Portuguese saved? - The Cambridge Student
Transcription
Portuguese saved? - The Cambridge Student
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. The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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: The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 03/05/07 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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. 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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’. 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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... 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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] 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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. Cambridge Corn Exchange 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! Cambridge Corn Exchange 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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 03/05/07 The Cambridge Student 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 The Cambridge Student 03/05/07 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