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THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
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ISSUE 139 | WEDNESDAY 20TH NOVEMBER 2019 | FREE
Forge Press selected to host SPA National Conference Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
Welfare Officer urges housing caution Ben Warner Editor-in-Chief
The Welfare Officer, Beren Maddison, is urging students to not bow to peer pressure and to take their time when house-hunting over the next few weeks Following the first Housing Information Fair of the year on Wednesday 6 November, he has highlighted the support which the Students’ Union can offer to
students looking to sign for houses, or looking for housemates. “House-hunting can be really stressful, regardless of whether it’s your first time looking or you’ve rented before,” he said. “There’s loads of important things to consider, such as your price range for rent and bills, who you choose to live with, your ideal location and house size, so finding a property that ticks all the boxes can feel really challenging.
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“It doesn’t help that there’s pressure on students to sign for next year’s house early in the year, as this makes it really easy to end up signing for a house you’re not happy in or with people you don’t like.” In order to help students find properties that suit them, the SU runs two Housing Information Fairs a year, where high-standard letting agents are invited to give more information to students about their properties.
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Students can also use the fairs as an opportunity to learn more about the support the Students’ Union offers, including checking over any contracts before you sign them and helping to navigate any disputes which may arise during a tenancy. Each year, the SU also produces its Smart Move information guide, detailing when students should start looking, what they should be looking for in a tenancy, and... (cont. on p5)
The Student Publication Association has announced Forge Press as the hosts for their 2020 National Conference – more commonly known as SPANC. To be hosted on the weekend of 3-5 April 2020, it will be the first time the conference has been hosted in the city. The conference will also play host to the SPA Awards, open to all member publications, and will feature a number of workshops, talks and keynote speakers. Ben Warner, Editor-in-Chief of Forge Press, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen... (cont. on p3)
Forge Press statement on UCU strikes p5
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Editorial
Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief Ben Warner Managing Editor Becky Sliwa Webb Deputy Editor Bethan Davis Deputy Editor Patrick Burke News Coordinator Tevy Kuch Sport Coordinator Michael Ekman LOF Coordinator Jack Mattless Entertainments Coordinator Ella Craig Entertainments Coordinator Ash Williams News Editor Lucas Mentken News Editor Georgie Marple News Editor Niall O’Callaghan Features Editor Anastasia Koutsounia Features Editor Bernadette Hsiao Opinion Editor Jack Mattless Opinion Editor Jack Redfern Arts Editor Kate Procter Arts Editor Rosie Davenport Lifestyle Editor Em Evans Lifestyle Editor Taylor Ogle Music Editor Ella Craig Music Editor Dana Raer Screen Editor Dan Cross Screen Editor Josh Teggert Games Editor Catherine Lewis Games Editor Ash Williams Science and Tech Editor Bethany Hanson Science and Tech Editor George Tuli Break Editor Luke Baldwin Break Editor Alicia Hannah Sport Editor Alex Brotherton Sport Editor Harry Harrison
Student media is so powerful. The past week has shown that to me much clearer than anything else, and there’ll be more on that throughout this issue. But I want to be honest about something first. When I came to uni in 2016 – it seems like a lifetime ago now – I wasn’t too bothered about getting involved in student media, including this paper. Every year, we elect our team at an Annual General Meeting, and at the end of my first year I ran for News Editor on a whim because my mates were, and I didn’t want to get left out. I ended that day as Head of News, because no-one else ran for it. And you know what? I never looked back. What you’re reading now is the 33rd issue of Forge Press that I’ve worked on and I’m so proud to be able to call myself the Editorin-Chief of this paper, especially after the week we’ve just had. Last week, we were announced as the host of the 2020 Student Publication Association National Conference, taking place right here at our Students’ Union next April,
and a few days ago I headed to York for the SPA Regional Conference. We believe in celebrating the achievements of this newspaper and as such we put ourselves forward for a number of the awards. I’m delighted to say we won the Best Impact Award for holding the University to account over their promise to divest from fossil fuels, and I was highlycommended for Best Journalist for the Northern Region. Not to say that I’m anything special – this paper is full of wonderful journalists, writers and contributors, and any one of them has as much a claim to that award as me. All that having been said, we should move onto this issue. A few years ago, Forge Press’ Entertainments sections were contained in a separate pullout known as ‘Fuse’, before it was eventually removed from circulation. I think our legacy is what makes us what we are, so in this issue you’ll find its return, with a bit of an update, including Science & Tech for the first time. There are some amazing pieces contained within it, including Arts’
PIC OF THE PRESS
exploration of languages facing extinction, Music’s interview of former Tribes lead singer Johnny Lloyd and Screen’s Josh reviewing the three-hour epic The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro. Features, however, take the cake this issue with an exploration of what else the University’s DDSS could do to support disabled students, the flow of people trafficking and the impact of Christmas adverts. Every issue I’m so impressed with the calibre of content contained in these pages, and there’s so much more to come from my wonderful team. I was foolish to think student media wasn’t worth it when I arrived at this University. Everyone told me I needed to get involved in Forge, and they were right. If you’re ever in doubt about the power of student media, look at what we do. Look at how we do it. Look at the effect it has. And then try to tell me it’s not worth the time. I was wrong – don’t follow my example.
A shot of Glasgow Cathedral at from atop the Necropolis after hitchhiking with Bummit
Head of Design Claire Gelhaus Secretary and Social Secretary Tom Buckland Inclusions and Welfare Officer Chloe Dervey Head of Marketing and Publicity Giulia Carleton Head of Photography Chelsea Burrell Head of Online Aimee Cooper
Want to help organise a national conference?
At Forge Press we’re electing a Sub-Committee to help organise the 2020 SPA National Conference here at the Students’ Union. The roles will be filled at an EGM at 5.00pm on Tuesday 26 November in View Room 6, SU. We have:
Host Officer Deputy Host Officer Secretary Inclusions Officer Social Secretary
Head of Marketing Graphic Designer Accomm. Coordinator Industry Liaison Publication Liaison
Email editor@forgetoday.com for more details.
Image: Chelsea Burrell
Editor’s Picks: Roast Dinner Components Parsnips
Yorkshire puddings
Roast potatoes
We’re edging closer to Christmas, and you know what that means... roast dinners! The highlight of the festive season for me, parsnips are what ties it all together. They might be a slightly controversial vegetable, and that’s fair enough, but I love them and I suggest you make sure you’ve got a generous pile on your plate this Christmas.
I couldn’t not say this really, could I? We are in Yorkshire after all. It does help, however, that I love a good Yorkshire pudding and the versatility which comes with it. You can put anything in a Yorkshire pudding, or just douse it with gravy and Henderson’s Relish and have it solo. Get it right, and the Yorkshire pudding is roast dinner utopia.
Roast potatoes are quite difficult to do perfectly, but that’s part of their charm. They’re rough-and-ready, but fluffy on the inside and can round off a roast dinner perfectly. They’ll never be the stars of the show, but they’re always there when you need them and always delicious enough to make anyone’s mouth water.
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
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News in Brief
Got a story? press.news@forgetoday.com
News editors Tevy Kuch, Lucas Mentken, Georgie Marple and Niall O’Callaghan
SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY Sheffield Christmas Spiderwalk through lights switched on Peaks pushed back
NATIONAL British students in HK told to return
The Christmas lights in the City Centre have been switched on after thousands descended on the peace gardens to watch the ceremony. Sheffielder and former X-Factor contestant Jake Quickenden switched on the lights with BGT’s Siobhan Phillips also performing.
Most British exchange students on years abroad in Hong Kong have been instructed to return home at the “earliest opportunity” due to the escalating situation. More than half of Russell Group universities are paying for the repatriation of students, according to The Independent.
Leo the pony in Coffee Revs
The annual Spiderwalk through the peaks, which is put on by Sheffield RAG, was postponed due to bad weather. Supposed to take place on 7 November, the 13 mile nighttime walk will now take place on 26 November. Tickets are still available at £8, with a sponsorship of £35.
Protests in Hong Kong
UNIVERSITY Miniature pony life drawing in Revs
SHEFFIELD Sainsburys by Arts Tower closed down
NATIONAL Bolton student halls destroyed in blaze
Coffee Revolution held a life drawing workshop featuring therapy ponies from Smile at Lightwood. The class, which was part of Revs ‘CR Events’ series, began with a meet and greet with the ponies before moving on to the drawing. There will be a nude life drawing class on 27 November.
The Sainsburys by the Arts Tower has closed down permanently. As of 4pm on Saturday 16 November, customers were no longer able to shop in the supermarket, located on Weston St, as staff were seen taking products off the shelves. It is unclear as to why the Sainsburys has closed.
The Cube, a student accomodation block in Bolton was struck by a massive fire over the weekend, leaving over 200 students homeless. Over £10,000 has been raised through crowdfunding after most students were left with no possessions. They will be rehoused this week.
Forge Press to host national conference Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
(cont. from front) ...as the hosts for the 2020 Student Publication Association National Conference. “The bid was a long time in planning, but we believe the proposal we put together will result in an amazing weekend right here in Sheffield. We are honoured that the SPA has chosen to put their trust in us, and we’re excited to get cracking with organising the conference.” Bidding to host the conference opened in late September, and closed at the start of this month, with the hosts being announced on Tuesday 12 November. Forge Press is now also looking for help to organise the conference. Warner said: “We’re electing a Sub-Committee to help organise the national conference, as it’s such a large undertaking and we’re extremely keen to get more people involved in Forge Media as a whole. “When Forge TV held the National
Student Television Association Conference at our SU a couple of years ago, it proved to be a fantastic experience for a number of a new members, who ended up being amazing committee members too. “We hope our Sub-Committee can have much the same effect, giving new people a superb opportunity to get involved with their student newspaper. We’re for the students, by the students, and proud of it.” Speaking about the logistics of the conference, Warner said: “The conference will be open to all, however we sadly aren’t able to offer it for free. “We’re hoping to keep the costs of the conference as low as possible, to allow as many delegates and members to attend as possible, and we really hope that our weekend of events will represent superb value for everyone heading to Sheffield next spring.” Chair of the SPA, Owain Evans, said: “We are incredibly excited to bring SPANC to Sheffield for the first
Image: Student Publication Awards
time. “The city and students have a track record of delivering fantastic conferences, and we are confident that this SPANC will be one of our most ambitious yet. “We are grateful to our friends at Forge Press for facilitating this
conference, and look forward to bringing a plethora of top industry professionals to South Yorkshire to share their expertise with young people from the region, as well as from across the UK & Ireland.” Over 190 students attended this year’s conference in York in spring.
Cape Town, South Africa
World’s riskiest travel destinations ranked Henry Lock News Contributor
The UK has been ranked as the tenth safest country for female solo travellers, a recent study has found. The study, conducted by Asher & Lyric Fergusson in Barcelona with contributions from Hannelore Oberbauer, ranked the UK 10th safest among the 50 most visited countries around the world. Spain was ranked as the safest country on the list, while South Africa has been named as the most dangerous destination for solo women travellers. The countries were ranked using eight criteria: safety of walking alone at night, intentional homicide of women, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner violence, legal discrimination, global gender gap, gender inequality and attitudes towards volence against women. Each country was given a ‘danger index’ which measures safety based on a letter ranking from F to B. Currently, there is not a single country being given an A rating, highlighting the inequalities that still exist even within the ‘safest’ countries. The five most dangerous countries, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and Iran, are all from different continents highlighting that it is a geographically widespread issue worldwide. The five safest countries are Spain, Singapore, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland.
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News
HS2 should go ahead despite cost, says report Matt Kefford News Contributor
A review of the HS2 rail project suggests plans should go ahead despite dramatically rising costs. The proposed high-speed rail link would see substantial reductions in the time it takes to travel between the North, South and Midlands. Birmingham would see the most benefit, with trains to Leeds reduced by over half to 45 minutes, and trains from Newcastle taking just under two hours. Despite these figures, issues have been met with the cost of the project, which has risen to £88bn so far and looks likely to continue. The benefits of the high-speed rail network to taxpayers has also decreased according to Douglas Oakervee who wrote the report. Mr Oakervee found benefit to taxpayers had fallen from £2.30 per £1 spent, to between £1.30 and £1.50 since initial plans were drawn in 2017. Without the project, however, Mr Oakervee predicted “large ticket price rises” would be needed to ease travel numbers during peak times. The independent review into HS2 therefore decided the project should continue, but the initial £56bn budget devised in 2015 was deemed “not affordable” and should be revised.
A high speed train The findings of the report have been opposed by Lord Berkeley, who was deputy chair of the review. In a letter written to Mr Oakervee, he said he “detected a trend in many of the discussions within the review to accept that HS2 will go ahead… rather than look at the pros and cons of alternative options.” Lord Berkeley therefore said he would publish his own report in the future.
Students head to Glasgow on Baby Bummit charity hitchhike Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
Over 200 students hitchhiked their way to Glasgow for charity last week as Baby Bummit returned for another year. Students, who were in teams of two or three, started their day at 6am in the Students’ Union before dispersing all over Sheffield in the hope to find a lift north. The University of Sheffield Cycling Club also joined in on the trip, cycling the 270 miles in an impressive 15 hours riding time, having set off at 7pm the night before. A total of eight cyclists took part in the trip, reaching Glasgow at
4:30pm. All students who took part managed to complete the trip which “rarely happens on Baby Bummit” according to the committee. The fastest team of the day were Sam and Molly, who managed to get to Glasgow at 1:30pm, just seven hours after they set off. It would take over four hours to get to Glasgow in a non-stop trip with no traffic. They also revealed their plans for Big Bummit, which is due to happen during the Easter break. “We’ll be heading to Krakow,
which will be a slightly shorter eight day trip” said a member the Bummit committee; the halfway point where groups will convene for a night out is yet to be confirmed. SU President Jake Verity and Activities’ Officer Martha Daisy Evans also took part in the trip. They managed to complete the trip in 10 and-a-half hours getting a total of seven lifts in the process. “Bummit is a fantastic hitchhiking society, and during my time at University it’s been a genuine pleasure to be involved in it.
“One of the best things about hitchhiking is people’s generosity and being involved in Bummit is a great place to meet new people across the country and continent, and to see new places. “This years trip was absolutely fantastic and it was a true credit to the committee who organised it. Make sure you get involved in the next Bummit when you get chance!” Each person taking part had to raise £80 each to be donated across four charities which are: Snowdrop Project, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Target Housing Sheffield and Molly’s Fund. More information about Big Bummit is expected in due course.
South Yorkshire Police issue warnings over student cyber crime Tevy Kuch News Coordinator
Students are vulnerable and are targets for money muling. Research reveals that 6 in 10 (61%) university students worry about their financial situation on a weekly basis and 6 in 10 (57%) would be tempted to find out more about a ‘too good to be true’ job advert that offered ‘easy money with no experience’, and half (50 per cent) would be interested in an offer of ‘free money from the comfort of your own home’. Organized Criminal Networks recruit people with existing bank accounts to engage in money laundering to store illegally sourced money, commonly amongst drugs, fraud, terrorism funding and child exploitation. Terms such as “Squares”, “AC”, “Flips”, “Easy Cash Schemes” or “Money Transfer jobs” implicitly refer to money mulling. Affected users could jeopardize their credit rating and expose the risk of committing a criminal offence such as breaching the bank’s terms and conditions, having accounts closed, compromising their credit rating and getting involved in criminal proceedings. Credit marks determine last for six years, making it difficult to access student loans, obtain simple credit like contracts for a mobile phone, open up another bank account, rent
or mortgage. Criminal convictions can also affect employability and travelling. John Yoxall, South Yorkshire Police Sergeant on the Digital Investigations and Intelligence Team, said: “There are uptrends where technology is enabling traditional crimes to be carried out quickly and easier and a lot more effective. Cyber opens new problems because criminals don’t have to be in Sheffield to hurt people in Sheffield. “Don’t reply to the email, or be pressured into paying: it only highlights that you’re vulnerable and you could be targeted again. Engaging in it enables your account to be subjected to a data breach, often without your knowledge. The police advise that you do not pay criminals. Try flagging the email as spam/junk if you receive it multiple times. “Particularly with new students with new bank accounts, they become targets of consort actors for money laundering. Students have a nice clean banking history and no suspicions flagged up on them. “They will either ask you to receive funds and then transfer it on and/or cash it out then hand it over and you may get a percentage or cut for yourself. It’s quick easy money, you are in effect getting involved in organized crime so don’t do it, report it.”
The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre
Five founders leave University’s AMRC Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
Five of the founders of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre have left their posts over what is thought to have been a ‘clash of cultures’. Keith Ridgway CBE, Christine Ridgway, Adrian Allen, John Baragwanath and Richard Caborn have all left the University owned research centre in the last month. Run at arm’s length from the University, the research centre was set up in 2001 with Boeing and has helped to pioneer manufacturing for companies including Rolls-
Royce, McLaren and BAE Systems. Mr and Mrs Ridgway chose to leave in October following a governance review which indicated the AMRC would be more tightly controlled by the University, according to The Sheffield Star. Vice-Chancellor Koen Lamberts said the pair had retired in an email to staff and thanked them for their service. Allan, Baragwanath and Caborn followed suit, retiring this month. The AMRC has brought in over £70m this year, 57 per cent of the University’s engineering research income.
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Forge Press statement in support of UCU strikes Ben Warner Editor-in-Chief
On Monday 25 November, staff at the University of Sheffield will head on strike for the second time in two years, over issues including changes to their pensions, the casualisation which is taking hold in universities, and pay equality. A couple of weeks ago, Students’
Union Council voted almost unanimously to encourage the SU to actively support striking workers, while also prioritising the welfare of students in Sheffield. At Forge Press, we decided to hold our own vote on whether or not to support those lecturers heading on strike and I am pleased to say we voted in favour of supporting them.
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News We know they don’t do this without it being their last resort, but their working conditions are our learning conditions, and we believe that students should stand up and support their lecturers, support staff and more. As a group of students with a huge platform, we believe it is our duty to voice our concerns about changes to pensions which could see staff short-changed thousands of pounds, and pay rising below the rate of inflation, leaving them out of pocket.
We understand why some students may choose not to support striking workers. This is likely to be a contentious period, but we’d urge you to support those in your department who go on strike. Don’t be in any doubt we’ll report on the strikes in an independent capacity, fulfilling our role as the student newspaper. But we believe that we should also back our striking workers, showing them they have our full support and we – as well as countless other students – are on their side.
Devolution is needed to reduce emissions Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
Image: Great Places Housing Group
Students urged to bide their time when house-hunting Ben Warner Editor-in-Chief
(cont. from front) ...common pitfalls to avoid. There has been an active effort on the part of the Students’ Union in recent years to encourage students to not rush into signing contracts, and to give more time for looking. Some letting agents which don’t meet the high standards of the Students’ Union, especially those who aren’t registered with the Smartmove or SNUG accreditation schemes, often aren’t invited to Housing Information Fairs, and Beren warned students off these. “You won’t necessarily have a bad experience with these agents,
but with the SNUG scheme and Smartmove, you can be more confident that you’re signing with a trustworthy landlord and getting a high-quality property,” he said.
Remember that you’re the customer, and you should be in control when finding your next home “No matter who students choose to sign with, they can always contact the Student Advice Centre for help and advice on how to deal with
issues that come up during the led.” Certain student groups also help to educate students on housing issues, including Welfare Committee, with it being one of their main focuses. They run regular Housemate Finder events throughout the year, for students who may be looking to find new people to live with or a new place to live. Their next event will be on Wednesday 20 November in Coffee Revolution, and Beren also encouraged people to head along to this as well as attending the Housing Information Fairs and being cautious about rushing into signing for a house. “My biggest piece of advice would definitely be to take your time, and
think about what would make your next house feel like a home to you,” Beren said. “You might be feeling pressure from your friends, parents and all the adverts that are popping up everywhere, but you will always be able to find somewhere to live. It’s far better to think about what you want or need from your house, and to really get to know the people you want to live with before signing a contract with them. “Use the contract reading service at the Advice Centre before signing anything, and if something doesn’t feel right, don’t sign! Remember that you’re the customer, and you should be in control and empowered in finding your next home.”
More powers should be given to areas such as the Sheffield City Region to enable them to reduce their carbon emissions and switch to clean energy sources, according to a new report. The report, published by researchers at the University of Sheffield Energy Institute, is calling for an ambitious programme of devolution to help deliver a complete decarbonisation of local transport and buildings, which is crucial to help cities such as Sheffield meet their emissions targets. Implementing zero carbon transport and heating sources for homes and buildings in places such as Sheffield would improve people’s quality of life through improved air quality, reduced fuel poverty and fewer winter deaths, the report suggests. The report calls for investment to be made in order to support the introduction of alternative fuels for private vehicles as well as for public and commercial transport, which an ambitious programme of devolution could enable. Dr Alastair Buckley, one of the authors of the report from the University of Sheffield Energy Institute, said: “As decarbonisation efforts shift to reducing emissions from buildings and transport, and energy systems become more decentralised, it makes sense that the relevant regulatory powers are devolved to the different regions of the UK. “This might include increasing the powers of regional authorities in terms of planning transport and land use, or it might mean allowing regions to borrow money to invest in local energy resources.”
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News
University ranked 59th for Social Sciences
Cerys O’Boyle tribute hailed as Forge Radio bring home awards
Joe Stead News Contributor
The University has been placed 59th out of more than 500 universities globally for their social science subjects. The rankings come from The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject which also placed Sheffield within the top 150 in the fields of business, economics, law and education. The University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Social Sciences is home to subjects such as architecture, economics, politics, education, geography, the Information School, The Management School, journalism studies, landscape architecture as well as several others.
The Arts Tower, home of architecture Professor Craig Watkins the Vice President and Head of the Faulty of Social Sciences at the University said: “I am delighted to see the University of Sheffield recognised as being among the very best in the world for teaching and research in social science. “Our academics are finding innovative ways to make our societies happier, more inclusive and more sustainable – and teaching our students to question the ideas and influences that shape our lives.” The rankings also placed the University of Sheffield among the world’s top 100 for teaching and research in education and law, and in the top 150 for business and economics. Sheffield also managed to place within the top 12% overall out of a field of 500 universities across the world, highlighting its many achievements.
Adam Bailey with the award Image: Student Radio Association
Ben Warner Editor-in-Chief
Forge Radio have celebrated a triumph after being recognised nationally at the Student Radio Association annual awards. They were given the award for Sports Programming, for an hour-long special of The Roar Show, which was produced by the 2018/19 Station Manager Adam
Bailey, and presented by the then-Head of Sport, Tim Adams. The programme celebrated the university life of Cerys O’Boyle, a co-captain of the Sheffield University Women’s Football Club, who sadly passed away as she began her Master’s degree at the University last year. Many of her close teammates and friends spoke about their memories of Cerys in the programme, as
well as Greg Unwin, Club Sport Manager at Sport Sheffield. The programme was hailed as a success at the time, and a fitting tribute to someone who truly represented what it meant to be Black and Gold, but now Forge Radio have been recognised on a national scale at the SRA Awards in London. After the award, Tim said: “One of the most important ways we covered sport across the university
was reflecting the personalities of those who took part. This was more evident on our Cerys tribute show than anything we did. “She wasn’t just a football player but an ambassador for women’s rights, somebody who brought inclusivity to the forefront and made everyone proud of what they represented.” While Tim sadly couldn’t make it to the awards, Adam Bailey was joined by current Station Manager Cameron Jurevicius and Deputy Abbie White. The programme, when it was broadcast, provided an emotional tribute to Cerys, and Tim paid tribute to the people who helped the programme become a reality. “It was the most difficult thing I ever did at university and I couldn’t have done it without Adam, Sport Sheffield and Cerys’ friends and family,” he said. “The moment winning the award hit was when I received a message from Cerys’ dad, John, the following morning, on how proud he was of Forge for the show and that it meant so much to their family. “That was worth more than anything and I hope and pray they can listen back and continued to be reminded of Cerys’ legacy in women’s football.”
Clean-up begins for South Yorkshire residents hit by flood as Johnson visits Niall O’Callaghan News Editor
The clean-up has begun for many in South Yorkshire and Sheffield who have been hit by torrential rain and flooding over the last few weeks. The flooding, which began on Thursday 7 November, was a result of South Yorkshire’s third wettest November day on record. It has been Sheffield’s wettest autumn on record, according to the Met Office. Some roads, including parts of the M1, were closed with shoppers trapped in Meadowhall having to spend the night there. New £20m flood defences, which include retaining walls and flood gates, held with one business saying they “probably would have been paddling... without the flood defence.” The Environment Agency confirmed that the river levels
were equivalent to those of the 2007 floods in Sheffield when two people died and hundreds had to be evacuated. A disaster relief fund has raised more than £285,000 to help South Yorkshire with the clean up, though Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis has called for more support from the government. Around 4,220 homes have been affected in South Yorkshire, according to Mr Jarvis. The worst affected areas have been Doncaster and North Derbyshire with the Environment Agency saying it would take over six days to clear the worst hit villages of water. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has visited some of the worst affected areas in the country including Fishlake in Doncaster where hundreds of homes are still submerged. He has been criticised for not
taking fast or effective enough action and fielding accusations that the floods would have been declared a national emergency had they happened in Surrey. He was also heckled by residents on his visit who shouted “Where’ve you been” and “You took your time”
Boris Johnson
with others refusing to talk to him or shake his hand. The government has since promised funding equivalent to £500 to households affected and up to £2,500 for small and mediumsized businesses who do not have insurance.
