- The Cambridge Student

The Cambridge Student
january 18 2007
Volume 9 Issue 1
TCS talks drugs and Cambridge...
Thomas Willis
Tragic Discovery of
Missing Graduate
Peter Wood
THE SEARCH for missing Cambridge graduate Daniel
Bolger has come to a tragic conclusion with the discovery of his body.
The 21 year old was discovered
at Jesus Lock by a group of rowers
on the 7th of December. Following
this, the area of river between Victoria Street and Jesus Lock was immediately cordoned off and Police
rescue teams called in, where they
confirmed finding the body of a
young man. The deceased was later
transferred to Aldenbrookes Hospital,where Post-mortem found the
cause of death to be “acute cardiac
failure consistent with sudden immersion in cold water”. The death
has not been treated as suspicious.
Mr Bolger,a graduate of Christ’s
College, had been missing for 14
days and was formally identified
by his parents the next day, saying:
“We are absolutely heartbroken. We would like to thank Cambridgeshire Police, for their care and
compassion during this incredibly
difficult time. We would also like
to thank Spartan Rescue,the people
of Cambridge and Daniel’s friends
-their support has been amazing.”
Daniel was last seen saying
goodbye to friends early on Sunday
the 26th November, after a Formal
Hall at Magdalene College. Soon
after his disappearance there were
fears that he may have fallen into
the Cam and drowned. His bike
was found on a cycle rack in Sidney
Street, whilst his mobile telephone
and bank account remained unused.
Daniel had been working at the
University library before hoping
to start a masters degree this year.
Detective Inspector Chris Mead,
leading the investigation, said:
“I would like to say how sorry I
am that this was the final outcome to this case and on behalf of
all of the staff involved in the
investigation would like to offer our sincere condolences to
Daniel’s family and friends.”
“I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all
those involved in the search for
Daniel, including members of
the media who, through their
coverage, generated additional
information and sightings.”
His parents, Paul and
Pavlina
Bolger
described
him as “the most wonderful son” they could wish for.
The search for Daniel Bolger
had previously been interrupted by the crazed antics of a
Cambridge drunk. 33 year old
Michael Nicell climbed onto
a bridge and threw punches at
the specialist rescue team before
jumping into the freezing water.
A friend of Nicell, who did
not wish to be named, told
the Cambridge Evening News
that: “It is a regular stunt of
his. He always jumps off the
bridge when it is hot. It wasn’t
a suicide attempt, I think he
was probably just showing off.
I have even seen him jump
in the river from the same
bridge in November before, although he does normally save
it as his kind of party trick.”
Nicell, who is of no fixed
abode, had to be pulled from
the water by the specialist search team to stop him
drowning in the icy river.
The team searching the Cam
was standing on the riverbank when the man jumped,
and rushed to save him as he
floundered,head bobbing beneath the icy water. Two members jumped into a boat and
dragged him to shore under a
hail of insults.
Mark Burnett, supervisor of
the search team, said to Cambridge Evening News: “It is the
first time in any of our careers
that something like this has
happened and to watch it unfold in front of you is not what
any of us expect.
“He even wanted to fight
with us in the water and we
talked to him to calm him
down and got him out of there
as quickly as we could. The
water is about four degrees
and he would not have been
able to last long. But first and
foremost in our minds has to
be our own health and safety.
I’m just pleased that the team
were around to rescue him and
hopefully he will make a full
recovery.”
The man, who told police he
had recently been released from
prison, appeared to be drunk
and was taken by ambulance
to Addenbrooke’s Hospital to
be treated for suspected hypothermia. Det Insp Chris Mead,
branded the stunt “stupid and
idiotic.”
A memorial serrvice for Daniel Bolger will be held in Christ’s
Collge Chapel at 3pm on the 27th
January.
Daniel Bolger’s body was found in the Cam in December
Major changes to degree
classification system proposed
Amy Blackburn
INCREASING NUMBERS of
first and upper-second class degrees
are prompting calls for the end of the
current degree classification system.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency’s figures for 2005-6
show that, for the first time, 60%
of degrees awarded gained a first
or upper second classification. The
proportion of first class degrees also
rose to 12%, from 11.6% in 2004-5.
Of the 316,000 students completing first degree courses, 34,800
received a first class degree, and
137,200 achieved an upper second. This is in comparison to the
94,000 students who received a
lower second classification, as well
as the 22,800 third class degrees
and the 26,800 students who obtained an “unclassified” result.
The concern over “grade inflation” stems from the increase in the
number of top degrees over the past
ten years. In 1995-6, only 48% of
students scored within the top two
classifications, with less than 7% of
degrees receiving first class honours.
These increases have led to cries
that the degree classification system
is no longer relevant, as it does not
provide accurate information about
a student’s actual achievement.
Peter Williams, chief executive of
the Quality Assurance Agency,
is one such detractor. “These new
figures continue to raise questions
about the meaning of degree classifications”, Williams said. “They
provide more ammunition for
those who believe the system is
in need of reform.” He added that
the reason for the rise is “not clear”.
A government-backed group
led by Bob Burgess, vice-chancellor of Leicester University, are currently reviewing the classifications
system. Burgess has concluded that
the current system ins not “fit for
purpose”, and the group wishes
to provide students with a simple
pass or fail classification, as well as
a more detailed transcript of their
achievements.An additional proposal, to introduce a separate classi-
fication to distinguish between the
large numbers receiving upper second class degrees, has been halted.
This idea has also met with
criticism. Alan Smithers, head of
the centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham
University, is opposed to the reforms,
as transcripts “just confuse by providing too much information”. He
continued, “It is too much to hope
that universities will go back to
applying the present classification
sensibly. We probably need a seven-point scale with suitable labels
overseen by a qualifications body.”
The Burgess Group is expected
to reinforce the proposals in its
final report, which is due shortly.
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
2
News
In Brief
Stem cell discovery by
Cambridge scientists
Scientists at Cambridge
University, led by Professor
Magdelena Zernicka-Goetz,
have discovered the stage at
which some fertilised cells are
destined to develop into stem
cells. The study revealed that
cells start to differ earlier than
previously thought, overturning the long-held theory that
all cells are the same until the
fourth division of the embryo.
Record graduate
starting salaries
The average graduate starting
salary has risen by £1,700 over
the pat year. A study by High
Fliers Research has discovered
that the average starting salary provided by the 100 leading employers has increased to
£25,000. Law firms and investment banks are among the
largest payers, often offering a
starting salary of over £30,000.
The indisustrial and engineering
sectors were found to pay far
below the average.
Safer Nuclear Waste
Storage
Scientists have laid the foundations for a safer way to contain radioactive waste. A team
from Cambridge University
and the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory intend to
measure the effectiveness of
storing nuclear waste in different crystal forms. This would
potentially prevent any leakage
for millions of years.
Protest student
arrested at Faslane
Two
Cambridge
students were arrested over
Christmas after protesting
outside the Faslane installation. The submarine base
is home to the trident fleet
and Britain’s nuclear arsenal.
The two were arrested for
‘breach of the peace’ and
‘resisting arrest’ and spent a
night in Scottish cells before
eventually being released
the next day.
Bus fares still 50p
The successful trial of
the discounted “Citi”
bus routes 1 to 7 are
remaining at 50p untill
the end of January.
The University hopes
to make the deal with
Stagecoach permanent.
Communications training for
academic Rising Stars
Amy Blackburn
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY has introduced
a new programme aimed at
creating the next generation
of academic “ambassadors”.
The University’s Office
of Community Affairs is introducing the Rising Stars
programme, which will offer
training in communication
skills to a select group of exemplary individuals within the
University, from undergraduates to early-career academics.
The aim of the programme is
to produce academic personalities, who are able to communicate their enthusiasm for their
subject to the general public.
The Rising Stars programme comes as a new influx
of Cambridge academics, such
as Carenza Lewis, Chris Smith,
Lisa Jardine-Wright, Richard
Miles and Nigel Spivey are
not only promoting their respective subjects, but also the
benefits of lifelong learning.
Penny Wilson, the Head
of Community Affairs, outlined further the role of the
programme. “Underlying the
scheme is the real need to create dialogue between the University and the wider community, and communicate what
goes on at the University and
its contribution to society”,
Wilson says. “We see Ris-
ing Stars fostering young talent within the University by
tapping into the huge energy
and enthusiasm that exists
among staff and students for
sharing their subject interest.”
Wilson also highlighted the
importance of the programme
for ensuring the future of outstanding academia. “It is young
academics who make the best
ambassadors for the University
for many audiences, and it’s
they who will become the more
established names of the future
– and, in their turn, role models for the next generation.”
The first Rising Stars programme will take place on a
series of Wednesdays between
February 7th and April 25th.
Participants, who can come
from any academic discipline,
in will be required to deliver
a talk or demonstration to the
public, followed by feedback
from their peers. The programme is funded by HEFCE,
and is free for participants.
The Office of Community Affairs co-ordinates the
annual Cambridge Science
Festival, which frequently
attracts more than 25,000
visitors to the University.
For more information about the Rising
Stars programme, email
community@admin.cam.ac.uk
Universities impose sanctions on
evangelical Christian Unions
Catherine Watts
THE ARCHBISHOP of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised the suppression of Christian unions in
universities across the country
in an article entitled, ‘It is not
a crime to hold traditional values’.
The article was written in
reaction to growing concerns
raised by the actions of some
universities’ student guilds towards their Christian unions.
The CU of Exeter University
was suspended from their student guild, because by asking
members to sign a form asserting their belief in Christ, it was
believed the union breached
equal opportunities.
Similarly, the University of
Birmingham’s guild authorities have frozen their Christian
union’s bank accounts. Difficulties have arisen there over
the guild’s desire to change the
constitution of their CU and introduce a guild leader onto the
union’s executive. The National
Union of Students has defended
such action, claiming that local
unions were simply trying to
curb the exclusivity of Christian
societies.
Dr Williams commented on
the danger in the Times Educational supplement, saying that
issuing sanctions against a group
whose views are not necessarily
shared, ‘looks like a fear of open
argument’, and going on to suggest that silencing disagreement
to prevent offence ‘is not good
for the intellectual life’.
He also laments the belief
that traditional Christian views,
such as attitudes to homosexuality, are ‘an expression of hate’, declaring that ‘it is impossible for a
conservative Christian, Catholic
or Protestant or, for that matter,
an orthodox Muslim to state the
traditional position of their faith
without being accused of something akin to holocaust denial or
racial bigotry’. Whilst recognising that some of the views asserted by evangelical groups may
indeed be deeply and personally
offensive and unwelcome, he
denies that they are a matter for
legislative action.
Ciccu has not been contacted
by CUSU in relation to the activities at other universities, but
they told TCS that all speakers
and members of its Committee
sign a publicized statement of
belief.
Speaking on the sanctions in
place elsewhere:
“There are a number of reasons why such restrictions
cannot be justified. To put it
bluntly, claiming to promote
equal opportunities is a guise for
something much more sinister.
While this vague virtue is being
pursued Student Unions are in
fact trampling on fundamental
rights protected by law at both a
European and United Kingdom
level.”
“For a student group such as
a Christian Union, with a clear
purpose and aim, it is nonsen-
sical to speak about everyone
having an ‘equal opportunity’
to speak at our meetings or lead
our society. How could an atheist teach us the bible? ”
However, Dr Williams encouraged evangelical groups to
‘undertake a little hard self-examination’ and invited them to
consider whether ‘their language
is vulnerable to proper challenge’. He suggests that they
may need to be clearer and more
credible with regards to asserting their disapproval of a group’s
behaviour, so as not to pass
judgement on ‘a whole category
of persons’.
Ciccu replied that they do
not “have ‘one voice’ with which
it speaks on all matters. It is safe
to say however that the majority
of Christians who are involved
in CICCU are committed to the
bible’s teaching that the practice
of homosexuality is a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9). However, it must
be clearly stated, it is not a worse
sin than any other.”
Responding to the Archbishop’s article, Gemma Tumelty,
president of the National Union
of Students, agreed that silencing disagreement was bad for intellectual life, but defended the
action of student unions. She
pointed out that Dr Williams
overlooks that some Christian
unions exclude opinion by limiting access to others, whilst
students’ unions seek to allow
free flow of opinion. She added
that the student movement had
a proud record of supporting
interfaith dialogue and faith
groups as well as ensuring the
happy existence of equal opportunities structures.
Cambridge
to appoint
“Professor
of Risk”
Tom Hensby
The University is seeking applicants for a new post: Professor
of Risk.
The successful applicant for the
new post, created with a £3.3
million donation from the Winton Charitable Foundation, will
start in September 2007.
However, the application form
makes no mention of previous
stunt experience: they are seeking
someone with an ‘international
reputation’, but in mathematics
rather than snake-hunting. Ray
Mears need not apply.
‘The Winton Professorship of the
Public Understanding of Risk’ is
it’s full title, and Prof. Geoffrey
Grimmett, Head of the Department of Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics, can explain its
meaning: “‘Public’ might mean
ministers, health specialists, lawyers, investors, industrialists, or
the public at large,” Prof. Grimmett says. “‘Risk’ is shorthand for
‘events subject to uncertainty.’”
So, if a person has visited the
same London restaurant as
Russian
ex-spy
Alexander
Litvinenko, what are the chances
that they will contract radiation
poisoning?
Or if a 29 year old man decides
to marry his girlfriend of three
years, what are the chances that
he will meet a more suitable
partner later on?
For Prof. Grimmett, who suggested the above problems, there
is only one way of finding the
answers: “The way to confront
risk is via mathematics and statistics.”
And the stress on public understanding is what makes this post
different from similar ones at
different universities: “This is not
a a Chair in Risk Assessments,”
said Professor Grimmett.
David Harding, Trustee of the
Fund, and Managing Director
of Winton Capital management,
said that he had been inspired by
his time at Cambridge studying
Natural Sciences: “[It] showed
me the importance of accuracy
in empirical information,” he
stated.
Finally, TCS asked Prof. Grimmett the question that must be
on everybody’s mind: If a student was to find himself in a
poker game with the new Professor of Risk, what is the risk
that he loses?
“Half-half of course. A student, being younger, may be less
risk-averse and have a better
memory. The Professor may have
more disposable capital, and be
prepared to sustain greater losses
before throwing in his hand.”
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
3
News
Cavendish firm
Cambridge Don made Dame Two
Cambridge
revolultionises reading
Drug
Ben Sillis
Amy Blackburn
PLASTIC LOGIC, which
originated as part of Cambridge
University’s Cavendish Laboratory, has announced that it will
be the first large-scale manufacturer of Plastic Electronics,
a development set to revolutionise the future of reading.
Plastic Electronics will provide the reader with a portable
and flexible electronic reading
product, aimed at making books
for more accessible at any time
the reader desires. Plastic Logic’s Active-Matrix displays are
thin and strong enough to provide a reading experience closer
to paper than any other material.
The firm’s plans to commercially manufacture Plastic Electronics have led them to raise
£100 million to build a new plant,
located in the “Silicon Saxony”
region of eastern Germany. The
plant will produce display modules for portable electronic reader
devices, with an initial capacity
of over one million units per year.
John Mills, Chief Operating Officer at Plastic Logic,
explained the product further.
“Our displays will enable electronic reading products that
are as comfortable and natural
to use as paper, whether you’re
on a beach, in a train or relaxing on the sofa at home,” Mills
said. “Wireless connectivity
will allow you to purchase and
download a book or pick up the
latest edition of your newspaper
wherever you are and whenever
you need it. The battery will last
for thousands of pages so you
can leave your charger at home.”
Plastic Logic has funded the
operation with the help of investors such as Amadeus, which has
been involved with Plastic Logic
since its creation, Intel Capital
and the Bank of America. Hermann Hauser, Director of Amadeus, said “I am delighted that
the first full commercialisation of
plastic electronics is now firmly
in our sights. With this investment we are not only scaling up
a great company, we are also creating a new electronics industry.”
As well as being revolutionary from an industrial perspective, Plastic Electronics also
adheres to the modern concerns
of convenience and concern for
the environment. “We still carry
around enormous amounts of
paper”, said Simon Jones, Vice
President of Product Development at Plastic Logic. “However,
people are making less room in
their lives for the weight and
bulk of paper and are becoming more sensitive to the environmental impact of printing
to read. We believe there is a
substantial unfulfilled need that
Plastic Logic can meet by making digital reading a comfortable
and pleasurable experience.”
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY academics and staff have
been recognised in the Queen’s
New Year’s Honours List.
Professor Ann Dowling of
Sidney Sussex College and the
Department of Engineering has
been made a Dame for services
to Science, whilst computer scientists Professor Andrew Hopper of Corpus Christi College
has been made a Commander
of the British Empire (CBE)
for services to the computer industry.
Dowling, who is Professor of
Mechanical Engineering, directs
the Gas Turbine Partnership
with Rolls-Royce and heads the
aeronautics and energy division
at the University. She said: “I am
absolutely thrilled but was very
surprised when I received the
letter. It is great news.”
Her work focuses on the
fields of combustion, acoustics
and vibration, aimed at technological developments in lowemission combustion and quiet
vehicles. Recently she has lead
the Silent Aircraft Initiative
in the UK who, collaborating
with researchers at MIT, have
recently released the conceptual
design of an ultra-low noise and
fuel efficient aircraft, SAX40.
She currently serves on numerous industry and government
advisory committees, including
the Engineering and Physical
Scott letters on display
Peter Wood
THE LAST letters of Captain
Robert Scott have gone on display in Cambridge.
The series of letters chart
“Scott of the Antarctic’s” ill fated expedition to the South Pole,
and the bitter struggle of the
British Explorers against bitter
Antarctic elements. The letters
give a deeply personal insight
into the last days of the famous
explorer and intensely loving relationship with his wife.
Ominously addressed ‘To my
widow’, his final letter show
mounting fears that his team
would not make it back to their
base camp, yet leave a steadfast
portrayal of a man who was determined to survive.
The stoic letter reads that:
“We have got to within 11
Miles of our depot with one hot
meal and two days cold food
and we should have got through
but have been held for four days
by a frightful storm. I think our
best chance has gone. We have
decided not to kill ourselves but
to fight it to the last for that depot but in the fighting there is a
painless end so don’t worry.”
Heather Lane, librarian of
the institute, said that whilst
Scott is normally seen as a controlled and introverted leader,
the feelings shown here for his
wife and his men should lead to
a major reassessment of one of
Britain’s greatest explorers. She
said: “These are national treasures and it’s really quite extraordinary stuff. His letters are incredibly tender. The biographies
have tended to focus only on his
achievements, but here we can
see a completely different side,
a family man and a young man
completely in love.”
The letters move between
both family life and the expedition’s progress. At one point
Scott asks Kathleen to encourage their son in Natural History,
saying: “It is better than games.”
The boy, who later became Sir
Peter Scott, was one of the UK’s
most celebrated naturalists and
ornithologists. At the time, and
only three years old, Peter shows
slightly different interests writing: “Dear Daddy I am going to
be a drummer.” Whilst another
adds: “I love you”.
It was Sir Peter’s widow, Lady
Philippa Scott, that had given
the letters to the institute, and
the collection of over 300 letters
and will secure the safekeeping
of the heirlooms at the centre,
alongside much of the equipment from the expedition.
The letters were unveiled on
January 17th and will be on
show for three months.
Professor Ann Dowling
Sciences Research Council’s
(EPSRC) Technical Opportunities Panel.
Dowling has been honoured
previously: as well as being a
Fellow of the Royal Society
and the Royal Academy of Engineering, she was appointed
CBE for services to Mechanical
Engineering in 2002.
Professor Andrew Hopper,
Professor of Computer Technology and Head of Department in
The Computer Laboratory at
the University, has co-founded
12 computer companies during
his career. He said he was proud
that his CBE honoured his
work outside of the University
also. “I have had a dual career in
academia and industry and so I
am particularly pleased that my
award recognises my services to
the computer industry.”
Hopper is world expert in
computer network design and
mobile computing, and is renowned for his use of large industry-based research groups
to develop new concepts and
their commercial exploitation
simultaneously. He was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society
last May and is a Fellow of the
Royal Academy of Engineering.
Also honoured were Former
Senior Bursar at Trinity College Dr John Bradfield and university zoologist Peter Barlow.
Bradfield, who spearheaded the
foundation of the Cambridge
Science Park and was its director in the 1970s, is to receive a
knighthood for services to science, business and the community in Cambridge.
Barlow has been made an
MBE for his services to higher
education, after 46 years’ service
to the Department of Zoology.
When he retired last year, Professor Malcolm Burrows, head
of the department, said: “Peter’s
sense of duty and loyalty to the
department are unsurpassed.
His huge knowledge of, and
commitment to, the department
will be very much missed.”
Professor Andrew Hooper
Richard staying at
Cambridge
Peter Wood
ALISON RICHARD, the
administrative head of Cambridge University, has been
identified by Harvard University’s presidential search committee as one of their four top
candidates for the position.
However, Professor Richard
has stated that she will serve
her full term in office, which
expires in 2010, saying that she
“remains deeply committed to
Cambridge and does not consider herself a candidate for
the Presidency of Harvard.”
Following further speculation she again issued a statement that “reaffirms her deep
and unequivocal commitment”
to the University of Cambridge. Friends and colleagues
from her previous position at
Yale University have also suggested that she is not looking
to swap Cambridge, UK, for
its Massachusetts counterpart
any time soon.
Richard holds the position
ofVice-Chancellor, the high-
est administrative post in the University. However, the full
chancellor of Cambridge remains the Duke of Edinburgh,
who acts only as a titular head.
Soon after taking the position
she found that the newfound
celebrity of such a position has
decidedly unexpected benefits.
After cycling into a cow whilst
commuting to work, she was
apparently surprised to discover that the collision had
made national news in “The
Times”.
Since being appointed the
first female Vice-chancellor
for in Cambridge’s 800 year
history to be given the full 7
year term, she has cited diversity as a priority. This continued the mission she took on at
Yale after being raised up in
the traditionally male-dominated administration.
Others in the running for
the Harvard presidential post
include John Etchemendy, the
provost of Stanford University.
Convictions
Ben Henriques
TWO MEN convicted of drug
dealing in Cambridge have escaped prison sentences.
The two men, Wesley Stevenson (19) and Sean Burton
(22) were arrested in separate
incidents in the city during
2006.
Sean Burton was found
in the Fez Club with 34 ecstasy tablets. In court Burton’s
lawyer argued that his developmental disorder made him
vulnerable to peer pressure and
that friends had persuaded him
to buy drugs for them. Burton
pleaded guilty and claimed he
sold the drugs on a not-forprofit basis. He was given a
year’s suspended sentence. The
Judge added, “If I thought for a
moment that you were dealing
in Class A drugs for your own
profit you would be going to
prison today.”
Stevenson was arrested by
police after being found carrying 85 Ecstacy tablets. 262
tablets were later found at his
home. Stevenson insisted he
was a “changed man” at a hearing in Ipswich Crown Court
and given a one year suspended
sentence.
Police are particularly concerned over the tablets Burton
was carrying, as they are believed to have already caused
one death. Darran Baker (22)
of Hythe Close, Burwell, died
after taking ecstasy on a night
clubbing in Newmarket last
July. It is believed that pills he
had taken were also pink and
marked with a kangaroo motif.
The two separate cases have
already triggered accusations
that Courts are going soft on
drug dealers. In 2001 Aaron
Strange was convicted of dealing
ecstasy and was sent to a young
offenders institution for 18
months. Like Burton, Strange
insisted he sold the doublestrength pills on a not-for-profit
basis and only to friends. Tragically, Lorna Spinks, a student
at Anglia Polytechnic University, died after taking two of
Strange’s pills.
The sentences have since
provoked debate, Jim Paice, MP
declaring that : “These latest
sentences sound very minor for
what is a serious crime.”, whilst
Harry Shapiro, from drugs
awareness charity DrugScope
warned caution; “It is important
judges retain the opportunity
to exercise discretion and treat
each individual case according
to its merits.”
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
37
Sport
Town Hold Gown
Academics floored by more than equations
Neil Grimster
At the end of last term, CUABC travelled into the middle
of the Fens to take part in the
Cambridge town club’s Invitation Show. To the backdrop
of the historic Chilford Hall,
four of Cambridge’s most experience boxers took on a variety of opponents.
First into the ring was Simon Lenhis, against Richard
Watkins of the Cambridge
Iceni club. The fight saw Lenhis work well behind his jab,
using quick footwork to land
a variety of scoring punches
against Watkins. In the dying seconds of the final round,
Lenhis was backed up into
a corner and caught with a
right hook, which floored him.
Expecting to receive the obligatory standing eight count,
Lenhis rose to his feet but was,
to his obvious dismay, counted
out.
Next into the ring was
vice-captain Rich Spandl,
against the RAFs Sam Torme,
in a light-middleweight contest. Spandl covered up well
and used smart footwork to
protect himself from Torme’s
attacks. As the contest continued, Spandl mounted his
own burst of stinging attacks,
in volleys of twos and threes.
At the final bell, the judges
awarded the Cambridge man a
well-deserved victory.
The third Cambridge man
in the ring was Artem Kora-
lev, against Andy Smith of
the RAF. During the early
exchanges the larger Smith attempted to bludgeon Koralev
into submission but as Smith
tired towards the end, Koralev
fought back. This allowed the
RAF boxer to catch the Cambridge man with an accurate
combination and force a standing eight count. Nevertheless,
this tight bout was awarded to
Koralev by a majority.
The final contest of the
evening saw blues veteran Tom
Bennett-Britton
matched
against Danny May of the
Norwich Lads Club in a lightwelter weight competition.
Bennett-Britton, drew on his
experience, patiently waited
for May to make his move and
thus both boxers circled each
other for long periods of time.
Bennett-Britton seemed to be
cruising to victory. The judges,
however, had a different view
of events, awarding May a
majority decision - a verdict
greeted with boos from the
crowd.
