The Ballon d’Or award is accompanied with glitz and glamour, despite favouring attacking players playing in European clubs.

In the world of football, the Ballon d’Or remains the ultimate recognition of excellence and talent on the pitch. Established in 1956, this is a prestigious award that has celebrated the sport’s greatest players for nearly seven decades. On 30 October, at a glittering ceremony in Paris, the footballing world came together to honour Lionel Messi, the first ever eight-time winner, bringing the excitement and anticipation to a climax.

The Ballon d’Or is awarded annually to the best player in the world. It is voted on by a panel of international journalists, coaches, national team captains, and managers. The award takes into account players’ individual performances, leadership on the field, and their impact on their teams throughout the year. With an illustrious history that includes legendary names like Pelé, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, the Ballon d’Or has become the most sought-after individual honour in football.

This year’s trophy was won by Argentine sensation, Lionel Messi, who has won the award eight times. The now Inter Miami forward had a stellar year, not only leading Paris Saint-Germain to domestic and international success but also shining on the international stage by playing a hugely significant role in Qatar 2022’s World Cup glory with Argentina. Many footballing experts believe that this remarkable year has solidified Messi’s status as the greatest footballer of all time.

In 1956, French football magazine France Football created the Ballon d’Or, whose inaugural winner was Englishman Stanley Matthews. The award was honoured to the likes of Bobby Charlton, Johan Cruyff and the only Scottish man to ever win the award, Denis Law who won the award in 1964.

In 1991, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association – more commonly known as FIFA – began an award which they named the FIFA World Player of the Year. The award was designed to rival the Ballon d’Or, an award which FIFA wanted to make their own. The ceremony for the World Player of the Year would take place at the FIFA World Player Gala annually. It has been won by players such as Ronaldo Nazario, the youngest ever recipient of the award, and the likes of Zinedine Zidane, a three-time recipient.

However, in 2007, FIFA and France Football agreed to merge both awards into one, naming it the FIFA Ballon d’Or. One of the main reasons FIFA wanted to do this was because they wanted to have their name on the most prestigious individual honour in the sport. Others were in favour of this as from 2005 onwards, the winners of the World Player of the Year and the Ballon d’Or were identical.

The official creation of the FIFA Ballon d’Or award was announced in 2010 during the South Africa World Cup and was awarded to, once again, Lionel Messi. However, the award only lasted six years as in 2016, the organisations split up again and the Ballon d’Or returned to being a France Football entity.

After both organisations split up, the Ballon d’Or returned to its original name. France Football’s award has maintained its prestige ever since, with all modern players idolising the award and recognising it as the crème de la crème of football’s individual awards. Since 2016, the award has seen the likes of Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi reign victorious.

There have also been some more recent changes and additions to the award ceremony. 2018 saw the introduction of the women’s edition known as the Ballon d’Or Fémenin – most recently won by Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí. In 2022, it was announced that the Ballon d’Or would be changed to the timings of the footballing season, rather than awarded by the calendar year.

FIFA, however, have struggled to get back on track. They have since created their own ‘Best’ awards – essentially a reincarnation of the ‘World Player of the Year’ award – although it has not taken off how they would have liked. For a start, the award does not hold the same level of prestige as the likes of the Ballon d’Or, and consequently, has struggled to accumulate viewership from football fans. Robert Lewandowski has won the FIFA Best Men’s Player award two times, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Nevertheless, the award still accumulates footballing icons from past to present on one special night of the year.

Other worthy mentions linked to the award are Pélé. The Brazilian himself was never officially awarded the Ballon d’Or due to the fact that before 1995, only players who competed in Europe were eligible for the award. Although, he received an honorary Ballon d’Or in 2016 after France Football conducted ‘le nouveau palmarès’ (an international re-evaluation) in which they calculated that Pélé would’ve won the Ballon d’Or in seven of the 12 years it was awarded before the rules were changed. The likes of Garrincha, Mario Kempes, Diego Maradona (twice) and Romario would’ve also won awards according to France Football had anyone in the world been eligible to win the Ballon d’Or. Alfredo di Stefano is also noteworthy as he is the only player to have ever won the ‘Super Ballon d’Or’, which the Galáctico icon was awarded in 1989.

In more recent years, critics have labelled the award as a “popularity contest”, critiquing the voting process, its bias in favour of attacking players, and for the idea of systematically singling out an individual in a team sport. Nevertheless, the award remains highly respected across the footballing world and undoubtedly attracts hundreds of stars to Paris, on one very special night each year.

The post The Oscars of Football: the history of the Ballon d’Or appeared first on The Glasgow Guardian.

The choice of hosts for the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cup pose a number of potential issues and areas of worry and controversy.

FIFA has announced the hosts for the 2030 and the 2034 World Cup after mass speculation among fans. The 2030 World Cup will see something that has never happened before: a World Cup across multiple continents. The tournament will be hosted jointly by Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Meanwhile, the honour of hosting the 2034 World Cup has gone to Saudi Arabia, as expected by many.

The announcement of the 2030 World Cup has divided opinion among fans. The bidding process for the World Cup started earlier last year. Since the 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar, a member of the Asian Football Association (AFC), and the 2026 World Cup is to be hosted in Canada, the USA and Mexico, members of the North American CONCACAF, these federations could not have hosted the 2030 World Cup.

Among the major bids for the 2030 World Cup were a joint bid from Spain, Morocco and Portugal and a separate joint bid involving Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Since the World Cup began in 1930 with Uruguay hosting the maiden tournament, a lot of sentimental support lied with Uruguay given the significance of this particular instalment, that being the centenary celebration of the World Cup.

According to the format announced by Fifa on 4 October, in an ode to the competition’s South American heritage, the first three games will be held in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. Following months of negotiations between UEFA and the federations of South America and Africa, who presented their proposal to Fifa, the sides agreed to avoid a lengthy and costly bidding procedure.

All six host countries will automatically qualify for the 48-team tournament, with South America’s allocation reduced from their usual six automatic qualification positions and one playoff berth.

The idea of 48 teams playing across continents which are separated by thousands of miles has generated significant concern among the public and experts across a multitude of domains.

Football fans have been quick to point out the massive disadvantage the teams that play their opening games in South America will face. A flight from Argentina, Uruguay or Paraguay to either of the remaining nations will take about 12 hours. In a tournament as important as the World Cup, teams would want to keep their fatigue to a minimum, as such long-haul transatlantic flights are certainly not helpful.

Historically, whenever the World Cup has been held in multiple nations, it has always been held in one or two neighbouring countries. The 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea for example, was certainly more of a success due to the small distance teams were travelling. The recent Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand followed the same tried and trusted approach.

Match scheduling with six host nations risks being an unmitigated disaster. The time difference between South America and Western Europe is approximately 5-6 hours. This could easily cause opening matches to start later than timetabled. It’s unclear how Fifa will try to schedule this, but it’s crucial a solution is found.

Sticking to the subject of the long-haul flights, environmentalists have expressed their discontent over the announced plan. This is despite Fifa explicitly claiming that the environmental impact of the tournament is something they considered before making a decision.

“For 101 games, the tournament will be played in a footprint of neighbouring countries. Three games will take place in South America, also in neighbouring countries in close geographic proximity to mark the 100th year of the tournament, in a unique celebration. Fifa will take all required measures to mitigate the environmental impact. From a sustainability point of view, it’s also worth mentioning that only one bid significantly reduces travel in relation to site inspection visits and other meetings,” Fifa said.

Fifa’s claims have failed to generate much confidence among people. The statement comes after the Swiss Fairness Commission (SLK), the self-regulatory body of the Swiss communications sector, refuted Fifa’s statement on the 2022 Qatar World Cup being carbon neutral. “Fifa was not able to provide proof that the claims were accurate during the proceedings,” the SLK said earlier this year.

Fifa has already been under serious fire over allegations of corruption. Former Fifa President, Sepp Blatter, resigned from his position after receiving several accusations of bribery over the decision to grant Qatar the World Cup. Before the World Cup, he confessed it was a “mistake” to give Qatar the opportunity to host.

Fifa also previously stated that the 2034 World Cup would be held in Asia or Oceania, with an Australian bid seen as the only prospective rival to Saudi Arabia, which confirmed its intention to bid shortly after Fifa’s announcement.

According to a Daily Mail report that was released before the announcement of the 2034 World Cup host, the World Cup was given to 6 nations so that the 2034 World Cup could be hosted by Saudi Arabia.The report, citing anonymous sources, stated: “A Saudi World Cup in 2034 isn’t just likely, it’s basically a done deal. Money has talked again, and the event will be worth billions in new cash for Fifa.”

Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid and why it is controversial is a separate can of worms in itself. Corruption, a dodgy human rights record, and their stances on women’s rights, homosexuality and free speech, are only some of the topics of contention.

Fifa has to seriously think about course correction for its image, which has been demolished due to constant allegations. The recent announcements haven’t been of any aid and the tarnished image will remain as such until Fifa takes some concrete action over the very real concerns fans and experts have. The centenary of the World Cup deserves better and so does the sport as a whole.

The post Widespread concern over FIFA’s World Cup host selections appeared first on The Glasgow Guardian.

The Glasgow Guardian reports on the three activists from Palestine Action who stood trial last week following the destruction of £1.5 million worth of equipment at the Thales Group factory in Glasgow last year.

On 11 July 2022, members of Palestine Action occupied and dismantled the Thales Group factory in the south of Glasgow. Thales Group, one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the world, produces machinery used for defence and security purposes. One of these weapons, The Watchkeeper drone, has been built in collaboration with Elbit Systems, an Israel-based weapons company, and has been used to monitor populations in Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan.

The team who took part in this operation “[forced] workers to evacuate, [prevented] site operations and [… damaged] site facilities,” causing an alleged £1.5 million in damages. What Palestine Action argues is that the destruction these weapons would have caused to Palestinians’ lives is incomparable. 

As a result, three members of this operation stood trial on the week beginning Monday 20 November at Glasgow Sheriff Court on charges of “malicious mischief” and “reckless endangerment”. In response, every morning last week, supporters of the Thales 3 have organised a show of solidarity for the defendants to be held outside Glasgow Sheriff Court. 

Since 20 November, crowds of 20 to 60 people have shown up to distribute tea, coffee and free food, and provided facepaint and banners. Organisers of “Shut Thales Down” have also instructed that demonstrators put flags away and remain respectful when going into the courtroom, to allow a fair trial for the defendants. 

Participants in this demonstration agreed to speak to The Glasgow Guardian about Thales Group, the trial of the Thales 3, and the work being done to support them.

“What we’re arguing for is that [Thales] is committing the crime in the first place by selling the weapons to Israel,” an anonymous 21-year-old medical student from the University of Glasgow argued. When asked about what they saw as the best outcome for this trial, they believed that it would be if the jury realised “that [the morality] is more important than [the crime]” adding: “If they don’t […]  and these three people go to jail and Thales gets away scot-free that’s disgusting and inhumane.” 

