be enough time to organise for the demo if Council voted to support it at its next meeting. Opposing the delay, Campaigns & Democracy Officer, Chris Jarvis, argued that any issues with the motion could have been solved through a m e n d m e n t s and said time was running out to organise for the demo.
Union Council round up
The 18th September meeting of SOC saw student officers vote to confirm the timetable for student union elections, with elections for National Union of Students (NUS) conference delegates scheduled for 5th – 7th November 2014. Elections will also take place on those dates for delegates to NUS Women’s Conference and NUS LGBT+ Conference, as well as for student members of the commercial boards of UUEAS services like the Waterfront. Nominations for the various elections will open on Monday 13th October and close on Friday 24th October, with campaigning beginning on Monday 3rd November and voting opening on Wednesday 5th November.
Union Officers also approved spending of £2,200 to promote and support a trade union demo on the 18th of October, with UUEAS providing three coaches to take students to the demonstration. The SOC also elected Theo Antoniou-Philips, non-portfolio officer, as the first student non-executive director of the commercial board that governs student union services. Stela Glakousaki, International Students’ Officer, was elected as the first student non-executive director of the commercial board that governs the Waterfront.
9th October 2014
Student Officer Committee18th September 2014
With the final party conferences before the 2015 general election now over the race for votes has well and truly begun. Each party hoping to gain political office next year will need a clear plan of how they are going to secure an election victory. According to a leaked document, the Labour party has set its eyes on the votes of students in order to maximise their chances of election success.
The leaked information highlights that Labour are planning to put emphasis on their election campaign in marginal university constituencies where the student vote could prove crucial in maximising the number of seats that Labour win at the general election next May.
Although not confirmed, it is believed that Ed Miliband’s party has been working with Youthsight in polling students and have identified eight ‘key’ marginal university towns which have a large student vote and are target Labour seats.
To add to this, recent research by the NUS has revealed that there are a total of 197 seats which have a majority of 10 percent or less and would require a swing of only five percent to see a change in who is MP.
According to the NUS, data from the 2011 census illustrates that in all bar six of these constituencies full time students are a bigger proportion of the electorate than the 5% required swing vote to see a change in who represents the community at Westminster.
The NUS President, Toni Pearce, said that
these results sent a clear message: “Students are the force to be reckoned with at the ballot box”.
In the 2010 general election the Norwich South seat was won by Liberal Democrat Simon Wright. However, having only won 29.4% of the vote and only narrowly beating Charles Clarke, the former Labour MP for Norwich South, by 0.7%, it is likely that Norwich’s student vote will prove to be key in determining who wins the Norwich South seat next May.
Clive Lewis, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Norwich South at the 2015 general election has indicated that despite Norwich needing a swing of less than 500 votes to see him win the Norwich South seat next May, there is a lot of work to do in order to win the votes of Norwich:
“Winning here won’t be easy. Many have lost faith in politics and politicians. If I’m to win, then I have to reach out, reconnect and rebuild that trust. That means having some principles, showing some backbone and being Norwich’s voice in Westminster, not Westminster’s voice in Norwich”.
The recent research by the NUS provides damning information for Simon Wright MP who is looking to retain his seat at the general election next year; according to the NUS’ polls, only five per cent of students would vote for the Liberal Democrats.
However, in spite of these results Wright remains optimistic about next year’s election campaign: “I am proud of the Lib Dem record in government in building both a stronger economy and a fairer society, which gives everyone the chance to succeed in life, and I
am confident that this is a record that will gain popularity amongst students and is also one that we can build on after the election.
“We do, as a party, need to work hard to emphasise our achievements in Government and how we will build on them in a future government. However, we are up for that challenge nationally and locally, and I do firmly believe on that basis that we can win here again in Norwich South next year”.
Ever felt the soul crushing pressure that accompanies putting together your CV? Perhaps you don’t know which extra-curricular activities to list, or the best way to spin travelling Australia for six months as a ‘transferrable life skill’. Well, it turns out all the hard work that goes into your curriculum vitae may just be wasted, with 42% of employers binning CVs due to a lack of understanding, as the majority struggle to understand the complicated jargon used by candidates.
While UEA students are no strangers to acronyms, it has been revealed that 57% of employers don’t know their BAs from their BTECs, and as many as 95% were unable to identify the most advanced qualification from a list that included BTEC and NVQ.
This is just adding to the belief held by over two-thirds of employers that confusing jargon and flowery language are merely used to cover up inadequacies in CVs.
Chrissie Maher OBE, Founder and Director of the Plain English Campaign, said: “The research carried out by the City & Guilds highlights a serious problem. Plenty of employers won’t have a clue about the candidates ability to do the job if they don’t know what a qualification is worth, or even what it means”.
So what does this mean for UEA students? Coming from a university with many acronyms, it means that more than ever we need to prove that our qualifications are applicable to the world of work. Secondly, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve studied
Business, English, or Extreme Fishing; make sure to tell your future employers how and why your degree is applicable to the real life. Sometimes to get noticed you just have to
spell it out for them.But of course, don’t forget, it’s what goes
on your CV that matters more than how you phrase it in the first place.
Employers “don’t understand CV abbreviations”
University constituencies to be at centre of 2015 general election battleground
Flickr, David Terrar
4 News
Dan FalveyNews editor
Megan BaynesNews reporter
INTO Union Council election sees 42% turnout
International Students in UEA’s INTO school turned out in record numbers to elect their Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) union council representative on Wednesday, with turnout hitting 42% – more than double the average campus-wide turnout in the UUEAS full-time officer elections in March 2014, which was 17%.
The high turnout amongst international students follows the election of Yinbo Yu in March – the first international student elected as a full-time officer – and accompanies increased attempts by the UUEAS to engage traditionally hard-to-reach students. Such attempts have included new “liberation caucuses” for marginalised students like women, LGBTQ+ students, disabled students and ethnic minority students, as well as spaces for international students and a new Graduate Assembly for postgraduate students.
Stela Glakousaki, International Students’ Officer at UUEAS, said: “It was really exciting to see nine candidates running for Into Council Rep and over 40% students voted! Following that, last night, in the first Union Council, we were really happy to see international students getting involved and running for positions.... It’s good to know that international students are eager to get involved with the SU, not only in student opportunities but also democracy. We are running an ‘international fees guarantee’ campaign as one of the priority ones this year and we really hope International students will join us”.
A UUEAS spokesperson said: “Martin’s election means that INTO students’ voice will be heard at the heart of Union democracy and Martin will be able to bring the issues that concern INTO students to Council.
“We had a great turnout with 42% of INTO students voting. The high turnout was thanks to the incredibly hard work that the candidates did in promoting the election. Thanks to all of them for their efforts and, also, to INTO staff for their help and support.
“Commiserations to the unsuccessful candidates and congratulations to Martin”.
Nine candidates stood in the election, with Martin Xiong elected to serve as INTO’s union councillor for 2014-15. The full results are shown below.
Elliot FolanNews editor
Martin Xiong 128 votes, 52%
Mohammed Al-Hasan 36 votes, 14%
Ziying 33 votes, 14%
Qi Zhang 24 votes, 10%
Lok Hang Lam 9 votes, 4%
Fuyu Tian 5 votes, 2%
Daria Kirvonozhenkova 4 votes, 2%
Yan Yang 3 votes, 1%
Artyom Golossenko 2 votes, 1%
Re-open nominations 1 vote, 0%
Valid votes: 244 (turnout of 42%)
Spoilt ballot papers: 8
INTO Union Council Election
Photo: Flickr, Flazingo Photos
Clive Lewis, the Labour party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Norwich South Norwich Labour Party
8th October 2014
News 5Students at the University of East
Anglia (UEA) consistently report low levels of satisfaction with assessment
and feedback procedures at the university, something which knocks a significant dent in its otherwise improving position in a number of key league tables.
In the results of the most recent National Student Survey (NSS), UEA fell to 50th position in assessment and feedback criteria, a fourteen-place drop from the year before.
Overall, the university’s NSS ranking has flatlined, and it is suspected that the stubbornly low assessment and feedback scores are the key cause. While other institutions are making incremental improvements, UEA is staying put.
Speaking to Concrete at the beginning of last month, vice chancellor, David Richardson, said that he had asked Neil Ward, pro-vice chancellor academic, to set up a working group to look at the issue, and that this would involve students.
Two weeks ago, Concrete also spoke to Ward to find out more about his plans for improving assessment and feedback. He confirmed that a working group has been set up and that it met for the first time on the 29th
September. It is made up of Connor Rand and Liam McCafferty, both full-time union officers, Ward himself, and other senior representatives from the union and the university – evidence, according to Ward, of an “alignment” between the two organisations on the issue. Future meetings will take place monthly.
According to Ward, improving assessment and feedback procedures at UEA is the university’s “priority” for this academic year. Problems, he says, are, better understood than in previous years, and so the university is in a better position to make the necessary improvements.
Ward presents six changes that he thinks need to be made – changes that the university hopes will increase student satisfaction with assessment and feedback.
1The system of self-certification on applications to extend coursework dead-
lines, which was introduced last year, has been “modified to reduce the disruption” that it caused to the marking process. The large number of extensions greatly increased the time taken to return coursework. Students can now apply for an extension only once per academic year and only on the first occasion; it is hoped that this restriction will reduce the number of extensions and make the marking and return of coursework more manageable.
2Ward wants to see improvements in the way schools plan their coursework
deadlines. Specifically, he wants staggered hand-in dates to ensure that enough academic staff are available during the post-deadline 20-day return period to make sure that cousework is marked and handed back on time.
In addition, Ward would like to see more formative coursework – assignments that do not contribute directly to a student’s final degree classification – and less summative coursework – assignments that do count. He explains that formative coursework is subject to less onerous quality-assurance procedures than summative work and so may be returned more quickly. Feedback on formative work could then be used to improve the quality of the fewer number of assignments that do influence a student’s final result.
3Related to this, Ward would like students to be more aware of the quality-control
procedures that the university must follow in order to ensure that coursework is marked fairly. This, he hopes, will make students more understanding of the time taken to return work.
4Marking criteria need to be made clearer to students before they start work on an
assignment. Ward points out that this the aspect of assessment and feedback for which university receives the most positive scores; nevertheless, he describes it as “something that we can really improve with some concerted attention”. It is, he says, an area in which UEA should be achieving 95 to 100% student satisfaction.
5The university is keen to explore the potential of e-marking. By assessing a
greater volume of coursework electronically, lecturers will be able to return work more quickly. Ward says that there is an “increasing appetite” for this approach among academic staff. It is currently optional, but he is hopeful that it will be rolled out across the university over the coming years.
6The university has asked each school to hold a meeting to examine ways of
improving assessment and feedback at a
school level. This is the first time that such meetings have been convened. Ward says that they are intended to encourage both “heightened awareness and innovation” and a “culture of focus” on assessment and feedback. Ward hopes that these meetings will, in future, become a regular occurrence.
Schools singled out for specific praise are Economics – Ward wants to identify those parts of the school’s procedure that could be implemented elsewhere – and Maths. The latter, Ward says, has received particularly good feedback for, in some instances, instigating face-to-face meetings to discuss coursework.
Ward points out that the new working group is not the only forum in which assessment and feedback
can be discussed. Pre-existing bodies include the Taught Programmes Policy Group, and the Learning and Teaching Committee. He hopes that improvements can also come from these groups.
But he says that, in his view, the most important criterion by which to judge the success of the university is the number of students leaving UEA with good degrees. And this number, he says, is growing. So while he is “really determined to improve assessment and feedback”, he does not want to lose sight of the “real goal”.
Assessment and feedback: the complete briefingPeter Sheehan spoke to Neil Ward, pro-vice chancellor academic, about plans to improve assessment and feedback at UEA.
The Union of UEA Students (UUEAS) is organising an event to mark Black History Month called “I too, am inspired” where students can share who their black role model is.
Black History Month takes place every October, and according to UUEAS is “all about promoting knowledge of Black History […] celebrating black people’s achievements, acknowledging their experiences and ultimately empower[ing] them”. UUEAS is supporting Norwich events to mark Black History Month, such as activities, workshops, literary festivals and music events, but this year the student union is trying to be more proactive on raising awareness amongst students.
Welfare, Community & Diversity Officer, Holly Staynor said: “What I really wanted to achieve for October is to give UEA students the opportunity to think about why we celebrate Black History Month and why it’s so important. My aim is to get all parts of our diverse student body learning about and engaging with a history which has influenced the lives of so many of our students.”
The Union’s Ethnic Minorities Officer, Freddie Redfern, said: “Black History Month is so important because it is an opportunity to celebrate the continuing contributions of diverse cultures to our society. I hope you’ll get involved in the variety of events happening in Norwich and Norfolk throughout October.”
As part of the “I too, am inspired” initiative, Student Officers will be going around campus with whiteboards and a camera asking
students to share their black role models. The initiative draws on the “I, too am
Harvard” campaign which aimed to highlight the faces and voices of black students at Harvard College in the US. The UUEAS initiative is open to students of all ethnicities.
