The Gaudie 4th November 2015

Free | 04.11.15 For more exclusive, up to date and interesting student content, check out our website: www.thegaudie.co.uk facebook/thegaudie | @the_gaudie By Thomas Danielian On Monday the 26th of October the Aberdeen Uni Sees Refugees Campaign held an event at which they invited speakers to talk about conflict in the Middle East and the migrant crisis. Almost 200 students and lecturers turned up to the event to observe talks from the three distinguished guests: Dr. Louisa Gandolfo of the Universities Sociology department, Syrianborn former Aberdeen student Sophie Alkhaled Studholme (now a researcher at the Stockholm University School of Business) and the Rector of St John’s Episcopal Church, Reverend Isaac Poobalan. In an opening statement given by the Yad’am society the speaker said “as students, as active citizens, as humans, we cannot simply choose to turn our eyes away from what is happening in the Middle East. “Aberdeen may be located at the opposite side of the continent, but that is not an excuse for our student body to ignore the voices rising from the Middle East, of all those people who have been kicked out of their homes...” Dr. Gandolfo was the first of the three to talk on the subject of the Middle East serving the audience with a ten-minute tour of what was happening and why the situation was only getting worse. She spoke about the massive displacement in the region due to years of conflict in many countries and the problems arising from this: strained healthcare and education systems, oversubscribed Refugee Camps and disgruntled ‘natives’ were some of the issues Dr. Gandolfo touched upon. Next to talk was Sophie Alkhaled Studholme, who spoke of her experience of the Middle East and her research on feminism in the region. She talked of the horrifying lives that people have to lead in the camps: many girls are forced into marriages in their early teens to avoid sexual abuse. Sophie also discussed the discrepancies between money being sent to the region and money received by those in need. She finished an emotional speech by stating that “We are thinking with our heads too much. It’s time to start thinking with our hearts.” Reverend Isaac was the last to talk, touching on the urgency of change in the region ad the world to cope with the humanitarian crisis. He sighted his own experience (which became a national media story) of sharing his church with the neighbouring mosque, to promote community bonds in these tough times. He talked about the necessity to take risks for the sake of humanity, “You and I believe in the goodness of life,” he said “not just survival.” After all three guests had spoken the floor was opened for a Q&A session. Many of the attendees raised hands throughout with 15 people having a chance to talk. Topics ranged from personal experience to statistical information and opinion observation. Some questions drew tough responses. Most noticeable was the lack of an answer on how open European and British borders should be as none of the panel answered the question and spoke about other topics. The event was a raving success and it is hoped that the ‘Aberdeen Uni Sees Refugees’ campaign will continue to have success in the coming months. The campaign committee comprises of the Yad’am, MUN, German & Amnesty International societies, the Muslim Students Association, Global Minorities Alliance, Shared Planet and the Environment & Ethics Committee. 05 University of Aberdeen Sees Refugees TheGaudie IV. Magazine Inside NEWS Gaelic Corner p.5 FEATURES Interview with activist Jerry White p.8 OPINE Changing UK Politics p.14 SPORT ASV to host major competition p.16

04.11.15 For the IV. editorial team see page 3 of the supplementary pullout Butchart Centre University Road Old Aberdeen AB24 3UT Tel: 01224 272980 We voluntarily adhere to the Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct (www.pcc.org.uk) and aim to provide fair and balanced reporting. Head Editors Online Manager News Editors Deputy News Editors Opine Editor Deputy Opine Editor Features Editor Deputy Features Editor Puzzles Editor Sport Editor Gaelic Editor Head Copy Editor Marketing Director Gemma Shields and Richard Wood Darren Coutts Aemilia Ross and Thomas Danielian Huw D’Costa and Michaela Hernychova Maximilian Fischbach Jamie Smith Rachael McMenemy Hannah Blues David Robertson Alistair Hunter Aemilia Ross Benjeman Farrar Natalia Kajdas Editorial Team Head of Production Deputy Head of Production Production Assistants Illustrators Online Publishing Assistant Claire Livingston Kevin Mathew Gemma Shields Marketa Slukova Richard Wood Vincent Muir Alex Kither Steven Kellow Production Team Wanting to advertise with the Gaudie? Get in contact with our Marketing Director at [email protected]. Go to our website to download our Media Pack with all our prices, online and print statistics—http://www.thegaudie.co.uk/about/advertise. Editorial Edition 5: Human Crisis I am emboldened this week by shifts in human consideration. Firstly, as you will have seen on our front cover, by The University of Aberdeen’s own Aberdeen Sees Refugees event’s success in pulling in a large, compassionate audience. Secondly, with the release of Shaker Aamer from a thirteen year incarceration without charge or trial in Guantanamo Bay. Whatever your conclusions may be about the ‘success’ of US Government’s anti-terror efforts, one can only hope that the police who will inevitably greet him upon arrival in to the UK will also have the decency to bring a very large cup of tea. And a biscuit. And an apology. I digress, thirdly I shall explain by means of a personal anecdote about my encounter with humanitarian efforts in the past week. Recently, the Daily Mail, followed quickly by other outlets, ran a piece which condemned actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s use of expletives in a post-performance plea to the audience because it was an affront to sensibilities and had no place in the civility of West End theatre. As if the crisis was all well and good but there was no need for the f-word! I had the honour of attending a performance of the play last week and was witness to the speech which was directed in part at the UK Government’s pitiful response to the migrant crisis. The production, I might add, has helped raise over £100,000 for charities helping displaced people and specifically children around the world and this collection was made possible by this appeal. Cumberbatch implored theatre goers to give what they had and bypass bureaucracy. His message was clear and reasoned and his rhetoric was naturally rather passionate. Unsurprisingly I am inclined to agree with the sentiment and this sort of passive nimbyism of major media outlets is deeply troubling to me. I implore everyone to redouble their efforts, and, frankly, fuck anyone who won’t help. Society of the Week with Societies President Veronika Hoffman Spotlight on: Society of Petroleum Engineers The Society of Petroleum Engineers is a part of the University life since March 2008. It’s quite popular with over 100 students registered through AUSA. The Society of Petroleum Engineers, shortened SPE, is a student chapter of a larger organization SPE International. Our mission is to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit, and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence. Our vision is to enable the global oil and gas E&P industry to share technical knowledge needed to meet the world’s energy needs in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. Our University Student Chapter pursues this mission through a packed and high quality programme of events. The Society organizes weekly events which range from technical talks from industry experts, transferable skills and employability skills workshops and career talks from working professionals. Our flagship talk last year has been a career talk from VP Reservoir Development BP, Dave Lynch. In addition to the lectures, the Society pursues opportunity for our members to see the industry first-hand, through office and workshops visits. This year we had an opportunity to see HIVE facility within BP office. Additionally, for two consecutive years our members had an opportunity to complete Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. Our latest success is advancing to the Global Finals of PetroBowl, a petroleum industry based quiz competition between all Student Chapters. Our team’s high performance in the Regional Qualifiers of PetroBowl in London has allowed them to compete in the Final held during the SPE biggest event ATCE which took place this year in Houston, Texas, USA. This was the first time our University has advanced so far in the competition. The trip to Houston has gave us an opportunity to network with other SPE Student Chapters across globe and share the best practice. The Society’s high performance has not been went without notice. Our SPE Student chapter has twice received the Outstanding Chapter Award in 2012 and 2013, which is given the best performing chapter in the region. Additionally, we have received the Gold Chapter Award in 2013. The Society is always open to new members that want to learn more about the upstream petroleum industry. To join, please visit the AUSA website or the Johnston Halls reception. p.2

04.11.15 News Editors: Aemilia Ross & Thomas Danielian Photo top to bottom: Drajcoshi (Wikimedia Commons); Stu Smith (Flickr) The boy is being tried as an adult, but for legal reasons the boy must remain anonymous. 16-year-old charged in Bailey Gwynne tragedy A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the tragic murder of Bailey Gwynne, also 16, at Cults Academy last Wednesday. The accused appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Friday and is expected back in court on the 6th of November. The boy is being tried as an adult, but for legal reasons the boy must remain anonymous. The incident took place on Wednesday the 28th of October during the lunch break at Cults Academy. Emergency services were called to the school at 13.30 to respond to a stabbing in the ‘snack bar’. While the Police arrived school support staff and teachers tended to the boy, giving him CPR and attempting to stop the flow of blood from multiple wounds. Bailey was then rushed to hospital were he later tragically passed away. In a statement given by the deceased’s family Bailey was described as “A special son, brother, grandson and friend - he never failed to make us smile. He will always be our boy. “We don’t know what we will do without our junior ‘man about the house’.” Tributes have been pouring in for the deceased. Anna Muirhead, head teacher at the school described Bailey as “very gentle” and “caring” and James McMahon, a friend of the deceased “didn’t deserve what happened to him” and he was “a very nice person.” Cults Academy was closed Thursday and Friday, but reopened on Monday the 2nd of November and held special assemblies in honour of Bailey. The school has over 1,050 pupils and has been a consistent high achiever for many years. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP took to Twitter to send her condolences, saying that “All my thoughts are with the family and friends of the young man who has tragically died at Cults Academy.” The case returns to court this week. By Thomas Danielian By Amanda Connelly A drug developed by Aberdeen University scientists that hopes to combat the onset of Alzheimer’s disease has received multi-million pounds worth of additional funding. LMTX®, the main drug produced by pharmaceuticals company TauRx, led by the University of Aberdeen’s Professor Claude Wischik, is being examined as the first disease-modifying agent in treating Alzheimer’s disease. With TauRx having obtained close to £88 million from both new and existing investors in an effort to support current global clinical trials, the money will aid the Phase 3 clinical trials programme that is currently underway, the results of which are expected to be released next year. Speaking about securing the funding, Professor Claude Wischik, co-founder and executive chairman of TauRx said: “This new investment was raised at successively higher share prices during the course of 2015, reflecting the confidence investors have in our tau aggregation inhibition technology and in the promise of our lead product, LMTX®. “This important milestone has been achieved as the result of a great deal of hard work by the TauRx board of directors and I want to thank them for their ongoing commitment to our company.” The drug, of which a successful preliminary form hit international headlines in 2008 after showing to have reduced the speed of progression of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals from both the North-East of Scotland and across other parts of the UK, works by targeting the ‘tangles’ of protein known as tau within cells in the brain. It is the formation of these so-called ‘tangles’ that causes diminished interconnections between brain cells, a loss of brain tissue and the dying off of nerve cells found in patients with Alzheimer’s. The results of this Phase 2 trial acted as the grounding behind the Phase 3 trial that is currently being implemented, with LMTX® now also being tested in behavioural Frontotemporal Dementia. Professor Sir Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, said “We’re immensely proud that the science behind this exciting spin-out company has come from University of Aberdeen laboratories. It’s a tremendous achievement for the team that these worldwide clinical trials are now taking place. “I am delighted to hear of this new investment which will, we hope, bring the drug now being tested closer to families all over the world who are affected by these devastating conditions.” Funding boost for Alzheimer’s drug trial Anti-Nazi documents uncovered in University storeroom Historical documents discovered at the University of Aberdeen have revealed the Law Faculty’s opposition to Hitler’s Nazi regime. Unearthed in a storeroom at the University’s King’s College Campus, the documents include hand-written minutes of a series of Law Faculty meetings that took place between December 1938 to February 1939. The minutes, contained within leatherbound books, are now the subject of the first ever blog published by the University’s School of Law. The documents have disclosed details of a request sent by the University of Amsterdam to Law Faculties across Europe and the US, asking for their help in demonstrating an opposition to political, ethnic and religious persecution. Within this resolution, comments were made on the increasing tensions within Europe, as well as emphasising the fact that people were “being persecuted and tormented on account of their faith, race or political convictions” and indicated concern over the use of “so-called concentration camps.” The Law Faculty unanimously agreed to support the resolution, and copies were then directed to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, as well as several Scottish newspapers, including the Herald, the Scotsman, and the Press and Journal, along with a covering letter highlighting the Faculty’s support. Malcom Combe, Law Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, has studied the documents and used them as the foundation for the Law School’s first ever blog, which has been created in order to provide a forum for staff and students to display their research as well as other interesting material. Speaking about the discovery, Combe stated: “Old documents of this nature are always interesting, but these minutes are a truly remarkable. They offer a fascinating account of the concerns that that existed over the persecution of Jews and dissenting political voices in the period leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War. “While Aberdeen had the North Sea to keep it at a relative distance from Hitler’s gathering military might, the minutes show that the University was by no means inactive in the face of the challenges of the time. “That the Law Faculty unanimously backed the University of Amsterdam’s resolution is extremely heartening, and shows how our tradition of tolerance and freedom of expression was alive and well during this troubling and uncertain time in history.” By Aemilia Ross p.3