When asked if they wished to send a message to any activists, they told The Glasgow Guardian: “to all the people who feel like they can’t do anything, you’re probably right you can’t do anything individually, but finding people you can do things with will take you much further.”

This feeling of hope and optimism has been reflected throughout many of the supporters of the Thales 3, with chants such as “I believe that we will win” being repeated throughout the week.

In an incredibly emotive speech, one organiser of Shut Thales Down appealed to the crowd to “[build] relationships with each other in all communities”, to show up to demonstrations and forge solidarity. They also spoke about the importance of “taking direction from the global majority”, learning from each other and “from Palestinian resistance and Black liberation [in order to understand] our interconnected struggles.” 

Many other speeches that were held over the week also spoke of solidarity, the importance of community and of learning from each other. I talked to a speaker who was one of the organisers of Shut Thales Down. They agreed to speak but chose to remain anonymous to maintain their non-hierarchical approach to organising. When asked about their beliefs on the importance of learning from others, they spoke about how “we’re learning a lot from past movements […] and we have to understand what came before us and what came after us to actually mobilise in this moment of genocide.”

An emphasis on mutual aid and solidarity within and between communities was a key theme throughout the week. When asked about what groups such as Shut Thales Down could learn from other movements happening in Palestine, as well as in the Congo and Sudan, they told The Glasgow Guardian: “we don’t know everything, but there are plenty of comrades from the Congo, from Sudan […] they have the answers […] we need to work together because together we have the answers”.

It was hard to ignore how intertwined the trial of the Thales 3 and the ongoing genocide in Palestine were. Throughout the week people handed out watermelon slices (a symbol of national identity and resistance in Palestine) and Palestinian songs were played from loudspeakers as supporters danced and sang. “Having people show up makes us hopeful that we’re on the right side of history”, one of the organisers told The Glasgow Guardian. “Palestinians are teaching us life right now…They still find hope and resistance to fight back […] it’s almost like, how dare we be hopefully here when they are over there”.

This case has taken over a year to be brought to trial, after the defendants previously stood in court for four days beginning on 9 August 2023. Issues with the jury, as well as court dates being extended, has meant it has taken over a year for a verdict to be reached. One of the defendants, Cat Scothorne, a 20-year-old student from Glasgow University, spoke to The Glasgow Guardian about their thoughts on coming into the trial: “I’ve done trial before but this is definitely the highest consequence one so I was quite nervous as I would really like to continue my final year [at university] but I will have to drop out if I get custody for this”.

During this trial, Cat has been faced with both charges of “malicious mischief” and “reckless endangerment” due to the actions of the defendants at Thales. “We were all agreed that we wanted to cause damage of some kind because there is a difference between occupying a factory […] and actually disabling it […] we wanted to be as effective as possible.” Whilst perhaps these charges are not a surprise due to the defendants’ roles in the destruction of £1.5 million worth of machinery, Cat felt as if the principle of what they were doing appeared much more important: “When somebody drops a bomb on civilians somebody has […] ordered that bomb to be dropped and somebody has made a profit […] I read about Thales, and I couldn’t believe they were on our doorstep […] and so [I knew] something had to be done.”

On the discussion of the charges, Cat felt optimistic that they wouldn’t be found guilty of “reckless endangerment”, however, felt less optimistic on the charges of “malicious mischief”: “I don’t think people [the jury] are at that point yet to go against what Sheriff is telling [them] to do,” Cat explained. “There seems to be quite a lot of trust in law and order here [in Scotland] which is sad […] we might not be found guilty of the second charge (reckless endangerment) […] the evidence is in our favour.”

“I’d be happy to do lots of community service […] I wouldn’t even mind getting an ankle tag […] I’d be happy with anything other than custody,” Cat responded when asked about what they could see as the result of the case. “I’ve got this presentation due on resistance to borders for history and it would be so perfect if I had an ankle tag for the presentation just to prove the point.”

As of Tuesday 28 November, the Thales 3 were found not guilty of reckless endangerment, and guilty to malicious endangerment. They now await sentencing on 23 January 2024.

The post The Trial of the Thales 3 appeared first on The Glasgow Guardian.

As the community mourns the killing of UofG alumni Dima Alhaj in Gaza, her relatives share heartfelt memories of the young WHO staff member.

On Monday, 27 November, over a hundred University of Glasgow students and members of the public attended a candle-light vigil in the cloisters to honour the memory of Dima Alhaj.

Dima Alhaj was a 29-year-old former Masters student at the University of Glasgow in 2018/19, who worked for the World Health Organisation (WHO) since December 2019. As a patient administrator at the Limb Reconstruction Centre, she worked with the WHO Trauma and Emergency Team in Gaza. She was killed alongside her husband and 5-month old baby by an airstrike in Gaza on 21 November 2023.

Dima’s cousin Alaa Alhaj, who moved to Glasgow around the same time as Dima, also attended the vigil. He remembers his cousin as “always smiling” and told the crowd: “I lost one of my best friends.” Recalling Dima’s studies at the University of Glasgow as part of the Erasmus exchange programme, Alaa said: “She was so grateful for a chance to change her future.” He added: “[Dima] came [back] to Gaza full of dreams, full of life” and realised that “now we are speaking in the past tense about my cousin.”

Recalling the night his uncle’s house was hit by the airstrike, Alaa was awakened by the sound of phone notifications, informing him of the tragedy. He said: “I tried to calm myself [down] and asked: ‘Is [the house] fully destroyed?’ And they said: ‘It’s in the ground. Three floors in the ground’”. Over the following days, dozens of his family members were retrieved from under the rubble. Dima’s cousin Alaa said: “I remember that place. That is my family, that is my uncle’s house. All the family was sleeping.”

Roseann Maguire, a research associate at the University of Glasgow, also spoke fondly of Dima, as her family hosted the Palestinian student for two months in 2018. Speaking to the crowd of mourners, Roseann remembered Dima as a “wonderful, vibrant, young woman” and said it was “an absolute tragedy that her life was taken so cruelly and so young”.

Recalling their first meeting in August 2018, Roseann told The Glasgow Guardian: “Dima’s smile lit up the room.” During her time in Glasgow, the pair formed a special bond, adding that Dima “called us her second family”. With a bittersweet expression, Roseann spoke of treasured memories with Dima, including a rainy boat ride on Loch Lomond and the time when Dima tried learning how to ride a bike.

The research associate told The Glasgow Guardian: “I go from deep sadness to absolute fury that the world did not call for a ceasefire. I am so angry with academic institutions for not standing up.” In the last text message Roseann received from Dima, the new mother hoped that “Abood, my little boy, lives to see better days”.

Roseann Maguire feels that “it was an absolute privilege for us to host her. As much as it brings me sadness, I would do it again in the blink of an eye.” She had hoped to travel to Gaza next year in order to visit Dima and meet her baby Abood.

Credit: World Health Organisation

Philippa Whitford, Member of Parliament for Central Ayrshire, worked as a consultant breast surgeon and a medical volunteer at a UN hospital in Gaza for two years. Addressing the crowd in the cloisters, she spoke of the “exhausted and traumatised” healthcare workers in Gaza. At least 220 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza over the past seven weeks. The SNP MP also called for a permanent ceasefire.

Referring to Dima’s father Dr. Abdelatif Alhaj as her “very good friend of over 30 years,” Philippa Whitford recalled her personal connection to Dima’s family. Dr. Abdelatif Alhaj is a senior consultant general surgeon and taught at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) medical school. IUG is one of the University of Glasgow’s partner universities.

Visibly emotional, the MP read aloud one of the last messages Abdelatif sent her: “I’m in deep pain, Phillipa. I lost my son Majd, his wife, and two of his children. My lovely daughter Dima – a WHO staff member – her husband, and her 5-month child. My little son Omar, 17 years. Only my wife Aya and our little daughter Lama are saved alive. I was at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, but over 45 persons, women, men, and children, were killed in my house – most of them still under the rubble. They were sheltering in my house, escaping from killing.”

Dr. Ibrahim Khadra, the chair of the Palestinian Community Scotland, also addressed the crowd, saying: “We have many Dimas. […] This is our story”. Dr. Ibrahim, whose children study at the University of Glasgow, said that he has lost over 72 family members since the outbreak of war on October 7. 

Gerry O’Hare, the husband of Roseann Maguire, said he developed a close relationship with Dima’s family, as he worked with her father in Gaza. As a cancer nurse in Glasgow, he has worked with Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) for the past 12 years to support breast cancer management. Gerry said: “Gaza can be quite a difficult place, but I immediately felt at home”. He is looking forward to returning to Gaza in the future to “rebuild what is left of the health service, which is virtually nothing”.

To pay their respects, some Glasgow University students participated in a prayer as part of the vigil. A number of students placed flowers on a banner of Dima and collected donations for MAP.

Glasgow University student Henry, 20, who attended the gathering, feels that the vigil was to honour Dima, “but it’s also for everyone else [who has been killed in Gaza]. We’re here for them as a show of humanity.”

As of 29 November 2023, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 15,000 and over 1.7 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced. War broke out on 7 October 2023, after militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 hostages.

Some Glasgow University students who attended the vigil told The Glasgow Guardian that they feel disappointed by what they perceive as the University’s limited response to Dima’s death. One UofG student said: “We hope that [University management] are able to honour her properly, in the same way that [Dima] honoured them, by being proud to be a student here.”

On November 21, a tweet by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus drew international attention to the death of Dima Alhaj. He wrote: “My colleagues and I are devastated: we have lost one of our own in Gaza today […] I have no words to describe our grief.”

Anton Muscatelli, the University’s Vice Chancellor, retweeted the post and added: “This is one utterly tragic news story in the midst of thousands of similar stories of grief and despair. Dima was an Erasmus student in University of Glasgow a few years ago—the WHO [Director General’s] message says it all. We share their grieving for one of our own. Ceasefire and release hostages now.”

As of yet, the University has not released an official statement on Dima’s death, instead retweeting the Vice Chancellor’s post with a single broken heart emoji.

The post Glasgow University students mourn the killing of alumni Dima Alhaj in Gaza appeared first on The Glasgow Guardian.

It was perhaps the most Jockstrap thing ever…

They’ve just opened for Blur at Wembley, have over two-hundred thousand monthly Spotify listeners, have an album shortlisted for a Mercury Prize and they still choose a tiny, intimate, bizarre 500-person venue on Glasgow’s energetic Jamaica Street to kick start their tour. The venue usually hosts a hodgepodge of mid-life-crisis style events for 50+ year olds; nights like the “Take That Experience” this Friday and “An Intimate evening with Scotty 2 Hotty” at the end of the Month… (Scotty is a WWE icon, all of these are real events). Perhaps the most enticing feature for Jockstrap was that the venue was directly next to Scotland’s renowned dance music institution: Subclub (a venue that would have undoubtedly been known by the duo).  

