Alissia Bevan - The Founder

E X T R A
A Street Car
Named Desire
Page 15
An Interview with the Director
thefounder
the independent student newspaper of royal holloway, university of london
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Volume 4 | Issue 3
Wednesday 21 October 2009
thefounder.co.uk
Student Finance England:
170,000 still waiting
Alissia Bevan
What is a
degree actually
worth?
Toby Bromige
Some eager eyed readers
may spot the similarity
with last issue’s article
on this topic. However,
what seems to be more
critical to me is the value of a degree
in the outside world.
With the increasing numbers of
graduates coming out of university
employers are left somewhat
confused as to who is best qualified
for their vacancies. Obviously
the current economic climate has
increased the demand for jobs, the
class of 2009 are said to be the most
unfortunate in job opportunities in
the last 20 years. Many graduates
find themselves carrying on their
education, or even running a Stu-
Continued on page 5 »
Many students continue to face financial
difficulties well into the start
of term following the inability of
Student Finance England (SFE) to
cope with increased numbers of students
applying for financial support
this year.
Up to 170,000 students across the
country continue to experience an
anxious wait to receive their loans
or grants. Data released under the
Freedom of Information Act for
the BBC shows that first year undergraduates
have been the hardest
hit with 28% of their applications of
loans and grants yet to be processed.
This has forced many to consider
whether they can afford to remain
at university. While some have been
supported by their families, university
funded “emergency payouts” or
payment extensions, some students
may be forced to drop out as a result
of the delay in funding.
The chief executive of the Students
Loan Company (SLC) Ralph
Seymour-Jackson, issued an “unreserved
apology” last month to the
huge number of applicants who
were waiting for confirmation of
their funding. On their website last
Photograph: Dan Woodruff & Tom Shore
week, Student Finance England
(SFE) apologised again for the “difficulty
customers are having getting
through to their contact centers,”
citing (once again) “record numbers
of applications and an unprecedented
number of callers”.
This year has seen a new system
used to process applications made
by prospective students whereby
students have applied directly to
SFE, now responsible for administering
all student loans. Previously
students applied through their local
authority, which then sent their details
to the Student Loans Company.
According to SFE, the inevitable
teething problems of a new system
have been accentuated by a record
Continued on page 3 »
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News
Head of Geography to
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PROFESSOR David Simon is to
join the Academy of Social Sciences 5»
Comment & Debate
A multi-ethnic British
National Party?
NICK Griffin, leader of the BNP is to revise
constitution to allow any Brit to join 6»
Film
New Charles Darwin
movie – ‘Creation’
ROB Wallis reviews the new biopic
of the master of evolution 10»
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2 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
The Founder
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tf editorial team
Lead Designer
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Editor-in-Chief
Jack Lenox
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Comment & Debate
Editor
David Armitage
Features Editor
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Editor of Extra
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Editor
Tom Matthews
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Daniel Collard
Music Editor
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Sport Editor
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Pictures Editor
Tom Shore
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& (vacant)
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Sport is
back in
The Founder
News - In Brief
Mentioned in
dispatches: Jack Lenox
Ed Harper &
Tom Matthews
In a two page piece entitled “Secret
Lives of London’s Students” the
London Evening Standard has examined
the growing tendency for
students, including Jack Lenox, Editor
in Chief of The Founder, not just
to be students but everything from
publishers to museum curators.
Citing Jack as a prime example
of an “entrepreneurial undergraduate”
intent on building their “selfreliance
in an uncertain job world”
the London Evening Standard goes
on to list his considerable achievements.
The report mentions Jack’s
achievements in setting up The
Founder in his first year. The paper
now has a yearly turnover of £22,000
a year, despite receiving no funding
from the Students Union or College.
Jack has also recently launched
eNovella, a social networking site
for aspiring writers described as an
“instant hit”.
With intense competition between
ever growing numbers of
graduates in an uncertain jobs market
“Academia is no longer about
unworldly isolation in ivory towers”
and more about using university as
an important springboard into the
workplace.
Honorary fellow Hilary
Mantel wins Booker Prize
Laura Jones
Royal Holloway has a long history
of honorary scholars and alumni
members, made longer still by Hilary
Mantel’s Booker Prize victory.
Judges described Mantel’s book as
an “extraordinary piece of storytelling”.
The book, Wolf Hall, follows
political manoeuvring in the court
of Henry VII. This is far from Mantel’s
first success, as she has already
been shortlisted for the Orange
Prize, and the Commonwealth Prize
for fiction.
RHUL historian warns
Conservatives over
European liaisons
Check out
our new
and
improved
sports
pages:
p. 21-23
Ashley Coates
Following the recent political furore
over the Conservative party’s
involvement with the Latvian Fatherland
and Freedom Party (LFFP)
in the European Parliament, Royal
Holloway Historian Professor David
Cesarani has joined both Stephen
Fry, Ewan Mcgregor and Eddie Izzard
in warning the Conservative
party of its “right-wing bedfellows”.
Writing in The Guardian, Professor
Cesarani warned that a Conservative/Fatherland
alliance would be
disrespectful to Latvian democrats
tf Newsdesk
newsdesk@thefounder.co.uk
and alienate British interests in Europe.
Earlier this month, Stephen Fry
led the backlash when appearing
on Channel 4 News he said “As we
start to pay for the financial disaster
of the last year, a kind of great
pimple of nationalism, homophobia
and racism is going to erupt around
Europe because there is going to be
trouble with unemployment.” He
has been joined in condemnation by
Ewan McGregor and Eddie Izzard
who have written to David Cameron
asking him to reconsider his links
with the LFFP.

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
News
3
Want to write for the newsdesk?
Got a tip-off?
newsdesk@thefounder.co.uk
Student
Finance
England:
170,000
still
waiting
» continued from front page
number of students applying to
university, as well as a 16% rise in
students applying for loans and
grants. Late applications and technical
problems have also increased
the difficulties that the SFE has had
to contend with this year with new
document scanning equipment having
to be abandoned and information
processed manually.
Royal Holloway has assured students
it has “resources in place to
deal with this in the early weeks
of term and established practices
aimed at ensuring the minimum
of problems and disruption”. When
asked by The Founder about the
continuing problems facing both
new and returning students yet to
have their loans processed the university
agreed that “the number of
students with problems has certainly
increased in comparison to a
‘normal year’”
The university added that “a good
number of new students are clearly
‘on edge’ and somewhat disillusioned
by their experiences with the
SLC and Student Finance England,”
a fact clearly reflected in the long
queues that have been seen outside
the Student Administration Centre.
Anyone experiencing problems is
encouraged to contact the Student
Funding Office found at Founders
West 150 or via financialadvice@
rhul.ac.uk where payment extensions
can be granted in the event of
delays.
Just last week the House of Commons
ordered an immediate review
of the “crisis” appointing Dean Hopkin
(former vice-chancellor of London
South Bank University) to look
into exactly what went wrong.
tf Newsdesk
Want to join our
reporting team?
newsdesk@thefounder.co.uk
Although the quality of student accommodation has risen, the rise in price is causing alarm for many students
Student rents soar as landlords
are accused of profiteering
Amy Norman
Recent trends have seen standards
of student accommodation increasing,
however this has also led to a
dramatic rise in rent prices, raising
the question of just how much landlords
can justify charging students,
the majority of whom rely solely on
the maintenance loan to cover the
cost of accommodation whilst at
university.
During the past five years, the
average rent paid by students has
increased by over 20%, making the
weekly average £61.48 per tenant.
However, London and the southeast
continue to be the most expensive
areas in which to rent, with
the current London average standing
at £102.85 a week, and rents in
the south-east rising well above the
country average.
After living in (slightly) cheaper
halls of residence in their first year
of university, many second and
third years are faced with the shock
of having to pay private rent prices
in Egham or Englefield Green, and
with students spending an estimated
81% of their income on housing
little is left over at the end of the
month.
The maximum maintenance loan
available for the London area is
£6,643 a year. If we take the average
weekly rent at £86.50, or £375 per
month, this adds up to £4500 a year
on accommodation alone, which
when you add bills at £50 a month
to the figure, the money left over at
the end of each month is only £32;
barely enough to live on. According
to accommodationforstudents.com,
the cost of housing is becoming a
key factor in the university decision
making process, with students
already worrying over other rising
costs such as tuition fees.
Ben Whittaker, Vice-President
for Welfare at the NUS, said: “Rents
over the past 10 years have risen
well above inflation and increases in
student loans. It is often more profitable
for private providers to supply
high-end housing for the very few.
Universities, responsible for making
affordable accommodation available
to all students, should take this
more seriously.”
Ten years ago, private accommodation
providers made up only 2%
of the full-time student housing
market, yet today the figure is closer
to 10%. Unite, the largest provider
of private accommodation in the
UK, say this is because universities
have not had enough money to
build accommodation for the extra
500,000 students admitted since the
early 1990s while at the same time
also cutting subsidies for housing,
leading to rising rents. Private
companies have taken advantage of
the niche in the market for a higher
standard of student accommodation.
In central London, it is easily possible
to find a one bedroom studio
flat, measuring only 180sq ft, for an
extortionate £548 a week. The flat,
marketed for students, merely contains
a single bed, basic bedroom
furniture, small shower room and
a kitchen fitted into a cupboard.
This example highlights not only
the soaring cost of student accommodation
but also the profiteering
nature of some student landlords,
which have raised rents by 8% in
the last year alone. It has been said
the increasing market for premium
housing corresponds to the increase
in overseas students, many of whom
are willing to pay for the highest
standards of accommodation.
tf Next deadline
The next deadline is Wednesday 28 October, send your submissions to the relevant editor, or:
editor@thefounder.co.uk

4 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
News
A team of students pitch to the dragons in the Students’ Union’s main hall
Photograph: Tom Shore
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs launch
with successful Dragons’ Den event
Ed Harper
News Editor
Though little over a month old Royal
Holloway Entrepreneurs, an organisation
dedicated to supporting students
with business ideas, hosted its
inaugural event. Following a similar
format to the BBC show, the Dragons
Den saw students pitch their
ideas to a panel of prominent entrepreneurs
in the hope of winning the
funding to make their idea’s happen.
Watched not only by the Dragons
but over 125 of their peers in the
Students’ Union main hall, seven
individuals competed for a grand
prize of £1000 while two workshop
teams fought for £250. Judging and
questioning all the competitors
were three successful entrepreneurs;
Mark Blythe (co-founder of Group
GTI publishers), Oliver Mennell
(co-founder of NEOM Luxury Organics)
and finally Ania Gavel who,
still a student herself, founded the
mobile massage service, Heaven
Scent Nation.
The group prize was won by Ben
Revell, Victor Nicolaou-Garcia and
Farai Mutonga with an idea to help
disabled library patrons, while the
individual prize was won by Anna
McKiernan and her plan for a “Silent
Disco at Home”.
Talking to The Founder Anna describes
how through her idea students
will be able to “hire out headsets
and an FM transmitter which
in turn can be connected to various
outlets for music such as iPod or a
DJ’s decks” therefore allowing all
night parties to go on without the
usual noise levels that have in the
past caused problems between students
and local residents.
Anna plans to hold a promotional
night before Christmas before trialing
the system in the area around
Royal Holloway. Success here could
see the service rolled out across
many more university campuses.
Having already conceived the idea,
the Dragons Den proved the perfect
opportunity for Anna to “see if anyone
else liked my idea, and to push
my idea further and actually start to
make it a reality.”
Royal Holloway has until this year
lagged behind many other universities
in terms of the support available
to prospective entrepreneurs. In
particular Oxford University’s program,
launched back in 2003, has
had considerable success through
the running of guest lectures, practical
workshops and the availability
of up to £10,000 funding.
Speaking to The Founder John
King, the Entrepreneurship Careers
Adviser, identified the aim of Royal
Holloway Entrepreneurs as “trying
to empower and inspire students
to achieve success…In the current
recession and challenging financial
climate for Higher Education such
attitudes are absolutely critical.”
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs
runs a weekly business clinic every
Tuesday offering individual guidance
through experienced advisors
and looks set to follow up on the
success with future events.
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs
is holding its next event at 6pm
on Thursday 22 October in the
Management Lecture Theatre.
Free food is provided!
This event is entitled ‘Start It!
Musical Entrepreneurs’ and is a
must for all music students and
all other students alike
Guest speakers: James Perkins
(Founder, Concert Live)
William Norris (Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment)

