The Ustinovian - Epiphany 2015 Issue

The UsTinovianThe UsTinovian

DU’s Solar Car Challenger, 17

My Parliamentary Debate, 18

A Ustinovian in ...Idaho?, 19

50th

THE EPIPHANY 2015 ISSUE

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The Ustinovian Epiphany Term 2015

MASTHEADEditor: Rebecca BouvengDeputy Editor: Michael BakerLayout & Design: Michael BakerSection EditorsAlice ChadwickSiobhan HarperChris KerrJillian McGuireYashodhara TrivediContributorsSherihan Al-AkhrasCesare AloisiValentina AmusoCatherine (Aikaterina) ApokatanidouJennifer BergevinCat EdgeleyCameron FairweatherRobert FisherLucy GardnerSercan Hamza BağlamaJason HaynesSam JacksonSaleh JawaMarc Owen JonesStefan KempAliya KhasseneyevaMizah KholilProf. Glenn McGregorAndrew MessengerSteph OrswellJesper L. PedersenHolly Flynn-PiercyMiriah ReynoldsSneha RoyAriadne SchulzAnna SerkeRose SimnettPhotos/ImagesMike AppelsMichael BakerJennifer BergevinCat EdgeleySiobhan HarperSaleh JawaMarc Owen JonesMizah KholilAndrew MessengerArūna MiasojedovasSneha RoySalsa Dance SocietyBrian D. TaylorLara Maria Velho

CONTENTS

Editor’s Letter ..........................................................................................3Principal’s Letter .....................................................................................350th Anniversary Preview .........................................................................4GCR President’s Report ............................................................................5GCR Treasurer’s Report ............................................................................6GCR Ecology Rep’s Report .......................................................................7GCR Welfare Officer’s Report ...................................................................8Burns Night 2015: a Wee Retrospective ...................................................9Toast to the Lassies ................................................................................10Toast to the Lads.....................................................................................11Super Bowl XLIX: A Ustinov Commentary ................................................13Cricket World Cup: It’s Happening ..........................................................14Mentor Dinner .........................................................................................15Valentine’s Weekend ...............................................................................15Save the Dates! .......................................................................................15Rain, Sleet, and Shine: Durham’s Solar Car ............................................17My Debate in the Houses of Parliament ..................................................18A Ustinov Graduate in Moscow, Idaho ....................................................19Epilogue to a Year in Durham ..................................................................20From Graduand to Graduate ....................................................................21Meet a ‘January Starter’ .........................................................................21Alumni Corner: Where are they now? .....................................................22Exploring ‘Nearby’ Edinburgh .................................................................24Three Weeks in Bayern ...........................................................................26Ustinov Volunteering ...............................................................................28Café Scientifique.....................................................................................29Café Politique ........................................................................................30Race, Crime & Justice .............................................................................32Café des Arts...........................................................................................33Ustinov Intercultural Forum (UIF) ...........................................................34Norman Richardson Postgraduate Research Award Report ...................35Basketball Club, Men and Women ...........................................................36Cricket Club ............................................................................................37Ultimate Frisbee ......................................................................................37Alex Papadopolos: A rags to catches story .............................................38Salsa Dance Society ...............................................................................39Ustinov Choir Sings Into Life! .................................................................39The Ustinov Memorial Tree ......................................................................40

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Editor’s LetterRebecca BouvengWelcome to a brand new edition of The Ustinovian! 2015 is not only the 50th anniversary of the College, but also the tenth anniversary of the Usti-novian. To celebrate this, the magazine has been given a brand new look—we hope you like it.

Following our college motto Diver-sitate Valemus—‘strength in diver-sity’—this edition offers something for everyone.

There’s romance: from the enthu-siastic love life of Robert Burns to a report from Valentine’s weekend.

There’s money: the GRC treasurer reports on GCR funds well spent. There’s self-help: tips on how to cope with stress and manage when you’re feeling down.

There’s drama: a riveting account of the rise and fall, and rise again, of a Spin Doctor’s Ultimate Frisbee player.

And there’s plenty of sport: from reports from Ustinov’s sports teams to commentaries on bigger (but not necessarily better) events such as Super Bowl and the Cricket World Cup.

In addition, the college scholars look back at a busy term of academic events, and travelling Ustinovians write from Edinburgh, Bavaria, and Uganda. We also review the social events of this term, and get a sneak preview of the upcoming 50th celebra-tions, and the GCR BBQ and Sum-mer Ball.

And finally, as a special feature, we get up close and personal with Usti-nov graduates across the world looking back at their time at Ustinov. With dif-ferent degrees of nostalgia, they offer golden nuggets of wisdom to current students.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Principal’s LetterProf. Glenn McGregorUstinovians, hello there. Picking up on my favourite theme of seasonal transitions, the Winter Solstice has passed and the Spring Equinox is rap-idly approaching. This is the time of the year when daytime and night are approximately equal in length.

In 2015 the Spring Equinox occurs on March 20. I have always liked spring in the UK as it is a time of rapid change in the landscape, and you get the feeling that life is once again emerging from the long cold dark days of winter. No doubt you are also feel-ing the change in the air. I trust that as you read this, the winter blues are slowly subsiding and the hope that spring and summer brings is now making its presence felt. If you are one of our alumni, please keep in touch. Let us know what you are up to and what spring looks like in your part of the world—yes, sadly I am a climatol-ogist and I need to know these things!

Of course, and not wanting to put a damper of any ‘feel good effect’, the fact that we are approaching spring means that the academic year is almost at a midway point. No doubt Masters students are thinking about the exams and dissertation work that lie ahead, while research students are reflecting on progress to date.

My colleagues and I are of course are conscious of the pressures that deadlines and exams bring for cur-rent students, so make sure you find some quality time to relax and take in some fresh air and/or attend one of the many activities that the Col-lege and GCR are putting on over the coming months. As well as taking a stroll in the country, or attending one of the Café seminars, some of you will want to relax by getting together with friends and socialising either within College or off-campus.

If so when returning to your accom-modation, whether at Howlands, Dry-burn, or off-campus, please be aware of those around you and respect their space and observe the social norms for behaviour where people are living and sleeping. And of course, when on a night out and it comes time to call it a night, make sure all your friends are accounted for and ensure that every-one returns ‘home’ safely.

Now back to the Spring Equinox ‘thing’: March 20 also marks my first anniversary at Ustinov College. In the short time I have been here I have become really impressed with what a great community Ustinov is. From what I have observed, it is clear that we take delight in celebrating, in a variety of ways, the strength that arises from diversity, interdisciplinarity, and colle-giality.

I also get the sense that Ustinov offers a safe, enjoyable, and motivat-ing environment that nurtures global citizenship and enables its members to grow intellectually and socially. I am also seeing evidence that we are, for the most part, living our corner-stone values of respect, trust, respon-sibility, fairness, integrity, humility, open-mindedness, and objectivity. All of these things make Ustinov a great place, and I am proud to be associated with Ustinov. We are truly lucky to be in such a good place, figuratively and literally speaking.

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June 2015 sees the 50th anniversary of Ustinov College. Some of you will recall that we celebrated our 10th anniversary only in 2013, and may wonder how we have become such a remarkably progressive institution, jumping four decades in two years. The explanation to this phenomenon is that Ustinov College is the succes-sor of the Graduate Society.

The Graduate Society was estab-lished in 1965 to cater for the ever-increasing numbers of postgrad-uate students coming to Durham. In

2003 the Society became a College, named after Durham’s world-famous Chancellor Sir Peter Ustinov, also a writer, actor, director, commenta-tor on world affairs, and Ambassa-dor-at-Large for UNICEF. And now this special postgraduate community is turning fifty!

To celebrate this special milestone in our history, the whole College will embark on a two-week jubilee, begin-ning with a spectacular 50th anniver-sary formal dinner, and culminating in the annual GCR Summer BBQ.

In between there will be music, films, walks, talks, sports, dance, drink, art exhibitions, parties, all by and for all the groups and societies which make up our diverse community.

A number of special guests are join-ing us for the jubilee, including the University’s Chancellor Sir Thomas Allen. Whatever your plans are for the summer, we hope you too will set aside time in June to join in! Here is a preview of the packed programme, with something for everyone.

WEEK ONE

Friday, 12 June Formal 50th Anniversary Dinner

Saturday, 13 June Ustinov Seminar: ‘Is Global Citizenship Possible?’

Sunday, 14 June College History Walk GCR Brunch

Monday, 15 June GCR Film Night: Sir Peter Double-Feature

Tuesday, 16 June Ustinov College Mentors: North East Night

Wednesday, 17 June Kids Film Night at Keenan House: Robin Hood

Thursday, 18 June Café des Arts: Music & Dance

WEEK TWO

Friday, 19 June College Honours Garden Party Ustinov Live!

Saturday, 20 June Family Fête

Sunday, 21 June Ustinov Sports Day

Monday, 22 June GCR Film Night: ‘The Value of Ustinov Values’

Tuesday, 23 June Café Scientifique

Thursday, 25 June Graduands Reception

Friday, 26 June Café Politique and Race, Crime & Justice Conversations

Sunday, 28 June GCR Summer BBQ

50th Anniversary PreviewRebecca Bouveng

(Ustinovian photo)

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GCR President’s ReportMarc Owen JonesFellow comrades. A lot has happened in the GCR.

We have had the Burns Night For-mal, the Valentine’s Party, the ‘Anti-ish-Valentine’ Movie Marathon, the Graduate Bash, various general meet-ings, and many regular GCR events, such as the pub quiz and movie night. In addition to this, many of you have just returned from a GCR-organized trip to Manchester for their Chinese New Year celebration. I heard the weather was atrocious, but I hope sub-stantial enjoyment was derived none-theless.

With the end of term fast approach-ing, we are preparing already for some of our biggest events next year, includ-ing the Ustinov Summer BBQ and the Summer Ball. These are always won-derful affairs, and I know for a fact that Committee members are already working hard to make the -themed Summer Ball [Unfortunately, theme information is still highly classi-fied—Ed.] an unforgettable occasion (unforgettable in a good way). The

BBQ will be a day that is fun for stu-dents and family alike, with plenty of grub, games, music, and mirth. If that’s too long to wait, we have an upcoming End of Term Party (Yes, it’s almost that time), and the Ustinov Castle Formal.

On the more administrative side of things, the Ustinov GCR are changing from an unincorporated organization to a charitable incorporated organiza-tion. This was approved by the GCR (you) at the General Meeting, and the Trustees at their most recent meeting. Essentially this means the University will be happier with us, since becom-ing a CIO allows us to retain our cur-rent independence, but with a more accountable governing structure.

In addition to this, the stand-ing orders were amended to include

guidelines on student-led events. This stemmed from students requesting to put on events but not having a set of guidelines that laid out the responsibil-ities of both parties. The new addition also provides students with a resource that will clarify any questions they might go about putting on an event.

The guidelines grew out of an excel-lent Diwali Party, an event organized by students, and facilitated by the GCR and the UIF. Recently, for exam-ple, we were approached by the Dur-ham Friends of Palestine society who wanted to put on a cultural event, and they are now organising an event with Café des Arts—and the Kurdish Soci-ety also hope to present something for you.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a splendid rest of term, despite all the work. Remember, too, to take a break, and please enjoy all the facilities and provisions provided wholly or in part by the GCR, including the DVD collection, the gym, contraceptives and lube, the pool tables, darts, the XBox, Sky Television, the projector, sofas, vending machine items, foos-ball, the big screen TV, and the many clubs and societies funded by GCR members. See you around!

One does not simply walk into Manchester’s...oh, you do? Quite pedestrian-friendly, in fact? (Photo: Michael Baker)

(Photo: Lara Maria Velho)

GCR NEWS

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GCR Treasurer’s ReportJesper L. PedersenWe’re now almost halfway through the academic year, and the GCR com-mittee have been working together for several months now. It’s been a lot of hard work, even a little frustrating at times, but mostly it’s been great fun and an absolute joy. So I’d like to start this report by saying a big thank you to my fellow committee members. You should, too! If you see one around Fisher House, give them a big hug. They deserve it!

Now, an update on what has hap-pened since the last edition. First, the bike shelters are finally up! As you may know, thanks to the hard work carried out by last year’s exec, we were able to convince the university to set up bike shelters around Ustinov, co-funded by Estates and Buildings, the College, and the GCR. At long last, our bikes are safe from the elements.

In GCR finances, the most exciting thing is the Clubs & Societies funding round that took place earlier this year. This is a chance for our sports teams and other societies to ask for money to run their clubs, and give all Usti-

novians a chance to weigh in on their requests.

The newly founded Ustinov Brew-ers’ Guild asked for £420 towards the initial cost of equipment, which includes a lot of plastic tubes and hoses, boilers and buckets, glasses and thermometers, et cetera. The Jazz Band were looking for £121 worth of micro-phones to improve the sound quality of their already brilliant live perfor-mances in Fisher and around Durham.