Captain Ed Andrews and
head Coach Dave Byrne were
pleased with the night’s performance, but Andrews was
quick to remind the boxers
of the need for increased effort over the coming months.
At this stage the technical
assurance of the core of the
team bodes well for Varsity in
March.
Rich Spandl celebrates victory over RAF man Sam Torme
Varsity Runners Best 2nds - 4ths Complete Cambridge Rout
For 23 Years
Leika Gooneratne
Owain Bristow
Two years of bitter defeat made
a victory over Oxford in 2006 all
the more satisfying for the Cross
Country Light Blues.
Dedicated club captain,
Claire Day, led two of the most
powerful and promising teams
ever into the 116th Varsity
Match. She was expecting results and the university’s runners delivered.
First to step up were the Ladies for their four mile event.
After a steady start, Day and
Polly Keen took up the running
as the water splash approached.
The rest of the field bunched
tightly behind them. Past the
windmill, Keen opened up a
slight gap as Oxford’s Emily
Crowley passed Day to put
pressure on the leader. Keen
responded superbly over the
finishing stages to come home
strongly in 24:59, with a five
second winning margin. This
was the first time in a decade
that a fresher has won a Blues
race.
Only twelve seconds separated positions three to nine.
It was the Cambridge runners
that found an extra gear, however. Day dug deep to regain
her third place, within touching distance of the funnel,
from Varsity 5000m runner-up
Charlotte Forbes. Harriet Owles finished sixth place, sweeping
past several tiring Dark Blues
in the process. All four ladies
were awarded full Blues. With
the individual win and all four
scorers in the first six, victory
was assured. Cambridge celebrated their first triumph in
three years, with Day gaining
her reward for months of hard
work.
Cambridge’s men went
into their 7.5 mile race with
confidence. After two years of
disappointment, Paolo Natali
and Will George were hungrier than ever. They shared
the pace at the front, breaking
down the strength of Oxonian
Jon Blackledge, last year’s winner. With the latter struggling
for form after early-season injury, Natali and George were
able to get away and Natali’s
ferocious surge at the halfway
mark proved to be decisive. He
won by thirty seconds in 38:39,
the first Cambridge man to do
so since 1998.
George hung onto second,
up three places on last year.
Former Harvard runner James
Kelly was the next light blue
home, in fifth, some thirty
seconds back. Excellent packing from Owain Bristow, Matt
Armstrong and Matt Grant, a
further twenty seconds behind
in 8th, 9th and 10th, sealed
the team win and earned them
their blues.
These were the first team
victories since 2003 and, with
the individual titles in the bag,
it represented Cambridge’s
finest Varsity Match perform-
Cambridge came away victorious
from the II-IVs cross-country
Varsity Match, despite a slow
start. The home university lost
the women’s IIs and only Tricia
Peters broke into the top five.
The women’s IIIs levelled the
ground, with some strong run-
ning from fresher Liz Howse
and Sabrina Verjee in the top two
positions. A pack of nine Cambridge runners claimed every place
between tenth and eighteenth,
giving Cambridge a handsome
136-173 victory.
With the scores tied, it was now
the men’s turn to prove themselves. Ulrich Paquet displayed
some experienced running, and
along with CUH&H Hon.
Secretary Lee Harper and fresher
John Redshaw, led the II team to
a Cambridge victory.
In the men’s IIIs race, Ali Connell was first runner home for
Cambridge. Andy Bell, who had
just scraped through into the IIIs
team in Cuppers trials, surprised
CUH&H Ladies at the starting line (Phil Scard)
The victorious Cambridge Cross-Country 1st team (Chris Morris)
everyone by finishing as the
second Cambridge runner. James
Gill had an unforgettable sprint
finish against ex-Oxford captain
Paddy Wallace, but was unlucky
to lose out.
Chris Morris - according to
Captain Claire Day, “probably the
keenest IVs captain ever” - was
the inspiring force behind the IVs
mob. The race was one of the closest ever with Oxford finally winning 543-547. Yet, the first three
places had Cambridge’s name on
them. Ed Dickins relied on a late
burst to win the race. After taking
much of the head wind, Alex
Gaastra and Charlie Pitt-Ford
had to settle with second and
third places respectively.
With a final score of 3-2 to
Cambridge, the scene was set for
an exciting Blues match and inescapable Light Blue victory the
following week at Wimbledon
Common.
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
38
Snow Luck For
Varsity Skiers
Rachel Nordby
Oxford and Cambridge Men’s Ski Teams
This year, the Oxford/Cambridge Varsity Trip found itself in the not-so-snowy
French resort Les Deux Alpes. The 100
year-old clash between Oxford and
Cambridge is the oldest organised team
ski race in the world. Recently more
competitions have been added to the
traditional lineup of the two Downhill
Ski races; namely Big Air and Slopestyle
competitions and a debut ‘Combi’ race
this year. This much needed broadening
of the field allows snowboarders and
freestylers recognition and a chance to
compete and show off their skills alongside the speed hungry racers.
For aspiring ski racers, the Varsity Trip
offers a chance to hone one’s technique
and gives vital training to those less
familiar with gates. Most hopefuls met
our coaches every morning at the bracing hour of 10am on the top of the glacier for training, although some found
this start-time more challenging than
others. This year we were in competent
hands, with experienced coaches who
have skied all over the world and with
many finer teams than ours. Smiles,
surprise back-flips and critique flowed
throughout the mornings, despite some
less than ideal weather. The racers were
put through alternating days of Giant
Slalom and Slalom training with video
analysis and group meetings at the
end of the day. The fiercer competitors
among us began, from early on, to scope
out potential talent and opponents, with
rivalries developing across the sexes and
among teammates. Each team has six
people, and there are three teams, so
places are limited and usually hotly contested among the eighty-odd who have
a go at the time trials. Unfortunately,
the Light Blues were missing some key
male members this year, while their
darker counterparts seemed only to have
gained in strength. The female contest
looked to be more evenly balanced and
proved to be a real battle of wills.
Although soundly beaten, the men
fought valiantly and can hold their
heads high despite losing to very strong
opponents, some of whom flew in especially for the occasion. Lomax Ward,
Vice President of the VT and Cambridge boy, came second overall in the
Men’s Slalom with a time of 1.25.28, a
total of 8.78 seconds behind champion
Freddie Clough, of Oxford. Men’s Giant
Slalom had similar results with Clough
once again leading with an impressive
6.35seconds to the next Cambridge
man, Evan Scouros was placed fourth.
The ladies competition was, as predicted,
a much closer affair, with Cambridge
losing in the Slalom by only 0.29 of a
second. Rachael Nordby came first with
a time of 1.25.71, 4.53 seconds ahead
of the next girl - Kate Butler of Oxford.
Giant Slalom was more disappointing, ending with a total loss of 18.43
seconds. However, the two female cups
remain at Cambridge in the hands of
Rachael Nordby, for overall Slalom and
Giant Slalom Champion. The second
and third team competitions witnessed
the Dark Blues’ depth of skill, while
Light Blues demonstrated a fantastic
team effort. However, Oxford managed
another clean sweep, thus sealing overall
victory.
The new ‘Combi’ Race, held the
morning after the downhill races, was
a combination of Giant Slalom and
Skier Cross, testing a range of capabilities. The two Men’s Ski Team captains
fought for first and second place, with
Lomax Ward of Cambridge emerging
triumphant over Ben Van Zwanenberg.
Cambridge Women’s Team Captain,
Lucy Greaves, won soundly and was fol-
lowed by Emma Henderson of Oxford.
Some ‘sick’ tricks were pulled by both
boarders and skiers for the Big Air and
Slopestyle Competitions held in the
world-class terrain park. Men’s Snowboard Big Air and Slopestyle was won
by David Brown of Oxford, while Maria
Opanova from Cambridge came first
in the ladies’ Big Air. Oxford’s Emma
Robinson was girls’ Slopestyle champ.
Among the skiers, Simon Lerner of
Oxford took home gold in both the Big
Air and Slopestyle competitions.
On top of all this, there were, of course,
the memorable Cuppers Races, in which
teams race head on in knock-out rounds.
Spirits were high, the sun was gradually
setting, and the lifts were closing, but
after persuading them to stay open for
just one final battle, Downing College
Cambridge emerged triumphant.
So despite the two-weekers being greeted by green mountains and warm rain,
snow did eventually fall and the VT was
once again a tremendous success. A few
fashion trends were re-started (MoonBoots), a wee bit of alcohol consumed
(one bar offered 300 litres of beer one
night), and some great competition was
had.
Seriously Sudoku
Very Hard
Easy
2
8
3 5
2
7
5
7 8
1 6
4
3
3
1
6
6
2
9 7
5 6
4
5
9
1
4 8
7
9
5
8
2
6
4 7
1
3
1
6 7 9 4
9
1
6 2
3
4
8 9 2 7
5
5
4
8
8
7
Men’s Slalom:
Lomax Ward: 1:25.3
Evan Scouros: 1:30.3
Andrew Chetwood: 1:33.3
John Hooley: 1:33.6
Women’s Slalom:
Rachel Nordby: 1:25.7
Lucy Greaves: 1:30.8
Camilla Barnes: 1:36.2
Maeve Ryan: 1:38.7
Men’s Giant Slalom:
Evan Scouros: 1:26.1
Lomax Ward: 1:29.5
Henry Hamilton Stubber:
1:33.4
John Hooley: 1:36.9
Women’s Giant Slalom:
Rachel Nordby: 1:27.5
Lucy Greaves: 1:34.9
Camilla Barnes: 1:41.9
Cat Taroni: 1:45.4
TIC/TAC
Last week’s challenge:
TIC offers: Newcastle Falcons vs. Leicester Tigers (7th Jan)
Bet: TAC bet £4 on Newcastle at 7/2
Result: New 31 – Lei 29: TAC wins £14
TIC offers: Tony Romo (Dallas) to throw for over 200 yards
(Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks; 7th Jan; Seattle)
Bet: TAC bet £10 on over 200 yds at 2/1
Result: 189 yds: TAC loses £10
TIC offers: West Lothian vs. Elgin (Scottish Men’s National
Bowls Championship Finals; 6th Jan)
Bet: TAC bet £1 on Elgin at 4/1
Result – West Lothian: TAC loses £1
TAC wins £7 - TIC loses £3
This week’s challenge:
TAC offers: CURUFC vs. Durham University Rugby Club
(20th Jan; Grange Rd)
Odds: Durham win: 4/1 ; Cambridge win: 1/5 ; Draw: 20/1
TIC bets: £10 on Cambridge
TAC offers: Number of Man Utd goals vs. Arsenal (21st Jan;
Emirates Stadium)
Odds: Over 1.5 goals: 4/1 ; Under 1.5 goals: 1/2
TIC bets: £3 on over 1.5 goals
TAC offers: a non-Chinese player to win the Croatian Table
Tennis Open (16th-20th Jan; Zagreb)
Odds: For: 20/1 ; Against: 1/2
TIC bets: £1 on a non-Chinese player to win
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
4
News
Toxic Cambridge, Part 1: Drugs
Amy Blackburn investigates Cambridge’s drug culture, or lack thereof...
UNIVERSITY LIFE can pave the way for
many different experiences. For most students,
it provides the opportunity for a new-found
independence, away from parents and those they
have known at home. However, it is inevitable
that some students will use this opportunity to
become involved in a variety of irresponsible
and dangerous activities, one of the most obvious of which is taking recreational drugs. With
this in mind, The Cambridge Student decided
to investigate the scale of drug-taking amongst
students at Cambridge.
In 2003/4, the Cambridgeshire Constabulary
made 108 arrests for supply of a Class A drug,
as well as 216 arrests for drug possession. A
survey of crime and personal safety among
Cambridge University students conducted in
2004 found that 10% of the 295 respondents
said that it was “very easy” to acquire cannabis,
and a further 14% claimed that it was “easy”.
Prices for most drugs in Cambridgeshire are
also lower than in most areas of the country; in
December 2003, Cambridgeshire Constabulary
estimated that the average local price of cannabis resin was £50 per ounce, compared to
a national street average of £66 per ounce. In
light of these figures, it is impossible to deny
that at every moment someone, somewhere is
“It would seem that any
major narcotics problem
at Cambridge has been
stemmed by the watchful
eyes of the colleges.
”
using drugs in Cambridge.
However, this provides very little insight
into whether a drug culture actually exists at
Cambridge University. For much of the population, university life in general is characterized
by hedonism. In this case, drug taking can form
part of larger lifestyle of constant recreation at
the expense of work and study. On the other
hand, the image of Cambridge University in
the eyes of the general public is very different.
Does the reputation of the typical Cambridge
student as bookish and cautious mask a booming student drug culture?
On the surface, it would appear that this is
not the case. In the 2004 survey, 56% of the students consulted claimed that they had no idea
where to purchase cannabis in Cambridge, and
presumably no interest in doing so. As would be
expected, the University itself condemns drugtaking very firmly, claiming that the use of any
kind of illegal drug is incompatible with collegemembership. “Every college has an explicit
policy in relation to drugs which is known to
both staff and students”, a spokesperson for the
Senior Tutors’ Committee said. “These policies
all start from the basis that having and using
substances of this kind is illegal, unacceptable
and incompatible with being a member of a college. There is close liaison with the police, and
anyone with any knowledge of illegal activity
should report it to the police.” Hence, it would
seem that any major narcotics problem existing
at Cambridge has been stemmed by the watchful eyes of the colleges.
It is this point that makes any investigation
of the drug culture in Cambridge difficult.
As the use of recreational
drugs has clearly not coloured the public perception
of Cambridge University,
any existing drug culture
must be furtive and underground. However, one way
of discovering the extent
to which recreational drugs
are used by students at
Cambridge is to examine
the numbers of students
with drug problems who
are attempting to seek help.
On the surface, this seems
to verify the perception
that drug use in Cambridge
is minimal. A representative from the Cambridge
Universit y
Counselling
Service told The Cambridge
Student that “rather few
students” seek counselling
purely as a result of a drug
problem; during the 2005-6
academic year, fewer than
twenty students did so. On
the subject of ‘hard’ drugs,
such as heroin and cocaine,
the representative told TCS
that “we rarely hear of the
use of hard drugs, and our
impression is that these
are not very widely used in
Cambridge”.
Nevertheless, the fact
that some Cambridge students are using the counselling service to address
problems with illegal drugs
indicates that narcotics
abuse does exist amongst
students in the University.
“Although we discourage
the use of illegal drugs, the
fact is that some people are
likely to use drugs at university whatever they are told”,
CUSU Welfare Officer Sam
Rose told TCS. Rose went
on to detail the measures
CUSU takes in attempting
to prevent the use of illegal
drugs by students in Cambridge. “If students
do [take drugs], it is important that they do so
relatively safely. The CUSU Cambridge Guide,
given to all Freshers, and CUSU website therefore have information on the dangers of drugs,
the trouble people can get into with the police
“The fact is that
some people are
likely to use drugs at
University whatever
”
they are told.
and college authorities for doing drugs, but also
how to be safe if they make the choice to use
drugs, including caffeine, alcohol and nicotine.”
The Cambridge University Counselling Service
also provides a leaf let warning students of the
dangers of using recreational drugs.
Therefore, the University is clearly prepared
for the question of drug-taking amongst its
students to arise; however, this is more likely
to be a result of a duty to the welfare of its students as opposed to a reaction to a threatening
narcotics problem. So far, it appears that the
common perception of the Cambridge student
in relation to illegal drugs is largely accurate.
However, the representative from the University
Counselling Service went on to detail several
other problems that are related to the use of
recreational drugs. “We worry that students,
like the general population, are rather ignorant
about the possible links between prolonged use
of cannabis and ecstasy and the incidence of
fairly serious depression, of a form which tends
not to respond to anti-depressant medication or
other treatment”, the representative told TCS.
“We are also somewhat bemused that people
who are ultra-cautious about using prescribed
medication because of worries about potential
side-effects sometimes seem to happily use
illicit drugs which have no formal testing.”
These concerns are, like the work of CUSU in
this area, highly focussed on the welfare of the
student in question.
Carolyn Hylton
The one constant that emerges from this
insight into the use of illegal drugs in Cambridge
is the role of the student themselves. With the
increased independence of student life comes
increased freedom of personal choice. Even
though the University goes to great lengths to
prevent a recognisable drug scene in Cambridge,
with visible success, halting drug taking on an
individual basis would be impossible. In the
absence of an obvious drug culture, those who
do take illegal narcotics would be likely to do
so regardless of any welfare-based efforts by the
University. Perhaps what would be more useful
is further emphasis on responsible drinking…
The Cambridge University Student Counselling
Service can be reached by calling 01223 332865
or emailing reception@counselling.cam.ac.uk. They
provide a leaflet about the dangers of drug ue at
www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/drugs.html.
January 18, 2007, The Cambridge Student
5
Focus
Bush’s last gamble; Iraq’s last chance
GeekPhilosopher.com
Andy Gawthorpe analyses the arrival of over 20,000 new troops into Iraq
C
itizens of Israel,” announced Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert last summer,
“there are moments in the life of a
nation, when it is compelled to look
directly into the face of reality and say: no more!”
The lacklustre results achieved in the ensuing war
against Hezbollah were just one of the low points
of a year in which he and President Bush seemed
to be losing the war on terror. Last week, Bush
expressed a similar sentiment before the American
people. Unlike Olmert’s almost unnoticed remarks,
Bush’s set off ripples around the world.
The reasons are obvious. This is surely the last
chance for the U.S. to achieve success in Iraq by
stemming the flow of blood and allowing the flow
of the political process to regain the initiative.
We are far beyond the stage where it is adequate
merely to express distaste for the war and to wish
to be shot of it as soon as possible. We have come
so far that the consequences of failure for the
region and the entire Western world would be
dire. As Henry Kissinger has been advising the
Bush administration, the only acceptable exit
strategy is victory.
To understand Iraq’s future, we must understand three things. The first is why victory is so
important. The second is what the new plan for
victory is. Finally, and most importantly of all,
will it work?
For the U.S. to walk away from Iraq now,
or to continue on its current moribund course,
would be a moral and strategic catastrophe of the
greatest proportions. The past terror of Saddam’s
dictatorship does not in any way ameliorate the
conditions that Baghdadis now find themselves
in. Morally, America owns the problem of Iraq’s
future. As Colin Powell advised Bush in the run
up to the war, “you break it, you own it”. Right
now, this translates into the moral imperative to
stop the violence in Baghdad. In the long term, it
means establishing a political system which will
bring about national reconciliation.
The consequences of failure for the region
and our interests therein would also be severe.
It would decisively strengthen Iran, which seeks
both a nuclear weapon and a client state in at least
“For the U.S. to
walk away from Iraq
now ... would be a
moral and strategic
catastrophe of the
”
greatest proportions
part of Iraq. It is the stated goal of a large part of
the Iraqi insurgency to establish a theocratic state
which would serve as a base for future terrorism
against the West, Israel and Iraq’s neighbours.
The chaos and fragmentation which ensued would
invite the interference of all of the nearby countries, leading to a proxy war between Iranian
elements and those of the Sunni Arab powers.
Finally, America’s will to intervene to ameliorate
any of the problems facing this vital region would
be broken. Things would get worse and worse
until we were left with no choice except to go
back; but we would do so under circumstances
vastly more dire than those confronting us now.
It is hence vital that this outcome be avoided.
The new plan calls for the introduction of over
20,000 new combat troops into Baghdad and
Iraq’s most dangerous province, Anbar, to carry
out what the military call “clear-and-hold” opera-
tions. Essentially, these operations entail establishing a long-term presence in regions of the
capital to root out all enemy activity and to stay
there until reconstruction has progressed to a
point which, it is hoped, will prevent the armed
groups from ever returning.
The troops to be introduced still leave U.S.
forces under-manned relative to the size of
Baghdad’s population; however, if applied
appropriately, they can succeed. At the moment,
armed groups in Baghdad vie to gain advantages
over one another which can be exploited when
coalition forces withdraw, as they eventually
must – one way or another. While the political
process is moribund and security is uncertain,
armed groups seek these advantages by force.
They reason that whoever controls the most of
Baghdad when full sovereignty is restored will
control the destiny of Iraq; and they conclude
correctly. In concrete terms, this would mean
the brutal expulsion of the capital’s Sunni
population to the west of the country, from
where they would proceed to make war against
Shia Baghdad.
The only way to forestall such an eventuality
is to re-establish security in the capital so that
no armed group is able to operate. Once each
community no longer has to fear the militia of
the other, the moderate residents of the capital
can be persuaded to abandon the way of the
gun and embrace a political solution to their
differences. Violence has only reached its current proportions in the last year, proving that
it is not an insoluble problem. Those that have
been forced to turn to the extremists for their
protection will happily abandon them once
security is provided by another source. The
Iraqi government must, with the help of an
influx of American forces, become this source.
In the wake of security, economic reconstruction
will come and draw more people away from the
extremists with the vastly more appealing call of
a peaceful life.
Outside of the capital, the new plan calls for a
more aggressive approach to stopping the flow of
weapons and money from Syria and Iran to Iraqi
insurgent groups. This will contribute to victory.
Both of these countries have their own agendas
in Iraq which involve strengthening their preferred sectarian group and inciting it to violence
against the other. However, the solution to Iraq’s
problems does not lie in Damascus or Tehran.
With the exception of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Iraqi
insurgency is capable of funding and arming itself
and is ultimately driven by agendas that are its
own, not foreign.
Finally, after nearly four years of failed
attempts to bring peace and stability to Iraq,
we must wonder if this new approach will succeed. President Bush certainly thinks it will.
Responsibility for mistakes so far, he said, “rests
with me”. By unveiling this plan himself and
personally appointing the generals who will carry
it out, he has accepted full ownership of the new
way forward. This is an act of personal courage
commensurate with the stakes involved.
There is much to suggest that the plan, if
executed correctly, can achieve success. We know
from past experience that when U.S. forces have
been deployed to hold an area of Iraq, violence
there has dropped dramatically. It is the premature withdrawal of these troops that leads to
resurgence in the violence, often including the
brutal murder of those who co-operated with
U.S. forces. This time, they must stay there for as
long as it takes. So long as enough Iraqis believe
this enough to give coalition forces the help they
need, real progress can be made on the streets of
Baghdad. This means that any hint of wavering
on the part of U.S. forces would be fatal to the
mission.
The biggest unknown is how capable and willing the Iraqi government and its armed forces
will prove to be when it comes to implementing
the new plan. It is vital that there be an Iraqi face
on the new security efforts so that Iraqi civilians
can become used to looking to their own government for protection, not armed militia. But
these very armed forces are part of the problem
as well as part of the solution, as they themselves
are responsible for much of the violence in the
capital. The new surge in American forces will
provide crucial oversight of their activities. But
more importantly, it must be demonstrably clear
that the Iraqi government is not taking sides in
the sectarian conflict.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, has
promised that no illegal armed group, including Shia ones, will be exempt from the security
crackdown in the capital. If he doesn’t mean it,
the plan will fail. If he does mean it, the resultant backlash against the government from all
of the capital’s armed groups might prove overwhelming. What this plan needs most of all to
succeed is a return to tolerance and moderation
on the part of Baghdad’s population. Ultimately
the decision to turn against the extremists and
thugs in their midst rests with them. The U.S.
is taking a gamble that the forces of moderation
and reconciliation will win out in the peaceful
environment that this new plan will hopefully
provide. If they do not, there will be little more
that can be done.
Iraqis must denounce those responsible for
the violence that has so recently overwhelmed
them. If Iraqis do not confront their past as a
nation, together, they are destined to confront
the future apart, and at war.
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
6
Focus
Legalise the poppy fields
Ben White and Pete Inglesby look at Afghanistan’s opium industry
that in Turkey thirty-five years ago. To be sure,
Turkish politics was fractured and unstable,
but the country had a modern state capable of
strict regulation and control of its agriculture,
industry and exports.
The Afghan government’s writ barely runs
beyond Kabul. Narco-corruption is endemic
and reaches the highest levels of government,
and it would be all but impossible to prevent
the channelling of legal cultivation into
illegal processing and trade. The UN and the
Afghan government have come out against the
Senlis Council’s idea, as has the INCB itself,
proclaiming in an annual report that “the
idea that legalizing opium poppy cultivation
would somehow enable the Government to
obtain control over the drug trade and exclude
the involvement of criminal organizations is
simplistic and does not take into account the
complex situation in the country.”.
Senlis are also wrong in their diagnosis of
the global “pain crisis”. The INCB reports
that for the foreseeable future, such is the
“high level of stocks of raw materials held in
producer countries, the total supply of opiate
raw materials (production and stocks) will
be sufficient to cover the expected demand”.
Inadequate access to opiate-based pain relief
in developing countries is primarily due to the
basic nature of their health care systems. The
world’s pain would not be eased by a sudden
new source of licit morphine, and in any case it
is far from clear how Senlis propose to establish
the pharmaceutical industry needed to produce
the “‘Fair Trade’ Brand of Afghan Morphine”
they envisage.
But if the Senlis Council’s scheme is currently
impractical, it should not be dismissed out of
hand. Licensed opium production could at some
point in the future form an important facet of
the legal Afghan economy and should not be
ruled out. It needs to be recognised that the
West’s home-grown problems and prejudices,
feeding into the opinions of bodies such as the
UN or the INCB, clouds its handling of the
Afghan situation.
To condemn poppy cultivation for the
production of pain relieving drugs on the basis
that doing so would fuel the trade in illicit opiates
is to prioritise Western concerns with drug crime
over the economic development of Afghanistan.
It would be wrong to argue that Afghan farmers
should not be allowed to cultivate poppies simply
because the profits accrued might be diverted to
fund terrorists and criminals, for to do so would
rule out any economically productive activity,
clearly ludicrous if Afghanistan is to find its feet
as a unif ied and stable country.