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
News
5
£16 billion sale of Government
assets includes student loan book
Photograph: RHUL Press Office
Head of
Geography
elected to
Academy of
Social
Sciences
Ashley Coates
Awarded with a five star research
rating in 2008, Geography is one of
Royal Holloway’s most prestigious
departments. Testament to its success,
the Head of Geography, Professor
David Simon, has been elected
an Academician of the Academy of
Social Sciences.
The Academy of Social Sciences
aims to promote and advance the
social sciences within England for
the benefit of the public, both advising
the government and holding
meetings to debate particular
aspects of social science. Members
of the Academy of Social Science
are selected by “virtue of their eminence”
and so to be selected is a
considerable honor.
Speaking on his election Professor
Simon said: “This recognition
to me represents a testimony to the
diversity within geography; because
of course we have members of the
Royal Society and fellows of British
Academy in our ranks. It shows how
geography spans both the natural
and the social sciences”
Professor Simon has identified
one of his primary concerns as the
need for social sciences to be “valued
in and of itself rather than just
in terms of quantifiable outcomes
or enhanced salaries for graduating
students”.
Still at the forefront of his science,
Professor Simon will be assisting at
the upcoming Copenhagen Convention
on Climate Change where
the successor to the Kyoto Agreement
will be finalised.
Amy Johnston
Gordon Brown announced plans last
Monday to sell off £16bn of “nonfinancial
assets” held by Whitehall
and local authorities, with student
debt to be included in the initial £3
billion of sales.
The sale of the student loans bill,
applying only to England, will enable
the government to sell part of the
income-contingent student loans to
a third party purchaser. This could
be the most effective way of dealing
with a massive and ever-expanding
government asset which is already
worth £18.1bn and is set to increase
to £55bn over the next ten years. If
market conditions are favorable, the
government could make £6bn in
three years.
Liberal Democrat Treasury
spokesman, Vince Cable MP, expressed
his concerns about the timing
of these sales; “What worries me
about the government proposal is
that they’re proposing to sell off in
very depressed markets, under very
depressed markets for land and for
shares.”
The Conservative Party have
agreed with the government are taking
necessary action but say that it is
“no substitute for a long-term plan”.
Their leader, David Cameron said:
“If you sell something it can help
you in the short term, but it doesn’t
actually help you live within your
means in the long term.”
Former NUS President Gemma
Tumelty is skeptical about the move:
“Our primary concern is that individual
borrowers - students and
graduates - who have received
loans, will not be affected by these
proposals through changes in terms
and conditions or increased interest
rates.” She is further concerned that
the sale of more of the debt indicates
that a funding system encouraging
such long-term debt is in need of
revising, “Recent events in the US
show the risks associated with selling
off debt and the consequences it
can produce in the wider economy.”
The government however has
been keen to stress that they will still
be responsible for all loan arrangements
and regulations and that interest
rates and repayment thresholds
will be unaffected by the sale.
University Challenge: UK universities
on top, but for how long?
Francesca Wilski
Comment
What is a
degree actually
worth?
» continued from front page
dent Union to put off the inevitable,
however this just leads to more
debts from ever increasing loans
they are forced to take out. On the
ever ridiculous Jeremy Vine show
employers were phoning in saying
that they would not employ graduates
due to their cocky attitude and
lack of skills, does this mean those
that do not go to university now
have the advantage?
This year’s Times Higher Education
table of the top 100 world universities
has confirmed the United Kingdom’s
academic credentials with
four institutions in the top six and
eighteen in the top one hundred.
Although UK universities may
be closing the gap between us and
the US -having knocked Yale down
to the third spot and Columbia out
of the top ten- universities in China
and Korea, among others, are fast
climbing up the table.
Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General
of the Russell Group of Universities,
said, “countries like China and Korea,
which are investing massively in
their best institutions, are snapping
at our heels. There is no mistaking
the alarm bell warning that our success
is at risk if we as a nation don’t
take action to fight off such fierce
competition.”
However, while other countries
are investing, the recession is likely
to hit higher education in the UK
hard. The University and College
Union (UCU) have warned of more
than 2,000 job cuts at UK universities,
with London incurring a third
of the total cutbacks. Subsequently,
UCL, whose ranking increased “meteorically”
from 34th in the first edition
of the world rankings to this
year’s 4th place, could be one of
Perhaps degrees are worthless;
perhaps the academic world is
finally succumbing to the strain
placed on it by the vast diversification
and proliferation of degrees.
Universities are places of higher
education, designed for the top
twenty percent of school leavers,
yet skilled tradesmen such as
mechanics and plumbers actually
earn far more than many graduates
ever achieve and many of our
most successful entrepreneurs
are famous for having succeeded
despite their lack of qualifications.
Someone with a degree, or so it was
intended, was to work in the top
professions, such as medicine or
law; whilst graduates in those fields
are still entering those professions
the future is far less secure for those
the worst hit universities. Job cuts
are likely to affect near to 40,000
students as the staff to student ratio
increases yet further from 1:18,
double what it was thirty years ago.
The league table is composed
from the opinions of academic peers
and graduate employers worldwide.
Opinions are based on the “four pillars”
which The Times described as
“high-quality research; high-quality
teaching; high graduate employability;
and an ‘international outlook.”
However, as the President and Provost
of UCL, Malcolm Grant admitted,
“it can’t hope to capture the full
range of what universities actually
do.”
A worrying question brought
with degrees in less directly applicable
fields, like History or Classics.
There is the teaching route,
however it is not very desirable for
someone just coming out of almost
continuous education since they
were five.
The government’s policy of
encouraging anybody and everybody
into universities is neither
sensible nor economically sound,
especially seeing as the government
announced a reduction in funding
for universities which caused
mass scrapping of clearing places
on offer in August this year. This is
to be expected from a government
that of late has not been too wise
with its educational policies. Sixth
form colleges across the country
were promised funds for a huge
up by BBC’s Today program asked
whether, with our universities
head to head with the likes of Harvard
and Yale, British students will
be expected to come up with the
$40,000 (£25,000) that many of our
Americans pay for higher education?
UCL’S President and Provost,
Malcolm Grant, responded by saying
that the future of higher education
in this economic climate will be
“remarkably tough” and that “first
class high quality education will not
come cheap, the costs will have to
be picked up by someone, the tax
payer, philanthropy or commercial
contribution etc. Unfortunately, I
don’t see them volunteering.”
rebuilding programme, and spent
vast amounts of time and resources
planning for the change. Then
March this year the government
announced that due to the current
economic climate the funds were
no longer available and so the plan
was shelved, a little too late for
Worthing College in West Sussex;
they had already demolished their
buildings and are now in port-acabins,
it will be interesting to see
what happens there.
All in all it would seem that
governmental policy to eradicate
elitism since ’97 has in fact diluted
an already strained education
system and lowered the standard
of degrees, so much so that it may
even be a new advantageous route
to skip university altogether.

& Debate
6 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
tf Comment
A multi-ethnic British National Party?
Tom Wright
The British National
Party is never one to
shy away from public
confrontation and yet
again finds itself in
the midst of controversy. It has presented
itself as the ambassador for
the indigenous British peoples since
its very foundation, however this
may very well be about to change.
The UK’s equality watchdog, ‘The
Commission for Equality and Human
Rights’ has argued its case in
the Central London County Court
for a multi-ethnic BNP. The party
has always restricted membership
to indigenous British ethnic groups,
however the CEHR has argued that
this is in breach of the Race Relations
Act and has threatened to take
further legal action should the BNP
refuse to yield to their demands.
The party chairman Nick Griffin
MEP, who was not present at the
hearing, has agreed to suspend
all new membership applications
and to present a revised constitution
to a meeting of his party
members next month. This may
prove problematic for Mr Griffin,
who will have to persuade hard
line party members that this is in
the best interests of the BNP. If the
party refuses to adopt the change
in its constitution it will most
certainly face legal action from the
CEHR and with a general election
just around the corner in 2010, the
party cannot afford to fight a major
legal battle which could see it go
into bankruptcy.
Many may question what the
CEHR hopes to achieve, it seems
unlikely that many people from
ethnic minorities would want
to join a party that is inherently
discriminatory towards them. John
Wadham of the CEHR told BBC
News that this is missing the point,
‘The law is for everyone, this is not
a political issue for us, the key issue
for us is the lawfulness of their
membership criteria.’
The Race Relations Act has been
in force since 1976, so the question
must be begged, why has no legal
action been taken until now? The
BNP believes that the court case is
an attempt to bankrupt them and in
an article on its website has brandished
it as an ‘hysterical attack’ on
the party after its recent electoral
successes. BNP spokesman Chris
Roberts told BBC News, ‘If we want
to be in the electoral process, which
we do, and we are being forced by
the establishment to change our
rules then we are going to have to
change them.’ However he stressed
that the core principles of the party
will not change.
A change in membership policy
is not likely to transform the British
National Party into a charismatic,
agreeable and electable force to be
reckoned with. However what is
certain is that the change is coming
and the consequences it will bring
for the party and its members will
become clearer after the hearing in
January of next year.
Controversially, the BNP’s Nick
Griffin will be appearing on
Question Time alongside Jack
Straw and Chris Huhne on BBC1
this Thursday at 10:35pm

