Issue10

25TH NOV 2013/ ISSUE 10 FREE

MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Live Review: The Pixies

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Fashion: Best of British

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Interview: Vicky Pryce

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Students’ Union to cut staff in face of budget deficit

• Staff told all jobs “formally at risk” • Commercial review unveils £619,000 hole in Students’ Union finances Jonathan Breen Editor-in-chief Due to a defecit of more than half a million pounds, the Students’ Union is set to implement cuts, including to staff and society funding, as part of a last ditch savings plan.

After an emergency meeting of the Trustee Board on 8 November, £400,821 of budget cuts, and £68,000 of additional income generation was agreed. But, this still left £130,000 of savings needed, for which the Trustees have turned to staff for income-generating and costsaving ideas, or to ultimately make redundancies.

“There is still an extra £130,000 worth of savings to be made and this can only come from any further ideas that staff may present to us that could assist to bridge the gap,” said General Secretary of the Union Grace Skelton. “Short of that, we will have to concede that job losses will be an eventuality and the Union will be in the regrettable position of initially having to implement a voluntary redundancy programme.”

She added, “We are also currently giving all staff members the option of requesting voluntary redundancy, however the Union reserves the right to decide whether or not to accept the request.”

The University of Manchester Students’ Union’s Trustee Board received an internal financial report in August, which showed they would

end the 2012-13 financial year with a deficit of £619,000. Trustees then requested an external review in October into the Union’s commercial performance and found they faced a similar deficit for 2013-14.

A document sent to staff, seen by The Mancunion, showed, among other things, savings of £32,000 were made by reducing staff training and travel budgets, £17,000 by cutting the campaign budget and society grants budget - existing grants will not be affected - £11,500 from not replacing existing minibuses, and £4,500 by replacing student staff from the Activities reception with existing permanent staff or interns.

Other cutbacks include the closure of Biko’s North Cafe on North Campus, which has been running at a loss.

“The closure of Biko’s North Café would have been inevitable at some point in the next few years due to the University of Manchester’s decision to vacant North Campus as part of the Campus Masterplan,” said Skelton. “This process has been brought forward by the Students’ Union as it has been indentified that Biko’s North Café was operating at a significant loss.”

It is not yet clear what caused the significant deficit, but an investigation is underway.

“The Trustee Board is in the process of investigating the causes of the financial situation however at this stage our priority is to deal with the ongoing consultation process,” said Skelton.

Union Trustees have turned to staff for ‘income-generating and costsaving’ ideas. Photo: Hannah Reiss

02 : NEWS

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Highlights

Food & Drink, Review:

Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Ephraim

Neukolln

Mirvis,, talks to students at a Bagel Lunch in the Students’ Union. Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs

Page 17 Picture of the week

Lifestyle:

Tinder Page 27

Film, Review: The Family Page 18

Guy opens building ‘Cursed’ statue Michael Williams News Editor Manchester Metropolitan University unveiled a £34million School of Art building last week – with a little help from Elbow frontman Guy Garvey.

Garvey, who was awarded an honorary degree by the University in the summer, said he accepted the invite because “the measure of a community is how it treats its arts.

“When arts funding is so scarce and MMU is investing £34m, it makes me proud to be a Mancunian,” said Garvey.

“I think the arts are a barometer of a city’s spiritual and moral health.”

Garvey was joined by property developer Tom Bloxham MBE, graphic designer Malcolm Garrett, and Director and CEO of Cornerhouse Dave Moutrey for the opening of the ‘Ben-

zie Building’ last Monday, on the School’s 175th anniversary.

The building is named after outgoing chair of governors Alan Benzie, who also spoke at the event. Benzie was instrumental in securing funding for the building, which is England’s first municipal art school.

Starting life as the Manchester School of Design in 1838, the school provided, for a period in 1880, the only higher education offered to women. Eventually, the school joined with Manchester Polytechnic in 1978 and was later absorbed by Manchester Metropolitan University.

David Threlfall, best known for playing Frank in Channel 4’s ‘Shameless’, called the new Benzie building “a wonderful place to try out your artistic endeavours,” when he spoke via video link at the event.

Manchester City Council

Leader Sir Richard Leese said the new building is “quite revolutionary” and spoke of the School being “one of the city’s great institutions.” Sir Richard also spoke of the need for more acknowledgment of the arts as “economic drivers” and “improving the quality of life.”

Also appearing via video was animator Brian Cosgrove, who met friend Mark Hall at the original Manchester Regional College of Art and went on to form Cosgrove Hall Films – producing such classic cartoons as Count Duckula and Danger Mouse. Cosgrove spoke fondly of his time studying in Manchester, praising the feeling of “being among artists” and “understanding what art was.”

The Benzie Building is now open, and can be found on MMU’s main All Saints campus.

Deputy Editor: Harriet Hill-Payne Sub-Editors: Dan Harold, George Bailey, Jennifer Grimshaw & Eleanor Muffitt

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Postal address: Univerity of Manchester Students’ Union, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR

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News Reporters: Inez Dawoodjee

Phone (0161) 275 2933

Fashion Editors: Susie Coen & Marie Yates

BeautyEditor: Haylee Wells beauty@mancunion.com

mystery solved Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter An Egyptian statue in the Manchester Museum, which captured the attention of the world’s media as it appeared to rotate on its own, wasn’t cursed after all.

Vibrations expert Steve Gosling has solved the mystery.

He discovered that vibrations from museum-goers and outside traffic at peak times in the day caused the 10-inch statue to move.

In April, a time-lapse video captured footage of the 1,800 year old stone statuette rotating inside its sealed display case, sparking rumours of an ancient curse. Museum curators had no explanation as to why this happened.

But Gosling was able to provide an explanation, after he placed a three-axis sensor underneath the display case to track vibrations over the course of a day.

He found that noise vibrations were loudest at 6pm and then tapered off, but began again in a daily cycle. Vibrations from

Food & Drink Editors: Ben Walker & Maddy Hubbard foodanddrink@mancunion.com Film Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson & Angus Harrison film@mancunion.com Features Editor: Sam Dumitriu features@mancunion.com Games Editor: Alasdair Preston games@mancunion.com Lifestyle Editors: Moya Crockett, Isabelle Dann, Beth Currall & Lauren Arthur lifestyle@mancunion.com Music Editors: Tom Ingham, Patrick Hinton & Phoebe Clarke music@mancunion.com

the noise propelled the statue’s movements.

“The statue was rotating due to vibrations entering the display case. We installed an accelerometer and found that vibrations from both road traffic and footfall within the museum were the cause,” Gosling told Reuters news agency.

He added, “The vibration is a combination of multiple sources so there’s buses outside on the busy road, there’s footfall activity. And it’s all of those things combined.”

Gosling discovered a lump at the base of the statue made it more effective at picking up vibrations than other statues with flat bases.

The statue attracted attention from press all over the world when curators at the Museum first revealed that it was rotating.

The statue Neb-Senu was donated to the museum 80 years ago. Its portrays an Egyptian man making an offering to Osisris, god of the underworld.

Gosling undertook his investigation as part of ITV series Mystery Map which aims to solve mysteries.

Sport Editors: Andrew Georgeson, Thomas Dowler & Thomas Turner Sports Reporters: James Eatwell & Jonathan Roberts sport@mancunion.com Theatre Editor: Josephine Lane theatre@mancunion.com Web Editor: Jennifer Ho webed@mancunion.com Photography Editor: Peter Chinnock photography@mancunion.com Photography team: Patrycja Marczewska, Joshua Brown & Cil Barnett-Neefs

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NEWS : 03

Jabez Clegg Closes - Former home of The BOP closes its doors for the final time -University purchases venue Sean Doherty News Editor Jabez Clegg, the famous student venue located on University of Manchester campus, has closed its doors after being bought by the University.

The Manchester landmark and former home of the controversial BOP club night, prior to its move to 256 in Fallowfield earlier this year, officially closed for business on Monday after being open under its ownership since 1991.

Hale

Leisure

Group,

the

owners of the site who also own The Thirsty Scholar, were granted

planning

permission

by Manchester City Council to convert Jabez Clegg into 79 student apartments. However, it is believed that they were unable to find a developer willing to buy the venue and resultantly it was sold to the University.

A representative from the University has confirmed that

Jabez Clegg has closed down after being bought by the University. photo: Sean Doherty the building was purchased

closure early on Monday morning

The news of the closure

I have no choice but to look

as part of the £1 billion Master

as they posted a message on

came as an abrupt shock to

for a new job, I live permanently

Plan, a ten year investment plan

Twitter, “The rumours are true

some of the staff. Krystie Kate

in Manchester now over the

Krystie says that she is back

which aims to create a world-

- I’m sorry to say we’re closed

Norcliffe, former employee at

holidays as well as term time and

looking for work in a struggling

class campus at University of

indefinitely. Good luck to all our

Jabez Clegg and a second year

I cannot afford to live here on my

market, a position which she

Manchester, a move which will

friends. PEACE OUT.”

English Literature student at the

student loan alone.”

didn’t expect to find herself in

On Saturday the 16th November, a houseparty on Victoria Road in Fallowfield headlined Bondax, a duo of young and upcoming DJ’s from Lancaster.

The party was hosted

by Kieran Jandu of The University of Manchester and drew crowds well into the hundreds.

Jandu grew up with the two members of Bondax, George and Adam, in Lancaster and was fortunate enough to have them play a set in his basement only hours

or wages that they were owed.

include the integration of the

The XS Malarkey comedy club,

University of Manchester felt that

Krystie was told that while

until the summer of 2014, the

sites which currently form North

a night which was based in Jabez

the venue’s shutting down on

the owner of Jabez Clegg would

time period when staff were told

Campus into the main campus.

Clegg, is currently seeking a new

Monday was a sudden surprise.

attempt to find the staff jobs in

that development would begin

Although it is likely that Jabez

home. Although the banner

“It came as a massive shock

other sites owned by the Hale

on Jabez Clegg to convert the

Clegg will be part of a proposed

on their Twitter page reads,

and I can’t quite believe it still, I

Leisure Group, such as The

upstairs into apartments.

biomedical campus in the area,

“Currently homeless…” they have

knew that we were struggling as

Thirsty Scholar, that there were

It remains unclear whether

there has been no decision made

posted, “We’re not closing down,

a business but I didn’t have any

currently no jobs to be had. The

there will be any attempt to

as regards its specific purpose.

it’s just our venue. We plan to be

idea about the extent to which

staff received redundancy pay

relocate the bar in the future.

back better than ever in 2014 :)”.

we were struggling.

amounting to a week’s worth of

Jabez Clegg confirmed the

Warehouse DJs play student house-party Gawain Owen News Editor

wages as well as any holiday pay

after playing their set at The Warehouse Project on Saturday night.

Alongside Bondax, Transmission Collective also played a set in the students basement. The house on Victoria Road was transformed into an unofficial after party for The Warehouse Project.

The occupants of the house are no strangers to the music scene in Manchester though, with many of them being involved in Four20, a new night coming to Joshua Brooks on the 13th December.

This was not the

only big name playing at a house party in Fallowfield on Saturday night though. Only a few streets down on Granville Road, well known Garage and Grime DJ, Preditah, graced attendees with an unexpected visit.

After playing a set in Red Rum, a club in Fallowfield, two Manchester students invited him to a house party nearby.

To their surprise he agreed and within the hour he was playing in their living room to hundreds of students.

Apathetic turnout for Halls Committee elections Michael Williams News Editor Halls of Residence Committee elections were marred by lack of interest, with one halls – Owens Park – having seven positions unfilled after the first election, The Mancunion can reveal.

During the first set of elections for Owens Park last week, nobody ran for the General Secretary, Men’s or Women’s Sport Officer, Environmental Officer, Community Officer, or two Communications Officer positions – seven out of the eleven positions.

Nominations were reopened and a second paper ballot was held, but the Women’s Sport Officer

position still remains vacant.

Disinterest was not only limited to the positions themselves. Seven per cent of Owens Park residents voted in the first election – a number which rose to just 13 per cent for the second vote, despite the ballot taking place during dinner-time in the dining hall.

President of the Owens Park Students’ Association, Megan Taylor, defended the turnout.

“Many students showed interest, whether it be nominating themselves or by voting,” said Taylor. “And we are very grateful for their contributions.

“I am pleased to announce that we had a very successful by-election to fill the vacant positions on the Owens Park

Committee.”

In addition to Owens Park, six other halls commitees had positions that nobody applied for. Oak House had four roles unfilled, with Whitworth Park and Wright Robinson having three vacant roles. Opal Gardens, Richmond Park and Victioria Hall had two positions uncontested. Only Grosvenor Halls managed to fill all of their roles.

Information for Ashburne & Sheavyn halls was unavailable when The Mancunion went to print.

Charlie Cook, Community Officer, suggesed student’s lack of confidence in politicians marred voting numbers, rather than a lack of interest in the committees themselves.

“Before they come to University, students are often either unable to vote or feel that politicians offer them very little,” said Cook.

“I think this is more likely to be the reason for low engagement rather than not valuing the committees themselves.”

Cook also hinted towards steps being taken to remedy situations such as that at Owens Park.

“One objective of next year’s elections will be to raise engagement levels across the democratic process from candidate nominations to voter turnout,” she said.

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

04 : News

Opportunist thief burgles unlocked student home Jake Bhardwaj News Reporter

Police have issued a warning for students across the Fallowfield area, after a burglary at a student house.

Thieves entered through the front door of the home on Lombard Grove between the hours for 6.30 am and 10.30 am on Saturday 16th November, stealing both an Apple iPad with Manchester Medical School and the University logo printed on its back, as well as a Samsung laptop.

It seems that the front door of the property was left open, allowing the burglars to make both an easy entrance, and exit.

Police have warned that leaving doors and windows unlocked may lead to similar incidents over the course of the festive season.

Police Constable Matthew Harvey, from West Didsbury Police Station said, “Unfortunately, the front door of the property was left ajar and an opportunist thief has struck inside.”

He went on to say that as Christmas soon approaches,

“Thieves will be testing doors and windows to see if they are open. Don’t give them an easy opportunity and ensure you keep them locked.”

In order to help the police with their investigations, Constable Harvey has also said, “If you have been approached by anyone trying to sell electrical goods under suspicious circumstances, I would ask you to contact police.”

This incident comes after recent news that less than one in ten burglaries which took place in Greater Manchester between January and March resulted in charges being made against the thief and fewer than two per cent saw the thief being jailed.

Anyone with new information is urged to contact the police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Police also recommend any electrical goods be registered for free at, www.immobilise.com, which can help to return stolen electrical items to their rightful owner.

‘Miracle material’ graphene to be used for condoms Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter Scientists are using graphene and latex to develop a new material that will be used to make condoms.

“This composite material will be tailored to enhance the natural sensation during intercourse while using a condom, which should encourage and promote condom use,” Professor Aravind Vijayaraghavan of Manchester’s School of Materials said.

Graphene is made up of only a single layer of carbon atoms, but is stronger than diamonds. Condoms made from graphene will be stronger, yet thinner and safer too.

Prof Vijayaraghavan added, “This will be achieved by combining the strength of graphene with the elasticity of latex to produce a new material which can be thinner, stronger, more stretchy, safer and, perhaps most importantly, more pleasurable.”

Researchers Sir Andrew Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov from the University of Manchester won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 for their discovery of graphene.

Nicknamed the “miracle material”, graphene’s lightweight quality, tensile strength, transparency and ability to conduct electricity has made it a hit with researchers.

It is currently being adjusted for use in

electrical equipment, new types of solar panels, lightweight body armour as well as non-stick coatings on pans.

Professor Vijayaraghavan has been awarded £62,000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in an attempt to solve health problems in developing countries—particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is hoped that graphene-based condoms will be more desirable to use and therefore encourage the widespread use of condoms. This in turn could have a knock-on effect in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and

reducing unplanned pregnancies.

Prof Vijayaraghavan explained his hopes for incorporating graphene into everyday materials.

“Since its isolation in 2004, people have wondered when graphene will be used in our daily life.

“Currently, people imagine using graphene in mobile-phone screens, food packaging and chemical sensors.

“If this project is successful, we might have a use for graphene which will touch our everyday life in the most intimate way.”

Professor Vijayaraghavan hopes that the new condoms will be “more pleasurable”. Photo: Robert Elyov @ Flickr

Signing a housing contract is a big commitment.

When you put your signature on the dotted line, it’s a legally binding document for all parties involved.

GET IT CHECKED OUT AT THE STUDENTS’ UNION FIRST.

Make sure you and your housemates know what you’re signing up to. Get your contract checked at the Students’ Union advice service for free before you sign. manchesterstudentsunion.com/adviceservice

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NEWS : 05

Manchester students protest privatisation of student debt -“Debt-ins” take place across campus to protest sell-off of student loan book Sean Doherty News Editor Students from the University of Manchester took part in a series of ‘debt-ins’ around the University campus on Wednesday 20th November as part of a ‘National Day of Action’ protesting the privatisation of the student loan book.

The students who took part in the protest on Wednesday morning lay on the floor under a pile of red boxes representing student debt. The protest began in University Place before moving on to Alan Gilbert Learning Commons, the Stopford Building, the Library and the Roscoe Building.

“Manchester Students’ Union and the Defend Our Education campaign group will continue to take action against government proposals to privatise student loans,” said Clifford Fleming, Campaigns and Citizenship Officer. “The privatisation of the student loan book will see debt sold to private organisations and in order for this deal to be profitable private organisations would either need to change the terms and conditions of payments (including raising interest rates) or for the deal to be subsidised by the UK taxpayer.”

The government has

announced its plans to sell off all student debt to private companies by 2015. A secret government report last year proposed that in order for the student loan book to be profitable to private companies, the cap on interest rates for repayments of loans would have to be removed.

Such a move would affect all students who graduated after 1998, meaning that current students would be faced with accumulating a higher debt than they believed they would when they agreed to the terms of their student loans.

Protests such as the one seen in Manchester took place in over twenty campuses all over the country, in a day of action co-ordinated by the Student Assembly Against Austerity.

Fiona Edwards, of the SAAA said, “We recognise that the privatisation of our student loans will cause interest rates to rise. We are demanding that they drop this outrageous policy immediately or expect further protests in the New Year.”

David Willetts, the Universities Minister, claims that privatisation of student loans will not lead to students having to pay back a greater amount of money, “There will be no change to the terms of repayment so

students shouldn’t be affected by the privatisation of their loans.”

Harriet Pugh, Undergraduate Humanities Faculty Representative and the primary organiser of Defend Our Education was critical of the move.

“It is almost certain that the privatisation of student debt will lead to an increase in the interest we have to pay back in the future. This affects ALL students who still have debt to repay, including those who have already taken out their loans.

“The government claims they are doing this as part of their plan to tackle national debt. What this really means, is that they are going to shift responsibility of student debt away from the government at the expense of graduates and, ultimately, (and ironically) the tax payer because the government is likely to have to subsidise the extra interest to private companies anyway.

As well as being a ridiculous financial decision, the privatisation of student debt is likely to have disastrous social consequences. It is already far more difficult for young people from ‘lower socio-economic backgrounds’ to go to university; you only have to look at the stats to work that one out.

This decision will only add to the financial burden of graduates and deter more people from getting the formal qualifications that open up so many opportunities and career

prospects.”

Those at Defend Our Education are calling on students to contact their local MPS in an effort to persuade

them not to sell the student loan book.

Those who would like to support the campaign can send an email to their local MP by

Students performed “debt-in” around campus to protest the sell-off of the student loan book. Photo: Sean Doherty

Course closure protest forces University event relocation Gawain Owen News Editor A social responsibility reception hosted by the University of Manchester had to move location last week after ‘security concerns’ apparently posed by a student protest.

The protest was in reaction to a recent decision made by the University to close Learning Disability Studies from 2014.

The pre-planned protest was organised to coincide with the Social Responsibility reception which was originally to be held in the

University’s John Rylands Library at Deansgate.

However, concerns the protest would cause too much disruption to the event meant it was moved to Whitworth Hall on the main campus.

“Given the prospect of a protest, the main campus was considered to be a more appropriate venue,” a University spokesman said.

However there was a sense among supporters of the protest that the University was avoiding the issue at hand, and were simply attempting damage limitation.

Support for the protest

against the closure of the Disability Studies course has increased over the past couple of weeks. The online petition to save the course has exceeded one thousand signatories.

However there appears to be no signal from the University of any plans to u-turn on their decision to closing the course.

A spokesman for the University said, “We do not believe that we will be able to recruit sufficient students in the future to make this programme sustainable.”

visiting: www.thestudentassembly.org. uk/lobbying-tools.html

Voting Opens

22nd of November 10AM

Voting Closes

29th November 12 Noon

21 November 2013

Dear Students, In August 2013, the Students’ Union Trustee Board received the July 2013 Management Accounts that indicated that the 2012-13 financial year would end with a £619,000 deficit. A subsequent review of the Union’s current commercial performance and spending indicated that, if nothing changed, the Union would be facing a similar deficit in 2013-14.

Aware that this situation was unacceptable and placed the Union’s long-term viability in question, the Trustee Board held an extraordinary meeting on 8 November 2013. The Students’ Union Trustee Board comprises of all eight Exec Team members, three student trustees and three external trustees.

As a result of the extraordinary meeting, the Trustees have agreed on a plan to reduce the gap. This consists of additional income generation amounting to £68,000 and agreed savings of £400,821.

Regrettably, this includes cuts to the campaigns and society grant budgets, with immediate effect. Existing grants to societies and campaigns will not be affected. We understand that this may be worrying for many of you, so if you are concerned about your funding then please get in touch with a member of the Exec Team or your Society Co-ordinator.

We also want to inform you of the imminent closure of Biko’s North café. Biko’s North has been operating at a significant loss, and the decision has been taken by the Trustees to close the outlet on the last day of the Autumn term.

The closure of Biko’s North within the next few years was inevitable, as part of the University of Manchester’s Campus Masterplan. However, the current financial situation of the Students’ Union has hastened the closure of the café ahead of plan.

Regrettably, these budget changes, although significant, do not fully bridge the gap and unfortunately still leave the Union with around £130,000 in deficit. In order to continue to provide a service to students and secure the Union’s long-term viability, the Trustees have, with great reluctance decided to look at ways to restructure the existing staff team.

As such, we have now entered a formal consultation period with staff and welcome their suggestions as to how the Union can continue to deliver its services with reduced financial resources. The Students’ Union still has a strong business base with very good prospects and as a first step the Trustees have invited applications from permanent employees to apply for voluntary redundancy.

On behalf of the Trustee board, I will ensure that I keep all students fully updated on the situation and report on significant developments accordingly. I would like to stress that the Students’ Union is still providing a wide range of services for students and now, more than ever, we need your support.