04.11.15 UCAS applications to become anonymous from 2017 In a move to eradicate unconscious bias against candidates from minority groups, from 2017 names will no longer appear on UCAS applications. The plan is among a number of antidiscrimination measures set out earlier this month by Prime Minister David Cameron at a Downing Street round table. Keen to boost minority student numbers, the admissions body UCAS supports the plans. Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS chief executive, says that there will be consultation with degree-awarding institutions on the implementation of the new name-blind system as part of a wider range of measures which could ‘impact applications from black and ethnic minority students’. Cook adds, ‘UCAS is deeply committed to increasing participation from disadvantaged groups’, citing the admissions body’s own research as the source of identification of issues causing under-representation at UK colleges and universities. Previously, the London School of Economics analysed admissions data from 2008, and findings suggested that ethnic minority students were less likely to be offered a university place. UCAS, however, claims that the proportion of applications from such candidates has increased since then. In contrast, their own analysis of the 2014 admissions cycle showed university entry rates for 18-year-olds in minority groups surpassed those for white applicants of the same age. The findings claim that in 2014, 27.2% of white 18-year-olds entered university, while rates for Asian and black applicants were higher at 38.7% and 34.3% respectively. However, only data from students who explicitly agree to their details being used were included in the study; Vicky Boliver, who previously conducted a study of the Russell Group of leading UK universities yielding vastly different results, has called for UCAS to use all students’ responses to give a more accurate and reliable result. Studies in the impact of anonymous applications are still in the very early stages, but the government says that they will spread more widely. Nameblind applications are expected to move into much of the private sector in the next few years. By Zoe McKellar Fracking could harm Aberdeen’s oil and gas ‘capital’ status In an article published by the online oil and gas magazine Energy Voice, Alex Russell, Professor of Petroleum Accounting at the Aberdeen Business School, has been quoted stating that the UK Government’s recent focus on fracking compromises the more conventional oil and gas industry based in the North East. The practice of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves blasting apart layers of shale rock with a mix of water and sand in order to obtain trapped gas. In August, the UK Government announced plans to ‘fast-track’ planning applications to frack in England, with Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Secretary of State Amber Rudd writing in the Sunday Times, ‘our country needs shale gas’. The method remains controversial, with concerns over potentially negative environmental impacts leading to large public demonstrations, including a major protest at Barton Moss in Greater Manchester in 2013. Dr Russell’s main concern is that the emphasis on shale gas extraction diverts attention from the failing industry in the North Sea, which has suffered from the drop in the price of crude oil to under $50 a barrel in January of this year and has led to the loss of thousands of jobs: ‘Fracking takes away the impetus for the UK Government to focus on maintaining what we have here in the North East in future. The more countries that frack, the more the gas price goes down and the less chance there is of the North Sea (oil and gas industry) surviving. ‘If fracking takes off in England we will see people move out of Aberdeen. We will see a shift of jobs from Aberdeen down south to England to places that don’t need jobs.’ He also questions the timing of the decision: ‘Shale gas is not going away and it’s easy to get the reserves out anytime. (…) Gas is at a very low price right now so fracking doesn’t make economic sense as it would maintain the current low price by flooding the market’. However, a spokeswoman for Oil and Gas UK maintains that the UK could benefit from obtaining gas from diverse sources and adds that: ‘The UK Government has shown it is committed to the oil industry by supporting the Maximising Economic Recovery report’. This report, commissioned by Sir Ian Wood, proposes a radical overhaul in the governing framework of the UK offshore oil sector in the hope of stimulating growth. By Caitlin Millar This page: photos left to right: Kianboon (Flickr); Tatty 19555 (Wikimedia Commons) Next page: photo by Postdlf (Wikimedia Commons) The more countries that frack, the more the gas price goes down and the less chance there is of the North Sea (oil and gas industry) surviving. North Sea catering staff vote to strike over pay dispute Catering staff have been in dispute with Caterers Offshore Trade Association (COTA) after employers reneged on the second year of a 1.3% pay increase over two years. An industrial action ballot held by Unite saw 54.2% of members vote for strike action and 62.7% vote for action short of strike. Unite has since urged COTA chiefs to return to the negotiating table and sort out the dispute. John Boland, the Unite regional officer said: ‘The result shows that the majority of our COTA members are not prepared to sit back and let employers worth billions revoke their pay agreement—the 1.3 per cent required to settle this dispute is a mere drop in the ocean for companies like Sodexho’. RMT Union also held a ballot that closed on October 27th. Their members voted against a strike, but in favour of alternative industrial action. Meanwhile COTA chair Peter Bruce said: ‘We are very disappointed with the outcome of the Unite ballot. However, we note that only 250 people have voted in favour of strike action out of a total workforce of over 3,000. We understand workers’ frustration at the original pay deal being retracted but we ask them to remember that the economic climate is very different now to the one in which we agreed that deal’. In fact, COTA and its members have said that due to industrial factors, a pay freeze had to be brought in as early as September 1st, 2015. Their statement made on the 16th of September said ‘high operating costs and the dramatic slump in the oil price have meant it is absolutely necessary to keep our business competitive and secure the future of the North Sea industry for us all’. Nearly 93.5% of offshore workers voted for industrial action in a consultation carried out by Unite in February and March 2015. Since then, with a chaotic economic situation, relations have only worsened between employers and the workforce. The decision to strike is the first industrial action of this kind in the North Sea in a generation and would heavily impact all production on the UK continental shelf. By Khalid Nehan p.4

04.11.15 Plana Gàidhlig Ùr son a’ Phoileis Tha Poileas na h-Alba air co-chòmhairleachadh air a’ phlana Ghàidhlig aca a thòiseachadh fo ìmpidh Achd na Gàidhlig ‘s iad airson inbhe ‘s ìomhaigh a’ chànain a bhrosnachadh air feadh na dùthcha. Chaidh dreach den phlana fhoillseachadh aig a’ Mhòd cola-deug air ais le taic bho Bhòrd na Gàidhlig. Tha am plan aca a’ cur an cèill na dòighean anns am bi an t-seirbheis poilis agus an t-ùghdarras poilis a’ cuideachadh le bhith dèanamh cinnteach gun cùmar a’ Ghàidhlig mar chànan beò ann an Alba. Am measg nan dòighean sin tha suaicheantas dà-chànanach air èididhean, soighnichean ‘s carbadanpoilis ‘s cuideachd clasaichean Gàidhlig airson cosnaichean a’ Phòileis. Thuirt an t-Àrd-stiùireadair Julian Innes, Ceannard Poilis Ionadail airson Roinn na Gàidhealtachd agus nan Eilean, agus an neach-stiùiridh airson a’ phròiseict: “Mar bhuidheann phoblach, tha dleastanas laghail air Poileas Alba Plana Gàidhlig ullachadh agus nì sinn sin ann an co-bhuinn ris na coimhearsnachdan air am bi sinn a’ frithealadh agus ann an com-pàirt ris na buidhnean a tha ag obair còmhla rinn.” Thuirt an Dr Alasdair Allan BPA, am Ministear airson Ionnsachaidh, Saidheans agus Cànanan na h-Alba: “Mar Mhinistear le uallach airson Gàidhlig, tha mi fìor thoilichte mo thaic a thoirt don chochomhairleachadh seo a tha ga fhoillseachadh. Tha Riaghaltas na h-Alba daingeann nar taic do gach cànan dùthchasach a th’ againn, agus tha a’ Ghàidhlig air aonan de na cànanan sin. Tha mi a’ cur fàilte air an taic làidir a tha Poileas Alba agus Ùghdarras Poileas na h-Alba a’ sealltainn don Ghàidhlig agus dh’iarrainn air duine sam bith aig a bheil ùidh sna Planaichean cudromach seo am beachd a thoirt seachad.” Ged a tha dragh aig cuid den phoblachd mu dheidhinn cosgaisean nan atharraichean tha Poileas na h-Alba deibhinne nach tèid airgead a bharrachd a chosg air a bhith a’ lìbhrigeadh nam molaidhean aca ‘s nach tèid ìomhaighean a’ Phoilis atharrachadh a dh’ aona ghnothach airson Gàidhlig. Tha a’ chò-chòmhairleachadh fosgailte don phobaill a-nis ‘s a’ sìreadh beachdan air na planaichean aca. Thathar an dùil gun teid plana oifigeil fhoillseachadh le Ùghdarras Poileas na h-Alba sa bhliadhn’ ùir. Le Steven Kellow An t-Oisean Gàidhlig Maersk Oil to cut UK jobs By Benoit Sicard As part of its global costs reduction strategy, Maersk Oil will cut 220 jobs in the UK before the end of the year. Due to both external and internal factors, these positions will not be renewed to help the company stay competitive. The organisation is operating the oil and gas business activity of Maersk, a diversified Danish conglomerate that is also a big player in the container and shipping industry. It extracts an average of 550,000 barrels a day, part of it coming from its North Sea fields near Aberdeen, thus making the company a substantial employer in the region. Maersk has decided to reduce employees by 1,250 globally, accounting for 10 to 12% of its total workforce. This cut is expected to lower operating costs by 20% before the end of 2016. This decision is motivated by the decrease in oil price. In the case of UK cuts, this is also associated with the upcoming closure of the Janice oil field. CEO of the company Jakob Thomasen underlined that pressure on prices will ‘continue in 2016’ and reminded the importance of ‘staying focused on costs so that we can sustain our expansion in the market’. This announcement comes just a month after the approval Maersk Oil received to develop the recently discovered Culzean field in the North Sea region.projects in the north of England in August. A spokesman from LetterOne asserts that the DEA Group will use the proceeds from the sale to ‘invest in its core growth areas in Europe and North Africa’. LetterOne has since acquired an interest in three fields in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea from the German company EON in a $1.6billion deal which is expected to double its production capacity in Norway. Concerns over Trident cuts Staff at Faslane Naval Base and Helensburgh and Lomond’s MP have expressed concerns over the safety of the Trident programme after proposed budget cuts are implemented. One of the suggested cost-saving measures is extending the period of time nuclear powered submarines can be docked for before being connected to a power supply. The length of time would alter dramatically, going from 20 minutes to up to 3 hours. The proposal comes from the engineering firm Babcock, who runs the Faslane site on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. However, according to Brendan O’Hara, the SNP defence spokesman and constituency MP, many local residents and long-time base employees raised ‘grave and genuine concerns’ over the change. According to some opponents, the lack of electric-powered pumps for the cooling system during the interval might cause a rise of temperature in the nuclear reactors. O’Hara added: ‘This is all about safety. Safety, when we are dealing with nuclear-fuelled submarines is paramount and anything that appears to compromise that must be questioned and then explained fully’. The prolonged docking time is estimated to save £4.5m yearly due to reduced labour costs. Babcock’s spokesperson said the more costeffective shift pattern would have ‘absolutely no impact on the safety’ of the operations. The Ministry of Defence similarly stated safety remains ‘the number one priority’. However no decision regarding berthing times has been reached so far. Earlier this year, a former employee of the base, William McNeilly, published an 18-page report online, detailing his concerns over site security and safety. He alleged there had been ‘numerous floods, numerous fires’ in the Trident submarines, as well as covered up nearcollisions with other boats and lenient ID checks. This propelled the debate into the House of Commons, with the SNP’s former leader Alex Salmond challenging the MoD to provide detailed answers to the report. The SNP took a firm opposition to the renewal of the Trident programme during their recent conference in Aberdeen. The Labour party is officially supporting the government’s stance that the Trident programme is vital for British security, but is divided under the rule of anti-war leader, Jeremy Corbyn. As a result, Scottish Labour has remained silent on the matter, but is now seriously debating whether or not to mention Trident at their upcoming party conference. A recent review of the costs estimated a further £68bn would be needed to replace the system, increasing the total price tag to £168bn when combining the cost of the new submarines and the in-service costs between 2028 and 2060. SNP lawmaker Bill Kidd said: ‘That Labour in Scotland was apparently ambivalent about spending 100 billion pounds on weapons of mass destruction during a time of austerity cuts. But with costs apparently skyrocketing to 167 billion pounds, [the leader of the Scottish branch of Labour] Kezia Dugdale surely can’t maintain her silence much longer’. A vote on the renewal and expansion of the Trident nuclear programme is scheduled to appear in the Commons next year. By Michaela Hernychova Further blows to oil industry By Annika Benz The UK government reported a multimillion pound loss on North Sea oil and gas in the first half of the financial year. For the first time in 40 years, the repayments to producers between the months of April and September more than outweighed government revenues. While a total of £248 million was collected from the industry in both corporation tax and Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT), around £287 million was paid out in rebates following the downturn. This is the first loss recorded over a six-month period since the industry was established. Westminster officials claimed that the oil and gas accounts showed losses because of the timing of cooperation tax payments normally expected later in the year. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK is expected to earn about £700 million from the North Sea. Alexander Kemp, Professor in Petroleum Economics at Aberdeen University, approved of the UK government supporting the industry during the downturn. He added: ‘This is an inevitable consequence of the tax system. In 2011-12 revenues were £11.3 billion. For this financial year the OBR is suggesting they are going to be £700 million. It would take a dramatic change in the oil price for revenues to rise and we don’t think that is going to happen. I would expect that for the next year or two the revenues will be very low’. Fergus Erwing, Scottish Energy Minister, insisted that the industry will recover: ‘The fiscal reforms for the UK Government, which the Scottish Government has long called for, will encourage additional production and investment that will boost government revenues in the coming years’. Figures rounded by the Conservative and Labour MSPs undermine the SNP arguments about the economic stability of an independent Scotland. North East Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: ‘(Little) more than a year ago the SNP was brushing aside all the evidence to insist North Sea oil revenues would help pay for schools, hospitals and benefits in an independent Scotland. That deception has now been utterly exposed – it is high time the SNP apologised’. Labour Jackie Baillie also insisted on the transparency of Scotland’s finances. An HMRC spokeswoman said: ‘Falling oil and gas prices, reduced production, increased investment spend and costs of decommissioning have resulted in some companies making significant losses’. p.5