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Comment & Debate
Don’t like what you’re reading?
Got a different point of view?
Email David, our Comment & Debate Editor, at comment@thefounder.co.uk
7
Are the Israeli
settlements really the
barrier to peace in
the Middle East?
Sina Kahen
Earlier this year,
President Obama
told the G-20
summit that we
should “forge
partnerships as
opposed to simply dictating solutions,”
as well as repeatedly insisting
that American foreign policy
be carried out with modesty and
humility. In Middle East negotiations,
he told al-Arabiya, America
will henceforth “start by listening,
because all too often the United
States starts by dictating.”
An admirable sentiment. It applies
to everyone - Iran, Russia,
Cuba, Syria, even Venezuela – all,
except Israel. At the UN headquarters
in New York on September
23rd, President Obama yet again
stated his condemnation towards
all Israeli settlements. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton imperiously
explained the dogmatic decree as
President Obama wanting “a stop to
settlements - not some settlements,
not outposts, not natural-growth
exceptions.”
What will that lead to? Over the
past decade, the U.S. government
has realised and understood that
any final peaceful solution to the
settlement issue involves Israel
retaining some of the close-in settlements
- and compensating the
Palestinians accordingly with land
from within Israel itself.
The Clinton plan in the Camp
David negotiations in 2000 understood
this, and the plan at Taba
in 2001 understood this. Why
deracinate people from their homes
and bulldoze their towns? Instead,
Arabs and Jews can stay in their
homes if the 1949 armistice line is
shifted slightly into the Palestinian
side to capture the major close-in
Jewish settlements, and then shifted
into Israeli territory to capture Israeli
land to give to the Palestinians.
This notion is the most logical
solution to the settlement issue,
accepted by both the Democratic
and Republican parties in America
and was agreed to in writing in the
letters of understanding exchanged
between Israel and the United
States in 2004.
Yet Obama has continuously
failed and refused to support these
agreements.
The “natural growth” issue is
a fabrication. Is the peace process
really taking its last breaths
because a teacher in the Jewish
Quarter of Jerusalem is making an
addition to her house to accommodate
new grandchildren? It is
completely wayward to make this
the centre point of the peace process,
at a time when Gaza is run by
Hamas terrorists dedicated to the
annihilation of Israel, and when
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of
the Palestinian National Authority,
having turned down every peace
offer, brazenly declares that he is in
a waiting mode - waiting for Hamas
to become moderate and for Israel
to become a mute - before he’ll do
anything to advance peace.
In his much-anticipated “Muslim
world” speech in Cairo this past
June, President Obama declared
that the Palestinian people’s “situation”
is “intolerable.” Indeed it is; it
is the result of 60 years of Palestinian
leadership that gave its people
corruption, tyranny, religious intolerance
and forced militarisation;
and it is the result of a leadership
that for three generations rejected
every offer of independence and
dignity, choosing suffering and
despair, rather than accepting any
settlement not accompanied by the
extinction of the Jewish state of
Israel.
That’s why Haj Amin al-Husseini
chose war rather than a two-state
solution in 1947. Why Yasser Arafat
turned down a Palestinian state in
2000. And why Abbas rejected Olmert’s
even more generous December
2008 offer.
Since the Oslo accords turned
the West Bank and Gaza over to
the Palestinians 16 years ago, their
leaders built no roads, no courthouses,
no hospitals, none of the
fundamental state institutions that
would relieve their people’s suffering.
Instead they poured everything
into an infrastructure of war and
terror, all the while depositing
billions (from gullible Western
donors) into their Swiss bank accounts.
Obama said he came to the UN
headquarters to tell the truth.
But he uttered not a word of that.
Instead, among all the platitudes
and gallant sentiments, he reiterated
but one concrete declaration
of new American policy which he
stated in Cairo back in June: “The
United States does not accept the
legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,”
thus reinforcing the myth
that Palestinian misery and lack of
independence are the fault of Israel
and the settlements.
Blaming Israel and picking a
fight over the settlements and their
“natural growth” may heighten
Obama’s street credibility in the
Muslim world, but it will only influence
the Muslim states to do like
Abbas; sit and wait for America to
deliver Israel on a platter… which
makes the Obama strategy not just
dishonorable, but self-defeating.
The forgotten
widows of Iraq
Dina Patel
Iraq is no stranger to war;
for the past three decades
there has been constant
political unrest, along
with all the violence and
destruction resulting
from it. For years men have dictated
the way in which these wars are
fought, but it is the women of Iraq
that are forever finding themselves
caught in the crossfire, along with
their children, who have never lived
in a world where war does not exist.
For the last three decades, since
Saddam Hussein assumed the posts
of both President and Chairman
of the Revolutionary Command
Council in 1979, Iraq has fought
bloody territorial wars with its
neighbours, beginning with Iran.
That war lasted almost a decade and
led to the demise of Iraq’s economy,
despite Hussein claiming victory
for his people. It seems Iraq is never
without its invasions and attacks,
as the years following 1990 brought
with them incessant fighting with
Kuwait. The Gulf War, which was
a result of the invasion of Kuwait,
led to the deaths of over 100,000
Iraqi soldiers, and, as Iraq refused
to disarm, an unknown number of
civilians..
Following the invasion of Kuwait,
the U.N Security Council imposed
heavy sanctions on Iraq, a move
which has come under much
criticism for its fatal effect upon
innocent Iraqi civilians. According
to the UN, between 500,000 and 1.2
million children died during the
years the sanctions were in place.
A shortage of food and medicine,
and the lack of a vital income,
caused many Iraqis to become
impoverished. The World Food
Programme/ Food and Agricultural
Organisation revealed in 2000
that 800,000 children in Iraq were
chronically malnourished.
It is frightening to think that we
live in a world where world leaders
believe a few months of civilian
suffering is necessary to achieve
disarmament. It has now been
over a decade since the sanctions
were implemented, and with the
2003 invasion of Iraq by the United
States, Iraq remains in a period of
instability.
Many men have lost their lives
to Iraq’s countless battles, but only
now are we beginning to hear the
voices of Iraq’s numerous widows,
who believed they had married
for life. According to Narmeen
Othman, Iraq’s acting minister for
women’s affairs, almost a million
women have been left widowed as
a result of the disastrous effects of
war, and even more children have
been left without fathers.
Lost and vulnerable, the women
desperately struggle to survive as
the breadwinner in their family,
and fight to care for their children.
The women are trapped in a bleak
world with no qualifications, no job
prospects, and no means of securing
themselves a hopeful, prosperous
future. The women are generally
encouraged to quickly remarry
and with no means of providing for
themselves, it is a harsh fact that
financial security is just as, if not
more important, than emotional
security.
Iraq is undoubtedly a country
overflowing with broken families,
and perhaps it is time to look at
other ways to secure a brighter
future for Iraq’s widows. Social
constraints prevent some women
from earning their own wage,
leaving them to rely solely on men;
Continued on page 8 »

8 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Comment & Debate
The forgotten
widows of Iraq
Silent study – shhhhh!
Anne Gree
A
couple of weeks
ago in this very
paper, the former
Editor, Jessica
Freeman, alleged
that degrees were
being “dumbed down”. The following
issue featured a number of
rebuttals of Ms Freeman’s article,
with two writers disagreeing with
her statement that standards have
dropped.
As much as I hate to agree with
such an opinion, I find myself nodding
in agreement as I sit re-reading
Ms Freeman’s article. You see,
I have been sat here on the Third
Floor – the “Silent Study” area – of
Bedford Library for about an hour
now, and I’ve run out of fingers and
toes on which to count the number
of people who clearly don’t understand
the concept of “Silent Study”.
Well I guess it is complicated…
Now, I do not proclaim to be an
outstanding student by any means.
I am hoping for a 2:1 when I graduate
this summer, but I am far from
Masters material. However even I,
with my limited cranial capacity,
am capable of understanding the
idea of Silent Study. If we break it
down we can perhaps enlighten
those people who believe it to mean
“Gossip Corner” (which, incidentally,
is downstairs – the Second
Floor of Bedford Library. You
know, by the Sushi).
Let’s start with the word ‘Silent’.
Last time I checked, that had a
little something to do with being
quiet. That, for those of you who
require further explanation, means
not chatting away to your friend.
Surprising, I know. And now, Holloway,
let’s look at the second word:
study. This generally implies, and
here’s the tricky bit, actually doing
some, well, studying. AKA work.
tf The Founder
Want to work on any part of The Founder?
Not talking. Not phoning your
friend in Wedderburn to see what
happened with “dat fit chick” last
night. Not stage-whispering to your
friend about your sex life. Everyone
can hear it. I learned some very
interesting things earlier today, sat
in this very library, about a male
student wearing a green t-shirt sat
two or three seats down from me.
Chlamydia? Painful I’m sure, but
not nearly as painful as hearing you
talking about it for the last ten minutes.
Embarrassed? Good, maybe
next time you’ll shut up?
Now, those of you who have
understood the gist of this article,
congratulations, you are intelligent
enough to remain at this hallowed
institution of learning. Those of you
who haven’t quite got it yet, can I
suggest going to the library, finding
a dictionary, and looking the words
“Silent Study” up for yourself. I just
hope nobody talks and disturbs
your research. It’s really annoying.
» continued from page 7
but with the constant violence in
Iraq taking these men away, it is
surely more important than ever
that these women be empowered,
and able to acknowledge their own
self-worth, and to fight against the
dictates of their government. Surely
the women have a right to speak
out against the bombings that are
claiming the lives of their husbands
and against religious wars, which
began thousands of years ago, still
claiming the lives of their children.
In a country where violence and
death is a daily occurrence, providing
an education for women, who
are in desperate need of a stable
future, is long overdue. Oxfam
recently revealed in a survey involving
1,700 women in Iraq, that women
are facing high levels of poverty
despite the decrease in violence in
Iraq. The survey report, entitled
‘In Her Own Words’, was released
on International Women’s Day this
year and revealed that there are still
women in Iraq who do not have
access to clean water and cannot
safely send their children to school.
Oxfam’s Iraqi partner organisation,
the Al-Amal Association,
conducted the survey in the five
provinces of Baghdad, Basra,
Kirkuk, Najaf and Nineveh. The
organisation does not claim to represent
the lives of all Iraqis but the
survey does provide a rather harsh
look into the lives of women struggling
to survive in a war-torn country.
According to the survey, 33% of
women had received no humanitarian
aid since 2003. An incredible
76% received no pension from the
government and 40% of women
with children reported that their
children were not attending school.
The survey concluded that the three
main concerns for the women were
safety, electricity and shelter, and
highlighted the horrible decision
forced upon the mothers who are
financially forced into choosing
between their children’s education,
and their children’s healthcare.
The survey also allows its readers
a glimpse into the lives of
the individual women who were
courageous enough to tell their tale.
Firyal, a 24 year old widow, lost
her husband to sectarian violence
in her neighbourhood, which also
took the life of her brother-in-law.
The body of Firyal’s husband was
never found and for this reason
only, Firyal is unable to receive
a pension from the government,
forcing her to return to her parent’s
home to raise her son.
Unfortunately, Firyal’s story is
just one of many similar cases.
Emman was looking forward to her
graduate son’s wedding, when she
heard that both her son and daughter
had been caught in an explosion
three days before the wedding.
Searching frantically through the
hospital for her children, Emman
found their bodies piled on top of
each other in the morgue. Emman
told Oxfam, “I wish I could
see them again. They were the
fruit of my life and the only hope
I had in this world”. Emman and
her husband struggled through
life to afford an education for their
children to better their lives, only
to bury them before their time.
The survey revealed that Emman’s
elderly husband is also suffering
from cancer and is no longer able
to work, forcing Emman to struggle
without a pension, without work,
and without her children.
It appears the Iraqi government
has failed to acknowledge the existence
of their women, who struggle
without compensation or a pension.
For too long now have the women
in Iraq become the forgotten
victims cloaked and hidden behind
their mourning attire. It is time the
world acknowledges that the true
victims are simply ordinary families
living in extraordinary circumstances,
who have fallen victim to a
world in which the basic necessities
of life are no longer available.
There’s always room for more students to get involved in the production and running of The Founder. If you’re interested in any
element of this publication, get in touch with us today:
editor@thefounder.co.uk

E X T R A

10 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
Film
Creation – rises above the cliché
Rob Wallis
Regardless of one’s personal beliefs,
it is impossible to ignore Charles
Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’
and its importance as a work of
science.
More so than the works of
Newton and Copernicus, Darwin’s
theory of evolution was to
bring science and religion into
direct conflict, by challenging the
long-held belief in creationism.
That Darwin himself was a devout
Christian meant that this conflict
raged within him as much as it did
across the civilised world. It is in
capturing this internal struggle that
writer John Collee and director Jon
Amiel succeed so admirably: the
ambivalence of a man torn between
his reliance upon accepted doctrine
and his desire to tell a radical truth.
After the untimely death of his
young daughter and favorite child
Annie, Paul Bettany’s sickly, obsessed
Darwin struggles to connect
with his stern, emotionally-distant,
and devoutly religious wife Emma
(Jennifer Connolly). The primary
focus, as it should be, is on Bettany’s
wonderfully nuanced performance:
an unassuming façade
concealing a ceaseless intellect, be
it confronted with his fever dreams
of stuffed specimens returning to
life, or his desperate fantasies of his
deceased daughter accompanying
him throughout his days. Solid, if
somewhat sidelined, supporting
turns are provided by Connolly,
Toby Jones as militant atheist Thomas
Huxley, and Jeremy Northam
as the exacting Reverend Innes,
arguably the villain of the piece.
The film’s splendid visuals, from
the lavish setting of Darwin’s own
Down House in Kent to the watertreatment
sanatorium at Malvern,
help to present the spirit of an age
in which new worlds were discovered,
savages had to be civilized,
and religious dogma spread,
without much thought as to why.
“
Creation itself has no
agenda, preferring
to provoke thought
rather than
dictate reason
However, Creation itself has no contrived, but rather
”
come across as
agenda, preferring to provoke dramatic devices that help portray
thought rather than dictate reason; this crucial individual in the decisive
years of his life.
its thematic waters run deep and
have many currents, all of which Creation’s weakness is that it
serve to tell the story in remarkable devotes too little time to Darwin’s
depth and clarity.
actual discovery, made during his
Although the film is a period famous voyage to the Galapagos
drama, the drama is given license Islands aboard the HMS Beagle,
to outweigh, even transcend, the although arguably to do so would
period elements. Likewise, the detract from the story’s greatest
flashbacks to Darwin’s earlier life strength: the relationship between
and the visions of Annie never feel Darwin and his family.
Just as the truth of Darwin’s
discovery went beyond its religious
ramifications, so the film
moves past the life of the man. In
the opening sequence, a swarm of
bacteria becomes a shoal of fish,
only to transform again in a wheeling
flock of birds, and then finally
we pass into the womb where the
outstretched finger of the unborn
infant becomes that of Adam reaching
to God on the roof of the Sistine
Chapel. The message is clear: there
is place for both faith and science in
the world.
Starting with a somewhat clichéd
premise – a genius tortured by
his passion, a tragic loss, a battle
against the established order – the
film rises above it. Perhaps the final
words of Darwin’s greatest work
say it best themselves: “There is
grandeur in this view of life [that]
from so simple a beginning, endless
forms most beautiful and most
wonderful have been, and are being,
evolved.”
creationthemovie.com

