Forge Issue 72

INSIDE: Obscure beauty measurements/ Banksy/ best fesival moments/ Halal meat/

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The independent student newspaper of the University of Sheffield. Est. 1946.

Issue 72 Friday May 23 2014 @ForgePress /ForgePress

Lifestyle review Best European hostels

Comment ask

Is there a point to modern art?

Screen remember The best of Studio Ghibli

24-year-old to stand trial for Endcliffe Park rape

See p.3

Photo: Sheffield International Students’ Committee

Tuition fees fixed for international students 4 University will be first in UK to fix fees for both undergraduates and postgraduates Neelam Tailor and Patrick O’Connell The University of Sheffield have pledged to fix tuition fees for international students for the 2015-16 academic year.

This change will affect all new undergraduate, postgraduate teaching, and postgraduate research students.

Sheffield will be the first university in the UK to fix fees for all three groups at the same time.

Professor Paul White, Deputy ViceChancellor, said: “The University has listened to overseas students and

understands that they want a fixed fee guarantee so that they know when they start their course how much their fees will be throughout it.

“We are now going to produce that fixed fee structure. We hope that will make us even more attractive to international students.”

After years of lobbying from officers, union staff, and university staff, the change was agreed at a meeting of the University Executive Board on Tuesday May 20.

Fees for new students will increase in

line with inflation as opposed to higher increases varying from six to nine per cent in the past.

Increases in international fees according to the duration of the course will no longer exist, including extended courses such as medicine.

26 per cent of students at the University are international and frequent fee increases in the past have caused financial concerns for students, often resulting in students having to drop out of university.

When asked to comment on the matter, International Students’ Officer Alex

Kohnert said: “We are all extremely pleased that the university is making what is an important moral commitment which other institutions have shied away from.

“Year on year fee increases used to cause a great deal of problems for international students, and this system will all but eradicate them. We look forward to helping the university to implement these changes and continue to improve the lives of our international students.”

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Elsa Vulliamy

DEPUTY EDITOR Tom Schneider Managing Editor Mikey Smith fuse editors fuse@forgetoday.com Phil Bayles Kate Lovatt HEAD OF ONLINE matthew.smith@forgetoday.com matthew Smith News news@forgetoday.com Patrick O’Connell Neelam Tailor Adela Whittingham Estel Farell Roig Comment comment@forgetoday.com Lauren Archer Isaac Stovell

/forgepress news@forgetoday.com YOUR UNIVERSITY

Oxbridge who?

Neelam Tailor The University of Sheffield has climbed two places in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey to the number one spot, ahead of other prestigious institutions.

When speaking to the Guardian, Paul White, Pro-Vice Chancellor for learning and teaching, said: “It shows we have a good all-round offer, excelling on both the academic and social sides” More than 14,000 students from across the country voted in areas such as social life, staff, community atmosphere, and facilities.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities dropped places in the survey this year to 4 and 6, respectively.

The University of London institutions, often primed for their academic excellence remain low down on the student experience survey, with University College London at 77, and the London School of Economics at 92.

Ally Buckle said: “I’m delighted that the effort staff from the University and Students’ Union put in to enhancing the student experience at Sheffield University has been recognised. This is an accolade for all staff at all levels in both organisations.”

LETTERS & COFFEE BREAK letters@forgetoday.com Lucy Copson Features features@forgetoday.com Will Ross Polly Winn Lifestyle & travel lifestyle@forgetoday.com Isabel Dobinson Nikita Kesharaju

POLITICS

Sheffield MPs in Commons clash Tom Schneider Sheffield MPs Paul Blomfield and Nick Clegg clashed at Deputy Prime Minister’s Question Time over the Liberal Democrat leader’s continued defence of the “Bedroom Tax”.

Blomfield said “last week I met a disabled grandmother who helps her two daughters stay in work by looking after her grandchildren overnight a few times a week. But two of her three bedrooms have been deemed surplus. In tears, she told me that she could no longer make ends meet.

Why will the Deputy Prime Minister not distance himself from the bedroom tax?”

Clegg replied: “the fact that many families, including in Sheffield, live in overcrowded properties is a fundamental problem.

Yet we have many other places where people live in social rented accommodation with rooms they do not need. In some way I know that the honorary gentleman does not want to deal with these difficult issues and wants to put his head in

the sand like the rest of his party.”

But Central MP Mr Blomfield later told Forge that “in fact it’s Nick Clegg who’s burying his head in the sand by penalising poor and vulnerable tenants if they don’t move to non-existent one-bedroom properties.

Our answer to the housing shortage is to build more homes.”

He added that Clegg “has been prepared to stand up to the Tories on the issues that matter to him. It says everything about the way that he has taken his Party that they simply don’t care about one of the cruellest measures of his government.”

Asked if he had sympathy for the under-fire and unpopular Liberal Democrat leader, Blomfield said “politicians should be judged by their actions. He’s let students and others down badly. He’s failed to stand up for Sheffield when we’ve faced harsher cuts than wealthier areas. He can’t be surprised if people complain”.

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Photo: Neelam Tailor

Paul Blomfield

Photo: Twitter

A breath of fresh air for Sheffield

YOUR UNIVERSITY

Adela Whittingham The University of Sheffield has unveiled what it calls the “world’s first aircleansing poem” this week, a combination of new work by award-winning writer Simon Armitage and a chemical formula developed at the university

by Professor Tony Ryan.

The banner, mounted on the Alfred Denny building on Western Bank, features the poem ‘In Praise of Air’ composed by Professor of Poetry at the university, Simon Armitage.

Inspired by the university’s ambitions to enable people to cleanup air pollution as they walk around, the banner has been manufactured using revolutionary nanotechnology.

The banner’s coating of microscopic titanium

dioxide particles acts as a catalyst when the sunlight hits it, causing oxygen to react with nitrogen oxide pollutants and purify the air.

“This poem alone will eradicate the nitrogen oxide pollution created by about 20 cars every day,” says Professor Ryan.

“If every banner, flag or advertising poster in the country did this, we’d have much better air quality. It would add less than £100 to the cost of a poster and would turn advertisements into catalysts in more ways than one. The countless thousands of poster sites that are selling us cars beside our roads could be cleaning up emissions at the same time.”

The project is aimed at raising awareness about air pollution, and to

persuade British industry to adopt wider air-cleaning technology.

Working with the professor, Simon Armitage said: “I wanted to write a poem that was approachable, that might catch the attention of the passer-by and the wandering mind, and one that had some local relevance too,” But I also hope it’s robust and intricate enough to sustain deeper enquiries … Poetry often comes out with the intimate and the personal, so it’s strange to think of a piece in such an exposed place, written so large and so bold.”

The banner will remain on display for the next year on the side of the university’s Simon Armitage Alfred Denny Building. and Tony Ryan in front of the poem

Photo: University of Sheffield

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Sheffield pub advisor app created by science students years ago when the students decided to visit every single pub in Sheffield and rank each one in order to find out who can be crowned the queen of Sheffield’s drinking scene. So far, they have managed 256 out of 313.

The rating system consists of 13 categories, including pub name, beer choice and service which are weighted according to how important they are to a pub.

The final number relates to the

Jess Williams Five University of Sheffield students are developing an app to allow users to rate pubs on a range of categories in order to find the best and worst places to enjoy a pint.

The App will be called “Rate Good Pub” and the students are hoping it will be ready for the summer.

The idea came about over two

University degree classification system. Tom Young, one of the PHD students behind the scheme, said that just like in academia, “getting a score of 70 is very hard but getting a score of around 50 is relatively easy providing you actually have seats and sell beer!”

The group have big ambitions as Tom explained: “we are now developing an app that will allow users to rate pubs themselves

and thus hopefully build up a national database on all pubs” The worst rated pub so far is the The White Rails, in Upperthorpe, which scored only 24.5 per cent compared to the top score of 87.5 per cent for Shakespeares, in the city centre, closely followed by the Gardeners Rest, in Neepsend.

The group are still on their quest to find the perfect 100.

SCIENCE & Technology

Anti-depressants and Alzheimer’s disease Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that an antidepressant drug called citalopram may help to slow the onset of Alzhiemer’s disease.

Alzhiemer’s is typically triggered by the formation of protein clusters called plaques and tangles in the brain. Using experimental methods they showed that administering citalopram prevented new plaques from forming but could not reduce existing ones.

Alzhiemer’s disease affects approximately 494,000 people in the UK and is a leading cause of dementia. Citalopram may help treat people 10 to 15 years before symptoms occur and keep them asymptomatic for longer.

Connor McCarry Recent smallpox speculation

The quintet outside The White Rails

Photo: Steve Mudd

CRIME

24-year-old to stand trial for Endcliffe Park rape Patrick O’Connell A man appeared before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court today, charged with the rape of an 18-year-old woman in Endcliffe Park on Saturday May 10.

Jamie Lee Seaton, 24, was charged with one count of rape and two counts of assault by penetration. Seaton, of Burrowlee Road, Owlerton, denies the charges.

At the hearing, which lasted

25 minutes, Seaton spoke to confirm his name, age and address.

He wore a black polo shirt and tracksuit bottoms, and remained quiet throughout.

Seaton was denied bail by the bench of magistrates. He will next appear before Sheffield Crown Court on May 30.

YOUR UNIVERSITY

Forge Radio launches “last chance saloon” petition Tom Schneider Outgoing Station Manager of Forge Radio, James Kenny, has started a “You Run Us” Online Petition to try and get the University radio station played out in “Our Shop”.

The petition states that “Forge Radio is more in touch with what students want than an automated music playout system.”

At the time of of writing, the petition had around 500 “For” signatures and only one “Against”.

If the petition reaches 1000 “Fors”

then the petition will go to a referendum.

James told Forge that “this is not a hostile attack on the Union , in fact I hope that this will strengthen ties between Forge Radio and our Union.

Unfortunately, communication with the Union broke down and we were driven to this petition as the last chance saloon”.

“We hope that, if the petition really takes off, the Union will find that the opinion of 1000’s of students is impossible to ignore”.

YOUR CITY

Uni on track for Tramlines partnership Neelam Tailor The University and Students’ Union have announced their partnership with Tramlines festival for the event in summer 2014.

The event brings a host of music and culture to venues and parks across Sheffield on July 25 to 27, soon after the graduation week. The city festival, now in its sixth year, have announced that the main headliners will be legendary disco pioneers Sister Sledge who will play hits like “Lost in Music”, He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “We Are Family.”

Katy B, Public Enemy and The Cribs as well as local DJ talent such as Chris Duckenfield and Lo Shea will also appear.This year is only

the second year that a ticket fee has been charged which is £12 per day or £28 for a weekend ticket although the organisers state that the event will still have “a large free fringe element”.

The Global Music Stage situated in the Peace Gardens is supporting the ‘We Are International’ campaign running at the University and Students’ Union to provide a strong voice for international students.

Ally Buckle, President of the University of Sheffield Students’ Union, said: “Sheffield has always had a warm welcome for international students, and we are glad of the difference they make in the City and to the UK. Our belief is that

being part of an international community changes people for the better.

“Being truly international in our outlook is of benefit to those in the UK, as much as those who come to Britain from overseas. International students bring diversity, culture, learning and economic benefits with them, living, working, studying and celebrating alongside the people of Sheffield and the whole Country.”

On Saturday May 24, Sheffield Students’ Union opens its doors for a Tramlines takeover. There will be a dance and electronic music marathon in Foundry Fusion and Octagon Centre, and an impressive line up of DJs such as Sheffield’s own Andy H.

At the beginning of this month, researchers advised the World Health Organization (WHO) against the destruction of the last remaining batches of the deadly smallpox virus.

A trio of scientists urged the WHO to maintain live stocks for further work on vaccines in light of developments in synthetic biology. However, medical doctor Gareth Williams disagrees with this assessment describing the virus as “a genie which must not be allowed to escape from its bottle”. He advises remaining stores in the USA and Russia be destroyed as they are unable to contribute further to our scientific understanding.

Victoria Stanway

Photo: IsoTech Movement restored to paralyzed hands Researchers at Newcastle University have recently succeeded at reinstating movement in paralysed arms.

A computer was connected between the brain and the spinal cord of temporarily paralysed Macaque monkeys. When the device was switched on, the monkeys regained control over their hands, demonstrated by the ability to pull a spring-loaded lever. The computer circuit replaces the dysfunctional nerves, so that a signal can flow unimpeded from the brain to the arm. This feat had never before been accomplished, and holds great potential for the future treatment of individuals whose limb movements are impaired due to a stroke or spinal cord injury.

Helen Lin-Yee Choo

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YOUR UNIVERSITY

UniNEWS Union intern in ‘bald’ concourse charity stunt

Interesting stories from other universities around the world

Estel Farrel Roig A Union intern shaved her hair on Thursday May 15 in the Students’ Union concourse to raise money for Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity and Luzy Luna in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Heather Newson has raised £615 on her Virgin Money Giving page and will donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real hair wigs for children suffering from hair loss.

Newson, who works in the Students’ Union as an intern, said in a YouTube video: “It is a big part of who I am and it makes me feel beautiful. I am really going to miss my hair.

“I am quite excited someone will enjoy my hair after I have finished with it though.”

The Environmental Science Photos: Facebook graduate is not going to wear a hat

Mother of Cambridge student advertises oppurtunity to date son The mother of a “busy” University of Cambridge student has posted an online ad searching for a date to accompany her son to his May Ball.

Specifying that his date should be “blonde, talkative,” and aged between “19 and 22”, the mother, known only as Margot, justified her actions by explaining that her son was too preoccupied with his studies to search for a date.

The mother added that only “females” with an “honest and sincere attitude toward this opportunity” should get in contact.

Patrick O’Connell Bubble wrap and puppies Students at the University of Leicester are relaxing before exams by popping bubble wrap and playing with puppies.

The “instant gratification” of popping bubble wrap is meant to be better at alleviating stress than meditation or yoga.

The university’s student union is planning on setting up bubble wrap stations to help students “pop away their exam woes”.

Students can pay £1 to pet the guide dog puppies brought onto campus, and find out about their work.

The union is also offering other types of support over exam season including free cups of tea, dedicated quiet revision spaces, longer open hours at the student bar and board games for those wanting a break away from revision and exams.

Adela Whittingham

Photo: Adela Whittingham Madrid Universities chamber of horrors Around 250 corpses have been found haphazardly stored in a basement at Madrid’s Complutense University after being used for teaching purposes by anatomy students.

The discovery was revealed in a daily Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, which printed a graphic image of piled up, dissected cadavers, without any means of identifying them.

The University claim that the disorganisation of the used corpses is due to a lack of staff and an increase in bodies being donated to their medical department.

El Mundo reported that some of the bodies had been there for more than seven years.

The University said they will be organising a funeral parlour to dispose of the bodies in the coming days.

NeelamTailor

Students Union announces Hillsborough tribute Patrick O’Connell The Students’ Union is to create a permanent memorial in remembrance of the 96 people who died during the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

Three of the victims, Paul Clark, 18, Tracey Cox, 23, and Richard Jones, 25, were University of Sheffield students.

The plan to commemorate the victims of the footballing tragedy, which took place on April 15 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium, was proposed by International Students’ Officer Alex Kohnert.

All of the 96 fans who died during the crush were Liverpool fans in the Leppings Lane stand at the FA semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest.

Kohnert said: “While researching I read through many eyewitness statements from the

day, which were all extremely harrowing.

“Delivering my speech in council was the hardest thing I have done during my term, and I was almost in tears by the end of it. Passing it was one of my most emotional moments as an officer - I am so proud of councillors for supporting it.”

Inquests into the Hillsborough disaster are currently taking place, after the original inquests were limited to events up to 3:15 pm on the day of the disaster – nine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd spilled onto the pitch.

At the original inquest it was said that by 3:15 pm the victims were either dead, or brain dead.

The original verdict returned in 1991 of accidental death, a ruling which has since been widely criticised.

or a wig and she said: “One of my friends shaved her hair four years ago and she told me: ‘every woman should do it, at least once in her life’” Education Officer Sam Rae, who was one of the 50 people in the concourse at the time, said: “Heather is going to Nicaragua in the summer and I think that doing dramatic things when your life change is a really good thing to do.”

Newson chose Luzi Luna because it provides micro financial loans for local people in Esteli who are in need. She said: “The locals support themselves in a way they know how that would in their community. There are projects women and environmental ones, for examples.”

She chose Weston Park Charity hospital after her grandmother died of cancer.

YOUR UNIVERSITY

Study shows more females are needed in senior roles Estel Farrel Roig At least 30 per cent of candidates shortlisted for UK university leadership roles should be women, a study looking at gender balance in senior roles has recommended.

According to the research led

by Oxford Brookes University, women in senior positions in UK universities are concerned that “executive search firms”, used by some universities to make lists of potential vice-chancellors, have a “tokenistic” approach to shortlists.

They fear women are sometimes only included to help with statistics and researchers hve found that women are twoand-half times more likely to be unsuccessful in applications for senior roles than men.

The report, Diversity in Higher Education Leadership: Researching the Careers of

Top Management Programme Alumni, recommends universities to set themselves “aspirational targets and put action plans in place to increase diversity in senior roles”.

Professor Janet Beer, ViceChancellor of Oxford Brookes, said: “Governing bodies play the most vital role in the recruitment of vice-chancellors, and it has been found that a very limited number are offered equality and diversity training. This could be key”.

According to another report by Breakwell, The Characteristics, Roles and Selection of ViceChancellors, less than 15 per cent of Vice Chancellors in the UK are women. Nevertheless, nearly 50 per cent of early career academics and 60 per cent of higher education students are women.

Got Milk? Our Cow Molly scoops Countryside Champion award Adela Whittingham Sheffield dairy farm Our Cow Molly has been named a national Countryside Champion in the Countryside Alliance ‘Rural Oscars’. They produce fresh milk, cream and ice cream that is stocked across the city, including the Village store in Endcliffe Student Village.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam, visited the farm to celebrate the award win and to speak to students from the University of Sheffield.

He said: “I’m proud that Sheffield has a great track record of backing our home grown businesses. The University of Sheffield is supplied with Our Cow Molly milk and countless venues and cafes stock their

famous ice cream, including the Crucible Theatre. This kind of support is vital to help our local independent producers succeed – so long may it continue.”

Eddie Andrew of Our Cow Molly said: “It was great to win Yorkshire champion, but then to go on and become UK champion of local food was just fantastic.

The Judges were really impressed with our collaboration with the University of Sheffield and amazed our milk goes from cow to customer the same morning. The University of Sheffield backing has meant we are able to invest in a new dairy with confidence and will secure a sustainable supply of Sheffield milk for the future.”

YOUR CITY

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Sheffield to become more ‘dementia friendly’ Adela Whittingham Volunteers are being urged to help Sheffield become one of the first ‘dementia friendly cities’.

People are being recruited to play a part in supporting a relative or friend affected by the condition, and direct others to more information and volunteering opportunities with local charities.

There are currently mover 6,565 people in Sheffield with dementia with the figure expected to rise to 7,345 by 2020.

Sheffield Council, Public Health England and the Alzheimer’s Society are making the appeal for Dementia

Awareness week.

Jeremy Wight, director of public health at Sheffield Council, said: “Sheffield’s network of friends will play a crucial role in helping us create a dementia friendly city where people living with the disease can lead more independent lives.

Kat Horner, who works with Jeremy Wight, encouraged businesses to help make Sheffield more dementia friendly.

The Council are working with local theatre companies to produce plays welcoming to people suffering from dementia.

To become a dementia friend, visit www. dementiafriends.org.uk.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield and the University of Murcia have found that female pigs may be able to unconsciously influence the sex of their offspring.

The study, published in BMC Genomics, reported that female pigs’ reproductive systems can recognise whether a sperm will produce a boy or a girl before it reaches and fertilises the egg.

Uni student reimagines Styne broadway show

Keri Trigg

A Broadway musical that has not been performed in over 50 years was given a new lease of life by a University of Sheffield student.

Matthew Malone, studying for his masters in Music, and an aspiring musical director, trawled through boxes of old sheet music from American archives in order to piece together the musical.

The musical closed in 1962, after just 205 performances.

Subways are for Sleeping, by American composer Jule Styne, was not as successful as his better-known works such as Gypsy and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

YOUR UNIVERSITY

New pig sex study Tom Schneider

YOUR UNIVERSITY

This suggests that females might be able to change the environment of the oviduct to favour one sex over the other, giving specific sperm cells a better chance of winning the race to the egg.

Researchers are still not sure why this ability has evolved.

Lead author Professor Alireza Fazeli said “this is of great scientific and evolutionary importance and can revolutionise the field”.

The musical, which follows journalist Angie McKay as she goes undercover with New York’s homeless, was partially restaged in 2009. Matthew’s show is the first time the entire performance has been put back on.