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
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News
University staff set to strike for eight working days this month Georgie Marple News Editor
Members of staff at the University of Sheffield are set to go on strike from Monday 25 November, due to pay inequality and pensions. University staff members that are part of the University and College Union (UCU) from sixty universities around the UK are set to strike in the eight-day period ending on Wednesday 4 December. Staff are striking over two separate legal disputes, one regarding pensions and one regarding pay, workload and equality. 79% of UCU members that voted supported striking over pensions whilst 74% of members supported striking over pay inequality. The lecturers that are striking will abstain from working at all during the strike period, including tasks such as attending meetings, administration work, marking and teaching students. Some university staff who aren’t members of the UCU will be striking in solidarity with their colleagues in order to not pass the picket. The strikes will inevitably negatively affect the students whose lecturers and classes will be cancelled during the strike period. One of the issues that university staff are striking over is the pay
Organic co-operative Beanies has expanded by moving into a bigger site on Barber Road in Crookesmoor. The shop was previously at a unit further down the road, but has moved into the space previously occupied by the Dental Practice. It represents a big move for the store, which hosted a grand opening on Saturday 9 November, a week after their previous store closed its doors for the final time. A new café has also opened in the former pharmacy, next door at the end of Crookesmoor Road. The new store has proved popular so far, and is sure to be a hit with students and locals alike.
Image: Dan Cross
inequalities within their workplace. According to The Times Higher Education, on average women in academia are still paid 15% less than men. UCU members want to tackle the gender pay gap and other pay inequalities that they face. University staff that are striking are looking to bring employers and those with power over pay and pensions back to the negotiating table. Staff also want their wages to increase, particularly as they believe they are not being paid enough as their wages are decreasing in real terms, meaning they are not being paid enough to match levels of inflation each year. Another pressing concern for university staff is their mental wellbeing and how workloads can cause detrimental impacts to their mental health. There has been a significant increase in mental health issues in recent years, with an average rise of 77 per cent of counselling referrals from university staff between 2009 and 2015. UCU members want their employers to make workers’ mental health and wellbeing more of a priority, particularly when considering workloads. Education Officer Charlie Porter has said that “students should stand in solidarity with striking staff, because it is the same forces
Students risk missing right to vote in the election Tevy Kuch News Coordinator
Strikes in 2018
degrading working conditions that are eroding learning conditions. They [staff] are not just fighting for themselves but for a fairer education system for staff and students. Because together we are the university.” Robyn Orfitelli, a lecturer at The University of Sheffield and the Vice President of Sheffield UCU, have stressed concerns about staff underpayment: “There needs to be a culture shift in higher education, where people are valued over profit. The fight we are in is not just for staff in UCU, it is for every single staff member in higher education.” These strikes come less than
two years since the last university strikes which took place in the Spring of 2018, where university staff members first walked out over issues regarding their pensions. There will be talks held in university explaining the strikes for staff and students throughout the week leading up to the strikes, with an information session on Friday 22 November.
The Electoral Commission is calling for young people to sign up to register before the approaching deadline on 26 November. Commission research found that there were low registration levels amongst young people, with only one in three of them registered. For ages 25-34, only 74 per cent are correctly registered. The figure is lower among those aged 20-24 and 18-19, with only 68 per cent and 66 percent registered to vote. This is significantly in contrast to those aged 65 and over, at 94 per cent. Craig Westwood, Director of Communication, Policy and Research at the Electoral Commission, said: “For some young people this will be their first opportunity to participate in an election, but it’s important they don’t miss the chance. “Our research shows that young people are less likely to be registered to vote. “It only takes five minutes to register to vote online – time that you might otherwise spend waiting for the kettle to boil or for a gym class to start. So if you want to make sure your voice is heard, go online and register now.” While finishing up the winter term at university, students can register at both their term time and home address, with the option to choose which constituency to vote in. This is only open to those who resides at two addresses. It is an offence to cast more than one vote in the UK Parliamentary general election. To be eligible to vote for the upcoming UK Parliamentary general election on Thursday 12 December, registration must be completed by Thursday 26 November. It can be completed online at www.gov.uk/registertovote. If voting can’t be done at the polling station by 12 December, voters can arrange either a postal or proxy vote
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Anastasia Koutsounia Bernadette Hsiao Features Editors
Features
Hello all our lovely readers! Welcome back to our fifth issue. In this issue, we look at the connection between advertisements and holidays (with a focus on the upcoming, beloved Christmas), the recent tragedy of 39 bodies found in a lorry-as an introduction to the matter of people smuggling and whether disabled
students receive enough support from the university (with part 2 coming up in the next issue, so stay tuned!). Hope you’ll enjoy reading these articles! And if you have any ideas of your own that you would like to explore don’t hesitate to drop us an email at press.features@forgeroday.com See you next time!
Would our favourite holidays be the same in a world without adverts? Danny Lardner Features Contributor
November has officially brought the spooky season to an end and cities around the UK are currently turning their bright, colourful Christmas lights on in an attempt to bring some cheer and festivity into these dark, rainy days. A key indicator of the festive season approaching is the gradual appearance of Christmas adverts on our screens. Whether on TV or our mobile devices, adverts from different companies are currently lighting up millions of screens with their slogans and moving pictures of families laughing while trading gifts purchased from their stores. In recent years, the cult of festive advertising has evolved into something resembling an empire, with retailers in 2018 setting a new high of £6.4bn spending on the production of Christmas advertisements. A great example can be found in John Lewis’ adverts which have taken the concept of jolly commercialism to a new level by incorporating emotional stories and uplifting narratives to their annual Christmas advert. It started in 2009 when the company employed Adam & Eve, a little-known agency consisting of eighteen people working out of a dilapidated office in Covent Garden, to work on the advert announcing their festive prices and products. The end result proved to be a big hit and
the work put into these adverts since then has been gargantuan, with over £7 million spent on the operation in 2015. In the span of a century, advertising christmas products has morphed into a complex, carefully crafted skill that retailers hone more and more each year in order to lure people into their stores. Cynics might claim that the whole affair is a deep plunge into commercialism and selfindulgence. Andy Street, managing director of the brand, admitted that people have said in the past that John Lewis was “getting too big for its boots.” And it’s true there has been a strong wave of commercial alarm regarding the festive period with more people becoming critical of Christmas adverts for fear of the season being contaminated by money-crazed businessmen. That isn’t to say that this perspective is anything new. Fear of consumerism invading our oncesacred holiday has played a major role in the preparation as well as celebration of the annual holiday for years. Way back in 1947, Miracle on 34th Street had Kris Kringle tell his friend Alfred: “I’ve been fighting against [it] for years, the way they commercialise Christmas.” “Yeah, there’s a lot of bad ‘isms’ floatin’ around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism,” Alfred replied. The roots of ‘Christmas commercialism’ can be dated back
Images: Flickr
to the late 19th century, when retailers decided to abandon Santa’s judgemental, coal-giving side and sculpted him into the merry, jolly gift-giver we know today - a perfect symbol of consumer abundance. Lisa Jacobson, a history professor at the University of California, explained, “In the late 19th, early 20th century, people overcame their ambivalence [to spending at Christmas], not because they were embracing the dark side of excessive consumerism, but because they saw how gift-giving could become attached to other values that they deeply cherished.” Department stores such as Macy’s carry out crazy festive advertising, all beginning with their Thanksgiving Day parade with the infamous appearance of Santa Claus marching
6.4bn
spent on the production of christmas advertisements in 2018
through the streets of New York. On the other hand, one of the uglier sides of this period is the rampant consumerism that begins on Black Friday, during which, last year, £1.2 billion was spent and ended just after the Boxing Day sales period came to a close. What is left is often stretched overdrafts, empty bank accounts and a sense of desperation from parents still trying to find the perfect present for their children - a fuel for the economic phenomenon to carry on for the remaining days of December. There is also concern for Christmas losing its religious roots; one in five people aren’t clear on the true meaning of the holiday, and, according to some religious textbooks and experts, Jesus is actually thought to have been born around Easter or September, depending on which scholar you believe. Jacobson does, however, consider how John Wanamaker, owner of Wanamaker’s, one of the department store vanguards in the
US, was a religious man who created all sorts of spectacles in his stores to lure people in. At Christmastime, he staged store sing-alongs and printed Christmas hymn books for customers that featured religious carols and included a godly message in them. Surely then, Christmas advertising and religious values aren’t entirely exclusive of each other. What can be sure is that spending during the Christmas season is on the rise with UK citizens spending around £500 more during December. However, statistics suggest that as a country we aren’t abandoning the charitable values that the season promotes. More and more people are choosing to give “charity gifts”, such as providing essential resources to a family in a developing country. The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) says charities also make an estimated £50m from charity Christmas cards each year. While there should be some concern that this time of year brings about rampant consumerism taking a walk through Meadowhall or Fargate at any time in December will prove that - it is important to recognise that Christmas adverts promote many of the qualities that make Christmas what it is. For example, the true meaning of Christmas, as it has been drilled into us through the medium of festive movies and books, is generosity, goodwill and quality time spent with family. It’s fair to say that the more popular Christmas adverts do encourage these things. John Lewis, in particular, carries taglines for their adverts like “show someone they’re loved this Christmas”, and “give a little more love”. A lot of effort and money goes into creating these elaborate, and at times touching festive commercials. So, despite some choosing to look down on them or curse at them for their aching bank accounts, there is no doubt that our Christmas holidays wouldn’t be the same without them.
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Features
Disabled Students: is our University doing enough? Anastasia Koutsounia Features Editor
University is considered a rite of passage where both education and self-exploration are offered, existing skills are honed and new ones are discovered, cultures meet and, in many cases, independence grows. Some students view it as a path to economic prosperity or at least a chance to set your feet firmly into the arduous job market, for others it is the natural step after high school. For many young people with disabilities the thought of higher education often brings an overwhelming feeling of fear and reluctance; not because they lack the potential, but because there is an uncertainty on their physical and mental capability to commit to it. Many disabled people confess to having a hard time completing everyday tasks, and to having days where they find it impossible to get out of bed. However, education should be something accessible to anyone who seeks it; a disability is no indication of limited capabilities. Just look at the dozens of lifealtering inventions, findings, and art brought to us by intellectuals living with a disability; from Stephen Hawking, Jonathan Sebastian Bach, to Van Gogh. The list goes on. Another great indication is the statistics published by the Office for Students website, which showed that the percentage of students without a disability who graduate with a first or upper second-class degree is only three percent higher than the one for disabled graduates, which sits at 77 per cent. That alone shows that university is possible for everyone, regardless of a student’s struggles or background. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it is an easy process or one without its flaws. In an interview with Rebecca Wight, co-campaign coordinator for the Disabled and Dyslexic Student Committee at the University of Sheffield and third-year English Literature student, she described a system that is adequate in its existence but still in urgent need of changes. “Deciding to come to university was a really scary thing for me because it was like, ‘can I do something as simple as go to the shop by myself, or manage to cook a meal every day, as well as, can I
actually do the degree?’ “I ended up coming to Sheffield because they do try a lot more than in other places, and I’m very grateful for that, but the support isn’t great.” A quick visit to the University of Sheffield website indicates a range of support offered for students with disabilities. According to the site, some of the services include mobility training available for blind or partially-sighted people, copies of lecture notes given in advance or in alternative formats, support workers available for assistance during lectures and workshops, and arranging alternative methods of assessments. The University of Sheffield is also one of the few universities that offer SAMHS (Student Access to Mental Health Support), a counselling service that offers 45-minute appointments with mental health workers. In addition, thanks to the work of the Disabled and Dyslexic Support Service (DDSS) and DSC, around the campus Quiet Rooms have been set up for overwhelmed students to take a few moments to collect themselves or as a place for them to work away from the usual loud buzz surrounding the occupied spaces. However, according to Rebecca, while all of this is pleasing, there are also fundamental flaws that require attention:“It is a constant battle for disabled students to make sure we get the support, awareness, and help that we deserve.” The process is as follows. upon arrival at the University of Sheffield, disabled students are advised to make an appointment with the Disabled and Dyslexic Support Service, who go on to set up a learning support plan for them. This plan offers benefits such as extra time during exams, rest breaks or automatically authorised absences from seminars. The issue here lies with the fact that, just because the plan is put in place doesn’t mean it will be implemented accordingly. “They’re trying to improve that system but a lot of different departments don’t take it seriously. Sometimes your support plan doesn’t feed through exactly well.” said Rebecca. For example, it would be week six and my seminar tutors will have no idea about my situation.” Some services provided to all students can also be a vital tool for disabled students. So, when they
(l-r): Yang Shi, Inclusions Officer; John Barnett, Treasurer; Beccy Patterson, Co-Secretary; Rebecca Wight, CoCampaign Officer. Image: Anastasia Koutsounia are disregarded by professors it can have a detrimental effect on their progress as students. An obvious example is the Encore Lecture Capture service that enables any lecture to be recorded and uploaded to the University’s website for students to listen back to. Some use it strictly for revising, but others rely on it to catch up when personal issues prevent them from attending their lectures. There are, of course, professors who argue the system allows students to fall into a lazy and irresponsible routine. However, that argument falls flat in the face of inclusivity. A similar case is the students’ ability to apply for an essay extension. This particular service is offered to all students going through difficulties or unexpected changes. It is also quite controversial as there are times where the applicant will not find out whether their request was accepted until after the deadline has passed. The waiting can bring a lot of stress and anxiety for any student who applies due to serious family issues, and mental health or disability emergencies. This thought alone can prevent many young disabled people from applying for higher education; knowing that their University won’t provide them support but additional stress to their already strenuous situation. Sama Ansari Pour, a second-year Journalism student with Multiple Hereditary Exostoses, described her experience with the university support system as ‘disgusting’. “I was crying and calling my mum and she said call the university and ask for support, so I did,” Sama said.
She had contacted the University trying to set up a care plan as her condition was getting worse, appointments with hospitals kept taking up more and more days while coursework seemed to be piling up. She added: “They already had evidence of my disability. I tried to go last year, but it was so difficult because I have days where I can’t get out of bed. So I was like I’m a really urgent case, I need help now. And they said, ‘oh we only have one person who works with that I’m afraid.’ Like, aren’t you the Disability Service? Isn’t it your job? “I ended up with an appointment for a month later. I’ve waited less for my appointments at Northern General.” When confronted with these claims, the University highlighted that a recent DDSS survey revealed a 90 per cent satisfaction rate with the service, going on to say: “While DDSS is not an emergency service, we encourage students to attend the weekly drop-ins available or contact the reception team if they have any concerns. Feedback from our students is very important in making sure we’re meeting their needs and expectations and will always be welcomed.” There is also the problem that specific groups of disabled students are not considered as much as others when developing the support system. Recently, the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) published an article which said that deaf children are half as likely to go to a Russell Group university than their hearing schoolmates. This existing lack of services deters children from
reaching their full potential as well as securing a future in a world where university degrees are crucial in obtaining even the smallest roles in companies. Last July, Susan Daniels, Chief executive at NDCS, urged Russell Group universities to “get a grip on this problem”. In the end, higher education is not an easy experience. There are endless hours of studying involved, families take out loans and students travel hundreds of miles away from home to get to the school that will give them their best chance. When so much is already sacrificed, the system should aim to make it easier for those that have additional struggles to think of. Just as improving the quality of education is preached by many, inclusivity should also be considered a top priority. In Adam Braun’s words: “we have every resource necessary to provide access to education for every child on the planet; we just need to commit to enabling it.”
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Features
When desperate times call for desperate measures: human smuggling Jasmin Deans Features Contributor
Since the tragic discovery of 39 bodies in the back of a lorry in Essex last month, the issue of people smuggling has been forced into the public eye. It is one of the most pressing global issues of the 21st century, with large numbers of people dying in transit, and billions being made off the backs of the operations. However, people smuggling is still an issue under-represented by the media and under-discussed in politics. Terms, such as ‘refugee crisis’ and ‘migrant crisis’, have been coined to demonstrate the gravity of this issue. To fully understand the dangers people-smuggling poses, we must look at why people are submitting themselves to these risky, illegal operations, what governments around the world are doing to combat the crisis and how we as individuals can provide aid. People smuggling is the practice of moving people illegally between or through countries for financial or material gain. Due to the criminal nature of these operations and the lack of funding for studies on people smuggling, there are currently no entirely accurate figures to show how many people are involved in this type of business. According to the European Union’s statistics,
almost 30,000 people risked their lives in the first half of 2019 trying to reach Europe by sea, with around 600 people thought to have drowned in the same time frame. Despite this, the EU has recently decided to criminalise volunteer rescue boats in the Mediterranean and cancel the naval operations that, according to UN law, must intervene and preserve
According to the EU’s statistics, almost 30,000 people risked their lives in the first half of 2019 trying to reach the continent by sea, with around 600 people thought to have drowned at the same time life. They have, instead, began monitoring the Mediterranean with drones. UN sea laws do not apply to unmanned aerial vehicles, therefore more people are drowning in the mediterranean sea as there is no help available when situations deteriorate. Another harrowing statistic is the list of the 34,570 people who have died trying to reach or receive a right
to remain in Europe since 1993 (as of 1 April 2019). This figure is courtesy of a list compiled by the campaign ‘UNITED Against Refugee Deaths’, who admit that the actual figure is almost certainly far higher than this, as these are just the documented deaths.
34,570
people have died trying to reach Europe since 1993.
Another reason why the refugee crisis is underdiscussed is because it is a complex issue, which the society that we are currently living in isn’t accustomed to dealing with. We can see an example of this in the process that asylum seekers have to go through to be granted leave to remain in the UK. In the UK, they have to declare immediately to the Home Office that they are seeking asylum as soon as they reach the country, or when they decide it is not safe for them to return to their own. They must then prove to the Home Office that they are facing persecution in their home country to be granted refugee status in the UK for five years. If their claim is rejected, they are allowed one chance to appeal the Home Office’s decision, and if rejected again, they
are expected to voluntarily leave the UK; otherwise they are forcibly removed. Last year, 66 per cent of asylum applications were initially denied the status, but 45 per cent of people who appealed their initially rejected asylum case were successful and were granted refugee status. These numbers are as unsettling as the fact that only 44 per cent of people put into Immigration Removal Centres were actually removed from the UK while the rest were granted bail or leave to remain in the UK. Through these figures, we can see that the UK is currently unequipped and distressingly bureaucratic to deal with the ever-increasing numbers of refugees (the majority of whom are smuggled into the UK). Instead, they consistently contradict themselves when making life-changing decisions on these people’s cases. These people aren’t claiming asylum in the UK to exploit the economic prospects of this country either. According to the Government’s official website, to submit an asylum application there must be proof that you fear persecution in your country of nationality due to your race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or for any other reason that may put you at risk due to the social or political situation in your country. Last year,
45%
of people who appealed their initially rejected asylum case were successful and were granted refugee status.
the majority of asylum applicants in the UK were from Iran, with large percentages also coming from Iraq, Albania and Eritrea. For context, people may be or have been persecuted in Iran because they don’t hold the same religious views as the powers that be, with Iran operating under a theocracy. There are also a large number of refugees from Iran who are at risk of being persecuted because of their sexuality; homosexuality
Last year, the majority of asylum applicants in the UK were from Iran, with large percentages also from Iraq, Albania and Eritrea is deemed a crime punishable by death. Consensual sex between two unmarried adults, regardless of sexuality, can also bring a range of punishments; from 100 lashes to
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
the death sentence in some cases. Refugees flee these situations in their home countries and travel however they can to parts of the world where they will be safer. Facilitating their travel are migrant smugglers. One reason smugglers are widely preferred by refugees is because many find it unsafe to apply for a passport in their home country. For example, Eritrea is a militarised authoritarian
One reason smugglers are widely preferred by refugees is because many find it unsafe to apply for a passport in their home country state where freedom of movement is heavily restricted and therefore the majority of people who need to leave the country have to be smuggled out. This can be found in states like Vietnam as well, where there is restricted movement for political dissidents and ethnic minorities. Thus, the most attractive option for people seeking to flee these countries is to arrange a deal with a smuggler and seek asylum in a safer and freer country. With Brexit looming, there are questions hanging over how immigration and asylum seekers are
going to be affected. Although Brexit is widely thought to be set to decrease the amount of refugees entering the UK, it is unlikely to have an effect on these numbers due to the country already being outside the passportfree Schengen Area. This means that we already have border and passport checks on our entry points to the UK from E U
countries. One policy that may affect us is the Dublin III regulation. The EU abide by the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines who a refugee is and guarantees fundamental rights for asylum seekers. When the UK leaves the EU, they will still have to adhere to this convention under its obligations to abide to international law. However, the UK may not be able to participate in the Dublin III Regulation. This regulation deals with the principle of ‘non-refoulement’, which states
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Features
that a refugee should not be returned to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened. This regulation doesn’t prevent member states of the EU from transferring a refugee to a safe, third-party country (or the refugee’s first EU country of entry). Many EU member states, including the UK, use this regulation to transfer refugees to other
member s t a t e s , with Britain having a tendency to transfer more refugees away. Depending on the circumstances or deal we leave the EU under, the UK may not be able to participate in the scheme any longer once Brexit occurs. The most noteworthy effect of Brexit on refugees living in the UK is the sociopolitical climate of the country. After the EU referendum in 2016, there was a wave of xenophobic attacks and, last year, the amount of racist hate crimes
increased by 11 per cent. Many factors are thought to have caused this, including the societal impact of Brexit, the improvements of crime recording, and rhetoric being used by those in politics. A study conducted by Citizens UK found that the use of the word ‘letterboxes’ in verbal abuse increased after the Daily Telegraph published an article comparing women who wear the burqa to letterboxes. The amount of hate crimes occurring in the UK has significantly increased within the last few years and are set to increase further under Brexit.
After the EU referendum in 2016, there was a wave of xenophobic attacks and last year, the amount of racist hate crimes increased Unfortunately, the situation seems to only be getting worse. In recent years, the flow of migrants from places like the Middle East has dropped but with the effects of climate change intensifying, natural disasters might become the cause of a new flow of migration from developing countries not as well equipped to deal with these disasters. The system at the moment
is problematic, and with the ‘refugee crisis’ not significantly improving, there have been and are likely to be calls for change within it. Tragically, people smuggling is still a booming
No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land business. Although borders into the UK have tightened in recent years, it is impossible to stop the business completely. The 39 people found dead in the back of the lorry was a tragic instance of what relying on a criminal business for a better life can do. There were many factors that contributed to their death other than the appalling conditions inside the lorry, including the policies in Britain that prevent them from entering the UK without a smuggler. As Warsan Shire famously said in her poem, ‘Home’: “No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.” The fact is that so long as there is war and persecution in the world, there will always be refugees and people will always try to get to countries with better living standards. The refugee crisis is unlikely to completely die down or even calm down any time soon so we must ask ourselves and those in power, how can we help?
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Opinion
Jack Mattless and Jack Redfern Opinion Editors
Hello readers! As always, we’ve got an assortment of topics and debates reflected in our section. With the UCU strikes making a wintery return, we’ve got two pieces on whether our lecturers should be striking and also a response to all the recent drama about the rainbow poppy. With Halloween over and
Christmas on the way, Caelan Reid gives his take on our SU’s costume guidelines and Joseph Stead explains why he thinks so many MP’s are stepping down ahead of the upcoming festive election. Khushi Chhabra gives her insight into the impact the ‘snowflake’ culture has on our generation. Finally, a piece on why parental leave should be equally allocated and another on the important role David Attenbourough is playing to tackle climate change.