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
The Winter Preview
Corinne Dale
It’s worrying when you have to
flick back through your old issues
of Empire and Total Film just to
remember what you saw in the
cinema a mere two months ago.
Well, that’s exactly what I recently
found myself doing when miserably
trying to reflect on this summer’s
big screen offerings.
Then, as you turn the glossy
pages, the memories hit you, like
pieces of popcorn thrown by some
irritating kid in the back row. Flashbacks
of Sienna Miller posing in a
tacky jumpsuit, grotesque images
of Bruno posters plastered all over
the bus-stop walls, and gloomy
recollections of witches and wizards
trying to reassure themselves that
it would all make sense in the end.
With one or two exceptions, the
summer’s films were as drab as Ron
Weasley’s hand-me-down robes.
It’s good news, then, that with
winter on the way, things are finally
looking up. Peter Jackson is back,
Robert Pattinson has put his false
fangs back in, and James Cameron
is offering us some odd, blueskinned
creatures that the whole
film world seems excited about.
Indeed, it has been twelve years
since Titanic slipped beneath the
waves on our cinema screens and I
was starting to suspect Mr. Cameron
had gone down with it. However,
this December he returns with
a sci-fi adventure that has managed
to elbow itself into the “must-see”
list – Avatar.
Quite contrary to the claustrophobic
confines of a doomed liner,
the film is set on the imaginary
– and breathtakingly beautiful –
planet of Pandora. Its inhabitants
are blue, humanoid/feline creatures,
long-tailed and yellow-eyed, that
frankly gave me the willies when
their images were released in an
early ad campaign. Call me chicken
if you will, but the CGI already
seems quite convincing, even without
the aid of 3D specs, and it may
well win the film an award or two.
Director Peter Jackson also
returns this winter with The Lovely
Bones, based on the tear-jerking
novel by Alice Sebold. Told from
the perspective of a murdered teenager
looking down from Heaven,
this is a story about loss and adjustment,
and will probably require as
many tissues to hand as this June’s
My Sister’s Keeper.
It seems a strange story for Jackson
to choose, when one reflects
upon the film’s predecessors – bigbudget
epics The Lord of the Rings
and King Kong – but the images
of Heaven in the latest trailer
look stunning and full of creative
promise. The voice of Susie Salmon
(Saoirse Ronan) from beyond the
grave is haunting and enough to
send a shiver down your spine.
Since we are on the theme of big
returns, it seems fitting to mention
New Moon, the vampire flick which
will no doubt follow its predecessor
Twilight to Box Office glory. Out
late November, the story will see
the teenage odd-couple – human
Bella Swan and vampire Edward
Cullen – torn apart, after the Cullen
family move away (Bella’s blood becomes
just too tempting for them,
and they don’t do nicorette-style
patches for vampires).
Of course, separation is harsh,
and the only way Bella seems to be
able to glimpse Edward is when she
does something reckless. The trailer
shows a clip of her jumping off a
cliff just so she can be with a ‘vision’
of her sweetheart – I only hope the
legions of Robert Pattinson fans
don’t attempt the same thing. A
“don’t try this at home” warning
may be in order.
Also look out for The Road this
winter, a post-apocalyptic drama
starring Viggo Mortensen, as well
as comedy/adventure Sherlock Holmes
with Robert Downey Jnr and
Jude Law. Plus, we can also look
forward to two film offerings from
George Clooney: Iraq comedy The
Men Who Stare At Goats and Roald
Dahl classic The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
And if none of that tickles your
fancy, Alvin and the Chipmunks:
The Squeakquel just might.
1001 films to see before you die
Bladerunner
Kayleigh Dray
11
This is Los Angeles, 2010. Time to
immerse yourself into an evocative
dystopian metropolis as you fall
victim to sheer beauty of Ridley
Scott’s vision of the future. Chilling,
bold, mesmerizing, this futuristic
detective thriller never ceases to
amaze. It truly is “the most beautiful
nightmare” you will ever have…
World-weary cop Rick Deckard
(Harrison Ford) is the hero of this
adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s ‘Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’,
pursuing outlawed ‘replicants’ (androids)
in order to perform a “routine
retirement” – in other words,
to kill them and collect the bounty.
Filmed post-Star Wars, Ford seems
surprisingly fresh faced and takes
on the role with great dramatic dexterity,
managing to aptly combine
elements of emotional turmoil and
detachment; his raw charm cannot
be dismissed either. Sean Young as
the unknowing replicant Rachel,
portrays a painful naivety that
steals the heart of the bounty hunter,
while Rutger Hauer simply IS
Roy Batty, the unmistakably Aryan
leader of the replicants. All three of
them deserved Oscar nominations.
The numerous other minor roles,
Daryl Hannah and James Hong
amongst them, help make this film
as superb a story as it is.
“Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder
rolled around their shoulders...
burning with the fires of Orc.”
The poetic script works brilliantly
with Ridley Scott’s impressive directorial
style, favouring grandiose
visuals and deeply atmospheric
use of light and shadow, highlighting
scenes of frequently violent
encounters and vigorous action.
This is ultra-stylish sci-fi film noir:
urban environments which are
frighteningly overcrowded and
brimming with human decadence.
The superb script, however, is unable
to quite steal the show from
the monumental set, the most startling
highlight of this cult classic.
Nominated for two Oscars, Best Art
Direction and Best Visual Effects,
it is made clear where the technical
strengths of this cyberpunk
movie can be found. And lest we
forget that the film would remain
incomplete without the Vangelis
soundtrack, which has a wonderful
mood-controlling effect throughout
the film, heightening the sense of
dreamy euphoria.
We are given a frightening
outlook of a potential future of
Earth, with its abundant litter,
never-ending rain, and constant
darkness. Humans have screwed
up the planet (again), and yet this
doesn’t come across as preachy - a
la The Day After Tomorrow. In
fact, whilst Earth’s current physical
state is clearly in jeopardy, it is the
state of humanity itself which is the
more worrying factor: a terrifying
loss of human identity, both
biological and psychological. What
is it to be human? Who decides
what is and what isn’t human? Do
any of us have the right to live, or
to codemn others to die? Deeply
philosophical stuff…but, there are
also many action-packed gun fights
and police chases layered into this
cinematic masterpiece. If it does
get a little too existential for you,
perhaps you may prefer your action
thrillers a little more in the Arnold
Schwarzenegger range? Commando,
perhaps?
For pure cinematic genius, however,
stick with Blade Runner, and
get lost in its gloriously dark world
“like tears in rain.”
They don’t make ‘em
like they used to
Hana Hausmeister
If you’ve ever heard the phrase
“they don’t make ‘em like they
used to”, and wondered where it
came from or what it referred to, a
trip to the DVD rental shop for a
black-and-white movie marathon
might be one way to answer your
question. From the romances to
the horrors, both with a deeply
prominent sense of drama, this era
has produced some of the greatest
movie classics, topping every
major critic’s poll ahead of many
modern efforts. The questions of
why so many old movies have come
without an expiry date, and why the
mere mention of the likes of ‘Casablanca’
or ‘Citizen Kane’ can usually
bring most film-lovers to frenzy,
must be asked.
Taking the latter example, released
in 1941 as the feature directorial
debut of a then 25-year-old
Orson Welles, ‘Citizen Kane’ has
been called by critics “close to being
the most sensational film ever made
in Hollywood” (The New York
Times) and “generally acknowledged
as The Greatest Film Ever
Made” (Empire). The story’s central
theme, though somewhat bound to
the political state of a Depressionera
America, has managed to
maintain its timeless appeal, and
this is as much due to the innovation
of its storytelling (the first part
is filmed like a documentary) as the
unmistakable atmosphere that has
become synonymous with ‘Classical
Hollywood.’
“The biggest thing about Classical
Hollywood is it’s enjoyable; it’s not
hard to watch,” said Royal Holloway
Continued on page 14 »
Film

12 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
Holloway View

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
13
Holloway View
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14 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
Film/Arts
A Dramatic Introduction
Emily Simpson
President 09-10
They don’t make ‘em
like they used to
» continued from page 11
film student Hannah Temple. The
editing style at the time of Welles
and Frank Capra (director of ‘It
Happened One Night’) was very audience-friendly,
allowing the viewer
an easy insight into the character
that differs distinctly from the challenges
of some more modern directors.
“[The visual style] minimised
the need for us to puzzle things
out,” says Miss Temple. “It’s not like,
say, a Tarantino, where you have to
do a lot of thinking yourself...it’s a
tight visual narrative.’
A term for this atmosphere is The
Invisible Style, which defines “the
director’s deliberate choice to make
everything seamless.” Continues
Miss Temple: “It all flows because
what’s important is the romance or
the comedy; what’s happening onscreen.”
This style might have been
what prompted Spielberg to shoot
his modern classic, Schindler’s List,
in black-and-white, in an effort to
instil into it a timeless ideal.
This collective tone of the old
movies can be transferred across
through the genres, as we can see if
we turn in particular to one of the
most ageless horror movie classics,
‘Psycho’. With a director behind it
who was labelled the ‘master of suspense’,
and an ambience maintained
throughout which may have lost its
appeal had the movie been created
in colour, it is no wonder that
‘Psycho’ remains one of the most
well-loved examples of its genre to
date.
In addition to the atmosphere of
these black-and-white greats, one
key element of their success must
lie with their scripts. In the American
Film Institute’s (AFI) poll of
the 100 greatest movie quotes of all
time, the movie with the most entries
was Casablanca, with 7, while
among the most highly ranked were
quotes from ‘On the Waterfront’,
‘Citizen Kane’ and ‘Some like it
Hot’. The ending lines of ‘Casablanca’
and ‘Some Like it Hot’: “Louis,
I think this is the beginning of a
beautiful friendship,” and “Well,
nobody’s perfect,” respectively, have
been referenced so often they’ve become
legendary in their own right,
and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a
person who can deny the enigmatic
resonance of the word ‘Rosebud’.
Another common feature is the
relative lack of profanity in the old
classics, compared to our modern
films. ‘Casablanca’, when you
consider what we might expect of a
romantic-wartime epic nowadays,
is rated as PG, and though the
chemistry between the lead actors’
is far from lacking in passion, the
content is demure, almost chaste.
Similarly, considering that
‘On the Waterfront’ is considered
a great gangster movie, its content
when compared to ‘The Godfather’,
for example, is tame. These old
movies didn’t rely on crudeness
as a dramatic technique; no cheap
tactics were used, they simply succeeded
with something that can be
summed up as, simply, charisma.
Though the quality of many modern
movies cannot be disputed, it
becomes necessary to answer our
question regarding the greatness of
the black-and-white films with another
question. Sure, we enjoy the
by-the-numbers big-budget movies
Hollywood is producing now, but
in decades ahead will these pass the
test that has already been put to the
old classics? Only time will tell –
but I know who my money is on...
If there is one thing that people
have asked me more than anything
else this term it is whether
they have to be a Drama Student
to join Drama Society. And the
answer is plain and simple, NO!
You can study absolutely anything
and still be a member and that is
exactly why the Union has a Drama
Society: to give students from all
departments an opportunity to
have some drama in their lives!
The next most asked question is,
“How often does the society meet?”
This is a tricky one as it totally depends
on how much you want to do
within the society. The members as
a whole only meet once a term, but
other aspects of the Society have
weekly meetings. The Holloway
Players, for example, meet every
Sunday evening whereas if you’re
in a production then the rehearsal
times are decided by the director.
So, what do you have planned this
term for me to get my teeth sunk
into, I hear you all cry?
Well, let us start with our two
productions, A Streetcar Named
Desire by Tennessee Williams and
Quills by Doug Wright – both of
which have now been cast and have
full production teams. However,
once you become a member we
will let you know of any help that
is required for these two shows.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ will
be on in Jane Holloway Hall from
Wednesday the 28th of October
to Friday the 30th of October at
7.30pm. Keep your eyes peeled
around campus for their publicity
campaign, and tickets will be on
sale in the Union Box Office soon.
Following the Marquis de Sade’s
final days in Charenton asylum,
‘Quills’ tells the story of one of the
most sexually deviant writers of all
time, and of his philosophies on
love, religion, sex and censorship
with violent, bloody consequences.
‘Quills’ will be on from the 20th-
23rd of November in the Students
Union Main Hall, and is set to be
Holloway’s sauciest production yet.
Although we are very passionate
E X T R A
Arts
arts@thefounder.co.uk
about our productions, there is still
so much more to get involved with.
Community Outreach is a massive
part of Drama Society and this
can range from acting out scenes
from plays for the folks down at
Manor Farm day centre to creating
exciting and educational drama
workshops for the kids in the local
primary schools. This term our
projects include weekly reading
sessions at Manor Farm Day
Centre in Egham every Wednesday
afternoon 1.30pm-2.30pm. This is a
lovely way to get involved with the
community and read out some of
old folks’ favourite classics novels
and plays. We would still love more
people to get involved with this, so
if you are interested then please do
give us an email! Anyone who plays
the piano or would like to do a bit
of singing for this, then you will be
welcomed with open arms! CRB
checks will need to be done, but
don’t worry these can all be sorted
relatively quickly.
There is another wonderful part
to the Drama Society, which over
the last 3 years has rapidly grown
into a blooming flower of comedy
genius. Yes, of course I am talking
about The Holloway Players! The
Players’ comedy is based around
improvisation and can be compared
to the likes of Whose Line
is it Anyway and Mock the Week.
Their next show is in Tommy’s on
Tuesday November 3rd, doors will
be open from 7pm and the show
will start at 8pm. Please make sure
you get there early though, I was
actually turned away at the door the
other week as they were so packed.
If you like what you see and want to
be a part of The Holloway Players,
then get yourself down to Munro
Fox at 7pm every Sunday.
Socials wise, there is plenty for
you to be getting on with this term.
First of all we have the Launch
Nights for our two wonderful productions,
details of which we will
be released very soon and no doubt
be plastered all over campus. These
will both include a raffle, cast and
crew slave auctions, musical entertainment
and much more. Also,
we will be hosting a film night and
showing ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
on Sunday 25th October at 6pm in
ALT2 in the Arts Building.
As far as theatre trips go, we
have organised a trip to The Rose
Theatre in Kingston to go and see
the Naturalist classic ‘Miss Julie’
by August Strindberg, which has
a post show chat with the cast and
director afterwards. This will be on
Thursday November the 5th, so if
you’d rather stay in the warm and
appreciate some good theatre then
give us an email and reserve a ticket
for just £13. Tickets are limited so it
will be first come first serve.
Phew, there does seem to be a lot
going on this term. However, if you
aren’t a part of any productions yet
then please do not fear! There are
five more shows for us to put on
this year, and YOU could be directing/producing/stage
managing one
of them! If you are interested in
putting on a play with Drama Society
then look out for the Edinburgh
and Spring Term Bid Packs which
will be out after Reading Week. As
always please email us with any
questions, queries or problems at
rhuldramasociety@hotmail.com.
Involved in a production?
Just want to contribute to the arts section?