04.11.15 Photos from top to bottom: Scottish Labour (Flickr); Beata May (Wikimedia Commons) The issue is proving highly contentious as tax credits constitute £30 billion of the annual budget Scottish Labour look to gain autonomy Kezia Dugdale, the leader of the Scottish Labour, has unveiled her plans for gaining more autonomy from the main party branch. The outline, believed to be backed by party leader Jeremy Corbyn, calls for complete autonomy on policy decisions, candidate selection for all elections including the UK General Elections and European Parliament Elections, and membership. There would, however, be cooperation on staffing and finance issues. Having control over the candidate selection would allow the new leadership to focus on the party’s goal of attracting more diverse base of Scottish Labour politicians from different professional and social backgrounds. The Scottish National Party has recently successfully put a similar plan into action. There is no clear timetable for implementing the changes, however Dugdale has made it clear that expanding her branch’s autonomy is her priority. She said: ‘With these reforms there will be no doubt that the main focus of Scottish Labour will be on Holyrood, where the key decisions affecting the daily lives of Scots are made. It won’t be the Commons, the Lords or the European Parliament. They are important, of course, but the most important focus of Scottish Labour will be on using the powers at Holyrood to transform the lives of people in Scotland’. Dugdale was elected for the post in August with a large majority of the vote and is attempting to reverse the trend of being treated as a ‘branch office’ by Westminster, a claim made by the previous leader Johann Lamont. By Michaela Hernychova By Steven Kellow 113 companies in the UK, including 15 in Scotland, have been named and shamed by the Government for paying below the minimum wage after an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs. The high street chain Monsoon Accessorize were the biggest culprits according to the Government, withholding over £100,000 from almost 1,500 employees. Between all companies listed, over £380,000 of pay was owed to workers who were being paid less than the statutory national minimum wage. The majority of businesses on the list were small firms, including a garage, a taxi business, and five hairdressers in Scotland alone. No Aberdeen-based firms were named on the list. The most owed by any one company in Scotland was Village Garage Engineers Ltd, trading as Village Garage in Plean, near Stirling, who owe around £9,150 to three workers. Other arrears from Scottish companies include: Ian Balfour and Caroline Balfour, trading as Kirkcaldy-based A E Taxis, who failed to pay more than £4,750 to three workers; Margaret Jankowitz, trading as The Beeches Hair Studio in Clydebank, who neglected to pay about £3,300 to three workers; and Paterson SA Hairdressing in Edinburgh who failed to pay almost £3,200 to 15 workers. The name and shame scheme was introduced by the UK Government in 2013 to enforce the minimum wage by making the public aware of business’ failure to properly pay their workers, which hurts their business along with financial penalties from HMRC. Business Minister Nick Boles said: ‘Employers that fail to pay the minimum wage hurt the living standards of the lowest paid and their families. As a one nation government on the side of working people we are determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage receives it’. The National Minimum Wage rose by 20p per hour on October 1st, rising to £6.70 per hour for over 21-year-olds. Government names and shames low wage employers Delay to proposed tax credit changes Proposed changes to tax credits by the government have been dramatically halted as the House of Lords voted to delay any changes until an independent analysis has assessed their impact and to fully compensate those affected. The planned changes for April 2016, which were earlier passed by a majority in the House of Commons, were expected to make £4.4 billion’s worth of savings— namely by reducing the wage levels at which tax credits would stop being paid in full and by increasing the rate by which they would be reduced above this level. The government hopes the National Living Wage (NLW), which also commences in April 2016, alongside changes to income tax thresholds will alleviate the changes to tax credits, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) predicts that this will only account for a quarter of lost credits in addition to noting that the NLW need only be paid to those over 25 years of age. The issue is proving highly contentious as tax credits constitute £30 billion of the annual budget and it has been reported by independent House of Commons research that changes would affect ‘almost all’ recipients of tax credits, amounting to approximately 2.3 million families. The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said he would ‘listen to the concerns that have been raised’, but noted that the result raised ‘constitutional issues’—convention has left financial decisions firmly under control of the elected MPs for a century. Mr Osborne justified his planned changes as spending on tax credits had ‘more than trebled in real terms’ since their introduction in 1999 and maintained his belief in the government’s ability to ‘reform tax credit’ as well as ‘saving the money we need to save to secure our economy’. Labour demanded a ‘full u-turn’ on the policy as Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: ‘The government have got this the wrong way around, we do want to see the tax credit bill come down because we don’t want to be subsidising poor wages but wages have to go up first’. Tax credits, which were introduced by the last Labour government, are meant to financially assist low-paid workers and children in the country, thus incentivising work and reducing child poverty. As such, there are two types: Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Children’s Tax Credit (CTC). The threshold below which tax credits will be paid in full is to fall from £6,420 to £3,480 for workers and from £16,105 to £12,125 for children. As you earn above this threshold, the amount of tax credit you receive will reduce, but under the government proposals they would reduce by an even greater rate. SNP MP Pete Wishart has suggested the almost the whole of the Scottish political community are against the planned changes, including Leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson, who is reported to have ‘raised concerns’ over the issue. Whether one refers to the tax credit changes as ‘cuts’ or ‘reform’, what is inarguable now is the significance of the House of Lord’s first rejection of a majoritypassed House of Commons financial package in 100 years. By Huw D’Costa p.6

04.11.15 There’s a great deal of talk about prospects at university. To not think about life after graduating is, we are told, foolish. I’ve been sent e-mails since 1st year informing me of the handful of graduate jobs available each month. I’ve been handed promotional flyers on campus from companies like Shell who seem eager to recruit any graduate with a relevant degree. I’ve picked up catalogs in the hub telling me which corporations are most willing to offer internships or jobs to recent graduates. Living in the moment becomes a little difficult when you’re being consistently told to think about the future. Well, a future of sorts. The thing is that the kind of future predicted by those leaflets and catalogs and e-mails is vastly different from the type of future predicted by science. The future on the Shell leaflet—full of smiling oilrig workers talking of above average salaries—is at odds with the somewhat apocalyptic future predicted by the Shell businessmen themselves. In May of this year a leaked internal document showed that Shell as a company were predicting a global temperature rise of 4C (twice the internationally agreed ‘safe’ level of warming for the planet). This news garnered a significant amount of media attention; Shell were, effectively, planning to extract fossil fuels from the earth regardless of how it would effect the planet and all the people who live upon it. However, within a week this news appeared to be largely forgotten. The global media moves fast and even a potentially damning revelation such as this couldn’t hold the world’s attention for long. We forgot about it. Only as I go through my final year of university I have begun to think about these two conflicting presentations of the future. One tells us that, although there may be slight changes, the world of the future won’t look too different from the world today. I’ll still be able to get a job for a company and earn a salary and return to the safety of home at night. Yet the other future tells me that the planet is going to drastically change in my lifetime and, regardless of my job prospects, this change is going to affect me. A lot. I’m not just talking about a difficult job market or having to struggle through an unpaid internship. What is predicted to happen is far, far more terrifying than having to be the office coffeerunner. Many scientists believe that, despite the media fanfare that will no doubt surround the Paris climate talks in December, we are just not capable of enacting the appropriate measures fast enough to stop the world’s problems before they become catastrophic. Climate change is often talked about as a problem with one sure-fire solution: getting off fossil fuels. This isn’t the case. The drastic alteration of the planet’s climate is caused by numerous industries from agriculture to fashion. And rather than being the one sole problem of humanity it is, rather, the factor that will accelerate all the other issues we urgently need to deal with. Overpopulation, terrorism, mass immigration and inequality are all going to become even larger problems should the predictions of the Shell businessmen be correct. If seeing the images of migrants in Calais desperately clambering onto lorries seems frightening now just wait until the term ‘climate migrant’ becomes common knowledge. As the planet warms and the population grows people will suddenly find themselves in places where human life has become unsustainable. Where fields of wheat once ripened there will stand only desert. Lakes will become barren craters. The number of refugees with no home, no education and no hope will increase. The fact is that companies like Shell, whom this university permits a considerable presence on our campus, are lying to us. While a few graduates of this university may very well end up working for fossil fuel companies— looking like the smiling workers on the front of their leaflets—what about the rest of us? Where is the security for the graduates whose degrees are not useful to Shell? The art history students, the anthropologists, and the trainee teachers: what happens to them when the aforementioned problems become un-ignorable? The truth right now is that our university doesn’t care what happens to those people. Money, in the short term, is more important than our collective prospects. Divestment—particularly movements organised by students—is, perhaps, one of the most hopeful prospects we have for changing the way our future looks. Divestment is essentially the opposite of investment. It involves getting rid of all bonds, stocks, or investments in morally questionable companies. During the 70s and 80s it was one of the main ways that students of universities helped put an end to apartheid in South Africa. By asking universities to make morally respectable investments students can change the way the world, and the future, looks. Naysayers will say that fossil fuel companies are simply too profitable to divest from fully. But those same people are supporting profit over the well being of the planet – personal gain as opposed to the health of the masses. As Chloe Maxmin, coordinator of Divest Harvard states: ‘What the fossil fuel divestment movement is saying to companies is your fundamental business model of extracting and burning carbon is going to create an uninhabitable planet. So you need to stop. You need a new business model’. Last year this university invited climate activists Eriel Deranger and Tanya Harnett to talk about the devastating affect tar-sands extraction is having on First Nations communities in Canada. And yet the same institution that hosted them is actively supporting the industry that is destroying their communities. Hypocrisy like this is embarrassing. Divestment from at least some branches of fossil fuel extraction is the only way this university can claim to have any moral integrity when it comes to the environment. Our university, rather than doing things that will, in real terms, improve our collective future, are doing the exact opposite. In financially supporting the fossil fuel industry this university is complicit in shaping a future that is hugely detrimental to the wellbeing of its graduates. The university’s investment strategy is far from transparent: it is almost impossible to know exactly how much we have invested in fossil fuel companies. Still, by taking a look at how much other Scottish universities have invested in the fossil fuel industry it’s fairly obvious that Aberdeen will have equally as damning figures: The University of Dundee invests 9% of its £21 million endowment fund in oil, gas and coal. Edinburgh University invests £8.6 million in the fossil fuel sector. Aberdeen’s figures aren’t freely available. However, considering Professor Alex Kemp—an award winning oil economist who made his career out of making companies like Shell more profitable and the planet more unhealthy—sits on our investment board, it doesn’t take a great deal of mental acuity to understand that this university has large amounts of money invested in the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuels as a form of energy are unsustainable, this much we all know. Aberdeen is a city utterly dependent on oil and yet we know that North Sea oil reserves cannot last forever. Without divestment, our university’s investments in fossil fuel companies will become increasing less profitable. Why not get out before they nose dive? Why not invest morally? Why not invest in a way that will help the majority of your students rather than just those who study subjects relevant to the fossil fuel industry? This really shouldn’t just be a battle fought by students interested specifically in the environment or stereotypically left-wing politics. This, unlike Corbynmania, is a global cause. Climate change will affect everyone: that is undeniable. The trouble right now is that those of us studying things that aren’t useful in extracting enormous amounts of carbon from the earth won’t be making money from the planet’s destruction. We will be suffering for it. The thing is that the kind of future predicted by those leaflets and catalogs and e-mails is vastly different from the type of future predicted by science. Features Editor: Rachael McMenemy By Ross Hunter Divestment: The University of Oil & Gas Examining divestment on a global and university scale Photo by Agustín Ruiz (flickr) p.7