Yours faithfully,

Grace Skelton Grace Skelton General Secretary and Chair of Trustee Board

e: info.su@manchester.ac.uk w: manchesterstudentsunion.com a: University of Manchester Students' Union | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13 9PR

company number - 7759820 charity number - 1144146

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NEWS : 07

University of York and Edinburgh students in ‘blacking up’ scandal Aidan Gregory NewsEditor Students across the UK last week found themselves embroiled in separate race rows in both York and Edinburgh.

A group of Law students were subject to serious criticism after deciding to ‘black up’ as Somalian pirates for a Law Society ‘around the world’ themed social.

The Edinburgh University students donned camouflage trousers, scruffy shirts, bandanas, and painted their faces black before heading out to the party.

Pictures of the event were uploaded to Facebook, where they were seen by journalists from The Student, Edinburgh University’s student newspaper.

The choice of costumes has been met with condemnation from several student societies at the university.

Keir Barlas, President of the Law Society, personally apologised to anyone who was offended, and said that he was “shocked and mortified” by the incident.

The law society then issued a statement on its Facebook page, declaring that the LawSoc is “vehemently opposed to discrimination in any form”, and that “insensitivity is intolerable and is “something that we are completely opposed to”.

In a statement to The Student, Nadia Mehdi, Edinburgh Univer-

sity Students’ Association Vice President for Societies and Activities, said: “I’m really shocked to see that in this day and age these students weren’t aware of or chose to ignore the offence they would cause by painting their faces black. It’s not acceptable and should not be condoned.

“The Law Society is not a EUSA society so we can’t discipline them but I will be bringing this to the attention of the Law School.”

The incident happened in the same week as another incident involving students ‘blacking up’ at one of the UK’s most prestigious universities.

A separate race row at York University was triggered by a group of students deciding to black up as the Jamaican bobsleigh team from the film Cool Runnings, and causing £2000 of damage in a drunken rampage across the campus.

The four students have been described as “completely shameless” by Kallum Taylor, the York University Union President, and the story even made it into a Jamaican newspaper.

The four responsible have since unreservedly apologised in a letter addressed to the students and staff of the University. It explained that “We are writing to apologise for the offence we have caused following our idiotic choice to

The costume was called “completely shameless” by York University Union President Kallum Taylor. Photo: York Vision ‘black up’ for our Halloween costumes, where we dressed as the characters of ‘Cool Runnings’, the Jamaican bobsleigh team of 1988 Winter Olympics. There was no intent of malice or offence, the costumes were not chosen to mock or insult the BME students

Swansea University Pole Fitness Society Reinstated Aidan Gregory News Editor Swansea University students have voted by to allow their Pole-Fitness Society to be given back its Students Union affiliation, by a majority of 132 to 10.

The referendum was put to the student body after the Students Union’ admitted its decision to ban the Pole-Fitness society from being affiliated with the SU was “wrong”.

The original decision to bar the pole fitness society from the SU was taken at a Swansea University Students’ Union Trustee Meeting back in September, but the decision only became public late last month.

In the a issued by the Students’ Union (SUSU) to the society the SU had argued that pole-fitness society was to be removed due to its “inextricable link to the multi-million pound sex industry.”

It went on further to add that “Although ‘pole fitness’ is sold as an empowering activity, we believe that women have been deceived into thinking this is a way of taking charge of their sexuality and their own decisions.

“As a Students’ Union, we should not be deaf to the very real issue of ‘pole fitness’ playing a part in upholding this ‘Raunch Culture’ and objectification of women and girls and the impact of this on our female students.”

The decision immediately caused uproar at the university, and anger from the national pole-fitness community.

Bethan Morris, President of the Pole Fitness Society at the university, in an interview with SU-TV, passionately argued that ‘the aspects of the letter where they insinuate that if you partake in a pole-fitness class, you’re basically putting yourself at risk of domestic and sexual violence is absolutely ridiculous”.

Furthermore, she said that “pole fitness is in no way associated with the sex industry”, and that “the idea that we’ve hoodwinked young girls into coming is also absolutely ludicrous”.

Sam Remmar from Pole Dance Community (PDC) also weighed in to the argument.

In an open letter to the SUSU, he wrote, “We would like to question why you think the society does not promote gender equality when the group takes on both male and female members and is clear in its promotion. We also noticed you have a cheer leading society which is still active and only takes on female members.”

The letter gave the student governing body three options – justify the decision, admit they were wrong, or all tender their resignations.

Following the result of the vote, the pole fitness society will be reinstated with immediate effect.

of York, or any members of the wider community.

They continued, confessing that “We were not aware of the connections between black painted faces and the minstrel shows of the 19th and 20th centuries, which promoted the mocking of

stereotypes, the perpetuation of which is harmful to the stability of our increasingly multicultural society. Had we been aware of this at the time, we would have never have considered this a Halloween costume.

“We are also profoundly sorry

for the damage we have done to the University’s reputation and stature.”

Alumni donate £460k Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter The Alumni Association has raised £460,000 in the last academic year to fund scholarships and research projects across campus.

It has also raised over £100,000 in the last three months.

The money was raised from a variety of sources, including telephone campaigns conducted by current students.

The recent Autumn campaign has led to donations from 450 alumni, including recent graduates.

The majority of donations will be directed towards the Undergraduate Access Scholarships. The beneficiaries of this scholarship are students from Greater Manchester who complete the Manchester Access Programme.

They receive financial support of £1,000 per year from alumni, in addition to the support they already receive from the

University.

Annual Fund Manager Rob Summers said: “There are so many students , especially in the local area, that have the knowledge, talent and potential to really make the most of University education.

University shouldn’t just be for people that can afford it; it should be for people who have the capacity to succeed.”

The donations are currently supporting 550 students at the University this year.

Along with Undergraduate Access Scholarships, the funds are used to provide Masters Scholarships for students from developing countries, Hardship Grants for students facing financial difficulty and Research Scholarships for PhD students.

Developmental Biology PhD student Rebecca Williams received a grant to fund her research into breast cancer.

Williams won the New Researcher Prize for her work earlier this year.

She said: “At the end of the year, I just want to reiterate how grateful I am to my Alumni donors for funding this PhD. It makes a very personal difference to me, and my life, but also to the lives of so many people suffering with breast cancer.”

This year the Association is aiming to raise £500,000 from over 4,500 donors and to widen participation to students. It also aims to widen alumni engagement on campus.

Summers added: “We get alumni back on campus to provide careers talks and engage with students to offer advice on the opportunities available to them once they graduate. There’s a big focus on graduate employability at Manchester and getting alumni involved in this way is really important.

“By providing this support, donors are doing something absolutely amazing.”

08 : Feature

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Does Britain’s prison system work?

Ex-con economist Vicky Pryce tells Sam Dumitriu about her time behind bars and why prisons doesn’t work Sam Dumitriu Features Editor

“I

don’t think anyone expected me to go to prison, I was about the only person who did. I didn’t have anyone telling me what it would be like.”

Convicted in May of perverting the course of justice, Vicky Pryce was an unlikely candidate for prison. Few expected her and politician ex-husband Chris Huhne to have been sentenced to prison for what ultimately amounted to lying about a few points on her driving license. Pryce chronicled her experiences in her new book, Prisonomics.

In not being fully prepared for prison, Pryce is hardly alone. She cites statistics saying that 50 per cent of women didn’t expect to be sentenced.

“I have met women who were in exactly that position, who were told by their probation officers and their solicitors that the chance of them going to prison was very small, so they turned up with just their handbag with nothing in it. And then were shocked, the next thing that happens, is either; your sent straight down to the cells, assuming there’s any time to spend in there or you are taken straight to the prison.

“The only person you can talk to is your lawyer. You can’t ring anyone; you have to give away your mobile.

It’s very anachronistic; it’s like going back to the Middle Ages. Once you’re there of course, you have to beg to make a phone call to select numbers and there’s no internet.

The worrying thing in some cases is that the woman convicted has made no long-term arrangements for her children. The Revolving Doors Agency found in a survey of 1400 women prisoners that 42 had no idea who was looking after their children.

Aside from the terrifying prospect that the children might be left on their own, it is intensely traumatic for women entering prison.

“There is panic. In a number of cases the woman would have left their children with a neighbour and expected to return in the evening. They have no contact and no ability to get anything in the next few days, in terms of anything to keep them warm and so on. It’s not very comfortable.

“It’s very difficult for the children as you can imagine. Also, sadly there are some women who don’t tell anyone anything about their children because they’re afraid they’ll be taken into care.

They go away without any form of support.”

One of the most surprising things about Pryce’s book was how nice all the other prisoners seemed. It wasn’t like in Orange is New Black where the prisoners starve the main character (a show that coincidentally Vicky Pryce has not seen). Was she surprised by how

nice the prisoners were?

“To tell you the truth I didn’t know what to expect. The moment I left the courtroom, and then got into the van to go to prison – the people in the van, the officers, another girl who was on remand, we were all in there in these separate cubicles – the photographers who were mostly men were banging their cameras against the walls of the Black Maria which takes you across to the prison trying to take pictures of me through the cubicles. The interesting thing was that the Serco staff in there and this girl were so sympathetic. I realised there is a solidarity there and I found that in great measure once I got into Holloway and then again in East Sutton.

I wasn’t expecting to go to a place in the middle of the country in an Elizabethan country house, with huge grounds around it, no fences, no lockups.

“It wasn’t just for me, because of course I was well known. But, everyone who was coming in also was given a huge amount of help.”

Pryce served time in two prisons, four days in Holloway and two months in East Sutton Park open prison.

“The difference was black and white.

I had no idea what open prison was about. I assumed you had slightly more freedoms . But I wasn’t expecting to go to a place in the middle of the country in an Elizabethan country house, with huge grounds around it, no fences, no lockups.

“People were running around doing their own thing. People didn’t have a cell; they had a room they shared. It was how I imagine a boarding house to be, not that I’ve ever been in one.”

Pryce reaches some radical conclusions, she argues that the vast majority of women prisoners shouldn’t be behind bars and that community sentencing is a better alternative. One of the many problems with Britain’s prison system is its inability to deal with drug

Vicky Pryce is a critic of Britain’s prison Photo: Chatham House

addiction.

“A big percentage of prisoners do drugs for the first time while in prison.”

Many women who enter prison either have serious drug problems or suffer from mental illness. For instance, 37 per cent of women sent to prison have attempted suicide at one point in their lives, while just over half of female

A survey of 1400 women prisoners that 42 women had no idea who was looking after their children remand prisoners were addicted to drugs in the year before entering prison.

Is prison really the best option in these cases?

“I seriously think that turning a prison into an amateur psychiatric unit, which happened in Holloway and happens elsewhere is a mistaken policy.

Women on drugs are not necessarily responsible for what they are doing.

They should be possibly treated in residential establishments for their

particular problem or dealt with by the various women’s centres where there are actually courses going on, instead of going to prison and being given Mephedrone.

“That’s not really what prisons were meant to be there for, and they’re frankly a huge strain on the prison officers and everyone else around them. “ When the topic of short sentences comes up, Pryce is scathing. Do they serve any good to society?

“I presume they make people happy that some action is being taken, the Daily Mail readers feel satisfied. But of course, they come up out and reoffend quite a lot. I’m not in favour of making sentences any longer, I’m in favour of not sending anyone who would get short sentences to prison, particularly mothers, when there are other ways of dealing with it.

“Community service and community orders are much cheaper and they have a better record in terms of reoffending. I mean they are hugely cheaper, they keep people in close with their families and they allow therefore integration to happen much more easily. It’s a no brainer really.”

But is community service an effective deterrent?

“All the studies suggest that prison is not a deterrent for crime. So if prison is not a deterrent, you might as well use something that’s cheaper. In terms of deterrence from crime, the greatest deterrent is the likelihood of being caught. It’s not the length of the sentences; it’s the whether you expect to get caught. Most criminals commit crimes because they don’t think they are going to get caught. People generally

do not get caught. Targeted policing is a better deterrent than anything else. “ Britain puts more people in prison per 100,000 than any other country in the west bar America. Why is the prison population so large?

“What has happened is that sentences became longer. Particularly during the end of the Major years and the beginning of the Labour period when they were getting tough on crime and wanted to be even tougher than the conservatives. The whole climate changed and there were longer sentences and many more things people did were classified as offences. We saw a doubling of the prison population in 20 years. If we went back to where we were we’d save huge amounts of money.

“People try to link the reduction in crime to the increase in the prison population. But the correlation doesn’t work that way, we are putting more people in prison even though crime is going down.”

So how do we make prisons work?

“I think education and employment are two of the most important things which have the greatest return in terms of value for money. My view is that the cost-benefit analysis has not been done yet in government. Helping people find jobs and taking away the stigma of being convicted would be the biggest contribution to society. It would reduce unemployment and reduce the rate of re-offense.”

Vicky Pryce’s book Prisonomics, published by BiteBack Publishing, is out now and available in all good bookshops.

Royalties from the book will be donated to Working Chance a charity that helps former women prisoners find work.

ISSUE 10 / 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Features : 09

Interview: David Rieff American author, polemicist and war correspondent David Rieff tells Sam Dumitriu why he is a humanitarian fundamentalist

W

hat gives a humanitarian institution in London or New York the right to go into someone else’s country and say they know what should be done?

It was this question David Rieff attempted to answer when he gave the annual public lecture at Manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute. The question is not merely academic for Rieff, who as a journalist throughout the nineties covered almost every major humanitarian disaster, from Rwanda and Congo to Bosnia and Kosovo. If Rieff was in your country in the nineties, the odds were good that something bad was happening.

“I think there are a bunch of questions that need to be asked that we take too easily for granted about humanitarian action. What gives it its legitimacy? People start in the middle when they talk about this question. They talk about what should be done, which is entirely appropriate. But, what gives a humanitarian institution in London or New York - or for that matter Rio De Janiero or Cape Town the right to go into someone else’s country and say they know what should be done?”

Rieff is correct; when we see the suffering on our TVs caused by super typhoon Haiyan, our first response is how can we help.

Questions of legitimacy never enter into the equation.

Humanitarian intervention and humanitarian action are two different things. What we mean by humanitarian intervention is humanitarian war, or war in the name of preventing massive war crimes.

“Kofi Annan’s favourite saying, which was taken from Edmund

Burke was ‘the only thing needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing’. But, wanting to do something and knowing what to do are two different things. Saying something should be done and saying you have the right to do it, are not the same things.”

One aspect of humanitarianism where the question of legitimacy has come up is humanitarian intervention. Earlier in the year, when intervention in Syria was floated, the public, along with MPs, broadly opposed it. The optimism for intervention in the wake of Kosovo seems to have disappeared; Rieff has shifted with the public from optimism to scepticism. Why have the public fallen out of favour with humanitarian intervention?

“Humanitarian intervention and humanitarian action are two different things. What we mean by humanitarian intervention is humanitarian war, or war in the name of preventing massive war crimes. That is one extreme side of the humanitarian world.

“I don’t find it surprising that large majorities are against intervention in Syria because nobody knows what they would do there. I think there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse about Libya. Lots of things were promised by France and the US about what would happen if Gaddafi was overthrown and for the most part it doesn’t seemed to have worked out rather well.

“I don’t find that surprising at all, but let me be clear, to condemn that is not to condemn all humanitarian action, the things that Oxfam does, the things that Doctors without Borders do.”

Crises like Syria seem unsolvable; any action we take can seem futile in the face of all the suffering that will happen regardless. Is there a sense of pessimism challenging to humanitarian action?

“Did it live up to all of its promises? No. But what does. The relief organisations do a lot of work, think of medical relief work, of public health work, of famine relief.

All that has been very successful, there used to be a famine every 30 years in some places in the world.

Now, when there is a famine, at least in the last 15 to 20 years, fewer people die.

“If you look at just the vector of Somali famines in the past 100 years, you’ll see, horrible as they are, tragic as they are, that actually they are stopped more quickly and efficiently. I don’t think there’s some general disenchantment.

“I think that what’s true is that in the first decade after the cold war, the humanitarian actors seemed like magicians and a lot of hopes were vested in them that they couldn’t possibly have fulfilled.

War correspondent David Rieff speaks to The Mancunion Photo: Alesi Leonardi

They were thought to be ten feet tall, and then there was a period where everyone was disenchanted.

But I don’t think in 2013 that people are still having the fantasies they did about Doctors Without Borders in Bosnia in 1994. That was 20 years ago.”

Various critics of humanitarian action have questioned the way we portray the subjects of humanitarian action. They argue that the way we portray victims of genocide and famine fails to respect their agency. Rieff is highly sceptical of the idea.

“What would agency for someone who is starving to death mean?

I know people use these words but I don’t know what they mean.

Humanitarian action is an emblem of social failure, political failure, state failure. Remember emergency relief isn’t the same as development aid. In development, I think those questions are very legitimate, to talk about agency, to say that big development agencies in the global north and in the UN system should listen more and lecture less. But when people are dying of hunger,

If somehow there’s an idea that this could be made into an equal partnership between the starving and the non-starving.

I think that’s wishful thinking. if they could do something for themselves they would.

“Obviously when a crisis is over, then whether the relief agencies always do the right thing is in question and there is a problem with relief agencies exaggerating

the disaster and the helplessness of the people suffering.

“Evangelical agencies that have been accused of trying to convert starving people, obviously that’s outrageous. But if somehow there’s an idea that this could be made into an equal partnership between the starving and the non-starving. I think that’s wishful thinking.”

The popular view in humanitarian circles suggest that humanitarianism derives its legitimacy by being a part of political action as well as just providing aid. Oxfam International, for example, alongside helping the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan actively campaigns for governments to take action against climate change.

“My view of humanitarian relief is that it does a limited number of things. It’s palliative it is not transformative. There are people within the humanitarian world who think of themselves as part of some larger solution. But there I agree with the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata who said ‘There are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems’.

“I’m a sort of humanitarian fundamentalist, in the sense that humanitarianism does a comparably small, important, restricted thing very well. But no, it’s not an Archimedean lever to change the world.”

Rieff illustrates his fundamentalist view of humanitarianism with reference to his 2003 book A Bed for the Night, which is based off a Bertolt Brecht poem.

“He tells a story of a guy in New York at the height of the depression, who gives homeless people a bed for the night. The poem says the man won’t change the world, he won’t bring social justice, but for a night people won’t have snow falling on their heads. “ For Rieff, humanitarian action derives its legitimacy from its limited scope. When humanitarianism becomes merely part of a broader political project we face problems, most importantly that people disagree. Rieff ’s fundamentalist humanitarianism gives us reason to keep helping even when we lose faith in our political projects.

For more information on upcoming events hosted by the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute you can visit their website: http://www. hcri.ac.uk/events/

Sam Dumitriu

10

Opinion

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

On your bike, if you dare...

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Charlotte Green discusses how the potential ban on using headphones whilst cycling is symptomatic of a system determined to blame bikers for accidents, not motorists

@MancunionOp

Photo: Flickr@Stuart Grout Cycling is good for you. It gets you fit and healthy, whilst reducing carbon emissions and lowering congestion within cities.

David Cameron, himself a cyclist, has called for a “cycling revolution” in Britain, and has backed the cycling boom occurring in the South-East of England; the so-called ‘Wiggins effect’.

Politicians are predicting that soon UK towns and cities will have similar levels of cycling to cities in Holland or the Netherlands, where cycling is the most common form of transport within centres.

However a revolution is impossible when British roads continue to be fundamentally anti-cycling. The Government needs to work with Councils and the Ministry of Transport to create a safe environment for cyclists across the UK, you can’t endorse cycling as a means of positive alternative travel and then fail to protect those who join the great “revolution”.

Six cyclists have died in London in less than two weeks. The politicians’ response?

To blame the cyclists. Following the deaths London Mayor Boris Johnson has stated that he is considering a ban on cyclists wearing headphones, saying that it is “absolutely nuts” to wear them and that it terrifies him to see cyclists “bowling along unable to hear the traffic”.

This is such an absurd misappropriation of blame that when I read the quote I was slightly staggered. Headphones or no headphones, it makes no difference when a six-tonne articulated lorry indicates late and then turns across your path.

What BoJo is doing is picking on the easy option. By attacking something as relatively small-scale as headphone wearing, he is choosing to place the blame on the cyclists, those people who put themselves in a risky position in the first place, not addressing the inadequacies of the current roads in accommodating cyclists.

As a cyclist myself I will admit that I wear headphones whilst cycling the busy roads of Manchester. And yes I accept that it may not be the most sensible idea in the world, when you have to be constantly alert and aware of your surroundings.

But so do cars. And yet Boris is not considering banning car stereos or soundproof windows. It doesn’t matter how loud

Headphones or not, when a lorry closes in it makes little difference Bowie is singing Suffragette City, I can still hear the magic bus coming up behind me on the way into Uni. I wonder if the same can be said for the cars with stereos so loud you can hear the bass pumping from 100m away.

If we need further proof that headphones are only a tiny part of the wider issue we only need to examine the figures.

According to road-cycling statistics released by the House of Commons in June, the total number of fatalities on rural and urban roads in 2011 was almost exactly the same, 52 urban fatalities to 55 rural fatalities.

However the serious casualties totals are very different and highlight the disparity between safe cycling in cities and the countyside. In rural areas the number of serious casualties totalled at 745, in urban areas it was 2,340, over three times the rural amount.

It seems unlikely that in all these cases headphones were responsible for a cyclist being involved in an accident.

What I resent most is the perception that as a cyclist I am somehow invading the domain of the motorist, that my presence on the roads is an intrusion that is permitted, but not supported. By this reasoning any accidents that occur on those roads must ultimately be my fault, because I chose to endanger myself by entering the car-zone in the first place.

In Manchester since 2005 the number of killed or seriously injured cyclists has doubled, from 7 to 14 in six years. In Withington on the other hand, the number of KSI cyclists has declined from 10 to 3 over the same period.. The answer is obvious; cycle lanes.

Oxford Road is a prime example of a road that makes no allowances for the existence of cyclists. Weaving in and out of the busy bus lane whilst avoiding speeding taxis is stressful, and at times, exceedingly terrifying.

One evening I ended up being trapped between two buses as one tried to overtake the other. The sides closed in, inside the passengers stared at me as I pedalled desperately, and I remember thinking that there was nothing I could do, no way of making myself visible or preventing the oncoming collision. That time one bus pulled away, and we carried on as if nothing had happened.

Every cyclist has their own near-death story where it was only by luck that they escaped unscathed. Yet we should not have to be relying on luck. The way traffic currently operates in urban areas presents a significant danger to cyclists, one that won’t be solved by continuing to hold cyclists solely responsible for their own accidents. By targeting headphones Boris Johnson is sending the wrong message.

He is demonstrating the state’s reluctance to embrace cycling, despite publicly encouraging it.

Opinion Poll Should UoM deny certain speakers a platform to debate?