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
15
Arts
Alexandra
Kinman
gets up
close and
personal
with the
director
of Drama
Soc’s
upcoming
spectacle,
Tom Stacey
This is your first project at Royal
Holloway, why did you choose
Street Car?
I have never really been into all
those wacky plays that are designed
to shock. Of course ‘Streetcar’ was
shocking for its time and it’s full of
violence and sexual tension but I
think it is the fact that it’s so believable
that makes it almost charming.
I did English Literature at A Level
and the two plays I grew to love
were ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia
Woolf ’ and ‘A Streetcar Named
Desire.’ ‘Streetcar’ seemed the better
choice because it has a bigger cast
and is less difficult to act (there
is so much going on off focus in
‘Virginia Woolf ’ it’s almost impossible
to keep your concentration for
that long)
Do you feel nervous working
with actors who know the
ropes? Are they helping you
along with the process?
Yes, of course. This is my first time
directing anything serious and
these people aren’t lackies I can just
order around and feel amongst,
they’re a talented bunch of young
Thespians. The best thing about
my cast is that whenever I slip up
or get stuck they are there to help
me along. We had one scene where
a young actor found a kiss he had
to do hilarious. I would have been
nervous too but the professionalism
of my actors helped him cool
down and get on with it (It’s hard
when you want to laugh too but
know you can’t!). This is as much
a learning process for me as it is
for anyone but having the brilliant
people I do on board just makes it
that much simpler.
What’s your favourite part of
directing?
All of the sexual favours and the
free danishes. ‘Can I be in this
scene Tom?’ ‘Get me a Danish and
I’ll think about it. In fact scratch
that, get over here and - ’ No seriously
it is seeing something come
together. I started this project at the
end of last semester and there were
so many loose ends and things that
looked like they would go nowhere.
Now with a little help from my
friends and all the rest I feel really
on top of it. It feels so rewarding to
see a poster with your logo on it,
or an actor fulfilling a vision you
had in your head. It does make you
feel important; that’s why I have my
producer to rein me in!
What part of your production is
particularly inspiring?
The fact that a group of people,
most of whom don’t know each
other can come together and pull
something like this off. I know what
you’re thinking: the fat lady isn’t
singing yet Tom. But nevertheless I
know this is going to be a brilliant
production and I’m just grateful
for my part in it. I’ve worked
on projects in the past and most
people want to mess around and
aren’t really bothered. The people
“What’s your
favourite part
of directing?
All of the
sexual favours
and free
danishes
I’m working with here aren’t getting
paid, they’re working every night,
sometimes with little or no sleep
and they basically spend all evening
getting criticised by somebody who
doesn’t know what they’re doing
(me). On top of that they have jobs
and degrees to maintain. There
is nothing more inspiring than
watching professionals work – I feel
privileged to have done so. I feel
”
I’ve made some really good friends
along the way too.
What has been the biggest thrill
thus far?
For me the biggest thrill was
watching the cast pull off some of
the more difficult scenes. I never
thought it would be as good as it
was first time because most of the
actors don’t know the play. However
they have all jumped into their
characters perfectly. I won’t spoil
it but there are some big numbers
that need someone very on the ball
to achieve. When you’re watching
somebody perform and they give
you goosebumps then you feel like
you’ve seen something special.
That’s how audiences will feel after
this show.
What commits you to the plot of
Street Car, do you relate to it in
any way?
Not in the slightest. I have no
history of domestic violence or
sexual molestation etc. In fact the
only parts of the play I have done
are play poker and drink whisky!
Just because the play doesn’t relate
to my life though doesn’t mean it
doesn’t speak to me. I don’t believe
that we all have to find analogies
and personal meanings in stories. I,
for one, just like a roaring fireside
tale with love, loss, violence, action,
sex etc – who doesn’t? This story is
a classic and I could see it again and
again. I suppose it’s just a personal
favourite.
Attract the punters, describe
Street Car with three inviting
words?
Compelling, disturbing, moving
A Streetcar Named Desire will
be performed at Jane Holloway
Hall between 28th and 30th
October. Adults £5, Students £4

16 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
E X T R A
Enron
The Royal Court
Theatre, then Noel
Coward Theatre as of
January 2010
Arts/Music
Love to Make Noise
Presents…
Bass Clef//Gallops//
Tabloid Vivant
Julia Armfield
I think in prefacing this possibly
over-surprised review of Robert
Goold’s new production of Lucy
Prebble’s Enron, it might just be
as well to explain that, previously
to rocking up to the Royal Court,
Chelsea, with my Sloane-antenna
working overtime, I had already
been a witness to Goold’s frankly
bewildering National Theatre
production of Priestley’s Time and
the Conways and that, as such, my
expectations were hardly sky high.
(I haven’t the space to go into it, but
I will say that, from my experience,
no production of An Inspector
Calls has ever benefited from the
addition of high-camp dance montages
and inexplicable five-minute
freeze frames, so I’m not really
sure why Goold felt Time and the
Conways should be any different).
Suffice it to say, I was to be more
than pleasantly surprised.
The play itself hardly seems the
most likely of prospects, especially
if, like me, you don’t know what’s
going on in your own bank account
half the time, let alone the
lofty heights of corporate finance.
Enron, the energy company which,
by the time it filed for bankruptcy
in December 2001, owed over $60
billion in debt, was part of one
of America’s greatest corporate
scandals and its collapse resulted
in the loss of more than 20,000
jobs, $1.2 billion worth of pensions,
the destruction of America’s most
venerable accounting firm, three
convictions, one fatal heart attack,
a suicide and the longest prison
sentence yet handed down for
corporate crime. The play charts the
rise and fall of the company and its
CEO, Jeff Skilling (Sam West), over
the course of the eighties, nineties
and early noughties, detailing the
changes in procedure and clashes in
personality which eventually led to
this historical collapse.
With a wickedly sharp, yet
surprisingly accessible script
from Prebble, Goold has created a
production which operates like a
frenzied Carnival of the Animals,
dragged ceaselessly from situation
to situation by the unrelenting pace
of its own inevitability. The set is a
wide grey blur, stock prices reeling
constantly across the backdrop as
the company develops below. Enron
Chairman Kenneth Lay (played
with a folksy ruthlessness by Tim
Pigott-Smith) takes a paternal backseat
to Sam West’s business whiz
Skilling, allowing him to instigate
his ideas of mark-to-market trading
and selling energy at projected
prices, just as Skilling later takes
advice from Tom Goodman-Hill’s
nervy company underling Andrew
Fastow to set up fake, purposemade
companies in which to hide
away the mounting debt eventually
brought about by these very ideas.
Sam West is superb, doing his usual
trick of making his character simultaneously
unpleasant yet alarmingly
easy to sympathise with, whilst
Goodman-Hill creates a compelling
dichotomy of a seemingly likable
family man carried away with
his own brilliance and greed. The
atmosphere is claustrophobic, the
dialogue at once dramatic and clinical.
The characters operate within
a bubble of personal hubris and
thrill-seeking even as the debts rise
and the political scene shifts further
and further from their favour.
The direction is shamelessly expressionistic
and the use of Papier-
Mâché heads is high. It’s Time and
the Comways all over again, but
to stunningly different effect. Up
above, suited businessmen appear
disguised as three blind mice and
the Lehman Brothers appear as
a pair of comically incompetent
Siamese twins. Down below, Fastow
lurks in an increasingly jungle-like
office basement, surrounded by the
fake companies, or “raptors”, created
to hide away the company debt.
These raptors, though they start
purely as ideas, cleverly symbolised
as eggs in Fastow’s desk drawer,
quickly develop very literally into
strange dinosaur-like figures which
prowl about upstage, consuming
more and more debt before, eventually,
turning on each other. “Clever
girl” Fastow mutters when these
creatures first emerge, eerily echoing
a line uttered by a character
in Jurassic Park, right before he is
savaged by his own charges.
The whole impact of the play
hinges on artifice; the elaborate
costumes, the swirling lights, those
high-camp dance montages Goold
loves so much. A Greek Chorus of
businessmen shout and line dance,
a barbershop quartet of Enron
traders sings the share prices of
Aluminium and Orange Juice,
but it’s really all just a lot of noise.
Skelling’s daughter, a sweet little
girl in an old-fashioned pinafore,
blows bubbles along the back of the
stage as the madness intensifies,
her ringing repetitions of “why?”
the only voice of dissent as everyone
else, hidden away within their
own financial bubbles, refuses to
see the warning signs of oncoming
catastrophe.
Everything about this production,
with its marked lack of cohesion
and clash of theatrical styles, is
stage business and show, yet the circus
it creates is grey and unchanging
beneath all the razzle dazzle.
The issues raised, given our current
financial situation, are uncannily
timely, the problems canvassed
depressingly similar to those that
seem to have caused the problems
all over again. Greed, hubris and
unregulated speculation fuel every
scene and every speech and even as
Skilling is sentenced to twenty-four
years in jail for multiple federal
felony charges, his words are still
words of justification:
“All our creations are here. There’s
greed, there’s fear, joy, faith, hope,
and the greatest of these is money.”.
The crimes are paid for, the lights
and the dancing finished with, yet
from where Prebble chooses to
leave us, it is very hard to see exactly
what, if anything, has changed.
8th October 2009
Live at
Tommy’s Bar
Jack William Ingram
Music Editor
Ill-timed, perhaps, for those of
us still in the midst of mid-week
drudgery, but for the dedicated
hipsters who plodded gamely down
to Tommy’s Bar last Thursday eve,
the latest Love To Make Noise gig
proved to be a most compelling
distraction.
Noteworthy local group and
LTMN stalwarts Tabloid Vivant
kick-started proceedings and
endeared themselves to an as-yet
sober crowd with colourful mantras
and fervent Morrissey posturings.
A song probably called “Peter” displayed
an acute lyricism, capturing
nostalgia for off-kilter days spent
furtively smoking cigarettes and
staying up far past one’s bedtime.
Musical instruments were handed
back and forth amongst the group
– a violin here, a ukulele there.
Their sound is, as to be expected, a
little rough around the edges, but
charming, nonetheless.
A warm glow descended over
the crowd following Tabloid
Vivant’s pleasant lo-fi set. I was
little prepared then, as Wrexham
3-piece Gallops blasted uncompromising
bottom-heavy post-rock
into the unsuspecting synapses of
all present. Gallops’ music possesses
the frenetic percussiveness
of a band led from the drum seat,
never quite moving beyond a chugging
4/4 impetus, yet marrying an
unrelenting sonic heaviness with
laptop electronica and unquestionable
musicianship. There’s an
honest intensity to this music, a
million miles away from the ambitious
soundscapes or bombastic
psychedelica typical of post-rock,
dwelling instead with the pure force
of the riff and the raw physicality
of the dance floor. I advise readers
to check out “Oh, the Manatee”
on Gallops’ MySpace page to get a
sense of what the group is capable
of, although don’t expect anything
comparable to the dynamism of live
performance.
The LTMN in-house DJs were,
as always, on top form, spiralling
hard-edged beats across a receptive
dance floor and exhibiting a diverse
array of sounds from the undoubtedly
extensive Love to Make Noise
archives.
Headline act Bass Clef reasserted
the primacy of the lower register.
The aesthetic was minimal – just a
man, a drum machine, a Theremin,
a trombone and inexplicable cowbell
– but the sound itself was immense.
This was dub-gone-wrong;
riddim smeared sideways and up
the walls; analogue electronica that
probed some dark recesses and
showed no mercy. The occasional
ambient interlude demonstrated
the freshness of the production, as
Mr Clef ’s magic FX box introduced
a sonic character that a soulless
laptop could never emulate.
LTMN’s inaugural event has
set the bar pretty high. I certainly
look forward to additional events
of this calibre occurring in future,
and seeing more of their off-centre
acts infiltrating the Royal Holloway
music scene. The initiated are urged
to direct their web browsers thusly:
http://lovetomakenoise.wordpress.com/