Matthew said: “The premiere was very well received, with audience members including Howard from the Great British Bake Off and Mike Roddy from Reuters who’s article has been picked up and used in the New York Times and The Washington Post, which is so exciting.”

The two shows, performed on April 29 and April 30 at the University’s Firth Hall, also marked the musical’s European debut.

STUDENT LIVING

Save the Children comp Adela Whittingham

Photo: Wikimedia

The children’s charity, Save the Children, has launched a competition to find a new face for its UK YouTube channel.

The winning candidate will be given the opportunity to reinvent the Youtube channel over 12 months position, beginning in the autumn.

As Youtube Content Creator, the candidate will be given worldclass training in media, film and photography, humanitarian issues, marketing and campaigning.

Aspiring vloggers and presenters who have an interest in humanitarian

issues, children’s rights and international development will have to submit a 60 second video by June 15, explaining why they should be offered the role.

The shortlist of finalists will be selected by a panel of high profile industry experts, which include YouTuber Charlie McDonnell, YouTube host Lex Croucher, Buzzfeed UK News Editor Richard James, Al Jazeera journalist Femi Oke and BBC presenter Maddie Moate.

A public vote will follow to help decide who will win the paid position.

YOUR CITY

Car ploughs into Ponds Forge sports centre Estel Farell Roig Hundreds of people were evacuated from Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Tuesday 13 May after a car crashed into the building.

The venue remained closed for the rest of the evening and, although the gym and sports hall opened the following day, the swimming pools did not reopen till Monday 19.

Hallam University students were able to use the building for their exams as well.

The silver Citroen crashed near the chlorine control panel around 18.30 and caused a chlorine leak. The sports centre was evacuated within minutes and the area was cordoned

off while an engineer fixed a minor leak.

Staff provided emergency blankets for those who were waiting outside wearing swimming suits or few clothes. They were reassured there was no danger to anyone.

Lorenzo Clark, director of operations at SIV, which operates Ponds Forge, said: “The centre has been desperately unlucky with what has happened. The chances of it happening really were a million to one shot.”

According to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services, two people who were in the car were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Sheffield Food Festival Sheffield’s annual Food Festival will take place May 24-26.

The festival, which attracted over 244,000 visitors last year, will be using the new Moor Market. The market will host street food traders, with competitions taking place at the festival’s demonstration kitchen on the Moor.There will also be a sugar sculpture masterclass and a cookery book swap over the weekend.

On Sunday, Great British Bake Off star, Howard Middleton, will cook a one-hour lunch in the Showroom’s kitchen.

There will be an allotment at the Town Hall Square and the Peace Gardens will become the home of Sheffield Breweries Cooperative.

There will be pop-up restaurants and live music throughout the weekend.

Spring into Campaign

Photo:Estel Farrell Roig Nature

Spring Into Nature, the Students’ Union campaign to “help wildlife and promote the benefits of biodiversity in Sheffield and beyond”, took place between May 3 and May 18.

As part of this campaign, which intends to make “biodiversity interesting, challenging and competitive”, students were encouraged to send pictures of Sheffield wildlife.The best images will be awarded a prize.

During May, Spring Into Nature is also conducting research into the habits of foxes and they were asking students to let me them know where and when they had seen one. People can use the hashtag #SeenAFox or send the fox sightings to SpringIntoNature@ sheffield.ac.uk . They will produce a graph or a map with the findings.

Activites Awards

Nelson Mandela

Sheffield University Dental Students’ Society was awarded with “society of the year” in this year’s activities awards.

Irish Dance Society won “Best New Society” and Sheffield Labour Students was awarded “Most Improved society”.

The award for the “Best Political Society went to the Palestine Society and the Disabled Students’ Committee won “Best Representative Committee”.

Ben Janaway, from NeuroSoc, won “Society President of the Year” and Cat Dye, from Forge TV, was awarded with “Working and Representative Committee Chair of the Year”.

Forge Radio won “Best Working Committee”.

Next year’s Students’ Union president Yael Shafritz was awarded for her “outstanding” contribution to the Politics Society.

The proposal to rename the Union auditorium after Nelson Mandela has been approved by members of Union Council.

Plans to debate the proposal had been scuppered when council was called off due to low attendance.

Mandela was elected as Honarary President of the Students’ Union on December 5, 1985.

At the time, he was still imprisoned in the South African apartheid state.

Mandela died exactly 28 years later, December 5, 2013.

The council proposal said that Mandela should be commemorated as a “figure of inspiration and resistance” and as a “celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela and what he stood for.”

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Fatal house fire “due to faulty charging device” Patrick O’Connell A joint investigation led by South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue have found the cause of the fatal house fire on Wake Road was likely due to a faulty charging device.

The blaze at the house on Wake Road, Nether Edge, killed five members of the Parwaiz Kayani family, including three children.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight on April 28. Police now believe an electrical fault was the cause.

Adhyan and Amaan Parwaiz Kayani, aged nine and seven, died along with their nine-week old sister Minahil. The children’s aunt, Anum Parwaiz, and grandmother, Shabina Begum, also died in the fire.

The children’s mother, Razia Nazim Kayani, escaped from the fire, and their father Nazim Parqaiz Kayani, a taxi driver, was working at the time.

Post-mortem examinations found that all five family members died from

smoke inhalation.

The funeral ceremony took place on May 8 at Madina Mosque, Wolseley Road, with 2,000 mourners estimated to have attended.

However, the investigation continues on behalf of the coroner, and a full inquest into the deaths of the three children and two women will take place at a future date.

Photo: Neelam Tailor

YOUR CITY

Sheffield’s centenarian sweetheart turns 105 Karen Wong A Sheffield resident has just celebrated her 105th birthday with her family.

Lucy Stonier shared the day with her large family including two grandchildren at the Hallamshire Care Home.

As well as balloons, gifts and a cake, Lucy’s celebrations included a singer to entertain her and fellow residents.

Lucy was born on May 11, 1909 in the village of Penkull near Stoke-on-Trent. Later in life, she met her husband Fred in the same village and together they lived in the same family home for more than 70 years.

Later in life she moved in with her son Bruce before returning to Sheffield as a resident at the Hallamshire Care Home.

Much of her professional life was spent as a legal secretary, a job that took her to Germany following the Second World War. The healthy and happy birthday centenarian’s hobbies include painting, travelling, and fashion. In fact one of her gradchildren told the Star that she remembered her grandmother doing drawings of her as a little girl.

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Granddaughter Cherry said to The Star: “My Gran has a great sense of humour and really enjoys a joke. She’s managed to keep her life fairly stress free and rather than worrying about things she tries her best to enjoy life. My Gran enjoyed the celebrations - especially the cake - which was a really nice surprise”.

“Living to 105 is certainly nothing to do with her diet - I’ve never known anyone have such a sweet tooth!”

Enjoying every moment to the full has been the key to living a long and happy life for Lucy.

Home manager Scott Melville said “Lucy can be an incredibly bright and bubbly person who is very much part of the home and is popular with staff and residents alike”.

Lucy enjoyed her birthday celebrations, especially the card from the Queen, which came as a surprise.

7

FO R GE PRESS Fr i day May 23 2014

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NEWS

/forgepress news@forgetoday.com YOUR CITY

1000 walk under the stars for St. Luke’s Hospice National

News

Most preserved mammoth ever found on display

Photo: St Luke’s Hospice Catarina Beija Over a thousand people came together on Saturday in aid of St Luke’s Hospice in its fourth annual Starlight Walk.

The 5km sponsored walk, from Endcliffe Park to Forge Dam and back, united people of all ages and abilities, who wore cards explaining why they had joined the cause.

Mike Reeder, St Luke’s chaplain and spiritual care co-ordinator, said: “Lots of families that I have worked with, or done funerals for, are coming to walk so I’ve had a chance to speak to them. Just meeting everybody is great fun, and enjoying life — that’s what St Luke’s is about.”

YOUR CITY

According to Una Moran, St Luke’s director of fundraising and communications, over 1,100 supporters took part in this year’s walk, in hopes of raising at least £60,000, which will go towards patients’ care.

Mrs Moran said: “We look after patients across all of Sheffield and help them and their families to live as good a life as possible. This year is probably the biggest one yet.”

The event featured guest performances by Sheffield-based band Screaming Maldini and Sheffield Harmony Chorus, who took the stage shortly before the countdown.

Liz Bell, 33, a first-time participant walking in memory of her friend’s dad, said: “It’s a fantastic event to bring people together. I think it’s great; in fact, I’ll do it every year from now on.”

Pointless student officer makes TV debut

Neelam Tailor

Patrick O’Connell

A 32 year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing the death of Jasmyn Chan, 14, who died after a hit-and-run collision in Sheffield.

Jasmyn Chan was killed trying to shield her 12 year-old friend from the path of an oncoming car at Normanton Hill, on Friday May 9.

A man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving but was later bailed.

This came a day after her parents made an emotional appeal to the public to provide any information on the identity of the driver.

In a statement Mr Chan said: “Our daughter was beautiful inside

International Students’ Officer Alex Kohnert is set to appear on BBC One television quiz show Pointless.

The episode, which is set to air in October/November, was filmed this week.

Kohnert said: “My friend Sam got me to sign up midway through our third year as we are both big fans of the show. Before Christmas we were auditioned and accepted, and a week ago we got the call to come down.

“I’m not too nervous as I’ve been in front of cameras and audiences before, but I would really like to win!”

Kohnert said he was excited

about filming, but disappointed to miss out on the University of Sheffield sports awards, as they clashed with the filming schedule.

Photo: University of Sheffield

YOUR CITY

Arctic Monkeys ‘Turner’ Bus driver sacked for profit chatting on the job Adela Whittingham Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys has joined the Sunday Times rich list.

The latest Sunday Times rich list estimates the band’s collective fortune to be £30 million, the third richest group in the country aged under 30.

Frontman Alex Turner had previously been amongst stars of the entertainment world named on a list of the richest people in the UK under the age of 30, printed and compiled by Heat magazine.

In the Sunday Times list, Alex Turner is estimated to be worth around £9 million, with fellow bandmates Jamie Cook, Matt Helders and Nick O’Malley close behind, with an estimated worth of £7 million apiece.

One Direction topped the list of richest bands, with an estimated combined fortune of £70 million.

The Sunday Times have

Neelam Tailor

YOUR UNIVERSITY

Hit and run suspect given bail

and out and I can not put into words the pain and devastation I feel in my heart knowing she has gone.

“As a family we are all heartbroken and I don’t know how we will ever get over losing our precious Jasmyn. Please if you know something, come forward now” Chief Inspector Stuart Walne from South Yorkshire Police appealed for the driver to come forward.

He said: “Please give Jasmyn’s parents some solace and some answers in relation to what’s happened.”

The National History Museum in London is exhibiting a perfectly preserved baby mammoth which died 42,000 years ago.

The juvenile female mammoth was found in 2007 by a deer herder in Siberia, who named her Lyuba, the Russian word for love.

She was preserved under ice which is thought to have thawed in Spring allowing her body to wash up on a riverbank.

Her internal organs are intact and her fur had almost all fallen off, making her resemble her distant relative the elephant.

Lyuba will be on display in London until September 7 2014.

reported that, according to this Keri Trigg years list, the richest people in A Sheffield bus driver has been Britain are better off than sacked after a passenger filmed ever before with the him speaking on the phone top 1,000 individuals while driving. owning a third of the The footage, which lasts nation’s wealth. several minutes, shows Last summer the driver in full-blown the band headlined conversation, driving with Glastonbury only one hand while festival, and has in control of the recently wound up their vehicle. sell-out UK tour.

The band will also play two gigs in Finsbury Park, He London on the c a n weekend of May also 23, before setting be seen off on their North lifting American tour his other next month. hand to scratch his head a n d

wave thanks at other drivers as he drives through Sheffield, negotiating busy streets and roundabouts.

It was recorded by passenger Anna Williams, who was on the bus with her two young children, and promptly sent to the bus operator TM Travel. They have since confirmed the driver in question, who has not been named, is no longer working for them.

Ms Williams can be heard speaking loudly to the driver during the recording, but despite knowing he had been caught out, he continued the call for the duration of the journey. When Ms Williams and her children got off the bus, she confronted him though he had still not ended the call before driving off.

Photo: Natural History Museum Anti-islamic arson attack in Birmingham Home of the UK’s first female Muslim band was destroyed in a fire which has been accused of being “racially motivated”.

The Ulfah Collective, based in Birmingham, sing traditional Islamic songs alongside Christian gospel, they once performed at Wembley Arena.

The CEO of Ulfah Arts and Media, Prashant Singh, had been receiving anti-islamic hate mail and a DVD of hate messages prior to the arson incident.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “Early indication suggests this was arson and we are investigating.”

The fire destroyed the whole community centre including projects they had been working on for years.

Neelam Tailor Man sues for more money than is on the planet A man from Manhattan has sued New York City, two hospitals, a dog owner, and numerous others for two undecillion dollars - more money that there is on earth.

Anton Purisma, 62, correctly listed the huge figure written as a two followed by 36 zeros, along with a 22 page complaint containing accusations spanning from human rights violations to attempted murder.

The allegations made by Purisma are hard to decipher, but it is clear that the origin is his claim that a rabid dog bit and infected his middle finger on a city bus.

He claims that the pain and damages he suffered cannot be measured in money are are therefore “priceless”.

Neelam Tailor

8

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

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COMMENT

/forgecomment comment@forgetoday.com

Times of change

66 years of oppression in Palestine The Nakba is a commemoration of the country’s historic struggle for freedom Tarek Kishawi

Robin Wilde argues it is irresponsible for students to throw away their ability to vote

Photo: Flickr / Mauricedb

Robin Wilde It’s an ever-increasing trend, particularly among students, to have absolute apathy when it comes to voting. A potential electorate millions strong, many of those aged 18-24, either see no purpose or lack motivation to participate in the democratic process. While governments red and blue have run students ragged, turnout has gone down. At the 2010 election, more young people did not vote than made the effort.

For some this is a matter of ideology.

They feel, for whatever reason, that Parliament is an inadequate forum to represent them. This is foolish and dangerous, in equal measure. It is parliamentary democracy which has delivered the National Health Service, universal education, the right to decent working conditions, the national minimum wage, protection of civil liberties and an adequate defence from those who wish to do us harm.

“A tyranny of the majority is no kind of freedom at all”

There are two questions those who abstain from voting need to be asked.

Firstly, do they truly feel that their movements can gain the support of that majority of the public which would grant them the legitimacy to make their revolution any more than a coup? Secondly, what do they plan to do with those who oppose them?

For there will be many, and a tyranny of the majority is no kind of freedom at all. In the vigour of youth, it can be tempting and exciting to feel the fiery embrace of radicalism. But the roads in history which led to prison camps, lynch mobs, famine and genocide were lined by those who lost their

faith in elections and turned to those who, at first, made them feel safe.

The second group of voters, and perhaps the more sad, are those who feel nothing but apathy towards voting. “I can’t be bothered”, they say.

“They’re all the same.” These words from novelist Jack London illustrate the point perfectly: “The non-political animal has no parents, requires no warmth, feels no heat and no cold. Never seeks succour, or company, or friendship. Needs no tuition or instruction, requires no employment. The non-political animal requires no support of any description from any other being or institution, and when the non-political animal dies he will bury himself.”

It’s all politics - every breath you take. And though it may be imperfect, complicated or boring, it is responsible for every inch of the world as you know it today. Not liking today’s politicians or parties should surely inspire us to get involved, to change those institutions and their representatives for the better, not to simply stand aside and allow their decline to continue.

There has always been politics, long before the modern luxury of rights, and the result of politics without citizens’ rights is the documented, hideous history of millenia of oppression, exploitation and war.

To think that such a situation has been left behind for good ignores the dozens of occasions in recent history when free people have lost their rights to the machinations of tyrants.

The ballot rescued us from a dark past, and is our only shield against returning to such a dark future. It is a right fought for and died for over hundreds of years, yearned for by millions around the world. So please vote, and vote with pride. Because if you don’t, the people who may exploit you, oppress you, mock you, dismantle every element of your essential freedoms - they’ll be voting.

Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world commemorate the Nakba. alNakba in Arabic translates into ‘the Catastrophe’. It refers to the process that led up to, and followed the establishment of, the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. However, the process that led up to the Nakba began many years before that date.

Since the 16th century, the region known as Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire.

During the First World War, the British army occupied Palestine, where they established colonial rule over it. The British Mandate of Palestine, like all colonial projects, regarded the indiginous Palestinians as uncivilized and therefore unfit to rule over themselves.

“Painful and bloody memories of wars and massacres linger in the minds of the Palestinian people” For Palestinians, the Nakba is evocative of the images and memories of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees carrying their belongings and being driven out of the their towns and villages. Driven into exile, Palestinian refugees were denied their right to return by the Israeli state. Instead they were forced to live in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

These refugee camps have been extremely harsh places to live.

Wars in all of those places have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Poverty and discrimination forced a harsh life of hardship on them.

Painful and bloody memories of wars and massacres linger in the minds of the Palestinian people. What is happening now in Yarmouk, Syria is beginning to feel just as painful.

Stripped of their civil rights, the remaining Palestinians were not allowed on the streets at night; they needed special permits from the local military governer to leave their villages; they were subject to arbitrary arrest and detention; they were not allowed to vote.

The systematic destruction of Palestinian villages thoroughly continued at this time.

Palestinians in the occupied territories, as they became known, are still governed by a military rule, whereas Israeli settlers in the same territories are governed by Israeli civillian laws.

For those who were driven into exile, and their descendants, the right to return to their homeland is central and essential to any just resolution to the Palestinian struggle for independent freedom.

The negotiatiated settlement that the United States and Israel are forcing the Palestinians to accept is one that ignores the Palestinian's right to return to their homeland.

In order for a just settlement to be reached, Israeli colonialism and its racist manifestations need to be dismantled. In Israel, there is a law called the “Law of Return”. This Law gives the right to anyone who is Jewish, from anywhere in the world to get on a plane to Israel and gain automatic citizenship when he or she lands. However, Palestinian refugees who were driven out only 66 years ago are not even allowed to enter Israel and visit the villages they were driven out from.

On May 15, 2011 I participated in a demonstration in Lebanon along the Southern border between Lebanon and Palestine. The demonstration involved tens of thousands of Palestinian people demanding their right to return to their homelands. When we reached the border fence, Israeli soldiers began firing at the demonstration. They wounded over one hundred people and killed six. Most of those injured were young men and women.

All those killed were below 25.

“We will one day return to a free and liberated Palestine” In neighboring Syria, Palestinians were holding a similar demonstration and the Israeli military responded with similar violence. Smaller demonstrations occurred in Jordan and Egypt. All over Palestine demonstrations were being held. What gives me hope is that the vast majority of those marching on that day were not even born in 1948. The fact that most people participating were born two or three generations after the Nakba assures me that we will one day return to a free and liberated Palestine.

Photo: Hamed Saber

FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 23 2014

9

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COMMENT

Modern art: pointless but profitable Chris Hedges Almost every response given when observing a work of ‘modern art’ is the same: “This is stupid, a child could paint that!”

It’s true, art is going through a weird phase and it feels like we haven’t seen a discernible shape on a canvas in a really long time.

But does that make it pointless, or unprofessional?

More importantly, why does it make everyone so angry?

Modern art induces what may as well be described as the Nigel Farage Effect. It’s difficult to understand/justify its motives, we think ourselves above it, and yet it is still immensely popular.

“Art is going through a weird phase” Art is primarily a form of expression whose purpose is to provoke a reaction in its beholder, and what is frustrating about modern art is that it’s more or less impossible to grasp what is being expressed. Perhaps the frustration it causes is its purpose and all contemporary artists are just a pretentious equivalent of the Internet troll?

Photo: WikiMedia Commons

Nevertheless, it can’t be denied that it makes an awful lot of money. The Tate Modern recently spent £200,000 restoring a vandalised Rothko painting consisting of some brown rectangles against an orange background. Needless to say they wouldn’t have spent that much money if they didn’t think it would produce a profit for them, which it will. There is clearly a market for modern art, even if it is hard to explain why anyone would spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a picture of some lines and shapes.

People sang the same tune in the past to Picasso’s paintings and the French impressionists but now they’re fixed firmly on the timeline of notable artistic achievement. Like so many things, this surreal phenomenon probably just needs some getting used to.

Anybody should be at liberty to express themselves with a canvas or a ball of clay. The problem with the institution of “art” is that everything is at the mercy of the elitist dealers and collectors. Maybe art has become a mere vanity project for millionaires to hang on the wall and ignore until a guest notices how expensive it is. Even if that is the case, it’s still fun to think about the millionaire rightwing moguls giving eccentric

arty types all their money as they lull about, splashing paint onto canvases at random and laughing at their stupidity.

