Shelly.

Mostly blogs and updates from elsewhere on the internet

[shellyasquith]

High 5 for the NSS

Read the full post here : https://network23.org/freeunisheff/tag/nss/ Last week, Times Higher Education reported that Black academics are being scored lower than their White peers in the National Student Survey (NSS). Those familiar with the context of institutionalised racism in higher education will not find these results surprising, and will recognise that it merely scratches the surface of the problem. As we approach peak NSS season, the article provides a welcome invitation to begin discussing the wider issues the survey perpetuates.

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Tory Government - What Does it Mean for Students?

Image by Leon Neal

In the last 5 years, students have been attacked at every corner. In the next 5, we must expect not 'more of the same' but much, much worse.

Now that the Conservatives have a majority Government, Cameron has pledged to deliver their manifesto in full. But what was in it, and what does it mean for students?

Education and training

The headline of 3 million more apprenticeships sounds good, but scratch beneath the surface and these are being funded at the expense of what the Tories call 'lower level, classroom' Further Education courses. Meanwhile cuts of 24% are already being made to the FE sector. There is no mention of apprentice pay, so we can assume the poverty rate of £2.73 will continue with a move towards more business influence.

In education policy, it is more about what the Conservatives don't mention in their manifesto than what they do. Further and Higher Education barely features and fees are not addressed at all. We can guess a rise in tuition fees will be proposed, as just days before the general election, the Tories refused to rule it out.

There is a renewed commitment to academising all 'failing or coasting' secondary schools, as well as striving for a University Technical College in every city and '500 new free schools'; meaning the free market, two-tier individualist agenda in primary and secondary education will run wild.

Welfare

Overall, the Tories plan to make budget cuts of £12 billion. It is not entirely clear where these welfare 'savings' will come from, but we can expect Disabled Students' Allowance to be one of them, while unemployed under 21s will be refused Housing Benefit. Couple this with the bedroom tax and the Tories clearly hope to see more young people staying 'at home' with their family: something not everyone has the option of.

The Department for Work and Pensions has also announced it is looking at cutting the Access to Work fund for disabled people, and the Tories aim to 'recover £500 million from migrants who use the NHS'. We know from the new health charges that this includes international students, already paying sky-high fees.

It is clear that this election outcome will pose dire consequences for migrants, the working class, disabled people or anyone who finds themselves a casualty of the housing crisis.

Immigration

The new Government's policies arguably offer the worst prospects of all to international students. Overall net migration targets will be taken 'from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands'. Considering there are almost half a million international students, we could see extreme restrictions on recruitment for HE institutions. The manifesto also says they will 'reform the student visa system with new measures to tackle abuse', as well as pledging to reduce the number who stay on after graduation. That means more restrictions, evictions and deportations.

EU migrants will have to wait four years before they are able to claim benefits, meaning they will no longer be entitled to Council Tax Benefit while the scrapping of out-of-work benefits will mean that EU graduates wishing to stay here will be faced with homelessness if they don't find employment straight away.

It looks as though Cameron will keep Nicky Morgan in Education and Greg Clark as Universities Minister. Both seem to tow the Party line far more than their predecessors and will be able to go even further in their briefs with a fully Tory ministerial team.

Fighting back?

This by no means reflects the full scale of austerity the Government will likely implement, and there are many more policies that should concern us: anti-trade union laws and the scrapping of the Human Rights Act to name a few. It is clear that the need to fight back is now more urgent and in the coming months students must come together to strategise, analyse and call actions. 

Demonstrations, occupations and unionisation will all be key tactics for the movement to employ in order to raise awareness and resist this impending onslaught. More than anything though we need to unite in our numbers; home and international, school to PhD, students with staff; doing everything we can to deny this Government an easy ride in pushing through their manifesto and delivering a full term.

12 - 14th June: National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts summer conference in Sheffield.

20th June: Students join the End Austerity Now demonstration in London.

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Students: Let’s stand up for choice

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be on a coach back to Birmingham: but this time the cause is much less positive, if frighteningly urgent. This time, it’s for a counter-demonstration to confront the dangerous message of the anti-choice movement that threatens mine and so many other peoples’ autonomy and reproductive freedom.