Students and staff at last year’s strikes. Images: Ben Warner
As UCU members prepare for fresh industrial action, we have two opposing viewpoints of the strike action An anonymous contributor on why strikes are unfair to students Anonymous Opinion Contributor
The eight days of strike action between 25 November and 4 December are fast approaching, with students torn between supporting University staff or opposing action which so directly affects us in a negative way. Whilst I believe University staff deserve fair pay and better working conditions, as well as more affordable pensions which they are fighting for, I can’t help but oppose
something which seems to punish students far more than universities. At the University of Sheffield, nearly four in five UCU members - 79 per cent - backed strikes over pay and conditions and 84 per cent backed strikes over pensions. These statistics clearly suggest that something needs to change, but the burden of this change should not fall on students. With many paying £9,250 a year, students have a right to expect a high standard of teaching and to expect that teaching to be consistently delivered. Surely there
is a better way to take on universities than by taking away exactly what students are paying for and will continue to pay for for decades to come as they work off student loans. Perhaps the strikes would feel more palatable if the action did not continue to rub salt into the wound with ‘action short of a strike’ when staff return to work. This means that staff will work to contract, including not covering for absent colleagues and not rescheduling lectures lost to strike action. Consequently, students lose eight days of the
education they have paid for, plus any additional lecture cancellations. UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that “Strike action is a last resort, but staff have made it quite clear that enough is enough and universities can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling.” I must agree that staff need to be heard, but with the power and wealth of universities nationally, it’s financially struggling students that will be hit the hardest. I hope the indignation of the students is able to assist the
staff’s cause, but I still feel that the innocent are being punished for problems belonging to some of the most powerful and influential institutions nationally. Perhaps if there was a way for students and staff to work together in protest of staff conditions and student fees, both could make progress, without either party bearing the brunt of the other’s grudge.
The Education Officer teams up with the UCU to back the striking staff Charlie Porter, Sam Marsh and Robyn Orfitelli Education Officer, Sheffield UCU President and Vice-President
Higher education is under attack. The upcoming strike action, due to start Monday the 25th, has been called because University and College Union (UCU) is in dispute over fair pay, equality, and a safe and secure retirement. But the dispute represents much more than that -- it represents an opportunity for students and workers to stand united and fight for a fairer system of education.
The same marketising forces which are eroding staff working conditions are doing the same to students’ learning conditions. Allowing universities to admit an uncapped number of students, each bringing with them tuition fees, has wrongly incentivised universities to treat student recruitment as more important than education. In the past decade, tuition fees have trebled to over £9,250 per year for home students (and even further for our international student community), grants for the poorest students have been cut, rents have soared, and there is a student mental
health crisis which our universities are doing little to address. The same mental health crisis is impacting university staff, who are dealing with workload intensification, declining pay, less job security, and the rapid increase of precarious contracts, while substantial gender and ethnicity pay gaps are allowed to persist. This model for higher education is turning universities into factories where education is a commodity, educators are exploited workers, and students are consumers. It is unhealthy, it is unsustainable, but most importantly, it is reversible.
Institutions which are currently making the choice to spend millions on shiny new buildings that look good in prospectuses -whilst cutting valuable courses and support services -- can change their budgeting decisions. We ask students to stand in solidarity with university workers to fight for working conditions which prioritise education over profit. Not only is it true that staff working conditions are student learning conditions, but the conditions being fought for by the university staff of today are those that students will graduate into tomorrow.
Stand in solidarity with striking workers. Join the picket lines, come to the teach-outs in the SU on strike days, email university staff to say you support them. You may well feel angry. Staff are angry too. But make sure you direct your anger at those managing the universities, who have made the choices that have brought us to where we are now. We want to see a university which prioritises the people who make higher education what it is -- students, and staff -- because together we are the university.
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Opinion
Let’s stop pretending LGBT poppies are hijacking remembrance Daniel Lardner Opinion Contributor
A few weeks ago, an image of a remembrance poppy ornamented with the LGBT+ rainbow sparked debate, fueled by war veteran Trever Coult’s tweet about the badge. The military cross recipient tweeted: “If your [sic] gay, bi, trans or whatever, I don’t care. You have a pride month to celebrate who you are. Please don’t take over the one day a year where I get to remember my friends and all those that died for this country. Leave the poppy alone and have some respect.” Firstly, it’s important to mention that this isn’t anything new - the white poppy, sold since 1933, is used as a symbol of remembrance for all victims of all wars and has now caused controversy for the best part of a century. The archaic nature of the poppy debate means there’s so much that can be said about the topic, but this year the main focus should be on Coult’s tweet. The discussion over whether the poppy should be worn at all is a whole different argument. Realistically, nothing about the badge is infringing on Coult’s life, and I’d highly doubt that it’s going to do him any harm. That being said, there is an argument that the traditional poppy
stands as a symbol of unity that represents everyone in the country. Many of the critics for the badge say that the design is too political, but it might be worth pointing out there’s nothing political about sexuality. The realms of the political are inherently about choices; sexuality is not. It’s also worth mentioning that neither of the two badges pictured in the tweet is official. And neither is even being produced. One, designed by LGBT+ poet Trudy Howson, was labelled as “[bringing] attention to the brave soldiers who died for our country during WWI at a time when their sexuality was still criminalised.” So no, the LGBT+ poppy isn’t taking over Remembrance Day, nor does it mean that the day is being made all about sexuality. Alan Turing, Edward Brittain, Siegfried Sassoon, and many more LGBT+ figures contributed to the war effort, and many more were also victimised, disgraced, and criminalised for their sexuality. It’s only fair that their struggles should be acknowledged. True, the poppy was intended to remember all fallen soldiers, regardless of religious, sexual or racial label. But frankly, there’s no need to kick off about a different coloured badge.
A fuss over nothing?
Caelan Reid on the SU’s Halloween guidelines Caelan Reid Opinion Contributor
Recently the Students’ Union’s BME, and Disabled and Dyslexic Students Committees worked with the Women’s Officer, Rosa Tully, on something I thought would have been rather uncontroversial. A poster campaign suggesting that people think twice about whether a costume is potentially insensitive to someone else’s culture or mocking of someone’s disability sounds pretty reasonable, right? The idea that we should be thoughtful when we’re picking out costumes so we don’t mock minorities seems sensible and an awareness campaign is hardly a totalitarian clampdown on freedom of expression. This hasn’t stopped some media outlets from immediately misrepresenting this situation entirely for a quick headline and erroneously claiming that the aforementioned campaign is some
sort of blanket ban on sombreros. There are those who claim campaigns such as this one take all the fun out of dressing up, that it’s the work of political correctness culture and overly sensitive students. I disagree wholeheartedly though – as someone who finds any excuse to get some fancy dress on it’s not hard to think up a good costume that doesn’t rely on a harmful caricature. Think of how many people dress up for Roar every week, or for Halloween every year, and how many great costumes you see that aren’t reliant on shock value or tacitly promoting offensive or downright malicious stereotypes. If someone can’t think of a good costume without jumping to caricaturing minorities or mocking those with disabilities, then that’s indicative of an alarming want of creativity on their part. Nobody would find it acceptable for someone to dress up like they’re
in a minstrel show and claim it’s “just a costume”, so why is it okay to caricature Native Americans or Mexican people in the same way? We don’t need to rely on offensive caricatures or racist stereotypes in any way, and someone’s insistence on doing so reflects more badly on them than those who are opposed to it. The aforementioned media sources have also claimed this campaign (or at least the mythical sombrero ban) are absurd, as Mexican students are fine with people wearing sombreros on nights out. But this misrepresentation misses the point – nobody is proposing absolute bans, and nobody is claiming that everyone from a country finds something offensive. The campaign is about being thoughtful when we dress up and avoid relying on harmful stereotypes. Hardly a totalitarian nightmare, is it?
Waging intergenerational warfare with the term “snowflake” solves nothing argues Khushi Chhabra Khushi Chhabra Opinion Contributor
Our generation may have been more mollycoddled than those those who came before us, but that does not give baby boomers the right to characterise us all as overly sensitive and thin-skinned. Collins English Dictionary defines the snowflake generation as “the generation of people who became young adults in the 2010s and are viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations.” This term has consistently been
used to belittle an entire generation that is conjectured to be oversensitive and entitled to special treatment or consideration. Research shows that 72 percent of 16-24 year olds think that the term is unfair and 74 percent think that the word could have a negative effect on young people’s mental health. These figures illustrate a connection between the use of the word and the underestimated damages its use can have on certain young people. Whilst it might be uncomplicated to speak of a generation in broad generalities, it’s over simplistic
to do so. Flippantly stereotyping a generation undermines the goal of ensuring society is an intergenerational one, where differences between generations, although are very much there, do not damage the relationship between the young generation and those who came before them. With social media taking over the world, millennials have an undivided viewpoint on any topics concerning race, sexuality, politics, or gender. This not only gives them the liberty of free speech but also provides them with a platform where they can acknowledge and find solutions
Stereotyping a generation undermines the goal of ensuring society is an intergenerational one to present social issues that may have been ignored by the previous generations. Certain older people believe that young adults are more sensitive to criticism as they are brought up in a guarded and resourceful
environment, where-as in reality millennials choose to be conscious of the social challenges that surround them with the help of those resources. How can a generation that actually raises concerns about world issues like pay gaps, climate change, inequality, religious conflicts and corruption reasonably be called the “snowflake generation”? when by its very nature, the ability to stand up, argue for and defend what you believe in and what you see as right is fundamentally a trait of a strong willed and passionate generation of people.
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Opinion
Joe Stead isn’t surprised so many MPs are standing down at this election Joe Stead Opinion Contributor
In the run up to the current election many notable MPs have announced that they won’t be standing again. At the time of writing, around 70 MPs are set to leave the political frontline, including former Cabinet ministers such as Ken Clarke and Amber Rudd. This is actually not the largest number of MPs to simultaneously stand down; prior to the 2010 general election, a whopping 149 individuals chose not to recontest their seats. Yet there’s a noticeably different feel to these announcements. It’s a symptom of a larger issue within our politics that has taken center stage for the past few years and that’s division. We hear the word thrown around a lot when talking about today’s
political landscape. There seems to be mass division not just when it comes to policy but also within our parties. Of course, division is inherent to politics. However, these particular divisions feel much larger than they ever have before. The key issue is, of course, Brexit which has completely split the country in half. But it’s not necessarily the fact that we are divided that is creating an environment our politicians don’t want to be in. It’s the way in which we are collectively dealing with that division. Problematically, nobody wants to be the first to bridge these gaps. Instead, we stand firm in our viewpoints and get frustrated at others for not sharing in them. This creates a space of hostility that can lead to aggressive acts. The
fact that several of our politicians receive death threats for what they believe clearly shows the descent of debate into vitriol and makes it unsurprising so many of them are choosing to change careers. A solution seems out of reach. Our current systems don’t seem to be working and the stakes seem to just keep on escalating. When our own politicians are being threatened for expressing their point of view, it’s clear that something needs to be done. Perhaps if Brexit is ever over with, the country will return to some kind of normality and those tensions will ease. Conversely this might just be the start of a much larger shift towards animosity in our political environment. If so, MPs leaving their seats might be the least of our concerns.
They’ll be gone by Christmas! Ken Clarke and Amber Rudd Images: UK Parliament
It’s time for equal parental leave: Armarni Lane explains why Armarni Lane Opinion Contributor
A couple of weeks ago, following in the footsteps of Goldman Sachs and Standard Life Aberdeen, Vodafone Ireland announced a new parental leave policy allowing 16 weeks paid
In our progressive society, we need progressive policies for parenthood
parental leave to employees whose partners had a baby. Although the move has been celebrated by employees and equality groups alike, it highlights the shortcomings of the current UK paternity leave law, which permits new mothers up to 52 weeks leave and new fathers a mere fortnight. Current laws mean that new fathers miss out on the important first stages of a baby’s life and this has a knock-on effect on mothers, piling on the pressure of being the primary caregiver. After giving birth in May, my partner and I quickly adapted into a routine, taking each explosive
nappy and night-time feed in our sleep-deprived stride. One of the biggest shocks was his paternity leave, with the three weeks my partner had off work - two weeks’ paid paternity leave and one week taken as a holiday - feeling more like a weekend. A ticking time bomb, his returning to work sat smugly at the back our minds, tapping its watch, ready to call time on the bliss of our baby bubble. My partner describes it as “spending three very intimate, full-on weeks adjusting to having a child, to then being thrown in the deep end at work, almost as if nothing has
happened. It was tricky, especially in a job which expects a lot of you… there’s only so much you can give.” In a society where outdated gender norms are constantly being challenged, why is it that our paternity leave laws reinforce the archaic expectations of mothers being responsible for child-rearing, whilst the father is thrust back into work? In our progressive society, we need progressive policies for parenthood. Many countries have already adopted more equal paternity leave laws. Norway offers a mandatory 15 weeks’ parental leave for fathers. Japan has a whopping paternity
New fathers miss out on the important first stages of a baby’s life leave period of one year. These are examples that the UK should be looking to follow. If we’re going to challenge the historical and sexist status quo that places men in the workplace and women at home holding the baby, we must recognise them as equals and paternity leave laws are an obvious place to start.
The media have lessons to learn from new Attenborough series Daniel Lardner Opinion Contributor
Earlier this month, David Attenborough’s new series, Our Planet, was released on Netflix. Like all of Attenborough’s programming, it showcases the natural beauty of Earth, but this one places the crisis of climate change front and centre. Warnings about the incoming global catastrophe were woven in throughout the show, as Attenborough emphasises the fact that our species is rapidly decimating the fantastic environment the cameras are observing. “What we do in the next 20 years will determine the future of all life
on earth,” we are told. “We have destroyed half the forests on earth.” In April of this year, Sir David’s BBC documentary Climate Change - The Facts went further into the issue, with the 93-year-old taking the tone of a man who is losing his patience - and rightly so. Not only is the climate crisis a big problem, so too is the media’s failure to accurately portray the scale of the forthcoming disaster. A 2008 investigation found that ‘UK tabloid coverage significantly diverged from the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change. ‘Moreover, there was no consistent increase in the
percentage of accurate coverage’ over the six years of study. So, not only are newspapers in the UK not accurately describing the climate emergency, but there is little support for the scientific truth that humans are fuelling, quite literally, this issue. C l i m a t e change deniers are hugely damaging to the process of changing policies for the better, and even more so
is the horrendous anti-climate science rhetoric coming out of the White House. The nature of how we receive information - largely through social media echo chambers means that good journalism has never been more important than it is now. The scale of the Earth’s pollution needs to be driven into our information streams by the media.
Realistically, if tabloid newspapers prioritised the most important news, every front page in the country would warn about climate change. And yet, no: climate science only breaches the papers when a dry press release is put out every now and then about a new warning from the scientific community. The failure of the fourth estate to properly call attention to the climate crisis only heightens the importance of Attenborough’s work - to have such a national treasure highlight the effects of climate change is invaluable in making at least some difference.
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Inside
Arts
Nearly half of the world’s languages are under threat of extinction p4
Music
My Chemical Romance are back! What have they been up to since 2013? p8
Games
In the age of ever-lengthening games, are they even a good thing? p11
Screen
Alyssa’s back in The End of the F***ing World - check out our review p16
Science & Tech
Green number plates for electric cars are they actually worth the effort? p18
Editorial Hello and welcome to this special Fuse pull-out of Forge Press issue 139. This part of the paper covers your usual Entertainments sections, but we’ve added a nostalgic twist. The concept of Fuse as a magazine-style pull-out started back in 2008, and ran for 91 issues up to December 2015. Fuse incorporated the Arts, Music, Screen and Games sections, and for the first time we’ve added Science & Tech to provide our own 2019 take on the pull-out. Since the Fuse’s last issue four years ago, the Entertainments (or Culture as it was prior to this year) sections have been assimilated into the main newspaper, so we’re delighted to be able to bring the pull-out back for the first time. You can have a flick through any issue from those seven and a bit years on issuu: simply go online, search for Forge Press and have a scroll through the vast array of designs and content from years gone by. Fuse issue 1 offers a blast from the past, offering readers the chance to win a ‘Golden Ticket’ to every single night at Plug throughout the year, including acts such as Dizzee Rascal and Reverend and the Makers, and there’s all sorts of hidden gems that give you an impression of what Sheffield was like for different student cohorts over the past decade. Even if it’s just browsing some of the works of art on the front cover, there’s worse ways to procrastinate! It’s important that we preserve our legacy, because Forge Press in its various guises has been an integral part of student life here in
Sheffield since 1943. We are lucky to have played a small role within this newspaper’s long history, and it’s important that we continue it for students in the coming generations to enjoy. Bringing Fuse back as a one-off to give this issue a pleasant retro feel goes some way to doing that. I’m extremely proud of the work our section editors have done to put this pull-out together, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. We have a fascinating and illuminating piece on endangered languages around the globe and what’s being done to preserve them, a feature on where’s best to go the piccies (or the cinema as most people outside the Burke family seem to call it) in Sheffield, and a look at how green licence plates could help us to tackle climate change here in the UK. There’s much more too across these 20 pages, and there truly is something that everyone will savour reading. Thanks for taking the time to pick up a copy.
Contents
Games
11
Short Fuse
3 Screen
14
Arts
4 Science & Tech
17
Music
7 Listings
20
Forge Fuse
Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Short Fuse The Booker Prize: what is the point of literary awards? By Kate Procter I recently read Bernadine Evaristo’s brilliant Girl, Woman, Other. Originally I borrowed the book from the University library but scarcely made a dent before emails arrived demanding its return. I can confidently put the growing reserve list, and the dedicated stand in Blackwells where I subsequently bought a copy, down to one thing: the Booker Prize.
Evaristo had just won one of the UK’s biggest literary prizes - and it was showing. The novel’s lifetime sales more than doubled in the week following the announced win. While her American publisher has moved the US release date forward and quintupled the number of copies for the initial run. Such is the nature of the prize - it has the potential to change careers.
This year Evaristo was not the sole winner. Margaret Atwood won for The Testaments. Granted Atwood had been the anticipated winner, but not for the right reasons. The books were not compared solely on their literary merit; the double-win was due to the judge’s inability to ignore Atwood’s career. But the Booker is not a career prize - and awarding it as such goes against its point. Atwood
herself said that it would have felt “quite embarrassing” to be the sole recipient, “I kind of don’t need the attention.” The award offers an opportunity to shine a spotlight on a lesser-know author. Sharing Evaristo’s win risked lessening her achievement - particularly as the first black woman recipient. The Booker’s decision making process is undoubtedly in need of a rethink.
Has there been an overkill of band reunions? By Dana Raer and Ella Craig 2019 has seen an extensive list of bands that previously split now make a return to the music scene, for example The Jonas Brothers, Abba, Kiss, The Spice Girls, Led Zeppelin and My Chemical Romance. But why has 2019 been the year of the band reunion? Whether the bands genuinely miss playing together, are running out of money from their old album
sales or are just disappointed by the new music being put in the world today, it just brings a bitter taste after the heartbreak of seeing our favorite bands splitting up. After years of not being active, it’s not like we expect the same experiences from their music. Of course, they are going to be different after being able to grow as artists on their own. However, not all of us like
change. Because so many bands are reuniting, it doesn’t feel as special anymore. Frankly, it’s getting quite boring. I personally want to listen to my favourite band’s classics without having to think of their reunion songs. Last summer, the Jonas Brothers returned which was alright. More like, no one cares, but fair enough – good for you. Although
One Direction’s members’ solo careers have been great, I am heavily anticipating the day that they reunite as a band and I am enjoying the nostalgia as I await next year’s JLS reunion tour. My Chemical Romance also recently announced their reunion, which you can read all about on page eight.
Do video game developers deserve more praise? By Ash Williams We’ve all experienced it in some form or another, where deadlines are approaching and you have to pull an extra late night to finish something important. Well, the video game industry has been plagued with this issue for some time now, and has seen more prevalent examples in recent years. The holiday period at the end of the year is said to be the most important
window for publishers, such is the appetite for parents getting games to put under the Christmas tree. The boost in sales that comes with releasing at this time is great for the bosses at the top, who concentrate on sales targets rather than their workforce, but it’s a very different story for the people in the studio. When Telltale went under last year, there were reports of
employees working until three in the morning, with no imminent warning that their time working there was about to come to an end. Even at Rockstar, during Red Dead Redemption 2’s development, employees were seeing 100-hour weeks in preparation for one of the most anticipated games of the last few years. We don’t necessarily realise these
things are going on; our desire to have things now makes us blind to the plights of developers in these situations. But it’s an issue that has reared its head more than once in recent years, and we should be grateful to the devs for what they do for us.
Is Marvel really “not cinema”? By Josh Teggert Martin Scorsese’s condemnation of Marvel films as “not cinema” sparked an online frenzy amongst cinema lovers and Marvel fans alike. Even Francis Ford Coppola offered his opinion, labelling Marvel “despicable”. But are Scorsese’s comments justified? Indeed, a trip to the cinema for most nowadays is often to see a franchised film. People tend to
watch the releases which have a recognisable branding. Studios have become too focussed generally on ‘intellectual properties’ (or IPs), in essence, subject matters for films with a proven audience. Yet this is an issue which has developed for decades. It took Robert De Niro’s huge success with The Godfather II to allow Scorsese even a micro-budget to make Taxi
Driver, and 40 years later, it took two franchise stars - Adam Driver (Star Wars) and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) - to bring Scorsese’s religious passion project Silence to life. Ultimately, Marty is missing a crucial point about Marvel films. Fans enjoy Marvel because of their reliability. Instead of seeing it from Coppola’s perspective, that Marvel
has been making the same film for over a decade, I see the MCU as one mammoth of a film. It’s all part of the same journey that these characters embark on over the course of several individual instalments. It is undoubtedly a different breed of cinema than Scorsese or Coppola’s art, but to dismiss Marvel is being slightly harsh on the films and the people who make them.
FACEBOOK: The dawn of a new era? By Kate Procter Earlier this month Facebook unveiled its new corporate logo for the parent company - owner of Facebook as well as Instagram and WhatsApp. As a cosmetic change it’s pretty uninspired to say the least. It simply says “FACEBOOK” in caps, in a font so generic it has been pointed out it would fit well on a credit card. When I first saw it, however, only one thing came to mind: women’s
high-street fashion. Specifically, the logos of New Look, Topshop, the lesser-spotted Peacock, and the king of fast-fashion, Primark. Of course Twitter too had something to say, with one user commenting that the capitalised logo was a “nice nod to the fact that all of their audience is just old people shouting at each other with the caps lock on”.
The purpose of the logo design is to make ownership clearer - with different colours for each brand. Perhaps this is to combat accusations that Facebook hides its power by failing to make it absolutely clear they are behind most of the biggest apps in social media. However, its creation is also a visual distinction between FACEBOOK, the parent company,
and Facebook, the social media platform. Considering the last few years have been particularly tumultuous for the main Facebook platform - including last year’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal - the rebranding appears to be an attempt to distance it from other parts of the business. Rather useful if the company is called before Congress again.
