Portuguese saved? - The Cambridge Student

Transcription

Sir Ridley Scott
The Korean border
Stewart Petty talks to the
director of Alien about
missing England and his new
Middle East film
Impact 2-3
Ben Sillis travels to what is
technically still a war zone
page 8
03/05/07 Easter term
week 2 of 8
Graduate Union
election surprise
No candidates stand for role of Graduate
Union president in upcoming elections
Peter Wood
Raised faculty building, home of the Portuguese department joseph beuys hat
Portuguese saved?
Undergraduate Portuguese remains in suggested new Tripos model
Amy Blackburn
A proposal to restructure the
Modern and Medieval Languages
Tripos has made the abolition of
Portuguese as an undergraduate
subject less likely.
Following the MML faculty’s
decision to suspend Portuguese
as a full Tripos subject, a working party was set up to discuss
the options available regarding
Portuguese.
The party wrote a report which
laid out a variety of models for the
MML Tripos. The faculty board
the considered the possibilities
and recommended a model to
be put before the general board;
this model retains Portuguese as
a full undergraduate subject. This
does not mean that Portuguese
has been unquestionably saved,
but there is a very good chance
that it will remain as a full Tripos
subject.
The proposed suspension of
Portuguese as an undergraduate subject led to widespread uproar when it was announced in
January. A suggested restructuring of the Tripos aimed to reduce
Portuguese to one paper, available to all MML students.
The faculty planned to cease
admissions to read Portuguese in
2008, but those who are currently
studying the subject would be allowed to finish their degrees. The
recommendation followed the
decision to remove Sanskrit and
Hindi from the Cambridge curriculum. The decision to remove
Portuguese was considered especially surprising, as Portuguese
is the fifth most widely spoken
language in the world and applications to study the subject
at Cambridge had been rising
steadily.
“The credit for this
must go to Portuguese
students, who have
fought to defend their
subject from closure”
The protests against the abolition of Portuguese as a Tripos
subject took a variety of forms. An
international campaign intended
to flood the Vice-Chancellor with
letters, and a demonstration took
place on 28th February.
“Whilst the University has
not made its final decision on
Portuguese, the situation looks
significantly brighter now”,
CUSU President Mark Ferguson
told The Cambridge Student.
“We will have to wait and see
what the final outcome is in the
coming weeks and months, but
I’m very pleased with what I’ve
heard recently.”
“I think that the credit for
this must go to the students of
Portuguese, who have fought
so hard to defend their subject
against closure,” Ferguson continued. “At the end of the day
though, the University, despite
its wealth, is under funded, and
undergraduate teaching at such a
high quality is expensive.
“The University must decide where its priorities lie,
and its funding must be more
sustainable.”
The Graduate Union has been left
bemused as presidential nominations close without any candidate
put forward.
According to graduates, it
seems that a number of candidates had shown considerable interest in the post, yet in between
nominations opening on April
1st, and closing on April 27th ,
none had actually come forward
with a nomination.
The Cambridge Student spoke
to current Graduate Union (GU)
President Beth Bowers, about her
experiences over the past year.
She described the position as “an
honour to have”, and praised the
help of her experienced executive board. in helping her “to give
something back that matters”
from her post.
Under Bower’s tenure, the GU
has managed to increase membership rates, continue improvements to the Union café, and give
increased efficiency in the delivery of services. The new president
would be expected to continue
these advances.
The GU is commonly seen as
less overtly political than CUSU,
and President Bowers has
stressed that previous experience
in GU politics is not required,
but stands open for anyone willing to commit to the welfare of
the Cambridge graduate body.
Subject to winning the approval
of the full GU body, of course.
Whilst the lack of candidates
is surprising, the GU has been
known to suffer from this in the
past. The 2006 election had three
candidates, the same number as
last term’s CUSU elections, but
previous years have been known
to have only one candidate, whilst
2004 saw half the GU’s executive
positions left empty, prompting a
radical shake up by president Ruth
Keeling. The position is a waged
sabbatical post, with the full support of the University in taking a
year away from studying.
Mark Ferguson, president
of the Cambridge University
Students’ Union, said that:
“Whilst it is disappointing that
no-one has yet come forward as
a candidate for the Presidency of
the Graduate Union, I think it is
important not to panic.
“It is important to stress that
even if the worst case scenario
were to unfold, and the GU were
to have to close or merge with
CUSU, graduates will continue to
be supported at the current level.
Graduate students and MCRs
have that absolute assurance from
both CUSU and the GU.”
The GU President is the principal financial officer of the GU
and is its representative leading
the major campaigns and initiatives. Responsible for the administration of facilities and services
provided by the Union, they chair
meetings of the GU Board and
GU Executive.
Nominations for the position have already re-opened, and
will shut on Friday 4th of May at
Noon.
The current president Beth
Bowers is happy for members to contact her with
questions about the presidential position.
For enquiries on the presidency, or any other problems or queries. get in
touch on: [email protected]
What ‘300’ really means 5 Who are the Rakes? 28 The Varsity boat race 32
2 NEWS
The Cambridge Student 03/05/07
News in Brief
Queens’ development
trasnforms the Backs
A new floor of the Cripps
Building at Queens’ College,
which dominates the southern end of the Backs, has been
topped out. The extra floor,
known as the Stephen Thomas
Teaching and Research
Centre, will contain 17 teaching offices for fellows, three
seminar rooms and 18 ensuite residential rooms. The
extension was designed by
Cambridge architects Bland,
Brown and Cole, who were
also responsible for the ADC
theatre.
New Review of Sport
Published
The first ever Annual Review
of Sport at Cambridge
University has been published.
The 88 page document records
the achievements of 54 sporting socities in Cambridge over
the 2005/6 academic year. The
review contains lists of outstanding sporting perfor-
mances, as well as detailed
records of Varsity matches.
More than 100 Blues gathered
at the weekend to launch the
publication.
Woman caged in Oxford
lab protest
An 88 year old woman has
dressed up as a prisoner and
locked herself in a small cage
in Oxford. Joan Court, originally form Cambridge, was
protesting against the animal
experiments being carried
out on a macaque monkey at
Oxford University.
Many students clueless
about contraception
A survey has revealed that
many university students do
not know how to use condoms
correctly. The poll, carried out
by the Terence Higgins Trust
and the National Union of
Students, found that 10% of
students cannot put a condom
on properly, and 16% believe
that two are safer than one.
Students rally for Darfur
Cambridge Students join global protest against inaction
Mischa Foxell
A group of students from Cambridge University Amnesty
joined hundreds of protestors in
London last Sunday at the Global
Day for Darfur rally.
They joined other members of
Amnesty International in asking
the British Government to take
measures against the ongoing
human rights abuses taking place
in the Darfur region of Sudan.
On the day itself, an hourglass
filled with fake blood was turned
to symbolise the fact that time
is running out for the people of
Darfur, where the UN believes
that more than 200,000 people
have been killed and more than
2 million have been displaced in
what has been recognised by the
international community as the
21st century’s first genocide.
Demonstrations took place
across the world to mark the
fourth anniversary of the conflict.
Set against continuing reports
of atrocities being committed, activities were held in over
35 countries around the world,
ranging from Mali, Iceland and
Mongolia to Tunisia , France, the
US, Ukraine and Thailand
According to Amnesty
International the Sudanese
Janjawid militia is pursuing a
strategy of forced displacement
through attacks, killings and
rapes and by the destruction of
the villages, homes and livelihood. Rape and sexual violence
are being used systematically and
on a daily basis as a weapon of war
against women and girls, including girls as young as eight.
In many areas of Darfur
African Union peacekeeping
patrols have been called off, despite an overwhelming international consensus on the need to
deploy a hybrid UN/AU force
to protect civilians in Darfur, the
Sudanese government continues
to refuse to allow such a deployment. In order to get firewood
from outside the refugee camps,
families are faced with the impossible dilemma of whether to send
out men and boys who might be
killed, or woman and girls who
might be raped.
Hamish Falconer, a student
of St John’s College and the
Director of Sudan Divestment
UK which seeks to end the atrocities in Darfur by putting economic pressure on the Sudanese
government, said to TCS “The
Day for Darfur was a great success and a demonstration of the
depth of feeling surrounding
Darfur. People across the UK care
if genocide happens- whether it is
in Europe or abroad and they are
prepared to act: to act politically
and increasingly to act economically to see an end to the genocide
in Darfur.”
Amnesty International are
calling for the immediate deployment of a joint UN and African
Union peacekeeping force in
Darfur and for free and full access
to humanitarian aid to be secured
for all civilians.
Amnesty demonstrators
Mischa Foxell
NEWS 3
03/05/07 The Cambridge Student
St. Catz Divestment Announced
Joe Piper
St. Catharine’s College has become the second college after
New Hall to disinvest from
Sudan, symbolising their support for an anti-genocide investment policy.
The Governing Body have
agreed to show solidarity with
the victims of the ongoing genocide in Darfur and apply targeted
pressure to the Sudanese government through disinvestment.
The divestment movement was
born on US college campuses in
2005. Last month, Vermont became the seventh US state to fully
divest from firms identified by
the task force as supporting the
Sudanese government’s activities in Darfur. It joined Arizona,
California, Illinois, Louisiana,
New Jersey and Oregon; another
twenty states are due to examine
bills this year.
St. Catharine’s College have
written to their investment man-
agers expressing their concern at
inadvertently investing in companies linked with the current
genocide. They noted that what
makes the situation in Sudan
so unique is that it has already
been classified as genocide by
the UN, US government and
European Parliament while it is
still occurring.
St. Catharine’s have confirmed
that they do not currently invest
directly in any such companies
and that no new investments will
be made by the College in companies blacklisted by SDT and
SDUK.
The initial proposal was a
combined JCR and MCR motion to the governing body written by Joe Piper (3rd Year PhD
Chemistry).
JCRpresidentDaveKunzmann
and MCR co-president Dan Friess
presented the motion to the fellowship and received widespread
support. St Catharine’s governing
body then passed the motion with
an overwhelming majority.
Sudanese Divestment does not
cost the College anything as investments in equivalent alternatives are available to maintain a
balanced portfolio.
Divestment specifically targets
the Sudanese government, avoiding pressure on the Sudanese people by excluding local industries
such as gum Arabic production.
There are also arguments that
China will increasingly dominate
Sudan investment, but critics
counter that China is still concerned about Western divestment from some of its key firms.
“There is this great myth that
China is completely intractable”, said Hamish Falconer, the
Director of Sudan Divestment
UK. “Divestment is not about
obtaining anything very radical
from China, it’s about making it
in their interest to stop funding
the genocide.”
Divestment campaigns are ongoing elsewhere in the University,
including Clare College and
St. Catharine’s College has divested from Sudan
Emmanuel College.
Hawking’s zero gravity flight
Catherine Watts
One week ago Professor Stephen
Hawking, the leading cosmologist and fellow of Gonville and
Caius college, had a life-changing
experience: a zero-gravity flight.
The flight occurred in a Boeing
727 Jet, operated by the Zero
Gravity Corporation, which
took off from the Kennedy Space
Centre at Cape Canaveral. Before
the flight, Hawking said, ‘I am
looking forward to experiencing
weightlessness. It has been many
decades since I have been out of
my wheelchair’.
Such a flight is a difficult
enough physical challenge for
the agile future-astronauts who
undergo similar experiences as
part of their training. Yet, aside
from the paralysis which has left
him wheelchair-bound for forty
years, a team of doctors deemed
Hawking to be ‘in tremendous
condition’, stating that his heartrate, blood pressure and oxygen levels were all ‘perfect’. He
was nevertheless accompanied
on the flight by two specialists
from Cambridge Addenbrooke’s
Hospital, in the event of any medical problem.
The plane climbed an average of 1000 feet a second, at a 45˚
angle. Between this climb and
nose dive at the same angle, and
at a peak of nearly 30,000 feet,
Hawking experienced thirty seconds of zero-gravity. The plane
completed this rollercoaster
cycle a further seven times, giving
Hawking the sense of weightlessness for a total of 4 minutes. This
astonished the flight’s organisers,
who had hoped that he would be
able to manage 1 or 2 of the flight
parabolas at best.
To a cheering crowd Hawking
described his experience: ‘It was
amazing. I could have gone on
and on. Space, here I come.’
Within the next year or two,
Hawking hopes to go into orbit,
in order to demonstrate how essential space exploration is to
mankind. He believes that ‘the
human race doesn’t have a fu-
ture if it doesn’t go into space.’ It
is thought that Richard Branson’s
Virgin Galactic company has decided to pay for Hawking’s trip
into space, a trip which would
otherwise cost $200,000.
Alan Stern, on behalf of NASA
said, ‘Dr Hawking is showing
us the way. I want to extend my
congratulations to him on his
first taste of zero gravity and offer
him my best wishes for the realisation of his dream of launching
into space itself.’
The world famous Professor
took time away from his preparation for the flight to compose
a video, shown at the opening
of the new “Stephen Hawking
Building” of Gonville and Caius
College. Built upon the family
home that he lived at whilst writing “A Brief History of Time”,
Hawking described it as “…in my
opinion, the best recent building
in Cambridge”.
The four-minute video shows
Hawking in the garden with his
children, and recollections of his
time spent there whilst writing A
Brief History of Time.
Professor Hawking’s
speech can be accessed
via: “The News Audio
and Video Service” on
www.cam.ac.uk.
Concerns over admissions and degree grades
Alys Brown
Concerns have arisen about both
the number of state school pupils
applying to Cambridge, and the
degree classifications that all students hope to achieve.
Statistics from the Admission
Forum of Cambridge Colleges
show that the number of state
school pupils applying to
Cambridge has fallen disproportionately. State school applications have dropped 3% nationally
due to the introduction of top-up
fees. Cambridge, however, is suffering a drop of 4.3%. This is a
drop from 6,672 in 2005 to 6,387
last year.
Accusations have been made
that the drop is linked to the cutting of two full time access staff
in 2004, the year when top-up
fee legislation was passed and
when the decline in state school
applications began. Without key
staff and with funding problems,
Cambridge is potentially unable to counter negative views
amongst potential state school
candidates.
The inconsistent and unfair
way that degrees are marked and
graded has also been condemned.
The QAA (Quality Assurance
Agency) report highlights the
vast inconsistencies between in-
stitutions. There are concerns
that students who are as able and
industrious as each other may receive different degree classifications from different universities.
QAA calls for a new system of
fail, pass and distinction to replace the current grades of third,
2.2, 2.1 and first. It also suggests a more detailed transcript
of achievements. This national
standardisation would reward
students more fairly and provide
employers with a clearer indication of achievement.
Patrick Leonard, CUSU
Academic Affairs Officer, explained the way that inconsistent standards affect Cambridge
students. “There is obviously a
national problem when there
is a disparity between assessment standards across the UK”,
Leonard told The Cambridge
Student. “A problem arises for
Cambridge students when they
are classed 2.2, and are unable
to apply for graduate schemes or
further study requiring a 2.1, even
though they are of the standard of
students from other universities
receiving a 2.1.”
“Fortunately however, for
Cambridge students, around 85%
receive a 2.1 or a first”, Leonard
continued. “Employers also generally recognise the outstanding
ability and expertise of our gradu-
ates, even those who don’t receive
the highest classes.”
Leonard also acknowledged
the potential risks of a system
that differentiates more between
students. “Before differentiating
between students more, we must
firstly recognise that there may
be less to differentiate between
than there was in the past”, he
told TCS.
“The improvements in
Secondary School Education
and the widening participation
of students from non-traditional
backgrounds have resulted in
Cambridge receiving the best and
most able students in the UK and
from around the world.”
Pembroke
wins Fairtrade
approval
Sinead Martin
This week members of Pembroke
college are celebrating gaining official certification as a Fair trade
college following widespread student support.
After a year long campaign,
buying and selling as many food
products accredited by the Fair
Trade Foundation as possible,
college approval of their fair trade
policy was achieved and ensured
their full official status.
As part of the nationwide
Fairtrade campaign to ensure
that disadvantaged producers in
the developing world get a fairer
deal when selling their goods
for export. They promote consumer support for goods carrying the mark of the Fairtrade
Foundation, which offers producers increased returns for their
labour. Pembroke currently offers its students a range of Fair
trade products such as tea, coffee,
sugar, juice and chocolate bars
and uses them whenever possible, in collegiate catering and college offices and meetings.
The college will monitor the
progress of the Fairtrade policy
through a steering committee
and promotes the consumption
of Fairtrade goods among college
members as widely as possible.
Daniel Chandler, CUSU Green
Officer was pleased with the relative ease Fairtrade policies had
been implemented stating; “The
Catering Manager and Bursar
have been fully behind the project all the way… Costs have also
been very marginal, for example
the coffee in Cafe Pembroke is
now all Fairtrade - and the prices
have stayed the same.” He also
spoke of the great enthusiasm of
the student body as whole, over
93% of whom voted for the college promoting Fairtrade products in a 2006 survey.
Chandler also urged more colleges to get involved “I’d like to
emphasise that getting Fairtrade
status is a very achievable goal for
all colleges, and for the University
…Cooperationg with college authorities is obviously the key, and
considering the low costs and
extremely high levels of student
support, we hope to see more colleges going this way soon.”
University wide Fairtrade
ranking cannot be achieved
until 2/3rds of colleges gain official status individually. However
campaigners are celebrating the
success of Pembroke’s campaign,
coming mere months after St.
Catherine’s College gained official Fairtrade status, whilst Kings
College is known to be well on the
way to joining them.
Want to write for TCS?
Then email:
[email protected]
4 NEWS
Miliband talks
on combating
climate change
Dan Nixon
Secretary of State for the
Department for Food,
Environment and Rural Affairs,
David Miliband gave an engaging, considered and forward
looking talk to a near-full auditorium in the Law Faculty on
Monday 5th March.
Mr Milliband, whilst ruled out
as next leader of the Labour party
is certain to be a senior figure in
the Labour party for some time,
and his ideas were watched with
close scrutiny in a closely packed
hall.
Drawing comparisons with the
defining transitions to industrialisation and the market economy
of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, Mr Miliband identified
saving the planet as the big challenge of the current age and set
out his plans to see the UK remain
at the forefront of an international
effort to tackling this truly global
issue. In addition to heading the
UK political agenda, he put forward the view that cooperating
on climate change could reunite
the EU’s institutions with its people at a time when it so desperately
needs to “address the citizens’ aspirations of 2007, not 1962”
Endorsing the findings of
the Stern report, Mr Miliband
showed skepticism towards the
pre-Stern conventional wisdom
that the economic costs of mitigating global warming were too
high to be justifiable. Echoing
the words of Al Gore’s visit to
Cambridge over Easter, onlookers were told that average worldwide temperatures have risen
dramatically over the last century
and by 2050 are expected to be 3
degrees centigrade higher than
their levels at the beginning of
the last century, as well as bringing increased climate volatility,
strongly linked to the incidence
of natural disasters.
As on of the most influential figures in the current cabinet on environmental issues, he set out his
ideas for the future. Addressing
electricity generation, the culprit for almost 31% of all carbon
emissions, Mr Miliband told us
that energy efficiency alone could
cut emissions by one third with
carbon capture and renewable
energy offering other sources of
hope, whilst from 2016, the government plans to demand all new
homes be “zero carbon”.
He proposed a “3D” energy
revolution, including reduced
demand, energy efficiency, decarbonisation via renewables
and, last of all, de-centralisation.
This last solution reflected the
Secretary of State’s view of the role
of government being “to provide
the facilitation of market-based
solutions”, a recurring theme of
the talk which offered some indication of the kinds of solutions
we might expect to hear from Mr
Miliband in years to come.
Prince Phillip visits Cambridge
The Chancellor of Cambridge celebrates being in office for 30 years
Alia Azmi
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
and Chancellor of Cambridge
since 1977, visited Cambridge
this April in celebration of his
thirtieth year as Chancellor of the
University.
Arriving to honour the inauguration of Hughes Hall, the graduate college, as a full University
college 121 years after its foundation. He also participated in
the official opening of the new
Stephen Hawking accommodation block in Gonville and Cauis
college. The new state of the art
building was funded entirely by
kind donations from alumni and
benefactors, which the current
master, Sir Christopher Hum,
speaks of with pride, “the significance of the building is that
the building is only here because
nearly 2000 Caiuans, members
of the college, past members of
the college, friends of the college, have given over £10million
to put it here… that’s why people
are here celebrating today.”
Caiuans that turned out for the
ceremony were sceptical of the
practical role played by the Duke
of Edinburgh as Chancellor of
Cambridge, but nevertheless remained supportive of his symbolic role, similarly reflected in
the Duke of Edinburgh’s own
words later on in the day at Senate
House; “Chancellors, like small
children, should be occasionally seen and seldom heard.” He
also remarked, “My connection
with Cambridge has been fascinating and the greatest pleasure for me ever since [I was first
appointed].”
Though he does not take an
active part in the running of the
university, the Prince remains
concerned in its welfare and affairs, and has recently loaned a
collection of Antarctic paintings from his private collection
to be displayed at Bonhams auction house in London at the end
of May, in order to raise money
for the University’s Scott Polar
Research Institute (SPRI) and
support the campaign to raise
a total of £5 million needed to
satisfy the long-term needs for
continuing conservation of its
collections of polar artefacts, art
and manuscripts.
Prince Phillip, addressing Senate House Nigel Luckhurst
Students stand in local polls today
Amy Clare Hanna
Combating the common perception of student apathy, four
students are running to become
councilors in today’s local elections, whilst the city council has
unveiled a new website to encourage student participation.
Student candidates, Greg
Patton and Aneaka Kellay are
running for the Green party in
Market and Newnham wards respectively, James Martin is run-
ning for the Conservatives in
Petersfield, whilst Louis Coiffait is
running for Labour in Newnham.
The support of students will be
vital in their electoral bid.
All Cambridge students resident in college accommodation
should have been automatically
added to the local electoral role,
with the ability to vote in both the
Cambridge local election, and
their home ward.
The apolitical campaign from
Cambridge Council elections
aims to get people to click on to
the web site www.itsaboutme.net,
which aims to encourage people
from apathy to an awareness of
how politics affects everything,
whatever their age or interests.