“Whether or not you think it’s worth something, some rich bloke somewhere does” Ultimately art is a form of expression, of individualism.

Anyone can learn how to solve equations or file files but only one person could and would paint the pictures that Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko did, and that’s what makes them special.

Yes you could paint the exact same thing, but the fact is you didn’t, and whether or not you think it’s worth something, some rich bloke somewhere does.

Maybe you should try it yourself and see if your own scribbles could sell for thousands?

Got an opinion on the topics discussed this fortnight? contact us letters@forgetoday.com

The halal debate is about Islamaphobia, not animal welfare Lauren Archer It’s great to care about animal rights. In fact, it’s really important: over 900 million animals die every year in abattoirs and laboratories across the UK, so a few more people fighting for their welfare wouldn’t go amiss.

But by targeting one religious group and branding their treatment of animals the pinnacle of cruelty and barbarism you’re not saving any lives. You’re buying into the scaremongering and Islamophobia that saturates the pages of the Sun and the Daily Mail.

In the UK, Jewish and Muslim communities are exempt from a section of the Welfare of Animals (Slaughtering or Killing) Regulations 1995, which prohibits the slaughter of animals without pre-stunning. Despite this, a 2012 study carried out by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that 81 per cent of sheep and goats, 84 per cent of cattle and 88 per cent of poultry animals slaughtered by the Halal method were stunned beforehand.

It’s simply not the case that animals are never stunned before being killed for Halal meat.

In fact, in the overwhelming majority of cases, they are. The

Qur’an does not forbid stunning, as long as the animal is killed in the correct manner and does not die in the process of being stunned. Like women’s rights and child grooming, animal welfare is another emotive issue that bigoted journalists have jumped on in an effort to demonise Islam and put their own Eurocentric ideals on a pedestal.

There is no humane way to kill an animal. Animals feel pain and fear, just like us. It would be preferable, of course, if all animals were stunned before they were killed – and this is something we should work towards. But once we’ve got there, let’s not convince ourselves we’ve won anything other than a minute improvement in quality of life for the countless animals that are born and die on farms and in cages.

With the same FSA study showing that only 38 per cent of red meat slaughterhouses and 56 per cent of poultry slaughterhouses use CCTV, it looks like we’ll never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Past studies into animal welfare have unveiled deliberate beating, kicking and scarring of animals. Two men convicted of animal abuse for beating pigs and burning them with cigarettes in 2011 described

animal abuse as “part of the abattoir culture”.

No animal should have to live through two minutes of intense pain, but it’s hardly the only objectionable element of the meat, dairy, egg and clothing trades.

Although it is somewhat more humane to stun animals before killing them, it would be far more humane to allow them to live lives free of pain, fear and anxiety.

Don’t use the guise of animal rights to mask bigotry and prejudice. If you

really w a n t to help animals, join the RSPCA, go vegan or boycott products that involve a n i m a l

testing. There is no reason for any person or animal to feel victimised or bullied because of what they are or what they believe.

Photo: YouTube

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

10

@forgecomment

COMMENT

/forgecomment comment@forgetoday.com

Take That unpaid tax off him Gary Barlow is the latest in a long trend of high-profile tax avoiders but who do we really need to start blaming?

Mollie Carberry Tax avoidance is a subject that riles the majority of the tax-paying public. You work for hours on end only to have an infuriatingly large sum of income snatched away from you, while those who can actually afford it sneakily undermine the system.

Although tax is a nuisance, it is necessary to keep the country functioning, so when certain wealthy individuals refuse to chip in and play their part in the upkeep of society, to say it is annoying would be an understatement.

The newest member of the sadly ever-increasing tax avoidance club is Gary Barlow. Although other members of Take That were involved in the scam, it is Barlow that has received the full force of the scrutiny due to his OBE award.

Received in 2012 because he had ‘done a huge amount for the country’ (David Cameron’s words, not mine), it is being argued whether or not he should be allowed to keep it, in light of these new circumstances. Should someone who won’t pay tax be able to keep an award for being charitable?

Actually, yes. Because there is a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t Barlow

himself who personally chose to set up a company with the sole purpose of evading paying tens of millions in tax. If Barlow holds his hands up at this point and returns the money owed without complaint or qualm, then there should be no reason to rid him of an award he did genuinely earn.

The amount of money he has fundraised for and donated to charity comes to far more than the tax he evaded. Surely, therefore, the problem should be rectified if the money is repaid.

However, the finger has to be pointed at someone, as no matter how famous or charitable you are, tax evasion cannot be justified or ignored.

So where does the blame lie?

Arguably, with the masterminds behind the scheme: the accountants, those that advise Barlow about how to utilise his wealth, and Take That’s manager who got them involved in music investment schemes.

Although Barlow was temporarily selfish, there are more shady figures behind the scenes that ought to be treated with equal severity.

And finally, David Cameron. Like a teacher letting off his favourite student when he doesn’t do his homework, it is Cameron’s blatant favouritism that has caused the real uproar. He

didn’t react with such benevolence when Jimmy Carr was found to be in a similar situation, instead branding it ‘morally wrong’.

So this is where a substantial amount of the blame should lie: with the Prime Minister himself. Barlow can keep his OBE, but Cameron needs to learn about a little thing called consistency.

Join the Conversation: @ForgeComment on Twitter facebook.com/ForgeComment

Photo: Flickr / MerciaCoventry

Editorial

D.A.R.T.S.

Forge Press takes its satirical aim

Subtlety of the fortnight

Baby goats and exams Hi all If you’re reading this, you’re almost certainly procrastinating, and I would like to congratulate you on your life choices. Here at Forge Press, we see procrastination as a sacred art form which we work every day to perfect.

It’s that time of year again; the one which we all pretend isn’t going to come. Red Bull is on offer in the Union Shop, there are lecture notes everywhere and I drank a whole bottle of wine last night purely in order to avoid work.

It’s time to spend hour sitting in the

library, pretending to be productive, wondering why you didn’t just go and get a BTEC. The only things I can recommend to cheer you up are searching YouTube for ‘F**k It All [Honest Finals Version]’: potentially the most relatable video on the internet right now, and babygoatsandfriends.tumblr. com. Actually, just pictures of goats generally. Or a real goat, if you have one.

Since this will be my last editorial of the year, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading, and making the hard work of our wonderful editorial team worthwhile.

If you’re coming back next year, make sure to get involved with us in September, we still have some positions available on the, so keep an eye out for an EGM date. If writing is more your thing, put your name down on our contributors list at the activities fair.

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

Happy reading!

Elsa Vulliamy - Forge Press editor elsa.vulliamy@forgetoday.com

#toryladsontour

Quote of the fornight

“If I had a ballsack it would be proper sweaty” Nicola Moors, former editor/classy woman

Hello of the fortnight

“What’s the difference between a Romanian family moving in next door and a German family moving in?” asked James O’Brien.

“You know the difference.”

Oh Nigel.

Telling photo of the fortnight

It would appear that we are now in charge of this.

The newly-appointed regime has taken hold of Forge Comment, not to mention everyone’s favourite quarter-page of amusing miscellany.

We’ve celebrated as any ordinary person would do: spending 45 minutes carefully tracing David Cameron’s inner thigh in Photoshop, leaving each other passive-aggressive copy notes, finding cat photos to supplement our tweets (which takes a good hour per week) and largely procrastinating in the Interval beer garden.

We’re here all year and we’ll always be looking for new contributors; partially because we want to showcase a wide range of political views, but mainly because we’d much rather have you do the bulk of the work.

In 2014/15 this section, devoted as always to compelling arguments and well-put points, will be really good. Because we said so.

Yours, Archer and Stovell

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

10

@forgecomment

COMMENT

/forgecomment comment@forgetoday.com

Take That unpaid tax off him Gary Barlow is the latest in a long trend of high-profile tax avoiders but who do we really need to start blaming?

Mollie Carberry Tax avoidance is a subject that riles the majority of the tax-paying public. You work for hours on end only to have an infuriatingly large sum of income snatched away from you, while those who can actually afford it sneakily undermine the system.

Although tax is a nuisance, it is necessary to keep the country functioning, so when certain wealthy individuals refuse to chip in and play their part in the upkeep of society, to say it is annoying would be an understatement.

The newest member of the sadly ever-increasing tax avoidance club is Gary Barlow. Although other members of Take That were involved in the scam, it is Barlow that has received the full force of the scrutiny due to his OBE award.

Received in 2012 because he had ‘done a huge amount for the country’ (David Cameron’s words, not mine), it is being argued whether or not he should be allowed to keep it, in light of these new circumstances. Should someone who won’t pay tax be able to keep an award for being charitable?

Actually, yes. Because there is a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t Barlow

himself who personally chose to set up a company with the sole purpose of evading paying tens of millions in tax. If Barlow holds his hands up at this point and returns the money owed without complaint or qualm, then there should be no reason to rid him of an award he did genuinely earn.

The amount of money he has fundraised for and donated to charity comes to far more than the tax he evaded. Surely, therefore, the problem should be rectified if the money is repaid.

However, the finger has to be pointed at someone, as no matter how famous or charitable you are, tax evasion cannot be justified or ignored.

So where does the blame lie?

Arguably, with the masterminds behind the scheme: the accountants, those that advise Barlow about how to utilise his wealth, and Take That’s manager who got them involved in music investment schemes.

Although Barlow was temporarily selfish, there are more shady figures behind the scenes that ought to be treated with equal severity.

And finally, David Cameron. Like a teacher letting off his favourite student when he doesn’t do his homework, it is Cameron’s blatant favouritism that has caused the real uproar. He

didn’t react with such benevolence when Jimmy Carr was found to be in a similar situation, instead branding it ‘morally wrong’.

So this is where a substantial amount of the blame should lie: with the Prime Minister himself. Barlow can keep his OBE, but Cameron needs to learn about a little thing called consistency.

Join the Conversation: @ForgeComment on Twitter facebook.com/ForgeComment

Photo: Flickr / MerciaCoventry

Editorial

D.A.R.T.S.

Forge Press takes its satirical aim

Subtlety of the fortnight

Baby goats and exams Hi all If you’re reading this, you’re almost certainly procrastinating, and I would like to congratulate you on your life choices. Here at Forge Press, we see procrastination as a sacred art form which we work every day to perfect.

It’s that time of year again; the one which we all pretend isn’t going to come. Red Bull is on offer in the Union Shop, there are lecture notes everywhere and I drank a whole bottle of wine last night purely in order to avoid work.

It’s time to spend hour sitting in the

library, pretending to be productive, wondering why you didn’t just go and get a BTEC. The only things I can recommend to cheer you up are searching YouTube for ‘F**k It All [Honest Finals Version]’: potentially the most relatable video on the internet right now, and babygoatsandfriends.tumblr. com. Actually, just pictures of goats generally. Or a real goat, if you have one.

Since this will be my last editorial of the year, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading, and making the hard work of our wonderful editorial team worthwhile.

If you’re coming back next year, make sure to get involved with us in September, we still have some positions available on the, so keep an eye out for an EGM date. If writing is more your thing, put your name down on our contributors list at the activities fair.

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

Happy reading!

Elsa Vulliamy - Forge Press editor elsa.vulliamy@forgetoday.com

#toryladsontour

Quote of the fornight

“If I had a ballsack it would be proper sweaty” Nicola Moors, former editor/classy woman

Hello of the fortnight

“What’s the difference between a Romanian family moving in next door and a German family moving in?” asked James O’Brien.

“You know the difference.”

Oh Nigel.

Telling photo of the fortnight

It would appear that we are now in charge of this.

The newly-appointed regime has taken hold of Forge Comment, not to mention everyone’s favourite quarter-page of amusing miscellany.

We’ve celebrated as any ordinary person would do: spending 45 minutes carefully tracing David Cameron’s inner thigh in Photoshop, leaving each other passive-aggressive copy notes, finding cat photos to supplement our tweets (which takes a good hour per week) and largely procrastinating in the Interval beer garden.

We’re here all year and we’ll always be looking for new contributors; partially because we want to showcase a wide range of political views, but mainly because we’d much rather have you do the bulk of the work.

In 2014/15 this section, devoted as always to compelling arguments and well-put points, will be really good. Because we said so.

Yours, Archer and Stovell

Got an opinion on the topics discussed this fortnight?

Contact us: letters@forgetoday.com

11

FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 23 2014

@forgecomment /forgecomment comment@forgetoday.com

LETTERS

Comment of the fortnight: Our article ‘Theatre Review: Brassed Off’ got you talking Not every play intends its emotional scenes to tug at the heartstrings. Brecht, for example, probably the 20th century’s greatest (socialist?) playwright, would certainly have wished for the opposite – I think he would have said that distancing the audience from emotion prompts them to focus more on the issue and leads to action. ‘Brassed Off ’ seemed to me to have a bit of the Brecht about it and certainly its main issues were represented clearly enough.

Mick Haining

Your comments on www.forgetoday.com to: Anti-UKIP activists should say it, not spray it “I think it’s safe to say that Ukip’s policies generally do not sit comfortably with the vast majority of the British public.” You think wrongly.

UKIP are on track to get an outright majority in the upcoming European elections. Their policies and ideals absolutely do resonate with the majority of the public. They do not sit comfortably with the tiny majority of sheltered university students who are this paper’s target audience, which is a different proposition entirely.

Sam

Your comments on www.forgetoday.com to: University’s million pound food and booze bill on student and staff socials How much of this was spent on open days, outreach activities, widening participation tea, juice, sandwiches? What was the increase in costs as opposed to expenditure? Could the departure of the VC external have affected the reduction in spend from her office? Just asking.

Dee

Your comments on www.forgetoday.com to: Review: The Twang @ The Leadmill, 28/2/2014 The Twang are a brilliant band, and even better live. Your judging of them is down to your taste in music which is your right to express.

But the fans show appreciation of how good and underrated these boys are.

Adam

Got an opinion?

Email: letters@forgetoday.com Write: Forge Press, Union of Students, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG Please include your name, course and year of study.

We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and space.

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Fri day May 23 2014 Fo rge P re s s F O RG E P RESS

Confessions of a Trichotillomaniac Salma Haidrini explores the effects of a life-changing condition

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TTM is a lot more common than it would initially appear

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Victoria Connolly was just one such student: “It started when I was underweight and I grew excess body hair due to anorexia. I became obsessed with removing hair and now it’s a daily battle.”

But Connolly isn’t an isolated occurrence.

Secondary school similarly exacerbated Accounting graduate Aneela Kumar’s long-term battle with trichotillomania: “I believe the pulling started as a way to find some solace dealing with my father’s diagnosis with leukaemia and death.”

For some, their experience of trichotillomania can commence at university. Although university can be an exciting transition, the inevitable anxieties and pressures of such a life-changing move can trigger TTM.

Whether it’s struggling to work independently without the comforts of the school classroom, the pressures of adjusting to a new routine and unfamiliar environment or the challenges of coping without a support network for the first time, for some, choosing to pull out their hair can offer some solace and alleviate stress.

TTM can serve as a coping mechanism for the new-found challenges and responsibilities that traditionally accompanies the first few months of university. Final year student Kate Allison explains: “I have never dealt with stress very well and this seems to be one of the ways I seem to ‘deal’ with it if you can call it that.”

With trichotillomania more prevalent on campus than would initially appear, why then are trichotillomanics remaining silent by not openly sharing their experiences in the mainstream on university campus?

Perhaps this largely stems from the shame which often accompanies battling a mental illness. Despite the significant progress that universities throughout the UK continue to make in raising awareness and encouraging a more open dialogue on mental health on campus, ‘coming out’ carries the risk of being stigmatised.

Especially so for females, for whom hair is an otherwise powerful symbol of femininity and sexuality. Laura John-Baptiste concurs: “There is a real shame to having no proper hair for a woman – their ‘crowning glory’ as they say.”

It’s consequently unsurprising that trichotillomanics go to great lengths to conceal their appearance for fear of being detected. Even the simplest tasks such as getting ready every morning for lectures can be a daily challenge.

Whether it’s painstakingly applying false lashes to conceal the bald patches between lashes or in some cases even wearing a wig, tricotillomaniacs spend a far greater time in front of the mirror.

For trichotillomaniacs with bald patches on their scalps, eyelashes or eyebrows, failing to match up to the standard of how they should appear can exacerbate overwhelming feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

However, it would be mistaken to assume that women are solely affected by TTM. For males, the disorder can consequently be a profoundly isolating experience.

Psychology graduate Sebastian Siewec concurs: “With TTM, I am always keenly aware of where and how I position myself to minimize the chance that my hair loss will be exposed and seen. The psychological toll the condition has created has been significant.

“Not only do I have a condition that makes me feel weak, powerless, and so incredibly selfconscious, but I have a girly disease on top of it!

You connect with the condition, but you always feel similar yet different.”

Significant progress, however, is being made towards increasing acceptance and understanding of the disorder. International No Pulling Week (#INPW) annually aims to combat the invisibility of the disorder and raise greater awareness.

Even more optimistically, Trichster, a film documentary, which premieres in June 2014, aims to normalise the disorder and which follows eight trichotillomaniac’s daily struggles.

With high-profile figures such as Sam Faiers from reality TV series TOWIE ‘coming out’ and opening up publicly about their battle with the disorder, perhaps they will no longer be ashamed and feel they have to isolate themselves.

Mental health charity Mind have stated that celebrities speaking out about their experience of mental health has resulted in 1 in 5 sufferers directly seeking help.

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Hair is a powerful symbol of femininity and sexuality

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he battles with trichotillomania, a compulsive hair-pulling disorder currently affecting 370,752 people in the UK. Clumps of her wavy blonde hair soon fall out in her hands. Relief envelops her, followed swiftly by the familiar feelings of selfloathing and regret.

University is an exciting period of fresh starts for undergraduates, whether it’s learning to live independently, choosing to be open about your sexuality for the first time or for some, even moving to a brand new country.

But for some freshers, it’s not merely a brand new toaster or IKEA laundry basket that’s coming with them to university. For some, their long-standing battle with compulsive hair pulling or TTM (trichotillomania), as it is more commonly referred to, is coming hundreds of miles from their hometown and into halls.

While the disorder is relatively unheard of, TTM is a lot more common than it would initially appear. According to Anxiety UK, approximately 1 in 200 people in the UK battle with from the uncontrollable urge to pull out their body hair (the same number of people affected by bulimia) to relieve anxiety and stress, sometimes resulting in visible bald patches.

Usually developed during adolescence and predominantly affecting females of any ethnicity or class, ‘Trichsters’, typically experience relief and pleasure once they’ve satisfied the impulse to pull, either from their scalp, eyelashes or even in some extreme cases, pubic region.

Paul Farmer, Mind’s Chief Executive, states: “People with personal experience of mental health problems have told us that celebrities who speak out have inspired them to start conversations about mental health and get the support they need. Celebrities speaking out can have an instant impact on the number of people talking about mental health, learning about it, and seeking help too”.

With some progress in erasing the stigma of trichotillomania, perhaps sufferers will no longer be reluctant to discuss their disorder and seek the available support. Non-profit charity organisations Trichotillomania Support and Anxiety UK provide a wide range of specialist services for those affected including an online Buddy System, Support Groups and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).

For the most part, university can be challenging without the added anxiety of living with (and hiding) trichotillomania. For John-Baptiste, she remains optimistic that the disorder doesn’t have to be a life-sentence and that she can one day leave the house without having to check for bald patches on her head: “I’m hoping that in the future I can feel more free and not tied down by this condition.”

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FO R GE PRESS Fo rg e Press Friday M ay 23 2014

@forgefeatures /forgepress features@forgetoday.com

Fuse.

Banksy The new console era Memorable festival moments Best of Studio Ghibli

Friday May 23 2014

2

short fuse. comments and rants on entertainment news.

Tomodatchi fails to include same-sex relationships

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e can make simulation games out of anything at the moment - trains, farms, even goats - but when it comes to human relationships, we’re facing an archaic hurdle.

Nintendo have sparked outrage with their game Tomodachi Life, which should be a way to simulate your real life personality and relationships through your ‘Mii’ character - typically an avatar of yourself.

However, they have made it impossible to have any romantic relationship with a Mii of the same sex.

It is literally impossible to be gay in a game which supposedly allows players to simulate their own love life.

This is not only incredibly insulting to homosexual players, it’s also restrictive. A player who wishes to marry their same-sex partner in game cannot, and they lose out on in-game bonuses that come with a Mii marriage.

Meanwhile, in Russia (always a bad start when regarding the topic of homosexuality), the Sims 4 has been rated an adults-only game, specifically because ‘sims’ can have homosexual relationships.

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second Inbetweeners movie, it’s starting to feel more like they’re flogging a dead horse.