In sports news, the tennis club wanted £79 for new balls and a bit of equipment, while the cricket club asked for £95 for some new indoor balls and a contribution towards rent-ing the nets in Maiden Castle once a week this term. The Ultimate Frisbee club asked for £140 towards some new discs and a trophy for the cabinet in the Fisher Café, to celebrate finishing

the first semester as Second Division champions. The badminton society asked for £329 for eight new rackets, a few dozen shuttlecocks, a new net, and a bag to keep it all in. And finally, the basketball club, one of the most suc-cessful in recent years, asked for £559 for a set of kit for the men’s second team, six new basketballs, and a bit of other equipment.

The clubs and societies are one of the greatest assets in the GCR and in college, and one of the easiest ways for you to get involved in college life. Therefore we in finance commit-tee were more than happy to suggest accepting all of these funding requests, which you did at the General Meeting on 21 January. All in all, we approved £1,744 in spending on clubs and soci-eties. If your club missed out this time around, there will be another funding round in the new term, so be ready.

Finally, the Summer Ball and Sum-mer BBQ plans are well underway! They’re still in the early stages, but you can expect a lot from both events. I can’t give away too many details here, but they’re guaranteed to be absolutely unmissable events. Be excited, very excited! And mark these dates in your diary: Sunday, 28 June, for the Sum-mer BBQ, and Sunday, 5 July, for the Summer Ball.

Shiny new bike shelters! Probably haunted. (Ustinovian photo)

GCR NEWS

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GCR Ecology Rep’s ReportMiriah ReynoldsThe trees may lack a more vibrant col-our in winter, but there is no shortage of ways to stay green! As your Eco Rep, I’ve been promoting campaigns spon-sored by Greenspace and working on a few initiatives for Ustinov. I’ll expand on these and more below.

As Jesper mentioned, the most noticeable change in facilities—and here you thought the day would never come—are the fabled bike shelters! The half-dome shelters provide pro-tection for up to 30 bikes. Shelters are located by Fisher House, Elm, and Alder blocks. (If you’d like to see about buying a bike to put in them, check out Recyke Y’Bike on 25 North Road in Durham.)

As for other facility matters, I have a bit of bad news and good news respec-tively. I pursued the idea of solar panels for Ustinov with the College Environment Committee. However, hoisting panels onto the taller modern blocks costs a great deal and the older blocks lack a sufficient roof pitch. With a current lack of funding for this venture, solar panels must wait. As for good news, more cigarette disposal bins should pop up around the site in the near future. I am also liaising with Greenspace, request-ing Durham County Council weigh our general waste and recycling output.

If you’re a long-time Ustinov resi-dent, you have either heard about or expe-rienced the now-de-funct Green Move Out Sale. I met with various parties

within the University to see the Sale reinstated in some form. Recently the University facilitated talks with the local charity that received the items donated to last year’s Green Move Out. The charity enthusiastically supported various options set forth, which included a return to the original format. Even so, nothing is set in stone yet as we need to develop a realistic plan involving the University, College, and the charity. In other words, stay tuned!

Thank you to everyone who partic-ipated in the Greenspace campaigns (Environment Week and the Inter-Col-legiate Energy Competition) during Michaelmas Term! Our litter pick per-formed a thorough riverside clean up, and I hope you enjoyed Wall-E with some lovely Fairtrade granola. Ustinov didn’t win the Energy Competition—we came in eleventh place, sadly—but

consciously reducing our energy usage matters in a big way no matter what the margin. February sees us focusing on waste reduction and the nationally recognised Fairtrade Fortnight. Do have a look at Greenspace’s respective web pages for University events on each of these campaigns.

Lastly, I’d like to bring awareness to the Divestment Movement at Dur-ham, which aims to remove the Uni-versity’s investments in fossil fuels. If you would like to know more about this campaign, which is sponsored by People & Planet (an external organisa-tion), check the Facebook page ‘Dur-ham Divest’.

The green, green graph of shame

GCR NEWS

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GCR Welfare Officer’s ReportSteph OrswellHow’s your stress level? Mental health and other forms of welfare are incredibly important for everyone at every time in their lives. Especially as students, we’re particularly vulnera-ble to many risk factors for a variety of health-related problems. Friends, relationships, family issues, enormous assignments with deadlines looming, peer pressure, and money are all com-mon stressors for students. They create anxiety, can lead to depression, or may even instigate medical problems.

With this in mind, there are plenty of tools that we can use to combat these mental health issues. As clichéd as it is to say, time management is huge. Regarding assignments, creating a planned timeline can help reduce the stress of the assignment by breaking it into chunks and preventing all-night-ers, which allows us to get the sleep that we all definitely need!

Time management doesn’t just relate to work, but also to various rela-tionships. Don’t seclude yourself from people. Even if you have an enormous assignment due, make sure you give yourself breaks to spend time with your friends and relax. Even an hour or so can make a huge difference.

Your friends are also some of your greatest allies here. Not only does spending time with them help you by just generally having fun or relaxing, but they also provide you with a first line of help if something happens that you are worried about or if you are having an issue with something. Con-fiding in a close friend may be easier than going to see a counsellor. Don’t be afraid to turn to someone you trust if you have concerns.

Obviously, we may not get along with our friends all the time and sometimes they may do something to make us upset—we’re all only human, after all. If this happens, don’t keep everything bottled up, as it may add to the tension, strain friendships, or even create stress resulting in mental or physical symptoms. Be as upfront with someone as you feel you can comfortably be.

Some of you may not like this last prescription, but the best thing you can do is limit how much alcohol you drink and/or how much you smoke or take other drugs. Not only are these habits terrible for your health, but the effects they have on your brain can bring forward or exacerbate any men-tal or physical health problems. In the moment, they may seem to help reduce stress, but they are in fact stressors on your body themselves. (You’ll also be surprised how much time and money you save!)

One thing you could do to try to relieve stress is by exercising, as the chemicals created in your body while doing this actually help you focus bet-ter and feel incredible! If you want something a little more low-key, yoga or meditation are wonderful.

Finally, if you or anyone you know is having issues regarding mental health or welfare issues of any sort, don’t be afraid to ask myself, your welfare officer, or Brenda Ryder, the student support officer. To contact me or Brenda, email one of us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Taking steps for safety. As you are all probably aware, there have recently been two recent incidents in which stu-dents have fallen into the River Wear after nights out. One night ended tragically, and only through luck did the second end on a much less terrible note. The University and its students have done their best to spread aware-ness of river safety and how to remain safe after a night in town. Most impor-tantly, walking alone at night should be avoided if possible.

Be aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye out for the terrain you are walking on and what is going on around you. Sometimes you may not be able to do this for yourself, which is also where walking with a buddy or in groups comes into play. If you can, it may be best to simply avoid the river after sunset, as the path can be incred-ibly dark.

Despite Durham being a relatively safe city, we know that women are considerably more often the targets of street harassment; this may be verbal harassment, which has the potential to wind up, sadly, as sexual harassment. (Sidebar: When a woman is sexually harassed, it has nothing to do with her. It is not what she wears. It is not how she is acting. None of those are excuses for harassment of any sort.)

To sum up, when you go out into town, know and keep to your lim-its when it comes to alcohol, always walk with a friend, be aware of what is going on around you, and be cautious and respectful with others. You can still have an incredible night out while still staying safe, healthy, and happy.

The DSU Nightbus picks stu-dents up at night and drops them at all colleges and some residential areas in Durham. Hours: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., Mon through Sat; 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sun. Fare: £1 per student per trip. Tel: 07922 648802.

GCR NEWS

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My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;

My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;

A-chasing the wild-deer, and fol-lowing the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands wher-ever I go.

(Excerpt from ‘My Heart’s in the Highlands’, by Robert Burns)

I have always thought that to really understand a culture, one must try that culture’s signature dish as well as its signature dance—and that is exactly what Ustinov’s Burns Night formal dinner was all about. Com-memorating the life of Scottish bard (poet) Robert Burns, we had a chance to immerse ourselves in everything Scottish.

The usual meeting-up place was in Fisher House bar. From there, we were led to the dining hall by a bagpiper in a procession unique to the Burns Night formal. With the strong and powerful music sounding, we made our way across the road towards the Howlands Building, and after entering the dining room, everyone was offered a glass of the oh-so-famous Scottish whisky.

It was the first time I had ever drunk whisky, so my impression of the bever-age is, quite frankly, that it tastes like liquid fire (a pleasant realisation, don’t get me wrong!). Scottish flags and tar-tan bunting were hung around the room, and thistles adorned each table (another Scottish symbol).

After finding our table and listening to the customary opening speech from the Principal of Ustinov College, we expected the first course to be served. However—and this is another ele-ment of the uniqueness of the night—the ritual stabbing of the haggis was in order. It reminded me a little of ancient libations, with the ceremoni-ous procession that preceded and fol-lowed the actual stabbing, as well as the address to the haggis itself.

In my honest opinion (and to my surprise!), the haggis tasted really good, and that seemed to be the general con-sensus around the room. Coupled with the whisky, it really was telling of what the Scots are all about. Of course, a night in honour of a poet would fall short without any actual poetry, and so, contributing to the one-of-a-kind night, we had the pleasure of enjoying a number of speeches throughout the

dinner by our fellow Ustinovians, who so artfully prepared a few heartfelt (yet hilariously scandalous) words for us.

After the dinner was over, the party at Fisher House commenced, with a slight twist this time, for we had the chance to participate in a traditional ceilidh dance, complete with a very nice (and extremely patient) instruc-tor and all the traditional musical instruments. My knees are still recov-ering from the rigorous dance moves I pulled, trying (and failing) not to show my ‘rookie’-ness too much, but the fun part was no one cared what they looked like!

That was the beauty of the dance; even if you hadn’t ever tried it before, you could easily keep up with every-one, learning the steps and having a really good time all the while. By the end we were all completely out of breath, but we didn’t want it to end!

It was a night to remember, and I think I speak for everyone when I say thank you to Ustinov College and everyone involved for yet again organ-ising such an exciting event. And for those of you who couldn’t attend, do try and get involved in future Ustinov events—they never fail to deliver!

Burns Night 2015: a Wee RetrospectiveCatherine (Aikaterini) Apokatanidou

David Harper, Principal of Van Mildert College, addresses the haggis as Principal McGregor looks on. (Photo: Brian D. Taylor)

THE SOCIAL LIFE—BURNS NIGHT

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Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! This is my first ‘Toast to the Lassies’ so I hope you’ll be forgiving. Ladies, you’re look-ing lovely tonight.

Before I get into it, I thought I’d start with a quick note. I was talking to a friend a few weeks back, who told me a very high percentage of people at Durham meet their life partner here, a higher percentage than most dating agencies I’m told (and obviously a lot more expensive).

Now as a PhD student, I’m actu-ally paid to be here, this is where your money went. So ladies, while I’m up here for all to see, ask yourself, have you ever spent a better £9,000 in your whole life?

Now upon agreeing to do this toast, I checked out a few websites. The ‘Toast to the Lassies’ was traditionally a toast to thank the women who pre-pared the Burns Night supper. How-ever, nowadays it’s more of humorous speech. One of the websites actually said, ‘The challenge is to deliver a bal-anced, witty, and sincere toast; without causing offence’. Well, at this point, I thought, ‘They’ve definitely got the wrong person’. But here goes nothing.

Rabbie Burns, Scotland’s favourite son, was a remarkable man. Born to a farming family in Ayrshire, Rabbie grew up in poverty with little educa-tion and spent much of his time work-ing hard on the family farm. At the age of 15, he started writing poetry. By the time of his death Burns had written hundreds of songs and poems, much of it inspired by his love of drink, Scotland, and, of course, women.

Now this is usually the part where the speaker complains about his wife or ex-girlfriends, and so as in keeping with tradition I made a list: things like not turning up on time, clogging the shower drain up with hair, et cetera. However, women’s greatest crime is of course their inability to keep secrets.

But for every yin there is a yang. Women can’t keep secrets, men can’t hold in a fart. What are we to learn from this? If you want a woman to keep a secret, whisper it up her behind.

But what about Ustinov? While it would be a foolish man who tries to make a general comment about such a diverse collection of women, I thought I’d give it a go anyway. Because one thing the ladies of Ustinov all have in common is wisdom. And I have a story to demonstrate.

Some of you may know that I am a committed member of the Usti-nov salsa class. Now, one week we were learning the batchata. Sheri, our long-suffering dance teacher says, ‘Now, everybody watch and I’ll show you the basic steps’. The sequence went: 1, step, 2, step, 3, step, hip.

She said ‘hip’, but what followed can only be described as a bum wig-gle. Now, Sheri never did the batchata with me, and that’s probably for the best, because if she did, I think my head would have exploded. I said to myself, ‘Cameron, today is going be a good day’.