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Kate Procter and Rosie Davenport Arts Editors
Arts
Welcome back to Arts! This issue we bring you pieces on the innovative “art drop” trend that has been tried and tested by Sheffield resident Courtney Kyle. Having hidden art around public spaces, she discusses with Arts Editor Kate the inspiration behind her project. Our other articles include a piece on the threat
of language extinction and the crisis that 457 languages are on the brink of extinction. Joe Warner explores what publishers are doing to support these concerning statistics. Another, more lighthearted piece, highlights the top words of 2019 from “shitposting” to “slashie”. We challenge you to see if you can use them in a sentence! (Rosie)
Canvas Caching
Meet the woman hiding art around Sheffield Kate Procter Arts Editor
It was an ordinary day in October when Courtney Kyle had an extraordinary idea for celebrating her 33rd birthday. Kyle had never really been big into celebrating the occasion. Originally from Alabama, when she lived in the US she would donate money or volunteer for the day. But after moving to Sheffield four years ago she wanted to do something a bit different this year. Her idea? To paint 33 canvases and hide them around the city for people to find. The practice of hiding art in public spaces - often referred to as an “art drop” - has been steadily gaining popularity in recent years. World Art Drop Day is a creative scavenger hunt in the US which invites artists of all persuasions to hide an original work of art, take a photo of it and post it on social media using the hashtag #artdropday. In a similar fashion, rock painting has taken off after originating in the US. In the UK a thriving community of amateur artists who decorate rocks before hiding them in public places exists, with Facebook group Love on the Rocks having amassed nearly 100,000 members since its creation in 2017. Such practices extend beyond art as well. There has been a reported “craze” for hiding children’s books in the UK across the summer, while Emma Watson has taken to placing feminist books on public transport in collaboration with book sharing organisations like Books on the Move and The Book Fairies. Speaking to Kyle a week after her birthday, she tells me the inspiration for her art drop came from spotting similar “random acts of kindness” around Sheffield. Only a few weeks prior, while on a lunch break walk, she spotted a book sitting on the edge of a flower bed in Devonshire Green with a note saying ‘take me and leave one behind’. With just under three weeks
to prepare, Kyle, who works for a software development company, would spend her weekends and evenings working on the floor in her living room painting the 8x10inch canvases. Her painting style is distinct: abstract, bright and colourful with fine details added in white or black. She describes art as a lifelong hobby of hers: “When I was really young I started out by tracing everything that I could trying to learn how to draw. I would get tracing paper and pull out encyclopedia pages because it was before the internet.” She got into painting after taking an oils class at university but her abstract style has developed more recently: “In the past few years I’ve thrown away the brushes and let loose a little bit… when I paint I like to use my hands and see where it goes...I love the experience of the paint on my hands, working it around the canvas and creating texture with it - it’s as experiential as it is visual.” Once the 33 canvases were complete, she sealed them up in plastic bags with her social media details and a note reading ‘Hello, this is for you. You can take this home, give it to someone, or leave it for someone else. Thank you’. With that, the only thing left to do was to hide them around Sheffield. On Sunday 3 November, the night before her birthday, she worked around the city dropping the paintings off in her chosen locations - leaving them on benches, between boulders, besides trees. The hiding places spanned most of the parks, the city centre, even the Buddist Centre in Walkley and all the way out to Ladybower. “I left the paintings in places that were meaningful or that I had been to often. For instance, Rivelin Valley I live really close to and I go out there all the time, for runs and walks, and it’s just such a beautiful place right on our doorstep.” The paintings were randomly allocated, but Kyle admits: “When I was putting them out, there was
a couple of spots where I hand selected the one I wanted to go there but it was more that I really like this spot so I want whoever finds this to have one my favourite paintings.” To me the art drop seems like a sort of ‘artistic geocaching’, with Kyle providing a Google Map on her website for anyone wanting to hunt for the canvases - but with the added bonus of being allowed to take the art away with them. Kyle wanted to do the art drop as a way to give back to the city: “Moving to another country, to another culture is a difficult experience - but for me it’s been incredibly meaningful. It’s changed me; it’s forced me to come out of my shell a bit - to try new things to put myself out there more because, even though I knew people when I moved here, you still have to create your whole world again. And Sheffield has been incredibly receptive to me and good to me in many ways so I wanted to give something back.” “I’ve never really put my art out there, I’ve had people tell me ‘you should sell it’ and I think one day I probably will but its always been so personal to me but I think it’s really cool to get it out there like this - I’ve done it the right way for me.” She says people have been incredibly kind about her art drop. Her Instagram post sharing the project has over 100 likes with comments from people telling her they’d found one of the paintings and thanking her for cheering them up on a wet miserable day. However, she admits: “I had this small little fear when I was putting the art out that someone somewhere might get upset and be like ‘there’s this American woman polluting Sheffield by putting these things out covered in plastic.’” So far eight or nine people have messaged to tell her they’ve found one of her paintings. But given she hid them on the rainiest week in Autumn, Kyle says she wouldn’t be surprised if some of the paintings are still in their spots.
So will she be hiding more art in the future? Kyle hopes to: “The art drop was so much fun to do and I got such a positive response for it that I
have to do it again, and I’m already thinking of doing one in January - in the dead of Winter, spreading a few rainbows to cheer people up.”
Forge Fuse
Wednesday 20 November 2019
5
Arts Joe Warner Arts Contributor
If one thing has been made clear this year - be it from the school climate strikes to the Extinction Rebellion protests - it is that we are facing an unprecedented global emergency. The effect that decades of land pollution, deforestation and corporate emissions are having on our environment is sobering: the planet is on the brink of complete ecological collapse. With every species that dies out, it only becomes clearer that we’re in the midst of a mass extinction event of our own making. However, another far less documented mass extinction is currently happening. More than just our planet’s biodiversity is under threat; many of our planet’s indigenous languages are dying out. An estimate from The Endangered Languages Catalogue (ELCat) predicts that 46 per cent of the world’s 6,500 languages will not survive into the next century, with one language dying every three months. While over two billion of the world’s population speak some English, ELCat discovered that one in nine of all living languages have fewer than 10 speakers - that’s 457 languages on the brink of extinction. However, a new poetry anthology aims to shed light on these endangered languages. Poems from the Edge of Extinction is a collection of 50 poems from around the world compiled by Chris McCabe, head of the National Poetry Library. These have been penned and performed by poets who speak and write in the languages. Every poem has been painstakingly translated into English, with McCabe taking great care to ensure no meaning or emotion is lost in the transition between tongues. Many of the poets tell the unique stories of their indigenous peoples: stories of suffering at the hands of colonialism, slavery and political corruption, utilising the book as a platform to amplify the voices of sorely unheard and underrepresented minority groups. The publication of these poets’ works in English allows their voices to be heard and understood by a wider audience, many for the first time. McCabe prioritised this while he was compiling entries for the book. Speaking on The Guardian’s books podcast, he said: “It’s about foregrounding the voices of those poets. I think we’ve moved away from a period when it’s OK for the white man to go and document and capture poems and tell other people’s stories; what we really want is to be able, where we can, to allow people to tell their own stories.”
Image: George Tuli
On the edge of extinction
The drive to save endangered languages Poetry is an art form that many of us turn to in our times of emotional crescendo. We often engage with poetry to deal with the suffering that comes from the death of a
The publication of these poets’ works in English allows their voices to be heard and understood by a wider audience, many for the first time loved one, but equally for times of happiness, for celebrations like births and weddings. The National Poetry Library receives an estimated 25,000 enquiries per year for poems related to these subject matters, their themes clearly being extremely relatable to large audiences, showing a general ‘need’ for poetry. These practices are commonplace in the West, and especially the UK. McCabe’s ‘Endangered Poetry Project’ began in 2017, necessitated by his overwhelming desire to preserve these scattered fragments of culture that would otherwise be lost to time. He says there’s a lot to learn from the ways in which poetry is crafted in other languages: “When a language disappears, along with that goes poetic tradition, technique – there’s ways of making verbal art that might be completely unknown to us in the West.” The project involved reaching out to people globally through the internet and seeing who would respond. McCabe received many
written submissions, as well as a number of verbal submissions. Despite the success of his project, McCabe acknowledges that there were inherent shortcomings in using the internet. Although many poets proved easily contactable, many languages may remain undocumented and untranslated as a result of both geographical and technological isolation. Without ground-level investigation of individual communities by linguists, many languages may remain undocumented indefinitely, and invariably be lost to time. Although endangered languages are often considered remote from familiar locations in the global North, this is not always the case; several minority tongues currently exist within Europe and even the British Isles. Manx, the language native to the Isle of Man, and Cornish - considered extremely valuable to Cornwall’s heritage and identity - have fewer than 1,000 speakers each. Meanwhile, dialects and languages originating from the Channel Islands are estimated to be spoken by fewer than 500 people. A noteworthy contribution to the anthology, and perhaps the perfect example to illustrate how minority language speakers are desperately trying to preserve their tongues, is John Elvis Smelcer’s ‘The Poet’.
This piece tells the story of a man who knows he will be the last speaker of his language due to the significant age gap between himself and the elders of his community, who are the last native speakers. The poem’s protagonist is based on Smelcer himself, who faces the same dilemma. In his work Smelcer perfectly encapsulates the sense of responsibility and personal duty he feels to learn and preserve his Alaskan language, Ahtna. Determined to save the language from extinction, Smelcer has single-handedly created a dictionary, system of grammar and even a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching viewers Ahtna words. Another native language coexisting alongside English in New Zealand is Māori, which originates from the country’s indigenous population of the same n a m e . Although it was once the nation’s predominant spoken language at the beginning of the 19th century, the arrival of Englishspeaking colonists saw the tongue become increasingly confined to Māori communities. By the mid-20th century, many were concerned that the language was facing endangerment. Vaughan Rapatahana is a prolific New Zealand poet of Māori descent who has contributed to McCabe’s anthology;
many of the works he publishes deal with the subject matter of colonial repression. On The Guardian’s Book podcast, he discusses his personal relationship with the English language, arguing that from his perspective, too many countries incorporate its teaching where it is simply not needed - a continuation of century old linguistic imperialism. The global significance and overpowering social influence of English is also evident from its global perception. English is seen as the language of business and academia, causing it to overshadow other languages. As such, many are discouraged from using their native tongue, and are instead encouraged to use English, believing it to be more favourable for finding employment and appearing educated. Paradoxically, despite the influence that English has had on the deaths of many indigenous languages, it has played a significant role in their preservation. Another British publisher on a mission to preserve minority languages is Clive Boutle, who specialises in translations of books in lesser spoken European languages. Speaking on The Guardian’s podcast, Boutle highlights that: “The very language which is in a way destroying minority cultures is the one that is also giving life to them. Being published in English is a world event; the point at which
To save languages from extinction, we must safeguard our world’s diverse environments and the people who live in them a writer becomes global”. He says this allows poets to be recognised on the international stage; translating works into English allows many poets to attend literature festivals in countries such as Indonesia and North Africa where English is likely to be understood. While translation can increase recognition of endangered languages, it cannot directly preserve them. Today, many languages are at risk because they are marginalised within their own countries or communities. In an increasingly urbanised world, many people are being displaced; forced to move when their native environment is lost and with it, their mother tongue. Ultimately, to save languages from extinction, we must safeguard our world’s diverse environments and the people who live in them.
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Eve Thomas Arts Contributor
My Mother Said I Never Should The Crucible Studio Megan Roberts Arts Contributor
Sheffield Theatres’ and fingersmiths’ distinctly diverse and accessible co-production of My Mother Said I Never Should refreshes Charlotte Keatley’s 1987 play with a bold new approach. fingersmiths are an emerging visual physical theatre company, working with deaf and hearing actors to create a multi-layered approach to language and physical expression. This inclusive adaptation, directed by Jeni Draper, utilises a range of communication techniques sign language, subtitles, physical theatres, and spoken lines - as it follows the lives and relationships of four generations of women in the same family over the 20th century. For the eldest, Doris, born at the turn of the century, engagement marked the “beginning of her life”, leaving her teaching job to manage the household. Her daughter Margaret is determined to be more than a wife but ends up a workaholic. Margaret’s relationship with her own daughter is strained as art student Jackie experiments with her new found sexual freedom. But when Jackie falls pregnant aged 18, Margaret decides to bring up granddaughter Rosie as her own. The play looks at the consequences of this secret upon the family, while tracing the different choices the women have available to them. It is a play of contrasts, following a nonlinear chronology as it moves back and forth through the century. We begin with the four women acting as their childhood selves playing in the surreal waste ground, their
Image: Mark Douet costumes representing the different eras they grew up in – WW2 era smart brown pinafores contrasting modern rainbow shorts. As the play unfolds, we see the contrast in freedom that the later generations, Jackie and Rosie, are afforded - they could be whatever they wanted, pursue any career, reject family life for independence. The performance perfectly portrays intergenerational family tensions alongside deep love, particularly in scenes where all four generations interact. The use of sign language creates a strong sense of familial community and solidarity as each woman communicates differently with the others. Ali Briggs gives a moving performance as the wonderfully strict yet doting grandmother Doris, with a charming combination of gravitas and comic timing. Jude Mahon is tragic and stirring as the
Words of the year 2019 Kate Procter Arts Editor
In a year of global protests over the climate crisis, “climate strike” has been named 2019’s Word of the Year by Collins Dictionary. Collins’ lexicographers noticed a hundredfold increase in the phrase’s usage this year, taking off when Greta Thunberg made headlines for her decision to skip school on Fridays in order to protest in front of the Swedish Parliament. The choice shows a trend of new environment-related terms, after 2018’s word of the year, “single-
use”, which refers to plastic products made to be used once only. “Rewilding” - the practice of returning areas of land to a wild state - also made the shortlist. While “upcycling” was named Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year. Given recent selections such as “Brexit” and “fake news” in 2016 and 2017 respectively, politics remained unavoidable in this year’s shortlist by Collins. Not only did “entryist” (a person who joins an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies) feature, but Collins went even further by
strong and suffering Margaret, attempting to juggle both a job and family life but ultimately crumbling and falling ill. While EJ Raymond as Jackie gives an immensely emotional performance, conveying real vulnerability with her expressive signing. The production’s execution still needs honing, with the clarity in some scenes lost as the audience attempts to read subtitles and watch the action at the same time. Despite this, My Mother Said I Never Should is an enchanting portrayal of family life and social change told from a wholly new perspective, hopefully similarly diverse and inclusive productions will become only more frequent.
Period dramas have always been incredibly popular, perhaps because of the chance they offer to explore the challenges of another time, or the intricate costumes, rituals and ideas which are no longer the norm of the modern day. Saskia Dowley’s new play, Debutante, taps into these appeals with a “blend [of] romance and mystery, along with humorous moments” to engage the audience in questions of morality. Directed and written by Saskia Dowley and produced by Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo) performer, Maddie Farnhill, Debutante tells the story of a young woman named Amelia, who is preparing to enter high society at the debutante ball. The play follows her turmoil as she tries to manage various colliding relationships, alongside a secret love affair and a murder, all of which put her in a morally dubious position. Characters repeatedly find themselves trapped in difficult situations, forcing the audience to consider their own ideas of right
and wrong. Dowley describes the idea of the debutante ball as “a bolt out of the blue” which formulated organically over the course of a year, before it was ready for SUTCo. She refers to the “old age question” of imagination from which stories “just happen”, adding to the mystique of a play already full of mystery. Part of its appeal is its novelty: SUTCo has not performed an original period drama in several years. Dowley says that anyone who enjoys watching testing moral situations, and engaging in agonising questions of right and wrong will find themselves faced
What words did they miss? launching a “Brexicon”: defining words relating to the Brexit process, including “brexity”, “cakism” and “milkshaking” (after the Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson incidents). Naturally, internet culture made an appearance in the form of “deepfake” and “cancel” (to publicly cease to acknowledge a person, organisation, etc, in order to express disapproval of their activities or opinions). However, listing “influencer” seemed a bit late, as did “non-binary”, while I’ll admit “hopepunk” had totally passed me by.
Shitposting (adjective) Posting low-quality, largely ironic pictures, memes, text, or videos to provoke reactions and distract from the point of the conversation. Recently entered British political discourse following accusations that the Conservative party is adopting a “shitpost strategy”, see: recent Twitter spat over the term following Laura Kuenssberg’s explanation on the BBC Brexitcast podcast. Stan (noun and verb) Based on the central character in the Eminem song of the same name, a
w i t h a play that questions “when is it right for good people to do bad things?” and asks “are you justified in some of the decisions you make and some of the things that you do - do the ends justify the means?” For both Dowley and Farnhill, the play has brought new challenges. “It’s my first time producing,” says Farhill, “and it’s been really rewarding because I’ve acted and written before, so I’ve done a lot with the creative side of theatre, but not with the producing side. “Seeing how a play is put together and what needs to happen has been really interesting. It’s been stressful, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge. It’s been quite new to both of us but I think we’ve grown from it.” Like Farhill, Dowley’s role as director is a first and understandably the page-to-stage process has been occasionally difficult: “The cast are incredible, they’re all really talented individuals but the challenges come from me being able to detach from the ideas of these characters that I’ve had in my head for so long. “There have definitely been some really cool moments when an actor has done something completely differently to how I imagined it in my head and it’s so much better. I suppose the real challenge is letting my baby have legs in the world, and letting other people in.” With love, secrets, murders and plot-twists, Debutante promises to be a show that ticks all the boxes for any soap-opera fanatic.
“stan” is an overzealous fan who goes to great lengths to obsess over a celebrity. Boomer (noun) As in “OK Boomer”. Femtech (noun) Technology relating to women’s health, for example software that records information about menstruation. Slashie (noun) “What’s your job?” “I’m a author/dog walker/DJ - I also sell handmade jewelry on Etsy”.
Forge Fuse
Wednesday 20 November 2019
7
Dana Raer & Ella Craig Music Editors
Music
We’ve jam-packed this issue full of interviews. Ella caught up with Leonie Sloots, frontwoman of the local indie band Lio, to talk about life as an independent artist. Contributor Tom Coates also had a chat with ex-Tribes member Johnny Lloyd, all about his life after the band split, politics and the punk revival. We also have a feature on the
return of My Chemical Romance, and an album review of The Twang’s latest export, If confronted, Just Go Mad. Dana has continued her feature from the last issue about university bands, and this time, we have an exclusive insight into the life of a jazz band member from FriNGE. Enjoy!
Lio’s lead singer, Leonie, chats to INTERVIEW Forge Press Image: Mal Whichelow
Ella Craig Music Editor
From before I could walk, I was dancing to music. I really worried my Mum, because I would pull myself up on the barrier of my cot and just dance, but my legs weren’t strong enough so they started to go a bit O-shaped. But that love for music and creativity has always been there and it continued when I moved to Sheffield. Moving to Sheffield: I moved from the Netherlands to The University of Sheffield for a study abroad programme on International European Law. I’d vaguely heard of Sheffield before as some of my favorite bands - Bring Me the Horizon and While She Sleeps - are from here. Then I read that it’s the greenest city in the UK and I was like ‘yes, I’m sold, I’m going there!’. And I’ve loved it here ever since. I mainly started being involved in the music industry in Sheffield. My background is musical theatre, but shortly before I moved to Sheffield four and a half years ago, I started learning to play the guitar in the hope of writing my own songs. Then I started going to open mic nights and getting the taste of ‘oh, I can do this and I can actually write songs.’ I think I needed Sheffield to have that change of scenery. The new start that people always talk about -
reinventing yourself at uni - it really is real. If you don’t have your family and everything that you know, you have all that space to discover the things you’ve always dreamed of. The first time I did any singer/ songwriter stuff was at The Green Room for open mic nights, and I’d never played guitar outside of my bedroom before. One thousand mistakes, lots of original songs (because I didn’t know any covers) and a whole load of nerves, but I instantly had a rush of adrenaline knowing that I could do it. So Sheffield was really important
Lyrics are very personal, it’s my view of the world, my experiences. I write in a very personal way because I only feel the need to write when I’m emotional in growing from musical theatre to a singer/songwriter to forming a band and now… we’re headlining Record Junkee. Being an independent artist: Life as an independent artist has been pretty good so far. Ask me again in 10 years and I probably won’t feel the same way, but I only decided to
fully pursue a musical career about a year ago. When I started performing, I thought it was quite late, as I’m now 26, but I think that even though I’m still a bit insecure sometimes, I have a bit more confidence in myself. I’ve proven over the years that I do know what I’m doing and whatever I do next I’ll find a way to make it work. The whole streaming service era has made the industry less reliant on age. You don’t need to feel too old to do things. At first, my age was a bit of a barrier but I think it has made me stronger and less reliant on shit gigs that I know I can reject. Also, it’s nice to build that momentum on your own. Although it’s daunting and very stressful, I’m doing everything by myself, learning about the music industry on the way. Being independent also makes you diversify. At 26 with a law degree I would have expected to be a barrister, not a part-time barista. But I’m actually really enjoying it. Being an independent artist forces you to do more things that you love and be okay with the outcomes. Forming Lio: I got to the point where I was bored of being a solo artist so I just messaged the other guys to get them to join the band. We were already friends because Sheffield is a very closeknit community, especially if you are a musician. The funny thing is, my current guitarist is also my boss,
the owner of the coffee shop where I work, so he’s my friend, employer and guitarist all in one. It all fell into place from just being here in Sheffield, making friends, and I love that you can go out in Sheffield and come home with five new friends.
We played Newcastle for the first time and I had no idea what to expect but the reception was so much better than I ever could have anticipated or imagined Inspiration: What inspires my lyrics? Myself. Lyrics are very personal, it’s my view of the world, my experiences. I write in a very personal way because I only feel the need to write when I’m emotional. Although the songs are very personal to me, I try to write them so that other people can resonate with them too. That’s the beautiful thing about music. But I’m also inspired by a vast array of artists. My inspiration grows and expands, but I always come back to artists like Florence and the Machine and St. Vincent. And there will always be a space on my playlist
for bands like Bring Me the Horizon. It’s always nice to have a mixture of different sounds and different ways of writing lyrics to be able to pick from what inspires you and what works for you. The future: We recently did quite a lot of shows, just here, there and everywhere, which has been amazing and received well in all the cities. Everyone has been really receptive to a bunch of strangers playing some music that they’ve never heard before. We played Newcastle for the first time and I had no idea what to expect but the reception was so much better than I ever could have anticipated. The whole audience really vibed off our music, wanting us to come back. So we’ll do just that. We’re currently working on Lio’s first EP which I hope to put out in the first half of next year. It’s been daunting. The last year has been a big learning curve, but I feel ready for it: I’m more excited than daunted. Let’s put more songs out into the world!
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forgetoday.com
Music
Johnny Lloyd: Life after Tribes, politics and the punk revival INTERVIEW Tom Coates Music Contibutor
In a modest mini cinema room in Sheffield, Johnny Lloyd is far from the mass hysteria that engulfed him during his days as the frontman of Tribes. The rather unique and bizarrely placed room is acting as a makeshift dressing room for the singer-songwriter, who is preparing to perform at the intimate Picture House Social. As a lead vocalist and guitarist for Camden indie-rockers Tribes, Lloyd reached dizzy heights. The band shared bills with The Rolling Stones, Pixies and The Kooks before splitting in 2013, but six years on, Lloyd has found satisfaction in his new life. “My life is very, very different, but I think I’m happier,” he says. “I have a small but quiet committed audience, but we’ll see how it goes. If it dries up and people stop coming, then I’ll stop touring.”. He even concedes that a year ago,
he didn’t envisage embarking on a UK tour: “I didn’t think I’d be doing it this time last year! I’d completely stopped.” His cavalier comments regarding his own solo career would lead many to believe that music is now something of an afterthought for the singer, however this couldn’t be further from the truth. He is preparing to release even more new material next year - a two-part collection of demos, an acoustic record and a rock record. The passion for being in the studio remains entrenched, and he is currently working on producing music for Sky Atlantic’s new comedy-drama I Hate Suzie. The new role is just one of many changes in Lloyd’s life, as he is now a father and in a relationship with actress Billie Piper. Is his life a lot different to how it was in the Tribes days? “Fuck yeah,” he replies, without missing a beat, “It was fucking wild, that band, and it was heavy. I was in my mid-20s and we just had it all the time. But you can’t really do that into your
30s.” Many would assume that Lloyd’s new lifestyle has influenced his sound, considering that his new album, Next Episode Starts In 15 Seconds, is a relaxed and mature showcase of honed song-writing ability. Conversation soon turns to new music, and he recommends Demob Happy and Flyte as bands that the world should be listening to. His solo debut has a mellow acoustic sound, but he speaks effervescently about the punk revival and the growth of the underground from which it is emerging. High-fliers Idles and Dublin newcomers Fontaines D.C are namechecked as bands that are leading the charge. “There’s a great little core of bands because the lust to go to shows is always gonna be there. That’s not gone away but the marketing structures have changed, people don’t want fucking pop. “People want something with some attitude and with some political bite, with a bit more thrust
My Chemical Romance: Return FEATURE Ella Craig Music Editor
On Halloween, the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance took to social media to officially announce their reunion after taking a hiatus from making music as a group in 2013. MCR formed in 2001 and were hugely successful over their years together with four studio albums and a heavy influence on emo culture. So what went wrong? In response to the break-up, lead singer Gerard Way said that they were just not enjoying making music anymore and it felt like they
Image: Ed Ville
were stuck in a machine. After a few months full of rumours and speculation, the non-machine version of My Chemical Romance that Gerard spoke of is here. But what has the band been up to in the six years since the split? 2014 - Gerard Way has done a lot since the break up, focussing both on his solo music career and his passion for creating and writing comics. In 2014, he released his debut solo album Hesitant Alien, which saw Way opt for a more indie/rock, and almost Britpop, sound. Guitarist Frank Iero also took to the idea of being a solo artist and released his debut solo album Stomachaches in 2014.