UUEAS will also be organising a debate on Black History Month with speakers including Clive Lewis, Labour Party candidate for Norwich South; Neelam Rose of UK Black Pride; Linda Bellows, a leading equality law specialist; and Danny Keen, a painter speaking on behalf of Norfolk Black History Month.
Events on UEA’s campus are also being organised by UEA’s Afro-Carribean Society, with debates, BBQs, sports days and other events being planned.
Malia Bouattia, Black Students’ Officer at the National Union of Students, argued that Black History Month was “about celebrating the achievements of people who have been left out of the history books”.
She said: “From longer lasting blood transfusions, the gas mask and surgical instruments to chess, perfume and coffee; there is a very long list of achievements that people of African, Asian, Arab and Caribbean decent have made, but which has been historically revised […] October should be looked on as a period of renewal for Black people to connect to their identity, culture, communities and recognise how much has been achieved so that we are inspired to continue creating such spaces and discussions. The significance of Black history should never be overlooked, as the struggles of Black communities worldwide have shaped the world”.
Information about Black History Month events in Norfolk can be found at www.norfolkblackhistorymonth.org.uk
Livewire1350 nominated for five Student Radio Awards
Livewire 1350, UEA’s student radio station, has been nominated for an impressive five awards at this year’s Student Radio Awards. The awards, which are supported by BBC Radio 1 and Global, are the definitive celebration of student radio and are now into their 19th year.
The station as a whole has been nominated for Best Station Sound and Marketing, whereas former-Station Manager Jay Lawrence’s Afternoons with Jay Lawrence has been nominated for Best Entertainment alongside Maddie Hickish’s Maddie’s Tea Party. Lawrence picked up another nomination in the category of Best Interview for his interview with Matty from the 1975.
Lawrence is over the moon with the nominations, commenting that: “I said last year that if we received one nomination then I would be happy, so to get five is amazing. As well as this, to be the third most nominated station is huge as we have not been nominated since 2010. I’d like to say thanks to the amazing 2013-14 committee and all Livewire members for making it a great, successful year. I’m just looking forward to the awards at the O2 now!”
Maddie’s Tea Party has also been nominated for Best Specialist Music
Programming, bringing the overall number of nominations for Livewire 1350 to five. Hickish commented that: “Maddie’s Tea Party has always had it’s tap-shoed feet planted firmly in the camps of both specialist and entertainment programming and, excitingly, it has just been nominated for an SRA award in both categories! If you didn’t listen last year, you missed pre-1950’s music, fancy dress competitions and the infamous ‘All or Muffin’ bake-off (but don’t worry, it’s all still available on line). I am particularly proud to have been nominated for best entertainment programme as, to my knowledge, no woman has won 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the category since at least 2009. The world of radio is changing, and I hope to be part of it’s future! I owe so much to Livewire1350, without it I’d be lost”.
The awards will be held at the indigO2 Arena in London on the 6th November 2014 and we wish them all the best here at Concrete!
Geri ScottEditor-in-Chief
Elliot FolanNews editor
Photo: Student Radio Awards
Union celebrates Black History Month
For two weeks, Hong Kong has been paralysed by a vast pro-democracy protest that has seen clashes between students and riot police, marked by heavy use of tear gas and rubber bullets. The protests were widely publicised on the internet, with many of UEA’s Hong Kong students changing their profile pictures to the Yellow Ribbon, and launching or pushing online petitions asking the British Government to work with the Chinese government to end the troubles. Students worldwide posted their support in solidarity.
To understand the root of the protests is to understand the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s relationship with the rest of China. Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842 after the First Opium War, and put under a 99-year lease to Britain in 1898. The territory was officially handed back to China in 1997, administered under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, by which, broadly speaking, Hong Kong could maintain a capitalist system and its own political, economic and financial affairs.
At present a committee of 1,200 business and community leaders from the territory elects a Chief Executive every five years, although these elections are not as frequent as they’re supposed to be. In addition, the legislative council elects 40 of its members from geographical constituencies and a further 30 from functional constituencies. While in theory the mainland government is not intended to intervene in Hong Kong’s political processes until 2047, 50 years after the initial handover, they have frequently acted to influence candidates and the system itself in both councils.
This intervention is at the heart of the current protest. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, part of the government of mainland China, proposed electoral reforms that would, amongst other things, prevent candidates for standing for the office of Chief Executive unless they had been nominated by the 1,200-strong committee of business leaders, itself controlled by Beijing. This would functionally screen out pro-democracy or anti-China candidates before
the general public could vote on them.This move sparked massive protests from
the Hong Kong Federation of Students and a student activist group called Scholarism. On the 22nd September, they gathered outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong, with several hundred breaching security barriers and entering the forecourt of the Central Government complex, a former public space that’s been closed since July 2014. This courtyard was subsequently kettled by the government, who removed the protestors by force the next day. Occupy Central, a civil disobedience campaign modeled on the Occupy Wall Street movement, launched the next day with the goal of pressuring the chinese government into granting an electoral
system which “satis[fies] the international standards in relation to universal suffrage”. This movement was intended to be non-violent, but spread throughout the city and developed into a series of demonstrations against the police department’s excessive use of force.
Protestors subsequently blocked roads and caused extensive disruption to the city, prompting condemnation from anti-protest groups who use the blue ribbon as a symbol; there were also attacks by pro-Beijing protestors and alleged Triad members. The most efficient tactic used by the authorities, however, appears to be simply waiting the protestors out. Crowds had notably thinned by 1st October despite a huge social
media campaign and no response from the government, partly in response to high temperatures.
The most recent news at the time of writing is positive. After two weeks of mass protest, both sides have agreed to sit down to talks with the government on the 10th of October. The students are still accusing the government of using legal technicalities to sidestep the democratic process, and the government are still employing heavy-handed tactics and commissioning scathing anti-protest editorials in the news. These negotiations, however demonstrate that there is still hope for Hong Kong’s democratic process, and that these unprecedented protests still have the potential to make a real change.
Once again the Top Gear team have found themselves at the centre of an international controversy after having been forced to return home from filming in Argentina amid a row over the number plates on one of their cars.
They were chased to the Argentine-Chilean border and forced to halt the filming of their annual Christmas special after the number plates on one of their cars raised cause for concern among locals.
The BBC production team have been accused of trying to deliberately cause upset by purchasing a Porsche for use in the show with
a number plate which allegedly references the British/Argentine Falklands Conflict: H982 FKL; 1982 of course being the year of the Argentine invasion. The lost war still rankles with Argentina, with the government still claiming sovereignty over the islands, which are populated by some 3,000 British citizens. The team were forced to abandon their cars at the roadside after having been pelted with rocks by an enraged local mob.
The production team have now found themselves being forced to defend their actions insisting that the plates were a complete coincidence and that the show did not have the intention to cause controversy. However, at the time of writing this statement is being brought into question by the discovery of yet another set of offensive – this time a play on “dick head” – number plates in the back of one of the abandoned cars.
Realistically, how many times can Top Gear stick their head above the parapet before they get blown to pieces? The show is one of the most popular television productions not only in the UK but worldwide, regularly topping the British Sunday night viewing figures as
well as racking up an average of 350 million views in 170 different countries each week. However this isn’t the first time that they’ve found themselves to be the focus of criticism: they caused upset in Mexico after Richard Hammond described Mexican people as “lazy, feckless, flatulent oaf[s] with a moustache” and this year alone Jeremy Clarkson has twice found himself at the centre of rows over racism: having been found to have used the ‘n-word’ in a rhyme whilst filming, as well as using a derogatory word towards Asian peoples whilst filming in Burma. There have been national criticisms from Germany, Romania and the USA as well as complaints from Muslims, campaigners for the mentally handicapped and women.
With steadily declining viewing figures over the past few years how many more people can Top Gear offend and still maintain their status as one of the biggest shows on TV? As with any
television production, the success of Top Gear is decided not by the critics,
but by viewers and word of mouth. But with yet another
controversy impacting the BBC, are people finally running out of good things to say?
6 Global
Caitlin DohertyGlobal writer
Curtains for Clarkson: is this the final straw for Top Gear?
Rob HardingGlobal writer
Resolution in sight for Hong Kong
Photo: businessinsider
Photo: BBCA colony of Penguins on the Falkland Islands Wikimedia, Ben Tubby
Over the past year, UEA students have seen a great deal of significant decisions made by the university. University
management has raised accommodation fees well over the minimum maintenance grant; has docked a disproportionate amount of lecturers’ pay for daring to strike or join a marking boycott; has introduced tough new regulations around the right to protest; has tightened the rules around exam resits for medical students; and has refused to end their investment in polluting fossil fuels. None of these things were discussed publicly in advance: they were all decided by unelected managers behind closed doors.
And yet much of the campus discussion about decisions made at UEA has tended to centre around those decisions taken by the Union of UEA Students (UUEAS). In some ways this is justified. UUEAS has had several controversies over democracy in the past year, ranging from 3% turnouts in some elections to the union’s trustee board allegedly disregarding the wishes of Union Council. But for all its faults, most of the stories on union politics we’ve seen over the past year have originated from public discussion: from minuted meetings, public statements, Union Council decisions, open debate and information given by elected union officers.
In contrast, much of the information students have learnt about university decisions has had to be either gotten through persistent questioning or obtained through hints, suggestions and knowing the right people to ask. UEA as an institution has not been transparent or open – certainly not when compared to UUEAS. Journalists are not allowed into the meetings of University Council, where UEA management finalises its decisions, and decisions are seldom discussed
in a public arena.Such a situation is symptomatic of a
democratic deficit at UEA. As students we have in the past frequently debated the decisions of the student union but have been unable to debate the decisions of university management because they are seldom discussed in public, and decisions are made without our consent. There are two things we should do about this.
Firstly, as a practical step, we can continue to be forthright in our questioning of university officials and our discussion of university decisions. Both ordinary students, and their representatives need to hold the university to account. The vice chancellor will be conducting regular question and answer sessions and it is important that he is asked frank questions about the management of the university.
But secondly – and much more importantly – we need to recognise that the lack of accountability, the backroom decision-making and the actions of university management are a consequence of a university system that hands power not to students but to unelected bureaucrats. If we ever want to exert any real control over our education and our campus, we need to take control of it away from
those managers and give it to democratically accountable representatives.
In other words, what we need in the long term is to replace university management with elected committees of students and staff who can be recalled at any time. We need universities that include students in the decision-making process not as passive actors taking part in a consultation, but as takers of the decision itself. We need a university that will respond to students and staff because it is governed by students and staff, not a university that delays and dithers on the most basic of ethical issues and refuses to take bold action on climate change.
Such an idea is not new. Ideas for campus democracy, including elected management posts, were proposed at
the National Union of Students conference earlier this year. Although they didn’t pass, they made clear that the discussion on the nature of the university system is moving forward, and that we should all join that discussion. Because if we don’t make our university genuinely responsive to our needs, then very soon we won’t be studying at a university: we’ll be studying at a business park.
At the turn of the last millennium all 189 member states of the United Nation came together to agree upon the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in what was the greatest show of global unity in history. With modern technology, medicine and economic prosperity, never before has the world been better equipped to tackle poverty and the hardships it endures. This effort was divided into eight clearly defined goals to be met by 2015. With the deadline almost upon us, has humanity been able to succeed in this greatest of tests?
Although substantial progress has been made, on almost all fronts we have failed to reach the targets: 58 million children still do not attain primary education, around 1.5 million people die of HIV/AIDS each year and 748 million people continue to rely on unsafe drinking water. Despite the UN’s unsurprisingly positive spin, it is hard to argue
that the Millennium Development Goals have been a success.
The only goal that has been achieved is reducing extreme poverty – those living on less than $1.25 per day – by half before the 2015 deadline. This however, is largely the result of rapid economic growth in countries such as China and India, rather than the deliberate effects of development programs. Moreover this doesn’t change the fact that 22% of the world’s population – 1.6 billion people – continue to live in extreme poverty.
The MDGs have been influential in bringing greater global attention to these development issues as it is unlikely that the progress that has been made since 2000 would have happened without these goals.
That said, the reality is that most of the MDGs were easily achievable. What was lacking was the political and social will to make the goals a priority. For example, the UK currently spends six times as much on the military as it does on aid. Can we really justify spending such hefty amounts on our ‘national security’, when military intervention often
only increases instability and exacerbates poverty in those countries?
Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute, a London based think-tank, suggest a different approach should be taken. Instead of the traditional aid-led strategy bankrolled by the OECD countries, the focus should be shifted to helping developing countries help themselves. No longer would they be finance-recipients, but finance-generators able to tackle poverty much more sustainably and would be free from the often crippling conditionality of bilateral aid. This may be overly simplistic, but the current approach is clearly not working and other avenues must be explored. If anything is to be learnt from the Millennium Development Goals, it is that developing countries need to have a greater say and a greater role in their own development.
As the UN begins to form new goals for post-2015, it will hopefully take stock of the failings of the past 14 years and form much more effective policy to tackle these persisting problems.