But no, the moment of joy was short-lived, when she turns and says, ‘And guys, you have to do the hip as well’. Now guys, I don’t know if you have ever tried to wiggle your bum, but personally I had never tried to vol-untarily move my bum up until this point, and let me assure you it is no easy feat. Pretty much all the women got the hang of this instantly.

I had to give up on moving; instead I just stood on the spot and tried to wiggle my bum in synchronisation with the rest of the class. I apologised profusely to each lady I danced with. It was one of those ladies who bestowed upon me, the greatest wisdom I had ever heard. She told me, ‘Bum wig-gling is an essential life skill’.

But returning to Burns, what of

the women in his life? Burns only ever married once, to Jean Armour. Her father initially forbade their marriage, and upon Jean’s first pregnancy out-side of wedlock he sent Jean to live in Paisley—which, as punishments go, I feel is a bit harsh.

However, after Burns had achieved a degree of success, and due to the fact that Jean kept getting pregnant with twins, he eventually gave in. Burns loved all women and what’s more they loved him. ‘An hour in the dark with Rob is worth a lifetime with any other lad’, is what the ladies of Ayrshire used to say about him.

He had many, many, affairs, and wrote a great deal of poetry inspired by the women. Each word carefully chosen, every line masterfully crafted, as this, one of his most famous poems demonstrates:

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose, That’s newly sprung in June: O my Luve’s like the melodie, That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; And I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve! And fare-thee-weel, a while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho’ ’twere ten thousand mile!

And on that note, gentlemen, will you please be upstanding.

I am told by religious people that God created man before woman. And as we all know, you always make a rough draft before you create a mas-terpiece.

To the Lassies!


Toast to the LassiesCameron Fairweather

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Toast to the LadsSiobhan HarperGood evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks to Cameron for that rous-ing toast. I hope you’ll excuse the fact that neither Cameron nor I are actu-ally Scottish—however, I’m half-Scot-tish, with red hair, pale skin, and a penchant for deep-fried chocolate, and Cameron went to university in Aber-deen. If that’s not sufficient to make one whole Scot then I don’t know what is!

It seems that this toast is meant to make extensive jokes about the floun-derings and failings of the unfair sex, but personally I don’t go in for gender stereotypes—not that I don’t have the material. Don’t worry though, I’m not prejudiced—some of my best friends are men. But I’m determined to do this toast right, so in an attempt to tick all the boxes, here’s a joke: ‘What’s the difference between government bonds and men? Bonds mature!’

Yeah, I know that was terrible, but at least it didn’t last very long. That’s what she said.

Robert Burns himself, as Camer-on’s already mentioned, had a very interesting and fairly complicated rela-tionship with women. He was bit of a desperate Romantic, and had twelve children with four women in 13 years; Wikipedia reliably informs me that he has over 600 living descendants as of 2012, and Wikipedia must be trusted at all times.

(Incidentally, Wikipedia also informs me that, in 1996, a musical about Burns’ life called Red Red Rose won third place in a competition for new musicals in Denmark, with Rob-ert Burns being played by John Bar-rowman. But even this is still nowhere near as disturbing as the musical ver-sion of Wuthering Heights that exists, called simply Heathcliff, starring none other than Cliff Richard as Heathcliff. Heathcliff Richard, if you will. That discovery took some getting over.)


Siobhan Harper, speaking for the lassies, and Cameron Fairweather, demonstrating a ‘bum wiggle’. (Photos: Brian D. Taylor)

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THE SOCIAL LIFE—BURNS NIGHTHand-in-hand with Burns’ many

love affairs is a bit of an argument about whether or not he was a femi-nist—a ‘closet feminist’ was one writ-er’s description. It seems that he may have been, since he wrote a poem in 1792 called ‘The Rights of Woman’, which declares that ‘The Rights of Woman merit some attention’.

He believed that there were three rights of woman. Firstly, he thought that women should have the right of ‘protection’. That’s fair enough—the GCR Committee wholeheartedly endorses the use of protection, so help yourself to what our President delight-fully refers to as ‘rubber johnnies’ from outside the GCR office.

The second right of woman deserves to be quoted in full:

Our second Right—but needless here is caution,

To keep that right inviolates the fash-ion;

Each man of sense has it so full before him,

He’d die before he’d wrong it—‘tis decorum.—

There was, indeed, in far less pol-ish’d days,

A time, when rough rude man had naughty ways,

Would swagger, swear, get drunk, kick up a riot,

Nay even thus invade a Lady’s quiet.Now, thank our stars! those Gothic

times are fled;Now, well-bred men—and you are

all well-bred—Most justly think (and we are much

the gainers)Such conduct neither spirit, wit, nor

manners.

Totally with Burns on this one—thank God that there aren’t any men these days swaggering, swearing, get-ting drunk, and kicking up a riot. Lucky we’re in 2015 not 1792, I guess, right laydeez?! Lucky us.

Moving on,

For Right the third, our last, our best, our dearest,

That right to fluttering female hearts the nearest;

Which even the Rights of Kings, in low protestation,

Most humbly own—‘tis dear, dear admiration!

Now, of course, this version of the ‘rights’ of women seems pretty patron-ising to us now. I obviously can’t speak for every woman—I’m not Chaka Khan—but I’m not as fussed about protection, decorum, and admiration as Burns seems to think I should be.

But gimme some of that equal rights any day. While of course it’s nice to be admired and not have guys drunkenly throw up on your shoes, I’d happily forego that if it would mean equality for all women and an end to patriar-chal bullshit. That said, boys, please don’t take that as a cue to throw up on my shoes; these bad-boys are from Marks and Spencers, and you don’t mess with M&S.

But this poem was revolutionary in 1792, and probably just laughable to the blokey-blokes that Burns hung around with. Gender equality wasn’t a big issue, which makes him pretty ahead of his time and clearly very well in with the lassies.

Of course, this may have been because he was also a very charming and charismatic fellow—and I feel it’s my duty to inform you all that he wrote a poem in 1786 that is called ‘Come Rede Me Dame’ but is more commonly known by the line: ‘Nine inch will please a lady’. That’s not even a euphemism—the poem is literally about coitus, and includes the phrases

‘It’s not the length that makes me loup but it’s the double drivin’ and ‘lug your battering ram’.

So, laddies. That poem aside, I can’t really recommend the Rabbie Burns method of wooing, which goes like this: impregnate your mother’s serv-ant while you’re dating someone else, marry the second one and have some kids, fall in love with someone else and consider moving to Jamaica with her, have an affair with someone else, move on to her servant, then another servant, and then go back to your wife, safe in the knowledge that your seed has been sown. It may have worked for him, but it’s slightly impractical these days, not to mention expensive. Really, when it comes to the ladies, and life, don’t be a dick and you’ll go far. Lassies, that goes for you too.

We lasses know that you can find us frustrating sometimes. In fact, some-times we even do it deliberately for a laugh. But, in the words of Dick Sol-omon, ‘Women. Can’t live with them, can’t have heterosexual sex without them.’ So thanks for the times you put up with us, and we hope that you enjoy our company as much as we do yours.

So, on behalf of the lassies assem-bled here this eve,

We accept your toast gents and now take our leave;

But first, ladies, I ask that you please raise your glasses,

And join me in giving a Toast from the Lassies.

When the piper pipes, ye’ll follow, if there is a dinner involved. (Photo: Brian D. Taylor)

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On Sunday, 1 February, Super Bowl XLIX kicked off close to midnight. It is one of the most watched sporting events in the world, with over 114 mil-lion viewers in the U.S. alone, and the highlight of the year for the National Football League. This year, the con-test was between two teams that were ranked number one in their confer-ence, the New England Patriots of the American Football Conference and the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football Conference.

Despite the kick off being at 11:30 p.m., Fisher House was full of Ustino-vians and other members of the Dur-ham community. The bar had deals on a few choice American beers as well as some classic American football snacks (and some free pizza) for people to sample. Upwards of 100 people found seats in Fisher Bar, making moving around difficult, but this led to a fun, busy Super Bowl party. I’d say that most people were cheering for the Sea-hawks, but both teams had plenty of supporters in the crowd.

Throughout the game, both teams were evenly matched and both scored two touchdowns in the first half for a halftime score of 14-14. It was any-one’s game at that point.

One feature that makes the Super Bowl stand out from other major sporting events is the ever-campy half-time show. This year, the performance was by Katy Perry with guest perform-ers Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. It might not have been the most amaz-

ing performance compared with recent Super Bowl halftime shows, but it was definitely one that will be talked about.

Pretty much everyone watch-ing in Fisher Bar was glued to the screen in what appeared to be part-confusion and part-enter-tainment. Perry’s multiple costume changes floored some people, and everyone seemed to enjoy the hilarious dancing sharks and palm trees when she performed ‘Teen-age Dream’ and ‘California Gurls’.

The halftime show could only last so long, and soon it was back to the football. For Patriots supporters, the third quarter was upsetting, as the team struggled on both offense and defence. Seahawk fans, on the other hand, were quite pleased as the team went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead over the Patriots.

It was about 2:30 a.m. when the fourth quarter began, and at this point, the majority of people had decided it was time to head off to bed. Then, the Patriots managed to take charge, and suddenly were up 28-24 with two or so minutes left.

Patriots fans at this point seemed to be a bit happier than before, but remembering past Super Bowls, were still reluctant to get too excited. They were definitely right to feel nervous, as with under a minute to go, the Sea-

hawks were closing in on scoring a touchdown to win the game.

With 26 seconds left, the Seahawks ran a pass play that Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler intercepted in the end zone, securing the victory, and the fourth Super Bowl in team his-tory, for the Patriots. The remaining Patriots fans were jumping for joy as the Seahawk fans looked at the screen in shock that what had seemed like an assured victory had been taken from them.

Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP for the third time in his career, but the real hero of the evening was the porter, who saved the projector from going into Stand-By mode twice so we could watch the whole game.

From all the GCR, we thank him and everyone who joined us for an absolutely fantastic and exciting evening!

THE SOCIAL LIFE

Super Bowl XLIX: A Ustinov CommentarySteph Orswell

The only Snapchat we’re legally allowed to show you. (Photo: Mike Appels)

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What it is, why you should watch it, why England will lose, and why you should be cheering for Afghanistan.

On Friday, 13 February, the biggest sporting event of the year, in terms of global viewers, kicked off. I am of course referring to the Cricket World Cup, which over the next month will have seen fourteen teams from around the world battle it out in Australia and New Zealand. The World Cup, which happens every four years, is the biggest event in the cricket calendar, and will be watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world. (And one of the places you can catch all the action is in Fisher House, where we are show-ing the games on the big screen.)

Due to the time difference, the games will mostly be on in the mid-dle of the night, but with the interna-tional crowd here in Ustinov there’s no doubt many of the games will still be electric—none more so than the match-up between India and Paki-stan in the group match on 15 Feb-ruary. That game took place after I wrote this, but the atmosphere will be incredible. If those two teams meet again in the knockout stage, however, you really have to come watch it with us in Fisher. It’ll be amazing. The same goes, of course, for the finals on Sunday, 29 March, from 4:30 in the morning until about noon.

What is cricket?

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, after football. But as it is pretty much only played between British Commonwealth countries, and you may not be familiar with it, here are the basics. Two teams of eleven players compete to score the most runs within 50 overs (six balls by the same bowler), in successive innings. Two batsmen are ‘in’ at a time and score runs by hitting the ball away from the fielders and running between the wick-

ets. The bowlers will try and get them ‘out’, usually by knocking over their stumps (the three sticks behind them), or by getting them ‘caught out’, if one of the fielders catches the ball before it hits the ground. When a batsman is out, he’s replaced by a teammate, until the batting team have no players left or they run out of overs. The teams then switch places, and they do it all again until there’s a winner.

Your handy guide to the teams

The likely winners: South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. On neutral ground the South Africans would be favourites, but Australia have home advantage so they probably have the edge. The Aussies are not the team they were ten years ago, when they were arguably the greatest cricket team of all time, but they’re still more than capable of going all the way. The New Zealand co-hosts are arguably better than they ever been, and on home soil they could be in with an outsider’s

shot at the title.

The inevitable disappointments: Eng-land, India. England always go into the World Cup expecting to win. They never do. Following a string of poor results, which ended with their cap-tain being dropped from the team, this won’t be their year. India may be defending champions, having won at home in 2011, but in Australian con-ditions and with the team they’ve got this year, they won’t be able to repeat that feat.

Also starring: UAE, Ireland, Bangla-desh, West Indies, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Sri Lanka.

The feel-good underdog that you should cheer for: Afghanistan. If the Hollywood executives knew anything about cricket the story of the Afghan national team would have won the Oscar for Best Picture by now. Before the 1990s cricket was virtually unknown there, but it spread through the refugee camps in Pakistan, and when people started returning home after 2001 they brought the game back with them. Most of the team grew up

in camps and trained without proper equipment for most of their lives, yet somehow they’ve managed to become one of the best non-Test playing teams in the world. While they’re extremely unlikely to make it out of the group stage, the fact that they’re even here is amazing, and they deserve all our sup-port.