Fetishising prohibition can perhaps be
U.S. Department of Defense
THE INTERNATIONAL community should
allow Afghanistan to legally grow and export
opium. Or at least so says the Senlis Council,
a European think tank with field offices across
the central Asian country. Illicit p o p p y
cultivation already dominates the A f g h a n
economy, and American-led counter-narcotics
strategies are only exacerbating Afghanistan’s
development crisis. Meanwhile, across the
world many of the poorest go without effective
pain-relief for want of opiate-based medicines.
Licence opium production, argue the policywonks at Senlis, and allow Afghan farmers a
livelihood easing the world’s pain.
The argument is seductive in its simplicity, and
an array of facts can be marshalled to back it up.
According to a report of November last year by
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
“the opium sector remains Afghanistan’s largest
source of export earnings and a major source
of incomes in the rural areas”. Afghanistan’s
“Opium GDP” amounted to $2.7 billion in
2005/6, equivalent to 27% of the country’s total
(drug-inclusive) GDP and 36% of licit GDP. A
successful eradication campaign would by 2010
shrink the economy by 8.7%.
Yet why eradicate the Afghan poppy when
it can be put to legal use? The International
Narcotics Control Board estimates that
developing nations - four fifths of the world’s
population - account for just 6% of global
morphine consumption. “If the availability of
drugs in developing countries is not improved”,
argues the INCB’s President, Professor Hamid
Ghodse, “lack of access to opioid analgesics will
cause massive amounts of unnecessary pain and
suffering”. Sadly, legalising and licensing the
Afghan opium trade isn’t the panacea Senlis
claims it is.
The benchmark transition from illegal to
licensed poppy cultivation occurred in Turkey
in the 1970s. With American backing, Turkey
went from a major source of heroin, feeding
80% of the US market, to one of the largest
suppliers of medical opiates. But the situation
in Afghanistan today is simply incomparable to
Pinochet: the good guy?
Chris Mead argues in defence of the Chilean dictator
THAT PINOCHET is demonised ought not
come as a surprise, as few would lionise a violent
dictator, let alone a corrupt one. Especially when
those exiled under his regime had some 30 years
to shape our views to their own, hardly apolitical,
perspectives. The charges levelled involve human
rights abuses, corruption and despotism.
Accusations that Allende, whom Pinochet
excised from office in 1973, can hardly be considered a stranger from. Nor can he be considered a stranger to policies that have now
been largely discredited by serious economists.
Hyperinflation, the theft of assets (nationalisation) and bankrupt economic policy resulted in a
decimated Chilean economy. Upon supplanting
Allende, Pinochet, rather than relying upon economic policy formulated in the previous century,
decided to engage with serious modern economists and implemented liberal monetarist policies that prefigured Thatcherism by some years.
Under their direction the Chilean economy’s
growth outstripped that of its Latin American
contemporaries by a clear margin, with all the
attendant benefits to its people.
The most trenchant criticisms of Pinochet
are those of his so-called “human rights” record.
Before going any further we should remember
that “human rights” are a mere invention, a fabrication. Moreover they are informed by a modern
Western morality whose application elsewhere is
dubious. Would Pinochet’s critics castigate the
Chile of 300 years ago as “brutal”, “savage” or
autocratic? The squeamishness of his critics belies
a wider Western malaise: the loss of constitution
for the sweep of history.
Accepted estimates place the “disappeared”
at numbering 3,000 or so, which is less than a
tenth of 1% of the population as a whole. Were
those dissidents fascists, not socialists, few would
now complain. Socialism is as pernicious as fascism, and those beneath its banner have caused
more suffering, cultural destruction and so called
‘human rights abuses’ than any group I can think
of. In fighting such a force aren’t any and all
means legitimate? As unpalatable as torture and
‘disappearance’ are, I assert that Pinochet acted
legitimately within the culture of the day.
We should remember that the excesses of Che
Guevara, a man who murdered personally, are
widely ignored; at least Pinochet had the decency
to delegate. Those who venerate Guevara happily overlook this, asserting he fought for an idea.
Pinochet had an idea and a rather more realistic
one at that; contrast contemporary Chile’s governance and economy with that of Cuba for a
stark illustration of this.
Pinochet will remain a controversial figure.
That the families of “the disappeared” still suffer
serves as the largest impediment to a reasoned
appreciation of his actions. Pinochet fought
socialism, and the families of those sacrificed for
that vision are to be sympathised with, yet we
must not allow that to colour our interpretation.
Their suffering ought be a regrettable footnote to
the wider debate, instead it is a cause célèbre. Is it
too much to ask that the debate moves on?
compared to US policies on HIV/AIDS, or to
some of the knee-jerk pronouncements by those
on the anti-capitalist ecological left about climate
change. Automatic reactions based on blinkered
ideological prejudices are never the way to decide
policy or to win an argument. The proposal of the
Senlis Council to regulate a legal Afghan opium
industry is perhaps an idea whose time has not
yet come, but concepts which challenge the cosy
consensus of the international community and
champion development are surely the best hope
of future prosperity that Afghanistan has.
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
7
Focus
Prohibition is not the answer
Mary Jane Hulandi suggests there may be another way to win the war on drugs
NOTHING IS MORE destructive of respect
for the government and the law of the land,”
wrote Albert Einstein upon surveying alcohol
prohibition in the U.S. in 1921, “than passing
laws which cannot be enforced.” Whatever
the merits of drug prohibition in theory,
there is mounting evidence that it has been a
colossal failure in practice. This fact alone may
require a rethink of the way our society deals
with drugs.
The Home Office says it spends £1.5 billion
a year dealing with illegal drugs, whereas a
confidential report from Number 10 estimated
the total economic cost of drug-related crime
at £19 billion a year. Yet despite the billions
pumped into fighting the scourge of illegal
drugs, usage in this country is at an all-time
high. Home Office surveys report that millions
of people are using illegal drugs every month,
and the total size of the drug market is now,
according to the same source, worth somewhere
in the region of £4 billion. Drugs are cheaper
and more widely available than ever before.
Drug usage is destructive of individuals
and communities in ways that may not be
immediately apparent to the casual student user.
The fact that there are many relatively affluent
users whose only crime is to purchase an illegal
substance with their deserved earnings should
not be allowed to obscure the vast ills caused
by illegal drugs. Speak to any police officer
in an urban area, and they will tell you that
drugs are by far the largest cause of acquisitive
crime. Drugs destroy families, lock addicted
individuals into a cycle of self-destruction, and
fund other criminal activity, not the least of
which is terrorism.
Because of the linkage between drugs and
crime, an end to prohibition seems to many a
horrific idea: is it not merely to licence criminal
and destructive behaviour? However, some,
but not all, of these ills can be tackled through
an end to prohibition. Our current policy
seems unlikely to make significant inroads
into reducing any of these problems, which
have only grown worse under its watch. A new
approach is clearly needed, and it is time we
faced up to this reality.
What this new approach would consist of
is controversial. Change will and should be
gradual. Over the coming decades, society’s
opinions about drugs are bound to change
as their increased prevalence becomes an
irreversible fact. There are already more users
of illegal drugs than our prisons can hold, and
if current trends continue the situation will
soon be even graver. To contain the pernicious
impact of drug use on society, the state needs to
move from a paradigm of prohibition to one of
regulation.
Legalisation would help to break the
link between illegal drugs and other types
of crime. The profits earned by drug-dealers
amount to a vast pool of resources at the
command of the criminal underworld, to be
redirected into whatever activity they so wish.
If the market was regulated, this money could
be monitored and taxed, at once reducing the
resources available to criminals and terrorists
worldwide and increasing those available to the
state. The state could use these newly-acquired
resources to launch educational campaigns
against drugs, tackle what was left of the illegal
market, and provide rehabilitation facilities.
As with alcohol and tobacco, there would
still have to be significant restrictions on usage
and sale. These would have to be even tougher
than those on the aforementioned substances.
There would be no obligation on the part of
employers to hire people whose drug usage
interferes with their ability to function, in the
same way that alcoholics do not have their
behaviour licensed merely because alcohol is
legal. A significant social stigma would still be
attached to the use of hard drugs, and rightly
so.
The idea is not to encourage drug usage, but
to accept that our battle against it is a losing
one and that other approaches are needed to
ameliorate its ill effects. Legalisation may
lead to increased usage, but the growth in the
numbers taking illegal drugs is already high
enough to make a nonsense out of attempts to
staunch the tide. Either we condemn a growing
segment of the population to criminality and
allow the power of the dealers to grow, or
we undercut them by radically adjusting the
terms of the drug market to make it safer for
individuals and less of a drain on society as a
whole. Whatever course is taken, one thing is
clear: prohibition is failing, and the sooner we
face up to this reality, the sooner we can come
up with a new way to tackle the scourge of
drugs.
The Focus section this term has been remodelled to deliver comment and analysis on a broad range of local, national and international issues.
Each week we will also have a forum for your views on a topical issue.
Next week’s issue is “Should the United States have done anything to stop the executions of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants? ”
Replies of no more than 100 words please
Email your contributions and comments to focus@tcs.cam.ac.uk
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This flexible scheme is designed to complement your existing study commitments.
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The Cambridge programme includes:
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January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
8
Science
Sex, drugs and the profit margin
Beth Ashbridge searches the moral conscience of the big players in the drug
T
he pharmaceutical company is making a positive improvement to people’s lives. It has a noble
purpose. It develops medicines and vaccines that save
lives and make people feel better,” Sir Christopher
Gent, Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
GSK is the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company, with a turnover of £21.7 billion in 2005, 150
projects in the pipeline and a “global quest to improve
the quality of human life.”
Pfizer is the world’s largest pharmaceutical company and dedicates itself “to humanity’s quest for
longer, healthier, happier lives through innovation
in pharmaceutical, consumer, and animal health
products.” They boasted a turnover of £26.5 billion
in 2005, and among the 235 projects in development, Pfizer is responsible for the world’s best-selling drug, Lipitor (worth £6 billion per year), which
reduces cholesterol, and Viagra (worth £800 million
per year).
But do these companies really achieve what they
claim to? Are they truly “dedicated to humanity’s
quest for longer, healthier, happier lives”, or is it
simply the longer, healthier and happier lives of their
shareholders?
It is no longer a death sentence in the West to
suffer from HIV/AIDS. The disease is a now classed
as a chronic illness because it is managed by antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), which are continually being
developed by companies like GSK and Pfizer.
However, ARVs are very expensive and this puts
them out of reach of many countries where the virus
is most rampant. In Sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 25.3 million people suffer from AIDS. Many
campaigners believe that pharmaceutical companies
are not doing enough to combat the onslaught of this
terrible disease in less-developed nations.
It is not in their commercial interests to invest
in ARVs against HIV due to the nature of the
virus. As strains of the virus become resistant, new
drugs constantly need to be developed, requiring
more and more money. It can take 10-15 years to
develop a drug and millions of pounds, resulting in
drugs that would be given away or sold at no-profit
prices to poorer nations, making no money for the
shareholders.
In December 2006, 3-year talks ended between
the International Federation of Chemical Energy,
Mine and General Worker’s Union (ICEM) and
some of the largest pharmaceutical companies,
including GSK and Pfizer. The plans aimed to
provide “high quality HIV/AIDS medicines and
related products for impoverished people in SubSaharan Africa and other less-developed countries
at no-profit prices”. GSK and Pfizer, as well as many
other well-established drug companies, failed to sign
up to this proposal.
The fear is that if the pharmaceutical companies
Dossiers Sexologique
Clare Oliver on the
psychology of addiction
Mico Tatalovic flirts with genetic randiness.
We differ in the extent of sexual arousal and
lust we feel. Most people experience intermediate levels of the need for sex, so we might find
it an unremarkable statement that there are
individual differences when it comes to randiness. On the one end of the spectrum, people
are asexuals; on the other, sexual addicts.
I came across asexuality in a college friend
who found neither guys nor girls sexually appealing. Being biologically-minded,
I hypothesized that she might be asexual.
Although this didn’t seem plausible at the time,
one must be creative when it comes to making
hypotheses to explain natural phenomena. The
next thing to do was to look for evidence to
support my hypothesis. A few minutes with
Google resulted in a plethora of websites
explaining yet another sexual denomination:
asexuality. Apparently around 1% of the population never feels the need for sex.
Sex addicts I found by pure accident. I was
Carolyn Hylton
sex we need depends
on which type of this
gene we have.
”
Although the ultimate, evolutionary reason
for having sex is to reproduce, on a proximate,
motivational level, pleasure is the main factor
we should be looking at when studying human
sexual behaviour. Similar to the way in which
genes controlling the pleasure associated with
eating sweet food kept us alive throughout
our evolutionary history, genes associated with
the pleasurable feeling during sex kept us
reproducing. Moving on from socially induced
stigmas about sexual behaviour will allow us
to better understand this important aspect of
being a human.
community of people who need to have
sex pretty much all
the time.
”
searching for South African Airways by typing
SAA into the search engine. Lo and behold,
Sexual Addicts Anonymous popped up as one
of the results. There is a large community of
people who need to have sex pretty much all
the time. Some have recognized this problem
to be more than just promiscuity, coining the
term sex addict.
There must be a fair amount of lust that
can be attributed to social effects- nurture,
so to speak. However, I believe that as in the
majority of other behaviours, nature must play
a crucial role. We can understand the origins
and initial functions of such behaviours, and
the differences between individuals, much bet-
in genes”. It finds that, other things being
equal, differences in alleles (types) of a single
gene (D4 dopamine receptor) expressed in our
brains are significantly correlated with the selfreported levels of sexual desire and arousal. So
the amount of sex we need depends on which
type of this gene we have. The gene is involved
in perception of pleasure, and some researchers
believe that pleasure is the main reason people
have sex.
“So the amount of
“There is a large
ter if we apply evolutionary thought to them.
Behaviour can be influenced by natural selection in a similar way to other traits, such as
height or hair colour. Nevertheless, behaviours
are usually complex enough for the underlying
genetic and physiological basis upon which
natural selection has acted to be difficult to
unravel.
A paper published in the journal Molecular
Psychiatry in 2006 revealed for the first time
that a single gene may have a large effect on
how lustful we feel. This research was reported
in media under titles such as “randiness is all
Catch Mico’s science show on
CUR1350, Thursdays at 6pm.
This week he’ll be talking
“Science in film” with a
guest speaker from Oxford
University.
allow free access to HIV treatments, they can end
up (illegally) in other markets, so that millions of
pounds and 10-15 years of development would be
lost to fraud. They also claim that making no profit
from their products would be detrimental to research
and development in their other projects.
Many argue that investment in combating fraud
is the key. If controls could be put in place to ensure
that intellectual property was safe in the hands of
the drug manufacturers in Africa, the desired drugs
could be produced more cheaply while boosting educational programmes. This was the aim of the failed
ICEM talks that ended last year.
The chairman of GSK claims his “pharmaceutical company is making a positive improvement to
people’s lives. It has a noble purpose.” Now it’s only
a matter of turning this statement into a reality on a
global scale.
Drug addiction is a well-known and researched problem.
The common definition would be “a dependence on a particular” or such-like, and although this is a sensible answer,
it’s not considered true any more. Increasingly, addiction
researchers are no longer seeing it as physical dependence
on a substance (not least of all because addicts don’t have
to be addicted to a substance; sex addiction for example).
Instead, it’s being defined as compulsive drug-seeking with
loss of control, unlimited intake and, without assistance,
consistent relapse.
One of the main differences between dependence and
compulsive drug-seeking is that the former definition
implies that an addict who doesn’t get his fix will go into
withdrawal. However, it is questionable whether all addictive substances do cause some form of withdrawal. Qat is
used as a drug in several countries, and is said to cause no
withdrawal symptoms like shivering, sweating and diarrhoea. This revelation helped shape the new definition.
It wouldn’t come as a big shock to hear that one theory
attempting to explain why addiction occurs suggests that
withdrawal is such a painful, horrific experience that it
propels people to continue to take drugs in order to avoid
it. This theory may be correct in some certain circumstances,
but if drugs can exist without withdrawal symptoms, then
there must be other reasons for addiction.
Conditioning is a possible cause of addiction. It has been
shown that addicts are more likely to feel cravings if they are
in a room that they normally take drugs in. It’s argued that
through repeated drug taking in that room, it has become
associated with the pleasurable feeling of being high, and
the expectation of being high leads to them wanting drugs.
This isn’t the only suggested theory of addiction that doesn’t
involve dependence; theories based on the formation of
habits have also been suggested. These kinds of theories
can explain why addicts who have taken a drug so many
times that the presence of the drug compels them to take it,
or being in a situation in which they would normally take
drugs compels them to seek the drug, in spite of the value
of the drug diminishing. This explains why it is people continue to take drugs even though it has destroyed their life.
One curious aspect of addiction is relapse. If a recovering
addict has managed to function without the drug for years,
even decades, then why go back to it? Unsurprisingly, stress
plays a major factor both in the development of addiction
and in relapse (areas with higher levels of unemployment
have higher rates of alcoholism). Specifically, stress in the
person’s home life puts them at greater risk of relapse than
stress in their work life or in the community. Sadly, little
work has been done in this important area of addiction,
as most research focuses on what makes some people
vulnerable to addiction and how it is maintained once it
has begun.
9
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
Science
Of particles and people...
Charlotte Phillips guides us through the latest breakthroughs
Energy crisis - Energy from
mirrors:
A potential answer to the age-old hunt for a nearlimitless energy source was recently proposed by
Silgagadze (Novosibirsk State University), looking
into an as yet unobserved quantity called “mirror
How to make a “mirror twin” perpetual energy
machine:
•�Place an amount of mirror material in a box
filled with a normal material.
•�The mirror matter absorbs a small amount of
heat from its surroundings (i.e. from the normal
matter around it).
•�The mirror matter then gives off this heat as
“mirror photons” before interacting with the
normal material again.
•�This causes the box to rapidly cool.
•�Place another box of normal material next to
the box, at the same temperature.
•�Heat then flows from one box to the other in
an almost perpetual process.
•�Extract the energy given off by this fluctuating
temperature difference and use it.
patented version. This could mark the dawn of
an accessible cure for millions of suffers, living
predominantly in the developing world.
matter”. He developed his theories based on the
idea of every particle having a “mirror” twin, which
would barely interact with it. His ideas have been
met with great interest in the scientific community, despite verging on science fiction.
The next hurdle facing his team is to find some
mirror matter, and work out how to use it. This
could take some time.
Nanoparticle clots to kill
tumours:
Health - Cheaper drug to cure
hepatitis C:
An inexpensive Hepatitis C cure with the
potential to save millions world-wide has
recently emerged, made possible by dodging a
patent held by a large pharmaceutical company.
A drug was originally developed and patented by Hoffman-La Roche and Schering
Plough which, as opposed to reducing the
amount of the virus in the patient’s blood,
suppresses the virus indefinitely. Coated with a
complex molecule (called PEG) that increases
the lifetime of the drug in the body, it is effective but expensive - £7000 per year per patient.
As the idea to add PEG to the surface was
part of the patent, no cheaper adaptations of
Hepatitis: not this cuddly in real life.
the method could be used.
This all changed when researchers of Imperial
College London and the London School of
Pharmacy anchored PEG just inside the drug,
using bridging bonds to hold the molecule in
place, by-passing the patent in the process. When
used in trials on mice, it performed as well as the
Nanoparticles released into the body could soon
be used to kill cancerous tumours, by surrounding
them and cutting off their blood supply. Previously used in research to target the blood vessels
around tumours, nanoparticles achieved limited
success because only a few of the particles attached themselves to the correct place at the base
vessels leading into a tumour.
The key to this study’s success has been to
encode a self-amplifying mechanism into the
particles in order to get them to attract other
particles and blood proteins, cumulating in
a clot that blocks vessels and starves tumour
cells. These trials, conducted by Ruoslahti at the
Burnham Institute for Medical Research, have
produced results three times better than previous
nanoparticles designed to cure cancer.
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The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
10
Travel
Religion and culture in Indian cities
Rachel Cherry travels through a changing and contradictory India
I
ndia is changing rapidly. Factories, call
centres, air conditioned cars, American style
coffee chains and mobile phone a d v e r t s
spring up amongst the whirl of bu i ld i ng
work and traffic that characterises nearly all
of India’s already overcrowded cities. This
modern, technological, westernised face of
India, juxtaposes the poverty and agriculture
that remains at the core of many people’s
lives. Even in the densely packed urban
spaces, new jeeps jostle for space on the road
with cycle rickshaws, oxen pulled carts, cows
and beggars sleeping on the streets.
In the small strips of land between the
urban commuter railway lines and the
swarming roads of Mumbai, mothers squat
outside tiny iron shacks lighting fires to
prepare the evening meal, as they watch over
their children playing amongst the rubbish,
dirty puddles, fumes and noise at the edge
of the road. The simplicity of life in the
slums sits side by side with the luxury life
style of Bollywood stars. This juxtaposition
of wealth and poverty which is so explicit
and visible in India’s cities, together with the
sheer number of people, makes the cities hard
to comprehend. There are 12 million squatters in Mumbai, living on 10% of the land.
Despite the perceived chaos, contrasts and
contradictions to European eyes, the cities
are economically booming. The slums full
of single room factories and thousands of
entrepreneurs. Rural ways of life, of herding
goats, mud floors and open sanitation, form
part of urban life and thus cities in India
challenge our understandings of the urban.
They are buzzing centres of life and as can be
seen after the July 2006 Mumbai bombings,
full of resilience, resourcefulness, compassion and a will to succeed. As we visited the
cities of Mumbai, Pune, Bhopal, Varanasi,
Lucknow, Chandigarh, Delhi and Chennai,
as beggars touched our feet and we were
Bollywood extras for a day, we experienced
“beggars touched
our feet and we
were Bollywood
extras for a day
”
the raw edge of this changing, contradictory
India.
Religion in India cannot be separated
from the rest of life, it is not only diffused
through everyday life, but it forms the very
basis of life itself. The richness and diversity
of religion in India struck me as something
which defines the nation itself. Everywhere
we went, religion, ritual and tradition were
visible from the flashing lights of Ganesh
shrines fixed to the dashboards of taxis to
the early evening incense puja performed
in internet cafes. Religion seeps into every
corner of daily life, the colour of sarees, the
sound of temple bells, calls to prayer and
flowers sold on street corners. In the world’s
biggest democracy, there is no move towards
secularisation, nor any embarrassment that
religion pervades and influences so much of
life.
We saw the ancient Buddhist, Hindu and
Jain cave temples of Ellora, 5th century
Buddhist paintings of Ajanta, drank water
from the source of the holy river Godavari,
visited some of the 2000 temples of the town
of Nashik, stood in awe in the blistering
midday sun at the carving of the temples of
Khajuraho, laughed and chatted with boys
outside the third largest mosque, watched
seven brahmins complete an elaborate puja
in a rain storm on the banks of the holy river
Ganges, sat on the floor with hundreds of
other pilgrims to eat the food provided at
the Sikh Golden Temple in Amristar, played
Frisbee with boys at a Christian orphanage
in Kariakal before they prepared for their
daily mass and stood, in silence, watching
the relentless waves buffeting the ruins of a
temple destroyed by the tsunami.
The plurality and syncretism of religion in
India can baffle visitors. Christian, Muslim
and Hindu shrines are all decorated with
the same strings of flowers, coloured flags,
tikka powder and incense, linking all forms
of worship together within the traditions of
India. In Hinduism the gods worshipped and
particular festivals vary within the country
and this highlights how diversity, plurality,
syncretism and unity all interact together to
make India so rich and colourful.
My whole trip to India enriched my understanding of the world’s largest democracy on
many different levels, but there is a lot more
left to discover in this chaotic, multi-ethnic,
multi-lingual, and multi-cultural, beautiful
country. I will definitely return.
Get there: fly from London to Mumbai
(£320)
Stay there: accommodation in India is cheap
A woman selling flowers for puja (worship)
“A Country of nonsense”
Harry Hewlett visits McLeod Ganj, the site of the Tibetan government-in-exile
Despite being a country whose population
numbers over a billion, including many a persistent tout, there is only one person in India
that you cannot completely avoid – Mahatma
Gandhi. His face covers every bank note, and
one of his sayings concludes most arguments.
Tibetan prayer flags behind cow
This great father figure famously called India “a
country of nonsense” and no where else can this
confusion be seen than in the small hill station
McLeod Ganj.
On a map this small town, named after
two British administrators David McLeod and
Forsyth Ganj, looks tiny and rather insignificant. It has a small population and the only
access is via one windy road from nearby
Daramsala. However, as with much of the
rest of India, no assumptions should be made.
Getting off the bus you are greeted by a hustle
of Buddhist monks going about their daily lives.
Monks are everywhere, praying, drinking chai
and doing a spot of retail therapy. Since Indians
are largely Hindu, McLeod Ganj feels as if it is
has been transported from another country and
simply plunked down on this leafy hill side. And
that is pretty much what happened.
In 1960, India’s first Prime Minister Nehru
offered McLeod Ganj to the Dalai Lama as
the site of his government-in-exile. It has since
become the home of thousands of Tibetans,
who have fled their homeland, making McLeod
Ganj a vibrant, bustling and rather unique town
to visit. The small streets – packed with all the
usual Indian accessories of cows, carts and stalls
– are given extra colour by orange and red robed
men. There is an abundance of unusual activities to satisfy travellers who like to things that
are a little bit different. If you are looking for
anything from Tibetan cooking lessons to a bit
of hard core meditation, McLeod Ganj has the
answer (unlike one of its slightly too mysterious
“Monks are
everywhere, praying,
drinking chai and
doing a spot of
retail therapy
”
fortune tellers). Positioned in its wonderful setting almost at the top of a steep and forested hill,
McLeod Ganj is fantastic place to be a visitor.
The trouble with McLeod Ganj though is
that for all the wonder and uniqueness of the
place it is infused with the depressing feeling of
having to make do with not being elsewhere.