On May 16th, a coalition of anti-choice groups are meeting in the city centre for their annual demonstration. These people advocate forcing women and others who conceive to bring their pregnancies to term against their will. They advocate a change in the law to limit or to outright eradicate access to safe abortions, and to strip us of our self-rule over what germinates inside our ovaries. Without access to abortions, we are forced to continue an unwanted or severely complicated pregnancy, or seek illegal, unsafe alternatives. This has a disproportionate impact on working class people who cannot afford to travel elsewhere or pay a qualified medic. I wish we didn’t have to come together to defend this. I wish we could stand by what is law, and overwhelming public opinion, and continue to access safe, legal care when in need. But the reality is that the access to services here is far from adequate and the curtailment of abortion rights elsewhere sends a sign that we need to be making the case immediately, as well as collectively. Last year, 7 states in the USA passed laws limiting access to abortion. Some pregnant people in Texas face journeys of up to 1,000 miles to reach a clinic in their home state. In Northern Ireland, students have taken part in actions countering what anti-choicers call the ‘Precious Life’ protests. Courtney Robinson is President of Belfast Met College Students’ Union and has recently rallied students in support of reproductive rights: “It is vitally important for the student movement to come together to oppose these groups, which amount to nothing more than hysterical, fundamentalist rhetoric. There are women in our colleges and universities who could be facing crisis and we cannot let them be emotionally blackmailed into doing what they feel is not right for them.” These groups do not just get together for peaceful demonstrations - they are more malicious than that. Recently they have ramped up intimidation tactics outside clinics, and even targeted freshers fairs. Last year they rallied hundreds of people to their cause. They’ve been planning this all year, but I know that the student movement can outnumber them by mobilising in just a couple of weeks. I was proud to host the Abortion Rights student conference at our university this year. Now Abortion Rights is calling for all students and supporters to join together and show our support for reproductive rights and the right to choose. They will try to paint us as a minority. They will try to show theirs as the ‘moral’ argument, to divide those of us of faith, and to curtail our rights and dignity. But they will not succeed: not if we come together and show our opposition. So join us and let’s show that students stand up for choice.

The Abortion Rights coach will leave Malet Street in London at 9.30AM on 16 May. To register a place, book here. Facebook event page here.

[shellyasquith]

My University is trying to ban me from protesting. Because they know it works.

Almost a month ago, I discovered University of the Arts London (UAL) was making huge cuts to Further Education courses, with dozens of staff jobs on the line. Today, I went to court to discover they are now attempting to ban the majority of our elected sabbatical officer team from protesting: a move to sideline democracy, but one that will not be successful.

As the President of the Students’ Union, you may have expected me to have been consulted on a big budget cut; but at UAL, changes are continually made without the views of students taken into consideration. The only time they seem to care what we think is at the end of our final year, when we fill in the National Student Survey.

When students heard of the cuts, they were rightly angry. Foundation, which is being cut by 560 places, is a 1-year, multi-disciplinary course which prepares students for art and design at degree level. It’s free for home students who are under 19 and there are no A-Levels required: meaning that Foundation opens up art education to many from non-traditional and working class backgrounds. These cuts will be hitting the kinds of students we so urgently need to be helping.

With course closures and redundancies imminent, students chose to occupy a space at Central Saint Martins college in protest. The Students’ Union and the UCU (the academic staff trade union) gave full support to this action. Three weeks on and we are being dragged through the courts.

Last night I was made aware of a possession order being sought by UAL and notified of a request for a hearing in court for this morning. This gave us 0 days to seek legal advice. In court, Hannah (SUARTS Education Officer) and I found that not only does UAL want to spend thousands of pounds in an eviction; they actively want to ban protestors. Of the 15 individuals the university is seeking an injunction against, 7 are elected Students‘ Union representatives, including myself. Not only is our university victimising those who speak up; but it is attempting to crush our Union’s campaigning capacity and totally undermine democracy.

UAL wanted to bring this to court by Monday morning, again giving us 0 working days to understand procedures and seek support. For many of us, this process has had a very negative impact on our mental health and personal lives, and none of us is au fait with legal processes. We managed to convince the Judge to delay the hearing by 24 hours, giving us a small window of extra time and a minor blow to the University’s underhand maneuvering.