Yes, hateful views should not be condoned as legitimate 13% (16)

No, freedom of speech must be preserved at all costs 45% (56)

I think the issue is more complicated than this 42% (52) Total votes: 124

Opinion

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

11

The “No Platform” Britain doesn’t need policy needs to end lower age of consent Both sides of the no platform debate are concerned with solving the same problem: how do we reduce, and eventually end, oppression towards oppressed groups? History shows us that oppression is best overcome through engagement with the oppressive force. Engagement allows us to understand why people hold views and thus how best to reason with them; it lets us become better informed as a result of hearing things we often find objectionable; and it allows us to scrutinise and denounce the arguments we find most perverse, and eventually defeat them.

We need look no further than the BNP and Nick Griffin who is currently ‘No Platformed’ under NUS policy for a perfect example of why the policy is so counter productive. It is particularly harmful in two ways: firstly Mr Griffin’s views cannot be challenged by those who disagree with him, they are instead left to foster in places populated by those who already agree with him. “No Platform” allows him to exist, for the most part, in right wing echo chambers surrounded by his own supporters. Thus when videos of him are uploaded to YouTube with no opposition, he appears coherent as there is

no-one to challenge him, and his inadequate arguments are punctuated only by the applause of his supporters. Ending ‘No Platform’ allows Nick Griffin’s views to be challenged and exposed; it forces his supporters to listen to the other side.

Without this exposure, they can only become more hardened in their views.

Secondly, people like Mr Griffin derive legitimacy from their status of being “No Platformed.”

Most supporters of people with extremist views already view the establishment with suspicion, believing institutions such as universities to be bastions of politically homogenous liberals whose only desires are to propagate political correctness, and to sneer down their noses at those less educated than them.

People like Mr Griffin use “No Platform” as an example of how he and his supporters are ‘oppressed’ by this establishment who are too afraid to allow him to reveal the ‘truth.’ This makes people like Mr Griffin appear to be fighting against some repressive force which is an easy narrative to exploit in order to win more disaffected people to his cause.

Ending ‘No Platform’ would mean people like this could no

longer use these narratives and their supporters would instead see them humiliated, in the way Mr Griffin was on Question Time in 2009, after which, support for the party collapsed.

Allowing the people whose views we find most offensive to lurk in the intellectual shadows of un-moderated internet forums and YouTube videos empowers them, as opposing voices are shouted down by the vitriol endemic to these parts of cyberspace. Universities offer the perfect platform of moderated discussion to challenge the most dangerous ideas that manifest themselves in oppression.

Unfortunately, “No Platform” prolongs the oppression that groups suffer because it legitimises the views of those who are denied a platform to speak, and it prevents them being challenged and having their arguments exposed and falsified.

We want to see oppression towards minority groups and women ended. To do that we need to end the policy of “No Platforming” speakers; bring the proponents of oppressive discourse into the mainstream, and debunk their arguments once and for all.

Christian Barrow

An additional course cost is anything that you’ve had to pay for outside of your tuition fees. Maybe you’ve had to buy expensive textbooks because there weren’t enough in the library? Or you’ve had to pay for a field trip that you thought was included in your fees?

A blunt message from Downing Street this week was communicated to Britain’s leading public health expert (and the public at large) that the current age of consent for sex in the UK is 16, and “there are no plans to change it”.

There is no widespread agreement of what the age of consent should be internationally; on one hand the Independent comments that in Yemen, at age 9 (or upon showing signs of the ‘onset of puberty’) one can legally have sex, whereas in Tunisia unmarried couples must be 20 years of age to consent.

Recent news has shown, however, that any attempt to change the law would be politically impossible here in the UK. On first hearing about this topic, it is easy to jump to conclusions and immediately decide that the age of 15 is too young to be able to consent to sex, and that it is evidence of the lack of ethics and traditional values in our society.

However, Professor John Ashton; the public health expert at hand, argues that lowering the age of consent would help teenagers obtain sexual health advice. This is of utter importance, as according to the Telegraph statistics in 2008, four out of ten girls have underage sex - more than any other country in Europe. Judging by the statistics, it appears something must change;

Name: Items bought:

either Parliament accepts that young people are having underage sex and takes steps to ensure teenagers are both informed and protected in a number of ways, or Parliament reject the proposal (which they have on this occasion) and take steps towards educating those under 16 on the seriousness; physically and emotionally; of sexual intercourse.

Professor Ashton argues that the current age of 16 sends ‘confused messages’ about the age at which it is okay to have sex, and that Britain should look seriously at changing the age to 15 so that a line may be drawn, and as a society, ‘we can actively discourage sexual involvement under 15’. From a legal point of view, however, the rules are very clear at the moment that it is illegal to consent to sex under the age ofsixteen, and if sex education is being taught properly then teenagers should already be deterred from having sex until that age. Looking at the evidence at hand, it appears sex education needs to be drastically improved so that young people can properly understand the implications of their actions, especially in a legal sense. Instead of lowering the age of consent, why not lower the age of sex education is taught, and make sure it is up to standard, including the legal implications as

Course:

well as personal implications?

It’s true that whilst society increasingly accepts the occurrence of casual sex, its implications on the younger generation are that they may fail to take into account the emotional, physical and mental effects that it can have. Lawyers have also alluded to the important issue of child safety, Liz Dux, the lawyer representing 72 victims of Jimmy Saville, saying lowering the age of consent would give legitimacy for predatory adults to ‘focus their attention on even younger teenagers’.

Because of this evidence, one may be inclined to agree with Downing Street that the age of consent needs to stay at 16 and should not be lowered. This debate, however, appears to have brought further evidence of society’s confused values in regards to issues with young people, one example including being allowed to join the army at 16 but not being allowed to play ‘Call of Duty’ until the age of 18. If the age of consent is 16, then make it clear and teach young people about its repercussions. Once the government makes a decision on its values, it should seek to enforce the appropriate laws in order to deter illegal behaviour.

Lauren Wills

Year: Cost:

If this has happened to you, please use this form to tell your student rep what you’ve had to pay for.

They can fight to get you a better deal next time.

Tell your Union about your additional course costs at manchesterstudentsunion.com/costs

ISSUE 10/ 25th November 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Phoebe Clarke, Patrick Hinton, Tom Ingham Interview: Mount Kimbie

Opinion

theMUSIC OPINION: Illegal Downloading

Matthew Byrne Okay I’m going to make an admission at the start of this piece. I frequently use Torrents to download music.

Yes I know many people would equate this to musical treason, betraying all the bands I love by basically engaging in the idea that their music is worthless. But as students it’s an increasing pricey business getting your hands on a copy of all the records you’d love to listen to. I’m sure I’m not alone as to satisfy the musical thirst numerous students have; you would need to have a big bank account which isn’t a luxury a lot of us have.

Do we all have a God given right to hear every piece of music? Perhaps not ,but I do find the prospect of the latest album being a few clicks away very enticing compared to the dent it will make in my student overdraft if I pay for it.

Although I am filled with guilt at the thought of some artists spending their time putting their heart and soul into their work, and making little or no money thanks in part, to me.

Maybe I should use streaming services such as Spotify instead? I have given Spotify a go and without opting for the premium version and paying £10.00 a month, the experience is frankly infuriating due to the constant interruption from adverts. After the furore over Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich withdrawing their music because of the unfair deal artists receive from Spotify, It’s clear that artists really don’t benefit very much by making their music available on this platform. Take Grizzly Bear for example, who said that they receive $0.001 per stream.

Grizzly Bear do seem to be a band that are indifferent as to

how people listen to their musicthey said on the release of their Shields B sides “Ultimately no matter how you chance upon the songs we hope you enjoy them, stream, torrent or buy, we just appreciate the interest”.

It’s an admirable stance that gives the impression they view their music not as a commodity but a piece of art to be stumbled upon by anyone irrespective of wealth. If as a band they can have a big influence on people lives then does the money matter that much?

There are of course other ways to show your support for bands. Normally I will venture out to the local haunt when my favourite acts are visiting because I appreciate the effort that a lot of small bands make to tour even when losing money at times. The way I see it you can reward bands who have made great albums by going to their gigs or buying their merchandise. If it’s a small band that really need the money to keep going, I ‘m happy to buy their album. However when I’ve paid over the odds for a Radiohead ticket at MEN Arena, I think downloading all the added remixes of TKOL illegally isn’t terribly perverse.

In short, I think you should when possible support your favourite acts in any way you can, be it buying their album, merchandise or a ticket for their gig, but when you’re struggling for cash , I’d say that illegal downloading isn’t such a big crime.

the MUSIC INTERVIEW: Mount Kimbie Patrick Hinton speaks to Mount Kimbie about life on tour, the ubiquity of ‘Made To Stray’ and collaboration with other artists - including the legendary DJ Koze Patrick Hinton Music editor

After a two year UK touring hiatus, Mount Kimbie are once again travelling these shores in support of their critically lauded second album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth. Beside a table laden with a balanced rider of alcohol and celery sticks in Manchester’s Gorilla, I spoke to the duo.

“The tour’s going really well at the moment, we jreally want to make this tour amazing because we haven’t done the UK for a long time” says Dominic Maker. With the band’s second album being constructed more towards live sets, I question whether the tour feels different this time around. “It’s definitely a more live orientated album, we’re just building on the ideas that we had on that record on the stage. It definitely is a different live show to what we had before, although we’re still playing songs from back then.” Kai Campos adds “We never really played the first album like it was on the record anyway, so it was always kind of leaning towards going in that direction before we made the second album so I think it sits together pretty well.”

Mount Kimbie toured debut album Crooks & Lovers extensively, so was this progression towards live sets planned? “We certainly didn’t consciously talk about a particular change in direction, although it was quite a long gap from recording the first one so it was quite natural for us to want to do something a bit different. But at the same we wanted to make the studio record that we wanted to make, not think about how we were going to perform it live. So in that sense it was a similar process in that we just worked in a studio and then came to rehearse it much later on.”

“A key difference is probably that we started playing the songs out before they were finished, that was a very different process from the first record which had long been finished before we thought about playing them, so they were informed by performance at some point along the way.” Campos goes on to reveal a live performance influence: “We’ve just been touring the states with a guy

We went out just after the album was released and heard ‘Made To Stray’ in a club, it was a great moment called John Wayne who’s quite an incredible showman. He has a very different approach in every respect to what we do, we were both learning together and sharing ideas. He’s the kind of guy that can insult every audience that we played to and come out of it well which is something that I’d never be able to pull off, so yeah, very different but very inspiring as well.”

Mount Kimbie have seen a lot of the world through their touring schedule. “I think America is probably my favourite area to tour in because it’s very interesting and you’re going through different climates and landscapes all the time.” America has one downside however, as Maker further imparts: “The venues - most of them aren’t very good.

A lot of what we’re doing is down to how good it sounds, we had a good sound guy out there and sometimes it was a real shame because the sound system just wasn’t up to it, that really happens a lot out there, but the audiences were great.”

Despite their latest album not necessarily being hugely dance floor orientated, ‘Made To Stray’ was a ubiquitous anthem at the summer festivals, and has a huge response when dropped at dance events. I asked whether the response to this song had come as a surprise.

“Yes, it has,” admits Maker. “I remember we went out pretty much just after the album was released and we heard that song out in a

club and it was a great moment as we haven’t really ever experienced that with any of our music before. We keep hearing accounts of people hearing it out in various places around the world and that’s only a good thing.”

The band currently have no set plans on where to take their sound next. “We just want to start writing again and it will all start to fall into place. I think really the key thing for us is we want to keep writing as opposed to before where we had so much time off, we want to keep the ball rolling and hopefully work on some exciting projects with other people.”

Archy Marshall aka King Krule collaborated with Mount Kimbie on two tracks of their latest album. “It was great, he was a really great artist and inspiring guy to work with” says Kai. “It was really nice to have a genuine front man to work with who really added something that only really he could.”

Another notable collaboration occurred recently when the legendary DJ Koze contributed a remix to Mount Kimbie’s latest EP. “We were trying to figure out who would be interesting to rework some stuff, remix EPs are something that record labels like to do to keep momentum and can be not the most exciting thing in the world to be doing - but having said that, this one’s come out really well I think. Koze was an influence of mine from a long time ago so it’s always nice when those things come around; I’m pretty elated with what he’s done with it.”

Speaking of record labels, what influenced the band to sign with Warp Records after the culmination of their Hotflush contract?

“They never asked us about what the record was going to sound like and they didn’t want to have anything to do with that really so that was something that we felt good about.

They’ve seen and worked with bands in a lot of different places in their careers and as a label they’ve changed over the years and adapted. They’re a really good home for what we’re doing at the moment and where we want to go.”

Read the full interview online.

Top 5, by Patrick Hinton

TOP 5 SONGS:

in the field of Pulling

1. Joy Orbison Elipsis It’s been an unsuccessful night so far, you’re a stuttering mess every time you approach a potential lover. Time for another drink to boost your confidence.

2. MK - Love Changes

3. Levon Vincent Man Or Mistress

4. Scuba - Adrenalin

The night wears on, the club is emptying and still no luck. Time to lower those standards, and have another drink.

You’ve found someone and they seem interested.

After all those drinks, you can’t be certain that they’re the gender you desire, but that’s neither here nor there.

Your excitement peaks as it finally happens. You’re kissing! You’re in a taxi home! You’re under the sheets! *Fade to black*

5. American Football - But the Regrets are Killing Me It’s morning. Ouch, your head. You roll over and now it’s not just the sun that hurts your eyes. Time to make a hasty, sheepish exit.

ISSUE 10/ 25th November 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

: @MancunionMusic : / TheMancunionMusicSection

Music

13

Opinion

Live: Pixies 02 Apollo Manchester, 21/11/2013.

8/10.

Thomas Ingham, Music Editor “It’s like great! Oh wait, he’s dead”. Black Francis (aka Frank Black) never got much mileage out of Kurt Cobain’s praise for the Pixies, in particular his love of ‘Debaser’. In a live interview conducted by Journalist and legendary DJ Dave Haslam, Frank revealed that the Pixies was, and still is, an orgy of passive-aggressiveness; a bunch of guys who can’t communicate.

Before Kim Deal’s departure it was near impossible to imagine the band performing without anyone of the members, I still shudder to this day when I try to conceive a Pixies without the tortured sounds emanating from Joey Santiago’s Les Paul. Back on the road with Kim Shattuck, formerly of The Muffs, Pixies have refused to wallow in self-pity at the loss of the iconic fagsmoking bassist and ploughed on.

Backed by a Dire Straits-esque wall of what looked like television screens, the stage show has come a long way from what grainy archive footage would have you believe. In some ways

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the band shoot themselves in the foot; choosing to shun the pent up energy and excitement from the crowd by opening with ‘In Heaven (Lady In the Radiator Song) and the meandering ‘Andro Queen’. Bathed in a thick, concealing light, it was no hardly the most immediate or intimate opening to a show. Slowly working their way back up to tempo ‘Nimrod’s Son’ was a wet slap in the face, a pure shot of chaotic violence, and the arrival of the Pixies.

Talking to The Mancunion, Joey revealed that the band were at one point afraid of ‘Here Comes Your Man’, it’s popularity and it’s sound; immortalised on the classic album Doolittle. After a false start there was a look of some reluctance in Frank’s eye, choosing to indulge the crowd in what is perhaps the Pixies at their most pop sounding.

Material from EP-1 garners a mixed reception. The unfamiliarly slick sounding ‘Another Toe’ passes by without any drama, but surprisingly the brutal, tribal sounding ‘What Goes Boom’ also falls short of expectations.

Being a bunch of working class guys, they’ve got a pretty good idea of what value for money is, and let me tell you a set list spanning 39 songs is pretty hard to beat – unless you’re Bruce Springsteen of course. But, unlike The Boss and his heart on his sleeve ways, Frank’s lyrics are altogether much darker and to quote the man himself “ArtsyFartsy”. ‘Hey’ is the epitome of Pixies weirdness; a loosely structured masterpiece, pedalled along by a quintessential Deal bass baseline and garnished

Pixies that doesn’t have Charles and Kim, side-byside on stage leaves one feeling restless. Whatever aura Kim Deal possesses is magical, and it’s only upon her return that younger fans will be able to rest assured that they’ve experienced the full force of the Pixies.

Mancunion Music Meetings Every Thursday, 5pm

Student Activities Office, 1st Floor of SU Review

Review

Kodaline

Mount Kimbie

HMV Ritz - 17th November 2013 IPreviously known as 21 Guns, Kodaline made history in 2007 when their independently released track “Give me a minute” topped the Irish charts.

With Steve Garrigan at the helm, the band from Dublin arrived at The Ritz in search of an even bigger audience for their album “In a Perfect World”.

Starting the night off was talented young singer James Bay. His first EP having just been released, it proved a perfect opportunity to showcase his talent with tracks like “Move Together” and “Stealing Cars”.

Following the opening act, Irish folk pop duo Hudson Taylor took to the stage. As soon as they

with a tongue-in-cheek, if not a slightly perverse lyric “uh said the man to the lady/uh said the lady to the man she adored/and the whores like a choir/ go uh all night”.

Pixies are one of the few ‘un-coverable’ bands, liable to imitation – hell yes! (duh) But, who in their right mind would cover ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’?

That doesn’t however deter them from chancing their hand with three covers; ‘Big New Prinz’ by Manchester’s The Fall, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Head On’ and if you weren’t a Neil Young fan you would swear ‘Winterlong’ was a Pixies original, thus is the conviction of its performance.

These reclusive rock stars are most at home in the studio, Frank has said that he had sometimes struggled to connect with his audience of adorers, instead choosing to hide behind his sunglasses and zone out. Closing the main set with ‘Where Is My Mind’ Charles looked genuinely overwhelmed by the reception and the vast array of teenagers and bald middle-age men stood before him.

New Kim evokes the same warmth we all loved about Kim Deal, her playing is a little muddier than her ‘precise’ predecessor but nonetheless Shattuck doesn’t hide in the shadows and delivers the goods expertly on the frantic ‘Tony’s Theme’.

Deal, or no Deal the Pixies are without comparison, there is no effect of age or diminishing power evident in their execution. There is only the internal tussle that goes on within my own head; yes, I have just seen the Pixies, but (and I don’t expect a prize for stating the fucking obvious) a

7/10

started, it became clear that they were destined for greater things.

With excellent songs like “Care” and “Battles” highlighting their set, they even managed to get the crowd to sing along. By the time Hudson Taylor finished, the crowd was demanding for more and the duo hinted that they would be back in town at the end of the month for their own tour.

It was soon Kodaline’s turn to shine. Opening with “After The Fall”, Garrigan immediately connected with the audience with his beautiful pure voice.

In a skillful and emotional statement of intent, cinematic in scope and able to cause goose

Gorilla - 7th November 2013 bumps almost at will, Kodaline mastered the beginning of its set like rarely before. However, as strong as the start was, they struggled a bit to keep the audience in their grasp with their less known tracks. Given their album was only out this year, it was no real surprise.

Nevertheless, Garrigan was bound to make an impression.

Disappearing after their performance of “All Comes Down”, they reappeared on the balcony of The Ritz, in the middle of the crowd, to sing “Bring It On Home To Me”, to the delight of the audience. In a somewhat expected turn, they closed with beautifully written song “All I Want” with backing vocals from Hudson Taylor, hence providing an adequate finish to a great night of music.

Kodaline have still a long way to go before claiming their place as big-buck contenders but they have all the components for greatness, with choruses so beautiful and heart-wrenching that the drawing of thousands of people holding festival lighters singing in unison paints itself.

Shanda Moorghen

Whilst Mount Kimbie are ostensibly a band now and this is ostensibly a gig, they hit the stage at the relatively late time of 11pm showing an enduring connection to the club scene.

The late start time allows for the audience to get suitably alcohol fuelled during danceable support slots from producers Lapalux and oOoOO, eliciting an exuberant atmosphere for the arrival of the main act.

Mount Kimbie need no introduction as they launch immediately into ‘Carbonated’ amidst greeting roars of approval from the assembled revellers. The addition of a live drummer and a host of new gear for this tour means their sound is considerably amped up from when I last saw them in 2010, a wholly positive progression. In a live setting their songs are reworked into elaborate constructions involving any number of guitar pedals and synthesizer settings; the effect is thrilling.

During ‘So Many Times, So Many Ways’ stuttering synth loops cut through the room at-

mospherically before fading into a bass guitar groove. This continues through the song, building to a climactic swell of reverb soaked sounds that wash over the enthralled crowd. When the familiar drum machine loop of ‘Made To Stray’ emerges out of this the euphoria of the room peaks; the anthem of many summer festivals impressively has the same impact in a dimly lit Manchester venue as on a blazing beach in Croatia.

8/10 After leaving the stage to wild applause, Mount Kimbie return for an encore of ‘Mayor’, the standout track from debut Crooks & Lovers. Kai Campos leaps around the stage, mirroring the audience who are induced into movement by the chopped up vocal samples and infectious synth hook, ending the night triumphantly.

Patrick Hinton Music Editor

14

Music

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Mancunion Recommends

Now: Cut Copy - Free Your Mind Modular Recordings. Release Date 4th November 2013

I held Cut Copy’s fourth studio album ‘Free Your Mind’ as one of my most anticipated releases this year. Notwithstanding a few hiccups they have always proven themselves to be on point, producing charismatic anthems painting pictures of suburban Melbourne house parties and the lackadaisical life of Australian youth. Dan Whitford professed that the album was inspired by the late 80s UK acid sound which has been recently resurging within Melbourne’s club scene, a worthy call of influence by all means. However, at times the album feels like a poor hybrid of the loveable Cut Copy electro pop sound he pioneered and a confused interpretation of acid house. The title, Free Your Mind is something of a drug cliché, and unfortunately the message of the album for the most part follows suit.

Most of the tracks from the album are listenable with a few standing out. ‘Let Me Show You Love’, at a slower tempo is the highlight with clever progression and layering.

‘Into The Desert’ is a gorgeous instrumental prelude for ‘Footsteps’, but a somewhat brash bass and drum pattern comes in, sadly obliterating the previous inspiration for the

4/10

remainder of the track.

As a whole, the album is dilute and there is little musical intricacy to conjure up any complex emotion beneath the surface of bland lyrics and the cold, hugely overproduced vocals. Their sound sculpting process, brought to my attention in a documentary about the making of 2011 album Zonoscope is undeniably impressive again on Free Your Mind with unique and strong soundscapes but fail to strengthen the emotional context of tracks on the record.

Stylistically, Cut Copy seem to have come up short as they attempt to replicate house music. The end result tends to feel somewhat contrived, and their strengths lie within their stripped back, slower and spacious work. ‘Dark Corners & Mountain Tops’ hits these criteria, pleasantly reminiscent of the captivating track ‘A Dream’ on their debut album Bright Like Neon Love back in 2004. The album is by no means unlistenable but takes too much inspiration from what is currently unsatisfying about dance music. Songs about love and landscapes with carefully constructed sounds to portray the mood, not about drugs and clubs with ungrounded noises will keep Cut Copy in the game.

