Freshers 2018: The Freedom Issue

TheNationalStudent
The Freedom Issue | Freshers 2018 FREE
Jameela
Jamil
A weighty issue

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TheNationalStudent
EDITOR’S NOTE:
October is underway, which
hopefully means you’re settling
into uni life - whether you’re a new
face on campus or an old pro. It’s
an exciting time of year, and the
new starts and fresh perspectives
that autumn offers are what we’re
focusing on in this, our freedomthemed
freshers issue. Inside, our cover star
Jameela Jamil - currently making waves across
the internet with her i_weigh campaign - talks
women’s worth, and we’ve also got bootstrap cook
Jack Monroe reminding us how important self care
is, especially in busy and stressful periods. Make
sure you check out our vital interview with antisexual
assault campaigner Hannah Price on p.18,
too. Have a great term!
Lucy, Senior Editor @ The National Student
@NationalStudent
@TheNationalStudent
@TheNationalStudent
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Senior Editor: Lucy Miller
lucy.miller@thenationalstudent.com
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camille.dupont@thenationalstudent.com
Contributors: Laura Potier, Sneh Rupra, Ella Scott, Theo Rollason, Jo Bullen,
Charlotte Hunt, George Mooney, Megan Whitehouse, Borislava Todorova,
Rebecca Barnes, Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart, Isabelle Rayner, George
Davies, Polly Vodenicharova, Megan Stanley, Madison Stewart, Kirstie
Sutherland, Matilda Martin, Lucy Fletcher, Caitlin Clark, James Thornhill, Eve
Willis, Rahila Hussain, Christy J Haslett, Laura Hope Lloyd, Anshul Mehrotra,
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Published by BigChoice Group
All rights reserved and reproduction without
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Printed by Warners Midlands, Bourne
© 2018 BigChoice Group
04– Louise Thompson on restoring
balance in life
10– Jack Monroe talks food and self-love
16– The young people who regret voting Leave
18– The campaigner fighting sexual assault
at UK universities
32– Why Jameela Jamil is done with
body shaming
PLUS: 8 - How to stand up for LGBTQ+
rights at university, 14 - Should no-platforming be
allowed?, 22 - The charity revolutionising gaming
for those with disabilities, 28 - 20 essential autumn
films, 36 - Natalie Dormer on representation in film,
38 - 3 top drag stars talk freedom of expression,
42 - Becky Hill on career beginnings, 44 - Fresher
Sounds, 48 - Student photography showcase, 54 -
Fuelling your first term, 58 - Exploring old vs. new
Tallinn, 60 - Summer volunteering in South Africa
www.TheNationalStudent.com
3

ADVICE
LOUISE TELLS YOU
HOW TO RESTORE
BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE
“Big things start small - we are all
a work in progress!”
F
rom losing control whilst filming Made in Chelsea as
a student to publishing her first wellness book, Louise
Thompson is your go-to girl if you’re looking to reevaluate
and switch up your habits.
Here, she shares her advice on how to make sure
you’re living your best life - for yourself and no one else...
Rejecting “perfectionism”
“Being too critical of yourself can lead to a road of negativity,
despair and an unhealthy dose of self-consciousness that can
leave you feeling miserable. Over the past few years I have
developed a more forgiving attitude towards my body. I don’t
weigh myself because I don’t want to become obsessive over
anything. We need to learn to do what feels right for our body.
Not everyone can follow the same routine, or eat the same
food. Stop trying to be perfect.”
Embracing healthy habits
“I used to hate fitness, but – maybe because I started doing it
for the right reasons and not purely for the aesthetic value – I
have fallen madly in love with it. First and foremost, fitness is
about the positive effects it has on my mindset. It encourages
me to embrace what I’m born with and trust myself.”
The value of sleep
“When I was at my least healthy and happy, I would
sometimes spend an entire day festering in bed. I now try
to move as much as possible during the day and then have
an early night; I’m usually in bed by 10pm at the latest…
changing my sleep routine has been a big part of the
transformation for me.”
Knowing that a balanced diet is key
“Without a certain amount of complex carbohydrates and
a balanced diet I’m not going to be able to achieve what I
want, or look and feel how I want. Instead, I will be depleted of
energy and utterly miserable. Eating properly is important for
my health, to feel good, and to maintain my weight.”
Using alcohol as a crux
“Drinking too much started for me when I was with my first
ever boyfriend – who cheated on me twice. We dated in my
late teens when I was very impressionable. Although I forgave
him and we got back together, the trust was knocked. That
was around the time I also started comparing myself to other
girls too. I got myself into a horrible cycle of thinking that I was
never good enough and so I would drink to feel better and
more confident. I saw it as a way of coping with my issues
with self-esteem, and I would do four times a week what most
people did once in a blue moon, to blow off steam.
“Constant low-level anxiety on top of an excruciating
hangover meant I would spend around three days every
week full of panic and self-loathing while trying to pick up
the pieces from the mess I’d created. It was a vicious and
destructive cycle that I was inflicting on myself.”
4

LIVE WELL WITH LOUISE by Louise Thompson.
Hodder & Stoughton 2018.
Photography © Andrew Burton 2018
www.TheNationalStudent.com
5

Knowing when enough is enough
“After years of living on this rollercoaster, feeling insecure and
fundamentally unhappy, I knew that things couldn’t go on
the way that they were. I wanted clarity. I craved a healthier,
happier, and calmer lifestyle. Things came to a head when I
woke up one day in bed at my dad’s house after going to a
club the night before. I felt so physically unwell, to the point
at which I thought I was dying – either through anxiety or
through severe dehydration, but probably a mixture of both.
I knew then that the first step to feeling better was to start
properly looking after myself. I had stopped treating my body
with the respect it deserved and it finally caught up with me.”
Finally finding the right balance
“I would never totally abstain from anything because I think
this puts too much pressure on me, so I still have the odd
glass of wine with dinner or a glass of champagne if I’m
out celebrating – but I no longer go out with the sole aim
of getting drunk and I don’t get out of control. Within a few
weeks of making these changes I saw a huge difference, not
only physically, but also to my mental health. With a wellfuelled
body, I have more energy and am better equipped to
deal with the everyday stresses that life throws at me.”
The importance of “me time”
“I don’t usually have weekends off, so when I do have a day
off filming, it is my ‘me’ day where I do all the things that make
me feel good, whether it’s buying myself flowers, having a
sauna or eating pudding at a fancy restaurant.”
Treating yourself kindly
“Put yourself first and look after yourself. I only surround
myself with positive people who don’t undermine me, but
actually support me. Trust your instincts. I truly believe that
you accept the love that you think you deserve. So set your
standards high and good things will follow. Try not to regret
and fixate on negative memories from the past. All mistakes
teach us important lessons, and that’s what I always have to
remember too.”
Fully appreciating a Sunday roast…
“I am aware that a roast isn’t the most healthy option, but this
furthers my point that balance is important. Like most things
in life, eating is all about compromise.”
Finding the balance in everything…
“I don’t like to restrict anything. I never say never, because then
you are setting yourself up for failure. My approach to food
doesn’t mean that I never eat chocolate, for example. If I was
at a friend’s house or at a birthday party I would rarely say no
to a slice of cake.
The 7 questions that keep
Louise on track:
• Am I doing the things I know I should be doing in
order to feel good?
• What did I learn today?
• What do I want my life to be like
in five years?
• Who or how did I help today?
• What am am I grateful for?
• Am I having enough fun?
• What is my number 1 priority right now?
“I had stopped treating
my body with the respect
it deserved and it finally
caught up with me”
“I never struggle with saying no to things or feeling guilty
or hungry anymore, because I have learnt to make more
informed choices and have steered myself clear of the
dangerous path of obsessive eating. I have healthy weeks
followed by a few slip-ups or treats. It’s about balance.”
LIVE WELL WITH LOUISE by Louise Thompson is
available now (Yellow Kite, £16.99)
6

ADVICE
HOW TO STAND
UP FOR YOUR
RIGHTS AT
UNIVERSITY
LGBTQ+ rights have come a
long way - but we’re not at
full equality yet.
I
n the days of disturbing #MeToo revelations, when
prejudice is alive in the White House and the far right
continues to be normalised, it can feel like danger
is lurking everywhere - even at university, where
supposed safe spaces are feeling decidedly less so.
According to Stonewall, one in five
LGBTQ+ people experienced a hate crime in
2017. Numbers are higher for trans individuals,
with two in five experiencing a hate crime or
incident because of their gender identity. Four in
five hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ+
community go unreported.
Of course, it can be difficult to know if you’re
being targeted. Galop, the LGBT and anti-violence
charity, says: “Sometimes it’s really obvious when
someone has been homophobic or transphobic
towards you, for example if there’s physical
violence. But sometimes it’s less clear. For example,
if you’re being harassed by a neighbour or someone uses
‘humour’ based on gender rules or sexuality as a put-down.
“If you feel that someone has done or said something
that’s motivated by prejudice or hate then it’s best to trust
your instincts.”
8
Illustrator: Christy Jade Haslett

According to Stonewall, a hate
crime can be:
• Verbal abuse, e.g. name-calling
• Harassment
• Physical attacks, e.g. hitting, punching, pushing,
spitting
• Threats of violence
• Hoax or abusive phone calls or text messages, or
hate mail
• Online abuse, e.g. on Facebook or Twitter
• Harm or damage to property such as your home,
pet or vehicle
• Graffiti
• Arson
Here, students, graduates and activists from
the LGBTQ community tell us how they’ve
overcome the prejudice they’ve faced…
Kirsty Colquhoun, 24, graduate of the Stonewall
Young Leaders programme:
“I was able to organise and facilitate the first ever Pride
event in my hometown of West Lothian. This was a pivotal
and historic moment as nothing like that had ever been
attempted in a small, predominantly working-class local
authority such as this. The event itself was a huge success
with over 400 people attending, leading to the exciting news
that we have recently received - this will now become an
annual celebration!”
Mikey Barnes, 17, from Leeds:
“I’m a queer, transgender poet. Upon starting sixth form,
I decided I wanted to make a real change with regards to
how my school deals with LGBT+ students and issues of
transphobia and homophobia. I set up my own LGBT group
to discuss issues that affect the community, and to provide a
safe space for all the students who come along.”
Georgia Buck, 15, from Bedfordshire:
“Stonewall has inspired me to speak out more about LGBT
rights, using social media as the main platform to spread the
message to a wider audience… hopefully I can put my hardheadedness
to good use some day and campaign for equal
rights on a larger scale.”
Source: Stonewall
Additional reporting: Rebecca Barnes
“4 in 5 hate crimes against
members of the LGBTQ
community go unreported”
Michael Segalov, journalist and author of Resist! How to
be an Activist in the Age of Defiance: Laurence King, RRP £14.99
“Now is the time to fight back. We live in the age of
resistance. From the local to the international, a collective
consciousness is forming. It’s up to you to play your part. It
doesn’t matter how you get there - what matters is that you
take a stand. We have no other choice.”
Stonewall’s tips for making sure an
LGBTQ+ presence is always felt...
• Take a visible stand for your rights, and
encourage others to do the same
• If you can, come out to those you’re
comfortable around
• Join the LGBTQ society
• Raise issues that affect the community with
your students union
• Organise marches and protests
against discrimination
• If safe to do so, stand up against injustices that
you witness
• Report anti-LGBTQ behaviour to both your
university and the police
Where to go for help…
• Young Stonewall: youngstonewall.org.uk/
• Galop, the LGBT and anti-violence charity:
galop.org.uk/
• Crown Prosecution Service Homophobic,
Biphobic and Transphobic Hate Crime
Prosecution Guidance:
cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/homophobicbiphobic-and-transphobic-hate-crimeprosecution-guidance
• Stop Hate UK: stophateuk.org/help-in-the-uknational-organisations
• The Metropolitan Police’s nationwide hate
crime/incident reporting form: met.police.uk/
true-vision-report-hate-crime
www.TheNationalStudent.com
9

REAL LIFE
“COOKING
IS ONE OF
THE BIGGEST
ACTS OF
LOVE THAT
YOU CAN
DO FOR A
PERSON”
Since 2012 Jack Monroe has
been using her blog to help
people cook healthy and
tasty food for less in austerity
Britain. We met her to talk
food poverty, veganism, and
how food is the greatest love
story of all.
10