In the last couple of years we have consistently demonstrated at this university, and we have consistently won. From the Living Wage and affordable rents to international student sign in. Even when we got Wednesday afternoons free for sports teams, it was an occupation that pushed through policy. When consultation has been exhausted (or in this case denied), then direct action is a necessary and effective tool, and it works.

At first, the University seemed to embrace the occupation as a novelty, describing them as ‘joining a long tradition of art school demonstrations’. Now they claim they are trying to ‘regain possession of the campus’. But that is exactly what this protest is about: students reclaiming possession of education, rejecting cuts and defending our right to protest. We will not be silenced.

We are asking students, staff and other supporters of the fight to save Foundation to join the demonstration outside the court hearing on Tuesday, to send a strong message against the victimisation of activists.

10AM at Royal Courts of Justice, 7 Rolls Building, Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1NL. If you have any questions, please get in touch: [email protected]

[shellyasquith]

Email re police at LCC

Email to the Head of College at LCC with regard to police at LCC yesterday: Dear Natalie I am writing with regard to yesterday's protest. Unfortunately I was not able to speak to you about trying to resolve the issue of the remaining students leaving the building after the protest, and allowing everyone back in, as I was told you were too busy to speak with me when I requested. The decision to call in the police is something which the Student Union feels very strongly about; and particularly feel that their presence yesterday was unnecessary. LCC is supposed to be a space for learning, where critical thinking is encouraged; not an authoritarian institution which uses state force at the first sign of dissent. As I am sure you know, the Metropolitan Police has form for violently repressing peaceful student protests and for systematically harming and killing Black people. We have policy to not allow the police inside SU spaces for these reasons; and many of our members (particularly those who are Muslim, Black and international) find police presence intimidating and unsafe. Not too long ago, we had several LCC students kettled and arrested (released without charge) at a Black Lives Matter demonstration; and instances of racial profiling have taken place outside UAL campuses. In addition to the police, security presence at LCC seems to have been increased today; with some of our members saying it feels like 'entering a prison'. A couple who forgot their ID cards today were charged for new ones, and have said that they would usually have been given a temporary pass. Security have said that it is because of the protest that students had to buy new cards. This seems like quite an extreme measure, and we would like to request they are refunded. Finally, we would like to raise the issue of the students who were denied access to resources early yesterday, due to the College deciding to close. Some have raised that this may impact on their ability to meet their upcoming deadlines; and we would like to propose that any students affected may be granted an extension. In unity Shelly & Bee SUARTS President and Vice President LCC.

[shellyasquith]

Why we need to fight for Foundation

What’s going on?

Last year, we heard UAL would be ‘reviewing’ its FurtherEducation provision. We were given a heads up that the Union would be involved in the consultation on the future of Foundation. 12 months later, we suddenly hear that staff have been told they are at risk of redundancy and that over 580 places on Foundation courses across the Colleges will be cut. UAL management has form for pushing through huge changes to the detriment of staff and students with no mandate. They have continually undermined education in favour of profit-making and have shown contempt for engaging with the student body in any meaningful way.

What is Foundation? When people think of UAL, they may not necessarily know that a large proportion of our students are Further Education; and that even more of them started their education here on FE courses.

Foundation courses in Art and Design are a pre-degree, multi-disciplinary course designed to prepare students for Higher Education. They allow us to explore our practise, experiment as artists and make mistakes before embarking on a chosen pathway. They have been incredibly important in developing many renowned artists and designers who have passed through UAL. Why is UAL cutting Foundation? This is a difficult question to answer, because UAL management continually fail to consult with students and staff before they make big changes. We (the Students’ Union) were only this week made aware of the scale of the cut in provision. We believe the cut is largely down to ‘cost saving’, but that UAL will refuse to admit this.