So there you have it! Most of the World Cup games will be shown live in Fisher, and it’s bound to be a great tournament.

THE SOCIAL LIFE

Cricket World Cup: It’s HappeningJesper L. Pedersen

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Mentor DinnerYashodhara Trivedi

The mentor system at Ustinov College is a fantastic opportunity for students to meet new people at various events, receive pastoral support whenever required, and make the most of their college experience. Social events may range from daytrips to picturesque locales in and around Durham, visits to museums, beaches, and even sports stadiums, to enjoying a hearty meal hosted by the college.

The first mentor dinner of the Epiphany Term was held on the twelfth of February in the Howlands Building. Drinks were served at half past six and dinner followed shortly. The main course was a choice between Cajun chicken and beef curry, with rice on the side and an assortment of vegetables, while spinach-and-cheese puff pastry replaced the meat options for vegetarian diners.

The incredibly talented student band The Funkyard regaled the guests with an impressive blend of funk, soul, Motown, and R&B music, while a choice of desserts (chocolate cake with cream and apple or raspberry tart) pro-vided a sweet finish to the delightful evening.

Valentine’s WeekendAlice Chadwick

Love was in the air at Ustinov over the weekend of 14–16 February this term—everything kicked off with the mid-term party, well attended by many of our dear Ustinovians, who boogied their way down to Fisher House for the occasion. Many even made special effort to attire themselves in all red (a special mention for the light-up heart necklace cannot be forgotten—best accessory ever), and the lovely staff on the bar even whipped up some tempt-ing love potions (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, of course).

Many also joined us on the Sun-day afternoon to feel the love with our marathon of classic love-themed films in Fisher House bar: Pride and Prejudice, Brokeback Mountain, Pretty Woman, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Dirty Dancing featured, with the prize of ‘Worst Line Ever’ going to Four Weddings and a Funeral (‘Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed.’).

Save the Dates!Alice Chadwick

19 March: the Castle Formal

Students at Ustinov College are priv-ileged in many ways—a strong and diverse international community of people, access to fantastic student facilities, and platforms for discussing our work with those from a wide range of disciplines. However, in one aspect Ustinov may seem lacking, mainly due to its comparative youth—yes, that’s right, the ‘Harry Potter factor’. In spite of the many advantages of modern buildings, we unfortunately don’t have our own traditional dining hall. For this reason, Ustinov GCR is proud to maintain our annual tradition of treat-ing you all to a formal dinner in the beautiful surroundings of the Castle Great Hall! [I’m going to let you finish, Alice, but the Formal is sold out—Ed.]

On Thursday, 19 March, we will make our way through the beautiful surroundings of Durham to one of the true historic gems of the city, to be received in the quirky (and slightly underground) Castle bar. Of course, as this will be just after the end of term we postgraduates will be stretching our legs in relief as the undergradu-ates gradually disappear, so this merits

THE SOCIAL LIFE

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Probably haunted (Photo: Marc Owen Jones)

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THE SOCIAL LIFE

everyone putting on their best formal dress for the occasion! After one or two drinks from the bar, we will take our seats in the Great Hall—a won-derful wood-panelled room, adorned with portraits of Durham alumni—at the traditional long wooden tables beneath High Table.

Besides all of the splendour and excitement of the dressing up and location, the menu alone should be enough to entice you. Honey-roasted butter-nut squash soup will be followed by either a pan-friend sirloin steak with slow roasted tomatoes, sweet potato wedges, buttered fine beans with a green peppercorn sauce, or a pea and cour-gette risotto cake with confit tomatoes, aspar-agus, and hollandaise sauce for those of the ‘vegetable-tarian’ persua-sion. Of course, dessert is really the main course of any meal, as all wise people know, and a raspberry brulée with white chocolate ice cream will undoubtedly please all—I honestly can’t wait!

Once our fine dining experience has finished, the Castle bar will once more be available to us; once that closes everyone has the opportunity to make their way to other Bailey college bars or establishments in town for an after-party, so you can dance the night

away with all of your friends. Tickets are always extremely popular for this particular formal, and we anticipate a particularly speedy selling period—look out for the GCR newsletter for details of when tickets will be available, to be sure of securing yourself a spot! Tickets will be £12 for GCR members and £17 for non-members (as always, GCR members can purchase tickets for only one guest each).

28 June: the Ustinov BBQ

Often said to be the gem of the Usti-nov social calendar, and famous throughout the University, the Usti-nov GCR Summer Barbecue returns this year on Sunday, 28 June! Mark your calendar now. As ever we will be providing lots of delicious barbe-cue food, and fun and games for all.

Special musical guests (TBA) will be performing on our mainstage, and we’ll have fairground rides, a kids’ fun corner, an adult bouncy castle, and lots, lots more. (We don’t want to spoil all of the surprise!) After the main afternoon of food and fun, the music will continue into the evening, moving inside to a DJ party, celebrat-ing another fantastic year at Ustinov. Indeed, this year’s barbecue will be the culmination of the fortnight of 50th Anniversary celebrations of Ustinov as the Graduate Society—so this year will be even bigger than before! We can’t wait to see you there!

5 July: the Summer BallOn Sunday, 5 July, Ustinov GCR is incredibly excited to present…the Ustinov Summer Ball! We’re keeping specifics under wraps for the time being, but we might go so far as to say that the evening will have a distinc-

tively Ustinovian fla-vour (Hmm…!), and we can tell you that this much-awaited event of the year will be hosted at the stunningly beau-tiful 12-century estate house, Beamish Hall. Coaches will trans-port you from college in the early evening to the Hall, where you will be received with a traditional drinks reception. Guests will have the opportunity to explore the mag-nificent grounds, and

sample the entertainment and delights that will be on offer around every cor-ner, before sitting down to a delicious three-course dinner. The evening will continue with more entertainment and fantastic music for you to dance the night away with your friends. Watch out for more hints coming soon from your very excited GCR committee. Tickets will go on sale in the summer term!


At the BBQ, sunshine is ‘guaranteed’! (Ustinovian photo)

No one is sacrificed in the Great Hall at midnight. That is a horrid rumour. (Photo: Marc Owen Jones)

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FEATURES

‘A solar car, in Durham!’ I can almost hear the scoffing laughter as I write. Those that saw me at the ‘Solar Rev-olution’ Café Scientifique event earlier this term [see p. 29] will perhaps be more willing to believe me, along with those that saw the car itself in front of the Bill Bryson Library last term.

There has been a solar car project in Durham since 2002, based in the School of Engineering and Computer Sciences. The car has been in constant development since then, competing in the North American Solar Challenge in 2008 where it won the best new-comer prize and the World Solar Chal-lenge in Australia in 2011. In 2013 the team joined forces with the Formula Student team to create a bigger and better resourced team. The team even have a website (www.duem.org) for those of you who still want proof!

I mentioned the ‘solar challenges’ in Australia and America, but what actually happens in these contests, I hear you say? The typical solar chal-lenge event is a multi-day endurance race usually 2,500 to 3,000 miles long. During the day, the cars travel between checkpoints and try to cover the dis-tance in the shortest time possible. The leaving order is decided by a qualifying round on a track.

I joined the team at the beginning of my third year as an undergraduate on the Aeronautics course here at Dur-

ham, just after the car got back from Australia in 2011. I was a member of the mechanical team, primarily look-ing at the new car’s steering and sus-pension designs. From 2014, I have been in charge of the team as we gear up to competing in the World Solar Challenge for a second time. This sees me move away from a purely techni-cal role to one involving sponsorship and finance, which is not to forget team motivation, something I have attempted with a mixture of fear and excitement. The focus has now shifted from developing the old solar car to designing and developing a complete new car to compete this October.

In terms of design, there are many constraints on a solar car. Since there is comparatively little energy available from the solar cells compared to a pet-rol engine, the car has to be as efficient as possible. This means the aerody-namic shape has to have the minimum amount of drag, the electric motor has to as efficient as possible, and the roll-ing resistance must be minimised.

The main component of the solar car is the solar array on the upper sur-face of the car. This is made from 392 flexible silicon photovoltaic solar cells. The car itself is made from carbon fibre, just like an F1 car, and has an aerofoil shape to reduce drag. The car also has an electric motor inside just one of the rear wheels, designed by the team, which is optimised for the

car and achieves over 94 per cent effi-ciency. Housing the motor inside the wheel reduces the transmission losses of the motor and allows the car to be packed tighter to reduce aerodynamic drag even further.

On the face of it, the environmen-tal credentials of a solar car in Dur-ham are fairly weak. Unsurprisingly, solar cars work best when there is plenty of sunshine for the car. Whilst on occasion there are fine sunny days in Durham that would power the car, the technology is at its most potent in faraway remote and sunny places. The Northern Territory of Australia is a prime example, where there are long distances between settlements and plenty of sunshine (look at Top Gear when they were in Australia).

The advantage of a solar car com-pared to other forms of transport is that the car will work without any form of fuel, and so there would be no limits to the distance that could be travelled. New technologies such as chargeable electric cars and hydro-gen-powered cars suffer from short operating ranges and a lack of infra-structure for refuelling.

One day it should be possible to charge the batteries of a solar car dur-ing the day while driving, so the car would be able to continue driving dur-ing the night. That is the goal we are aiming for.

Rain, Sleet, and Shine: Durham’s Solar CarAndrew Messenger

Go, greased photovoltaic cells! (Photo: DU Solar Car Project)

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In 2015, the UK is celebrating the quintessence of the Magna Carta, and its contemporary relevance in polit-ical realms and beyond. To honour this historic event, a conference was held in the Houses of Parliament from the third to the fifth of February, to commemorate and celebrate the doc-ument.

I was very fortunate to have been chosen to be a part of the same. The conference on ‘Magna Carta to Commonwealth Charter: Human Rights in the Modern Day Common-wealth’ opened with a lecture delivered by Rt Hon. John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons and Rt Hon. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, for-mer Attorney-General, on the modern legacy of Magna Carta.

Mr Speaker took the opportunity to urge his Commonwealth parlia-mentary colleagues in attendance to take inspiration from the spirit of the authors of Magna Carta and continue to develop and distil the principles of democracy it outlines. This was followed by speeches and debates from parliamentarians from across the globe.

The second day continued with a discussion of the Commonwealth Charter, before moving on to explore specific fundamental human rights

later in the day. Splitting into smaller groups, the delegates then explored two specific areas of human rights infringe-ment: early and forced marriage, and obstruction of the right to education. Concluding the day’s programme for parliamentarians and scholars in a stirring final plenary address, Hon. Angelo Farrugia MP, Speaker of the Parliament of Malta, gave his and his country’s unequivocal support for the continued relevance of the Common-wealth as a force for good.

The final day of conference saw the current leaders and legislators of the Commonwealth arguing issues of morality and human rights with those of the future. The parliamentarian par-ticipants and Commonwealth Schol-ars debated the motion, ‘Can you leg-islate for a moral issue?’

Opening the debate, with Baroness Hooper in the chair, South African Deputy Speaker Hon. Solomon Lech-esa Tsenoli MP highlighted the com-plexity of the issue, and suggested that moral values will often conflict with human rights as morality is subjective, and may be derived from a religion or another specific community. He urged legislators to keep the private (morals) and public (law) separate.

I was of the opinion that mor-als should be legislated but being an

anthropologist, I am aware that the very notion of ‘morality’ is subjective. Both morals and human rights have varied meanings in different commu-nities and are inextricably linked. I suggested that the modern tendency to see morality in shades of grey, rather than in black and white absolutes, could leave individuals’ rights open to erosion through interpretation, and I urged the parliamentarians present to create meaningful legislation by direct-ing their power in the right direction.

It was overwhelming when the parliamentarians from South Africa, Malta, and Jersey came up to me dur-ing the informal sessions to congratu-late me on my viewpoint and encour-aged me to work for the well-being of people by giving voice to those who have been hushed or unheard.

A prominent theme of the discus-sion was what ‘morality’ is. The major-ity argued that it is subjective, being derived from personal, cultural, or religious values. This view was sum-marised by Hon. Raymond Pryce MP of Jamaica, who asked ‘Whose right is right?’. To be a part of this noble gath-ering and discuss social issues that are hovering around us has given me an enlightening experience that I shall forever cherish.

FEATURES

My Debate in the Houses of ParliamentSneha Roy

(Photo courtesy author)

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FEATURES

A Ustinov Graduate in Moscow, IdahoCat Edgeley

There are only so many times you can hide your surprise and respond politely to bizarre questions instead of bursting out laughing. I’ve been at the University of Idaho, USA, for just over a month now, and since my arrival I have had to answer to these press-ing concerns from Americans: ‘Have you ever eaten a pizza before?’, ‘Have you ever seen a bus that wasn’t a red double-decker?’, and ‘Is it “scons” or “scoh-nes”?’.