Up a few flights of stairs, you are met with a jam-packed dance floor — a strange combination of emo kids, artsy kids, hypercritical 6 music dads, and of course a scattering of baffled locals who thought it was the venue’s “Scotty 2 Hotty” night. The support act, Thoom, provided a shocking, ethereal performance most straightforwardly classified as hyper-pop. Her stage presence was staggering as she plunged between each corner of the stage, tugging her hair and kicking her boots. Her lyrics, a stream of consciousness fusion of Arabic and English, were strange and startling, with hooks like: “I’m addicted to living like an American terrorist!” The performance ends abruptly, as Thoom shouts: “Thanks for supporting me through Palestine,” dropping the mic as the crowd cheered… both an emblematic and literal mic-drop. Like a support act should, Thoom’s mystifying energy primed the audience for the dynamism of the headline show. 

The piercing sounds of eerie synths begin as Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye apprehensively enters the stage, tucked away behind his usual fort of synths, drum machines and keyboards. His counterpart, Georgia Ellery, smiles at us excitably, as her intimate, angelic vocals cut through the playful rave piano and kick of the first track. An immediate introduction to the irresistibly paradoxical nature of Jockstrap’s music. It is sometimes euphoric, sometimes irascible and sometimes dreamy. 

With most of the setlist composed of tracks from the 2022 I Love you Jennifer B album, it was no surprise that by the fourth track, — the spacey, acoustic pop banger “Glasgow” — the crowd are hooked and hypnotised by Georgia, bellowing the sexy love-letter style lyrics back to her, as her elated confidence exudes through the crowd. A few tracks later, out of his usual introverted character, Taylor repeatedly prods a lurid thumping noise on his drum machine, destabilising Georgia’s blissful acoustic melody. Someone behind me shouts, “Okayyyy Taylor” mockingly, as he cheekily smirks back at the audience (a rare occurrence). 

The electronic harp melodies and visceral, seductive lyrics of “Angst” bring an irresistible tension over the bodies in the crowd. This spectacular tension is eventually released in their ending track “50/50”. The glitchy, breaky club banger elicits a delightfully noisy response from the audience, as Georgia leans over the crowd like a conductor with a bad back… (The stage was way too low for the dancefloor). The performance does not breathe; each track is faded into the next, transfixing us. Sometimes Taylor even gives us a synthy, percussive interlude. This cleverly conflates the boundaries between a conventional live gig and a DJ set. Jockstrap’s idiosyncratic sound blurs the often-stark lines between dubstep, folk, trip-hop, hyperpop, classical, IDM and disco. This creates a brilliantly miscellaneous reception in the crowd, with some people hypnotised, some head-banging, some singing along joyously. This is testament to their success as a (somehow) simultaneously inaccessible/accessible duo.

The post A review: Jockstrap at Glasgow Classic Grand appeared first on The Glasgow Guardian.

A love letter to “dafty punky thrash”.

Forming in 1993 and disbanding in 2021, Daft Punk gifted the world 4 studio albums, 2 live albums, a soundtrack album, and two films. The impact the robots have had on both music and the wider world is difficult to explain. The duo sold over 10 million records worldwide, yet I would hazard a guess that most people don’t know their names, let alone their faces. This anonymity has always been an intentional facet of Daft Punk, and it’s what makes them so important, both to me personally and to the world.

Daft Punk was Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (silver and gold helmets respectively). The two met at secondary school in Paris, where they started a band with Laurent Brancowitz (yes, that one), named Darlin’. Darlin’ themselves carved out a very important piece of history, through a review received from Melody Maker Magazine describing their music as a “daft punky thrash”. Entertained by this, following the disbandment of Darlin’ and Brancowitz’s departure to his new band, Phoenix (yes, that one), Daft Punk were born.

1997 saw the duo release their debut studio album, Homework, to the world. Homework is a remarkable album in a few ways. It established the duo’s characteristic style and sound, its popularity and critical reception brought global attention to French house music, and it is also a fantastic body of work. From Daftendirekt’s understated but undeniably groovy beats to Fresh’s walls of guitar feedback easing into serene synth pads and oceanic samples, Homework is groovy, dynamic and rich with texture. Homework is also an album that set out to introduce Daft Punk to the world, and showcases their already impressive palate of influences, creativity and singular stylistic niche. Its lead single Around the World is noteworthy for a few reasons—it was relatively successful, Michel Gondry directed the music video depicting various elements of the mix as dancers doing different choreography, and the funny robot man says “around the world” 144 times in the album version of Around the World (and 88 in the radio version).

The next few years were busy for Daft Punk as individuals, with Bangalter founding the group Stardust with Benjamin Diamond and Alan Braxe, going on to release one of the most popular dance songs of the last 25 years, Music Sounds Better with You. They also both founded their own record labels. This was not all however, as the robots had been cooking together during the late 90s and early 00s. The product of their labours was 2001’s Discovery.

Discovery is one of the only records in the world that I cannot keep still whilst listening to. It overflows with energy, groove, emotion and colour. The record explores themes of experiencing things for the first time and open-mindedness, and does so remarkably well. Whether it’s falling in love for the first time, captured beautifully by “Digital Love”, which also happens to go absolutely bananas in any setting you can dance in, to “Face to Face”, with the most insane sample flips possibly in history—seriously, watch a breakdown of the samples and give up your career in music production. My personal favourite on Discovery is Something About Us. I refer all naysayers of electronic music as a genre to this song. Something About Us is funky in an understated way, instantly hooky and memorable. Then the vocoded robot comes in, delivering an almost unsettlingly emotive verse. Then he fades out, and the guitar/synth line comes in, and you’re transcending and you’re crying and asking yourself “why don’t she want me man” (real). If it isn’t apparent enough already, Discovery is a very important album, both to me personally, but also for Daft Punk. Lead single One More Time was a massive hit across the world, and launched the robots further into the mainstream. If you haven’t heard it yet, play it on the best speakers you can find, in a room with room to both dance like you’re geeking in a Parisian nightclub and to cry like you’re in a Glaswegian flat in late November. Also noteworthy is the tie-in film manga artist Leiji Matsumoto created with Daft Punk, Interstella 5555, a genuinely breath-taking animation largely without dialogue set to Discovery. Watch it and discover the music speaking for itself.

The next few years were relatively quiet for the robots, with the exception of the release of Alive 1997, a 45-minute long recording from a Daftendirekt tour performance. Alive 1997 is a pretty good way of emulating the experience of seeing a Daft Punk concert, but the robots had much better things coming soon on that front. 2005 saw them releasing their third studio album, Human After All. The creation of this record was very different from their previous two, with recording taking place over only two weeks, made with two drum machines, two guitars, a vocoder and an eight-track recorder. This departure from their usual methodology resulted in an album that was, in my view and the common critical consensus of the time, not as good as their previous two works. The main criticism levelled at Human After All was that it was too repetitive. This seems like a silly thing to take issue with, given this is electronic music. However, the issue lies with the nature of the repetition. Previous Daft Punk songs featured repetition, and it was iterative—new musical ideas are added on top of the ones already playing to recontextualise them, whether in Around the World’s B section featuring a new bassline on top of the otherwise unchanged elements, or Veridis Quo slowly fading into a drum machine and synth bass groove atop the haunting lead melody. Human After All suffers as the repetition is not iterative; it just keeps going, largely unchanged. The change in instrumental palate to more guitar-led is interesting, and in concept seems very appealing. However, with the exception of a few songs like Robot Rock (absolute slapper, not denying that), “The Prime Time of Your Life” and the title track, this palate is grating, too distorted (a complaint I don’t often make about music), and grows boring quite quickly.

It wasn’t all bad for the robots in the 2000s, however, as their success facilitated a world tour. The Alive tour is of unparalleled importance in the history of the genre—it is credited as bringing dance music to North America and the rest of the world at a previously unseen scale. Their Paris performance was released to the world as Alive 2007, the duo’s second live album. Alive 2007 is on the same level as the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense for me as far as concert recordings go, and I do not say that lightly as a David Byrne cult devotee. Alive 2007 features a megamix/medley of the robots’ entire catalogue, many of these being from Human After All. By fusing elements from different songs from their catalogue, the Human After All tracks are cleverly recontextualised and shine in an entirely new light, as do all the other songs featured.

Quickly returning to Alive 199—my mention of it was very brief, because as far as I’m concerned ‘97 crawled so ’07 could grow bionic wings with jetpacks on and fly to space. Alive 2007 has been compared to The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, rightfully so, and I would even go so far as to compare it to Radiohead’s In Rainbows – From the Basement or Mac Miller’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert. I would recommend this to anybody who has listened to the robots’ discography up to this point like how I would recommend breathing to sentient life.

It is 2009. Daft Punk are more popular and successful than ever, having just taken the world by storm and single-handedly changing the way popular music would sound for years—and they didn’t even know it yet. Naturally, they had been cooking. At San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Daft Punk were scoring Disney’s heavily anticipated Tron: Legacy. This was another step into the world of massive musical success, a step taken by many others before the robots, with frankly mixed results, but more importantly it marked the first time Daft Punk had worked with an orchestra. The score itself is pretty good, but Tron: Legacy for lack of any better description, is not. The highlight for me is Derezzed, which ironically does not feature this orchestra at all, opting instead for heavy enveloped synth lines and distortion, driving drums and stuttered and glitchy effects throughout, to remarkable effect. If only Human After All chose this path. Tron: Legacy aside, the robots were moving forward with higher musical ambitions and a taste for orchestration. This would take them in a direction few could have predicted.

Random Access Memories is an album that should require no introduction. You’re likely picturing the cover art in your head, or Get Lucky is being faintly sung to you by a worm that has lay dormant in your ear for the last ten years. If only the worm knew the line wasn’t “like the legend of the penis.” Random Access Memories was both a stylistic departure for the duo and a return to their roots. Songs like Get Lucky, Lose Yourself to Dance. and Fragments of Time sound more like disco and soul records the robots would have sampled and flipped in the 90s and 2000s. This is an enormous compliment—these songs are so evocative of the time they are inspired by, likely because of some key personnel involved. I am of course talking about Nile Rodgers, one of the greatest guitarists and producers of all time, and his touch is all over this record. Then there are the more electronic-focussed songs like Instant Crush, Doin’ it Right and Contact. These aren’t just returns to form, they are new twists on the genres the robots have dominated. Instant Crush is a particular standout, featuring Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and the Voidz, in a collaboration that probably shouldn’t work, yet is one of the most infectious, groovy and emotionally charged performances from the three. Vocode Julian more often. Please.