Foundation degrees are part-funded by the Government: and they are free to study so long as you are under 19 and not an international student. But they are hugely subsidised by UAL and seen as ‘loss making’. Unlike Undergrad and Postgrad courses, they are not lucrative in a privatised education institution like UAL. In the last few years, UAL has established the ‘UAL Awarding Body’, which accredits art and design courses all over the UK. This means, from Blackburn to Bournemouth, students are gaining UAL qualifications without actually studying here. In many cases, the accreditation is part of a deal, whereby colleges will encourage students to apply for HE courses at UAL: so they make money from accrediting them as FE, then money from their fees when they progress. This is much more ‘cost effective’ than taking them on as FE students within our own university. There is nothing wrong with UAL accrediting courses; in fact the more students who are able to study Foundation as a result should be celebrated. It is the cynical way in which UAL is using this as an income stream, whilst cutting its out Foundation provision, which we reject. Why should we fight to save Foundation? Foundation is a vital pathway for art and design students, and represents ‘education for educations sake’ more than most methods of study: we should defend it as such. Foundation attracts a large number of working class and mature students, and acts as an access route to HE when many may have not otherwise considered it.  While UAL has a huge problem with the ‘attainment’ gap for Black students on its HE courses; on Foundation this gap is closed. Research shows that Black students are more likely to gain a Merit or Distinction and more likely to progress. By cutting Foundation, UAL is cutting a vital access route in its Widening Participation agenda – this is at a time when £500,000 is also being cut from outreach at UAL. The cost of studying for 4 years instead of 3 is of course an added burden, but that is why we have launched Funding Foundation; calling for investment, for living grants and the removal of fees. Simply cutting back on Foundation provision is not the answer, we need to demand more. The only thing UAL seems to fundamentally care about is its image and reputation. We believe, as the world’s largest art, design and communication institution; that UAL’s reputation is on the line if it is to scale back Foundation. Please sign the petition which the anti-cuts group has launched, urging management to reverse their decision, get involved with the campaign to save Foundation provision, and support the UCU in whatever action they take to resist staff redundancies.

[arts-su]

[shellyasquith]

How far can an artist claim ‘freedom of speech’ to escape the charges of Islamophobia and racism?

What will the new Counter Terrorism and Security Bill mean for students making politically motivated artwork? 

Join us to discuss these questions and more this Wednesday: 

”Artistic license? Freedom Of Speech Or Racism?” <— RSVP

6 - 8pm on Wednesday 11th Feb in the Main Lecture Theatre at London College of Communication, hosted by Rimsha and Laylah from BA Illustration, with a guest speaker from the NUS Black Students’ Campaign.

[shellyasquith]

Could you do my job?

It’s all change at SUARTS. Nominations are now open for our elections- and there are a whole host of new officer roles to run for! I’m very excited that this year, in response to your vote, we’re doing away with the President and instead electing the following four full time officers: Education,

Welfare,

Campaigns,

Activities. Alongside these, we’ll be introducing paid part time officers: Black Students’ Officer,

Women’s Officer,

Disabled Students’ Officer,

LGBTQ Officer;

International Students’ Officer,

Mature/Part Time Officer

as well as 4 College reps for LCC, CSM, CCW & LCF.

In Autumn term we will elect more roles including a Postgraduate and a Further Education Officer. Over the next week I’ll be blogging about what it means to be a candidate and an officer, and why I think you (yes, you!) should run. If you have any questions or want to chat in person, please just drop me a line [email protected] Shelly x

[arts-attack-blog]

[shellyasquith]

Students and staff at Wimbledon College of Arts have reclaimed a lecture theatre and studio space, hosting a a series of talks and meetings to challenge the marketisation of the art school. Speakers include Bob and Roberta Smith and School of the Damned. 

Demands are being set. The ground rules have been laid out: - We are students from across the UAL Colleges; the reclamation is symbolic of a wider UAL problem. - This isn’t an occupation but a reclamation of a space that has always, and will always, be ours. - This will be a dry space (no alcohol). - We are fine with staff. This is their College too. We have staff inside the occupation. - Security, bureaucrats and the Dean of College can only enter on our terms.

[savejobsatdpg]

STOP THE STAFF CUTS AT DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

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PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION ON :

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/SaveJobsAtDPG

Statement from gallery assistants at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (DPG), members of the Unite union.

Senior Management at Dulwich Picture Gallery propose to make over half of the current visitor services team redundant, as part of the gallery’s cost-cutting programme.19 members of the front-of-house team will face redundancy. Those retaining their jobs will be asked to sign new annualised hours contracts which will force them to work any hours stipulated by management without over-time rates. The expected impact will be a lower annual income for visitor services staff. 

The proposal also suggests that apprentices and casual staff will be introduced in favour of existing staff members. These new recruits, some of which will be on lower wages and could earn as little as £2.73/h, will be obliged to take shifts on demand and will not be entitled to the same employment benefits as their colleagues on the new annualised hours contracts.