The creation of Jack Monroe’s blog was prompted
by her own financial hardship as a single parent
on benefits. Since its launch she’s made a name
for herself as a poverty campaigner, working
with brands including Oxfam and Tesco, and writing for
newspapers including The Guardian and The New Yorker.
With a background that includes “cleaning pissy bed
linen in my granddad’s guest house”, working in a
supermarket for minimum wage and waitressing, and
with the endemic use of food banks by working people
currently a contentious issue, Jack is perfectly placed
to be vocal about the way she feels the poor are being
treated by those in power.
Her answers are decisive: “The problem with people
who make decisions on behalf of the poor is that none of
them have actually been poor,” she says, “and they’re not
willing to talk to and listen to people who have, because
we’re inconvenient and have things to say.”
She continues: “No one asks the poor why we make the
decisions we make. Why we eat the things we do. No one.
“I expect that many people in government can’t even
fathom what it’s like to have four quid in your pocket and
to try to buy a week’s food out of it.”
Her conclusion? “People who make sweeping
statements about what the poor should and shouldn’t
have, if they’ve never been poor - they should sit down
and shut up and let us speak for ourselves.”
It’s no secret that Jack’s financial circumstances
are vastly improved on what they once were, and it’s
something that she’s more than happy to discuss -
ultimately, though, what’s important to her is making sure
her work stays as relatable as it possibly can. It’s her whole
ethos, after all - and opening an exclusive restaurant off
the back of its success, although something she has been
offered, is hardly serving her core audience.
Six years in, then, her blog remains “a way of
connecting and engaging with people that traditional
media leave behind”.
Her reasons are clear: “I’ve got to continue to stay in
touch with my community,” she says. “It’s what keeps me
grounded and keeps the work that I do focused on the
people who most need it.
Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart
@ University of Edinburgh &
Lucy Miller, Senior Editor @ The
National Student
“Nobody will
change their
habits because
someone has
told them what
they are doing is
wrong”
“So I’ve made choices that have made me financially
worse off along the way, but I still continue to do the
things I love and to connect with the people who I feel my
work is most beneficial to.
“The world doesn’t need me to turn into another
celebrity chef.”
Making the right decisions, she says, is sometimes
difficult - but it’s essential she makes the right ones.
What about her decision, in 2016, to become a
vegan - something that may be seen as a privileged
move? The personal choice to adopt a vegan diet whilst
keeping meat-based recipes on her blog has seen Jack
criticised by vocal members of the vegan community,
some of whom who have accused her of “not being
vegan enough.”
Her belief, though, is that those who visit her blog
should be able to afford healthy and tasty food - whether
they are a meat-eater, vegetarian or vegan.
Jack says: “Choosing to go vegan is something you can
only do if you’ve got cooking confidence, knowledge and
also access to a range of food. People don’t like being told
that they’re privileged.
“I’ve advocated people reducing the amount of meat
that they eat if they want to save money on their food
budget, and I always have done, since my first book - and
I still do.
“I think I would rather everyone went vegan or
vegetarian three days a week than a handful of people
www.TheNationalStudent.com
11

take it up full time. The impact on the environment
and animal welfare would be far greater if everyone
committed to doing a little bit more, rather than just a
handful of people who are jumping down people’s throats
for not doing enough.”
She keeps her non-vegan recipes on the site, she says,
“because I think something like 5% of my readers are
vegan, and the other 95% are people looking to save
money on their food budgets in a range of circumstances.”
The current media and political debate seems to be
around tackling obesity, with the government planning to
curb the availability of unhealthy foods and the way that
they are advertised. At the same time, there are few plans
to make fruit or vegetables cheaper.
“I think the obesity debate is an interesting one,” Jack
says, “because all evidence points to nobody changing
their habits because somebody told them they are
wrong. Most of us know what a healthy, balanced diet
looks like. Everyone knows that having too much fizzy
juice and (too many) packets of crisps is bad. We know
and do it anyway.”
She continues: “I don’t think prohibition has ever
worked, for loads of things. If it did work then loads of
people would have given up smoking already. Nobody
would take drugs and there’d be lots of things that people
wouldn’t do.
“I think making sugary drinks more expensive is just going
to harm poorer working class people, not just financially but
also health-wise. Lots of diet drinks are high in chemicals
that in any high quantity just aren’t good for us.
“I think actually pushing people to worse choices,
disguised as better choices, is not the way to go about
things. I do think it’s more important to make healthy food
more accessible than make unhealthy food prohibitively
expensive. Because no one is going around taxing the
M&S ready meals, which are full of fat. No one’s hitting
them with a tax, are they? Packets of five bottles of wine
or luxury chocolate bars. No one is putting taxes on those
things as they’re aspirational. What is being hit is the little
treat that poor and working class people have.”
Jack’s mantra, above everything else, is about giving
people as much choice as she can.
“I write cook books that tell people how to cook with
tinned beans, tinned mandarins, frozen berries… but
actually, I’d really like to live in a world where we can all
have fresh berries and fresh spinach and actual mandarin
that you peel. We shouldn’t have to settle for the rubbish
version of everything.”
The message that she’d like readers to take away from
her new book, she says, is that “cooking is something they
“We should all
learn to love
ourselves enough
to want to
nurture and look
after ourselves”
can enjoy no matter what their budget or ability… cooking
should be fun rather than a chore, and it should come
from a place of self care.
“I think that we should all learn to love ourselves
enough to want to nurture and look after ourselves, feed
ourselves… I think cooking is one of the biggest acts of
love that you can do for a person. Whenever I want to
show someone I love them, I cook them something.
“And I think what I want people to take away from my
book and take away from my work is that cooking on a
bootstrap can be achievable - but also that you deserve to
have nice things; that we all deserve to have nice things.
“That’s one of my key messages: love yourself enough
to look after yourself if you can. I struggle with my mental
health at times, and the periods when I’m not in the
kitchen, when I’m refusing to be in the kitchen, when I’m
in bed with a 12-pack of crisps, when I don’t want to cook
(that’s when) I most need to be in the kitchen, looking
after my body and looking after my mind. Taking care of
myself, reminding myself that I am valuable.
“That’s what I want to remind people - cooking
shouldn’t be sold as something that is aspirational,
unachievable, glossy or any of the adjectives that we use
to describe most cookery shows and cookbooks.
“It should be functioning, fundamental, but it should
also be something that gives you joy and pleasure.”
Cooking on a Bootstrap by Jack Monroe
is out now (Bluebird, £15.99)
12

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13

YES
George Davies @ University
of Birmingham
I
It has long been established in activist circles that the
right to free speech is not the right to evade criticism.
It should be added that the right to free speech does
not equal the right to a platform – no-platforming
isn’t censorship, as the right not to be silenced is not
an automatic right to a megaphone.
A platform being a privileged position from which
voices are amplified, it is ultimately the prerogative of the
student body to decide who they should give one. As
such the OFS threatening to fine or even de-register those
universities which “fail to protect free speech” is itself
an attack on academic freedom and self-determination
separate from the state under the Bologna Charter. If
certain students think that the representatives of their
student body aren’t representative of them, maybe they
should be more engaged in student politics.
The NUS lists six ‘fascist or racist’ groups in their noplatform
policy. There are of course cases in which student
unions of individual universities have made individual
injunctions against speakers the student body finds
objectionable. In both cases these were student decisions:
NUS policy is voted on annually, whilst individual noplatform
decisions are made by students’ representatives
who are also voted into office annually. Plenty of
opportunities to voice one’s opposition if one objects.
SHOULD UNIVERSITIES
EVER BE ALLOWED TO NO-
PLATFORM SPEAKERS?
From the outside angle, if it’s wanting the ability to foist
their views on students, it might be worth possessing
views more palatable to your prospective audience. Sorry
buddy, it’s just how the marketplace of ideas works. There
is a vast array of platforms available, so removing a talking
position at a university does not remove the ability to be
heard, and the views we’re trying not to amplify further
are vastly overrepresented in the national media as it is.
This is a question about positive and negative rights:
the only pain of being no-platformed is the removal of
a positive right beyond the negative stipulations of free
speech – back to the right to a megaphone. And the
application of positive rights should be in the interest
of promoting equity, not just equality. Considering
free speech in a purely legalist sense is reductive. Free
speech isn’t just institutional, but also social – liberal
speech from racists and transphobes necessarily has a
dampening effect on the social aspect of free speech of
the targeted groups.
Hope Not Hate’s proscription is to ‘deny fascists,
organised racists and other haters the freedom to
spread their poison within communities unchallenged’.
Unchallenged is a key word – isn’t no-platforming
removing valuable rhetorical target practice? Well no, you
can find objectionable views anywhere. Besides, what do
the opponents of no-platforming envision the purpose of
their position to be – luring unsuspecting fash into their
liberal lair to be trounced with our superior intellect? This
seems to be forgetting that aphorism that ‘you can’t reason
someone out of an opinion they weren’t argued into’.
Academic freedom is at stake in the government’s
crusade against the tyranny of students – the freedom to
choose which sources we consult, not having ‘balance’
shoved down our throats. ‘Part of academic enquiry is
to put pressure on competing ideas to see if they hold
up under scrutiny. Merely presenting several sides of an
argument does not achieve the same thing,’ so says an
academic writing in the Guardian, who tellingly felt the
need to anonymise themself.
The spectre of intolerant, nay, Stalinist no-platformers
is a useful stick to beat the young with in a sustained
attack on academic freedom in the UK, in which the
Conservative-controlled OFS threatens to use state power
to enforce a positive right. Funny how that works.
14

OPINION
NO
Jo Bullen @ Brunel University
I
In Disney’s Bambi, Thumper’s father tells him, ‘If you
can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all’. It’s
a sentiment trotted out by parents and teachers to
encourage kindness in children, because being nice is
surely something to aspire to.
However, being nice isn’t always possible. Whilst
Thumper Senior was merely trying to get his son to be
less crass, he was also stifling this bunny’s free speech,
stopping him from saying some potentially important but
perhaps ‘nasty’ truths.
The same could be said of ‘no-platforming’. There seems
to be an increasing opinion that in order for an individual
or organisation to speak they must say something ‘nice’ or
be denied the right to speak at all. In UK universities, what
is considered to be ‘nice’ tends to be in line with a leftwing
agenda, whilst those whose opinions do not align
with this are at risk of being silenced altogether. Spiked’s
2018 ‘Free Speech University Rankings’ suggests that 55%
of institutions are actively censoring speech and ideas.
Even given the website’s bias, with its call for the abolition
of censorship in all areas, this is a huge issue.
Now, let’s be clear: I don’t agree with many of those
whose views have been condemned and no-platformed.
Indeed, I’ve written before of the issues with Toby Young’s
short-lived appointment to the Office for Students,
whilst the views of Nick Griffin and Tommy Robinson are
undeniably abhorrent. I would actually consider myself
to be fairly left-wing – but this doesn’t mean that I have
any right to stop the Griffins, Robinsons and Youngs of the
world from expressing their own views.
In fact, it’s important that these views are aired, publicly,
not in the deepest, darkest reaches of the internet. A public
airing allows them to be challenged and forces them to face
their adversaries. No-platforming drives them underground,
where not only can they prey on the vulnerable who may
stumble across them, but they can also hide.
It’s equally important for the audience to hear these
views, especially in a university. Learning to hear ‘nasty’
things and to challenge them in a constructive manner
is an important skill for everybody. In the world outside
of academia, there will be things you don’t like: EDL
marches, protests against the building of mosques, even
basic disagreements over land use in your local area. It
is surely better to initially face these opinions in a ‘safe’
environment. Difficult situations are broached with
children by parents and at school, in spaces they feel
comfortable and supported within. The same applies here:
I would far rather ‘safe spaces’ became places to meet
challenging, unpopular, even ‘nasty’ opinions in a familiar
and protected environment, rather than spaces which
outlaw these views all together.
Because, really, where does this all stop? The United
Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights states
that we have a right to both ‘Freedom of Thought’ and
‘Freedom of Expression’. Even Article 2, ‘Don’t discriminate’,
urges only that the 29 other Articles should apply to
everybody in their entirety. Once we start chipping away,
determining who is and is not allowed the right to speak,
we’re walking on some dangerous territory.
Ultimately, we have to accept that people have a right to
say things we may not like. We don’t have to like it – we just
have to allow them to say it, if only so that we can condemn
it. What they say reflects upon them. But if we deny them the
right to say it, this must surely reflect upon us.
More Opinion
this way...
www.TheNationalStudent.com
15