The main religious site, the central cathedral
(Tsuglag Khang), feels much more like a 1960s
school than the fantastic Jokhang for which it
is meant to temporarily substitute. All around
there are notices and pamphlets describing how
the Tibetans are being kicked out of their home
land and their culture destroyed by the Chinese
Government. McLeod Ganj is a delight for the
tourist but a place that most of the inhabitants
do not see as home.
It is a common enough prediction that India
and China are set to become the super powers of
this century. McLeod Ganj arguably highlights
the major difference between them. One sees the
famously non-violent and peaceful Tibetans as
a threat to the authority of its state. The other
allows a different nation to set up a government
within its own borders. India’s diversity may
mean at times that it appears to be “a country of
nonsense” but such nonsense is an asset – it can
only be hoped that its rival realises this soon.
Get there: fly from London to New Delhi
(£350), 12 hour bus from New Delhi to McLeod
Ganj (deluxe bus, £8)
Stay there: The Green Hotel (private room
with bath, £5-6 per night)
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
11
Travel
Indian silk politics
Philippa Williams explores the interwoven faiths in Varanasi’s silk industry
V
aranasi is undoubtedly something special.
Think of the colourful, chaotic, crowded and
corrupt images of India; this city broadcasts
them in digital plasma clarity, with Dolby surround sound! Varanasi is as Indian as India
gets. It’s ancient; located on the banks of the
River Ganga it is considered to be Hinduism’s
most sacred city, devout Hindus believe that to
die in Varanasi will release them from the cycle
of rebirth. This unique city has proved to be an
enigma for countless visitors over the centuries.
Pilgrims, tourists, backpackers, musicians, artists, yoga enthusiasts and researchers continue
to be delighted, frustrated and intrigued by
Varanasi, so when I had the opportunity to
“In Varanasi, whole
neighbourhoods are
devoted to the sari
business
”
conduct geography fieldwork here for a year, I
just couldn’t resist.
I first came to the city with a friend two years
ago; we headed straight to the river Ganges for
an early morning boat ride. As we set off from
one of the southerly ghats, a “film-set” emerged
through the morning mist. We sat mesmerised
by the scene. At the river’s edge crowds of bathers – men and women – were taking a dip or
offering worship, kids were splashing around,
some learning to swim with the help of rubber tyres, others diving off high steps. Away
from the bathers washer men vigorously beat
grime out of clothes on smooth stone slabs and
Hindu holy men dressed entirely in orange sat
meditatively at various vantage points. Further
upstream smoke spiralled from the pyres at
Harish Chandra and Manikarnika cremation
ghats. All this was set in a backdrop of elaborately decorated Hindu temples and tumble
down summer palaces now colonised by garishly
decorated guest houses and restaurants symbolised the muddle of old and new.
Given this initial glimpse of the city it is
immediately obvious that interwoven into the
city’s social, cultural, economic and architectural fabric is a significant Muslim contribution.
Hindu and Muslim relations in India tend to
attract attention only when the communities
conflict, suggesting to many that they are destined to clash. Yet if you speak to people in the
chai shops in Varanasi, the idea of brotherhood
dominates discussion about Hindu-Muslim
relations in their city. This brotherhood is most
tangibly rooted in the city’s oldest and largest
handicraft industry, the silk trade. Varanasi (or
Banaras as used more commonly by locals) is
renowned for its magnificent Banarasi Brocade
saris which form an essential component of any
Indian wedding.
Distinctive for their elaborate zari (gold
thread) work and vibrant colours these saris
have traditionally been produced by a predominantly Muslim workforce, while the traders have
typically come from the Hindu community. In
reality the picture is slightly more complex as
both Hindus and Muslims occupy a myriad of
different roles from supplying silk thread, dying
saris, attaching the silk warp to the handloom
and weaving, to buying, working as commission
agents and exporting the finished saris.
Aspects of the silk industry fill the city’s
streets; whole neighbourhoods are devoted to
the sari business. Travel on the main thoroughfare from Assi in the south to the main
market area of Godaulia in the middle of the
city and you pass through the neighbourhood of
Madanpura. Here the street is edged with sari
shop after sari shop; the atmosphere is distinctly
Muslim as men in skull caps and smart white
kurta pyjama spill out of the chai stalls and
women wearing burqa mount bicycle rickshaws.
During Ramadan (the Islamic month of fasting) this is where to find a delicious Madanpura
speciality bukka khani, a cardamom flavoured
sponge patty served covered in syrup and prepared in roadside stone ovens just in time to
break the day’s fast at sunset.
Dive into one of the narrow alleyways (or
Banarasi gallies) on either side or the main road
and the clamour of traffic is replaced by the
repetitive clacketing of handlooms. It is easy
to get lost (I frequently have) in the gallies as
they twist and turn in the shade of four and five
storey houses and towering minarets of ornate
mosques. Peering through one of the huge open
windows brings the masters of the clacketyclack, clackety-clack into focus. These are the
weavers of Varanasi. One of them is Abdulla,
at just 18 he has already been weaving for 10
years! He and his brother weave 10 hours a day
7 days a week to support their family of 10. As
Abdulla continues his work stopping intermittently to fill the bobbins; he tells me how his
family’s poverty stricken position forced him to
leave school at 8 years old. “I only know how to
sign my name, but I’ve forgotten how to read
and write” he says regretfully. He’s determined
that his younger brother should stay in school,
but even the relatively low school fees challenge
the family budget, a pressure compounded by
the loss of his brother’s potential wages as a
weaver’s assistant.
“At just 18, Abdulla
has already been
weaving for 10
years
”
Abdulla and his contemporaries are acutely
aware of the need for education. In an industry
under threat from the upshots of economic liberalisation policies and changing fashion trends,
work in the traditional Banarasi saris is increasingly hard to find and many handlooms lie
deserted. In another part of the city on the roof
top of a five floor building on rent from a Hindu
landlord I met Mohammed Ansail Ansari. He
along with his three brothers and part-time
help of their father runs a sari dying business,
Mohammed used to weave but changed to
dying silk five years ago when his weaving work
ceased. Despite the fantastic skyline perspective
from their “factory”, the work is arduous and
poorly rewarded; like the weavers Mohammad’s
concern is just to earn enough to feed his fam-
18-year-old Abdulla at work at his handloom
ily.
Once the saris are finished weavers like
Abdulla will try their luck at Varanasi’s oldest
sari market, Kunj gali, hidden in the labyrinth
alleyways of the old town. Here the gallies
are lined with small open fronted shops, each
one decorated in a soft pink, the floors lined
with white sheeted cushioning upon which
sari traders sit cross legged eagerly anticipating
their next buyer or weaver. The market comes
alive in the evening when the main arteries of the bazaar bulge with weavers carrying
their bundles of fresh saris to waiting traders.
Porters transport boxes stacked precariously
high above their heads and shop boys deliver
orders of steaming chai and hot buttered toast
intended to sweeten the shop’s latest customers.
I’ve spent hours here, watching ladies spend
whole afternoons selecting the perfect saris for
a wedding. At this time it occurs to me how
rather ironic it is, that the silk often prepared
in the open spaces of Muslim cemeteries and
more often produced by Muslim men, women
and children should be presented to the Hindu
Gods and constitute such a symbolic element of
Hindu weddings.
But silly me, this is India, no, rather this is
Varanasi and irony and contradiction together
with the unusual and the unexpected are everyday qualities which can only be embraced. It
can be exhausting though, and even sometimes
frustrating getting to grips with this extraordinary city. Thinking about his relationship with
Varanasi, one American backpacker remarked
to me that, “you either love it, or hate it”. This
is certainly true, but I can’t help but think those
that hate it clearly don’t hang about long enough
to love it, so stay a little while longer.
Get there: fly from London to New Delhi
(£350), overnight train from New Delhi to
Varanasi (third class sleeper, £10)
Stay there: The Sahi Riverview Guesthouse
(double room £5 per night) or Ganga View Guest
House (air conditoined double £29 per night)
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
12
Theatre.
The man behind the costume
Lisa Hagan goes behind the scenes at the ADC...
An Interview with Andrew Jackson
T
he ADC’s touring theatre served as Andrew Jackson’s
big break onto the Cambridge
drama scene and he proves
to be a promising new talent. Having always been a “big
Shakespeare fan,” a passion
instilled from his school days,
it was a dream come true to
take on the role of Ross in one
of Shakespeare’s darker plays,
Macbeth.
Although a first appearance in Cambridge, Andrew
has taken part in drama for a
considerable number of years,
including tackling Macbeth
previously whilst he was in
the sixth form with his school
drama group. What had just
began as an audition which
he thought he would attend
“ just for the experience.” in
fact turned out to be an opportunity to turn his dream into
reality. “It was a case of teamwork making the dream work.
It was a big project but everyone worked hard on their
individual projects and so the
whole thing came together.”
What was involved in your
particular role as Ross?
“At the beginning of the
rehearsal period it was a real
challenge to get into the character of Ross. He’s been serving the King for a while as
a Thane, (a noble man and
land owner on behalf of the
King) which apart from the
fact that this system simply
does not exist now, the whole
warrior thing is quite different
from who I am. However, with
the training and rehearsals,
and specific improvisations I
soon got into it, and began
to get understand the character.” It seems that all the male
actors had to learn basic fighting skills, including the art of
karate from Tom Johnson and
Paddy Oldham to learn all the
basics in order to learn how to
fight realistically for the stage.
They practiced skills with the
boys all bringing staffs, which
I am sure you can imagine,
made fighting more realistic
to learn but meant it was often
difficult transporting them to
and from training…!
When asked what was
expected of them, if there was
any difference between theatres and touring theatre it was
revealed that it was a much
longer process…and a tiring one. “It’s like one minute
you’re in one country doing
the show, and with the host
family, and then the next
minute you’re in another country doing it all over again.”
Whilst a long and evidently
exhausting task it seemed as
though it was an enjoyable
experience for all those who
were a part of it; including
trips to the Eiffel Tower, late
night ice-skating, sledging in
Belgium, Christmas market
shopping, not to mention all
the acting involved.
It seems that the tour wasn’t
even just all about the acting though, it involved teaching too. As well as putting on
shows in four different countries the cast also took the
time out to run workshops on
the themes in Macbeth, working with and teaching young
people about Shakespeare. A
worthwhile project!
The European Theatre
Group experience is an opportunity for any keen actor or
actress to travel the continent
doing what they love, and
whilst the task may prove a
long, trying one, with you
at times wondering what on
earth you are doing; the benefits make up for it tenfold.
Image by Patrick Oldham
“After three weeks with the same people
you either laugh or cry, we laughed...
”
which was the best part of the tour!
Macbeth - Just a lot of blood?
Lisa Hagan tells us more...
T
he auditorium was buzzing with anticipation as we
awaited the familiar scene of
the witches chanting on the
moor, a deathly hush fell upon
the audience as the words
were spoken – the actors only
visible with the occasional
beam of torchlight intensifying the mood that set in. A
skilful use of lighting and
sound enabled this atmosphere to perpetuate throughout the entire production
establishing the grim tone of
Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy
and on that is amongst the
most famous. The cast held
the audience within their
grasp, manipulating the staging to include us within their
searches, as though we were
there on the moor also.
The complex character of
Lady Macbeth was mastered by Helen Duff, faultlessly executing the artful
manipulation that the role
demanded. Evident magnetism and connection between
Macbeth and his Lady was
displayed throughout, showing
a genuine talent in the actor
Max Bennett, beautifully
complimented by Helen Duff.
They carved their roles out
and moulded themselves as
necessary, making his downfall
believable. However, we must
not forget to consider the
supporting cast who amongst
them showed an array of theatrical talent and command of
the stage; from the physicality
of Dan Martin’s movements as
the cowering servant of Macbeth to the stomach-churning, bloody Patrick Oldham
as Banquo’s ghost. Each
member showed individuality in their characterisations
which brought Shakespeare’s
drama to life. This show saw
the debut on the Cambridge
drama scene for both Andrew
Jackson as the character of
Ross and Lucy Evans as one
of the weird sisters; both indi-
viduals prove to be promising
new members of the ADC
cast, I personally look forward
to seeing them in subsequent
productions at the theatre.
One aspect which can
not escape the notice of any
member of the audience was
the interesting characterisation and representation that
the director chose for the
three witches. Each actress
was well chosen for the part
and handled the role with ease
and considerable talent. These
scenes were assisted by the
innovative set design, to which
Megan Prosser was responsible. The use of angular shapes
whilst appearing simple
proved versatile in its ability
to shape the backdrop for each
of the scenes.
Moments of relief provoked
by the amusing characterisation on the part of Thomas
Yarrow were not enough to
completely alleviate the tangible tension in the auditorium.
The fight sequences and
murders, instead of detracting
from an established atmosphere by amateur blundering
of swords, they were in fact
played out as both shocking
and brutal; with a particularly
commendable performance
from Laura Bates as Lady
MacDuff whose performance
quite literally sent a chill of
shock and horror running
through the audience. This
action culminated in the final
fight between Macbeth and
MacDuff which was for all
intents and purposes was
flawless. Rob Heaps certainly
did not prove to be the lesser
man as Shakespeare critics
would have us believe at times
that the character MacDuff
is. His final words “the time
is free” implicate that relief
is supposed to set upon the
audience; instead we were left
quite literally breathless and
spellbound; in awe of such
inspiring talent. It was a phenomenal performance which
had not lowered in enthusiasm
Image by John Linford
and passion since its return
from tour; I encourage anyone
to take the opportunity to see
it. ‘Macbeth’ is supposed to
upset people. It shows life at
its most brutal and cynical,
in order to ask life’s toughest.
This performance was no exception in dealing with these
dark issues without apology.
Showing until Saturday 20th
January at the ADC
Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday matinee: £7/£5
Friday and Saturday: £8/6
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
14
Editorial
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
January 18, 2007
Volume 9 Issue 1
Welcome Back: Drugs Are Bad. OK?- Good.
improved and looking for exciting
political writing. Also – our new and
shiny website is about to go live (see
next week’s issue for details), which,
frankly, you should all be obscenely
excited about. But enough about us…
So this week, we’ve been mainly
thinking about drugs. Drugs and
Cambridge. Drugs and the media.
Drugs and pretty much anything. We
drew some conclusions. We thought
you might be interested. Because,
obviously, as we write in a student
paper our opinions are naturally of
interest. To everyone.
First – what do we mean when we
say ‘drugs’? Are we talking about
penicillin? Because if you have any
kind of problem with penicillin then
you are officially weird. Are we talking about any physiologically altering substance – including stuff like
caffeine and alcohol that are entirely
socially acceptable? Or are we talking about what most people mean
when they talk about drugs – illegal
Chess Challenge
White to play
The game is still in its opening phase,
but Black has been dawdling with his
development so much that his opponent
already has a powerful attack; how does
White continue?
The CU Chess Club meets during Term
time every Saturday 4-6pm, Trinity
Junior Parlour
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/chess/
substances that make you look pale
and unhealthy. We’re actually talking
about all those meanings because the
plurality of meanings is interesting.
The words themselves are so fucking evocative. Drug Overdose. LifeSaving Drugs. Drug Cocktail. Drug
Addict. Drug Abuse. Drug Problem.
You end up trapping yourself in stereotypes and it becomes difficult to
talk about what’s actually going on,
because the associations we have with
the words are so strong and it’s so
difficult to see past them at all.
The way drugs are represented in
the media is incongruous and contradictory at best. On the one hand,
endless government advertising and
predictable soap plots tell us that
drugs are a thing of great evil and
that we should JUST SAY NO. On
the other hand there is this sordid
fascination which so often slips into
glamorisation of drugs and drug
addicts. So suddenly to ‘just say no’
becomes just a little bit ‘uncool’. And,
Anagrams
Book:
Trails under sea
Singer:
A rich girl ate in USA
Film:
OC is only area
Author:
Too ol’ style
Book:
Drive, this beer is dead
Answers:
Treasure Island, Christina
Aguilera, Casino Royale, Leo Tolstoy,
Brideshead Revisited
Welcome back to Cambridge folks.
I hope your Christmas holidays were
awesome, mainly because awesome is
unofficially TCS’ ‘word of the week’
and it feels quite appropriate (average use in the office – once every
thirty seconds). We in the editorial
team spent the whole of the vacation
cloistered in a tiny hot room staring
at software with great levels of stress
slowly realising exactly what we’d let
ourselves in for. It was a whole epiphany of pain, but we’re over that now
and working our fingers right down
to the to the bone to bring you the
best in student journalism. Because
that’s what you want most in the
world even if you don’t know it right
now. We are awesome.
We have a stonking new Science
section and have radically changed
some others. We hope you like it.
We did it for your benefit. The new
‘Impact’ pull out section (check it
out on the facing page…) is the big
change and the ‘Focus’ section is new,
of course, being told incessantly not
to do something often makes it all the
more attractive. Being ‘naughty’ is, it
must be admitted, quite fun. Which
is, I reckon, part of the reason why so
many people still smoke. We’re told
not to in pretty much every advert
break and really there isn’t actually a better advertisement than that
– which is a shame really because
smoking absolutely does mess you
up and give you all kinds of painful
and embarrassing diseases. I hope me
saying that doesn’t encourage anyone
to smoke. It’s a ‘lose-lose’ situation
really. If you don’t say anything, people will smoke and not know how it’s
killing them, if you do say something
you may well just encourage people.
Unfortunate. People are kinda stupid.
At the same time – everyone is stupid so I guess no-one really has the
right to call anyone else stupid. We
should all be stupid together. Maybe
that’s my conclusion. About everything.
Next Week in The
Cambridge Student
we catch up with how
you’ve been getting on
with your New Year’s
Resolutions...
Emma Blackburn, CUSU Welfare Awareness officer, talks drugs:
When we see the word ‘drugs’,
we automatically think of hardcore
cocaine use and ecstasy pills making
the rounds at the local clubs. While
these drugs certainly have a place
in the Cambridge social circuit,
the use of them is far less common
than the use (and abuse) of alcohol
– the substance that seems to constantly evade student recognition as
a highly potent and very addictive
drug.
Cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin,
ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis are all known to be used by
Cambridge students, and there has
been a 30% increase in detection
of drug use. Yet the number of students taking these drugs is miniscule when compared to the huge
number of students who consume
alcohol. In moderation, alcohol
itself wouldn’t present a problem,
but problems do occur as people fail
to recognise their limit and keep
drinking.
Letters to The Cambridge Student
Who wants to be the killjoy that
lectures everybody on responsible
drinking? Not me particularly, and
I’m pretty sure most of CUSU feel
the same. Most people I know enjoy
a drink as part of a normal social
life, including me, and I’d be the
last person to preach complete abstinence. Having said that, there’s a
world of difference between enjoying a couple down in the bar and
getting slaughtered to the point
where you are at risk because you no
letters@cusu.cam.ac.uk
longer have the necessary awareness
to get yourself home safely.
Drinking to excess leaves you more
vulnerable to the very real dangers
that do exist within Cambridge.
Alcohol is the drug that the police,
Addenbrookes and the colleges
are most concerned about, as it is
the one most commonly abused.
We’re all adults and we all have our
choices to make – just make sure
you’re thinking about yours.
welfare-awareness@cusu.cam.ac.uk
Post us a letter, and we might just post back a prize...
Editor-in-Chief Elly Shepherd editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk Deputy Editor Jack Sommers editor@tcs.cam.ac.uk Photo Editors Jimmy Appleton, Carolyn Hylton photos@tcs.cam.ac.uk Features Editor Rich
Saunders features@tcs.cam.ac.uk Associate Features Victoria Brudenell, Andrew Daynes Interviews Editor Cally Squires interviews@tcs.cam.ac.uk News Editors Amy Blackburn, Peter Wood news@tcs.
cam.ac.uk Focus Editors Andy Gawthorpe, Preet Majithia focus@tcs.cam.ac.uk Food and Drink Editor Stewart Petty eating@tcs.cam.ac.uk Culture Editor Sam Brett arts@tcs.cam.ac.uk Film Editor
Nina Chang film@tcs.cam.ac.uk Theatre Editor Amy Barnes theatre@tcs.cam.ac.uk Deputy Theatre Editor Lisa Hagan Music Editors Jack Dentith, Luke W. Roberts music@tcs.cam.ac.uk Deputy
Music Editor James Garner Fashion Editor Hannah Nakano Stewart fashion@tcs.cam.ac.uk Science Editor Lianne Warr science@tcs.cam.ac.uk Sports Editor Tom Richardson sport@tcs.cam.ac.uk
Deputy Sports Chris Lillycrop Puzzles Leah Holroyd Production Harriet Bradshaw, Wil Mossop, Ivan Zhao Travel Editor Ilana Raburn travel@tcs.cam.ac.uk Listings Lisa Hagan listings@tcs.cam.ac.uk
Business Manager (CUSU) Lily Stock business@cusu.cam.ac.uk Services officer (CUSU) Ashley Aarons services@cusu.cam.ac.uk Board of Directors Alice Palmer Elly Shepherd Lily Stock, Ashley
Aarons, Amina Al-Yassin, Rob Palmer
IMPACT
The Cambridge Student
On Drugs
Relevant and Irreverent
IMPACT
PAGE 2
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
Culinary salvation
Stewart Petty encounters some tantalizing tapas in Spain’s wild, wild (north) west
I n
m i d
December
2006, I set
my sights on
the seaside
city of San
Sebastian
in North
W e s t
Spain.
Admittedly my primary attraction was the wild, winter
surf pounding the dramatic
Basque coastline. However,
after having stopped off in
the charming city during
the Morocco Hitch, I fully
understood the quality and
pride behind Basque cuisine.
Besides, what could be better
to satisfy an insatiable appetite driven by a day of strenuous surfing?
Arriving at 11.30pm, two
hours later than scheduled,
my fellow CUSA (CamOne of the many examples of the Basque approach to ‘surf ‘n’ turf ’. Stewart Petty
bridge University Surfing
Association) comrades and
I were decidedly ravenous. I tuary to reach the Parte Vieja bar offering some tired tapas, confront the dramatic winter
had expected to be kicking (Old Quarter), nine-foot which proved to be a shadow barrels. I nibbled at a perfectly
back in cosy backstreet tasca waves ominously opposed of the fresh former glory it light and flaky croissant and
by now, making friends with the current and swelled under could have offered us earlier watched the gnarling waves
a hearty platter of pintxos the bridge. Adrenaline lev- in the day. However, it is al- as their frothy saliva gushed
(Basque tapas). However, my els rose whilst we pondered ways rather dubious to come onto the shore. (Being so
what a monster across a pintxo bar in the close to the French border,
not-so-helpful amthe beach break prestigious Parte Vieja serv- many culinary influences are
igo at the San Sewould be the ing at such a late hour, with exchanged: Roquefort, piment
There
is
bastian Tourist office had misjudged an unflinchingly following day. It such a wide array of food still d’espelette - a piquant pepper
the coach journey honest link be- was past twelve available. It was probably the - and croissants frequently
on a weekday, worst pintxos I ate all week.
feature in the Basque diet).
from Santander.
so
we
seemed
to
The
following
morning
Feeling tired from merely
tween
the
surf,
We ventured out
have
lost
the
key
began
optimistically
with
looking at the relentless nine
into the icy night the turf and
to
culinary
heavrazor
blades
of
sunlight
to twelve-foot swell, I crossed
as Jack Frost whis- what ends up on
en
for
that
night.
gouging
through
the
narrow
the road to find a pintxo bar
pered to us with his
We
did
eventustreets.
We
apprehensively
facing Zurriola beach. This
your
plate.
Atlantic breath. As
ally
discover
a
approached
the
promenade
to
was one of the many tastewe crossed the es-
‘‘
’’
fully discreet joints which
presented itself with a deceivingly mediocre and bland
facade. On entering, you
stumble upon a foodie treasure-trove. I quickly snapped
up a delicate snack consisting
of a piece of toasted bread
doused in olive oil as the
base, a wafer-thin slice of jamon, finely shredded lettuce
and rocket followed by slices
of gently boiled egg, bathed
in a piquant mayonnaise and
topped with a sweet and succulent shrimp. That’s a long
description, you cry! I know
it is. However, the metic-
ulous care that has been
dedicated to preparing this
food warrants a meticulous
description. What is so resounding is that all Basque
pintxos strictly adhere to seasonality, and only use produce
which is fresh and local. This
is why San Sebastian is one of
the top ten food destinations
in the world. Our supermarkets wantonly neglect these
fundamental principles.
The Bretxa market flanking the Parte Vieja is a true
testament to the vital role
that food plays in Basque society.
Warming up on La playa de la Zurriola. Stewart Petty
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
in San Sebastian
As you descend by escalator, you enter a subterranean
realm of culinary magic. A
plethora of butchers, bakers, fishmongers, fruit and
vegetable grocers and cheese
sellers proudly tend to their
stalls, convivially chatting to
regular customers. It is not
hard to understand why the
best chefs in Spain are among
these zealous shoppers. Five
different butchers offer fresh
kills, some even displaying
their not-yet skinned rabbits. Subsequently, the frenzy
of fishmongers exhibit their
deep-sea aliens - apparently a
form of sea urchin - dredged
from the Atlantic abyss.
There is an unflinchingly
honest link between the surf,
the turf and what ends up on
your plate. This is real food.
The pintxo bars of Donostia – the Basque name for
San Sebastian - are not a seasonal tourist fad. The reason
why there are so many watering holes is because nearly
all of the locals seem to be
dedicated regulars. What I
find so attractive about the
way of life here is that the
Basques eat whenever they
are peckish. Light snacking
is part of their daily routine.
Furthermore, people take
their time over food, naturally complementing it with a
small beer or glass of hearty
Rioja at any time of the day.
It is quite normal to wake up
to a chilled shot of Pacharan,
a local tipple produced from
sloe berries. The viscous aperitif has a medicinal nose of
aniseed to compliment a bold
and fresh bouquet of coffee
and vanilla. There may be
competition between bars,
but there is a plentiful de-
IMPACT
mand for them.