Management have acted without warning and are withholding key information in an attempt to force these changes through before staff can respond.

Dulwich Picture Gallery houses one of the most influential collections of old master paintings in the UK, it prides itself on being an organisation which values its staff and their commitment to delivering a superlative visitor experience. The proposed redundancies will have a dramatic impact on the quality of service the institution aims to deliver, and will result in a significant loss of expertise, dedication and experience which its long-standing front-of-house team provides. 

The DPG Gallery Assistants condemn the cuts saying:

“We love working at the gallery, we love the paintings and we love our visitors. We work hard to bring you the superlative customer service that makes our gallery so unique. We believe the proposed redundancies are unjustified and unfair, and that they will ultimately jeopardise and damage the relationship we have developed with our customers throughout the years. We are united in our intention to fight the proposed cuts and ask for your support and solidarity”

HELP US Protect Dulwich Picture Gallery!

SIGN THE PETITION ON : https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/SaveJobsAtDPG

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND TUMBLR.

LIKE! SHARE! TWEET!

www.facebook.com/SaveJobsAtDPG

twitter.com/SaveJobsAtDPG - @SaveJobsAtDPG

www.savejobsatdpg.tumblr.com

[shellyasquith]

Why we're fighting for Foundation funding

Not all Foundation students study for free, either. The arbitrary age limit of 19 means many home students pay fees, and all international students do too. The Government's further cut to funding for 18 year olds will have a further impact on Foundation courses, and some in the sector are concerned that they could scrap the subsidy for Foundation altogether. Our campaign, Funding Foundation is arguing for: - Investment in art education with increased teaching budgets.  - A grant for all students in Further Education that meets living costs. - An end to fees for post-19 learners: make Foundation courses free for all regardless of age or nationality. Want to get involved? Like the page and send us a message - we need to spread the word at as many colleges as possible! The campaign is supported by: Ravensbourne Students' Union Leeds College of Art Students' Union University and Colleges Union (UCU) at UAL West Thames College Students' Union National Union of Students (Community Organising Initiative Fund)

[shellyasquith]

Counter-'Terrorism' Bill: Joint Unions statement

UPDATE: The Vice Chancellor has responded to our concerns, saying: "The Universities UK is co-ordinating a sector response to the new bill and we certainly have major problems with the proposal … you can rest assured that we share your concerns and will be expressing them." We have asked to see the UUK response when it is complete.

[arts-su]

Students demand end to rents that swallow up 95% of their loans

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Students will be forced out of higher education by soaring accommodation costs, say campaigners.

There is a new wave of student activism building and its focus isn’t tuition fees. With many students priced out of education due to rising living costs, campaigners are calling for tenants’ rights and affordable housing. Read the article by Shelly Asquith in full at the Guardian.

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V&A take over: the artists

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This weekend, a bunch of UAL students are exhibiting work at the V&A. Tonight the exhibition launches with a drinks reception. If you’re reading this then you are invited. On Saturday the space will be given over for various talks, and the work will be on display until Sunday evening. Here are some of the artists featured:

Devni Liyanage:  ’Immigrant’: Remove the stigma a zine which explores the experience of being labelled an immigrant.

Alice Woods: Keep me warm at night a blanket of protest symbols that doesn’t actually insulate

Tamara Lewis: The Umbrella Movement; A Fight for Democratic Reform a zine and response wall documenting the fight for democracy in Hong Kong

Oscar Lo Piccolo: ’Eccentric’fied’ Diversity sculptures inspired by Picasso’s Guernica, the artists calls this ‘a chromatic paroxysm’

Fiona McAuliffe (FoRte): ATOS Kill an installation to depict the resistance of disabled people to the privatisation of the welfare state

Lana Locke: Feral Bunting

Su Ekin Demir: Gezi Heroes illustrations of people who put themselves on the line during the Gezi Park protests in Turkey

Inés Cámara: Hands up don’t shoot a morse code exclamation, download it as your ring tone.

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EVENT: art school curriculum: Pale, Male, Stale?

Why is it that only a small percentage of what we learn, see and hear about in our art schools and galleries comes from the majority of the world: Women and non-white people?