04.11.15 I talked with Nobel Peace Laureate, Anti-Landmine campaigner, landmine survivor, CEO of Global Impact Strategies Inc. Executive Co-Chair of Global Covenant Partner, Co-Founder of Survivor Corps, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Partnerships and Learning at the US State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, novelist and all round peace activist Jerry White. As his extensive and impressive peace and reconciliation-oriented resume would suggest, he had a lot to offer to questions regarding religion, violence and how to stop killing in the name of God. How did you get involved in humanitarian work? Part of it comes from growing up in a bubble of privilege. I grew up in small town outside of Boston in mostly an affluent community where people sailed boast and played tennis and went to good schools. So I joke that you need to out your white male privilege very fast and say I was born with two silver spoons in my mouth and a beautiful view of the ocean. But that’s actually a little bit boring so I think part of my interest in the world was that it seemed every time I left my bubble the world seemed so much more diverse and interesting and gritty. When I was nine or ten I made my first international trip with my family for a month to Ireland and I thought it was the most magical kingdom in the world. You could see so many different shades of green I had never imagined. I milked my first cow and rode my first horse. There were so many first during that time living on a farm and travelling around. But then All hands, minds and hearts on deck: In conversation with Jerry White A dialogue on religion, violence and killing in the name of God with the Nobel Peace Laureate By Gemma Shields Let’s activate again the positive resources and narratives of religion and take action and care of others even if they are not of the same belief or community. I got in probably my first fight. There were these two Irish boys who were teasing my brother and I for not being able to speak English properly or having a funny accent and they threw some stones at us and we threw some stones back and I was like ‘oh that’s awkward’ as we were all speaking English just with different accents. But that’s how quick and at how young an age that sort of ‘difference’ can manifest. I was also very sensitive as I was growing up to the issues of the holocaust. Although there was no synagogue or mosque in my small town the story of the Jewish people and its history and the horrors whether it be from the Dreyfus Affair or from antiSemitism. This sensitivity also extended to Ku Klux Klan issues in United States. So for growing up in a bubble I was quite sensitive to the bullying of any group. I don’t know where that comes from. I think part of is was that my mother was from the catholic side of social justice so at an early age we would have to donate our first or favourite Christmas thing to an orphanage. We always had to be giving away things and as a kid you don’t understand why did you keep having to give away your favourite things but my mother, knowing that we had some privilege, was always making sure that we were going in to the city and seeing people who were struggling or didn’t have nearly as much. So it’s a little cliché you know, too much is given much is required, but I would say that I gained a sense of duty because of this, the blessing of growing up meant that I would end up serving more or having the confidence to serve. I think that some people say that social entrepreneurs like myself tend to come from some privilege so that they can almost afford to be in full service. That’s a long answer to say that because I’ve been given a lot of opportunity I have the bandwidth to be able to serve. That’s first chapter, all the way up to college age, and the second reason was of course when I did start to travel alone and I took what we call our junior year abroad, to Israel, my eyes opened up to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the traumas, historic and otherwise, tof war and then ultimately stepping on a landmine. A visceral lesson which came from actually becoming part of a conflict I otherwise had no part in. It ended up hurting me and causing some cost. Six months in the hospital is another laboratory of learning where you start to see up close and personal the types of suffering and stories around conflict. Those are all formative years and by the time I was 21 I think I was hooked on the idea that I would be a global citizen in service in trying to prevent and alleviate suffering. It’s not like suddenly you wake up one day and write a mission statement it just seems to evolve and that’s what you end up doing. How do you def ine the types of responses to human suffering with particular regard to victimhood and victimisation? It is so interesting to me why some people use victim vocabulary. It’s not just whining or pessimism or negativity, it’s something else. It‘s a palpable sense of entitlement. If you are in the presence of someone who is truly addicted to their victimhood you can almost feel energy drain out of your body. Victimhood, which I have expressed as almost an addiction or a mind-set and a lifestyle, is people who are sort of stuck in the past blaming others for their predicament whining with self pity and resenting others who are doing better or are who are more successful. The combination of all of that is a sort of a posture of taking from others, like nothing would ever fill the hole that a victim is presenting the wound to be, as if they almost don’t want it to heal because what would they have without the wound. It sounds as though I’m being critical but in fact I just find it almost sociologically interesting that there seems to be a percentage of a population who after suffering can get stuck in the victim past. Then in travelling the world I saw these other survivors who had gotten over much worse things than some victims and I thought why are they smiling? Why are they energetic? Why are they in service? Why are they active? That raised for me the question ‘what is the recipe of resilience and how does one move from being a victim to not just surviving but to survivorship to live positively and dynamically in the face of death, disability and disaster’? The answer is that it wasn’t necessarily from the psychological books or something you could read or study as much as what the wisdom of survivors taught about overcoming. That’s when I wrote a book called I Will Not Be Broken not only to share my own experience of overcoming and my struggles and losing a limb in Israel and what that meant but really the lessons and the wisdom from survivors from all around the world from Vietnam and Mozambique to Angola to Jordan to Bosnia etc. There is a collective wisdom in survivor stories and I would accentuate the difference between survivorship and survivor. For instance you have a lot of news stories that focus on ‘yesterdays attack’, like ‘shark attack at noon – stay tuned’. It’s riveting, it’s like a train wreck and people will get captivated by the moment of emergency because it’s awful and you can’t look away, so those stories of trauma grab peoples attention and grab headlines. I’m less interested in that, I’d like to prevent more of those and look at more what’s the sequel, what happened to these people five to ten years after the headline and that’s where this story came in, it was really the survivorship the was the long-term and how they used the traumas that they experienced, let the compost pile ferment and then reintegrate that in to their garden of life in a way that was productive and fruitful. Do you think the language of religion is endemic to the problem, not just what is present in various scripture but the way in we negotiate religion through language? I think when we’re dealing with why religion and violence seem coupled in history it’s maybe because these are issues of existence and existential threat there tends to be this crying out for help of the universe, that someone out here should see and hear me suffering, it’s like a yelp, so in a very primal way if someone is in pain or under threat they cry out for help. I think religion is a way of processing how to deal with the meaning of existence, violence, and survival. It’s a very fundamental, primordial, primitive approach and I mean that in a sort mythological sense, which could be positive or negative in people’s minds. There is something about this toxic mix of violence and religion that suggests religion is trying to respond to violence in the world, to make meaning of why is it people can kill their neighbour. Then there is the issue of how religion can actually build social groups of resilience to mitigate those risks. So religion and religious grouping are ways in which human beings have learned to come against violence. It is originally thought that ‘oh is it the cause of violence’, as though inter religious groups are causing trouble but in fact I think it is a response to violence. If you look at the qualities of resilience, that is belonging, a moral compass, spirituality, faith, social support, and optimism, you find that those are present in faith-based communities. Religion has primarily been a source of deep resilience making. This is important to keep in mind as it has also manifested as kerosene and fire and a flashpoint for violence, that is where conflict can be ‘religified’ and then become seemingly more intractable because of the nature of not being able to compromise on something sacred, you know God’s will. Do you think humans are inherently violent? I think human are… I want to say but I’m about to catch myself… I want to say quickly that humans are inherently good. Even from a spiritual or theological standpoint, if you are created even in a spark of god’s image that every person before you has some light and dignity worthy of respect and of equal treatment. I start with the positive, but then we have this proclivity to sort of become afraid, to function with ideas of scarcity to compete to hunt and to win over others and then to form groups that compete and hunt each other. Then something happens when groups solidify with their identity and must make an enemy of the other, I think it it’s a more sociological process that is not inherently bad. People ask this question of ‘evil’ and are people evil? I’d neuter the question and say I would rather think of it mathematically. These are mysterious words, like heaven, hell. The sacred vocabulary of religions is metaphorical and sometimes darkly poetic. Lets actually look at what’s in front of us so when King Hussein and others who have been peacemakers have shown the way out, normally it’s a pragmatic, negotiated, positive approach to a future, for example even Stalin had a reputation of being a good grandfather, so even in anyone who seems to be an agent for what others would call evil or for mass destruction I think there is an appeal, there might be just 1% or 10% or 20% of light and positivity. It might be out of pure self-interest for them, an invitation to altruism, but one can always at least try to invite better behaviour as King Hussein said ‘surely Habibi we can do better’. I just think that positive advocacy and invitation for change as opposed to throwing ketchup on people or making them out to be bad people is always the first way to go or the first path for peace building. Photo courtesy of Watson University p.8