REAL LIFE
THE YOUNG PEOPLE
WHO REGRET
VOTING LEAVE
The #RemainerNow campaign is gaining traction.
Just over two years ago the nation was caught
in a debate that would shape the political future
of the UK - bringing to light polarising opinions,
igniting protests, leading to financial insecurity,
and ultimately shaking the foundations of British
foreign policy.
Since the result UK citizens have learnt how the
Vote Leave campaign broke electoral law, have read
about Theresa May agreeing to keep the Human Rights
Convention after Brexit, and have been presented with
the likelihood of EU citizens being given the right to
remain if already residing in the UK.
Brexit will happen - although with a 21 month
transition period to ease the way for the post-Brexit
future. But whether this is the actual will of the people
remains an open discussion.
This discussion is distinctly active on Twitter, where
the #RemainerNow campaign has been growing in
popularity over the past year. Behind #RemainerNow
is Andy, who has always been a Remain supporter but
came to recognise need for social support for people
who voted Leave but later changed their mind.
Andy started the campaign after a simple interaction
with an intern at his workplace - the “first #bregretter”
he encountered.
As the immediate aftermath of the referendum was
unfolding, Andy asked the young girl why she voted for
Brexit. To his surprise his colleague “explained that she
voted Leave on the spur of the moment in the booth
because (a) she’d always voted Labour so wanted to vote
Polly Vodenicharova @
Birmingham City University
against the Tory
PM; and (b) her
friends were
voting Leave
for the same
reason. She told
me she instantly
regretted it the
next morning
when she saw
the chaos; she
had just wanted
to protest.”
Led by the
belief there
will be more
people like her,
#RemainerNow
was officially “born” on Twitter in December 2017. The
aim of the campaign is quite simple - to welcome those
2016 Leave voters, who, following the uncertainty and
lack of clarity and organisation of the Brexit negotiations,
have changed their minds. “People know more, they are
seeing more impacts on their lives, their livelihoods, and
their children’s futures,” the official website says.
The campaign is endorsed equally by Leave voters
and their friends, and accepts that 2016 was a long time
ago and most importantly that people can change their
minds - and that that’s okay.
The Twitter account now shares #RemainerNow
stories on daily basis.
One of those stories comes from Luke Samuel, a
student paramedic at St George’s, University of London.
Luke says: “I voted to take control of everything I
thought we were losing and at the time did not fully
understand why we had what felt like a European
Government above our own.
16

“Two years later I have changed my mind as I now
know more than I ever did about the EU and that the UK
has a massive say in how the rest of Europe operates and
works across the other 27 countries. Also that we enjoy
many benefits that is has to offer, such as the Single
Market, Customs Union, freedom of movement etc.,
without having the Euro.
“I changed my mind as two years later I now see a
government that cannot get possibly get a good deal
with the EU, that WILL leave us worse off and weaker in
the world.
“The biggest factor that made me change my mind
and now want to remain was the fact my EU co-workers
(who I work alongside within our NHS) are leaving and
not being replaced. This is something that I did not vote
for and I did not foresee them being used as pawns in
current negotiations.”
Dami Olatuyi, a trainee lawyer and a #RemainerNow,
says: “Do you remember when Tories told us that the
Labour policy of introducing 4 new bank holidays is
fiscally irresponsible and would cost the economy £10
billion? Yeah, those same people now want a no deal
with the EU. This is an actual thing.”
He adds: “The Tories either don’t care or don’t
understand that they’re losing the support of the
younger demographic for a generation. Brexit is an attack
on the opportunities that EU relationships provide for
young people.”
Will Dry, founder of Our Future Our Choice, says: “I
voted Leave. Was undecided during the campaign. I take
COMPLETE responsibility for my vote but very likely I was
one of MILLIONS OF PEOPLE who ILLEGALLY saw lies about
Turkey/NHS on Facebook days before 23rd June 2016.”
According to Will: “Vote Leave lied, broke the law, tried
to cover it up, outed a young kid, overspent £500,000.
It’s a crooked, crooked organisation and I hope the Met
Police deliver justice.”
Gareth Dafydd Pearce, a Liverpool University alumni,
also used social media to share his hopes: “Overwhelmed
by the support shown having ‘come out’ as a
#RemainerNow,” he wrote on Twitter.
“It is clear I’m far from alone in regretting my vote in
the referendum. We have to now ensure we get another
chance to vote on the #FinalSay. It isn’t too late to stop
#BrexitShambles.”
Perhaps the right approach to the #RemainerNow
campaign lies within this suggestion by 29-year-old
Sarah Saboteur: “Brexit is an ideology immune to facts
and I think the most effective way forward is to promote
the #RemainerNow movement; get Leave voters on
TV and in the papers being interviewed explaining why
they’ve changed their minds; present it as patriotic to
stay, “we’re saving Britain.””
“It is clear I’m far from
alone in regretting my
vote in the referendum”
The UK had a democratic vote and voted for Brexit
two years ago. This vote, although not binding, has been
honoured by the government - however in a way which
has clearly left many people with a feeling that they’ve
been led, misinformed and lied to.
If we keep to the definition of democracy, which in
political context is described as “the belief that everyone in
a country has the right to express their opinions, and that
power should be held by people who are elected” and in
workplace context as “a situation, system, or organisation
in which everyone has equal rights and opportunities,
and can help make decisions” then surely, it is time for
Theresa May and the current government to turn their
eyes towards these 48% who voted Remain - and the yet
unknown but growing percentage of young voters who
want to exercise their right to make a decision once more.
Follow @RemainerNow, #RemainerNow
and #PeoplesVote on Twitter or visit
www.remainernow.com
www.TheNationalStudent.com
17

REAL LIFE
#CHANGEISCOMING:
MEET THE CAMPAIGNER
WHO’S REVOLTING
AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT
AT UK UNIVERSITIES
Bristol graduate Hannah is working to revolutionise
how sexual assault is handled on campus. Megan
Stanley met her.
R
evolt Sexual Assault is an activism campaign that
is working to not only increase awareness of the
sexual harassment and assault that is occurring
across UK universities, but also to create real
solutions.
Established in April 2017 by Bristol graduate Hannah Price,
Revolt is working to “expose the real nature and extent of
sexual assault and harassment experienced by former and
current students at university”. Describing the rate of sexual
assaults on UK campuses as an “epidemic”, the movement is
working to create policy reform at a national level.
“The problems that universities have is that nowhere else
in society has is this sort of bubble effect, where you’re living,
socialising and studying with the same group of people,
which makes talking openly about these things or reporting
these things way more difficult,” Hannah tells us.
It is in this bubble-like society where sexual harassment
and assault, including groping in clubs and catcalling, is
almost normalised.
Megan Stanley @ University
of Birmingham
Campaigns raising awareness of sexual harassment
and assault, such as #MeToo and #TimesUp, are taking
advantage of social media to spread their message, and
Revolt Sexual Assault is doing the same - but instead of
hashtags on Twitter, the campaign has utilised Snapchat.
Taking advantage of the Snapchat’s filters and voice
alteration effects, those who share their stories with Revolt
Sexual Assault can keep their identities anonymous whilst
sharing their story. When Hannah uploaded the collation of
all the Snapchat submissions, the video went viral.
“The video Snapchats resonated with so many people
because it was a person telling their story - you can
hear their voice; with some of them you can see their
expression, and that can be really powerfully moving,”
Hannah says. “It reminds people that there are human
beings behind the statistics.”
While social media has helped raise awareness of sexual
violence on UK campuses, Hannah is all too aware of the
limitations that social media can have.
“I think it’s important that social media activism translates
to real life. I think that it still needs to be humanising; it still
needs to be accessible to everyone,” she says.
Earlier this year Revolt partnered with The Student
Room to investigate the true nature of sexual assault on
UK campuses, in the first national survey on the issue to
be completed in the UK. Across the UK, 4,500 students
from 153 different institutions responded.
The research found that, whilst almost two thirds of
18

www.TheNationalStudent.com
19

students and graduates have experienced sexual assault
whilst at university, only 10% reported the incident to the
university or the police - and only 2% of those who told their
university felt satisfied with the process.
70% of female and 26% of male respondents had
experienced sexual violence, and the research also found
that 8% of females had been raped at university – double the
figure that The Office for National Statistics estimates.
In 2015 Kirby Dick released Hunting Ground, a
documentary that investigated the nature of sexual assault
in US colleges. Since the release, conversation around the
issue has been high in the US, but has been lacking within
UK universities.
“It’s a nationwide
problem and it needs a
nationwide solution”
The research conducted by Revolt, however, illustrates
that sexual harassment and assault is just as prominent here.
Whilst UK universities have been running consent classes,
both voluntary and mandatory, Hannah says that across
institutions classes aren’t well attended or well received by
students involved.
In 2016 York University students staged a walkout during a
consent class, which sparked a media debate about whether
consent classes are patronising or not.
“In an ideal world consent is something that should’ve
been taught long before students arrive at university at 18 so
[consent classes] can sometimes come across as patronising,
especially to young men,” Hannah says.
In US colleges, Bystander Training, also known as
Bystander Intervention, is mandatory in most institutions.
Rather than teaching about consent, Bystander Intervention
discusses what to do if you witness sexual assault and how
to responsibly and safely step in.
“It’s a way more positive approach to the issue in terms
of how can people be proactive, how you can step in if you
do see sexual harassment - more “this is your role in it as a
bystander”. Like, if you see your friend groping someone’s
bum in a club how can you call that behaviour out safely
and responsibly?” Hannah explains.
One key difference between the US and the UK, she says,
is the fact that US politicians and people of influence are
talking about campus sexual harassment - something that
is lacking in the UK.
“There are still a lot of problems over there to do with this
issue,” Hannah says. “But the fact that it’s on their national
agenda - politicians talk about it, there have been incredible
documentaries on it, there’s this sort of pressure and
attention on it.
“Universities at the end of the day do operate as
businesses, so they’re not going to take something seriously
until it affects their bottom line - (until) it affects their league
tables and student experience surveys.”
The future of Revolt is focusing on change. This autumn
sees a website revamp, with the slogan is switching from
#ItsRevolting to #ChangeIsComing.
“We’ve highlighted the issue, and now it’s moving into the
“how do we get change to actually happen?”” Hannah says.
“We want to work with [universities], we want every
university to be up to scratch in terms of their policy
and support and report methods, because this isn’t an
isolated issue.
“It’s a nationwide problem and it needs a nationwide
solution, but for that to happen universities need to be more
transparent and more open with students.”
Visit Hannah’s GoFundMe page at
https://uk.gofundme.com/revolt-assault
Follow Revolt Sexual Assault via
www.revoltsexualassault.com, on Twitter
@Revolt_Assault, and via the hashtags
#ItsRevolting and #ChangeIsComing
20

Credit: Lucy Fletcher
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REAL LIFE
THE GAMING
COMPANY
WITH INCLUSION
IN MIND
A revolutionary tech company is helping
those with disabilities enjoy gaming.
I
n the midst of technology undermining society as we
know it, we mustn’t forget that tech advances can also
be used to make positive changes in our lives.
One such mission has been taken up by gaming
charity Special Effect, where a dedicated team of
specialists are working towards bettering the lives of
disabled people by providing accessible gaming gear.
Just before Christmas 2016, PhD student Sam, 24, was left
with a broken neck and in intensive care after colliding with a
land rover whilst out cycling.
Borislava Todorova @ University
of Birmingham
But instead of facing a lonely Christmas at the hospital,
Sam made use of pioneering eyegaze technology, provided
by Special Effect, which enabled him to use a computer with
his eyes.
“I was able to watch Doctor Who with my brother on
Christmas Day,” he says, “and that was great. Eyegaze is
amazing - you can use your computer just by looking at it,
which is awesome.
“Having the eyegaze system meant I could stay in contact
with my university… I wanted to be able to get hold of
course materials and things, and feel like I was still being
useful. Having the eyegaze kept me sane.”
Special Effect started 11 years ago, when Dr. Mick Donegan
- an assistive technology expert himself - realised there was a
gap in the sector.
Donegan noticed that, although disabled children were
making good use of his work in classrooms, parents were
22

concerned about their children’s free time, as they couldn’t
do what their friends could. Thus, an idea was born.
Since then, the organisation’s dedicated team of games
technology experts and therapists has helped disabled
people with personalised controls that have allowed them to
enjoy playing games - whether again, or for the first time.
“This is a brilliant opportunity to give people with
disabilities the chance to level the playing field,” Mark Saville,
communications officer at Special Effect tells me, and “to take
part in the kind of things that able-bodied peers could do.”
Because of Special Effect’s work, both children and
adults with a physical disabilities can finally enjoy the fun,
friendship and inclusion that comes from video games. All
it takes is the disabled person or their carer getting in touch
with the charity.
So, how does it work? After getting to know more about
the particular disability and what games the user would like
to play, a team of the charity’s games technology specialists
will either invite the individual to their facility in Oxfordshire,
or pay them a personal visit.
The team takes a selection of kit boxes along to the
visit, and then tries out various control solutions until they
discover something that completely matches the abilities
that person has. Mark stresses that it is this that enables the
user to play as easily as possible.
“A great example of that would be a driving game,
where, if it’s somebody who’s got three or four different
well controlled movements at their body, we’ll turn lots of
auto assists on and we’ll give them controls for turning left,
turning right, braking and accelerating,” Mark says.
“So it might be that person might not be able to drift in a car
or do any of their fancy stuff, but it gets them playing again.”
As the teams cater to different disabilities results and needs
vary, and a lot of ingenuity is needed.
www.TheNationalStudent.com
23