Bassist Mikey Way, decided against a solo career and formed a new band called Electric Century. Their sound diverted down a more indie/alternative path than MCR took, which was a much needed change of scenery for Mikey as the singles they released were astounding. 2016- Ray Toro decided to focus his time on his family and raising his son alongside occasionally playing guitar for other bands such as Reggie and the Full Effect, releasing a couple of singles, and in 2016, he finally released his debut solo album, Remember the Laughter. My Chemical Romance shared a video on social media with the iconic black parade piano key intro. Fans were ecstatic, believing that this was their announcement of their return. However, the video was teasing the re-release of their previous albums The Black Parade/ Living With Ghosts, for the 10-year anniversary of The Black Parade. Although fans were disappointed, they remained hopeful that MCR would return one day. 2017- Electric Century released their long-awaited debut album For the Night to Control. 2018- Gerard Way dropped his
Image: Sonic PR live. You don’t get that in the arena watching Rihanna, so there’ll always be a thirst for a guitar band.” Tribes emerged and disappeared in the current decade, yet he admits that the music scene has undergone wholesale change: “I think the underground has expanded into a big thing now. I wouldn’t say Idles are a mainstream band, but they are a massive underground band.” Politics is undeniably helping to drive the revival he speaks of, and Lloyd acknowledges how tackling issues can propel bands forward. “I don’t think The 1975 would be as
big as they are if Matty (Healy, the frontman) wasn’t so outspoken,” he says. “I think it’s a good thing. You should use your status for talking out, whether it’s in the music or your interviews. I think people are getting behind it because the politicians aren’t doing it for you. People feel less represented and it comes out in the art.” Johnny Lloyd’s new album, Next Episode Starts In 15 Seconds, is out now and you can read a live review of his Picture House social gig at forgetoday.com
hit single ‘Baby You’re a Haunted House’ and, aside from making more music, he was able to pick up comic writing again by bringing back his Umbrella Academy series. 2019- The Umbrella Academy Comics were adapted into a Netflix original TV series which had over 45 million viewers within the first month of its release. The hit show has been renewed for a second season, which is likely to be back on our screens in 2020. In the summer, Joe Jonas shared
well needed after spending so many years together. They were all able to focus on their individual projects and passions while still giving us great music, comics and even a TV show - things we may not have seen if it wasn’t for the hiatus. MCR confirmed an LA show on 20 December which sold out instantaneously. They also recently added three tour dates at the iconic rock and metal Download Festivals across Australia and Japan. Unfortunately for UK fans, the returning four-piece have not added any UK or European dates. But with England being the origin of Download Festival and its already-huge lineup for 2020 (Kiss, Iron Maiden, System of a Down) we can only hope that My Chemical Romance will be added to the bill. The band aren’t strangers to working on tracks together as they have reconvened for collaborations over the past few years: Mikey Way played guitar for ‘Baby You’re a Haunted House’ and Ray and Gerard Way collabed for a cover of Turtles’ ‘Happy Together’. However, it may be a while before we see new music from MCR due to the pressure to get it right, especially with a huge original fanbase (the now grown-up emo generation) alongside a new era of listeners, all excited for the My Chemical Romance: Return.
My Chemical Romance will perform in LA on 20 December as well as at Download Festivals next year rumours on Twitter that he had seen the members My Chemical Romance all rehearsing together, a few months after The Jonas Brothers reunited from their own hiatus. MCR instantly shot these rumours down, but after the October reunion announcement we now know that what Joe saw may have well been true after all. Although many fans were heartbroken by the band’s split, it’s clear to see that the break was
Forge Fuse
Wednesday 20 November 2019
REVIEW The Twang: If Confronted, Just Go Mad
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Music FriNJE - an inside look into being a member of a jazz band in University
Tom Coates Music Contributor
Following the release of The Twang’s second album, Jewellery Quarter, in 2009 The Guardian claimed that it would be a miracle if the band made a third. They were one of the many publications to condemn them to failure, dismissing the Brummies as mere lad rockers with little in the way of substance or originality. This was deemed an injustice as they were an iconic group in the noughties. A miracle happened. In fact, The Twang have made it to a fifth album and their latest release is arguably their most mature effort. If Confronted Just Go Mad delivers an authentic Twang sound with a modern and dreamy gloss. Frontman Phil Etheridge is as poetic as ever, pouring his heart out in the honest and jangly pop tinged ‘Lovin State’. The fourth single, ‘It Feels Like (You’re Wasting My Time)’, takes fans back to the band’s early days with a melodic tone and shimmering guitar that would be at home on debut album Love It When I Feel Like This. The Twang are now a six-piece, with backing vocals provided by the female duo of Cat Mctigue and Rio Hellyer. Their influence is at its most noticeable in lead single ‘Everytime’, which sees Mctigue step into the limelight with Etheridge on the pop tune. Tailor-made for beer gardens in the summer, the reason for the single’s early release is evident. With a penchant for the unexpected, the band will have surprised fans with one track in particular. Their cover of The Blue Nile’s ‘Tinseltown In The Rain’ gives the obscure ode to Glasgow a Brummie facelift and a new sound that morphs the 1984 release into a modern day hit. Meanwhile, the sobering ‘Nothing Gets Better’ showcases the band at their emotional best, speaking from the heart with refreshing selfawareness. The song is rounded off with a verse from spoken word poet Polarbear, whose soothing words provide the perfect end to the album. They were built up and destroyed by an unforgiving media, and the sheer quality of their latest effort is a testament to the relentless determination of a band that have been underestimated and underrated for far too long.
INTERVIEW Dana Raer Music Editor
How did you find out about FriNJE? Joseph Williamson: “I only joined last year around November actually because one of the guitarists who was in it was in my course. I played the sax too, and he was like “I am in this band called FriNJE, you should join one Friday night” and I was like “Cool, looks good fun”. George Frost: “I was doing a lot of music before uni, but I wanted to find something sort of chill because the main uni band are all auditioned based and I just wanted to turn up and have fun so I found out about this band and joined FriNGE.” What benefits do you get from being in this band? Srijith Sreenivasan: “A lot of it is social aspect, you meet a lot of people who have similar interests like you in terms of music, like people doing similar courses with general interest in music as well. You also get the experience of doing gigs and actually have a unique experience trying to set up gigs, play them, learn how to interact in the band during a gig and dealing through the stress of that – which is fun, it definitely can be a bonding experience. Once you’re in a band and you’ve done your first gig you’ll be friends with all of the group afterwards, like in other rehearsals and things like that. How many times a week do you practice? Joseph: “Only once a week, on Friday,
7 until 9. Even though realistically it’s 7.30 until quarter past 9. Where do you usually play? Bungalows and Bears, Interval and then we’ve got a few odd ones: like weddings or society balls. When balls come, it’s like three days a week which is great fun, like we had occasions where we had one on Wednesday, one on Thursday and one on Friday. You have to organise all around those so you know that you can actually do it. And then there’s Interval on Monday. I think my favourite one is still going to be Bungalows and Bears, the Thursday before the exam period starts. You have to do it, you can’t miss it. Which is your favourite place to have a gig? All: Bungalows and Bears, it was the first one we did this year. We’ve never seen the place so busy, literally the entire area was full, you couldn’t move anywhere. And then when we cracked down the “South of the river”. The first time we’ve played that one, it was absolutely incredible. Any upcoming events? We’re doing the Christmas Bungalows and Bears which will be slightly different because we’ll be playing a few Christmas tunes. That’s on the 19th of December. Should have the next interval, which will be at the beginning of December. Do you have to audition to be in FriNJE? You don’t. You turn up, which is,
you know, part of the reason I joined it. There’s no stress involved, you just come in to play and there’s no pressure. You can do an impromptu if you want, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, which is quite nice. If, let’s say, a person who does not know how to play an instrument wants to learn how to play and join the band, is that possible? Um, theoretically they can come along, but there’s only so much our side can do. You can come along and enjoy the music. If you really want to start playing you can, but there’s only so much we can do. To come to gigs, it’s a professional thing. It’s a tough balance with it though. George: It’s weird, it’s all selfregulated because if people come along and they enjoy it, they’ll be back. You don’t need to audition for a gig. Joseph: Because we’re all so friendly, I think if you ask one of us to teach how to play an instrument, it can happen. Like if someone asks me how to play the sax, I will probably teach him George: if he paid. *all laugh* Do you think you have to be friends before joining a band? All: Definitely not. Srijith: I literally joined FriNJE in my first week, so initially I played the sax for a blues band, did not really play the sax because you don’t usually play the sax a lot in blues bands and then I went to FriNJE and I knew no one at all. It turned out to be quite good. You just sort of meet the people through the weeks and through different things that you
do. I usually ask the client what sort of music they’re looking for. With FriNJE we do classical jazz, we do swing, blues, quite a bit of funkwhich Is what I enjoy the most. From there, we have our own set lists. S: It’s also about adjusting and playing on the spot. Let’s say, we had Interval gigs where we initially thought it was going to be a bit quieter, then the next one you assume will be the same and when you start it the atmosphere actually build quicker than you’d think so you have to adjust your set according to the atmosphere. You don’t want to kill the mood by playing a quieter song – which is the fun part of it, gigs live action. Do you collaborate with the swing society? It’s more of an informal thing, they go anywhere they play jazz music and dance around a bit. We’ve sort of given them a discount as well. Good crowd. Favourite songs to play: S: Stuck between ‘Strasbourg’ – because it starts nice and chill, builds and then there are quite big solos and ‘The South of the river’ that Joseph wrote and arranged it. G: ‘Strasbourg’ as well, it’s really fun to play J: ‘The Chicken’, my best solos are on that’s song; the FriNJE arrangement; ‘Cool book’- in any gig that we played it was our last song and every player on the band will get a solo. Everyone gets their moment.
Images: Bungalows and Bears
Forge Fuse
Wednesday 20 November 2019
11
Catherine Lewis and Ash Williams Games Editors
Games
Hello, and welcome to the world of Games! That magical time of year has finally come around, it’s time for Pokémon Sword and Shield! To celebrate, we’ve held our very own Pokémon battle between all of the games so far, with the help of our contributors on Facebook. Take a look to see how your favourite fared. But of course, a new challenger
has entered the ring! At the time of writing this, Catherine has only just got her hands on Sword and Shield, and she’s very excited to share her first impressions. Be sure to look out for her review online in the coming days too. We also have a great opinion piece from one of our lovely contributors, Paige, who shares her thoughts on whether long games are a great thing or just plain overwhelming. Enjoy!
Is a long game really a good thing? OPINION Paige Cockbain Games Contributor
Is there anything better than a game so long you need to forgo sleep for several weeks to complete it? For some, apparently not. When it comes to long games, they’re definitely something I gravitate towards, but I can completely see why for many it might not be the case. For one, a lot of people like to play more casually, and when they do binge a game, they like it to be more around the length of, say, the most recent Spider-Man game - fantastic, contained, and a quick one to get under your belt. Completionists will have a hard time with a longer game, unless they’re willing to grind 200+ hours to complete all the side quests. Though, if I were being honest, I’ve spent longer on games without ever completing everything. Still, I do believe that is to my advantage. I am not a completionist however, and long games are my absolute saviour when it comes to gaming. I like to chase the main plot line, whilst still being able to pick and choose what side quests and missions to do. I am a sucker for good world-building, and a wide array of gameplay options. I want to spend so much time with my characters
that they actually mean something to me by the time the game is finished, so that I can look back on it fondly, feeling like I actually gained something from the game that is more than just: “I shot people with lasers and had fun.” Despite this, I know plenty of gamers who are completionists and who love long games for the same reasons. I suppose it all depends on what kind of person you are, and whether or not you have the attention span, or the drive, to devote yourself to the long haul.
I am not a completionist however, and long games are my absolute saviour I can think of games that could benefit being smaller, of course. For example, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was a very big game, and one you couldn’t really just power through at your own leisure. With the strange levelling system, you had to do a bunch of inane side quests to jump the three levels you needed to progress, and it really broke the immersion from the main plotline. It was a shame, considering how beautiful and wonderfully set the game is. In an attempt to really nail down a full and open setting, I feel
like it went a little too far. It’s fine for me as the main quests are always my goal, but it is a completionist’s nightmare and, I imagine, quite overwhelming. Exploring every inch of the entire Grecian world is a tall price to pay for wanting to Sparta kick the odd guy off a cliff. However, if I then compare it to The Witcher 3, I spent a good 200 hours or so without completing every quest - because I didn’t need to. I chased the side quests and contracts that I did because they were interesting, and full of life, but even so, the game itself was just long when you took into account the DLCs. And whether you destroyed your entire life because you decided to binge it, or whether you took your time with it, you came out the other side feeling like you’d spent years fighting those battles. Who knows, maybe you did spend years completing it. It was a completionist’s daydream in comparison to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey - there isn’t a bad quest in that game, and there aren’t too many of them, either. An example of long games being better is the fact that one of the most common things I’ve heard my friends say at the moment is that they wish The Outer Worlds was longer - that it ended too soon. It’s human nature to commit things to memory, and their hearts, over long periods of time. Just as you grow to
love people more, the same can be said of games. The human brain pops real and imagined memories into the same basket, so when you’re playing an RPG, the way your heart recalls it is as if you did those things. You were the one pouring hours and
If it’s actual substance, and not just fluff, the developers should be commended for it, especially a good story driven RPG, but that is not always the case skill into pressing those buttons and crafting those items, were you not?
You saved the world, well done! As such, in theory, the longer you spend playing that game, the stronger your bond with it will be. When I put it like that, I suppose the real cinch is the difference between a really long game, and a really big game. On both accounts, if it’s actual substance and not just fluff, the developers should be commended for it, especially a good story driven RPG, but that is not always the case. It is definitely a game by game situation for most people. Maybe The Outer Worlds was perfect for you because it wasn’t 300 hours long. And maybe big, long games overwhelm you. All I’ll say is that you should conquer those fears - the reward is often unparalleled. In this day and age, if you’re going to pay £70 for a game, let it be a saga to remember.
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Games Who’s the very best..?
Pokémon game battle! Over the years, the Pokémon games have been bringing joy into our lives in various different ways. But what better way to find out which region is the best than a BATTLE TO THE DEATH?! Just kidding! We asked our
Contributors group to vote for what their favourite region was, and here are the results, along with a piece for each game explaining the love for them! However, there’s a new foe entering the fray...
Ruby and Sapphire Ben Warner Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald were pivotal games in the Pokémon series, but they also marked a special point in many of our generation’s gaming experiences as the first Pokémon games they played. Nothing beats the magic of your first adventure through an exciting, thriving world with your cute axolotl companion. Hoenn’s aesthetic was fantastic; the whole region was
Black and White Harry Harrison Pokémon Black is the only Pokémon game I’ve ever played (aside from PokéPark 1 and 2 on the Wii). It was the first game I played essentially ‘online’ when you’d all connect in that weird area and trade Pokémon. I don’t really remember too much about the story but I do remember the feeling of relief when I finished it and the satisfaction my primary school
Red and Blue Danny Lardner I might be relatively alone in this view, but for me, the original Kanto region is unmatched across the entire Pokémon series. This, of course, goes hand in hand with the Red/Blue/Yellow and the Fire Red/Leaf Green games being the best versions released by Game Freak. Of course, I’d accept that my personal bias is intruding a fair bit - Leaf Green was the first
Diamond and Pearl Catherine Lewis You will literally never be able to convince me that the Sinnoh region games aren’t the best. Am I being blinded by nostalgia? Maybe. Do I care? Absolutely not. I think it’s a fairly objective matter that Sinnoh has the best music to grace any Pokémon game to date (but that’s a matter for the previous issue), but that aside, they introduced some of the coolest Pokémon designs,
vibrant and full of exciting areas, ranging from the vast expanse of sea, a city of treehouses, to a huge volcano. They also introduced the weather system, and seeing the world around you rain, snow, and experience scorching sun made it all feel that bit more alive. From growing your own berries, cooking up treats for your team, and entering Contests, these games let you connect with your Pokémon in a whole new way, and they’re brilliant.
including new evolutions for previously lackluster Pokémon (which I’m SO glad they’re reintroducing in Sword and Shield, more on that later). The region is so charming. I’ll never tire of the trek through the flowery fields of Floaroma, reading the books in Canalave Library, and trudging through the snow to the peak of Mt. Coronet. I’ve replayed these games more times than I can count, and it’s always just as magical. It doesn’t get better than this folks.
Gold and Silver Harry Cottle The majestic Johto region is by far the greatest the franchise has ever visited. It strikes the perfect balance of mysticism, represented by the Ruins of Alph, and modern, industrial cities, the two biggest connected by the high-tech magnet train. This conflict between the traditional and modern elevates Johto and makes your journey through it
brain enjoyed every time I foiled Team Plasma’s maniacal plans to “liberate” all Pokémon. I did grow very fond of the “run away” button every time a wild Pokémon tried to mug me though, mainly because I was rubbish at the game and didn’t really understand until later on that my Oshawott wasn’t effective against a tiny little Joltik.
X and Y Tom Buckland
Pokémon game I played, and I spent countless hours training my party to finally beat my older brother, although this would be a fruitless effort. But there has to be room to appreciate the original games - the trendsetters that made the Pokémon franchise so gargantuan. The original 151 Pokémon are also the best set, I don’t want any of this “Garbodor” nonsense from any of the last few generations.
Sun and Moon Zac Hickton-Jarvis
I know that Pokémon X and Y marked the downfall of Pokémon’s sense of challenge. Avid Pokémon fans found Kalos’ gyms and its Elite Four mere playthings compared to the likes of Cynthia (Sinnoh’s Champion). However, Kalos is absolutely breathtaking in its design. It’s clear (at least to me) that the European aesthetic was not only what inspired Kalos, Kalos
It is a crime to dislike the Alola region. It’s easily one of the most lively and vibrant regions in any Pokémon game. The designs and lore of the Pokémon themselves fit into the region itself so perfectly, it adds so much more depth to the whole game; everything feels like it belongs. Have you seen Komala?! How could anyone not like this sweet baby boy?
memorable. The legendaries are by far the best the series has seen; Ho-oh and Lugia both get beautiful towers whilst Celebi gets an ancient shine, all of which tie into the history of the region. The new Pokémon were a fantastic addition to the original 151 and contain some absolute icons such as Quagsire, Heracross and objectively the best Pokémon of all time, Ampharos. Finally, on top of Mt. Silver, the greatest trainer of all time awaits...
literally embodied the aesthetic. The world was, regardless of how easy I found my adventure, enough to keep me playing and enough to keep me engaged. From the fairytale-style Laverre City, to the glistening, wintery Snowbelle, X and Y had it all. If we’re looking specifically at regions, then I stand by the fact that Kalos was the prettiest region of them all.
The characters are also the most fleshed out and interesting people the games have seen to date; there’s actual character development to be seen! The replacement of HM moves with Ride Pokémon also helps the game flow so much smoother; you can explore anywhere much easier and not be limited by the Pokémon on your team. Overall, it’s a great game, and you should all be ashamed it’s at the bottom of this list.
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NEW CHALLENGER
Games
FIRST IMPRESSIONS Catherine Lewis Games Editor
This weekend, I finally got my hands on Pokémon Sword. The game hasn’t been out long at the time of writing, but here are my First Impressions! For me, new Pokémon are always by far the best and most exciting part of every new game, and Sword and Shield do NOT disappoint. It feels like every single area gives me at least two new Pokémon that just HAVE to be on my team; my only complaint is that there’s not enough room for them all! As well as completely new Pokémon, the Galarian forms, as well as Galarian Evolutions for older Pokémon (such as Sirfetch’d and Obstagoon), are all incredible, and it’s great seeing older Pokémon get extra love by getting a new lease of life with their new-found power. Something that’s really worked in favour of how exciting all these new guys are is the advertisement, or rather lack of, before the game came out. Sun and Moon infamously revealed pretty much every single new Pokémon before release, leaving little to be excited for. Sword and Shield have done the exact opposite, and each route is full of surprises. I very much recommend going in as blind as you can, because I’ve not had this much fun in a Pokémon game for a long time. For that reason, I don’t want to give any specifics away while writing
this, which is really difficult, but there are so many cute and clever designs, you’ll smile every time you encounter a new one. So far, this game is gorgeous, and the UK-inspired flare really shines through in the design of the region. The starting town is particularly beautiful, decorated with brightly coloured flowers and farmers’ fields (full of Wooloo rolling around). The Wild Area, a huge openworld space in the centre of the map, is equally very pretty, full of vastly different environments, such as an arid desert, lake areas, and of course, a grim, dreary, rainy one. They really nailed that last one. I’ve admittedly not got far enough yet to have experienced the real meat of the main story, so a lot of character development is still yet to happen and I can’t comment on that yet. Hop, your main rival, so far fits the mould of many recent rivals, being a lot more friendly and happy than the old-school edgy ones like Gary and Silver. He’s particularly reminiscent of Hau from Sun and Moon, which isn’t the best since they were the most recent games (and in my opinion, Hau did it better). The dialogue across all NPCs in the game is absolutely hilarious; they really went all out on incorporating UK dialect, which just looks really funny in a Pokémon game. Sidenote, but it’s also
incredibly amusing looking online at people’s reactions who don’t live in the UK, thinking some of the writing is either mis-translated or riddled with typos. Really makes you realise how ridiculous some of our dialect is, but god I love it. I briefly touched on the Wild Area earlier, but it’s basically a huge expanse full of Pokémon, including incredibly powerful ones. To stop people exploiting this, the game doesn’t let you catch Pokémon above a set level, which increases the more gym badges you get. However, you can fight them for huge EXP, which is still a little over-powered, but it’s your choice whether you want to do that or not. It’s so cool roaming through an area and seeing a really powerful, fully evolved Pokémon like Dusknoir just floating around, and thinking ‘I’ll be back for you someday’. You could argue that having rare Pokémon like that there reduces their value somewhat, but hey, it’s just so cool. In the Wild Area, there’s also Max-Raid Battles, where you play with three other people (or CPUs) to take down a Dynamaxed Pokémon. Dynamaxing is the new gimmick in Sword and Shield, which is basically making a Pokémon really massive, and consequently more powerful. It’s a simple concept, but the raid battles are really fun (and actually quite challenging at times), and honestly I just love seeing a really small, cute Pokémon become absolutely colossal. I’m
easily amused. Online and local communication battles and trades are dealt with by the Y-COMM. The Global Trade System is gone, which is definitely an inconvenience when it comes to filling out your Pokédex, as you’ll no longer be able to search for the Pokémon you want. The Y-COMM sends out ‘stamps,’ which appear on the left side of the screen when your friends and nearby players catch a Pokémon, evolve something, want to battle, and so on. There is, unfortunately, no way to turn off these stamps appearing, which can get very annoying, and can also spoil Pokémon you’ve not seen before if someone is further ahead in the game than you. There really needs to be an option to disable this. The cutest addition has to be Pokémon Camp, where you can set up a tent, play with your Pokémon, and cook curries. It really helps deepen your attachment to your little guys when you play fetch with them (especially with the really slow ones that take minutes to get across the screen, but bless them they’re trying). The curry cooking mini-game is also fun, although simple. It reminds me a lot of the Poffin making minigame in Diamond and Pearl, and that’s always a bonus in my books. I just wish we could still pet our Pokémon, especially now with JoyCon compatibility!
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Dan Cross and Josh Teggert Screen Editors
Screen
We’ve had a wet few weeks here but November is in full swing which means that many of us are now already gearing up for Christmas, such fun! However, those of you who are sensible and don’t start celebrating Christmas until a reasonable time, will be pleased to hear that this special Fuse edition of Forge Press doesn’t contain any
Christmas material from us (though the next issue will be packed with it, you have been warned). Instead, we have done a little research into all the cinemas in the local area to help you find the best one to brighten your rainy day. Josh has been to see Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman in cinema ahead of its Netflix release and contributor Rahul Warrier reviews the second series of The End of the F***ing World.
There’s nothing like the cinema to shelter you from the winter cold. We here at Screen happen to be very passionate about going to the cinema, so we’ve taken a look at all the Sheffield cinemas and analysed their best aspects, from student deals to general viewing comfort. So sit back, relax, and find the cinema that’s perfect for you.
VUE Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield S9 1EP
Meadowhall’s very own cinema, Vue, is your classic example of a shopping mall theatre: it’s big, it’s family friendly, and it’s cheap. With it being attached to the shopping complex just outside the city, a trip to the Vue makes for a nice sit-down chillout before, during or after a massive shopping spree. Fitted with 4K projectors and Digital Dolby Surround Sound in each of its 11 screens, Vue is a high
quality, reliable cinema showing all the major releases day in, day out. Admittedly, Vue is a little bit out of the way for a quick and easy trip out to the cinema for most students, but its placement in the shopping centre makes commuting a breeze. Furthermore, Vue is open the latest into the evening out of all the cinemas on average, so an outing here caters for convenience in ways not expected. What you spend on
travel, you will ultimately save on ticket prices. In an odd subversion of popular cinema policy, Vue actually charges less if you book online; tickets for a 2D screening of any film are just £4.99 each online - all day, every day - and 50p more if you book at the venue. No other big cinemas offer such affordable one-off tickets to see big films, which is likely due to Vue not having its own ‘Limitless’ or equivalent scheme. Vue is probably
best suited to those occasional or spontaneous visits with friends and family, as it’s certainly the best value for money for those who want to see a massive blockbuster from time to time in one of Sheffield’s biggest cinemas.