Getting actors to play characters younger than they are is by no means a new phenomenon - Harry Potter and his friends blossomed a hell of a lot quicker on screen than on the page, for example. In some cases it can even be beneficial; the then 14-year-old Chloe Moretz played pint-sized assassin Hit-Girl

What makes them think homosexuality in games is anything new?

I know I was pairing up my ‘sims’ up with whoever I damn pleased way back in 2000. Even the likes of Mass Effect and Saints Row allow players to hook up with the same sex - it isn’t ‘gay propaganda’, it’s player freedom.

A homophobic approach to games is ultimately futile. Restricting relationships on simulation games won’t restrict relationships in real life - it will just piss people off Kaz Scattergood

in Kick-Ass much more adeptly than a real 10 year-old might have, and now she’s one of Hollywood’s most talented rising stars.

But occasionally, we have to learn when to leave the past in the past.

Comedy franchises like American Pie have found, usually too late, that you can only squeeze people for nostalgia dollars for a limited time.

And it’s no coincidence that all of the truly great comedy shows of all

time - from Friends to Fawlty Towers - were great precisely because they had a finite shelf life.

It’s time to put that yellow car with the one red door on the scrap heap for good. Otherwise, the briefcase wanker will just become an old wanker. And no-one wants to be an old wanker.

Phil Bayles Our final issue’s cover artwork is painted by one of our previous Music editors, the one, the only, Nicky Crane.

Extreme art: cocksure or just a cock-up?

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n the past few months, artists seem to have gone to more extreme lengths to put their messages across.

One artist nailed his testicles to a pavement, another decided to live inside a dead bear for two weeks, and most recently an artist has been convicted of sexual exhibitionism after dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower with a cockerel attached to his penis. Is it time for contemporary artists to tone down? Maybe it is.

In November a Russian performance artist, Pyotr Pavlensky, nailed his genitals to the pavement in the Red Square, Russia. Pavlensky said that he did this as a protest against the repression of the Russian government. All artists have unique ways of creating a message, but Pavlensky’s seems lost here. Unfortunately, it seems difficult to make the link between nailed testicles and political repression.

Yet, this isn’t the only piece of extreme art to emerge recently. Steven Cohen was convicted earlier this

month of sexual exhibitionism for dressing up in platform heels and feathers, attaching a cockerel to his penis, and dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Cohen’s odd form of exhibitionism went too far. It’s amazing how covering yourself in feathers and attaching a bird to your penis can now be classed as a form of contemporary art.

True, art is about pushing boundaries; Tracey Emin did so with her ‘My Bed’ piece, featuring a bed covered in bodily stains and condoms. Even though her art caused a controversy, it didn’t involve her physically hurting herself or potentially harming animals. Emin might have jostled the boundaries, but Pavlensky and Cohen have stepped over them by involving themselves directly. After all, what kind of a message can be sent by attaching a cockerel to your penis?

Joss Woodend

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elcome one and all to the final issue of this year!

It’s been fun, it’s been stressful, it’s been tense, but we’ve all had a riot making each issue of Fuse this year.

As we’re all swamped under essay deadlines or revision I’d like to take a moment to get you to Google ‘bunnies yawning’. Hopefully it’ll brighten your day, especially if, like me, you’re sitting inside somewhere (in my case, the media hub) gazing out of the window, and cursing all the people who have the time to be out enjoy the sun.

I’m not bitter.

We hope you’ve all enjoyed reading the diverse features and reviews that each section has poured their creativity and hard work into making. That’s it from us, we look forward to welcoming you into the new year in September. Over and out!

Kate Lovatt Phil Bayles

Oh, Sequel Friend

hannel 4 sitcom the Inbetweeners is, deservedly, regarded by many as one of the funniest shows on British TV in the last ten years.

It was a brilliantly written and superbly acted sitcom about how awkward teenagers can be. It even featured a scene of someone punching a fish to death. But with the news that Simon Bird and the gang (now in their 30s) will be reuniting for a

editorial.

Mon June 9 - Sat June 14, £35 Meet on Durham Road, 8am

wers Alton To

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or most of us, a much-needed and well-earned break will be in order after exam and essay hysteria. Where better to go than Alton Towers?

Give it a Go are running trips to the theme park every day, from the June 9 until June 14. The park is most famous for having the world’s first 14 looping rollercoaster, the Smiler.

This coaster boasts a 30 me-

tre drop and 165 second run time, guaranteed to make your organs shake. If, however, you like to keep your organs intact, you can always go for Nemesis, Rita or Th13teen instead - same adrenaline rush, less loops.

The day begins at 8am and and finishes at 5.30pm, so make sure to bring one, or possibly two, bottles of water as you’re there for the long haul!

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Friday May 23 2014

q&a.

Q&A with George Morton Joss Woodend interviews George Morton about the upcoming performance of City Lights which will celebrate Chaplin’s 125th birthday What is the Sheffield Rep Orchestra, and what do you do with them?

Sheffield Rep Orchestra is the orchestra that I set up. We set it up a couple of years ago as a load of students from the Department of Music - I did my undergraduate and postgraduate here - but we’re not just a student orchestra anymore.

What is it about Charlie Chaplin that made you want to do the performance of City Lights?

We showed the film Metropolis two years ago with a live orchestra, and that was a massive success. We started looking at another film to do the following year, and I came across the Chaplin official estate website. This year is Chaplin’s 125th birthday and it is 100 years since his first film, so I said, “why don’t we do a festival to celebrate that and as part of the festival do a live film with orchestra?”

Talk us through what the film City Lights is all about: It’s quite a clever film because there’s not just the romantic love story of Chaplin’s ‘Tramp’ character falling in love with a blind flower girl. Alongside that there’s a whole different plot that never actually crosses directly with the flower girl plot. He makes friends with a millionaire, and throughout the film goes on little adventures.

Will Chaplin prove popular outside the audience of die-hard fans?

Last year we put on Gold Rush at Firth Court, and filled it with people from the age of about seven or eight all the way up to older generations. Everyone knows him. What is really nice about the Chaplin films is that the kids who came to watch it still talk about it now and how exciting it was.

Are you excited for people to turn up and enjoy it?

As I’m sure you can tell I think Chaplin is hilarious and a genius. His films are so funny and perfect, as well as every other kind of emotion. There are sad bits, hilarious bits, bits that really make you think about morals. It’s so nice to be able to share that with so many people. So yeah, I’m very excited!

It’ll be really nice to get people to experience Chaplin, especially with the live music.

You cannot beat a film with live music. You sit there, and within 10 minutes you forget it’s not just a piped audio. It just makes it so intimate. You’ve got your personal soundtrack in the room with you, with all these amazing musicians playing a score that’s over 80 years old. [Screening films with live music] is happening a lot now and is starting to become really popular, but nobody in Sheffield does them apart from us. If you go to the continent (Germany, Italy and France) every month there’s a performance of one of his films with live orchestras. We don’t have that in the UK, which is why this is such a massive thing that we’re doing and why it’s going to be a massive success. You can’t get it anywhere else.

Tickets: £2.50

Available from the SU box office

Dazed and Confused: Fri May 23: 19:30

Muppets Most Wanted: Sat May 24: 19:30

Grand Budapest Hotel: Sun May 25: 19:30

Friday May 23 2014

4

n i y e n o M he t y s k Ban Our new Arts editor, Chloe Coleman, looks at the charity of internationallyrenowned graffiti artist Banksy

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raffiti has always been a controversial topic. Technically, it is a criminal offence, an act of vandalism often thought of as an eyesore on the landscape.

In the past 15 years, however, that perception has begun to change. Banksy, the internationally-famed graffiti artist who hails from Bristol, is turning this spray paint and stencil based art into more of a politicallyoriented and charitable act than ever before.

In 1997, in Stokes Croft, an area of Bristol on the verge of urban renaissance, people awoke to find a massive graffiti piece of a teddy bear throwing a molotov cocktail at three police officers. Above the mural was the title ‘The Mild Mild West’. Since that day, Banksy’s work has gradually become known across the world for it’s political, satirical, and revolutionary nature.

As his work has become more recognised around the world, the mysterious character has used his own art to raise not only awareness of controversial issues, but also vast sums of money for local and national charities.

Dennis Stinchcombe, owner of the Broad Lane Boys Youth Club in Bristol, a well known local youth club that has been running for over 100 years, was devastated when news came that the council would no longer provide enough funding for the club to keep running. Within weeks ‘Mobile Lovers’, a Banksy piece depicting a couple in embrace but texting over each others shoulders, appeared on a disused door just outside the club.

Controversy over ownership ensued, but as the council was poised to snap up the piece, Stinchcombe received a letter from the artist himself stating that he could do “what he felt was right” with the piece. It’s now set to be

auctioned off in order to provide funds for Broad Lane and other youth projects in the Bristol area. An act of destructive vandalism was turned into a work of art which saved a community.

Although this may be Banksy’s most high profile act of charity, this is not the only time his graffiti has been used to help others. In March 2014, the Cube cinema - an independent entertainment venue in desperate need of essential maintenance - received an extremely rare Banksy print of the ‘Di-faced tenner’. The piece shows £10 notes on which Princess Diana replaces Queen Elizabeth II. The cinema went on to auction these for £11,000 and received enough money to fix up the venue, and continue as one of the very few independent cinemas left in south west England.

‘The Room in the Elephant’ is one of Banksy’s lesser known pieces which seemed to have an accidentally charitable effect. When in LA, he painted the words “this looks a bit like an elephant” on the side of a disused tank.

Obviously, attention was immediately drawn to this tank and, due to the media attention and investigations into the artwork, it was soon discovered that Tachowa Covington, one of LA’s many homeless men was in fact living inside the tank. He’d been residing there for seven years, and had given Banksy permission to graffiti on the side of it.

It wasn’t long, however, until a media design firm were on the trail of this piece of art.

They forced Covington out of his home and proceeded to sell the tank for thousands of dollars, but Covington saw none of this money. Shortly after, when the tank was being exhibited and the story of Covington told, donations to LA’s homeless shelters started flooding in, and Banksy himself gave Coving-

ton enough money to buy an apartment and set himself up in the world.

Alongside the charitable nature of Banksy, his work has also been known for its shocking and controversial messages. He combined both of these themes in Banksy vs Bristol Museum. Again, when Bristol’s museum seemed to be in financial trouble, he it took with permission, ‘vandalising’ over 100 works of art with controversial messages.

Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’ were seen to have shopping trolleys floating between them, a miserable Ronald McDonald sat at the top of the museum, clutching a bottle of wine, riot police were riding merry-go-round horses, a rabbit was applying make up, the House of Lords was full of monkeys.

Each of the 100 images or sculptures highlighted a political or ethical issue.

The exhibition was viewed over 300,000 times in the 12 weeks it was on display for, raising money not only for the struggling museum, but for many other services in Bristol as people travelled far and wide to see his work.

Banksy’s art manages to hold it’s politcal and controversial nature whilst helping both local and international nature.

He truly is remarkable.

Friday May 23 2014

5

Where did the generation go wrong?

Kieran Dean explores the failings of the new console era

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he console wars seem to be over. The hype has died down, all speculation and funny advertising has gone and we’re left with the birth of the new generation: the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the lonely Wii U. But compared to the previous generation, the battle has begun with a whimper rather than a bang.

For a long-time PlayStation gamer, the PS4 comes as a bit of a blow. Even with a cheaper price at launch, better processing power, and more support for indie games (a popular market now) than its main competitor, there’s been a lack of really big hits. A series of small, solid games have been released, but there’s not yet a “headline game” to fire up the base.

When thinking back to the PS3, although it didn’t have a great launch selection, it did have the critically and publically acclaimed Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm. The PS4 has not had such an edge. Their exclusive Knack received lukewarm attention and reviews, and Killzone Shadow Fall just feels like another money grab without the excitement that Resistance: Fall of Man had. And while The Last of Us: Remastered is awesome, players could very easily get it for their existing PS3 without paying the £350 for a new console.

The PS4 has also failed to include backwards compatibility. Although they’ve promised a cloud system, through which existing games can be transferred, it feels a waste of op-

Artwork: Samantha Fielding

portunity for people to buy a new console without the ability of keeping their old games. Companies need to learn sometimes that by letting people hang on to their old games, they can justify buying newer consoles during the transition period before newer, better games come out.

Now let’s talk about the Xbox One. Yes, the Xbox didn’t do itself any favours by announcing a mandatory internet connection (even if they did retract it). It also had a lack of game sharing that Sony took much joy in mocking. But now those problems are over, we can enjoy the new console.

Or can we?

Games that looked somewhat appealing, like Ryse: Son of Rome, haven’t been so lucky with critics and seem to be more concerned with their own visual appeal than engaging through gameplay.

QTEs, although not all that commonly used, become a problem when they act as a major gameplay feature, taking actually tough gameplay elements out of games in order to make room for the more ‘cinematic experience’. Often, they can be a good accompaniment, but with Ryse and other guilty parties, they function as a main mechanic of the game, letting other, more challenging gameplay suffer.

What’s more, the Xbox One is now trying to sell itself on its use of Skype, streaming, and social media; it promotes its multimedia platform status above its gaming functionality. But why? At least the PS4 realised that

a game console should prioritise the games above all. Trying to make the Xbox One something everyone will use for everything is just too utopian a view.

Finally, the Wii U. Which mind thought that giving people an enlarged Game Boy Advance as their controller was an improvement or a breakthrough? It defies smooth gameplay, and keeps nagging players to take a break from playing games, just like its predecessor.

The beauty of the standard controller is that it minimises the amount of time players spend aware that they’re playing a game - having to switch between two screens at semi-regular intervals breaks that immersion. As the Wii U’s predicted sales were cut from nine to 2.8 million for the fiscal year 2014, the console seems to be running out of time and goodwill to turn its fortunes around.

Has the new generation failed then?

Well the Wii U seems all but dead, and the PS4 and the Xbox One have yet to convince. The PS3 and Xbox 360 created genuine excitement as they were improvements on their predecessors without having greatly altered their tried and true formulas; these new consoles feel like they’re trying too hard. We’re still waiting for games that’ll make our collective eyeballs melt out of our faces. If this happens, the consoles won’t have failed - but it hasn’t happened yet.

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Friday May 23 2014

THE BEST OF STUDIO GHIBLI To celebrate the release of The Wind Rises, our contributors have written about their most beloved moments in the Ghibli canon Kiki’s Delivery Service Kiki’s Delivery Service has everything you could possibly need from an adorable animated film: a relatable young girl as the protagonist, a coming-of-age struggle, and of course, a friendly talking cat.

Kiki is a young witch who finds that her only useable power is her ability to fly on a broom. She decides to put her powers to a practical use: a delivery service.

Kiki’s insecurities with her own identity as a witch and as a girl are heartwarmingly relatable as she struggles with her abilities, being pursued by a boy, friendships, and finding her independence.

For a movie about a delivery girl on a broom with a talking feline companion, she represents a very realistic struggle, particularly for young Japanese girls who move away from home at an early age.

While it’s easy to escape into the fantastical, whimsical elements of Ghibli movies, Kiki really touches the heart. She regains her upbeat spirit and the movie ends with her as the hero. What could be more perfect?

Kaz Scattergood

My Neighbor Totoro A Studio Ghibli moment I am fond of is a scene in My Neighbor Totoro, in which toddler Mei takes a fall down a hole between the roots of a tree, and has her first encounter with the titular Totoro.

The scene - evoking the rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland - has Mei tumble down into a beautifully realised woodland enclave where she finds the great, slumbering figure of Totoro - a wordless, roaring forest spirit who could be described as appearing like a large, confused, fluffy bear-cat.

Totoro isn’t amused to be woken by a giggling child leering at him, but his halfhearted attempts to scare Mei away by roaring are only met with further delight.

The scene ends with the two drifting off to sleep together; a soothed Mei using the inflating belly of the snoring beast as a bed.

The scene achieves a marriage of the endearing and the otherworldly, and is perfectly situated in a film dealing with the magical capacities of a child’s imagination. It is comforting without being sickly – despite the weirdness of the scenario, the humanity of Miyazaki’s vision retains a genuine charm without veering into schmaltz.

Sam Gibbons

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Friday May 23 2014

Howl’s Moving Castle Sophie murmurs shyly: “I know I’m not pretty”. And isn’t it only pretty girls who can capture the attentions of the infamous sorcerer Howl?

Despite the title, Howl’s Moving Castle is in fact the story of plain-faced milliner, Sophie, and her journey of self-acceptance. When confined to the body of an elderly woman by the Witch of the Waste, she finally finds the confidence she always lacked. She quickly earns the affection of Marco, Calcifer, and Turniphead (not to mention her true love in the form of a charismatic, yet cowardly magician).

Previously meek, Sophie asserts herself over the household, forcing the resident fire demon to cook bacon and overseeing the escapades of Howl’s apprentice, Marco. Gone is the timid adolescent, unbridled from her expectations of beauty and youth.

Throughout the film, vices manifest themselves as literal demons, physically metamorphosing Howl, while Sophie’s emotions can transform her entire appearance.

This plays a role in my favourite scene when, showered in Howl’s unadulterated affection, Sophie doubts herself, inducing the (seemingly self-imposed) curse; her face suddenly withers to the steadfast grimace of Grandma Sophie, staring despondently at the ground. It is only then you realise that all possibility lies within her.

Amber McNamara

Princess Mononoke My favourite Ghibli moments are from Princess Mononoke, based around Forest Spirits.

It has a great concept with the animals of the forest being gigantic, intelligent, and able to talk, but growing smaller and dumber as the humans destroy the forest around them. It seems like this tale wouldn’t be out of place amongst classical fables, myths, and legends in the way it is crafted.

There’s a poignant message to be discovered about the human impact on nature, where a bullet can corrupt even the strongest of the animal gods, transforming them into a demon of rage and vengeance. The humans, through their greed for the land and resources, literally behead one of the forest spirits, a creature that represents the life and essence of nature.

Many are killed in the ensuing carnage as the body searches for its stolen head until the protagonists manage to return it so the god can die in peace. Their heroic actions rejuvenate the surrounding landscape, restablishing the balance between both sides that is needed.

The emphasis on the importance of respecting and protecting nature is one of my favourite elements of Ghibli films.

Emma Ripley

My Neighbors the Yamadas Go ahead and paint me with the cranky hipster brush, but while mainstream Ghibli hits like Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo have won out in beautiful displays of colour and imagination, it’s worth remembering the little triumphs that have given Ghibli the edge in the past.

My Neighbors the Yamadas is definitely one of those.

A bumbling collection of vignettes about the Yamadas and their kids, it shows how the magic of Ghibli (its irresistible charm) can work even in the most mundane settings.

The storyline is admittedly a little patchy and humdrum but the simple water-colour art style makes it an unbelievably endearing watch, all joyously concluded with a big fat fanfare by way of a cast rendition of ‘Que Sera Sera’ that left me youtubing sing-a-long versions for a good four hours after.

Nothing much happens but who really cares – it ended up being the definition of 'heart-warming' and, hey, we all had fun along the way, didn't we?

Matt Joslin

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Our most memorable fes Friday May 23 2014

Music editors Rachel Bell and Rebecca Stubbs bring you memorable festival performances spanning the last 50 years

a l l e h c a o C : k n u P t f a D

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tival moments Friday May 23 2014

9

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Friday May 23 2014

Fuse. games CHILD OF LIGHT PC 8/10

E

ven before you’ve begun to get your teeth stuck into the storyline, Child of Light delivers on stunning parallax watercolour graphics, giving you the multi-levelled 3D effect on a side-sweeping 2D adventure.

Inspired by age-old fairy tales and somewhat similar to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in concept and visual aesthetic, Child of Light incorporates a UbiArt framework with eccentric landscapes, quirky characters and clean-cut movement.

Child of Light follows Aurora as she seeks out the Queen of Night, who has stolen the sun, moon and stars. Only she has the ability to return Aurora’s soul to the realm of the living, back to her father the Duke, and to restore a peaceful equilibrium.

Based loosely on 1895 Austria, the urban scenery has so much detail that you’ll immediately want to jump around watching it all fold into a beautiful dream behind Aurora. Finn the troll and Igniculus the firefly will accompany you on parts of your journey, as you deal with the strange ‘monsters’ and obstacles found in Lemuria. While the clunky fight scenes could use some work,

Sir, you are being hunted PC 6/10

S

ir, You Are Being Hunted (or Madam, if you prefer) follows a lonely protagonist lost in the bleak English countryside, fighting for their survival, trying to escape from advanced AI while silent drones scour the foliage for survivors. It is your job to navigate through five islands to find the mystical stones that will bring you to safety.

Layered with imagery straight from H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, You Are Being Hunted is a light-hearted stealth affair with a Pythonesque sense of humour, ultimately let down by unpolished controls and little space for player advancement.