Then there are the other songs on the record, a weird in-between featuring varying ratios of electronic and disco influence, namely Touch, Within, Motherboard and Giorgio by Moroder. These songs are rich tapestries of texture and emotion, in completely different ways. The touches of orchestration on these tracks put them on a completely different level to anything else the robots have released. I could rant like a lunatic about any of these for hours, but I will spare you that and move on. Random Access Memories is much more than just a Daft Punk album, and the people involved reflect this—the aforementioned Nile Rodgers contributes on a few songs to unbelievable effect, while Omar Hakim plays drums on most of the record and is absolutely outstanding, especially on Giorgio by Moroder where he takes an incredible drum solo. Nathan East plays bass on a lot of the tracks and provides the songs the regulation level of Daft Punk groove, but the human touch and ear he provides lends the record a certain je ne sais quoi that only the bass greats can.

Random Access Memories was the final record the robots released. The duo worked together with the Weeknd on two of his biggest hits a few years later, but remained largely quiet and seemingly inactive. 2021 comes around, and the robots upload a video to their YouTube channel titled Epilogue. Featuring a scene from their live action film Electroma that has Thomas Bangalter (the silver robot) exploding into lots of small pieces as Guy-Man (the gold robot) watches from a distance. It cuts to Guy-Man walking away towards the sunset on the horizon. With that, the robots called it quits. It was shortly announced after that the breakup was mutual and amicable, but like any breakup, it left me wounded, lost and confused.

Fortunately enough for me, earlier this year the robots announced a ten-year anniversary reissue of Random Access Memories featuring unreleased tracks, demos and sound tests of the orchestra, and an undeniably cool recolour of the cover art painting the robots shiny silver. These are all wonderful pieces of music history to have access to, but the most noteworthy of these in my view is the Infinity Repeating demo featuring Julian Casablancas. I love Julian under (almost) any circumstance, but if that wasn’t enough the robots also dubbed it their final song. As a soundtrack for their departure, it is utterly magnificent. Julian sings vague but evocative lyrics over an understated instrumental featuring sparse keys, tight but minimised drums, and a wonderfully erratic bassline. The song builds and builds in intensity, more poignant guitar and keys are layered in, more percussion is added, and the build continues. As Julian sings refrains over the chorus, the drums get louder and louder in the mix drowning everything else out, then an electric guitar starts repeating a riff so emotionally evocative it should be illegal. The guitar gets louder and clearer as the drums distort and clip more, then the drums suddenly drop out and we hear the guitar line once more, by itself. Chills. Every single time.

That’s it. Daft Punk changed the world. They did so as robots, not Guy-Man and Thomas. Millions of records sold, three undeniably fantastic studio albums, and one live album to rival all the greats. The robots proved that celebrity, appearance and superficiality pale in comparison to talent, collaboration, passion and creativity. The drumless version of Random Access Memories releases on November 17, and if the two singles Within and Motherboard are anything to go by, it will be another wonderful recontextualization of one of the most intricately arranged, composed and recorded albums ever made.

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Music Editor Daniel sends out an expert team to review Squid live at the Barrowlands.

Squid defy categorisation. They combine a plethora of approaches, from post-punk to krautrock, creating whirling compositions of tension and release. They are, naturally, a band which any good music editor should want to see; however, when duty calls elsewhere, who better to send to such a gig than three of Glasgow’s most astute musical connoisseurs.

Wilf Pearce, Arial Waxman, and Kye O’Hagan: members of significant bands in Glasgow’s upcoming music scene and live newcomers to Squid, ventured to the Barrowlands on 21 October in order to partake in the 2023 O Monolith tour. This is what they thought of the show.

Despite being regulars at the Barrowland Ballroom, like all people, they were mesmerised by Glasgow’s most iconic venue once again. “If you wanna go wild, you can get involved, but it’s also laid out in a way that you can have a great view at the back, which I really appreciate”, Arial remarked to me. It’s also notably a perfect space for drinkers and non-drinkers alike, with Arial further noting that “it’s easy to get a glass of water and then rejoin the action”, a highly underrated factor in the venue’s structural integrity.

Naturally, as musicians themselves, the trio observed the gear before Squid took to the stage. Despite not catching the pedalboards, they remarked on the quality of the instruments: mostly Fender guitars, “particularly nice telecasters and jazz basses”, Wilf remarked, with the stage framed atypically around the drummer and an unexpected electric cello.

As their gear perusal ended, Squid took to the stage, kicking off what O’Hagan described as an “artsy, experimental, ambient breakdown”.

Recounting the experience, the trio were struck by the unique transitions between tracks, with Waxman appreciating the fact that there was “100% energy for the whole show”. Pearce was further struck by the incredibly “seamless way in which the band swapped instruments”, bolstered by the fact that each member is an “unbelievable musician,” no matter which instrument they chose to play. The unique nature of the show seemed to “fill in the gaps” of the band’s mystique for O’Hagan, creating a connection and understanding for their sets filled with live experimentation, improvisation and energy.

As the show developed, the pits seemed to grow in size; Wilf, Arial and Kye considered the fact that they had all accidentally assimilated themselves into the centre. Waxman deemed the crowd as “young, wild and filled with energy”, with Pearce referencing the crowd as “very male, but luckily not exactly a Death Grips concert.”

The highlight moments from the show seem to have been shared: “The Blades”, “G.S.K.”, and most notably an impromptu ten minute electric cello solo. The night was ecstatic, action packed, and went well beyond any expectations. The production was fantastic, the staging was unbelievable, and it was all topped off with a trip to McDonald’s afterwards. The trio considered their own song writing in their own respective bands, inspired by Squid’s “punchy chord movements, intelligent ways of creating tension and release, and general creativity.”

It’s fair to say all involved in the night were struck with a newfound appreciation for the band, the unique performance, and of course the friends we made along the way.

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Paul Lynch, winner of The Booker Prize 2023, told the awards ceremony that he risked “dooming his career” by writing Prophet Song. His dystopian novel follows an ordinary, middle-class family, The Stacks, whose lives deteriorate in tandem with the city where they live, Dublin. Written poetically – with no paragraph breaks or speech marks – its tragedy lies in the helplessness of its characters: its floundering mother, Eilish, and her bed-wetting, school-skipping children. Prophet Song‘s formidability lies in its ambiguity – the lack of any given timeframe; of an ideology underpinning the political party exacting authoritarian rule; of any substantive description of Dublin itself prior to its barren, war-torn state. Lynch saves the details for what happens behind closed doors, what he described in the post-announcement press conference as the “unrecorded” – the staff suddenly disappearing from work, the daughter who no longer comes down for breakfast. 

“It’s soul work” scrutinising and absorbing the entries, according to judge Adjoa Andoh. Other shortlisted novels are arguably as emotionally charged as Prophet Song, whether that be the simple tragedy of a daughter losing her mother aged 11 (in Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane) or of the alienation and antisemitism experienced by Sarah Bernstein’s unreliable narrator in Study for Obedience. How, then, to decide? As she announced the winner, the chair of judges for this year’s prize, Esi Edugyan, professed the value of a book that “startles, shakes you from complacency”. She said “you know from your bones”. Reading the work transported her to the “possible”.

Can a work described by Lynch himself as “counterfactual” be possible? Possible right now it is perhaps not, with Ireland’s current political circumstances seeming far removed from the carnage and chaos that creates queues of desperate refugees or hospitals refusing to treat their patients. But if any one concept underpinned this year’s Booker Prize ceremony, it is escapism. The escapism Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe spoke of in her keynote speech, what she says “salvaged” her while detained as a political prisoner, included reading The Handmaid’s Tale, banned in Iran, or War and Peace, like she did when she was free, with her husband, “with a cup of coffee”. Escapism can still be profound, escapism can be educational, or alarming.

Lynch ended his acceptance speech with a simple pleasure, of being able to “bring the prize home to Ireland”. Amidst his emotions he presented himself carefully and seriously, describing his own work as “like an equation”, and “complex”. He spent a lot of the press conference issuing denials and rebuttals. Despite its title Prophet Song is “not a prophetic statement”, and he is not himself “a political spokesperson” (to the ire of several journalists asking for his stance on Covid-19 restrictions, or on the rise of the far right). “It’s not a political book, he said. “It’s about the family, it’s about Eilish Stack.”

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2023 marks 120 years of women in GUSA, as The Glasgow Guardian reflects on the history of women’s sports at Glasgow University and the challenges faced through the years.

The history of women in the Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA) is a fascinating and evolving story of resilience, determination, and progress. GUSA, one of the oldest and most prestigious sporting university associations in Scotland, has played a significant role in the development of women’s sports within the university and beyond. With 2023 marking 120 years of women in GUSA, this journey of gender inclusion encompasses a timeline of over a century, reflecting the changing social and cultural landscapes that have influenced women’s participation in sports.

Early beginnings (19th century)

GUSA’s origins date back to the 19th century when Glasgow University recognised the importance of physical education and sports for all its students. Founded in April 1881, in its early years, GUSA primarily focused on men’s sports, reflecting the prevailing gender norms of the time. Women were largely excluded from organised sports activities and their talents – even beyond sports – were largely hidden or even publicised under a male name.

Emergence of women’s participation (early 20th century)

The early 20th century saw the first signs of change. Women began to participate in sports informally, despite facing significant societal barriers. It was a time when women’s suffrage movements were beginning to gain momentum, and the call for gender equality was growing louder. Some forward-thinking individuals within GUSA recognised the importance of including women in sports activities, albeit still on a limited scale.

World War II and the post-war era

World War II marked a significant turning point for women’s sports in GUSA and worldwide. As men were drafted into the military, women assumed more prominent roles in various fields, including sports. The war effort underscored the capabilities of women in physical activities and encouraged the mass reconsideration of gender norms.

After the war, GUSA began to formally recognise women’s sports clubs and teams. The 1940s and 1950s witnessed the establishment of women’s teams in sports like tennis, hockey, and netball. These clubs provided female students with an opportunity to engage in competitive sports within the university for the first time in the history of the – at that time – almost 500-year-old university.

The 1960s and the birth of women’s liberation

The 1960s was a period of significant social change, with the rise of the women’s liberation movement. Women across the world were starting to demand equal rights in various departments, including sports. GUSA responded to this growing demand for equality by expanding its support for women’s sports. Facilities improved and more resources were allocated to women’s teams.

During this time, the Glasgow University Women’s Athletic Club (GUWAC) was established, providing a centralised platform for women’s sports activities. GUWAC played – and still does – a crucial role in advocating for gender equality in sports within the university.

Title IX and its impact on GUSA (1970s)

The 1970s brought about monumental changes in women’s sports in the United States with the introduction of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in educational programs and activities, including sports. Although Title IX did not directly impact GUSA as a Scottish institution, its ripple effects were felt globally.

Title IX inspired discussions about gender equity in sports worldwide, leading GUSA to further address disparities and provide equal opportunities for female athletes. This decade saw the expansion of women’s sports clubs and a significant increase in funding.

The 1990s and the rise of competitive women’s sports

The 1990s were a pivotal period for women in GUSA. The university invested heavily in women’s sports programs, resulting in an increase in the number of female athletes participating at the competitive level. GUSA athletes began to make their mark not only in regional and national competitions but also on the international stage.