The website links to six different questions on: environment,
sports, shopping, transport, food
and drink, and neighbourhood.
Clicking on each category links
to a page inviting you to take part
in a quick multiple choice click
poll. After clicking on their choice
answer, the user is taken to a results page where they can see how
their vote compares with the rest
of respondents.
Major local co-sponsors are
already supporting the campaign, which features placards
and posters as well as the website.
Cambridge Evening News has
been publicising the campaign,
and local retail sponsors have instructed their staff to hand out
postcards to customers.
Education sponsors such as
Cambridge University Student
Union and Anglia Ruskin
University Student Services have
been promoting the web site in
a variety of ways. Local business
corporations such as the Greater
Cambridge Partnership are working alongside the City Council to
provide further support for the
website campaign.
Cambridge City Council has
also designed an interactive electoral map with information about
candidates, ward details and polling station information. The map
allows you to type in your postcode to access the relevant electoral information effectively.
As one of the candidates, Greg
Patton (standing for the Green
Party) told TCS:
“At the moment in Cambridge
there are no students on the coun-
cil. This means the needs of students and young people generally
in Cambridge can be ignored or
overlooked. This is exacerbated
by the really low turnout of students in the elections. Student
members of the Green Party
have been elected in places such
as Norwich and Oxford and have
really made a big difference to the
lives of students.”
Statistics from former elections
show that the winning councillor
in most of the Cambridge wards
has only marginally won their position by around a thousand votes.
With approximately seventeen
thousand students, the student
vote has the power to influence
and even remould the local council. This is especially the case for
the central wards Newnham and
Market, where students make
up the highest proportion of the
electorate.
Copy-cats to fear new Software
Peter Wood
Cambridge University has purchased new software designed to
reveal plagiarism, with plans to
increase academic standards.
The software, known as
“Turnitin” is liked to a national
database with access to the majority of academic journals, articles, a number of books and
selected essays by students from
other universities who are linked
to the system.
Through a system of text analysis, the software will detect work
that seems to be plagiarised, ei-
ther by a direct copy, or by use of
un-credited paraphrasing. The
purchase of the new software
has been supported by both the
cambridge University Students
Union (CUSU) and the Graduate
Union, in addition to the Board
of Examinations and Board of
Graduate Studies as a way to increase standards.
It will be phased in over the
coming months, initially only
being used upon scripts under
suspicion of plagiarism, which
is currently defined by the Board
of Examinations as: “The unacknowledged use of the work of
others as if this were your own
original work” and in the context
of an examination, the “passing
off the work of others as your own
to gain unfair advantage.”
Speaking to Patrick Leonard,
CUSU Academic Affairs officer,
he described the union’s commitment that this would be used as
a tool to increase standards, not
to intimidate. The Student Union
hopes that the software will be
used regularly as an aid to supervisions, as well as examinations,
to assist in teaching.
Leonard cited mounting concerns that academic referencing
was not being sufficiently taught
to a high standard at A-levels,
leaving universities unable to assume students correctly understood how to use the referencing
systems in place.
The system may also be useful for teaching international
students the Harvard system of
referencing currently used in
Cambridge, as opposed to alternative models.
Having fed in a piece of work,
Turnitin calculates the “level of
originality” in a given piece of
work, before calculating whether
or not the point has been properly
referenced.
The system is unable to read
hand-written work, but will have
access to a wide variety of works
from other universities. This
should also create additional barriers to students to sharing work
between different years.
On a plagiarism awareness day,
May 2nd, academic staff were introduced to the system by the
Board of Examinations “to help
raise awareness of plagiarism
amongst both members of staff
and students and develop confidence in what constitutes acceptable academic practice across the
University community”.
Additional data on how to
avoid plagiarism can be found on
www.cam.ac.uk/plagiarism.
FOCUS 5
300 Spartans
Andy Gawthorpe wonders what, if anything, the latest Frank Miller flick means
Ancient Spartans: too rock hard for clothes.
T
he film 300, a depiction of the Battle of
Thermopylae in 480 BC through the eyes
of a Spartan narrator, has aroused considerable controversy among two groups: the
Iranian government, and western movie critics.
A spokesman for the former decried the “cultural aggression” of the movie, while President
Ahmadinejad himself was moved to comment
that the film-makers “are trying to tamper with
history ... by making Iran’s image look savage”.
The reception among cultural commentators in
the American and British press has scarcely been
more welcoming.
Thus, the Washington Post regards the film as
“an overblown visual document with an IQ in the
lower 20s.” The Guardian’s considered opinion
is that “no one could possibly take it seriously”.
With grammar which is as fuzzy as its analysis,
The Independent says it is “the Nazi-est movie
Hollywood has ever made”. I have now seen this
film with two different groups of people, and a
lively debate has ensued after each sitting. Many
consider it to be fascist, and to be putting forward
abhorrent politics. This is not my view; not at all.
I want to take 300 seriously, and I want to explain
why I think it is, in fact, one of the most anti-Nazi
films that Hollywood has ever made.
First, for those who are not familiar with it, the
story itself. In the fifth century BC, the Persian
Empire, led by Xerses I, seeks to invade Greece
and make her city-states its vassals. The Persian
Empire is vast and Xerses employs slaves from
all across it to fight his battles. If beaten, the
Greeks face a similar fate. As the Persian horde
approaches, Greece is divided against itself and
unsure of whether to fight. The Spartan King,
however, has only one mind where they have two,
and he leads an eponymous force of three hundred to face the Persians, whose forces number in
the hundreds of thousands. After a bloody fight
in which the Spartans exact a high price from the
Persian armies, they are betrayed and all but one
are killed; but this sacrifice inspires all of Greece
to unite against the invasion, which is eventually
repelled. Historians credit this achievement with
saving Greece and hence preserving the seed of
western civilization.
I would like to add by way of a disclaimer that I
consider it unfortunate that some might find parallels to contemporary events in this story, and
might deploy it as propaganda against the Iranian
people. I do not support the invasion of Iran, and
with the exception of one instance at the end –
whi+ch the Iranian regime has invited itself by its
direct commentary on this film – I do not mean
to imply that this story has anything to do with
Iran today. Racists and Islamophobes will have
to look elsewhere to find comfort for their abhorrent views.
This film has nothing to do with
contemporary politics or a clash of
civilizations. Its message is more
general
Now to the film. The way it is presented is certainly not for the faint of heart. The whole affair, as might be expected, is incredibly bloody;
the capacity for mercy of these ancient warriors
is limited. One Hollywood writer has described
it as having “the moral code of the United States
Marine Corps”. As well as this, the film’s fidelity
to the comic strip on which it is based sometimes
means it ventures into the absurd, for instance
when the Persians deploy soldiers who are more
beast than man. Yet many critics seem to forget
that this tale is told not from the point of view of
an impartial observer, but that of the Spartan who
was the sole survivor of the battle. The offensive
depiction of the effete Persians, the monsters they
deploy, and even the superhuman bravery of the
Spartans; all of these things are told from his perspective. Yet none of them take away from the essentials of the story.
It is instructive to remember the reception that
was given to the ultra-violent Sin City, which was
another film based on a comic book by Frank
Miller. This neo-noir movie was set in a metropolis gone mad, crazed with violence. It frankly depicted extreme brutality, torture, and attempted
rape – often at the same time. Yet the critic for the
New York Times complained it was “a bore”.
Yet this world of visceral nihilism and a city
gone morally mad aroused few other principled
objections from western film critics. The message
seems to be that violence is okay so long as it is
senseless and stands for nothing. Being forced to
take up arms to defend one’s homeland is apparently so morally questionable as to require serious denunciation and mockery in film reviews lest
the idea take root. But most critics did not feel the
need to deconstruct Sin City to such a level. If they
had, they might have reflected that its frank portrayal of brutal nihilism shares the moral universe
of the suicide bomber – or, indeed, of the Nazi.
Yet 300 portrays a situation of exceptional
moral clarity. The viewer can make their own
mind up if the harsh, militaristic Spartan society
which is portrayed, especially in the first quarter
of the film, is to their taste - they will likely conclude it is not. I am not saying that the Ancient
Spartans were perfect, or that their society is one
which we should aspire to live in or to create in the
here and now. This message is that our conception
of the good life - whatever that may be - sometimes requires sacrifice to defend it. Sometimes it
requires Spartans. This is not a matter of taste; it
is a matter of reality.
It is only the lack of an organized threat to the
existence of the west that has made so many people become blind, perhaps even hostile to, the
plain fact of reality that sometimes sacrifice and
the encouragement of virtues not usually associated with these societies may be needed in their
defence. Patriotism and the sometimes simpleheaded defence of what is ours - defending it from
attack, not inflicting it on others - are qualities that
have become widely seen as debased by their association with current American policies.
But it’s easy to see how it’s possible to take this
all too far, to declare that all is relative and hence
nothing is worth defending. This can be the only
reason to react so violently against a film that portrays sacrifice as being sometimes a necessity in
the retention of a society’s freedom in a dangerous
world. And it can be the only reason to invert the
moral universe which we developed in the twentieth century, to declare that the pursuit of violence
to defend oneself against another who is deploying the same tool makes one a Nazi. That line of
reasoning is called appeasement, and it ends at
Auschwitz and in the Serbian death camps.
The story of the three hundred Spartans at
Thermopylae is beautiful in its moral simplicity in
the same way that the story of anti-Nazi partisans
during the Second World War is. The Spartans
wish to defend what is theirs, and the Persians
wish to take it away. It is this moral clarity, rather
than any direct reference to contemporary events,
which is the movie’s central message. The message of this film resonates down the ages to any
time that free people have faced defeat and enslavement – or worse. And, seen from this angle,
if we’re going to throw the epithet “Nazi” around,
it’s quite clear who it applies to in this film.
It would be wrong to see this film as a crude
portrayal of a “clash of civilizations”. Doubtless,
this is how the Iranian regime will see it – but we
would do well not to adopt the mental categories
of the extremists. The depiction in this movie of
the Persians as subhuman and effete is clearly ludicrous, is intended to be so, and is not the issue;
what parallel does exist is to how the current
Iranian regime has exiled itself from the community of civilized nations by its constant calls for the
annihilation of free peoples. If any parallel is immediately obvious which might worry the Iranian
President, it is this.
The viewer can make their own
mind up if the militaristic Spartan
society portrayed in the film is
to their taste - they will likely
conclude it is not
The film’s style may not be to the taste of everyone, but it stands out as a wonderful story about
sacrifice and hardship endured in the pursuit of
an ideal, which is not a story that we come across
too often nowadays. In a world of art like Sin City,
which believes in nothing, we should not be so
quick to condemn a work that believes in something. The comfortable existence we in the west
now experience has liberated us from the constant
struggle for survival which has characterized all of
human history until so very recently. Seen across
the sweep of the centuries, this condition is unusual - history tells us it will not last. On top of this,
much of the world has not been so lucky. Many
nations remain threatened by others, and we ourselves remain threatened by extremists. In such
a condition, we would do well as a people not to
forget the lessons and example that the Battle of
Thermopylae sets for us. We may need these virtues again one day.
6 FOCUS:
Why ‘non-political’ is nonsense
Ed Maltby considers the merits of a depoliticised CUSU
T
he emergence of the Little More Action
group in the Lent elections was illuminating. Not so much because the alliance of
campaigning groups from the green movement
to the movement for free education indicated the
resurgence of student activism at Cambridge – we
knew about that already – but because it brought
to a head the issue of the “non-political” students’
union. For some time, certain candidates, officers
and pundits have striven to rid CUSU of “politics”. “Politics”, we are regularly informed, has no
place in CUSU – and with this in mind, the antipolitical faction vigorously advanced its cause in
the Lent elections, with Varsity cheering on candidates standing on the “non-political” ticket.
What are the animating principles of the “non-political” doctrine? What are the pernicious “politics”
against which CUSU must be protected? Political
activism, they say, is not what CUSU is there for – it is
there to widen access, provide welfare services, and
represent students to the University. Shepherding
students onto marches, producing political propaganda, and discussing politics in CUSU Council
are distractions from CUSU’s essential business as
a union. Whereas members of A Little More Action
would presumably use their time in office to burn
cars, raise funds for the Indonesian Communist
Party and campaign to end the plight of Tuareg
women in Mali, the serious, purposeful defenders
of the non-political students’ union would concentrate on the supposedly non-political business of
casework and improving services.
Very well – but how divorced is politics from student life? For example, were the government to raise
the cost of a degree to a level beyond the means of
most comprehensive school students, the Access
Officer’s role would become somewhat redundant.
Or were it the prevailing view that, say, the mentally
ill should be confined and exorcised by priests, the
Mental Health Officer’s role would become rather
fraught. Were abortion provision radically cut
back and students’ unions forbidden from handing out condoms so as to discourage immorality,
the Women’s Officer would see her casework load
increase considerably. In any of these cases, what
would the “non-political” faction have CUSU do?
Presumably, they would say that the non-political
students’ union should not indulge in such quixotic adventures as challenging government policies which hurt students: perhaps CUSU could
respond to adverse changes in the political situation
by producing supportive leaflets (“Learning to Love
Crippling Debt” or “Repatriation: The Facts”).
Or, to take two recent examples from real life,
if students protesting moves to increase fees are
threatened with academic discipline by the university, should a student’s union condemn students for
being too political and side with the university? If
local counselling services, desperately needed by a
university with the second highest suicide rate in
Britain, were made unavailable to the majority of
students, should a student’s union avoid the “political” issue of NHS welfare provision like the plague?
Another example of the non-politicians in action
was during last year’s AUT strike. Across the country, shaggy-haired Communist loons suggested that
SUs should support lecturers’ pay demands, given
that a raise was several years overdue and the AUT
Student activism has a long and distinguished history.
had supported NUS in its anti-fees campaign. In
the face of such irresponsible nonsense, a small but
well-funded group of staunchly ‘apolitical’ SU officers stepped into the breach. Defending another trade
union in their struggle was, obviously, too political
an approach. NUS should be supporting students as
students, not playing politics. The answer? In a nonideological and unbiased move, the non-political
brigade told striking teachers to get back to work.
The “non-political” argument is a red herring.
While making the straw-man argument that it would
be bad for students if CUSU spent all its time campaigning on self-indulgent, obscure political causes
at the expense of services, it seeks to undermine the
kind of political action without which a union loses
all credibility: meaningful support for the women’s
movement, for example; or leading a strong, wellorganised campaign against tuition fees.
The “politics out of CUSU” brigade are not
supremely disinterested individuals, possessed of an objective understanding that is denied to such blinkered ideologues as members of
Education Not for Sale, Little More Action, and
related groups. They are just as politically motivated as anyone: the difference is one of honesty and
transparency.
A responsibility revolution?
Mike Kielty on the modern relevance of an old virtue
R
We bear a responsibility for the planet.
The European Space Agency.
esponsibility is not the most fashionable of
modern terms. Arising from a childhood
where life was easy, with ever-watchful
parents or that friendly uncle always on hand to
deliver an ice-cream when the world seemed just a
little too grey, most of us associate the idea of being
responsible with a dull, adult existence of student
fees and essay deadlines whilst in Cambridge and
the sobering thought of a regular “9 to 5” job afterwards. It conjures images of drab businessmen
in grey offices (think, “corporate responsibility”),
smiling politicians (“social responsibility”) or
even the friendly next-door hippy (“environmental responsibility”). Whatever it makes us think,
however, the connotations are rarely something
to consider with enthusiasm.
Which brings me, oddly, to David Cameron’s
recent speech calling for a “revolution in responsibility”. According to the Tory leader, there’s a lot
we have started to shed responsibility for — public manners, civic pride, carrying a job through and
taking the rap if we foul up. When a crisis comes in
a “position of trust” and a reputation is shaken, it is
not long before public figures, the media and much
of the public is baying for someone’s head, for “personal responsibility” to be taken for that mistake or
blunder. From the manager of your football team
to your JCR President, most figures of a perceived
authority are held to a standard that we ourselves
often ignore, if not disdain. And what is wrong with
this? They are public figures after all, symbols of their
nation or locality; they seek that power and so they
should be ready to accept the responsibility that goes
along with it.
Yet for all the staid, familiar air of this
Conservative criticism of modern trends, Cameron
has a point. In public life today, we find it easy to deposit the burden of responsibility on individuals or
minorities who are often rarely best placed to confront it. Student fees are an uncomfortable example
for many of us. Middle England wakes up on Sunday
morning, opens its paper with tea and scoffs at the
notion of paying more tax so that more people can
go to Uni. “Who could doubt that the new system is
generous to a fault?” Gabriel Rozenberg thundered
in The Times: after all, it is students who get all the
supposed benefits.
According to the Tory leader, there’s
a lot we have shed responsibility
for - public manners, civic pride,
carrying a job through and taking
the rap if we foul up
Or that is the thought of Mr or Mrs Middle
Englander as they go to see their doctor (MA from
Edinburgh) about that chest complaint in their
throat, before driving along the road built by the local
engineer (MA from Cambridge) to the local school,
where they leave lovely little Johnny and Jenny in
the safe hands of their favourite teacher (BA from
Bristol). Environmental pressure is an example of a
similar abdication: how many of us blame the local
4x4 driver for global warming, forgetting that annual cheap flight over to Europe. “The trains are so
expensive, you know”.
Perhaps ‘twas ever thus: a majority protecting or
justifying itself through laying the blame on others.
Yet a new range of issues face us on the cusp of the
new century that requires a decisive action and, as
Cameron asserts, for society to take responsibility.
Each year brings the threat of a frightening environmental change, whilst patterns of low voter turnout
in elections and little interest in political activism
have presaged the re-emergence of extremist parties
like the BNP. W.B. Yeats once said that “In dreams
begin responsibility”; if we wish to dream of a future
a little more promising than that offered by the latest
global warming forecasts or racist chants, just sitting back and holding a splendid isolation from life’s
problems is not an option.
If there is one arena where most of us are happy
to brandish responsibility more widely on a society
or culture, it is history. The questions come so easily:
How could the Victorians have been so hypocritical?
Or 1930’s Europe, so short-sighted? Yet before we
happily stroll off through today’s world, minds blissfully free of the burdens that we are happy to lay on
others, perhaps we should imagine the call of a fussy
Cambridge historian in 2107: “how could they have
been so irresponsible?”
A correction:
In the last edition a Focus article
(‘Alastair Campbell spins a good yarn’
08/03/07) was misattributed to Pete
Wood. The author was in fact Vee
Barbary.
SCIENCE 7
The rise of a new epidemic
Beth Ashbridge explains how to check the spread of TB
T
he WHO estimates that at any one time
over one-third of the world’s population
harbours the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. That is nearly 2 billion people. It is unsurprising therefore that tuberculosis (TB) is one of
the world’s main health issues.
The bacterium responsible for the disease is called
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MTB) and is a slowgrowing bacterium that divides every 16-20 hours.
This is relatively slow compared with the rapidly
dividing bacterium E. coli that has division times
roughly in the range of 20 minutes.
It is believed the increasing number of TB sufferers worldwide, particularly in developing countries,
is the consequence of the overuse of immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS
with new infections occurring at a rate of one per
second.
The bacterium can pass very effectively by aerial
infection from one individual to another, where not
everyone who is infected will develop the disease. In
fact only one in ten dormant infections will progress
to the active form of the disease. However, if left untreated, the disease kills more than half of its victims,
that is over 2 million people per year.
The current treatment for TB patients is an extensive course of antibiotics, the two main antibiotics
being rifampicin and isoniazid. It would be optimal
to prescribe a short course of antibiotics that would
eradicate the bacterium within weeks. However, to
treat TB, a patient must adhere to a course of drugs
for between 6 to 8 months, as opposed to around 18
months 2 years ago, and this is where the problems
arise. In the developing world, despite the WHO
recommendation to ensure every sufferer is super-
vised, more than 10% of the patients will not complete their prescription.
This results in the emergence of new antibioticresistant strains. A prescription of antibiotics must
always be completed as otherwise the infection is
not completely removed from the body and as such
every bacterium that survives becomes immune to
the antibiotic and leads to a new strain that will no
longer respond to the previous treatment.
Researchers in Senegal have been studying the
behavioural and sociocultural factors that affect this
problem in developing countries in order to try to
overcome this problem. There are over 9000 new
cases of TB diagnosed every year and these sufferers
are entitled to a free programme of treatment from
the National Tuberculosis Control Programme controlled by local governments. However, research has
revealed that nearly 30% of patients do not follow
their prescription correctly and barely 60% of those
diagnosed are effectively cured.
It is believed that the main reasons for this failure
in the system are the long distances patients must
travel to the TB health centres, insufficient emphasis
on listening to patients, and the breakdown of communication after diagnosis. All these factors have
discouraged patients from taking their treatment to
conclusion.
The study carried out has proposed four major
factors that need to be addressed to improve the current system. They are:
a)
improved training of health-care
professionals,
b)
improved communication and support to
patients,
c)
improved availability of drug treatments
An x-�� of so�eone s�ffe�ing seve�e p�l�on�� t�be��losis mjagbayani
at local medical centres by involving the health professionals at these posts, and finally
d)
reinforcing the DOT strategy (Directly
Observed Therapy, which means the patient is followed closely for the entirety of their treatment) by
allowing patients to choose someone to act as their
supporter. This could be a member of their family or
close friend.
Since the governments began to implement the
above changes in 2005, the WHO has reported a
20% increase in the proportion of patients that were
cured of this terrible disease.
Research into this area and more succinct treatment of the disease are ongoing and the WHO hopes
to release a new shorter, 4-month treatment in the
next few years.
Dossier Sexiologues
Mico Talaveic
C
Y is one of these �h�o�oso�es on the �� o�t
ould men provide more help with rearing
children, and if not, could we soon become
a society without men? It appears that the
answer to both of these questions is yes. Men are
considered to be providers who go out to get the
food (the modern equivalent of which is money)
while the women stay at home to rear the children.
One reason is our biology. For example, women
can breast feed and men cannot; hence women
must breast feed babies, right? Well, not really. It
appears that men are also capable of breast feeding. Many have wondered why men have nipples
this may be the answer.
Men have most of the physiological parts to produce lactose and if treated with prolactin hormone
they can be stimulated to lactate. Starving men who
then start eating normally again have been known
to lactate.