The actual game follows a pretty safe set-up – you will scavenge for bandages and food, scarpering across open landscapes trying not to get caught by robotic gunmen, desperately hoping you will come across something worth keeping in your highly limited inventory. This is a stealth game, remember, so useful could be a gun, but it could also be a trumpet.

While the ‘grim-up-North’ setting may feel a little token - especially to a Brit - Big Robot manage to utilise old motifs to create an incredibly immersive experience.

The mechanics of the game are clearly heavily rooted in DayZ – as most stealth games will be for many years to come – so a seasoned gamer will find You Are Being Hunted quick to learn. But where DayZ’s difficulty lies in pesky real-life players, You Are Being Hunted is programmed to be completely random, making it almost impossible to memorise your way through the game.

Sadly, this means a lack of scary set pieces. That might be a call to rejoice for those

there’s none of the typical frustration found with overwhelming hordes of minor enemies that cause lots of checkpoint restarts – it gets difficult, but never monotonous, as the many footholds and platforms offer manoeuvrability rarely found in such games.

If possible, you’d be best to get your hands on a console copy, as the Steam version kicks up issues with GPU-guzzling graphics proportions and the occasional sound lag; having said that, with the right computer, the audio beats that from a TV tenfold.

There is plenty of downloadable content on offer, but not so much that you have to spend lots of money. Play as a hulking golem, increase your magic defence with Dark Aurora, or simply buy yourself some skill tree ‘Oculi’. You can even already download free digital wallpapers, which are subtle yet beautiful in their own way.

Simply put, Ubisoft have come up trumps with this wonderful game, which is soft and harmless, but nonetheless dark and full of mystery. Don’t be fooled by the imagery as there are some aspects that do in fact need work, but all in all Child of Light is a cracking game.

Will Ross

Follow us on Twitter @ForgeGames

who want something more substantial than jump-scares, but You Are Being Hunted isn’t unsettling or sinister either. It would be a stretch to even call it ‘spooky’. While it may have its mystique embedded in Hammer Horror, it’s still not going to frighten you.

You Are Being Hunted may not be the masterpiece many Kickstarter fans wanted it to be, but it offers a fair few hours of amusement. It may not be a game-changer in the stealth market, with choppy controls and questionable AI, but it offers the chance to fight robots dressed in top hats and tweed and that’s not a prospect to be sniffed at.

Joanne Butcher

CULT CORNER

THEME HOSPITAL PC

D

angerously addictive, Theme Hospital is yet another simulation game that will lead you to forget all concepts of time and responsibility. Not only this, but the game will give you an accurate insight into the workings of privatised medical care.

Just kidding.

Through earthquakes and epidemics, T h e m e Hospital satisfies the basic human need to play god. With requirements to meet with every level, you gradually become more corrupted until the death count becomes just a number. But don’t think that Theme Hospital is a provocative exploration of human morality like Papers, Please; the game is darkly hilarious from the outset, allowing you to guess at people’s cures, get them stuck in narrow corridors, and worse of all, make them wait for more diagnosis rooms for hours.

Throughout the game, patients are afflicted with a series of delightful ailments: ‘Bloaty Head’, ‘Gut Rot’, ‘Fake Blood’ and ‘Balding’ to name just a few. And mac hinery used to treat such patients gets more and more ridiculous with each level.

Most of your time is spent employing handymen in bulk to clean up vomit viruses and trying to find where you put the doctor with the surgeon qualification, but Theme Hospital also requires an amount of logistical and space management skills. So you can put

that on your CV. Knowing the cheat codes presents you with a fabulous rat-killing mini-game, that is as close to a first person shooter as you will get, and the multiplayer function is also pretty clever for the late 90s.

The final levels are horrifically hard, which will make you question the career you don’t really have; no matter what you do, there is no impressing those inspectors. But the challenge of the game makes each level uniquely compelling, and will leave you planning blueprints in your sleep.

The most surprising achievement of Theme Hospital is that Bullfrog has managed to make the issues of micromanagement and financial criteria actually fun. An ancestor of games such as The Sims and Surgeon Simulator, a remnant of Theme Park will forever remain in our hearts and in our sick sense of humour.

Samantha Fielding

More reviews online Read more reviews online at Forge Today

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11

Friday May 23 2014

Fuse. arts

BRASSED OFF Lyceum 7/10

E

ight years after the Miners’ Strike, Grimley Colliery is still confronted with the closure that its ‘heroes’ fought against in 1984. But that’s not all Grimley has to fight for. With miners faced by demoralising visits to the Job Centre, Danny’s dream for Grimley Colliery Brass Band to win the national band competition seems further away than ever.

As the curtain rose to reveal a carefully crafted set designed by Dawn Allsopp, I couldn’t help but think the whole thing was a bit too polished. The quintessential centrepiece of a pit wheel took all the lime light in the opening scene, as the narrator Shane (played

by Luke Adamson) climbed the structure to observe the people of Grimley. The sturdy wheel surrounded by stone terraces was more reminiscent of an industrial museum than living industry, more Beamish than Barnsley.

But as the stage lights dimmed for the Lyceum to be lit by the torch helmets of miners emerging from the pit lift, Grimley’s industrial past was brought back to life. The wellexecuted South Yorkshire accents, particularly mastered by Helen Kay and Gilly Tompkins, playing persistent Women Against Pit Closures activists, contributed to the regional identification of the play.

Scenes of Phil’s family life epitomised Brassed Off’s paradoxical dry humour and community crisis.

Rebecca Clay expertly captures northern wit as Phil’s wife Sandra, barking at him to stop “frigging swearing in front of the frigging kids”. But as Sandra finds herself fighting off the repo-men after Phil spends their last bit of cash on a second-hand trombone, Clay’s emotive performance began to outshine her comic endeavours.

Some crucial moments in the play, designed to tug on heart strings, were poorly executed by the cast.

As Danny collapses amongst the drunken stumbling’s of the band

after their semi-final victory, the actors failed to engage with the seriousness of the incident.

Similarly, the distressing scene in which Phil attempts to commit suicide was almost lost in a fury of parallel stories. This does not, however, justify Dunn’s inability to engage with the psychological distress of his character.

The musical talents of the onstage brass band were consistent throughout the play, although I expect nothing less from a script following the journey of a colliery band.

Yet the presence of the band onstage, integrated amongst rehearsals and band performance scenes, left members of the audience questioning, “are those people actors or musicians, or both?”

The cast did their best to juggle the dark humour and industrial devastation that underlines Brassed Off. But a handful of scenes left me aware I was in the Lyceum, and not Grimley.

Raven Levi Tolson

ONe man two guvnors Lyceum 9/10

T

he National Theatre comes to the Lyceum in this delightful, farcical romp through 1960’s Brighton.

One Man Two Guvnors is a reimagining of Carlo Goldoni’s eighteenth century play The Servant of Two Masters. Set in 1960’s Brighton, it tells the story of Francis Henshall (Gavin Spokes), a former washboard player in a skiffle band, who is recruited as a minder

by Roscoe Crabbe, a fearsome figure in the London underworld.

But Roscoe is actually his notso-identical twin sister Rachel in disguise, the genuine article having been stabbed to death by her fiance Stanley Stubbers, a Bertie Wooster-esque public school type who also happens to employ Francis on his arrival in Brighton.

‘Roscoe’ is in Brighton to extort money from Charlie ‘The Duck’, played by famous face Shaun ‘Barry From Eastenders’ Williamson, so that she and Stanley can

BOOK CORNER LOOKING FOR ALASKA John Green 9/10

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nybody who has had the pleasure of losing themselves within a John Green book will be familiar with the hours that come afterwards in which you reassess your entire life and wonder what it all means, if anything. Green’s debut novel Looking For Alaska will leave you feeling no different.

The protagonist, Miles “Pudge” Halter, is a scrawny teen from Flor-

ida who is obsessed with famous last words. Bored of his monotonous life and searching for what dying French poet Rabelais called “a great perhaps”, Pudge announces he wants to attend Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama.

There he meets Chip, Takumi, and the love-of-his-life-but-ever-socomplicated Alaska Young. His new friends introduce him to a mischievous life of cigarettes, alcohol, sex and pranks.

The story follows Pudge’s adventures at Culver Creek and his growing attachment to the mysterious, sexy and volatile Alaska. Obviously, it wouldn’t be a John Green novel without tragedy, and, once it

hits, Pudge’s life changes forever.

Looking For Alaska is a devastating story of true friendships, first loves and final words. Its characters are so lifelike and multi-faceted that it is impossible to not become attached. This, coupled with Green’s ability to intertwine humour within a story of tragedy makes it an unmissable read.

Green has managed to create his own sub-genre of Young Adult fiction. He takes a typical comingof-age love story and combines it with life altering tragedies, deep philosophical observations and mind-blowing metaphors.

The only negative aspect of this beautifully written book is that, af-

escape to Australia.

This is somewhat complicated by a previous arrangement whereby the real Roscoe was supposed to marry Charlie’s daughter Pauline, as well as the fact that neither of them know that the other one’s in town.

An all out farce, One Man Two Guvnors is comprised of an excellent ensemble cast of eccentric characters, with a high frequency of hilarity from all sides. However, the show very much belongs to irrepressible leading man Gavin Spokes, who is less of a man than a force of nature.

Perpetually dripping with sweat, Spokes throws himself into the role (and often into things) with an infectious, possibly reckless, gusto.

Francis is fat, feckless, greedy, weak, and stupid; a blundering ball of buffoonery, a real idiot’s idiot; and a fine comic creation.

Unashamedly driven by only the basest of motives; food, cash and sex, I found him surprisingly easy to identify with.

The role was originally made famous by funny-man James Corden, ter reading it, I am afraid that no other novel will quite match up. At one point Pudge says about Alaska “if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.” The feeling is mutual towards this wonderful piece of literature: a lot of books are drizzle but Looking For Alaska is definitely a hurricane.

Rebecca Stubbs More reviews online Read more reviews online at Forge Today

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but Spokes makes it his own, easily stepping into Corden’s tweed suit.

The show itself is prodigiously entertaining, an uproarious, breakneck menagerie of Carry On madness, anarchy and slapstick, but also simultaneously modern and revolutionary, with frequent fourth wall-breaking guaranteed to terrify those sitting in the front rows.

The sensations I experienced during the performance were not unlike that of being mercilessly pummeled into submission by a succession of exquisite comic piledrivers. This culminated in a crescendo that rendered me literally helpless with laughter, slumped in my seat and utterly spent, gasping for air and grasping the armrests for dear life, as if I’d been given the beating of a lifetime by someone wearing a pair of over-sized novelty boxing gloves.

Enormously enjoyable and not to be missed.

Chris Smith

Follow us on Twitter @ForgePressArts

Friday May 23 2014

12

Fuse. music CHERRY GHOST

Sleep party people

Herd Runners 7/10

Floating 7/10

S

leep Party People return with a new addition to their catalogue of passionate lullabies. Floating will surface on June 2 via Blood & Biscuits.

Sleep Party People is the one man project of the Danish multiinstrumentalist Brian Batz as performed by, as he puts it, him and a varying amount of “friends”.

The gathering first stunned the music world when they chose to put on masks of zombie bunnies ,instead of sketchy deers, when touring for their self-titled debut (2010). Inspired by the confounding mix of Boards of Canada, Eric Satie, and My Bloody Valentine, Sleep Party People have been adopted as the secretly beloved offspring of depressed psychonauts and ambient postrockers ever since.

After the more dream-pop orientated follow up We Were Drifting on a Sad Song (2012), Batz took a vacation in San Francisco to work on the paramount third album. The homeland of the hippies has had an unmistakable impact on the resulting Floating, which adopts an enchanting shoegaze and even a 60s psychedelic rock sound on tracks such as ‘I See the Sun’ and ‘I See the Moon’.

Floating’s trading of electronic past for purely hand played compositions underscores this ef-

A

fect, enforcing a lo-fi yet organic sound. The intriguing addition of tape recordings on ‘Floating Blood of Mine’, or the hazy beauty of the guest performance

by Lisa Leigh, succeed in Batz’s intention to achieve a less of a withdrawn feeling, yet maintain Sleep Party People’s signature eeriness.

After all, even the surprisingly rhythmic background of ‘Death Is The Future’ may carry an invitation to dance but, true to the song’s name, only as long as any dance moves involved are sufficiently burdened by existential suffering.

Yet, the definite high point of Floating is the song that has stayed truest to the project’s origins. ‘In Another World’, the album’s first single released earlier this month, features Batz’s piercing soprano gliding across hypnotic string melodies, resulting in a declaration of pressing desperation dressed in sweet violence. In fact, only the option to loop ‘In Another World’ for hours or, as in this reviewer’s case, days, is one reason enough to get Sleep Party People’s new album.

fter 2007’s Thirst for Romance, and the acclaimed, four star Beneath This Burning Shore released in 2010, Bolton band Cherry Ghost are releasing their third album Herd Runners. Having especially loved the single ‘4am,’ and after hearing that their name came from a Wilco song, there was much riding on Cherry Ghost’s next instillation.

This album did not disappoint; it is unbelievably relaxing; you could imagine it playing in the background while you’re curled up with a good book, or playing it through your headphones on a long journey home. This may be due to the underlying jazz tones that recur throughout, thanks to Phil Anderson on the Cornet.

The intro to ‘Don’t Leave Me Here Alone,’ is reminiscent of Elbow’s ‘One day like this’, and Simon Aldred’s smooth, mellow tones are of the same ilk as the National’s Matt Berninger, so if you’re a fan of either you should definitely give this a try.

‘Sacramento,’ is possibly the album’s strongest track, telling the tale of a man who has been abandoned by his lover, Mary Ann. He describes the emptiness of the city without her. Lines like ‘the stars up in the sky may as well burn out if you ain’t by my side’, have hints of old love songs that you’d find from the folk classics of the 60s and 70s. The old fashioned familiarity and the simple country tones, mixed with the modern sounds of the synth, surprisingly come together as a smooth harmony, making for unbelievably comfy listening.

Personally, this album will be making its way onto my iTunes; however, if you’re looking for something to blast through your speakers you might want to look elsewhere.

Keep an eye out, as Cherry Ghost will be touring in May alongside Jacqui Abbot and Paul Heaton from the Beautiful South.

Polly Winn

Barbora Kerkova

Lily allen Sheezus 5/10

L

ily Allen’s third album Sheezus marks her spectacularly anticlimactic return to recording after a four-year hiatus from the music industry.

She certainly comes out swinging, with the title track laying out plainly that she’s willing to put up a fight to get back in the game, but almost ruins it all with a cringeworthy verse about periods.

This is just about forgivable, as the catchy, fiery tune raises important criticisms of the music industry’s bad habit

of pitching female artists against each other.

One redeeming feature is that the lyrics, with the obvious exception of ‘Air Balloon’, seem to have gained a degree of depth since her earlier days (‘Smile’ and ‘Friday Night’ spring to mind).

Her witty attacks on online bullies hiding behind their keyboards make ‘URL Badman’ one of the most commendable tracks, while ‘Hard Out Here’ is fiercely feminist and reminds us why we fell in love with her in the first place.

It’s one thing singing from the heart, but this album far too often lapses into the realm of ‘noone cares’. Allen’s new status as wife and mother are evident in the whiny, tedious ‘Life for Me’ and somewhat shoved down our throats in ‘As Long as I Got You’, cooing “you let me lie in bed while you’re doing breakfast with the kids”.

These follow on from the wonderfully blunt ‘L8 CMMR’, full of

praise for her hubby’s skills between the sheets, surely a cruel successor of the shaming ‘It’s Not Fair’ from her second album, aimed at an underperforming ex.

We flow pleasantly from track to track on a cloud of repetitive, unoriginal, yet annoyingly catchy melodies, that inch ever closer to generic pop as the album progresses. A definite step in the wrong direction from her earlier works. Maybe Allen needs to stop worrying so much about being compared to other female artists, as it seems she can’t quite match up to her younger self.

Keri Trigg More reviews online Read more reviews online at Forge Today

UPCOMING: HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR:THE FEAST OF THE BROKEN HEART / KLAXONS:LOVE FREQUENCY / SHARON VAN ETTEN:ARE WE THERE

DOT COM

Friday May 23 2014

13

Fuse. music Wolf alice

Tuesday May 6 The Leadmill

D

escribed as atmospheric indiepop and dubbed as ‘the lovechild of folk and grunge’, it seems Wolf Alice are a notoriously difficult band to pigeonhole. Not that this is by any means a bad thing. This band aren’t choosing genres, they’re making new ones.

A fledgling four-piece from north London, Wolf Alice, are building momentum with every night of their tour, and tonight they take the stage at Sheffield’s legendary music venue, The Leadmill.

While the room fills and we wait in anticipation, it’s hard not to appreciate the venue’s history, embracing bands in their transition from struggle to stardom. Tonight is Wolf Alice’s turn and they are hungry for it.

Tearing straight in to newest single ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ and crowd favourite ‘She’, singer Ellie Rowsell gives us howling vocals over ragged riffs.

It sets the bar and gets everyone moving.

Next we’re treated to energetic yet dark new tracks, some of which may well be featured on their upcoming album, including the gorgeously uncompromising ‘Baby Aint Made Of China’.

Their transition from dirty grunge to delicate harmony is Wolf Alice’s killer move. The shift is easy and executed without conceding the strength of their delivery.

This is most noticeable in the emotion and fragility of single ‘Blush’. They follow this with a haunting version of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’.

It’s blissfully cathartic.

Bassist Theo Ellis introduces another new song, ‘Jam’, which straightaway has the band writhing around the stage and the crowd almost climbing on top of one another in fervent exhilaration.

Billed on nearly all UK festivals for 2014, including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, and the Secret Garden Party, they have a huge summer ahead. A fantastic live band, Wolf Alice are well on their way.

Rae Delanie Passfield

Wolf Alice:Jordan Curtis Hughes

COURTNEY BARNETT

janelle monAE

Saturday May 17 The Harley

Janelle Monae:Jamie Drew

Saturday May 10 Manchester Academy

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he Melbourne-based singersongwriter Courtney Barnett is the ‘post-up-and-coming’ queen of slacker pop. It’s no surprise that, with all the attention she’s been receiving in the UK over the last year, she manages to sell out The Harley weeks in advance.

The gig kicks off with a short set from Glaswegian duo Honeyblood, who make a perfect lead in to Barnett (and her tongue-in-cheekily eponymously titled band, the Courtney Barnetts). The two girls make a great noise, setting a perfect atmosphere in the alreadyhyped Harley.

Barnett takes the stage to instant cries of support, and wastes no time in kicking off with heavy-hitting ‘David’ from her 2013 The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas. She continues without relent through other noisy tracks from Split Peas for a good five or six songs, perfectly combining the energetic rock ‘n’ roll sound with a lazy, deadpan delivery of her witty, narrative lyrics.

Just before any fears of the gig being just a recital of Split Peas set in, Barnett’s charisma finally shows up in her interaction with the crowd (“I forgot to speak to you all, that was the longest intro ever”). The similarities between her charismatic drawling conversation and her conversational lyrics go to show how down-to-earth Barnett is, despite the hype, an atmosphere that is clear throughout the show.

This is one of the best gigs at The Harley for a while, and likely for a while to come.

Theo Cole

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Courtney Barnett:Youtube/Sebasatien Florent

earing an artist such as Janelle Monáe performing live, it becomes apparent that her talent is undeniable. This talent, however, is not solely manifested in her impressive vocals, but her terrific stage presence and showmanship.

Monáe entered the stage in a typically eccentric fashion – wheeled out in a straitjacket by her ‘doctor’, dressed in laboratory coat.

Nevertheless, her stage act is not reliant on gimmicks, but instead her powerful vocals immediately hit the audience like a wall of sound which emanates from her as she energetically leapt across the stage.

Monáe, or perhaps her futuristic alter-ego Cindi Mayweather – an android on the run after breaking the law in her home town of Metropolis – displayed enormous stage presence throughout the night. Supporting her album The Electric Lady, released last year, she performed her latest releases ‘Q.U.E.E.N.’ and ‘Dance Apocalyptic’ for a captivated audience of over a thousand at Manchester Academy.

Monáe also strayed into her back catalogue, performing past tracks from her criti-

cally acclaimed 2010 studio album The ArchAndroid. Monáe managed to effortlessly shift betweet strutting across the stage during her high-octane performance of ‘Tightrope’, and making a profoundly moving speech on civil rights prior to an emotional performance of ‘Cold War’.

The singer displayed chameleonic performance qualities throughout the night, and took on covers such as ‘I Want You Back’ by the Jackson 5 and Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, each time attaching her own enigmatic personality to the songs.

Perhaps one of the best moments of the night came towards the end when, during a performance of ‘Come Alive (War of the Roses)’, Monáe ordered her audience to drop to the floor, as did her band. She then climbed over the barriers and into the crowd, her audience still crouching down in awe. She ended the night in an outlandish fashion akin to her opening – starting a huge, audiencewide pillow fight, and dousing the crowd in feathers.