Olly Mitchell

For full listings visit:

manchesteracademy.net NOVEMBER Naughty Boy Saturday 16th Mallory Knox Sunday 17th Television Sunday 17th Blue October Monday 18th Hayseed Dixie Tuesday 19th Karnivool Tuesday 19th They Might Be Giants Wednesday 20th Panic! At The Disco Wednesday 20th The Rifles Thursday 21st Editors Friday 22nd The Backhanders Friday 22nd The Virginmarys Friday 22nd Temperance Movement Friday 22nd Absolute Bowie Saturday 23rd Lee Nelson Saturday 23rd Crystal Fighters Saturday 23rd MSMR Sunday 24th The Passengers Sunday 24th Barenaked Ladies Monday 25th The Fratellis Wednesday 27th Wednesday 13 + Sister Wednesday 27th TheDismembermentPlan Wednesday27th Hudson Taylor Thursday 28th Dan Baird & Homemade Sin Friday 29th Flux Pavilion Saturday 30th The Complete Stone Roses Saturday 30th The Lancashire Hotpots Saturday 30th The Doors Alive Saturday 30th

DECEMBER

Then: Erykah Badu- Baduizm Kedar/Universal - February 1997 Few albums have done for music what Erykah Badu’s debut ‘Baduizm’ did for R&B on its release in 1997. Winning a Grammy for Best R&B album, ‘Baduizm’ sounds just as relevant to the charts today as it did over 15 years ago – the proof of a timeless album that surpasses the passing whims of its period.

The album has elements of old-school Soul that earned Badu comparisons to Billie Holiday and Diana Ross by Rolling Stone Magazine critics of the time. This comparison is most apparent on ‘On and On’ that won a second Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance and proved arguably the

Book now: 0161 832 1111

most commercially successful of the tracks.

Capturing the humble daily chores of much of the USA’s Afro-American society in the South, ‘On and On’ resembles Holiday’s ‘Summertime’ in Badu’s vocal inflections that give an honest sincerity to anything she sings.

The album’s success is unsurprising considering the star-studded line-up that made up the production team. Former Miles Davis bassist Ron Carter complements the rich tone of Badu’s voice on the funky yet heartfelt “Drama” whilst renowned trumpeter Bobby Bradford and R&B producing legend James Poyser helped create the profound “See You Next Lifetime” and freestyle skit “Afro” that transport the listener back to the underground Jazz clubs of 1950’s New York.

Badu headed the Neo-Soul movement that was to pass the baton onto household names Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and Lauryn Hill.

This considered, it’s surprising how little ‘Baduizm’ is recognised today outside of today’s R&B community for helping establish the sounds of the 21st century. .

Phoebe Clarke Music Editor

Capercaillie Sunday 1st Papa Roach Thursday 5th Watain Thursday 5th White Lies Friday 6th Electric Six Friday 6th Dutch Uncles Friday 6th Shed Seven Saturday 7th Hell To Pay Saturday 7th For Those About To Rock: Livewire The AC/DC Show Saturday 7th The Word Alive Sunday 8th TheMenTheyCouldn’tHang Thursday12th Alabama 3 Friday 13th Kurt Vile Saturday 14th Gogol Bordello Saturday 14th Scar the Martyr Saturday 14th Primal Scream Sunday 15th Black Veil Brides Thursday 19th Levellers Friday 20th The Ratells Sat urday 21st Overload Saturday 28th

JANUARY 2014 The 1975 Monday 6th Lamb of God Sunday 19th dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip Sunday 19th Megan Nicole Tuesday 21st Redd Kross Fri day 24th Julia Sheer Wednesday 29th London Grammar Wednesday 29th Mayday Parade Thursday 30th

John Newman Friday 31st RX Bandits Friday 31st

FEBRUARY 2014 Jefferson Starship Saturday 1st Killswitch Engage/Trivium Saturday 1st Skindred Sunday 2nd Less Than Jake & Reel Big Fish Monday 2nd Ron Pope + Wakey! Wakey! Thursday 6th Little Comets Wednesday 5th Protest The Hero Thursday 6th Phoenix Monday 10th August Burns Red Tuesday 11th The Defiled Tuesday 11th Mikill Pane Friday 14th Parquet Courts Saturday 15th Kerrang! Tour 2014 Monday 17th Tich Monday 15th twenty one pilots Friday 21st M.A.D. Friday 21st Room 94 Saturday 22nd MDNGHT Saturday 22nd Laura Cantrell Saturday 22nd ReConnected Monday 24th Gavin DeGraw Friday 28th

MARCH 2014 The Dear Hunter And Anthony Green Saturday 1st Kodaline Wednesday 19th Architects Friday 7th Haim Saturday 8th All Time Low Thursday 13th Heaven 17 Saturday 15th Sex Pistols Experience Saturday 15th Ian Prowse & Amsterdam Friday 21st Space and Republica Thursday 20th OneRepublic Friday 21st Franz Ferdinand Saturday 22nd Transmission - The Sounds of Joy Division Saturday 22nd Azealia Banks Wednesday 26th Bonafide Wednesday 26th Deathstars Wednesday 26th The Stranglers Saturday 29th Katy B Saturday 29th

APRIL 2014 Halestorm Friday 4th Mentallica vs Megadeth UK Saturday 5th Deaf Havana Saturday 5th Devildriver Wednesday 9th UB40 Saturday 12th Uncle Acid &The Deadbeats Thursday 24th The Smiths Ltd Saturday 26th Patent Pending & People On Vacation Friday 25th

MAY 2014 Jagwar Ma Saturday 10th The Clone Roses Saturday 10th

Games

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

15

Editor: Alasdair Preson Feature

Why Microsoft will win the Console War Alasdair Preston predicts the outcome of the next generation To understand why Microsoft will win this generation’s “console war”, we must first ask ourselves; why won’t Nintendo or Sony? With the Xbox One rolling out across the globe last week, and the PS4 finally reaching UK shores on Friday, is it even possible to predict the winner at this early stage? The answer is probably not, but there are some pretty strong indicators that might give us an idea of how the next few years in gaming are going to go.

Why won’t Nintendo win the console war? I love Nintendo. Regular readers of the section will notice that almost all of my nostalgic Retro Corner pieces have been games on some form of Nintendo platform. I’ve always been a fan of their games and I always will. So it is with the greatest of love that I say; they’re stupid. Whoever is in charge repeatedly makes decisions that keep Nintendo stuck in the past when it comes to home consoles. The issue isn’t so much in the hardware. Their decision to opt for less power in the Wii U to reduce cost is reasonably sound, although it does mean that again Nintendo console owners will miss out on proper versions of the big multiformat releases. Fortunately, Nintendo have an unbeaten track record of producing first party exclusives that have been trickling out for Wii U recently, and will hopefully form a decent number by spring.

Image credit: GamesPress.com

No, the reason Nintendo will not outperform their competitors this generation is bad management. Let’s start with the name.

The marketing focus on the gamepad, and indistinct name have caused a lot of confusion.

The general public don’t seem to even know that Wii U is an entirely different console to the Wii. This leads us onto the second major problem. Nintendo were still hoping to keep the huge audience that they captured with the Wii. What they didn’t seem to realise is that the very same audience is largely not the type to worry about upgrading to the latest hardware.

If the Wii was the first games console you’d ever bought, you probably weren’t feeling pressured into buying a new one any time soon. Unfortunately, Nintendo’s aspirations to retain this market have lead to other hindering decisions made over the Wii U. It’s online aspects are non-existent. Today’s gamers expect connectivity and some freedom, with regular online content releases and social networking all at the push of a button. The Wii U struggles to offer any of that, and it’s only now, a year after launch, that there is even any proper connectivity between your online accounts for Wii U and 3DS. Another setback is the aforementioned lack in power.

The lower specs turn off gamers who would want to experience the highest potential big third party titles such as Call of Duty, Assassins Creed and Watch Dogs. These customers will no doubt choose the competition.

The cheaper price tag that comes as a result of this sacrifice hasn’t helped the Wii U gain any ground, with rather lacklustre sales after a year on the market.

For £200 with a game, the console is becoming increasingly viable, but many gamers will probably wait until after their purchase of an Xbox One or PS4 before they think in investing.

And so, Nintendo won’t be winning this console war.

Well then, why won’t Sony win

the console war? In short: they’ve played it incredibly safe. Summer was a PR dream for them. With Microsoft fluffing their lines, the way was clear for Sony to snatch the lead. And they have certainly convinced many gamers to choose their console over their biggest rival.

Day one sales of the PS4 in the US were said to be over one million units, a record breaking figure. Initial momentum is on Sony’s side, and they’ll almost certainly win the launch day battle. But this is a war. The PS4 system itself isn’t very revolutionary. As with previous efforts, Sony have improved the performance of the Playstation and little else. It’s new software features are understated, most if not all of which the rival Xbox One can do, and more. It doesn’t have many unique features, and the launch line-up doesn’t have the same promise that the PS3’s game library has. And this brings us on to the big question.

Why will Microsoft win the console war? Evolution. Microsoft have simply put more time and effort into improving their hardware to provide a product that hasn’t been offered before, and I’m not talking about Kinect. The Xbox One can draw on the power of the 300,000 cloud servers to boost its performance. As it grows older, it will grow stronger than the PS4 in the visual and processing departments. Provided Microsoft secure some games to take advantage of this, they should look forward to a healthy number of PS4 converts, while Sony may not be so successful in converting Xbox One owners.

Microsoft have also landed exclusives such as Titanfall, Dead Rising 3 and Sunset Overdrive (the next big game from Ratcher & Clank and Resistance developers Insomniac) whilst also making sure big releases such as Bungie’s Destiny, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy don’t become Sony exclusive. And that is how Microsoft will win the console war.

Review

review:

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 Irrational Games • 2K Games • RRP: £11.99 • Available on 360, PS3, Mac & PC

Alasdair Preston returns to Rapture in Bioshock Infinite’s first big DLC Earlier this year, Bioshock Infinite made itself my game of the year. Before even the launch of contenders such as GTA V and The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite blew me away so completely that I knew that, in my eyes, no games could surpass it this Image credit: Renegade PR year. And then when the story DLC was announced that took Booker and Elizabeth to the original Bioshock’s underwater city of Rapture, I almost wet myself. Every day for me since then has been a countdown to the launch of Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Episode 1.

The developers say that almost everything about this version of Rapture is new, completely rebuilt in the Bioshock Infinite engine. Wandering around in the early stages is as impressive as the opening to the main story. Like Columbia, this is Rapture before the downfall. Seeing what the city was like long before the events of the first Bioshock game is fascinating. The story takes Booker, now a private detective based in Rapture, on a journey with an older Elizabeth. Everywhere you look there are signs of the people you may remember from your first time in town, albeit a bit less crazy. Audio logs, story events and even overheard NPC conversations give more insight into who they were and what motivated them in the events to come.

Playing the game feels much more like Infinite than original Bioshock. Regenerating shields, sky rails and tears all crop up again. Mercifully, the weapon wheel comes back from the older games to replace Infinite’s two-gun system. The new radar gun is devastating, and downright fun to use. Old plasmids return, and newcomer Old Man Winter fits right in. This plasmid started life as a piece of fan art made after the release of Bioshock Infinite, and evolved into a fully-fledged piece of the game.

Burial at Sea Episode 1 takes pieces of old games to create a traditional Bioshock experience. With the upcoming release of Elizabeth-focussed Episode 2, buying the season pass is definitely recommended to save on the whole bundle. And, as you’d expect, there is a pretty great plot twist to look forward to.

Alasdair Preston

Alasdair Preston

Review

review: Path of Exile

Grinding Gear Games • RRP: FREE • Available on PC

Nick Jastrzebski plays a hot new RPG for free - and you can too!

Free to play games are a growing market with more and more examples emerging as core PC and console games, not just casual smartphone games. Titles such as Planetside 2, Warframe and Team Fortress 2 prove there are profits to be had. Aussie indie developer Grinding Gear Games decided to capitalise on this by adding their debut title Path of Exile, a Diablo-inspired isometric action RPG, to the list.

Set on the fictional island of Wraeclast, a prison of sorts where criminals are exiled from the mainland, you play as a prisoner stranded on the beach by a storm after your transport ship is destroyed. You quickly

discover the island is far from pleasant. Its home to all sorts of nasties, like the undead and cannibals, all of whom want to see you dead one way or another.

The story is, unfortunately, very linear. Side quests aren’t very detailed or exciting since the level design is so directed that it’s almost impossible to miss them; you’ll find yourself stumbling over these quests without even realising you were sent there.

However, the overarching quest line is definitely interesting enough to make me come back for more.

PoE offers significant departures from the traditional formula offered by the likes of

Diablo and Torchlight, foremost is the class and progression system. Each class is based on a combination of three attributes; strength (red), dexterity (green) and intelligence (blue). This may seem very familiar, however each class levels up using the passive skill tree, which is in fact more like a web. Each of the seven classes starts at a specific point on the web and, upon levelling up, players can invest skill points in whichever direction they wish to take.

For example, I started with the Ranger class which is focused on the dexterity attribute and branched out to a ranged combat focus, which began merging with intelligence nodes on the web. This allows players to completely customise their gameplay experience in a way I have never experienced in any RPG before.

Active skills are also very unique in this game; they are governed by skill gems which can be collected as loot and inserted into sockets in weapons and armour.

The gems level up as you use them, so

switching to a brand new skill may sometimes be a hard choice.

Gems and sockets have colours which have to match, and characters require high enough stats to wield gems of a certain colour; a red gem might have a strength requirement to equip etc. This means that different classes can use the same skills, adding yet more flexibility for players to forge the exact character they want to play.

The in-game economy is fairly distinctive; there is no currency used, instead scrolls such as those used to identify magical items are traded for other items. This keeps things simple and puts extra value on streamlining inventory space when out and about in the world.

The business model behind PoE is very fair; only cosmetic and convenience items

Image credit: PathofExile.com are available to buy with real money so there is no way to buy power. The developers have themselves said they are strongly against the idea of pay-to-win models and have aimed to make the game a complete experience for all players.

If you’re an action RPG fan, I see no reason why you shouldn’t give Path of Exile a try, even if the story is a little linear. It does plenty to distinguish itself from other titles and is a great game to lose yourself in, even if you’re on a tight budget.

Nick Jastrezebski

Opinion

ISSUE 10/25TH NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Susie Coen, Marie ClareYates, Halee Wells (Beauty)

Best of British

Opinion

/TheMancunion: Fashion & Beauty @MancunionFash

Opinion

Opinion

Royals: iconic or just dy-NASTY? Natalie Clark discusses a less taxing aspect of the Royal Family

Out with the Indie, in with the wavy Emmanuel Demuren discusses the streetwear style that has captivated British youth culture

To many, the Royal Family invoke the same feelings a relationship with marmite might; you love them, aren’t their biggest fan, or often call for a full-blown revolution. However, it cannot be denied that to the rest of the world, the Royals are undoubtedly a great symbol of our fair Isles.

So, when one is representing an entire nation, one must be impeccably, elegantly and of course ‘economically’ dressed. But when it comes to fashion, are our regal representatives style icons?

It almost seems a silly question. Aside from a few bumps (Beatrice, we are looking at you for that Phillip Treacy whatever-you-want-to-call-itlobster-hat) and hiccups (Zara Phillips…just no) along the way, there has been a long line of fashionable royals who have set trends throughout history.

Indie, that was best of british five years ago. Indie needs little explanation, so I’ll save your time and mine. These days the tide has changed, “streetwear” brands-often described as “wavey”-have taken the throne and I’m very glad that they have. Streetwear’s origins have been traced back to Shawn Stussy, creator of the infamous “Stussy” brand who was a surfboard designer and began selling Tshirts with his own designs in Los Angeles in the late 1970/early 1980’s. These surf/ skate origins have remained everpresent in the essence of modern streetwear; clothes designed for maximum comfort.

Photo: shopify.com

What is particularly interesting about the streetwear movement is the way that it doesn’t necessarily mean anything in particular. The ambiguity of the phrase “streetwear” has meant that brands have been able to form their own particular styles under the broad heading of streetwear. Carhartt’s subdivision called “work in progress” which is responsible for their distribution in Europe are better known for urban variations of the traditional workwear that the company was originally popular for. This culture influenced ethos is at the heart of what is particularly cool about streetwear brands; the way that they are influenced by the subcultures that they are created in. For example, Supreme is a clear reflection of New York skate culture; it is a manifestation of the lifestyle through fashion.

The second factor that defines streetwear is the culture of exclusivity. Many clothes come on sale for a limited amount of time and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. So, in a way, collecting items of streetwear manifests into a hobby for many; people want the “rarest garms”.

FASHION Fabulously British? the OPIONION: Is Jack Wills over? Keir Forde discusses

Britain has always been a central cog in the eternally shifting fashion world, and as such we have embraced new trends with delight, yet just as quickly waved goodbye to any trend that has outstayed its welcome.

The fashion cycle we live in keeps us on our toes and makes sure we can stay fresh, but it’s bad news for labels that are reluctant to evolve in this cycle and get left behind, much is the story it seems for our old flame, Jack Wills.

The Devon-born company was able to capitalise on the need of British teenagers to appear like University students at Oxford or Cambridge and thrived off the trends and pandemonium brought about by the arrival of the prep-gods, Abercrombie and Fitch, on our shores.People went mad for Jack and I was no exception. Who even were you at a 16th birthday party without ‘WILLS’ hoodie? In hindsight clearly a good, independent and impervious person, that’s who.

It was one of those cases where people overlooked the actual item of clothing (that nobody really ever suited) and only wanted the label to fit in with the masses, which is never a good idea. Jack Wills do not make their clothes to help bring out your personality, they make you vanish into the navy-blue and pink background, which is something I, just can’t stand for.

That is why I bid Jack Wills a farewell. A fond farewell (I admit I was in love) but a farewell all the same.

To be fair, I do value how quintessentially British it was and how great it felt to have a homegrown, affordable label around making high quality clothes. Now I wonder if Jack Wills and their gilets have their place in

fashion history and we just need to respect that, at least for now.

You never know in the fashion world, we might circle back round to them in a decade or so, or right at this very moment they may be planning a complete over-haul of their designs. In fact, just last week I complemented a friend on her great autumnal blouse, only to find out that it was, to my surprise, Jack Wills.

Fashion

TOP

5:

By Scarlett Whittell

17

UNION JACK FASHION MOMENTS

The bold design of the Union Jack, with its statement red white and blue pattern, has become an iconic look in the world of fashion. Come with me on a stroll down memory lane, as I look at the most memorable outfits and accessories which have been inspired by this British symbol.

1) Geri Halliwell In 1997, Ginger Spice decided to jazz up her LBD with a Union Jack tea towel. Little did she know that her domestic creation would go down as one of the most celebrated outfits in history! We must control ourselves though, not everyone looks that good in a dish cloth. Don’t be tempted to throw away your entire wardrobe in order to start a tea-towel fashion revolution. Photo: Getty Images

2) Tom Daley I am fully aware that Tom Daley isn’t a fashion icon. But come on, he looks so damn good in those tiny union jack speedos, it would be a travesty not to include a picture (try not to drool in public). Well done Tom, well done.

Photo: GettyImages

Photo: instagram @photomyfashion

Feature

British Fashion: a celebration Charlie Daniels reflects on what makes British fashion so Great.

Our Majesty showing us how to Why, just why Princess B? don lemon yellow.

Both photos: Getty Images As monarch, Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion freedom has been restrained, having to dress diplomatically and conservatively. Never would you catch a glance of Her Majesty’s cleavage or glimpse her sporting a mini dress. However, her ornate brooches, bursts of bright colour blocking, co-oridnated hats and of course that Launer (of which she must have every colour) bag she carries everywhere are just some of the things that make our sartorial sovereign an icon.

The entrance of the Duchess of Cambridge into the fashion world has been met with tremendous enthusiasm. The Issa navy dress worn in her engagement photos sold out within hours, and every pair of her signature LK Bennett nude heels have been snapped up. Kate’s modern twist on the royal rules of fashion has made her an ambassador of British fashion.

The Royal family have always stuck to home grown British designers and continually promote the designs on the world platform.

These royal icons are just a handful of those who have left their mark on the evolving world of fashion, and will continue to do so as long as their reign shall be. God save our gracious Queen, and all of her fabulous hats too!

Photo: Katemiddlex @Flickr

Photo: Flickr Creative Comons: TommyJapan

Photo: carhartt-wip.com

Photo: carhartt-wip.com

What is great about the uncompromising link between streetwear and the culture that it is formed out of is the way that we now have brands emerging in the UK that are shaped by aspects of our british culture. Perhaps the clearest illustration of this is the highly sought after “Palace skateboarding”, founded by Lev Tanju who said that the name itself was a sarcastic reference to the far from luxurious London “skate houses” that Tanju and his mates lived in. Tanju remarked “I want to do something different that’s honest and I want to show people how sick London and skateboarding is.” That’s what is so sick about streetwear; it’s necessarily linked to the cultures it stems from.

The Winter trends of this year have officially been unwrapped and once again encompass the traditional roots of our British Heritage. Squares, checks and tartans of all colours have become Winter’s definitive prints, paying homage to our nineties nostalgia. Androgynous mixes of punk rebellion clothing, set contrastingly alongside the pale pink pallets of our traditional English Roses, are what makes British Fashion so exciting. From the iconic Burberry trench coat to the waxy wardrobe staple of the Barbour jacket, from the Hunter Welly to the tweed jacket; the English Heritage trend has always been popular on and off the catwalk, each year reinforced by the likes of Alexa Chung and Kate Moss (and then copied by the rest of

3) Katy Perry Even proud California Girl Katy Perry can’t resist! In 2012 she stepped out in onto the red carpet heralding an umbrella emblazoned with the British flag.

Patriotic accessories, I like it!

Photo: GettyImages

Photo: GettyImages

Photo: GettyImages the word!) From these iconic British cover-ups (thanks to the characteristically wet weather) to the equally iconic yellow stitching, the rise of the Doc Marten boot is now quintessential of British Fashion and has been adored by punks and persons alike since the 1960s. We also have Glastonbury to thank for the distinctive festival style that has made wellies, fringed kimonos and glitter the style staples of our summers, not to mention the ‘just got out of bed messy hair that actually took me two hours’ hair-do. Today we also uphold our rich tradition of DIY fashion, embellishing old denim jackets, studding leather, ripping jeans; just as our ancestors did with the safety pins of the punk era.

Not only do us Brits have original ownership

of these trends, our little island produces some of the most innovative fashion designers in the world to add to our ever-growing collection of British styles. With British designers such as, Vivienne Westwood, notable for starting the punk and new wave trends (alongside Malcolm McLaren), Alexander McQueen, Mary Katrantzou and Giles Deacon; it is no wonder why British style is paving the way for fashion innovation elsewhere in the world.