This is even recorded in the Bible (Job21:24).
Virgin women, non pregnant women and menopausal women can all be stimulated to lactate by
touching their nipples. Mechanical stimulation of
nipples leads to surges of prolactin in both women
and men so potentially; men could be induced to lactate simply by touching their nipples.
In his book Why is sex fun? The evolution of
human sexuality Jared Diamond present a clear case
for the fact that men can physiologically lactate and
that males of several domestic and wild animals, including humans, have been observed to spontaneously lactate. It is possible then. Would men do it if
they knew they could? Somehow I doubt it.
Women have been regarded as more peaceful
gender and there are numerous plays, novels and
similar works of art that explore the idea of a society
made up entirely of women.
Recent results from researchers at the University
of Newcastle demonstrated that it is possible to
produce sperm cells by using bone marrow cells of
adult men. It should then also be possible to produce sperm by using women’s bone marrow cells.
Virgin women can all be stimulated
to lactate by touching their
nipples...this is even recorded in the
bible
The only catch there is that sperm produced in such a
way would only ever have an X chromosome present
in it and therefore would only be capable of producing daughters. The so called sex chromosomes differ
in men and women; women have two X while men
have an X and a Y sex chromosomes. A woman’s
egg always has an X chromosome. Sperm cells can
carry either an X or a Y chromosome; an X will form
double X when fused with an egg cell and therefore
produce daughters, a Y will form an XY combination resulting in sons.
So the technology seems to have arrived for the society to start producing just women. Men will soon
not be necessary even for sperm production. The
question is: will we still want to keep men around?
8 TRAVEL
Funky hot Medina in Morocco
An English Berber finds a hotel run by an ex-circus performer and a surreal garden
Stewart Petty
H
ello friend. First time in Morocco?” As soon
as I stepped off the ferry at Tangier I knew
I should prepare for some silver-tongued
swindlers. The barter and banter had begun. During the nominally cheap first-class journey to Marrakech, a scruffy local by the trackside launched a
rock at the window next to my head. Ensha’allah, the
glass did not break. On the other side of the carriage,
Kenza, a smart and savvy Moroccan sardonically
beamed, “don’t worry, that’s one of our terrorists!”
This bubbly Marrakshi refreshingly lacked the mercenary instinct that I was to find in the souks. She alleviated the tedium of the nine-hour train slog, striving to teach me some Arabic pronunciations. When
I failed to make the transition between clearing my
throat of phlegm and pronouncing “h”, she cackled
away with a fellow passenger, laden with Gucci and
other designer bling.
At 10.30pm, thirsty and lacklustre, I trudged
Marrakech’s maze of a Medina searching for a riad.
My blond hair, shorts, rucksack and general air of
looking lost made me prey for the unctuous and persistent “guides”. Gangs of them pounced from the
shadows of the rusty-red brick burrows. I ignored
them. One slippery specimen placed his grubby
hand on my shoulder and exclaimed with ostensible
offence “you can’t come to my country and not open
up to my people…” Finally I found the chirpy Hotel
Medina, run by a cheeky ex-circus performer.
I woke to a wailing call to prayer and shrieking cockerels pre-empting the knife. Having trav-
elled from Portugal, I had become accustomed to
stepping on to zebra crossings with Kamikaze gusto.
My carefree mantra was “make the move and the
traffic will stop.” Unfortunately, Marrakshi drivers
adopt an equally headstrong approach. A little disconcerted by the big band of car horns accompanying my strut, I looked straight ahead and continued
walking. Suddenly, a motorbike roared uncomfortably close towards me and skidded into the dust. After
some astonished and disdaining looks, followed by
angry shouts in Arabic, I moved on. Swiftly.
In the Djemaa el Fna, stalls of stacked oranges
stood proud. Sod Tropicana, this was nature’s nectar. Off the gaping square, claustrophobic alleyways led to bustling souks and their kaleidoscope
of wares. Behind hooded capes and through mint
tea-tarnished grins, traders shouted “oi oi!”, “alright
mate” in warped English accents or simply played
the nationality guessing game. Jim Davidson would
be proud. My half-Filipino friend was unashamedly interrogated with “Chinois?”, “Polynesian?”
and bombarded with many a “Konichiwa!” My
persistent haggling won me the title of “English
Berber!” After some aggressive street seller epithets and feigned disgust at my low bids, I headed
to the Jardin Majorelle. It was a verdant sanctuary
of calm amongst heated hustling in the migraine of
a Medina.
A couple of dusty days in Marrakech meant
that I was soon gasping for some Atlantic air. On the
way to the coast the bus spluttered past small desert
towns. Stray felines fumbled in rancid gutters and
old and tired Peugeots slept at the curbs. The heat
was parching. White-washed walls adorned with
Street food in the Djemaa el Fna Stewart Petty
flaky-blue shutters marked my arrival in Essaouira.
The oppressive terracotta of Marrakech was a hazy
memory.
I stayed at Hotel Central, a stoner’s throw from
the Wind City’s robust ramparts. And no, that was
not a typo. I had chilled at this hippy-ish establishment last year and was drawn back by its heady surrealism. It is as if you have set up camp in the mind of
Salvador Dali. The weathered floors are like a chessboard and a fig tree grows through the riad’s roof
playing host to harmonizing bird songs. On the terrace, a dead sheep has been turned inside out and
tied to the springs of an overturned bed. The year
before, my dysentery-induced delirium and dehy-
drated hallucinations had compounded the effect.
Whether you are gut-wrenchingly ill or ready to trek
the High Atlas Mountains, Essaouira’s gaping beach
flanked by rolling dunes is the ultimate location to
relax. Besides the impromptu offer of “spaces cakes”
from an innocuous-looking pastry lady, you can listen undisturbed to the rumble of waves and chatter
of fat seagulls.
Oh, Morocco. Twice I have visited, twice I have
fallen ill. It can be hot, dirty, dusty, smelly and stressful. And yes, soap is for sissies. However, there is a
compelling beauty in its rugged vitality, grimy charm
and wildly diverse terrain. I love this unkempt land.
Just don’t forget the loo roll.
In the footsteps of Paddington Bear
A journey in the Peruvian Amazon
Mike Kielty
I
There’s far more to Peru than the touristy
heights of Macchu Picchu Mike Kielty
t was in the inauspicious setting of my bedroom on a sleepy Sunday morning that the desire to seek the Pongo de Mainique took hold
of me. In preparation for a five-month trip to Peru,
I lay on my bed reading the travel pages of The
Guardian when a small article grabbed my attention. It was an interview with Michael Palin, that
idol of many an aspiring journeyman, in which he
was asked for the most striking sight he had seen
in all his travels. The Pyramids, one might guess?
Or maybe a natural wonder, like the Himalayas
or Antarctica? Neither apparently came close to
“the wonderful, the magical” Pongo de Mainique
of Peru. My attention was even more roused when
I realised that, though it was inaccessible by road
or plane, the Pongo lay further downstream the
Urubamba river where I would be staying. This
was an adventure asking to be undertaken.
The enigmatic heights of the Andes and the wide
expanse of the Amazon plain have attracted explorers to Peru since the time of the Incas. For the
modern visitor, there are numerous tours offering a
whirlwind view of the main sites: the old Incan capital of Cuzco, the colourful markets of the nearby
Sacred Valley and, without exception, the Imperial
mountain retreat of Macchu Picchu. Yet having
lived with a local family for three months, I knew that
some of the most stunning natural delights of this
country lay beyond the finely paved roads used by
the tourist buses. Amongst my Peruvian friends, it
was the little-known “Pongo de Mainique”, a ravine
set deep in the rainforest to the north, which brought
the deepest sighs of wonder. Its natural beauty was
renowned, but so were the dangers it posed even for
experienced travellers. “Muy peligroso”, very dangerous, was the common opinion on any journey
there; this was a place that few Peruvians, let alone
foreigners, would ever think of travelling to. For a
gap-year student hungry for adventure, that was
enough of an excuse to reach for the rucksack.
The journey down into the rainforest from my
base in the Sacred Valley was not for the fainthearted or for those with a weak backside. 15 hours
on rickety local buses were followed by a sleepless
night in the back of a pick-up truck, speeding along
jungle tracks to the last river-port accessible by road.
Without a second thought, I accepted the offer of a
cheap passage with a local coffee trader and joined
the small group of locals who were headed for the remote villages in the rainforest on the other side of the
Pongo. We spent hours on the twisting byways of the
river Urubamba, but at last it turned abruptly and we
were faced with a narrow gorge, piercing through
the last line of hills that guarded the Amazon basin
beyond. “El Pongo”, the trader said reverently, “lo
mas impresionante”.
“Wonderful” was an apt description: it was a sheer
ravine around half a mile in length, flanked by giant
slabs of black basalt which shone in the morning sunlight with the spray of the high waterfalls. The jungle hills rose sharply on either side, with the hanging
branches of the ceiba trees providing a playground
for a host of giant butterflies, adorned in wild blues
and pinks. After a few hundred metres the ravine
widened, the rapids ceased and the relative silence
and stillness of the water gave the place a sense of
dreamy serenity, the only movement coming from
the fantastic yellow-necked vultures swooping overhead. Everyone on the boat was silent. The passage
through might have taken hours, yet not a word
would have been said.
With the journey made and the sight seen, I was
now ready to return home but the coffee traders refused to turn around so soon, for they had business
with the small river communities on the other side of
the Pongo, a people known as the Machiguengas.
The river was this people’s lifeline, a highway of
trading canoes that connected villages otherwise
surrounded by impassable bush. Our main destination was a small village called Timpia: a modest place
composed of a few wooden huts around a parched
patch of grass. As I arrived, the men were playing
football barechested and I fell into conversation with
Mach, a teenager who was proudly standing in as the
official match commentator. He spoke Spanish, and
we laughed about being around the same age, having
similar sounding names and yet living in such different worlds. Mach had never left the rainforest and,
when I explained that I was from Europe, he could
only ask, “Is that near Cuzco?”
Over the next few days, Mach and I grew closer:
he painted my face with the deep red pigment of one
of the jungle flowers and showed off with his machete. Our friendship blossomed, but before long
the traders desired to return upriver and I had to go
with them.
Having waved goodbye, I packed down in the
canoe as we went back through the Pongo, if anything more beautiful with the jungle’s morning fog
clothing its sides. I looked back for one last glimpse
and there, on either side of the opening to the ravine, were two huge columns of grey stone, towering a hundred metres above us. They guarded the
entrance to the Pongo as if to a lost world, a world
that I can only dream of ever returning to.
TRAVEL 9
Where the border of a country
is a major tourist attraction
With barbed barricades and armed guards, the Korean
Demilitarized Zone turns out to be anything but
rhetoric (Especially since the South itself only began
to even vaguely resemble a democracy with reforms
of the 1990s).
It seems to be standard practice at all of the sites
we visit to make tourists watch a badly made film
about the division, and the hope that “we” have for
reunification. I never quite work out who “we” is referring to, as enmity runs high. The difficulty is that
the South wants reunification, but fear the North at
the same time. There is a paradox between the North
as evil and authoritarian, and the North Koreans as
trapped and in need of desperate aid – but where
this boundary lies, no one appears to have given
any thought. The North’s cruel regime and military leadership come from within its own populace,
of course. While I am in South the comic but tragic
story breaks that the giant rabbits imported to set up
a breeding facility in Pyongyang to help alleviate the
severe famine in the North were instead eaten at Kim
Jong Il’s birthday banquet.
Ben Sillis
I
t’s rare that the border of a country is one of
its major tourist attractions, but when one of
those countries is the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, the most closed off country
on Earth and high on Dubya’s axis of evil, it’s not
hard to see why. Division during the height of
Cold War paranoia in 1948 and the subsequent
bloody war has torn the peninsula apart, and visiting the Demilitarized Zone separating the two
states today, the wounds are still all too visible.
An old video in the tourist agency office in Seoul
informs us of the sorrow of division in the peninsula, citing hyperboles such as 7.7 million killed (A
number that is to change numerous times throughout the day). Faded posters on the wall proclaiming
“DMZ: Symbol of hope and sorrow” set the tone for
much of the rest of the trip, a bizarre antagonism between reconciliation, and hatred and mistrust.
Close to the border we are stopped at a checkpoint, where a nervous looking teenager with a machine gun strapped to his back checks our passports.
As we drive over the bridge, interspersed with black
and yellow barbed barricades, it starts to look like a
war zone.
Still, no reason not to make it into a family day out.
Our first stop is the Third Infiltration tunnel, dug
by the North Koreans in preparation for potential
invasion, since discovered by the South and turned
into a tourist attraction. At first glance it seems to
be just that, except for the large numbers of soldiers
hurrying about for no apparent reason. The picnic
area is particularly odd; a small pavilion and pond
with ornamental Japanese fish – but beyond it a
barbed wire fence and then nothing but land mines
(Throughout the day muffled explosions reverberate in the distance – controlled explosions as troops
ceaselessly remove land mines). The tunnel, 300m
underground, and apparently miles long, is clearly
dug by the North Koreans, but the South are very
keen about stressing this. Repeatedly (“Look which
way the dynamite holes are pointing, look, look!”).
We are stopped at a checkpoint,
where a nervous looking teenager
with a machine gun strapped to
his back checks our passports.
At the Odusan observatory, we are taken out on
to a platform overlooking the 4km wide DMZ – perhaps it’s the time of year but it doesn’t appear to be
the haven of wildlife the numerous presentations
make out – everything looks dead. In the distance,
I can make out the faint outline of Gyaesong, the
DPRK’s second city. On a clear day, we are supposed
to be able to make out individual people going about
their work – I’m starting to doubt whether there is
such a thing as a clear day in Korea though, owing to
the omni-present smog.
Dorasan station is perhaps the most moving
symbol of hope for reunification. Low level reconciliation brought about the connection of a train
line between North and South here, but the North
The North have a bigger flagpole,
while the South Korean military
police all sport huge sunglasses
(even in the smog) to intimidate.
Dorasan Station - on the line that once connected North and South Korea Hilary Sillis
Koreans promptly backed down and shut the
barbed wire gate over it in 2003. Now it lies waiting, expectantly. Here more than anywhere else is
a symbol of the belief of the inevitability of reunification; a fully staffed, multi-million pound plush
station from which no trains enter or leave, except
a handful a day to the capital. All you can do is buy a
ticket to go on the platform and look down the track
in the direction of the DPRK (“Don’t take photos
in that direction!” screams the guide, running down
the platform towards a fascinated American visitor). Once the Trans Korean railway is working, the
very large signs claim, Dorasan will be the gateway to
Eurasia, connecting up to the TSR – it’s only a matter
of time, it seems to say.
We are then taken into the Join Security Area, the
meeting place straddling the border used for negotiations and talks. Animosity runs high here and there
have been several violent clashes over the decades.
In 1984 a Soviet defector fled over the border into
the South, sparking a firefight and numerous deaths
as a result. In 1976, the “tree cutting incident” took
place, in which several UN soldiers were killed by
Northern troops as they tried to cut down a tree they
believed to be on their side of the compound. Both
sides are clearly very bitter about this still.
On the way we drive past “Freedom Village”, a
settlement of 400 South Koreans one suspects only
living here with the offer of heavy government subsidies; there is a curfew and they are liable to be shot
by soldiers if found outside after dark. Ironically, a
similar settlement, “Propaganda Village”, lies on the
North Korean side – this is of course evil by comparison, despite the fact that it is empty.
Eventually we are taken into the compound itself,
with the famous blue buildings straddling the border, marked by a raised concrete line. The Cold War
is quite clearly still in full swing here, but then one
wonders if the North Koreans have been allowed to
know about 1989 anyway. Both sides seem to have
resorted to petty one upsmanship, expressing itself in bloody conflict over trees in need of pruning.
The North have a bigger flagpole, while the South
Korean military police all sport huge Ray-Ban style
sunglasses (even in the smog) to intimidate.
No hand gestures whatsoever, we are told, the
DPRK are watching us closely on CCTV, as we walk
out into the courtyard. 50 metres away, on the top
of the North’s equivalent building, a dozen or so officers are pointing at us and staring – it feels worryingly like being at the zoo, for both groups. Inside
the building we are able to cross the border for a few
brief moments – unsurprisingly, I am struck by no
revelations as I do.
A quick stop at “Freedom Bridge”, as seen in
Die Another Day, follows. Interestingly, a group of
South Korean tourists are here as well – this is much
more unusual as they have to be vetted long in advance by South Korea’s CIA equivalent for political security, another irony in the South’s US-style
South Koreans view unification as inevitable, but
on their terms only – economically, this would no
doubt be best, but you can’t help but feel it’s stopping
Kim Jong Il from coming to the negotiation table we
had the privilege of walking around.
A few days later, in Gyeongju, our guide, Trueman
Kim, as he likes to be called, tells us more about
Korea. Married to a Japanese woman, speaking
Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English, he is an example of the younger, more cosmopolitan Korea.
He too seems to think reunification is inevitable.
Will or can it only occur after Kim Jong Il’s death?
“Kim Jong Il wants reunification also, but he wants
to keep his power too.” Trueman is a Buddhist with
an obsession for numbers, and says that since 60 is a
special number, reunification will happen that many
years after the war that divided the peninsula in the
first place – very soon in fact, given it ended in 1953.
This seems unlikely given what he has just said about
the North’s Dear Leader, but he waves this suggestion away with his hand, “Maybe a military coup or
something” – yet most DPRK watchers agree the
military is Kim’s powerbase. South Koreans expect
unification, but seem to have made few considerations as to how it could realistically be achieved.
With tourism in North Korea being
highly controlled by the government,
fewer than 2,000 western tourists visit
North Korea each year. Tourists have to
go on guided tours and have their tour
guides with them at all times.
10 EDITORIAL
Editorial
The Cambridge Student
[email protected]
Writing these can be painful. Editorials give the
impression newspaper editing is an orderly
process from which one can take the time to sit down
and ponder the most pressing issue that’s reported.
It’s 1:22am. We were supposed to
finish two hours ago and we’re still waiting for a
theatre review to come in. We won’t finish soon.
We thought we had an interview but didn’t. Then
did. We nearly reprinted a story from the last issue.
Another thing - I don’t write this on a typewriter.
That picture is a hideous lie. I write this on a
computer that crashes every thirty four seconds.
This also means selecting what is held to be the
most important issue to discuss. The first problem with this is it presumes we’ve even reported
the most pressing issue. You shouldn’t forget (in
a perfect world, we wouldn’t forget) that we’re
student journalists. The most pressing issue isn’t
in these pages and a lot of what gets printed is
the stuff that fits the space. This doesn’t mean
Secondly, it assumes what I care about most is the
best thing to write about. Thirdly it presumes my
station as editor befits my high opinions. It doesn’t.
So what to write about? This is the last issue until
May Week. That’ll be put together in the new CUSU
Editor-in-Chief Jack Sommers [email protected]
Photos Jimmy Appleton, Carolyn Hylton [email protected]
building which is big enough to keep a typewriter in
a seperate room where the editor who follows me
will be able to retire with brandy and cigars and in
this space tell the world what it ought to know. Some
problems with the new design have been ironed out
and I’m pleased to say it’s here to stay.
Unlike the current team, an alarming number of
whom, myself included, are graduating this year.
If trends are enough to go by, the paper will keep
getting better even with largely novice team but no
matter how good it is, I don’t think anyone is going to
write an editorial you should give serious attention.
That’s a sour note to end on. Read the paper, it’s brilliant. Genuinly brilliant - the redesign hasn’t made
the paper good, it’s made people realise how good
it’s always been. But don’t read this. It’s the last thing
on my mind and I’m bloody writing it.
Features Rich Saunders, Victoria Brudenell [email protected]
Interviews Cally Squires [email protected]
News Amy Blackburn, Peter Wood [email protected]
Focus Andy Gawthorpe, Preet Majithia [email protected]
Food and Drink Stewart Petty [email protected]
Arts Sam Brett [email protected]
Film Nina Chang [email protected]
Theatre Amy Barnes, Lisa Hagan [email protected]
Music Jack Dentith, Luke W. Roberts, James Garner [email protected]
Fashion Hannah Nakano Stewart [email protected]
Science Lianne Warr [email protected]
Sports Tom Richardson, Chris Lillycrop [email protected]
Production Wil Mossop, Ivan Zhao
Travel Ilana Raburn [email protected] Listings Lisa Hagan [email protected]
Business Manager (CUSU) Lily Stock [email protected]
Services officer (CUSU) Ashley Aarons [email protected]
Board of Directors Alice Palmer, Jack Sommers, Lily Stock, Ashley Aarons, Amina Al-Yassin,
Rob Palmer [email protected]
TCS only accepts advertising from ethical companies
IMPACT
Relevant and irreverent
03/05/07
The Cambridge Student
Sir Ridley Scott talks to TCS
Kurt Vonnegut remembered 4 Love and hate in fashion 5-6
02
IMPACT
Film
Motion Picture Maestro
Stewart Petty talks to Sir Ridley Scott about his love
of life behind the lens
Sir Ridley Scott prepares a shot on the set of Kingdom of Heaven David Appleby
The internationally acclaimed film
director Sir Ridley Scott was born in South
Shields in 1937. Starting his career as a set designer, he then moved on to direct over two thousand commercials before embarking on his first
feature film in 1977. Since then, he has become
famous for such epic works as Blade Runner,
Alien and Gladiator. In 2000, Mr. Scott was
knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the British
film industry. This week, he shares his thoughts
with The Cambridge Student. Here is what he
had to say.
A film is
never really
good unless the
camera is an eye
in the head of
a poet
Orson Welles
Were you a creative child?
I was creative rather than academic. I struggled
with school and worked hard but had very poor
resultsexceptinart,inwhichIexcelled.Throughout my grammar school years, I had a real
problem recalling anything that I wasn’t interested in, which happened to be most subjects.
Consequently, exam results were average to disastrous.
Who inspired you?