I was also flattered to be told, ‘I’m so pleased I can understand you, even though you have such a strong accent!’ (I’m from Hampshire, which I originally thought was fairly simple to understand.) There have also been blank stares when I ask where the ‘loo’ is, and if we should meet at ‘half three’, and horrified glances when I say I have only driven cars with manual gear-boxes.

I studied for both my undergrad-uate and Master’s in Durham’s Geog-raphy department, so flying out here this January I was nervous to be start-ing in a brand new education system, and without a game plan for the next four years. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the UI campus has a lot of similarities with Durham.

There is a path on campus called ‘Hello Walk’, where tradition requires you to greet everyone you walk past—much like wandering through Usti-nov bar on Friday nights and chatting with everyone! I am always reminded of the communities that the Dur-ham collegiate system creates, and how it enhanced my experience in such a small town—so much so that I am already involved in societies and department activities here to try and recreate those positive environments.

In particular, I think of Ustinov’s international community, and how fortunate I am to have shared a year

living with people from all across the globe. Seeing those friends adapt to UK life gave me the confidence to do the same in the U.S., and like them I now look forward to using my week-ends to travel the area and embrace my new surroundings, by shooting guns in the backcountry, being embar-rassed on Katy Perry’s behalf during the Super Bowl, and eating a lot.

Ustinov is in some ways a micro-cosm of the world. People from differ-

ent backgrounds, countries and faiths are all trying to make the most of their time, and explore the different paths their futures hold. My time at Usti-nov was part of a journey that led me to project my positive experiences on to new environments, and to see the bigger picture in everything I work towards. My only problem—I have yet to find a pub quiz worthy of my Thursday nights over here!

The author in typical hiking attire and a snowy view of Kamiak Butte. (Photos courtesy author)

Bonus: watching Idaho basketball teaches you how to spell ‘Idaho’. (Photo courtesy author)

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The morning of Congregation felt oddly ordinary. I didn’t have the seem-ingly obligatory butterflies that seem to accompany huge life events. Rather, I woke, dressed, had a quick bite to eat and packed my bag with things I would need for the rest of the day and headed out to Palace Green.

After I was sufficiently robed and my lilac hood was pinned into place, I found myself wondering across Pal-ace Green. It wasn’t very crowded yet, just a few people in robes and their entourages. I thought back to a year ago when I had seen last year’s crop of graduates and wouldn’t have been sur-prised had I seen ‘Past Jen’ staring at me across the green.

It felt so normal when I finally ran into my friends, as though we were just meeting for a quick cup of tea before heading off to a lecture. We tried to account for everyone on our course. We were anxious to hear everyone’s news and hoping to see as many of our motley crew as possible. We began sharing stories of the past four months as we were directed into the Great Hall from where we would process.

Never have I more keenly felt the effects of the fourth dimension. Time’s tide had once again reunited us, but even as I stood there smiling and chat-ting, I felt it pushing us ever further from that shore which we had once shared. Never again would that group of people be assembled in this place. Even now we were missing friends and our circle wasn’t complete without them.

I began thinking about the people I used to see in passing and realised that even if I returned to Durham, it wouldn’t be the same. It could never be the same. The people of the Dur-ham I knew wouldn’t be there. A place just isn’t the same if the people you knew and loved aren’t there.

E v e n t u a l l y we were sorted into the proces-sional order. It was almost Hog-wartian the way each of our names we called out. We stood out-side, awaiting the moment when we would begin our short journey to the cathedral.

Congregation is a rather odd event. Well, grad-uation ceremonies in general are odd events. You wear a funny costume, march into a grand building before the important people in your life, listen to elders speak about the future and your obligations to society, then you shake hands with a presiding official as your name and degree are read out for all to hear, and when you march out again, you are somehow transformed.

You have gone from student to alumna; from graduand to graduate; from Bachelor to Master. All because you shook someone’s hand and had your name read out. Well, I suppose the year of work had something to do with it as well.

The rest of the day seemed a blur. I remember going to my department and picking up my dissertation and speaking with some of our professors. I remember having a nice long lunch at New Inn with friends, I remember moving on to the Nine Altars for tea and coffee and finally to the Slug and Lettuce for some drinks. I remember saying a lot of goodbyes. If I had had my way, that day would have stretched on into eternity so I wouldn’t have had to say goodbye at all.

The next morning as I headed toward the station and drank in Mar-ket Square for the last time that Dur-ham would ever be the Durham of my recollections, I found that I was ready to start my new chapter. I wasn’t sad this time either. I was really quite happy.

How could I be sad when I looked on the year I spent in Durham? It had been the best year I had known. There were ups and downs and terri-ble points, but there were also amazing things that happened, triumphs, and I had found myself feeling closer to people than I had ever had before. The tide had brought us all together for an incredible year and now it was taking us off in different directions. We were all changed though. We had changed each other and we had left our mark, even if only in our hearts, on Durham.

For a fuller account on my year in Durham, stop by my blog: ‘An Ameri-can in Durham’ at http://anamerican-indurham.blogspot.co.uk.

FEATURES

Epilogue to a Year in DurhamJennifer Bergevin

On a winter day, happiness is a warm gown! (Photo courtesy author)

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FEATURES

For some people, the thought of hav-ing to fly half-way across the world for a handshake might be a bit of a chore, especially in wintry January.

The day I reached Durham, I was greeted by the familiar sights of the cathedral, the quaint little cafes, and even the same infamous cat prowling [Molly!—Ed.] around Ustinov Col-lege. In spite of all this, it was strange to be back. It’s the same place, but with different people. It hit me then that I have arrived Durham as a graduand.

Despite the freezing wind blowing our robes (and my hijab) in all direc-tion, I was excited! The Winter Con-gregation was attended by fewer guests than I expected, making it feel even more private and special.

While sitting with fellow graduands, I realised that the last time I properly sat in the cathedral was for Matricu-lation, a ceremony that initiated our status as a student of Durham Univer-

sity. And here we all were again, for the personal hand-shake to mark the successful comple-tion of our studies.

Congregation is a day to celebrate our accomplish-ments with friends who struggled alongside us and with family who supported us from a great distance. It is a moment for Ustinovians to reminisce our good old days in college. Most of all, it is the time to close our chapter with Durham. Being reunited with dear friends, and getting to show my family the place that has made me the

person I am today, certainly made fly-ing halfway across the world for that handshake so worth it!

Meet a ‘January Starter’Every year in January, new faces appear in Fisher House and it can be hard to tell if someone is just venturing out of their room for the first time in three months, or if they have just arrived. We spoke with Anna Kranz, an actual January starter.

What has been the best surprise benefit to living at Ustinov?

I did my MA degree back in 2010–11 at DU and was a member of Usti-nov College. I also lived at Howland’s Farm...in Redwood, to be precise.

Now, I live at Elm and sometimes I have the feeling like nothing has changed at all but the people. I knew what living in College would be like but I was still surprised by the free Wi-Fi everywhere now. It didn’t used

to be like that.

What was your most annoying discovery upon arrival?

That the University stopped run-ning the night bus in 2013. I was ask-ing people about contacting the night bus to go to town and was met with bewilderment as they had never heard of it.

Fortunately, the night bus started running again this week, which is going to make the whole Durham experience safer and more enjoyable.

What’s your little-known secret to ‘fitting in’ at Ustinov?

Talking to ‘strangers’ proves to be invaluable to fit in. As William But-ler Yeats put it: ‘There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met’.

What do you wish you had brought with you that you didn’t pack?

I only brought two pair of winter boots with me; I wish I would have taken along some sneakers as well. Also, I should have brought along a sleeping bag.

Anna Kranz, PhD candidate in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the School of Government and International Affairs

From Graduand to GraduateMizah Kholil

Author and family and reusable tote bag! (Photo courtesy author)

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FEATURES

Alumni Corner: Where are they now?We decided to ask some recent

graduates to look back on their time at Ustinov and give us an insight into their life out there in what some peo-ple insist on calling ‘the real world’.

Joshua Bryant, 2012–13What are you doing and where (roughly) are you living now?

Living in Exeter and working on a PhD in Archaeology.

What’s your favourite Ustinov mem-ory?

Pub quizzes or pool with my friends.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?

The Tower of London was refortified by Wellington.

If you had your time at Ustinov again, what would you do differ-ently?

I would drink less and make time to do more with my close friends.

What would you tell someone grad-uating from Ustinov now?

You’ll be back, everybody comes back.

Joshua Bull, 2013–14What are you doing and where (roughly) are you living now?

I’m doing a DPhil (PhD) applying mathematical techniques to biomed-ical science (e.g., modelling, protein structure, drug discovery) in a DTC scheme in Oxford.


My favourite Ustinov memory is all the mundane, ‘exploding salmon’-type moments with the amazing friends that I made while there! There was always someone great to talk to in the bar and working with the crowd in the cafe was always great.


The most interesting thing I’ve learned recently is that, with a bit of care, we (as a species) have the ability to trig-ger or suppress individual neurons just by shining specific frequencies of light onto them. There are people right now studying how much faster/slower ani-mals memorise things while shining light on particular brain cells. How amazing is that—both the fact we can do it and the fact that something as amazing as memory emerges from these electrical impulses?!


I’d get involved with even more clubs,

societies and even the GCR. There’s always something else to try, and it’s easy to work too hard! That, and get up earlier.


Make sure you keep in touch with as many people as possible—and get one of the teddy bears to remind you of Durham! Take lots of photos, and make sure you’re following the Molly the Cat tumblr, for nostalgia’s sake!

Varun Monteiro, 2012–13What are you doing and where (roughly) are you living now?

I’m working full time as an Accounts Assistant, living in London (Stratford).


The huge snow fight that winter.


Forex Trading.


‘Try’ to study a bit more than I did.


Enjoy your time there, specifically if you’re a MSc student, as you have only a year and it will pass quicker than you know.

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FEATURES

Gillian Carnegie, 2012–13What are you doing and where (roughly) are you living now?

Looking after the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. London!


Too many to choose from. All the nights that started with ‘I’m just nip-ping to the bar for one…’, rowing in a hail storm, walking into Fisher House on my first night and the first two people I spoke to becoming friends for life, to name a few.


The Tower of London was used as a prison until relatively recently. The famous London gangsters, the Kray twins, were among the last prisoners to be held in 1952, for failing to report for national service.


Get up early for more Saturday morn-ing Ustinov Seminars! They were great, well worth struggling through a hangover for, and I wish I’d gone to more of them.


Enjoy it—if you’re doing a Master’s, it’s over far too quickly!

Hatty James, 2013–14What are you doing and where (roughly) are you living now?

I am working part time, volunteering, and applying for work in the third sector! I just had two interviews for a position in Great Ormond Street, so fingers crossed. [Since submitting this response, Hatty secured an internship at Great Ormond Street!—Ed.]


I have so many! Pub quizzes are a definite, Castle Formal, singing in the choir, and the last couple of days where my group of friends and I spent a lot of time together.


That Great Ormond Street has 240,000 patients annually? Or that it is the western world’s leading cancer centre for children? Or that it has 50 different specialities (the most of any hospital in the UK)? Interview on the brain!


I don’t think I would do anything differently. I loved my time there completely and utterly. If I could do it again there may be some different things I’d do in terms of my course, but not really anything to do with Ustinov. Maybe I would have joined the choir earlier, or run for something on the GCR Committee?


Live in the moment. That year, or three years, will go by so quickly you don’t want to miss out on the fun, especially as so many of your friends may be international (or yourself!) and seeing them again might be hard/impossible. Cherish the friendships you have made and respect the people around you.

How to Participate in a Ustinov Seminar or CaféThe Ustinov Seminars; Volunteering; Race, Crime & Justice; and Café Poli-tique, Café Scientifique, and Café des Arts projects are all designed to give Ustinov members the opportunity to present (and perform) in a public envi-ronment, frequently with colleagues more established in their disciplines.

Organisers are always willing to hear ideas and themes for presenta-tions (although they do try to plan a term in advance). You can contact them at the emails below:

• [email protected]







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OFF THE HILL

Exploring ‘Nearby’ EdinburghMichael Baker

Before arriving in Durham a year-and-a-half ago, I pictured myself scamper-ing down to London for weekend get-aways to a ‘big’ city. But just as often, I’ve taken the East Coast train line north, to Edinburgh. Admittedly, I am a fan of the Scottish national beverage, and the Royal Mile is lined with shops and drinking establishments that attest to Scotch whisky’s popularity, but Edinburgh is a genuinely inviting place, no matter your interests.

For the traveller from Durham, Edinburgh is just under two scenic hours away, which makes it a worth-while day trip if you can’t spare an entire weekend. Trains are cheaper than to London; prospecting for tick-ets two weeks in advance can net you a return trip for less than £30, and that’s without a rail card discount.

(But do get a rail card: www.rail-card.co.uk; the College will help you provide proof of your student status,

and it’s a thirty-per-cent discount.)