With a hedonistic culture
geared so much towards the
enjoyment of cuisine, it may
seem strange for you to hear
that not once did I witness
a rotund local roaming the
windswept streets. And yes, I
am sure that the fatties do not
hibernate. One clue to explain
this oddity is the number of
runners we saw pacing the
promenade and beaches. Furthermore, although we did
not have to fight for waves
in the line-up, the surfing
and kayaking contingent was
healthy on la Playa de la Zurriola. In fact, whilst we kitted
ourselves out in the surf hire
shop, ready to hit the waves, a
local was changing out of his
wetsuit and booties into more
appropriate suited and booted fashion; ready for the office. His compartmentalized
and bulky briefcase – half for
documents and half for a soggy wetsuit – epitomizes the
healthy work-hard, play-hard
ethic of the fiery Basques.
What the Basques manage to achieve with their
pintxo bars is healthy fast
food of the highest quality.
These terms may seem oxymoronic in a world where the
USA is a super-power and
the film ‘Super-Size Me’
keeps knocking on the door
of our conscience. However,
through the consumption of
fresh, organic and seasonal
produce combined with a
regular regime of exercise,
the Basque idea of a ‘quick
and easy’ snack really can be
a healthy option.
For more information on future
surfing
excursions, contact Stewart Petty
- sfp29@cam.ac.uk
PAGE 3
Statue of Jesus overlooking the Concha and Zurriola
beaches. Stewart Petty
Season with salt and pepper
and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with black beans
and white rice, surrounded
on two sides with the fried
plantains.
Ingredients for the arepa
(wraps):
2 cups of pre-cooked cornmeal.
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups of boiling water
Method:
In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal with the salt. Pour in 2
1/2 cups of the
boiling water and mix with a
spoon. Cover with a towel or
plastic wrap and let rest for
5-10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200ºC. With
wet hands, form balls of
dough from about 1/4 cup
of dough and press to form a
cake about 3” wide and
Bar Aralar, located in the heart of the San Sebastian’s Parte Vieja. Stewart Petty
Pabellón Criollo
Fiona Mellish, our South American correspondant
serves up a tasty, national treasure
The hearty and colourful Pabellón Criollo is the Venezuelan answer to our traditional
Sunday Roast. The basic form
of the dish involves a melange
of rice, shredded beef and
stewed black beans. Frequent
additions include Tajadas
(slices of fried plantain) or a
fried egg.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2lbs beef (Sirloin/Flank)
1 chopped onion/person
Enough water to cover
2 tsps salt
1 red bell pepper chopped
finely/person
3-4 cloves minced garlic
2-3 cups tomatoes
peeled, seeded, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 handful cooked black
beans/person
4 cups cooked white rice
Method:
Heat the oil in in a skillet
over medium-high flame. Sear
the meat on both
sides to brown, about 4-5
minutes per side. Remove
from heat and place
meat in a large pan with the
onion, salt and pepper and
enough water to cover.
Bring to the boil, then reduce
the heat to low, cover and
simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours
until meat is very tender. Remove the meat and set aside
to cool, reserving the broth.
When cool, shred the meat
with your hands.
Reheat the skillet, adding
more oil if necessary. Sauté
the onion, peppers and
garlic until onions are translucent. Stir in the meat and
chopped tomatoes. Add
a little of the reserved broth
to moisten if necessary.
3/4” thick. If the dough
cracks at the edges, mix in
a little more water and then
form the cakes.
Heat a skillet over a medium-high heat and pour in
a thin layer of oil. Sauté
the patties a few at a time
to lightly brown and form a
crust on one side.(5-6
minutes). Flip and saute on
the other side.
When all of the patties
have been browned, transfer to a baking sheet and
bake in the
oven for 15-20 minutes
until they sound lightly hollow when tapped. Serve
immediately.
Note: Occasionally, the
meat from the Pabellón is
used for the filling of the
‘arepa’. However, the arepa
is commonly eaten for
breakfast with a variety of
PAGE 4
IMPACT
FEAR AND LOATHING IN
CAMBRIDGE
URSULA K. ANDERSON GOES GONZO AND
GETS HIGH. OR TRIES TO. VERY MUCH
NOT EDITORIALLY RECOMMENDED...
Let me set the scene for you. An esteemed
student colleague and myself were in possession of a not inconsiderable amount of
MDMA. Pure ecstasy, for those of you who
just pronounced it ‘um-dee-um-ah’ in your
head.
In the interests of journalism – obviously, I
had absolutely no other motivation, although
I cannot speak for my friend – I made the
decision to partake of said substance and
report in a coherent and scientific manner
for this esteemed and respected newspaper.
I shrugged aside the issue of illegality with a
simple yet effective belief in journalistic ethics over the concerns of the law.
In retrospect, this was a massive mistake.
Like when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait
only on a slightly more collegiate level. But
what’s the point in regrets? Tish and Fippsy,
frankly.
Obviously, I cannot reveal my supplier.
That would be stupid. I saw in Pulp Fiction
what happens to kids who mess with drug
dealers and frankly I want to keep my burger
– or indeed any fast food I may be having
for breakfast. Suffice to say I made a fool
out of myself by not getting ‘down with the
terminology’ in the style of a middle-aged
person at a hip hop gig. No – I didn’t know
what a ‘bomb’ was. I kind of thought it was
something you shouldn’t say in airports.
“In retrospect, this was a massive mistake. Like when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait
only on a slightly more collegiate level.”
For the record, in this context, it’s the
practice of wrapping a dose of MDMA in a
cigarette paper for the purpose of swallowing
it. I was learning already, and beginning to
feel a little bit ‘down with the kids’. Needless
to say, this feeling didn’t last.
As I’m writing this under a pseudonym, I
can reveal to you that I did feel more than
slightly naughty when swallowing the illicit
substance. In words, this feeling translated
roughly as ‘ohmigod I just took drugs like
everyone told me not to – I’m like well
naughty and not at all a swot like everyone
said I was at school’. I did feel a certain perverted pride in confounding expectations. It’s
just a shame no-one who called me a swot at
school was around, really.
Immediately after I swallowed the substance (I didn’t take much – probably about
an eighth of a gram) I expected something.
Either some kind of amazing high or a heart
attack. I waited. Nothing happened.
I waited some more. Went for a pee. Waited a bit longer. Tried to work out whether or
not my heart was beating any faster and then
decided that it wasn’t. Waited.
Then I started to become really aware of
the gap between my brain and my skull,
which was a bit odd. This was probably about
twenty minutes after taking the bomb – (this
still sounds suspicious to me. I’m sorry). I
also felt disconnected from some parts of my
body – like I was observing the sensations
in them, not feeling them directly. This was
something I’d been aware of – but differently
– when I’d been stoned off my face. I thought
maybe it was more to do with me then drugs.
Maybe that’s just what my mind does when I
take any altering substance.
I tried to get up and walk over to the
other side of the room, where a couple of my
entirely sober friends were sitting. I found
the sensation of lifting my legs and putting
one foot in front of another just slightly too
hilarious. It felt like my legs were made of
a very light material, but that I was wearing
gravity boots. Maybe that makes sense to
you, maybe it doesn’t. Who knows.
I began giggling and felt – for want of a
better phrase – tingly. Ants of happiness were
crawling over my body in curly lines. My
head was all – floaty. I felt pretty nice.
Because I wasn’t doing any exercise, having taken the drug in my friend’s room as
opposed to in a ‘banging mash-up’ (I believe
this is the correct terminology?) of a rave, the
rushing in every part of my body (like headrush, but, like, everywhere) was making me
feel lethargic – but my mind was very awake
and moving quickly.
I got pretty cuddly. I’m always quite a
cuddly person but this feature was very much
exaggerated. I quite alarmed one particular
friend of mine – let’s call him Gabriel Le
Faye Golgotha – by being so pleased to see
him I cried. Tears were really not what the
situation required. I had seen him a few
hours earlier at the buttery. It wasn’t like I
thought he’d died. Things have been somewhat strained between us since.
I also told everyone I met, in great detail,
how much I loved them. In retrospect, this
was possibly quite disconcerting. Especially
for those people I’d never met before.
Eventually – after partially succeeding in
organising an impromptu rave in a bedroom
the size of a cupboard – I got to the ‘thinking’ bit. By partially succeeding, incidentally, I
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
mean that I was dancing around the room to
music that only existed in my head and three
people were watching me with incredulous
expressions. A mixed success.
Thinking is odd when you’re high. It feels
like you’re having all these profound revelations that will change the course of your life
and possibly the universe, when in fact what
you’re thinking is actually ‘Dude – you can,
like, see out of taxis’ or ‘imagine if pizza was
made from hob-goblins’. Clearly, this is a
useful intellectual pursuit and worth spending the money that I get from the government to go to university on. Economic hero,
me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of
being able to think about the relative transparency of any kind of vehicle as I ended
up watching a deeply philosophical film
concerning the nature of existence. To put it
mildly, this fucked with my head.
My comedown consisted of me wandering
through the streets of Cambridge muttering
‘How am I not myself?’ at about 6am. I then
slept for about 26 hours and woke up with a
headache that was like an angry badger eating a mole in my head.
In terms of any drug related experience any
one has ever had – excluding cannabis – this
was mild. Nobody died, nothing got broken,
I didn’t take that much and, comparatively,
wasn’t that high. I didn’t even vomit or
develop an unhealthy yet fashionable pallor,
which was a minor disappointment. I’m still
the same naïve middle class kid who keeps
the majority – or at least a good half – of
her essay deadlines and gets pleasure from
Beethoven (the music, not the St. Bernard, to
set the record straight).
However the real reason I took the drugs
– although the whole naughtiness thing
made me feel almost cool enough to wear
skinny jeans– was because I was curious. I
wanted to know what it felt like. I wanted to
make my mind up for myself.
So what do I think? Well – not all drugs
are the same. I think first of all I reject how
every illegal substance is lumped together
as if it was all
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
IMPACT
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
it was all part of the same issue. It’s not.
Cannabis is different from MDMA is different from acid is different from heroin
etc. Every person’s reaction to the same
drug is also different. I have friends who
sit still and watch their hands while on
MDMA and I have friends who can’t stop
moving. I’d like people to think about that
more – that every situation involving drugs
is a different situation, and, to be honest,
although I’m going to have to whisper this:
it’s not always 100% a bad thing. Mostly,
yes, but not always. And despite what the
law says, I do actually think there is some
extent to which people have the right to
make up their own mind, and I certainly
think that it is a mistake to rush into judging people for doing something you only
have second-hand knowledge of. So I’d like
to keep my little conclusion to those drugs
I do know a bit about. Namely, MDMA,
cannabis and alcohol.
Of course, there are reasons why MDMA
is illegal. It’s very dangerous. I can’t actually
believe my own stupidity at risking what I
risked taking it, but at the same time I actually risk a lot more when I drink too much
or drive in a car without a seatbelt. Cannabis too really isn’t the ‘friendly drug’ that
so many make it out to be. I have personally
experienced extreme paranoia (That dog
is looking at me. Seriously. He may be a
poodle but he’s got beady eyes and I don’t
trust him…) and the memory loss just gets
silly – I have one friend I can have the same
conversation with four times before he
notices. These aren’t healthy substances and
they do your body a great deal of damage.
But that didn’t actually impact on what
I think – or at least how I feel. I know that
it should, but somehow the health aspect
is too distant and I find it hard to give it
the weight it deserves when it comes to
thinking about MDMA. This is a weakness common in young people and I’d like
PAGE 4
you to remember I’m talking about my own
thought processes here, and not advocating this way of thinking – just being honest
about it.
However, I didn’t make a positive conclusion. What entirely made-up my mind
was a conversation I had with a very close
friend the next day. She said that although
she enjoyed my loved-up-ness and found
the whole experience superficially amusing,
she’d also been terrified, because the person
in her room walking around looking like
me wasn’t me anymore. Because there was
something else there that she didn’t recognise, that wasn’t anything to do with me.
I went quiet when she told me this. I
knew she was right. The way I behaved so
lovingly towards everyone takes something
away from the people I actually love. The
substance took me away from myself. This I
can imagine, and understand where I can’t
imagine the health risks. So I don’t think
I’ll be taking MDMA again.
FAIRTRADE COCAINE?
VICTORIA NEWTON DISCUSSES THE ETHICS OF DRUGS
Cocaine is the preferred illegal substance of a certain postcode of party
goers. And Britain is the largest user in
Europe. If you don’t do it, I bet you know
somebody who does. And why shouldn’t
they? Just say no to Drugs. We’ve all
heard it before. I’ve even read campaigns
offering ‘cool’ ways to say no; “Sorry I
can’t, it’d break my parole…” There is a
line of argument, however, not to snort at.
‘Fairtrade Cocaine?’ is a group campaigning for the acknowledgement that our
consumption of this drug has more than
the personal consequences of the legal, the
medical, the aesthetic.
The question mark is crucial. How can
you have a fair trade when you are dealing
with an illegal substance?
A lot of plants, especially coca, are
farmed intensively and non-sustainably,
and in places where fragile ecosystems get
damaged. In Columbia, cocaine essentially
sustains civil war. The supposedly Marxist
FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia) have been fighting the government for decades, attempting to control
the territory to grow coca. In addition,
there are heavily armed right wing par-
Children at a ‘Fairtrade Cocaine?’ workshop
How can you have a fair trade
when you are dealing with an
illegal substance?
amilitary groups that fight the FARC;
they are illegal, but often act with the
support of the government. The FARC,
the paramilitaries, and many government
politicians are sustained entirely by profits from cocaine trafficking. Needless to
say, it’s the peasant farmers in the cocagrowing regions (who are often coerced
into growing coca) who suffer.
In Brazil, there isn’t a recognised “war”
and yet many children live in something
akin to a war zone. From 1987 - 2001,
whilst 467 children were killed in the
Israel-Palestine conflict, 3973 children
were killed by small arms fire in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro alone. In the
favelas of big cities (especially Rio) heavily armed drug factions fight turf wars
to control cocaine distribution networks.
They mostly employ children as lookouts,
dealers and ‘soldiers’. In fact, for every
tonne of cocaine exported into Britain,
four people have lost their lives. If one
line doesn’t kill you, it might still make
you a murderer.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Chris Kennedy
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
VICTORIA BRUDENELL
THE ASHES
Why did they do it to us? Why did they
even bother to win the Ashes back if they
were only going to collapse a mere 15
months later? From five nail-bitingly tense
tests to the frankly dull humiliation of last
month, England have done it again. They
built up false hopes and then dashed them
without even managing a defence of any kind
against the awesome Aussies.
I stood proudly in Trafalgar Square cheering on the heroes of 2005, never expecting
that just over a year later the country would
be faced with a performance so abysmal that
even I felt that I could do better than them.
A girl who has only ever played cricket on a
beach.
Fine, they can offer excuses; Vaughan was
injured, Trescothick is wrestling his inner
demons, but surely the inventors of the truly
beautiful game (none of this football nonsense) should be able to field a competent
side? Admittedly, Duncan Fletcher didn’t
help by refusing to put Monty Panesar in the
team for the first two tests, but there is no
way that a statistic offered by the Guardian
can be acceptable in international cricket: out
of all of our batsmen, only Kevin Pietersen
had a higher batting average than Shane
Warne. A bowler.
Even my 83 year-old grandmother had an
opinion on the problems- something along
the lines of ‘we didn’t win the war by resting,
so what the hell is Fletcher doing saying
that the team would rest on the Monday
after losing a test in 4 days?’. She has a point:
remember those pictures of the Aussies on
an endurance weekend in the outback that
got ridiculed before the Ashes? They may
have had the skills of Warne and the rest of
the wonderteam, but they were also fitter
and better prepared. Look at how much
time college boaties devote to their hobby:
in comparison, surely international sportsmen should spend almost their entire waking
hours training for their profession?
I’m off to find a sport that isn’t quite as
damaging to my nerves… maybe curling?
ANYTHING YOU WANT TO GET OFF
YOUR CHEST? EMAIL US:
FEATURES@TCS.CAM.AC.UK
IMPACT
PAGE 6
“Some international students
among us at Cambridge have
seen at first hand the social effects of our cocaine habit.”
Chris Kennedy
Does that mean, (the facetious argue) that
from an ‘ethical’ perspective, taking drugs
is fine if grown here? Are you arguing for
legalisation? Does the drug trade not ever
help developing countries economically?
What is the alternative for children who are
employed in it? Are there not other, deeper,
underlying factors to the social problems of
these countries?
‘Fairtrade Cocaine?’ are not denying the
existence of these other issues, they are
simply saying it is not a case of either/or.
The proportion of the economy that benefits
from the drug trade remains illicit. Many
officials have argued for legalisation, (including Iain Duncan Smith!). For now, it is
important to consider the short term impact,
as well as tackling long term causes. And it
remains that some international students
among us at Cambridge have seen at first
hand the social effects of our cocaine habit.
The campaign in Cambridge aims at raising awareness through education. So far,
workshops have been held at Hills Road and
Parkside schools. With broadening support
from sixth form and university students they
hope to expand and become sustainable, with
plans for more school visits, and the creation
of a library of resources… interested? Contact fairtradecocaine@hotmail.com
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
15 MINUTES WITH...
SIR RUPERT JACKSON
CALLY SQUIRES TALKS TO THE HIGH COURT JUDGE AND EX-CAMBRIDGE STUDENT .
Mr. Justice Jackson practised as a barrister
and QC for 25 years. During his career he
ruled on the Mary Archer case and currently,
in his capacity as a High Court judge, deals
primarily with technology and construction disputes. Collaborating with a friend
from Cambridge he has written a book on
professional negligence, the earliest edition
of which was first published in 1982.
Besides your law degree how did your time
at Cambridge help prepare you for the work
you are doing now?
Debating at the Union and being President
of the Union gave me experience in public
speaking.
Do you have any regrets about your time
here?
I wish I had been better at rowing, I was
useless. I rowed in the Jesus 8th boat for one
term and we were bumped every day.
You were called to the Bar in 1972. What
drew you to this path instead of becoming a
solicitor? In retrospect would you make the
same decision again?
I thought that being a solicitor would be
boring. I wanted the cut and thrust of being
a barrister in court. I would make the same
decision again.
What was the most publicised case you
took as a barrister?
Representing about 1,000 haemophiliacs
who were infected with the HIV virus. We
sued the Department of Health in about
1990.
Do you see the legalisation or downgrading
of certain classes of drugs as a positive or
negative step for society?
This question is probably a reference to cannabis, it should not be downgraded.
Are recent constitutional reforms either
necessary or effective?
No.
Do you predict an expansion in the number
of solicitor-advocates in England in the
future? If so, then why?
A slight expansion only. Most young lawyers
who want to be advocates will continue to
come to the Bar.
What would your advice be to anyone
wanting a legal career?
Be totally committed and be prepared to
work long hours.
What path would you have taken had you
not followed the law?
University teaching or researching, possibly
in classics. I read classics for two years and
did Part 1 of the classics tripos. I think I
would have enjoyed being a classics don.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
Still judging.
What has been the most challenging moment of your career?
In 1973 when a magistrate, to whom I had
been making what I thought was an excellent speech, said “those are the most absurd
submissions I have ever heard”.
What has been the most rewarding moment of your career?
Winning the Haemophiliac Litigation
If you have much spare time how do you
spend it?
Unfortunately not much spare time. Playing
bridge, chess and (very badly) golf. Gardening, reading and walking.
What do you know now which you wish you
had known when you were younger?
How to manage time.
What’s happening in
CUSU?
Representation Services Support Campaigns - Your Union
What we did last term.......
Societies Fair, 8 publications, visited 20+ colleges, ran
regular meetings with jcr/mcr officers, sat on over 30
university committees, dealt with a wide variety of
casework, self-defence classes, 34 clubnights,
anti-racism play, chlamydia screening, breast cancer
awareness week
And what we’ll do this term.........
Shadowing Scheme, Open Days and Target Visits,
college rents database, societies publication, more local
discounts on your CUSU card, online voting, training for
societies, mental health awareness week, international
women’s events, moving into a new building and much
more..
For more information go to www.cusu.cam.ac.uk
CUSU Council
Lent 1 - 31st January, 7.15pm
Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens
Including your chance to
represent Cambridge at NUS
Regional Conference
Coming soon:
Shadowing Scheme
Holocaust Memorial Day
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
IMPACT
PAGE 7
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SEVERAL TONNES
OF COCAINE WASH UP ON A BEACH?
ILANA RABURN INVESTIGATES THE DRUGS TRADE IN CENTRAL AMERICA
I t makes sense that the people who
produce drugs, the people they sell the
drugs to, and the people who use the
drugs could all be affected by drug trafficking. And then, it makes sense that
there would be a few other people who
might be affected, like maybe the children
of the drug dealers or the friends of the
drug users. However, people rarely think
about the affect that suddenly finding
vast quantities of cocaine might have on a
remote community. And this has recently
become a serious issue in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean coasts of Central American countries tend to be isolated from
the rest of the countries – both physically
and culturally. Major road networks don’t
reach them and there are few officials
and policemen positioned in the regions.
The inhabitants are African in descent
– rather than European and Amerindian
– and most have retained their Caribbean
heritage in music, food and language.
This seclusion has combined with the
extreme poverty in the regions to make
them susceptible to the drugs trade and it
is difficult for anyone to be caught. But,
unusually, they never tried or expected to
enter the drug trafficking industry.
In many cases, drugs entered people’s
lives as if from nowhere. About twelve
years ago, waterproof packages of cocaine
started washing up onto the beaches of
the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. It washes
up like driftwood and kilos of cocaine can
often be found or fished for in the sea.
Columbian drug merchants on their
way to the USA pass through Nicaraguan
waters and will often throw their goods
overboard rather than be caught by highspeed police boats chasing them.
Other packages enter the sea when
boats capsize (traffickers tend to use small
and unstable ships to avoid being caught).
And because of the ocean currents, the
packages of cocaine tend to wash up in
certain coastal villages.
No one knew what the white
powder was when it first
washed up; some thought that it
might be bicarbonate of soda
Apparently no one knew
what the white powder
was when it first washed
up; some thought that it
might be bicarbonate of
soda. So the local fishermen divided up the
cocaine and took it home
to investigate. This is an
area where fishermen have
struggled to catch a living
for many generations and
most people believe that
anything found in the sea
is a godsend. For them,
what they discovered to
be cocaine was a natural
resource that belonged to
them in exactly the same
way as the fish and lobster
in the sea.
The local fishermen soon
began to sell the packets
of cocaine – either back to
the Colombian smugglers Many fishermen have started
if they returned, or on to
fishing only for what has become
drug users in Nicaragua.
known as “white lobster”.
And from this, the small
communities were able to
from overdoses and it is almost impossible
raise a lot of money.
to control the problem since the drug is
The returns from selling drugs proved
so accessible. In some communities, it
far greater than they could have got from
is estimated that up to 70% of the popufishing or from growing beans and corn.
lation (men, women and children) are
Money made from it was used to build
drug-users.
clinics, schools and community centres.
While Nicaragua has been hit the most,
Some church authorities even labelled it
cocaine has also entered the lives of those
“God’s blessing” and promoted using the
on the coasts of Guatemala, Honduras,
drugs money – so long as members of
Costa Rica, and Panama. Some peothe congregation didn’t actually take the
ple find cocaine, and others are paid in
drugs. Indeed, the only way that a lot of
cocaine for gasoline by Colombian dealers
people have been able to put food on the
when their speedboats need to refuel.
table has been from their involvement
Nicaragua and Guatemala were both in
with the cocaine. Many fishermen have
civil war until comparatively recently and
started fishing only for what has become
the countries still have plenty of guns;
known as “white lobster”.
many locals are approached by ColumbiOf course, while it’s true that some
ans wanting to swap drugs for arms.
communities have gained schools and
Drug trafficking is illegal everywhere
hospitals, others have been all but de– whether or not it is used for community
stroyed from the effects of drugs. When
development and even if it is endorsed by
it is recovered off the beaches, some inevi- the local churches.
tably makes it into the communities. And
But because of the isolation of the
so long as cocaine is cheaper than beer,
Caribbean coasts, few people in Central
drug abuse is bound to happen. Dozens
America have actually been imprisoned
of children at the local school have died
for their part in the drugs trade and cor-
Image by Ilana Raburn
ruption is rife. They say that someone is
more likely to be imprisoned for stealing
a chicken than trading a tonne of cocaine.
The drug dealers all have money and are
able to bribe officials not to imprison
them.
Ethically it all seems to be a bit muddled. If people find something that could
be used to build a school or a health
clinic, shouldn’t they use it to do so? But
then should they really sell the drugs on
to young addicts? In which case, what
could they do with the drugs that have
washed up of their own accord?
The “correct” thing to do if someone
finds kilos of cocaine floating on the Cam
would presumably be to hand it in to the
police.
But these Caribbean communities can
hardly do that when there is no police
force and even less when the police force
is such a corrupt one. It is not at all clear
how they can get out of the cycle and in
the mean time most people have forgotten about other ways in which they might
make money.
FEATURES@TCS.CAM.AC.UK
PAGE 8
IMPACT
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
CUSU WOMEN’S OFFICER HARRIET BOULDING EXPLORES ANTHROPOLOGY, AMBITION AND THE NEW YEAR FROM A WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVE
Traditionally, this is the time of year for
self improvement. We try to be, as Daft Punk
would say, harder, better, faster, stronger
versions of ourselves. This is fine until you
realise that, as a Cambridge student, you
are already the cat’s pyjamas, the improved
model, the product of superior genes and impeccable breeding. As those who are just now
receiving apologetic letters of rejection from
college admissions offices are discovering,
even the average Cambridge student is quite
extraordinary. Life as an Arch and Anth
applicant is particularly bad: who cares if you
read Argonauts of the Western Pacific at age
9? There will be some nauseating little know
it all who spent their childhood summers
gallivanting round the Trobriand Islands in a
kula canoe. And that’s just the boys.