The best advice I ever received was from my art
master, who had taken unusual interest in my
drawing and painting capabilities. I still remember Mr. Cleland telling me to leave school and
enrol at Middlesbrough or Hartlepool art
schools. I spent four years at Hartlepool doing
many forms of art study until I decided what direction I would take. �ife class was mandatory,
painting for 12 months, ceramic design, sculpting, lithography, but I was finally attracted to
graphic design. This gave me a broader horizon,
most of all it pointed towards photography,
which at that point was not within my reach.
Remember, it was 1953; cameras, film and
equipment weren’t so financially available.
In 1957, I entered the Royal College of Art in
�ondon. Photography would certainly develop
my “eye” and photography was accessible there.
The RCA had a post-graduate course called
Theatre and Television Design School (for set
designers). I went for that not really realizing
that this would lead to directing. There were no
film schools in �ondon at this time.
How did you enter the film industry?
I became an avid cinema goer. The BFI and all
the art houses played foreign speaking movies.
Ingmar Bergman, Kurosawa and Orson Welles
- their films had more impact than others, and
were inspirationaltomyfilmideas.TheBBC gave
me my first job as a designer and within 2 years
gave me an opportunity to direct some of the series called Softly, Softly. Plays followed.
All this happened without formal training.
They gave me a script one day and showed
me an office with an assistant, and informed
me I’d be in rehearsal in three weeks so start
casting now! No one had time to show me
what to do. It was do-it-yourself directing. I
learnt as I did it. This led to a lengthy career as a
television commercial director. I adored those
years; they were really the formation of me
as a film director.
If you had not become a film director, what
career path do you think you would have
taken?
I would certainly have been a designer of film
and television, but would have found my way
into architecture for which I have a great passion.
I learned to “draught” as a designer and am
capable of laying out plans and elevations for
building works. I have designed some of the
properties I’ve lived in over the
years and so it became a hobby.
My offices in �os Angeles were designed by myself and my brother Tony.
Do you have a daily routine?
I’m obliged by necessity to be a man of habit.
Habit means structure. You’re simply more efficient. I delegate a lot, and consequently get a
lot done. I have to be structured and whilst I am
hands-on in my companies, I have chosen good
management to run these companies. At the
same time, I’m conducting a busy film career.
How do you source ideas for your films?
“The script” is everything and the lifeblood of our development programmes. We have approximately fifty
subjects in various stages of development
and completion both for film and television.
This means constant discussions with writers,
and deals have to be made. I need to be disciplined which means I get up early; undisturbed
reading for the first two hours, say 6am - 8am;
then the day begins at the office at 9:15. I don’t
leave until 8:00 every evening.
What have been the major milestones in your
successful career?
There aren’t any. As milestones whizz past
they’re already fading in the dust…I am always
looking to the next project.
Can you tell us about your worst moment
professionally?
When you’re making the kind of movies I make,
“worst moments” occur frequently and every
day . You learn to deal with them, put them in
their place and move on. There is no question
that being a director is like being a father figure.
You are expected to be an expert in every situation and subject, and a psychoanalyst.
I have heard that the factories of Hartlepool
influenced the industrial futurescapes in Blade Runner. Is it true that the
imagery of your childhood has affected your
creative decisions?
Yes! Between 5.00p.m. and night school, I
would always have three hours to kill and in the
summer I’d stroll from West Hartlepool, across the elevated walk above the
Durham Steel Mills to the old sea wall. I
could see ICI in the distance belching God
knows what into the atmosphere. Behind
me, Durham Steel Mills were also belching
away. There was great beauty in that ugliness.
I love stress. But, I paint every
weekend and am an avid tennis
player. I have two Jack Russells.
That’s all pretty relaxing stuff.
When directing Blade Runner, did you ever
foresee the profound impact it would
make on the worlds of fashion and
architecture?
Just prior to making Blade Runner, I’d been
traveling a lot to New York and the Far East,
specifically Hong Kong. At that time Hong
Kong had the strongest influence on my visual
imagination. I was impressed by a sense of the
city’s overload. New York at the time was crimeridden and dirty and in a constant state of
change. Hong Kong had no skyscrapers, only
a density that I have never seen before or since.
This all went into Blade Runner. However,
it wasn’t until later that I was told by a prominent architect that he used to run Blade Runner regularly in his offices. This influenced and
changed the way of thinking for many architects. Fashion designers, specifically, were affected by the Charles Knode costumes.
After a quarter of a century, Blade Runner
is about to be resurrected in Hollywood this
year. I have been involved in technically improving the old negative into a pretty good representation of what it was. There will be a big
five-disc DVD release and a limited theatrical
release.
Do you give your actors much freedom to
improvise?
I always leave room for improvisations but they
can be a nuisance. Usually if the script is really
pinned down then there is no call for improvisation. Improvisation is frequently the outcome of having a weakness in the scene.
Have you ever collaborated with your
directing brother Tony (director of films
including Top Gun, True Romance and
Enemy of the State)?
Tony and I only collaborate as producers,
for the most part on television. One example
is ‘Numbers’. This show is now in its third
season and showing internationally. There
are other shows on their way.
Are there any films that you
have in the pipeline? Are we to
expect another adrenaline-fuelled epic?
In August this year, I am returning to
Morocco and Dubai to film a contemporary
subject based on a book by the Washington
Post Foreign correspondent, David Ignatius. The subject is about our involvement in
the Middle East and the misunderstanding of
and underestimation of the Muslim World.
Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star. It will be
challenging but I’m looking forward to that.
You own properties in Hampstead and
Provence, but spend most of your time either
on film sets or at home in Beverly Hills. What
do you miss about Old Blighty?
I do miss Blighty…it is hard to be specific about
what a Brit misses with the bad weather, the
Labour party and its inefficiencies, the
grumbling Brits and the awful tabloid press
and critique. That being said, I do miss it.
However, I do work in the film industry
and there is only limited financing in Britain
for the scale of films that I do.
Your job must be highly stressful. How do you
relax?
I love stress. But I paint every weekend, quite
seriously (large canvases: 6’ x 4’) and am an avid
tennis player. I enjoy it so much that
I’m having a knee operation to fix the meniscus.
Wear and tear on hard surfaces. I have two Jack
Russells. What can I tell you? That’s all pretty
relaxing stuff.
03
Film
Do you have a favourite film that you have
directed?
No! All my films are my favourite children. I
have never regretted one of them.
IMPACT
A scene from American Gangster, Scott’s latest film
Do you have a favourite tipple?
My favorite tipple would be wine. I prefer
French and Italian but the new world’s wines
are quite good and improving all the time.
What is your favourite dish?
My favorite food in almost any form - when
done properly of course - would be pasta.
Have you ever been arrested or is your
brother Tony more of the wild boy?
I’ve always managed to avoid being arrested.
You are seventy years old in November.
Will you ever retire?
I’m 35 years old in November and retirement is out of the question.
Have you considered ever publishing a
warts-and-all autobiography?
No biographies! As in lifetime achievement
awards, it sounds like you’ve chucked in the
towel.
Finally, do you have any tips for
Cambridge’s budding filmmakers?
Budding filmmakers can be assured that it is the most challenging and frustrating job in the
world and the route towards that end is
never clear. Only if you’ve got the heart
to go for it should this course be attempted. There are many degrees of
failure and frustration and very few degrees of success. Luck is always helpful
but that’s not what gets you there.
If I had been academically smart, I
would probably now be in banking,
hedge funds, etc…then I would finance
films.
Look out for American Gangster, due
to be released this November.
Do you enjoy directing love scenes? Is there an
artistic value to nudity in film?
Not particularly. It is delicate for all involved,
particularly the actors. The value of nudity in a
film can only be judged on a case-by-case basis
depending on the nature of the subject. Sometimes it is relevant, most times not.
Can you talk about your current
project, American Gangster? When will it
be released?
American Gangster is the true story of
Frank Lucas who could be described
as the most significant drug dealer in
Harlem between 1969 and 1975. He was
finally arrested and jailed for 20 years. He
was a paradox in that his private life had the
appearance of respectability. However in his business world, he moved
many shipments of pure heroin
from Cambodia, into the USA throughout
the war years by using American
Army
transportation.
He
was finally tracked down and arrested by
Richie Roberts, a New York Narcotic Squad
agent. These two characters are played by
Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It
turned out very well and will be released in November this year.
Are there ever any brawls on set?
No, there are never brawls on my sets, only
discussions which can be intense.
Maximus Decimus Meridius prepares to unleash hell in Gladiator
The best
education in film
is to make one
Stanley Kubrick
04
IMPACT
So it goes
Arts
Jack Sommers says goodbye to Kurt Vonnegut
Human beings
will be happier
- not when they
cure cancer or
get to Mars or
eliminate racial
prejudice or flush
Lake Erie but
when they find
ways to inhabit
primitive communities again.
That’s my utopia
Kurt Vonnegut
A
ccording to him, Kurt Vonnegut is
dead, alive, being born and dying
right now. Well not at this moment
– at this moment he’s dead but all moments
exist simultaneously and the curse of humanity is to be forced to experience time as
a progression in which there can be no retreat or movement except forward. To experience all the moments of life at once you
have enjoyed is ‘a pleasant way to spend
eternity’ says a Tralfamadorian alien in
Vonnegut’s best novel Slaughterhouse Five.
The alien’s audience is Billy Pilgrim, an
optometrist from Ilium, New York who has
become ‘unstuck’ in time – a condition in
which he moves randomly between all the
moments of his life. Like the ‘four dimensional’
Tralfamadorians, Billy has complete knowledge
of his life and so is never disorientated when he
transports between, say, his wedding night in the
fifties, death in the seventies or army chaplaincy
during the Second World War. The difference
is the Tralfamadorians can control it. They
abduct Billy and try to enlighten him about his
condition and teach him its most important
lesson – there’s no such thing as loss because
everything exists at once. From this he learns
the book’s famous axiom; so it goes. In 1976,
he’s murdered by a war buddy who blames
him for a comrade’s death. So it goes. In 1967,
He’s in hospital after an airplane crash. His wife
drives hysterically to visit him, crashes and dies
of monoxide poisoning unconscious in the car
while the engine splutters on. So it goes. Billy
is, like Vonnegut, captured by the Wehrmacht
in the closing days of the war. He and a group
of Americans are to be relocated far behind
the lines to Dresden. ‘You’re lucky’, says a captor content to be friendly knowing the war is
likely to end soon, ‘Dresden is a beautiful city
and there are no troop concentrations there’.
Billy’s there for a long time but the city isn’t. He’s
awoken shortly after arriving by raid sirens and
stumbles underground into ‘Slaughterhouse
Five’ with other POWs, including a dysentery ridden Vonnegut. The ground shakes as
British and American planes flying over the city
try out a new invention – pure fire encased in
metal. They emerge. The buildings and vegetation along with a few soldiers and a lot of locals
have been burnt to look like the surface of the
moon. The soldiers left set the prisoners to work
identifying the charred corpses. So it goes.
It wasn’t until my late teens that I took an active
interest in our library at home but long before
that I overheard titles and assorted surnames of
authors from my parents who’d compiled and
catalogued it. The words Slaughterhouse Five
resonated in me early on. Much later, almost
as soon as he saw my interest, my dad handed
me a copy and repeated for the tenth time or
so; ‘you can’t go through life not having read
this’. It was perfect fodder for a nonchalant
teenager. Its structure was chaotic, full of down
and out science fiction writers, aliens who only
bothered to reveal themselves to one person on
earth and a drawing of a pair of breasts in the middle of one of the pages towards the end. It seemed
to be against everything to do with anything and
so, as a nonchalant teenager, I loved it. Or so I
thought. In fact, my reaction to it was the most
unliterary sentiment there is; ‘this book is on
my side, and so I must discover the merits of it’.
I clumsily reduced its contents - sci fi writers,
aliens, firebombing, boobs and all to this idea.
Life sucks. So it goes, y’know?
Obviously, that’s wide of the mark, as if any
good writer could be reduced to a shrug. Much
later, Slaughterhouse became the first book
I’d ever reread. I watched the film version.
It ends with a bit that’s earlyish in the book porn star Montana Wildhack giving birth to
Billy’s child on the planet Tramalfador in the
cage that’s made to look like a living room
on earth, beneath a canopy of stars and on
display for bemused Tramalfadorians . The child
in her arms makes her forget aliens adbucted
her and will keep her her whole life. That’s one
of the moments a Tramalfadorian would spend
eternity dwelling on. Maybe the whole
point is there is a pleasant way to spend eternity - even if you do live in a zoo or your
consciousness can only compute one moment
at a time and only in the order they happen.
Come to think of, wide of the mark
probablyisn’tthephrase.WithVonnegut,there’s
too much to think about for there to be ‘a mark’
to speak of. His earlier short stories were rarely
as silly as his novels. They’re about things like
soldiers going AWOL to be with their fiancees and couples realising they’re in love after
having a terrible fight. Well, his first is about
a professor who develops the power to move
matter with his mind and then disappears to
dismantle all the armaments the superpowers are pointing at each other and evade their
pursuit. But otherwise they lack absurdity he
was so fond of. The diversity means he was
hard to label though many tried. The most
common comparison is with Mark Twain
because of the satire and the buhsy moustache. But Twain was pretty different. When
American invaded Cuba in 1898 he turned his
pen to condemning his homeland’s conduct
without an obvious difficulty. About 100 years
later, when Iraq and Afghanistan were targeted,
Vonnegut was disgusted but less certain of
Vonnegut’s epitaph was ‘Everything was
was beautiful and nothing hurt’
himself. On an interview on the Daily Show to
promote his collection of essays about living
in Bush’s America he was, as the book’s title, A
Man Without A Country. ‘I do believe there is
a being controlling everything’ h e concluded,
‘that’s why we have clap’.
After reading his other novels that were as
ridicolous but not quite as good as
Slaughterhouse. Galapagos and Timequake are
new personal favourites because they’re such
great fun rather than that I couldn’t go through
life before him. But good fun might have been
all my dad was getting at.
When he died, people could only think to
write bland summaries of his life events. Various
American and British writers paid their respects
but Gore Vidal , who’s been America’s Greatest
Living Writer for nearly a month now, came
about as close anyone’s likely to get to summarising him; ‘Kurt was never dull’.
IMPACT
Journalist Luke Layfield talks to TCS about his
experiences in the media
Features
News of the World
05
www.freeimages.co.uk
1. When did you decide you wanted to
become a journalist?
I came to journalism quite late, in my second year at Cambridge when I started
writing for the student papers. Some people dream of becoming a journalist from
the age of eight but I don’t think it matters
if you don’t decide to pursue it as a career
until much later. It just means you need
to be very focused on getting lots of good
work-experience under your belt.
2. How do you think your experiences at
Varsity and TCS helped you?
Writing for and editing the student papers captured my interested in becoming a reporter. It
also gave me a rough idea of what working at a
newspaper is like – although it is a very rough
approximation. You will probably never have
the same level of freedom and control at a professional newspaper as you do working on a
student paper so enjoy it if you’re working for
one of them. Just don’t expect to have the same
freedom (or the same protection from libel
proceedings by the University!) again. And if
you’re not working for TCS or Varsity don’t
worry – it’s not a prerequisite for getting a journalism job.
3. How did you get into journalism?
Work experience and lots of it. As soon
as I knew I wanted to be a reporter I spent
most of my holidays at various local and
national newspapers, as well as online
newspapers. I tried to get as wide a range
of experience as possible – both so I knew
what sort of journalism I wanted to do and
to make myself more attractive to potential employers. Then I applied to, and was
fortunate enough to get, the News of the
World traineeship. The application process is very straight-forward – CVs, cuttings and a few words on why you want to
work at the NOTW and then interviews
with some of the paper’s executives, including the editor.
4. What jobs did you do to get to your
current job?
It was all work experience – unless you are
pretty exceptional there is no way around
it. I was paid as a freelance for the odd
piece here and there but my current job is
my first full-time paid job. I spent time at
The Guardian, Guardian Unlimited, the
Daily Mirror, the Times Money Section,
the Ipswich Evening Star, the Daily Post in
North Wales and the Cambridge Evening
News. All were great experiences and
left me better prepared for becoming a
journalist.
5. What is your current job - what does
it involve?
I am on the News of the World Graduate
Trainee Scheme, currently working as a
news reporter. It is one of the few training schemes offered by a national newspaper (The Times, The Guardian and Trinity
Mirror also run schemes). The paper paid
for me to do my NCTJ (National Council
for the Training of Journalists) training course at Harlow College and subsequently, for the last year, I have worked as
a news reporter.
During the rest of my two-year contract I
will spend time on Features, and there are
opportunities to work on Politics, Sport
and Online. I have also covered a Premier
League Football Match and interviewed
people as diverse as Cherie Blair and
Welsh boxing legend Joe Calzaghe.
From day one I have been treated just like
any other news reporter, with the same
high expectations upon me. Although
being thrown in at the deep-end like this
was incredibly tough, it meant I learnt
quickly. No one day is the same as a journalist, especially at the News of the World.
One day I might be doing an expose on
paedophiles - supposedly under supervision at a bail hostel - filming kids in the
park for the front page; the next I’ll be interviewing the parents of a 12-year-old
who hanged himself because of bullying,
and then the day after that I’ll be flying to
Antigua for a feature on the youngest boy
to sail solo across the Atlantic. These are
all experiences I have had in my short time
at the NOTW and that’s the great thing
about the job – the variety of experiences
and the contact with such a range of people and situations.
6. What kind of skills do you think people need to make it in journalism?
The most important skill, without question, is being able to talk to people and get
them to talk back to you - to get them to
open up, to tell you things they don’t want
to/shouldn’t/aren’t allowed to. As my first
editor taught me – news is about revelation – telling people something they didn’t
know yesterday, that they will talk to their
friends about today because it’s relevant
and interesting to them.
You also need to be hardworking – the
news doesn’t fit around a 9-5 lifestyle, it
breaks when it breaks – and you need to
really want it and be prepared to put in
the hours if you’re going to get anywhere.
Being able to write is obviously essential.
One misconception that most Cambridge
students have, in my experience, is that a
tabloid is easier to put together because
stories are shorter and because they think
(erroneously) that the content is less serious. Those people are wrong. Journalism
is about communicating the great news
you have worked so hard to uncover to
as many people as possible. Any other
approach is vanity publishing. Writing
a fifty-word intro in five-syllable words
might make me feel big and clever but I’ll
have wasted the time and effort I put into
getting my scoop because no one will read
it. Communicating important, complex
information in an accessible form is an art
and it shouldn’t be underestimated.
7. What advice would you give to students who want to be journalists?
Get as much work experience as humanly
possible. By all means get time at the nationals but you can’t beat the experience
you get on local and regional papers. Most
people who do work-experience at nationals perfect the art of making tea and photocopying but at a local level you will get
to write; to interview people; to get your
name in print and build up your portfolio
of cuttings. You will get a better sense for
what the work involves and have something to show at the end of it. And when
you do go in for work-experience have
some ideas and don’t be scared to suggest them. No editor will embarrass you
for having story ideas, even if they aren’t
quite what they are looking for. They will
be pleased that you are keen and help you
to make them work if they like them and
give you guidance on what makes a story
for that particular paper if they’re not
quite right.
When you leave, keep in touch – there
may be a job opening there soon, and
get the section editor you worked for to
write you an open reference on headed
paper that you can show to other potential employers.
You also have to do a course to learn
shorthand, media law, etc. Talk to the careers service but the ones that stand out
for me are Harlow, City and Cardiff. I was
on the 19-week course at Harlow and it
taught me as much as you can learn in a
classroom without actually doing the job.
Get the work-experience to find out if you
want to do the job and then apply for the
post-grad courses and the trainee posts,
such as the News of the World scheme.
8. What made you go for print media?
Because nothing beats seeing a big, bold
exclusive on the front page with your
name on it. Online media has come on
leaps and bounds as technology has developed but print media is still where it’s
at if you want to learn the nuts and bolts of
being a good reporter at the cutting edge.
Online and mobile technology have created new challenges for newspapers. The
News of the World is embracing those
challenges, with an ever-growing online
following, a new mobile phone service and
a text number – 63300 – where our readers
can text us story tips, pictures and videos.
My job will always be broadly the same
though - to find out things people want to
know and then to communicate it to them
in a cogent, consumable form. For now,
the place to learn how to do that is, to my
mind, at a print newspaper.
The only
qualities
necessary for
real success in
journalism are
rat like cunning,
a plausible
manner and
a little literary
ability
Nicholas Tomalin
IMPACT
Björk: Wewelcomethereturn
of re knowned mentalist, regardless
of what ‘Volta’ actually sounds like.
Making a recent appearance a recent appearance at Coachella, the
Icelandic child-woman sported an
outfit that could only be described
as ‘disco Aztec’. Bjork, as ever, is
the heroine of everyone who likes
to wear stupid clothes because
they think its funny. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the
like of E! TV commentators squirming at the thought of the infamous
‘swan-dress’. Light relief for everyone who thinks they might throw
up if they see another Oscar de La
Renta dress on the red carpet...
LOVE , HATE
and the
Maxi-Dress
IMPACT
Green Moss: Kate and Philip
met, exchange d £3 million pounds,
and a few months later, a bouncing
& gurgling capsule collection was
born. Unleashed on Monday, opening night saw Moss playing mannequin in the shop window whilst Green
played shop assistant. All very cutesy
for the most sought-after high-street
collection since Stella McCartney for
H&M. BUT WHY? Yes, Moss is a style
icon, but are grown women really falling into the trap of believing that Katemagic will rub off onto them when the
credit card swipes? It just seems to be
the nadir of celebrity-domination of
the fashion market. Afraid of falling
into the trap? Watch the ‘making of’
videos, where Moss’s lilting voice and
articulate eloquence explain why she
usually keeps her trap shut.
07
Fashion
Fashion
06
The dress below is priced at £45, available from Miss Selfridge.
In a recent article in the Guardian, the virtues of the maxi-dress are
extolled:
Colour.
Finally:
Summer has a saving grace.
Amidst all of the mid-length
polka-dot tea-dresses that annually reduce us all to looking like
extras in Poirot, there occasionally arises the brief glimmer of
hope that is a ludicrously bright
colour. It’s nice to know that the
high street sometimes remembers that not everyone in Britain
is made of alabaster.