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
17
Student wins £1,000 prize at
Dragons’ Den event
‘Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’ hosted their own
Dragons’ Den event to a crowded Students’ Union on 7
October. Hundreds of students have already signed up
to the student-led organisation, which supports and
inspires young entrepreneurs.
‘Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’, who have been running
for less than a month, organised the launch event
to encourage as many students as possible to get
involved in entrepreneurialism. The evening saw seven
individual student entrepreneurs pitch their ideas for a
grand prize of £1000, whilst two workshop teams also
pitched their ideas for a prize of £250.
Anna McKiernan was the winner of the main event
with her ‘Silent Disco At Home’ idea, which wowed the
‘Dragons’ and the audience. In the team competition,
Ben Revell, Victor Nicolaou-Garcia and Farai Mutonga
won for their library alert system for disabled patrons
of university libraries.
Jack Lenox, Founding President of ‘Royal Holloway
Entrepreneurs’, said, “I’m delighted this event has gone
so well. I’m very glad that we’ve set the bar this high
and I really hope we can maintain this very strong level
of quality in future events.”
Pedro Morais, Jack Lenox, Jessica Ratcliffe and John King
Over 125 students watched their peers pitch to a
panel of three notable entrepreneurs – featuring entrepreneurial
heavy-weights Mark Blythe, Oliver Mennell
and Ania Gavel. Mark Blythe, co-founder of Group
GTI publishers who currently have an annual turnover
of £25 million, set up his business while studying at
Reading University. Oliver Mennell, co-founder of
multi-million pound NEOM Luxury Organics, has at
the age of 28 already amassed a property portfolio
of 42 houses.
For more information and news from ‘Royal Holloway
Entrepreneurs’, visit:
http://www.royalhollowayentrepreneurs.com
Exhibition reveals forgotten faces
of exploration
A remarkable exhibition celebrating the pivotal role of
local peoples in the history of world exploration opens
at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London
on 15 October. The exhibition showcases groundbreaking
research by Professor Felix Driver and Lowri Jones,
both from Royal Holloway, into the extensive RGS-IBG
collections, with the support of a grant from the Arts
and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
The exhibition, entitled ‘Hidden Histories of Exploration’,
tells the stories of unsung heroes of exploration,
including guides, porters, pilots and interpreters. It is
based on extensive research into the RGS-IBG archives.
The Society houses one of the largest geographical collections
in the world, with more than one million maps,
three thousand Atlases and half a million photographs,
as well as unique artworks, manuscripts and early
documentary film.
Professor Driver says, ‘I hope the exhibition will stimulate
new ways of thinking about geographical collections,
which will be of significant benefit to the
research and educational programmes of the RGS-IBG
and to scholars in the field’.
Visual highlights of the exhibition include extracts
from Climbing Mount Everest (1922), the first documentary
film made inside Tibet with the permission
of the Dalai Lama. This documentary highlights the
crucial role played by interpreters such as Karma Paul
in the communications between British and Tibetan
authorities.
The exhibition runs from Thursday 15 October to
Thursday 10 December 2009 at the Royal Geographical
Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7
2AR. It is free and open to the public from Monday to
Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm. The exhibition is also associated
with a programme of educational events and
a research workshop coordinated by Professor Felix
Driver
For more information on the exhibition and its upcoming
website, visit: http://rgs.org/hiddenhistories
A Malay Native, painted by Thomas Barnes

18 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Features
Love
struck...
Studying for that exam in Bedford library, running for a lecture in
the Windsor building, grabbing a coffee in Café Jules or sipping
a cocktail in Medicine...love can strike at anytime at Royal
Holloway. Email lovestruck@thefounder.co.uk and tell me a little
bit about the gorgeous girl or super-hot guy who you just can’t
stop thinking about since your chance encounter about campus.
Let me play cupid and help you find your true love...or crush!
To the brunette with hazel eyes. Wearing a black hoodie, and tight
jeans.
We locked eyes in Founders dining hall. I want to take you on a
date in Venice
and ride the gondolas.
CURLY ITALIAN GUY
Fashion makes me
seem like a fool
I was personally made a victim of fashion recently and felt extremely
embarrassed as a result. Here goes: my humiliation from the start…
Alice Dunn
The day began perfectly. I got up
and pulled back the curtains in my
room. A beautiful morning was
revealed; hues of warm, comforting
amber were just beginning to play
on the leaves of the tree I overlook
from my window. My choice of attire
had immediately been determined.
Well, a combination of that
and the fact that a week previously
I had invested in a pair of man-style
brogues. A delicious tan colour, as
the sycamore tree reminded me. I
simply had to follow this display
of divine inspiration. And since I
always begin composing an outfit
with the shoes, it felt very appropriate.
I left my room mid morning
London-bound wearing my
brogues, a pair of wide leg navy
wool trousers, a shirt, a divinely cut
tweed jacket and mini satchel style
handbag.
I met my friend Delphi at Waterloo
Station; she had sadly been
tricked by the brilliant sunshine
into thinking that it was a reasonably
hot October day, sporting a
chiffon-silk summer dress, complete
with a frill trim and dangly
chandelier earrings that almost created
a tune with every slight movement.
It was then that I suddenly
realised how extremely (and highly
unusually for me)… masculine I
was looking. Her hair was a cascade
of curls; mine, pulled neatly back in
a bun, sporting a flattened barelythere-at-this-point-of-the
journey
quiff.
It dawned on me. I was just looking
rather androgynous – very in
this season - I consoled myself, as
I marched my poor shivering cold
friend into the nearest shop. This
is where it happened. We entered a
boutique, selling men and women’s
clothing. I regretted my choice of
shelter immediately, but I knew we
had to get Delphi a coat, for her
skin was now beginning to match
her duck egg blue garb. My heart
sank as soon as we crept across the
elaborately decorated doormat at
the entrance, thereby generating a
musical melody, (complementing
the sound of Delphi’s earrings),
which produced six elegantly
dressed shop assistants, chillingly
looking us both up and down,
smirking, smiling.
After a while, I discovered a v-
neck cashmere-wool grey sweater,
and, picking it up, caught sight of
the price. Feeling rather worried
about the value of the garment I
was clutching, I carefully tried it
on and looked in the mirror. I was
unimpressed with the fit; it was
shapeless. Instantaneously I felt two
of the associates (the other four
were assisting Delphi) creep up
behind me. I shook my head, when
one of the guys working at the
shop said, ‘don’t worry you know,
it’s supposed to be like that. It’s the
boyfriend fit’. My jaw hit the floor,
feeling instantly insulted and obviously
very sensitive to any remark
about my current boyish apparel. I
exclaimed dramatically, ‘I AM NOT
A BOY!’ He went a pinker shade of
beetroot, managing to articulate,
‘I – I never suggested you were
madam! You are clearly very aware
of the ‘women to dress like men’
look. I – I was merely suggesting
that the jumper…’ I beamed and at
once felt exceptionally mortified,
ashamed of my outburst. I then felt
obliged to buy the wretched thing,
to ease the situation and ensure that
there were no hard feelings.
Every morning since that day,
I simply peep out of the window,
opening it slightly, to gauge the
temperature, cautious not to gain
sight of anything that will influence
my gear, especially wary of that
shrub that lingers outside my room.
The guy who looks like Jasper from Twilight, you work at medicine.
I can’t stop thinking about you since I saw you last Wednesday.
Drink?
BLONDE GIRL STUDYING HISTORY
To the gorgeous brunette girl with long hair who lives in Tuke. I see
you nearly every morning on the way to lectures. Fancy a morning
espresso sometime?
TIRED GUY WHO HATES 9AM LECTURES
The cute fair-haired girl who tripped outside the Mc Crea building
last Friday. I helped you out. How are you recovering? Discuss
over a coffee?
CONCERNED GUY WITH SHORT BLACK HAIR
To the toned blonde-haired guy with blue eyes. I see you at the
gym every morning. I wish you would come out of the weights
room more. I’m always on the treadmill when we see each other.
RUNNER GIRL WITH BLACK HAIR
lovestruck@thefounder.co.uk
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The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Features
19
Memoirs of a
Holloway fresher
Part 1: First
Night Nerves
Naomi Nightingale reflects on her
first month at ‘Hogwarts’
After one month of student life, one will
inevitably reflect on the experiences, and
by now we all know what they are: the first
night nerves, the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th night
of drinking. If you’re lucky the kisses, and
if you’re not, the mornings when you wake
up next to someone resembling one of the
Napoleon Dynamite Cast. I myself, for the
most part was a grazer in that department
- all 5ft 1 of me surrounded by new faces
and (though I’d never admit it to those I left
behind) inexperience.
But like most, despite having known the
majority of people here for the worldly
equivalent of thirty seconds, already feel
like I know and (even scarier) trust them.
I suppose that’s the strangest thing about
university - the fact that we’re all strangers
- in a strange place and for some unknown
reason that equals friendships, and bonds
with people you ordinarily wouldn’t speak to,
laugh with, kiss and lose inhibitions with. But
the strangest thing about it all is that the idea
that uni was a daunting prospect disappeared
almost instantly and this place felt more like
home in a week than my college did in two
years.
How can the biggest transformation we’ve
made in our lives can feel so natural in such a
short space of time? Maybe we’ll never know,
but the all night parties, constant drinking
and the common question “I did what
last night?” all helped in that department.
Truthfully, apart from the 20minute confusion
I had with the washing machine (which
caused me to long for the days when my
clothes came back folded neatly on my bed
and I never gave a second thought as to how
they got there) I haven’t really missed home
which, for a self-confessed mummy’s girl,
is a big step. Don’t get me wrong home will
always be a place of family, good meals and
non-self reliant clothes washing, but finding
your own way just seems to make so much
sense.
I don’t know about you, but somewhere
between the Student Union, hangovers and
the gorgeous guy that drives the night buses
back to Kingswood, I forgot that I was actually
here to work - which resulted in the first
lecture being something of a shock. Having
the attention span of a puppy on Prozac
doesn‘t help either, I suppose. At least I’ve got
Reading Week to catch up…
Throughout my life I’ve always believed
confidence is key to success, and when it
comes to starting somewhere new I believe
you need two things: confidence and, for
want of a better phrase “wing people”, friends
that you stick to and stick to you.
In all my excitement I feel I must mention,
that though at the moment things are good,
there is a big and presently unanswerable
question in my mind: “What happens next?”
Who will be there at the end of the year?
Who will I love? Hate? Kiss? Maybe these are
just the questions of a confused fresher, but
as has been the case for most of my teenage
life, only time will answer them and, for now
time is something we all have in bundles.
Michael Kors
A review
Shairah Habib
As we pack up our gladiator shoes
and slide on our woollen Uggs in
preparation of the cold rainy days
ahead of us, we cannot ignore the
threat of disease that is hitting our
nation. And no I am not talking
about the Swine Flu.
The disease I am referring to is
the glamour disease. Static hair,
chapped lips and runny noses are
only a few of the factors that will
threaten us ladies by taking away
our glamour factor, but fear not!
There is a remedy to cure this disease,
and it comes in a bottle.
With many prestigious awards
under his belt including Woman
designer of the year in 2003 and
many prestigious clients such
as Michelle Obama, Michael
Kors has transferred his talent
of fashion into perfume. In his
exclusive Very Hollywood perfume
launch at Harrods on 1st October
2009 he states the need for every
woman to feel glamorous. Obviously
as not all of us would ever be
able to afford his clothing collection
with our overdrafts deepening
by the second, this perfume
is affordable and oh so....well....
GLAMOROUS!
Michael Kors style motto goes
as follows, “Be optimistic. Have
fun and most importantly be
glamorous whenever. Even at
the grocery store, be glamorous.”
So next time your checking out at
your local Tesco and you smell the
aroma of Mandarin, with a hint
of jasmine and subtle raspberry,
you can rest assured, she has been
cured.