Special Effect’s eye-gaze technology uses built-in infrared
cameras to allow Sam to use a computer with just his eyes.
“Having the eyegaze kept me sane, kept me positive,” he
says. “It meant I could talk to all my friends, even if they were
hundreds of miles away, and reassure my family.
“I wanted to be able to get a hold of course materials from
university, so I could feel like I was still being useful.”
“It’s really helped me
stay positive and in
control when I can’t do
anything else”
For people who have trouble pressing buttons because
their fingers are hypersensitive, Special Effect looks at using
buttons on other parts of the body - and then maps the
buttons on a game controller or a keyboard.
A person with cerebral palsy, on the other hand, has more
problems with motor control - so large areas, switches and
padded joysticks give more freedom than regular small
targets and joysticks.
Even if it’s someone with a spinal injury or muscular
dystrophy, who finds it hard to move, Special Effect has an
answer: “If there is some movement left in the fingers, even if
it’s just millimetres, we will use very small switches to mimic
the control the control buttons.”
In such cases, they also look for ways of controlling a joystick
- whether that be by the chin or by some part of the body.
“There really isn’t one size fits all,” Mark says. “You can take
ten people with exactly the same disability wanting to play
Sam (above) and Callum (below), both of whom have been
helped by Special Effect
exactly the same game, on exactly the same platform. And
we will come up with totally different controls solutions for
each of them.”
But that’s not all they do. The charity’s teams also consist
of therapists, who will look at the seating, positioning, safety
of the mounting and social environment, amongst other
factors.
Once they’ve found the perfect fit, they loan the kit for a
few months without any fee, and once they are sure it works,
a shopping list is provided so that they can use the kit for the
next interested person.
Special Effect isn’t the only organisation which has worked
on making gaming more inclusive, though they have
certainly been around a long time.
There is now a larger focus on inclusivity in the gaming
industry, Mark says. But the real benefit is that it’s being
taught more and more in gaming development courses at
universities, as “getting that kind of mindset in early is the
key, because you can’t retrofit accessibility very well to a
lot of games.
“It’s much better if it’s designed from the start and it’s
accounted for in terms of the project budgets and project
planning and testing.”
This May, Microsoft introduced its very own controller for
Xbox and Windows 10 made specifically for gamers with
disabilities. Technology experts from Special Effect had the
opportunity to advice on the assistive controller project.
The hope is for Special Effect to take more of a
consultancy role, as more and more big companies follow
in the steps of Microsoft and look to provide freedom of
gaming for more people.
And the results are evident, as Sam confirms: “It’s just
really helped me stay positive and in control when I can’t
do anything else, which is really great help to my whole
recovery process.”
Follow Special Effect via specialeffect.org.uk
and on Twitter @SpecialEffect
24

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ARE WE BECOMING
MORE OR LESS FREE?
Freedom has become increasingly
complex over the past year.
Reading about the messy, often unjust politics that
dominates our headlines, it is easy to declare that
we are becoming less free.
Even beyond the lack of political and social
freedoms in our most corrupt and war-stricken
countries, freedom across the entire world seems to be
slipping through our fingers. Russia still actively discriminates
against gay people, families are being separated into cages at
the US-Mexico border, and the UK has been labelled “among
the worst in Western Europe for press freedom”.
However, history is peppered with victories. We have
continuously fought for, and attained, political rights. We
have battled for the legalisation of gay marriage, dismantled
discriminatory legislation, and created formal recognition
days for the previously oppressed. Entire nations have
attained independence from colonial states and now have
the chance to develop on their own terms, free (for the most
part) from imperial intervention.
Some of us are experiencing freedom unlike any other
era of history. We are able to travel across the world, love
whomever we wish, and hold our governments accountable
without fear of retaliation.
Others are locked within borders, their plights ignored
by the rest of the world despite mass violations of basic
Isabelle Rayner @ University
of Edinburgh
human rights. Despite the proliferation of communication
technology around the world, pleas for help from hundreds
of thousands of refugees fall upon deaf ears.
Freedom on earth is diverging. There is a clear divide
between the free and the oppressed, and this gap is
widening. So, are we becoming more or less free?
An era of restricted freedom
Inequality dominates the world, the voices of the
most vulnerable unheard by those directing global
development. The Trump administration is the ultimate
modern example of this.
They ignore the climate concerns of environmental
organisations, despite clamouring support from the world’s
top scientists and fear from communities already facing
the consequences of climate change. They ignore calls for
tighter gun control, despite the school shootings which too
often occur, enjoying endorsements from the NRA. They
ignore global condemnation of their deplorable treatment
of immigrants at the US-Mexico border – an artificial line
created by those in power hundreds of years ago that
should not be prioritised above human rights – amidst a
protectionist agenda.
Their northern neighbour, Canada, is highly regarded for
its generous immigration policy and for (supposedly) leading
the world in championing environmental protection.
But Canada’s last Prime Minister, Steven Harper, embarked
on a campaign of muzzling scientists in order to smother
climate change concerns, gutting Canadian environmental
laws in the process. Throughout this “war on science”,
Canadian scientists were provided government escorts to
26

Illustrator: Laura Hope-Lloyd
WORLD
Of course, there is a long battle to come. There are still
many areas of the world where people face daily threats for
their gender, skin colour, and sexuality.
However, it cannot be denied that the world is making
progress. One day, we should be able to say that love is truly
free for all, on a plane above the chaotic, emotional politics
of our everyday lives. For many, loved has been legalised,
providing formal recognition for their relationships.
One of the most shocking stories of 2018 (so far) has been
the transformed relationship between North and South Korea.
These two nations have harboured hostile resentment for
each other for decades, but now a new era appears to have
dawned, one of “lasting peace”, partnership and collaboration.
It seems that these two countries are finally on a path to
reconciliation and, if we can get on board with cautious
optimism, there appears to be hope for the long-suffering
people. Families have been kept apart by war, human rights
violations have been committed, and the looming threat of
nuclear war has been hanging heavy over generations. Now
there is hope.
guard them at conferences as well as scripts to read from. If
a scientist was outspoken about research that threatened
Harper’s oil agenda, they were attacked in the media and
their research delegitimised.
The rest of the world has been charmed by current Prime
Minister, Justin Trudeau, who has kept his own pipeline
pursuits under the radar. Many First Nations communities,
environmental organisations, and everyday Canadians,
have been left powerless as plans to twin the (leaky) Kinder
Morgan pipeline goes ahead. Corporate power, coupled with
government support, has become the driver of Canadian
development, restricting the freedom of speech of the local
people who are powerless to defend their lands.
An era of unprecedented freedom
Before 1967, it was illegal to be gay in Britain. To love meant
to be punished by the very government elected to protect
you, to be alienated from the rest of society, to keep your
love hidden or face terrible violence.
More than 50 years later, LGBTQ+ love is celebrated with
magnificent, rainbow-themed parades all over the world.
We all have the freedom to shout our love from the rooftops
in major cities without the fear of violence, surrounded
by a vibrant, multicultural community brought together in
solidarity to support love.
“We cannot claim to be
more free if there are
regions of the world still
being restricted”
Yes, there are obstacles to global freedom, and we will
likely encounter numerous setbacks along the way. But we
have come face-to-face with similar hurdles in the past and
conquered them magnificently.
There are some areas of the world facing shocking
restrictions to freedom, but there are other regions
now equipped with the tools to help – communication
technologies enable us to create global networks of support.
We cannot claim to be more free if there are regions of the
world still being restricted. We cannot declare we are less
free if we do not fight to reclaim the freedoms that we, and
others, have lost.
The free need to support the less-free – we need global
solidarity in order to achieve global freedom.
More News
this way...
www.TheNationalStudent.com
27

FILM
20
Contributors:
Lucy Miller, Laura Potier, Sneh Rupra,
Ella Scott, Theo Rollason, Jo Bullen,
Charlotte Hunt, George Mooney and
Megan Whitehouse
ESSENTIAL
FILMS TO SEE IN
AUTUMN 2018
Snuggle up - the long summer is over, and it’s time to
embrace the comforting power of cinema. Our film
team have picked their autumn highlights - from
superhero origin stories to musical biopics to the
return of J-Lo in full life-affirming rom-com mode.
Pass us the popcorn…
THE LITTLE STRANGER
(21ST SEPTEMBER)
A period-based psychological thriller, The Little Stranger
(based on Sarah Waters’ novel) promises to take its viewers
down a paranoid and paranormal path. Accompanying
Domhnall Gleeson as he returns to his childhood home to
treat a war-shocked Will Poulter, this film promises to be an
unmissable immersive experience.
THE HOUSE WITH A
CLOCK IN ITS WALLS
(21ST SEPTEMBER)
Prepare for mayhem, mystery
and a rampage of madness when
10-year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro)
unintentionally awakens the dead.
The magical retelling of John Bellairs’
sublime children’s classic stars
Cate Blanchett and Jack Black and
features an abundance of warlocks,
witches and tentacles. Be wary of the
house’s ticking heart.
A SIMPLE FAVOUR
(14TH SEPTEMBER)
Paul Feig is branching out of comedy
to direct a mystery thriller that stars
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. A
Simple Favour follows a small-town
blogger as she attempts to solve the
sudden disappearance of her rich
and enigmatic best friend; of course,
everything is not as it seems.
28

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE
(12TH OCT)
In this ’60s-set thriller from writerdirector
Drew Goddard (The
Cabin in the Woods), seven shady
strangers convene at a mysterious
Californian hotel, where they are
offered a shot at redemption.
Boasting a killer cast including Jeff
Bridges, Dakota Johnson, John
Hamm and (perpetually shirtless)
Chris Hemsworth, this promises to
be a darkly enjoyable ride.
VENOM (5TH OCTOBER)
Ultimate Marvel anti-hero and
Spider-Man’s lethal nemesis,
Venom (Tom Hardy), is getting
his savage origin story projected
on the big screen. Witness
how journalist Eddie Brock
accidentally becomes entwined
with an alien symbiote, thus
creating the enigmatic alter-ego
with a plethora of destructive
superpowers. This is Venom.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
(24TH OCT)
A biographical film about rock
band Queen and lead singer
Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek)’s
life leading up to their Live
Aid performance in ’85. With
the band’s founding members
Brian May and Roger Taylor as
producers, the film promises a
true-to-life retelling.
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
THE HATE U GIVE (2ND NOV)
Starr (Amandla Stenberg)
witnesses the fatal shooting
of her friend by the police, but
is too afraid to speak out. This
timely film, based on the book of
the same name, addresses issues
of race and class in 21st Century
America and is sure to be a
thought-provoking watch.
www.TheNationalStudent.com
29

FILM
THE NUTCRACKER
AND THE FOUR REALMS
(2ND NOV)
Keira Knightley and Mackenzie
Foy star in a magical adaptation
of Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet. Foy
will star as young girl Clara, whose
toys magically come to life on
Christmas night. Knightley will play
the Sugar Plum Fairy, complete
with candyfloss pink wig. The film
looks to be a Christmas classic
- and with support from Helen
Mirren what more could you want?
CREED II (30TH NOV)
Fresh off the amazing success of
Black Panther (2018), Michael B.
Jordan is back in jaw-dropping
shape for the sequel to Rocky spinoff
Creed (2015). Ryan Cooler has
handed the directing reigns over
to Steven Caple Jr., but our faves
from the first film are back: Sylvester
Stallone in his whopping 8th outing
as Rocky, and Tessa Thompson as
Donnie’s bae Bianca.
WIDOWS (6TH NOV)
Premiering at TIFF and opening
London Film Festival later this year,
12 Years a Slave director Steve
McQueen is back with Widows, an
explosive, female-led action thriller.
The cast alone will blow your mind
— Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez,
Cynthia Erivo, and Elizabeth Debicki
work together as widows of a late
criminal gang, while Colin Farrell,
Jon Bernthal, Daniel Kaluuya, and
Brian Tyree Henry make up the
sinister roster of bad guys. It’s no
doubt one to watch out for!
SECOND ACT (30TH NOV)
Get ready: the queen of the femalecentric
underdog story is back. J-Lo
is on true Maid in Manhattan form
in Second Act, as a 40-year-old
supermarket worker who dreams
of doing more with her life. Also
stars Vanessa Hudgens, in a multigenerational
rom-com about
working class Latina of a certain age.
Take your mum, your aunt, your
gran. Take everyone - we will be.
THE GIRL IN THE
SPIDER’S WEB (9TH NOV)
“Are you Lisbeth Salander, the righter
of wrongs? The girl who hurts men
who hurt women?” The sequel to
2011’s The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo, only this time the role of
introverted computer hacker Lisbeth
Salander will be taken over by none
other than Claire Foy of The Crown.
Foy is an interesting choice for a role
that couldn’t be further from that of
our own monarch - however, given
her immense talent we don’t doubt
she will excel in it.
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE
CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD
(16TH NOVEMBER)
The fate and future of all Muggles
and Wizards alike rests in
protagonist Newt Scamander’s
hands as he and Albus Dumbledore
(Jude Law) attempt to prevent a
Gellert Grindelwald-led revolution.
Encounter new faces, more
Fantastic Beasts, nostalgic mirrors
and even the famous alchemist,
Nicolas Flamel.
ROBIN HOOD (21ST NOV)
See Taron Egerton of Kingsman fame tackle a darker
action role as Robin Hood in the upcoming live-action
remake produced by Leonardo DiCaprio himself. If
that isn’t enough to spark your interest, the film also
includes Jamie Foxx, Jamie Dornan and grand scale
fight scenes. Don’t miss it.
30