Military intervention in Iraq: a military necessity or a failed foreign policy? Page 8
Development Goals: the failures of a millenium?
Elliot FolanConcrete columnist
COMMENTSimeon PatonConcrete columnist
Now is the time to end the democratic deficit at UEA
On Thursday 9th October, voters went to the polls in two rather different towns, to elect their MP in by-elections, one
forced by the defection of former Tory MP Douglas Carswell to Ukip. Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, has been waiting a long time to have a real chance to take the fight to the ‘establishment’ parties and gain the party’s first MP, and he has been relishing the recent two defections from the Tories, which have, according to him shown the country that Ukip is here to stay.
Carswell, to no one’s surprise, won the seat in Clacton, with a staggering majority of over 12,000 votes, and whilst Ukip were unable to take hold of the seat they demolished the Labour majority in Heywood to just over 600 votes. This is a significant step change in the position of Ukip but alone it does not mean that the party will hold “the balance of power” in 2015 as Farage is convinced that they will. In clacton the turnout was a dismal 36%, down from 54%, which was hardly inspiring, in 2010, and seeming that Carswell was the incumbent MP, it is unlikely for his constituents to have voted for an unknown candidate. On balance, this ‘victory’, which will be fought so bitterly by the Conservatives in May, wasn’t really a victory for Ukip, but rather a victory for Carswell who has managed to change ships and have a stronger chance of keeping hold of his seat come May.
The Heywood by-election, shows just how successful Ukip have become in targeting votes and fighting small scale elections. Although Labour can celebrate their victory in comparison to the Conservatives in Clacton,
there is no doubt that Ukip have found a winning formula for localised and disconnected elections. The true test, will of course come in May when the party shows off its tactical targets and aims for the seats where it gained the most support during this year’s European and local elections. It is not impossible to consider that Ukip are suffering badly from the ‘Nick Clegg effect’. Following the first leader’s debate Nick Clegg was launched into the heart of the 2010 general election, and many thought that the party, including its own leadership, was on for a serious gain in the number of MPs. There is nothing guaranteeing Ukip as much success as they are so sure of getting.
Farage and Ukip have to understand that their tried and tested tactic of fighting elections on the local level cannot work within the atmosphere of a general election. Ukip strategy has to take on a national feel, policy has to make sense, add up and present a united front. They cannot simply hedge their bets on the admittedly strong support from disenfranchised voters, nor can they simply pick out ten or twenty seats which they feel their support is cemented and harrass voters on their doorsteps with Farage’s waxy grin.
Joe JamesonComment editor
Ukip by the sea: right-wing reaction in Clacton
“It is not impossible to consider that Ukip are
suffering from the ‘Nick Clegg effect’ ”
Photo: Flickr, Daniel Hadley
Almost a year and a half has passed since the Islamic State of Iraq and Lebanon (ISIL) rebranded itself as
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (from hereon ISIS), which marked the beginning of a frankly unsurprising turn of events in the Middle East. After all, the terrorist group which is now known as IS, has been around since the beginning of the last decade, albeit under different acronyms and abbreviations, and it was once a branch of Al Qaeda in Iraq. But since then, IS has gained so much traction
in the region that it’s quite possible to say that the student has surpassed the master, both in terms of efficiency and extremism (going as far as to have Al Qaeda itself describe the group as “too extreme”). All of this naturally leads to the question, if they’re so bad that even extremists think they’re pushing it, why are they so successful? The answer to that is very complicated, but it mainly lies in understanding the culture of the region and the nature of recent and not-so-recent conflicts.
At first glance, IS may appear to be disliked by virtually everyone on the planet, but the truth is that they have far more support than people might want to believe. In Iraq, the Shia-held government has been actively oppressing the Sunni minority, which is why some Sunnis are putting their hopes in the group. But all of this is just a symptom of a much larger illness that comes in the form of an ideology. Wahhabism (or Salafism), named after the 18th century Islamic scholar Abd al-Wahhab, is broadly the idea that the Muslim world is in dire need to revert back to harsh austerity and a strict alignment with Sharia law, which is what most Sunni Arabs believe to be “pure Islam”.
The irony here is that most of the West’s allies in the Middle East are directly responsible for the spread of this ideology. In particular, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar can almost be labelled as the official sponsors of wahhabism across the world, and their reluctance to act swiftly despite what seems to be chaos looming at their doorstep is indicative of their position on the matter. It’s important to note that without these types of support, IS would’ve crumbled a long time ago, and the West should recognize these and other nuances before conducting any efforts to stop them.
However, a military intervention is still invariably a must, because although IS fighters are small in number, they repeatedly prove to be well prepared and highly resilient. This was highlighted in their fare with Iraqi forces back in early 2014, when the army
struggled to dislodge them from Fallujah, a city near the capital of Baghdad. The situation is even worse in Syria, where there’s already a civil war going on, and it doesn’t bode well for the rebels. The Syrian government is actually benefiting from both the IS and US airstrikes, because rebel groups are either pressed to fight on two fronts or outright join the invaders in their common cause against the Shia government.
All of this makes organising an effective force in Syria much more difficult to achieve, and it’s not hard to see why the
British parliament approved military action in Iraq, but put airstrikes in Syria on hold. This leaves the West few other alternatives to concentrating a campaign in Iraq, such as allying with Iran, another Shia majority country with a bad track record in US foreign policy books. So while the Western allies commit themselves to training and equipping the Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces necessary to defeat IS, efforts to disrupt their operations must be made relentlessly, or else risk leaving them to come back stronger.
It seems that long after the events of the Iraq war, policymakers in the UK and the US are finally beginning to understand that the long-term remedy to extremists is not just “bomb ‘em”, but a focus on changing the social and political environment of the region, as well as enabling the people to defend themselves. That being said, it would be hard to do so if there is no Iraq or Syria left to change.
8 CommentIntervention in Iraq: necessary military action, or a failure of foreign policy?
Dian AtamyanovConcrete columnist
The recent decision taken by the British parliament to back the government’s plans to target IS fighters and positions
with ‘strategic’ air strikes is a travesty for UK foreign policy. This is not a fantastic solution, it is a desperate, rushed and last-minute policy, which has simply been recycled. This course of action will only achieve one thing, which is to drag us into yet another conflict within the Middle East, it has been repeatedly said by government ministers and military advisers that “air strikes alone will not beat ISIS”. You could be forgiven for thinking that the Western plan to combat IS on the ground is for the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, along
with elements of the Iraqi army, to conquer all of Iraq and Syria, and until another solution is suggested we are left asking questions. The only thing which this current state of affairs can tell us is that we were not successful in Iraq the first time, and if one were to be rational it would suggest that we are unlikely to be again. If the airstrikes which the US and its ‘coalition’ of allies are taking is not enough, but they refuse to take the steps which they
think they do need to take, then why bother with the air strikes in the first place?
Labour MP Diane Abbott raised an worthwhile, but swiftly forgotten point during the debate in parliament over using RAF fighter-bombers to target IS targets in Iraq. She argued that such action only grants those killed by them to be seen as martyrs, as fighters who gave their lives to defend themselves and their religion from an enemy who are already seen as “Western Imperialists”. Would we not simply be adding fuel to the already blazing inferno that is the imagery of the West as Christian crusaders, risking yet more radicalisation of young Muslims?
There is also a worthy point to be made about the domestic repercussions of our actions; the KKK are not, by any sane person, understood to be representative of Christianity, so why should it be assumed that IS are representative of Islam? If we are so focused on the idea of ‘hearts and minds’ just as America were in Vietnam, and the Russians were in Afghanistan before us, we should not ignore the impact of our words and actions on Western domestic populations, where ignorance and misunderstanding can result in an increase of racial tensions and a souring of community relations.
The biggest failing, however, lies with Nato over Turkey. This country, which has shown great desire to be
considered as a dependable Western ally in the Middle East is simply sitting on their hands and are watching as the strategic border town of Kobane falls into the hands of IS fighters. Obviously it would be impossibly unreasonable to ask Turkey alone to launch a
ground offensive against IS, however the fact that they do not feel compelled to act, shows just how badly Western foreign policy has failed in the Middle East, after years of rebuff from organisations such as the EU is it really surprising they aren’t listening now?
Although the US has managed to garner support amongst a number of Arab countries to take action against IS, Washington has, conveniently, overlooked the role in which many individuals from these countries have been linked to funding IS over the years. It is no surprise that the IS advance has been so rapid, especially in Syria, where their superior arsenals of captured Iraqi equipment, and financial support from wealthy Sunni donors, has enabled them to cut their way through the previously static battle lines in that already messy civil war. Although this fight is different from the UK and American experience in Iraq a decade ago, the issue remains the same; it is not possible to destroy an ideology, religion or opinion.
Concrete columnist Dian Atamyanov and Comment editor Joe Jameson take an in-depth look into the West’s recent decision to launch airstrikes against IS (formerly Isis) in Iraq and Syria.
Joe JamesonComment editor
For Against
“IS have far more support than some might want to
believe”
Photo: Wikimedia, Peter Gronemann
“It is a desperate, rushed and last-minute decision”
“The biggest failing, however, lies with Nato
over Turkey”
Comment 9
Last week the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response was launched in Ghana, six months and over 3,000
deaths after the virus emerged in Guinea. It is the first time in history that the UN has formed such a response to a public health emergency, and rightly so, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Imperial College London experts predicting a rise to 20,000 cases by the end of November. Why, though, has it taken such a disproportionately long time for this to happen? After all, in the words of Ghana’s Communications Minister, Ebola is a “global problem that knows no boundaries.” Given that it is a virus with a relatively low contamination rate, medical resources combined with education and communication would have been sufficient to stop any significant spread.
As consumers of global media, many in the West have become desensitised to the appalling conditions of impoverished communities. The emaciated bodies and faces that haunt our TV screens have become a motif of everyday life; an unpalatable tug at our consciences, which we may momentarily acknowledge before moving on. Stories of
horror from less developed countries are part of the wallpaper of the modern world. We may even grant these people our attention and pity for an evening of Comic Relief, banding together to settle the nation’s grumbling conscience. However, we are unable to sustain the realisation that simply by circumstance of birth, we are in a position help those who exist in poverty. How could we possibly do so? People have full-time jobs, children, economic difficulties of their own. It is far easier to slide money towards the problem – the charities and their volunteers will sort it out.
On top of this, we neglect the role of the West in causing this situation. Colonialism
ravaged the African continent and left a legacy of poverty and unrest. That is our cultural heritage. Moreover, the capitalist economic system by which ex-colonialist nations maintain their elevated stance today relies on hierarchy, meaning for a few to prosper, millions must suffer. We despise tax dodgers and the abuse of MP expenses, but every one of us is trampling on the rights of someone else to maintain, or obtain, our perceived rightful social place.
These attitudes translate into the power politics of international governments. As long as Ebola seemed a purely African problem, too little was done to aid these stricken
countries. Despite repeated appeals from such organizations as Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international community remained all but inactive; there was little to be gained by helping. Those with the will to help, primarily WHO, lacked the means thanks to global governments withdrawing funds after the 2008 financial crisis. The threat of this virus dawned all too slowly, with many infected non-African aid workers being airlifted to their home countries, and the recent diagnosis on American soil. Cuba has made the biggest national contribution as yet, sending 165 health professionals, to be followed by a further 296 after they have received Ebola-focused training. This response puts to shame those of far wealthier countries such as the U.S.A. and U.K.
Now that the UN is launching its response, the likelihood of controlling Ebola is improving. With the correct
resources and attitudes towards quarantine, Ebola in its current form is unlikely to reach pandemic level. It is vital, however, that we admit that the global community is unprepared for any kind of pandemic. With urban population growth and expanding international transport systems, the spread of contagions is virtually unavoidable. Why is it still so difficult for the international community to outgrow its insular, nationalistic attitudes and form a truly united response to global threats?
It is very well to reap the social and economic benefits of globalism, but we don’t yet adequately face up to the responsibilities attached. I’m not sure we ever will, unless we’re able to recognise the fact that classifications such as nationality and race have been created by long-dead people, whose world seemed much smaller. For all our technological advancement, it seems our politics are very much stuck in the past.
Ellen MusgroveConcrete columnist
Western complacency in West Africa is costing lives
Photo: Flickr -European Commission
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Freshers Week: seven days of drinking, partying and all-round debauchery. While October would usually mean
the continuation of this excess, this year, students and non-students alike are taking the opportunity to detox.
Across the country, thousands are ditching the booze in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support as part of their Go Sober for October campaign. Participants are sponsored by their friends and family, helping Macmillan support those facing cancer. In 2013 alone, the campaign raised over £2m for the cause. It’s not just the charity that benefits though; Macmillan estimates that the average Brit spends 315 days of their lives hungover, with one in 14 people struggle through 3000 hangovers in their lifetime. Who wouldn’t benefit from some time off the demon drink?
It’s not just alcohol that people are forgoing this October though; over 250, 000 Brits are giving up cigarettes for the 28 day Stoptober challenge, created and funded by Public Health England. As part of the annual stop-smoking campaign, smokers are given the support they need to kick the habit for good. Indeed, it is estimated that those who can abstain for a month are five times more likely to give up nicotine permanently. Not only does a former smoker’s lung capacity increase by a massive 30% after just three months without cigarettes, but the average smoker would save £4,745 a year.