On arrival, you have your choice of what to do next: stroll the Royal Mile’s shops, tour the Castle (admission is a bit steep at £16 per adult, but you can spend hours exploring the rooms and exhibits), visit Greyfriar Church’s cemetery to see where J. K. Rowling browsed for character names, take a hike up Calton Hill for the view, or try the more substantial ascent to Arthur’s Seat for an even more encompassing city-to-sea view. There’s also the Scot-tish National Gallery and Portrait Gal-lery, and the mad-uncle’s-attic that is the National Museum of Scotland.

All the walking about—I haven’t even mentioned the Royal Botanic Garden or Princes Street Gardens—will leave you peckish. From little sandwich shops like Oink (‘delicious hog roasts’), to pub fare (Lebowskis leaves fans of the movie contented on all fronts), to more gourmet repasts

from Michelin-starred venues, Edin-burgh will feed you well. You’re spoiled for choice on the drinks front, so I won’t bother to do much other than point detective fiction readers to the Oxford Bar (aka: The Ox), which is where author Ian Rankin (and DI John Rebus, fictionally) like to hoist a pint.

I haven’t been on one yet, but I am told that Edinburgh’s many ghost tours—advertised as ‘not for the faint-hearted’—are in fact not for the faint-hearted as they do deliver the spine-chilling paranormal goods.

I tend to spend my later evening hours hunting out Edinburgh’s justly praised cocktail places; two I will leave you with are Bramble Bar and the Lucky Liquor Co., sister bars just down the street from each other but quite different in atmosphere. Down-stairs at Lucky’s, for instance, there’s a pool table. Try your luck!

Enjoy Arthur’s view from Arthur’s Seat before you try some of his Scotch. (Photo: Michael Baker)

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OFF THE HILL

The Edinburgh Festival: 7–31 August 2015Chris KerrThe Edinburgh Festival is actually not one festival but two, and that’s two more reasons to visit the city. There’s the Edinburgh International Festival, with its con-certs and plays, which are all very well and good, but the Festival Fringe is where the real fun is. The Fringe also happens to be much kinder on student budgets. Despite the name, the fringe is at the heart of the city. Every imaginable nook and cranny of Edinburgh, from churches to hidden back rooms and from pubs to ware-houses, is filled with an equally limitless range of art and performance for three ridiculous weeks in August. I’ve been to the Festival five or six times (it’s easy to lose count) and it never fails to surprise me. A random selec-tion of highlights include a hilarious midnight improv show, the self-confessed worst comedian in the world, and the confusing experience of hearing a military jet fly past from a cosy corner of an Edinburgh café.

If you’re thinking of going, it is a good idea to book accommodation well in advance as the city does get overrun by tourists. The largest arts festival in the world just happens to be less than a two hour train-ride away, so don’t miss out!

(Clockwise from top) Edinburgh Castle, residents of its National Museum, and where the Dude abides, or at least a White Russian

(Photos: Michael Baker)

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OFF THE HILL

Three Weeks in BayernSaleh Jawa

On the steps of the Walhalla Hall of Fame (Photo courtesy author)

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‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’ —Mark Twain

Setting off from Pancras International, I spent the night in Brussels then boarded a Munich-Frankfurt bound train. But I alighted at the ‘city of the greatest trial in history’, Nürnberg, because it was closer to my destina-tion—Regensburg. One of the few medieval cities not destroyed during World War II, Regensburg is impor-tant to both Bavarian and German heritage. I was lucky to have a native Regensburger as a host who was more than enthusiastic to show me around her World Heritage city and beyond. Our first outing was to the old city where we had a sip of hot non-alco-holic traditional Bavarian punch at the Christmas market as a prelude to my Bayern experience.

And then sightseeing began in ear-nest. Regensburg’s medieval buildings have very thick walls, narrow alleyways and a patchwork of towers—the taller the tower, the richer the owner. Day-light had given way to dusk by time we arrived at the Regensburg Cathe-dral, yet I could not fail to notice how imposing the Gothic edifice was. Nearby were the remains of the Roman East Tower, and little farther away, the Town Hall dating back to the fourteenth century.

The Danube River is both beautiful and scary: scary because trying to swim across it could mean an invitation to suicide. Ancient Regensburgers attrib-uted that mystery to evil spirits drag-ging swimmers down the river. Today scientists explain its force through the prism of physics.

On the longest day of our outing, my indefatigable host took me to three historic places. First, we visited the Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation)

at Kelheim—a rotunda built by King Ludwig to commemorate the heroes of War of Liberation. Next we visited Walhalla Hall of Fame—a Greek revival cen-otaph akin to the Parthenon—which displays a constellation of marble busts of some famous European luminaries, includ-ing King Ludwig, Kant, Eras-mus, Mozart, Grotius, Goethe, Bach, Luther, Bismarck, and Mendel among others. Our outing culminated in a visit to the magnificent Palace of the Prince of Thurn und Taxis—a princely and entrepreneurial family that contributed greatly to modern postal system.

Bavaria was, indeed, a great place to be!

OFF THE HILL

Inside was a bust. More than one, in fact. Walhalla Hall of Fame (Photo courtesy author)

Snow and Regensburg Cathedral (Photo courtesy author)

Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation) at Kelheim (Photo courtesy author)

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Ustinov VolunteeringRT ProjectsAnna Serke and Lucy GardnerOn Saturday, 24 January, some keen Ustinovians gathered early in the morning to participate in the first vol-unteering project of the new term. We spent the day with RT Projects, a great local charity, learning about the tech-niques they use to promote mental wellbeing. We got to create something arty to take home, and in return we helped them by sorting and catalogu-ing their storeroom, and by working on a mosaic.

RT Projects believes that creativity and social activity are fundamental to a fulfilled life and contribute towards good mental health. If you want to learn more about them, visit www.facebook.com/RTProjects, and you will also get to see some pho-tos of us!

In a nutshell, our wonderful volunteer expe-rience can be summed up by this inspiring quote, spotted at the centre by Ya Lun Chuang: ‘It is nice to be important, but it is more impor-tant to be nice.’

But since we have more space than a nutshell, we thought we would let our vol-unteers tell you about the experience:

‘I had a fantastic day with Beano and Emma from RT Projects.

Just hearing about the work they do to spread awareness about, and help

people with, mental health issues was so inspiring. Actually being able to experience the magic was something else! The art activity we did was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I didn’t have to worry about my work being judged. It was a safe environment to express what I was feeling, and the journey through it was fun and insightful.

‘Everyone’s end-product was mar-vellous, and each and every volunteer

was committed to the idea that all of us are artists, if only we broaden our idea of what an artist is. I can’t

wait to go back and volunteer, and strongly recommend the experi-ence to anyone looking for a creative way to engage with the community.’ —Lara Maria Velho

‘Working with RT Projects is the first volunteering I have

completed in the UK, and it is differ-ent from all the volunteer work I have done before. The aim is to help people with mental health issues through art.

‘I was shocked when I opened the door: the house is beautifully decorated with all the colourful products people have created, and it had a really home-like feel. After the brief intro-duction of the pro-ject, we shared our experience of the sea, the theme for the day, and started to paint.

‘At first I was a little bit nervous and anxious; I sel-dom paint. When I started to draw with the candle (an i n t e r e s t i n g idea, isn’t it?) I calmed down and concen-trated on my

feelings of the sea.

‘I think that’s why art is a com-fort and can help people with mental

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Artists at work (Photos courtesy Volunteer Project)

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health issues. I saw a message left by a person who benefits from the pro-ject, who said that art can let her for-get all other things and that she enjoys drawing. At some moments, I felt that I was not a volunteer but a patient undertaking art therapy. In modern life, mental health problems are more common than we think, and may be caused by climate, lack of sunshine, not enough company, work pressure, financial problems, and so on.

‘RT Projects give you the time and place to relax and you can also chat with others since they run reg-ular activities. Being a business stu-dent, sometimes I just concentrate too much on my own affairs and this volunteering work just gave me the chance to make some contribution to society. We need to overcome self-ishness and care more about others.’ —Xiaopei Fang

‘Have you ever thought about the all things you can do in

half a day? I joined RT projects with other lovely volunteers. We arrived at the RT projects centre in Gilesgate in the morning. It was a cold and blus-tery day, but Beano and Emma gave us a very warm welcome. They showed us around the centre and introduced to us a lot of artworks.

‘Surprisingly we found that “waste” (such as broken glass pieces, used plas-tic bottles, scraps of paper) can be changed into beautiful art objects. Indeed, we were amazed to see the beauty and creativity presented on these arts and crafts.

‘When Beano told us that some of these items were made by people suffering from mental illness, we sud-denly realized how helpful and mean-ingful the art project could be. Paint-ing and drawing are the outlet for these peoples’ talents, and a gateway to their happiness. I was very pleased to discover the magic and power of art!’ —Weixian Huang

Café Scientifique‘Solar Revolution’

Stefan KempThe first Café Scientifique of the Epiphany term took place on Tuesday, 20 January, investigating the solar rev-olution.

In this two-speaker seminar we learnt from Durham’s Andrew Messen-ger all about the challenges of building and running a solar racing car, while Marc Etherington from Cambridge

University talked about his research on organic solar cells.

Andrew kicked off proceedings, providing an overview of his role as team principal of the Durham Solar Car project. In Andrew’s talk we learnt all about the aerodynamics of an effi-cient solar racer, but how compromises must be made in order for the car to be structurally sound and for the electri-cal components to fit inside. We found out just how fast a car can travel when powered by the sun alone, as well as the physical demands of racing across the Australian outback.

Marc discussed how technology has moved on in the field of solar cells, and how organic molecules may be deposited on a substrate to form organic solar cells. We learnt the advantages and disadvantages of using such technology, with the major lim-itation being the cost of fabrication. The niche markets for flexible and transparent solar cells were discussed, and how the future use for these cells is in display technology.

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Andrew Messenger (top), and Marc Etherington (Ustinovian photos)

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‘NASA Tested, Household Approved’Lucy GardnerCafé Scientifique hosted its sec-ond event of the term, titled ‘NASA Tested, Household Approved’, in Fisher House on Tuesday, 10 Febru-ary. This talk was given by Dr Bruno Dias, who is a post-doc working in the department of astronomy at Durham.

The primary goal of astronomers is to understand how galaxies, stars, and planets form and evolve, but during this talk Bruno explained that many everyday objects also have their ori-gins in astronomical research. For example, did you know that the CCD sensors now found in most cameras, including your iPhone camera, were originally developed for use in tele-scopes (including the Hubble space telescope!) to capture astronomical images? Bruno also explained during the talk that contrary to popular belief NASA didn’t invent Teflon, Velcro, barcodes, or smoke detectors—but did improve upon them.

Overall, it was a great talk and the audience remained captivated throughout. Although we weren’t able to go outside and stargaze afterwards (due to the sudden appearance of a thick fog!), Bruno has promised to give us a tour of the sky in the near future, so watch this space.

Café Politique ‘US-China Relations: Co-Existence or Conflict?’

Holly Flynn-PiercyMore than sixty people turned up to listen to our panelists discuss the cur-rent state of U.S.-China relations. In the context of China’s rise and Ameri-ca’s turn towards the East, the question that confronted them was whether U.S.-China relations are currently defined by co-existence or conflict? Each speaker offered a different per-spective that explained why conflict or co-existence was more appropriate.

David Kerr from the School of Government and International Affairs offered a geopolitical approach that discusses America’s rebalanc-ing towards China. Doctoral student Philip Gater-Smith gave us a strategic triangle between China, the U.S. and the Middle East in which he exam-ined the importance of the Middle East region and energy security for the U.S.-China relationship. Finally, Dr Dylan Sutherland from the Business School provided an overview of the increasing number of Chinese invest-ments in American companies that demonstrated the extent of coopera-tion.

At the end, the panelists concluded that it’s really a combination of the

co-existence and conflict across dif-ferent areas. In many areas in politics and international relations, it seems that it can almost never be either/or, it is usually both, and so too is the case with U.S.-China relations. In poli-tics, despite President Obama’s ‘pivot to Asia’, the relationship seems to be defined by a mutual suspicion and a subtle clash of history and cultural values, thus creating the potential for conflict in the future. In economics, it is a different story, where the rela-tionship is one of general co-existence based on mutual benefit.

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Philip Gater-Smith (Ustinovian photo)

Bruno Dias, exploding myths (Ustinovian photo)

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‘Islam, Radicalisation, and Terrorism: Instability and Uncertainty in the Middle East’

Robert FisherOn Tuesday, 17 February, the sec-ond Café Politique of term discussed radicalism and terrorism in the Mid-dle East. It was a controversial topic, but the key speakers for the event, Prof. Clive Jones and Dr Christopher Davidson of SGIA (Durham Univer-sity), both gave superb presentations.