SPIDERMAN: INTO
THE SPIDERVERSE
(14TH DECEMBER)
Developed by Lego Movie directors
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller,
this animated take on the famous
web-slinger sees Peter Parker (Jake
Johnson) mentoring Brooklyn
teenager Miles Morales (Shameik
Moore) to become a new Spider-
Man. Supporting voice cast includes
Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali,
Nicolas Cage and John Mulaney as
Spider-Ham. (Yep, he’s a pig.)
MORTAL ENGINES
(14TH DECEMBER)
In a post-apocalyptic steampunk
future, gigantic moving cities feed
on smaller ‘traction’ towns for
resources. When Londoner Tom
(Robert Sheehan) stops Hester
(Hera Hilmar) from killing powerful
historian Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo
Weaving), both are thrown out into
the wasteland - where they uncover
a terrifying conspiracy.
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
(26TH DEC)
Pushed back from its original release
in the spring due to schedule
conflicts with Avatar sequels, this
James Cameron-produced, Robert
Rodriguez-directed cyberpunk
outing is based on the manga series
by Yukito Kishiro. With a cast that
includes Christoph Waltz, Jennifer
Connelly, Michelle Rodriguez, Ed
Skrein and Mahershala Ali, this is
one to lock into your calendars for
that odd in between Christmas and
New Year period.
AQUAMAN (14TH DEC)
Aquaman will be the title character’s
first full-length feature film following
Batman v Superman and Justice
League. Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry
must step into his role as heir to
Atlantis against his brother, who aims
to unite the water kingdoms against
the surface world.
MARY POPPINS RETURNS
(21ST DEC)
A long-awaited sequel to the
timeless classic, Mary Poppins
Returns will undeniably ooze
quintessential Englishness as it
brings together audiences of all ages
seeking to revisit their childhood. In
the talented hands of Rob Marshall,
audiences may rest easy as the
loved-by-all story is brought to life
by a cast including Emily Blunt, Lin
Manuel-Miranda and Meryl Streep.
HOLMES AND WATSON
(26TH DEC)
Comedy legends Will Ferrell and
John C. Reilly are teaming up again
this Christmas, this time taking on
the iconic roles of Sherlock Holmes
and John Watson. With support from
Hugh Laurie as Mycroft Holmes
and Ralph Fiennes as the villainous
Moriarty, it’s sure to be a hilarious
and enjoyable take on characters we
already know and love.
More Film
this way...
www.TheNationalStudent.com
31

TV
JAMEELA JAMIL:
“WE’VE HAD
ENOUGH OF
SHAME”
Actor, presenter, activist, beacon of
positivity on Instagram - there’s little
Jameela Jamil can’t add to the list of
things she’s done.
F
ew can boast of a better starting role in Hollywood:
as Tahani Al-Jamil in genre-defying comedy The
Good Place, Jameela Jamil has cemented
herself as one of most important comedy
actresses of the small screen.
The Good Place’s unique mix of
philosophy and ethics and light, approachable
humour has received the double blessing of
being both critically acclaimed and well loved by
audiences.
Jameela herself is incredibly surprised and grateful to
have her first acting role in television be such a runaway
success, recounting the time she went to a Comic Con
and it hit her for the first time:
“That was the first time I tangibly understood how big
and well-loved this show is. I just get a bit freaked out by
it, frankly,” she tells us.
Borislava Todorova @ University
of Birmingham
32

“I cried… I didn’t
realise how many
women felt the
same way as me”
www.TheNationalStudent.com
33

34
The Good Place focuses on Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen
Bell), who wakes up in The Good Place (AKA the afterlife).
William Jackson Harper, Jameela and Manny Jacinto colead
as the other residents of the “neighbourhood”.
Series three has just begun on Netflix, and Jameela
promises that it will be the best and funniest so far:
“The storylines are the best they’ve ever been,” she
says, “because the writers know the actors very well,
and we know our characters very well now too.
“Mike is amazing at making us understand why
the characters are so unbearable. He is amazing
at clotting back through someone’s timeline to
understand why we all are the way that we are.”
She promises even more action, more special
effects, and more guest stars: “It is a big, bold,
emotional, hilarious season that I’m really
excited for people to see,” she says.
Aside from The Good Place, this year
Jameela has provided us with a space
in the ever-judgmental social media
world to celebrate ourselves and our
accomplishments.
Her i_weigh campaign started with
a rage-laden post on Instagram in
response to a photo of the Kardashian
family that detailed each woman’s
weight. Instead, she encouraged
women to share their achievements
and accomplishments - something
that immediately caught on online.
i_weigh proved to be the
perfect antidote to the culture
of Instagram (the worst social
media platform for mental
health, according to the
Royal Society for Public
Health), and responses
flooded Jameela’s story
celebrating women’s
accomplishments.
“When I first saw
the responses, I
cried, I was so
moved by how
open women
were being
over the
Internet
and how
hurt

they were,” she says. “I didn’t realise how many women
felt the same way as me.”
In March she set up a special account dedicated to
documenting responses, and the outcome has been
overwhelming, with over 146,000 followers on Instagram
at the time of writing. The account celebrates ordinary
women and their extraordinary accomplishments,
beyond, Jameela says, the “fucking kg”.
Jameela’s goal is clear - she wants her campaign to
“become so big and so loud that we reach women,
we repair their self-esteem, we remind them of their
worth, but also we remind society of our worth and let
everyone know that we are done. We’ve had enough
of shame.”
Jameela’s experience comes firstly from years of
being criticised for being too skinny, and secondly
from being body-shamed by the media: “A woman
will be allowed to compose herself on the red carpet
to get the best photographs, but when you become
larger, they wait for you to be only in your most
caught off-guard, vulnerable moment,” she says.
Her experience means she hasn’t been afraid to
call people out - including Kim Kardashian, who
recently promoted weight-loss lollipops.
Jameela jokes that all such lollipops do is
“give you diarrhea”, and doesn’t care if
she loses out on work opportunities
because of her forthright views:
“I’m much more scared that
I’ll sit in a house that’s built
on an empire created
out of the tears and
blood of young
women.”
Jameela is fired up about the dieting industry, which in
recent years has effectively migrated online and started
targeting young teens with fads such as the aforementioned
weight-loss lollipops peddled by Kardashian.
“If you want to lose weight, you should exercise and eat
a healthy, balanced diet; you should never take a chemical
shortcut,” she stresses. “Shame is not the way to get
someone to incorporate the healthiest possible lifestyle
into their lives.”
Despite that, and maybe because of the i_weigh
campaign, she believes social media can become a tool of
change for women.
“We are being empowered by speaking out, so therefore
more and more women are feeling inspired to speak
out,” she says. “Movements similar to i_weigh and the Me
Too movement are becoming a tool of great power for
women, because finally we have a voice that doesn’t have
to be enabled by a man.”
To young creatives, the biggest piece of advice she
suggests is to be your own friend: “Anything that you
wouldn’t tolerate being said to your best friend, do not
allow to be said to you by someone else or by yourself.”
It’s solid advice, from a role model who knows her own
mind - and is more than ready to voice it.
The Good Place is streaming on Netflix now.
Follow the I Weigh campaign on
Instagram @i_weigh
Additional reporting by Laura Potier
Photography by Sela Shiloni: selashiloniphoto.com
“With i_weigh,
we remind society
of our worth and
let everyone know
that we are done”
www.TheNationalStudent.com
35

FILM
“IT’S A BOLD NEW
WORLD FOR THE FILM
INDUSTRY”
Natalie Dormer on the challenge of playing
a blind protagonist - and why on-screen
diversity is here to stay.
S
tarring Natalie Dormer, this year’s
psychological thriller In Darkness follows blind
musician Sofia as she’s drawn into London’s
criminal underground after the death of her
upstairs neighbour (Emily Ratajkowski).
Though initially ruled a suicide, everything is
not as it seems, and Sofia must struggle to survive while
caught between the police and dangerous criminals.
“I love psychological thrillers,” Natalie says. “It’s one of
my favourite genres, and it’s the films that we (she and
Anthony Byrne, her partner and the film’s director) used
to watch as a couple; it was always Hitchcockian films,
film noir, with all these fabulous female roles. It’s all about
Double Indemnity, it’s Leave Her to Heaven, it’s Laura - it’s
all those movies!”
In Darkness is a bold foray into the genre, being Natalie’s
first venture into script-writing - and it’s a chance that
she’s waited almost a decade for.
Laura Potier @ University
of Edinburgh
Speaking about the late 00s, when the idea for the film
was first put forward, she reveals a frustration about the
scripts that were coming her way, and how this impacted
her confidence.
“I was at a certain point in my career where I felt that
I wasn’t of a level that I was getting anything other
than two-dimensional roles,” she says, “and so in the
beginning I didn’t necessarily feel that I was going to be
able to play Sofia.
“For an independent film my profile wasn’t really large
enough. I didn’t really have the bankability in 2009. We
only realised that I could play her after Hunger Games and
Game of Thrones; it only became viable at that point.
“For me it was a cathartic process to help Anthony
make his movie, and for me to write a three-dimensional
anti-heroine that I felt was lacking. It was really my
Christmases and birthdays all at once, the day I realised I
could play her.”
Natalie is convinced diversity in film is here to stay. “I
feel the conversation has been too sustained and probing
now for things to go back to the way they were,” she says.
“And that’s not just gender parity, that’s sexuality, ethnicity,
it’s everything across the board. I think it’s now accepted,
finally, that we need broader diversity in our storytelling,
and with our talent in front and behind the camera. So
hopefully it’s a bold new world for the industry.”
36

One of the most interesting points of the film is that the
heroine is a blind character, and the cinematography thus
must adapt to her. “You basically have to create a visual
grammar that it going to illustrate Sofia’s environment and
her world to an audience, and help them understand that
experience,” Anthony tells us.
“And you have to do that visually and using sound,
so sound design is something that we spent an awfully
long time conceiving.”
He continues: “You can’t be in front of her, so
you have to stay behind her, then being behind her
constantly makes you feel like a voyeur - so it kind of
puts you in a different headspace.
“When you’re in her apartment, instead of just
having a camera over in the corner of the room
and just watching you’re very deliberately on her
shoulder; you’re very deliberately off her eye-line.
There’s very specific grammar that you’re creating in
order to tell the story.”
“The conversation has
been too sustained
and probing for things
to go back to the way
they were”
Allowing the audience to become a voyeur to Sofia’s
story, whilst still allowing Sofia to maintain power, is a fine
and difficult line to tread. “How to do that, I think, is an
age-old psychological thriller question,” says Natalie.
“You could write a whole thesis on Hitchcockian
heroines. Getting that line between victim and
empowered heroine; it’s necessary because you need to
see vulnerability in a character or else you don’t engage
with them physically or mentally. That’s how we identify
with a protagonist, that they feel pain and fear the way we
do, so you have to have that.”
“It’s a way to suggest vulnerability as well,” says
Anthony. “The beginning of the film is all about watching
her routine, understanding it, watching her go home,
seeing her alone in her apartment, and then there are very
deliberate building blocks that are applied.”
Natalie adds: “It’s what you explain to the audience in
the first five minutes, that what they see is not what they
think they see.
“Anthony immediately tells the audience that they
can’t trust themselves, so the unreliability of what you
think you see, or whom you think you’re watching, is
immediately set up.
“And like I say, for us, you can call it derivative, but
it’s just a love letter to psychological thriller - as film
lovers ourselves.”
In Darkness is out on Digital and DVD now
www.TheNationalStudent.com
37

LIFE
Drag is no longer
in the shadows - but its driving forces of
acceptance, exploration, refuge and rebellion
haven’t changed.
I
n the last few years, drag has swiftly cemented its
reign over pop culture and entertainment.
As drag artists have increasingly entered the
limelight they have fought for LGBTQ+ voices
and pushed boundaries of gender, art and queer
expression in television, fashion and even politics.
However, drag only recently achieved
this mainstream visibility and the polished, openly
celebratory spaces we see on shows like RuPaul’s Drag
Race. For most of its history, drag was an underground
movement for the disenfranchised and marginalised
of society, a way to rebel and create a safe haven of
alternative expression and femininity.
As we enter this new age of queer art in the media, it’s
more important than ever to consider the power of drag
and the messages these artists have to offer.
Three queer artists - Santi Storm, Taylor Trash and
Courtney Act - took the time to talk to us about just that.
Madison Stewart @ University
of Exeter
What drew you to drag as a form
of self-expression?
Taylor Trash: When I was young I was very outgoing, but
growing up as a queer person you get bashed a bit and
hide your light under the surface because you don’t want
people to see it in case they’ll extinguish it or steal it from
you. So for a long time I hid away, but I always knew I
wanted to do something different. Being gay, I was trying
to accept myself but dressing up as a woman was seen
as a bad thing when I was growing up. At home and in
my community, it was completely unheard of, but I was
drawn to it almost because of the taboo.
Santi Storm: I actually never really considered I was doing
“drag”. I feel like drag very much focuses on gender and
trying to exaggerate it in some way, whilst I try and do the
opposite. I try to execute a visual concept. For example, if
I want to dress up as Hello Kitty, that’s what I’m focusing
on: creating a fantasy of Hello Kitty not the fantasy of a
women. Drag can encompass that too, but often focuses
on creating the illusion of gender in some way. The way in
which I express myself is with no regard to gender rules;
wearing skirts and makeup to execute a concept. I’m
never trying to “look like a woman” - that has never been
my goal. That’s why I don’t really identify with the label
38