It’s not all fun and games though. While there are many benefits to these
two campaigns, they are undoubtedly difficult, especially for students at university where socialising tends to revolve around nights out. However, there are a few trusty techniques that everyone can implement to make October 2014 a successful month.
Spend your time wiselyNights out are a huge
part of university for most
people, and being the sober friend is not necessarily the most fun pastime. Rather than struggle with the temptation found in a club, or with your paralytic friends, use your time to its best advantage. Join a sports club, focus on your studies or raise some cash for charity- so much is possible when you are not wasting your Sundays in a fragile state on the sofa.
Stick togetherFind other people on campus who
are taking part in the campaigns. It can be difficult to face a big change to your lifestyle
on your own, so support from others going through the same thing can be really helpful. Not only this, but you can go out together when everyone else is partaking in their vices!
Recognise your achievementsGoing a week without cigarettes or alcohol
when you are a regular smoker or drinker is a big deal, and if you don’t celebrate it, it can be hard to find the motivation to continue. Treat yourself with every milestone achieved, even if it’s just a slice of cake at lunchtime, or a trip to the cinema – it can really help.
Flash your cashFags and booze are expensive – even if you
only spend £25 a week on cigarettes and £10 on alcohol, you would save £140 in October alone. Rather than waste it on something that is detrimental to your health and appearance, spend your newfound money on something that is healthy and will help undo the damage you have done to your body in the past. Join the gym or treat yourself to a day at the spa, basking in the realisation that you dedicated a whole month to bettering yourself.
If you would like to get involved in Stoptober, visit the Public Health England website, while more information can be found on the Go Sober for October campaign on the Macmillan site.
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it is known, is a bucket list activity. The aim of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel. In a month. It sounds crazy, right? And what’s more, thousands of people around the world undertake this challenge every year. This columnist has completed NaNoWriMo three times.
You don’t have to be a ‘writer’ to take part in NaNoWriMo. All you need is an idea and a desire to tell a story. All you need is to have fleetingly thought to yourself one day: I’d like to write a novel. This November, you can write that novel.
Despite how it sounds, 50,000 words is not an impossible goal. Broken down, it comes to about 1667 words per day. That’s nothing. Be honest with yourself – you’ve written essays longer than that in under 24 hours.
One of the most wonderful aspects of NaNoWriMo is that it is all about moving forward. During the month of November there is no looking back allowed, and that means you’ve got to switch off that critical inner voice that tells you every sentence you are writing is painful rubbish. You have to put aside all intense desires you might harbour to edit and just tell your story. When taking part in NaNoWriMo, the only question you have to ask yourself of a morning is this: What next? It’s a pretty liberating thing to do.
It’s worth noting that no one should do
writing month alone. Set yourself up with a profile at nanowrimo.org and update your word count daily. Get some writing buddies – they can be other students and friends or even writers you’ve connected with online. No matter their location, your collective goal remains the same.
There is a big NaNoWriMo community in Norwich and for the past couple of years they have written together at various locations around the city. More information about them
can be found of the NaNoWriMo website, under the forums section.
The NaNoWriMo website invites you to make it your base throughout November. As well as the support of fellow wrimos speeding their way toward 50,000 words, pep talks from published writers are available online. Previous pep talkers include Neil Gaiman, Rainbow Rowell, Meg Cabot and John Green as well as Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo and now author in his own right. They’ll help keep you strong during your darkest days and even when your coursework hits. They’ll remind you it’s possible for anyone to write a novel, even a busy student.
Why NaNoWriMo? Because it’s an adventure. It’s a chance to become completely engrossed by a story, by a creation of your
own. Yes, it’s likely you won’t be seeing your friends until December, and yes this novel will take over your brain and life and, yes, you will eat, sleep and breathe your characters, but at the end of it you’ll have a 50, 000 word novel. At the beginning of the month hitting 50,000 words seems unlikely and by the middle of the month it seems pretty much impossible but hitting it anyway, as those who persevere will inevitably do, is an achievement that is all yours. It’s proving to yourself what you’re capable of. And you’re capable of a lot.
National Novel Writing Month: impossible or a piece of cake?
“Despite how it sounds, 50,000 words is not an
impossible goal”
Go sober this Stoptober
Lydia TewkesbruyFeatures Writer
Features writer Jasmin Gray provides a helpful insight into two of the biggest health campaignsrunning this month and lets you know how to get involved.
Flickr; coolmikeol
Photo: Flickr, monda@notelling
FEATURES
Photo: Flickr, Dave Dugdale
Go with the flow and let it all go: save water by peeing in the shower Page 5
Photo: Flickr, monda@notelling
Halloween is one of the best excuses to throw a party, and as you begin to prepare your plans, here are a few ideas you could consider…
The first thing to think about is whether or not you want to set a theme. Whether it’s flesh-eating zombies, fiendish devils, or deranged Disney characters, having a theme can make it easy for your guests to decide what to wear, and can create some friendly competition for best costume. You could even consider handing out prizes to those with the most creative and well-put together outfit. Remember, if you’re hosting the party, make sure you find a killer RXWğW (excuse the pun)… you don’t want your guests showing you up!
Once your theme is set, send out the invitations! You could go old school and design invitations online, or keep it simple and create a Facebook event page. Provide all the crucial information, including date, time,
address, and directions if necessary. Make sure that you get everyone to RSVP so that you know how many people to expect. If it’s going to be big, you might want to consider giving your neighbours a heads up!
The next thing to consider is decorations, and you don’t have to spend a fortune to go all out. Wilkinson’s, Poundland, and Asda all sell decorations at very reasonable prices. It might be worth keeping your theme in mind when out shopping, and remember there’s no such thing as too many decorations, so don’t hold back!
You could also think about baking some festive treats for the occasion and saying you don’t bake is not an excuse! It could be as simple as buying some mini gingerbread men and icing pens. Simply rip their heads off and
add some red blood around the neck, or draw on a white skeleton! Or if you wanted to do
something slightly more advanced, bake cupcakes or cookies and
decorate them with sweets and icing pens. You could make
them into spiders, spider webs, ghosts, pumpkins, or skeletons.
Finally, the one essential for all Halloween events… pumpkins! Carving pumpkins is
probably the most fun part of Halloween. Get creative
with your designs and, again, try and link them to your theme!
If drawing isn’t your forte, you can always buy designs to trace on, or you can
print them offline. The more prepared you are, the more you
can enjoy it when the night comes. So, start preparations early and your party will be a guaranteed success!
Photo: Flickr, Satanoid
When I first told my flatmates that my first article for this fine publication would be on the growing threat of
a potential zombie apocalypse, there was a fairly profound silence. I must admit, I was fairly surprised myself. Exposing University corruption and corporate opulence it is not. It was the sort of silence you might associate with a group of people being told that two people in Ebola-savaged Liberia have reportedly risen from the dead. Or, the sort of silence you could associate with a group of people being told that in the good ol’ state of Kansas, Governor Sam Brownback (go figure) has declared this month Zombie Preparedness Month. Well, cue the sound of jaws dropping. Those are all things that have been reported by various news organisations this month.
Now, before you throw down this paper in a fit of anger and disappointment at the apparent mental instability of the human race, ask yourself this; is it all really so crazy? Is there a small chance that we could be at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse? Should we all be hoarding tinned food and scouting out appropriate zombie proof hiding places? Or, should we just relax, and be safe in the knowledge that the only zombie related problem we really face as a society is when we’ll get a chance to watch the next episode of The Walking Dead? I for one can’t wait.
Let’s begin by looking at old Governor Brownpants – sorry, Brownback – and his Zombie Preparedness Month (ZPM to the organisers). The first shocking fact is that the ZPM is not an event exclusive to Kansas thought up by American Bible Belt crazies. This is part of a wider initiative from the national Federal government to improve the disaster preparedness and readiness of all Americans. The initiative covers all manner of natural disasters: floods, severe storms, wild fires and, presumably, what to do if there’s a hurricane
and your tiny dog runs off and ends in a magical land called Oz and you have to go to find him.
But hold up: despite the seeming sanity of this exercise, a zombie apocalypse still remains as one of the disasters that citizens are being encouraged to prepare for. I just couldn’t fathom that people might be taking this threat seriously. I researched and researched, I found
quotes from Government spokesmen, social media coverage and wider news coverage.
Then it hit me. It was a joke. I’d been trolled by a nation. Nobody actually thinks Zombies are a real threat. A spokesman for the Governor said: 'We came up with the idea of Zombie Preparedness Month because it is an engaging way to get people on board with emergency preparedness. If you’re prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything.' If I’m brutally honest I was getting a bit stressed out there, but hey, what else could go wrong?
Well everything really. I’ll be blunt. There have been really quite distressing reports circling the internet of victims of the Ebola virus in Liberia rising from the dead. The pictures showed two gory looking figures wandering gormlessly through the streets of northern Liberia. Scientists began to analyse. Social media junkies began to speculate and journalists began to delineate. The walking dead, a scary thought? Yes. Unbelievable? Yes. The truth? No. As much as this would make for a fantastic article, and I wouldn’t have to put my first rate humour onto paper to bulk out the piece, this is, again, an elaborate social media hoax that fooled everyone from me to the Guardian and the New York Times.
In essence guys, the whole zombie thing: it’s not going to happen. Science dictates that when someone is dead, they’re dead.
There’s no coming back. So all we can really take away from this article is that; zombies aren’t currently in existence; Governments don’t deem there to be a threat from zombies; and social media is as unreliable and frankly bizarre as usual. Who honestly takes the time to try to trick a significant number of people into thinking zombies are on the rampage? Anyway, put down the canned food and carry on your lives with some unconvincing sincerity about how this article brought you genuine concern.
Should we be preparing for a zombie apocalypse?
13
It is said there are two kinds of people in the world: those that pee in the shower, and dirty liars. Yet this ancient wisdom, along
with, if it’s yellow let it mellow, seems to have been lost on some of the student population.
Introducing #gowiththeflow, an inspired idea to save water. Gone are the days where one must brave the cold to go for a wee – now we can pee in the shower with pride, safe in the knowledge we are saving water.
By waiting to take your morning wee until you’re in the shower, you could save 12 litres of water, simply by not flushing the toilet. With 15,000 students, UEA could stand to save enough water to fill the Sportspark swimming pool 26 times over. That’s a lot of water.
I’m captain of the campaign, working alongside Chris Dobson to change habits and perceptions about water usage. As a third year English student, it was an entirely natural progression to start a campaign asking people to wee in the shower, and I’ve certainly had some dubious reactions from people because of it.
The campaign has divided student opinion, with reactions of either overwhelming disgust or unrestrained enthusiasm. After speaking to one man in Norwich about the campaign, he told me he would wee in his whirlpool bath as soon as he got home. Anjali Bali, a second-year psychology student, said, ‘It’s unusual, but I can see how it could be beneficial in the long run. It’s certainly not the norm.’ Meanwhile, a third-
year English Literature student, dubbed it the “rise of the idiots”.
But the science is all there. We are currently using fresh water much faster than it can be naturally replenished, and the water we flush down the toilet is cleaner than most of the world’s drinking water. The East of England also receives on average a third less rainfall than the rest of the country, and has one of the fastest rates of housing growth in the UK.
We’re running the initiative as finalists of the Npower Future Leaders Challenge, who will judge our campaign in December. Though we’re aware of questions raised about the company’s policies, we’re delighted to receive their support and funding to help roll out our environmental campaign.
We are also looking to install more drinking fountains on campus. This will reduce the number of plastic bottles bought on site and then thrown away the same day.
We do have to offer some cautionary guidance – peeing in the shower is completely safe. We do not, however, condone weeing in the sink, and pooing in the bath is completely unacceptable.
Do you go with the flow?
Debs Torr explains how we can save enough water to fill the equivalent of 26 Olympic-sized swimming pools in a year.
Join in with the debate: is it ok to wee in the shower? If
not, why not?
Go with the flow want to hear what you think, visit:
www.facebook.com/npgowiththeflow
You could even submit your own photo
or video to #gowiththeflow: the more creative
the better.
Halloween party planning : tips for creating the perfect evening
Photo: Flickr, Dr Stephen DannFlickr; Pedro J
Ferreira
Natasha HamtonFeatures Writer
Sam McKinty encourages us to think of the last things and invites us to prepare for the worst. You’ve seen Shaun of the Dead, but what should happen in Norwich? How would you survive a zombie
apocalypse? Concrete editors explain their plans...
I’d ensconce myself into the drinks aisle of Waitrose: you could build barricades with all of the shelves; use any drink north of 40% ABV as a Molotov Cocktail; pillage the rest of the shop for supplies; and have a quick tipple for Dutch courage. Flawless.Peter Sheehan
I’d kill myself before they got to me.Helena Bradbury
I don’t think I’d do anything. I’d just accept my end. People try to fight back too much.Holly McDede
Well I had a plan. But then I moved to Norwich and I haven’t updated it yet...