Patrick O’Connell

UPCOMING: FOXES:LEADMILL MAY 23 / CAMERA OBSCURA: LEADMILL MAY 28/ AFROBEAT:RIVERSIDE MAY 30

Friday May 23 2014

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Fuse. screen the two faces of january Dir: Hossein Amini 7/10

A

simple premise unravels into a complex web of deception in this tense thriller from novice director Hossein Amini.

Based on a novel by author Patricia Highsmith, who penned the tales behind The Talented Mr. Ripley and Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, this story of crimes and misdemeanours is gripping and visually enchanting.

Musical director Alberto Iglesias’s signature mournful strings set the tone of the piece and form a fitting complement to a lavishly designed film.

At times slow, the cinematography of this odd but intriguing story is impeccably stylish, to suit the classy 1962 period costumes.

You’ll dream of summer as you take in glorious Athenian vistas from

Frank

Dir: Lenny Abrahamson 9/10

L

enny Abrahamson’s surreal ode to the life of reality-bending comedian Chris Sievey (creator of the original Frank Sidebottom character) is a warped tale that defies description.

Frank follows Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), a day-dreaming nobody desperate to achieve musical enlightenment, after a chance encounter on a grey English beach leads him to a cabin in an Irish wood, where a cult-like band are creating new and impossible noise.

The impossibly-named Soronprfbs are led by Frank (Michael Fassbender), a joyous, mad-scientist musician who is inspired by everything and is known for the giant cartoon mask he never takes off.

While Gleeson’s understated

CULT CORNER mY lIFE wITHOUT ME Dir: Isabel Coixet

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his masterpiece by Isabel Coixet is deeply powerful and moving, but not overly emotional. My Life Without Me is the story of Ann (Sarah Polley), who has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and what she makes of the last months of her life.

A Canadian film, produced by the acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother), My Life Without Me teaches us about the acceptance of fate: “Your whole life has been a dream and it is only now that you are waking up”. Love in all its forms is also praised: love for living, for small things, motherly love, daily love but also lust.

In a list, Ann writes all the things she must do before dying, such as finding a new wife for her husband and recording yearly birthday messages for each girl up to their eighteenth. She also wants to sleep with another man (“just to see what it is like”) and to make someone fall in love with her.

In fact, Ann’s relationship with stranger Lee (Mark Ruffalo) is one of the strong points of the film. The Catalan director makes a very simple love story, which starts with a book being left in a laundry bag. It’s completely different and is made special by adding small sweet things to it.

Although human relationsips are central, Ann is a woman who listens to others but does not share much.

Knowing she is dying makes her become reflective and her thoughts add depth to this intelligent film: “it is all to keep us away from death –

but it does not work anymore. You have never been so alone in your life”.

Intimacy is increased with closeshot scenes and an excellent soundtrack that matches most of the scenes perfectly– even with the lyrics. Alfonso Villalonga, who is the composer in Spanish award-winning films like Blancanives, regularly works with Coixet and his music is the icing on the cake.

This wonderfully uplifting film is a worthy winner of all the international and Spanish awards it received– including a Goya, the most prestigious Spanish film award, for best screenplay.

While dying, not everyone could create the perfect “life without me” for those dear to her the way Ann does.

Estel Farell Roig

the wealthy perspective of Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and younger wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst).

The couple are well-matched, if not in age: Mortensen is in top form as war veteran Chester, whose past catches up with him in a hotel bathroom, leading to a disastrous chain of events, in which his vulnerable wife and an enigmatic American tour guide named Rydal (Oscar Isaac) become embroiled.

Heavily plot-based, this visually stunning film has an old-fashioned aesthetic, played to perfection by an elegant Dunst, and the ambiguous morality of sparring partners Isaac and Mortensen.

Sadly there is only one - rather predictable- female role, but the story bears up, meticulously crafted to toy with its audience’s sympathies and judgements, progressing through a series of supremely tense conflicts amidst southern Europe’s twisting side-streets.

Mortensen’s charismatic perfor-

mance as the drunken Chester is capable of supporting the film alone, but is matched well by the slippery Isaac, whose motives, though clearer than Mortensen’s, lead him and his audience through a fascinating maze of moral quandaries.

The film’s moments of humour are few but memorable, as it risks delving too far into suspenseful yet ponderous sequences of narrative.

Certainly too much of a slowcooker for some, this thriller is an oddity of contemporary cinema, daring scenes of complete silence and trusting in the rich performances of its talented cast. It comes with a recommendation of patience: although the film wearies towards its somewhat laboured conclusion, Amini’s sumptuous direction is well worth the time.

Sophie Maxwell

enthusiasm provide a window into this strange world, Frank sits at its core, emanating an entire spectrum of emotion without ever showing his face.

Frank is larger than life, impossible and disturbed. His unhinged nature is played for laughs early on, but Fassbender does just as wonderful a job with the heavier, darker and more touching second half.

Always at Frank’s side is Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the volcanic theremin player and Jon’s rival in the battle for Frank’s soul. Where Jon sees Frank’s talent and pushes him into the world, Clara sees his damage and pulls him out of it.

The music in the film is a character of its own. Drawing in influences from Nick Cave, Pink Floyd and Tom Waits, the Soronprfbs overlay invented instruments and natural sounds over their traditional band setup.

It’s abstract and shapeless, but the ‘songs’ effectively manage to encapsulate the mood of each stage of the film, especially the aching, droning finale ‘I Love You All’, which melds the sadness and the weirdness with grace. The script and direction are sharp and fast, zipping through a thousand zingers and observations, as well as a steady stream of sight gags.

While brimming with diverse components that gel together seamlessly, Frank will never be a universally accessible film. Perhaps the music is too ugly, or the characters are too strange, but Frank sits far on the edge of linear thinking, refusing to comply with the rules.

Embrace its inherent madness, though, and expect a colourful ride.

You’ll come out of the other end glad that you took a look under Frank’s mask.

Rhys Handley

Friday May 23 2014

The Wind Rises

Dir: Hayao Miyazaki 6/10

F

rom the well-loved Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki leaves us with his parting gift, The Wind Rises. With problematic elements and a long running time, it may not be for everyone, but is likely to be treasured by Ghibli fans.

The Wind Rises tells the tale of Jiro Horikoshi, a young Japanese boy who (literally) dreams of being an aircraft engineer. Set in the dark era of 1920s Japan, Jiro must deal with the ongoing threat of war, natural disaster, and economic struggle.

Upsetting at times, and subtly political in nature, Miyazaki intertwines these themes with Jiro’s experience of love, death, friendship, and his perseverance in becoming the engineer he dreams to be.

Much of Jiro’s story is centred on aircraft. We feel a tension between his childlike dream of creating

beauty and the difficult reality that his creation will ultimately be used to bring destruction in the war, yet it’s a tension that doesn’t seem to hold him back in any way. This can be portrayed as blissful ignorance, acceptance, or just plain ambivalence: he wants to make pretty airplanes, regardless of their use. The morality of his character is therefore questionable, as his feelings towards the war remain unexplored.

The love element is beautiful, but is worth challenging.

Jiro’s love interest, Naoko, is a result of a ‘knightin-shining-armour’ moment at an earthquake; and although their reuniting and subsequent marriage is a lovely outcome of the disaster, it’s largely tokenistic. Her character provides a layer of humanity to Jiro, allowing him to experi-

ence love, desperation and pain, but she is otherwise useless. She has little to say, and her illness later

makes her bedridden. Their relationship is the source of many beautiful scenes, but it can feel a little thrown-in. In a movie which focuses mainly on a young man’s dreams, she provides a struggle that could have been explored d i f f e r e n t l y, perhaps

15 giving her a less passive role.

In fact, the only female in the movie with a fighting voice is Jiro’s younger sister, Kayo. She feels neglected by Jiro and his ambitions, but expresses herself with gusto.

She proclaims from a young age that she wishes to go to medical school and become a doctor, which she does. She vocalises concern for Naoko’s illness, who seems incapable of defending herself, and demands that Jiro gives her better treatment.

While The Wind Rises lacks the whimsy of previous Ghibli movies, its historical and political focus, however, is captivating. Jiro achieves his dreams with ambivalence to his role in the war and the suffering of his sick wife. He’s passionate and driven, but ultimately selfish and cold, which is hard to feel inspired by.

The running time is a little too long, and while Miyazaki’s animation is undisputably beautiful, The Wind Rises is not his best.

Kaz Scattergood

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SMALL SCREEN HANNIBAL : Season 2, Episode 1 Dir: Tim Hunter 7/10

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omewhere in NBC’s marketing department, there’s a Venn diagram on a whiteboard with three circles titled ‘cop shows’, Supernatural and ‘food porn’. In the centre lies Hannibal, alone. The hit series began its second season this month with a slow simmer, welcoming the audience back exactly where it left off with little change to the original recipe that made the first instalment so enthralling.

Mads Mikkelsen continues one of the most hypnotic and enigmatic performances on US television though his dialogue is still plagued with self-referential one-liners. Even compared to one of the most fascinating villains of all time, the secondary story-arcs are just as compelling as Hannibal’s and the cast manage to bring warmth and authenticity to what can only be described as an absurd set-up.

Hannibal has always suffered from style over substance though. While the show bathes you in awesome

cinematography, you will often ache for something more substantial in the story. The second series doesn’t do much to quench that thirst.

Nevertheless, the show is a feast of slick direction. Compared to its UK counterparts, like Luther, Hannibal ensures each shot is cautious yet necessary. It brings a muchneeded steadiness to the narrative, an excellent opportunity to observe the intricacy of every frame, which is especially helpful when so many characters are in different stages of realising Hannibal’s peculiar eating habits.

If Se7en didn’t appease your appetite for deliciously gory murder, then Hannibal is an absolute treat.

The writers have stepped up their game when it comes to haunting imagery, though the appearance of the black deer man is so commonplace now, he probably deserves his own acting credit.

Having at last shed the influence of Sir Anthony Hopkins, the new season is brimming with visual references to Silence of the Lambs. While this could have been a fatal mistake, considering the pedigree of the film, Hannibal finally manages to live up to its name. A thrilling second season awaits.

Joanne Butcher

Godzilla

Dir: Gareth Edwards 6/10

T

he latest instalment of the Godzilla franchise is brought to us by Gareth Edwards: the talented, and monsterloving director who brought us the film Monsters. There are points in Godzilla when it’s difficult to tell what is more lengthy and lumbering: the film or Godzilla himself.

The action kicks off in 1999, in Japan, where we see Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) working in a nuclear power plant, which is mysteriously destroyed. The plot then fast-forwards 15 years. Joe Brody’s son, Ford (Aaron TaylorJohnson), has come of age and is now part of a military bomb disposal unit.

Ford is forced to reunite with his father, who has never been able to get over the destruction of the nuclear power plant, and as a result has developed a series of radical theories for the incident. It is these views that lead the two of them to return to their old neighbourhood in search of answers.

They discover a government

operation led by Doctor Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe). The operation consists of studying MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), which then comes to life and leaves a trail of destruction as it flies from Japan to San Francisco.

The situation deteriorates further, when a female MUTO escapes fairly discreetly (considering its gargantuan size) from a facility in Nevada and moves towards Las Vegas. All hope is not lost, however, as Serizawa believes that an ancient creature, known as Godzilla, exists that is “top of the primordial food chain” and as such will seek to restore balance.

After a slow introduction, the huge monster battles finally start, and, truthfully, they are pretty awesome. Edwards’s plan of keeping the appearance of Godzilla under wraps is very successful as visually the monster is cool and impressive.

Throughout the whole film the cinematography is solid with the

sense of scale never being lost, even when skyscrapers are being turned to rubble.

The points where the film falters can found in the acting. A lot of the screen time is taken up by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, whose performance is stagnant and uninspiring throughout. The dullness of his performance is only mirrored by his onscreen wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen).

Their quest to be reunited as a family means that talented actors such as Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe are highly underused, despite their performances benefitting the film. Cranston’s brief portrayal as a radical scientist is particularly impressive.

Watching Godzilla engage in huge battles across the globe makes the film in itself worth a watch, particularly in 3D. The level of acting however makes it very hard to engage with the more sophisticated aspects of the plot.

Charlie Mulhall

FORGE’S DESERT ISLAND Every fortnight, we ask a couple of our editors to pick their Fuse-esque desert island necessities. This issue we ask our new editors which items they couldn’t survive without e

oná M e l l e n a J roid -

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Fri day May 23 2014 Fo rge P re s s F O RG E P RESS

Amid the current craze of thigh gaps and finger traps, Joscelin Woodend examines how much these ‘measurements’ actually represent beauty, and why we find ourselves so wrapped up in them Measuring beauty is a part of our lives. Every day, we seem to be faced with more and more bizarre, unnecessary ways in order to measure and shape our beauty. With more trends beginning to emerge, is it time to change and ignore what we’re told to be, and start accepting who we are?

We’ve recently experienced the phenomenon that is the thigh gap, and all been told at some point that we have to have one.

In all honesty, I wasn’t even aware such a thing existed until someone commented on my clear lack of a gap. The thigh gap trend seemed to appear f r o m nowhere a n d now

seems to dominate adolescent views of fashion, with the trend even having a wikiHOW page dedicated to instructions on how to achieve one.

Despite it being genetically impossible for the majority of people to achieve this newest beauty must-have, it hasn’t prevented the trend from spreading. The craze has seen the popular clothing chain Hollister endorse it in its latest campaign and, most astonishingly, a plastic surgery centre in California to start offering a procedure to create a thigh gap. The surgery, called ‘CoolSculpting’, aims to freeze the fat between the thighs, and create a thigh gap in its place. It is incredible how far some people will go in order to achieve the newest beauty fads.

And yet, the thigh gap isn’t the only trend we’re currently experiencing.

Now a new trend is emerging, the “finger trap test”, which promises to measure how beautiful you are. In order to define beauty, all you have to do is simply hold your index finger against your chin and nose. If your lips touch your finger, then you’re a beautiful individual. If they don’t, then I’m sorry to say that the test says you aren’t. Luckily for me my lips touch my finger, giving me one less thing to worry about. For once, I’ve passed a trend for measuring beauty.

There is no denying that this new test is ridiculous. Since when could a pair of lips touching an index finger become a way of defining someone’s beauty? The finger trap test defends itself by claiming that it’s based upon the standard 3.1 ratio used by plastic surgeons in order to create a perfect face.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one that takes issue with the constant barrage of beauty advice. Jack Monroe, who is best known for her affordable meal recipes, recently posted a blog discussing whether beauty actually matters or not. Monroe laughs at the idea of a beauty regime, despite owning many

Obscure Beauty Measurements: What’s the obsession?

FO R GE PRESS Fo rg e Press Friday M ay 23 2014

beauty products given to her by friends, explaining how she washes her face with some warm water and a flannel, just as her father did.

Like Monroe, many of us are sucked in by the adverts claiming these new products can have miraculous effects on your skin. No matter how many products I end up buying, I’m far more likely to push them to one side for a flannel and some water. No amount of product can provide beauty.

It isn’t just women that are affected by beauty pressures, it affects men too.

Debenhams have recently released a new body shape range for men, cleverly naming each shape after vegetables and not fruit. There are four main body shapes, the aubergine, leek, parsnip and, most humorously, the beetroot, which promise to help men to buy clothing better suited to their body shape.

The store chain boldly state that the parsnip body shape is the most desired out of the four, referring to an apparent need by men to have broad shoulders and a defined chest.

However hard I try, I can’t think of any of my male friends that would feel a need to discover what body shape they are. It is frankly ridiculous that both men and women, are being categorised into shapes and provided with advice on what looks good on them. It seems as if everyone has become a part of the pressures of beauty measurement, whether they want to or not.

Why should we all have to confine ourselves to the measurements set out before us by people that don’t know us? There is no reason that we should. We should all, instead, learn to love ourselves for who we are, not for what a measurement advises us to be.

That is the beauty of so called beauty. It includes everyone and anyone, regardless of their willingness to become involved with it. But we are all faced with a constant barrage of diets and instructions on how to measure our beauty, but does that really tell us who we are? Of course it doesn’t.

It’s okay to look at models in magazines and wonder why your body isn’t like that, or read about the latest beauty product that will make your skin radiant.

We all do it, and I am not about to deny that I do. Then I realise that we shouldn’t measure our bodies like that.

We shouldn’t have to compare ourselves to other people and measure

the extent of our own beauty.

It is obvious that new fads and trends will emerge every day, but it doesn’t mean we have to listen to them. People should put the thigh gaps and finger trap tests to one side, and appreciate the beauty that they have in front of them. Beauty isn’t what we are told to be, it is who we are.

@forgefeatures /forgepress features@forgetoday.com

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LIFESTYLE&TRAVEL

@forgelifestyle /forgelifestyle lifestyle@forgetoday.com

WHAT NOT TO MISS THIS FORTNIGHT

Lifestyle loves

Beauty

by Niki Kesharaju

OD FESTIVAL SHEFFIELD FO

BIG AND BO LD BOTANIC ALS

Saturday 24 May – Monday 26 May, from 4pm onwards at Sheffield City Centre, free entry

Wednesday 28 May, 12-4pm at Millennium Gallery, free entry

Sheffield’s City Centre will be transformed into a food haven with locations like the Peace Gardens, The Moor and the Town Hall embracing a weekend of eating. Highlights of the festival include a beer festival, street food caterers, recipe master classes by the stars from The Great British Bake Off and an even bigger and better allotment. The food festival is also running a baking competition for avid foodies to enter. More information on prices and venues can be found on http:/www.sheffieldfoodfestival.org/

This one is for the budding artists out there. If you want a relaxing afternoon getting creative, Millennium Gallery is hosting an art extravaganza letting you create drawings inspired by plants and birds. As a part of the ‘Drawing the Summer’ programme of events in Sheffield, this event is a blank canvas for those of you who want to jog your creativity. Open to those of all ages and skill levels and as an event that’s absolutely free; this one should make for a perfect Wednesday afternoon break from revision.

Saturday 31 May, 11am-6pm at Devonshire Green, free emtry

Thursday May 5, 7:30pm, Sheffield Town Hall steps, tickets are £4 for students

Miss this market, and you will definitely miss out. The Devonshire Market is back again on Devonshire Green with a whole range of independent stall holders selling everything from vintage fashion, quirky jewellery, fresh farm produce, home ware and exotic street food.

Expect a buzzing atmosphere complete with plenty of tasters, cocktails, a live DJ, one-off purchases and most importantly bargain prices. Whether you’re into fashion or music or maybe just some good food, there’s an experience for everyone.

It’s never too late to enjoy one of Sheffield’s finest ghost tours. Although these tours run every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, Thursday’s tour is more intense than the other days, as it is over 16s only. It includes some rather dark stories from the Campo Lane part of Sheffield’s city centre. The guide will take you through a different route every time with more ghostly stories for around two to two and a half hours. It might be a welcome revision break, but this ghost tour is definitely not for the faint hearted.

DEVONSHIRE M ARKET

Revision munchies

TOUR STEEL CITY GHOST

Food

by Niki Kesharaju As the days get hotter, we ladies may find our foundation slowly melts off our faces. If there is one thing that might worsen your skin, it’s a mixture of sweat and foundation. BB and CC creams are all the rage for the summer and offer a quick fix.

BB creams mainly cover up blemishes, whereas CC creams colourcorrect your skin. These creams offer enough coverage to tackle any flaws in your skin, without making you feel like an oil slick. They are a good option if you find that winter has made your skin a bit dull and you need a glowing complexion for summer.

Inspired by tinted moisturisers, I particularly love this CC cream

by Smashbox which does a perfect job. It feels a lot lighter than foundation and evens out your complexion. At £29, it may seem a bit expensive, but it’s totally worth it. BB and CC creams will fly off the shelves, so now is a good time to invest in anticipation of summer.

So whether you are going full-faced for summer or completely free of makeup, BB and CC creams are good middle grounds.

But most of all for summer, keep yourself hydrated and don’t forget that all important SPF for perfect, healthy and glowing skin.

Image: Niki Kesharaju

Spring trend watch

Fashion

by Isabelle Dobinson

by Mollie Carberry

Now is the time when you turn towards snacks for moral support during exam time. Nothing gives you that blast of energy to power through revision like something to munch on. However, sometimes, revision munchies can be a bit unhealthy; crisps start tasting bland and chocolate doesn’t pack a punch anymore. Lifestyle‘s handy list of snacks will keep the waistline in check and still be delicious.

Now that it’s mid-May and finally getting a bit warmer, the parkas and knitwear can be ditched in favour of lighter, more summery attire. Here is a handy recap of what to get your hands on over the coming months for a head to toe summer vibe.