Photos :
Bjork by Joe
Dilworth/ Retna
UK
Emanuel Ungaro
by Marcio Madeira
Charlotte Gainsbourg by Willy
Van Der Perre
Being French: always helps. Charlotte
Gainsbourg (pictured left), Sophie Albou (founder
of Paul & Joe), Eva Green... The French can do
being feminine without all of the coquettish girness, or being masculine without having to be
macho or metrosexual. But seriously, how can 21
miles make this much difference? Compare young
Chirac to young Blair - the contrast in our respective leaders is unnerving... But, whatever it is that our
Gallic cousins have that we so tragically lack on this
side of La Manche, there is some comfort. This is in
the form of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s early-days video
for ‘Elastique’. YouTube it. The striking similarity to
Tommy from ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ will make you
feel better. Ain’t nobody perfect.
No flabby stomach,
No saggy bum,
No unsightly thighs.
This is all very well...
But are we sharing the same shopping mantra as our mothers?
When did we all become so fucking boring?
Pashmina: Risible,
and ridiculous. Nobody
ever needs this much scarf,
do they? The multiple wraps
around the neck, creating
form of cashmere abcess, invite innocent bystanders to
each grab an end and run in
opposite directions. An accessory that will forever underpin
how ‘wealthy’ will always be
‘in’. But what to do now that it’s
too warm for such neck coverage? Wear some obnoxiously
large sunglasses instread or
something. ..
Pastels: What happened? Were they on the
way to becoming colours but stopped off for gelato
and a chilled latte for too long and forgot to arrive?
There’s something decidedly sinister about the
pastel shade. Something that makes you feel like
you’re being cheated by the design. There is absolutely nothing ‘irresistible’ about pastel clothing; nothing so exciting that it makes you want to
rip off the peg and shoplift it RIGHT NOW. It’s hohum. It’s wardrobe basics. It’s cardigans at summer evening barbecues; something you never
really want to actually buy, surely?
Photos:
Kate Moss by
Topshop,
Salvatore
Ferragamo by
Marcio Madeira
IMPACT
Food & Drink
08
Bacalhau Stewart Petty
H
aving been mugged in the dubious
streets of late night Oporto, my surf-eager friends were not too hungry following their hapless encounter. However, once
they arrived in Figueira da Foz, the invigorating sea air replenished their appetites. I was
ravenous after a challenging day of surfing at
Cabedelo beach. A slap-up meal was in order.
The young and cheery owners of our hostel (Paintshop) recommended an eatery called
‘Sporting’. On hearing this, I imagined a lagerfuelled pool hall characterised by a fug of fag
smoke and mobbish jeers from ASBO-ed
morning to witness the frenzy of Figueira’s
fish market. The fact that very few locals spoke
English here and did not care was bluntly refreshing. However, body language and a spattering of French helped me on my quest to
buy some sardinhas, a wad of sour dough and
a knobbly lemon. After a few minutes under
the grill, lunch was beautifully uncomplicated
and utterly satisfying. Bacalhau is Portugal’s
national dish. Admittedly, dried codfish did
not really arouse my salivary glands. However
as the legend goes, there are as many ways to
cook this dish as there are days in the year. So,
seating amount of the Atlantic whilst surfing,
this beverage irrigated my parched tongue
most refreshingly. Another reason to fall
in love with Portugal is the cheap beer and
friendly drunks. (I should note the sober locals were as equally affable.) One example I
can recall is where I was lethargically waiting at
Carcavelos train station after checking out the
surf. A rather sleazy and dreadlocked character
with a heavily furrowed brow approached me
on the platform. ‘Where you from my friend?’
Immediately I thought that this was another ‘hashish’ hustler. In Lisbon, dealers sell
Pride of Portugal
cannabis ostentatiously on the streets holding
out bags of the plant for all eyes to see. However,
my new amigo reached into his rucksack for
plastic cups and a large Super Bock beer. I felt
guilty for being so suspicious. He simply wanted
to share a drink. This gesture of friendship captured the essence of Portuguese friendliness.
As we sat slurping beer on a balmy Sunday afternoon, Raoul invited another stranger to join
us. Superbock had become a dear friend to my
diet over the last few days. Its smooth and yet
crisp taste accompanied by malty notes was
delicious. Costing a single euro per 330ml in
nearly every bar, it was cheaper than bottled
water. Cheers to dehydration!
Rather like the French, the Portuguese possess an unflinching penchant for less conventional cuts of meat. I can demonstrate this with
their porky predilection: it would be strange
not to see a pig trotter, ear and even face
drooping in the butcher’s window display.
Many of the restaurants zealously serve these
specialities. Something of a culinary must in
Portugal is the exquisite roasted piglet - leitão
assado. Its skin is golden and crunchy. Rabbit
is also a popular dish. It may not look too
pretty on the plate, but its rich intensity of flavour is captivating. If you are squeamish about
tripe and wish to overcome your intestinal
phobia, seek the aid of tripas à moda do Porto.
Unlike offal I have eaten before, its texture was
surprisingly addictive.
Some critics dismiss the cuisine here
as being heavy and oily. However, in my opinion, the quality of the dishes is not to be questioned. I think that the hugely generous portions
of food - often complimented with stacks of
rice or potatoes - could be to blame for this
condemnation. I’m not complaining though.
Do not feel obliged to eat everything on the
plate. The generosity of the Portuguese extends to the abundant Port producers lining
the River Douro. Offering free tours and port,
a day crawling around Oporto is sorted. I may
not have spent the healthiest time in Portugal,
what with endless portions, copious cakes and
a vulnerable lack of willpower against oneeuro Superbock. However, I was (nearly) fat
and (very) content. Fortunately, intermittent
but powerful days of surf obliterated most of
the calories.
Stewart Petty enjoys a seafood spectacular on the Iberian
peninsula, but discovers that the land is equally plentiful...
Human
vocabulary is
still not capable,
and probably
never will be
of knowing,
recognizing, and
communicating
everything that
can be humanly
experienced and
felt
José Saramago
yobs. Then I remembered that we were not in
England. Instead, the clinical but welcoming
restaurant was an understated shrine to the
football club Sporting Lisbon.
What I like about Portuguese restaurants
are the copious portions they repeatedly serve.
What is odd is the penchant to light these establishments with ASDA-style brightness. A
television tucked away in the corner is also an
inevitable feature. At Sporting, without persuasion, we chose the nominal six euro menu
offering a selection of all-you-can-eat fish…
followed by meat. Breezy Figueira da Foz nurtures a healthy fishing economy. The ‘Sporting’
menu epitomized this: sardines, horse mackerel, red snapper, red mullet, sole, chub and octopus were served with earthly majesty. This
nosh demonstrates unpretentious simplicity and dedication to what the French would
call terroir. Literally two hundred metres away
from the restaurant, the fish on our plates
would have squirmed from the fisherman’s
net earlier that morning. Baked or grilled. Saltsprinkled. Served.
Gripped by a newfound infatuation with
fruits of the sea, I awoke early the following
when prepared sensitively with a suitable accompaniment of vegetables and rice, I am convinced that it can be delicious.
I feel no shame in writing that I adopted a
two-cakes-a-day ritual during my two weeks
in Portugal. Although I am sure that their
presence was not so sugar-coated at the time,
the Portuguese can say obrigado to their early
Moorish occupiers. It was these invaders who
introduced confectionary here. In Oporto,
Lisboa and Figueira da Foz, the presentation
of all things sweet was ravishingly aesthetic.
Rows of sugary gems twinkled behind immaculately polished glass. At forty euro cents for a
pastel de nata (egg custard), you do not have
to be rich to be a fat cat. One of my favourite
treats was a chocolate pão de ló topped with
walnuts.
The party-animal Portuguese are eternally
indebted to their Brazilian cousins for the
zingy Caipirinha. For less than three euros, the
concoction on offer here is far from the feeble
excuse for a cachaça-based cocktail that is frequently inflicted upon the bar flies of blighty.
One variation of the drink in Lisbon replaced
the lime with lychee. Having swallowed a nau-
Pão de ló Stewart Petty
IMPACT
Food & Drink
Debonair Drinking
Bill Brogan explores the Douro Valley; home to Portugal’s prized Port
With cheap flights now the norm, I have visited the Douro three times in the last eighteen
months. You can fly to Porto for less than £50.00
return from London Stansted. I normally stay
in the Duo Wine Region in the small village of
Parada de Gonta. This is very close to Viseu,
a very small, charming town about 40 minutes
Taylor’s Port Stewart Petty
from the University City of Coimbra. Parada de
Gonta is 75 minutes from Oporto Airport.
The wines in this region are improving after
years out in the doldrums. In fact, Quinta de
Lemos, near Viseu, is the James Bond of all
vineyards. It is the hobby of a Belgian Textile
Magnate, who lets his daughter run this new
“state of the art” estate. Grapes used in this region include reds such as Alfrocheifo, Jaen and
Aragenez. For whites one can expect Bical,
Encruzado and Malvesia Fina.
The drive to the Douro Valley is truly spectacular and the wine region itself is possibly the
most scenic that I have seen in the world.
Portugal uses its own native grapes and none
more so than in the Douro: the home of Port.
The road from the South brings you into the
steeply flanked town of Regua. Once here, you
need to find the way to Pinhao, a quaint village
situated right on the river in the centre of the
Douro.
Having crossed the river, go to the Vintage
House Hotel, a “wine hotel” . Whilst it is not
cheap, belonging to Relais and Chateaux, the
hotel is beautifully located. Other facilities it offers include a wine shop and museum.
If you are interested in getting involved in
some local oenology, they run wine courses
here: “The Wine Experience” costs from 47.50
to 62.50 euros per person or you could try “The
5 Red Wine Grapes of the Douro” for 47.50 to
62.50 euros per person.
Also on offer are port wine tastings. We
visited “Quinta de Novel” owned by Axa
Insurance Group. It was truly stunning! A lot
of investment has been ploughed into the company. Great views complimented the drinking. For red wine, visit “Quinta de Crasto”,
winner of “Red Wine of the Year” in the Wine
Magazine. This uses the main port grapes including Tourigu Nacional and Tinta Roriz. The
most widely planted grape variety is “Tourigu
Francesa”.
A vineyard that you should certainly visit
is Quinta de Ventozela. This is now Spanish
owned and some of its vines are over 100 years
old. There is a great lodge for visitors to taste
wines and from here, we travelled downstream.
The trip down to the vineyard in the 4x4’s is an
experience in itself.
Ending up in Oporto, you come across the
port lodges located by the river in the old town.
These establishments are flanked by some
outstanding restaurants, bars and quirky souvenir shops.
For more information:
Quinta dos Tres Rios, Parada de Gonta,
www.minola.co.uk
Vintage House Hotel, Pinhao
www.hotelvintagehouse.com
Brazil in a nutshell
Muireann Maguire gets us all high on selenium
Ah, Brazil - the land of fabulous things I can
never spell, like capoeira, caipirinhas and
Giselle Bundchen. Nothing could be trendier
than the Amazon rainforest - especially since
it is turning into soya bean oil almost as fast
as England’s meadows are becoming rapeseed. Since everything about Brazil is or has
been very cool indeed, it won’t be long before
Sainsbury’s is offering Taste the Difference piranha pasties or organic fair-trade tapir steaks
(hand-reared in Yorkshire piggeries to save
on air miles!) Since this column has always resisted trendiness, today I am recommending a
tropical delight that’s been under our noses all
along - the humble brazil nut. Depending on
which side of the fair trade fence you stand on,
it is responsible either for protecting the jungle
ecosystem through sustainable harvesting (as
brazil nut plantations aren’t financially viable,
all the nuts we munch are gathered in the jungle) or for keeping poor collective farmers in the
grip of big export firms. In any case, once it has
used up fifty tonnes of carbon flying over here,
we might as well appreciate it. There are plenty
of reasons why we should. The brazil nut contains more fat than any other nut (so watch your
portion sizes), but with 14% protein it makes
a good meat substitute for vegetarians. It contains enough selenium to fly you to the moon
and back, besides being a source of other good
things like magnesium and zinc. Interestingly,
it’s also exceptionally high in radium, so you can
use leftover brazil nuts for mood lighting at parties. Most recipes with brazil nuts are dessertbased (they’re delicious combined with sugar,
dried cassava, ground almonds, chopped figs
and milk and fried in pancakes) but here’s one
for Bundchen Brazil Nut Loaf - passed on to me
by our lovely Giselle’s granny…
Chop one onion and fry in a tablespoonful of olive oil until transparent. Crush a clove
of garlic, finely chop four stalks of celery, and
add to the onion. Next, grind up 150g of brazil nuts with an equal amount of cashew nuts
or almonds. Add to the pan with half a cup of
previously prepared mashed potato and 100g
of breadcrumbs. Flavour salt, pepper, thyme
and cayenne pepper. Stir in up to a glassful
of red wine to bind. Transfer half the mixture
to a greased baking tin and spread a layer of
chestnut puree on top: then add the second
half on top of the puree. Bake for 45 minutes,
or until firm and crusty on top, at 170˚C. Melt
some parmesan or taleggio on the loaf before
serving. This dish should be set off by some
dramatic in-season vegetables: a beetroot
salad, or asparagus spears, or simply buttered
spinach.
If nut loaf is too lily-livered for you, here’s
a more red-blooded variation: Battered
Brazil Nut Steaks. Pulverise your brazil nuts
and mix with a splash of milk and some
olive oil, finely chopped garlic, and herbs
and spices to taste. Take some tapir steaks
- or pork chops - and roll them in the mixture. Deep-fry and serve with brown rice
cooked in coconut milk. Perfect after a
tough session of capoeira, accompanied by
capirinha on the rocks!
09
Hans Schweitzer Amica Dall
RECIPE
Queens’ College’s Michelin-starred
Master Chef Hans Schweitzer used
to own the Barbados restaurant,
La Mer. This week, he offers The
Cambridge Student one of the
restaurant’s tropical treats.
Mango Brûlée (Serves 6)
Ingredients
Six 3-inch ramekins
1 split vanilla bean
2 ripe mangoes
7 egg yolks
Half litre of cream
75g white sugar
1 tbsp rum
Icing sugar to dust
Method
Pre-heat oven to 160 C.
Peel the mangoes, then cut four even
slices for each brûlée and put to one
side. Cut off all remaining mango and
put into a blender; blend to a smooth
puree.
Bring the cream and split vanilla bean
to boil. Whisk the egg yolk, sugar
and rum to a smooth, creamy mixture. Pour in boiling cream and whisk
briskly. Add the mango purée
ée
e and stir.
Sieve the mixture through a fine sieve
and divide into the six ramekins. Cook
slowly for 30 minutes. Take out of the
oven.
The brûléess should be firm and set but
should still have a little wobble within!
Leave to cool for 20 minutes. Then
place into a fridge and cool for several
hours.
Sprinkle the mango slices with sugar
and caramelize under a hot grill or with
a blow torch. When ready to serve, add
the caramelized mango slices to the
brûlée.. �ust with icing sugar.
Enjoy!
Giselle Bundchen
Claret is the liquor
for boys; port, for
men; but he who
aspires to be a
hero must drink
brandy
Samuel Johnson
IMPACT
Holding firm under
pressure
Columns
10
Chris Lillycrop chats with Philip Jensen, main
speaker at CICCU’s recent Cross-Examined talks
haviour. But, in Australia, we would think
people to be fairly insecure if they couldn’t
cope with someone knocking on their door
and offering them a free gift.
There’s a lot of people reading the paper who
are not Christians, and have never come to
any kind of worship in Cambridge, but will
have heard that this Cross-Examined course is
going on. Perhaps you could, for the, describe
in your own words the nature, the purpose and
the value of the course.
Jesus is the single most significant
characterofWesterncivilisation.Jesustodayis
followed by more people around the world
than any other person. It is important at a
bare minimum that educated people have
formed an opinion on Jesus, on the basis
of the evidence there is about him. The
Cross-Examined courses that run next
week and every week for the rest of the term
providepeoplewithopportunitiesofinformed
discussion and information about Jesus.
One issue I’ve seen you discuss in the press is the
dangers of ‘liberal relativism’, and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about what
you mean by that phrase and why you think it’s
a problem or a worry.
St Andrew the Great: favoured church for many CICCU members.
CHRIS LILLYCROP: I’ve looked at where
you’ve been and what you’ve done, and you’ve
worked as Chaplain at the University of New
South Wales. I would like to ask what you think
are the peculiar challenges and opportunities of
the student environment?
PHILIP JENSEN: Okay. Universities gather
a large number of people together into one
place. They provide opportunity and time to
study, read and think, and that makes them a
great place in which to present the gospel of
Jesus.
We have CICCU here in Cambridge which
does a very thorough job of evangelising
and spreading the Christian message within
the university. What do you think is the
appropriate framework for spreading the gospel in an environment where you have a lot of
people of different faiths and also a lot of people
who have made an express decision that they
don’t believe there is a God?
The Bible tells
us to love our
neighbours,
and also to love
our enemies;
probably
because they are
generally the
same people
G K Chesterton
Part of the university ideal is to
politely, openly and fairly, present
different viewpoints for people to evaluate and
re-evaluate.
There’s been an issue in Cambridge recently
with CICCU going door-to-door distributing Mark’s gospel, and one JCR [Newnham]
objected to that as being overly intrusive. Do
you think that that is an acceptable way, even
a commendable way, to spread the gospel or
do you think that that steps over a line? [Chris
Prekop of CICCU asserted at this point that the
distribution of the book had always target those
who had expressed an interest in Christianity.]
I do not know the details of how the bible
Islam teaches that Jesus did not
die. Christianity teaches that
Jesus did die
distribution was done; how the gift was made.
Nor am I a resident of, nor have I ever been
a resident of, one of the Cambridge colleges,
and so could hardly judge the propriety of be-
We would think people to be
fairly insecure if they couldn’t
cope with someone knocking
on their door and offering them
a free gift
Tolerance and the uncensored free flow of information and ideas are an important part
of a civilised society, but the freedom to treat
others with whom we disagree fairly as equals
is easily undermined by the rejection of all
absolutes and acceptance of all views as being
equally valid, and the insistence that nobody
declares views to be wrong. Religion is not
a matter just of opinion, but of fact. Islam
teaches that Jesus did not die. Christianity
teaches that Jesus did die. Therefore they cannot both be right. They may be both wrong if
Jesus did not live. The fact that we both cannot be right means that we must learn to tolerate each other if we are to live together in a
civilised society.
There was recently a college weekly magazine
[Clareification] that lead on it’s front cover with
a reprinting of the cartoons of Mohammed
that caused such a global stir a while back. I was
wondering what you think the Christian
attitude to that sort of thing should be: whether
you think the printing of that specific material
is appropriate or whether you believe it to be
inappropriate, coming from a Christian moral
viewpoint
I couldn’t give now, without more thought,
a definitive answer on my position. I can say
Jesus is the single most
significant character of Western
civilisation. Jesus today is
followed by more people
around the world than any
other person
that I don’t believe in censorship. I do believe
in having a sense of humour about yourself.
I don’t believe in unnecessarily offending
other people. I do believe that we are in a time
of heightened social tensions. I’m sure there
are other factors to weight up in the decision
that a person must come to in publishing
something, and they must bear the responsibility for those decisions.
In your comments to the press on that issue
when it first broke on the global stage, you
said that ‘Jesus was a crucified messiah, and
Mohammed was a prophet who lead an army,
and that is a stark contrast’. Do you think that
highlights vital differences between the two religions of Christianity and Islam?
I think the fundamental difference is the one
I’ve already outlined, namely the death of
Jesus.
What do you feel is the biggest challenge
facing Christians across the globe, of all denominations, as people of faith?
Always the biggest challenge for Christians is
to live in a way that will bring glory to their
Lord and Saviour, Jesus. This is different in
different parts of the globe. In those areas,
like Africa, where Christianity is huge, it is
growing in theological maturity. In countries
where Christianity is persecuted, it is holding
firm under pressure. In Western countries, it
is re-expressing the gospel in such terms as to
help our fellow citizens find God in the arid
desert of secularist materialism.
Want to write for The Cambridge Student?
Applications to write for TCS in Michaelmas 2007 are always welcome. Email [email protected]
IMPACT
Women at
war
The discomfort at the prospect of women in the
military
T
he issue of women in the military has
been a hot one for a while. I recently
attended a schools debate in the Cambridge Union which discussed the role of
women in the armed forces, and the recent
hostage incident in Iran has ensured that
this question will remain at the forefront of
national thought for some time. Of course it
was only a couple of months ago the British
public and the world at large was gripped by
the sudden development of this bizarre hostage situation. What was, according to the
Navy, a routine expedition turned into an
international incident when fifteen Royal
Marines were captured and taken prisoner
by the Iranian government. Accused of trespassing in Iranian waters, the sailors were
held for thirteen days, during which time they
made an appearance on al-Alam television
which broadcast footage of four of the fifteen
captives apparently confessing to having illegally entered the country’s territory. The footage began with Leading Seaman Faye Turney,
the only women among the hostages, apologising for having entered Iran, and insisting
that the hostages were being well treated.
This broadcast, described as “disgusting” by
Tony Bair, sparked a wave of national outrage
the likes of which we have not seen in a while.
As I watched the reaction from the government
and the media, I began to question the root of
the response. Was this pure outrage at Iran continuing to impinge on our progressive British
sensibilities, or was it more personal than that?
Naturally in an international hostage situation
the media will emphasise the humanity of the
case, and we did indeed hear interviews with the
parents of several hostages, in addition to details
of the hostages’ lives and interests. However, it
was the image of Faye Turney, the only woman
hostage and the mother of a young child,
which captured the nation’s attention. The
photograph of Turney looking stressed, smoking a cigarette and wearing the obligatory
Islamic headscarf appeared on the front page
of every newspaper, and in some cases the fact
that there were fourteen other captives was
presented as a minor detail. When Leading
Seaman Turney signed up, it is doubtful these
days that anyone sat her down and asked her
to think twice because, as a woman, she should
really be at home with her child. And yet that is
exactly what the British Public seem to have said
in the wake of the event: “What was she doing
there anyway?”