Ben Hinton (UEA:TV)
I’d go to the Winchester, have a pint and wait for it all to blow over. Then I’d rule the post-zombie
world.Geri Scott
Photos: Top Millenium Point blog
Bottom Wikimedia, Gianluca Ramalho Misiti
12 Features
Photo: Wikimedia, Nicole-Koehler
Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Wikimedia, Jackins
Last month Barack Obama signed a statement to expand a marine reserve in the south-central Pacific Ocean, aiming at protecting more of the world’s oceans.
This reserve, which includes tropical islands and atolls such as Wake Island, Johnson Atoll, Jarvis Island and others, was previously established in 2006 by George Bush. The aim was to protect the marine environment of the area, which holds some of the most intact coral reefs, seamounts and marine ecosystems of the world. The reserve will now cover 490,000 square miles – six times its previous size – the equivalent of Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma combined.
While this certainly is one of the richest areas, it is also one of the most delicate. Especially when considering the increasing pressures from climate change, resource extraction and ocean acidification that threaten its balance. Thus, the statement signed doesn’t merely deal with protecting a larger portion of the world’s oceans and its life; it concerns the mainland too. The protections included are extensive and call for bans on commercial fishing, deep sea mining, dumping and other similar commercial activities. Recreational fishing, however, will be permitted.
This gesture has been acclaimed
worldwide as a great step towards improving the conditions of the world’s oceans, but it didn’t fail to raise concerns among scientists, NGOs, and the general populous.
The islands of the area, between Hawaii
and American Samoa, are divided into five regions. Obama is extending the reserve for three of these five. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, this protection could have been expanded to include all five regions,
protecting more than 780,000 square miles. However, Obama eventually listened to the complaints from Hawaii-based tuna fleets and left the waters around that area open to fishing.
Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Agreements won’t matter if no one’s enforcing them. And marine protected areas are not going to be effective if no one’s monitoring them.” Signing a statement clearly
is not complicated, but working towards preserving an area that’s so vast might be more complex”. He continues: “We have a responsibility to make sure our kids and their families and the future has the same ocean to serve it in the same way as we have – not to be abused, but to preserve and utilise”.
This commitment is certainly positive, but only time will tell if this is more than just a symbolic victory for the environment and, amongst other things, how much “recreational” fishing will remain permitted. Enlarging a protected area is not enough. What matters is the constant care necessary to actually preserve it.
It is common knowledge that chimpanzees are a species very closely related to humans, often being described as the sister group to the modern human lineage. Many of their behaviours run parallel with ours: the use of opposable thumbs to accomplish tasks; communication as a way of expressing emotions between members of their community and for warning rivals; the behavioural development of using tools such as sticks for digging termites and combining rocks and twigs for hunting smaller prey.
Research has been conducted in the past into the development of behaviour in wild chimpanzees, specifically the use of tools. Possibly some of the most important research undertaken was by primatologist Jane Goodall. The investigations she carried out in Gombe Stream National Park, including 22 months spent as a member of a troop of chimpanzees, managed to quell some of the common thoughts of the time. The main beliefs being that they were vegetarian and that humans were the only species to be able to construct and utilise tools.
Although Goodall witnessed peaceful and affectionate behaviours, other more dominant and aggressive activities were seen. For example, through using intelligence and ambush tactics, the chimpanzees systematically preyed on smaller primates such as Colobus and Galagos monkeys (bush babies). Also viewed in the national park was the utilisation of primitive tools. One example was a chimpanzee using blades of grass, dipping them into termite mounds and then “fishing” them out and eating the termites that had climbed onto the grass. Other materials, such as rocks and twigs, would be used to acquire nutrition from sources such
as trees and from under the fallen leaves in the rainforest areas of the park.
More recently, a study has discovered a new cultural development in chimpanzees at a field station in the Budongo Forest in Uganda. A community of chimpanzees have been seen using mosses to absorb water and proceeding to drink from it. This has also been seen with the use of primitive leaf sponges. Individuals were witnessed using these implements and then discarding them.Shortly following this, other individuals of the same community were seen to reuse these tools, showing a sense of social learning
within the community. However, this was witnessed primarily
with the moss sponges rather than the leafy sponges which is endemic to this particular community. This activity has been seen in captivity, but this social behaviour is the first of its kind to be seen in the wild.
The wider implications of observing this behaviour development could be that these social communities of chimpanzees may copy other behaviours shown by the alpha males. By being able to utilise tools such as those witnessed, they could adapt them to further uses, such as hunting in more advanced ways.
Alzheimer’s disease currently affects 30 million people around the world. There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia (other forms including vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies as well as other, rarer manifestations) currently costs the UK £26bn a year.
A recent trial carried out at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing has shown that some memory loss may be reversed in patients using a complex therapeutic care plan. The plan is based on tests to determine factors that affect brain’s signalling network.
The plans were tailored to each patient and included interventions such as taking fish oil, cutting carbohydrates out of the diet leading to weight loss, increasing exercise, improving oral hygiene by using electric toothbrushes and taking part in yoga to reduce stress. The initial study showed that nine out of ten patients improved on their new regime. The patient who did not improve suffered from more severe Alzheimer’s disease than the other patients. Although the initial results seem promising, researchers say that a larger clinical trial is needed.
Other benefits seen in the study is that the patients’ general heath improved; however disadvantages are that patients and their carers found it hard to comply with their specific regime.
14 Science&Environment
Nick BrownScience&Environment writer
New development in chimpanzee behaviour observed by scientists
Study shows Alzheimer’s reversal
Amy OsterlohScience&Environment writer
President Obama to expand Pacific Ocean marine conservation areaMarta CatalanoScience&Environment writer
Photo, Flickr, Tambako The Jaguar
Seth Rogen, a well known campaigner for Alzheimer’s awareness. Earlier this year he made a speech about the disease to the US Senate.w
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Wake Island, part of the expanded conservation area Wikimedia, Matthew Piatkowski
Barak and Michelle Obama in pictured in 2012.Wikimedia, Matthew Piatkowski
A recent study has found that pollution from urban and farm runoff is causing lethal tumours in endangered sea turtles. The study, based in Hawaii, shows that nitrogen in runoff waters is leading to Fibropapillomatosis – the leading known cause of death in green turtles. Fibropapillomatosis, specific to sea turtles, is a disease characterized by benign tumours of the epithelium. Nitrogen in runoff ends up in the algae that the turtles eat, causing tumours to form on their eyes, flippers and internal organs. The algae store excess nitrogen in an amino acid called arginine, and unusually
high levels of this amino acid were found in algae in highly polluted waters.
Hypnea musciformis, a non-native red algae, was found to have very high levels of arginine, meaning it could thrive in the nitrogen-rich waters. This species of algae is therefore more abundant in the polluted waters, and can make up as much as 90% of the turtle’s diet. As the turtles are exposed to the Hypnea musciformis, they were found to have approximately 14 times more arginine
in their systems than if they were eating the native algae species. Herbivorous turtles have to consume twice as much of the red algae to obtain the equivalent calories as they would from native species, causing even further damage.
The researchers also measured other molecules in the turtle tumours, and found higher levels of amino acids that are also found in human cancer tumours, such as proline. The study has given researchers a better understanding of how the tumours form and function, and the research methods applied may be useful in understanding the workings of human cancers.
Van Houtan, a researcher for the study said “A hallmark of cancer tumours is that they re-program their host cells and change their metabolism. Our findings are similar here”.
Science&Environment 15
What’s new in science?The source of the Aids pandemic has been tracked to the 1920s in a city called Kinshasa.
Bionic hands have restored a sense of touch to two patients for more than a year, report US scientists.
A drug being developed for something else has helped slow progression of Parkinson’s disease in mice.
Astronomers have seen into the heart of an exploding star.
Grapefruit juice has been shown to stem weight gain in mice that were fed a high-fat diet.
Binge drinking causes epigenetic FKDQJHV�ZKLFK�WULJJHU�LQĠDPPDWLRQ�of the liver.
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to brains. Rats and mice perform similarly in cognitive tests
Penguins personalities may determine whether they can cope with climate change and environmental stresses.
Captive killer whales learn to speak dolphin instead.
New crystal can absorb huge amounts of oxygen and store it. Perhaps eliminating the need for cumbersome oxygen tanks.
Pollution linked to tumours in sea turtles
Ellen CoquioScience&Environment editor
Photo: Wikipedia, National Park Service
90% Hypnea musciforms can make up 90% of a turtle’s diet in polluted waters.
The 2014 Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine, for Physics and for Chemistry have been announced. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine went to three scientists for the discovery of the brain’s GPS system. The prize for chemistry was awarded for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. And for physics, the prize was awarded for the invention of blue LEDs.
The Nobel Prizes, first awarded in 1901, are a set of highly prestigious awards for the above sciences, and also for literature, peace, and finally economic sciences – this last was added in 1968.
The story of the how the prizes arose is well known. Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, invented a smokeless propellant which was used in many explosives and he also invented dynamite. In an odd turn of events, Nobel found himself reading his own obituary in a newspaper entitled: “The merchant of death is dead” when in fact it was his brother who had died. Following this, Nobel decided to change the way he would be remembered by changing his will. He designated most of his fortune – 94% of his total assets – to be used to create a series of prizes aimed at recognising excellence in the original five areas.
The prize for Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig, Stephan Hell and William Moerner for pushing the limits of light microscopy using fluorescence. The team managed to expand the limits of resolution in optic microscopy-half the wavelength of light-by utilising fluorescent molecules to see into the nanoscopic details of cells.
The physics prize, for the invention of blue LEDs, was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura. The invention,
the first blue LED made in the early 1990s, lead to the production of energy efficient white-light lamps when mixed with red and green LEDs. The key to their discovery was gallium nitride, which needed to be crystallised. This was achieved by growing it on a specialised scaffold structure made partially from sapphire. The impact of this discovery was the worldwide use of white lights as an energy efficient alternative to traditional incandescent bulbs.
The 2014 prize for Physiology or Medicine was shared amongst three scientists: 50% to Professor John O’Keefe and 25% each to husband and wife team, Edvard and May-Britt Moser. This developed from O’Keefe’s original finding of 1971. The team discovered how the brain is aware of its position in 3D space. O’Keefe found that certain cells within the hippocampus of a rat’s brain fire when in a certain location of an environment, and that from this, the brain forms a map of its environment. Edvard and May-Britt Moser found ‘grid cells’ within the brain which work in similar terms to longitude and latitude to help the organism navigate.
Combining the two discoveries suggests a GPS system which helps an organism comprehend its position in the environment. They hope that this discovery could in time help to understand why some Alzheimer’s patients become confused about their surroundings.
The impact of each of these discoveries is, naturally, ground-breaking and each has not only changed the world of science but also wider society.
Nobel Prizes awarded for chemistry, physics and medicineJacob BeebeScience&Environment editor
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When talking about Indonesia, the first places that come to mind are usually Bali, Jakarta and the Gili
Islands. Deep in the west Sumatran jungles lies a paradise people have either never heard of or completely forgotten about.
Lake Toba, or Danau Toba as the locals call it, used to be a backpacker retreat about ten years ago. Then something happened. A majority of the tourism died and all the travelers seemed to be more interested in Bali and Thailand. And no wonder. Getting to Lake Toba isn’t the easiest task in the world.
After landing in Medan, the capital of Sumatra island, there’s a variety of options of how to get to Toba. Each and every one of which require approximately seven hours of driving on bumpy roads and firm muscles to sit on. Travelling with the locals includes a bus filled with carnation scented cigarette smoke and curious looks towards the western traveler. Throwing in a couple of dollars extra gets you a private minivan but cramping your legs in a small place on a tiny seat is still an issue one can not escape from.
All the inconveniences aside, arriving in the small lakeside town of Parapat makes the trip worthwhile. The scenery is breathtaking and if not too hungry, the 30-minute boat ride to Samosir island could easily be enjoyed for a good hour or so. A few easy going vendors will advertise their guesthouses during the ride so coming unprepared is not a problem.
The traditional Batak tribe houses with pointy U-shaped roofs offer an original yet modest way of staying on the shoreline. The guesthouses often have kitchens and staff to cook for the guests, but ignoring the local restaurants would be a horrendous mistake: The taste of heavily salted, open fire grilled fish might just be one of the greatest flavours in the world. Gazing at the amazing view over the clear watered volcanic lake adds just a bit more pleasure to the, already amazing, culinary experience.
Absorbing the Batak culture around the island happens by scooters. Public transportation doesn’t exist, but luckily renting a scooter for a day is relatively cheap
by European standards. Calm traffic allows even the inexperienced driver to go around the island safely. Visitors often climb up the mountain to get to the hot springs, however a gas mask wouldn’t hurt since the methane gas smell coming from the mountain can be rather repulsive from time to time.