British fashion offers such a vast palette of distinctive styles - from sleek tailoring to grungy

4) Ollie Locke Aka. The ultimate patriot. The sadly missed ex-MIC star seems to have an endless supply of union jack suits, as well as a ‘Union Jag’ car to match. Apparently a statement clutch just doesn’t cut it in the celeb world anymore…

Photo: GettyImages

knitwear, prominent patterns to pastel coloured separates - anything goes in a country where great style is everywhere but nonetheless inspiring

wherever

you

find

yourself.

Burberry: A Checkered History Sean Gleeson on the rise…and fall…and rise of a Great British Icon.

1856 – Where it all began

1914 – World War 1

1980’s – The Decline

2003 – Rock Bottom

2004 – The only way is up

Present Day - What’s Next?

Believe it or not, Burberry was born of humble beginnings, way back in the 19th Century, by the 21 year old Thomas Burberry. Specialising in outdoors attire, by 1879 Burberry had already created his own fabric Garbadine, which was used to clothe none other than Ronald Amundsen, the first man to make it to the South Pole. Not bad going for firm started in a small shop in Basingstoke.

Not only we do we have Burberry to thank for countless season’s worth of undeniably beautiful fashion, we also have them to thank for not one, but two World War victories (well sort of ).

In 1914, Burberry was selected by the Home Office to create an Officer’s coat suitable for contemporary warfare, leading to the creation of the “trench coat”, a style that has stood the test of time and remains popular to this day.

As everyone knows, with mass market appeal comes steady decline, and following a series of poorly judged licensing deals, Burberry swiftly became a victim of its own popularity. It wasn’t long before the plaid check (once reserved for the linings of coats) was everywhere; hats, scarves socks; becoming the uniform of football hooligans up and down the country.

It’s an image as famous for the Burberry check as it is its wearer’s subsequent collapsed nose. Somehow whilst supporting both a child and a rather hefty coke addiction, ex-Eastenders actress Daniella Westbrook still managed to afford head to toe Burberry looks for herself and daughter; with a stroller to match. The photograph went viral sparking wide spread media ridicule, whilst all the meanwhile pubs starting banning the check from their premises, given its ever-strong associations with the ‘chav’.

Now although appointed in 2001, Christopher Bailey had quite a task on his hands when he took to the helm of the iconic, and at this point infamous, label. Although 2003 may have been dubbed Burberry’s lowest point, that’s not to say Bailey hadn’t begun already working his magic. Whilst visible checks had once appeared on 20% of clothing, this was soon scaled back to 5%, with Bailey instead choosing to focus on the production of cutting edge and innovative fashion once more.

Fast forward 12 years from Bailey’s appointment, and Burberry is an unstoppable fashion powerhouse. Coveted by everyone from Kate Middleton to Jake Bugg, the brand has racked up an impressive 16 million Facebook likes, and revenues just short of £1.9 billion, but to name just a couple of achievements. And with Christopher Bailey set to take on the position as both CEO as well as his current position of Creative Director in 2014, the future is certainly looking bright for the brand once famed only for its ‘chav check’.

5) Austin Powers Mr Locke is not the only owner of such an impressive accessory. It was darling Austin that set the trend in Goldmember, with his oh-so-tastefully named ‘shaguar’. Photo: From Austin Powers in Goldmember

ISSUE 10/25th November 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson, Angus Harrison Top 5

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Wedding Speeches

5

Andrianna Hambi gives us her top five memorable wedding moments on film

5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) In one of the most accurate portrayals of Greek family life, this patriarchal speech captures the essence of family relations, and brings home the true message of the movie; everything comes from the Greek.

4. Friends (2001) Although not a movie, Joeys speech/audition reel at Monica and Chandler’s wedding is and always will be hilarious.

Feature

the FEATURE:

EXCLUSIVE

Review and interview with Robert De Niro and the cast of ‘The Family’ Film Editor Robbie Davidson reviews The Family and attended a press confernce with its stars Dark comedy is a notorious difficult genre to get right. The Family makes a half hearted effort to be a ‘dark comedy’ but sadly fails. But it is not without any redeeming features despite what a well known TV personality was heard to utter as we left our preview screening. Robert De Niro, despite his best efforts, is still has a great screen presence even if he sacrificed artistic integrity for the pay cheque a couple of ‘Meet The Parents’ ago. Besides, De Niro can play gangsters in his sleep (and probably would if the money was right) so The Family is hardly a stretch for the Hollywood great. Indeed at a press conference with the man himself, and costars Michelle Pfeiffer and Dianna Agron, De Niro spoke of his plans to reunite with Martin Scorsese in the future- the result of this hopefully more gratifying than The Family.

De Niro plays mafia boss, Giovanni, who has been placed into a witness protection program with his family after he ‘snitches’ on crime kingpin, Don Luchese (Stan Carp) and now has a heavy price on his head amongst his former Mafia friends. There were some other elements which contributed to Giovanni ending up living in Normandy with his family, but they seemed irrelevant, especially to the director, Luc Besson, who quickly forgets to provide any explanation as to why the FBI would chose to hide a family in a rural village in northern France. De Niro was similarly perplexed as to why his character would be placed in Normandy of all places.

But to sacrifice the French location would be to

Preview

3. Bridesmaids (2011) Female version of The Hangover? I wasn’t so taken, but that’s a story for another day.

I’ll give it to Kristen Wiig though; she knows how to write a good duelling maid of honour speech!

2. Fiddler on the Roof (1971) This has a permanent place in my Top 5 films ever and has a killer wedding scene.

What’s a wedding without a soviet state demonstration? The song “Sunrise, Sunset” acts as a speech, and would break the heart of any parent with empty nest syndrome.

1. The Wedding Singer (1994) This toast is sibling rivalry at its finest, and who better to give it in an already great wedding movie but Steve Buscemi. He gives the drunken, bitter performance that one can only dream of having at their wedding.

the PREVIEW:

sacrifice most of the culture related jokes which Besson insists on just in case we weren’t sure just how foreign American and French people are to each other. In fact Besson’s apparent disdain towards the French and France in general is all the more surprising given that he is actually French himself. Perhaps years of being ridiculed as being

the most ‘Hollywood of French filmmakers’ by his compatriots has finally got to him.

But if The Family is the standard by which we judge him by, then the criticism is hardly an unfair one. Having spent the last decade producing movies with Liam Neeson/Jason Statham (insert as appropriate) travelling around Europe shooting people, it’s refreshing to see he’s equally capable of directing films filled with just as much mindless violence and nonexistent morality.

Noah

As with any screen adaptation of a best-selling book, you could say there are certain risks that come with the journey from page to screen. But unlike other projects of this nature, the film in question is attempting to re-create one of the best known stories the Bible ever told. This really begs the question, why would anybody want to take on the pressure of adapting a book that can claim to have changed the world and that still consistently sells millions of copies worldwide, centuries after it was first published?

This coming March Noah will, god willing, arrive in UK cinemas with a fair amount of hype already surrounding its public image. Director Darren Aronofsky has assembled an eye-catching cast for, what he and Paramount Pictures will hope turns out to be, an equally eye-catching epic. Russell Crowe will take on the role of Noah, Jennifer Connelly will play Noah’s wife Naameh and Anthony Hopkins stars as Noah’s Grandfather, Methuselah. Emma Watson, Ray Winston and Kevin Durand also star in what shapes up to be an impressive, if not dangerously weighty cast. With so many big names on show and the stories Biblical origins making it such a visceral work to millions, the pressure and expectation on this film to succeed, where similarly brave projects have historically failed, could not be higher. And it is fair to say that production has not gone as smoothly as Aronofsky and Paramount would have liked.

The trouble is that you can see what Besson wanted to do, and what I sensed the cast signed up to do: to portray a Mafia family forced to adapt to normal life after a lifetime of crime; balancing the everyday challenges of meeting the neighbours, combating bullies and first love, whilst the threat of retribution from their old lives hangs heavy over them. But all that rests heavily on you actually caring about the family. But when mother Maggie, (Pfeiffer) blows up a shop because the owner mocks American culture, or Giovanni fantasies about sticking his neighbour’s face into hot coal for criticising his barbecue, we’re meant to laugh?

Comedy and violence can work together as long as the cardinal rule remains that violence has consequences, as so many of De Niro’s previous films have shown. Except here all that the onslaught of violence achieves is a lot of innocent civilians dead and the family relocating, with an unjustified sense of ‘togetherness’. Most perversely of all, daughter, Bella, (Agron) all ready to kill herself because the boy she slept with doesn’t want her anymore, thinks better of it when the potential to kill some baddies presents itself instead. If you want to see a film about murderers in a foreign country trying to cope with the consequences of their actions, watch In Bruges- a film with real darkness and real comedy. ★★ Robbie Davidson

Director: Darren Aronofsky Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Hopkins

Last month it emerged that initial screenings of Noah intended to gauge public reaction to its take on the original story had not gone to plan. Feedback from Christian and Jewish audiences in New York were far from positive, and said reaction has since

the broadest demographic of people. Ultimately Aronofsky wants artistic license to make the film he envisaged, and Paramount perhaps understandably, want a film that will bring commercial success in an increasingly competitive market, leading to deadlock.

It is not a surprise that a film which deals with a story so integral to the beliefs of millions of people worldwide is proving difficult to find a balance between the art of cinema and the cold reality of finding acceptance in a money making industry.

Whether Noah turns out to be Biblically accurate or not remains a contentious issue - does it need to be? That may depend on your religious conviction.

However its commercial success is more than probable. Aronofsky has had almost unencumbered success with past work and boasts a portfolio that includes both Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream.

With the impressive cast and a film-loving public desperate for a Gladiator-esque blockbuster, with scale and conviction a plenty (enter Russell Crowe), Noah has every chance of making floods of money in 2014.

Jack Crutcher

caused a dispute between Aronofsky and production company Paramount. Paramount have preceded to show different cuts of the movie to varying audiences in an effort to figure out which cut will best please

ISSUE 10/ 25th November 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/filmmancunion @mancunionfilm

Film

19

Review

the REVIEW: The Counsellor

With one of the year’s best casts, a premium script and Ridley Scott behind the lens, Leo Mates still found ‘The Counsellor’ to be an abject failure I’d like to start this review by saying this: I really wanted to like this film. In fact, I wanted to love it. Unfortunately, The Counsellor is just terrible. The film revolves around a lawyer (Michael Fassbender), inexplicably only known as “Counselor”, who involves himself in a drug deal with an extravagant drug dealer/nightclub owner who likes cheetahs ( Javier Bardem) and a middle-man who likes women (Brad Pitt). The deal goes wrong, because this is a movie and that’s all that ever happens when a drug deal is involved, and Fassbender realises he’s gotten himself in too deep. Also, Fassbender is going out with Penelope Cruz, who may as well be wearing a sign saying “I will end up dead because of this deal”, and Cameron Diaz pops up every now and again to deliver nonsensical dialogue in a monotone.

I’m aware that that’s a really terrible description of the plot, but unfortunately that’s because I never had any idea what was going on (I saw it with a friend who felt the same way, so I’m pretty sure it’s not just me). The film is littered with scenes that have no relevance to the rest of the plot, and characters are frequently thrown in without any explanation of who

they are or why they’re there, and are promptly forgotten the moment the scene is finished. The entire story grinds to a halt at one point as we

whilst Bardem mimics the audience’s shocked and slightly disgusted faces in what I can only assume was meant to be a fantastically clever

stop to listen to Javier Bardem tell us, in a speech that lasts a good five minutes, about how Cameron Diaz had sex with the windshield of his car (I wish I was making this up). Even worse, we get to see Diaz do just that,

bit of fourth-wall breaking. At the end of the speech, Fassbender asks him, ‘what does this have to do with the deal?’ at which point Bardem has to sheepishly admit that it has nothing to do with the deal, or the

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week

Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz Released: 16th November 2013

plot, and the entire incident is never mentioned again.

I could go on for pages and pages, pointing out just everything that either made no sense in this film, or was just outright unpleasant to watch. I could tell you about how tonally, it’s about as consistent as a tiger caught in a tornado, as it shifts from gritty gangster drama, to thoughtful discourse on the nature of death, to porn film. I could even tell you about how Cameron Diaz has about as much acting ability as a jacket potato. Unfortunately, my word limit won’t let me, so I’ll end by saying that I do in fact think that this film should be seen, if only as an example of how a fantastic cast, a world class director, and a truly great scriptwriter (Cormac McCarthy, writer of No Country For Old Men and The Road), is no guarantee that a film will be good. That’s what saddens me most about this, the sheer amount of talent that has been completely wasted. So do see it, but see it as a cautionary tale. But for god’s sake, don’t pay for it. ★

It’s that time of year again: days are shorter, deadlines are looming and the dirty laundry is piling up, so if you’re looking for a new series to get sucked into then look no further than Sky’s new show, Dracula (Sky Player).

Just when you thought the vampire craze was dying down, there comes along a new show but this time it’s less Twilight and more Van Helsing with a dash of True Blood, with the exquisite Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing the hunky Count. Although his accent is not always convincing, he certainly looks the part of the porcelain vamp and is very much suited to fang work.

This adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic is set in late Victorian England and follows the story of Count Dracula, posing as American industrialist, Alexander Grayson, who wants to take revenge on the oil-hogging toffs, whom he refers to as ‘The Order of the Dragon.’

Sounds sinister already. His love interest comes in the form of a science student (already an improvement on vapid, Bella Swan then) who happens to be the reincarnation of his old countess (cue flashbacks and medieval costumes.)

There’s plenty of blood-sucking, sex and spine-chilling moments (and no werewolves as of yet, which is a plus for all the vampire fans) so this looks like it’s going to be on our screens for a while yet.

But for those who are already hanging the garlic cloves around your room, check out the brilliant Seaworld documentary, Blackfish (iPlayer). Truly horrifying.

Gwen Ellis

Leo Mates

Contrary Corner

Short Term 12

Almost Famous, but never quite the hit

The tender drama set in a foster-care facility has been met with near universal praise. Jack Evans gives his verdict.

Nikolas McNally reappraises the indie favourite Almost Famous and bemoans it’s lack of commerical recognition

Short Term 12 follows a 20-something supervising staff member, Grace (Brie Larson), of a foster care facility as she navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her coworker and longtime boyfriend, Mason ( John Gallagher Jr.).

One thing that struck me was the unenviable task the staff had, treading the fine line between being a friend and carer. The instruction given to the new recruit, Nate (Rami Malek), was to just say no to everyone for the first few weeks so they didn’t take advantage of him.

Nate is believably naïve, self-centred and finds himself in way over his head.

The final scene is one of the most b e au t i f u l l y- s h o t , funny, yet tangential to the plot. A recurring theme is the children attempting to run from the centre and, by extension, their problems. In this scene, Sammy (Alex Colloway) drapes an American flag over his shoulders and runs in slow motion, chased by the frontline staff.

The plot centres around an atrisk child, Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), as she is introduced to the centre.

Grace sees a kindred spirit in

The box office bomb of Oliver Hirshbiegel’s royalist-bait Diana biopic to compliment it’s critical mauling shows the rare commercial failure of a genre littered with banal Oscar begging (The King’s Speech) and vapidly toothless portrayals of their muses (Notorious and The Iron Lady, which manage to transform The Notorious B.I.G into Mother Teresa and Margaret Thatcher into something only half Satanic). The general success of biopics is disheartening not only as it stifles the chances of film studios gambling on funding innovative fiction, but because the storytelling scarcely lives up to the interest of their subjects.

Enter Almost Famous; an exception to the latter which wears both its heart and sharp tongue on its sleeve. Based on director Cameron Crowe’s experiences in the 1970s as a 15 year-old writer for Rolling Stone, the film chronicles teen prodigy William Miller’s (Patrick Fugit) time on tour with up-and-coming band Stillwater, where his quest to obtain an interview is drowned by the alluring wilderness of rock ‘n roll and escapism into a fever dream world much unlike his own.

Though the film is a love letter to the 60s and 70s

Jayden and, despite stating that she cares for all of the kids in her care equally, Grace seems to go above and beyond to try and save Jayden from her problems.

The other main plot thread is the relationship between Grace

and Mason. Despite advocating the value of expressing thoughts and feelings, Grace does not practise what she preaches. It is evident that both have first-hand experience of the care system and Mason is lucky to have had supportive foster parents. Grace is all too aware of the problems Jayden is going through and the coping mechanisms she adopts.

On that note, I feel obligated to warn viewers that the film

does touch on sensitive themes, including self-harm, sexual abuse, abortion and suicide.

Thankfully these themes were all explored in a mature, tasteful and elegant manner.

Scripts focused on fostering are dependent on child actors faithfully portraying the delicate scenes.

Fortunately, brilliant turns by Colloway, Dever and Keith Stanfield as a kid approaching his eighteenth birthday give their scenes the needed frailty and emotional clout to faithfully depict their characters. The adult cast is by no means lacking though. Larson brings a multi-layered performance that should receive some recognition, even if just to win her next role.

I feel the film loyally portrayed events that could arise in an American care centre. The culturally diverse cast helps to show that anyone can be left without someone to care for them at that age.

The film could have easily been defeatist and dreary with the themes it explores. Luckily it remains positive, heart-warming and even cute.

Jack Evans

rock that defined the times, Almost Famous portrays the scene surrounding the music with a less devout intricacy.

Crowe candidly sheds light on the band’s envious inner

turmoil and the hypocrisy of supposedly ‘doing it for the fans’ as well as the unabashed sensationalism of mainstream journalism, with Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres almost salivating at a version of the interview featuring the band’s near-death in a plane crash amidst comically stupendous acid trips. Most poignantly though is Crowe’s depiction of the warm yet fragmented relationships between wayward souls on the road, particularly

through William’s infatuation with the whimsical Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a self-branded ‘band aid’ (a.k.a groupie). The character’s gravitational pull towards the lifestyle and each other is threatened by realworld responsibilities and relationships, disillusionment towards idols (‘Just make us look cool’, the Stillwater lead singer responds in lieu of an actual interview) and unrequited affection.

Though the script is laced with sharp one-liners and moments of warmth, the film evokes a distinct bittersweet resonance when exploring the implications of this netherzone between fantasy and reality, as wide-eyed idealism towards a seemingly carefree life is grounded down to weary disenchantment.

‘Be honest and unmerciful’, legendary rock journalist Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) advises William, a message most biopics could stand to heed. Despite failing to break even when in 2000 and remaining largely undiscussed, Almost Famous, through a stellar soundtrack, shrewd script and affecting performances all-round, deserves a look-in as a refreshingly honest biopic.

‘Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don’t fall for it.’

Nikolas McNally

Puzzles 13. See 16. across 14. Metallic Element (6) 16,13. British mathematician and computer scientist (4,6) 18. The largest building on the University of Manchester’s main campus (8) 21,20. Manchester based Nobel prize winner (5,4) 22. Saturn’s largest moon (5) 23. Having parts which fail to correspond to one another in shape, size, or arrangement (12)

1. A playback of part of a television broadcast, usually in slow-motion (6,6) 8. Relating to birth (5) 9. Japanese city (5) 10. Three-dimensional image (8) 11. German for mountain (4)

1. The Bard’s wife (4,8) 2. Complete, absolute, comprising of the whole amount of something (5) 3. Willing to do a service or kindness, helpful (8) 4. Unit of angular measurement (6) 5. The feeling of sorrow or compassion caused by the suffering or misfortune of others (4) 6. Foot joint (5) 7. The _______ problem, 18th century problem solved by the invention of the chronometer (12) 12. Counting machine (8) 15. A horse house (6) 17. Mountain range (5) 19. Relating to the eye or vision (5) 20. See 21. across

Getting-closer-to-Christmas Quiz!

1. What is the only country in Africa to have Spanish as its official language?

2. A polyglot is someone who…?

3. Which cocktail contains whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters and shares its name with a borough in an American city?

4. “Cayenne Ended Dip” is an anagram of which 90’s blockbuster?

By Richard Whyman

Last week’s solution

Down.

Across.

Crossword

On Tuesday 26thNovember at 9pm pop along to the Charity Pub Quiz taking place at Kro Bar opposite the Students’ Union. Entry is £2 and all money raised goes to Manchester Student Action for Refugees, which works to improve the lives of refugees in the UK by volunteering and campaigning.

Answers: 1. Equatorial Guinea 2. Speaks more than one language 3. Manhattan 4. Independence Day

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ISSUE 10/ 25TH NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/TheMancunion: Books @MancunionBooks

Editors: Esmé Clifford Astbury, Annie Muir Feature

Books

21

Feature

the FEATURE Remembering Doris Lessing

‘My Mother’s Castle’ by Marcel Pagnol My Mother’s Castle is a gem of French literature and probably the most beautiful tribute Marcel Pagnol could give to his mother, says Shanda Moorghen Born in 1895 in Marseille, Marcel Pagnol was one of the finest playwrights and novelists of his generation. He is often credited with being at the forefront of early 20th century French theatre with popular plays like Marius and Fanny. However, Pagnol made his name as a novelist with Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs as well as with a series of autobiographical novels known as Memories of Childhood.

Doris Lessing. Photograph: Francesco Guidicini/Rex

on winning the Nobel Prize:

a bloody disaster On 17th November 2013, the world was shocked by the news of Doris Lessing’s death aged 94. The author’s life had been more varied than most of us could dream.

Lessing was born in Persia (modern day Iran) in 1919, and moved with her family to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1925. Leaving school at 15 to become a nursemaid, she began writing and educating herself in politics and sociology, which had a profound impact on her work. Lessing fled to London in 1949 following her divorce from her second husband, German Communist Gottfried Lessing.

1950 saw the publication of her acclaimed first novel The Grass Is Singing, a study of racial politics of southern Africa.

Lessing’s 1962 novel The Golden Notebook, which examines male-female relations, mental illness and societal breakdown, is deemed her breakthrough piece. Although her work was heralded as a feminist masterpiece, Lessing distanced herself from the formal movement.

Having already received numerous accolades, Lessing was awarded the crown of them all, the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 2007. Aged 88, she was the oldest recipient of the prize and only the 11th woman to have won it. Although initially thrilled, Lessing later stated that winning the Nobel Prize had been a “bloody disaster” as she never had time to write anymore and thought she never would again. Published in 2008, her last book, Alfred and Emily, explored how Lessing’s parents’ lives might have unfolded if not for the First World War. Doris Lessing will be remembered for pushing the boundaries in every aspect of her life: as a writer, a woman, and a mother. She truly was the ultimate maverick of her time.

Elizabeth Mitchell

Pagnol made his name as a novelist with Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs as well as with a series of autobiographical novels known as Memories of Childhood

My Father’s Glory and My Mother’s Castle by Marcel Pagnol (North Point Press, 1986)

Published in 1957, My Mother’s Castle, the second novel in the series, was his most critically acclaimed book. In it, Pagnol reminisces on summer holidays he spent with his family in the hills of ‘Les Bellons’ at ‘La Bastide Neuve’ in the early 1900s. Young Marcel meets Lili, a boy from the hills who teaches him how to set traps and hunt.