The Glasgow University Women’s Basketball Club (GUWBC), Glasgow University Netball Club (GUNC), and Glasgow University Ladies Hockey Club (GULHC) all experienced success during this era. These achievements helped shift the perception of women’s sports within the university and the broader community.

21st century and beyond

The 21st century has seen a continued commitment to gender equality in sports within GUSA. Women’s sports have become an integral part of the university’s athletic culture, with women athletes excelling in a wide range of competitions.

Moreover, initiatives such as women’s sports scholarships, mentorship programs, and gender-inclusive facilities have further supported the development of female athletes. GUSA has also actively encouraged women to take on leadership roles within sports clubs and administration, promoting gender diversity in decision-making processes.

Challenges and on-going struggles

While there have been significant strides in promoting gender equality in GUSA, challenges persist. Gender pay gaps in coaching and administrative roles, disparities in media coverage, and the need for more resources for women’s sports continue to be areas of concern. GUSA has acknowledged these issues and is actively working to address them.

The history of women in GUSA is a testament to the power of perseverance and the impact of social and cultural change. From the early days of exclusion to the present era of inclusion and excellence, the journey of women in GUSA has been marked by resilience, determination, and progress. As women such as Lauren Gray, Laura Muir, and Dame Katherine Grainger continue to break barriers in sports, GUSA remains committed to providing equal opportunities and support for all its athletes, regardless of gender. The future holds the promise of even greater achievements and advancements for women in Glasgow University’s sports community.

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Netball, Rugby, Rocket League? Embracing university life often involves playing a sport, and with the rising popularity of esports, the Glasgow University Esports Society ensures even those played online have a place on campus.

Given the esports industry is now comfortably valued at over a billion dollars, and attracting more regular viewers than the likes of the Super Bowl, its growth has made it hard to avoid. However, for those not in the know: the “e” in esports stands for electronic and is commonly an umbrella term for any form of competitive gaming. These can be game versions of more traditional sports like EA FC, but the most popular games are the likes of League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Valorant. These encompass the two largest subsets of games played competitively, the first of which is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). MOBAs refer to games like League of Legends or Dota 2, where players battle in teams to attack and defend their respective bases. These have seen a steep rise in popularity in particular, especially in Asian countries, with the four highest-ranked League of Legends teams being from China and South Korea. First-person shooters are the second subset and the more familiar of the two here in Scotland, especially to those who play casually. Some of the most popular games like Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and Overwatch all sit in this category and often take the form of a search-and-destroy style game mode when played in competitions.

Teams often compete in these different tournaments scattered throughout the year for a portion of a prize pool well into the millions of dollars. News reports of the winnings are often when those unaware of this phenomenon first come across esports. Stories about three million dollar prizes won by those as young as thirteen by simply playing Fortnite have spread into mainstream news. The largest of these tournaments attract in-person crowds of over 20,000, who travel all over the world to the likes of Cologne, Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Much in the style of traditional sports tournaments these last over weeks and bring a whole array of events, beyond the sports themselves, to wherever they are being hosted to create a bustling convention for the fans who attend. However, attendees only account for a small proportion of the live viewership of tournaments as millions more watch these games through streaming websites around the world.

With viewers and players often overlapping, it’s no surprise that in 2018, Glasgow University Esports Society was revived and now acts as a hub for those looking to compete in numerous UK-wide tournaments or simply play with other students. Talking to their vice-president, Ashe Macdonald, the reasons for the growth of esports on campus became clear. From the perspective of those looking to get involved they highlighted the lower barrier to entry as one of the main differences when compared to other options: “There are less limitations unlike traditional sports, you don’t need to win the genetic lottery for esports, however, you still need an insane amount of time and dedication along with talent just like traditional sports.”

Ease of access when getting started is only half of the advantage. They also pointed out the unique opportunities for viewers compared to other sports: “When it comes to spectating, most of the time esports competitions are free to view on either Twitch or YouTube. This makes them extremely easy to access or even randomly stumble across.” This has meant that in recent years many have opted to join the esports society here on campus since its revival. 

Reflecting on this increasing popularity, Ashe looked to the Covid-19 pandemic, which appeared to boost how active the society was: “If I had to guess, lockdown was a big factor in increasing the popularity, in fact, we have seen a decrease in [activity over] the past two years, [as] compared to during lockdowns.” But despite this slight lull, there are still plenty of reasons to get involved with the GUES: “We have hundreds of members all with unique interests both inside and outside of gaming. We have many social meets as a society unrelated to gaming, including, pub crawls, karaoke, Halloween parties and many more events! We also have a large player base of casual gamers who play games just for fun and it is a good community to just chat and play with like-minded people.”

Inclusivity was something else important to GUES, so Ashe was keen to emphasise the wide array of teams on offer: “We have both serious and more casual teams within these games as well as a community and teams for our women and non-binary (WNB) gamers. Anyone who enjoys video games, both casual and competitive should get involved with GUES.” 

Seeing the multitude of ways to play and get involved with esports, its increasing popularity makes a lot more sense. Esports appear to offer the opportunity to both play and watch no matter your experience or background. Glasgow has clearly not been immune to this rising popularity seen around the world and the Esports Society shows this. By casting a wide net, no matter your interests or skill level, GUES seems happy to grow with the industry and welcome new members as this meteoric rise continues.

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Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, runner Andrew McGill discusses his recent successes, weekly training schedule and hopes for the future.

A University of Glasgow (UofG) sports bursar since 2022, Andrew McGill is in his second year studying Computing Science. A recurring name on Scottish Athletics’ website and repeatedly mentioned as a podium winner, McGill has represented Scotland at multiple events as an under-17 and an under-20 athlete. He applied for the bursary in his first year, and was successful thanks to his running achievements throughout the year, during which he pushed to get a GB vest for the under-20s group. Although he didn’t quite qualify for the GB Team, it was not because of the times that he had run. Indeed, the standard was 3 mins 45 secs for the 1500m, and McGill ran 3 mins 44 secs. Unfortunately, he could not qualify based on the event in which he produced this time, because it wasn’t regarded as big enough. Nonetheless, this achievement did get him a place at the British Champs and on the bursary programme.

McGill explains that his interest in running is “kind of natural”, coming from a family of runners. His grandfather, Francis Clement, was a stellar runner, and like Andrew, he was a middle-distance runner. Clement was part of Team GB at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal. He also held the British record for the 1500m twice throughout his career, and in 1978 he participated in the Commonwealth Games. Andrew’s parents are also runners, and they met through a running club. Andrew talks of growing up in a household where both parents were “always going out for runs”. At the dawn of eight years old, he joined his first running club. His interest in the sport grew from there.

McGill began competing quite early. From the start, he recalls being motivated to do well. He says, “I was always decent and being good helps. Success is a nice feeling and I’d won school cross-countries and such. Also, I wanted to copy my grandad.” On top of training hard and raking in success at an early age, he admits that his grandfather has always been his idol, even going to the extent of making a presentation about him when he was in primary school. His proximity to someone so successful, someone who achieved great things despite having few resources available to him, made McGill feel like he could follow in his steps. 

McGill found out about the UofG sports bursary through the tight-knit athletics community in Scotland. Initially, he didn’t initially know that Glasgow offered this opportunity, but he knew that Edinburgh University (UofE) had a brilliant sports bursary programme.  By the time he had been rejected from UofE’s sports bursary, McGill had found out about Glasgow’s, and applied there as well. Overall, he says it “worked out better for my running in terms of my coach, and the people I train with. It’s better for my distance as well, Glasgow is a bigger city”. When asked about the benefits of being a Sports Bursar, McGill doesn’t think twice: it’s the financial support. He tells me, “For me to run in races that are competitive enough, I need to travel to England now. Last season, that was getting very expensive. So, the bursary is helpful.” In addition, he also received a free UofG gym membership and lived amongst other athletes in the Sports Bursars flat in his first year. In exchange, McGill offers visibility to UofG and Scottish running, as he competes wearing the University vest. He stresses that it is so important to represent the team because there is a talent leak in Scotland – exceptional Scottish runners are too often moving to join teams in the US. However, McGill is not tempted by that option. He tells me that he doesn’t “feel like I’ve hit my ceiling in Scotland yet. I can get a good education here, be near my family, and I’ve got a good group here”. McGill adds that to him, there is a need to prove that you can make it in Scotland. His grandfather achieved success in Glasgow, and so can he! He hopes that when he runs wearing the UofG vest, some of the younger crowd look at him and be inspired to achieve similar results while staying in the country. 

To maintain his fitness, McGill undergoes an extensive training programme. He currently runs 55 miles weekly and aims to push that number to 65 miles by the end of the winter season. That’s over a marathon a week. His week is primarily divided into distance, strength, and endurance training. 

To McGill, training seems to come under two forms. The first is what he considers the easier pieces of training. That includes his Mondays, where he goes for a 10km run in the morning training before his 9 a.m. class. In his words, “That’s pretty easy”. In the evening, he does strength training through a programme designed by his physiotherapist Scott MacAulay. On Wednesday, the schedule is reversed, and he starts with strength training at the gym, then runs approximately nine miles in the evening. Again, “that’s just easy running”. For Thursday, he runs four miles in the morning followed by an elliptical class in the evening – another form of threshold training. Friday is also a gentler workout, with McGill covering eight or nine miles. I point out that this may not sound “easy” to the average runner, but McGill is very humble and reminds me that he’s been running for over a decade. Finally, on Saturday he has cross-country sessions with the Cambuslang Harriers. This training is internal usually, but every three or four weeks, there is a GAA (Glasgow Athletics Association) session where all the clubs from around Glasgow join up to do a joint cross-country session.

Another form of training McGill does is endurance training. As a member of the Cambuslang Harries, McGill receives training from Mike Johnson, Scottish National Endurance Coach. Over winter these sessions focus on threshold training, a form of training inspired by Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who McGill calls “the superstar of middle-distance running right now”. Threshold running is a form of training where athletes train their bodies to run as fast as they can, keeping their heart rate at a level where they don’t produce lactic acid, which slows down the athlete as their legs get heavy. Although McGill makes me understand that this is tough training, he talks about it excitedly and with a glint in his eyes. Finally, his last day of the week is a long run. And for Andrew McGill, that’s a half marathon.

With such a heavy schedule, it’s easy to wonder how McGill manages to balance his studies with his athletic lifestyle. However, he calmly assures that “they really complement each other. With my degree, a lot of it is problem solving and I’ll get stuck on an exercise and go for a run. When I get back from running, it’ll have sunk into place and make sense. If I’ve had a long, tiring day and my head is just full, running helps me clear my head. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s running hard to relax!” 

As for balancing his social life, an essential part of any student experience, McGill feels just as balanced. He says, “Someone told me recently that there is no such thing as missing out. So, if I’m not there, I’m not missing out.  You can’t do everything, and I’ve chosen to put my running first” McGill goes on to explain that the drinking culture is part of the reason there is a talent leak in Scotland, as going to study in an environment less centred around the social consumption of alcohol can help athletes stay more focused. He asserts: “I always say anyone can do my training, but the not-fun part is being disciplined. It’s going to bed at the right time, saying no to a night out, or leaving early and not drinking. But it’s not missing out, it’s a choice”.