04.11.15 What role can academia play? The thing about universities is their place for shared convening and interdisciplinary conversation and research. No one discipline actually solves the problem we are looking at. Cross-fertilising with other research I think is an important opportunity. I think that universities, unlike embassies or religious sites or circles, are perceived still to be less partisan in, for lack of a better word, fair play. People may not like that word but in a sense that can be shared and include and welcome civil society plus religious leaders plus scholars plus government officials so it’s a channel for these conversations to happen at a sophisticated and trusted level. And they’re all over the world so in fact it’s not to make the Global Covenant more academic than not, it’s just that research in universities have a critical role to play in their own pursuit of education and scholarship but also in the convening power going forward. I think that each university can serve as its own microcosm it’s not as if violence is just out there in the Middle East or Boko Haram or Burma, violence is everywhere it’s part of the human condition so understanding on what is happening or what our own country’s role in that is, or where our own community’s role and what happens on campus in terms of difficult conversations and potentials for violence, systemic or otherwise, or interpersonal. I think that this is relevant across the board so I can’t think of a juicier topic that you could actually coalesce around and develop maybe some circles of research and engagement. That can happen in Aberdeen just like it’s happening in the University of Virginia back in Charlottesville and that’s one way to make something more sustainable, not just some campaign, and see if we can bring this urgent conversation to the forefront. Research in action. And what is the f irst step then towards international hospitality? How do we help people in, in the words of the late Princess Diana with whom you worked, ‘their worst pain’? Well first I say how many… What is UK immigration policy? How many Syrians have you allowed in, what, 136? Or something, it’s something rather small. Then I think take a voice of both heart and hospitality and some bravery to say ‘we’re not afraid of diversity and of people coming from all over.’ I think that there’s something about the acceptance, the tough advocacy that is not so easy. But how can we research this how can we actually invite, how can we work with parliaments and counter xenophobic and media political reactions that are all about creating sort of structural violence and grievance and exclusion? So I know that’s a huge task because it’s psychosocial and behavioural and political, but it’s here in your back yard, in any parliament. So people have to raise their voice to say ‘we’re not afraid.’ It’s a much more interesting dinner party to have people from more than one country. Jerry White visited the University of Aberdeen to be the speaker at the 2015 Andrew Carnegie lecture entitled ‘Religion, Violence and Strategy: How to Stop Killing in God’s Name’ on October 20th 2015. What about religion? I think it is more that there are structural, economic, social, and other reasons for grievance that are quite human. Religion is a response to that and can be deployed and utilised in the service of selfish gains and competition. I don’t think the nation state is inherently violent, or religion is inherently violent. I think the issues are so complex and in most cases even in dealing with conflict around the world I have I have not found that the religious impulse is the originator of violence; instead I see that it ends up exacerbating underlying structural challenges or oppression. It is primarily the social grievance and the inequalities that end up manifesting in violence I don’t think it is religion driven. Why is religion often targeted as the proponent of conflict? What we are finding even in this covenant of religions is that there is the bias from where you sit. Whether you are secular, liberal, or a government worker you scapegoat religious groups. This is because you don’t really understand them as they are the ‘other’ and they are different. So it can be seen that the religious crowd make themselves different and they wear different costumes and are being exclusive, thus they are the problem. But that religious crowd is also looking at modernity as being sort of violent and the source of the problem. Each seems to be, in this victim paradigm, pointing at the other, blaming the other, scapegoating the other which contributes to the overall conflict and thus creating the potential for violence to break out. I found a huge bias inside government for example against religious groups and not seeing them as a source of resilience or peace building but as actually the problem and I thought well if that is your early bias it’s hard to get out of that. I try to sit back and that’s where science helps. How can we analyse and do the research, quantitative and qualitatively, on what are the correlations and the causes of violence and the triggers and when is it that religion adds its kerosene or flashpoints that make it harder to negotiate out of. But I do see that most conflicts seem more social, economic or political. In your time as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations in the US Department of State, a position to which Senator Clinton appointed you, what issues came across your desk and how satisf ied were you with their treatment? So I quite satisfied with the vision and opportunity given by the Obama administration and by Secretary Clinton to be sort of forward looking. The desire was to introduce conflict prevention and to get ahead of the curve more than just the traditional crisis response and also where the military options in budgets and resources and approach seemed to be overplayed so post Iraq and post Afghanistan there was hope that we could actually play more of a progressive and preventative role. I then was gratified by the fact that inside government there are entrepreneurial opportunities for change making. Then I realised that in fact even with that entrepreneurial opportunity bureaucracy is bureaucratic for a reason, it is by nature supposed to be slower it is supposed to be risk averse, bureaucracies in large institutions are not by nature strategic so although I wanted the United States to be more leveraged and strategic in the world and in helping to address some of the toughest conflicts of our day, even with some of the best plans or researcher data driven strategies it doesn’t mean that you are going to make progress. The US already has so many interests all around the world this is a great and huge power with fingers and tentacles and connections and networks that there is no one easy answer so its quite comprehensive and that makes us not nimble of course and ironically a nonstrategic, clumsy, obese power at some level because we have so much information and so much resource that it is difficult to actually make change. I didn’t actually realise until going in that everyone projects on to the united states ‘you’re the super power, you can tell Israel what to do, you’re the leading power of these groups,’ in fact when we even gained it out on some of our quantitative models to see if it was true and show how is it that you get to yes on Arab-Israeli negotiation for a two-state solution and it showed that every time the US leaned in with what the world wants us to do, to twist the arm of Israel or the Palestinians, the negotiations would collapse. The world wants America to lead. What does that mean? When we lead from behind or along side the Europeans it’s ‘where is the United States? On one hand you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t and it’s a dilemma for a great power like the US to try to find its way in a normalised foreign policy that is not so militarised, these are challenges that we wrestled with over three years and I’m stronger and wiser for it, I only wish that we had had more success in the last three years in reducing and preventing violent conflict. Who or what is responsible for enabling the conditions that support and promote religious violence? The roots go back of course to these longer-term issues of education and perhaps anything on its own, like faith education or Madrassas or sort of fundamentalist schools at home which that don’t balance with science or secular education. I believe that the separation of science and faith in schooling and education is problematic it leads to some dissonance, over time we’ve seen a creeping in and an exporting of a type of religious education that has not been helpful, but in and of itself whether it be fundamentalism, Salafism, Catholicism or any ism, they are not necessarily violent. I keep reiterating that there is a small fraction or percentage of those, even in any of those contexts, who may have strong views. But who picks up a gun? Who joins the militia and kills in the name of god? It is a very small group so that requires more study. There is enough blame to go around, from the religious leaders, the nation state, government actors as well as civil society or people in the communities. I start with this premise; it seems like we’re all to blame, secular and religious. So how do we dissect and break it apart? Well one thing is the enabling conditions for violence take place include taking a look at what was the type of governance? Are people feeling secure? Are their basic needs being met and is there some semblance of justice and participation? So looking at the governance question and the role of governments and their capabilities is very important. When that breaks down and we have failed states, or abuse of authority, that creates the petri dish of ripening potential for violence. On the other side are the communities themselves. When a community is divided and fractured and increasingly non resilient and suspicious of the neighbour then something is breaking down there as well, there is a lack of trust, it’s every person or every group for themselves, the tribalism seems to be accentuated under threat. So the religious crowd and the communities have a role to play and responsibility to share. Media of course and then the narratives, that’s the exacerbating conditions of any rumour or conspiracy theory that can spread like wildfire in rather destructive ways that become believable from masses or anyone. So I look at those three areas of the narratives of media, the stories that are sort of, a communication challenge and a modern one at that, the governance and the role of states and governmental or public actors and then communities and civil societies themselves and how they are interacting. When these things get separated or all default and crack on their own you seem to be getting the conditions for violence and fire to take shape. How do you combat the misconceptions that are being globally transmitted about religion and about violence? How can we help? I think it is all hands, minds, and hearts on deck. This is a global issue and a catastrophe in terms of what we’re seeing. A refugee crisis with no end in sight. So what can you do? What if you welcomed a stranger not just because you’re so altruistic because there is need, but also ‘cause there might be some excitement and benefit to the community and to yourself? So how can we shift this conversation not to be one of xenophobia and fear of the ‘other’, but of welcoming and getting to know thy neighbour in the most dynamic and lively way? So just start to talk about it differently through the positive and affirmative strategy in the cause of international hospitality not fear and fraction. How do you combat the misconceptions that are being globally transmitted about religion and about violence across a variety of communication platforms, specif ically media? You can go straight from cherry picking one scripture and taking a literal interpretation that will justify violence in the name of god, not in the context of tradition, education, learning or even being part of a larger community that understands the centuries of interpretation and go straight to the internet and social media and tweet hateful incitement. This is a dilemma of how quickly the match and the kerosene is publicised and spread which the majority at a disadvantage for the fast moving minority is manipulating media so cleverly and so intentionally and with sophistication so no one seems to have come up with a solution because of the desire for free speech. But the question is for when speech is being used and when media is being used in that way that incites violence. When this happens what does one do? I think new studies are coming out which look at ethno-linguistic markers, the semiotics or the signs which you could use to start to decipher when language actually is violent. Its valence and cadence is a quick indicator of violent behaviour. This is not just about hate speech or even some calls to violence. There is something else about when something actually turns and I don’t think the science is there yet, I’m glad that there are for example some people in Pakistan and in the University of Virginia where I’m currently teaching who are looking very specifically at this question so we could start to have a response to how you would treat an outbreak of violence and maybe tamp down the moralising and blasphemy debates and what to do and wringing our hands over media. The printing press is the printing press and social media is social media and there is no turning back the clock on this one or putting it in a bottle. So what do we do instead to make sure people are protected and that we have inhibitors in place when we have early warning that violence is going to break out. What is the Global Covenant and what are its aims? The Global Covenant is a concerted international effort to prevent and reduce religion related violence. That’s our issued assignment. It means that we’re focusing on the prevention and reduction of violence and on protecting people and places. So for one we want to stop more sacred heritage and culture from being destroyed by people due to ideological difference. Secondly, we want to help people who have been suffering because of religion related violence and war. Of course we’re talking about all the Syrian refugees, or crisis in the Middle East and North Africa, and other such human catastrophe. Engaging with religious communities is part of our resources, essentially to ‘love thy neighbour’ and to welcome the stranger. The ethos of the Abrahamic religions across the world is actually compassion and shelter and care. So let’s activate again the positive resources and narratives of religion and take action and care of others even if they are not of the same belief or community. What correlations are you measuring against? What have you found incites religious violence? So you would control for something like the role of religion in foreign fighters or people taking their gap year to go fight with ISIS? And the conventional wisdom might be like ‘oh this is an ideological or Islamic problem’ or ‘it’s actually about Sharia law or support for that.’ So you may actually misdiagnose the primacy of religion. If you don’t diagnose who they are or what the correlation of religion is then you’re looking under all the wrong bushels and it turns out that Islamic ideology and approaches to Sharia were way down on the list of having an impact or actually being the lead influence on where people are coming from and why they were joining ISIS. Similarly like you would do scientifically and examine to what extent does under-unemployment mean when you’re coming from Australia or Finland or the United States, and you realise that that wasn’t the issue either people were coming with education and some means connected to diaspora communities, that may have facilitated their ability to travel far to Syria and Iraq and join up with the Islamic State. So part of this is just old fashioned, can you neutralise the conversation and get the diagnostics right, and there may be examples of misdiagnosing the primacy of religion or exacerbating it by not understanding the religious language being used. So one of the other things in terms of science we have to measure is how to navigate the religious landscape in terms of conflict which requires some sensitivity and understanding as to how all groups behave under existential threat. p.9

04.11.15 The luxury of womanhood Analysing the progress of the movement against the period tax Two things are certain in life: death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin’s words have become synonymous with modern life. There are taxes on income, clothes, and certain foods but fortunately there are certain items that we are not taxed on—edible sugar flowers, exotic meats such as crocodile and kangaroo and of course private helicopters and jets. These real essentials of life, luckily, are left out of the tax bracket. Tampons on the other hand have been deemed a non-essential, luxury item and therefore are still taxed. Laura Coryton, a student at Goldsmiths University, has had enough. In 2014 she started the ‘Stop taxing periods. Period.’ movement when she created on online petition, through change.org, to have the UK government abolish this tax on all female sanitary products, and in the process of doing so has brought light to an issue that few even knew existed. The campaign started off as a small student run movement but has continued to gain momentum over the last year, with the online petition alone now comprising of more than 260,000 signatures (at the time of writing), and even has its own hashtag, #endtampontax—a must for any movement these days—forcing politicians to address the problem. The past year is not the first time the tax on sanitary products has come under fire. In 2001, during the first term of Tony Blair’s labour government, a campaign led by Labour MP Dawn Primarolo successfully petitioned to have the tax on sanitary products brought down from the standard VAT rate of 17.5% to only 5%—the lowest taxable rate allowed under current European Union legislation. This 5% tax rate costs the average woman £3 a year, therefore although the financial impact of the tax, on top of the standard price, is limited, the symbolic nature of the tax is what campaigner Laura Coryton has the most issue with. In an interview with The Telegraph in 2014, Coryton said, ‘It send out a damaging message to society and says women aren’t important, and that’s a really dangerous message to send’. The movement though has continued to grow despite the fact that many politicians have told campaigners that the movement is essentially a lost cause. The European Union— through a unanimous vote by all 28 member states—is the only body able to overturn the tax in its entirety, not the UK government. This has led some commentators to believe that the campaign by people like Ms. Coryton is unfairly targeting the UK government because they are politically shackled by limitations imposed on them by the European Union. However, that has not deterred campaigners. In March 2015 Ms. Coryton and other campaign supporters handed in a petition to Downing Street, which at the time had over 200,000 signatures, in an attempt to force the hand of the government over this issue. When handing in the petition to Number 11 Ms. Coryton stated: ‘It’s so important to get rid of tampon tax. It was introduced by a male dominated Government in 1973 and it has sexist undertones’. Other supporters of the movement who were present like student Sarah Morgan said her interest in the movement was partly down to striving for gender equality. Most recently the campaign found a new ally in Labour MP Paula Sheriff. In early September of this year Sheriff proposed an amendment to the Finance Bill which would force Chancellor George Osborne to exempt sanitary products from VAT. However, last week the House of Commons rejected the amendment by a vote of 305 to 287. A narrow win for the government, with many Tory backbenchers joining forces with Labour MPs and others to vote in favour of abolishing the so called tampon tax. The Treasury, prior to the vote, instead vowed to discuss the issue with the EU commission. Treasury Minister David Gauke stated that ‘[t]his debate illustrates there is very considerable cross-party support for the UK to abolish VAT on sanitary products. Despite her disappointment Ms. Coryton wrote in The Telegraph after the vote that the outcome the can still be seen as a success: ‘This is the first time the Government has made a commitment to ending sanitary tax and it’s something us campaigners won’t forget’. Furthermore, she added: ‘Osborne must now tackle the EU head on and will do so over the next 12 months. He wants to make sure we can comfortably remain within the EU whilst defeating sanitary tax—as do most supporters of this campaign. Our motives may differ, but for the first time, we’re all on the same page’. Yet others have contested that the government is merely playing to the electorate and to potential rebel MPs within their own party, in an attempt to prevent the movement moving forward in a political sense and also to stop it attracting any more negative attention for the UK government. Undoubtedly progress has been made in the last year, yet there is some criticism that the Treasury and the government as a whole are trying to fob off the problem onto Europe, so as to get the attention away from themselves. From a small petition on the internet to a national campaign that’s been covered by every major news organisation and media outlet and that is now a real political issue debated in the halls of government. It’s clear that this movement has made strides of progress in the last year if only by making the issue one that everyone has now thought about, whether you agree with Ms. Coryton or not. And now the movement has the potential to go even further, becoming more international as it moves onto the European stage. By Julian Wirtz The campaign started off as a small student run movement but has continued to gain momentum over the last year Photo by Shattonberry (Wikimedia Commons) p.10