Prof. Clive Jones’ presentation on the Houthi rebellion and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula provided an insight into current events in Yemen, a part of the world not many of us can claim to know much about. He portrayed the situation in Yemen as not just another land racked by the ‘War on Terror’ nor a failed case of the spread of democracy following the

‘Arab Spring’.

Instead he showed that there are a large number of power plays occur-ring, with AQAP being just one of many groups vying for power in Sana’a. He proceeded to give a fantastic view about the future for Yemen address-ing how foreign powers (primarily the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia) will act in Yemen.

Dr Christopher Davidson followed Clive’s presentation with a discussion on the ‘Islamic State’. He started by elaborating on what the ‘Arab Spring’ has done to the Middle East, with the petro-states of the Gulf surviving through large-scale welfare spending; regimes without such resources are now stuck in civil war or facing a return to authoritarianism.

As an example, he identified Libya, the state many hoped would become stable after the fall of Gaddafi. But since ‘Western’ states and their Arab allies allowed arms to flow into the country to fight Gaddafi, they have ended up in the hands of extrem-ist factions. He drew comparisons between Libya and the current situa-tion in Iraq and Syria, and discussed how the ‘Islamic State’, capitalising on being one of the few successful anti-Assad forces, has gained materiel and supplies to fight the regime and strengthen their position.

Questions from the audience ranged from Jordan’s counter-terror campaign to discussing what draws disenfranchised youths go to fight in Iraq and Syria as foreign fighters.

‘Reflecting on Obama’s Legacy: Expectations vs. Reality’Holly Flynn-PiercyPresident Obama’s State of the Union speech in January suggested that with only two years left in office his mind had turned to thoughts of his legacy. Obama was not the only one with leg-acy on his mind as a recent New York Times Magazine article asked histori-ans, political scientists, and journalists to speculate on that very subject. Tak-ing up this questionThursday, 26 Feb-ruary, at Ustinov was an all-Durham panel: John Dumbrell (Professor of Government) and Harris Dousemetzis (PhD candidate) both from the School of Government and International Affairs and Dr Jennifer Luff from the Department of History.

The event was well-attended and the audience was attentive and engaged for each of the three areas discussed by our speakers. As the project leader of Café Politique, I stepped in for Har-ris Dousemetzis to who was unable to attend, delivering a presentation on Obama’s achievements in gay rights.

The conclusion suggested that this area has the potential to be Obama’s biggest legacy, perhaps even more significant than his signature health care legislation, the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. Indeed, Eric Marcus, Obama’s gay rights adviser called Obama ‘transformative’ and said he had ‘led the way’ in helping LGBT Americans achieve marriage equality and other rights.

Dr Jennifer Luff followed with a discussion of Obama’s campaigns, concluding that he had changed the process and art of campaigned in unprecedented ways, especially in his effective use of social media and grass-roots politics. Indeed, Obama was the first candidate ever to raise over

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Robert Fisher, Prof. Clive Jones, and Dr Christopher Davidson (Ustinovian photo) Cont’d next page

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$1 billion for a presidential campaign. Finally Professor Dumbrell offered some reflections on Obama’s foreign policy approach, notably the success-ful withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the pivot to Asia and the current tension with Iran and Israel over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoy-able evening, conversation continued well after the Q&A, where questions ranged from the continued relevance of the Tea Party, the importance of Obama’s race, and the impact of the health care bill as part of his legacy, as well as looking ahead to 2016.

[NB: ‘Crowdsourcing a Constitution: The Icelandic Experiment in the After-math of the 2008 Financial Crisis’ (Thursday, 5 March) took place as this edition was going to press. Look for cov-erage in the online Ustinovian—Ed.]

Race, Crime & Justice‘Deconstructing the lived experiences of Islamophobia in the United Kingdom’

Jason Haynes and Valentina AmusoOn Tuesday, 3 February, the Race, Crime, and Justice Network played host to its second event, a seminar held

under the theme, ‘Deconstructing the lived experiences of Islamophobia in the United Kingdom’ at Fisher House.

The event, organised under the aegis of Ustinov College’s Global Cit-izenship Programme, was attended by over 80 people from Durham and else-where. In view of contemporary, and often emotive, debates surrounding the continued relevance of ‘Islamo-phobia’ in the context of the United

Kingdom, the Race, Crime, and Justice Network sought to investigate several key questions of interest: What exactly is ‘Islamophobia’? Is the term ‘Islam-ophobia’ still a relevant and accurate articulation of the experiences of Mus-lims living and working in the UK? How is ‘Islamophobia’ experienced on a day-to-day basis in the UK? What is the way forward?

Four speakers made thought-pro-voking presentations on various aspects of ‘Islamophobia’ in the UK. Firstly, Dr Chris Allen, a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and one of the leading authorities on Islamo-phobia in the UK, presented on the

lived experiences of Muslim women in the UK.

Citing empirical data collected in the context of recently concluded field interviews, Dr Allen’s central contention was that Islamophobia is, indeed, a real phenomenon in the UK, evidenced not least by the numerous reports of violence and discrimination, as well as stereotypical and xenopho-bic speech meted out against Muslim

women, in particular. Against this backdrop, Dr Allen called for policy action, both at the community and wider societal level, so as to ameliorate the ongoing concerns that Muslim women face in the UK.

Secondly, Mr Andrew Telford, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at Durham University, provided a different perspective on the issue of Islampohobia, relying primar-ily on empirical research that explores the interconnections between the ongoing climate security discourse, racialisation, and national identity. By carefully mapping and de-construct-ing his findings, Andrew was able to present a nuanced picture of how racial connotations, and, in particu-lar, anti-Muslim discourses, feature heavily in both the policy and practice of climate change. Given that Mus-lims, according to Andrew, have been painted in a largely negative manner in the existing climate security discourse, the time is ripe for a re-conceptualis-ation of the relationship between this increasingly important discourse and the issues of race and national identity.

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Talking ‘Islamaphobia’ (Ustinovian photo)


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COLLEGE PROJECTSThirdly, Mr Amir Darwish, an MA

Student in the School of Government and International Relations at Dur-ham University, provided a historical account of the experiences of Muslims in the UK. By comparing and con-trasting the lived experiences of Jews, on the one hand, with Muslims, on the other, Amir concluded that the treatment of both groups, throughout history, has been one of discrimina-tion, hatred, and, in some instances, outright hostility.

In contemporary discourse, how-ever, Amir argued that there has been a re-conceptualisation of anti-Semitism, whereby it is now largely classified as hostile and unwelcome, whereas the ‘other’—Muslims—remain subjected to myriad forms of anti-Muslim senti-ments, attitudes and even conduct. In this context, Amir argued that the ten-uous distinction between anti-Semi-tism and Islamophobia—based largely on a false dichotomy between race and religion—needs to be abandoned, in favour of a more nuanced approach.

The final speaker, Mr Ehsan Abdoh-Tabrizi, a PhD candidate in the School of Government and Inter-national Affairs at Durham University, concluded the main segment of the event by making a timely and intrigu-ing presentation on the need to recon-ceptualise ‘Islamophobia’.

Ehsan’s central argument, in this connection, is that ‘Islamophobia’ has been appropriated in such a way that any legitimate criticism of Islam has largely been precluded, which does not augur well when viewed in light of the need for demo-cratic governance, transparency, and accountability. While accept-ing that the lived experiences of Muslims are real and should not be trivialised, Ehsan was, how-ever, insistent that an appropriate balance must be struck between critical anti-Muslim sentiments and the need for legitimate crit-icism.

Café des ArtsPropaganda: The Art of Lying?

Chris KerrThe first Café des Arts event of the year was ‘Propaganda: the Art of Lying?’, on Thursday, 22 January. Two Dur-ham academic speakers offered strik-ingly different perspectives on the rela-tionship between art and propaganda.

First to present was Dr Paolo Fortis, a social anthropologist. Paolo offered a fascinating insight into the cross-over between U.S. military symbols and indigenous art in Panama. Histo-rian Professor Jo Fox rounded off the evening with a provocative presenta-tion on cinematic propaganda in Nazi Germany. Jo demonstrated that the best propaganda has little to do with lies and that the films of the Third Reich were more complex than we might think.

‘Ethnomusicology: Illness, Death, and Celebration’

Ariadne SchulzCafé des Arts’ ‘Ethnomusicology:

Illness, Death, and Celebration’ fea-tured two speakers, Joanna Heath and Giorgio Scalici, two PhD students who gave very different but equally fascinating presentations on their respective research.

Giorgio, who studies the Wana peo-ple, explained how music is integral to the continuation of shamanic ritual. With a number of videos and sound tracks he showed how music and ritual of this type could bring the commu-nity together ostensibly to heal illness of various members of the community, but also to reinforce a sense of belong-ing.

Joanna who studies the Mizo of India was more focused on theory. The Baptist hymns she studies have been appropriated, restructured, and rewritten by the Mizo to suit their way of worship and mourning. How-ever, due to the incursion of Christian missionaries into the community and longstanding conflict in the area Mizo identity must be carefully navigated.

As the first truly ethnomusicol-ogy event Café des Arts has offered, ‘Illness, Death, and Celebration’ set the standard for hopefully many more excursions into the fascinating subject.

Prof. Jo Fox speaking on film and propaganda (Ustinovian photo) Cont’d next page

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Coming up! In the coming months we also have

a University-wide dance competi-tion to look forward to. The winners will be featured in Ustinov College’s 50th anniversary celebrations in June. Look out also for some photography exhibits and lectures, a possible talk on nineteenth-century literature, and, as always, our dance classes within the College and greater University.

Although it is now a separate entity, Café des Arts is very happy to announce that we are supporting the creation of the Ustinov Choir for this year. Maybe they’ll perform at the 50th

Anniversary, too?

As always, if you want to participate in the arts we have a range of auditions and competitions, classes, and just-for-fun events we can link you to. And if you just want to appreciate the arts, we have plenty of oppor-tunities for you as well.

Keep your eyes open and your ears perked for our upcoming events!

Ustinov Intercultural Forum (UIF)

Cesare Aloisi and UIF TeamThis term, the Language Café returned! One of the most popular UIF events, on Saturday, 14 February, the GCR’s Stephan Wojtowytsch and the UIF’s Ruoxi Fu set up language tables in Ustinov Café, so that every-one could brush up on their favour-ite—but, alas!, seldom-practised—sec-ond language.

Besides English, German, French, Italy, Korean, and Chinese, this time there was also a Hindi table. It is great to see more languages becoming part of this event. If you attend the Lan-guage Café, you will meet people who will help you improve so that you know your gauche from your droite or your zuo from your you, and you can also learn about some interesting and totally different forms of etiquette from other nations from your table partners. People had a cheerful and

relaxing time during the Language Café: it’s a fantastic opportunity for them to practice their second language and make new friends. We hope to be holding a third Language Café some-time soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

You may have heard about Chi-nese New Year; perhaps some of your friends celebrated, and you might even know that New Year’s Eve fell on Wednesday, 19 February. The UIF, in collaboration with the Chinese Stu-dents Association (CSSA), organised a one-hour crash course on all any-one needed to know about this tra-ditional event. The event covered the origins of Chinese New Year, what it is about, how Chinese people celebrate it, and some of the tasty food that is eaten during the festivities. Attend-ees learned why Chinese people set off firecrackers, paste red papers with Chinese word ‘Fu’ on doors, and have a dragon and lion dance in the Spring Festival.

Our biggest event of the season will have taken place on Saturday, 28 Feb-ruary: the International Party! It starts with an art exhibition and takes a tour around the world via music and dance. (People wear their traditional costumes to the party, too.) We have a treat for the feet with salsa and tango dancing, along with a performance of tradi-tional Chinese music, plus many other acts. All this culminates in a disco to the beat of international electronica and other exciting styles of music.

COLLEGE PROJECTS

Dance Party UIF (Ustinovian photos)


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My fieldwork took place in the Repub-lic of Uganda, East Africa, during the months of August and September 2014 with the support of Norman Richardson Postgraduate Research Fund. This project constitutes a part of my doctoral research, which analyzes two areas: specificities of Ugandan-led community policing initiatives in Kampala (the capital) and in towns bordering with South Sudan, and the way in which the Ugandan model of community policing is exported to the police force of conflict-torn South Sudan.

Nearly 60 semi-structured inter-views were conducted with the Uganda Police Force (UPF) personnel, Local Council members, government representatives and civilian popula-tions who are involved in community policing in Kampala, and two towns in northern Uganda, namely Elegu and Adjumani.

Overall, the findings from this field research indicate that the UPF has been increasingly emphasizing the importance of the implementation of community-oriented policing pro-grams over the past few years. Due to these efforts in part, many of my civil-ian informants in all three locations expressed their gradually improving perceptions—although to differing

degrees—of the police or their com-munity security at large.

One day in Kam-pala, I selected at random one male motorcycle rider in his early 30s who makes his living by this transportation business (locally called ‘boda boda’). He explained to me that in his opinion, the recent increase in police-commu-nity joint patrols in his area resulted in a reduction in motorcycle theft and found this com-munity policing initiative helpful for his business.