With such a strong mindset, it seems like McGill is not likely to be distracted from fulfilling his aims. Since he is more of a track runner, and the Winter season involves more training and preparation than competing, McGill already has big goals for 2024. “I’m going for the sub-4 minute mile next season, so that’s the next target! Running is about gradually building up and the winter races matter but they’re not a priority. I train through them to get the mileage in for track”. A nearer goal is the Armagh Road race in Northern Ireland. This major 5km race takes place in early February and is considered one of the biggest races for sub-elite club runners. In the university sphere, McGill hopes to stay on the sports bursary, and is excited to compete in BUCS with the UofG Hares and Hounds team.

We wish Andrew all the best with his future endeavours and look forward to seeing him improve. Happy running!

Students or applicants interested in becoming University of Glasgow sports bursar like Andrew can apply for 2024-2025 between May 2024 to September 2024. For further information, you can contact UofG Athlete Support Lead, Callum Hill at calum.hill@glasgow.ac.uk, or consult the webpage dedicated to the sports bursaries on the University of Glasgow website.

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University honoured with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its work studying Scotland’s most famous poet.

The University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies has received a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, commending the wide impact of their work celebrating Scotland’s national poet – Robert Burns. 

“The prize is a nice acknowledgment of a great team of scholars,” said the centre’s founder, Professor Gerard Carruthers. “Personally, I am immensely proud of every one of our Robert Burns group of more than a dozen folk.” 

The centre was honoured for the impact of their projects and research, namely Editing and Curating Burns for the 21st Century. The project aims to find new ways to edit and implement digital media in their curation of Burns’ work, hoping to make scholars more aware of the intellectual choices behind modern editions of his poems. 

 “I congratulate the entire team at CRBS- colleagues, students, partners, and alumni- on this richly deserved recognition,” said Principal Sir Anton Muscatelli. “Burns’s enduring appeal continues to drive interest not just in his work and life, but in Scotland and a whole…and has positioned our Centre as a leader in research, innovation, and education in this field.” 

The Queen’s Anniversary Prize is a series of honours given out by The Royal Anniversary Trust to recognize “groundbreaking” work in universities and colleges from around the UK. The award brought by this work is the sixth received by the University of Glasgow, which has previously received recognition in 1994, 1998, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

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Nominations for the University of Glasgow’s next Rector have now opened.

Nominations for the next University of Glasgow Rector have now opened. A post made by the Student Representative Council on Twitter announced the opening of the nominations, with the election scheduled for March 2024. Nominations will close on 22 January 2024 and voting will take place between 25 and 26 March. 

The rector is a student-elected position on the university court (the governing body of the University) and the intention is that they will represent student issues. Former rectors have included Adam Smith, Winnie Mandela, and Charles Kennedy. The current rector is the lawyer and judge Lady Rita Rae.

In an editorial by The Glasgow Guardian published last year, Rita Rae was accused of being an absentee rector. Lady Rae responded to these accusations in a recent interview with The Tab Glasgow, in which she shared her frustrations that the position of Rector, and what it entails, is widely unknown among the student body, adding that she “want[s] students to approach her” rather than the other way around.

Anyone can be nominated for the position, as long as they are not a member of staff or a currently enrolled student. It is unclear as of yet who students intend to nominate, but nominations can be submitted via the University website. 

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A student at the University of Glasgow who was denied graduation over an unpaid debt has launched a complaint against the university.

University of Glasgow student Chloe Ritchie has complained to the University after being forced to pay back a debt which they were originally told was cleared. In September, Ritchie was told that she would not be permitted to graduate from her Masters until outstanding student fees had been settled. After paying off her outstanding debt she was told that a further £703 of debt remained because of an unprocessed direct debit payment.

The University’s finance team admitted responsibility for the error in processing the payment. After lodging a complaint, Ritchie was allowed to enrol for graduation and asked to pay back the debt in monthly instalments of £20. However, she now says that she feels this outcome is unsatisfactory and has lodged a further complaint to the University to clear the debt entirely.

Chloe Ritchie told The Glasgow Guardian: “I’m now going to move the complaint to stage two because I’m not happy with the outcome. I understand that under normal circumstances, I’m liable to pay the outstanding tuition fees, however, I feel like it really disadvantages me now at this moment in my life after you graduate. That’s supposed to be the last of your university experience but now I will still be paying that off while my cohort  are getting on with their life and while I still have to keep paying that off for a while. And it’s also when a student is the poorest because I don’t have [a proper job]. And we have a cost of living crisis, it isn’t a great time to be chasing students for outstanding money that I genuinely didn’t know about.”

The start of Ritchie’s course was also affected by a lack of academic support for her dyslexia, for which she was partially refunded £3333 of her tuition. According to Ritchie, the lack of support led to dropping grades and her consequently not passing with distinction, on which, Ritchie had this to say: “Now reflecting, after finishing the 12 month course, I believe the University has done irreversible damage. I cannot undo my grades, I can’t take away the experience and I can’t take away the emotions I felt during that time and still feel as a result.

“Yes, but I’m hopeful that [the debt] can be resolved, I would like to be done with the University at this point. I want to graduate and that’d be the last hearing about Glasgow University.”

While the University does not comment on individual students, a spokesperson issued us with the following statement: “We remain considerate of the financial situation of all our students and have been working to ensure graduation can take place as planned and an appropriate payment plan can be agreed in due course to clear the outstanding debt.” 

They also provided the following background information: “Management of our student debt and in particular how this relates to graduation is of the utmost importance, and we strive to ensure that our students are clear in relation to their responsibilities to clear debt ahead of graduation and look to work with them to resolve any potential issues or obstacles that may prevent this.

“The original direct debit collection process in question was completed and reflected in the student account, however, subsequently the payment was rejected by the bank and therefore no payment was taken from the student in question.  Due to an administration error this rejected payment was not reflected on the student account at the time, and has since been updated.

Our original communication followed our debt management policy around payment ahead of graduation but, in this instance, due to the circumstances should not have been sent.

Support is available for University of Glasgow students should they find themselves with challenges in paying fees.

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The Glasgow Guardian speaks to student sportspeople about binge drinking, the pressures around sport social events and the impact of alcohol on mental health and academics

Binge drinking is commonplace in university sports. Studies have reported that students involved in university sport, even those who take part in organised recreational sport, drink excessively and drink more than students who do not participate in university sport at all. Even if the frequency at which students involved in sports drink does not necessarily exceed that of other students, it has been reported that student sportspeople are intoxicated more often, consume greater quantities of alcohol, engage more frequently in binge drinking, and appear to experience more alcohol-related problems than other students. 

With research uncovering the fact that student sportspeople face numerous pressures to drink heavily and often, The Glasgow Guardian spoke to several students, who wish to remain anonymous, about the availability and promotion of alcohol to athletes and the drinking culture within university sport. 

“There are social events almost every Wednesday night,” said one student. “More often than not these involve dressing up in a costume, playing drinking games and doing some sort of pub crawl across the West End before ending the night in the student union. For some this is fun and exciting, however for others, who are less outgoing or quieter, it can be a really daunting experience out of the fear of embarrassment or humiliation.

“Heavy drinking is often praised and the people who drink more are said to be more fun and the people that others want to be around all the time. Those who drink less or not at all are regularly forgotten about on nights out and sometimes even end up looking after the most drunk people, walking them home or forcing water down them to help them sober up.”

While sporting events often serve as a reason for students to come together, whether it is cheering for a university team, celebrating a victory or participating in recreational activities to meet new people and take a break from studying, the negative effects of drinking and alcohol on the mental and physical health of students are serious. 

Another student discussed the impact of excessive sport-related alcohol consumption on their academics and mental health: “After all of our matches, we always go to the pub for a couple of drinks. When we win, we drink; when we lose, we drink – it doesn’t matter. However, as a team, we make it clear to each other and ourselves that we are not drinking to cover intense emotions surrounding victories or defeat. We are drinking to socialise and form personal connections and relationships away from the pitch. 

“We understand that when linked to emotions, binge drinking can be extremely dangerous and have long term consequences. We do not force anyone to drink alcohol, if they are not comfortable or do not want to, whatever that reason may be. As far as I, and many others, are concerned, academics is the most important aspect of university and if someone has a deadline or wants to focus on studying then that is not going to hinder them on the team in any way. We’re trying really hard to move away from the university sport team stereotypes.”

“As a large club, we regularly face complaints from the student union, local pubs and residents in the area surrounding rowdy behaviour and excessive drinking. This is not the image that we want to portray to people so we are now beginning to implement different strategies to ensure that we are not disrupting others and creating a safe environment for everyone in the club.

“We have created a series of posts for social media informing our members about the dangers of excessive and binge drinking, the importance of food and water before a night out as well as a reminder that it is not necessary to drink alcohol to have fun and to know your limits. We’re also in the process of introducing sober representatives for social events that can help people if they feel uncomfortable or have drank too much. Hopefully, both of these alongside our sober socials, which shift the focus away from alcohol and concentrate on promoting a more inclusive and balanced social scene, will improve our reputation and show new members that university drinking culture does not have to be intimidating and humiliating.”

There is no doubt that sports have the ability to create a sense of belonging and community at university, however, the way in which this is achieved has to be closely monitored and in many cases improved. By implementing strategies to mitigate a culture of binge drinking, sports clubs can promote a better relationship between alcohol and sport, and a more positive student experience overall, based on improved health and inclusivity. Drinking and social events at university can be a lot of fun but they are not the be all and end all.

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Break a leg! Ryan Rutherford does Glasgow proud with new strides in his career.

Self-described as a “28-year-old wee Scottish guy from Edinburgh”, Ryan Rutherford graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2018 with an MA in Theatre Studies. Since then he has been working incredibly hard in one of the world’s most competitive industries. From the National Theatre Scotland to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he has an undoubtedly impressive list of work under his belt. This list has paid off, being awarded a position in Glasgow Film Festival’s competitive new talent mentorship scheme. I was lucky enough to speak to Ryan about his experience of the programme as well as his attitude towards a seemingly fortified, unbreakable line of work.

The programme, funded by The William Grant Foundation, aims to support emerging professionals working within “film, high-end television, and animation” from underrepresented backgrounds. Lasting six months, mentees are partnered with a mentor who works in their preferred career. During this time mentees are given the opportunity to gain “practical advice, encouragement and support”. This year eight mentees were selected to participate, one of which being our very own Ryan Rutherford. Rutherford explains that the concept of “artist helping artist” is a “bedrock of the art”, helping those gain the much-needed connections to establish themselves. The scheme serves as the quintessence of this belief, smashing the countless glass ceilings that prevent many from actively participating in the arts.