04.11.15 Opine Editor: Maximilian Fischbach Blair is attempting to amend his public image and maintain his authority as a voice in the postThatcher world he helped create. The Blair blame game Taking a look at the walking contradiction that is Tony Blair, former ‘man of the people’ and current multimillionaire. By Jamie Ellis I t seems a lifetime ago since Tony Blair first stepped into Number 10 as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and rightly so, seeing as though many of us students would have been in high-chairs at the time, or not yet born. How new is New Labour these days? The answer is: not very. In 1997, Blair conveyed the image of being at one with the zeitgeist: a young man with a young family, part of the middle-classes who saw growth over the near two decades of Tory rule—the result was a success, and he won more seats than the party has ever attained before. Now aged 62, a multimillionaire and quite possibly the most hated man in Britain, he must surely ask himself as does many others,: Whatever happened to Mondeo man? If there was only one thing that lead Blair to be unable to walk the streets he once claimed to represent, it would be the Iraq war. Hundreds of thousands of Brits protested against it, some of the biggest demonstrations the world has ever seen. Unfortunately they fell on deaf ears and he chose to go ahead with it. Now that Sir John Chilcot is finally getting around to finalising his long overdue report as to whether, in essence, the Iraq War was legal or not, Blair is attempting to mend his public image and maintain his authority as a voice in the post-Thatcher world he helped create. In an interview with CNN, Blair said ‘I can say that I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong because, even though he had used chemical weapons extensively against his own people, against others, the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought’. This halfway house of an apology just cannot do, and the way that he passed the buck of blame when ultimately the final say was his is shameful. It has been seen world-wide as a plea-bargain in the wake of the ‘damning’ Chilcot report. What would be wise then for Blair to do is attempt to reclaim favour with Labour party members and current king-pins but instead he has been openly against the strong support for current leader Jeremy Corbyn: telling members to ‘get a transplant’ if they felt their heart was for him in the leadership election; with the belief that his comments would be welcomed as a member of the old guard who knew what he was talking about. Sadly for him though his opinions were made about as welcome as a fart in a space-suit. They tested the loyalty of some of his closest former colleagues: most notably his former Deputy PM John Prescott who lambasted his comments as ‘unacceptable’ and warning Blair that ‘it is Iraq and not Jeremy Corbyn that stops people voting Labour’, and there is no doubt that Blair’s views in fact unwittingly helped Corbyn’s case. After a recession and losing two general elections, the Labour party is rife with in-fighting, still torn over what Blair’s legacy should be. Nowadays, some eight years after his stepping down, Tony Blair remains a millstone around his party’s neck. With whatever friends he still has in parliament, they’re considered old-hat and the term Blairite is thrown about like a dirty word. Once the Chilcot enquiry will at long last be released in 2016, or so he says, I hope it will be some sort of closure to the Labour party which is still haunted by the repercussions of Blair’s decisions. Tunisia: the first to blossom in the Arab Spring Discussing Tunisia’s unique role in the Arab Spring and its inspiring endurance in the aftermath Tunisia—the country where it all began; where by setting himself on fire, the street vendor Bouazizi set a whole revolution in motion that spread through North Africa and the Middle East, now known as the Arab Spring. Slogans demanding democratic elections, the retreat of autocratic rulers, and equal rights for all citizens dominated the streets of these countries, as well as the news and internet. Yet despite strong efforts most of these countries have reached a stand-still or suffered from severe setbacks—one must only look around Tunisia to counties such as Egypt and Libya. Tunisia, however, is different. Only 10 days after Bouazizi’s death Ben Ali gave up power and fled the country. Nine months later, in October 2011, Tunisia held parliamentary elections with the winner being a coalition of the right-wing religious party, al-Nahda (Renaissance) and two other parties (one on the left and the other mainly secular liberals). Hamadi Jebali (al-Nahda) became the first prime minister who later resigned due to internal pressure from the coalition in favour of a more Islamist way. The following years were strained by political assassinations by the Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia. Unhappy with the perceived inaction of the government, Tunisians, again, decided to fill the streets with unions, women, and student groups. The request was simple: the resignation of al-Nahda in exchange for a more neutral, technocratic government. At this stage, the country was considered at the brink of civil war and it came as a surprise to many that this did not occur. The outcome was very much influenced by the country’s civil society, strongly supported by the National Dialogue Quartet. Through negotiations and dialogue, they achieved the withdrawal of al-Nahda, which was replaced with a technocratic government under which a new, secular constitution was written. In October last year, new elections were held and won by a secularist party. For its remarkable efforts as a mediator and driving force, the National Dialogue Quartet was rewarded by the Nobel Prize 2015 ‘for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011’. It consists of two labour unions, a lawyer’s guild and a human rights organisation joined together in 2013 (with other youth demonstrators) as a result of political assassinations and social unrest. In the light of the demise of its neighbouring countries, Tunisia managed to choose a different path even though the civil war was always lurking in the shadows. What differentiated it from its neighbours? For one, Tunisia has a relatively small military, which never had very strong ties with the government of Ben Ali. Possibly influenced by what happened in Egypt, the military commanders also decided to refrain from interfering in politics. Furthermore, Tunisia is a fairly religiously homogenous entity with the majority of the population being Sunni Muslim. In light of other Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen where there are many religious branches fighting for power, this puts Tunisia in a unique position. Moreover, when the secularist party came into power in Tunisia, it did not forbid and repress other religious parties like the al-Sisi government in Egypt. First and foremost, this shows progress and a willingness to engage in real democratic politics. Another large difference is the absence of major U.S. interference in Tunisian affairs. Apart from its military aid, it has kept its hands firmly out of Tunisian business, which stands in contrast to the role it has played in the rise of civil war in other Arab countries. How long this will stay that way is debatable given the advancing presence of IS in the neighbouring countries. It is interesting to note that Barack Obama, was also nominated for the Nobel Prize 2015 even though the U.S. recently bombed a hospital in Kuduz (Afghanistan) in which the Médecins Sans Frontiéres (Doctors Without Borders) was operating. Historically, the Nobel Prize has indeed been received by some rather questionable figures, including Henry Kissinger, however in this instance, the committee picked a deserving group. The Quartet took Tunisia one step closer to letting the Arab Spring blossom and achieve the goals it has fought for. Today, Tunisia still faces many economic and security challenges but the way it has gone about its political transition reflects the strength and capabilities of its civil society. Awarding the Quartet with the Nobel Prize was a good choice as it also serves as an inspiration for other political actors in that change is achievable through dialogue. By Emily Gordine p.11 Photo by World Economic Forum (Flickr)

04.11.15 As Trudeau forms a new government, the choices he will make on energy policy, bilateral relations with the U.S., military deployments, and foreign aid programs will shape the political topography of North America and perhaps even some regions around the world. CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTIONS 2015 Liberal Conservative New Democratic Bloc Québécois Greens 39.5% 32.9% 19.7% 4.7% 3.4% p.12 By Aleksi Korpela Coming from the European realm of politics, one is susceptible to the prevalent temptation to regard Canadian political developments as mere trifles forever dwarfed by the gravitas of the United States. Outsiders perceive Canada’s foreign political function to be the augmentation of the capacities of the United States, while simultaneously projecting the softer North American values of peacekeeping, development, and conflict mediation. As for Canadian domestic politics, they have always been of a welfarist predilection, right? Au contraire! These perceptions are misguided. Historically, Canada has maintained a largely minimal government in order to attract investment and immigration from the United States and elsewhere. The underlying rationale for a long time was to maintain a competitive edge by matching tax rates with those of the United States. It was not until the mid-1970s that the federal government began operating on a deficit, and public spending increased considerably. For the last nine years under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government (2006-2015), Canadian foreign policy and political rhetoric has been tough, forthright, and sometimes confrontational. Canada has taken actions independent of the United States, and demonstrated its willingness to defy U.S. political leadership at times. Hence, subservience and timidity are not necessarily Canada’s modus operandi. This raises the question: what then is Canada’s role in the world? Naturally, the answer to that question is contingent on who the leader of the True North strong and free happens to be. Lucky for us, there was just an election. Canada operates under a Westminster parliamentary system of government. Voters elect representatives from the districts (called ‘ridings’) to the House of Commons based on the firstpast-the-post electoral system. The leader of the party with the most seats becomes prime minister if the party has a simple majority of seats (170), or the other parties do not form a larger coalition. After an 11-week election cycle, Canadians cast their vote on October 19th with the Liberal Party winning a momentous 185 out of 338 seats with 39.47% of the vote. The 23rd prime minister will be the leader of the Liberal Party Justin Trudeau—currently the prime minister-designate—who will eventually replace Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Three major and several smaller political parties dominate contemporary Canadian politics. The Liberals (also referred to as to the Grits) occupy the political centre and centre-left of the Canadian political spectrum. The Conservatives (colloquially referred to as the Tories) occupy the centreright and right-wing. In this federal election, Tories won 99 seats (down from 159) with 31.9% of the vote. The New Democratic Party (NDP) occupies the left-wing of Canadian politics with some discrepancy and has been a fairly small party since being founded in 1961. In federal elections, the NDP never gained more than 43 seats until 2011 when they devastated the Grits and attained 103/308 seats. With the Honourable Tom Mulcair as the party leader, the NDP managed to win 44 seats with 19.7% of the vote in the 2015 federal election. The Bloc Québécois received 4.7% of the vote and attained 10 seats, and the Green Party received 1 seat with 3.5% of the vote. The incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the 45-year-old son of the iconic Pierre Trudeau, who served as PM from 1968-1979 and 1980-1984. He holds a BA in English Literature and Education, studied engineering and environmental geography, and worked as a French and mathematics teacher. He became more involved in the Liberal Party in 2006, received the party’s nomination for the Papineau riding in 2007, and subsequently won the riding in the 2008 and 2011 elections. In 2012, Trudeau launched his bid for the party’s leadership and won with over 80% of the party’s vote in 2013. But what does this young, political tyro have to offer? Besides his mesmeric looks, Trudeau is an impassioned public speaker and presents himself as the defender of public interest, Canadian values, and international liberalism. In contrast to his opponents in the campaign, Trudeau depicted himself as a passionate and articulate character, possessing a mien of civic representation—no doubt aided by the political legacy of his iconic father. During the election cycle, his policy platform included the following major items: tax cuts for the middle class, higher taxes for the upper classes and major corporations, increased spending on infrastructure, support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, the ending of combat missions against Daesh (although the training and humanitarian missions would be intensified), cautious support for Keystone XL, the increased intake of Syrian refugees, and the legalisation of marijuana. Furthermore, Trudeau promises a better relationship with the United States and an end to the ‘confrontational’ foreign policy of PM Harper. All this is fine and skookum (the Canadian equivalent of the American awesome) but it does not demonstrate why we should care about Canada. Why Canada matters is because of power: Canadian power as it pertains to the military, energy, and influence. Historically, Canada played a pivotal role in the establishment of UN peacekeeping operations in the 1950s. Since the mid-1990s, Canadian participation in these has declined as involvement in NATO-led operations has increased. Canadian military units are currently deployed in Poland, Germany, Kuwait, and Ukraine, and are involved in the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria. Due to Canada’s pristine international reputation, Canadian involvement in military operations is an asset lending necessary political credibility and legitimacy to international action. Additionally, the Global Fire Power Index ranks Canada as the 14th strongest military in the world, boasting advanced technical capabilities and sophisticated weapon systems. Hence, Canada is no mere trifle. Canadian oil is much like Canadian maple syrup: viscous, exported, and eternal. Canada is the fifth largest oil producer in the world and is the source of one-third of the oil used in the United States. While the Canadian dollar has suffered during the global oversupply of oil, Canada still boasts the third largest oil reserves with nearly 173 billion barrels of proven deposits. Additionally, Canada has some of the highest reserves in natural uranium and holds a high rank on the production of hydroelectricity, making it a formidable giant on the international stage in renewable and nuclear energy, alongside oil and gas. Lastly, Canada remains important due to its ability to project soft power globally. Sure, softness cannot stop a nuclear war, but it can shape international landscapes. Canadian political influence stretches far due to its broad and amiable diplomatic relations, its image as a cordial nation, and its significant contributions to peace and foreign aid. Currently, Canada is the tenth largest aid donor in the world, and is involved in many major critical hotspots throughout the world. But most importantly, in a world undergoing a maelstrom of instability, ataraxic Canadian social, political, economic, food, and energy stability is a welcome addition to the olio of international chaos. In sum, the Canadian elections matter because Canada matters. As Trudeau forms a new government, the choices he will make on energy policy, bilateral relations with the U.S., military deployments, and foreign aid programmes will shape the political topography of North America and perhaps even some regions around the world. Who knows, we might even be in the incunabula of a fundamentally Canadian century—or not. At the very least, we can state that Canadian political developments are of international significance, and that this frigorific country is far from inutile when it comes to international affairs. O Canada: why do you matter? Canada’s political system, Trudeau’s victory and what that means for the country’s place in the global community Photo by Magnus Manske (Wikimedia Commons)