Pagnol works his storytelling magic throughout this tale of nostalgia, loss and one son’s unequivocal love for his mother. My Mother’s Castle is a gem of French literature and probably the most beautiful tribute Pagnol could give to his mother Marcel and Lili quickly become best friends and spend most of the summer together. Marcel’s father Joseph, a teacher, also spends his mornings hunting, while his mother Augustine, a seamstress, cares for the other two children of the family, Paul and Germaine. As the summer

draws to a close, the family prepares to return home – much to the dismay of Marcel who attempts to run away with Lili.

Back home, however, the family finds it difficult to settle back into their routine, and Joseph devises a plan that will allow them to enjoy the best of both worlds. Initially, taking a rather long route, they go to the hills every weekend, but the trip proves too tiring for the family.

Thanks to Bouzigue, one of Joseph’s past students, they manage to find a shorter route, which involves going through several private properties. However, this proves to be a particularly stressful time for Augustine, who crumbles in fear every time she approaches a particular castle.

Pagnol works his storytelling magic throughout this tale of nostalgia, loss and one son’s unequivocal love for his mother. My Mother’s Castle is a gem of French literature and probably the most beautiful tribute Pagnol could give to his mother.

Several years later, Pagnol bought the castle – his mother’s castle. “All this time, she never knew she was at her son’s place,” he later said.

Thanks for nothing As Americans look towards spending quality family time together during Thanksgiving, Katie Myerscough examines some of the most dysfunctional families in American literature

American Pastoral

The Virgin Suicides

by Philip Roth

by Jeffrey Eugenides

A devastating Philip Roth masterpiece, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel traces the disintegration of middle class athlete-turned-businessman Seymour ‘The Swede’ Levov’s first marriage and his complete estrangement from his d au g h t e r- t u r n e d - d o m e s t i c terrorist Merry. The novel, set in 1960s’ Newark, uses the political and social furore of the time as a backdrop for Levov’s unravelling. Nathan Zuckerman (Roth’s oft-used literary stand-in) narrates and attempts to piece together Levov’s story from a few newspaper clippings, chance meetings and halfremembered stories. Stunning in scope and execution, this novel stands as one of Roth’s finest and as a powerful evocation of the end of the American Dream.

They don’t come much more dysfunctional than the Lisbon family in Jeffrey Eugenides’ 1993 debut The Virgin Suicides. The suicides of the five girls of the family are narrated by a huddle of teenage boys who, years later, are still fascinated and nonplussed by the girls’ short lives and tragic deaths. This slim novel is set in 1970s’ Grosse Point, Michigan and is richly descriptive and evocative. A sense of melancholy hangs over the narrators as they pick through the Lisbon’s trash trying to find clues that would point to the reasons behind the girls’ deaths. As readers, we join them, on the outside looking in, trying to make sense of the insensible.

In Partnership with the Students’ Union

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Even if you don’t need the SafeTaxi scheme, you still get 10% student discount off your fare.

StreetCars are the Union’s approved supplier For more information on how to use the Safe Taxi Scheme visit manchesterstudentsunion.com/safetaxi or pick up a business card from the Union helpdesk.

Download the booking app or call:

0161 228 7878 The Virgin Suicides (1999(

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Ben Walker, Maddy Hubbard Feature

TOP

10:

...foods for before a night out So you’re going out but don’t know what to have for tea… Don’t want to be stuffed? Don’t want to be the one suggesting a kebab before you’ve even got your destination? Do want to be able to dance the night away with bounds of energy and prepare your stomach for what’s to come? Oh and avoid the possibility of a hangover? Here are 10 foods to put you in the mood for a night out.

1. Salmon The fish slows down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, slowing the time it takes for alcohol to get through your bloodstream. It also contains lots of omega 3 useful for brain power which could be necessary the next day.

2. Pasta A really accessible food most people have sat in their cupboard, the carbohydrate lines the stomach well.

3. Yogurt Dairy helps to neutralize the acid that you’ll be in taking later and I think is a lot more appetising than glugging a pint of milk before whizz through the door.

4. Avocado The fruit will help to replace the potassium lost to dehydration later in the evening and half counts as one of your five a day.

5. Asparagus The vegetable has been proven to metabolize alcohol and protect the liver cells. It is also light so won’t leave you feeling bloated.

6. Ginger It helps to increase low blood sugar and is seen to have nausea preventing properties useful for the next day.

7. Watermelon The fruit is mostly made up of water hydrating you fully for the night to come.

8. Chicken The protein helps you to feel fuller for longer stopping your late night hunger cravings.

9. Rice The complex carbohydrate will give you slow release energy to keep you going into the early hours.

Nuts 10. Salted You’ve been working hard all day; not had time to go home and not eaten since lunch.

These are probably the best emergency option. The sodium will help increase the level of electrolytes in the body giving you a head start before you feel dehydrated and they are rich in antioxidants too!

By Faye Waterhouse. Photos: Ocado

Feature

My Favourite Cookbooks Bernadette Chapman reveals the secrets behind her culinary prowess My shelves are bursting with recipe books, all shapes, sizes, and types. Their pages often unspoiled, and they fall open in a couple of places covered in sauce and potato on the very few recipes I’ve returned to or even cooked at all. The problem with recipe books is that there are rarely more than a few recipes that catch the eye, and, more importantly perhaps, they don’t really teach you anything about cooking, or about how to wing it and make something delicious from the half a cabbage, leftover potato and egg in the fridge (some sort of hash, anyone?). Useless is Heston’s snails on toast recipe, taking up a whole page with its ingredients list and complex shenanigans. Where would I get snails? I don’t have a garden. The books I return to over and over again are the books that tell you about food.

These are the ones that act as a starting point from which to jump off in to all sorts of soups, stews, and savoury delights.

My firm favourite is a book that is both useful and a delightful read. Tamara Adler’s ‘The everlasting meal’ offers a novel approach to cooking. She starts the week with a big pot of salted water, and from there creates the base for a whole week’s meals. The water should taste a little saltier than tears, and less salty than sea water. She then adds some vegetables (and meat if she’s feeling fancy) and uses these as a base for salads, soups, or pasta dishes. You can use the vegetable water to cook pasta in, then add some olive oil, cheese

and garlic to the cooked pasta with a few of the vegetables. With an oven one, you can follow the same principle, roasting a job lot of vegetables, and throwing in a few potatoes wrapped in foil.

There is nothing handier than having left over potato in the fridge, it can be added to eggs and fried with some onion to make frittatas. It can be used to cover some vegetables in a dish to make

a kind of vegetable shepherd’s pie, or it can be used with dill, onion and a bit of mayo for a potato salad. Adler’s attitude to leftovers is creative and inspiring, and whilst being economical (always good), it’s the imaginative nature of this alternative approach that I find so beguiling. Unlike a recipe book, it teaches you a useful approach to cooking that you can apply to your meals every day.

The second book, excerpts of which can be found in the Cook supplement in the Guardian if you’re interested, is Niki Segnit’s ‘Flavour Thesaurus.’

This book looks beautiful on a bookshelf and, like

Adler’s, offers a different approach to cooking.

Segnit has listed ingredients, grouped in to genres like ‘woodland,’ which includes nuts and squashes, and ‘earthy,’ which includes root vegetables and mushrooms. In each ingredient section, she offers flavour pairings, some classic, like mint and lamb, and some not so classic, like rhubarb and oily fish. Alongside suggestions of how to include these flavour combinations in your cooking, she often embellishes the ingredient entry with personal vignettes, and a geographical context to foodstuffs, like how they serve garlic and almond in Spain (in a cold soup called ajo blanco, apparently). The book is great when you have something knocking about that needs eating, but you’re not sure what to do with it. I discovered an amazing addition to a tuna sandwich through Segnit, and will be eternally grateful! She suggests mushing up an avocado with a little white wine vinegar and dill, and serving it with tuna. Absolutely gorgeous, and something a bit different to do with an avocado than just have it in a bacon sandwich (although that is also divine). A good bacon sandwich suggestion from Segnit is to add a mix of one part horseradish to 4 parts mayonnaise.

I return to both books again and again, and often get something new out of them every time. Give a man a recipe, and feed them for a day. You know the rest.

Photo: Bernadette Chapman

Feature

Feeding Freshers for a Fiver

Francesca Lawson advises on communal cooking (and drinking) to suit even the tightest of student budgets So you’re settling in to student life now, no doubt becoming accustomed to Sainsbury’s discount shelf and piercing the film of the microwave meal.

Could be worse right? But there’s nothing quite like a decent home cooked meal.

Forget all the excuses, “I can’t be bothered”, “fresh produce is too expensive”, “I’ve not got time”, there is a way to eat well on a budget – communal cooking.

Communal cooking involves getting a group together and sharing the daunting task of preparing a hearty meal. You’ve heard the saying ‘many hands make light work’? That’s exactly the idea. If you’ve only just moved in, rope in your flatmates! Cooking a meal together is a great way to bond; you’ll learn how to work with and round each other in an often small kitchen, plus you’ll get to share the delicious results. And as you’ll be living with people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, you’ll get the opportunity to widen your culinary horizons.

It is possible to cook without breaking the bank.

The proof? Steak night, Sunday Lunch and a Chinese banquet all came in at under £2 per head.

A simple tip: don’t be fussy! For example, a value range joint of meat – provided it’s cooked well – tastes just the same as any other. Moreover, draining the juices after cooking can be used as a base to make an accompanying sauce. Ingredients might seem expensive, but dividing the cost between the group minimises this, and the end result is definitely worth it.

discretion. Raspberries are predominantly a late summer and autumnal fruit, so for a seasonal variation, swap the raspberries for cranberries and finish with a touch of cinnamon.

Add 50mls of vodka and 25mls of amaretto to the shaker, along with a handful of ice, and close it. Shake well for at least 30 seconds, keeping a firm hold on the lid to avoid spillages. After this, remove the lid, tap the bottom of the shaker against a surface to even it out, and strain into Martini glasses. Pop a few more berries in the glass to garnish, and serve. A delicious cocktail to get everyone in the party mood.

Fact: There’s a lot of dispute over what can and can’t be identified as a Martini. As ‘Martini’ is the name of the traditional cocktail glass, this qualifies as a Martini, despite containing no ‘Martini’ brand Vermouth.

And now for a cocktail class!

So you’ve had your delicious home cooked dinner, and you’re getting ready to go out. Wow everyone at pre-drinks with this original cocktail invention: The Bakewell Martini.

You’ll need a cocktail shaker, a strainer, a muddler (or alternatively a wooden spoon will suffice) and plenty of vodka, amaretto and raspberries.

Muddle the raspberries in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. As the raspberries essentially serve as a mixer, the quantities are at your

Photos: Francesca Lawson

F e

/TheMancunion: Food & Drink @MancunionFood

Food & Drink 23

Feature

Introducing Neukolln As an amateur of wine, being invited to review a new and upcoming Berliner-inspired bar did seem to be an odd choice before I realized my CV states that I have a B in GCSE ‘Deutsche’.

Brushing aside those long forgotten moments of academic glory I made my way down to Spinningfields on Thursday evening, to be present at one of the most eccentric bar launching parties that I’ve ever had the pleasure to invite myself into…

‘Neukolln’, the name of this bar deserves a note or two, for otherwise the average culturally inept student wouldn’t understand the point of its financial backers. Basically, ‘Neukolln’ is a trendy suburb of downtown Berlin. It has garnered fame and fans through the development of the most peculiar bar scene in Eastern Europe, in spite of the fierce Moldovan competition. In this area on the outskirts of the Teutonic capital, disused shops and cafés are ‘requisitioned’ by students with piercings and twenty-something year olds in torn jeans for a basic night of casual drinking. A few quick text messages on someone’s borrowed ‘handy’ and a friend brings an old fridge, another two struggle with a dusty sofa and finally some decent and trending (not in the UK charts’ sense) music. This eclectic gathering is crowned with some chilled beers and over there in Berlin, it promises for a decent night. It doesn’t fall short. It really is taking drinking back to the bare basics and hoping a disgruntled shopkeeper doesn’t keep a shotgun under his pillow.

Leaving Jeremy Paxman’s general knowledge lesson to one side, I actually find myself genuinely attracted to the simple and basic nature of the bar. It really is laidback and the guy and the girl behind the bar are being kept busy playing with the tills.

Located on the ground floor of a building in Spinningfields which is set to be knocked down, the owners haven’t wasted a penny on appearance. Wooden stools, the odd table and a bar that could all have been bought from IKEA over the weekend, the place is a throwback to the bar on the estate in E4’s Misfits series.

We were thirsty, so we got drinks..Unlike the ‘cool’ and very laidback interior design, the prices are a tad steep for those who get by on the meagre student budget. However, being thirsty

Francophile Victor Croci goes out of his comfort zone to explore a new Berlin-themed pop-up bar

Photo:tasteofmanchester.com

we purchase a few glasses of white wine and some traditional imported beer from the Bavarian lowlands. It came to about a tenner, so we got more rounds. Plenty more rounds soon follow…

In terms of drinks there is quite a large selection available and more than enough to tickle the average beer amateur’s fancy.

We’re talking about 15 different types of bottled beers, the majority of them are understandably ‘Deutsche’ but there are a few others that made it over the tracks… The average price of one of these fine 0,5l bottles just falls shy of a fiver so look at is a short term investment. The same way a fresher looks adoringly at Glen’s vodka: In the morning you’ll have bigger things to worry about.

The white wine is really decent over there too. It comes in glasses which is unfortunate but probably for the best considering how far Spinningfields is from Fallowfield, financially. Plenty of Riesling to be sampled and we were duly informed that the bar had struck some deals with other infamous beer halls in the surrounding area in order to enlarge their menu, in the same way a traditional Bavarian sausage eater enlarges himself, on a monthly basis.

Therefore we plan to return and sample some more delectable and actually, very refreshing alternatives to whatever they serve

However no true Berliner-inspired bar can ever claim to inspire itself from one of Europe’s most culturally diverse and quite frankly, brilliant cities without spreading the traditional German student cuisine of green humus and classic ‘deutsche’ brown bread.

Words cannot even come close to describing the culinary ecstasy of humus, gently and generously, spread over the traditional ‘deutsche’ brown and healthy bread. We helped ourselves like stereotypical Germans at a comedy event: what we lacked in finesse we made up in awkwardness.

At the end of the night, once a great many green humus toastees had been consumed and a greater amount of white wine glasses and bottles with colourful german insigna sat empty, we made our graceful exit.

The barman and barwoman thanked us for behaving and in return we thanked them for being generous. I would definitely recommend this bar to anybody who just wants a different feel, another experience instead of the average and mundane expensive joint which sprouts up in Spinningfields like mushrooms at a festival: expensively and at a great danger to students.

on tap in Wetherspoons these days.

Recipes

our RECIPES OF THE WEEK:

Oscar Watkins’s pork stew and Faye Waterhouse’s lemon drizzle cake are decadent and delicious recipes to beat the winter blues

Pork & Butterbean Stew Lemon Drizzle Cake With winter fast approaching, a pounding headache, and the first chesty coughs ringing in lecture halls; what better way to warm up than with this wholesome and affordable one pot wonder

You will need: A healthy slug of vegetable oil (olive oil will do) 600g pork shoulder, cut into serving pieces (Sainsbury’s basics will do, this will cook for a long time) 150g chorizo, cut into serving pieces (pre-diced chorizo is available in most supermarkets) 1 medium onion, sliced finely 1 bird’s-eye chilli, seeds removed, flesh diced (keep the seeds if you like it hotter) 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 75ml white wine

400g tinned tomatoes, chopped (1 can) 200g can of butter beans, rinsed and drained (1 small can) A handful of fresh spinach Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat, add the pork pieces and fry until browned on the outside but not completely cooked through, then remove from the pan and set aside to rest on a warm plate.

Add the chorizo to the pan the pork was fried in and fry until crisp and golden-brown. Remove from the pan and set aside with the pork.

Add the onion and chilli to the same pan and fry until softened.

Add the garlic and the wine and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer until the volume of liquid has reduced by a quarter.

Add the chopped tomatoes and the butter beans, then return the cooked pork and chorizo to the pan and stir well.

Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over a low heat. Then cover the pan with a lid and cook for at least 45 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and reduced in volume. Add a few tablespoons of water to the simmering mixture now and again, as necessary, when the sauce becomes too dry.

Just before serving, season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and stir in the spinach.

Serve with a portion of garlic bread on the side, or with couscous or polenta.

Who doesn’t like this classic cake?

This fail-safe recipe works for the beginner or the Mary Berry’s among us. The cake should be moist with a sharp tang. Easy to make but even easier to eat!

Ingredients: 200g butter 200g golden caster sugar 3 eggs 50g plain flour (sieved) 125g ground almonds 2 lemons 5-6 tablespoons of icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius line a 20 inch cake tin with baking parchment.

Whisk the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (might be worth melting the butter slightly beforehand to avoid getting sugar everywhere!)

Whisk the eggs in one at a time.

Add in the ground almonds, sieved plain flour and the lemon zest of both lemons.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Leave the cake in the tin and stab it (not as brutally as that sounds) to make 15 holes and pour in the juice of 1 lemon. Leave to cool.

Stir icing sugar and the juice of the other lemon together to make the light layer of icing and smooth on top. Best shared with your favourite people!

Photo: acupofteaandabiscuit.blogspot.com

24

Arts & Culture

Review

ISSUE 10/ 25th November 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Abbie Roberts, Matilda Roberts

Giving Opera a Go: Peter Grimes Long associated with being solely enjoyed by the upper classes and those with a taste for ‘the finer things in life’, opera has a reputation for being an exclusive art form appreciated only by people with knowledge of classical music and those ‘in the know’. Mattie Roberts and Jamie Bulman explore how much someone with no knowledge of classical music can gain from a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.

Jamie, using his prior knowledge of opera, lets us know what he thought:

Mattie, ignorantly, lets us know what she thought:

I am a music student who, as the son of an opera singer and living a stone’s throw away from the notorious Glyndebourne opera house, has been saturated with opera from an early age. I have been to operas at Glyndebourne every season, and this is where I first encountered the work of Benjamin Britten. First performed in 1945, Peter Grimes is an English opera, very much divorced from the Continental traditions which are often more popular in standard repertory. In earlier European opera the text, or libretto, tends to repeat its self constantly, whereas Britten approaches the text at a running pace. This blurs the lines further between opera and drama, with text that could also work spoken, as in a play.

For me opera is an alien art form, never having given classical music, and in particular opera, a chance.

With no musical ability or education, I was interested to see how much I could enjoy and understand it.

The music ebbed and flowed throughout the piece, emulating themes of the sea dominating the work. The dark orchestral colours were perfectly coupled with an excellent portrayal of the solitary fisherman Grimes by Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts. His haunting high tenor voice carried the emotional turmoil of a lonely fortysomething year old, haunted by the guilt of the accidental death of a young boy in his care. A hearty cast supported him, playing the seedy inhabitants of the bleak Borough. There were some strong individual performances such as Giselle Allen’s portrayal of the schoolteacher, Ellen, who Peter Grimes is awkwardly enamored with. Along with Captain Balstrode she’s the only person who tries to understand his troubled mind. She is a soprano, or high female voice. Overall it was an amazing performance from the lead roles, supported by a powerful chorus and orchestra.

Peter Grimes Image provided by The Lowry, Salford

Turner Prize

Turner Prize ’13: David Shrigley Ever since it’s establishment in 1984, the Turner Prize has become possibly the most colloquial yet controversial award for the visual arts, having previously been won by Damien Hirst and Antony Gormley, as well as being drunkenly discussed on live television by Tracey Emin.

In the run up to the Turner Prize being announced on December 2 four Arts & Culture contributors give introductions to the four nominees of 2013. This week Jack Sheen introduces David Shrigley Shrigley was born in Macclesfield in 1968 and now currently lives and works in Glasgow. His work manifests itself within a variety of medias, however he is mostly known for his series of bizarre cartoons released in postcard packs.

They seem to flirt with the idea of absurdity in subject matter, presentation and technique. His drawings often bizarerly depict the seemingly pedestrian and inconsequential everyday occurrences,but with an unusual twist. His freehand drawing is purposely lacking in detail, strength or virtuosity, yet is often contrasted with the stark, clinical use of rulered straight lines, creating an unsettling presentation of his subject.

Shrigley’s work also displays a very critical and self aware engagement with contemporary art and its public perception, often playing with the everyday questions of ‘is it art?’. His exhibition opens with a 7ft naked male model, as crudely constructed as his freakish cartoons, creating a life class scenario where visitors can sit down and attempt to draw his already subtly distorted figure.

Many already have, with the many further misrepresentations of the human form lining the walls of the constantly evolving exhibition of possibly the most exciting and talked about artist nominated this year.

It took time to adapt to the epic way in which subjects that are seemingly banal, such as fishing, were sung. However before I knew it I had been drawn in by the music’s hypnotic pulse that seemed to emulate the themes of the sea and the ever-present threat of the storm. The moments at which I was really able to engage with the music was in the pieces where I was not straining to hear words. Instead I let the sound of many voices merge together until incomprehensible, propelling me into the story with the sheer scale and variety of sound. The familiar melodies built up throughout the opera moved me when used at the end of the performance in a way that I had not expected it to.

Opera is an art form on an epic scale. Performances involve over a hundred musicians, actors and dancers, blurring the lines between art, music, drama and dance to create a real spectacle. And things are changing: Ticket prices no longer break the bank, and it was refreshing to see a lot of young faces in the crowd at the Lowry. If you want to try something a bit different, then give opera a chance!

Opinion

The “soft” Arts The Sunday Times recently announced that the government has planned to cut GCSE subjects such as P.E. and Drama, with many other “softer subjects” placed in the firing line, including many arts subjects. Jack Sheen tells us what he thinks For the remainder of this brief article, ‘arts subjects’ will be defined as those that focus on creative and often abstract practices, such as art and design, music, drama and film. Putting aside arguments as to whether or not GCSEs are an effective way of assessing certain subjects, this plan epitomises an attitude held by a majority of people that studying the arts is easy, and those who do are skiving off of real work by choosing a ‘soft’ subject. As someone with an A level, GCSE and (hopefully soon) a degree in music, as well as a GCSE in art, I find it baffling that educational institutions fail to see the truly challenging side to these subjects, and haven’t designed curriculums that tap into the rigorous academic potential that the arts have.

For years I’ve wondered why this is. Perhaps the creative side of the arts dominates its image; we are all bought up in a culture where successful artists are the recipients of some mysteriously metaphysical and indefinable source of inspiration, which cannot be simply taught and passed on to any old

Must see David Shrigley Image: Flickr, jwyg

The crowd was more down to earth than I’d expected. No black tie or evening scarves, the whole affair was low-key. With minimal staging and props, presumably partly due to it being a touring performance, the desolate stage really set the scene of a bleak Surrey seaside town. The way they made use of their minimal set was creative and economical using wooden crates to form the courthouse, the bar and docks. A large net proved to be an imaginative way of creating separate spaces within the stage, as well as being pulled around by the chorus in time with the music creating the feel of a storm. The set, all black except the yellow of fisherman’s waterproofs and spotlights, comprised of only props related to ports, showed much can be done with very little.