However, he also noted that police corruption in relation to traffic is still

pervasive throughout the country and he therefore does not fully trust the police.

These findings are of significance given the notorious reputations that the UPF has had for decades, such as for the use of coercion. Similar posi-tive accounts were heard in Elegu and Adjumani, but people were still scepti-cal about the effectiveness of police as they believed that police were helpless against witchcraft and ritual murder, which were one of their primary secu-rity concerns (!).

In sum, this fieldwork allowed me to undertake the first phase of my research to document some charac-teristics and challenges of recent com-munity policing programs led by the UPF. This empirical data will be able to support my thesis in demonstrating new trends in community policing in the developing world, particularly in East Africa, and will hopefully bridge to the analysis on how this knowledge is transferred from a country in the Global South (Uganda) to a post-con-flict country (South Sudan) on the African continent.

I would like to express my apprecia-tion once again to the Ustinov College for awarding me this grant. Hopefully, my research will be able to contrib-ute to shaping the rapidly expanding international research community of Ustinov at its 50th anniversary.

ACADEMIC TRAVEL AWARDS

Norman Richardson Postgraduate Research Award ReportMinako Asakura, School of Government and International Affairs

Morning rush hour at the border, Elegu (Photo courtesy author)

With a female superintendent, Kampala (Photo courtesy author)

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Basketball Club, Men and WomenSercan Hamza Bağlama and Rose SimnettUstinov is the only college that has two basketball teams in the Premier-ship League, and we are really proud of it. We have dedicated, devoted, social, and friendly basketball players, which we hope will make us champi-ons this year.

The club has had a packed social calendar this term with the Women’s new monthly DVD night-in, nights-out, house parties and a trip to see the Durham Wildcats coming up. At this point, Ustinov A has won all of their games, while the performance of Ustinov B is average. In fact, this was exactly what we aimed for at the beginning of this academic year so that we could represent Ustinov College with two teams in the league.

This year, we have much stronger teams thanks to the great guys who

came to Durham University this year, and Ustinov A has been able to win all the games easily. The funny thing is that the toughest game for Ustinov A was versus Ustinov B. Ustinov A will hopefully represent Durham Univer-sity in the Varsity Games again, and this time we are sure that we will win the cup! As the captain of Ustinov Bas-ketball Teams, I would like to thank Ustinov College for the opportunities it has provided us. We are really proud to be a part of such a great college sport community!

The Women’s team has continued to develop and improve throughout

this season. There were lots of new faces at the start of the term who have since become reg-ular players on court. With great defensive performances from the guards, Fran and Arin, and strong performances from Zarja and Dani, to name but a few, Ustinov is a difficult team to beat this year.

There has been only one defeat this year and a solid top table finish; this has been another great year for every-one. We’d like to thank our coach Laurence for all his hard work, time, and effort this season. His guidance and knowledge has brought the whole team forward, and we look forward to building on this in the future.

If you want to get involved, please get in touch at [email protected]. We have regular training sessions at Hilde Bede, Maiden Castle, Howlands and Freeman’s Quay, and a variety of regular social events as well.

Everyone has high hoops for Ustinov Women’s team. (Photo: Arūnas Miasojedovas)

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

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Cricket ClubJesper L. Pedersen The Ustinov Cricket Club is in full gear for another season, with play-ers from all over the world—India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Denmark, Spain, and Gibraltar—representing the College. This term we’re playing in the indoor tournament in Free-man’s Quay. Indoor cricket is a really fun, fast-paced, six-a-side game where you score points not only by running between the wickets, but also hitting different parts of the wall. At this point we’ve played two games, with another four to go. Sadly, we were on the losing side of both matches, but we played well and put in a good effort. I’m sure we’ll be able to claim victory soon enough.

In the summer we’ll be playing ‘proper’ outdoor cricket in the inter-collegiate T20 tournament, and we’ll be taking on local clubs and the SCR and MCR teams of other colleges in summer friendlies.

We’re always looking for new players, and anyone is welcome. So whether you used to open the batting for England or you’ve never hit a ball with a stick and run between some other sticks before, we’d love to hear from you. This term we’re training every Saturday 8 to 9:30 p.m. in Maiden Castle, and Sunday 5 to 7 p.m. in Howlands.

Ultimate FrisbeeStefan KempUstinov Ultimate Frisbee club, the Spin Doctors, finished the league sea-son in dominant fashion. A convinc-ing 12-4 victory against St Chads A, shortly followed by a close win over league leaders St Cuthberts B clinched the Division 2 title for Ustinov on points difference. This gives Usti-nov promotion to Division 1 for the next academic year, where we will be playing against considerably stronger opposition.

The Frisbee season doesn’t end with the close of play in the college league. In Epiphany term Ustinov has been taking part in the college cup: a tournament contested by all 24 col-lege teams. Ustinov were handed a tough opening group with mid-table premiership side St Johns A, Division 1 champions St Cuthberts A, and Division 2 rivals St Chads A.

The cup kicked off on the first week-end of February and the challenges of the term ahead were immediately clear. St Cuthberts A demonstrated how they have achieved promotion for two successive seasons with a crushing

13-0 victory over the Spin Doctors. Injuries and missing players were a key factor in a 13-4 loss to a resurgent St Chads A, featuring a junior national team player. Despite the loss, Ustinov produced one of their best team per-formances of the year and the result really didn’t reflect the quality of the Frisbee played. The following weekend our hard work paid off with an 8-6 victory over premiership team St Johns A. Despite appalling pitch conditions, the Ustinov offense really hit the ground running; every player showing

grit and desire to get to the disc first. Unfortunately, Ustinov finished fourth in the group, and will now play in a round-robin tournament to decide the rankings of the bottom seven teams in the cup. This gives us the opportunity to work on our tactics and improve in time for the upcoming college festival of sport.

Spin Doctors have continued to represent the college outside of the University with frequent trips to indoor tournaments in nearby Eagles-cliffe. In these tournaments we have played against a mixture of club, col-lege, and university sides, giving us the

opportunity to hone our skills against established opposition. We are also looking into the possibility of going to a fun outdoors tournament in Lancas-ter during the summer term.

Ustinov Ultimate are always looking for new recruits and can virtually guar-antee a fun and injury-free environment. Even GCR VIP Siobhan Harper claims she ‘didn’t hate’ the experience. If you are interested in joining the club, please con-tact [email protected].

Stefan demonstrating how to set down a Frisbee properly (Photo: Ustinovian)

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

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Alex Papadopoulos: A rags to catches storyThis term has seen the improbable rise of Alex ‘Naughty Paps’ Papado-poulos as a ‘key’ player for Ustinov Spin Doctors. Alex, 21, from Brom-ley, was a player seemingly destined to be the club’s immobile cheerleader for the entirety of the Michaelmas term. However, Alex emerged from the winter break rejuvenated, with knee support that could compete with his enthusiasm, and has since scored three points for the team in the cup season. To truly understand the scale of this meteoric rise to prominence, we need to go back to the beginning of his story.

‘Alpha Papa’ arrived at the 2014 Clubs and Societies Fair fresh and in good fitness. After a long discussion weighing up the respective benefits of Ultimate Frisbee and rowing, Alex decided to play Frisbee after being promised a fun environment with rel-atively little chance for injury. How wrong I was.

Making his first appearance for the club against Hild Bede B back in Octo-ber, Alex pulled his ‘that muscle’ in his first-ever foray onto the pitch. Estab-lishing his warrior-like reputation, Alex gritted his teeth, straightened his eye mask, and continued to play. The injury severely hampered Alex’s per-formance, though it ultimately left no mark on the game. ‘That muscle’ con-tinued to ache but the rest of the team didn’t know at the time; Alex doesn’t like to talk about these things.

Unfortunately Alex’s second game was as eventful as the first. Whilst leap-ing for what would have been the first point he ever scored, Alex managed to trip over his own feet in mid-air and land on his wrist, dropping the disc in the process. Again the team didn’t know the extent of the injury; Alex doesn’t like to talk about these things.

Despite the dodgy wrist and ‘that muscle’ still playing up, Alex then rep-

resented Spin Doctors at the Eagles-cliffe indoor tournament. With Lucy ‘Diddy D’ Gardner, 22, from High Wycombe, on the receiving end of a shoulder to the face and near-certain concussion during the last match of the evening, Alex was feeling sympa-thetic and took a bump to the knee for the team. Serious discussions followed as to whether it would be better for Alex to take an ambulance or the X1 bus back to Ustinov.

In what was to be the lowest point of his Frisbee career, Alex was seen on numerous occasions hobbling into Fisher House whilst carrying crutches, because his wrist hurt too much whilst using them. On one such occasion, Tom ‘Burton’ Burton, a normally proper and well-mannered young lad, told Alex to ‘shut up about his inju-ries’. The rest of the team were baffled at such an outburst because, as has been noted, Alex doesn’t like to talk about these things.

A faint glimmer of hope was observed at Ustinov’s match against St Chads A. With the match almost won, a crippled Alex wandered into the endzone unmarked and had the good fortune for the disc to drop into his hands: a first point for our inju-ry-prone talisman.

That glimmer turned into a brightly burning star following the Christmas break. Throughout the cup campaign Alex continued to land butter-side-up, and has taken his career points tally to four (at one stage, the team’s leading scorer). Once more against St Chads A, Alex put in a career-defining perfor-mance, which led to him being voted the game’s most valuable player. In this match Alex pulled off numerous spectacular catches and regularly beat his defender with the slipperiness of a well-oiled eel. With performances like this, Alex is now a genuine contender for the MVP at the team’s inaugural AGM later this term.

‘Papa’, preparing to send the disc to a new postcode (Ustinovian photo)

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

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Salsa Dance Society

Sherihan Al-AkhrasThis is our first year establishing our Salsa Society, and it has been amazing! Throughout the year we have aimed to organise classes in collaboration with professional and advanced danc-ers, such as Chris Storey and Richard Asquith. We were also happy to receive classes from Alex Webb, a salsa teacher of previous years, and Nury Moreira, a very talented dancer and current stu-dent at Durham University.

We asked our dancers to describe their experience in one word: Row-land Fraser chose the word ‘sick’;

Bruno Dias thinks ‘fun’ would be the best description; Hoa Duong says the classes are ‘energetic’; Corey Davis feels they are ‘challenging, fun, and provoc-ative (in a good way)’; Martin Sher-man adds salsa has been a good way to ‘try something new that was outside of [his] comfort zone’; for Amelia Warm Eichengreen ‘sexy (with a winky-face)’ is her chosen description of the classes.

To provide an interesting variety of Latin dance we are keen on introduc-ing other dances, in addition to salsa, such as bachata, kizomba, and meren-gue. At the moment, we are assem-bling a performance team and we are looking forward to future events. Our classes are for people of all levels and abilities, and we aim to provide a fun and welcoming environment. Dancing is not only about moving in time with the music, it is also about expression, confidence, and communication. In the words of Martha Graham: ‘Dance is the hidden language of the soul’.

For information, get in touch with us at [email protected] or add our group on Facebook: Salsadictos - Dur-ham University Salsa Team: Past and Present Members.

Ustinov Choir Sings Into Life!

Sam JacksonOn Wednesday, 28 January, the Usti-nov Choir held its first rehearsal of this academic year. Forming a choir not only allows us to come together in unity with each other in our song, but also allows for the meeting of new friends who share a common interest. There should be a real sense of ‘team play’ in a choir, and I hope that this being achieved in Ustinov.

The repertoire of the choir, which includes but is not limited to folk songs, pop ballads, choral music, and gospel songs, aims to be as diverse as possible and include something for everyone. Everyone is encouraged to join: if you enjoy singing, then it is for you. And don’t be put off by thinking that you might not be good enough or by the fact that you have never sung in a choir before: the main thing is to come along and have fun!

There are also many personal and physical benefits to singing: singing is relaxing, stress-relieving, good for your heart, breathing and lungs, a great way to express yourself, and releases endor-phins which put you in a good mood.

I hope that this has persuaded you to join Ustinov college choir and have a great time singing with us. If it has (and why wouldn’t it?) we meet on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in Keeper’s Cottage—so come along! Salsa: not just for dipping. (Photo: Salsa Dance Society)

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Over the winter, the Ustinov SCR arranged the purchase of a tree to keep in memory the Ustinov students who have passed away during their studies.

Porter Jonathan Brown planted the tree (right). The memorial markers around the Josephine Butler tree (left) will eventually be moved to surround the Ustinov tree.

Alexander Williams Sargeant 1985 - 2013

Neal Smith Brodsky 1982 - 2014

Alex Matteo Paolo Cicchino 15 October 1981 - 1 April 2014

Rachael Ann Muirhead 1989 - 2014

The Ustinov Memorial Tree

‘Snow Day’ (Photo: Michael Baker)

(Ustinovian photos)

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The Ustinovian - Epiphany 2015 Issue

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