Homemade flapjack Flapjack do contain various oats and seeds and may not always be healthy, but you can make your own homemade and guilt free alternative to snack on when you’re feeling hungry in between essays. Try making a cranberry and orange flapjack by mixing oats and raisins together with heated honey, butter, cranberries and orange juice. Then bake it for 20 minutes for a healthier and unprocessed alternative. Other simple and tasty flavours to try are banana & sultana, mango & date and whole grain peanut butter.

Low calorie popcorn Who knew our old cinema favourite could in fact be good for you? The newly reinvented guilt free popcorn has graced the UK market and is the perfect healthy snack to tackle your revision munchies. Try Propercorn, the unprocessed and low calorie version which is packed full of flavour.

Image: Isabelle Dobinson Choose from Fiery Worcester Sauce & Sun Dried Tomato, Sour Cream & Chive, Lightly Sea Salted, Sweet & Salty and my favourite, Sweet Coconut and Vanilla. The best bit is that it’s all under 110 calories.

Alternatively, Metcalfe’s skinny popcorn offers a wide selection of flavours ranging from Wasabi and Sweet Cinnamon Spice.

Carrot sticks with hummus This one will keep your tastebuds guessing and it simply couldn’t be easier to make. It can all be shop bought so it will save you the stress of making a snack to take to the IC. If you chop your own carrot sticks, this snack can also be a lot cheaper than cookies and crisps. Sainsbury’s has a plain version, but if you have a penchant for the exotic, other flavours to consider are roasted red pepper, caramelised onion and piri-piri. If the carrot sticks soon get boring, try cucumbers for a change in texture.

Yoghurt You might be craving ice cream as the days get hotter and while the occasional Cornetto is definitely reccommended, try a healthier and more creative option with some yoghurt. Low fat Greek yoghurt is high in protein and will keep you satisfied for longer. Mix in some berries to vary the taste or try honey to keep your sweet tooth in check. And if for some unfortunate reason you are having to pull an allnighter, mix in some granola and there you go, breakfast is served.

Around the globe

River Island, £16

Appealing to the wanderlust in all of us, the shabby-chic, almost hippie look is just too hot to handle this summer. Think tassels, bells, embroidery and embellishment galore. The more clashing prints and textures you can get involved the better. If it looks like you’ve wrapped exotic tapestries around yourself and worn every piece of jangly tribal jewellery you own, you’re doing it right. For men, simply layer a Navajo jacket over your chosen outfit for a nod towards the exotic.

White

Cool, crisp and clean, white is just impossible to get wrong in the summer. White reflects heat, so not only will you be looking cool, you will also be keeping cool in the hotter days.

Go for a summery white dress if you want to keep things simple. You can always go bold with your accessories or even a very festival inspired straw hat. If you fancy adding a bit of power to the white, go for cropped white trousers for maximum impact. This will take you looking fabulous from work to out for drinks with your friends. For guys, white chino shorts look perfectly on trend with a bold printed t-shirt.

Birkenstocks

Birkenstock, £160

Next, £16

The typical mum and dad sandal. With sturdy straps and a sole moulded to your foot, Birkenstocks are the ultimate sensible shoe. You know, the ones your mum used to try and make you wear on holiday when you were younger because they’re “comfy” and “won’t give you blisters”. And now these are actually coming into fashion. Glamorous celebrities like Heidi Klum have ditched their heels in favour of this now fashionable footwear. Suitable for both girls and guys, your feet will thank you, although your pocket may not, for this summery investment.

Co-ords

Taking matchy-matchy to the extreme, this is one of the easiest trends to achieve. Like a dress or playsuit but cut in half, a coord is basically just a top paired with shorts or a skirt, both of which are exactly the same pattern. Requiring little effort and absolutely no time, investing in multiple co-ords will save you many hours of stress when trying to decide whether that top actually goes with those bottoms. And although you boys may not think this is one for you, you’d be surprised. Try layering a patterned track jacket with shorts of the same kind for a co-ord with a subtle nod to sports luxe. Cow has some great matching separates on sale right now, which prints ranging from florals to checks.

Topshop, £62

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FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 2 3 2014

@forgelifestyle /forgelifestyle lifestyle@forgetoday.com

Jailbreak : Escape to as far as you can go

Travel Jailbreak, organised by Enactus Sheffield, took place on Saturday May 10, where 10 teams of students had one goal. Hitchhike to as far as you can get in under 36 hours. The event raised over £2000 to fund Enactus’ social projects. Here are 3 of the participating students, giving us the lowdown on their highlights of the experience.

loe Image: Devvrat and Ch

“

“

Jailbreak was the most amazing but hardest experience I’ve ever had. We started off by heading to London, ringing numerous businesses on the way, trying to get them to sponsor us, when finally one company said they would donate money towards our flights. We trekked from terminal to terminal and scored some flights to Rome 15 minutes before boarding. After running from one end of the airport to the other we were sat waiting for our plane desperately counting our pennies and a man came over to us and gave us forty euros and said “I hope you find somewhere to stay tonight.” You don’t realise how nice people are and the happiness that can bring when you have no money, no food and nowhere to stay.

Our Jailbreak experience did not take me and my friend, Tunc, as far as we had hoped. Dover was a bit short of our Spanish target but nonetheless we had a great time and met some great people. Most notable was our second driver once we had got out of Sheffield. He was a young, suave chap who made us feel very welcome as he drove us south in his Fiat at breakneck speed, the tunes blasting out.

By mid-afternoon, Tunc was feeling unwell, not helped by a long walk through London and by evening, he was worse. At Dover we made the difficult decision to head home in the morning.

The highlights? It has to be car spotting in Belgravia and being subject to the unparalleled sardonic wit of the Dover ferry terminal attendant at 1am. The lows? Being forced to head home having not escaped the UK. But perhaps next year we will have better luck!

By Alasdair Gascoyne

”

After landing in Rome at 11:30pm, we walked around for a good three hours until we found a place to stay. It was absolutely exhausting. On Sunday we had the most amazing day in Rome, we saw the whole of Rome in a day, from seeing the changing of guards at Vatican City to eating pizza next to Trevi Fountain. We made it back to England on Monday afternoon absolutely shattered after an incredible experience.

By Katie Glenn

Fashion

LIFESTYLE&TRAVEL

”

Image: Katie and

“

Becky

I am never going to forget my Jailbreak experience. My team mate, Chloe and I were planning to go to New Zealand which is as far as anyone can reach within 36 hours. Unfortunately we missed our flight in Dubai but we did reach Singapore. We hitchhiked, got sponsorships, travelled and had an amazing time. At the end of the 36 hours, we discovered that we had won. In my opinion, Jailbreak is a fantastic way to raise money for Enactus, making it interesting and fun for the participants.

Once we reached Singapore, we checked into a hotel.

The next day, we went for a night tour to Marina Sands Bay and saw an amazing light and sound show. Then we went to Universal Studios. The moment that I’ll never forget was at the Hard Rock Cafe. The band playing there gave us a shout out and simply made our night.

”

By Devvrat Agarwal Images: Enactus

Concourse couture

by Niki Kesharaju

Georgia Banks First year, Law Wearing: Co-ords from Cow, cardigan from H&M, shoes from Garage Shoes

Stefan Epler-Snow Second year, Physics Wearing: T-shirt from Urban Outfitters, trousers from Primark, shoes from Vans

Sophie Bradbury Second year, Philosophy Wearing: Top from Primark, jeans from Topshop, sandals from Clarks, bag from Cath Kidston

James Andrews Second year, Business Management Wearing: Shirt and shorts from TK Maxx, band T-shirt, shoes from Nike

22

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

COFFEE BREAK TWEETS OF THE FORTNIGHT

@FPCoffeeBreak /forgepresscoffeebreak

Despite the Peak District being so close to Sheffield, many students don’t find the time to visit.

Edale is a small village at the beginning of the Pennine Way, a National Trail running along the Pennine hills. It is accessible by train from Sheffield and there are several walks you can take that end at a pub. If you haven’t visited the Peak District before, get out there this summer while the weather is so good.

Photograph of the fortnight: Edale, Derbyshire

Photo: Lucy Copson

...

Zom-beware A plan created by the US military for the event of a zombie apocalypse was revealed online this week.

The 31-page document, designed to ‘undertake military operations to preserve ‘nonzombie’ humans from threats posed by a zombie horde’, features detailed plans of how to fight off eight possible types of zombies.

Species of zombies range from weaponised zombies, who the authors theorise could be used by terrorists to attack large groups of people, to vegetarian zombies, who eat plants instead of humans and wander about groaning ‘graaaains’.

Chicken zombies are also mentioned in the comprehensive plan. Although zombie chickens are encountered in popular video game Plants vs Zombies, the document does not rate them as a serious threat to human life..

The terrifying threat of evil

magic zombies is also given due consideration - this, of course, referring to zombies created by ‘some form of occult experimentation’.

Thankfully the plan begins with a disclaimer to explain that zombies do not really exist, and that it was intended as an exercise in drawing up planning documents for training purposes.

One might wonder why they chose zombies: the authors noted that the general public sometimes mistakes a fictional training scenario for a real plan, and so they created a scenario that - hopefully - nobody would believe was real.

References in the document include World War Z, an apocalyptic horror novel in diarystyle, and Zombies vs Unicorns, a young adult anthology aimed at proving whether unicorns or zombies are superior.

Word of the fortnight Scintilla, noun: 1. A tiny trace or spark of a quality or feeling. ‘A scintilla of doubt.’

know u o y d i D In 1999, an Australian man won $25,000 on a scratchcard. This, and the fact that he had been in a coma the previous year and nearly died, led a local TV station to cover his story. He re-enacted the story by scratching another ticket live on air - and won $250,000.

Rules have been put in place to prevent pilots and co-pilots from having the same meals as each other, due to the risk of food poisoning. If one pilot becomes ill, the other is needed to safely land the plane.

Back to the future The latest piece of futuristic technology to be announced is cash machine software that reads the veins in your fingers to identify you.

The machines read the patterns of the veins just below the surface of your finger by using infra-red sensors. Haemoglobin in your veins partially absorbs the light to create a finger vein pattern profile, unique to each person.

Although in theory this is similar to reading the patterns in your fingertips, it seems a lot creepier.

The technology has already been implemented in Japanese and Turkish banks, and is being introduced in Poland this year.

Japanese firm Hitachi who have developed this technology claim that it offers ‘groundbreaking levels of accuracy and speed of authentication’, which could lead to tighter security.

Another entirely different technology that has hit the news recently is the Keepod. In very basic terms, this is an operating system on a flash drive - and a possible way to bridge the technological divide to the 60% of the globe’s population that currently have no computer

access.

Keepod allows old and possibly non-functional computers to be restored and shared between many users, each user with their own desktop layout, data and programs that are all saved on the flash drive. Each Keepod stick comes with a special desktop version of the Android 4.4 operating system installed, which remembers its user’s settings, passwords and preferences.

The founders of Keepod aim to keep the cost at only £4.20 per

flash drive; this is enormously cheaper than the price of an individual machine for each person.

Keepod was tested in the slums of Nairobi, a city where most people earn about £1.20 a day and hardly anyone uses a computer. After a resounding success testing it in Nairobi’s schools, the developers plan to bring the technology to places such as India, Israel and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo: BKON

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FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 23 2014

@FPCoffeeBreak

COFFEE BREAK

/forgepresscoffeebreak

Puzzle Page: sudoku Medium

Easy 4

6

5

8 1

7

3 6

3 9

1

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8 1

8

1

5

9

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3

9

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7 8

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Hard

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Quotes of the fortnight

“

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

”

Albert Einstein

“

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Mark Twain

”

dingbats

Dingbats are visual word puzzles from which you must identify a well-known phrase or saying.

1.

Across:

Down:

1. The art or science of good cooking and eating (10) 7. Rare and potentially fatal paralytic illness (8) 8. Male horse aged four years or under (4) 9. Recently deceased (4) 10. Type of fishing boat (7) 12. Roam about or stroll (11) 14. Worry over a decision (7) 16. Shark of 70s fame (4) 19. Co-founder of Monty Python (4,6) (see 6 down) 20. Records (8) 21. Light, sweet sponge cake (10)

1. Undead monster or spirit, often said to consume human flesh; morbid person (5) 2. To walk at a leisurely pace (7) 3. Damaged remains of a building (4) 4. Many (8) 5. Long-tailed and colourful parrot (5) 6. (see 19 across) 11. Diplomatic representative on a specific mission (8) 12. Described by some as a ‘rodent with wings’ (6) 13. Breathtaking (7) 15. 14th-century Japanese mercenary agent (5) 17. To damage somebody’s reputation by false accusations (5) 18. Purple berry indigenous to the Amazon rainforest (4)

2.

24

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

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FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 2 3 2014

@forgesport

SPORT

/forgepress sport@forgetoday.com

Matchdebating Should women in sport get more coverage?

Women’s sport needs Better off without media circus coverage to grow Rob Milne In a modern world, where gender equality is at the forefront of everything, there is no reason why organisations like the BBC should be prioritising male sport over female events.

Outside of gymnastics, where male competitors still get a substantial amount of coverage, there is not really any serious coverage of any women’s sport.

Events such as the Women’s F.A Cup final are poorly advertised in comparison to their male equivalent.

The profile of women’s sport cannot be raised until broadcasters, journalists and the rest of the media recognise that the public might actually be interested in more coverage.

In the post-London 2012 era for British sport, there are now superstar female sports personalities like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Laura Trott.

The Olympics thrust women’s sport into the public eye and proved that people will watch it.

Even sports like hockey, in which the women’s game is arguably better than the men’s, the coverage broadcast tends to be male.

Yes, you can argue that the intensity of male sport may be higher but by no means does that mean it is worse.

Women’s sport needs more coverage in the mass media, not just to raise its profile but to help out the sportswomen, whose wages pale in comparison to that of the men.

If more games were

screened on terrestrial or digital television, sponsorship money would improve, as only 0.5% of all sport sponsorship money currently goes to women’s sport.

Just a little more primetime coverage could be just the push that

“Only 0.5% of all sport sponsorship money currently goes to women’s sport”

media attention and events on television.

Women’s sport has made great strides in the past few years, it has the potential to be as big as men’s sport but that will not be possible unless the broadcasters make it happen.

Enhanced media coverage will be just the step needed to revolutionise women’s sport and make the nation take notice of all the great women’s sport out there.

Without the coverage, that may never happen.

expanding Women’s Super League.

The current system will expand from one tier of eight teams to two tiers of 20 in the near future, so earth tremors are starting to be felt as the tectonic plates of women’s football start to shift.

There have already been victims as well; Doncaster Rovers Belles, underfunded yet ever-present top flight members, have been shunted out of the top flight to accommodate the likes of City.

Joe Bamford The problem, as ever, always lies with what the people want.

Often, it’s said that women’s football, for example, is less exciting than men’s; that isn’t a personal view, simply an opinion voiced by many.

The players are no less skilled, but there’s no denying that the sport and its coverage is in its adolescence.

There will always be scope for women’s sport to evolve.

There are many sports that are deemed ‘women’s sports’ – several of the ‘big’ sports originated from women playing them.

Personally, I play hockey, which people often dub a ‘women’s sport’, but the fact is that despite this, the women’s side of the game still doesn’t get enough coverage.

As I’ve said: it’s what the people want that matters to editors.

They print, publish or broadcast whatever is going to make their organisation money; and, rightly or wrongly, very rarely has that been women’s sport.

Obviously, this needs to change.

But how can that be done?

That remains the question on everyone’s lips.

Money has been flowing for decades in men’s football, and it’s also starting to flow in the women’s game too.

Manchester City have been one of a host of teams who bid earlier in the season to join the

women’s sport needs.

Without the screening of men’s sport it would not reach the dizzy heights it has.

With more coverage comes more fans, with more fans comes more money and more money raises standards in sport, there is no negative for more women’s sport on our screens.

The majority of people, even those with an interest in sport, wouldn’t know that the women’s World Cup is next year and wouldn’t be able to name a member of the current England side.

Sky Sports will mention it as a side story, a short bulletin, with the level of analysis nowhere near the level of the men’s tournament this coming summer.

The simple fact is there is a gap in the market for more women’s sport coverage, be it football , rugby or any other sport.

If there is ever going to be equality in sport it has to start with more

“Surely such tribalism and polarised fan bases would only damage the women’s game?”

Forge Sport awards

Like in the men’s game, increased media funding will simply polarise team wealth, and some sides will suffer.

But although there is a lot of criticism aimed at men’s football regarding wages and transfer fees, maybe throwing more money at the women’s game could lead to a solution.

More money would attract more women to play the sport in the first place – most of those who already play it play for their love of the game, which sadly is undoubtedly in shorter supply for women in football.

Take Sheffield FC ladies, for example.

They’ve won it all this season; treble winners.

But the reason why they’ve been so successful is because their best players stay loyal to the club they love.

There’s no money in the game anywhere else, so

why move clubs?

Having said that, the men’s game nowadays is so heavily scrutinised that perhaps more coverage, to that extraordinary extent at least, may not be for the best.

Do the players really need the spotlight that has, arguably, ruined the personal lives of so many in the men’s game?

For many, the women’s game represents an alternative to the mediadriven circus that is the Premier League; one that perhaps reminds them of a bygone era.

Surely such tribalism and polarised fan bases would only damage the women’s game?

One might also suggest that more coverage on television would lead to a reduction in attendance figures, which are already dwindling.

Everybody would like to see the women’s game become more popular but do we want it to be a carbon copy of the soap opera played out by their male counterparts? Perhaps not.

This week’s contributors Ed McCosh Joe Bamford Tom Pyman Simon Watters Robert Milne Rebecca Deeming

Forge Sport editor Joe Bamford chooses his heroes and villains of the week Arséne Wenger Won the FA Cup, agreed a new deal; life is getting better for Arsenal fans after their nine-year wait for a major trophy came to an end against Hull City.

üü

Atlético Madrid

ü

Diego Simeone’s side defied all the odds by winning La Liga at the weekend, miraculously beating rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona to the title.

Silesi Ma’afu The Northampton prop was handed a one-week ban and a £500 fine after punching Leicester’s Tom Youngs.

û

Richard Scudamore

ûû

Apparently he’ll keep his job after a ‘sexist email’ was seen by a colleague, but many were calling for his head.

26

Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

@forgesport

SPORT

/forgepress sport@forgetoday.com

Sports personality of the week

Forge Sport editor Ed McCosh spoke to water polo player Hannah Waller for a true underdog story

How have you found competition this season after success last year?

Last year we made the BUCS semi-finals and won our division in the British University League (UPolo) which allowed us to move up a division. Great, you may say, but we lost our goalie and some of our key players this year. After losing almost every match in BUCS, UPolo and Varsity it became pretty clear we weren’t up to the standard of universities like Durham and Sheffield Hallam, the BUCS gold medallists.

That must have been difficult to deal with...

Most teams would take this pretty hard but team morale was at an all-time high; our captain Clare has always been fabulous at rallying the troops. Yet after our goalkeeper backed out due to an injury we were only left with our treasurer Gemma Christopher for goalie, who with a little training was brilliant. We even managed to recruit the City Of Sheffield coach Ian to train us for free for the lead-up to Varsity. Our biggest fixture of the year came against Hallam, who had triumphed in the BUCS competition the week before, but we fought our hardest with the

final score being 12-1 to Hallam - a vast improvement on the 26-2 defeat against them in October.

What was the highlight of the year?

When we r e c e i v e d an email informing us of our position in the UPolo Championships in Cardif. We were all a little taken aback, having lost group matches to Hallam and Manchester, and only gaining p o i n t s due to Manchester Metropolitan forfeiting.

Nevertheless, on Saturday May 10 we drove the four hour journey down to Cardiff, unable to afford the luxury of a coach due to a lack of funding, and with nine out of a possible 13 players in our competition squad. With only two substitutes we knew the matches would be tough but it’s the taking part that counts, right?

How did you fare in the tournament?

The first match we played was versus Leeds, which we lost 11-3, followed by Loughborough, which we lost 9-1. Lauren Hand scored some fantastic goals and Gemma made some cracking saves.

We were left to play Birmingham in the 5/6th playoff after having a quick go on the slides in the fun pool (priorities).

Following a final team talk, we knew we had nothing to lose and simply went out to enjoy the game and fight our hardest.

Despite losing 9-3 we played spectacularly for a team with only two substitutes and a goalkeeper who has only played in that position for six months.

Our newest recruit, Sammie Brettell, even managed to score her first goal!

What have you taken from water polo this year?

Some of you may be reading this article, wondering why it has been written if we didn’t win.

“Remember, everyone loves an underdog!”

You are missing the whole point.

Sport at University isn’t all about being the best team or winning every match.

