The Cheese Grater is a student satirical and investigative magazine produced at University College London by a society of UCL Union, a students' union. The Cheese Grater publishes a articles covering student politics, news, investigations, satire and cartoons. Its stories are frequently critical of the UCL Union. It was first published in March 2004, and was named London's best student publication in the 2022 Student Publication Association awards, and has won the UCL Students' Union Publication of the Year Award 8 times since 2005.[1] The Cheese Grater is also the largest publication at UCL in terms of readership, membership and online following, despite being the alternative paper to the mainstream Pi Magazine. The Cheese Grater has also won the most national student publication awards of any UCL publication in the 21st century.
History
The Cheese Grater was founded by René Lavanchy, a critical observer of Pi Magazine, the only significant UCL student publication at the time. The society was affiliated on 12 February 2004[citation needed] and the first issue was published on 25 March 2004.[2] The first issue was a poorly photocopied satirical pamphlet which had an empty page on the back cover and an advert within calling for more writers to get involved. The next issue of The Cheese Grater was published in October 2004, and included 12 pages of satirical and investigatory pieces in the style of Private Eye. From here, The Cheese Grater continued to publish between 3-5 issues per academic year, filled with satire and investigations. Interestingly, René Lavanchy stayed on at The Cheese Grater until 2010 as an advisor to new editors, despite graduating in 2006. A notable early member of the society was Dex Torricke-Barton, now known as Dex Hunter-Torricke, former head of communications at Elon Musk's Space X and currently the head of communications for Google's DeepMind project. Another interesting former contributor to early issues of the magazine is Patrick Maguire, a prominent columnist at The Times and The New Statesman.
In October 2008, an article in issue 18 was censored by Communications and Services Officer Charlie Clinton, leading the magazine to instead publish a story condemning his interference.[citation needed]
In 2016, The Cheese Grater launched a sister publication, Grater Expectations; an irregularly published feminist zine focusing on absurdist humour and art. The sister publication now goes under the name "Women's Wrongs" after a revival in 2022. The revival saw Women's Wrongs win the award for best publication at the 2023 UCL Art's Awards, with the publication also being nominated for best newcomer at the SPA national awards.
Notable articles
In February 2005, The Cheese Grater published a special report accusing UCL Union sabbatical officer David Renton of laziness, incompetence and general neglect of his duties.[citation needed]
In March 2006 the magazine revealed – using the evidence of a leaked e-mail – that then student editor of Pi Magazine Simon Dedman had cheated in recent UCL Union elections, securing the election of Nick Barnard as Media and Communications Officer, and that neither person had been significantly disciplined for it.[citation needed]
In February 2011, The Cheese Grater published documents from UCL Academic Board meetings which revealed the potential impact of government higher education cuts at UCL. The findings suggested a £35 million budget shortfall for UCL even if it were to charge the full £9,000 undergraduate tuition fee. Following the publication of this article, the documents revealing this were removed from the UCL website. The article was later picked up by Times Higher Education, who published a piece using the magazine's findings on 24 February 2011.[3]
In March 2012, The Cheese Grater investigated UCL's bid to build a second London campus in Stratford, uncovering local residents' objections to the potential demolition of their homes and inadequacies in Newham Council's consultation process. The story was later picked up by The Guardian and other national news sources.[4]
In 2021 the magazine launched an investigation into sexual harassment, intimidation, and bullying committed by UCL Security in Halls of Residence throughout the 2020–2021 academic year. The five month long investigation saw two of its writers uncover vast alleged abuses committed by UCL Security staff resulting in the publication of victims recollections of the alleged abuses. The article resulted in UCL launching an investigation, of which its findings have still not been published.[5]
In the Winter 2022 issue, Neil Majithia and Elettra Plati penned an exposé of UCL sports societies and their initiative activities. Neil and Elettra exposed the initiation rituals of UCL's most prolific sports societies. In doing this, the pair brought the culture of Team UCL to attention. They subsequently won the Best News Piece award at the 2023 SPA Awards.[6]
In 2022 the magazine published an article strongly criticising UCL's decision to cut ties with Stonewall, the article was widely received with both praise and criticism after it reached over 60,000 people on social media. The article exposed procedural inconsistencies, and lobbying by an established inter-departmental network of gender critical feminists amongst UCL's academic staff.[7]