The landscape from the hillside can be even better than the one from the Batak house terrace, so it’s definitely worth a try. The roadsides include a variety of different kind of cafes and diners. Buddhist Garden Cafe is good for a portion of ice cream and the small sheet metal diners serve delicious pork noodles for 10,000 Indonesian rupees which is the equivalent of $1. The small village of Tomok is a good place to end the island tour. The Batak houses rise side by side for a good mile and the locals are doing their everyday
shopping on the street. The most daring ones might even practice their English and offer a glass of locally produced palm wine for the honorary guests from the west.
The scout for a nice pub in the evening won’t take long. Small walking paths are equipped with signs that tell where to go
for live music and where to find a cozy corner with a book and a beer.
Some small travel agencies can take you to a boat ride to swim in the luxurious waterfalls of the island. After discovering this side of the island it’s fairly safe to say that the views just never cease to amaze. Reading a book in a hammock, playing football with the laughing local kids and admiring the burning sky during the sunset are just a few activities of the overall relaxation people come to find from Samosir island. People experiencing reluctance to leave is not unheard of after getting used to the local way of living. The only danger is getting stuck on the island.
16 Travel
“Digging in to the Batak culture around the island
happens by scooters”
Inside Indonesia:Lake Toba
When thinking about the Big Apple, we tend to relate it to popular American TV shows: Suits, Ugly Betty, even Brooklyn Nine-Nine. New York seems to be the place that is so well-captured on television; however the secrets of this city seem to be displaced from what is normally shown on screen.
Important issues of racial identity and wealth are rife in the areas of Manhattan and Harlem. For those who have visited, or even lived in London, imagine the pace of that lifestyle, times it by 15 and then add four, only then will you vaguely understand how fast life is in New York’s wealthiest district. Manhattan, truly the place where no one sleeps, bustles from 09:00 to 09:00 the next day. With the likes of Times Square, Central Park and Union Square all within walking distance, and streets that go straight on for
miles, almost disappearing into the distance, Manhattan is the place for the young budding professional who craves the fast life. All around you the monstrous skyscrapers and iconic landmarks like the Chrysler Building tower over you, making you consider your worth. As the inner most part of New York, Manhattan feels like the place for the hungry, the place where nothing ever feels like enough and that you need more.
Flipping this on its head and taking the metallic monster that is the subway down to Harlem puts things into perspective. Almost like an American Brixton, Harlem is the place that weirdly feels reminiscent of the streets of London. An urban community that is the home of the Apollo Theater, and has seen the huge stars in its lifetime, draws you in to its realness. Though wealth and racial identity is hugely challenged here the two compared against one another show something that only a traveller to New York can discern.
Manhattan, the home of Lady Liberty,
becomes this place of fantasy: the wet dream of the suits that want it all, the cars, clothes and money. To live in Manhattan, you would pretty much have to either sell your soul or sell yourself. The cost rivals that of living off Harley Street in London’s busiest and most expensive area, but replacing the pound sign with the dollar.
However, the experience of visiting such a place is one that should be on everyone’s list. The sheer thrill of the lights, the noise, the culture, is exhilarating. The inner city seems to have its own voice, listening to it would make you want to stay forever, though you may be unable to afford it. The infamous yellow cab, the street food on every corner, and the hidden gems of small Italian diners create this hugely exaggerated image of what we perceived Manhattan to be like. The TV shows hardly do it justice, one has to truly visit the place to understand that this is place is the place for drive, for a high octane life.
Is the New York on TV the ‘real’ New York?
Myles EarleTravel writer
Taneli Savela, a visiting travel writer from Helsinki, on the delights of Indonesia’s Lake Toba
Photo: Wikimedia, Bernard Gagnon
Photo: Wikimedia, Daniel Schwen
It seems that we now live in a world where trade is carried out in absolutes. We enter well-known shops, selling well-known brands at rigid prices, in standardised quantities. But as you travel east through Europe, much like the parameters of acceptable driving etiquette, or the risks attached to drinking tap water, the idea of trade becomes increasingly uncertain. No more so does this appear to be the case, than in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.
Despite the chaotic frenzy that greets you on entry to the 550-year-old market, it is not the frantic mess of a Primark on Saturday afternoon; the Grand Bazaar possesses something altogether more soulful. If when shopping you value clear price tags and your own personal space, it may be best to stay
clear of the area. However, if you feel your purchasing experience may be enhanced by the off-chance that the occasional football shirt salesman may lure you into a separate backroom and attempt to sell you heroin then look no further. If you can ignore the maze-like structure, see past the unending camera flashes, and hear beyond the voice of a worried American mother over the intercom system, telling her lost child to meet her by the entrance, you might even be forgiven for thinking your experience feels authentic.
The Bazaar seems to be home to five main types of stall. Firstly, and perhaps the most visually striking, ‘The Hanging Lamps’ stall, decorated solely with the lights they sell. The salesmen here pace around their shops, staying low to avoid bumping heads on the turquoise, green and orange lampshades that dangle above, always tweaking and taming the price-tagged spectrum around them. Next is the predictable ‘Almost Designer Outlet’, rammed to the ceiling with Calvin Klein as well as an almost unnerving number of leather jackets. These are much the same as the counterfeit shops anywhere else, only more vertical – the less said about them the better. Strongest smelling and undoubtedly favourite among the over 50s are the ‘Stuff in a Jar’ stalls. It becomes difficult to thoroughly peruse these through the sea of eager noses trying to sniff out a good deal with bloodhound-like efficiency. Probably
the most undisputable presence in the Grand Bazaar is “The Rug Shop”. Wandering in looking lost, the proprietor will quickly sit you down, conjure a pot of sweet apple tea out of nowhere, and begin explaining that whilst Afghan material is fine, nothing compares to Uzbekistani. As wholesome as it all appears, do not be surprised if the same guy slips you his eBay business card on the way out. Last and possibly least is the “All the Other Commemorative Shit” stall; Istanbul themed shot glasses, Istanbul themed key-rings and Istanbul themed ashtrays, much like the one which now decorates the coffee table in my living room.
In many ways it seems that Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is not an authentic shopping experience at all. It is just a different platform on which to continue buying things we do not need without feeling so bad about it, a bit like Argos in a very sad sense. But parking the Tyler Durden-ish cynicism for a moment, it cannot be doubted that the energy and excitement you see everywhere in the market is all too real. No one could conceivably wander aimlessly among the soulless stretches of walkway that make up Intu Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich for more than twenty minutes, but in the Bazaar the hours melt together without consideration. Arresting the suspicion that everything happening feels genuinely fake, it is not hard to get wrapped up in the charms of the Bazaar.
Siem Reap may not be the largest city in Cambodia, or have the largest population, but it is certainly the cultural centre of the entire country, if not the whole of South East Asia. The city is home to the legendary temples of Angkor, which hosted the capital of the Khmer empire, which spanned across parts of modern-day Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The most famous of which is the temple of Angkor Wat; this temple has great religious significance due to its being the former state temple and final burial place of King Suryavarman II, while also being dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu. It is to this day a significant religious centre.
The best way to start a visit to Angkor Wat
is by getting a tuk-tuk from the hotel at a very unsociable hour, usually around 04:00. It will drop you off an hour later into a small horde of like-minded tourists who have arrived for the same reason, to see the beautiful sunrise over the towers of the temple. Good advice would be to try and get close to the moat surrounding the temple gardens, as this will allow one to avoid the tallest of tourists who carry equally eccentric cameras and lenses.
After witnessing the sunrise, the rest of the temple is open for viewing. Adorning the walls of the temple are carvings of devatas, which are humanlike or godlike in form and represent the deities that the people in the Khmer kingdom worshipped during its reign. A notable devata to locate within the temple complex would be the only devata out of around two thousand that displays teeth. Some theories say that this particular devata is a celestial maiden, whereas
other believe that it is simply a joke by its sculptor.
After walking around the temple complex, there are many other temples dotted around the area, more famous ones being Angkor Thom with its magnificent carved elephants, or Ta Prohm, where the Tomb Raider movie was partially filmed. It is easy to navigate around the Angkor area either by bicycle or in a hired tuk-tuk, and visits to the area can be spread over a series of days. A day ticket costs $20 and for $40 you can obtain a three-day ticket. These tickets give you full access to all the temples in the park and the chances are after the three days, all the temples will still not be visited.
The city of Siem Reap offers great options for tourism after the temples and park close. There are numerous eateries offering both Western food and traditional South East Asian cuisine, so rice is pretty much always on the
menu. If a night out is on the cards, then Pub Street is usually a good bet, with most bars hosting a dance floor for the avid dancers out there. Temple Bar and Angkor What? bar are the most renowned bars on the street, with traveller friendly deals including cheap drinks and free t-shirts, which have been spotted all across South East Asia. One thing to be wary about on the street and also in the temples are street children trying to sell postcards and ‘traditional’ jewellery. The sad reality is that most of the time they don’t see the money that they earn.
The beauty of Angor Wat can be shown in its immense popularity to travellers from across the globe. Siem Reap’s long spiritual history makes it a town that is full of culture and intrigue. It really is well worth a visit in order to truly enjoy the striking beauty of South East Asia.
Travel 17
Siem Reap
The ‘genuine fake’ experience in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar
Patrick TurnerTravel writer
Nick BrownTravel writer
The ‘spirit’ of South East Asia
The temples of Ankor in Cambodia. Once the capital of the Khmer Empire, the complex covers an area of 400 km2. It is a world-famous tourist attraction Flickr, Physiowilly
Photo: Wikimedia, espiritu_protector
It’s never too early to start thinking about with who and where we want to live our second and third years of uni, so it’s good to know what we should be considering when it comes to housing decisions beyond halls. From inventories and bills, to guarantors and contents insurance, there is a lot to take on board when it comes to selecting your student digs. Here are some tips for how to make the right choice for you!
The right peopleThis may sound obvious, but choosing who to live with is arguably the most crucial detail in the whole selection process. Remember, these are the people you are relying on to pay their share of the bills, not damage the property and who you will be fighting with to get in the bathroom every day. At the end of the day, your decision should be based on who you feel comfortable with and trust! Living with people is different from seeing friends casually on campus everyday so you need to share with people that suit your personality. Also, you will be surprised how much money you can save by sharing food bills, utensils and books, so picking the right people can make sense financially too.
Lay of the landlordsThe general consensus about landlords is that they are like Marmite; you either love them or
hate them. But it’s very likely they see students in much the same way! And students don’t always give off the best impressions. It’s always a really good idea to select a landlord who lives nearby, so that when your tap starts leaking or your boiler breaks, you know you won’t be waiting around. Remember to be nice to them too. Ultimately, it is their home you are residing in and they have the right to ask you to leave. Accidents can happen to anybody, but the more pleasant you are to your landlord, the more lenient and understanding they will be.
Detailed observationDon’t rush into picking the first house you see. It’s difficult when you see everyone around you getting the best pick of the houses available. But try and view at least three or four different ones so you get a broader scope of the accommodation on the market. It’s never too late, and the university provides students with a list of approved landlords!
It’s always worth taking a notepad and a camera (make sure you ask permission before taking pictures) and having a list of questions. After viewing three or four houses, you’ll likely get them muddled up. It’s good to make note of the good and bad parts of each one so that you have something coherent to look back on!
So with these useful tips, come Christmas time as you begin to puzzle together the issue that is student housing, you’ll hopefully have a few things to think about before you make the decision of who to live with and where to move to after halls!
Rebecca BemmentLifestyle editor
LIFESTYLE Got a bit of a sweet tooth? Try out some of the dessert recipes we have in LifestyLefood Page 20
A guide to student housing
Ruth Roberts
Movember is almost here, and with all the support and fun offered by staff and students last year, we’re feeling inspired to grow local and keep on proving that UEA is truly wonderful.
Our campaign focuses on raising awareness and funding for research and treatment by getting people to talk about mental health, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. To start the conversation, we’ve installed our Raise Awareness Dummies (RADs) in your favourite hangout spots around campus, so be sure to keep an eye out, take a picture for #UEAMovember, and not harass them too much (mannequins have feelings too).
Alongside the student union, we’ll be hosting a number of events for our Mo Bros
and Mo Sistas. To kick things off, we will be running ‘Mo-vie Nights’ in the Blue Bar, and featuring the most iconic moustaches in film. Additionally, you can enter our competitions to win free T-shirts, hats, and LCR tickets. But that’s not all! With the help of the Union, the LCR will be bringing you a Movember event, so be prepared to dress for the 1920s, style your Mos and look out for our competition to win free tickets.
To take part, make sure you are clean shaven on October 31st and ready to grow that ‘Movember Mo’. We’ll be helping you out, by offering a vintage Halloween Shavedown in the Hive. Pop by and get a free, fresh shave from the best barbers in Norwich.
Join the UEA Network at http://uk.movember.com and help support our cause. To keep up with our latest updates, competitions, events, and Mo’ of the week, join our Facebook page facebook.com/UEAMovember.