04.11.15 DISCLAIMER All opinions expressed in the Opine section are those of the authors of the articles and do not necessarily represent views held by The Gaudie, AUSA, or any company which advertises in The Gaudie. p.13 By Jamie Smith Despite its popularity due to our early memories of trick or treating with our friends and now the host of weird and wonderful costume parties it gives us a legitimate excuse to go to, it’s probably the least understood of our holidays here in the UK. We’re vaguely aware of the reasons for Easter (something about a giant bunny that disperses chocolate eggs for some reason) and Christmas (obviously Santa’s birthday according to some American toddlers) the reasons to celebrate Halloween are a lot less clear. The tradition of Halloween can be traced all the way back to the night before the ancient Celt festival of Samhain. This was essentially their equivalent of New Year’s Eve, since the Celtic New Year which Samhain marked was on the 1st of November. They believed that this one night the dead returned to earth in the form of ghosts due to the boundaries between this world and the spirit world blurring. The ghosts caused all sorts of trouble, like destroying crops and hurting people they felt had wronged them in life. However, they also allowed Celtic druids to look into the future. To do so, they burnt offerings to the gods in huge bonfires, and wore animal heads and skins—a slightly more grisly costume than the playful ones we see today. There was also a belief, held long into the middle ages, that if you wore some kind of mask or disguise, vengeful spirits would not be able to recognise you as human—they would take one look at your ghastly mug and assume that you had to be a spirit. All of this was stopped of course, when the Romans invaded. By 43A.D., most of the Celts were firmly under Roman rule, and so had to observe Roman holidays and festivals. Two of these, Feralia and Pomona, had an impact on Samhain—Feralia was in late October and was when the Romans mourned their dead relatives; Pomona was a day dedicated to the Roman goddess of trees and fruits, whose symbol was an apple. You guessed it: this is where the tradition of bobbing for apples is likely to come from. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the new power in Rome —the Pope—also influenced the holiday. All Saints Day, a day commiserating saints and martyrs, was held on the traditional day of Samhain. People celebrated this much like the Celts had celebrated Samhain, by having bonfires and dressing up, but this time as angels, demons and saints rather than wearing mouldy animal pelts. This celebration was also called Allhallows because Middle English for All Saints Day was Alholowmesse. The night before, October 31st, came to be known as All-Hallows Eve. See where this is going? Over time, the day became Halloween as we know and love it today. But then, where did trick or treating come from? During the All Souls Parade in the Middle Ages, poor families would often go around begging for soul cakes, a type of pastry, in return for praying for the givers family. The local children would often copy this tactic, and would go around at night begging for food, alcohol (!) and money. There was also a Celtic tradition of leaving a bowl of food and wine outside your door at night as a way of bribing spirits to leave you alone. As for the tricking, presumably there used to be the belief that if the spirit was not pleased with your offering, it would ransack your house or cause you harm. Luckily, disappointed kids these days tend to stick to eggs and toilet paper. So, Halloween has a long historical tradition, especially in Britain where the ancient Celts called home. Over the years it has changed from a solemn religious ceremony to an excuse to dress up and go and have a good time, but I would argue that it remains as key a part of our culture as it has ever been. After all, since when have you needed an excuse to going out, looking like an idiot with your friends and have a good time? Halloween: from druids to drinking Examining whether Obama has a coherent foreign policy doctrine By Rebecca Lindsay The vegetarian versus meateating discussion is a long-standing debate that is unlikely to be fully resolved. The past two months alone have seen two highly publicised resurfacings of the argument against eating meat. The first was put forward by Labour’s Kerry McCarthy, Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who publicly stated ‘that meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it’. The second consisted of an announcement from the World Health Organisation, which stated that eating processed meats—such as bacon, sausages and ham—can lead to cancer. The reactions of both vegetarians and meat-eaters to the latter announcement have included statements of pride and defiance. For example, one vegetarian took to Twitter and shared, ‘I haven’t been this smug to be a vegetarian since lasagne turned out to be full of horse #cancerbacon’, while a meat-eater claimed, ‘I stopped smoking. I even stopped drinking. But you’re going to have to take my beef, my bacon, and my hamburgers out of my cold dead hands’. Although the BBC contextualised the World Health Organisation’s claim, by stating that ‘21% of bowel cancers are caused by processed or red meat’ in comparison to ‘86% of lung cancers […] caused by tobacco’, the claim has again shown the divide between vegetarians and meat-eaters. Arguments for becoming vegetarian include the belief in the immorality of eating another living creature, the treatment of the animals in the meat industry, the effect of the methane gas emissions from the animals on the planet, and now the recent confirmation that high amounts of red and processed meats can cause cancer. As shown, there are many reasons behind vegetarian ideology. Is there at least one cause that could unite vegetarians and meat-eaters in a joint campaign? The answer is yes. The treatment of animals in the meat industry is a cause that both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike can aim to drastically improve. Extreme campaigns, like McCarthy’s proposal, are more likely to cause meat-eaters to act defensively and stoutly refuse to listen to any vegetarian suggestions. Instead of trying to change meat-eaters’ ideologies, vegetarians and meat-eaters should accept that each group has different beliefs, and put them temporarily aside, in order to change the treatment of animals in the meat-industry. Approximately 8 billion animals are slaughtered in the UK every year for food. Although there are legal regulations in place that aim to protect animals at the time of killing, animals are still injected with hormones, kept in a post-pregnancy state for extended periods of time, killed at a young age, and forced to live in cramped spaces. Groups like the Humane Slaughter Association campaign for improved living conditions for animals and research different types of euthanasia. However, as animals are still subject to this treatment, not enough is being done. Meat-eaters do not need to be vegetarians to legitimately care about animals and the treatment they are subject to. The combined effort of vegetarians and meateaters is likely to have enough force and influence to achieve humane living conditions for animals. In order to prevent the need for hormone injections, which will allow animals to have a more natural life, guidelines for reducing—not extinguishing— the eating of meat is also a campaign for which vegetarians and meat-eaters can unite to achieve. Again, while also acknowledging and respecting that both groups have different ideologies. Vegetarians and meat-eaters do not need to be enemies. Yes, they have different ideologies. Yes, they have differing opinions on morality. But both groups can equally care and campaign for the rights of animals in the meat industry. And, united, they can make a difference. The common cause of vegetarians and meat-eaters? Contextualising the importance of diet preferences Over the years it has changed from a solemn religious ceremony to an excuse to dress up and go and have a good time, but I would argue that it remains as key a part of our culture as it has ever been. Photo by Will Montague (Flickr)

04.11.15 Opine Editor: Maximilian Fischbach Valkan Hambarliev is neither a hero, nor a sinner. He is an ordinary Bulgarian border guard who was at work during the unfortunate night. Either shoot or run away! Making the case for Valkan Hambarliev following the refugee incident in Bulgaria By Kiril Pehlivanov On October 16th, 2015 the migrant crisis in Europe reached new heights. News agencies all over Europe woke up to the news that during the previous night an Afghan migrant was shot dead by a Bulgarian border guard some 50 kilometers away from the Bulgaria-Turkey border. Here is the chronology of events briefly. At around 10pm on Thursday night (October 15th, 2015) a Bulgarian border patrol, consisting of two border guards and a policeman, stumbled on 54 offenders, who illegally entered the country. The migrants, all well-built men, aged between 20 and 30, identifying themselves as Afghans, resisted detainment and turned aggressive. One of the border guards, Valkan Hambarliev, fired a warning shot in the air. Unfortunately, a ricochet of the bullet occurred and one of the migrants was fatally injured. Reactions to the accident were not late. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that they were ‘deeply shocked’, and that they condemn that the accident resulted in the death of a man in an attempt to exercise his human right to seek refuge. UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov urged the Bulgarian authorities to execute an independent and objective investigation. The European Commission’s President, Jean-Claude Juncker reacted: ‘We are with Bulgaria!’ President of the European Council Donald Tusk said that the most important thing was the protection of the EU’s external borders. The accident induced heated debates amongst the people of Bulgaria. Part of them declared that the border guard was a hero. Another part shared the opinion of the UNHCR. Valkan Hambarliev is neither a hero, nor a sinner. He is an ordinary Bulgarian border guard who was at work during the unfortunate night. Valkan is a person who was performing his official duties to protect the border of Bulgaria. No doubt he is a brave man. Put yourself in his place! It was a dark night, outside a small Bulgarian town of Sredets, you and two of your colleagues against fifty four aggressive offenders of the national border, who refuse to be detained. Bear in mind the fact that the migrants were not armed. Would you shoot one of these people in order to scare the rest? Or would you shoot more than one? Or you would rather run away? You might also prefer to hide somewhere and wait for the reinforcement to come but by that time you might not see the migrants again. Valkan chose to shoot but he did not do it against the people, he simply fired a warning shot in the air. He was a victim of unfortunate circumstances. The moral choice of this man must be respected. Despite the real threat to his life, he chose not to run away. Before they enter into service, all Bulgarian border guards give an oath: ‘Not a single step back, behind us is Bulgaria!’ Valkan turned out to be a man of his word. The Bulgarian prosecution is currently collecting evidence and prepares to charge Valkan with ‘culpable homicide in the course of exceeding the boundaries of inevitable defense to protect the national and public interests’. Being charged is a matter of time because many international institutions are strictly observing the investigation. It will be then for the Bulgarian courts to decide the legal outcome of this case. Nevertheless, the moral question remains. Valkan chose to shoot, and what about you? UK politics: it’s time for a radical overall The recent incident over tax credits shows how flawed our political system is. Let’s change it I n a battle of morals I believe the UK’s upper house voted correctly by opposing the tax credit changes proposed by George Osborne. The House of Lords made the right call. But the fact that the UK has an unelected upper-chamber, one able to vote down an elected government’s proposal is a big problem in a so-called twenty-first century democracy. This debate over tax credits epitomises the flaws of the current constitutional arrangement. The House of Lords is unelected. On the one hand, of course there is an intellectual argument to having professionals and leaders in their field having a say in how things are done. There is a great deal that elected bodies can learn from these people, but not in their current places. These people are important, but not in one of our parliamentary houses; instead they would be better suited advising our political leaders on advisory committees. Furthermore, the House of Lords is not even chosen in this way. The House is made up of a few hereditary peers, religious leaders and members chosen by the parties. So even this argument fails to stand up to scrutiny. But of course there are problems with the lower chamber too, problems that needs to be clearly addressed. On a micro level, MPs are not allowed to clap (yet are free to make strange grunting noises and cackle away) or even call each other by their names. These rules are ridiculously archaic and still need changed, but the bigger picture must be thought about first. The voting system used to elect MPs, where members are elected in 650 single member constituencies, results in a disproportionate chamber. How can we still live in a country where a party getting 37% of the votes gets over 50% of the seats? How is it fair that a party gets 50% of the votes in Scotland and almost all the seats but the next placed party gets 24% of the votes but just one seat? And how is it democratic that one party gets 12.6% of the vote and just a singular seat? This is modern Britain. This has gone on far too long. First-past-the-post was a more effective voting system when the UK had a party system of just two parties, but in the age of multiparty politics there needs to be a shift, one that reflects the all important voice of the people. Sure, coalitions and minority governments will be a lot more common, but as they work in the likes of Germany, why can’t they work here? Is there momentum for such much needed changes? David Cameron has said that he regrets not reforming the House of Lords, but it is difficult to imagine this Conservative majority government making the radical changes needed on that particular issue. As for changing the voting system to a much more proportional one, the cogs for change are already turning. Nick Clegg blew the chance for change in the last parliament when he compromised and went for a referendum on the Alternative Vote—which isn’t even proportional—but change is in the air. This year’s election was one of the most disproportionate elections in living memory. In May, following the election, five parties— the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Greens, Plaid Cymru and UKIP—united and took a petition to Downing Street with almost half a million signatures. With a Conservative majority government things are unlikely to change in the immediate future, but with parties uniting in a common cause, and with people realising how unfair the 2015 election was change, is in the winds. We cannot be passive. We must unite and fight for the change this country desperately needs. The system is broken. Let’s fix it.The system is broken. Let’s fix it. By Richard Wood Photos left to right by: UK Parliament (Flickr); graneits (Flickr) p.14