It’s about the team and the celebrations when you do you win (not many in our case), for all the times you lose but know you enjoyed the game and for all the times your team-mates pick you up off the floor in ROAR. The majority of us had never played water polo until university and yet we can still proudly say we are the sixth best side in Britain. So

the best thing to do at university is have a go at new sports - and remember, everyone loves an underdog!

Photo: UPolo on Facebook

More articles online Read more reports, fixtures and features online all fortnight

DOT COM

Tom goes whole Hogg in Champions League title defence Ed McCosh

Darts Tom Hogg retained the title of the University of Sheffield’s top darts player with victory at the showpiece Champions League competition on Tuesday.

The Uni Darts Champions League brings together the top eight from the Premier League, which runs all year, for a seasonending playoff.

However, a couple of absentees from the top ranked players meant the final regular league fixtures of the season would decide the remaining places in the knockout tournament.

Rob Worrall and Nick Hood were the beneficiaries, with the former beating Rob Matthews 2-1 in the first quarter final and the latter falling to Hogg by the same scoreline.

Max Orange, who topped the league table, battled past society president George Francis, while Ed McCosh defeated incumbent president Tom Wright in a tight encounter which belied the 2-0 result.

McCosh’s respite was brief, as Hogg brushed him aside with a 2-0 win, while Orange pipped Worrall to a 2-1 victory to set up a grandstand final between the players who finished first and second in the league format.

The final was expected to be tense and tight, so it surprised all watching when Orange raced into a 2-0 lead in sets after

winning the opening four legs with consummate ease.

With just two legs required to take home the Champions League trophy at the first attempt, Orange appeared to falter, and Hogg took full advantage by picking up his first leg.

From there the tide changed completely; Hogg won the next four legs on the spin to bring himself within touching distance of victory.

With experience and momentum on his side, Hogg made no mistake, and won his sixth leg on the trot to complete an incredible turnaround for a 3-2 victory.

The Champions League, though, was merely an event to mark the end of another successful year of league darts, which incorporated 34 players of a wide range of quality, and will begin again in October with the society hoping for even greater participation.

While the Champions League serves as an elite event, the fact that half of the quarter finalists were freshers signified the open nature of the league.

Both present and future society presidents paid tribute to the league, with George Francis saying: “This year the darts team have played over 500 games in the league, meaning 1000-1500 games got played.

“This is more than any other darts team in the country, and I really think it benefits the whole team.

“The standard this year has

This season’s Champions League quarter finalists improved so much and the future look superb.”

Tom Wright, who will take over from Francis in September, added: “We are confident that we can continue the success of Sheffield darts with the new committee next year, and expand our reach to even more people to join and enjoy playing a sport that is both competitive and fun at the same time.”

Photo: Ed McCosh

“We are confident that we can expand our reach to even more people to join and enjoy a sport that is both competitive and fun”

27

FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 2 3 2014

@forgesport /forgepress sport@forgetoday.com

SPORT

Black and golden night at the Octagon Simon Watters The 8th annual Sports Awards took place on Wednesday, highlighting a wonderfully successful year for club sport at Sheffield.

The ceremony began with a very entertaining speech from former Wales and British Lions forward Scott Quinell.

The head of Sport Sheffield Andy Cox announced that this year was his final year in the post, while also revealing that the refurbishment is due to begin on the Norton pavilion as of next month.

The first to receive awards were the captains from the league winning teams, of which there were 15 in total ranging from men’s indoor cricket to women’s football.

The next awards were the Gold High Performance Colours, given to those who have performed at a national level.

This was followed by the Black and Gold Awards, given to those in their final year of club sport at Sheffield who’ve made a big impact on their clubs and will be greatly missed.

The Gabriel Payne outstanding services to coaching award went to two long-serving coaches from the judo club.

The Holly Willis fresher of the year award went to Florence Maskell from the trampolining club while coach of the year also went to the trampolining club, this time to Megan Baker.

Team of the year went to the men’s badminton 1s, following two successive promotions, while Athlete of the Year went to Jonathan Crickmore, who has represented the university at national level.

Club Sport Member of the Year went to next year’s Sports Officer Jonny Block for his services to fencing and lacrosse.

The most improved club of the year went to women’s football following their promotion from the Northern 2B division.

The penultimate award was for outstanding contribution, and it was given to Jonny France, Dan Boardman and George Matthews.

The last award of the evening was the John Hawley club of the year award and went to women’s rugby after winning their league and an excellent fundraising effort for local charities.

Best Club winners Ladies Rugby at the Sports Awards

Photo: Mikey Smith

Editors’ sporting highlights of the year Tom Pyman

Joe Bamford

After retaining the Varsity title, this has been an extremely successful year of sport for the University of Sheffield.

The 42-30.5 win over Hallam was comprehensive and seldom have I enjoyed following events developing on a seemingly hourly basis so much.

Varsity definitely brought the best out of our team of reporters and editors and it was great to see sports like squash get the attention it deserves in addition to the showpiece events of football and ice hockey, for example.

Personally, the highlight was the final event, the ice hockey at the Motorpoint Arena.

Although Hallam claimed that particular battle, the war had already been won and there was a real enthusiasm about the Uni supporters which made for an electric, unforgettable atmosphere.

It’s not only the university that has experienced glory though there have been success stories throughout the city.

Nigel Clough was appointed Sheffield United boss in October and steered the Blades both away from relegation and, perhaps more impressively, to Wembley.

Following their incredible run in the FA Cup was a joy, and I look forward to covering more games next season when I’m sure they will be looking to build on their progress and push for promotion.

Our interview with Winter Olympics star James Machon was another personal high and we are aiming to secure more exclusive interviews in the future.

To conclude, it’s been a fantastic season of sport and hopefully there will be more of the same next year, with a Varsity hat-trick being the icing on the cake.

There’s no question that from a sporting perspective, this year has been one of the best.

Without sounding all gushing about Varsity… Alright, I will be sounding gushing about Varsity.

It was great, wasn’t it?

Winning, of course, makes all the difference. I can safely say that had University lost Varsity I wouldn’t be sitting here now writing about how astonishingly brilliant it was.

But without doubt the highlight of the entire event was the Sports Park day.

All the major rugby, football and cricket fixtures were played at the home of Sheffield Hallam – so what better way to enjoy the day than gatecrash the party which usually resembles a cascade of Hallam points?

University had been winning up to the Sports Park day, with Hallam hoping to claw back some vital points. But instead University handed out a pasting to their Hallam counterparts, coming away from the day with 10 Varsity points.

Few days in the university sporting calendar can claim to have been as exciting and delirious as ‘Fantastic Friday’ as it’s been dubbed (admittedly by myself).

But although Varsity was fantastic, there have been celebrations elsewhere too.

The women’s hockey club enjoyed a fruitful year, with three out of four teams winning their respective leagues.

So did the men’s football 4s, the women’s basketball 2s, women’s rugby 1s, the women’s squash 2s, and both the men’s badminton 1s and 2s, so it’s been a successful year for many University sports clubs.

And I’ll take this opportunity to say: it’s been a pleasure reporting it.

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Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

@forgesport

SPORT

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2s endure Hallam hangover

Trampolining puts spring in charity’s step The 12 hour bounce takes place at Goodwin

Trampolining Rebecca Deeming The University of Sheffield’s Trampolining Club held a 12 hour sponsored bounce yesterday to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis.

The Club’s chosen charity is one close to the members’ hearts, with some of their dear friends suffering from the disorder.

Members of the club were bouncing from 7am until 7pm

Photo: Rebecca Deeming

performing a routine to an audience while also inviting beginners to take to the trampoline for a small donation.

Sarah Eames, a member of the club, was delighted with the support shown towards their cause.

She said: ‘I thought the day was a huge success thanks to the large turnout and the amount of money raised through all the different fundraising efforts of a cake sale and raffle.

‘It was a great opportunity for people who have never done

trampolining before to give it a go while raising money for charity.’

While the event raised over £300 in total, it can be argued that the day’s biggest achievement was the raised awareness of Cystic Fibrosis.

Event organiser and charity secretary Julie Lowe said: ‘A lot of people have asked us today “What is Cystic Fibrosis?” It’s one of the most commonly genetically transmitted disorders in the UK, so it’s great to raise awareness in that way.’

The majority of the money

raised will go towards medical research of the disorder, however the club stresses that donors will still see the money spent locally too.

Julie said: ‘The Northern General Hospital has a cystic fibrosis ward for children which a lot of people don’t know about, so even though the money isn’t going to what we consider a local charity, it will be spent locally.’

The club have already raised £1000 for the charity this year and have plenty more fundraising events planned for the future.

Wickets fell at regular intervals with the visitors collapsing from 52-5 to 61-9. Manchester made their way to 74 before Sonia Twigg took her only wicket of the game to end the away side’s innings and secure bowling figures of 1-17.

Zara Aslam claimed identical figures to Twigg, but Roshini Navaratnam and Lucy Buttery took the plaudits for taking two wickets apiece at the expense of eight and 13 runs respectively.

It was the latter who lead the way in the batting for Sheffield, hitting the home side’s highest

individual score of 15 while staying at the crease for more than half of the team’s innings.

While Buttery kept the runs flowing, Navaratnam joined her at the crease with the score at 8-2 and hit 13 runs as part of a partnership which lasted 10 overs and yielded 26 runs.

However, the 14th over brought two wickets in successive balls, and when Twigg and Navaratnam departed in the 18th and 20th over respectively the score was 55-6.

From there, the Sheffield lower order collapsed, and the final four

wickets fell with only four runs added to the scoreboard.

A score of 60 all out meant a second defeat in two games after the Lancaster loss, but Sheffield could take heart from another promising performance after the opening day victory over Sheffield Hallam.

Uni women suffer double trouble Women’s Cricket BUCS Northern 1B University of Lancaster 102/5 35 University of Sheffield University of Sheffield 60 University of Manchester 74 Ed McCosh The University of Sheffield’s women cricketers fell to two defeats in two weeks, losing to the University of Lancaster by 67 runs before being edged out by 14 runs by the University of Manchester at Norton.

May 14 saw the Uni women travel to Lancashire to take on the free-scoring hosts, who added to a score of 173/2 against Manchester with a total of 102/5. In response, Sheffield were unable to deal with the Lancaster bowling attack and were skittled out for just 35.

A perfect sunny day in South Yorkshire on May 21 and an excellent standard of play made for a well-fought out game of cricket against Manchester, and the opening overs saw the away side reach 16-3 before a 27 run partnership steadied the ship.

Uni women fall to a narrow defeat against Manchester

Men’s cricket BUCS Northern 3B University of Sheffield 131 Sheffield Hallam 333/5 Stephen Wellman The University of Sheffield Men’s 2nd team were trounced

by Sheffield Hallam’s 1s by 202 runs at the Graham Solley Sports Centre.

The 2s were on a high after a comfortable win over the University of Hull the week before, but after winning the toss Hallam opted to bat and made the most of excellent conditions.

Uni started brightly, with Smithson picking up two wickets and Bhavika providing economical bowling at the other end, yet after their spells ended Wellmann, Carson, Hooper and Davies were all required to have a bowl in the absence of a front line spinner.

Hallam batsmen Gamble and Smallwood built on a solid start to post spectacular innings of 115 not out and 121 respectively.

The wicket of Smallwood stemmed the flow of Hallam runs to a degree, but an injury sustained by Carson left Uni short in the field.

Hallam saw out the 50 overs to finish on a mammoth 333/5, with Smithson and Chaderton picking up a wicket apiece.

A mammoth task for the Uni batsmen began with a swashbuckling opening knock of 25 from Whittaker, who fell after fellow opener Mounstephen.

A middle order collapse exacerbated Uni’s struggles, with Davies, Pandya, Chaderton and Wellman all falling for scores between 10 and 20, and a tough day of cricket came to a premature conclusion with the 2s limping to 131 all out.

After a resounding defeat, the 2s’ next chance to pick up points comes against the University of Leeds 3s next week.

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Photo: Ed McCosh

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Fri day May 23 2014 F O RG E P RESS

LIFESTYLE&TRAVEL

@forgelifestyle /forgelifestyle lifestyle@forgetoday.com

The ultimate InterRailing experience

Planning on InterRailing this summer but struggling to decide where to stay? Look no further, Isabel Dobinson gives us a guide to her favourite European hostels

Berlin – Heart of Gold Hostel Recommended to me by a friend, Heart of Gold Hostel has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with a cool and arty décor. The bar downstairs, which sells cheap German beer and has a spacious seating area outside is great for chatting with fellow interrailers. Its handy location, just off the main street, Friedrichstrassee, means it is only a 20 minute walk to the main sites. The hostel is clean and secure, offering free tea and coffee and free WiFi. Although pretty pricey at £20 per night for a six bed dorm, it is worth it – according to Hostelworld it has a 89 per cent rating for value for money.

Prague – Hostel Mango Located just across from Charles Bridge, Hostel Mango is a short walk from the Old Town, five minutes from the metro station and is surrounded by local restaurants.

Like the other hostels, the staff were friendly and helpful. There is a great kitchen and living area as well as a yard terrace, which is a great place to socialise with other guests. Along with the free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee and towels, there was no need to compete to charge your phone, as plugs were provided per bed. My only criticism would be that there was no air con, however at around £13 for an eight bed dorm, it is great value for money.

Overall Hostelworld rating – 88%

Overall Hostelworld rating - 84%

Barcelona – Sant Jordi Hostel, Gracia

Dubrovnik – Fresh Sheets Hostel

This is definitely a fun hostel with extremely friendly and helpful staff. Every night there is a bar crawl, led by ‘party Eduardo’ where you meet up with other hostels and end the night in a club along the beach.

It is clean, secure and has free Wi-Fi and every night there is the option to cook as a group with the staff at the price of a few euros. It is located in the arty bohemian neighbourhood with plenty of surrounding tapas bars, restaurants and shops and just a few stops on the metro from the main sites.

Voted third Best Seasonal Hostel worldwide by Hostelworld, Fresh Sheets is a small homey hostel with a relaxed and sociable atmosphere. Centrally located in the Old Town, it is a short walk away from the beach, restaurants, bars and local markets. As suggested by the name, it is clean and has all the works, including free WiFi. Staff were friendly and offered activities such as scuba diving at a discounted price. Although slightly pricey at around £19 for a 6 bed dorm, waking up to the beautiful sea view definitely made it worth it (plus it has a rating of 93% for value for money!)

Overall Hostelword rating: 96%

Overall Hostelworld rating: 94%

Krakow – Goodbye Lenin Hostel As suggested by the name, this hostel is certainly eccentric and this is reflected in the jazzy (and socialist) décor. Voted one of the best hostels in the town by Lonely Planet, it is very friendly, sociable and probably best suited to those looking for a party hostel.

However, situated ten minutes from the Old Town and Jewish Quarter it is also easy to explore the city’s history and culture. This hostel is extremely good value for money, costing around £12 for a four bed dorm (plus a free breakfast!)

Overall Hostelworld rating - 92%

Budapest – Tiger Tim’s Hostel When inter railing, Budapest was my favourite city and there is no doubt that the hostel I stayed in was a major contributing factor. Tim, the owner, was very friendly and helpful, providing maps and telling us the best places to go.

Not only was the hostel safe, clean and had free Wi-Fi but was also very sociable with organised bar crawls running every other night. As well as having a great central location, it is only £11 a night for a four bed dorm!

Overall Hostelworld rating – 92% Image: Schjelderup

FO R GE PRESS Fr i d ay May 2 3 2014

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@forgelifestyle /forgelifestyle lifestyle@forgetoday.com

LIFESTYLE&TRAVEL

Spotlight: Guide Dogs Guide Dogs is the world’s largest organisation for breeding and training dogs to help the blind. Did you know that this service runs entirely from donation without any government funding?

Earlier this year, nine students came together to form The University of Sheffield Guide Dogs Support Group, in order to raise awareness and fundraise for such a worthwhile cause!

the Guide Dogs Association themselves, to take part in collections in Sheffield city centre, Crystal Peaks shopping centre and at Christmas we got involved with the annual Christmas Wrap event which was great fun! Also there is plenty more to come; many of our committee members are taking part in sponsored runs to raise money for the charity, and we hope to put on

What do we do?

So far we have had two very successful dog-themed socials, and also had a great cake sale fundraiser outside the Union with a bit of help from Norris, a real life guide dog! This raised a pleasing £95.

We have also got involved with

Beauty Looking to achieve that healthy natural glow for summer without having to break the bank? Jay Harrison reveals his favourite beauty products and ingredients which are packed full of health benefits guarenteed to get your skin back to its natural soft and pristine self.

Mask of Magnaminty – Face and back pack Meet the Mask of Magnaminty!

This is a facemask sold by Lush and is definitely something special. With cooling mint to soothe soreness and pain, and nourishing honey to help replenish your skins natural oils, this is definitely worth a buy.

Add that to ground aduki beans and evening primrose seeds, it is armed with the right mix of green stuff to help keep your skin healthy and pristine throughout the year. This product is certainly a part of my essential summer skincare selection.

Honey Honey is a wonderful ingredient for you, both inside and out. On the skin, it is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, antiseptic and incredibly soothing and nourishing. Honey basically hates everything that hates your skin!

It helps to fight spots, reduce any redness, making it perfect in this mask to help tackle problem skin that likes to shout at you without warning. It is fantastic for acne prone skin, as it helps to remove oil and inflammation – since discovering mask of magnaminty, I have never not had any in my cupboard. Honey can also help to calm skin problems such as

many more socials in the coming year.

How can you get involved?

We are currently on the look out for a few new committee members, so if you are interested contact us via our Facebook page.

In addition to this, we welcome with open arms anyone who wants to help raise awareness and money with us, and there will be plenty more opportunities to come to help the association in the future. The Christmas Wrap is always a big event, so come along and join us! Always a rewarding few hours to get involved and meet some very cute dogs as well!

If this suits you, keep an eye out on our Facebook page and send us a message if you want to do

Healthy Cosmetics eczema and psoriasis!

Peppermint Oil Peppermint is a weird one. This mask contains peppermint oil, and what a truly miracle working ingredient this is.

Peppermint helps to speed up the process of renewal in your skin cells, encouraging a flushing out of nasties and an influx of new nutrients. This has a wonderful refreshing effect on the skin. The high content of menthol in peppermint oil means that when used in hair treatments, it can slow down the process of hair loss by binding the hair to its follicle for a little while longer. The analgesic properties of peppermint oil also help to cool the skin and relieve horrible sunburn (Something we’re going to need if this heatwave continues!)

Dream Cream – hand and Body Lotion This supreme Lush lotion is truly a work of art, and there are so many lovely ingredients that I don’t have room to talk about them all! Containing Rose Water, Chamomile Blue Oil, Lavender and Tea Tree Oil (amongst many others), this cream is perfection in a pot. Designed for the most reactive and unhappy skin types, it is Lush’s best selling product (and they have a LOT of products). From personal experience, I can definitely vouch for this as a miracle cream for unhappy skin. There’s a reason Halle Berry bought 6 pots in one trip!

some volunteering for such a great cause!

By Stephanie Ross

Lifestyle’s recipe corner Moroccan Chicken

by Ciara Johnston Want to impress friends while keeping it simple? This recipe provides the perfect dish with a traditional Moroccan kick guarenteed to spice up your dinner.

Ingredients: •Chicken breasts x2 •2 tbsp. of oil •1 Fresh chili •1 tsp. of crushed chilies •1 tsp. of crushed cinnamon •Garlic x2 •2 tbsp. of sultanas •2 tbsp. of pine nuts •Half a lemon •A handful of fresh mint Method 1.Add the chili, crushed chilies, cinnamon, garlic, sultanas, pine nuts, lemon and mint into a bowl, including one of tablespoons of oil and mix thoroughly 2.Place the chicken fillets into a deep dish, adding the mixture and massaging it in

Images: Jay Harrison Lavender Oil Lavender is credited with being the one of the first essential oils to have its properties documented.

The healing properties are fantastic, with this oil helping to repair damage from (sun) burns, cold sores, and insect bites due to it’s soothing and antiseptic properties. It also tones and balances the skin, and has a familiar floral fragrance to relax and calm the mind. It’s ideal in Dream Cream as it’s the key player in helping to banish any persistent skin issues into the naughty corner.

By Jay Harrison

3.Leave the chicken to marinate for 20 minutes 4.Meanwhile add the other tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the chicken fillets, leaving the rest of the marinade in the bowl (you will add this later) 5.Pan fry the chicken thoroughly to make sure its cooked (around 20 minutes) 6.When the chicken is nearly remaining marinade and cook more minutes

cooked, add the for a few

Serve with vegetables of your choice; I tend to add broccoli, chopped mushrooms, onions and red pepper into the pan while the chicken is cooking to allow the vegetables to soak the marinade. If you want a more filling to your side, add sweet potato wedges sprinkled with paprika, couscous or baked gnocci.

Images: Isabel Dobinson