20 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Features
Why the cult of
personality has
never been so
powerful
How to survive
without a student loan
Verity Knight
Still waiting for your
student loan? Fear not, I
can relate…
Due to the dire situation
involving student
loans, many of us are still in the
situation where we are answering
many questions such as; “Are you
going to go out tonight?”, “Have
you bought your books yet?” and
“Going to your departmental ball?”
with the answer: “Not until I get my
student loan through”.
Many are forced to ask their parents
for hundreds of pounds, and
more are already going into their
overdrafts provided by their student
accounts. There are those who have
taken gap years who are now dipping
into their hard-earned money
saved for Topshop to buy food and
books.
The real question is: how long
is this going to continue? The
government and the Student Loans
Company are heavily relying on
the generosity of parents and the
frugality of students.
What they are not taking into
account is the high stress level
generated by the financial difficulties
that students have to cope with,
which is not only unnecessary but
counterproductive especially as students
attempt to balance lectures,
social life and budget but without a
student loan.
There are those who have partially
received their loan and have
received promises of the rest of the
payment which will be backdated.
But how useful is an IOU when you
need to the money now? Personally
I have been forced to beg my
parents to sub me until I receive
my loan, and until then I will have
to ‘owe’ them. How is this helping
the student body to feel independent
after moving away from home
when they still have to scrounge off
their parents?
To resolve the problem you must
sadly ask someone to loan you the
money until you can pay it back,
however bear in mind the interest
generated from loans and overdrafts,
and possible emotional angst
from your parents who may not
understand the terrifying situation
that you find yourself in.
There are other options, such as
begging the University for an extension
on your accommodation and
Please recycle this newspaper when you are finished
Recycling bins are located at:
Arts Building, The Hub, Gowar and Wedderburn Halls, T-Dubbs
tuition fees, or getting the privilege
loan from the university for
emergencies, if you are in catered
accommodation.
Showing anyone who will look
your letter proving that one day,
you shall receive a student loan
often helps a desperate situation.
You could use your overdraft, but
ensure it is a planned overdraft
and remember how much of your
overdraft is ‘planned’ because there
is hefty interest if you go over.
An additional solution is getting
a part-time job; however that is
unlikely to cover the cost of accommodation
or tuition fees.
These solutions will cover you
for a certain amount of time
until your student loan eventually
comes through, backdated and
in full. However, I am sure it will
not include compensation for all
the stress and emotional upheaval
involved in finding yourself broke
through no fault of your own at
university.
There are benefits involved, such
as getting the lump sum of money
that you have not spent through
fear of debt and the relief involved
when you are not penniless and
endlessly owing money to people.
Jack Lenox
President
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs
People have been making names for
themselves for thousands of years.
With notable examples of cults of
personalities including such people
as Alexander the Great, Ivan the
Terrible, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler
and Mao Zedong, the connotations
associated with the term ‘cult
of personality’ are generally not
positive.
However, with the advent of the
social media revolution, personality
cults have become part of every day
life; and the power wielded by some
people today is now truly phenomenal.
For entrepreneurs, building
a cult of personality is almost a
prerequisite for serious success.
Take Pete Cashmore, the founder
of social media news site Mashable.
Pete has almost twice as many
followers as Stephen Fry on Twitter.
That’s 1,636,388 people and counting.
He can literally drive millions
of people to his site (or any other
site for that matter) every day.
Traditionally, building a reputation
as an entrepreneur had its
perks. One of the best examples
is, of course, Sir Richard Branson.
Branson decided at an early stage
in his entrepreneurial career that
he would happily trade dignity for
customers. Indeed, it seems that
being “utterly shameless” (as Doug
Richard puts it) is a great asset to
any entrepreneur.
And yet, I very much doubt that
Richard Branson dressing up in
drag for Virgin Brides had anything
like the sustained and direct impact
that highly followed Twitterers now
enjoy.
Ironically, Branson is now a bit
behind among the Twitterati with
only a “meagre” 184,981 followers.
So what’s the solution? Well, if
you really want to go for it as an entrepreneur,
start building your cult
of personality. How do you do it?
It’s never been easier. Get on Twitter,
set up a blog (I’d recommend
WordPress as a free and very easyto-use
option), link it all up with
your Facebook and you’ll already
be making good headway.
Yes, it probably seems quite
egotistical to many people. But then
again, as many reputable businesspeople
have pointed out, being an
entrepreneur is by its very nature
an “arrogant” path to take.
In deciding to take an entrepreneurial
path at university level, you
are asserting that for some reason
you feel you can make a success of
your business or social enterprise
while bypassing all of the conventional
career options.
On the whole, this isn’t a bad
thing. As long as you don’t get carried
away with yourself it shouldn’t
cause any major problems for you.
But it is something you have to
accept.
All of that out of the way, it seems
very clear that your chances of being
a successful entrepreneur are
greatly improved if you’re willing
to be a bit shameless and just plug
whatever it is you’re doing whenever
you can.
With that in mind, I implore
anyone starting a venture to get
on Twitter, get blogging and start
plugging your activities as much as
you can.
Also, with that in mind, my twitter
username is “jacklenox” and
I’m currently working on a social
network for aspiring writers called
eNovella.co.uk. Why not check it
out?! And thanks for reading!
royalhollowayentrepreneurs.com

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Sport
tf
www.thefounder.co.uk
21
Televised
sports for all?
Lucy McCarthy
Sports Editor
I turned on the television the other
day and flicked over to the Sky
Sports channels just to find out
what was on. It is astounding that
in the 21st century that women’s
sports are hardly seen on these
channels. Sport, I’m afraid, is a
man’s world.
Netball is the country’s, if not the
world’s, largest women’s participation
sport. Yet how many times can
you say you have seen it advertised
or watched it on TV? I imagine
your answer is probably never or
maybe once. This is the problem
we have. By comparison to football,
going to watch a netball match
is not expensive, but the dilemma
for girls to go and watch a high level
match is that they have to travel
a very long way. Sky Sports will
televise the Co-operative Superleague
once a week on a Wednesday
at around one in the afternoon.
The major problem with this is that
most of the young girls who will be
influenced and encouraged by these
athletes are at school or at university
playing in their respective BUCS
games which are also on a Wednesday
at a similar time. Netball has
just formed a 20-20 cricket style
competition - a perfect way for girls
to watch However, the only times I
found to watch it was ten at night
or two in the morning.
It’s not just netball that has this
problem. Hockey gets almost no
air time either. Both the women
and men did really well in the
European Championship in the
summer, with the men winning
the competition. Yet they got approximately
45 minutes worth of
television coverage and this was
only for the highlights! The women
on the other hand came third and
got absolutely no coverage at all. A
statistic I found out just the other
day said that hockey was the largest
participation sport at senior level in
the country. Yet again, like netball,
have you ever seen any coverage on
television?
The list could go on; women’s
rugby, lacrosse, women’s football,
women’s cricket - there is not
enough, if any, coverage of these
sports. Surveys show that once
women leave school, the number of
them that continue playing sports
drops dramatically. Wouldn’t this
problem be helped if the sports
channels took responsibility and
gave coverage for these sports for
at least a few hours a week instead
of having hours of poker being
shown?
The problem with women is a
matter of image. I’m afraid this is
and always will be a problem that
has to be overcome especially when
you come to sport. Though the
acceptability of women in sport is
a vast improvement compared to
forty or fifty years ago, we still have
an atmosphere of people thinking
‘she must be a lesbian because she
plays rugby’ or ‘she must be butch
as she works out all the time’. This
does not exactly help the image
problem.
The promising thing, however,
is that as more focus is given to
healthy lifestyles by the media, the
more women want to get fit. This
has been most apparent in the last
few years as the number of women
now joining and attending gyms
has soared. Hopefully as we see
that keeping fit is better for us in
the long term we shall see more
women going back to the sports
they played at school and re-discover
the love they had for them. The
media is a powerful tool which cannot
be ignored. The use of media
in promoting sports should be just
as important as winning trophies.
Here we have a balancing act - to
get women back into sport we
need the help of the media, but the
media want to show sports that will
increase its ratings. Understandable.
However, if the Sky Sportstype
companies want to show sport
there should be some responsibility
to show as many sports as possible,
whether it’s a major women’s sport
such as netball or the biggest senior
participation sport in the country
such as hockey.
sports@thefounder.co.uk
STARS
at Royal
Holloway
Lucy McCarthy
Sports Editor
Sport at Holloway is an important
aspect of student life. Since 1996,
the STARS (Student Talented Athlete
Recognition Scheme) has supported
over 90 athletes with world
and national rankings. The scheme
encourages a range of different athletes
from cricket to rhythmic gymnastics
and triathlon to softball to
reach their full potential.
STARS offers sports bursaries to
full time undergraduate and postgraduate
students who are either
currently at the College or have
been accepted on to a course for
next academic year. To be eligible
for the bursary the athletes have to
be currently competing at junior or
senior international level or show
convincing potential to reach the
international stage.
The students who are supported
by STARS are funded for coaching,
essential sports equipment, entry
fees for competitions and travel
expenses to aid their development.
Alongside this, the athletes also get
free membership to the Sports Centre
and use of the facilities for free
as long as it is to assist their training.
They also have the opportunity
to guarantee halls of residence
accommodation for the next academic
year. Royal Holloway seems
determined to help and support its
most promising athletes and nurture
them to hopefully extend their
careers beyond the walls of the College.
This scheme means a lot to the
athletes who receive it. It doesn’t
just support the athletes in monetary
terms but also supports the athletes
with their academic progress.
The scheme works with members
of staff together with the athletes so
Continued on page 22 »