The Showroom Cinema, situated in the Workstation complex near the train station, is an independent cinema offering an enormous catalogue of films, special screenings and events for people of all ages. Showroom is Josh’s personal favourite cinema in Sheffield. The plethora of independent films shown across just four screens is phenomenal, and while regular dayto-day screenings are sacrificed as
a result, the panoramic nature of Showroom’s film schedule makes for an incredibly diverse plateau of films. Showroom endeavours to make sure that there is a platform for everyone’s art to be acknowledged, and therefore ensures that the films shown represent a vast range of filmmakers from varying backgrounds and influences. This has recently involved an abundance of features screened in celebration
of Black History Month. It’s also one of the few cinemas left to show certain films in 35mm, as most other cinemas now use exclusively digital projectors. This means you can get the highest quality experience in exactly the way the filmmakers intended it to be shown. As if the Showroom doesn’t have enough going for it, its ‘Cine 26’ scheme is a FREE membership for anyone 26 and under, whereby a ticket for any
film at any time costs just £4.50, and each visit collects you points which can be spent on either food, drinks or more tickets. It is also a host of Sheffield Doc/Fest, a yearly film festival celebrating documentary filmmaking from around the world. Showroom Cinema is one of the most exquisite cinemas in the area - certainly the most adaptable - and stands very high in our recommendation.
7
Total number of cinemas in Sheffield
The heart of our steel city Image: University of Sheffield
SHOWROOM 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
FILM UNIT University of Sheffield Students’ Union, Western Bank, S10 2TG
CINEWORLD Valley Centertainment, Broughton Ln, Sheffield S9 2EP
THE LIGHT The Moor, Sheffield S1 4PF
Right in the heart of the Students’ Union, Film Unit is an entirelyvolunteer run cinema that shows a wide array of movies. They’re central to student life with film showings every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - in addition to other one-off showings during the week. As you’d expect from a cinema inside a students’ union, there is only one screen but it’s about as close to university as you
can get. They’re also unique in that most showings are of films that have been out for a few months, allowing all you cinemagoers to catch a film you might have previously missed. They hold selections meetings once a semester and anyone can go along and suggest films - whilst trying to make sure they have a good mix of classics and genres. Tickets are available from the SU Box Office and online for only £3, but if you
get involved by volunteering at a showing for example, you can get to see films for free. As you might expect from a volunteer-ran cinema there’s no fancy membership type passes or ‘unlimited’ cards. However as part of the Students’ Union every pound of your ticket goes straight back into the running of the SU, benefitting you, the societies you might be involved with and your fellow students. It’s also worth
noting the special screenings and collaborations that Film Unit often do throughout the year. Examples of this include a ‘spooky screening’ with HorrorSoc during Halloween, or when they had Greg Sistero from cult classic The Room come and give a Q&A session - something we’ve definitely not seen at one of the mainstream cinemas in Sheffield.
Probably one of the country’s largest and most recognisable chains, Cineworld truly went all out with their Sheffield offering. It’s the largest Cineworld in the UK with 20 screens, including IMAX, a ViP experience and the 4DX immersive cinema experience. Arguably the most impressive cinema in terms of scale and sheer amount of things going on around it. Whether your looking to spend a little bit more
for a luxury screening of the latest blockbuster, or just buy a regular student ticket then it caters for all tastes and experiences. The large number of screens also means that there is usually a wide range of showings occuring at any one time; meaning that you’re less constricted into seeing certain screenings at different times of the day. Cineworld does however require a bit of travelling if you live in and around
the city centre - as most students do in Sheffield. This can often result in your viewing experience costing a little more overall with the travel cost and time added on top of the ticket price. The cheapest tram fair is available from the Students’ Union welcome desk for £3.70 which is often around half the price for the actual cinema ticket. On the other hand though being located in Valley Centertainment means there is so
much more to do once you’ve seen the latest blockbuster - bowling, laser quest, plethora of eating establishments so it’s really the best place to visit if you’re looking to make an afternoon or day of it. It’s also next to the Sheffield Arena meaning that if you were going to see an event anyway and had a few hours spare, then it might be worth hopping across to catch a film before your main event begins...
One of the newest cinemas in Sheffield, The Light opened in April 2017 as part of a new development in the city centre on The Moor. It can be described as ‘affordable luxury’ and is arguably the most allround indulgent cinema experience. The interior is fancy and modern, retro movie posters greet you as you ascend the escalator to the
and tables. They also offer so many little extras - for example there are the excellent mystery screenings where as expected you book a ticket without knowing what movie you’re about to see. This could range from an independent classic to seeing the latest blockbuster before anybody else. Student tickets are fairly priced at £7.95, which we feel is excellent
also in a great city centre location, within around 10-15 minutes walk from the University and connected to several student-running bus routes. The range of showings is also to be commended - in the lead up to the release of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, they showed a different Quentin Tarantino film each week. This is just one example
around Halloween, National Theatre LIVE performances and even an upcoming triple-bill of the latest Star Wars trilogy. The Light also take the lead on accessibility in cinemas, offering several autism-, dementiaand baby-friendly screenings. On top of all this, members can also vote in ‘You Choose Tuesdays’ where the winning film gets a return to the
Refurbished last year as part of Odeon’s nationwide scheme to revitalise some of their comparatively smaller branches as well as build some fresh ones, Sheffield’s Odeon Luxe is a swish, personal experience which offers one of the most comfortable viewing experiences in the city. Positioned near Arundel Gate, the Odeon Luxe is very easy to access, but it’s a lot smaller than expected for a brand
as large as Odeon. The screens are definitely not as sizeable as other places, but with each of its 10 screens fitted with Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound and luxury, leather reclining seats with tables, the experience is much more personal than you’d imagine. Sitting in the middle of the front row, for example, makes you feel like you’re perched in your own private screening, or at home in your cinema living room with your feet up. For
those wanting an even classier experience, Oscar’s Bar serves a range of wines and beers, perfect for the relaxed atmosphere. The Odeon Luxe is one of the cheapest franchise cinemas in Sheffield as well, with student tickets starting at just £6. You can also choose to go ‘Limitless’ for £17.99 a month and see ‘all the films you want, as often as you like’ which, being one of the largest chains in the country, is ideal
for when you’re not in Sheffield as it is valid in all other branches (except central London, which you have to pay £19.99 a month for). Keep an eye out also for Odeon’s ‘Screen Unseen’ Mondays, showing an unreleased film sometimes months before general viewing (the sister scheme ‘Scream Unseen’ is the same but with a spooky twist). Odeon is one of the most accessible, cheap, and all round comfortable cinemas to go to.
There may be some readers who are unfamiliar with this one. Curzon is one of Sheffield’s best-kept secrets, located down George Street just off the Sheffield High Street in the centre of town. The Grade II listed building it is now in was previously occupied by the Sheffield Banking Company. In terms of the amount of screens, Curzon has Sheffield’s least, containing just three. But this means that the films on show are
very carefully selected, ensuring only the best quality is shown. It tends to show smaller, independent films, namely the ones which larger chains often steer away from, so Curzon is a brilliant place to widen your cinema pallette and experience something you may not otherwise have gone for. The quality of cinema shown is matched by the Curzon’s elegant aesthetics, both inside and out, and a range of bars
in its vicinity including a rooftop terrace. What’s more, each of its three screens is fitted with Sony 4K projectors, the kind of specs that large chain cinemas use, ensuring the highest quality experience. The Curzon is also special for its student membership, aptly called ‘Curzon Student’. This is FREE to sign up to and offers a great range of perks such as cheap cinema tickets, special access events and other screenings
made especially for students. In essence, Curzon is a superb place for students to visit, and it’s something a little more quirky than your typical cinema experience.
cinema and all nine screens are fitted with luxury reclining seats
ODEON Arundel Gate, Sheffield S1 1DL
CURZON 16 George St, Sheffield S1 2PF
Screen
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value for the environment and quality you get. As mentioned it’s
but others we’ve noticed have been showing Shaun of the Dead
big screen.
Images: Josh Teggert except
Cineworld: Ben Sutherland Vue: N Chadwick Film Unit: Sheffield Students’ Union
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Screen REVIEW Film: The Irishman Josh Teggert Screen Editor
It’s been a long road to completion for Martin Scorsese in trying to adapt Charles Brandt’s book, I Heard You Paint Houses - though not as long as his 28-year struggle to get Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 theological fictitious novel, Silence, made into a film. But now, The Irishman has finally arrived onto the big screen… or small screen if you choose to wait until it’s released on Netflix on 27 November. What could be described as another one of Scorsese’s ‘passion projects’, The Irishman boasts a plethora of commendable qualities before the film has even began. It’s
9th
collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, their first sinvce 1995’s Casino
De Niro and Pacino’s fourth collaboration Image: Movie DB the ninth time Scorsese and Robert De Niro have collaborated, while it’s Scorsese’s first time directing Al Pacino, and it sees Goodfellas legend Joe Pesci quit retirement to play mafioso Russell Bufalino. It’s also written by Steven Zaillian, who won an Academy Award for his Schindler’s List screenplay. That’s quite a reputable bunch of filmmakers The Irishman has attached. The film follows the story of World
Robert De Niro in a peak De Niro performance Image: Movie DB
REVIEW TV: The End of The F***ing World, All4 Rahul Warrier Screen Contributor
It’s always tempting for producers to cash in on a successful first season, even if the risk of diluting the overall quality with a second season is strong. The End of the F****** World was released to a muted reception, but it evolved into a sparkling success once it hit Netflix. The captivating performances of Alex Lawther as James and Jessica Barden as Alyssa made the series an underrated must-watch. It was dark but also humorous, and that balance
210
minutes long, Scorsese’s longest film ever, followed by Casino and The Wolf of Wall Street, both at 180 minutes (3 hours)
was captured perfectly. With the open ending of James (apparently) sacrificing himself for Alyssa, it always left room for a sequel. If the show ended there, it would have been a perfect ending. The first series covered the entirety of Charles Forsman’s comics, upon which the series is based, meaning that writer Charlie Covell had a blank slate for the second series. However, they had to ensure that the dynamic of the show would evolve beyond the two stars, especially Alex, given his survival was in the air. While fans go into the show expecting to find out what happened at the beach, expectations are inverted when a new character is
2hrs 50mins 39 seconds Total runtime of series 2
War II veteran Frank ‘the Irishman’ Sheeran (De Niro), a hustler-hitman who worked with some of the 20th century’s most notorious figures in the post-war America organised crime scene. In short, The Irishman is a three-and-a-half-hour-long masterclass of a film which weaves its entangling storylines together as effortlessly as a needle guides its thread. With so many narratives going on at once, and each of the principal actors looking a different age at various points (thanks to de-aging technology), it’s a considerable achievement that The Irishman’s structure is so clear yet so cleverly intertwined. The extensive use of de-aging technology has paid off to significant degrees in Scorsese’s latest. This is truly the most extensive and meticulously detailed utilisation of the digital effect to date. De Niro, Pacino (as union leader Jimmy Hoffa) and Pesci are all equally convincing as their younger selves, though admittedly, it was rather amusing at one point watching what was meant to be a 30-or-so-year-
S2? Suppose it wasn’t the end of the world then. Image: Movie DB
introduced. Bonnie, played by Naomi Ackie, has had a troubled past - with her mother even forcing her to eat lipstick at one point. The initial focus on Bonnie lays the seeds of intrigue for the futures of Alyssa, and the show picks up from there. The trailer indicates Bonnie’s vendetta against Alyssa, and as it
old De Niro beat up another man with obvious elderly mannerisms. The three principal actors provide marvellous performances, supported by a similarly notable supporting cast, but it’s the exquisitely exposited relationships
The extensive use of de-aging technology has paid off to significant degrees between each and every character that makes The Irishman click. With such a lengthy run-time, Scorsese is able to delve deep into his story, sacrificing nothing in his ambition to portray the depth of these characters to the audience. Over the course of the film, empathy towards these morally ambiguous individuals only increases, which is a staple characteristic of most of Scorsese’s films. Here though, it’s something progresses you notice that season two is nicely tied into season one it’s a smooth progression. That leads into the larger themes of trauma that epitomise season two. Season one was all about the characters and how they dealt with the prospect of criminal punishment for the accidental murder. Season two is much more about the human aspect as Barden brings out the brashness of Alyssa with aplomb, however the pain from past experiences is also visible. Ackie, who is acting in the upcoming Star Wars movie, is equally impressive as a troubled teenager. What’s striking is the show’s lack of any grounding: it could belong to any era, any place. It’s dystopian setting matches the characters well. The videography is stunning, the soundtrack is reflective of the setting, and it adds to the aesthetic nature of this show.
unlike anything he’s ever done before; in allowing these actors to play their characters through their entire on-screen lives, it reinforces the honest, refined journey Scorsese is presenting. It’s also worth noting that The Irishman’s script is very funny; it has a certain warm yet dry humour to it, and it saves some moments to take a few stabs at controversial modern figures. Luxurious and grand, Martin Scorsese’s 24th film is nothing short of cinematic liquid gold. The Irishman is a slow-burning, immersive spectacle of a film which never feels as long as its 210 minute run-time at all; if anything, it’s easy to wish it had been longer. But as Frank so poignantly notes, “you don’t know how fast time goes by until you get there,” and with The Irishman, you can only treasure every second of it.
4 Number of Academy Award winners in The Irishman cast
The 20-minute episodes are concise, allowing for much more meaning to be explored Season one was packed with action, and by contrast season two is much more of a slow-burner. It allows for more reflection and understanding, however. The 20-minute episodes are concise, allowing for much more meaning to be explored. It could have been clumsy to pull off, but Covell manages to balance the different tones well. It’s dark, it’s violent, but there’s enough dry humour to keep the watcher wryly amused. That sums up the show best: it’s unique enough to hold its own. This season wraps the plotline much more quietly, but the impact is no different.
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Science & Tech
Beth Hanson and George Tuli Science & Tech Editors
Welcome back to Science and Tech! In this week’s issue we have a report by George on hackSheffield - a student-led hackathon run at the university involving over 160 students. This year’s event was a major success, including a spooky themed category. In other university news, scientists at the university have identified a protein
contributing to the development of cardiovascular disease. We also have a piece on the potential introduction of green licence plates for sustainable zero-emission vehicles to encourage more people to drive electric vehicles. George has given his mixed review on Adobe’s Photoshop launch for iPad - he plans on sticking to his MacBook for now. If you want to write about Science & Tech please contact us on: press. science@forgetoday.com
Student programming marathon returns for fifth year running George Tuli Science & Tech Editor
During the first weekend of November, hackSheffield, a student-led hackathon at the University of Sheffield, returning for its fifth year running, brought together 160 students for a 24-hour ‘programming marathon’. Across the two days, 37 teams comprising of one to four people competed in a series of challenges, turning their new and exciting ideas into reality. hackSheffield was founded nearly four years ago by a group of students who wanted to bring the official student hackathon league, Major League Hacking, to the Steel City. Since the first hackSheffield event, Sheffield’s ranking on the MLH leaderboard has increased significantly, from 20th in the Spring 2016 season to second in the 2016/17 season. In the 2019 Europe Major League Hacking rankings, the Sheffield team clocked in at fourth position. This year’s hackSheffield 5 was another major success, with a huge turnout and an impressive array of projects created over the weekend. A wide range of challenges, including “Spookiest Hack” ensured that everyone attending was able to find a category in which to participate. Jen Ollett, Design and Publicity Officer, said: “We always get some people who don’t present at the end or leave midway through, but we had one of the lowest drop-out rates we’ve ever seen this year. I think having a spooky theme that even the less experienced programmers could make something out of really helped.” First prize for “Best Hack” in the 2019 hackathon was awarded to “Piggy Bank”, a project based around a Raspberry Pi computer that uses a camera and AI to recognise coins dropped into a box. The aim of the project was to help users keep track
A team working on their project. Image: hackSheffield
of the coins they put into a piggy bank. Each member of the winning team was given a Raspberry Pi kit worth £90. The team in second place won Xiaomi Mi Band 4 fitness trackers, and the team in third place won Anker SoundCore mini bluetooth speakers. Of course, such an event requires careful planning and attention to detail. The team organised all the meals for the hackers, including drinks and a late-night pizza. A snack bar offered food and drink throughout the event, and there was a hot drinks station for tea and coffee — vital for making it through to the end! Quiet rooms were setup for participants to take a break from programming, and the whole second
floor of the building was turned into a sleeping area and furnished with air mattresses for anyone who needed to take a nap part-way through the hackathon. Although hackSheffield had some hardware of their own for the hackers to use, the event was run in partnership with MLH, who provided a hardware lab and other resources for participants. Sponsors of hackSheffield 5 set their own challenges and ran workshops throughout the 24 hours. One particularly popular challenge among participants was run by the Sheffield Artificial Intelligence Society. While many workshops were aimed at helping teams complete their projects, some
were more for relaxation, such as a salsa workshop, and slideshow karaoke, a fun way for attendees to practice their presentation skills. hackSheffield also ran a Discord server so participants could contact the committee and mentors for assistance with their projects. This year, the organisers decided to overhaul hackSheffield, rebranding with a new logo and website, and “streamlining” the behind-scenes setup. Ollett said that, for the team, “the hardest part is getting everything to come together into a successful event at the end. There are so many details that go into a successful hackathon, from food, to sponsors, to the merchandise.” The annual hackathon is set to return next year. Between the
main hackathons, hackSheffield organises smaller events and arranges trips to other hackathons throughout Europe. They invite you to stay tuned for information about their events by subscribing to their mailing list at hacksheffied.co/join.
Image: hackSheffield
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Science & Tech SMALL BYTES On this day
Beth Hanson Science & Tech Editor
1985: Windows 1.0 released
Image: Jakob Härter
Green and clean
The UK’s brand new strategy to fight climate change Paola Restuccia Science & Tech Contributor
Green licence plates for sustainable vehicles may be the future of the UK’s ongoing strategy to turbocharge the zeroemission revolution. With climate activists taking to the streets demanding more environmentally friendly policies, the Department for Transport announced the ‘green number plate’ scheme in mid-October. These flashy new number plates will only be used by zero-emission vehicles. They will come with perks such as financial incentives, including cheaper parking and the use of bus lanes to speed through traffic. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The UK is in the driving seat of global efforts to tackle vehicle emissions and
climate change and improve air quality, but we want to accelerate our progress.”
The UK is in the driving seat of global efforts to tackle vehicle emissions and climate change and improve air quality, but we want to accelerate our progress. The main goal is to make the general public aware of the increasing amount of electric vehicles and the perks drivers could receive, and therefore cause a surge in the sales of said vehicles. The Department for Transport said: “As the UK moves at pace
towards net-zero emissions, the initiative aims to raise awareness of the increasing number of zero tailpipe emission vehicles on UK roads.” Environmentally speaking, this decision contributes to the ‘Road to Zero Strategy’, set out by the Government to make electric vehicles the ideal form of transport in the country. Elizabeth Costa, senior director at the Behavioural Insights Team, said: “We think making the changing social norm noticeable will help encourage more of us to swap our cars for cleaner options.” However, many predict the scheme will fail. Incentives are still unclear, and up to the will of local authorities all over the UK. Some may not even take on the strategy. “There are no actual incentives specified to encourage the uptake
of electric vehicles,” said David Bailey, professor of Business Economics at the University of Birmingham. The scheme could also disrupt the bus and coach industry. Chief Executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, Graham Vidler, believes that if cars were to use bus lanes, it would increase their congestion and force people back to mostly non-electric vehicles. Similar schemes have been implemented in Norway and Germany, but are backed up by robust, attractive incentives, including modern charging infrastructure, rising subsidies, and free parking. The Department for Transport is trying to guide the public towards cleaner alternatives, but the green number plate scheme might not be enough.
Image: Marco Verch
In 1985, the first Microsoft Windows operating system was brought to the public. Despite taking steps to ensure usability and simplicity, Windows 1.0 was still penalised by critics for the high level of mouse input required. At the time, mouse use wasn’t commonplace, and performance issues on low-spec computer hardware made it difficult for customers to adopt. Despite its flaws, Windows 1.0 remains an essential piece of operating system development in Microsoft’s history.
1998: ISS launched
In 1998, the first module of the International Space Station was launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodromein Kazakhstan. It was named ‘Zarya’, meaning sunrise, to signify the international cooperation between Russia and the US during its funding and construction. As the first module, Zarya had a vital role in keeping the International Space Station on the correct orbit around Earth and generated substantial power from its two large solar panels. Currently, Zarya is only used for storage, as more specialised modules have been assembled and attached to the International Space Station.
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Science & Tech Sheffield scientists discover new treatment for cardiovascular diseases Eve Thomas Science & Tech Contributor
Scientists at the University of Sheffield have identified a protein contributing to the development of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular diseases affect the heart and blood vessels, and include coronary heart disease and blocked arteries. These can lead to heart attacks, strokes, heart defects, and arterial diseases. The discovery provides a new therapeutic target for treatment as it offers the long-awaited ‘missing link’ for understanding cell-specific expression in cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular diseases are caused by a build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries; these are called macrophages and are a subset of immune cells which take up surplus cholesterol. When there is too much cholesterol, these cells
mature into larger cholesterol-laden cells called foam cells which then accumulate, forming blockages in the arteries. This understanding has informed previous work regarding cardiovascular disease and its treatments. But now, Sheffield scientists have successfully identified a protein called Tribbles-1 (TRIB1), which controls the amount of cholesterol taken up by the foam cells. The study, published on Wednesday 30 October in Science Advances, found that the higher the levels of TRIB1, the higher the number of specific cholesterol uptake receptors. This means the foam cells take up more cholesterol. Therefore, the more TRIB1 protein an individual has, the higher their risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Findings from the study suggest that inhibiting TRIB1 in macrophages could be an option for
treating cardiovascular diseases. However, interest in the topic is not new; there has long been a desire to identify the proteins regulated by TRIB1 and to understand how this affects the body and, specifically, the arteries. It has previously been unclear as to whether they are of benefit or detriment to disease development. The study’s clarification will provide opportunities for future work and the eventual development of treatment. Dr Jessica Johnston is from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease (IICD) at the University of Sheffield. Her PhD research focused on the project, and she is the first author of the study. Commenting on the findings of her work, she said: “The role of TRIB1 in macrophages has remained elusive for some time. Our research provides the missing link and highlights the importance of cellspecific expression in cardiovascular disease… I am extremely proud that our collaborative efforts have resulted in these findings.” Leading the study was Professor
Endre Kiss-Toth, also from the Department of IICD. He said: “Studying the genetics of cardiovascular disease in large human populations has revealed that TRIB1 contributes to its development… However, this is the first time that its role in immune cells has been directly addressed, thus uncovering a new mechanism by which arterial disease develops… The research into this mechanism has not yet been translated into novel medical interventions. However we now have pre-clinical proof that it would be beneficial to
build on this research.” Also speaking on the study, Professor Alison Goodall from the University of Leicester, said: “We were delighted to be able to support the study with data from our large cohorts of human subjects, to demonstrate the links between TRIB1 and cholesterol uptake in humans.” The results of the study are hopeful, providing crucial information for the development of a viable therapeutic treatment for cardiovascular disease.
Adobe finally launches Photoshop for iPad George Tuli explores the new Creative Cloud app George Tuli Science & Tech Editor
At the beginning of November, Adobe finally launched Photoshop for iPad, a year after announcing plans to bring its photo editing app to Apple’s line of tablets. The app is designed to be heavily integrated with the desktop version, letting users open and edit PSDs on their iPad, and work with layered documents. I downloaded Photoshop from the App Store on launch day to get a feel for how it compared with the desktop app. On opening the app I was met with an instantly familiar layout, the toolbar handily positioned on the left, and the layers panel on the right. Before continuing, I decided to follow the ‘see what’s new’ tour to learn my way around. A popup informed me that all work is automatically saved to the Cloud — helpful for starting a project on the go on my iPad, and finishing it on my Mac later in the day. For editing layers, the panel has three main buttons. The first brings up a simplified layers view, which is easier to use on a touch-based platform. Masks are denoted by a
semicircle badge, and swiping on those layers brings up the mask editor. A second button brings up a more detailed layers view, akin to that of the desktop version, and the final button lets you edit layer properties such as opacity and blend mode. The left side of the screen is home to a selection of tools used for image manipulation. Eleven are displayed at first, and I recognised many of these tools from their icons, most of which haven’t changed since the first release of Photoshop in 1990, so anyone using the iPad app for the first time will instantly feel at home. Choosing the right tool feels intuitive. For instance, when I select the brush tool, a set of options appears next to the toolbar letting me adjust the brush colour, size, opacity, and hardness. This menu can be extended to offer even more brush options. However, the iPad app’s toolset is far from complete. This version of Photoshop has the capacity for minimal edits using only the very basic tools, although when used properly, the results can still be impressive. Other photo editing apps for iPad have set the bar high. Affinity Photo from Serif has all the
Image: George Tuli
features of its desktop counterpart, including working in any colour space, HDR merge, and channel mixers — features that editing professionals consider essential. Photoshop is only available to Adobe’s Creative Cloud customers, putting many consumers off. Again,
Serif has the edge on Adobe, selling its apps as a one-time purchase. Adobe has plans to expand Photoshop for iPad’s capability, bringing it closer to the desktop version. Speaking to The Verge, Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Product Officer, said: “We’re not going to try
to get 30 years of features and unload them on a brand new customer, on a brand new platform, from day one. Instead, we’re going to rethink the evolution of some of these features.” For now, there’s work to be done, but Photoshop for iPad is finally here.