ART
“Dressing up
as a woman
was seen as
a bad thing
when I was
growing up”
www.TheNationalStudent.com 39

40
“Life is too short to be
surrounded by people that
don’t understand you”

ART
“drag”, I prefer calling myself a Club Kid. I was introduced
to and drawn into Club Kid culture when I was 16 and
used to sneak into nightclubs in east London. I came
across this world of cool Club Kids, seeing their fashion,
art, how much fun they were having and I realised it was
a world I wanted to be a part of. There was something
about this new exciting world that made me obsessed.
What do you think are the biggest
misconceptions people have about drag?
Courtney Act: Drag feels so ubiquitous these days and
people’s perception has evolved so much because of TV
shows like Drag Race, but I would say a big misconception
still is that drag is just for gay men.
People have this idea that drag is just
gay men dressing up as women, but
it’s so much more than that. There are
drag kings, hyper queens, all different
kinds of drag and a lot of drag that
doesn’t make it to the TV screen.
Trixie Mattel said that claiming you
love drag but only watch Drag Race
is like saying you like music but only
watch Pop Idol. I think there’s so
much more drag out there, political
drag, comedy drag, pageant drag,
performance art drag; the internet is
a great gateway to start looking and
support girls who aren’t on Drag Race
and find what you love.
Santi Storm: There are many misconceptions about
drag and Club Kid culture in general. People assume I’m
going to be bitchy or a diva, which I’m not, because of
my image or social media. I think straight people often
think I’m transgender because they don’t understand
queer gender expression. People also assume that doing
it is really easy and fun. It’s definitely fun, but it’s also
loads of work!
What advice would you give to young
people right now who are trying to find that
freedom and confidence to be themselves?
Santi Storm: I would say get away from anyone that is
not going to accept you; life is too short to be surrounded
by ignorant people that don’t understand you. Surround
yourself with people that support you. Then just do
Above and left: Santi Storm; previous page:
Courtney Act; first page: Taylor Trash
everything in baby steps. You don’t have to be a full-blown
drag queen overnight - just try stuff out, feel what suits
you and allow yourself to grow into who you are meant to
be. But remember, always be safe!
Taylor Trash: Get in touch with me or people like me
who can, if you want to get into performance, offer you
an opportunity to do so. It’s about looking at your local
community and identifying a space you feel comfortable
in, speak to the people who run these venues, to local
artists who inspire you. If you are actively searching
you’ll pick up tips and advice along the way. Drag can
sometimes be seen as having a lot of status bullshit but,
really, we are all a big interconnected family of people
because we all work in the same
venues and face the same struggles.
What is the power
of drag for you?
Santi Storm: For me being a Club Kid
is about living your fucking fantasy! Be
your best self and live your queer life,
express your art in the four walls of
that club and be unapologetically you.
Taylor Trash: Transformation and
change, be it how you look, feel, act, how
you make other people feel and act. I’ve
had interactions with people who didn’t
like drag - I’ve dealt with the situation so
by the end of the night I can sit and have
a drink with them. Drag has the power of
transformation because it changes your life and it can change
other people’s lives - maybe next time that person won’t be
awful to someone else just because of how they look.
Courtney Act: The power of drag is the ability to define
your image by your own terms. I think the cool thing is a
lot of women are finding this too now. They loved drag
but didn’t know how they could be active participants
– whereas now at conventions like DragWorld there will
be so many women dressed up, from full drag to more
makeup than usual. It’s such a great way to express
yourself creatively. Boys, girls and non-binary people alike
are finding they can express themselves, create their own
image and be accepted for that.
More Drag this way...
www.TheNationalStudent.com
41

MUSIC
GROWING UP
WITH BECKY HILL
“The Voice was like university for me...”
A
fter working on her debut album for a
whopping 6 years (and collaborating with
Wilkinson, Rudimental, Pete Tong and MK
along the way) Becky Hill has learnt a few
things. We caught up with her for some
life lessons…
Becky on… forging your
own career
I had a friend who went out
of The Voice a few weeks
before me, and she
told me that nobody
helps you when
you leave. She
told me to keep
every number and contact I had, so I went around
gathering as many contacts as I could. The main lesson I
learned was that no one’s going to help you; you always
have to help yourself.
Becky on… being signed to a major label
With every record deal you grow up a little bit. Once I got
let go from my last record deal I started my own record
label and started putting my own money into it and I
realised, wow, this is quite difficult.
When Polydor saw the work I was doing and the
interest from Radio 1 that I was getting on my own, they
came towards me with a level playing field attitude. I
wasn’t a kid anymore. I’d been through a record deal so
they knew what I was expecting, and they really have
treated me like I’m an equal. It’s so nice to be part a
family situation; they see me as a business partner.
Becky on… going
with the flow
Originally I’d wanted the music video (for ‘Sunrise in
the East’) to be filmed in Tokyo because I love it there,
and I love Japan in general. The video was then going
to be shot in Beijing. I was there at an event with
my boyfriend already, and I got an email through
saying “we’re not shooting it in Beijing anymore,
you’re going to have to get on a flight to Vietnam,
we’re shooting the video over there.” Everything
had changed; the styling, the location, and I just
went with it.
Matilda Martin @ University of York and Kirstie
Sutherland @ University of Birmingham
Becky on… the
power of travel
I love Vietnam and I’d been there before on
my travels on the first big holiday me and
my boyfriend took together, and so for me
42

it ended in a full circle. This is where my love started, off
adventuring round the world, and now I’m back here with
a song I’ve written about him and a music video that kind
of represents our little journey over there.
Becky on… breaking free as a solo artist
I’ve always been, in my head, a solo artist and I’d always
felt that everything else came second. I’ve been writing
music since I was 13 and professionally since I was 18. So
now I’m 24 I’ve written about 500-600 songs, originally
meant to be for my own solo projects. A lot of people
were listening to my repertoire and going “I love that
song, I want it for me”. And that’s how ‘False Alarm’ (with
Matoma) and ‘Piece of Me’ (with MK) happened.
All these things are just adding experience and strings
to my bow, and I think it’s nice to be able to step out and
sing my own songs that I’ve written for myself. But it’s also
really nice to have the other side of it, where I’m going
away with other people and being on their shows, and
having the practice to make my own shows better.
“People only fail
if they give up”
Becky on… her debut album
I’ve been working on this album for six years,
which I probably will never get to do again in my career.
That six years was spent finding out what kind of sound
I wanted to make, who the right people were to achieve
that sound, and really cracking an album.
Becky on… staying true to her sound
From quite early my influences were Robyn, Passion Pit...
in terms of songwriting, Ben Howard, Bon Iver and Ellie
Goulding’s first album. I’d say my sound is Electropop
and it’s very eclectic because obviously it’s written over
the years, but there’s a solid thread throughout the
album, which is my voice and my songwriting.
Becky on... her autumn solo tour
This will be my second tour and the first one was only
three dates, so it’s going to be the most I’ve ever done
under my own name. I’ve really tried hard to take it to the
next level. I’m really looking forward to being on stage
and letting my personality come through. A lot of the
time I go on stage and I’m there to sing a song and then
leave, which I love doing, but now I’ve got an hour to sing
all my own stuff - really just build a connection with the
audience; that’s what people can expect.
Becky on… pre-tour nerves
I’ve done a lot of training and had a lot of practice being
on tour with a lot of other artists. I used to
go out on stage with Rudimental and
Pete Tong and the audience is just
huge, totally engaged, really up
for a party, and I realised this is
what I want for myself. It almost
feels like a bit of a long time
coming and I feel super ready for
it, now more than ever. I’m super
excited, I really can’t wait.
Becky on… taking risks
When I was on The Voice there
was a girl that I thought was
super talented, but she was too
frightened to leave her home
town and go to London. When I
first moved to London I thought
that there was no other option;
I had to keep going and it was a
massive risk. There was a chance
that I could end up back at my
mum’s house working behind the
bar, but I thought, let’s keep going
with it, keep pushing on with my
own vision - and that hasn’t gone.
Becky on…
achieving success
People only fail if they give up,
and I feel like the people that
carry on going will succeed at
some point.
Becky’s new single Back & Forth,
with MK and Jonas Blue, is out
now. Download it via the QR code:
Her national tour begins in
Glasgow on 8th October and ends
on 16th October in London.
www.TheNationalStudent.com
43

FRESHER
SOUNDS
From an up-and-coming rapper to
the UK’s coolest new girl group,
outgoing National Student Music
Editor Lucy and current Music
Editor Caitlin know exactly
what should be on your Spotify
playlists - so go on, give your ears
a refresh…
RIKA
Rika has only recently been signed,
but her powerful, uplifting tracks have
been circulating the internet for a
while. Half Indian, half Serbian but
London born and raised, Rika’s music
is a reflection of the culture and world
around her, which makes for a huge
sound sitting nicely between pop and
dance genres.
For fans of: Dua Lipa, Charli XCX
Start with: ‘The Others’
Caitlin Clark @ SOAS &
Lucy Fletcher @ Liverpool
John Moores
Shotbyphox
JERRY WILLIAMS
Jerry Williams is cool - there’s no
other way to describe her. Her tracks
feature the same subtle, quirky
humour that appears across Lily
Allen’s Britpop back catalogue, but
her young, delicate voice, incredible
stage presence and a selection of
tracks that drip into the indie pop
genre could see her on sound polls
in the next couple of years. If you
want one person to watch this year,
put Jerry Williams on your list.
For fans of: Lily Allen, Kate Nash
Start with: ‘Grab Life’
44

MUSIC
LILY MOORE
The depth in Lily Moore’s voice could
easily be compared to powerhouses
like Adele, but she has an Amy
Winehouse-esque twang to her vocal
that adds another interesting layer to
her already beyond-her-years sound.
For fans of: Adele, Amy Winehouse
Start with: ‘I Will Never Be’
LIFE AQUATIC BAND
This Sheffield-based five piece are
a smorgasbord of contradictions.
A woozy, lethargic melding pot of
reggae, funk, soul and guitar-led rock
rhythms, Life Aquatic Band shouldn’t
really work, but by constantly pushing
the boundaries of alternative indie,
they absolutely do.
For fans of: Elefant UK,
The Attic Sound
Start with: ‘The Night Shift’
FREYA RIDINGS
Freya Ridings’ haunting vocal and
deep, melancholic sound makes
listening to her music a surreal
experience, felt in the soul. Heartfelt
lyrics drenched in youth, romance
and emotion - she’s one for the (everso-common)
rainy days, curled up in
the window.
For fans of: Birdy, London Grammar
Start with: ‘Lost Without You’
CHOZE
Listening to Choze’s latest single
‘Nothing To Lose’, you’ll hear faint
flickers of Dave, Wiley and Kendrick
Lamar supported by a rich, blues-y
horn and politically-charged
lyricism. The unsigned Londonbased
rapper is active in his local
community, supporting Lenny
Henry in anti-knife campaigning
and championing equality and
justice in his raw, alt-hip-hop style.
For fans of: Wiley, Kendrick Lamar
Start with: ‘Nothing To Lose’
PIP BLOM
Pip Blom exudes cool. Showering
us in a twisted brand of indie-rock,
the Dutch four-piece have curated a
perfectly unengineered sound, chock
full of raw guitar power and reverbheavy
melodies.
For fans of: Courtney Barnett, The
Big Moon
Start with: ‘Babies Are A Lie’
NICK LEE
Former NYU music student Nick Lee
made his debut with ‘Hotspice’; a
janky, retro summer jam with expertly
layered electronics. Somehow, Lee has
managed to make 90s Nickelodeon
sounds seem breezy, summertime
cool - and that’s no mean feat. A good
ear for melodic beats, catchy hooks
and afrobeat-soaked rhythms, this
man is one to watch.
For fans of: Halima, RAYE, Kah-Lo
Start with: ‘Hotspice’
HIGH SUNN
Sporadically flipping between in
and out of falsetto, 18-year-old
Justin Cheromiah from the Bay Area
furnishes his music with a tangible
sense of teen angst. Jangly guitars,
rushed synths and a tangled urgency
in his lyrical delivery will send you
straight back to sitting cross-legged
on the floor of your childhood
bedroom, staring at posters of AC/DC
and The Strokes.
For fans of: Declan McKenna
Start with: ‘Those Last Words’
www.TheNationalStudent.com
45