Interestingly, this was one point that
the British people and Iranian president
Ahmadinejad seem to agree on. The mes-
sage behind Turney’s prominent role in the
Iranian television broadcast was twofold; one,
shame on you, the British government, for
entering our territory, and two, shame on you for
sending a woman. The latter message appeared
to be whole heartedly endorsed by Britain,
whose response in many respects mirrored the
plot of Saving Private Ryan for sheer PR value
– saving Seaman Turney. However, Private
Ryan went home to comfort his mother and led
a pretty innocuous life from then on. Seaman
Turney was paid over £100,000 for her story –
considerably more than the other hostages were
likely to get. I can only deduce from the fascination and furore that that we are still very uncomfortable with the idea of women in the armed
forces (unless they’re typing reports and going
home to make dinner every night).
Why is that, when we are, on the whole, making progress getting women into other typically
male –dominated professions? The schools
debate at the Cambridge Union provided me
with an interesting answer to this. One side
argued that women were very useful in the army
because they were better at communicating
with other cultures. Incredibly, the other side
retorted that women are weaker, were likely
to be raped by frustrated soldiers on their own
side, and if not, were likely to be raped by their
opponents thus forcing their colleagues to
risk their lives trying to save them. Out of the
mouths of babes (well, 15 year old public school
boys). However, I do believe that this gets close
to the heart of the issue – having women on the
front line challenges the most fundamental assumptions made about women in a way that
women in politics, or women scientists do not.
The assumption is that, when it comes down to
life or death situations, women need protecting – they are weak, they are child bearers, and
ultimately they are serene givers of life rather
than dynamic hardcore soldiers. There is no
denying the pattern of sexual dimorphism
– men are typically bigger and stronger than
women. However, if we as a society are ever
going to feel comfortable with the prospect that
there are increasing numbers of women, like
Faye Turney, who choose a potentially dangerous profession such as joining the armed forces,
then we must leave behind the stereotypes that
still lie beneath the face of righteous modernity
that we presented to the Iranian government.
This will be the last Women’s
Word, we thank CUSU Women’s
officer Harriet Boulding, for
contributing it
O
n 28th March, Tom Comfort, third
year Fitzwilliam student, passed away.
He had been fighting a lung infection
in Addenbrookes for almost 6 weeks. On Saturday 28th April, students from all over the
university gathered on the lawn outside Fitzwilliam chapel to celebrate the life of a muchloved friend. It was a gloriously sunny day.
TCS readers may remember the fashion shoot that he did with two close friends
only a week before he went into hospital,
and we have reprinted one of the pictures
here. The shoot took place in Tom’s room
in Fitz, and it had to be practically fumigated and cleared of Carlsberg-based debris
before the shoot could begin. As a somewhat reluctant recruit, Tom’s shyness in
front of the camera didn’t get in the way of
the cheeky grin that made the pictures so
memorable. Even if he did spray a little too
much deodorant on the T-shirt that had to
be returned the next day…
Even those of you who weren’t lucky
enough to meet Tom can see from this
picture the natural charisma and happiness that he brought to the people around
him. This was made evident in all memories shared by friends of his at the memorial
service. On the Varsity ski trip, for example, the ever-resourceful Tom constructed
a makeshift sleigh out of a shopping trolley, wine bottles and snowboards. Tom careered down the hill distributing various
beverages to all the stunned spectators, ensuring that Christmas came early for all the
good girls and boys. Especially the girls. We
were left with the distinct picture of Tom’s
manic glee at finally playing one of Santa’s
little helpers. But whether he was distributing booze or hundreds of plasticy snacks
as the Pepperami Dragon (as regular attendants of Fitz superhall will no doubt remember) Tom was always in the business
of distributing fun. This was someone who
really knew how to live
Our thoughts go out to his family and
friends at this difficult time. We at TCS
commemorate and take our hats off to
Tom, a genuinely special and gorgeous
young man. He is greatly missed.
It wasn’t until July 2005 that a statue was unveiled that paid homage to the war efforts of women wallyg
Columns
In memory
of Tom
Comfort
11
Feminism
is an entire
world view or
gestalt, not just
a laundry list of
women’s issues
Charlotte Bunch
12
IMPACT
Listings
Theatre
Music
I’ve caught a cold...in my eyes...
A plethora of musical talent awaits
Cambridge this week...
A Slight Ache by Harold Pinter
English Touring Opera
ADC Theatre
Wednesday 2nd May - Saturday 5th
May
11pm Wed/Thu: £4/£3, Fri/Sat: £5/£4
Cambridge Theatre
The Fletcher Players presents...
Death and the Maiden
by Ariel Dorfman
Corpus Christi Playroom
“And why does it always have to be the
people like me who have to sacrifice,
why are we always the ones who have
to make concessions, why?”
Tuesday 1st May - Saturday 9th May
9.15pm £5 (£4)
Film
Following its triumphant Autumn
Baroque Opera festival, English
Touring Opera returns to Cambridge
Arts Theatre with three new
productions: The Seraglio, Eugene
Onegin and Spirit of Vienna
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Tuesday 8th - Saturday 12th May
7.30pm
Would you miss out on a night with
this?
St. John’s Film presents...
CUUNA Inaugural Speaker Event
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg
star in what arguably became the
most influential European film of
the twentieth century, bringing to
prominence both its own director,
and the entire New Wave movement
of which it was a part.
St. Johns College
Thursday 3rd May
9pm
Manic Street Preachers
Legendary Welsh Rock band return to
the Corn Exchange
Cambridge Corn Exchange
Tuesday 8th May
7.30pm
Dreamgirls
This film adaptation of the popular
Broadway show is saturated with
Motown, Atlanta and Stax. Its a
marvel for the screen starring Beyonce
Knowles, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer
Hudson (who won an Oscar for best
Supporting Actress)
St. John’s College
Sunday 6th March
7&10pm
Pembroke Players presents...
Golden Gods Smoker
Pembroke New Cellars
Escape revision, chill out and chuckle
in the company of Cambridge’s
coolest comedians...
Friday 4th May
8pm £5
Godard will leave you breathless....
Cambridge University
Department of French:
A bout de souffle: Breathless
Box Office: 01223 503333
t
ADC Theatre
A desperate band of songsters, poets
and low-lifes in waiting will pour out
their little blood orange hearts for
your entertainment
11pm
Tuesday 8th May
ADC Theatre
Another of Shakespeare’s timeless
classics comes to the stage, a play that
with its portrayal of the Jew, Shylock,
brings to light many topical issues,
don’t miss out!
Tuesday 8th - Saturday 12th May
7.45pm
Tue-Thu: £7/£5, Fri/Sat: £8/£6
The Bargain by Ian Curteis
People who like
this sort of thing
will find this
the sort of thing
they like
Richard Nixon
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Prior to its journey to the West End,
Cambridge brings you the astonishing
meeting that took place in 1988 when
two world-famous heavyweight
figures locked horns. Starring Susan
Hampshire, Michael Pennington and
Anna Calder-Marshall
Monday 30th April - Saturday 5th
May
7.45pm
Box Office: 01223 503333
Philharmonia Orchestra
To bring the Concert Series to a
close, it is a real privilege to welcome
Sir Charles Mackerras back to the
Corn Exchange. He conducts the
Philharmonia Orchestra, whose
pedigree as one of the world’s great
orchestras is unquestioned.
Friday 4th May
Pre-concert talk, 6.00PM: Tourist
Information Centre, The Guildhall,
Wheeler Street, Cambridge
Performance: 7.30pm
Box Office: 01223 503333
Cambridge Guitar Club
St. James Centre, Wulfstan Way
Thursday 10th March
8pm
Cambridge University United Nations
Associations brings you Professor Sir
Richard Jolly. The talk will be followed
by a Q&A time...What impact had the
United Nations made since it came
into existence in 1945?
Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity
College
Thursday 3rd May
4.30 - 6pm
Talk: 5pm
Alan Carr
Multi award winning stand up
comedian Alan Carr is one of Britain’s
fastest rising comic talents and has
been leaving audiences breathless
the length and breadth of the country
for the last couple of years. A night of
camp comedy and belly laughs, book
early to avoid disappointment!
Thursday 3rd March
7.30pm
Box Office: 01223 356851
Cambridge University Hellenic
Society proudly presents:
The Apology of Socrates
The great philosopher defends himself
against the charges of being
a man “who corrupted the young, did
not believe in the gods and created
new deities”. Socrate’s last speech
before his condemnation to death,
as documented by Plato. Not to be
missed.
Palmereton Auditorium, St. Johns
College
Wednesday 9th May
7.30pm
For more information please feel
free to contact Stephania Xydia on:
[email protected]
Tickets: £3-£4
Bubblegum Whiskey presents...
Kidnap the Captain - A Concert
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
Other stuff
This is England
Set in a world of Roland Rat,
aerobics, Thatcher, the Falklands and
skinheads, This is England, tells of the
life-changing events that take place for
one 12-year-old lad (Shane Meadows)
This portrait of an often-overlooked
moment in cultural history is
undoubtedly Meadows’ masterpiece .
Cambridge Arts Picturehouse
08707 551242
24 THEATRE
Take a walk to Cheapside...
The ADC brings our favourite playwrights to life
Henry Donati
Elizabethan London must have been a manic place
to live in. Noise, grime, filth and plague; prostitutes,
pickpockets, and barroom brawls. Not exactly a
refined place, but English theatre has never since
scaled those Elizabethan heights. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson and Kyd- all contemporaries churning out plays for the Globe and the Rose. It must be
enticing ground for the playwright to cover. The
central character that David Allen bases his play
around is Robert Greene, a writer little known now,
but popular in his time for his bawdy works. A colourful character who used to overindulge in pickled herring and wine, he was purportedly the basis
for Shakespeare’s Falstaff. Unfortunately, this larger
than life boozer simply does not come across on the
stage. Greene (Ian White) stomps his feet like a recalcitrant child, he doesn’t brawl in the street like the
charismatic degenerate you might hope for. He is
meant to be a man who has abandoned the tedium
of rural life (and his wife) for the vigour of London,
but with his monotone voice, he simply sounds like
a grumpy drunk.
Drinking too hard, and needing to maintain
his mistress Mary and baby son, Greene turns to
Marlowe, a friend from his Cambridge days, for help.
Extrovert and eccentric, Marlowe (Owen Holland)
may be camped up slightly too much, but certainly
proves a more engaging character than Greene. Now
caught in a web of intrigue and espionage, Marlowe
offers Greene a job writing propaganda incriminating Catholics. But the Marlowe on stage still doesn’t
seem quite the man we imagine trawling the taverns
of Cheapside, wenching and duelling. This however
can’t be said for Cu tting Ball (Matthew Eberhardt)
the ebullient loveable rogue who walks the streets
wheeling and dealing, diving in and out of the action
as the plot thickens.
The problem is that in a play dealing with such
Drama intrigue and espionage in Elizabethan London Nikki Hill
larger than life historical characters, for the most
part, Cheapside seems remarkably undramatic.
The lack of magnetism in the lead role, and the hideous electronic music interludes between scenes
don’t help, but I think Allen’s script itself lacks panache. This is a play where with “Actors, cutpurses
and pimps: the difference is academic”. In a postromantic age we revere the artist and the way they
work, but Elizabethan England is so compelling
because we have the playwright brawling in bars,
having to churn out plays to pay the rent-they
are simply tradesmen plying their trade, and thus
fascinatingly human characters at that. Choosing
such a seminal moment in the birth of English theatre for a play thus sets itself up to be knocked down
by our high expectations, by the fact we feel we already know the characters.
Moreover, knowing literary allusions seem especially crass after Shakespeare in Love (anyone
remember ‘Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s daughter’?), so when Shakespeare (Owen Holland) came
on stage and started talking in a moronic brummie
accent, I inwardly groaned. He is the plagiarising
grammar school upstart who comes up with such
eternal pearls of wisdom as “it’s a funny thing love:
ups and downs”.
In fairness, much of the second half proves very
compelling. The web of intrigue deepens as Marlowe
is murdered, and the net closes on the anti Papist agitators. The play reaches its dramatic zenith as Greene
confronts Gloriana (Abigail Rokison), a tavern low
life with a sharp tongue and an even sharper dagger.
In a brilliant scene, she reveals the depth of plot surrounding Marlowe’s death, and Greene’s life starts
to fall apart at the seams.
Cheapside is on at the ADC Theatre
from Tuesday 1st-Saturday 5th May
Captivating Performance
A Slight Ache...?
Jess Bowie
Ed Rowett
The Fletcher Players promise you torture, confession, and
Schubert, and this is exactly what
they give you. By the bucketload.
Dorfman’s play is not for the
faint-hearted. Set in an unnamed
country struggling to establish
democracy after years of rule by
a repressive military dictatorship,
it tells the story of Paulina (Laura
Bates), a woman who has been
tortured and raped by government forces under the previous
regime. Although the play tackles
events from the recent past it does
not have a documentary-feel, or
advertise a political agenda. There
is too much artistry in Dorfman’s
writing for that: Death and the
Maiden is tightly-plotted, suspenseful, ambiguous and psychologically insightful.
Nor does it seem dated. Indeed,
it treats themes that are unfortunately as relevant today – I’m
desperately trying to avoid that
omnipresent cliché “in this post-
9/11 world” – as when it was written in 1990.
Overall, the cast are terrific. Patrick Oldham’s Doctor
Miranda is too fierce at times (who
wouldn’t after spending much of
the performance gagged with a
g-string?), but he subtly treads
the fine line between wrongly accused nice-guy and smarmy potential torturer.
Similarly, John Lindsay effectively captures the constant wavering that characterises Paulina’s
put-upon husband. Initially he
must decide whether to believe
the butter-wouldn’t-melt Doctor
or have faith in his wife’s hunch:
this is the man who persecuted
her some fifteen years previously.
Another conflict emerges between Gerardo’s loyalty to his wife
and the nascent democratic state.
It is Bates however who really
steals the show. Where a lesser
actor might have struggled in the
role of the scarred, obsessional
Paulina, Bates is spellbinding,
and utterly in command of the
conflicting emotions of this com-
plex character.
The Fletcher Players were unlucky enough to have two very untimely fire alarms to contend with,
but to their great credit the troupe
carried on unfazed, and within
seconds all thoughts of our nearevacuation of the theatre were
forgotten.
Director Anna Marsland skilfully exploits the space provided
by the already claustrophobic
Playrooms, while the musical interludes of Schubert between the
scenes only add to the sense that
we are trapped in the intensely
claustrophobic world of the play.
In short, Death and the Maiden
is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat
drama and an ethical rollercoaster
to boot.
Death and the Maiden
is on at the Corpus
Christi Playroom, Tues
1st-Sat 5th May, 9.15pm
Harold Pinter’s A Slight Ache
began life as a radio play, and
is perfectly suited to life as a late
show. It concerns the comfortable rural life of Edward and
Flora, and watches it gradually fall apart after they invite a
mysterious matchseller into their
home. As with so much of Pinter’s work, it transports the audience into a comfortingly familiar
world, yet one in which darkness
lurks always just beneath the surface and the balance of power is in
a permanent state of flux.
Director Joe Hytner is clearly
fully aware of the implications
and significance of the play, and
is determined to communicate
them to his audience. Pinter
plays best with a light comic
touch, unaware of its own significance. This balance is perfectly struck in the interaction
between the characters, but some
of the stylistic touches are perhaps a little heavy-handed. The
matchseller’s all black attire and
eerie stillness are too obviously
sinister, and slightly at odds
with the text. Also the dance
sequences, though highly striking and well executed, are a
little out of place, playing too
much of the show’s hand too
early, and undermining the build
up of tension. The program’s director’s notes are thorough and
intriguing, but almost too complete; the thrill of Pinter is that
the audience never quite knows
what is going on, leaving them
free to draw their own
conclusions.
The production is blessed with
a pair of strong performances,
particularly from Max Bennett,
who is superb as Edward. His
journey from the confident
man of the house to the quivering wreck of the show’s close is
expertly traced. The cracks
slowly and subtly begin to
appear as he watches events
spiral out of his control;
the
line
“Why
should he frighten me?” evokes
a barely suppressed terror.
Olivia Potts also gives a strong
performance as Flora, particularly since she apparently
stepped into the role at the last
minute; it is to her credit that
this is never apparent, her
own ascent to power perfectly
matching Edward’s decline.
My only criticism is that she
could perhaps have done with a
slightly subtler erotic touch in
her scene with the matchseller.
Overall it is a strong and
highly striking production, certainly worth seeing. Indeed, it
seems a shame to criticise a production for taking such bold
risks, even if they do not completely pay off. Not an unqualified success then, but certainly
a fascinating and well-executed
piece of theatre.
A Slight Ache is on at
the ADC Theatre, Tues
1st-Sat 5th May, 11pm
THEATRE 25
What’s theatre all about...?
Cambridge students share their thoughts
Hannah Watson
Dan Martin
D
rama, English and Education. Possibly the most looked down upon
course offered at Cambridge, and
in fact the only drama course that the university offers. As such, it’s no surprise that
a number of candidates are attracted to this
amalgamation of courses primarily because
taking it would mean learning more about
theatre in one of the most highly respected
universities in the world. But what separates
the Cambridge “degree” thesp from the ordinary inhabitant of the ADC? Some suggest
that it might be a matter of intelligence (after
all, since when is Theatre Studies a real A-level?), and others like to pat the degree-thesp
condescendingly on the cheek whilst explaining the difference between hobbies and
careers. Of course, more often than not, the
similarities between average ADCers and degree-thesps outnumber the differences, and
in the same way it would be ridiculous to put
all drama students in the same Shakespeare
worshiping boat. To conclude however, I’d
like to put my literary skills into practice by
ending with an analogy, by which I hope to
illustrate what I believe the main difference
to be. The non-drama student and the degree
thesp are like two trapeze artists, the first
with a safety net, and the other without…
Of course retrospectively, the self-satisfaction and ridiculous over-creativeness of the
previous sentence might say more about us
thesps in general than the actual content.
Jess Bowie
W
hen theatre is good, it’s very, very
good, but when it’s bad it’s horrid. Few things compare to the
immediacy and excitement of watching a
well-written, well-acted play, and the sense
of collective participation in a live event.
Witnessing a bad play, on the other hand,
can induce a whole range of unpleasant
feelings, strangely unique to the theatre.
Whether because the performances are toecurling (and you caught yourself thinking,
who cast this?), or the director’s ‘vision’ for
the piece has gone hideously wrong somewhere down the line, the theatre’s wincepotential is dangerous in a way that the
cinema never can be. And yet, if you’re a
half-way decent human being, this cringing is always accompanied by feelings of
guilt: coming face to face with your fellow
man, while he attempts to strut his hour
upon the stage, you feel you owe it to the
actors to enjoy yourself, no matter how bad
you may find the performance. At the end
of the day, they are brave enough to do it.
So at the theatre, either you genuinely do
enjoy yourself, or you pretend to yourself
that you do… Everyone’s a winner!
I
found myself asking the inevitable question: “what plays are you doing?” There
were two options for my victim. A. Tell me
that they were doing every role going in all the
best shows in the entirety of Cambridgeshire
therefore rubbing my sour-face in the mud
big time or B. Break the bubble. This could
be achieved quite nicely with a comment like
“I’m doing my degree” or “I’m going to have
a social life”… What sort of creature had I
become?
The change happened overnight, though I
can’t quite say when, like a flash of enlightenment (he says, modestly). I think it was remembering that acting in Cambridge was a
hobby, not a career.
Ohh ‘hobby’, not a
very popular word here is it? I am sure a bubble develops in every form of extra curricular
activity. Maybe if I had time to speak to anyone else outside theatres during my busy life
as a thesp I could learn this.
Essentially, I think what caused the bubble
for me was the fact that I want to become an
actor ‘when I grow up.’ So off I went doing
the rounds of auditions. I really wanted to
do some acting because I loved acting and
wanted to gain some more experience but
then I thought, “hang on, this is all a bit much
isn’t it? I better start taking myself more seriously here.” Thus it began.
We are doing nothing more than glorified
school plays. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m
not suggesting that the standard of play in
Cambridge is no better than year five Nativity. There are exceptionally strong productions put on by very talented people and I
have been extremely privileged to be part of
some BUT (and it’s a big but, I can not lie) no
matter the level of professionalism, they are
amateur whether we like it or not. What’s the
non-abbreviated version of the ADC again?
Cambridge is a time when the pressures of
the scary big wide world shouldn’t bother us
and we should be putting plays on as a collaboration of like-minded people who have
a passion for theatre, want to produce strong
shows for their audiences and would possibly like to, one day, be fortunate enough to
call it their job; rather than individuals who
desperately want to put another big role in
their next ‘previous experience’ box. I want to
think about acting proper when I’m stuck in a
flat in Peckham, sending off endless reams of
CV’s hopelessly trying to earn a smidgen of a
career, not now.
So, have I changed? No, not really. I guess
the very act of writing this is an admission
that the bubble does still get to me. Besides,
I still ask the inevitable question. But maybe
now it’s just genuinely out of interest, a conversation starter perhaps. And, maybe, I care
less about what the answer is… just a little
bit.
Kiran Gill
Carl Miller
F
M
or most people theatre is like eating their
greens. They don’t really fancy the look
of it to start with, it’s either too soggy or
too chewy once they’ve sunk their teeth in, and
it doesn’t go down so well afterwards. Such
people, however, leave the theatre with a feeling of achievement, as though having held
their noses, opened their gullets and forced it
down has done them some good. Culture is,
of course, some sort of pleasant vitamin which
can be extracted through long, hard chewing
of the artistic cud.
So much theatre gets away with being mediocre and failing to serve its purpose, when the audience think the interval ice-cream should be the
highlight of their night out. However, theatre at
its best should be an all-encompassing and articulate communication. The communication of
an idea, an opinion, an event, an emotion, which
can take us out of ourselves, widen our perspectives, make us ask questions about the world. The
language of the theatre is distilled to poetry, the
stage-pictures to symbolic art and the pulse of a
good performance resonates with the audience
long after it has ended. Theatre is the height and
culmination of all cultural pursuits and when a
piece of theatre is prepared properly greens can
become gourmet.