22 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Sport
Performance
Sports comes
to RHUL
Performance Packages swing
into action for five selected
sports teams this weekend
AU Communications
Royal Holloway has always been
renowned for its competiveness
within the University of London
Union (ULU). Situated as it is in
leafy Surrey rather than crammed in
the midst of urban London squalor,
the College sports teams will always
have the edge in outdoor facilities
over many of their city-based counterparts.
However, despite all the
green grass, fresh air and robust facilities,
Royal Holloway still ranked
a mere 62nd overall in the British
University College Sports (BUCS)
league overall last year, trailing behind
King’s, St Mary’s, Brunel and
Imperial.
Now five teams are the pioneers
in a push to firmly ensconce Royal
Holloway where it belongs, as one
of the top 20 sporting institutions
in the BUCS league over the next
5 years. Last year, BUCS teams the
length and breadth of campus vied
for the opportunity to become one
of the five sports teams, each of
which would receive a revolutionary
new performance package – professional
coaching, exclusive kit deals,
sports therapy, nutritional advice,
strength & conditioning and priority
training slots.
After an intense series of applications,
interviews, presentations and
planning, five teams that had shown
best their dedication and mettle
for RHUL Sports were chosen. The
Men’s Rugby 1st team, Women’s
Hockey 1st team, Women’s Lacrosse
1st team, Men’s Basketball 1st team
and Women’s Basketball 1st team
were all able to impress the selection
panel with ambitious targets and
meticulous training programmes
for the year which best utilised all
the resources provided by the performance
package.
New Women’s Lacrosse 1st team
coach, John Mills, is optimistic
about the new performance package
initiative.
“Lacrosse is a sport that progresses
quickly” John explains. “It’s described
as the ‘fastest game on two
feet,’ and its expanding all the time.
It’s a game that you can pick up
quite quickly. New players can learn
enough quickly enough to compete
in only a few weeks.”
Along with coach Louis Richardson,
John Mills’ mass of experience
playing Lacrosse both for Swansea
University and the Welsh national
Men’s team will be a massive boon
for Women’s Lacrosse in RHUL.
John is optimistic but cautious
about what he hopes to achieve with
his new team this year.
“A target? It’s difficult to say at the
moment, but I’d like us to be able to
compete in the league and look to be
in the top in the end. We’re going to
do this by looking to improve individuals
and the team itself.”
The new Women’s 1st Basketball
coach, Tasha Green, seems far more
confident. “I coached the Coventry
first team to position 1A in the
league, and its going to be the same
for Royal Holloway. You know, aim
for the top. Instead of concentrating
on long-term goals, I want to be
concentrating on one year at a time.”
It’s not just the new coaches that
are excited about the new performance
packages though. Royal Holloway’s
ULU-renowned Men’s 1st
Rugby team has been operating for
nearly 6 years without professional
coaching. That’s all changed now,
explains the Men’s 1st Rugby Captain,
Rupert Baldwin.
“Basically, training was student
led. Senior players from the 3rd year
would run the team, run the club.”
Already enjoying the benefit of professional
coaching for the first time
in years, the Men’s Rugby 1st has
wasted no time in planning their
new year ahead.
“As a team, we’ve already decided
on four goals for the year: to reach
the top 3 in the BUCS league for
Men’s Rugby, to win the ULU Gutteridge
Cup, to have a 100% home
victories, and to get as far as we possibly
can in the BUCS Cup.” Last
year, despite a lack of professional
training, Royal Holloway Men’s 1st
Rugby team battled through to the
finals of the ULU Gutteridge Cup
against King’s College, and astonishingly
reached the BUCS league
quarter-finals before being taken
out by sporting giants Bath University.
Whether or not the new performance
packages significantly boost
Royal Holloway BUCS rankings,
teams university-wide will all feel
the benefit of the increased focus on
RHUL sports over the coming years.
Higher-quality coaching techniques
will trickle down from the “Golden
five” 1st teams to the Freshers being
coached, captained and led by them.
Ts not all plain sailing from here for
the chosen teams though.
With the additional support, the
stakes have been raised, and the
entire College watches expectantly
with baited breath for results. It is
now up to the players themselves,
and their dedication to the backbreakingly
tough new training regimes,
to represent the name of
Royal Holloway against some of the
toughest university sports teams nationwide.
STARS
at Royal
Holloway
» continued from page 21
that they can complete their studies,
whilst still enabling them to compete
at national and international
competitions.
With the help the athletes receive
from the College, the athletes are expected
to give a little back. The College
holds community sports days,
and should a STARS athlete’s sport
be on the agenda, they would be
required to help out with coaching
and guiding children. The athletes
are asked to give talks to inspire others
and perhaps inform them about
their experiences and what it takes
to a top performer.
These RHUL students are the
present and the future of sport either
for Great Britain or their other
respective countries. British sport
has had a slow response to the idea
of nurturing our top class athletes
compared to America or Australia,
however, in the last 10-15 years it
has been realised that if you invest
long term time and money in our
athletes then the rewards will come
in. It’s great to see Royal Holloway
taking responsibility for the future
of these athletes and we look forward
to seeing our STARS athletes
shine now and in the future.
tf
Want to write for the Sport section?
If you’re keen to get involved with the sport section of this
newspaper as a photographer or reporter, email:
sports@thefounder.co.uk

The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
tf
www.thefounder.co.uk
23
Holloway
success in
first BUCS
netball
match of
the 09-10
season
Match:
RHUL 3rds against Canterbury
Christ Church 4s
Result:
Won 26 goals to 5
Laura Blott
SAC Communications
On Wednesday 14th October,
RHUL played host to Canterbury
Christ Church in the first fixture of
the new season.
RHUL’s third team fielded many
new players and it was difficult to
know what to expect. Despite this,
the team appeared stronger and
more dominant than ever.
RHUL took the lead and play was
fast due to the high of every successful
centre pass. Claudia Brett made
her RHUL debut as Goal Shooter
for the first two quarters and proved
to be a player with potential. Another
new player with serious impact
was Tanya Pikalova who starred as
Goal Keeper. With good height and
movement she dominated the circle.
Team captain, Steph Bissell, was
strong and controlled and contributed
to a steady centre third.
Despite the relative ease of the
match, RHUL proved to be a very
tenacious team.
Defence held strong throughout,
prompting Canterbury to make
many an unforced error.
Perhaps the beauty of the match
came from the goal third, however.
Mary Wheeler and Francesca Cooper
worked well together as shooters.
The glory shots, however, were set
up by fellow team player Naomi Appleton.
Naomi was rightly awarded
Player of the Match by Canterbury.
When asked whether she was
pleased with their first match, Appleton
replied with a smile, “We
won twenty-six goals to five, which
says it all.”
A new season and a new squad,
hungry for further success.
Royal Holloway,
University of London
Fixtures – Wednesday 21 October
Sport RHUL Team Opposition League Time Home/Away Location
Badminaton Men's 1st BUCS Queen Mary, University of London Men's 1st BUCSBad SEM2A 16:00 H RHSC
Badminaton Men's 2nd BUCS University of Reading Men's 2nd BUCSBad SEM4B 14:00 H RHSC
Badminaton Women's 1st BUCS Brunel University West London Women's 1st BUCSBad SEW2A A
Basketball Men's 1st BUCS Thames Valley University Men's 2nd BUCS SEM3A H PP
Basketball Women's 1st BUCS University of Reading Women's 1st BUCS SEW2A A
Fencing Men's 1st BUCS University of London Men's 1st BUCSFen SEM1A 15:00 H ELC
Fencing Women's 1st BUCS University of Kent Women's 1st BUCSFen SEW1A 15:00 H ELC
Football Men's 4s ULU Imperial College, London Men's 4s ULU ULU Foot Div1 14:00 H ELC
Football Men's 5s ULU Royal Veterinary College Men's 1s ULU ULU Foot Div2 14:00 H ELC
Football Men's 6s ULU School of Oriental & African Studies Men's 2s ULU ULU Foot Div3 A
Football Men's 1st BUCS University of Reading Men's 1st BUCS SEM2A 14:00 H RHSC
Football Men's 2nd BUCS University of Reading Men's 3rd BUCS SEM5A A
Football Men's 3rd BUCS London School of Economics Mens 2nd BUCS SEM5D A
Football Women's 1st BUCS Imperial College, London Women's 1st BUCS SEW2A 14:00 H RHSC
Golf Men's 1st BUCS University of Surrey 1st BUCSGolf SE 2A 12:34 H MR
Hockey Men's 1st BUCS University of Portsmouth Men's 3rd BUCSHoc SE M 4A 13:00 A LC
Hockey Men's 2nd BUCS Middlesex University Men's 1st BUCSHoc SE M 5A 2:30 pushback H ASH
Hockey Women's 1st BUCS University of Sussex Women's 1st BUCSHoc SE W 3A 3:30 pushback H S&L
Hockey Women's 2nd BUCS Imperial Medicals Women's 2nd BUCSHoc SE W 5A 14:00 A IGC
Hockey Women's 3rd BUCS University of Brighton Women's 3rd BUCSHoc SE W 6A 2pm pushback H S&L
Lacrosse Women's 1st BUCS University of Brighton Women's 1st BUCSLac SEW1A 14:00 H RHSC
Lacrosse Men's 1st BUCS Canterbury University Men's 1st BUCSLac SEM1A 14:00 H RHSC
Lacrosse Women's 2nd BUCS University of Portsmouth 1st BUCSLac SEW1A 14:00 A LC
Netball Women's 1st BUCS Roehampton University 1st BUCSNet SEW4A 15:00 H ELC
Netball Women's 3rd BUCS Brunel University West London 6th BUCSNet SEW8A A
Rugby Men's 1st BUCS Brunel University West London Men's 1st BUC RU SEM2A A
Rugby Men's 2nd BUCS Kingston University Men's 2nd BUC RU SEM4A 14:00 H KINGS LANE
Squash Men's 1st BUCS University of Hertfordshire Men's 1st BUCSSqu SE M 2A A
Squash Men's 2nd BUCS University of Surrey Men's 2nd BUCSSqu SE M 3A 15:00 A USVC
Tennis Men's 1st BUCS University of Reading Men's 3rd BUCSTen SE 3A A
Tennis Men's 2nd BUCS Buckinghamshire New University Men's 1st BUCSTen SE 4A 13:00 H FTC
Tennis Women's 1st BUCS Buckinghamshire New University Women's 1st BUCSTen SE 2A 13:00 A R
Tennis Women's 2nd BUCS University College London Women's 2nd BUCSTen SE 2B A
Vollyball Women's 1st BUCS Kingston University Women's 1st BUCS Vol SEW2A 15:00 H ELC
RHUL Women’s Basketball 89
– 66 Kingston University
Anna Dyachenko
The Lady Bears kicked off the new
season with a bang, defeating Kingston
89-66 last Wednesday afternoon.
On top of an advantage in height,
our team has certainly made use of
better communication skills in defence
as well as offence. This is particularly
striking considering that
over half of this year’s team is composed
of freshers. The game against
Kingston University was the first
opportunity for the old and new
members of the Lady Bears to play
competitively with one another. The
outcome of the game proves that the
Bears have taken a lot from the two
weeks of pre-season training and
established a strong bond and team
spirit on as well as off court.
The Bears were able to take advantage
of Kingston’s slow return
to their half-court in order to set
up their defence, thus allowing
our players to score easy baskets in
fast breaks. The Bears’ point guard,
Shanty Cheung, ran relentlessly up
and down the court, exhausting the
opponents. Unfortunately for Kingston,
they arrived with a squad of
only seven players to our twelve, so
many of them ran out of breath very
quickly and did not have time to
recover. Due to such disadvantage,
Kingston players, tired and confused
by the intensity of the game,
let their defence slip and left space
for our players to penetrate inside
the key. Moreover, their offensive
drills were met with resistance and
pressure from the Bears’ strong defensive
structure, denying the ball
on the help-side and guarding their
players in a man-to-man defence at
the same time. Ultimately, the exhaustion
of Kingston players resulted
in multiple turnovers. The Lady
Bears steadily increased the gap on
the scoreboard, especially thanks
to top shooters Shanty Cheung (23
points), Alice Couten (18 points),
Elle Hughes (15 points) and Johanna
Svensson (12 points).
The Ladies’ new Head Coach, Natasha
Green, was ecstatic with the
game result and the amount of effort
the girls have put in during training.
She is determined to keep the intensity
up, especially now that the
standard has been set with RHUL
Photograph: Kristine Flyvholm
Women’s basketball winning their
first game of the season with a score
to match that of WNBA standards
– the highest score yet for the team.
The season has started well for the
Lady Bears, with an easy win and
without any major injuries. There
are things to work on, but there is
certainly a solid foundation which
can be developed for the coming
fixtures.

Get lost
Every Thursday
windsor
Theme nights every week
STUDENT NIGHT
22nd October
SPECIAL EVENT
Roy walker & catch phrase
29th October
Halloween
Ghouls Ball
£1.30 drinks before 11pm
Discount with NUS all night
for more info on events go to:
facebook.com/liquidclubs
twitter.com/liquidclubs
liquidclubs.com
William street,Windsor SL4 1BB
Tel// 01753 621199