PARIS YOUTH FOUNDATION
Paris Youth Foundation are
the perfect amalgamation of
everything that makes indie
great: catchy choruses, toe
tapping riffs and a few hair flips.
They may be from Liverpool but
these Scousers don’t conform
quite to what you’d expect
from the capital of pop. Already
making heavy-felt waves across
their hometown, it won’t be
long until the rest of the country
catches up too.
For fans of: The 1975,
Spring King
Start with: ‘London’
FEVER DREAM
“A particularly intense or confusing
dream brought on by a fever”
is the dictionary definition of a
“fever dream”, and this Londonbased
threesome certainly know
how to stick to their aesthetic. A
dizzy, swirling mass of electronic
crescendos are offset by hip-hop
style-delivered vocals to tell wistful
stories of hope, confusion and
darkness.
For fans of: Dream Wife,
AFAR, saegoe
Start with: ‘Reyndu Bara’
Danny Griffieon
PITOU
No frills or spills, Amsterdam-born
Pitou has one of the most arresting
voices to emerge from the last few
years. Each note of ‘Cut a Hole’, from
her debut self-titled album in 2016,
is so delicately balanced atop the
other it only needs a pin drop for
the whole arrangement to topple.
Open your ears and your heart to a
deliciously sweet experience.
For fans of: Cigarettes after Sex,
Laura Marling
Start with: ‘Cut a Hole’
Fabrice Bourgelle
ROSS FROM FRIENDS
Felix Weatherall aka Ross From
Friends has been turning heads
with driving, lo-fi rhythms since his
break into the underground scene
in 2015. What’s so important about
Ross, though, is how he’s brought
clarity to the murkiness of ambient
dance music. Kick off the learning
journey with ‘Bootman’.
For fans of: DJ Boring, Bicep
Start with: ‘Bootman’
TOUTS
Inspired by the toils of small-town life,
dodgy politicians and shitty school
experiences, TOUTS are boiling over
with visceral teenage rage. The three
piece punk outfit from Northern
Ireland do not only relish in sticking
a middle finger up to the system, but
eviscerating its remains. Start with
‘Bombscare’ for a dose of perfectly
un-perfect garageband punk.
For fans of: Cabbage, Shame
Start with: ‘Bombscare’
46

MORE
FRESHER
SOUNDS
THIS WAY...
BOERD
A history playing double bass for the
Swedish Royal Opera and Stockholm’s
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bard
Ericson dabbles in the dream pairing
of traditional instrumentals and
electronic production. Let his 2018
single ‘Blind’ soothe your soul with
intelligent creativity and captivating
soundscapes.
For fans of: Ólafur Arnalds,
Nils Frahm
Start with: ‘Blind’
BRUNCH
Inspired by the likes of Pavement and
Weezer, this London quartet channel
early noughties punk-pop with
strong guitar leads and woozy vocals.
Kick off your nostalgia-scented
bath with latest single ‘Trussed Yew’
before perusing their eclectic back
catalogue.
For fans of: Cold Boys, YAMA YAMA
Start with: ‘Trussed Yew’
LOTIC
From Texas to Berlin, Lotic has
dipped and dived in every sensual,
sex-drenched disco you could ever
imagine. Smashing down the barriers
of gender norms with feminine
intricacy and bolshy, masculine
basslines, both their sound and spirit
is the embodiment of experimental
dance music.
For fans of: Dasychira, Embaci
Start with: ‘Hunted’
HUSKY LOOPS
Bologna-born three piece Husky
Loops have a unique take on rock
music. Experts in the art of distortion,
their sound is an exhilarating
mish-mash of meticulously sharp
production and feverish, chaotic
on-stage energy. Think old school
Gorillaz electronica meets Interpol’s
fuzzy, symbolic lyricism.
For fans of: Otherkin, VANT
Start with: ‘Tempo’
FOUR OF DIAMONDS
Though Four of Diamonds started
on X Factor, don’t be fooled into
thinking these girls are a cheesy
pop quartet. With their youthful
relatability, genuine talent and an
urban edge, they’re the coolest
new girl band around - just listen
to their debut single ‘Name On
It’, featuring Burna Boy, and you’ll
understand the hype.
For fans of: Anne Marie, Little Mix,
Jess Glynne
Start with: ‘Name On It’
LADY BIRD
Lady Bird are pinpoint precise in their
production, compared to your usual
punk rock bands that relish in the
frenetic, frantic and frenzied. A hot
slice of 9-to-5 realism peppered with
wry, sarcastic lyricism is what you
can expect from the Kent-dwelling
three piece.
For fans of: Idles, Slaves
Start with: ‘Spoons’
www.TheNationalStudent.com
47

© Anshul Mehrotra @ University of Lucknow, India 2012 Courtesy of the World Photography Organisation
SET YOUR
CAMERA
FREE I
In our bi-annual photography round-up, we aim to showcase the most
talented new photographers from around the UK and the world.
This issue’s theme? Freedom. Here’s how our student photography
community interpreted it…
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT
OUR NEW PHOTOGRAPHY
PROGRAMME HERE:
48

PHOTOGRAPHY
© Rahila Hussain @ University of Salford
www.TheNationalStudent.com
49

50
© Sofia Jern Novia @ University of Applied Sciences, Finland 2016 Courtesy of the World Photography Organisation

© Nikolai Larsen @ The Danish School of Media Journalism 2012
Courtesy of the World Photography Organisation
© Izzy De Wattripont @ University of West England, United Kingdom, 2018 Courtesy of the World
Photography Organisation

© Rahila Hussain @ University of Salford
The World Photography Organisation challenges students from around the world to submit their best work to its
Student competition.
“Being involved with the Student competition was a great challenge,” says Samuel Bolduc, the most recent winner.
“The competition puts you in a real contract situation. You have a subject, a vision to respect, a deadline, every one of
these aspects are what we will have to master to assure our career as photographers.”
Prizes include €30,000 worth of equipment for the winner’s university. If your uni isn’t registered you can enter the
WPO’s Open competition, which is free for everyone.
52

© Samuel Bolduc @ College de Matane, Canada 2018 Courtesy of the World Photography Organisation
The World Photography Organisation challenges students from around the world to submit their best work to its Student competition.
“Being involved with the Student competition was a great challenge,” says Samuel Bolduc, the most recent winner. “The competition
puts you in a real contract situation. You have a subject, a vision to respect, a deadline, every one of these aspects are what we will have
to master to assure our career as photographers.”
Prizes include €30,000 worth of equipment for the winner’s university. If your uni isn’t registered
you can enter the WPO’s Open competition, which is free for everyone.
Email the World Photography Organisation: info@worldphoto.org
www.TheNationalStudent.com
53

Fuel your first term
Cosy recipes to get you through the autumn - from
indulgent, pre-9am crumpets to a colourful, nutrientpacked
evening soup…
54

CO-OP // advertorial
Autumn is drawing in, and it’s time to start indulging in
season-appropriate food - from comforting crumpets to
healthy, hearty vegetable soup.
Your local Co-op is stocked to the brim with all the
ingredients you need to cook up a storm as the nights
get darker, and they’ve teamed up with MOB Kitchen to
bring them to you in time for the start of term. Happy cooking!
Eggy Guacamole Crumpets
Cooking Time (includes prep) : 25 Minutes
Ingredients:
• 6 eggs
• 8 crumpets
• 2 avocados
• 1 bunch of coriander
• 1 lime
• 3 spring onions
• 1 red chilli
• 1 block of cheddar
• Hot Sauce
Method:
1. Avocado time. Into a bowl add 2 peeled avocados, 3 finely
chopped spring onions, a finely chopped chilli, the juice of a lime
and a bunch of chopped coriander. Season with salt, pepper and
olive oil and mix everything together.
2. Crack your eggs into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and
beat together.
3. Dunk your crumpets in the egg mixture. Squeeze them down to
allow the egg to get into all the holes.
4. Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil. Cook the crumpets for
3-4 minutes on each side on a medium-high heat. Once the
crumpets are brown on the outside, remove from the heat.
5. Serve the crumpets with a big dollop of guac on top, grate over
some cheddar, squeeze on some hot sauce and munch away!
www.TheNationalStudent.com
55

CO-OP // advertorial
Vegan Wok Soup
Cooking Time (includes prep): 20 Minutes
Ingredients:
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 200g rice noodles
• 1 veggie stock cube
• 2 peppers (not green)
• 1 pack of button mushrooms
• 2 carrots
• 1 jar of Thai green curry paste
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 bunch of coriander
• 1 lime
Method:
1. Thinly slice the veggies. Remove stalks from the basil and
coriander leaves. Finely chop the stalks.
2. Get a wok on the heat, add a splash of oil, and then add your basil
and coriander stalks. Fry for a minute, and then add your veggies.
3. Fry for 6-7 minutes until softened and beginning to brown. At this
point, add a tablespoon and a half of Thai green curry paste. Stir
it in, and then pour in your coconut milk. Bubble it on a high heat
for a minute, mixing it in, and then crumble in a stock cube. Pour
in 600ml water.
4. When the soup starts to bubble, add your rice noodles. Submerge
them under the liquid. They will take about 60 seconds to cook.
Once they are soft, add a large handful of both chopped basil and
chopped coriander. Squeeze in the juice of a lime, stir it in and
you’re done!
5. Serve the soup in to 4 bowls and tuck in!
Get 10% off at Co-op with a TOTUM or NUS extra card
For more inspiration from Co-op throughout the year follow @coopukfood
Check out MOB Kitchen’s video recipes @mobkitchenUK
56

www.TheNationalStudent.com
57

TRAVEL
Connecting
Tallinn’s oppressed
past with its
creative future
Stepping away from the fairytale streets of the Old Town
opens up the collision of ideals that makes up the city’s
modern history. We explored two sites that tell the tale of
leaving oppression behind for a brighter future…
T
he mental image evoked by Estonian capital
Tallinn is of the winding, fairy tale streets of the
old town – a medieval wonder straight out of
the storybooks. But its story is also one on the
fault line of the nation’s turbulent, oppressed
past as well as its golden, innovation-led future.
Innovation and culture were at the forefront
of my time in the city for Tallinn Music Week, one of the
most exciting and diverse cultural showcases in Europe.
During my stay two places embodied the nation’s past,
and its future, in profound ways.
Sat just outside the Old Town, the Hotel Viru looks like
any other tower-block, any old cosmopolitan hotel - but it
holds a dark secret and history. Viru has a secret floor from
which Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, ran surveillance
operations in the hotel itself and on neighbouring areas,
including close Scandinavian countries.
The lift of the hotel goes up to the 22nd floor, but the
hotel itself has 23 floors (largely a secret to the public),
James Thornhill, Founder of The
National Student
from the top of which the KGB did its work. Clearly, under
Soviet rule any hotel suitable for foreign visitors also had
to be suitable for the KGB.
Today, this hidden floor is a museum which can be
accessed via organised tours lasting one hour. The
knowledgeable guides, in my case a stereotypically
austere Eastern European lady with a dry sense of
humour, direct you through the history of Soviet
surveillance in Estonia. The stories from within the hotel
itself are astounding.
Tales of every room being wired for surveillance, of
foreign dignitaries being placed in certain rooms for better
snooping, and of prostitute honey traps laid for blackmail
purposes. Staff were monitored, visitors were monitored,
and the whole fabric of the hotel was a machine of control.
The museum also acts as a monument to the wider
nature of the regime. In amongst the artefacts sit two
newspapers about two separate dead officials - two
different newspapers, with the exact same story. Such was
the control in Soviet Estonia that it was deemed easier to
simply replicate an accepted story and change the names
than bother trying to get the go-ahead on a new one.
No accidents were ever recorded by the Communists,
to maintain the veneer of perfection. Stood by an image
of the hotel on fire during construction, our guide,
58