When you come into the theater, you have
to be willing to say, “We’re all here to undergo
a communion, to find out what the hell is going
on in this world.” If you’re not willing to say that,
what you get is entertainment instead of art, and
poor entertainment at that. (David Mamet )
Stephen Eisenhammer
T
he saying goes that “Life is a stage”,
but for many it is more accurate to
assert that the stage is your life. If
its not “lock ins” at the ADC bar, it is days
spent rehearsing the same 15 minute scene
over and over again. Like a drug, theatre,
once injected subtly invades every artery of
your life. No longer is there a distinction
between work and play, friends and colleagues, night and day. Like an addict the
thesp eternally complains about the hold
drama has over him, yet like an addict he is
never willing to properly let it go. Theatre
is not simply a matter of Pros and Cons. It
is far more serious than that. Many would
argue that it is sui generis, impossible to
understand from the outside, beyond any
futile form of reductionism. They may be
right, but it is these very words that lead
many of us to regard theatre as a cleaky,
pretentious world. The secret is in fact
easy to discover. Stand on stage and you
will feel it. It is the power of an audience
watching your every move, entirely at your
disposal, to be moved or humoured, lifted
or dropped, pleasured or devoured. You
wouldn’t be able to let it go either, however much you may moan about the time
it took up.
y idea for a theatre feature springs, quite
simply, from the fact that I’ve seen no
theatre here in Cambridge. For some,
their entire Cambridge world: their friends,
groups, intrigues – the things which make them
good or bad, hinge completely around the theatrical world. It is interesting, I think, to see how
for a few insiders, a Cambridge microcosm, the
theatre world can mean so much but for most of
us can mean very little, saving for an occasional
night’s entertainment. This idea is not just specific to theatre though, but could equally be said to
apply to areas like politics, sport and journalism.
Cambridge seems to have constant discrete social
niches and during our time here, we are liable to
enter into and become completely preoccupied
with, a particular niche. The esoteric nature of
the Cambridge bubble is clear. Overall, I guess, it
is remarkable to note how these niches can mean
so much and so little at the same time to each one
of us.
Andrew Jackson
T
heatre is an excellent medium for bringing people together – whether it is just going to the theatre with some friends and
either enjoying the experience or coming out
and sharing: “What on earth was all that about?”
vacant expressions. Or by performing and getting that ‘buzz,’ you all know the one I’m talking
about - a feeling of pride, a sense of achievement
to be a part of something that on your own you
couldn’t achieve but with the support of a cast
and crew it can all come together! A lot of people
agonise over the level of time, commitment and
effort that it takes to be a part of a production,
but the experience is incomporable!
Jake Forest
R
ecently, being involved in a production
reminded me what it is that I love about
theatre: the joy of creating something for
entertainment. A thrill that tends to be obscured
by the long lines at audition rooms and the sinking feeling when you realise, just after you’ve
read for a part, that you picked the role the director already had in mind for their best friend…
The truth is, everyone knows there is a certain amount of unfairness involved in casting.
Directors will always have their eye on certain
people, before the ink on the audition notice is
dry. That’s life, but it does mean making an initial
entrance into Cambridge drama can be tough,
and it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re always one step away from getting a part that you
know you’ll really enjoy. I suspect I’m not the
only one who has found themselves drowned in
the sea of Cambridge drama after being a big fish
in a small pond back home, but I do know that,
if you keep trying, someone will always spot you
eventually.
So rewarding going from the initial reading to seeing it come to life
Sarah Blissett
26 FILM
The Painted Veil
Love and loneliness in the time of cholera
Nina Chang
F
rom the rich and complex images of the opening credits, to the moving final scenes, The
Painted Veil, based on Somerset Maugham’s
novel, is an intelligent and powerful period drama
tracing the shifts between disappointment, anger
and finally love, in a relationship set against the
context of 1920s China’s civil unrest and disease.
Naomi Watts plays London socialite, Kitty,
whose continuing single status past the first blush
of youth is causing tension within her family. After
overhearing her mother’s caustic comments on the
subject, she desperately and spitefully accepts a stiff
proposal from Edward Norton’s uptight bacteriologist, Walter Fane. It proves to be a union of two
flawed and lonely individuals, who could hardly be
more opposite.
Director John Curran expends very little screen
time on their life together in Shanghai; the vivid contrast between Kitty’s restless, petulant gesturing and
Walter’s formality speaks volumes. It comes as no
surprise then when Kitty falls quickly into the arms
of Liev Schreiber’s smooth (and married) ViceConsul. Walter’s discovery of the affair prompts
their immediate removal to a cholera-struck community deep in rural China, a situation designed to
re-educate our protagonists in how to live, whilst
under the ever-present shadow of death.
The film becomes an intense exploration of the
bitter extremes to which love and disappointment
can drive us, set against the fabulous backdrop of
local scenery and an uneasy political climate. The
performances of both Watts and Norton reach far
below the surfaces of their characters, avoiding the
pitfalls of cliché to evince a deeply humane mix of
lonely vulnerability and inner strength.
Kitty’s refusal to break down, her tentative
reaches towards reconciliation whilst under the
strain of utter friendlessness and sudden imposed
isolation are deeply touching. She is the perfect foil
to Walter’s restrained intensity. The revelation of a
passionately aggressive streak underlying his awkward exterior is compelling, rather than disturbing.
Norton flawlessly conveys the simmering depths
of emotion lurking beneath the clipped English accents, so it is in fact his uncomfortable lovemaking
(slippers off, lights out) that comes as a shock more
than the icy cruelty of his swift retribution and his
sustained bitterness.
The pair are excellently supported by Toby Jones
and Diana Rigg, with the addition of a strong, performance by Anthony Wong Chau-Sang as the
somewhat stereotyped General Yu. On the whole
however, the film hardly strays from its central
concern of Kitty and Walter’s relationship; the few
other characters are carefully drawn but we have
little sense of the outside world intruding on their
interactions. The cholera, the village hostility, the
political threat – these remain largely mere props.
Rarely do we feel the characters’ fates to be truly
bound up with forces beyond their control. The
only odds against which they struggle lie within
themselves. This may seem like a missed opportunity to create a more sweeping, large-scale
affair, and at times the shadowy events in the background do seem reduced to undeserved insignificance. Yet this serves to enhance the film’s sense
of unflinching intimacy. We experience the film’s
events just as Kitty and Walter do – in relation only
to themselves.
Nevertheless, I could not help wishing the film
had slightly extended its second half in order to portray in greater depth the development of the relationship, once the couple had learnt to shed their
layers of bitterness and disappointment. The measured pace of the first scenes seems to gather speed,
but not momentum, as more dramatic events begin
to unfold. As such, the closing moments feel sadly a
little hurried after the force of earlier stages.
Throughout, however, the film is elevated by
Alexandre Desplat’s exquisite score, a unobtrusive yet stirring blend of eastern and western in-
fluences. The repeated use of Erik Satie’s haunting
Gnossienne No. 1 is a perfect complement to the
main theme.
Ultimately, this is a beautifully crafted, moving portrayal of heartache and self-discovery. It is
deeply affecting, yet has a lightness of touch which
keeps it from ever feeling morbid. The period details are delicately handled, so whilst the scenes are
never less than convincing, we are left to concentrate on the impressive performances, and subtle
direction.
Alpha Dog
A shocking drama based on real events as Timberlake makes his acting debut
Rebecca Hawketts
I
t’s very easy to be wary of films starring popsingers. However, Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha
Dog, which provides Justin Timberlake
with the opportunity to demonstrate his acting talents, is an exception. It was a bit strange
– and in fact quite uncomfortable – during the
first ten minutes of the film listening to Timberlake’s extremely vulgar and sometimes disturbing language. But after a while you get used
to this as there was a huge amount of swearing
in this film – apparently over 310 uses of the
word ‘fuck’ and its derivatives.
The film charts the events of 7 years ago
when Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in
America, became one of the youngest men ever
to be on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list. At
the age of 20, conflicts with local gang rivals spiralled out of control – resulting in Hollywood
kidnapping 15-yr old Nicholas Markowitz as
a way of recovering debts owed to him from
Nicholas’s drug-addict older brother.
Alpha Dog is not just the usual modern-day
gangster story of drugs, girls, money, and excessive violence. It’s also incredibly shocking
and upsetting. A scene involving the kidnapped
boy’s mother (Sharon Stone) being interviewed
in hospital is so stark and emotional that it is
impossible not to be moved by it.
One of the gang members involved in the
real-life events 7 years ago is currently on Death
Row, and Hollywood himself is currently awaiting trial in California, also facing the death penalty if found guilty. Facts like these add to the
distressing force of the film, and remind us that
the pain felt by the mother and other friends
and families involved is still very much a real
thing that is continuing to destroy their lives.
The other troubling thing about Alpha Dog is
the values it extols. The music and images used
throughout – such as songs by Eminem, as well
as threesomes in the swimming pools of huge
mansions – serve to glorify this gang-culture.
It does, obviously, all go horribly wrong
for a few of the individuals, but somehow this
doesn’t fully convey any of the usual messages
that the use of drugs, guns and violence will end
badly. Rather, it seems to suggest that it can all
be fun and games; as long as you keep your wits
about you.
This odd contradiction of the messages that
one would expect to be conveyed in this film creates a somewhat unsettling feeling. However, it
is perhaps this very feeling that makes the film
so good by giving it a distressingly haunting
quality.
‘Cut a hole in the box...’: Justin Timberlake about to make an offer they can’t refuse
FILM 27
This is England
A provocative exploration of youth, Britain and the
eighties in Shane Meadows’ latest
Liam Williams
T
his is the latest offering from British writer
and director Shane Meadows and it may
just earn him the deserved, broader recognition that has so far eluded him. The 34 year old
completed his first professional picture, Twenty
Four Seven, in 1997, and since then has produced
a string of provocative, kitchen-sink dramas, set in
his native Midlands. Based largely on personal experience, Meadows’s films depict disillusioned, disaffected, suburban, working-class life in a way that
is candid and never aggrandized. In all of them, the
action modulates between the portrayal of the banal
and the familiar, slapstick as well as black comedy,
the deeply disturbing and the sentimental and the
evocative. This is England is no exception.
More than in any of Meadows’s previous pieces,
The inclusion of footage from the
Falklands and clips of Thatcher
speaking over the radio provoke
questions about contemporary
politics and the state of life
amongst the working classes
the plot is set in its social and political context (the
Thatcher era: war in the Falklands, political unrest,
Roland Rat), and for me this story is his most entertaining. It is a semi-autobiographical rite-ofpassage drama, centred around the experiences
of twelve-year old Shaun Fields, who lives with his
single-mother, in a council estate somewhere on
the Lincolnshire coastline. Shaun is having a tough
time: his father has been killed in the Falklands, he
is being bullied at school, and, as one of the other
characters observes, he looks like Keith Chegwin’s
son.
As he dawdles defiantly across the playground
on the last day of term, he is taunted for his ginger
hair and flares, which were, apparently, not acceptable in the eighties. The story comes spectacularly to
life when an older bully makes an awful joke about
Shaun’s deceased father and the little lad lunges
at his antagonist. In a blur of vivid colour, punks,
New Romantics, pastels, day-glos, pompadours
and Mohawks converge, and, as one, the children
vociferate the timeless playground classic: ‘Fight!
Fight! Fight!’. Shaun loses the scrap, and is lashed
by the headmaster for provoking it.
Walking home that evening through a subway,
he encounters a friendly bunch of skin heads. The
film dramatises the way in which the National Front
hijacked the skinhead movement, and conveys the
irony in the fact that very quickly a group of people,
originally, heavily influenced by Black culture and
Ska and Reggae music, gained the connotations of
violent neo-Nazism still prevalent today. The amiable skinheads in the film befriend Shaun, shave his
hair, buy him a smart Ben Sherman, take him to
mindlessly vandalise an abandoned building and
give him booze and fags. A relaxed and benevolent attitude persists, however, and Shaun begins to
enjoy having real friends, and even his mother, although slightly perturbed about his new crew-cut,
is thankful to the gang’s altruistic leader, Woody
(played by Joe Gilgun), for taking her son under his
wing.
The acting is, in the most part, convincing, and
in places incredibly engaging, as the young cast,
given a refreshing degree of freedom to ad-lib and
improvise by the director, achieve a sense of realism. The believability does wane, though, when the
twelve-year old gets a girlfriend, Smell, a member of
the female skins, who actually appears more like a
member of Culture Club. We know that no one can
give a law to lovers, but it’s slightly disconcerting to
A fair amount of improv and adlibbing make the grit of life hanging out with the National Front even more real
see the tall, late adolescent girl, with the short, prepubescent boy. She does look a bit like Boy George
though. ‘The moon is beautiful, like you’ he squeaks,
as they step outside together, ‘do you wanna suck
me tits?’ she asks moments later.
The air of happiness and unconcern is disrupted,
with the return from prison of the older, thuggish Combo, who is played stunningly by Stephen
Graham. The man is a pitiable but terrifying sociopath - at once hating Thatcher, and foreign immigrants. He becomes something of a father-figure
to the vulnerable young Shaun, as he expounds
his twisted ideology. The only black member of
the gang, Milky, comes under increasing danger
as Combo’s behaviour becomes more extreme and
events become darker and more disturbing.
This is a thoroughly entertaining film, in which
the inclusion of footage from the Falklands and
clips of Thatcher speaking over the radio provoke
questions about contemporary politics and the state
of life amongst the working classes, which still resonate today. It also offers lessons about racism, bullying and the importance of friendship, which has
caused some local authorities to reduce the film’s
18-Certificate to a 15-Certificate. All in all: a fucking sterling film mate!
Half Nelson
Not just another classroom cliché
Sam Law
A
n inspirational history teacher, Dan (the enthralling Ryan
Gosling), struggles with his class of inner city kids. He constantly enthuses about the 20th Century civil rights movement and will remind anyone who listens that history is merely the
study of change. He feels socially alienated and his only educated
conversation is with his students. He also has a raging drug habit
that threatens to consume him.
Taking its name from a supposedly inescapable wrestling hold,
‘Half Nelson,’ appears on its face to be a simple variation on the
well worn ‘teacher inspires students, students inspire teacher’ formula, with the protagonist’s spiralling substance addiction providing the catalyst for the plot. However, once one scratches the
surface of Ryan Fleck’s subtle masterpiece it reveals itself as a film
of so much more depth and importance. Rather than concentrating on the story of Dan the teacher, or indeed, any real story
at all, Fleck merely uses a series of unspectacular events as the
backdrop for one of the most engaging character studies in recent memory.
Fascinatingly, although the interspersed scenes of Dan freebasing crack in the toilet make it very clear to us that this is a man on
the verge of physical breakdown, his real problem is that his intellect and liberal politics are incompatible with the societal norm
and he cannot break free from the boundaries accordingly set for
him. Here the audience are bravely challenged to consider which
is more damaging to a person’s mentality; drug addiction or the
closed mindedness of one’s peers. Indeed, we cannot help but feel
for Dan, as even if he did kick the habit, he would still have to face
a plethora of frustrated aspirations, a non-existent love life and an
unsupportive family.
Saving the film from slumping into a downbeat funk, Dan’s relationship with Drey (Shareeka Epps), a student straying perilously
close to a life of crime with Dan’s charismatic drug dealer doesn’t
so much lighten the tone as initiate a mutual struggle for redemption. Dan, having all but given up on himself sees the opportunity
to put all his energies into helping her, she craves support and will
not allow him to hit self destruct while she struggles on alone.
Much has been said of Gosling’s performance here, and after
this beautifully textured display it is difficult to argue with the
claims that he is one of the best actors of his generation, but ‘Half
Nelson’ is so much more than a one man masterclass. Epps too
marks herself out as a (very) young actress of precocious talent,
providing the light to Gosling’s black hole, and Fleck’s direction,
all handheld camerawork and unflinching honesty, marks him out
as a serious player deserving of much future attention. .
All in all, this is a beautiful film, paced to perfection and featuring two of the year’s best performances. Simultaneously troubling
and uplifting, it’ll give you something to grapple with yourself.
Half Nelson was filmed in just 23 days, and was almost
unique amongst Hollywood films in finishing ahead of
schedule and under budget. It is the latest film to be shot
entirely on hand-held cameras, continuing a popular
recent trend in the industry.
Ryan Gosling’s Oscar-nominated turn.
28 MUSIC
Raking the bottom of the barrel
A gripping tale of mystery, intrigue, and a band called The Rakes
James Garner
W
ho are The Rakes? It was a question
that had troubled me for some time.
I’d heard on the wire that they were
some sort of agit-pop combo but that didn’t quite
ring true. I tried to shake my suspicions off but
they were growing like the size of the fish that the
man says broke his reel. I did what any guy would
do and tried to warn the spooks. They weren’t
interested, they’d gotten egg on their faces with
the backmasking fiasco of ‘66 and they had long
memories. If these Rakes had been trying to hide
messages on their latest LP, Ten New Messages,
they weren’t being subtle. The classic double
bluff.
It was all getting to me. I couldn’t sit on the can
without thoughts of this shady London quartet racing through my mind. That’s when I knew that I’d
have to dip my foot in that crazy underworld and
just hope it didn’t get burned. I journeyed to one of
their gatherings. The place was called Birmingham
Academy. Some academy. The only course on offer
there was Shady Operating 101.
I’d done my homework and reckoned that their
guitarist, cat who goes by the name of Matthew
Swinnerton, was the weak link in their chain of intrigue. I had questions. Did their singer who runs
a racket turning out crooked lyrics (“if that prick
coughs again/I’ll smash his fucking face in”) really
turn down some major Madison Avenue loot on
ethical grounds? But more importantly than that,
why were they called The Rakes, what were their influences, do they prefer Coke or Pepsi? I wanted to
know; even if I knew uncovering the truth wasn’t
going to be pretty.
The first thing that came out of his
mouth was a lie
It was a balmy spring afternoon when I finally
tracked him down. His security goons fell for the
oldest trick in the book: all it took was a few mumbles about a newssheet and the flash of a dictaphone.
But this Swinnerton was already tied up. Turned out
it wasn’t just my cage the band’d been rattling.
Finally my time came. He poked his mop of blond
hair into the corridor. His face gave nothing away,
his whole appearance was an inconspicuous as a
two-bit soap-dodger on Merseyside. The first thing
that came out of his mouth was a lie. With a thin
smile, almost jovially he called out “Dr. Swinnerton
ready, next patient please.” I wasn’t laughing. He’d
underestimated my research. I knew he’d never
been through med school. Immediately, my mental
guard became a garrison.
I chipped away at his defences - it was slow work,
and even in spite of myself I was reminded of the
time I dug my way out of the clink with only a teaspoon and the mute guy off psych-ward for company. Trying to burrow through his walls of defence
was tricky; he had an innocuous response down
pat for everything. I started to doubt myself. After
all, could a man who once popped on the Antiques
Roadshow with a vintage xylophone be all bad?
Eventually he couldn’t resist regaling a tale of deception. He took me back to East London, late 2004.
The Rakes were playing some dive. Odd looking guy,
fussy manner was buzzing about, taking pictures of
their shoes. They were none too happy, even pretty
tempted to boot him in the face with the foothuggers he was so enamoured with. As the thread unravelled it became clear the boot was on the other
foot. Turns out the guy’s Hedi Slimane from Dior
Homme and he wants to The Rakes to pen a tune for
his new collection.
Well, the band just wasn’t going to let him have
Hoxton secedes from the Union. Ulysses S. Grant loads his gun.
it all his own way. They went back to the drawing
board and rustled up The World was a Mess but his
Hair was Perfect. It was a Trojan horse. Swinnerton
gloats “It was a subversive song about a vacuous
fashionista who jumps on political bandwagons and
we got it played at a fashion show.”
I couldn’t sit on the can without
thoughts of this shady London
quartet racing through my mind
I even warmed to the fella a bit when I discovered
we had a mutual friend. When I was on the books
at SugaRape there was a young buck, one column
called ‘Nathan’, one called ‘Barley.’ You never knew
which was the good column, just had to trial and
error. Swinnerton obviously remembered those
days: “What I say is, read the good reviews don’t read
the bad ones, if you want an ego boost.” But how
would you know which are the good ones? He then
took a pop at landfill favourite NME, said they had it
in for him; that was “the agenda of the magazine.”
I started to grow impatient, when we were going
to cut the crap and talk Turkey? We never did, The
Rakes have never toured that far out in the East. We
got onto France instead. “We heard from a French
company who wanted to use our music in an advert. The sent this e-mail describing it: reindeers in a
gym sing along to your song “Open Book”; are you
happy with that?”
The Rakes don’t operate alone, I’d sensed they
were part of something bigger, a giant web spun
with insidious filaments. Swinnerton doth protest
too much, “We were never part of this East London
scene” he said, one hand untangling his skinny jeans,
the other pushing up his thick-framed glasses. But
what about that other autonomous unit of un-extraordinary kids reared on pop culture between the
years 1976 and the present day who’ve just recorded
a concept album about young life in London?
What about Bloc Party? Swinnerton tried to
create some distance. He thought their record was
more “subjective”, more of an individual effort than
a band effort. Their success must stick in his gut like
an extended family of worms. The Rakes are dealing
with some issues with their work but manage not to
“deal with issues.” He wasn’t that bitter. The guitarist would be content “as long as people realise that
bands don’t influence other bands that much, even
when they’re in the same scene.”
Could a man who once popped in
at the Antiques Roadshow with a
vintage xylophone be all bad?
I have to admit it. I lost my nerve like Harold
Godwinson on top of Senlac Hill back in ’66. I bottled asking him if that fat fuck of a bass player make a
mockery of the name The Rakes. On the same topic,
how pissed off was he when he saw The Horrors? But
I couldn’t do it. He was just a bit too serious. He was
29 years old. That’s old.
Sadly I ended on an anodyne point. What’s the future of The Rakes? Swinnerton replied with a characteristically dead-pan reply. “The future for The
Rakes mate is touring, more touring, some festivals
and then starting to get our heads together to make
a new record. Making records is what you want to do
when you’re in a band really.” If you buy that, you’re
as green as a new born baby in a hippie commune.
The Rakes’ new album: Ten New Messages
is out now.
James Garner is currently available for
private investigations of all kinds, payment
taken in Jack Daniels and Lucky Strike.
Trouble is his business.