Daniel Sadler Lifestyle writer
UEA goes ‘mo’-mad
Photo: Flickr, Anna Gearhart
It is just about that time of the year again. Everywhere you turn, you can glimpse the freshly served entrées and seasoned veterans of university life alike, buzzing around campus; a hive of particularly aggravated bees, all late to their stations. One of them goes to the gym 12 times a week (his break is on Sunday), and plays lacrosse on the weekends. The other is president of Debating Soc, yet feels it’s her duty to attend every other discussion group on campus. You see your friends dotting from appointment to appointment, and potentially life changing event to life changing event, and
wonder. Wonder what exactly? I don’t know, but this poor soul just cycled 15 (figurative) miles to town for a jam session, and then rushed back to pen his article for Concrete.
As students we feel the need to be everywhere at every point in time. We are possessed with a terrible pathology, a locomotive rather than paralysing ailment, the fear of missing out (FOMO). The specifics of this disease don’t need to be hashed out
here. We all know what it is, we all know what it feels like. It is the desire to fill up our calendars with daringly disparate things, and all at once. It is the impulse to attend every club night, bar crawl, book signing, chess tournament, society ball, bake sale, birthday party, study group, friend’s bar mitzvah, and any other event we’ve been invited to, as long as a day’s notice is given. It’s even that itch we get sometimes to carry out a text conversation with that friend about the day we just spent with them; 20 or so little consumable bites (and bits) of them flashing on our screen for over an hour. At some point life became such an involving motion (or commotion) that we forgot to take stock of it.
The spoils of war lessen as the war fought broadens and the candle-wicks wane.
There are some very good reasons for not being everything for everyone at every time in every place:
1. It rather obviously tires you out. Concentration dips the more you shove into a day. The less you concentrate, the more you go into autopilot. The more you go into autopilot, the less you actually engage in activities, and the less you can gain from them. At one point, you start piling on losses.
2. Doing a whole bunch of things can give you a fragmented insight into them, but focusing on a larger project gives you the means to truly gain expertise. However, gaining expertise takes time and focus, something you’re less likely to have if you have the fragmentary centre mentioned above. A book by Cal Newport, entitled So Good They Can’t Ignore You explores this thesis.
3. You have less time to spend with yourself and less time to spend with other
people in any meaningful way. It is important that we spend time alone and time with our selves so that we can encounter our madness (i.e., so we maintain our sanity) – in the immortal words of Marina Abramovich: “silence is like an island in the middle of a turbulent ocean”. Also, like jigsaw puzzles, other people demand time and cognitive effort. It is hard to grant that to them with a long to-do list running through your mind, especially when they feature as part of that to-do list.
Of course, it may be that the FOMO doesn’t affect you in any particular way, or that it empowers you (God forbid), in which case discard this article to the tee. However, I do hope to see one or two more brightened, awakened, and less encumbered people on campus in the near future, and it would be cool if one was you. Keep well!
Ephraim Luwemba Lifestyle writer
The fear of missing out and the spoils of warLifestyle 19
Photo: Flickr, Sean MacEntee
“Everywhere you turn, you can glimpse the
freshly served entress and seasoned veterans of
univeristy life alike”
Going into your third year at university can be a rather daunting time and the thought of it being your final year in education may be scary, but just remember that everyone is in a similar situation to you and are going to face some of the following problems along the way:
• As each year progresses, it seems that the expectations of you as a student increase. But don’t worry, just use the skills you have learnt and the feedback you received from your previous years to better yourself in your final year. If something doesn’t go to plan or you don’t get the grades you were hoping to, just learn from those mistakes and move on to your next goal.
• An increase in the work load and weekly reading - I have already been given a whole book to read plus two additional readings by the end of the week! Manage your reading by creating a schedule and plan your assignments in advance. Try to start your reading as soon as possible.
• Trying to stay motivated in your third year may be difficult, but think how far you have come! Create a study group with your friends so you can work together and stay focused.
• If you feel like giving up, keep telling yourself why you are doing this and think about how good it will feel to achieve your goal.
• Doing a dissertation? It can be very stressful to decide what to do your dissertation on before you’ve even started writing, without the added worries of carrying out the research.Try and stick to a plan so you don’t feel like giving up.
• Deciding what to do when you leave university is probably one of the toughest decisions to make - be it to stay in education or trying to find a graduate job. If you are unsure, then visit Career Central or apply to multiple places, as (thankfully) you don’t need to make the decision just yet.
• Maintaining a social life whilst having a lot of work to complete may be difficult, but try to enjoy your final year at university too.
• Being involved in societies, or even running a society may take up a lot of spare time, but just think how impressive it will look on your CV! It’s not just about academic qualities.
• If you have maxed out your student overdraft in the first two years, try to stick to a budget and don’t be tempted to take out any payday loans.
These problems aside, it is expected that your final year will be the most stressful with important deadlines looming and decisions to make about your future, but try and enjoy your last year at university before you go out into the ‘real world’. You will soon look back at your time at university as the best years of your life, so put your problems to one side and have fun, and make as many memories as possible.
Apple and blackberry crumble Rebecca BemmentLifestyle editor
Ingredients:• 125g butter;• 150g dark chocolate ;• 150g milk chocolate ;• 3 tablespoons golden syrup ;• 200g digestive biscuits; • 100g mini marshmallows; • Icing sugar - for dusting over the top.
Method:1. Crush the biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin, aiming for both crumbs and pieces of biscuits.
2. Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan. Leave 125 ml of the mixture to one side to drizzle on top at the end. 3. Fold the biscuits into the melted chocolate and then add the marshmallows - and any other ingredients you like! 4. Tip the mixture into a foil tray, and flatten as best as you can. Then pour over the reserved 125ml of chocolate to go on top and smooth over. 5. Refrigerate for two hours or overnight.6. Dust with icing sugar using a tea strainer or small sieve. Cut into small pieces and enjoy!
Isabella Cicchirillo Lifestyle writer
Rocky road
Photo: Flickr, Su-lin
20 Lifestyle
Lifestylefood
Ingredients:• 450g cooking apples ;• 450g blackberries;• 115g caster sugar;• 4 tbsp water.
Crumble topping:• 175g plain flour;• 85g butter;• 85g soft light brown sugar.
Method:1. Cut the apples into quarters and then peel and core them. Slice them thinly into an ovenproof dish.2. Put the blackberries in the dish and add the sugar. Next pour the water over the mix.3. For the crumble topping, put the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and then place the crumble evenly over the fruit. 4. Put the dish on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 – 25 minutes.
Photo: Flickr, Stjin Nieuwendijk Photo: Flickr, Chris
Quick and really easy to make, this recipe is perfect for the cold nights ahead!
Now we all know the key to most people’s hearts is chocolate, so what better way to impress your friends than with delicious rocky road! With such a straightforward recipe and simple ingredients, it would be rude not to!
Thoughts of a third yearSacha ReevesLifestyle writer
Photo: Wikimedia, ParentingPatch
Eleven games into their return to the Championship, Norwich City find themselves leading the pack on goal difference as Neil Adams continues to grow in the manager’s hotseat. The Canaries have lost only twice in the League (on each occasion to teams in the top eight), have struck the most goals in the division and, with the return of talismanic midfielder Jonny Howson from injury, Norwich look set to continue their promotion challenge following the international break.
There is a slight problem however; Norwich have failed to win in four home fixtures against Bournemouth, Birmingham, Charlton and Rotherham – all sides that City really must be beating to keep ahead of the chasing pack – and should consider themselves somewhat fortunate that neither Nottingham Forest nor Watford have yet overtaken them. So after convincing home wins against the Hornets and Blackburn Rovers in August, what’s behind the Canaries’ poor recent home form?
A change of formation has played a significant role in this reversal of fortunes. Previously, Norwich operated a 4-3-2-1 with Alexander Tettey and Bradley Johnson holding, and Kyle Lafferty, Wes Hoolahan and Nathan Redmond playing behind Lewis Grabban as the lone striker. After the Cardiff game, in which super-sub Cameron Jerome helped Norwich to change a two-goal deficit into victory, Adams has continued to field two strikers, but the team’s overall performances have suffered as a result. Norwich have not won a game, or even led at home since Callum Wilson’s equaliser for Bournemouth back in August.
With both Jerome and Grabban on six for the season, it makes clear sense to have both prolific scorers on the pitch. But facilitating the additional man up front without compromising the midfield has so far proven difficult. This, combined with the necessity of playing the club’s longest serving current player Wes Hoolahan in a more central role, has forced Norwich to experiment with a lopsided 4-2-2-2 formation, the only source of width coming from Redmond and fullback Martin Olsson.
This has proven detrimental to Norwich’s counter-attacking style of play, which relied on packing the midfield and constantly winning the ball, then breaking forward in numbers. With drive coming from the three attacking
midfielders and one of either Johnson or Tettey, the constant pressure Norwich put on their opponents in the early games played a decisive role in their success. More recently however, the midfield has been laboured and forced to play narrow, allowing the opposition to get behind the ball and frustrate them. The Canaries’ hesitancy in the final third was all too evident in the disappointing draw to Rotherham, where Jerome again saved a point after Norwich had gone behind.
Nevertheless, the Canaries still have considerable cause for optimism, with their glittering away form making up for disappointments at home. Norwich followed up that fantastic 4-2 win against Cardiff by beating a resilient Brentford and relegation strugglers Blackpool, scoring ten goals in the
process. Despite the disappointing final score,
one must also take the positives from the Rotherham game; a goal down after Norwich keeper John Ruddy had felled Matt Derbyshire in the box, Adams made some astute tactical substitutions, switching to three at the back and bringing on Lafferty and Josh Murphy, both forwards. His ambition – totally lacking in predecessor Chris Hughton – was duly rewarded when Jerome knocked in the rebound from Lafferty’s free-kick.
Despite the dropped points, there’s a unity and a palpable sense of belief around Carrow Road right now. The supporters, the players and the staff all know that, as long as they all continue to get it right, this club can get back to where it belongs.
Sparks have been flying across the world of sport over the past fortnight. Once again, the Premier
League saw young men go to battle for two old men’s war, namely the ‘Battle of Stamford Bridge’.
Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal was somewhat overshadowed by the touchline antics of respective bosses Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, who appear to have reignited a feud that has been running – on and off – for almost a decade since the controversial Portuguese boss first set foot on English soil.
In the same way he celebrated his 1000th game in charge of Arsenal earlier this year, Wenger marked 18 years at the helm with another humiliation at Stamford Bridge. His side may have been outclassed on the pitch, summed up by Diego Costa’s mischievous chip over Wojciech Szczesny, but Wenger did himself no favours with an ungracious display in the technical area.
Unsurprisingly, there was no apology at the final whistle, nor a reconciliatory handshake between two of the most stubborn managers in football. After the pair’s latest fracas, it remains to be seen what action the FA will take, if any.
However, if they think they have caused a stir, they will be disappointed to have been outdone by the ever-looming shadow of Kevin Pietersen. Whenever English cricket threatens to move on from his effervescent character, KP refuses to be side lined. Conveniently timed ahead of
the release of his autobiography, KP lifted the lid on a “bullying” culture within the Three Lions’ camp.
Even England’s staunchest defenders – who have attempted to draw the rather tiresome line between ‘bullying’ and ‘banter’ – must have been saddened by KP’s accusations. The treatment of young fielders, the dictatorship run by Andy Flower, and the negative influence of Matt Prior all make for hard reading.
The other line that has to be drawn is between the necessary and the vitriolic. Pietersen’s book will fly off the shelves, but when it does, it may reveal the ramblings of a bitter batsman who has backed himself into a corner. He claims he would love to play for England again, but that chance must have been scuppered once and for all.
There are two sides to every story, though in the case of Mourinho and Wenger, both are seemingly mundane tales of petulance. As for Pietersen, there is little love lost between himself and his former team mates.
And so, it fell to Formula 1 to offer some perspective in a week of turbulence. Jules Bianchi was rushed to hospital with a serious head injury following a crash that cut the Japanese Grand Prix short.With Marussia entering only a single car for the Sochi Grand Prix, Bianchi provides a sobering thought after a bad-tempered couple of weeks.
Kat Lucas Sports editor
22 Sport
“KP lifted the lid on a ‘bullying’ culture within the Three Lions’ camp”
Norwich on top – but only justRoss PerkinsSport writer
A decade on from the high-profile dissolution of crisis-stricken Wimbledon FC into the newly formed Milton Keynes Dons, Rugby Union seems set to follow the NFL franchise model. Six-time Aviva Premiership winners the London Wasps last week announced a controversial move from their current home in High Wycombe to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Local Wasps fans will face a three-hour round trip to attend matches after Coventry Council agreed to sell their 50% per cent share of the ground, in a deal thought to be worth around £19 million.
Predictably, the decision to transplant the two-time European champions into the Midlands has met its fair share of criticism. Rugby is a community; it does not have the high profile glamour and big money signings
of football, the crowds are not as big and it does not command the same TV rights, but the loyal fans who attend each week keep the sport going.
This is the argument of many of the Wasps loyal supporters, who feel marginalised and disregarded by a club seemingly prepared to sacrifice much of its existing fan-base, most of whom reside in and around London and the South East, in search of a new and larger following. Season ticket holders, unwilling to undertake the 80-mile journey, are pushing for refunds ahead of the move’s completion in December. Home matches are set to resemble away fixtures after their 12 year stay at Adams Park, shared with League Two side Wycombe Wanderers.