TRAVEL
completely dead pan said, “Of course there were never
any accidents on Soviet places, so this did not happen!”
As you stand in the untouched room, left in exactly the
same condition as the day the KGB suddenly left, you get
a sense of strange unease. The tense nature of the room is
offset by the sign, which translates, apparently, to “There is
nothing behind this door.”
The KGB Museum is a fascinating window into an
oppressive past and is well worth an hour of your trip to
Tallinn. The lofty balcony views across the city are worth it
alone, giving an eerie sense of the KGB’s watchful eye.
But the place doesn’t represent the Estonia, or the Tallinn
of today. This is a nation at the forefront of technological
advancement, a place where all public transport is free
and Wi-Fi is freely available wherever you go.
Few places in the city show this fact better than the
Telliskivi Creative City. Built on the site of a secretive,
former industrial complex bordering the Old Town and
Pelgulinna and Kalamaja districts, it embodies the burst
of free-thought and creativity that has blossomed since
independence 30 years ago.
A wander round the complex introduces you to
independent stores, restaurants, cool bars, galleries and
exceptional street art. On Tuesdays the area welcomes a
dance night, and Saturdays a brilliant flea-market.
Unlike other areas being ‘gentrified’ by creative
communities, Telliskivi comes with a commendable ethos.
CEO and Founder Jaanus Juss explains how, despite
interest and a waiting list, they have eschewed offers from
big business in favour of those that fit their creative and
forward-thinking identity. The creative companies that
call the area their home, right down to the eateries, are all
selected specifically for what they will bring to the area.
The complex is rough and ready, but the air of optimism
as the crumbling industrial past gives way to creativity is
infectious. During Tallinn Music Week, Telliskivi buzzed
with some of the best live performances of the festival -
just a small fraction of the complex’s 600 cultural events
each year.
Whatever you are looking for Telliskivi will undoubtedly
provide it. And after the buzz have a drink and some
Nordic cuisine under a shimmering tree at Kärbes Kitchen
& Bar - it’s a wonderful, relaxed spot.
On a visit to Tallinn make sure you leave the Old Town
and embrace the wonders of its recent history - and its
brilliant future.
And something else worth
checking out in Estonia...
Off the back of the brilliant Tallinn Music Week, this
September saw the launch of Station Narva, a new festival
in Narva, north eastern Estonia, on the border between
the EU and Russia.
The main venue, occupying what was once the world’s
largest cotton spinning mill, Kreenholm, places the festival
at the fault line between East and West: industrial-past and
creative-future.
The incredible first line-up placed indie-legends Echo
and the Bunnymen alongside electronic-mavericks
Actress and Gazelle Twin, and a fine array of Estonian and
Russian acts including odd-ball pop auteur Mart Avi.
It’s one to watch for future festival trips.
Find out more at: www.stationnarva.ee
www.TheNationalStudent.com
59

TRAVEL
TRAVEL
EXPERIENCE THE
REAL SOUTH
AFRICA AS A
VOLUNTEER IN
THE TOWNSHIP
COMMUNITIES
As winner of The
National Student’s
Travel Writer 2018
competition, Eve Willis
spent her summer in the
gritty, beach-fringed
city of Port Elizabeth.
Here, she tells us why
her experience was
invaluable…
South Africa is famed for its safari Mecca status,
dramatic landscapes, unspoilt beaches,
remarkable wines and multicultural spirit.
Yet, alongside South Africa’s undisputed
charm, is a chequered history of Colonialism
and Apartheid that is weaved into the South
African conscience. Although its turbulent past is
responsible for many of the social issues in South Africa
Eve Willis @ University of Surrey
today, it has resulted in a coexistence of cultures, races
and religions that foster vibrant communities in which 11
official languages exist side by side.
Port Elizabeth is a city that no better demonstrates
this convergence of diversity. With Xhosa, Afrikaans and
English predominantly spoken, it is a distinct coastal city
for many reasons. Affectionately dubbed PE for short, Port
Elizabeth has been named the ‘the friendly city’ and is
one of South Africa’s major municipalities, located on the
Eastern Cape Province. It is best known for its glorious surf
beaches that fringe the Algoa Bay and its gritty industrial
core; a result of its important seaport.
Port Elizabeth, although rough around the edges, is an up
and coming metropolis with plenty to do in both the
nucleus of the city and further afield along the Sunshine
Coast. Within PE there is an array of cool restaurants, food
60

markets, bars and beaches to keep you busy. Under an
hour’s drive away are the game drives in Addo Elephant
Park and surfing in Jeffrey’s Bay. Also in reach of PE is the
Bloukrans Bridge bungee jump, shark cage diving at Mussel
Bay and skydiving in Plettenberg Bay, making Port Elizabeth
the perfect base to spend five weeks volunteering.
Camp South Africa is working with British charity United
Through Sport to directly focus in the heart of the deprived
township communities that are situated on the outskirts of
Port Elizabeth. United Through Sport uses sport as a tool
to help children develop holistically, weaving it into the
curriculum to improve attendance, raise awareness of key
social issues such as HIV, and to overall create a positive
impact upon the lives of many children.
In these communities as little as three out of every 100
children make it to university. United Through Sport and
Camp South Africa (with its volunteers) aim to change
this, by providing frameworks such as the Junior School of
Excellence programme, which uses sport and education
to inspire, encourage and motivate these children.
As a volunteer my typical day would usually mean an
early rise, breakfast, and a half an hour journey to the
township school in which I was based. As the bus drove
into the townships each morning, the area where most of
the children lived, I realised the magnitude of the poverty
in these densely populated pockets. I remember thinking
how different the lives of these young children were to
my own childhood and the lack of opportunities available
to them - this stuck in my mind whilst I was there. I spent
most of my time covering lessons and or working in the
reading scheme established by the volunteers.
I found it most rewarding to build the trust and
confidence of these children, many whom were from
difficult or broken homes, and to use our relationship
to develop their reading and English skills. At break and
lunch times we would play with the children, learn their
songs, or let them teach us some Afrikaans. After a day
at the school we would usually be quite tired and we
would have the afternoons free, usually to relax with other
volunteers, or go to the beach or the boardwalk.
Alongside teaching English you can coach sport. This
involves visiting between three and five schools a day
and running sessions of netball, football, cricket, hockey
or basketball. To children that usually play football with
bunched up plastic bags these sport sessions with
equipment and structured games are really exciting. Most
volunteers alternate between teaching and coaching, in
order to experience the best of both.
Volunteers also have the important role of identifying
students who could be eligible for the Junior School
of Excellence programme, which gives them greater
educational attention and the opportunity of a scholarship.
Therefore, whether teaching or coaching you have an
extremely important role in the framework of this charity.
Camp South Africa will push you out of your comfort
zone in many ways: it will make you face uncomfortable
truths, do things that you never thought you could, and
build your own skill set. You will have the chance to help
make a difference to the lives of children by working with
United Through Sport to give them opportunities that
otherwise they would not have had - all whilst having the
experience of a lifetime, in a new country, with new friends.
Eve visited Port Elizabeth with Camp South Africa as
the winner of The National Student’s Student Travel
Writer 2018 competition.
Find out more about
Camp South Africa:
STUDENT TRAVEL WRITER 2018
WINNER
www.TheNationalStudent.com
61

COMMUNITY
BEST OF THE PAST 6 MONTHS
Cher, Amanda Seyfried,
Lily James, Christine
Baranski and the
women of Mamma Mia
2 spill all
by Laura Potier @ University of
Edinburgh
Ahead of the much anticipated
release of Mamma Mia! Here We
Go Again this June, Film Assistant
Laura sat down with the cast –
including Cher – to get the behind
the scenes gossip.
Why we need to transform
transgender film
representation in 2018
by Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart @
University of Edinburgh
Focusing on the controversy
surrounding Matt Bomer playing a
trans character in Anything, Jessica
explored the history of miscasting in
cinema – and offered some solutions
for the future.
How diversity was
celebrated at Graduate
Fashion Week 2018
by Joanna Xiourouppa @ Birmingham
City University
Backstage at GFW 2018, Fashion
Assistant Joanna found out what the
industry is doing to promote inclusion –
from race and gender fluidity to breaking
the London-centric fashion bubble.
As the World Cup comes to
a close, questions rise about
future about LGBT rights
by Borislava Todorova @ University of
Birmingham
As this summer’s World Cup wrapped
in not exactly LGBT-friendly Russia,
Borislava spoke to the fans who
dared to be out and proud during the
tournament – whatever the cost.
We spoke to the students
who received fake
university acceptance
emails from UCAS
by Arantxa Underwood @ City,
University of London
In the tense period between exams
and A-level results day, thousands of
students received emails saying they’d
been accepted into Newcastle and
Northumbria universities – something
that wasn’t true. Arantxa uncovered
the story.
Acne: the cure that made
me ditch cosmetics for good
by Rebecca Garbutt @ University
of Lincoln
Rebecca’s brave account of how she
finally overcame cystic acne after
almost a decade struck a chord with
many. As she wrote, “acne fucking
sucks” – but persist, and you will find a
way out.
Meet the Cambridge
Impronauts, the UK
student improv troupe
touring Florida to raise
$100,000 for charity
by Elsa Maishman at University of
Cambridge
Arts Editor Elsa Skyped the Cambridge
Impronauts from their Florida beach
house to get the story behind their
fundraising tour.
It’s Small’s World:
Interview with Naomi
Smalls
by Madison Stewart @ University
of Exeter
Maddy’s series talking to the world’s
biggest drag stars continued – her
chat with Drag Race’s Naomi Smalls
covered confidence, mental health
and the persistent drive for selfimprovement.
Interview: Reginald D
Hunter on his Fringe 2018
show An American Facing
the Beast and Niggas
by Charlotte Winspear @ University
of Strathclyde
Comic Reginald D Hunter celebrated
his 20th outing at the Edinburgh
Fringe this summer. Charlotte met him
ahead of the festival.
62

HERE’S WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO OVER ON
THENATIONALSTUDENT.COM
These international
students are being
targeted by fake Home
Office scammers
by Robert Liow at King’s College London
International students are being
targeted by fraudsters, in a
sophisticated scam that makes them
appear as though they’re calling on
behalf of the Home Office. Robert
reported the story.
Interview: Nadia Atique
talks modest wear at
Graduate Fashion Week
by Kara Williams @ Indiana University
Intern Kara covered GFW 2018 in
June, and chatted to aspiring designer
Nadia about her Liverpool Football
Club-inspired modest wear collection.
John Trengove and
Nakhane Touré talk
censorship, queer
identity, representation in
‘The Wound’
by Sneh Rupra @ University College
London
Film Editor Sneh discussed
masculinity and the struggle of
balancing cultural and queer identities
with the director and star of South
Africa’s Oscar entry for Best Foreign
Language Film.
Woman claims promoter
REFUSED her entry into
Bonbonniere London
because of her size
by Kara Williams @ Indiana University
In May, we broke the story of drama
graduate Bethany being turned away
from a Central London club, allegedly
because of her size. It’s not the first
time such an incident has happened in
London, as Kara explained.
We spoke to estranged
students about Facebook
monitoring by the Student
Loans Company
by Arantxa Underwood @ City,
University of London
Documents sent to The National
Student showed that estranged
students had been followed on social
media by the Student Loans Company,
leading to payments being denied.
Arantxa reported the story.
Read more highlights
from summer 2018 here:
A guide to understanding
juvenile arthritis
by Emily D’Souza @ University of Exeter
Arthritis doesn’t just affect the elderly.
Emily dug deep into the condition that
1,500 young people are diagnosed
with every year, and spoke to a
student with the condition.
‘Star Wars’ writer
reveals Lando Calrissian
is pansexual - but
is this really LGBTQ
representation?
by Theo Rollason @ University
of Edinburgh
Donald Glover’s character in Solo:
A Star Wars Story might have been
pansexual – but you wouldn’t know
it from watching the film. It’s not
new for creators to retrospectively
apply sexuality to their characters, as
Theo explained.
Student calls out LSE for
changing benches outside
its library to drive off
rough sleepers
by Robert Liow at King’s College London
LSE’s move towards “defensive
architecture” to discourage rough
sleepers did not go down well in
August. Robert spoke to the students
bringing light to the issue.
www.TheNationalStudent.com
63

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COMMUNITY
OUR CREATIVE
COMMUNITY
What the team
has been up to
this summer…
Fashion contributor Ruby Naldrett bagged an internship
at British Vogue - casually working both on the Oprah
August cover and an interview with Rihanna for the
September issue - and another one at ITV. She didn’t
stop there though - she also broke Twitter with her Love
Island sleuthing, and made waves in the local press after
reporting on a fight during a screening of Mamma Mia!
Here We Go Again in Brighton. All in a summer’s work!
Music Editor Caitlin Clark got to sit down with the
Dub Pistols for a memorable interview that was shared by
its founding member, Barry Ashworth. Watch the video
on our Youtube channel - pay special attention to the
awkwardness at 00:00:05. We will say no more...
www.TheNationalStudent.com
65

Our outgoing Music Editor Lucy Fletcher didn’t just
go to the Taylor Swift Reputation tour - she also took
beautiful pictures, which you can check out on our
website. She also started working at Virgin EMI Records!
Lucie Wolfman got nominated for The Hospital
Club’s H100 Young Influencer of the Year for her video
review of Carl Craignet’s Synthesiser Ensemble at the
Barbican Centre.
Thomas Mackie and Sports Editor Luke
Chillingsworth won Young Journalist of the Year 2018
for their investigation into Shoreditch bar licensing and
opening times.
Big up to Isla Whateley, Charlotte Winspear,
Matthew Magill, Hannah Crofts, Isabelle Rayner,
Megan Whitehouse, Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart,
Elsa Maishman, Emily D’Souza, Matilda Martin, Ella
Louise Scott, George Davies, Amy Worthington, Laura
Parnaby, James Hanton, Tricia Wey and Teuta Hoxha,
who collectively wrote and published almost 60 articles
about Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They even made the very
selective Google Top Stories, more than once.
The Fringe also gave us invaluable insight for the first
episode of our brand new podcast, coming out in a few
weeks! Watch this space...
Want to join
the team?
Find out how...
66

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