THIS WEEK

student. Despite this, curriculums seem to try and gently do so, creating assessments that seem to gently foster a student’s imagination and technical skill within a vague set of rules and regulations. It seems as though educational bodies are saying that ‘genius’ can’t be taught, but it’s worth trying anyway, ultimately creating the wishy-washy approach towards assessing the creative side to arts subjects which is seen as so ‘soft’. It doesn’t take a specialist art critic to understand that practically no GCSE art student will paint or think like Monet, nor will any teenage drama student act like Binoche, and thus taking part in a subject which attempts judge you as part of that culture anyway seems patronising and absurd, especially when some people actually get decent grades.

What would be infinitely more beneficial is a focus on the more academic approaches to these subjects, an assessment of the social and cultural contexts surrounding certain artists, periods or works, an analysis of the basic mechanics of music, plays, films or visual artworks

Manchester Christmas Markets 2013 back for their 15th year!

15 November - 22 December 2013 Various Locatinos around Manchester

s well as the sociological impact the arts have on contemporary culture.

These examples would supplement and enhance the creative focus of subjects such as art, music, drama and film, whilst also nurturing the critical and analytical skills of its subjects, found in idolised subjects such as English, history or philosophy. This analysis of the artist, the art itself and its context is essential to not only understanding its true power but also the potential to create such powerful new work.

The government is trying to push people further away from the arts and I think the current curriculums built around the arts are clearly disadvantageous and academically shallow. Maybe the more academic side to these subjects is not what makes them so appealing in the first place anyway, despite their ability to ultimately demystify their practice and benefit its creation in the future.

It is their ability to do this that, I think, should be something that encourages students to engage with their surrounding culture.

Albert Adams Exhibition

Image: Matilda Roberts

Between

30tth November - 19th April

2nd October - 27th November

One of the greatest artists to emerge from South Africa in the 20th century. His work explores the trauma of Apartheid.

Last Chance to see Nicola Dale’s two life-sized handdecorated archways at Manchester Cathedral and Didsbury Islamic Centre

Theatre

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editor: Josephine Lane Review

What’s on

The Real Thing

TOP 4

Lucy Gooder reviews Drama Society’s production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘The Real Thing’, directed by student Martha Loader

The opening scene of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing is a play within a play. As this slowly dawns on the audience throughout the following scene, the complexities of the relationships portrayed are gradually revealed. Although a character may be behaving one way at any particular moment this could all change the instant another character steps on stage. Not only does this clever technique keep the audience engaged and guessing the motivations of both the character and writer, it creates a subtle suggestion that we are all actors in our own lives.

As each character appears to take the weight of the play on their shoulders without warning they then subside into the background to letting the other characters take their place and breathe new and different life into the script.

Although a somewhat disheartening representation of relationships the audience cannot help but relate to some degree and so it is a relief that the lighter elements and witty banter are played well.

Particularly good is the mixture of amusement and despair shown by playwright Henry stuck between his cheating wife and spirited daughter, though wryly aware of his own adulterous role in the shaping of their lives. Martha Loader directs with understanding, coaxing out the ambiguities of the play well to allow the audience to follow the changing relationships, and using the limited staging space to create the personal spheres of each character, but also the connectedness of their lives as each character flits between them. The cast also play this effectively, portraying the many dimensions of their characters with dexterity, switching between scathing acerbic put-downs and excitable warmth as the script demands.

In the few plays I’ve seen I have been struck by the incestuous relationship of critiquing a play that is often itself critiquing plays. Or perhaps that is simply my luck of the draw, however it provides an interesting insight into the minds of the playwrights

and their view of their own profession. This selfawareness is found in nicely measured doses in this adaptation of The Real Thing, never becoming too tongue-in-cheek, but showing an amusing understanding of the dramatic bubble and all the absurdities that it contains. This is particularly well demonstrated in a scene involving a cricket bat in which the adulterous wife is half convinced she is about to have her head bashed in, whilst the husband is simply using it as a tool to point out the finer points of scriptwriting.

The Real Thing manages to be both amusing and distressing, bringing our worst traits and inadequacies to the fore, yet placing them in comical perspective. The enthusiasm and dedication of the cast and crew creates an entertaining and relatable play out of the complexities of the thought-provoking narrative.

Review

24 Hours in the Dark Jessica Wheeler reviews an evening of darkness at the Royal Exchange Theatre This unconventional piece of theatre takes place in the Royal Exchange Studio. It is part of the Future Worlds project, ‘an urgent snapshot from the youth of today for the society of tomorrow’.

The set up is adhoc and intimate; the audience sit or lie down on a mat in the centre of the space (pillows are provided). It is an art installation; a city of cardboard structures, covered in political and philosophical graffiti, such as ‘peace’ and ‘don’t follow others, make your own path’.

Immersed in the dark, our hearing is heightened as we listen to the selection of short radio plays read by an ensemble of young performers and professional actors.

The scenes are written by an array of writers from children as young as seven; accordingly this innovative experience is intended for a variety of ages. Other writers include Bruntwood Prize-winning playwrights

Andrew Sheridan and Miriam Battye.

Each scene, connected by a robotic voice stating the time, depicts different ideas, aspects and issues of a futuristic world. Concepts within these ultramodern societies include; the midday sun is incredibly dangerous leading to 3rd degree burns and Ethiopia is a prospering country in 2026 after hosting the Olympic games.

Attitudes to scientific innovation vary throughout the pieces. Some articulate the many possibilities it brings and celebrate crucial medical development, yet others suggest its danger and risk to dehumanise the world.

For example, doctors have been depersonalised and for medical diagnosis you must speak to a machine, pressing 1 if you have certain symptoms.

In another scene, man-made robots intended for cleaning the streets had turned against humans

and an extensive war had ensued. This sense that technological advancement is not only beneficial but also threatening to human condition can almost be related to the concepts conveyed in Fritz Lang’s 1927 film, Metropolis.

At times, this piece of theatre seems to be aimed at a predominantly younger audience, echoing elements of Doctor Who. However, there is certainly something deeper that resonates. The writing material is not exactly challenging to interpret, but it urges us to consider our views on technology and perhaps also our values.

Rather than simply a piece of theatre, 24 Hours in the Dark is an interactive experience that is both amusing and stimulating. On leaving you are able to write down your own predictions and fears for the future.

My Favourite Scene

my

25

FAVOURITE SCENE

‘The Importance of being Earnest’ is a comedy of manners written by Oscar Wilde in 1894. A young man, Jack Worthing creates a fictitious brother, whose badly behaved nature gives him an excuse to leave his country house occasionally and stay in London with his friend Algernon Moncrieff. Jack falls in love with Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen and after she reveals she wants to marry someone called Earnest he adopts this name. Algernon travels to Jack’s country house, under the guise of the false brother Earnest and falls for his ward Cecily Cardew. With the arrival of Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell trouble ensues regarding the identity of Earnest in this timeless satirical comedy.

Cecily: (Rather shy and confidingly) Dearest Gwendolen, there is no reason why I should make a secret of it to you. Our little country newspaper is sure to chronicle the fact next week. My Ernest Worthing and I are engaged to be married.

Gwendolen: (Quite politely, rising) My darling Cecily,

This week, Harriet Duddy tells us about her favourite scene from Oscar Wilde’s classic play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’

I think there must be some slight error. Mr Ernest Worthing is engaged to me. The announcement will appear in the Morning Post on Saturday at the latest.

Cecily: (very politely, rising) I am afraid you must be under some misconception. Ernest proposed to me exactly ten minutes ago. (Shows diary) Gwendolen: (examines diary through her lorgnette carefully) It is certainly very curious, for he asked me to be his wife yesterday afternoon at 5.30. If you would care to verify the incident pray do so. (Produces diary of her own) I never travel without my diary.

One should always have something sensational to read in the train. I am so sorry, dear Cecily, if it is any disappointment to you, but I’m afraid I have the prior claim.

Cecily: It would distress me more that I can tell you, dear Gwendolen, if it caused you any mental or physical anguish, but I feel bound to point out that since Ernest proposed to you he has clearly changed

his mind.

Gwendolen: (meditatively) If the poor fellow has been entrapped into any foolish promise I shall consider it my duty to rescue him at once, and with a firm hand.

Cecily: (thoughtfully and sadly) Whatever unfortunate entanglement my dear boy may have got into, I will never reproach him with it after we are married.

Gwendolen: Do you allude to me, Miss Cardew, as an entanglement? You are presumptuous. On an occasion of this kind it becomes more that a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.

Cecily: Do you suggest, Miss Fairfax, that I entrapped Ernest into an engagement? How dare you? This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manner. When I see a spade I call it a spade.

Gwendolen: (satirically) I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious our social spheres have been widely different.

PLAYS TO CATCH Sweeney Todd Steven Sondheim’s classic musical comes to The Royal Exchange after being transfered from the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Expect blood, gore and lots of operatic singing.

Runs from the 1st November to the 30th November at the Royal Exchange Theatre

Toro! Toro Young Antonito lives an idyllic life on his parents’ cattle farm in southernSpain. But the peace is shattered when he realises that his favourite bull-calf, brave Paco, is destined to fight in the bullring.

Taking both their destinies into his own hands, and risking the lives and love of his family, Antonito hatches a daring plan.

Runs on 21st to 22nd November at the Lowry

War Horse Michael Morpurgo’s infamous National Theatre classic has just entered its seventh year of performing. Join Albert Naracott andJoey the horse to embark on an epic adventure, that takes place in World War One. Runs 20th November until 18th January at the Lowry

Stacy Makishi: The Falsettos Hawaiian performance-maker Stacy Makishi unearths a thrilling tale of filial-sleuthery — investigating midlife, mobs, meatballs and moms via Barbra Streisand, E.T., and The Sopranos. Masterfully grafting the trappings of gangster film onto domestic drama, The Falsettos is a humorous solo take on the mysteries of love, loss and separation.

Runs 29th November at Z-Arts.

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Lauren Arthur, Moya Crockett, Beth Currall, Isabelle Dann Ask Izzy

Travel

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IZZY

an earnest attempt to cure all your woes. Tweet any burning issues, genital or otherwise, to @izzydann

Study Abroad Report: Beijing

Marina Garvey-Birch fills us in on student life, Chinese-style: early starts, tempting food, and accidental hipsters When I arrived in Beijing at the end of this summer to study Chinese, I had some serious adjustments to make. An average day at uni here begins at 8am. I know – 8am! Despite the early start, there can be no zoning out during class. Chinese is the common language between the English, American, European, Asian, and South American students, and so that’s the language in which we’re taught. No English. Only Chinese. For about four hours straight. It’s hardly surprising that people put their head down in the breaks to snooze.

We’ve all been assigned Chinese language partners, and it’s honestly frustrating how good their English is in comparison to our Chinese. They’re able to discuss their opinions on politics, popular culture, art and food, which is doubly impressive when you realise that most of them have never travelled farther than Beijing. It was pretty nerve-wracking to realise upon arrival that I couldn’t really speak any Chinese.

But hey ho, we are definitely progressing: I mean, I had a fullon Chinese phone conversation with the water supplier, and

he turned up to the correct address with the correct amount of water and everything.

The first thing to say in regards to the nightlife here is that no, not everyone goes red when they drink alcohol in China. There’s a huge clubbing scene in Beijing and its definitely not just for the foreigners. Some clubs are packed with merry Chinese crowds grinding on one another, just like in a cheesy club in Manchester. Other clubs are full of desperate westerners who believe that your mutual westernness means you should spend hours talking to them. I get it – common ground and all that – but sometimes you don’t want to go for dinner just because you both speak English!

Speaking of dinner, Chinese food in China is so much better than in the UK. The street food knocks the socks off Kebab King. Top dishes include melt-in-the-mouth steamed dumplings, egg coriander pancakes, tofu to satisfy any steak lover, and street BBQ of anything, from chicken hearts to aubergine to squid. For dessert, there’s ice cream, weird

was out on the Q Iweekend with my boyfriend and we bumped into a lady friend who we hadn’t seen for some time. Somewhat unexpectedly, our mutual friend expressed her interest in a threesome.

Naturally my boyfriend’s rather keen and I’m certainly curious. However, I find myself burdened with the obvious anxieties. Is it true that one person at any given time is inevitably somewhat left out?

Where and with whom do you even start? Also, how likely is it that the whole experience will destroy my relationship?

A

When reflecting upon the concept of threesomes involving an otherwise monogamous couple, many can be quite pessimistic when considering the bare reality.

For you, the idea seems fun in fantasy, yet the fear remains that on realising your deviant desires you may find yourself left with nothing but acerbic sexual jealousy, an exceedingly negative body image, all topped off with a sex life that comparatively is as exciting as a very cold fish. However, I’m generally of the opinion that you should make the most of such offers of pleasure while you’re still young and beautiful, and so I say go for it. Now, firstly, you want to make sure you do the deed at either her place or a friend’s – the last thing you want is to wake up in the morning with any trace of anxiety yet unable to dismiss your extra lover without appearing most unseemly.

Otherwise, make sure you craft a suitable sex playlist so you can blast away any audible remnants of cruel reality with some seductive background music.

Additionally, ensure that there are copious amounts of wine for all involved. Finally, no one need be left out as long as long as you partake in the appropriate degree of face-sitting.

Photo: Thomas Fischler @ Flickr

It’s...

jellies and bubble tea drinks that can keep me entertained for hours. And when it all costs less than a pound, you’re free to try everything! The low cost of food in Beijing means that it’s possible to live like royalty on a budget of about £25 a week.

The biggest difference between student life in China and the UK is that going to university in China doesn’t seem to symbolise “growing up.” There is a huge lack of emphasis on becoming independent, developing social skills and making your own decisions. The focus of university is simply to study, study, study. This is boosted by the lack of privacy given to the Chinese students: they share a room with up to five other people, and there’s a big lack of communal space and kitchen facilities, supposedly because it’s too “dangerous.” Many students have no choice but to study, because what else are they going to do? Relationships are compromised, too – the courtyard outside our halls is full of Chinese students snogging till midnight because they have nowhere else to go.

I’m all for studying, but this is kind of depressing. Come on China, social education is important too.

The district of Gulou is similar to the Northern Quarter: it’s full of Chinese hipsters in black maxi dresses with the sleekest long black hair, boys with high ponytails and leather jackets, and vintage shops that hold some pretty sweet deals.

Earlier this week, I spotted a lady who wouldn’t look out of place in Manchester, dressed in a silver and pink ski suit with matching Air Max 90’s. While many a Manchester student might take a liking to this look, I think she might have been an accidental hipster. At night, Gulou is for the quirky and cool of Beijing: it’s a lot less sweaty than Wudaoku, the student area, and the advice is to “wear all black.” On our first night out in Gulou we were ecstatic to hear some Motown and disco tunes that made the Wudaoku’s Miley Cyrus obsession a distant memory.

While you guys in Manchester are gearing up towards a long Christmas holiday, in Beijing we’re in study mode until January. Beijing is adapting itself to the cool northern winds rushing in from Mongolia, and the street food vendors are wrapping themselves up and roasting chestnuts. China is truly different to the UK and constantly surprising: I’m very excited to see what the winter has in store.

Blind Date?

Louis, 2nd Year Chinese & Business

Flo, 3rd Year English Literature First impressions?

First impressions?

We know each other already! Apart from that, bad hair, but lovely anyway.

Oh my god - we already know each other! I’m actually in my third year – I’m redoing second year – and me and Flo were in halls together in 2011-2012. We’ve been friendly acquaintances ever since then, although I haven’t seen her for a while. But if we’d never met before, my first impression would probably be that she looks kind of Scandinavian.

Best features?

He’s very approachable – friendly and chatty.

What did you guys eat and drink?

The middle eastern platter, which was really good, and a bottle of wine between the two of us.

Best feature?

She’s a lot of fun - very easy to get along with.

Any awkward moments?

What did you guys eat and drink?

Well, I’m not sure that he remembers that we once drunkenly got off in first year. He’d just eaten a Chicken King.

Needless to say it never happened again.

We shared a bottle of wine and also shared the middle eastern platter.

Any awkward moments?

Is Louis your usual type?

Oh, all of it, all of it. Do I want to expand on that? No, not really.

[We think this was a joke – Ed.]

Um… I don’t want to be mean!

Oh, go on. Be mean.

Is Flo your usual type?

Well, no, he’s not really my type. I don’t think I really have a usual type, but if I did, I don’t… I don’t think he’d be it.

I don’t really have a type. Actually, thinking about it, if you looked at my history, you’d probably say that my type was Chinese… And Flo’s not Chinese.

Did you have much in common?

Sort of. He wants to go to America and I’ve just been to America, so that was something to talk about. We do completely different subjects, but we’ve got lots of friends in common,,and we go to the same kind of nights,.

Did you have much in common?

We’ve got loads of the same friends, and it was really nice to catch up, as we hadn’t seen each other yet this year. Well, that’s not technically true. She’s seen me, but I was passed out in an armchair at a house party, so I just haven’t seen her.

Any sordid secrets revealed?

Loui s&

Any sordid secrets revealed?

Flo

No, none. Unfortunately.

How did you say goodbye?

Can I make one up? [No - Ed.] OK, fine. No secrets revealed.

We got the bus together and he went to get off with a casual goodbye, but I made him give me a hug. Ha!

How did you say goodbye?

A passionate... embrace.

Would you see him again?

Would you see her again?

Well, I mean, I will. Around.

Rate the experience out of 10?

8.5. I had a great time.

Photo: Peter Chinnock. Interview: Moya Crockett

Flo and Louis went on their date at Fallow Café, 2A Landcross Road, Fallowfield, which has free music gigs and a quiz on Mondays.

Fancy appearing in Blind Date? Email mancunion.lifestyle@gmail.com

Yeah, sure, I’m sure I’ll see him around.

Marks out of ten?

Oh, I’ll give him a ten. Why not!

/TheMancunion: Lifestyle @MancunionLife

Sex and relationships

Dating for the 4G generation What does the recent rise of mobile dating app Tinder say about the way our generation views romance? Sceptic Moya Crockett gives her verdict...

Until this summer, I’d never heard of Tinder. My friend Grace and I were having lunch, and she was simultaneously chatting and scrolling through her iPhone, in that casual way that young people barely notice and proper adults find stunningly rude. Suddenly, she grinned, and held up her phone for me to see what was distracting her. Floating above two photos – one of my friend, one of some guy I’d never seen before – swirly letters proclaimed, “It’s a Match!” I didn’t understand what I was looking at. “You and Alex have liked each other,” the screen informed, matter-of-factly. Grace had two options: “Send a Message,” or “Keep Playing.

This, then, is Tinder; this, then, is romance reduced to its barest bones. It is to online dating what a tweet is to a lengthy blog post, in that only the most basic details make the cut. The free app uses Facebook to create a profile (a couple of photos, your first name, age and interests), and your location to match you with people nearby.

You can see what, if any, friends and interests you have in common.

If you like their profile, you swipe right; if it’s a no, you swipe left. If you “like” someone and they like you back, you’re a match, and the floor is yours to start exchanging messages.

I was, quite frankly, astonished. Internet or mobile dating, to my uninitiated mind, was reserved for middle-aged divorcees and thirty-something women who’ve suddenly remembered that they wanted to have a kid at some point – in other words, people who’ve exhausted all their other options. But we’re young, and we’re not so unattractive that people actively run away screaming from us on the street. We have uni, and nightclubs, and house parties, and festivals, and friends-of-friends, and all those other tried-and-tested methods of finding someone to be your boyfriend or girlfriend, or at least maybe have sex with you. And yet here was my attractive, intelligent, responsible, funny friend, cheerfully swapping messages with a stranger who she’d met on her phone.

Grace assured me that there was no stigma attached to Tinder.

“It’s not weird. Everyone at my uni’s on it.” But as David Mitchell put it in a recent article in the Observer, although “everyone’s saying how internet dating is the future – the technological solution to busy, modern disconnected urban life,” the mere fact that you have to bring up the concept of shame implies that there is some shame in it. “Nobody ever bothered to point out that there’s no shame in eating soup or going for a walk.” Indeed. I think this gets to the crux of what innately weirds me out about Tinder. Is it not just a bit cringe? I have always, perhaps mistakenly, placed at least some value on the subtle art of playing it cool when it comes to romance.

Maybe I’m wrong, but that period of liking someone – that torturous, squirmy time of not quite knowing whether they even know you’re alive, but then, oh, CHRIST, they’ve texted you, and maybe they’re only asking what your plans are tonight because they want an invite to your friend’s house party, but also, maybe this is the best day ever, but then of course once you get to the party you will have to be incredibly nonchalant yet effortlessly charming – isn’t that the exciting part of the whole ordeal? You can’t play it cool if you’re on Tinder. Tinder wipes the mystery out of fancying someone in the swipe of a screen. It’s the technological equivalent of walking up to someone on the street and shouting “YOU’RE FIT!” in their face.

But it seems that millions of young people don’t share my reservations. Tinder is targeted at people between 18 and 35 years old, and it’s insanely popular, currently averaging around 2 million users a day. The average Tinder user checks the app 11 times per day, seven minutes at a time. In the spirit of journalistic enquiry – and reasoning that there must be something in this kind of phenomenon – I ignore my misgivings. I download the app.

Ten minutes later, I have been completely absorbed. I am flicking through photos of boys I’ve never met and dismissing them almost immediately. No, thank you, Joe, 23; I don’t like boys who wear vests. Ew, no, thanks, George, 22 – weird eyebrows, bad shirt.

It’s horribly compelling. For something ostensibly so personal, the process is bizarrely sterile, almost abstract. It doesn’t feel at all like these are real people. It feels like I’m flicking through the Argos catalogue and not seeing any toys I like. There are a couple of absolute crackers, and not in a good way. Special mention has to go to “Niall, 25”, who has chosen as his profile picture a photo of him on a mad one at a foam party, topless, in a Santa hat, sticking his tongue out at the camera. Truly, every young girl’s dream. I’m also surprised to see the amount of boys that have put their Snapchat names on their profiles. Why? Am I being naïve? Is it because they think girls might send them pictures of their boobs? Why? Screenshots of Niall and characters like him can be found at a Tumblr called Twats of Tinder, which is possibly the most 2013 sentence I’ve ever written. For the most part, though, there’s nothing overtly wrong with the boys I swipe into the rejection pile. They’re just normal-looking guys, and while some of them are probably interesting and kind and funny and likable and charming in real life, it’s pretty difficult to get any of that from what is essentially a Top Trump card. I try to imagine what

A (short-lived) Tinder profile. kind of dazzling profile might prompt a swipe-right from me, and it’s a struggle. I certainly can’t see myself ever going to meet someone from the app in the actual living-and-breathing 3D world.