Tired of a skewed version of art history, we are challenging UAL to broaden our syllabus. Join our event next week at Chelsea College of Arts, 20th Jan at 6.30PM. I will be giving a background on the history and current role of women in the art world, and will be joined by the following fantastic speakers: Kimathi Donkor

Kimathi is an artist and PhD student at CCW. He is of Ghanaian, Anglo-Jewish and Jamaican family heritage, and, during his early years, lived in Zambia and the English westcountry. He regards this trans-national legacy as helping shape the themes of his work, which re-imagine historic and mythic encounters across Africa and its global Diasporas.  Malia Bouattia

Malia is the Black Students' Officer for the National Union of Students, and represents almost 1 million students of African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean heritage at a local and national level on all issues affecting them. Malia was recently voted one of the #EightWomen: the 8 most inspiring Black women in the UK.

Aisha Richards 

Aisha is an academic at UAL and founder and director of the campaign Shades of Noir, a long-term strategy that promoted dialogue and cultural value to enhance race equality in arts education. She is also a co-Chair of GEMS (Group for the Equality of Minority Staff) and serves as an elected Academic Board Member. RSVP NOW

[shellyasquith]

Why I want to sack the sick note fee.

We want the Government to remove the unfair charges on obtaining doctors' notes; and in the meantime we are asking UAL to help with the costs.

Lack of access to sick pay and long NHS waiting lists are just some of the barriers to decent healthcare. Another, rarely mentioned, is the fee attached to doctors’ notes.

Students who are suffering from mental or physical illnesses are often required to obtain evidence from a GP to access extenuating circumstances; to request time away from study or an extension on an essay, for example. 

The cost of medical evidence notes can range from £17 to £125 pounds, according to research by the British Medical Association. In some cases they are free, but it is all dependent on which practise you are registered with. The Government’s excuse is that the NHS exists to provide medical treatment, and notes are not a form of it. But what about recovery? What about the risk of spreading a virus to others at work or College, and the cost to the NHS as this ensues?

With these arbitrary charges, students will be forced to work while they’re ill; or continuing with exams and deadlines when they are not well enough to do so. This can have a negative impact on their welfare and education.

In one case, a woman student who was attacked on her way to College had to obtain a note as evidence of her injuries in order to press charges, and was charged in doing so. Nobody should be priced out of seeking justice against violent crimes.

Students who work part time are affected, too. Someone earning minimum wage may not make enough money in a day to pay the cost of a note; yet they must purchase one in order to receive Statutory Sick Pay. And at just £87.55 a week, this benefit could fail to even cover the cost of the note which warranted it.

For international students, this comes as a burden on what is already a very expensive trip to the doctors: migrants will now be charged around £200 a year to access the NHS.

This is a tax on being ill that’s refusing our most vulnerable members the chance to recover. Until we have workplaces, Universities and Colleges whose relationships with their students and workers are based on trust; and ‘evidence’ of sickness is no longer required; we must demand a removal of the fee for doctors’ notes from the Government, and the reimbursement in the meantime by our institutions.

I will be taking a proposal to the Student Funds Committee in February, inviting the university to set up a joint fund to cover the cost of medical evidence. We are asking you to help us lobby in advance: if you agree that we should sack the sick note fee, contact your Head/Dean of College encouraging them to support the paper:

LCC: Natalie Brett [email protected]

CSM: Jeremy Till [email protected]

LCF: Frances Corner [email protected]

Chelsea: George Blacklock [email protected]

Wimbledon: Simon Betts [email protected]

Camberwell: Nick Gorse [email protected]

[shellyasquith]

Run out or can't afford wrapping paper?

People think I'm being kooky and hipster when I do this, but really I'm just tight...

If you're at UAL, it's likely you have a few fashion/graphics/art magazines knocking about. For me it's Frieze. You don't need all those back issues, so why not tear out the best pages and wrap this year's presents with them?

Step 1: Tear out the pages which catch your eye, and depending on the size of the gift, stick them together like patchwork. Tape together from behind so the sellotape doesn't show.

Step 2: Wrap your present. Be sure to tape down any stray, torn edges.

Step 3: Adorn as you wish, a nice bow makes it look like you've tried a bit, and you can make name tags from the front and back covers of the magazine.

Et voila! It's cheap and it looks way more original than your standard Primark roll.