Rutherford outlined his experience with the industry over the course of our conversation, describing it as “expansive” and “easy to get lost in”. With so many opportunities and niches, the world of the performing arts is daunting, to say the least. In my opinion, it is also greatly underappreciated. An issue that is continuously coming to light in recent years, most noticeable within the writer’s strikes. Mirroring my own thoughts Rutherford concurs that “people from different backgrounds are still being underrepresented”, which is a problem that doesn’t seem to be getting better, despite global strides towards equality. Schemes such as this enable individuals to get their foot through the door of one of the world’s most selective clubs, brandishing the contradictory attitude which stipulates in order to make a name for oneself, one must already have a name to depend upon.

Sat in front of a smorgasbord of film posters, Rutherford appeared on our Zoom call as the epitome of what I expected, an insanely cool artist. Down to earth, friendly and chatty, the nerves over conducting my first-ever interview were immediately thwarted. A little less daunted, I began our conversation by querying the secret life of a university graduate, something that plagues my subconscious admittedly a bit too much. Rutherford explained that he was lucky to get an internship from the National Theatre Scotland after graduating, cushioning the blow of post-grad existentialism. An internship, he added, that the theatre department at the University helped him procure. 

Throughout his internship, Rutherford was able to learn a lot, not just about working for the theatre itself but the industry as a whole; incredibly harsh and almost impossible to access. The transition from student to full-fledged adult is a leap that many struggle with. We both agreed that as a university student, life is still very much trapped within a bubble. It is a time to make mistakes and try things out. It feels like no matter what happens you still have the university to support you. Once you have left, that support system is gone and you suddenly are left to feel the full weight of your actions. No parachute to cushion the blow.

After completing his internship, Rutherford went on to work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The “rite of passage” for any performer, as he described. For those who have witnessed the city of Edinburgh over the month of August, it is painfully clear how hectic the festival is – a fast-paced and difficult job squeezed into a short amount of time. Nonetheless, it allows almost complete artistic expression, with people now travelling across the globe to feature on one of the countless bills, performing in both venues and the street. This experience allows its performers a deeper understanding of the performing industry, an impact that I do not doubt has aided Rutherford in where his career is today.

Now, I feel the need to address the elephant in the room. The point of discussion that cannot be missed no matter how much we all try to forget it. The dreaded topic of the Covid-19 years, when everything grew to a halt and it felt like nothing would go back to normal. Rutherford agreed that it did make things very difficult for him. Many artists were left unable to find new work and experience the full breadth of what the industry has to offer. Rutherford reflected on this, explaining that it’s easy to get lost in “what could’ve been”, what experiences had been lost due to strict isolation and distancing rules. Regardless of how well he is doing today, the career restriction undoubtedly halted some of his success. We went on to discuss the experiences of those completing their first year of University entirely online and how sorry he felt for them. Missing the opportunity to enjoy the social life that University has become renowned for. I think everyone is guilty of this mindset, including myself. Rutherford’s words resonated with me. I had my 18th birthday in lockdown and often feel like I missed out on some key experiences with my friends over this time. The impact of Covid-19 couldn’t limit Ryan however; he procured a job at the Glasgow Film Theatre. A job that Rutherford speaks very highly of; another key step in his journey of success.

Through working at the film theatre, Rutherford was able to hear about the scheme and was inspired to apply. On being accepted Rutherford was partnered with Scottish Writer and Director Louis Paxton. Paxton graduated from RCS with an undergraduate degree moving on to procure an MA in directing at the National Film and Television School in London. Rutherford outlined Paxton’s extensive career for me, a Scottish BAFTA nominee, who has produced a wide variety of projects as well as working on famous sets, such as Shetland. It’s a list that could fill this entire article, serving as a credit to Paxton’s dedication as well as highlighting the success of Rutherford being placed with such an impressive mentor. Having only met his mentor once Rutherford is anxious to see what their mentor-mentee relationship will lead to. “He’s a really great guy” describes Ryan who is excited for more meetings with Paxton.

“It means the world to me”, Ryan describes when I ask him how he feels about procuring this position. He goes on to explain: “There is lots of rejection in this world, you have to keep trying but it’s very difficult”. On discovering he’d been selected as a mentee in such a prestigious programme Rutherford was elated: “it showed me I was on the right track, that I was going to get where I needed to be”, he describes through a Cheshire cat-like smile. On a more sombre note, we move our discussion to the immense lack of programmes such as this available. He adds: “There needs to be more like this … there are so many stories to be told”. Stories that may never be given the opportunity to come to light without more opportunities by companies such as the GFF.

On concluding our interview I was left with a great sense of joy, seeing someone so happy and achieving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am sure I speak for the whole University when I say that Ryan’s achievements are a credit to the hard work and dedication he has placed into his career and we are all so proud of him. Break a leg Ryan, we can’t wait to see what you do next!

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The first rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club.

24 years on since its UK release, David Fincher’s Fight Club remains one of those films. Divisive, clever and a certified cult classic, Fight Club’s reputation precedes it. It’s one of those films that your flatmate’s annoying friend from back home won’t stop going on about. It’s the sort of movie that misogynistic podcast hosts go buck wild over. It’s the type of film you see on £1 DVDs in every charity shop in the West End. It’s Fight Club.

When I first watched it, last January—lured by friends on the basis of its griminess and how much I liked Seven—I had no idea what I was getting into. I was in a tricky situation at the time, considering changing my whole life from the meticulous 5-year plan I had created back when I was 17. I wasn’t sleeping well. I hated my chemistry degree. Lost and disillusioned. I knew nothing about the film- all except the iconic and grotesquely overquoted “first rule of fight club” line—and fell head over heels in love with the film. After watching it on that cold January night, I rewatched Fight Club again the following month, after thinking about it anytime I washed my hands or saw seagulls scrapping over some food, and then again and again and again until I had wound up on my 15^th rewatch of it and a certified obsession. I felt like a light bulb had switched on in my mind; watching Fight Club was making some sort of sense, in a Tyler sort of way. Every time I rewatched it, I found a new nugget of information that only further built my love not only for the film itself but for the film as a whole. I pestered both friends and family alike to rewatch it (it’s practically banned in my flat now). In time, I eventually left my chemistry degree to study film so in a complete unironic sincerity, I can say I have Fight Club to thank for changing my life (and that my love for it grows upon every rewatch).

Together with his good friend and soap salesman, Tyler Durden, our protagonist—Jack to some fans, Joe to others but in reality, simply just named the Narrator—is an insomniac office worker, played by Edward Norton, who starts a club for men to fight each other. Eventually, one impoverished Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) drives a wedge between the two. It’s a simple premise, really, the classic hero’s journey. Brad Pitt, who plays Durden, summarised the film best back in a 1998 interview on the American Today show: “It’s about two guys who start this amateur boxing league for underprivileged youth and the woman who comes between them. But we, uh, twist it a bit.”

That’s not to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows and artisanal soap. It’s very easy to criticise Fight Club. It’s very easy to love Fight Club, but it’s even easier to hate it. They say love and hatred are two sides of the same coin. In most film circles, it’s low-hanging fruit. Its violent, brazen message of misogyny and homophobia and its radical acceptance of nihilism, cynicism and terrorism has left an unsavoury taste in many viewer’s mouths (even David Fincher has admitted he has no urge to rewatch it). What I have always adamantly refuted is the notion of Fight Club’s ‘taboo’ nature. ‘Dudebros’ and incels alike (the unfortunate majority of Fight Club’s fans) will jump to defend the film’s view of the patriarchy and women, not realising Tyler Durden is completely satirical, as well as an emotional stand in for the author of the book, Chuck Palahniuk (If you think Chuck Palahniuk wrote Tyler Durden to be relatable, you’re sorely mistaken). Palahniuk, a gay man whose own struggle with his sexuality and masculinity is evident within Durden’s psyche, has refuted this incel ‘reclaiming’ of the film, saying “it’s fascinating that the incels have adopted Fight Club. It shows how few metaphors men have. Just that and The Matrix.” Sure, Tyler Durden does rattle off numerous ways of making explosives (all the recipes included the film are incorrect, one of the most drastic differences from the novel), interposed on how all men should reject the notion of the traditional nuclear family and embrace a violent, Dionysian hedonism instead, but at the same time, there’s something extremely satisfying watching Edward Norton beat the living daylights out of a peroxide blond Jared Leto.

So why are we still talking about Fight Club? The film explicitly tells you not to (not once but twice). Fincher’s moved on, Palahniuk’s moved on, Norton, Pitt, and Carter have all moved on (Edward Norton, like Fincher, holds a certain level of prestige now that Fight Club doesn’t qualify for). I, however, haven’t moved on. In a way, I never will.

My love for Fight Club comes from its timeless relatability. Men will fight tooth and nail to claim that “they’re literally Tyler Durden” (none of them cool enough to pull off Tyler Durden’s fire truck–red casual nihilism), but at its core, the Narrator is our relatability factor here. He hates his job and boss; he lives a consumerist nightmare and has no close relationships to establish any meaning in his life. The Narrator wants more; like all of us, he is reaching for the rung just above his pecking order. He has a nice flat and some decent furniture (I would kill for his little ying-and-yang coffee table), but his life has no meaning. It’s an attractive and all-too-real premise for most. We all want more. We all want what we can’t have. We all hate our jobs. This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time. Fight Club tells us to embrace the uncontrollable, to desire something more than a nice condominium on the 18^th floor and a career as a salaryman. Fight Club tells us to fight, scratch and claw at our futures, to reject flat pack furniture and fancy French mustards and a life dictated by spreadsheets and numbers and to just let go.Fight Club met me at a very strange time in my life. And in 50 years’ time, when we’re on Ant–Man14, The Social Network 4: Enter the Metaverse, and another Exorcist reboot, I’ll still remember Fight Club with the sort of fondness one reserves for reminiscing about hot summer days gone by.

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Francis Bacon was missing from my life when I was young, although I didn’t know it.

Francis Bacon, an Irish artist known for his surrealist and disturbing work, is somewhat predictable as the choice for my favourite artist. Growing up, I was always interested in somewhat disturbing ideas and media. Although I was a fairly happy kid, I just had this innate attraction to horrific ideas and images, albeit through a childish lens – my favourite film was The Nightmare Before Christmas, and my favourite book was the Goosebumps version of Phantom of the Opera.

These interests were not deemed especially unusual, but the way I expressed them was. I particularly remember, at around the age of five or six, drawing a picture of a vampire with blood around its mouth. My teacher was, I suppose understandably, a little concerned about this, but I could only react with a sense of annoyance. I didn’t like the implications of her concern, that there were things I had to restrain myself from expressing, for the benefit of…who? What? So people could be more comfortable? I felt that would be lying somehow. I liked vampires! I wanted to draw them, I thought they were cool. Why couldn’t I express what I wanted to, or how the world was, even if it wasn’t perfect, or cute? This was something I often experienced but couldn’t quite articulate as a child – how strange it seemed to me that people sought to avoid anything dark or depressing. 