The club themselves are relishing the move, however, with the owners, the manager Dai Young and captain James Haskell all urging fans to continue to show their support. Combined with a new sponsorship deal from Jaguar Land Rover, the move marks an
exciting new era for a club who only two years ago were on the brink of bankruptcy. Indeed, the Wasps hierarchy have admitted that it was this or bust; the former giants of the English game have long struggled to break even and teetered on the edge of financial liquidation before they were offered the move.
Former player and fan favourite Lawrence Dallaglio has expressed the view that the move represents a step forward for the club, while Wasps prop Matt Mullan has insisted that the players trust those in charge to make the right decisions.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether the move can hold the key to Wasps’ return to their former glories, which have been few and far between since their last Aviva Premiership title in 2008. But for the sleeping giant of English rugby, this change of infrastructure could prove to be the catalyst for the spike in attendance figures Wasps desperately need to become contenders once again. Only time will tell whether the gamble will pay off.
Wasps move - natural progression or the end of an era?Josh GraySport writer
Photo: Flickr, Jon Candy LocalFitness
Photo: UEACC
The 2014 summer of cricket may have been one to forget for the English national side, but this certainly was not the case for UEA Cricket Club. Following a strong influx of freshers in the first semester of last year, there was a growing sense of optimism as the season drew ever closer. This was reinforced further by how well the side competed during the winter campaign, and by our comprehensive victory over our fiercest rivals, the University of Essex, at Derby Day.
Our season commenced in late April with a friendly against the University of Leicester at Colney Lane. After Leicester posted a total of 132/9 from their 40 overs, we managed to hold our nerve to come away with a one-wicket victory. Our first competitive fixture came against Oxford Brookes and after an obdurate team batting display which resulted in a score of 164/7 from our 50 overs, it was our bowlers who earned all the accolades as they dismissed our opponents for 120. Against Bedfordshire, the game was abandoned as we closed in on a win, but we did emerge triumphant in our away match at the University of Nottingham.
We then faced Leicester once more, this time in our BUCS League, and we produced one of the best team performances that I have been involved in. After bowling Leicester out for 201, we found ourselves in trouble at 18/2. However, the team displayed incredible determination to complete a three-wicket win in the penultimate over. Our performance in our three completed BUCS fixtures saw UEA CC secure second place in our division, with just two points separating us from Oxford Brookes, who played two games more.
So, after just missing out on promotion last summer, we are eager to go one better this year! We cater for cricketers of all abilities and have two teams that compete in both BUCS indoor and outdoor leagues. Training sessions take place twice a week in the SportsPark on Monday (16:20-18:00) and Friday (13:40-15:40), and we are coached by Norfolk all-rounder, Luke Caswell. We also have excellent socials that range from post-match drinks and cricket curries to LCR nights and Australian beach parties!
The 2014-15 campaign has the potential to be an extremely momentous one for the club and for all of its members, and we hope that you join us for what could be a very special season!
Both Roy Keane and Kevin Pietersen have autobiographies out in October, and neither are a first attempt.
Keane, formerly of Manchester United and now assistant coach with Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland, should be all too aware of the perils of publishing vitriol and sampling it to the media.
After the 2001 Manchester Derby, he was banned for eight matches and fined £150,000 for ‘premeditated assault’. In reality, he had just failed to read his ghost-written autobiography, in which ‘he’ claimed he had broken City player Alf-Inge Haland‘s leg on purpose.
Keane’s latest hardback is unlikely to have such far-reaching consequences, particularly as he has retired from playing. At the same time, it is purposeless.
Nothing is achieved by Keane stating he had run-ins with Sir Alex Ferguson and had to leave Old Trafford because of a bust-up. Anyone who follows Manchester United already knows that, just as anyone who has watched English cricket for the last decade knows Kevin Pietersen can’t get on with anyone.
It is little wonder Pietersen’s book took a while in the making when his criticism is so astonishingly widespread, to the extent that it includes Andy Flower, Peter Moores, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and the seemingly
innocuous Graeme Swann and Matt Prior. There is little to be learnt from either book,
apart from that Keane enjoys using the words “fuck” and “prick” rather more than had originally been thought.
For some, KP has come out of the affair with his status as victim confirmed, and if his claims are true, then rightly so. Sadly, there is a section of English fans who will always believe that he is a troublesome influence in the dressing room.
Releasing an all-telling autobiography might be a form of closure for some stars.
Unfortunately for Pietersen, that ‘closure’ entails slamming the door shut on any potential return to the England side.
With the likes of Gary Ballance and Joe Root having come into the side, a comeback may not have been on the horizon, particularly as he has failed to impress for Surrey in county cricket this season.
However, there was always a faint hope, especially in England’s darkest moments of the summer against Sri Lanka and India, that their former talisman would rise from the ashes (or more specifically, ‘Ashes’), and make a gallant return. That now seems unthinkable.
Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have been investigating a parody Twitter account under the name of ‘KPGenius’,
which former captain Alec Stewart has alleged senior players within the camp had access to and used to mock the South African-born batsman.
Graeme Smith, who skippered South Africa for almost a decade, has backed Pietersen’s version of events in light of the Twitter claims, and revealed his side not only knew of the ‘bullying’ taking place in the England side, but also used it to their advantage.
Smith, Pietersen, and even BBC journalist Jonathan Agnew – who has not played Test cricket for the best part of thirty years – have all leapt at the opportunity to have their say on what the England team was like five years ago, but there is a sense that is all too little too late.
It is a sad fact that sports stars become quickly redundant once they disappear from the highest level, and that is equally true of Keane.
There cannot be many Aston Villa fans who will be rushing to the shops to buy their assistant manager’s book, and with good reason: Keane’s most enthralling years are behind him, and are unlikely to unfold in the grey Midlands.
A quick internet search of either figure comes up with numerous autobiographies, in fact quite a bizarre number when it is taken into account that Pietersen is 34, and Keane 43. Perhaps there would have been some merit in both waiting until retirement to unleash their demons, but it could be that there are just too many.
At any rate, they both look like fascinating, if slightly uninformative, reading.
Keane and Pietersen release explosive autobiographies Kat LucasSports editor
Sport 23
In January, UEA Snow will be taking over two hundred students to Val Thorens in France for a week of partying, and of course some excellent skiing and snowboarding. Snow lovers are a weird lot, and you always bump into a few unusual characters in the mountains. Here are five that you’ll almost definitely meet:
1The best skier on the mountainEquipped with top of the range skis for
all different areas of the mountain, this racer -come-freestyler-come-back-country-floater will have been skiing all their life. They’ll never miss an opportunity to sample the high life at the top of the highest peaks in the Alps. Either that, or he’s just pole whacking the ridge of the ski line before bailing after the first turn. It’s the confidence that counts right?
2 What actually is snow?Yes, the après sessions are legendary, and
yes, Val Thorens is home to some of the biggest night clubs in the Alps, but that doesn’t excuse you from ordering thirty Sambuca shots and then passing out, never to see the light of day until the coach home when that steam roller of a hangover finally hits, without ever snapping your boot into a ski. This isn’t the LCR, this is Val Thorens. Get up and go ride.
3First day diverEither they were hitting that kicker way too
fast or just didn’t see that tree approaching at forty miles an hour because their Primark ski
goggles got misty as soon as they stepped out of the hotel, but this person is one of the unluckiest people you’ll meet. Sitting in A&E on the first day, they’ll try to tell you that they caught an edge or a small child cut them up, but we all know they were just trying to impress that attractive guy/girl who smiled at them once.
4 All the gear, no ideaWith an overpriced hoodie from some
brand nobody has ever heard of hanging down to their ankles, and a helmet emblazoned with stickers, you know this person means business. They may be covered in snow from the numerous bails they succumb to on the blue slope they’ve been riding all day, but at least they look better than you.
5 The rookieGood on them for trying something new,
snow sports are great fun, and not too difficult to learn! However, when they fall off the chairlifts, take out groups of school children with a mistimed turn, and drop their skis every two seconds on the way back to the hotel, we can’t help but stifle a small chuckle.
There are plenty more crazy characters you’ll bump into on this year’s trip, but the above are almost a certainty. If you’ve noticed yourself in one of them, don’t worry! The mountain is a place to let your hair down and show off how ‘steezy’ you truly are (or aren’t)!
If you’re coming on the trip, we can’t wait to ride with you! If not, check out our website where you can find more information and book. But be quick; there may only be a few places remaining!
Society corner: in focus
Chris PatonSports writer
Glenn WheelerSports writer
Val Thorens trip for UEA Snow
High hopes for UEA Cricket
Keane made his reputation as an uncompromising, no-nonsense midfielder.Flickr, World_Pictures77
Photo: Wikimedia, Michael Kranewitter
We all know that motor racing is a dangerous sport, but that knowledge never makes it any easier when something happens to remind us of it. Such a day was Sunday the 5th October, following a Japanese Grand Prix marred by Jules Bianchi’s horrendous accident.
With Typhoon Phanfone getting progressively worse, some may argue that the Japanese Grand Prix should never have been held. Nevertheless, the race went ahead as planned – despite poor visibility, torrential rain and high winds – and after a largely incident-free, race whose only retirement had been Fernando Alonso’s unreliable Ferrari, conditions deteriorated in the closing stages.
On lap 42, Adrian Sutil was caught out by a patch of standing water and aquaplaned into the barriers at the Dunlop Curve. No safety car was forthcoming; race control instead issuing double waved yellow flags. One lap later, Bianchi arrived on the scene and suffered a near-identical accident, only this time missing the barriers and sickeningly colliding with a recovery vehicle dispatched to retrieve Sutil’s stricken Sauber. The race was stopped while medics attended to the Marussia driver, who was taken to hospital to be treated for a severe head injury, where he remains in a critical, but stable condition.
After anything like this happens, legitimate questions need to be answered about safety and whether the protocols currently in place are sufficient. Although huge advances have been made to improve safety both in terms of circuit design and more rigorous chassis-testing – most notably following the horrors of Imola in 1994, where both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna lost their lives – Bianchi’s accident shows
that there remain areas of the sport where improvements can, and must be made. How best to go about this remains a matter for debate, with a full investigation into Bianchi’s accident commissioned at the personal behest of FIA President Jean Todt.
1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve has long been regarded a maverick figure in the paddock, unafraid to speak out against what he sees as the sport’s ills, but
his call for changes to be made to safety car operations have struck a chord in the aftermath of Bianchi’s crash. He believes that an approach mirroring that used in America – where any incident, even a harmless spin, can result in a full course caution and deployment of the safety car – should to be employed in F1.
Of course, striking a balance between over-use of the safety car and jeopardising the drivers and safety workers is an unenviable challenge. Last weekend’s Petit Le Mans endurance race at Road Atlanta is one example of the former, featuring 13 caution periods that lasted for three of the race’s ten hours, making for a disjointed race that arguably detracted from the overall spectacle. However this is an all too easy criticism to make watching from the comfort of our sofas. Even in this entertainment driven age, safety should surely come first, especially in the dreadful weather that prevailed at Suzuka.
A similarly dreadful scenario could easily have unfolded at the German Grand Prix earlier this year, when Sutil’s stalled car was recovered from the pit-straight under double waved yellows, again in the latter stages
of the race. The decision not to throw the safety car was a controversial one, essentially guaranteeing Nico Rosberg’s lead would not come under challenge from Lewis Hamilton, but most importantly – considering what we know now – from a safety perspective. The reluctance to use the safety car until after Bianchi’s crash in Japan points to a concerning trend which Todt will surely look to address.
The other question that needs to be asked is whether the conditions were safe for racing. Williams driver Felipe
Massa, a veteran of over 200 Grand Prix, was reportedly ‘screaming’ down his radio that there was too much water on the track several laps before the accident, while the fading light which made the patches of standing water difficult to spot – acknowledged by Sutil himself afterwards – must also be taken into consideration. These are not the ‘good old days’; a driver’s opinion should count for something, even if it is left to race control to make the final decisions.
Could the race have been moved earlier in the day to avoid the worst of the conditions? With binding television contracts, this may have proven unworkable, but it would not have been without precedent: IndyCar’s double-header on the streets of Toronto in July was also plagued by rain showers, but the brave decision was taken to postpone the first race, due to be held on the Saturday, until the Sunday morning. It polarised opinion amongst the paddock, but this is part and parcel of making the big decisions.
Nobody likes it when accidents happen and nobody enjoys the protracted debates that follow. But the unavoidable fact is they’re necessary. We must learn from these tragic events so they are not repeated in future. Simply doing nothing – as happened at Suzuka – can have dire consequences.
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Flickr: Jon Candy
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Formula One is under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after the Japanese Grand Prix
Marussia Formula One driver Jules Bianchi is in a critical condition after his crash in the Japanese GP Flickr, Nick Webb
Bianchi crash raises safety questionsLaura DonaghySport writer
Issue 30114th October 2014
“Safety should surely FRPH�ğUVWń