Surveying the anthropological landscape of
Cambridge, the women sometimes appear to
me as ontological clothes horses (bear with
me here). Much more than the straightforwardly brilliant men, women are the
transient walls on which the various different perceptions of greatness in Cambridge
are displayed. Just as in the shady pages of
popular culture in which women are often
merely the means to show off a handbag to
best effect, Cambridge women are the ultimate medium via which the multiple values
of academic excellence, social distinction and
effervescent rhetoric may be displayed. In
photo: Kate Moss wears a Prada Parka with
special edition crocodile skin Marc Jacobs
Stam Handbag with brass detail. In Cambridge: Miss Smith-Jones of Caius College,
2nd year, wears a 2:1 in history, a lead role in
several theatrical events (ranging from panto
to opera), and will row for her college first
boat for a limited time before next season
when the academic vogue comes to the fore.
This notion could of course be taken more
literally when one considers the various
‘stash’ that students collect from the activities that embellish their CVs (you know, the
hoodies proclaiming ‘ADC theatre production 2004, Maid played by Sally ‘totally
mental’ Brown’ and such like). The irony is
that, although women wear the beanie hat of
academic potential, the necklace of shining
wit and the shoes of crush-you confidence,
underneath the adornments many continue
to be chronically undervalued, most of all,
by themselves. Just once, I would like to see
a Cambridge woman who, at the start of the
year, proclaims that things are pretty damn
sweet. Not rolling in it, the hills are alive,
guaranteed 1st sweet, but fairly cushy in the
grand scheme of things.
However, unfortunately the pressure felt
by women everywhere to better themselves
at New Year is apparently relative, meaning that many women in Cambridge give
themselves the frankly eye-watering task of
improving on practically perfect in every way.
Regardless of the fact that academically they
are firmly in the top 1% of students in the
country, the library
time must be upped
to a minimum 6
hours a day. A
glittering social life
is clearly meaningless without a new
image and an extra
groomed appearance. Plus, just like
most other women
their age they are
resolving to eat
more healthily/ lose
weight/ drink less and quit smoking (although I do know of one individual who has
resolved to smoke more, and would not wish
her to go unrepresented).
It seems unlikely that any one of these
additional pressures will actually do a girl any
good. Further, I am particularly concerned
that Cambridge women might falter under
the weight of the additional expectations that
they display. When making resolutions and
setting new targets, remember: happiness
helps you achieve goals, not the other way
round.
THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT
IMPACT
PAGE 11
Under the Influence:
Drugs and Literature
...Sam Brett explores the history of literary drug use
Jimmy Appleton
Drugs have, for a long time, been associated
with arty types living lives of beautifully debauched
Bohemianism. What is rarely recognised, however,
is the actual impact of drugs on Western literature.
From de Quincey to Self, drugs have been a ‘popular’
undercurrent in literature and have often served
as a thematic launch pad leading authors to make
valuable contributions in other areas. So sit comfortably, have your Rizlas at the ready (for cigarettes of
course...), and prepare for a hedonistic, hallucinogenic, and hopefully informative tour through the seedy
world of drugs and literature...
The first major appearance of drugs in modern
Western literature comes in the form of Thomas
de Quincey. Controversial at the time of writing,
his book ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater’
continues to be a succés de scandale and still holds a
degree of notoriety. This book, however, is more than
just an account of hedonism and drug abuse. It set
the tone for the treatment of drugs in literature for
decades to come. Readers expecting an orgy of opium
and sordid details will be disappointed: the book is a
free and frank account of drug addiction, beginning
with an extended explanation of how the author
came to use opium, and then a relation of his experiences with the drug.
This style of writing, with few punches pulled
and the author retreating to allow his readers to
form their own conclusions from his experiences,
would become a standard for future generations of
Jimmy Appleton
writers. De Quincey openly related hideous visions
experienced whilst under the influence, and it is hard
to imagine a sensible reader coming away from the
‘Confessions’ with a positive view of opium use.
A more mainstream writer, indeed one of the
most famous names in English literature, not only
for his use of drugs for inspiration, is Samuel Taylor
Coleridge. As most readers will know, his influence as
a poet cannot be underestimated, and his use of drugs
is equally famous. The magisterial visions of ‘Kubla
Khan’ were, according to its author, experienced
during an opium induced reverie, and it was only an
untimely visit from his next door neighbour which
caused him to forget the end of the poem (so he said,
“a bizarrely dressed and
bloodshot-eyed Hunter
Thompson made waves
with his new style of
‘gonzo’ reporting
”
it is more likely that he simply forgot it or didn’t himself understand what he had written down so far!).
Nonetheless, the results are one of the most
remarkably pieces of English verse, and, whether due
to drugs or not, one of the most complex and highly
interpretable. Coleridge is an example of an author
who used drugs as inspiration, incorporating them
into the image of the poet, but who did not give
them a prominent role in his work or treat them as a
subject in themselves.
Continuing this vein of poets and drugs, our trip
now takes us over the Channel to France. Most
readers will have heard of the legendary French poet
Arthur Rimbaud. Again famous for his use of hashish and absinth, it would again be wrong to say that
his art took narcotics as their centrepiece. Rimbaud’s
philosophy saw the poet as ‘voyant’, a seer or vision-
ary, undergoing a ‘massive, reasoned and complete
disordering of the senses’. The main aspects of this
were a re-working of contemporary religious and political principles, as well as an attack on the standard
verse forms of the day, framed by a mode of viewing
the world which was almost virginal in its innocence.
Drugs were, in fact, only a small part of Rimbaud’s
attempts to alter his world view, and although they
do often appear in his poems, they generally do so
only in the context of a lead-in to a religious or philosophical discourse. As we can see from the example
of Rimbaud, drugs were becoming a part of the poet’s
arsenal, a part of his image, ‘lying in the gutter, gazing
up at the stars’, and, dare I say it, were later controlled
and utilised by authors such as Poe and Verlaine.
The next major author to deal with drugs is
perhaps more famous as a social commentator and
psychologist. As well as ‘Brave New World’, Aldous
Huxley wrote numerous pieces dealing with human
perception, psychology, and political philosophy.
As well as numerous experiments with LSD (not
really the main subject area of this article), Huxley
used drugs as a launch pad from which to mount an
attack on contemporary society. Huxley believed that
humans must ‘cleanse the doors of perception’, to use
Blake’s terms, and in this way could change politics
and society for the better. He proposed the use of
drugs to help do this. However, it must be noted
that in ‘Brave New World’ Huxley shows how drugs
can, instead of sharpening the senses, dull them; the
image of hordes of people on constant soma holidays
stands completely opposed to the poets vision of
freedom.
After the Second World War, the thread of drugs
was picked up by the Beat writers and, foremost
among them, William Burroughs. His first major
book, ‘Junky’, stands in the tradition of writing
started by de Quincey, and, with its down and dirty,
no-stains-hidden approach to its subject, is widely
cited as one of the most influential books of the
post-was period. Without a doubt, it was his life as a
heroin addict which led Burroughs to create a novel
which stood opposed to the glossy patriotism of
mainstream post-war American writers, and, in the
process, greatly influenced modern authors such as
Philip K Dick and Stewart O’Nan.
More important than ‘Junky’, and more fulfilling a
work of art, is Burroughs’ piece de resistance, ‘Naked
Lunch’. Almost unique among literature old or new,
‘Naked Lunch’ removes drugs from the central position they held in ‘Junky’ and turns them into a filter
through which to view wider issues. In this way, we
can say that Burroughs moved from being an author
in the de Quincey vein to being a Huxley or Rimbaudesque writer. Drugs, for Burroughs, provided a
point of departure for a critique of modern media,
consumerism, and the medical drug industry.
On a superficial reading, ‘Naked Lunch’ may
appear to be the orgy of debauchery which readers
sought in de Quincey, but closer and more insightful examination will reveal that it is in fact a far
more valuable work. Burroughs uses an underworld
consisting of battered addicts, diabolical dealers, and
run-down squats and shooting galleries as an allegory
to the reduction of consumers, by corporations and
the media, to the level of addicts dependant upon
their daily fix of brands and capitalism. His character
Dr Benway, as well being one the most striking
characters in modern literature, is an example of the
equally twisted medical drug industry, with its vested
interests and internal corruption.
Throughout the 1960s, narcotics were never far
from the minds of a generation of precocious writers. In the journalism world, a bizarrely dressed and
bloodshot-eyed Hunter Thompson made waves with
his new style of ‘gonzo’ reporting, although drugs
can’t be given direct credit for this. While Alan Ginsberg breathed new life into poetry and inspired a new
epoch in literature, writers such as Ken Kesey and
Abbie Hoffman rattled establishment cages, using
drugs as a framework for social and legal critique.
In modern times, a whole generation of authors
have found inspiration in the works of Burroughs. In
their front rank stands Will Self, often cited, along
with Martin Amis and Ian McEwan, as one of the
“Readers expecting an
orgy of opium and sordid details will be disappointed
”
most talented contemporary authors. Irvin Welsh,
in books such as ‘Trainspotting’, has also kept up the
literary trend begun by de Quincey, with stomach
turning images of heroin abuse.
Self ’s work is, in many ways, a synthesis of the
trends begun by ‘Junky’ and Huxley. On the one
hand, his essays on drugs (published in the insightful
volume ‘Junk Mail’) should be required reading for
politicians formulating drugs policies. On the other
hand, his fiction, such as ‘The Quantitiy Theory of
Insanity’, and ‘Cock and Bull’ obviously owe a lot to
the visceral world of chemical dependence, without
dealing with drugs directly. Other drug obsessed
authors in modern times include J G Ballard, whose
books such as ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ and ‘Cocaine
Nights’ give twisted testaments to the grotesquery of
modern capitalism, again using drugs as a common
theme.
Phew. As we can clearly see, needles and pens
have often sat together on the same desk, sometimes
producing the most striking effects. We should not
draw the conclusion that the above authors would
not have been talented writers and articulate thinkers
if not for narcotics, that would be to miss the point
entirely. Rather, drugs added to their inspiration, and
opened new avenues for them to explore, as well as
changing the style in which they wrote, often with far
reaching results.
However, far from appearing pro-drugs, the frank
accounts given of lives ruined by drug use, especially
in Burroughs and de Quincey, serve to counterbalance any perceived positive aspects to their use.
Please, dear reader, when you leave this article, be
inspired to pick up a book you may not have read
before, not a needle and spoon.
The Cambridge Student
Impact
Page 12
The Morning After
This week, TCS fashion suggests that it’s a good idea to get fucked n’ bombed, gently mocking the fashion
wankery that was ‘heroin chic’. Get yourself a Resolve and join the fun...
I
n the beginning there was the word. And the word was smack. Or probably even
horse. It was the mid-1990s, a veritable era of gobshite, Zack Morris and Ronan
Keating. Amidst all of this came a fashion phenomenon that came to be labelled
‘heroin chic’, where Kate Moss learnt not to do facial expressions, a skill for life. The
idea being that models were waifs, skinny and looking a wee bit dead all the time, the infamy
of the trend fully pissed off Bill Clinton, who’s insight extended to ‘It’s not beautiful. It is
ugly’.
Heroin chic:
1. A fashion trend begun in the late 1990s revolving around models who bore characteristics
of heroin addicts.
That’s Wiktionary’s biting critique. It may even be grammatically incorrect. Of course, the
media coverage of last year’s size 00 scandal liked to bandy about the phrase ‘heroin chic’ liberally, being as it referred to using models who were A Bit Skinny and looked A Bit Dead. It’s
an easy comparison to make, but it helps to draw the distinctions between the two. The point
is that in many ways, the cult of heroin chic wasn’t the glamorisation of drugs, overlooking the
processes of highs, lows and comedowns. The acid trip of the 1960s was nowhere to be seen,
because what the likes of Calvin Klein were doing, whether they saw it as so or not, was glamorising death. It’s little surprise, therefore, that Klein and chums went searching for new ideas
(and still waiting, Calvin…) after the death by overdose of photographer Davide Sorrenti.
The problem with heroin chic lies less with the actual phenomenon itself than the hangover
from it. It’s hardly a secret that fashion designers are continuing to use models that are a bit
on the thin side, but where this managed to fit in with the aesthetic of heroin chic, the danger
is now that it seems to have become the norm. It’s easier to make clothes look good on waifs,
since they seem to hang off all the right bones. It just seems interesting that the standard claim
of many a designer is to celebrate the female form, without ever dressing a woman that looks
Above: Tux jacket = Horne Brothers/ Bow Tie = Moss Bros
Opposite (top): Denim jacket = Rokit/ Dress =Primark/ Shoes = Primark
Opposite (below): Braces = H&M/ Top = H&M/ Waistcoat = Topshop/ Necklace = Topshop/
Jeans = Monsoon/ Shoes = Salvatore Ferragamo
like she’s beyond puberty. You know, the ones with tits and arse and stuff. Heroin chic was a
look, one of the ridiculous dreams of fashion that perhaps went a little too far, where Size 00
is a fashion pandemic.
The relationship between drugs and the world of fashion is one that extends far beyond
Flaunted and Sexualised by Lianne and Patrick
sneaky cameraphone shots of Kate Moss with a line of coke, and it’ll be there for as long as it
Models robbed of all dignity by Hannah
takes for DKNY to ever get it right. Precisely. But as for heroin chic, the Kate Moss 1997
Eyes and skin made sore by MAC Cosmetics
shoot for Vogue taking pride of place in ‘Face of Fashion’ at the NPG is testament to its lasting
impact. But it belonged to a time of Kurt & Courtney and it, like fashion generally, should
always be treated with a tongue-in-cheek attitudes that reflects just how bloody silly the whole
thing really is.
Page 13
Impact
The Cambridge Student
“And this is not about art. It’s about life and death.” - Bill Clinton
Photos by Hannah Nakano
26
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
What’s On
MUSIC
THEATRE
AND DANCE
West Road Concert Hall
King’s College Chapel
West Road Concert Hall
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Corn Exchange
Friday 19th January brings the
Academy of Ancient Music Fundraising concert.
Ticket prices vary
Starts at 7.30pm with a preconcert talk from Richard Egarr
at 6.30pm
CU Chamber Choir on Saturday
20th January brings “one of the
most sublime and best-loved
choral works”
Bach’s Mass in B Minor
8pm, Tickets at corn exchange
office
Monday 22nd January brings a
concert with included pieces by
Schumann and Thurlow.
Matthew Schellborn piano
concert
8pm, Pre-concert talk, by Thurlow at 7.15pm
Claire Martin brings her smoky,
rock and roll jazz to Cambridge
Solid Air Tour: John Martyn
ADC
ADC
The ETG tour comes to
Cambridge with Shakespeare’s
Macbeth
Tuesday 18th-Saturday 20th
January
7.45pm
Brecht’s classic and controversial text is brought to you this
term
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Wed 24th-Sat 20th January.
11pm
“Best British jazz singer for a
generation”
“Scottish song-writing genius”
Don’t miss out on this rare opportunity!
Saturday 20th January
7.45pm
Tickets vary from £10 to £20
Sunday 21st January
Doors open at 6.45pm
£24.50
Cambridge CCArts Theatre
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Henri Oguike Dance Company
“Oguike’s musicality, wit and
intelligence are just blinding”
Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday
24th January
7.45pm
Tickets vary between £10 and
£20
Thursday 18th January
CLUBS AND
GIGS
Wychweed, Crypt and The
Latahs at the Kambar, 9pm
£3 on door, £2 with flyer
Battle of the Bands at the Junction, 7pm, £5
WORKSHOPS
AND ART
CU Contemporary Dance
ADC
Elemental…Cambridge Dancing
at its best!
From 23rd-27th January
7.45pm
£7/£5: Tues-Thu
£8/£6: Fri-Sat
Club 22
Kinki at Ballare
Urbanite now comes to Club 22,
Tuesday 23rd January
Thursday 18th January with Tim Pirates and the Chance of some
Westwood
treasure!
Sunday 21st January, Bare What
You Dare!
Arts Picturehouse
An Introduction to Understanding Film
Every Tuesday from 16th January,
6pm-8pm
Do you enjoy watching movies?
Would you like to learn more
about film?
Corn Exchange
FEZ CLUB
Jimmy Carr returns with a
brand new stand up show:
Gag Reflex
“Comfy sofas, good drinks and
music. But beware of that mirror!”
Tuesday 23rd January
Contact the box office directly
to obtain tickets
Monday-Thursday: 9pm-2am
Friday-Saturday: 9pm-3am
Sunday: 8.30-12.30pm
KETTLE’S YARD
Castle Street
This year is celebrating its 50th
anniversary and so from the
Saturday 20th January it will
host an exhibition of GaudierBrzeska and the birth of modern sculpture.
Including artists like Matisse and
Picasso
COMING SOON...
HILARIOUS AND MAD-CAP
ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE
WHOLE FAMILY! WINNERS
OF THE CFA AWARD FOR
BEST COMEDY ACT IN 2006
If you’re looking to amuse and
amaze the family on Sunday 4th
February, take them along to the
Broadway Theatre, Peterborough
for the fun-filled and unmissable
show, Circus Hilarious - The 2007
Tour
Ticket prices from £8
Box Office: 01733 316100
January 18 2007 The Cambridge Student
27
We have moved Urbanite to Club Twenty Two so that
we can continue to offer you the best in Urban Sounds,
Bigger DJs, and better value!
Every Thursday 10pm - 2am
Q Jump: email pb406@cam.ac.uk
Upcoming Dates:
18th Jan - Tim
Westwood
25th Jan - Manny Norte
(Kiss FM)
1st Feb - Shortee Blitz
(Kiss FM)
Students never pay
more than £4 for our
big name guests!!!
**Accept no Imitations**
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
28
Theatre.
Everyone has a story to tell...
All you have to do is listen...
can included those with disabilities, criminal
offenders, or those for whom mainstream education is not working. The arts, in essence,
So…what’s all this community theatre malar- are a vehicle to help a multitude of people to
key about? Those were my exact words in “re-engage with their local communities and
December 2003 when I undertook some work in turn develop new skills and self esteem”.
experience with Interplay Theatre Company, From the ‘Lyrical Quest’ literary competition,
based in Leeds. I enjoyed theatre, heck, I loved poetry performance, or pod-casting competibeing on the stage, I revelled in others that had tions, there is always lots going on.
the necessary talent to make an audience gasp,
Tools of the Trade is a programme run by
and doggedly followed the famous practition- Interplay that takes young people out of school
ers that toured up and down the country. Still for one day a week and encourages their talents
do, in fact. So what was this community thea- in music, theatre or film. “Programmes are
tre jobby, and, if it wasn’t set up to promote tailored to their needs and participants quickly
fame and glory for those that had the WOW realise the success or failure of the project is in
factor in showbiz, then what place did it have their hands,” Madeleine Irwin, the programme
in my life?
co-ordinator, states, “They are responsible for
Well – so I was young, and relatively naive. their behaviour and commitment.” And at the
When you are 17, have an ounce of talent and forefront of all this, is Interplay Theatre’s resithe blissfully ignorant idea that you can be dent artistic director Steve Byrne.
anything you want to be, there doesn’t appear
Steve is one of those guys who one canto be any reason why you would acquaint not help liking instantly. I met him at the
yourself with those less capable or lucky as door of the ‘theatre’ – a community centre
you. And here in Cambridge, with multitudes with two large rooms upstairs for acting and
of opportunities at our very fingertips to get dance workshops and 3 soundproof basement
involved in all aspects of
studios that housed decktheatre, and with the brains,
ing, mixing and recordand for some of us, wealth,
ing equipment, as well as
In the space of
to get where we want to
instruments of all shapes
be, it’s easy to forget about
and sizes. “Some Theatre”
those in the UK that have
I silently huffed as I took
one week I met
more health problems, fewer
Steve’s hand. He gave it
opportunities, and little
a squeeze, sized me up
with more quietly
encouragement from famand led me through to the
ily or school to pursue their
‘office’.
talented people...
hobbies or nurture their
“Here, we’re more of
talents. And that’s where than I think I ever will a hands-on organisation.
Tools of the Trade comes
None of this admin rubin. Affiliated with Interplay
bish! ” I remember him
again in my life
Theatre Company, this
saying, as I noted piles of
organization helps “young
paper, stuffed into filing
people who experience economic, social and cabinets, strewn over tables and desks, the
sensory barriers to realise their potential by phones ringing non-stop and only just being
creating and experiencing the arts”.
answered. Hands-on indeed! What was the
Interplay works across all art forms – as well meaning of all this drama and disorder in the
as theatre, it teaches through the medium of office, this glorified church hall posing as a
film, music, visual arts, radio and literature, theatre, and Steve Byrne with his infectious
in order to engage children, young people smile?
and adults who feel excluded. These people
I was soon to find out. Over a period of one
Amy Barnes
“
”
trouble on the streets or watching their dreams
slowly go down the pan. This is what community theatre is about.
At the end of my week I was swallowing
my words with red-faced shame. Having been
lucky enough to watch an Interplay Theatre
production of Shakespeare’s A Winters Tale,
one that truly inspired – and not just because
it was accomplished by less fortunate or able
bodied persons than we see on the ADC stage
today – it encouraged me to consider branching
out in my own acting style.
Seeing what a disabled person can do with
their body, or how a young person failing in
the mainstream school system can emotionally connect with an audience and make them
believe he is who he attempts to portray, is simply magical, and should push each and every
actor – and every director too – to broaden
their vision of what is possible to achieve, and
push them to extend their comfort zone in art.
I know it did for me.
And Steve Byrne was right. Stuff the paper
work, the hesitating, the dawdling, the political correctness. Bring on instead the hands-on
attitude that creates confidence, joy and art
appreciation for the most unlikely candidates.
week I met with more quietly talented people, There is community theatre being produced all
more passion and enthusiasm, more genres and around – theatre that has no place for the snobtechniques of art appreciation then I think bery or the prejudice emitted from the thespy
I ever will again in my life. Young offend- world of today. There are no limits in art, and
there certainly isn’t any limit to
ers were spinning vinyl
my personal admiration of those
drink ing coca-cola,
involved in community theatre.
whereas
other w ise
This theatre has no It’s time to get interested, get
they may have been sat
researching, and more imporidly on a wall outside
drinking cheap vodka. place for the snobbery tantly of all - get involved!
If you would like to find
W heelchair
bound
singers began belt- or prejudice emitted out more information about
Interplay Theatre Company,
ing out their extraorvisit their website at http://
dinary talent into a
from the thespy
w w w. i n t e r p l a y t h e a t r e . o r g /
microphone, whereas
about_us.htm.
otherwise they might
world of today
Fen & Roots, a juxtaposition
have been sat at home
of Caryl Churchill’s Fen and
in front of the telly.
ADHD suffers, blind children, juvenile delin- Arnold Wesker’s Roots, is piece of community
quents and the deaf were all meeting together theatre by The Young Actors Company Ltd
to work out their frustration and energy on is being shown at the junction, shed 2, from
the stage to ultimately produce a fantastically Monday 22nd January – Wednesday 24th
engaging piece of theatre as opposed to causing January.
“
”
January 18, 2007 The Cambridge Student
29
Theatre.
Violent Acts kicks off...
The ADC showcases a wealth of talent in new writing
David Walter Hall and James Topham explore
how people live together and fall apart in
Violent Acts, a striking piece of new writing
presented by Close Knit Productions at the
ADC Theatre from Tuesday, 30 January to Saturday, 3 February. In the 24 hours surrounding
a university graduation, eight people are faced
with the physical and emotional consequences
of the violence both around and within them.
As relationships reach breaking point, the only
constant will be the clock on stage keeping the
audience oriented to the complex chronology
of the play.
Violent Acts is the product of the Close
Knit Writer’s Project 2006 focused on bringing
new writing to Cambridge. Eight actors, two
writers, and a director experimented with im-
provisation, undertook character analysis
exercises, and worked in different mediums to
produce this unique and powerful piece. The
polished script resulting from this extraordinary collaboration is a powerful response to
events in the public and private world.
Violent Acts’ high artistic standard and
uncommon method of conception have created
a performance filled with nuance and richness
and the realistic non-linear storytelling will
give the audience a sense of picking up the
pieces of the lives which shatter before them
onstage. This thought-provoking production
demonstrates how violence lurks even in the
most civilized places.
Former students of the University of
Images courtesy of Close Knit Productions
Cambridge, David and James return to
the ADC with their latest work afer
achieving previous success in both London and
New York.
Violent Acts is showing at the
Using a series of their own experiences as
ADC from 30 January —
a base for this play, this show promises to be
3 February at 7.45 pm
both thought-proviking and entertaining. A
Thursday - Friday £7/£5
must for all those thinking of trying out their
Friday - Saturday £8/£6
own hand at new writing, this show is full of
Free online booking at
inspirational ideas...
www.adctheatre.com
Box office: 01223 300085
Le Cabaret
du
“
”
Néant Engaging
quirkiness
A night of
desperate satire,
sensuous whimsy
and bitter irony
in songs, chansons, lieder and
schläger by S atie,
S choenberg,
Eisler, Weill,
Cage, Geoff rey
Hannan, Rober t Fokkens and
L aurence Crane.
P ulse is expanding c abaret
as a medium,
providing an
avenue for
composers tolet
their hair down
and loosen their
tongues on contemporar y social
issues,f rom asbos
to schiz ophrenia. This show
explores the
archaeolog y of
c abaret
song, f rom its
beginnings in
French c afes,
through pre-war
Germany, postwar Amer ic a,
to 21st Centur y
Br itain.