Listings Arts
Music
Games
Screen
Sheffield Modern Multiple Locations 22-24 November
Happy Mondays O2 Academy 22 November
Sparklite PC, PS4, XBO, Switch 14 November
The Crown (Season 3) Netflix 17 November
After the success of last year, architecture festival Sheffield Modern is back with a programme revolving around social housing and the return to the workshop, inspired by the influential Bauhaus art school. The festival aims to get people looking and thinking about the city through exhibitions, talks, walks, workshops, installations and film screenings.
The rock band from Salford are heading back to Sheffield after they performed at Tramlines in the summer. Happy Mondays were formed in the 80s and heavily contributed to the rise of the Madchester genre. They will be performing all their greatest hits to the swarm of dedicated fans as well as the new listeners that came with their album The Early EP’s that remastered their original hits
Recently arrived on all main platforms is Sparklite, an indie rogue-lite adventure game with a pretty pixel-art style. You play as a young girl named Ada, accompanied by your loyal robot companion, Wingnut. The whole game is bursting with charm; the music is incredibly beautiful, and the artstyle is gorgeous. This isn’t a game you’ll want to miss, but if you want to read more about it, check out our review for it online.
Olivia Colman (Peep Show, Broadchurch) has inherited the reigns (get it) as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s lavishly expensive royal biopic. Season 3 (and subsequent season 4) will follow the royal family from the 1960s to the late 1970s and show-runner Peter Morgan confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that this new season will focus more on Charles and Camilla, as well as the breakdown as the marriage of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden.
Coldplay: Everyday Life Album 22 November
Pokémon Sword & Shield Switch 15 November
The band’s 8th studio album sees the boys return with a two disc, double album this time around. With the singles ‘Orphans’ and ‘Arabesque’ released over the past few months, Coldplay have described the new album as experimental.
The Pokémon series’ latest installment has arrived on Switch, packed with new Pokémon, and filled to the seams with new places to explore in the UK-inspired Galar region. Get ready to experience the power of Dynamax Pokémon, by working together with friends to take them down in Max Raid Battles. Choose between the starter Pokémon, Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, and prepare to start your adventure in a whole new world.
Nude Life Drawing Coffee Revolution 27 November Nude Life Drawing is back at Coffee Revs after the huge success of last month’s event. Included in the ticket is a choice of a drink and a cake before the workshop starts. The event includes five-minute sketches to quickly interpret the model’s form, as well as focusing on longer poses where students are encouraged to experiment with different mediums such as charcoal and felt pen. An Arts Contributor, Sarah Cornford said about the event: “the evening session proved a lovely way to wind down after a long day at university. Whilst drawing, the stresses of day-to-day life fade away, as you concentrate on what you’re creating in front of you.”
Guys and Dolls The Lyceum Theatre 7 December - 18 January The classic musical from Frank Loesser is coming to bring the humourous and energetic story to Sheffield this winter. Set in the Depression-era New York City, the musical explores the love story of an unlikely pairing. As well as the presence of gambling and betting, this romantic comedy shows the sometimes painfully long process of falling in love and trying to win over a ‘doll’. The show is full of well-loved tunes, including ‘Luck be a Lady’ and the comedic ‘Adelaide’s Lament’.
GAZE: A Retrospective of Portraits Graves Gallery Until 15 February Lorna May Wadsworth is one of Sheffield’s real artistic success stories. Having forged a remarkable career with her acclaimed portraits of sitters from the worlds of politics, entertainment and beyond, she has returned to her home city for a retrospective exhibition at the Graves Gallery. The exhibition will showcase over 100 of her most striking images, including portraits of actors David Tennant and Derek Jacobi, filmmaker Richard Curtis, author Neil Gaiman, and former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher.
Fontaines D.C The Leadmill 23 November Fontaines D.C. are a five piece pop-punk band from Ireland. Their debut album Dogrel was released in 2019 and have been rising through the ranks ever since. Expect a boisterous crowd as the crowd rock out to their punchy tracks ‘Boys in the Better Land’ and ‘Too Real’.
YUNGBLUD O2 Academy 29 November Doncaster export YUNGBLUD made his claim to fame last year with his album 21st Century Liability and has since had collaborations with Halsey, Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and Machine Gun Kelly. He is heading to Sheffield, close to his hometown for local fans, for his sold out, headline tour.
Lewis Capaldi O2 Academy 3 December The Scottish singer songwriter is headlining the O2 Academy this December with support from BBC introducing artist Grace Carter. Expect to hear sad pop classics such as ‘Someone You Loved’, ‘Grace’ and ‘Lost on You’ with Lewis’ infamous humour in between.
Liam Payne: LP1 LP Album 6 December The lead up to the former One Direction member’s debut solo EP saw the release of multiple singles including ‘Strip That Down’, ‘Get Low’, ‘Polaroid’, ‘Familiar’ and fan favourite ‘Stack it Up’. He described the album inspiration as all of his experiences over the past few years, good and bad.
Google Stadia 19 November Streaming is here! (Sort of.) While the service itself doesn’t launch as a free tier until 2020, people who pre-ordered the Founder’s or Premiere editions of Stadia (might) get the chance to start getting underway very soon. Google’s emphasis on buying games on Stadia, rather than using a subscription equivalent like PlayStation Now or Microsoft’s upcoming xCloud service, it makes Stadia’s soft-launch a very interesting prospect.
Shenmue 3 PC, PS4 19 November Shenmue fans everywhere can rejoice in the fact that they finally have a new game in the series. Continuing on from where the last game left off , Shenmue III aims to deliver an updated take on the series’ staple formula that will live up to fans’ expectations. As one of the highest funded projects on Kickstarter, unveiled during Sony’s legendary E3 2015 conference, there’s a lot riding on this game.
Football Manager 2020 PC 19 November Are you ready to devote another 300+ hours to getting Scunthorpe United to the Champions League? FM20 is set to have important quality of life features and brand new additions to make that “one more match” feeling grow stronger and stronger.
Reggie in China BBC 2, BBC iPlayer 17 November Reggie Yates travels to China and visits four very different cities. His first stop is Shenzhen, which over the past 40 years has grown from a region dominated by fishing and farmland to a bustling metropolis that is home to 12 million people and at the centre of the country’s technological revolution.
Rick and Morty E4 20 November UK viewers were initially going to have to wait until 2020 to catch a glimpse of Rick and Morty’s latest adventures, but the demand has been so huge that the show’s air date has been moved to this week. As part of a new deal between Channel 4 and the show’s original network in the US (Adult Swim), the animated comedy is moving from Netflix to the UK broadcaster for season 4. New guest stars confirmed for this season include Taika Waititi, Paul Giamatti and Kathleen Turner. Don’t worry though as Adult Swim had previously renewed the show for another 70 episodes so we’re likely to see this Grandfather/Grandson duo long into the next decade...
Frozen 2 Cinema 22 November It’s been almost six years but Anna and Elsa are back in this highly-anticipated Disney sequel. The pair leave Arendelle to travel to an enchanted land in search of the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom.
Charlie’s Angels Cinema 29 November Staring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinsk, director Elizabeth Banks takes the helm as the next generation of fearless Charlie’s Angels take flight. In this action comedy film, the Angels are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally.
t h g i N e h t m i a l c e R
Saturday 23rd November 2019 Meet at the cathedral at 6pm to march through town followed by a rally on the SU Concourse at 7pm
t s n i a g A s y a D 16 Gendered ViolencDeecember 25th November - 10th
You can find the programme here:
sheffieldsu.com/ 16daysagainstgenderedviolence Women’s Officer
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Spotlight
What’s On
Wednesday 20 November - Wednesday 27 November
16 Days against Gendered Violence The 25 November to the 6 December follows the international UN campaign ‘16 Days Against Gendered Violence’ to challenge violence against women and girls. Here are some of the events the SU will be holding!
Reclaim the Night
Sheffield Cathedral, 23 November 6.00pm
An annual march with a UN initiative that protests against gendered violence in society. One in three women are victims of gendered violence. The march focuses on the importance of intersectionality, as the rates of violence against coloured and trans women are even higher. The march is open to all women (cis, trans and nonbinary) and rallies to raise awareness of gendered violence and empower women, to reclaim the streets of Sheffield.
State Violence against Women Gallery Room 2, 5 December 5.00-6.00pm Deborah Coles, a trustee of Women in Prison and Executive Director of INQUEST, will be speaking about the experiences of women at the hands of the state and the injustices women continue to face. Don’t miss this interesting and inspiring talk.
Crookes Carols
St Thomas Crookes Church, 8 December 6.00-7.30pm Feeling Christmasy? Come along to St Thomas Crookes Church to embody the Christmas spirit with a great service, a lovely, welcoming community, mince pies and mulled wine.
Pop Tarts: Superheroes, Supporting Sheffield Marrow
SU Foundry, 23 November 11.30pm-3.30am
Boogie your saturday night away with some non-stop retro pop! Make sure to donate £1 to Sheffield Marrow, supporting the Charity Anthony Nolan to help those living with blood cancer. The night is also superhero themed, so grab your masks and capes!
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Spotlight
Society Spotlight Getting to know...
Ben Warner Editor-in-Chief
If you went to school in the United Kingdom, you more than likely remember those wet days in PE when the teachers decided it was too wet to brave going out and playing on the field, so you were stuck inside playing a variety of games – up and down the country, you often ended up playing benchball. During those dark winters before the climate crisis it felt like you ended up stuck in the sports hall about three times a week, and you ended up playing games like benchball more than anything else. A group of students haven’t been able to let go of this teenage nostalgia, and every week head down to Goodwin as part of the Benchball Society, reliving some of that childhood wonder as well as making new friends. We caught up with them for a chat about why
Benchball
people should come get involved. For those of you who don’t know what benchball is, it’s a game with two teams, where a member from each stands on a bench at the opposite end of the court to their teammates. They try to catch the ball, and if they do they can be joined by their teammate; the first team with all their members on the bench is the winner.
Sport is seen as something you have to be good at, it isn’t always geared towards being an inclusive thing for everyone “[People should come join in] because it’s so accessible,” said Jack Moore, one of the men’s captains. “Sometimes sport is seen as
something you have to be good at, it isn’t always geared towards being an inclusive thing for everyone, whereas with benchball being such a combination between a sport and a society, it means that regardless of whether you’ve played sport your whole life or if coming to university is the first time you’ve played sport, it’s something for you to try.” The president, Johnny Deacon, adds: “It’s a very diverse mix of people as well – our members range from an 18-year-old from Solihull to a 29-year-old from India.” Benchball doesn’t have trials for whether people can join in, and they say they mix the teams up every week so you get to know everyone when you go along to the sessions. Sheffield is one of just five universities to have a benchball team in the UK, and they’ve all started meeting up for a national Varsity. Last year it was held in Birmingham, but this year it’ll be heading to
Sheffield, hosted at Goodwin. The national Varsity represents their only competitive fixture as a club, and means that they can spend much of their time collaborating
One of our main ideologies as it were is to be inclusive and the way to do that is to be collborative and meet new people with other societies, including a huge event alongside CoppaFeel! (pictured). Benchball Society are classed as Social Sport, meaning anyone is welcome to head down and join in with a session at Goodwin Sports Centre for £2.50 per session. “There’s zero commitment to staying on, so if you come and you
absolutely hate it and don’t like travelling back into the past, you don’t have to come again,” said Johnny. “We do nights out every other week on a Wednesday, and every week it’s a different theme,” said Emily Files, one of the women’s captains. However, it’s clear to see one of the things they pride themselves on most of all is their collaborative efforts. “I think one of our main ideologies as it were is to be inclusive, and the way to do that is to be collaborative because you meet people you just never would through just the normal Facebook, Freshers fair, because they may not have noticed or gone to your area,” says Annie Walter, VicePresident. If you’re ever in the mood for some childhood nostalgia, head down to Goodwin every Sunday at 12.00pm and rediscover benchball.
The society during their collab with CoppaFeel! Image: Benchball Society
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Lifestyle
Em Evans & Taylor Ogle Lifestyle Editors
In the run-up to the Christmas period, getting excited about organising getaways is something that happens to all of us. So, to make you all the more eager, we have a piece on the top three places to visit during the festive season, with tips of where to go to keep your visit student-friendly. To keep the winter theme going, check out Julia’s article on how to keep your skin glowing in the cold
weather. It’s so common that our skin can feel dry and get easily irritated, so if you’re one of those people, give it a read to make sure that doesn’t happen to you this winter. Chatsworth House is known to be particularly wonderful all year round but they’re hosting some events this winter that will definitely be worth being a part of. Check out Hannah’s review of the stately home to inspire you to take a visit there sometime soon.
Must-see places over the festive season As the Christmas theme begins to emerge in our favourite cities and towns, there is no better time to explore somewhere new. Check out where the best places are to visit in the UK across the winter period, and must-do activities in each place! EDINBURGH Edinburgh makes for the perfect place to visit in the colder months. From the beautiful scenery to the friendly locals, the Scottish capital is ideal for a quick winter break or to ring in the New Year. Visiting Edinburgh for the New Year brings its own perks, with the Scottish celebration of Hogmanay. Lasting from 30 December until New Year’s Day, Hogmanay boasts a huge range of both free and ticketed events, with DJs and performers journeying to Edinburgh from all over the world. Flying to Edinburgh can be as
YORK York is the perfect city for a winter
cheap as £25 return, and while it’s probably the most budget-friendly option, there’s nothing quite as simple as hopping on a train. Whether you want to stay in an apartment or have the assurance that someone will be there to make your bed for you, Edinburgh has plenty to offer, ranging from hostels to the affordable Hub hotels by Premier Inn. The beauty of Edinburgh is that the best things to see are free. The Christmas Market becomes the centrepiece for a festive visit and an ideal place to buy some last minute presents or grab a
New Year’s drink. Arthur’s Seat looms over the city, with stunning views of Edinburgh Castle as reward for a chilly hike. Whether or not you decide to pay the entry fee to go into the Castle, it’s the perfect ending to a walk along the Royal Mile. The Scottish National Galleries and Museums come into their own when needing an escape from the cold weather. My personal favourites are the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and The Writers’ Museum. Besides the typical restaurants you’d expect in a capital city, there are many standouts. Makars Gourmet Mash
Bar is an amazing place to try your first meat or veggie Haggis, and @Pizza is another favourite. Both
prove to be very popular for their affordability and unique dining. Contribution by Olivia Hutton
day trip, and certainly possible on a student budget. York is steeped in history, so heading to the city
walls to get a view of the city from a unique perspective is definitely recommended. Here you’ll get the best glimpse of York’s minster,
shops. If that doesn’t sound up your street then don’t worry, from tucked-away gin bars to tea rooms, independent shops to delicious
Christmas events and markets in York are bound to be a little quieter than those in other cities, so head here to beat the queues and
it, while still having that magical Christmas feeling without spending a penny. Art, planet and Christmas enthusiasts alike will love it here. Year after year, Carnaby Street doesn’t disappoint. After a walk through Carnaby, head to Trafalgar Square. Throughout December more than 40 different choir groups join to spread their angelic voices to raise money for charity. The unmissable experience of looking onto the famous Christmas tree of the square - an annual gift
from Norway since 1947 - as the carols ring out across London is a historic tradition. A small optional donation to the charity is a cheap price to pay for such an amazing experience. To end your night, lined up along the South Bank is a miniature village of cozy wooden chalets selling handmade crafts and sweet treats at one of London’s many Christmas markets. Take a free stroll through the magical spectacle of lights, trees and Christmas decorations, with a
spiced mulled wine in hand. There is undoubtable something weirdly comforting in being wrapped up, viewing London in all its beauty, and soaking up the atmosphere a Christmas market can give. If you’ve never been to London before, this is certainly the time of year to visit. Contribution by Pippa Coleshill
and this is a great starting point for your visit. With a beautiful old, central town, this city really has something for everyone. Harry Potter fans will be sure to want to visit the famous Shambles, often thought of as the real-life inspiration for Diagon Alley, where you can buy potions, have pictures with broomsticks and even pick out your own wand from one of the many Harry Potter
LONDON We all know the cliché commercial Christmas traditions of Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, The Nutcracker on stage, and the wonders of Harrods. It’s hard to not get sucked up into these bank breaking excursions but, that ‘festive feeling’ can still be found whilst looking after a student bank balance. To start off your night, head to Carnaby Street. This year the street is set to be lit up with an ocean
theme, following the increasing concern about our rising oceans. A sustainable light installation has been designed with the ocean conservation charity Project 0. An amble through this version of Winter Wonderland, created with recycled bottles, repurposed fishing nets, and model sea creatures attaches an important conservation message to the ‘One Ocean One Planet’ display. The spectacle encourages an appreciation of our planet and the imperative need to protect
bakeries, whatever it is that you’re looking for, York has it. Plan your visit for between 14 November and 22 December to take advantage of York’s Christmas Festival, awarded Best Large Speciality Market in February 2019. All of the best components of a Christmas market can be found here as well as often being full of carol singers, shows, beautiful Christmas lights and much more. What’s more,
still be in the heart of an utterly festive experience. To finish off your daytrip, if you’re looking for somewhere a little different for dinner or drinks, head to Spark, home to many bars and street food stalls made from shipping containers giving it a quirky vibe and definitely worth a visit. Contriubtion by Aimee Cooper
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Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Lifestyle
My lifestyle changes since becoming vegan
Five years ago I familiarised my fifteen-year-old self with the advantages of a plantbased diet and decided that becoming vegan was the best thing for me to do... Weronika Wawrzuta Lifestyle Contributor
I stopped consuming animal products and I honestly felt utterly thrilled about it. My experience of following a vegan diet has brought so many positive outcomes besides the health benefits which, undoubtedly, are desired by many. The first thing I discovered after deciding to make a change was my eating habits improved and I gained more energy throughout the day. I also found my once problematic skin had finally become glowy and soft, which was impossible to maintain before.
However, one hurdle I faced when adopting a vegan lifestyle, and one to bare in mind for those thinking of transitioning, was that I became anaemic. During a very tough moment of my life, I found it hard to keep an eye on my nutrition and I struggled to manage stress levels. Nevertheless, with the right eating plan and supplementation I happily recovered. Within my veganism, I’ve made sure to stay attentive to my iron levels and they’ve been under control ever since. I love to try out new recipes
and discover delicious and healthy plant-based meals. You certainly do not need to be strict when it comes to considering transforming your diet - it can be a slow, gradual process if that suits you better. It is best to not pressure yourself at the beginning of the transition, and allow mistakes to happen. But, most importantly, it helps to remind yourself that your diet choice is making a significant change to the world. A great way to start is by giving this delicious recipe a go! It is particularly beneficial as the cold weather draws in and we begin to
crave warm comfort-food. This is a recipe for the perfect autumnal evening - aubergine and chickpea curried stew: Ingredients: 200g of chickpeas 2 finely sliced onions 5 crushed garlic cloves 2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes Olive oil 3 medium chopped aubergines Salt and pepper 1tsp of curry powder, turmeric and sweet paprika 1 can of vegetable broth
Method: Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat and fry the onions for 7 mins until they begin to soften. Add garlic, curry powder, turmeric and sweet paprika and stir till combined Stir in the chickpeas, aubergines, chopped tomatoes and a can of vegetable broth. Cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat on low and cook for an hour until the vegetables become tender. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!
How to best look after your skin in winter
Our skin is just as important as any other organ in our body, so knowing how to look after it is vital. It can help us to recognise when something might be wrong. Even if not for health purposes, keeping our skin healthy and moisturised can just makes us feel that bit more comfortable when fighting the elements. Julia Kearns Lifestyle Contributor
It’s common knowledge that as the days get colder and the air gets drier, our skin begins to suffer. It can help us to recognise when something might be wrong. Where is it that so many of us are going wrong winter after winter? For one, even though it doesn’t feel like we need as much of it in winter, we need water! Hydration is so important for so many aspects of our health, the skin included. Without proper hydration your skin will become dry and uncomfortable, and even risk causing skin conditions such as eczema. However, dry skin can be caused by a lot of other rookie mistakes we make, such as licking our lips to give them hydration – when
actually it does the opposite! A personal recommendation of a good lip balm to stop doing this is Burt’s Bees Moisturising Lip Balm. Hotter showers are also another cause of dry skin. Whilst they do feel amazing, they can cause further irritation by damaging the cells on the outermost layer of the skin, stopping them from being able to lock in moisture. Instead, have cooler showers or baths which are great for helping you hydrate. Luckily, there are plenty of things we can do to treat our skin to make it feel smooth and soft. For one, moisturisers and lotions are designed to help rehydrate your skin so finding good face, lip, hand and body creams is important. A good recommendation for hand cream is Neal’s Yard’s Geranium and Orange Hand Cream; not only does it smell lovely but it is also made up of a thicker consistency which is what is advised to use in winter
to make up for the dry air. Using cream-based cleansers is another really good example of achieving this. Some great choices for this are The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Cream Cleanser or No 7’s Radiant Results Nourishing Cleansing Lotion – both have heavier formulas which are
If you have acne prone skin then try to avoid skin care products with salicylic acid in, as too much can irritate and dry the skin likely to keep your face moisturised for longer. Reducing dry skin can also help with anyone trying to apply foundation, as a dry face will create problems with application, whilst bearing that in mind what you use
to put on and take off makeup. A great cleanser is Lush’s Ultrabland Facial Cleanser: the beeswax used in it makes it very gentle to take off and will prevent irritation. Whilst dry skin is a problem which many people face in winter, there are other areas that are still important, but sometimes get forgotten. For example, looking for products with SPF in them is still crucial. Even though we stop getting that warm sun for 12 hours a day, it’s still important to use SPF to protect our skin. Whilst it is known for protecting us from UV rays it also has other benefits such as antiaging. If you’re finding that moisturisers and other skin products are not helping, don’t fret! The air becomes much drier in winter so having a humidifier in your house will add moisture back into the air and into your skin. Avoiding harsh facial washes or toners can also
help as they might contain harsh chemicals that will dry your skin out, try switching these out for lighter versions to see if you notice a difference. If you have acne prone skin then try to avoid skin care products with salicylic acid in, as too much can irritate and dry the skin. Coconut oil is a favourite product for many yet this product can cause blocked pores which result in breakouts. If you feel like any part of your routine is drying
out your skin then don’t be afraid to swap it out for something different, little things like these can make all the difference!
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Lifestyle
Essential cold weather wardrobe pieces Taylor Ogle Lifestyle Editor
Negotiating seasonal fashion trends with sustainability in mind can be difficult, but the exploration of techniques such as capsule wardrobes can be helpful. Creating a capsule wardrobe consists of rotating key pieces of clothing and reliable accessories and shoes that can be worn from season to season and across the years. However, staple items in the spring and summer will be vastly different from the keystone autumn and winter pieces. Here we’ve outlined five timeless wardrobe additions that will give your autumn and winter wardrobe that extra oomph. 1. A Reliable Knit Jumper Layering is essential in the colder months and what better piece to top off an outfit than your favourite trusty jumper. Local charity shops and vintage clothing stores are a great place to find a gem of a jumper. There’s a huge range of styles and textures to choose from as well, which means there is loads
of room for personal expression. From a chunky cable-knit to an eyecatching patterned vintage pieces, there are a million options out there.
sites like Depop and eBay can be good places to look for a cheap (and environmentally-friendly) pair of good boots.
2. Weather-Proof Boots It’s easy to be enticed by flash sales on ASOS for adorable heeled boots or patterned loafers, but investing in a pair of weather resistant and comfortable boots is an essential. Sheffield’s hills can be unforgiving and England’s weather is unpredictable at best. You don’t want to get caught out in the rain or snow in sopping wet trainers. Online
3. Statement Trousers Classic denim jeans are a wardrobe staple, of course, but having a go-to pair of colorful or patterned trousers can shake up any outfit. Statement trousers can be a great way to combine textures and patterns across your outfit to give it more depth. Corduroy, for example, is a versatile material that offers texture as well as warmth. Patterned high-
waisted denim jeans are another route to take for a head-turning addition to a capsule wardrobe. 4. Colorful Long-Sleeve Tops Owning a good stock of uniform long-sleeve tops can be a life-saver in the colder months of the year. They make layering warm outfits easier and keep you nice and cosy. This is another great piece to keep an eye out for in charity-shops as there are often loads of different kinds available. Turtleneck tops shouldn’t be underestimated as they’re great to wear either with a simple pair of
jeans or layer beneath a pinafore or playsuit. 5. Black Dungarees Dungarees, both denim and otherwise, have made a massive comeback in the past few years, and this isn’t without good reason. They’re simple to style and perfect for layering with any kind of jumper or top. These are a kind of staple piece of which you only really need one, but they will quickly become a keystone piece in your wardrobe throughout the year. Plus, who doesn’t love having good pockets?