04.11.15 How the bloody Hell are we going to get Scotland red again? We may as well saw it off and let in float into the North Sea for all the electoral good it’s currently doing for us. I don’t think the whole ‘Jez and Kez’ thing is working for us either. I was thinking of rehiring Ed Miliband back and having ‘Jezward’ as a legitimate double act. We’d be like Batman and Robin, if Robin was too socially inept to come to Batman’s aid on any occasion. I wonder what Ed Miliband is doing nowadays. I’m tempted to get him to knock down that ridiculous pledge stone thing he built in London with nothing more than a screwdriver and an undersized hammer. That should keep him busy long enough to fade into irrelevance. Milibland is just one of those MPs, like many others, who need a good crack of the socialist whip on their backs. I will turn Parliament into a Politburo yet... The Chinese do have some good ideas, I suppose. I’m less keen on the capital punishment but the way some of my MPs are voting, it may be worthwhile putting the idea to guarantee a consistent allegiance, if you will. That’s not bad, considering what I’ve heard about David Cameron’s initiation rituals into the Tory cabinet. Apparently they herald back to his schooldays. No idea what that might be. I can’t believe Hameron has sodded off to Iceland to sort his relationship with the EU. And by ‘sort’, I mean irreplaceably damage and probably ruin. Then again, I don’t think I’d have much success with Merkel and Co. She has a better beard than I do, and to be quite frank I’m not sure I’m really into strict German Frauen. I can’t have too many of those experiences, but at least Germany doesn’t have that rotten two child policy, so my illegitimate children will, in generations to come, infiltrate the Reichstag and raise the bearded hammer and sickle above Berlin. Nothing went wrong the last time that happened, right? I’d rather have them running around Germany than around Britain. Even our kids’ charities are dying unnatural deaths. Look at Kids Company. All the money that went to that charity ended up going on dye for Camilla Batmanghelidjh’s clothes. Sure, she looked like some kind of überJoseph, but that money could have gone on my bastard children! Instead, they’ll be frolicking in Die Hochschule for a few more years yet. Overheard by Christopher Wood Puzzles Editor: David Robertson ADVANCEDSUDOKU        ffi   fl   ffi   ffi            STANDARDSUDOKU      fl   ffi      fl ffi fl        fl    fl  ffi  Down 1. Device permitting access to restricted area (7) 2. Person who causes destruction of property (8) 3. Fabric accessory (6-12) 5. Take hold; employ (3) 6. Slightly unwell (3,2,5) 7. Four-sided shape with no right angles (13) 10. Choice morsel of food or gossip (US) (6) 11. Green legume, known for ornamental usage (6,4) 12. Bog (4) 16. Reduce; diminish (6) 18. Chilled pack filled with water or gel (3,3) 19. Composer of The Four Seasons (7) 24. Trainee working to satisfy experience qualifications (6) 25. Declare one’s public approval (7) 27. Spanish Romantic painter and printmaker (4) 29. Time-zone observed in Ontario and Québec (abbrev.) (3) 30. Practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest (5) 31. Accidentally strike against something (4) 33. Widely produced synthetic polmer (abbrev.) (3) 34. Period of time anticipating an event or occasion (3) CLASSICCROSSWORD By David Robertson        fl ffi         fl ffi         fl ffi         Across 1. No longer present (4) 3. Inquire too inquisitively (3) 4. Decorative coating applied to ceilngs and walls (6) 8. Reference address to find interent resources (abbrev.) (3) 9. The topic being dealt with (7,6) 13. In or into complete or approximate contact (4) 14. Decant Gherkin (anag.) (7,6) 15. Swiss transnational food and beverage company (6) 17. Business managed by independent companies or individuals rather than the state (7,10) 20. Lazy; inert (4) 21. Happen or occur as a result (5) 22. Sodium bicarbonate (6,4) 23. Greek Goddess of victory (4) 26. To quarrel (11) 28. Originally called; born as (French) (3) 31. To investigate; suspect (UK slang) (6,3) 32. Unnaccountable change of mood (7) 35. Artist associated with Neil Young (4) 36. Program providing humanitarian aid to children and mothers (abbrev.) (6) 37. Unborn, developing fetus (6) I’m less keen on the capital punishment but the way some of my MPs are voting, it may be worthwhile putting the idea to “guarantee a consistent allegiance” Visit www.thegaudie. co.uk/puzzles on Thursday for solutions p.15

04.11.15 Aberdeen University Golf Club emerged victorious in the recent north of Scotland event against representatives from Robert Gordon University and North East Scotland College on October 21st. Euan Brown, an AU first year playing out of Haggs Castle Golf Club in Glasgow, took the top spot ahead of RGU student Jordan Bell and another Aberdeen golfer Conor Stewart. The competition was the inaugural Scottish Student Sport regional golf event, which was hosted at Newmachar Golf Club in Aberdeenshire. 23 golfers from Aberdeen University joined up with 11 from RGU and two from North East Scotland College to participate. The match was set up using the Stableford scoring system, which sees points awarded on each hole in order to make the game more competitive, and was partially funded by the SSS organisation to make it as accessible for all as possible. On a day that saw many birdies, eagles, chip ins, and other fine examples of golfing skill, Euan Brown achieved the best score of 45, three points ahead of Jordan Bell and six points ahead of Conor Stewart, while further back, three Aberdeen University students finished in a five way tie for fourth place. Unsurprisingly, the winner was also successful in the ‘best fresher’ category, and Aberdeen also picked up the award for best lady thanks to the efforts of Catriona Macdonald. The inaugural event is one of several to be played in various regions throughout the country, as an initiative to compliment the British Universities and Colleges Sport and SSS events, and to provide competitive golf experience to as wide a variety of students as possible. The event was summarised by Scottish Student Sport’s golf manager Rob Macpherson saying that he was “pleased that the day had proved such a great success”, and there are plans for the event to occur again early next year. Aberdeen awarded European aquatic event Sport Editor: Alistair Hunter The Aberdeen Aquatics Centre is set to be the host of the European Junior Championships for swimming in 2020 For full results go to www.bucs.org.uk/ Do you want your sports club featured in the Gaudie? Send an email to [email protected] and ‘like’ the Gaudie on Facebook. SPORTS RESULTS BADMINTON Aberdeen Mens 1st 12 Stirling Mens 2nd 0 BASKETBALL Aberdeen Mens 1st 51 Strathclyde Mens 1st 70 Edinburgh Mens 1st 78 Aberdeen Mens 1st 41 Edinburgh Womens 2nd 49 Aberdeen Womens 1st 44 FENCING Heriot Watt Mens 1st 126 Aberdeen Mens 1st 130 Aberdeen Womens 1st 135 Dundee Womens 1st 71 Aberdeen Mens 1st 135 Stirling Mens 1st 61 Aberdeen Womens 1st 130 St Andrews Womens 2nd 50 FOOTBALL EAberdeen Womens 1st 2 St Andrews Womens 2nd 2 Aberdeen Mens 1st 2 Glasgow Mens 1st 1 GOLF GCU Mixed 1st 4 Aberdeen Mixed 1st 4 Stirling Mixed 3rd 2.5 Aberdeen Mixed 1st 5.5 NETBALL Heriot Watt Womens 1st 56 Aberdeen Womens 1st 31 HOCKEY Edinburgh Mens 3rd 1 Aberdeen Mens 1st 2 Aberdeen Mens 1st 1 Heriot-Watt Mens 1st 1 Strathclyde Womens 1st 2 Aberdeen Womens 1st 2 RUGBY UNION St Andrews Mens 1st 44 Aberdeen Mens 1st 12 Aberdeen Womens 1st 12 Glasgow Womens 1st 33 Aberdeen Womens 1st 12 Glasgow Womens 1st 33 Edinburgh Mens 1st 31 Aberdeen Mens 1st 26 TENNIS Stirling Womens 3rd 2 Aberdeen Womens 1st 10 Aberdeen Womens 1st 12 Aberdeen Womens 2nd 0 Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN), the governing body for European aquatics, has recently announced the annual European Junior Championships for swimming and diving will be taking place in the pools of Aberdeen Aquatics Centre in 2020. The championships have a long history, starting from when they were first held in Linköping, Sweden in 1967. Since then they have taken place all around Europe, including five previous visits to cities in the United Kingdom. This is the first time they will come to Aberdeen’s 10-lane 50m competition pool and fully equipped diving facilities, inviting the best junior swimmers and divers from Europe to compete in the Olympic standard pools. British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes said: “We are excited to welcome the LEN European Junior Championships to the UK. This event will no doubt be the biggest competition athletes of that age group will have competed at.” Females aged 15-16 years and males 17-18 years compete for 5 days with more than 600 spectators present for both the swimming and diving competitions, many arriving with hope of seeing the rise of our continent’s swimming talents. Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “We look forward to welcoming the swimming stars of the future to compete in Scotland, the perfect stage for events such as this.” Forbes Dunlop, Scottish Swimming Chief Executive said: “Events on home soil allow our athletes, volunteers, members and supporters great opportunities to take part and watch our sport at an International level, which in turn motivates current members and attracts new members and supporters to our sport.” The upcoming competitions just add to the wide array of swimming and diving events Scotland has hosted and is soon to host, including the Commonwealth Games, IPC World Championships, the Diving World Series and the upcoming European Championships in 2018. Scotland has had the honour of hosting the European Junior Swimming Championships twice before, with the 1997 and 2003 editions both taking place in Glasgow. Professor Sir Ian Diamond, University of Aberdeen Principal said in relation to the facilities “This decision is testament to the international standard of Aberdeen Sports Village and in particular the Aquatics Centre, which was deliberately designed to attract international competition at this level, in addition to proving very popular with our students and the wider community.” As we set the stage for the arrival of Europe’s future idols we can all celebrate in the knowledge that Aberdeen Sports Village is an important venue for students and the community of Aberdeen, offering world class facilities that has in 2014 won both the gold award for investors in People and the title of ‘Scottish Gym of the Year’ at the National Fitness Awards. A hole lot of victory By Alistair Hunter Aberdeen University Golf Club wins north of Scotland event By Kevin Mathew Photo from Rob Mcpherson (Scottish Student Sport) Photo from Craig Maccubbin (Flickr) p.16