I think my attraction to dark subject matter did partially come from personal lived circumstances – I moved countries twice as a young child, leading to feelings of loneliness, not quite belonging amongst the other children – as well as a kind of existentialism about the sheer size of the world. When I got older, I started to realise I was attracted to women, which I don’t think requires explanation of how it might bring some difficulties into a young person’s life. 

Francis Bacon was also famously, messily, extravagantly, gay. When, at the age of 17, I opened a book on surrealist artists, the first thing I noticed after being hit in the gut by his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion was the book’s mention of his homosexuality. Something about the immediate impact of the eerie figures combined with the focus on personal life hooked me in, and I began further research on both his art and him as a person.

Unlike me, Bacon had faced a deeper amount of trauma regarding his homosexuality. He had a self-described “difficult” relationship with his father, who kicked him out of the house at 17 when he caught the young Francis crossdressing. After that, he lived in London on limited funds from his family, traversing the gay underworld. The pain and torment of this early rejection, as well as of a man who lived through two World Wars, is in my view deeply felt in Bacon’s work, and I cannot relate to either of these experiences.

Still, Bacon represents an experience a lot of queer people have – the realisation that the constructs everyone lives by, gender or religion for example, are limited and created – although this doesn’t mean they don’t have weight or aren’t “real.” There is a benefit to society casting you out of some of its parts – you understand a little more about the cogs of identity we all live by and operate. Although in some respects positive, this experience can be stressful, as is the pain of rejection. Through Bacon’s surrealist approach, he conveys not only his own perception of a subject, but that of the subject themselves. He imbues in his paintings the aura that exists in each subject and situation, conveying the intersection of symbolic identification and experience.

Take for example, his famous painting Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X.  Bacon’s screaming pope is imprisoned in bar-like, horizontal lines, a much darker image than Velásquez’s original. In his interpretation, Bacon not only depicts perhaps his complicated feelings surrounding his father’s recent death, but a clear criticism and defacement of the original patriarchal and stately depiction of the pope. Yet at the same time, a sense of visceral reality is felt here. I feel as a viewer that I am seeing the truth, particularly in the context of the original Velásquez. Bacon is not interested in conveying any sense of prettiness or respect for religious institutions and figures – but he is not unsympathetic to his subject either. His pope screams in pain, but the image simultaneously emits a sense of fear and oppressiveness onto the viewer. Thus the image of the pope is deconstructed; the religious figure here oppresses and is oppressed. But, although difficult, negative emotions must be embraced.

When I look at Bacon’s work, I, like the rest of the world, am intrigued by his incredible technique and his cryptic choices of subject matter and depiction. Yet I think it is this passionate embrace of darkness and existentialism, like they are old friends, that speaks to me most of all in his art. The embracing of the truth, ugly or not. And for that, the little girl drawing vampires and blood within me feels comforted that someone sees her. 

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In the realm of the silver screen, how we approach loneliness is filtered through our own lens of gender

In her essay Females, Andrea Long-Chu makes the bold claim that “everyone is a woman, and everyone hates it.” She doesn’t mean this literally (if that wasn’t clear), but just that maleness is necessarily something unobtainable. It doesn’t function unless it is an ideal that you can never truly embody. But in film, there are no real people with real bodies. In the domain of art and the ideal, there are only men, and they still hate it.

We can observe this at play in The Banshees of Inisherin. Kerry Cordon’s Siobhan is a lonely woman, certainly, but hers is not a condition of identity or of the mind. She has to get out of the place that’s making her lonely, and so she does. This is not to say that Banshees has bad gender politics, but that a fairly accurate representation of the way women and men might talk about their desires and beliefs in a patriarchal world must involve a split between a female ambition, and a male condition. The men in Banshees all want something unattainable, something interpersonal. Barry Keoghan’s Dominic wants an impossible love. Colin Farrell’s Padraic wants to save a dead friendship. These are not desires with material goals, but mental states that signify an intellectual commitment to being lonely. Loneliness, solipsism, the absolute male subject and ego, is founded on being unsolvable. Male loneliness is just what loneliness is, in a sense. 

It is the result of patriarchy dominating the phenomenological world; the subjective experience, the feeling of being lonely, is male loneliness. Female loneliness has a qualifier. It is to be a lonely object. Brokeback Mountain is a film about gay, lonely men who are lonely because they are gay. But only Heath Ledger’s Ennis, the top, the serious, stoic one, is meaningfully lonely. To put it in cliche he is the man of the relationship, and Jake Gyllenhall’s Jack is something less than a woman, propelled along in a straight relationship with appropriately confusing power dynamics. So Jack is killed—literally objectified, made not real—and Ennis becomes absolutely lonely, and yet nothing in this film is actually female loneliness—despite the fact that no main character is ever a conventional sort of man. The scene in Jack’s family home after he dies refutes that Ennis has any right to own Jack, only to view him. There is nothing like the loneliness of being property. There is only the loneliness of losing it, or becoming it.

Men in films who are lonely are allowed to keep being lonely because they do not owe anyone anything. A woman, eventually, is constructed as belonging to someone, and so loneliness simply won’t do. We know from linguistics that subjects and objects are not symmetrically related; objects are always being affected by something but subjects need only themselves. 

In Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, circumstance and high society conspire to bring two women together and then tear them apart. Noemie Merlent’s Marianne is the closest thing to a subject in the film, but she is a painter; more often than not, she has a subject. She is conjuring her phenomenology into the world and so negating its loneliness. You cannot make this film about men, and you cannot end it like Brokeback Mountain. In the end we watch her cry with the knowledge that Heloise, her lover, has become the ideal subject—forever signalling an impossible love in a painting, totally lonely and yet without any subjective truth. We zoom in and in on Marianne as the music objectifies her and yet compels her to feel deeply her new loneliness. Neither party has gotten to being intellectually lonely. It is only conditional, because it only could be.

What I actually mean is that loneliness is male in quite an essential way for the construction of the gender binary under patriarchy. If women were truthfully lonely they would cease to be recognisable (read: containable) women. Instead their loneliness is the thing that defines other things, like the fruitlessness of their marriage, or the horrors of a heteronormative society, or ironically the realities of patriarchy itself. I just mean that women are not essentially women, whatever that means. Gender doesn’t care. Gender cares only that you behave like an object, and objects are never lonely.

Paul Mescal’s Calum walks away from his daughter at the airport, and you think, “is he going to die? Is that what this film is?” It takes a daughter to give us the closest thing to a lonely male who is not subject, in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun. Cinematic naivety, the limitation of one camera and one camerawoman, exclude us from everything that is making Calum deeply lonely, which we assume means in a conventional male sense. And yet he never really gets the denouement that would reify him as intellectually lonely. He leaves his daughter’s life. She never understands. He returns only in shattered dreams set to David Bowie’s voice tumbling through a wormhole. To me this is what a compellingly non-patriarchal male loneliness is; all the precluding usually reserved for female loneliness, channelled by love and by naivety into a great fissure in masculinity. Calum is most convincingly lonely because you don’t get the sense that he can live with it. He is not assumed to endure. 

Even if film can escape the great femaleness in our lives and make some of our ideals into believable subjects, that objectification bleeds in. Masculinity is probably in its most historically insecure state and yet the patriarchy trundles on unaffected. We can only hope that more films give us women who are able to endure true loneliness, and men who are not expected to.

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Wes Anderson continues to evolve his style and push the boundaries of cinema in his new short movies on Netflix

On the vast Netflix platform, we have the uniqueness of Wes Anderson’s latest offering to his by now, huge audience. It is a trip into the world of Roald Dahl’s short stories, combined with Anderson’s cautious and beautiful aesthetics.  A quartet of short films, each a brief yet immersive exploration of the whimsical and thought-provoking short stories with underlying themes of justice, history and cruelty. Ranging from seventeen to thirty-nine minutes, these short films are a testament to Anderson’s unique and unmistakable cinematic approach, drawing comparisons to luminaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Abbas Kiarostami by the New Yorker’s film critic Richard Brody. Dahl has long been an influence for Wes Anderson, the literary source for his feature length 2009 film The Fantastic Mr. Fox and now a crucial lens through which to view Anderson’s creative evolution.

Anderson’s signature meticulousness and love of symmetry is evident in the carefully measured designs, knowing performances, and asides to the camera. Weaving political implications within the precision of the narratives, the director takes storytelling literally, framing the tales as one would a theatrical production. All four films feature characters narrating their stories directly to the camera within a staged setting. In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Benedict Cumberbatch moves amidst shifting walls, maintaining eye contact with the camera, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. This technique is further emphasised in The Swan, where a makeup artist applies fake blood to a character in plain view. Unapologetically exposing the artifice with props and visible stage walls, Anderson invites the audience to transcend the drama and engage with the narrative on a unique level with his refined artistry. He manages to keep us extremely engaged while simultaneously pulling us outside of that drama. The theatrical dedication is impressive and consuming, with such an investment in visuals; a wonderfully refreshing piece of work to see while browsing.

The quartet delves into themes of justice, history, and discrimination, with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar serving as a profound exploration of spiritual ideologies. Each film addresses unique aspects, from the sadism and violence in The Rat Catcher to the survival narrative against bullying in The Swan which intriguingly hints at historical undertones in the Holocaust, with barbed wire and a bland suburban background. Poison explores colonial racism in a story that turns poisonous as quickly as a snake’s bite. The story of a British man, an Indian doctor and a knife edge crisis plays with vulnerabilities, control and violence another layer to the quartet’s thematic richness.

With all this beauty, we question the structure of the narrative itself. It seems that Anderson is savouring words, with a breathless delivery from specific actors in each short film; however, does this give justice to literature and the short story form, or undermine it by translating it into a carefully crafted short movie with a distinctive aesthetic? Anderson intelligently subverts our traditional expectations by making the actors recite Dahl’s stories almost verbatim, honouring the short stories as a completed form, with a witty portrayal of Dahl by Ralph Fiennes. This is alongside a versatile cast including Dev Patel, Rupert Fiend, Ben Kingsley, and Benedict Cumberbatch, who all successfully add depth and nuance to each narrative.

Among the quartet, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar stands out as the most complete with its compelling story, encompassing the span of a life, and exceptional acting by Cumberbatch. There were moments, like a pause in a delicious meal, when I wondered if it wasn’t all too sweet, too perfect and delicious. This familiar two-dimensional symmetry is a reassuring fantasy, a fairy-like world, in which Anderson has become a hallmark for. His artistic talent has created an identity for itself, one which we could recognize from the advertising itself. One could say this has been overdone by Anderson, that we are overexposed to his aesthetic, and losing an emotional depth that he perfectly encapsulated in Rushmore.

However, I remembered how hard it is to see the author, the artist in most of what is served up on Netflix, and what dross might be waiting when I reached the end, and Netflix suggested what might be next up.

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