Chatsworth House: a must-visit day out Hannah Youds Lifestyle Contributor
Chatsworth House, situated in the stunning and conveniently close Peak District, was built in 1687 and has been a historic site of awe ever since. Its home and gardens have appeared in an array of films including Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess. The house itself is in a perimeter of land consisting of 1,822 acres and is currently still the main residence of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family. We pulled up to the house just before lunchtime, meandering down the seemingly never-ending drive whilst watching the emerging views
of the Emperor Fountain on our left. The house is a wondrous piece of architecture, with the baroque walls standing out against the vast greenery of the surrounding land. As well as admiring the building, it’s worth noting that the trees, mazes and sculptures are all symmetrical in the gardens, making them worth the visit on their own, having been redesigned in the last 60 years. Admissions prices for the House and Gardens are set at £22 per adult and because we booked online it meant we were able to skip the queues and head straight to the entrance gallery. We were then given individual tour phones, making it easy to learn and appreciate Chatsworth’s history whilst taking our time. The tour phones are free
and come with a range of different languages to choose from. The tour itself is a long walk through over 30 rooms, allowing you to see and experience the historical features as well as learning about the people who lived there before. The cafes in Chatsworth are worth visiting, a personal recommendation being Carriage House Café which is the main restaurant area in the estate, however there are also several other cafes to choose from. There was a wide selection of sandwiches, soup and hot food, along with a good variety of drinks. I would suggest getting scones with jam and cream as this was very enjoyable! I think everyone should experience Chatsworth at least once in their lives, simply because of its
natural and historical beauty that outshines most other stately homes. It is also a very intimate experience with the estate, as you get to be up close to things that have been there for many years. Events: Chatsworth House are hosting a range of different events for Christmas between 9 November 2019 and 5 January 2020. These include a Christmas market, wreath making and a Christmas Nativity. Transport links: If you are looking at going to Chatsworth House and aren’t sure how to get there, the 218 bus runs between Sheffield and Bakewell, stopping at Chatsworth daily. You can also access it by train, heading to Chesterfield and then getting on
a bus from the station to Baslow, a 25-minute public footpath walk from the estate. Information about Chatsworth House and the events that take place there can be found on their website at https://www. chatsworth.org/
students: join the
friday
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november
before marching to join school students, workers and
forgetoday.com
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Luke Baldwin and Alicia Hannah Break Editors
Break
Another week, another issue of Forge Press and your favourite section! Wait, what? No, not Features, Break of course! This week, with a general election on the horizon, our section is about all things political. Politics is like air, it’s all around us and sometimes it stinks of shit. But we can’t live without it so you might as well suck
Crossword
An election is looming, Boris Johnson’s hair is getting yellower by the day, and Jeremy Corbyn wants to nationalise Lucozade. Sit back, grab a cup of tea and let it all blow over while you do this crossword.
FUN FACTS
Across
In Estonia, you can vote online Since 2005, Estonians have been able to vote online instead of waiting in line at their local polling stations.
Elections can be a difficult and confusing times. Who deserves such power and how do we, the people, make such an important decision. Just look at Diocletian, the Roman soldier who was declared Emperor on 20 November 284 AD. Talk about a promotion! 20 November -Beethoven premieres his only opera, Fidelio, in Vienna (1805) -Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create the Tour de France (1902) 21 November -Best Picture winner Rocky, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone is released (1976) - Robert Mugabe resigns as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe after 37 years in power (2017) 22 November -JFK is assassinated by Lee Harey Oswald in Dallas, Texas (1963) -Toy Story is released, making it the first feature length film made entirely of computer generated images (1995) -Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany (2005)
1. X marks the spot on this bit of paper (6) 2. in some countries, the group of (usually) elected politicians or other people who make the laws for their country (10) 4. a vote in which all the people in a country or an area are asked to give their opinion about or decide an important political or social question (10) 7. one of the official areas of a country that elects someone to represent it in a parliament or legislature (12) 11. Leader of the Liberal Democrats (7)
23 November -Pink Floyds “The Wall” is released, selling 6 million copies in just 2 weeks (1979) -Ellen Johnson-Sireleaf is elected president of Liberia, making her the first female leader of an African country (2005) 24 November -English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species” radically changing the view of evolution (1859) -Guys and Dolls opens on Broadway for 1200 performances (1950) 25 November -Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite (1867) -Pat Summerall and John Madden commentate on their first NFL game together, starting what would be a 22 year long partnership (1979) 13 November -British explorer Captain James Cook is the first European to visit Maui, now Hawaii (1778) -English archaeologist Howard Carter opens Tutankhamun’s virtually intact tomb in Egypt (1922) -Best Picture winner Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman is released (1942) Images courtesy of Wikimedia and the moviedb
Did you Know?
On this day
Down
1.Ballot 2.Parliament 3.Tactical 4.Referendum 5.Register 6.Coalition 7.Constituency 8.Electioneering 9.Debate 10.Canvassing 11. Swinson 12.Plurality
Voting is compulsary in Australia Every Australian over 18 is required by law to register to vote and to participate in federal elections. Anyone who doesn’t show up on Election Day is fined $20.00
3. the act of voting for a political party or person that you would not usually support in order to prevent another party or person from winning (8) 5. If you don’t do this you can’t vote (8) 6. the joining together of different political parties or groups for a particular purpose, usually for a limited time, or a government that is formed in this way (9) 8. the activity of trying to persuade people to vote for a particular political party, also a song off the album OK Computer (9) 9. a serious discussion of a subject in which many people take part (6) 10. to try to get political support or votes, especially by visiting all the houses in an area (10) 12. When you have the most votes but don’t have a majority (9)
it up. As part of a charity, we here at Forge Press have to stay politically neutral which is ideal given the extremely ill informed and dangerous views of the Break Editors. Why do you think we have a whole section where we talk about politcal uprisings and executions throughout history? Trying to drop hints perhaps...
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Do you want to help organise a national conference next spring? Forge Press has been awarded the right to host the Student Publication Association National Conference at the Students’ Union next spring.
We’ll be electing a Sub-Committee to help with the organisation of the conference. Come along to View Room 6 in the SU at 5pm on Tuesday 26 November if you want to get involved. We have a wide range of roles available, including: Deputy Host Officer, Social Secretary, Head of Marketing, Graphic Designer and liaison roles. The full list of roles and descriptions can be found online.
Agony Aunt Hello and congratulations to you for making it to the best page in Forge Press. Thank you to everyone that has submitted their problems so far. If you want to see yours, your friends’, family’s, housemates’ or coursemates’ dirty laundry getting aired on the pages of the next edition, then see below for more information. You can share your problems, clear your conscience, or just have a laugh with us by using our anonymous form. You can find it on Facebook at ‘Forge Break Agony Aunt and Lonely Hearts Club’.
SHITTY SHITTY BANG BANG
achy breaky heart Dear Break, I split up with my boyfriend two years ago, but I can’t stop thinking about him. I really felt like he was the one but I miss him so much. Should I try to get back with him?
News
Dear Break, Is it acceptable to shit on a night out? I pulled in WSL the other week, and told her I just needed to nip to the loo. Apparently, 15 mins to ensure that the coast is clear kills the mood. I’d like to know, is it acceptable to poo on a night out?
Alicia Now that is the true definition of a Schit Bomb. Poor girl, you successfully pulled in WSL, a place where the lights make you look like Sloth from The Goonies and you made her wait? If you’re somehow still seeing her, I hope she does to you what you did to your bowel movement. DUMPED.
Alicia Before you make any drastic moves and declare your love for them, try and remind yourself of why it ended in the first place. Sometimes, we look back on past relationships with rose tinted glasses. It’s easy to forget about the bad times, but make sure you know what you’re getting back into. Also, if they’re happy now, don’t disrupt it for your own gain. Tip to try: Follow @florencegiven on Instagram, she’ll make you proud to be single.
half man half dolphin
Tip to try: Tinder
If you are experiencing issues like these, please seek expert advice from your GP, or speak to an advisor in the Student Advice Centre by calling 0114 222 8660, or emailing advice@ sheffield.ac.uk. Nightline can also be contacted on 0114 222 8787 for listening, and 0114 222 8788 for information.
Luke Never retread old ground. It ended once, and likely for good reason. I’m not going to start spouting cliches like “plenty of fish in the sea” but seriously get a grip. Why go back to the moldy old burger when theres fresh steak out there ready for the taking. You got this! Tip to try: Have a browse on lovehoney.co.uk. There’s plenty on there that’ll make you proud to be single
Dear Break, I recently purchased some hair removal cream to help manscape my nether regions. But, it has removed more than I anticipated. I am now as smooth as a new born baby without a pube in sight. I’m going on a blind date next week and I’m worried of what she’ll think if things get steamy…
Luke We’ve all been there pal, myself included. I actually shat myself just the other day! And unlike most of the stuff we publish, this is actually true. So why exactly would I out my own faecal fiasco? One word: solidarity. Stay strong my shitty sister.
Alicia Use it as an icebreaker. And also, use some ice. You’re gonna get STUBBLY. You’ll be looking and acting like a Tiny Tears soon.
Tip to try: Pampers (other nappy brands are available)
Tip to try: An electric razor
Luke This might not actually not be a bad thing. Lots of girls like babies and we all know that less hair can be very flattering for ones member. Plus the smoothness will make you super aerodynamic. Could maybe even take up swimming. Tip to try: Glue on googley eyes, go the full Squidward. At least you’ll make her laugh
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
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Sport Thoughts
press.sport@forgetoday.com
Forge_Sport @ForgeSport
Why KSI vs Logan Paul was great for pro Boxing David Marriott Sport Contributor
As the dust settles on the latest event to ‘break the internet’, many boxing purists have sneered at the boxing quality which was displayed by KSI and Logan Paul in Los Angeles. Truth be told, despite the fighters’ galactic sized egos, they weren’t the second coming of Mayweather or Ali. Promoter Eddie Hearn’s aim was to sell boxing (and his service DAZN) to a wider audience. Did he achieve that? Possibly. This fight was not aimed at the boxing fanbase, it was millennial YouTube addicts. As a proud member of said group, I loved all the previous fights and I have no regrets from getting up at 4am to watch this fight. I’ll probably watch more bouts in the future. So, in essence, Hearn succeeded in his aims. I, like many, was surprised at KSI’s victory. Logan looked dangerous in the first fight and I presumed he would pick JJ apart in this fight. However, KSI showed some British bulldog spirit and fought back from
Paul’s illegal punch, which arguably was the differential. It was not a high-quality affair, but it was never going to be.
Both YouTubers laid their careers on the line and to someone invested in that world, it truly felt like high stakes One must instead look at this fight from an entertainment point of view. The press conferences, the trash talk, the online back and forth from both camps – and of course, Shannon Briggs. All of this provided, to me at least, far more entertainment than two standard boxers ever would. Unless it is a real titan of the sport, like Fury or Joshua, many would not be interested. Personality is needed to sell PPV’s, as demonstrated in UFC. Sport is made up of talking points and having personalities like KSI
Image: KSIvsLogan, Youtube
and Logan provides just that. Both YouTubers laid their careers on the line and to someone invested in that world, it truly felt like high stakes. If you are not part of the social media world and didn’t enjoy this fight, that’s perfectly reasonable. Professional and high-class boxing will continue to exist as long as the
demand is still there, which it very much is. I also see why it may be seen as an insult to the sport but be assured it was not intended to be. KSI and Logan took this fight very seriously and there’s no doubting how much effort went in to prepare it. I for one would love to see more
YouTube fights in the future. KSI v Jake Paul? Jake Paul vs Gib on the Joshua undercard? Perhaps my favourite suggestion is KSI v McGregor. All of which would gain boxing even more followers, to its own benefit. Let’s go champ.
At a cross-roads, do Arsenal want to turn to Mourinho? Emery’s future on the line, the dark spectre of José Mourinho looms. But is the José package actually worth it in 2019? Mourinho might be Premier League’s most enigmatic manager,
Image: Aleksandr Osipov, Flickr Rahul Warrier Sport Contributor
Arsenal have been one of the Premier League’s constants in recent years, providing entertainment and mediocrity, sometimes at the same time. It was thought that Arsene Wenger’s departure would bring
about a change, but that hasn’t happened. Under Unai Emery, Arsenal finished outside of the top four once again, and this season seems to be going a similar way. Performances have been shaky, as an unstable defense has led to just two clean-sheets, with just four wins in 11 league games. With
Despite his two stints at Chelsea, it’s unlikely he’s worried too much about managing their rivals as he has had three stints in the Premier League, winning plenty of silverware. However, it’s gone sour every time, with his sapping negativity leading to his own departure at almost every club he’s managed. For example, at Manchester United, things went downhill once he didn’t get the centre-back he desired. Could
things change at Arsenal? After big spending this summer, funds might not be readily available in the coming transfer windows. Only this time, Mourinho would know what he would be getting into. He’s spent 11 months out of management, biding his time. He’s been building his return slowly, via Sky Sports stints, getting back into the public eye. He’s spoken about how Emery could play PierreEmerick Aubameyang on the leftwing and bring Nicolas Pepe inside to benefit Alexandre Lacazette, clearly showing he has some ideas for how to change things up at the club. Despite his two stints at Chelsea, it’s unlikely he’s worried too much about managing their rivals, even though he has clashed with Wenger on numerous occasions. The question revolves more around Arsenal and where they want to head. Emery hasn’t given
the club the identity they desire. If they were to approach Mourinho, he might be keen to get back in the game. But will they progress? He delivered cups at United, but he left them back at square one. His tactics were out-dated and United were often a shambles under him. What he might bring is leadership and charisma but the spotlight would be on him rather than the club. He may be able to organise the defense but the personnel at their disposal aren’t the greatest. Emery has been a safe pair of hands so far, but he is fast losing the fanbase. To appoint Mourinho would be a major gamble which is unlikely to go well in the long-term. It would take serious desperation for the club to appoint him. In 2019, Mourinho needs Arsenal more than Arsenal needs Mourinho. That should be enough reason to steer clear of the Special One.
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Sport
Student athletes honoured at Elite Sports Performance Scheme awards night Harry Harrison Sport Editor
Student athletes on Sport Sheffield’s Elite Sports Performance Scheme (ESPS) were honoured with awards celebrating their high calibre, often international level, achievements. Athletes from a range of sports were acknowledged for their incredible feats, ranging from Karate to Climbing and Marathon Kayaking to Waterpolo. The students on the ESPS receive additional coaching to push them to the next level in their respective sports and financial support to help them travel across the world to compete. Romanian boxing international Vlad Matei is the English National Champion and two-time reigning BUCS champion and received the level 2 ESPS award. Vlad said: “I feel great, it’s really nice to be recognised for the hard work and to get some recognition for our achievements.” Fencer Hannah Nesbitt, who also received a level 2 award, told us how such recognition helps each of the winners to progress in their sports. “The award is going to help me in so many ways. Fencing receives little funding, so receiving a sum of money to help pay for my trips and training is really good. “It’ll also help with equipment
costs. Weapons cost £150 minimum and you need four of them normally just in case one breaks in a competition. “Having the money to help me with traveling to places, funding for hotel rooms, entry fees, it all helps. It is a massive opportunity.” Another level 2 winner, Gwyneth
Uttley, announced at the awards dinner that she had been selected to climb for the senior GB team. Gywneth, who is also the 2019 BUCS champion and University of Sheffield ladies climbing captain, said: “I really didn’t think that I was going to get selected, it was a bit of a shock.”
The CATALYST award was given to two student athletes on the night, one of which was Timothy Dowden, a flatwater marathon and sprint kayak racer. The award means that Timothy will receive a years free accomodation at Endcliffe student village. Speaking about his award,
Timothy said: “Obviously it’s amazing to have won it. I can afford to have my car at university and I definitely wouldn’t of had that without the award.” Timothy also told us his main goal is to win a world title after coming third at the European championships more recently.
Sports clubs take part in Movember in aid of mens’ health Alex Brotherton Sport Editor
Hundreds of male athletes at the University of Sheffield have ditched the razor blades and shaving foam this month, as they take part in Movember in the name of men’s health. The nation-wide movement, organised by charity Movember, sees men seek sponsorship for growing as much facial hair as they can in one month. The funds raised help to combat three of the biggest issues facing men in the UK – prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide. Sheffield University Rugby Football Club are just one of the teams getting involved, having hosted a charity open-mic night as well as cultivating their facial hair.
Adam Spinner, the club’s Charity Secretary, said: “Movember do amazing work for men’s health, so with mental health support so underfunded, we decided to support them again this year. We are proud to raise funds and awareness.” “Unfortunately, it is still too common for men to bottle up their problems due to fear of being told to ‘man up’. Hopefully, Movember will break the stigma around men’s mental health. It’s okay not to be okay.” “Recently, a fellow player from Scunthorpe took his own life – he was only 23. He is sadly just one of the hundreds of reasons why we are raising money this November. “We’ve currently raised close to £2,000, so we’re well on our way to reaching our ambitious target of £3,500.
“There are some great moustaches at the club (and some not so good) but everyone has really bought into what a great cause this is.” As well as the fundraising efforts of the sports teams, the University Sports Committee hosted a mental health panel, to keep the conversation surrounding men’s health going. Sports Committee Publicity Officer Nick Jones said: “I think that sport can play a vital role in breaking the stigma around men’s mental health. “Hopefully, the panel will help men know that ‘just manning up’ isn’t enough or even particularly healthy. Getting men talking can only be a good thing.” To donate to any of the teams taking part, visit the University of Sheffield’s Movember website.
Forge Press
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Got a sports tale to tell? press.sport@forgetoday.com
Michael Ekman Sport Coordinator
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another issue of our sport section! Featuring on the backpage this time around we’ve got the importance of This Girl Can, a weeklong event here at the Uni where we recognize the significance of women in sports as well as the inequality that still exists. Moreover, in Women
in Sports, we spoke to our ultimate frisbee team as they competed in the Liverbirds tournament earlier this month. Additionally, we have also spoken to some of the men’s teams whose members are taking part in Movember this month in support of men’s health. Earlier last week we met some of the athletes who’ve won ESPS awards from the University. This means that they will receive a range of different benefits
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Sport including funding for travel and training as well as some receiving a years free living at Endcliffe student accommodation. Lastly, in Sport Thoughts we’ve got a piece on why KSI vs. Logan Paul 2 is good for boxing and another piece on why Mourinho and Arsenal just aren’t a good fit. We hope you enjoy reading it just as much as we enjoy writing it!
Results board
Upcoming fixtures
Tottenham Hotspurs 1 - 1 Sheffield Utd
Sheffield Utd - Manchester United
Sheffield Wednesday 2 - 2 Swansea City
West Brom - Sheffield Wednesday
Lewes 1 - 2 Sheffield Utd Women
Durham Women - Sheffield Utd Women
Sheffield Wednesday Ladies 5 - 0 Hepworth Utd Ladies
Wakefield Trinity Ladies - Sheffield Wednesday Ladies
Sheffield Tiger 21 - 6 Otley
Stourbridge - Sheffield Tigers
Glasgow Clan 8 - 5 Sheffield Steelers
Sheffield Steelers - Nottingham
Glasgow Rocks 101 - 81 Sheffield Sharks
Bristol Flyers - Sheffield Sharks
Woman in Sports: Ultimate frisbee win big at Liverbirds tournament Michael Ekman Sport Coordinator
The women’s ultimate frisbee team won big at the recent Liverbirds tournament, including a major 11-0 win against Liverpudlian side, Birds. The tournament saw a series of successes for the team throughout the day, despite bringing mostly beginners with them. Starting the day playing against Leeds, the team quickly found themselves on the backfoot as the West Yorkshire side had already played a game before they arrived. After losing that game, they regrouped and discussed what went wrong and what needed to be better against their next opponents, Liver, the other team from Liverpool. This yielded immediate results, as team captain Vicky Hole said: “Having had a break, we recollected ourselves, discussing any questions, and improvements to go into the next game with. “This time the teams were much more even, with both supporting mostly beginners within each team.
We came in hard and brought the intensity straight away.” That game finished with an impressive 8-0 win. Up next was Warwick, who proved a much tougher challenge as they were much better at adapting their style to counter Uni of’s tactics. Vicky said: “They began with using man-D against us, however they changed it to zone after witnessing our ability to get free. “This change to zone shut down our offence in working the disc to the cutters, forcing us to use a handler weave to gain distance up the pitch. However, this was slow in gaining yards. “We then started to stretch our offence further along the pitch, creating more deep cuts. “With the weather worsening and fingers becoming numb, both teams started to struggle but we learnt their strategy and shut it down. “The game ended in 7-3, however, had the game continued it would’ve presented a much closer result.” As the torrential rain poured down and the field became increasingly
muddy, the team were up against Birds in the last game of the day. Since this was nearing the end of the day, they had had plenty of time to gel and were now playing some of their best ultimate frisbee. Vicky said: “Due to the field containing more mud than grass, quick cuts were becoming difficult, however we quickly adapted to this, stretching the team down the pitch. “Everyone had successfully placed themselves in areas of which
they could create continuation cuts within, moving the disc before the opposing team could keep up. “This equated in a win of 11-0, successfully capping Birds, and being an amazing end to our day. “Every single team member improved significantly throughout the day, whereby we became a family of which I am extremely proud of.” Even though they won by impressive scorelines, Vicky said that the day was more aimed at
having fun rather than returning home with the win. Team captain Vicky Hole said: “As BUCS is a lot more serious, for Liverbirds I definitely set the target for the day as simply enjoying themselves rather than putting pressure on winning. “This definitely helped the team as they developed so much throughout the day, with high energy and hype throughout the day.
This Girl Can recognises women in all sports Michael Ekman Sport Coordinator
(cont. from back...) place throughout the week, a panel containing several sport figures from the Uni discussed the importance of gender equality in sport and their own personal experiences. Speaking about the barriers they’ve faced in the male-dominated industry, three time GB swimmer and silver medalist at the junior European games, Amber Keegan said: “Swimming is a pretty equal sport in terms of participants, but if
you look at the coaching staff, I don’t think it’s even 25 per cent females. In my almost 15 years in the sport, I think I’ve only had one female coach. “That’s all well and good, guys can coach, girls can coach but especially when we started to talk about female especially in the teenage years, and I know some absolutely outstanding coaches for this, there is only so much you can do to reassure someone personally when it comes to self-confidence and body issues. “Even though we have some of the best male coaches here in Sheffield
and in identifying these issues and helping girls overcome that, it’s still not quite the same when it’s male who may have experienced these issues but it isn’t quite as relatable to you when you’re a young teenage girl.”
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Don’t understimate her because This Girl Can Michael Ekman Sport Coordinator
The University of Sheffield held its annual This Girl Can week, with women’s sports teams and athletes from across the University being recognized for their amazing contributions to our sporting society. A 2018 study by Women in Sport revealed that 1.5 million more men play sport than women each week. Additionally, 40 per cent of women in the sport industry face gender discrimination while only 8%
of girls are meeting recommended exercise guidelines. Clearly, statistics such as these show there is still a great amount of inequality within the sporting community that needs to be abridged. Occasions like This Girl Can aim to tackle this gender disparity while highlighting women’s sports. Through putting on a series of events and inclusive sport sessions, the week aims to raise the profile and engagement of female participation in sport as well as bringing to light the discriminations that still exist in
the industry. Speaking about the importance of This Girl Can, Sport Officer Britt Bowles said: “Sports officers at Sheffield have done an amazing job at taking part in it and making it a highlight of the year. “This year has been an incredible year of sport for women, with the football and netball World Cups this summer really showcasing some fantastic female athletes. “However, we still have a long way to go until equality in sport for women is reached and this campaign is a great way to motivate
and empower women to get involved in sport at any level.
This campaign is a great way to motivate and empower women to get involved in sport at any level “The fact that Sheffield gets involved in a campaign such as this and that it is a success every year shows that we are doing something
to tackle the problems. I still think we can do better, such as having more female sports as the finishing fixture at Varsity. “The media attention and sponsorship deals that female sport is beginning to attract, is a positive step forward from where we once were. “Again, we are far from close to being equal to male sports but there is hope for the future when looking at how far we have come in the last few decades.” Along with many other activities that took... (cont. on p27)