P ulse are: S arah
Dacey (Chanteuse), Rob
Fokkens (Chanteur et Compère), Belinda
Jones (P iano),
Rosie Banks
(Cello) and
Catr iona S cott
(Clar inet)
The Times
“Colourful,
challenging
and witty
”
- Classical Source
Saturday 20th January 2007 - 7.30pm
The Theatre, Peterhouse,
Trumpington Street, Cambridge
Tickets - £8/£4
Event Box Office:
robertfokkens@tiscali.co.uk
For further information contact Rob
Fokkens on 07812 197843
The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
30
Film.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro’s dark fairytale blends fascists and fantasy...
Sophie Erskine
The sun is really at its zenith for award-winning
filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. As part of a
dynamic generation of Mexican filmmakers –
among them his good friend Alfonso Cuarón
(Children of Men) - del Toro has revitalised
Mexican cinema while successfully straddling the
dual horses of independent cinema and fat-cat,
butter-sweet blockbusterage. In this, his sixth
and most ambitious film, the director yet again
unleashes his creativity to the world, presenting an
enchanted fairy-tale for grown-ups which is at once
artistically stunning and impressively chilling.
The story, set in post-civil-war Spain, is woven
through the eyes of 12-year-old Ofelia (Ivana
Baquero), who, having arrived in the countryside
to stay with her psychopathic stepfather Vidal
(a menacing Sergi López, for whom the part
was specially written), discovers that he, a rebel
Nationalist posted to hunt out Republican
immigrants, is a heartless tyrant who only wants
her mother (Ariadna Gil) to beget him an heir.
In order to seek dark refuge from her new cruel
life, she escapes into a richly-textured dreamworld
involving a confusing fawn, a banquet of forbidden
fruit and a gigantic toad; and, in this alternative
universe, far from being an innocent and vulnerable
child, she is a brave, forgotten princess, who
must return to her prestigious position through
completing various perilous tasks. Ignoring her
mother’s pleas to put away her storybooks, and
Vidal’s disgust at the sight of them, Ofelia sinks
further and further into her imagination; and,
despite the comfort of warm-hearted housekeeper
Mercedes (co-producer Maribel Verdú) – who also
has some secrets to hide - she is led through her
magic to face a tragic reality. As she realises that
the monsters in her mind are mere shadows of
those wielding real guns before her, Ofelia must
make critical decisions affecting her own life and
those around her.
This is a film about imagination: about its
power, its ability to provide a haven for those
in troubled times and to act as a catharsis
to resolve conflict , but also its danger – its
inextricable link with reality and the fact that
its intensity can sometimes overflow in violent
ways (warning: this film is, not undeservingly,
rated R). At the same time, del Toro provides a
story in which the similarity between the worlds
of reality and of imagination is paramount
– the audience is encouraged to notice the
uncanny in the real, and the recognisable in
the fantastic, and various visual clues suggest
that Ofelia’s alternative universe is not all that
far from the original, brutal one. With regard
to this dreaminess of the film, Del Toro has
widely discussed his inspiration from 16th-19th
century Spanish folklore, which, like Grimm’s
fairytales, are filled to the brim not only with
beauty and enchantment but also with blood and
violence; and it is clear that Vidal, proponent
of remorseless repression and wholesale, blind
violence, personifies all that is grimm in these
yarns.
But even if all that far-out thinking doesn’t
appeal, Pan’s Labyrinth is still a treat for the
eyes and a setting for a host of clearly-defined, if
sometimes one-dimensional, personalities played
by recently-risen international stars. Awardguzzling López, noted for his ambiguous,
sociopathic roles, does not disappoint; Gil, also
famed for taking difficult parts, does an alluring
yet tear-jerking job; while up-and-coming screen
queen Baquero is scarily adept. And if you ever
saw the Emmy-nominated episode of Buffy,
“Hush”, you’ll be pleased to see monster expert
Doug Jones as the important fawn.
Anticipated in del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone
in 2001, this is an exhilarating film – horrible,
and intentionally so. And, however unlikely
it may seem that a project aiming to harness
formal characteristics of gothic folklore to a
20th century landscape of war and politics could
earn a Golden Globe nomination, it certainly
happened that way. Packed with emotion, this is
a story of strength against oppression, of growing
up while retaining one’s faith in magic, and of
political blindness. Reality is brutal, kids, so go see
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ if you want a worthwhile escape
- it’ll leave a spell on you for sure.
tension: Stallone repeatedly looks close to a
cardiac arrest and you wonder if he can write
himself another implausible victory before his
left ventricle collapses. It all gets tied up in a
satisfying conclusion which provides the
finale for one of cinema’s most unashamedly
entertaining franchises.
JAMES GARNER
Rocky Balboa
“What we’ll be calling on is blunt force trauma,
heavy duty punches that’ll rattle his ancestors…
Let’s start building some hurtin’ bombs.” To
some, a piece of clunky dialogue. To others,
an irresistible invitation to rejoin Stallone’s
perennial underdog in his 6th film. This time,
a greater suspension of disbelief is required
than ever before as a 59-year old, short, ItalianAmerican, living in squalor despite being a
boxing icon and nationally loved, pulls on his
gloves one last time to fight the undefeated,
undisputed heavyweight champion of the
world.
Rocky starts the film mourning his wife and
running a low rent restaurant in his hometown
Philadelphia. Meanwhile his son, possibly
intended as a symbol of Stallone himself, is
exasperated by living in Rocky’s long shadow.
It takes a wonderfully hokey plot-device to
get things moving when a computerised bout
between Rocky and the current champ “gets
a lot of people curious.” The champ is Mason
“The Line” Dixon (Antonio Tarver), the selfdoubting king of a lacklustre heavyweight
division, who unlike Rocky’s previous opponents
is more character than caricature.
The film is obviously a vehicle for Stallone
who picks up acting, writing, directing and
producing credits and reminds everyone why
he was one of the biggest box office draws of
the 1980s. He was even Oscar-nominated for
his performance in Rocky before the Academy
remembered that acting involves pretending to
be someone else. Truly nobody could play this
character as well as its creator whose gentle
wit and hangdog charm provides the heart
of the piece. Rocky’s homespun philosophy
is strangely endearing and Stallone brings an
unexpected pathos to lines like ‘What’s crazy
about standing toe to toe, saying, “I am”?’
Rocky Balboa has bucked the trend of the
series by winning a warm critical reception,
seemingly because Rocky having lost all his
money allows it to be described as ‘gritty.’
In truth it is no more venerable than its
forbears, which all do the same thing but do
it well. Compared to them, it is the fight itself
where this instalment is strongest - if you can
overlook the disturbing sight of the musclebound ‘Balboasaurus.’ This is due to genuine
January 18th 2007 The Cambridge Student
31
Film.
Drugs, dealers and deception...
For this week’s Drugs issue, Amy Barnes looks back on Ken Loach’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’.
As the film is set in the shadow of the it acceptable to profit by actively promoting
closed shipbuilding yards, the theme of the same illegal substance that has caused his
unemployment and the responsibility that beloved mother to be banged up in the first
stems from taking care of oneself, and others, place? Does Liam believe family ties to be
seeps into the very core of the protagonists’ stronger than the addictive drug that worms its
activities. As Liam and Pinball muscle their way into people’s bodies, pockets, and wallets?
way into the world of drug dealing, it becomes If so – then why does he behave the way
he does to his sister at the end
all too easy to see how this kind
(without giving too much away
of ‘employment’ is much more
here)? The situation presented
financially profitable than any
. . . p u n c h y to us is sinister, and depressing
other job a fifteen year-old could
in its very inevitability. The
acquire. The capitalist system is
mocked and spat at for callously dialogue keeps unpredictable twist that provides
a conclusion to Liam’s lifestyle as
abandoning its workers in times
of desperate need. Director the viewers on he knows it is, if we look at the
facts Loach presents to us, not
Ken Loach and screenwriter
toes as unpredictable at all.
Paul Laverty, through the their
It is a lamentable shame that
activities and viewpoint of
Liam, ultimately put an ironic Liam descends Ken Loach’s films rarely get
released for cinema viewing.
spin on the Thatcherite ethos of
further
into Often shunted to the sidelines as
entrepreneurial self-help.
being too ‘political’ or ‘difficult’,
With the use of some intriguing
criminal Loach’s films do not pretend
cinematography, and superb this
to fit into the class of ‘screen
acting derived from Loach’s
entertainment’. Yet whilst this
commitment to improvisation underworld...
may not be their primary purpose,
and spontaneity on set, the
Sweet Sixteen – and many others
audience becomes transported
into Liam’s world. There is little that stirs the – are entertaining, juxtaposing a character’s
emotion more than to see a character, whom quirky sense of humour with a realistic
one has come to know well through shared situation. Sometimes, it seems, the only thing
experience, resorting to tactics of deceit and left to do when faced with inevitability is
destruction in order to make ends meet. laugh. I certainly did, a lot. And my guess
Humorous encounters with the police, acts is that you will too. I’d recommend this film
of violence from desperate addicts and the to anyone that is not afraid to be shown the
constant flow of punchy dialogue keeps the darker side of existence, as well as to judge
viewers on their toes as Liam descends further for yourselves whether your choices in Liam’s
situation would have been any different to his.
into this criminal underworld.
The biggest battle however is evidently one I doubt not. He is, remember, after all simply
trapped within Liam’s own consciousness – is a boy of fifteen.
“
”
Sweet Sixteen is powerful in the mediums
of theme, language, and imagery. Released
in 2002, this film follows the life of fifteenyear-old Liam (Martin Compston) as he
prepares for his ex-heroin addicted mother
to be released from prison. Set in Greenock,
a rundown town near Glasgow, there is little
other way for Liam to gain money – which
he desperately needs in order to make his
mother’s life more comfortable – than to enter
the drug trade.
I had seen Sweet Sixteen as part of my
Film Studies module of my Education tripos.
Quite understandably I fell in love with this
harrowing tale of one boy’s struggle for success
and survival in a choice-free world where
everything carries its own price. Admittedly, it
does not sound like pleasant or easy viewing,
like so many other Ken Loach films. Yet the
sparkling wit and energy that is displayed
by youngsters Liam and his friend Pinball
(William Ruane) carry the plot forward, and
allow the audience to warm to and – dare I
say it – empathise with the characters, even
though their activities are not in the least
moral, or legal.
Remembering the unimaginable
Rex Bloomstein’s astonishing Holocaust documentary, ‘KZ’
Rex Bloomstein’s KZ (2006), a powerful
documentary on the former Nazi concentration
camp Mauthausen in Austria, will be shown
in a free screening at the Cambridge Arts
Picturehouse on Friday 26th January,
Holocaust Memorial Day. Radically different
from other films about Nazi persecution,
KZ completely does away with testimonies
of survivors or iconic images of atrocities in
conveying the horrors of the camp. Instead,
the film portrays those who in the present day
are confronted with the camp’s legacy: the
tourists, who visit the site in their thousands
every year, the guides who inform them about
the barbarities that occurred there and not least
the people who live in the camp’s immediate
vicinity. The range of responses they give to
Mauthausen’s unsettling past proves to be as
vast as conflicting. KZ is a film about why
and how we remember the Holocaust today –
questions of vital importance as the generation
of witnesses has almost deceased.
Mauthausen is an idyllic town set on the banks
of the Danube, and the nearby concentration
camp memorial has long since become a tourist
attraction. But why do people come here and
what do they find? To answer this question,
KZ places us among the tourists groups who
are led through the memorial. We thereby
become aware of the different ways in which
the guides try to communicate the barbaric
reality of camp life. One of them pictures the
prisoners’ suffering as if these were about to
happen to the visitors themselves; another
one describes them as matters of fact – to no
lesser impact. At the same time, the camera
dwells on the visitors’ faces, and we inevitably
try to discern the expressions of consternation,
empathy and shame they show and compare
them to our own feelings. KZ achieves its
intensity through these precise observations of
both tourists and guides. They help us to see
the camp – the place that has been shown to
us so many times – in a new light: as a site of
public memory though human interaction.
The strength of Bloomstein’s KZ lies in
its impartiality. Largely refraining from any
judgement, his film reveals how diverse people’s
attitudes are towards the legacy of the camp
and the Holocaust in general. Some come to
Mauthausen to mourn their murdered family
members, others see the camp as a warning
against any act of discrimination, still others
take their visit as an opportunity to criticise
Israeli politics towards Palestine. For most
inhabitants of the town of Mauthausen, life has
moved on. The houses that formerly belonged
to the SS camp guards are now owned by young
couples who appear strangely untroubled by
their homes’ history. In the “Frellerhof”, a
pub in within the camp’s range of vision once
frequented by SS, young and old continue to
celebrate their town’s folkloric traditions. If
KZ ultimately does judge, it is through these
images of an apparently collective amnesia.
Holocaust remembrance, this is the message of
Bloomstein’s film, remains controversial and
therefore continues to matter.
The screening is at 9am and will be followed
by a discussion with the director and Holocaust
survivor Eva Clarke. Bookings are advisable
and can be made in person at the cinema or by
calling the box office on 08707 551 242.
AXEL BANGERT
The Cambridge Student January 18 2007
32
Film.
The Cinecam Challenge
48-hours, no lights, one camera…… Action!...Amy Barnes gets all wrapped up in
Cinecam’s 48-hour Michaelmas Challenge.
Last summer holidays I began to question what it
is that I want to do with my life. I was embarking
on my third year, had no foreseeable application
forms to fill in, and no particular direction I wanted
to follow. Up for trying anything, I decided to sign
up for Cinecam’s ’48-hour Michaelmas Challenge’,
roping my unsuspecting friend Charlotte into the
equation. I’d been on film sets before, working
with OTT films in London as a runner and actress.
There, I’d learnt how to act in front of a camera,
how to sit for hours having make up applied to my
face to cover up a multitude of blemishes, and to eat
– a lot. Yet my experience with OTT did not teach
me how to handle a camera, or what the words
“white balancing” mean, or how to edit a series of
shots to pull together a slick 5 minute film. These
talents, however, were exactly what were required
by Cinecam’s competition last term.
It did not bother me, however. Getting
involved in the Social Documentary Society (Soc
Doc Soc) meant that I had a few editing workshops
coming up, and got involved in practice shoots of
documentaries. All very well, and helpful – but I
still knew next to nothing about how to transfer the
ideas in my head to an image on screen. As the 17th
November loomed, the first day of the competition
drew nearer, and, along with the constant nagging
of Charlotte demanding to know what exactly I
had dragged her into, I began to wonder very much
the same thing myself.
Yet the competition is definitely worth
giving up 48-hours for. For although my little
group of 5, unoriginally named The A-Team,
knew, like me, little about camera equipment, and
the starting phrase given to us by the Cinecam
team was ambiguous, the whole weekend was a
huge learning experience, completely surreal, and
bags of fun. From 8pm on Friday evening to 8pm
the following Sunday, we were handed a camera
and needed to plan, shoot and edit a (relevant) 5
minute short. Piece of cake, perhaps – to some.
The phrase we were to work from was a
Hitchcock classic: “there is no terror in the bang
– only in the anticipation of it”. Our team met
in Clowns and threw ideas about, and despite
Charlotte’s initial pessimism about the whole
thing, she hit on a gem of an idea. Our aim was
to take a Beckett-esque angle, creating a short
with no dialogue (all for the sake of art, not ease,
honest!) in which 3 characters were to sit outside a
Will White
door, waiting, anticipating, anxious – until the door
finally opens at the end. Think a doctor’s waiting
room, people lined up three in-a-row awaiting
potentially lethal test results, or pregnancy results,
and you’ll get the picture.
Due to the shortage of time, it was easier
to involve three members of the team as actors in
the shoot, rather than pulling in outsiders. We
planned to shoot on the Saturday, and edit on
the Sunday. Everything seemed to be falling into
place. I had a perfect location in mind, and we had
coverage from the Soc Doc Soc team who were
following some of the teams. Their interviews
helped focus and push our ideas, and enabled us to
keep thinking of the next step.
Unfortunately, that ‘perfect’ location that
I had in mind was not quite as perfect as I’d
imagined. I forgot that there would need to almost
as much space behind the camera as in front of it,
for those operating the camera to move about, and
find the right angle for the shot. Having traipsed
about Cambridge from place to place, looking even
at our various cluttered bedrooms, and faculties, we
stumbled across a Soc Doc Soc member’s residence
in Robinson. Hanging about in a games room, I
grew bored and impatient and began exploring.
Off the main lobby, there was a corridor that was
eerily dark, long, cold, and clinical, with a wider
section at the beginning, a door, and enough space
to squeeze in three people. Apparently a converted
lunatic asylum, this location was brilliant – what
better way to portray fear than to be scared stiff of
your own ‘set’?
The filming went fairly smoothly, and took
almost all day. I’d learnt the importance, both
from the Soc Doc Soc workshops and the BBC
website, of having interesting, varied close-ups,
ones that convey meaning. Close-ups of characters’
eyes were used to show their fearful ‘anticipation’
of the door (it sounds so dumb to say it! But it
worked at the time, and I guess that’s all that
matters) and obviously hands wringing, or ears to
emphasise sounds – even shots from the character’s
perspective. It all seems quite obvious, really, when
looking back - but when you’re faced with the
challenge of having to invent a sequence of your
own shots it becomes a lot harder to think up – and
then implement – those quirky angles that you see
in movies everyday.
The editing process was, for me, more difficult,
but so satisfying – choosing the exact frame to
match another, attempting to create a ‘lifelike’
sequence of events – even though we’d shot the
same action or event several times from different
angles. The final edit needed sound tracks and
opening and ending credits, and, with all five of
us crowded round a single computer attempting
to come to grips with Final Cut Pro, each with
our own ideas buzzing in our heads, it was pretty
stressful. But there were many laughs involved
(especially at the out-takes). The Soc Doc Soc were
continuously interviewing us throughout the day,
and helping us to reassess what we had done.
The screening for the entries took place a few
weeks later. It was an incredible feeling when we
were announced as the winners, simply because we
were all absolute novices, and had no idea that what
we had spent 48-hours making would be of worth
to anybody but ourselves! It really encourages
people like me to consider the idea of taking up
film production for real – it’s so exciting, and yet
so under-appreciated in Cambridge. Access to
filmmaking doesn’t seem as easy for those wanting
to act or get involved in the arts as theatre – I know
from first hand experience. Yet the equipment is
out there, it just needs hiring. The locations are
out there, they just need to be stumbled across.
The talent is definitely out there, with our thriving
theatre scene, and passion for the arts – it just needs
to be applied.
Filmmaking is by no means easy. Production
companies now need employees who have
experience, usually lots of it – and what better place
to gain this experience that university? I’d encourage
anyone out there wanting to give filmmaking a
serious bash to get in touch with Brian Lavery
(bl257), Cinecam’s President, or Ellie Gurney
(erg30), the Soc Doc Soc President. For as a very
famous film director once said (I can’t remember
exactly who, I think it may have been Ken Loach)
– “So, you want to be a film director? Then show
me all the films you have made”. Indeed. And
being on my total count of one, I had better stop
writing, and get filming.
Getting involved...
Rather than just watching films, why not take
advantage of the opportunity to try and make your
own, and learn from industry professionals about
the next step…
Cinecam is the Cambridge Filmmaking Society,
and provides its members with equipment and
training, as well as hosting talks and screenings:
The Lent term programme is the most exciting of
the whole Cinecam year, and the main event, the
Cinecam Film Festival will be over the long weekend
in week 7 (1st-4th March 2007). This year’s festival
will include a screenwriting talk, a ‘working in film’
event with those in the industry, a ‘women in film’
event, and the screening and judging of the short
films submitted, by people involved in the film
industry: critics, teachers, directors etc. It also has
some top prizes (last year : 3 weeks at Brighton Film
School, a video ipod, cinema tickets, and vouchers).
Deadline for film submissions: 23/2/07.
Other Cinecam events this term, before the
festival, include screenings and talks, but also, the
new Super 8mm Film Experience, which will give
members the chance to try making a short using
real film rather than digital, by providing then with
Super 8mm cameras, which is a first for Cinecam
(registering deadline: 24/01/07 or at the squash).
There are also opportunities for aspiring writers:
the Script writing Competition (deadline: 31/01/07)
is the search to find the screenplay for a short film
that the committee will produce (fund, executive
produce, and give advice).
THE CINECAM SQUASH will take place on
wed 24th Jan, where members and anyone else can
meet the committee and other filmmakers and see
the short films made during the 2nd of last term’s
48 hour film competitions. For more information:
www.cinecam.co.uk
BELLA WING-DAVEY
January 18 2007 The Cambridge Student
33
Film.
The Last King of Scotland
KNOWING VERY little about Ugandan history,
my expectations for The Last King of Scotland
were limited, but what I did know about Idi Amin’s
dictatorship told me to expect a heavy-going film.
In reality the story was much more than the bleak
scenario I had imagined and it benefited for it, but
if you’re a stickler for factual correctness you may
be uncomfortable with the portrayal of events. We
are told at the beginning that the film is ‘inspired by
real events’, but just how far this is true is a matter
for debate. If, on the other hand, you simply want a
compelling story about the corrupting force of power
and a nation that suffers for it then you’ll find much
to enjoy here.
The plot revolves around Nick Garrigan (played by
James McAvoy) a newly graduated Scottish doctor
whose desire to escape the monotonous prospect of a
joint practice with his father leads him by chance to a
mission hospital in Uganda. Garrigan is cocky, selfconfident and revels in his newfound independence,
a combination that allows him to seduce most of the
women he meets and gets him noticed by the newly
instated president of the country, Idi Amin (played
by Forest Whitaker). Amin oozes charisma and the
young doctor can’t help but be drawn to him with the
result that when Garrigan is offered the job of Amin’s
personal physician he naively accepts, dazzled by the
prospects of wealth and power that it brings. As the
affection between the two men grows so does the
trust between them, and Garrigan becomes a staunch
defender of Amin’s regime, even when the evidence
begins to suggest that something very wrong is
happening. As time goes on the once lavish parties
become sordid and decadent, the admirable Amin
is exposed as his vicious and paranoid true self, and
Garrigan realises what he has become a part of; but
by now it’s too late.
The inclusion of the fictional Dr Garrigan has
had a mixed reception among critics. Some have
suggested that his addition allowed the writers to
put ‘a white spin on black history’ and little more,
but I would suggest that his character is rather better
conceived than that. Seeing Uganda through his eyes,
we too are sucked into the light-hearted adventure
that permeates throughout the beginning of the film.
In fact, this was one of the movie’s great surprises; it
overflows with comic moments. The audience grow
to love Amin as Garrigan does, and when Garrigan
defends Amin, we too feel a sense of loyalty toward
him. Because of this, when the truth finally outs and
surreal happiness gives way to gritty realism, our
preconceptions of the bleak scenarios that had been
all but forgotten are reaffirmed with full force, and
suddenly we, like the Garrigan and the Ugandan
people, are shocked by the brutality of what we see
before us.
While McAvoy’s solid performance as Garrigan
is an important aspect of this transition, Whitaker
deserves the majority of praise for what is simply a
gargantuan performance as Idi Amin. His depiction
of a tortured mind is unflinchingly real, and as the
film progresses the audience love and hate him with
equal measure. The character seems to be wrestled
from within Whitaker and squeezed out through
his pores in an intense and sweat-soaked second half
of the film, and for this performance alone will The
Last King of Scotland be remembered. Without
Whitaker it would be an interesting but ultimately
unremarkable thriller; with him it may just become
a classic.
All this is not to say that the film is without its
flaws. Seeing things through Garrigan’s eyes does
have its disadvantages, and there are cases in which
interesting characters seem to be employed as plot
devices to further his story when their own could
have been developed further, while at other points
the plot comes of as rather contrived. However, these
minor annoyances shouldn’t take away from what
is a hugely enjoyable movie, and one that features a
performance by Forest Whitaker that simply must
win an Oscar.
MATT HASLER.
The Cambridge Student January 18 2007
34
Music
Taking drugs to make music to take drugs
Luke W. Roberts and Jack Dentith explore the history of drug taking and music making...
If I was a more reckless sort of individual, this article would be an account of yours truly taking a
range of pharmaceuticals and listening to some
music. Unfortunately, my student loan hasn’t come
through yet, I don’t know any dealers, and like I
said, I’m pretty square when it comes to drugs. And
yet, some of my favourite music has been made by
massive drug users and many of my favourite songs
are about the joys of mainlining heroin, smoking
crack, and so on. I couldn’t
tell you why there is such a
long tradition of people listening to and creating music
while high, but it occupies an
incredibly prominent place
in popular culture. I mean,
I only realised the other day
that ‘Get the Party Started’ by Pink was about taking
ecstasy, and it occurred to me as I watched Shirley
Bassey sing it in a Marks & Spencer’s advert.
I guess it all starts with Jazz. John Phillip Sousa
(who wrote ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’) called it
“prostituted music” and suggested “the sooner we
get rid of the stuff, the better for our boys and girls”
which gives you an idea of the genre’s seedy reputation in the 1920s. While it’s no coincidence that
“Jazz Cigarette” is one of the more amusing slang
terms for a joint, the drug it’s most clearly associated
with is Heroin. Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Miles
Davis, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane were all
addicts at one point or another. It’s been suggested
that many younger musicians seeking to emulate
Parker tried the drug and subsequently destroyed
their careers, but it didn’t seem to affect the master
too negatively. As Miles put it:
in the Sky with Diamonds and Strawberry Fields
are about LSD, and they all really liked drugs, but
Lou Reed dismissed their experiments as “a bore”
and there’s nothing in their catalogue that could
possibly compare to ‘Heroin’ by The Velvet Underground. When Reed sings lines like,
“Cause it makes me feel like I’m a man/When I put
a spike into my vein/And I’ll tell ya, things aren’t
quite the same/
When I’m rushing
on my run/ And I
feel just like Jesus’
son”
“After Bird got high,
he just played his ass
off”
“He would come back [from shooting up] all
fucked up and shit. But after Bird got high, he just
played his ass off.”