Matthew Swinnerton:
A beginner’s guide to stating
the bleedin’ obvious:
“There’s always tracks on
an album that have more
appeal as a singles, and
the reason they have single
appeal is that they’ve got
more hooks in them”
“If you read all your reviews, you’re going to get
mixed reactions”
“A producer is very important in making a record”
“In England the lyrical side
is picked up more than in
France”
“The Rakes have never
been particularly avantgarde, it’s guitar based with
drums”
MUSIC 29
Loud noises!
Bad Timing: Wolf Eyes and more at The Man on the Moon
Luke W. Roberts
S
ince releasing ‘Burned Mind’ on Sub Pop in
2004, Wolf Eyes have steadily become the
most widely known group in the American
underground noise scene. Noise is the operative
word here - the Man on the Moon, for a couple
of hours, was subject to an unholy, insanely loud
racket. I mean LOUD. You could practically feel
your teeth rattling in their gums. Birds of Delay
opened things relatively peacefully, one guy unfolding a fuzzed out bed of guitar drone over which
the other guy played a cheap organ synthesizer.
I thought it was pretty beautiful, in its own particular way. As the night increased in volume and
departed from beauty into ugliness, the friends
who’d tagged along to see what all the fuss was
about steadily began to think less and less of me
as a human being. This wasn’t helped by the fact
that Consumer Electronics featured a creepy middle-aged man making horrible white noise and
licking pictures of children and Robbie Williams,
interspersed with the occasional bout of nipple
rubbing. I guess if your music is that boring and
unimaginative you have to increase the element of
performance, and although, yes, paedophile chic
creates an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness, it
was seriously lacking in substance.
The members of Wolf Eyes have duly become heroes to a particular subsection of music fan and as
they took to the stage they were greeted with rabid
enthusiasm, no need for props or gimicks. Imagine
three unkempt, slightly-too-old-for-this-kind-ofthing nefarious dudes playing their battered old guitars (one of them looking like it was made of gaffa
tape and featuring only one string) and homemade
electronics, just doing their thing and being absolutely worshipped. I certainly got a kick out of it.
A lot of people seem to think that making abrasive music is deliberately arrogant, showing flagrant
disregard for the audience and creating an atmosphere of elitism, all posture and posing where those
who dig it sneer at those who don’t. I don’t think
that’s the case - it’s perfectly understandable that you
wouldn’t want to subject yourself to what is, essentially, very unpleasant noise, but the brilliantly ridiculous nature of it all is just the same thing you find in
exceptionally gruesome films, or those stories about
horrendous domestic accidents you usually see on
the covers of cheap magazines. Noise music is sometimes made elitist by people who try and intellectualise it, claim it as some kind of post 9/11 nihilism - but
get this, Wolf Eyes are about as far from intellectualism as you can get. They’re dumb and ridiculous
and so much the better for it. They flailed around on
stage pumping fists in the air, playing some mangled
saxophone one moment, punching guitar strings the
next, stopping only to drink beer and yell ‘YEAH,
WE’RE WOLF EYES FROM MICHIGAN!” It was
a stupid amount of fun. Admittedly, after a while
the songs all sounded the same but I’m pretty sure
they played all the classics; ‘Stabbed in the Face’, ‘The
Driller’ and Noise not Music.’ It was thrilling and vicious and funny, all at once. They played three (3)
encores. I went home happy with ringing ears.
Wolf Eyes at All Tomorrow’s Parties, December 2006 Luke W. Roberts
30 SPORT
Blues enjoy mixed fortunes
Women win but men fall just short in Pentathlon thrillers
The women’s team posted a record score Vicky Bradley
Results:
Cambridge Men: 24,000
Oxford Men: 26,976
Cambridge Women: 25,200
Oxford Women: 20,916
Vicky Bradley
2007 marked the 50th anniversary varsity clash in Modern
Pentathlon. The last seven years
of ladies competition and the
last ten of the gentlemen’s competition had been dominated by
Oxford, but this year things were
going to change.
Day one of the competition started with the shooting
phase. In the ladies competition
Cambridge provided a consummate exhibition of calm precision marksmanship, with Lucy
Greenwood winning individually to give the light blues a lead of
1,548 points.
Similarly in the ladies reserves,
Cambridge thoroughly out-shot
their dark blue compatriots by
348 points, with Vicky Bradley
winning the individual title.
In the men’s competition
Cambridge performed admirably with solid scores by all six athletes and personal bests for Ed
Moffet, Oli Samuelson and Noel
Cochrane. However, Oxford
pulled out some very high scoring
shoots to take a lead in the overall
competition at this stage.
In the men’s reserves competition the Cambridge boys provided
an adept display and managed to
pull into the lead after one event,
with Sam Openshaw finishing as
individual winner.
Moving onto the fencing component, the Cambridge ladies under the watchful eye of their
much adored coach Rob Shaw
- continued to turn the screw.
Solid performances by the whole
team, and an individual event win
by club president Cat Wilson, saw
the light blue lead stretch by another 760 points. Meanwhile in
the gentlemen’s competition the
boys showed some gritty yet skilful fighting to claw Oxford back
to narrow the points gap.
The last event of the day was
the swim. Strain in the dark blue
camp was already bubbling over
into open argument, and the
Cambridge ladies capitalised on
this. With Coach Humphrey
Waddington observing his
handywork, a stonking personal
best by captain Nicky Brooks to
win individually continued the
light blue domination with a further 368 points added to the lead.
The Cambridge ladies reserves
followed in their big sisters’ wake
and trounced Oxford, with an
excellent individual win by Trish
Keegan.
Next the gentlemen took to
the pool and personal bests came
from Ed Moffet, whose improvement since October has been incredible. However a dominating
Oxford team, lead out by their
GB pentathlete Richard HildickSmith, raised the bar of competi-
tion and stretched their lead by
over 2,000 points.
Finally the gentlemen’s reserves, with again some great
personal bests against a physically
much bigger side, pipped Oxford
to the win by just four points.
Day two began with the riding phase. The ladies were up first
and were led out in some style
by Varsity riding winner Emma
Kenney-Herbert with a faultless
clear round to win the individual
title. The chaps then took to the
arena. Cambridge all rode extremely well to beat Oxford in this
phase and bring themselves back
in to contention in the overall title
race. Jon “Sausage” Wright provided the round of the day going
in last place.
And so to the final phase of
the competition. The reserves
ran first. Lead by Zoe Rutterford,
personal bests for all three of the
ladies saw them in close contention. Though Oxford claimed the
run it was too little too late and
the light blue ladies reserves took
home a well-deserved victory by
over 640 points.
The men’s reserves ran their
socks off and paced by a storm-
ing run by Michael Waldron
they claimed the run phase. With
that they took the title by 576
points to continue the light blue
domination.
On to the ladies and with the
win almost in their grasp they
were now chasing prizes. Lead
out by their BUSA cross country champion Oxford managed
to scrape a phase victory in the
run. However with plucky runs
from every light blue lady they
ensured a phenomenal victory.
Beating Oxford by 25,200 points
to 20,916 they set a new Varsity
Match record for a Cambridge
team and gained themselves each
a half blue score.
In the men’s run, however,
Oxford showed that their strength
undoubtedly lies in the two more
physical events and pulled ahead
of the light blues to take the win
by over 1,500 points and seal the
overall victory.
The 50th Varsity Match saw a
much anticipated swing in fortunes for Cambridge and the
achievement was thoroughly
deserved by a squad with a great
depth of talent and an unbreakable team spirit.
Cambridge surfer makes new waves
Sarah Street makes good impression as first ever CUSA BUSA entrant
Sarah Street
On a weekend in early March when storms and tragedy hit South West England, hundreds of students
from across the country ventured into the big waves
of the Atlantic ocean at Fistral Beach in Newquay to
compete in the national BUSA Surfing Championships 2007.
The event, which is one of the largest of its kind in
the world, is made up of seventy-eight teams from
universities all across the UK. For over twenty years
the event has grown and this year four hundred and
thirty five surfers were battling it out for both university and individual titles.
Sarah Street, a final year medic from Wolfson
College, was Cambridge University’s sole and first
ever representative in the history of the contest.
Despite this, she managed to put the newly formed
Cambridge University Surfing Association (CUSA)
firmly on the surfing map.
The conditions over the weekend varied from
perfect six to eight foot surf on the first day, to some
tough onshore waves on day two. On the day of the
finals the surf was five to six foot and very ragged due
to the strong cross shore winds, and dangerous rip
tide that was pulling competitors towards the rocky
headland.
There were one hundred and thirty-four female
competitors entered and five tough rounds to con-
test. Five surfers competed at a time, battling it out
for twenty minutes. Experienced judges from the
British Surfing Association were scoring the waves
surfed based on style, technique and difficulty rating.
The highest two waves scored by each surfer were
then totaled and ranked. The top two surfers from
each round then progressed to the next round.
Sarah coped well in worsening
seas and managed to score enough
points to see her into the final
Sarah entered BUSA having never competed in
a surf contest before, but had the confidence of several years of surfing experience in North Devon and
more recently Sri Lanka during her medical elective. Undaunted by the grueling paddle out and five
foot, windswept surf that was battering the Cornish
coastline, Sarah eased through Rounds One and
Two, winning both with some high scoring waves.
The final day arrived, with slightly cleaner surf
owing to the offshore wind early in the morning and
so the ladies quarter finals were quickly underway.
Sarah again performed well in the better conditions
and won her quarter final. By the time the semi finals
were called the wind had really picked up and the
storms that had been forecast for the day had most
definitely arrived. Sarah, undeterred by this, coped
well in the worsening seas and managed to score
enough points to see her into the final.
Tragically, further round the coast in Cornwall,
two people were swept to their deaths from a harbour wall by the fierce waves. Most sensible people
would not have considered voluntarily entering the
sea at this point, but this was the final of a national
surf contest and as such getting back in the sea was
never in question.
Already feeling a little jaded from the two previous battles with the waves that day, Sarah paddled
out for the BUSA Surfing Final against four other
surfers, including both the Irish National Surfing
champion and the English National Junior Surfing
champion. The conditions were tough for everyone,
and despite paddling to a safe position for the start
of the final round, by the end of it the strong rip tide
had pulled Sarah and one other finalist dangerously
towards the jagged rocks of the headland. Trying
to paddle against it had proved futile and both girls
were tiring fast and being swept further round the
headland. The event quickly turned from a surfing
contest to a survival exercise and luckily for both, the
coastguards were in attendance and sent out a jet ski
with a rescue board to pick them up and bring them
back to safety.
Unfortunately, due to the difficult conditions
Sarah didn’t score as highly in the final as she had in
the previous four rounds and finished fourth overall; still a very respectable position for a national surf
contest. In recognition of her achievement Sarah
was awarded a BUSA medal, a crate of Cornish beer
and some surf clothes! Sarah’s points total over the
weekend was enough to put Cambridge University
in twelfth position in the Ladies Team competition
out of the forty entered.
Let’s hope that next year, with over a hundred new
members to CUSA, and many surf trips being organised both in the UK and abroad, that Cambridge
University will soon be seen as force to be reckoned
with in the world of surfing.
Sarah performed well on her debut S. Street
SPORT 31
St Catharine’s triumphant
Catz claw back deficit to seize Cuppers crown
Result:
St Catharine’s: 3
Churchill: 1
Chris Lillycrop
Churchill were favourites coming into the Cuppers Final on the 12th of March, having comfortably wrapped up the league title weeks before, but
Catz, 3rd placed in the league, looked capable of
causing an upset.
In the opening minutes, Catz’ midfield dominated the game. Effective tackling, lively passing, and an impressive work-rate were securing
the vast majority of possession, and plenty of ball
for the Catz forwards. As always, Matt Stock was
Catz’ main threat up front, but he was unable to
make any clear-cut chances in the opening minutes, and the Churchill defence seemed solid.
In their league encounter earlier in the season,
Churchill captain Matt Haslett had been the key
figure in his side’s attack, but on this occasion, the
Catz defence kept him well under control. Centrebacks Joe Powell and David Clinton were strong
as always, and ensured that keeper Ed Bonner
was never tested. Frustrated, Haslett resorted to
mouthing off at his opponents and the referee,
and picked up a booking in the process.
At half-time, the game was still goalless, and
neither side had generated a genuine scoring opportunity. Having dominated the period, Catz
must have worried that they had spurned their
chance to earn a surprise win. Coming out after
the break, Churchill looked far more creative than
before. Making good use of the long ball over the
top, they repeatedly found their lone striker in
space. The Catz defence looked decidedly uncomfortable with this new tactic, and Bonner was
forced to make a number of saves.
The breakthrough came around the hour mark.
A long ball was cut out by the Catz defence, but
Matt Haslett caught the man in possession and
produced a clinical finish, flicking the ball over
the keeper and into the net. Churchill’s fans were
massively outnumbered, and had been largely
subdued until this point. But they responded to
their side’s lead by bursting into song.
Catz, meanwhile, were struggling. Their attack still looked unable to pierce the opposition
defence, and it seemed that Churchill were just
minutes away from claiming the Double. As the
remainder of the game began to ebb away, Catz’s
fans began to sense the urgency of the situation.
Led by some confident trumpeting, the army of
claret and pink supporters raised the volume and
urged their men to action. The team responded.
Pressing forward with greater urgency, Catz
won a succession of corners, and with ten minutes of the game remaining, the equaliser came.
Churchill failed to clear the ball effectively, and
David Clinton was on hand to stab the ball into
the net.
The regulation ninety ended nervously, with
neither team willing to risk conceding, and the
game moved to extra time. Once the teams came
out after the break, it was clear who had the momentum. The Churchill team seemed tired, while
Catz were discovering a new lease of life. Their
second goal was a matter of when, not if. Dave
Jones, fresh from victory in the Hockey blues
game, was on as a substitute, and it was his cool
finish with the outside of the boot that gave Catz
the lead for the first time. Shortly afterwards,
Churchill’s Chris Glover was dismissed for two
yellow cards – and the match was effectively over.
In the last few minutes, Simon Storey scored Catz’
third, and the Cup was won.
Afterwards, captain Joe Powell was understandably elated: ‘I am so proud of my team today;
they fought back when the game looked almost
over and played unbelievably in extra-time. David
Clinton was a colossus for us at the back today and
the substitutes made a huge difference. The fans
were also superb as they have been all season. We
proved today that whatever the league shows, on
our day we are the best football side in Cambridge
and I am immensely proud of that.’
Star Performer
David Clinton
(St Catharine’s)
Catz exultant. C Lillycrop
I’m an LBC, get me out of here!
As boat clubs across Cambridge prepare for elections, one boatie tells her story
Steph Hampshire
One sunny, pre-bumps afternoon in early June, a
whole horde of lycra clad boaties gather at Christ’s
boat house. The bbq is slowly smouldering and
there’s silence as hungry rowers tuck into some
much deserved post-outing grub. My stomach is
churning though.... boat club elections and I’m
standing for Women’s Lower Boat Captain. I didn’t
really understand even what this meant until the
week before, let alone exactly what it would entail.
So there I was, questions being fired left, right and
centre, but I make it through and the result is good.
Someone mutters something about it being a tough
job and I naively brush it aside telling myself it can’t
be THAT hard to organise a bunch of novices........
Four months later, and the beginning of a new
term: fresh rosey faces, fresh enthusiasm (even for
early mornings) and of course fresh blisters! There
are 30 keen beans from the freshers fair signed up to
come down to the boathouse for tubbing, erging and
a general reconnoitre of the facilities; 30 out of 45
women freshers ain’t bad. It’s all going well with the
LBCs and Kat Astley, our Boatwoman on hand, and
the women seem to be picking it up quite quickly
- one keen novice even asks if we can have six outings a week!
After about what seems like a million emails later,
where three of them can’t make wednesdays and
only five can do Saturday at 3pm, and of course sieving through all those horrible facebook tag emails
from the boat club cocktail party, finally we get
them out in eights. Better late than never as they say!
Several crabs later and several scratched barges, (enduring the wrath of the barge owners on the bank is
no mean feat!) we get the boats moving in maybe
sixes or if were lucky a few strokes of eight. “It will all
be ok”, I keep telling myself and, I keep telling them “just put the blade in the water and you’ll be fine!”
The morning outings were probably one of the
highlights - pushing off at 7.30am and racing up
from Christ’s boat house trying to get out past the
Chesterton footbridge. However most of the time
we failed to make much improvement due to the
shear volume of boat traffic and of course a little bit
of zigzagging; if you’re reading this and you aren’t a
boatie, then you ain’t seen nothing! One cold morning the first novice women managed to almost bisect
a scull with their eight leaving some poor bloke from
Caius somewhat startled and were lovingly given
the nickname ‘The Caius Killers’. I take my hat off
though - the Christ’s second novice men definitely
deserve a mention here. They get the award for managing to almost write off their boat in Clare Novices;
isn’t it funny how concrete blocks can just jump out
of nowhere and smack into you?!
The Queens’ ergs competition was a definite experience for me That sweaty hall, the cheesy music
blaring, the ergs roaring and eight people with about
two weeks rowing experience giving a gutsy pull on
an erg handle for about two minutes, or at least until
we literally pick them up and push the next person
on. Cameras are flashing and James Jones, the Vice
Women’s LBC, and I are bright red screaming our
heads off. If I was a novice, I’m sure all this commotion would have made me run a mile - they must be
a tough bunch to endure that!
Despite some trialing times, there have been
many moments of shear joy and excitement. Clare
Novices and Fairbairn’s really brought out the best
in all the novice crews and there was exponential improvement in just one week. One of the most important things that got them through it all was their
amazing crew spirit - even when they had to endure
gale force winds and torrential rain. And, the most
proud moment.... the novices becoming seniors or
at least in Cambridge terms. Growing from fluffy
novice ducklings to bright fully fledged (or almost!)
senior swans. So rather sadly, my job is over for the
most part, but maybe I’ll get a chance row in a boat
this term. Although once you’ve seen the river from
the bank for a while, it is strangely enticing not to
go back!
Training for success: Christ’s women relax post race Steph Hampshire
32 SPORT
Ivan Zhao
Blues row to Boat Race victory
Cambridge win the 153rd University Boat Race by more than a length, but fail
to press home their physical and technical superiority
Tom Richardson
Cambridge Crew:
Kristopher McDaniel
Dan O’Shaughnessy
Peter Champion
Jake Cornelius
Tom James
Kieran West
Sebastian Schulte
Thorsten Engelmann
Rebecca Dowbiggin
Favourites Cambridge came from
behind to win the 153rd university boat race last month, avenging the shocking loss suffered by
the light blues the previous year.
After repelling a succession of Oxford attacks, Cambridge crossed
the finish line one and a quarter
lengths ahead of their rivals.
Cambridge were rocked by
a late change when cox Russ
Glenn was replaced by Rebecca
Dowbiggin only ten days before
Boat Race. Glenn was demoted
to Goldie after a disappointing performance in the Molesey
race a few days previously. It was
also believed that the rowers favoured Dowbiggin’s calm style.
Dowbiggin’s inclusion capped a
remarkable rise through the ranks
of Cambridge rowing. Having
never stepped into a rowing boat
before arriving at Cambridge, she
became only the thirteenth female
cox in Boat Race history.
The Thames was like a millpond as the two crews lined up
at the start, ruling out the possibility of a repeat of last year’s
waterlogging incident. Having
won the toss, Oxford president
Robin Ejsmond-Frey handed
Cambridge the Middlesex
station.
Cambridge burst out of the
blocks at a high stroke rate that
signalled their intention. Oxford
were able to maintain parity
however, displaying great technical ability at the start and then
nudging slightly ahead at Craven
Cottage.
By the milepost, the dark Blues
were half a second ahead, but
Cambridge clawed back level at
Harrods depository. A minute
later Oxford cox Nick Brodie
called for a first push, and his crew
increased their stroke rate accordingly. Oxford pulled ahead once
more, this time by half a length,
and the two crews came together.
With the crews’ blades overlapping, the umpire had to intervene to prevent a decisive clash.
Indeed, it was miraculous that it
had not already occurred.
After nine and a half minutes the race umpire again intervened, this time formally
warning Cambridge for moving
too far across. Dowbiggin looked
to be following a strong line, however, pulling the light blues level
after the Surrey bend. It was always going to be hard for Oxford
having failed to capitalise on this
advantage.
When Cambridge led by 0.3
seconds at Chiswick steps, Oxford
cox Brodie sensed that his crew
needed to make another move,
and soon. Oxford were unable to
cope with the musclepower and
fitness of their rivals, however,
and the light blues went ahead by
a length at the band stand.
Cambridge maintained a loose
and confident rhythm from there
on in, eventually crossing the line
three seconds ahead of Oxford.
As his team mates celebrated the
university’s seventy-ninth win,
Kieran West provided the enduring image of the race, standing up,
arms aloft, and lifting his head towards the perfectly blue sky.
Popular Cambridge president
Tom James, three times a Boat
Race loser, was delighted to finally come out on top: “It’s absolutely amazing. I can’t believe it.
We knew it was going to be tough
with Oxford on the Surrey side
– we just told ourselves to stay
loose to stay relaxed and trust
each other.”
The post-race consensus
seemed to be, however, that
Oxford had performed above
themselves. Cambridge, of course,
were only able to beat the Oxford
crew that turned up on the day,
and that they did. But the narrow
margin of victory did not do justice to the manifest superiority of
the Cambridge crew. Questions
raised by the light Blues’ unexpected loss in 2006 will not have
been entirely eradicated by this
year’s victory.
Cox Rebecca Dowbiggin gets a soaking C. Morris

Portuguese saved? - The Cambridge Student

Transcription

Similar documents

File - Indiana National Road Association

Click me to view sponsorship opportunities for the Taste of Cambridge!

Mr. Fezziwig`s Victorian Weekend

10 Oct 2014 Issue 5 - Edmonton County School

Bandyke Moving Pictures

STEVEN SATER Music by DUNCAN SHEIK

Press Release: 4 May 2016 SIGOURNEY WEAVER SPEAKS AT

Industrial-Academic Collaborations in Nanotechnology Research

REEL-Recovery-Film-Festival - Lifeskills Of South Florida