The 2023/24 academic year saw numerous pressing articles published. Robert Delaney's investigation into UCL History's redundancy process was met with critical acclaim[citation needed] and was picked up by the University and Colleges Union (UCU), causing the Trade Union to go into industrial dispute with the department. Moreover, Mads Brown's piece on transphobia at the Institute of Education not only won Best Media Piece at the Students' Union Arts Awards, it also pushed the IOE to start a new work shop in conjunction with The Cheese Grater's editors around trans identity and visibility in the faculty. Additionally, Rebekah Wright's investigation into Provost Michael Spence's connection to an anti-LGBTQ Charity saw great reception from queer communities within UCL[citation needed], causing questions to be asked of the Provost's stance on LGBTQ issues, alongside a potential conflict of interest between the role he held in the charity Mercy Ships, and his position as the head of UCL. Nick Miao, the SU Correspondent for the 2023/24 academic year, also published numerous pieces on the Students' Union, oftentimes in conjunction with Robert Delaney and Andrea Bidnic's additional pieces and reporting. The revival of Union scrutiny by Nick saw the readjustment of the SU Media Relations Team to pay better attention to student media at UCL after years of relative inactivity post-Covid.[citation needed]
UCL Graters
Members of the Cheese Grater Magazine Society founded the UCL Graters sketch comedy group in 2011. As the magazine was founded due to dissatisfaction with UCL's student media, so the UCL Graters were created due to dissatisfaction with UCL's student comedy scene. The group's cast changes yearly, tending to focus on darker and more absurd humour than UCL's Comedy Club and the MDs Comedy Revue. The group is run by the society's Show Coordinator, who directs the group in writing and performing their own material at shows in UCL and around London.
The Graters reached the semi-finals of the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch-Off in 2016,[8] and were described as "exemplary" by the Wee Review for their 2017 Fringe show.[9]
The Graters have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year since their founding at various venues, including the Underbelly and Just the Tonic. The Fringe was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Graters returned to Edinburgh in 2021. The Graters continued their fringe visits in 2022 and 2023.
List of shows
Julian Ignores His Friends And Talks To A Pretty Girl (2012), a sketch show.[10]
2015: A Sketch Odyssey (2015), a sketch show starring Ruby Clyde, Luke Reilly and Hûw Steer, produced by Will Orton.[13]
UCL Graters: Immature Cheddar (2016), a sketch show starring Luke Reilly, Hûw Steer, Sarah King and Sam Pryce, produced by Will Orton and Freddie Lynch.[14]
UCL Graters: Smashing (2017), a sketch show starring Hûw Steer, Heather Dempsey and Felicity Wareing, produced by Will Orton and Alex Diamond.[15]
UCL Graters: Panopticon (2018), a thematic sketch show starring Joe Andreyev, Sam Dodgshon, Isobel MacLeod, Luke Shepherd and Felicity Wareing, produced by Alice Fraser-Edwards.[16]
Clothesline (2019), a play-sketch hybrid about an unwashed pile of laundry. Starring Gassan Abdulrazek, Jake Bishop, Darcy Bounsall, Agnes Carrington-Windo, Sam Dodgshon and Jennie Howitt. Produced by Agnes Carrington-Windo, Sam Dodgshon and Alice Fraser Edwards.[17]
Post Humour (2021), a play-sketch hybrid set in a surreal British Post Office.[18] Starring Jennie Howitt, Rob Davidson, Anisa Khorassani, Sabrina Asrafova, Harris Morris, and Sam Dodgshon. Directed by Jennie Howitt and produced by Bori Papp.[19] Winner of the Derek Spirit of the Fringe award.[20]
Council Tax Evasion (2023), a collection of sketches involving characters living in a council flat. Starring Lauren Avis, Sabrina Asrafova, Matt Blin, Ben Scanlan, Alex Dunn, Anezka Khan, Will Telling and Euan Toh.
Untitled Graters Show: A Sketch Comedy Show (2023), a collection of miscellaneous sketches. [21]
Scaly Terrance's Chrimmus Spectacular (2023), a collection of Christmas sketches with a special visit from Scaly Terrance. [22]
Jacobite Adjutant General John O'Sullivan's Lonely Hearts Club (2024), a collection of sketches surrounding Scottish Jacobites and adjacent subjects.[23]
Awards
Awards and nominations received by The Cheese Graters
The constitution of the Magazine states the society must have three executive officers, the President, Treasurer, and Welfare Officer. The editorial structure of the publication consists of two Co-Editors-In-Chief, two Co-Investigations Editors, an Online Editor, and a Humour Editor. The magazine committee has also incorporated a Socials and Community Outreach Officer, Sketch Director, Sketch Producer, and Graphics Editor as it has expanded. The position of Zine Editor was created following the launch of the magazines sister publication.
All positions are elected through The Students' Union of UCL. The elected positions form the committee.