Ever quotable, he’s also reported to have said
that Colrane died “from taking too much LSD”,
and though factually inaccurate (it was alcohol),
the last recordings by Coltrane, full of atonal flights
of free improvisation certainly sound like they were
produced by an altered consciousness.
The most famous proponents of acid were probably The Beatles. Everyone knows the stories - Lucy
He sounds plain
cool, and I guess at
its most basic, they spend seven minutes glorifying a terrible and destructive drug. Problem is, the
song itself is glorious and far better than any of
the numerous songs written about the dangers of
Heroin abuse. (That said, it’s worth hearing King
Hannibal’s ‘The Truth Shall Set You Free’ in which
he addresses the problem of addiction amongst African-Americans, and preaches “Junk is just another
name for slavery”. He goes on to address “All the addicts out there” and asks “Have you tried JESUS?” in
a deranged voice over some pretty badass funk.)
Anyway, trying to do The Velvet Underground’s
song justice in words is futile; all I can say is that it
sounds like what I imagine the rush of opiates is like
and effectively makes it unnecessary for anyone
else to write a song on the subject (except maybe
Spacemen 3, who basically forged a career out of
writing gospel music about
skag).
So where does that leave
other drugs? The holy grail
of songs about Marijuana
is probably the sublimely
ridiculous ‘Dopesmoker’
by Sleep, and where the pace of ‘Heroin’ swells
and recedes like the blood rushing to a junkie’s
head, this opens with 8 minutes of slowed down
Black Sabbath riffs crawling at a glacial pace like a
pothead reaching for the last bag of Doritos. The
singer begins chanting “Drop out of life with bong
in hand/Follow the smoke
to the riff-filled land” and it
continues along the same vein
for another 45 minutes. They
must have been unbelievably
high to think that it would be
a good idea to include the line
“Lungsmen unearth the creed
of Hasheeshian Lebanon”.
This kind of dense lyrical
obscurity seems to be a common theme in drug music
across genres. The RZA even
dedicates a chapter of the
Wu-Tang Manual to a decoding of their lyrics. For example, he explains that “Tical” is
slang for Marijuana derived
from Native American patois
and that Raekwon is known
as “the Chef ” not only because
for his mad culinary skills, but
his talent at cooking up Crack
Cocaine. This leads us nicely
to Ghostface Killah’s ‘Fishscale’ LP which last year, along
with ‘Hell Hath No Fury’ by
Clipse, practically invented
the genre ‘Crack Rap’. If only
one of Clipse would care to
explain what “cocaine quiches”
are, and I think Ghostface says
“He was moving that peruvian
“Spacemen 3 basi-
Lou Reed: even looks cool in rhinestones.
cally forged a career
out of writing gospel
music about skag
white/
blowing
coolies into hoopties ,
slamming cuties and
ice” on ‘Kilo’, but I could
be wrong, because it’s
slightly obscured by layered samples of people sniffing. Presumably they had colds.
So there you go. A huge amount of great music wouldn’t have been created without drugs,
and this article barely even scratches the surface.
With more space, you could have been treat-
”
ed to an in-depth look at the effect of cough
syrup on rap music in the Deep South, or at
least something about Qualuudes. Even so, it’s
worth remembering that drugs are responsible for
some truly terrible music (happy hardcore, much reggae, Peter Doherty to name the obvious) and that the
veneer of glamour around any given drug is pretty
thin; for every Lou Reed there’s a Marti Pellow (he
of Wet Wet Wet). If that’s not enough of a warning, take a tip from Bo Diddley: “Don’t foo’ wi’ that
mess”.
So Long, Alice Coltrane (1937-2007)
Luke W. Roberts
The first time I heard Alice Coltrane was
playing piano on ‘The Olatunji Concert’, her
husband John William Coltrane’s final live
recording. On it, the band rips through two
long pieces, one using as African folk song as
a springboard to improvisation, and the other
a thirty-five minute, searing rendition of ‘My
Favourite Things’. This was jazz music pushed to
its outer limits, reaching for and discovering new
modes of expression and creativity. Unfortunately,
the sound quality of that CD is notoriously bad,
and Alice isn’t always audible over the shrieks
of John and Pharoah Sanders’ duelling tenor
saxophones and Rashied Ali’s pulsing free
drumming. But when she comes through clearly
in the calm, her musicianship is astonishing; great
clusters of notes and textured sound, like no other
pianist I can think of. On studio recordings like
‘Seraphic Light’ from ‘Stellar Regions’, the group
is at once liberated and totally focused, and this
pretty much sets the tone for her career after her
husband’s death. Whatever instrument she played,
be it piano, organ or harp, she sounds in complete
control and her unique style clearly benefited from
being trained in different disciplines. The harp
playing in particular is the highlight of many
of her records after John’s death, particularly on
‘Journey in Satchidananda’ and ‘Huntington
Ashram Monastery’ (the latter named after the
religious retreat she established in Los Angeles).
They’re well worth investigating if you have
any interest in innovative, experimental music.
It’s also worth noting that she occupied a rare
position, being a well-respected successful female
musician within a genre dominated by males.
What makes her death most poignant is her
recent return to live performance; she was due
to play the Barbican in London on April 1st,
alongside her son, Ravi, on drums and with
Charlie Haden (of the Ornette Coleman Quartet)
playing bass.
Additionally, her 2004 release, ‘Translinear
Light’ was probably her finest new set of music
in twenty or so years, returning to a more jazzorientated style after a decade of new-age cassette
releases featuring Hindu and Hare Krishna
devotional chants.
Don’t let the mystic stylings put you off - her
website may be pretty fruity, detailing the vision
she had which instructed her to dress exclusively
in orange but her recordings with her husband’s
group in the late sixties are among the most
moving and profound documents of improvised
music I’ve heard. Her religious beliefs probably
meant she was peaceful at the prospect of death
- as the sanskrit prayer she quotes on the website
says “Lead us from death to immortality”. I don’t
know about the spiritual element, but the fire and
focus of her music certainly remains.
At a session in 1966.
January 18 2007 The Cambridge Student
Music.
Album:
The View
Hats Off To The Buskers
“The View, The View, The View are on fire”
chant the fans of this Scottish indie outfit. In
truth, they’re quite dire. It’s amusing that they
like to perform a version of What Katie Did
because the rest of their album is a bad Libertines cover too. Messrs Doherty and Barat
seem to be their only influence even down to
the group getting their band name tattooed
and the drummer being arrested on charges
of crack possession.
Even if you knew nothing of the band before
playing this record the appearance of a song
called Skag Trendy would probably give the
game away. On this the bassist is allowed to
sing. As ever this is a terrible idea but particularly because the bassist in question decides
35
to do an impression of Pete Doherty with a
Scottish accent, i.e. incoherent and irritating.
As far as first impressions go the band’s debut single Wasted Little DJs which climbed to
#15 in the summer isn’t the best. It’s a catchy
indie song. Catchy in the sense that you feel
like you’ve known it your whole life before it’s
finished but probably because you have. This
is the best thing on the album along with Face
for the Radio on which the band managed to
restrain all their instincts to ruin songs beyond burdening it with a terrible title.
And while mentioning first impressions it
would be irresponsible of me not to mention
the lead singer’s hair. Big hair. Sadly not big
hair in the “I’ve invested years of my life to get
this amazing hair style” way but in the “I have
more hair than I know what to do with” way.
Next up in their bid for world domination came Superstar Tradesman which conveniently suggested the kind of person who
would buy it in the title. It’s by-the-numbers
indie rock which could do with some tinkering of its own. Current single Same Jeans is a
blatant Radio 2 airplay exercise and listening
to it is like Brimful of Asha never happened.
As far as the rest of the album it’s more of
the same. For the sake of balance and wanting to be quoted on posters I can say that The
View are the best thing to come out of Dundee since George Galloway. More a criticism
of Dundee than praise for the band that, I
fear.
3/10
James Garner
The Poetic Singles Roundup
Some upcoming (and bygone) single releases.
This week’s form: The Haiku. By Jack Dentith
The Ordinary Boys: ‘I Luv U’
Horrible Music
The pretense: no pretension
This made my ears die
Out 15th January
Jibbs: ‘Do your chain hang low?’
A childlike singsong
A grimey bassline; lyrics
Spit with style, brimming with bling
Out 22nd January
Klaxons: ‘Golden skans’
Foot tappin drum beat.
I was disappointed, though:
Awkward chorus. Tame
Out 22nd January
The Game: ‘Let’s Ride’
The Game is ugly:
Ugly face, ugly music.
Dr. Dre, but shit
Out 15th January
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The Cambridge Student January 18 2007
36
Music.
The Horrors, The Horrors
James Garner meets a band... with a name... who play music...
The scene of ordinariness that I am met with
as I enter The Horrors backstage area seems
out of kilter with their outlandish attire,
psych-punk tunes and noms du bruit. Faris
Rotter (vocals) and Joshua von Grimm (guitar)
are engrossed by their laptops while Coffin
Joe (drums) and Tomethy Furse (bass) finger
through 45s for their later DJ set. Only Spider
Webb who I will interview is keeping the end
up by engulfing the
room with the hypnotic sounds of his Vox
Continental Organ.
It is the band’s instinctive grasp of rock
and roll iconography
that has been the catalyst of their rise from
nought to the cover of
NME in less than year.
Their
cooler-thanthou image attracted
Chris
Cunningham
and Samantha Morton to work on their
debut video, Yeah Yeah
Yeahs’ Nick Zinner to co-produce their album
and immediate press attention. Webb will later
admit that to some extent it was initially too
much, too soon and the band have had to develop in the spotlight. First the band soundcheck - a process which seems to involve each
member in turn asking for his instrument’s
volume to be turned up until only an orgy of
feedback remains.
At 23, Webb is the oldest member of the
band and he peppers the interview with obscure musical references. The further these are
from my radar, the more vigorous the “knowing” nod I greet them with so by the time he’s
checking Italian Library Music and Teenage
Jesus and the Jerks I am giving the Churchill
dog a fair run for his money. But while Webb’s
muso influence has been felt with the release
of the band’s first three singles on vinyl only,
he seems to have been overruled when it comes
to the band’s forthcoming debut album. When
I interviewed him he said that “if it was up to
me, none of the singles would be on the album”
but the recently announced tracklist contains
them all.
Indeed, Webb’s comment that “if you’ve
missed out on the limited editions you should
have sought them out in the first place” always
seemed a little out of step for a band who have
embraced mainstream coverage. They even
went out on the NME Autumn Tour of which
Webb says “we weren’t really huge fans.” But
come February they’re off down that road
again with The Automatic and The View.
Webb explains that “we wanted to do it because we felt we were offering something new
and we wanted that to reach as many people
as possible.” As far as the first tour is concerned Webb reserves particular censure to the
perceived primadonna antics of The Fratellis:
“After having whatever hit single, you just felt
like: God you guys, get a grip.” Perhaps even
more surprising then the words ‘Fratellis’ and
‘primadonna’ in the same sentence is Webb’s
view of the autumnal Cambridge audience: “It
was really great, I felt people were involved, it
was happening” .
Even with The Horrors’ polarising effect, I
question if it is ever possible to whip up the
kind of storm of the original punk era. At first
Webb is bullish – “We’ve learnt in a short time
that you can provoke an incredible reaction…I
wouldn’t want it any other way…we think it’s
great.” He then concedes that unlike the Pistols
“It’s not gonna be Shock! Horror! on the front
of the Daily Mirror or anything like that.” Ultimately he settles for saying that “Groups like
The Killers and the Kaiser Chiefs – your mum
would take it and listen to it on the way to the
shops…maybe she won’t want to do that with
our record.” In today’s climate it seems that Band
Fails Tesco Test is as much
controversy as can be generated.
The Horrors have been
plagued by criticisms that
they fail to create new
sounds due to spending
longer on their hair than
their hooks. On the image
front Webb says: ““I don’t
think making more of an
effort should be seen as a
negative thing… All of the
bands I’ve loved have had a
strong image: look at Elvis
Presley and the reaction he got to the way he
shook his hips and dressed.” And he makes the
strong assertion that “I feel like we are doing
something that’s completely original…when
you look at our influences: 60s psych-garage,
70s punk, 80s garage revivalists - You couldn’t
say we sound like one band.”
But after swatting away these questions he
leads himself up a blind alley by starting an
impassioned but ill-considered speech : “Music’s a reaction and it’s always a reaction and it
always has been, even blues was a reaction to
its surroundings. It’s a constant movement.”
out for the best because they could
take the best ideas from all three
without being ‘tamed’ by any one
producer.
The full and exciting sounds
provided by the latest recordings
show that the band’s endeavour is
beginning to bear fruits. Their latest single ‘Count in Fives’ was their
best by some distance and the latest recording of early demo Excellent Choice shows immeasurable
improvement. If they fulfil Webb’s
ambition to create an album that’s
“as wild as possible”, the group
dismissed as Southend style rats
might just be able to bring the focus back onto their music.
At one point Webb tempted me
by saying “there’s something that’s
quite exciting that’s happening
but I don’t know if I’m allowed
to say really.” I perked up, leant
forward and after some mild cajoling broke his resolve. He then
revealed that the band will proSpider Webb of the Horrors, standing next to some drapes.
vide a cover song for a 30th anniversary retrospective of obscure
The Horrors play the Corn Exchange on February
no-wavers Suicide. And on that
18th and the album
bombshell…
‘Strange House’ is released on March 5th.
Q: What are you a reaction to?
SW: Well… (pause)
Q: Is there anything you would say you are the
antithesis to?
SW: (pause) No, I mean no…no, not really
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“Music’s a reaction
and it’s always a reaction and it always has
been, even blues was
a reaction to its
surroundings. It’s a
constant movement
”
In fairness, Webb is clearly sincere and the
boyish way in which he exults “I’ve never enjoyed anything as much as being in a band” is
eminently likeable. And when he outlines the
band’s early days it’s clear that they started for
the right reasons. “We didn’t ever think about
anything other than playing a few gigs…there
was a eureka moment on leaving our first rehearsal…we played solidly for four hours and
leaving that there was a strange feeling.” Cynics see the gothic attire and resurrection of
psych-garage as little more than a marketing
gimmick. But the band is clearly enrapt by
these ghosts of the past. “It’s the best music
that has been made since the birth of recording
equipment…I believe that our interests and
our musical background is timeless”
Webb reveals that it’s only in the recording
of their album that they’ve had the chance to
begin to fulfil their musical potential. “We’re
starting to explore our instruments a bit more,”
he says and with that aided and abetted by a
production dream team it may just pay off.
Nick Zinner chose to skip his holiday to hit
the studio with the band and sharing duties
with him were Think Tank producer Ben Hillier and legendary drummer Jim Sclavunos,
the one time member of The Cramps, Sonic
Youth and currently Nick Cave and the Bad
Seeds. Webb says that although it wasn’t intended to work with three producers it worked
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The Cambridge Student January 18, 2007
39
Sport
Oxford U21s
Rain on Cambridge
Chris Lillycrop
The pre-game entertainment at last month’s 125th
Varsity Match – the U21s game – turned out to
be almost as exciting as the main event, if less of a
triumph for the Light Blues.
A lively set of backs propelled Oxford into the
lead, and at 11-0 it seemed that the match might
be one-sided. Centre Sam Humphry-Baker, an
undergraduate at St Edmund Hall, was particularly impressive for the Dark Blues. But the Cambridge pack fought its way back into the game.
A try from Scott Maclennan gave them hope of
reversing the previous year’s defeat.
As the minutes ticked by, Cambridge camped in
the opposition twenty-two, desperately seeking
the crucial blow. And with seconds left of normal
time, they landed it. Captain and hooker Pat
Crossley went over for a try. With the score at 1211, and the stadium clock reading eighty minutes,
the crowd thought the match was over.
But there was more drama to come. The Oxford
players regrouped for the kick-off, determined to
continue fighting until injury time had elapsed.
They secured possession inside the Cambridge
half, but when fly-half Jules Allfrey’s drop-kick
struck the crossbar and dropped into defensive
hands, it seemed that the Dark Blues must finally
have run out of chances. Cambridge really should
have put the ball out and secured victory, but the attempted touch kick fell short, and Oxford were able
to attack again. Their pack, finally enjoying some success, kept the ball tight and edged towards the line.
With a game winning score seemingly inevitable,
the referee blew his whistle. The crowd exploded into
raptures of celebration, thinking that full-time had
been called. But the thrity men on the pitch knew
better. Oxford had a penalty right in front of the
posts, which wing Alex Sever converted coolly.
Such an agonising 14-12 defeat was hard for the
“
With the score at 12-
11, and the stadium clock
reading eighty minutes,
the crowd thought the
”
match was over.
Cambridge crowd to swallow, but it was a fair result.
The Light Blues never looked truly convincing in
attack or comfortable in defence, and were left ruing
what a steal it would have been had they been able to
close the game out in the dying seconds. Substitute
back-rower Charlie Rees was honoured by team
coach James Ashpit as ‘most muscular body’ in the
squad. No doubt he will be looking to build on
this potential by scoring an even more significant
victory next year.
Cambridge U21 captain Pat Crossley scores at the death. (J. Appleton)
Akinluyi
in late
Varsity
K.O.
Cambridge Winger and returning Blue, David
Akinluyi, was withdrawn from the Varsity
Squad to face Oxford the night before the
match. Akinluyi, 22, who scored in the previous year’s 31-16 victory, agreed a two-year
professional contract with Northampton
Saints last summer.
Although he is still studying part-time for a
PhD in Engineering, he had not trained with
the Blues until the week before Varsity, and
had been living in the East Midlands.
This concerned the Joint Blues Committee,
who intervened following an Oxford protest,
and whose decision to prevent Akinluyi playing was eventually upheld by the Cambridge.
This gave full-back Dan Stewart, who had
been previously left out because of an injury,
the chance to step up into the team.
The decision to exclude Akinluyi was unprecedented and both Captain John Blaikie
and CURUFC President Prof. Brian Johnson
called for a review of the residency guidelines.
Dawson Wins Pro Contract
Jon Dawson’s Man of the Match display in the
Varsity victory earned him more than just a fancy
tankard. The tight-head prop, who has professional experience at Harlequins and Wasps, was
awarded a one month contract with Premiership strugglers Bath.
Dawson was drafted in as cover for Bath’s
beleaguered front row. Bath Director of Rugby
Steve Meehan said: “We are very pleased that
Jon has joined us. I am confident that someone
of Jon’s experience will fit in easily and am looking forward to working with him.” In a cruel
twist of fate, however, Dawson only lasted fourteen minutes of his debut - in an 18-16 victory
over Sale - before becoming injured himself.
Varsity Ratings
1 - R. Schwikkard: 7/10
Strong up front. Made sure
Oxford’s 8 had no platform at
the back.
2 - J. Clark (right): 8/10
Threw in and carried with
confidence. Strong in the scrum.
3 - J.Dawson: 8/10
Man of the match. Earned
penalty try with a strong
scrummage.
4 - J. Blaikie: 7/10
A fine leader. Physical in contact
if occasionally beaten at the
line-out.
5 - M. Harfoot: 7/10
Scrapped well at the line-out on
Oxford ball, crucial role in final
score.
6 - N. Johnson: 7/10
Aggressive and powerful
ball-carrier. Intelligent around
the fringe.
7 - D. O’Brien: 7/10
Turned over lots of ball with
physical tackling. Inconspicuous
but excellent.
8 - E. Andrews: 6/10:
Solid at the back of the scrum,
unlucky to be sin-binned.
9 - R. Blake: 8/10
Tackled well, gave backs good,
quick ball.
10 - J. Ufton: 5/10
One moment of brilliance,
otherwise poor. Carrying an
injury.
11 - D. Stewart: 6/10
Did well coming in late. Tackled
strongly.
12 - S.Thomas: 7/10
Formed solid defensive
partnership with Ansbro. Good
distribution.
13 - J. Ansbro (below): 8/10
Kept Roff quiet brilliantly. A few
mini-breaks.
14 - D.Tibbott: 6/10
Good defensively, few chances
to run.
15 - H. Murray: 6/10
Very nervous first half,
recovered well in second forty.
Blues Bulldoze
Oxford
Oxford Centre Joe Roff (far left) hauls Dave Tibbott into touch, denying the Cambridge winger a try. (J. Appleton)
Tom Richardson
T
ries in each half handed Cambridge a welldeserved victory in the 125th Varsity Match, held
at Twickenham in front of 41,000 fans. The crowd
arrived hoping for an expansive game of rugby,
with beautiful conditions in south London. Such
hopes faded in the first half, which only saw one
real highlight, when Cambridge won a penalty try.
Oxford looked to force the game in the second
forty, but were unable to contain a compact and
muscular Cambridge pack, which shunted the ball
over the line in the dying moments.
Cambridge looked nervous in the first ten
minutes. A box kick was charged down and the
light blues lost line-out ball to Oxford’s locks,
who were commanding in the air all afternoon.
But Cambridge hooker Joe Clark settled the team
by carrying with authority twice in the opening
exchanges. An early fight broke out when Oxford’s Dylan Alexander appeared to elbow Nathan
Johnson in a maul. Johnson took him to ground
by the neck, and Cambridge Number Eight Ed
Andrews was unfortunate to be identified as the
villain in the resulting mêlée, joining Alexander
in the sin-bin.
The best and worst of Johnny Ufton turned
up to Twickenham for Varsity, and both were on
display in quick succession in the first half. Ufton
followed up a horrible shank from an ambitious
forty-five metre penalty by missing a very manageable thirty metre kick from the centre of the field.
The fly-half reminded the crowd of his generous
talents by picking himself up, with a wry smile, to
drill Oxford’s drop-out sixty metres back into the
corner. Ufton’s inch-perfect spiral led to a line-out
turnover and a Cambridge scrum, five metres from
the Oxford line. Cambridge tighthead Jon Dawson forced his opposite number backwards and the
light blue pack inched forwards towards the line,
with the ball at Johnson’s feet. Oxford blindside caught and attempted to pass infield, but the ball
Abbott lost his binding and stole the ball, leaving was knocked into touch by Oxford’s Boto.
referee David Rose with no choice but to award a
Oxford carried well out of defence, with
penalty try, which Ufton converted.
number eight Jones leading the charge from his
Oxford’s McMahon responded minutes later own twenty-two. Cambridge won a penalty at the
with a sweetly-struck thirty metre penalty, and his breakdown, however, and had a gilt-edged opporteam-mates were delighted to see Ufton put the re- tunity to extend their lead to seven points, but Dave
start straight out on the full, gifting them a scrum Tibbott pulled his effort across the face of the posts.
back in the middle of the field. The final ten min- With a half hour left in the match, Roff was threatenutes of the half saw the teams trade penalty goals as ing. Oxford stepped up their ambition, looking to get
unforced errors mounted up. Oxford were guilty of the ball wide at every opportunity, and twice left wing
some loose attacking play, taking the ball at a stand- Tombleson found himself in acres of space round the
still and going wide too often from early phases. outside. It began to seem as though Cambridge’s poor
Their decoy runners cluttered up the back-line, often goal-kicking might cost them the match.
finding themselves out of position. Only full-back
But Oxford were guilty of dropping the ball as
Mahony, impressive all afternoon, looked like break- much as they caught it, and lacked any precision
ing through the gain line.
when executing training-ground moves. The cruDuring this crucial period, Joe Ansbro’s class cial moment came in the seventy-fourth minute,
was obvious. The form player
when Roff ’s floated pass to
coming into Varsity, those who
Boto - Varsity one hundred
Those who had
had seen Ansbro playing at
metre champion - left the
Grange Road this season were seen Ansbro playing at
wing with a clear sight of the
looking forward to seeing him
line. He was unable to hold
light up Twickenham in attack. Grange Road this season onto the pass, however. CamBut Ansbro was a match-winbridge raided the Oxford
ner in defence. Combining were looking forward
twenty-two and came away
intelligently with Stef Thomas
with a penalty when Roff was
and Dave Tibbott, Ansbro al- to seeing him light up
adjudged to have deliberately
ternated between blitz- and
knocked the ball forward.
drift-defence to devastating Twickenham in attack
Cambridge kicked to the
effect, as well as making sevcorner and Clark found lock
eral crucial cover tackles. The Cambridge outside Harfoot, who appeared to be taken out in the air,
centre even jarred the ball out of Joe Roff ’s hands from the line-out. Several phases later, Harfoot
twice in quick succession, getting the better of his reclaimed the ball and burrowed for the line, but
illustrious opponent in the first half.
the ball was recycled for Blaikie to squeeze over.
10-6 to the good at half-time, Cambridge Referee Rose went to the Video Referee for a
gifted Oxford another opportunity to get back verdict on the grounding of the ball and when
into the game when the restart went beyond the the try was given, the Cambridge fans went
dead ball zone from the restart. Stuttering play wild.
from Oxford’s backs, however, led to a knock-on,
In the final play, it was appropriate that the
kicked through by Ufton, which saw Dave Tib- Cambridge forwards turned over Oxford ball at
bott race to the corner. The Cambridge wing was the breakdown, as they had done all afternoon.
“
The hooter sounded and Evans kicked the ball
out, sending the Cambridge bench streaming
onto the field to celebrate, as a broken Oxford
side looked on.
Cambridge’s game was compact, direct and
unattractive - but it was intelligent. Huge credit
Clock Watch:
9: Double Sin-Bin: Andrews
and Alexander
17: Penalty Try (Converted):
Cambridge 7-0 Oxford
25: McMahon Penalty: 7-3
34: McMahon Penalty: 7-6
40+2:Tibbott Penalty: 10-6
80+2: Blaikie Try: 15-6
must go to both the Cambridge coaching staff for
a tactical victory, and to the players for executing
the game plan so effectively. The Blues don’t owe
Cambridge a great day out. Given what they put
themselves through on the journey to Twickenham, they owe it to themselves to win at any cost.
And they won well.
”
Tempers boil over early on (J. Appleton)