The majority of Tinder users, it transpires, are with me on that. A recent poll found that only 1 in 5 people who use the app have actually met up with one of their matches, which seems a low figure, particularly when you consider that other mobile dating apps have a 66% average meet rate. Of all the people I know who use Tinder, the vast majority of them are quick to dismiss the idea that they might actually be using it to find romance. “No, no, obviously not,” says Tom, 22. “It’s just fun to be able to be like, yes, no, no, no, yes.

Like a power thing, maybe.” The other Tinderers I know concur.

No, they say emphatically, obviously they’re not really trying to meet people on it. When I ask why not, they’re all weirdly evasive.

The closest I get to an explanation is from a friend who says, “The girls on Tinder aren’t edgy enough.” He’s joking (I think), but ties in with my earlier point about wanting to at least maintain a façade of cool in your quest for love.

For all our many great qualities, our generation does tend towards narcissism, and the attention span of your average 18-to25-year-old is probably not that dissimilar to that of a gnat. Every human being since the dawn of time has loved the quick, meaningless ego boost of being told that you’re hot, but Instagram and Facebook mean that we’ve become almost reliant on this kind of positive reinforcement. And you only have to fidget through the painfully long opening credits of a film from the 1950s to recognize how much we’ve come to hate waiting for anything. Tinder requires zero emotional engagement and indulges our vanity with the promise of a match, and so in many ways, it’s the perfect app for young people today. But actually, my little foray into Tinderworld has reassured me that it’s no threat to actual romance. It might be a little depressing, but for most people, it’s just a bit of fun.

Before I delete my account, I have one last scroll through the profiles. I don’t seem to have anything in common with anyone on here: as I’m told again and again: “Shared Interests: 0.” Alright, alright. Do I occupy such a niche gap in the market? Aha! Andy, 23.

One shared interest. Well, it’s a start. What do Andy and I have in common? I click. We both, at one point, have liked a Facebook page called “I lol’d at this seal.” Alright. I’m out.

Do you agree with Moya? Have you had a positive mobile dating experience? Or have you encountered one of the ‘Twats of Tinder’? Get involved by emailing us at mancunion.lifestyle@gmail.com, tweeting us @MancunionLife, or on Facebook.

Lifestyle

27

Feature

Do you lead a double life?

Does university allow you to create a ‘new you’?

Editor Lauren Arthur discusses.

Coming to university is a strange in-between. You live away from home for prolonged periods of time yet you haven’t officially ‘moved out’. You live with people you haven’t long met whilst trying to squeeze in Skype dates with those you grew up with. You’re the drunken youth that staggers around at four in the morning and the ‘clever, mature young adult’ that your family are so proud of. But are you the same person at university and at home? Is it balancing act or a complete switch of character; is there a uni you and a home you?

Some of my friends act completely differently in Manchester than they do at home. In Manchester they might drink, smoke or do drugs whilst their home self rolls their non-dilated pupils in disapproval. Others thrive on their degree, forming a worryingly intimate relationship with Ali G that they choose to not to mention to their not-so-academic friends at home. In a city so vibrant and diverse, it seems relatively easy to both lose and find yourself.

For many, coming to university changes young people for the better, myself included. Clichéd case of girl in small inconveniently situated southern village moves to big buzzing northern city. I had no attachments or commitments; it was my chance to redefine myself. What I found was that redefining yourself is near impossible unless you’ve been pretending to be someone you’re not for the first eighteen odd years of your life. Instead the side of me that I knew had been there for a while was able to come out. Still shy, awkward and prone to going red when someone looks at me for longer than five seconds, but not all the time, and not quite so much.

Unless you were a) clingy and/or b) stupid, choosing to follow half of friends from home to the same university, chances are few people from home know you in this city. You don’t have to worry about your past: what you did, how you acted, who expects what of you: it’s liberating and refreshing.

Obviously people change all the time; you’d change in three years wherever you were, but university seems to provide a sort of bubble of non-reality. It’s a safety net zone in which you can experiment and become a better version of yourself instead of being so sculpted by your upbringing and home surroundings.

So I suppose this is my little tribute to Manchester. I wouldn’t say I live a double life but this rainy city has certainly done me a helluva lotta good.

Photo: Duncan Harris (Flickr)

Spotted

SPOTTED: on campus Want to find the beauty in blue three? Or just need to get something off your chest? Tweet us @MancunionLife and we’ll publish it for you!

To the Ryan Gosling look-alike riding the magic bus at 8.30 last Tuesday morning, fancy going to A Place Beyond The Pines with me?

- Your Blue Valentine Guy watching rugby on YouTube in OP computer cluster on Friday 21st: how’s about you let me tackle you and show you some of my own ball control?

- Tight head prop To the guy in the New Era cap in Orange two listening to his music ridiculously loudly in what should be a quiet zone: we know you’re listening to Taylor Swift.

- I Knew You Were Trouble

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

SPORT

/TheMancunion @Mancunion_Sport

Contact: sport@mancunion.com

This week, he visits the University judo club to learn more about the sport... the hard way!

Seamus Soal takes a look at what’s going on in the University’s Martial-Arts scene The Armitage Centre’s Conference Room was a spectacle of throws and submissions on Monday night as the Judo Club took to the mats for training.

Coming from a different background in kickboxing, I thought I would expand my knowledge by dipping into the opposite end of the martial arts spectrum.

achieved by making your opponent tap out or by pinning them on the ground for 20 seconds.

Upon conclusion of the rules I was kitted up in the traditional Judo uniform known as the GI. After the ‘bonding’ experience of setting down the mats, the class began with a warm up. Simple enough - a quick jog around

Seamus takes a hands-on approach to investigative journalism Photo: Mancunion Sport

Upon arrival on Monday I was introduced to the Club Captain, Joe Perry. Joe explained the basic aim of Judo which is to get your opponent on their back resulting in an Ippon score.

Failing to do this, an Ippon can also be

RAG:

the room followed by some stretches.

I was very kindly partnered with Joe as he would help me through my first class. Despite looking the part in my GI, the next exercise showed how much I really was a fish out of water!

Movember Update

Some people like a bit of stubble, some prefer a clean shaven boy and some really enjoy a full on face wig.

So, during the month of No-ShaveNovember, or Movember, some ladies and gents may be a little hot under the collar!

Sitting on the floor back-to-back with our partner we were to take turns stopping them crawling to the opposite end of the room. Upon instruction Joe made his way to the opposite side of the room while I clung onto his leg helplessly and I failed completely to restrict him.

As expected, upon my turn I didn’t even reach a metre as I was quickly immobilised by Joe. The remainder of the class was sparring, something I was quite nervous about at this point. The basic grip in Judo is to hold your opponents lapel of their GI with one hand and the opposite hand is to hold their sleeve.

Joe thankfully explained to me the basic throws and counters including the ‘twist and pull’ technique. This helps gets your opponent off balance providing the key momentum to put them on their back.

I then got to spar with Joe, and to his credit he was very patient with me and when we sparred I was even allowed to land a sneaky throw or two.

After the throwing aspect of sparring we moved onto ground work, the aim being to pin or submit your opponent.

Again I received the basic instruction from Joe, but this time I was thrown into the deep end and was to spar other members of the class... gulp!

However everyone in the class was very friendly and I was not used as cannon fodder by any member.

The highlight of my night was getting the opportunity to spar with Simon

This month, millions of men worldwide have thrown their razors aside and braved the bumfluff for 30 days to raise awareness of men’s health. Here on campus, University of Manchester students have gone at it with full force, so far raising a fan-tash-

By raise-and-give’s Publicity Officer Emily Hodson

Sports Editors: Andrew Georgeson, Tom Dowler and Thomas Turner

29

Aviva Premiership rugby stars joined in the Movember cause this month.

Photo: @MovemberUK

Jackson. Simon is a three time gold medal winner at the Paralympics.

This was my make or break moment.

Simon was great to spar with as he took the intensity up and attempted to spark a bit of fire in me. He was constantly rolling me around and talked me through how to escape his vice-like grips.

members I had the chance to speak with. Being completely baffled by the world of Judo, Joe and the rest of the club were great in helping me progress my understanding.

The Judo club ticks all the boxes a good martial arts club should; including very friendly instructors and members, great fitness work-outs and

Seamus pins three time Paralympic gold medal winner Simon Jackson Photo: Mancunion Sport

My review of Man Uni Judo club is 100% positive. The class is taught by Paralympic GB coach Steve Pullen (6th Dan), a very highly qualified instructor.

The atmosphere of the class is very friendly and I was welcomed by all

tic (sorry) £1868 promoting awareness of testicular cancer, prostate cancer and mental health problems.

For all of you No-Mos out there, although we are 20 days into Movember now it is not too late to be involved to help boost this total further.

No-Mos, Mo-Bros and Mo Sistas assemble at 256, Fallowfield, on Friday 29th November at 7pm for the end-ofMovember RAG pub quiz!

Prizes will be given for both the best ‘tash and most money raised, including Gillette razors worth over £20 so you can go into December feeling fresh-faced and fancy free.

Search for the Movember Pub Quiz Event on Facebook. For more information, please contact: Emily Hodson publicity@manchesterrag.com

a practical martial art for the use of self-defence.

The club trains Mondays and Wednesdays in the Armitage centre’s conference room from 7-8:30pm.

SPORT : 30

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

BUCS Sport catch up

Tennant holds Birmingham to a draw Women’s 1st XI hold league leaders in a tense 0-0 draw, depsite plenty of attacing hockey

Rob Eden Sport Reporter University of Manchester 1st 0 University of Birmingham 1st 0

Last Wednesday, Manchester women’s hockey 1st XI drew 0-0 in a tense game against the undefeated Premier North League leaders - the University of Birmingham at the Armitage Centre. In the previous meeting, Birmingham won 4-0, however, this time it proved to be a much tighter affair.

Both sides went in to the tie on the back of a win, Manchester defeating Nottingham 3-2 whilst Birmingham demolished Leeds 9-0 away from home.

The visitors were clear favourites, boasting over ten international players in their team. However, strong resilience in defence proved to be the order of the day, with the tie finishing scoreless.

Both teams opted for a 4-3-3 formation and it was Birmingham’s three midfielders who seemed to stand out in the first period of the game, dominating possession. They seemed calm on the ball and showed great ability to move the ball around the pitch. It was clear that this was a team in form which would test Manchester all afternoon.

However, this early dominance from Birmingham seemed to be merely

statistical. Manchester center-back Talisa Fateh made several interceptions and numerous crucial tackles to break down Birmingham attacks, adding to the away side’s frustration.

After 15 minutes of play, Birmingham’s early ascendancy could have been their undoing. A three-on-two opportunity arose after a Manchester clearance found its way to Alice Farrar on the right hand side. Only last-ditch defence from Birmingham prevented an unlikely early home goal.

The home side claimed the first short corner of the game. Yet the resultant attempt at goal took a deflection into the area and there were no Manchester players around to pounce.

This seemed to be the tale of Manchester’s first half - counterattacking hockey with not much possession; and it began to feel like a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if ’ Birmingham would score.

Cue Zara Thon, who sparked Manchester’s attack in the first half.

Thon showed great flair with the reverse stick to weave around the defender, and then she slid the ball through the oncoming defender’s legs.

It looked as if Manchester would score, however Thon couldn’t connect the pass to a fellow forward in the D. Birmingham responded with several chances, testing goalkeeper Amy Tennant. The Midlands outfit seemed to be edging closer and closer to that

elusive breakthrough, and in the 25th minute they had their greatest chance of the half.

A well-executed drag flick saw the ball fizz towards the top left hand corner.

But, a fantastic acrobatic save from Tennant, managed to pad the ball out and away from danger, keeping Manchester’s clean-sheet intact.

In the dying seconds of the first half, Manchester created a glorious chance.

Farrar again worked the ball down the right hand side, before working in a ball across the face of goal. The Birmingham goalkeeper tried to clear it, but the ball fell to Isabelle Crighton with an open goal to the left hand side of the keeper.

However, she couldn’t quite react quickly enough to get a decent shot off, so agonisingly, the best chance of the game went begging.

Half time followed, giving the teams

a chance to reflect and reassess. With the score at 0-0, Manchester began to believe that the undefeated team could be toppled.

The second-half seemed to be far more open and stretched. Birmingham created a few more chances, but nothing seemed to trouble Tennant and her defence.

Manchester seemed full of confidence and sensed an upset after 10 minutes of the second half.

Great defensive work was met by a lifted attacking tempo from Manchester for the first time in the game. This was rewarded with a series of short corners for the home side. The best of which fell to Sophie Crosley, who forced a great save from the Birmingham keeper with a powerful low shot.

After a lengthy spell of possession, Manchester continued to attack

Manchester held league leaders Birmingham to a tense 0-0 draw.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

the right flank, with Crosley quickly moving the ball past Birmingham defenders, winning short corners that unfortunately didn’t rattle the backboard.

Birmingham had the best chance in the second half on the counter attack.

Manchester pushed forward and looked vulnerable at the back for the first time. Birmingham found an attacker completely open in Manchester’s D, yet Tennant read the danger to perfection, rushing out from goal and pulling off a great block from the resultant shot.

With two minutes to go, Birmingham were awarded a short corner, however, it was supremely dealt with by rushing defenders and the ever-calm head of Tennant. The goal keeper safely cleared the ball to cement her woman of the match status.

The full time whistle brought a result that doesn’t flatter the intensity and amount of chances the game produced.

However, it can be seen as a fair result, with both teams showing stoic defensive efforts and plenty of attacking hockey.

After the game, Manchester’s first team captain Eve Taylor-Cox claimed: “A draw is a great result, considering Birmingham has won all but one of their games so far this season.”

Next up for Manchester is Durham University, who currently sit below Taylor-Cox’s side in the Premier North division.

Palmer piles on the tries against Hallam

Manchester women swat Sheffield Halam aside, conceding just one try against the league strugglers Andrew Georgeson and Lynsey Brownlie

it was kicked and a penalty was duly awarded to Hallam.

Hallam opted for a tap penalty

Sport Editor and Sport Reporter University of Manchester

causing havoc in the midfield. After a few minutes, the partnership proved too much for Manchester

32

Sheffield Hallam University 5

Manchester’s 1st XV women brushed Sheffield Hallam University aside last Wednesday, sealing a comfortable 32-5 victory at ‘fortress Armitage’.

Before the match, the home side occupied second place in the league, just two points behind the University of Sheffield – who topped the table before the start of play on Wednesday. However, Manchester’s opponents – Sheffield Hallam, were languishing second from bottom, four points adrift from safety, fearing relegation from the Northern 1A league.

With this in mind, many predicted Manchester to systematically take their opponents apart. However, Hallam put up a decent fight particulary in the first half.

After a matter of minutes, Manchester seemingly crossed for the opening try after Balchin cleared the ball from within her own half, allowing Palmer to turn on the pace and touch down.

Palmer, however, was judged to have been in front of the ball when

Strength up-front and pace out wide helped UoM defeat Sheffield 32-5.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

just five meters away from their own try line. The ambitious play backfired on the visitors as Manchester turned the ball over after a few phases. This rallied the home forwards, who kept taking the ball into contact until space was made for Muddiman to crash over.

Watson converted leaving the score at 7-0 after only five minutes.

Sheffield began to feel their way back into the game after the early setback, particularly through their centre partnership which was

to handle and Hallam scored with a simple overlap.

Sheffield did enjoy phases of possession after this, but it came to no avail as they struggled to put a few decent phases together without losing the ball to a simple handling errors.

This proved to be Hallam’s best period of the game, as after the twenty-minute mark, Manchester began to increase the pressure. The tempo was raised with immediate effect. Manchester were in for a

clear try, but were called back for a penalty. The resulting penalty saw the hosts held up, but from the scrum that followed, Mulqueen crashed over from close distance.

Palmer then got her well-deserved brace after a storming run which showed her devastating pace and eye for a gap.

The final try was perhaps the most obscure of the game. Webster fly-hacked the ball for 45-yards, and then a cruel bounce took the oval-shaped ball away from the Hallam full back, before Webster re-gathered, offloading to Shutler who duly touched down. It was reminiscent of the try scored by Mulqueen in the 2012 Varsity, and left the half-time score at 26-5.

Hallam restarted the match, hoping to make more of an impact that in the first half, however this was not the case. Manchester demonstrated the same determination and confidence as they had in the first half and began immediately pressing the Hallam line.

Mulqueen’s lay off to Shutler allowed her to break away from the pack; however she was blocked at the vital moment, preventing her from scoring the try.

Manchester piled on the pressure five minutes into the second half, resulting in a well-worked try for the Captain Shutler. The conversion

kick drifted wide from Balchin; however, with the score at 27-5, Manchester seemed out of reach for the visiting side.

The game’s progression allowed Hallam to ease their way back into the contest somewhat. Manchester took their feet off the gas and had a more relaxed demeanor about their play, resulting in a lot action in the midfield.

Manchester upped the intensity levels and managed to pin Hallam back in their own half. Sadly the game fractured slightly with the visitors becoming increasingly frustrated. Some gloss came off the victory unfortunately, as Manchester picked up injuries with both Webster and Hamson taken off.

Manchester battled through their injury setbacks, and speedster Georgie Palmer secured her hattrick when she broke free from just inside the Hallam half. Grant-Harris missed the conversion leaving the final score 32-5.

Woman of the Match: 14. Georgie Palmer. Manchester’s hat-trick-hero was a constant menace to Sheffield all afternoon. The visitors were left desperately grasping at her shirttails for the majority of the match.

SPORT : 31

ISSUE 10/ 25th NOVEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM/

#PurpleandProud

Water way to win

Dominant UoM display sees water polo 1sts defeat Christie rivals Liverpool again Josh Cook Sport Reporter University of Manchester 1sts 17 University of Liverpool 1sts

5

The men’s water polo team came out worthy winners on Wednesday evening as they pushed aside Liverpool with ease at the Aquatics Centre.

After wins in both league and cup last term, Manchester once again sent their opponents back to Merseyside with their tails between their legs., securing their first win of the season in the process.

The game started quickly with both sides dramatically crashing through the water towards each other in search of the ball.

Manchester seemed in no mood for politeness and found themselves 1-0 to the good after only 60 seconds of play when impressive build up presented Armstrong the task of putting it past the keeper, and he made no mistake.

The game was very much end to end and in the opening minutes the fitness of both teams had to be admired.

Excellent early pressure from the hosts was a sign of things to come, finding themselves with a three goal cushion

within the first five minutes.

Liverpool seemed out of their depth in the pool, but struck back well as Manchester had a player sin-binned for a dangerous challenge.

They held their own and defended well with some vocal leadership from the goalkeeper. As the first quarter came to a close the sides both felt frustrated for different reasons - Manchester because the score could’ve been greater and Liverpool because they had failed to get into the game.

With the score at 4-1 it was clear the game was in the balance heading into the next quarter.

The visitors came out fighting as two early chances were well saved by Kirkham in the home goal, who was excellent throughout between the posts and was pivotal in leading the team from the back.

Liverpool’s frustrations were multiplied as Manchester broke free through the middle. After an excellent stop from the opposition keeper the ball rebounded and was put away easily, to calm any nerves the home side might have had early in the second.

Even though two minutes was barely on the clock in the quarter Liverpool looked despondent in their play after the goal. Numerous cases of sloppy passing followed by an inability to track

back after losing the ball meant that the hosts found themselves 10-1 to the good at the second interval.

together.

In an almost identical occurence a mistake led to a Manchester break and

Manchester launch another attack against Liverpool in their 17-5 triumph.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

As the teams returned to the pool for the third quarter one could only wonder if Liverpool would try and salvage a sense of pride from the game.

Within the first minute of the third, just as they had in the second, the away side wasted two good chances in a frantic attempt to claw the scores closer

the gap between the sides reached ten points.

Liverpool restarted after the goal and a beautiful flowing set of passes led to a rare finish to a move for the blue caps and they had their second.

Some inspired saves from Kirkham made sure there was no come back on

the cards this time and the visitors once more paid the price for not tracking back after losing the ball.

Both teams began to tire late in the third, and the game turned into an exhibition exercise to see out the clock.

Excitement in the fourth came via a penalty well taken by the Liverpool number 5. But, once more Manchester looked on top with Liverpool latching on to stray balls and half chances when they could.

With a mere 5 seconds to go the home side topped off a fine performance by seeing the ball home once more and making the final score a well-deserved 17-5.

Club president Rory McCloskey was happy with the side’s dominance on the day: “It was a very convincing win, we were in control throughout the game and never felt under any kind of extreme pressure at any time”.

Armstrong had an evening to remember as he netted six goals, and he explained after the final whistle: “We pressed a quicker pace than they could cope with and our decision making at times was great”.

Manchester were a cut above, and outclassed their opponents in every position in this game to secure their first win of the campaign.

Newcastle prevail in battle of bottom two

Loss in deciding game cruel for valiant Manchester seconds who stay bottom of Northern 1A Erdoo Yongo and Eve Yongo Sport Reporters University of Manchester 2nds 8 Newcastle University 1sts

9

Manchester men’s tabletennis second team suffered an excruciating 9 - 8 defeat against Newcastle University men’s 1st at the Sugden Centre on Wednesday.

With both sides starting the game at the bottom of the table, each side was looking to clinch their first victory of the season - and the match could not have been closer.

The battle began with Manchester’s Jason Chan against Luke Truman, while Jon Keough played Stephen Baxendale.

At the beginning of the game there were a number of long rallies and some really powerful hitting from both Keough and Baxendale as each of them tried to assert their authority on one another.

They each played some wonderful shots, making such great use of the table - although Baxendale took the first set and went on to win the game despite Keough winning the third set 11 – 6.

On the other table Chan dominated Truman. He came out ready from the word go, he fired shots left,

right and centre making excellent use of topspin, which helped him overcome Truman in 3 sets, including an especially impressive 11 – 3 in the final set.

After the first two games, Manchester impressively led 4 – 2.

However, Newcastle were able to pull them back to even the match at eight points each, with important wins by Baxendale and Stephens.

Ahead of the last game (a doubles

teams at 8-8. This, coupled with each team’s chance to win their first match of the season created a tense atmosphere for the game ahead and it didn’t disappoint.

Lau and Chan did not look too fazed by the importance of the final game and seemed to be ready for the upcoming contest.

The pair took it to the visitors with lots of aggressive play and many shots finding the corners

The University of Manchester 2nds table tennis team.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

Manchester played some frenzied rallies, but fell 9-8 to Newcastle.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

contest between Lau and Chan for Manchester and Stephens and Baxendale for the visitors) the scores were tied between both

of the table by just millimetres.

Manchester were in the driving seat when they took the first set of the game.

The second set was much closer, with Manchester coming out just as fired up as they did in the first set. However Newcastle stuck with Manchester and got their just rewards when the Manchester team made uncharacteristic errors, effectively handing them the set.

We were going into a decider and for the first time in the game the Manchester duo were looking a little unsettled, and obviously detecting their wariness Keough and Cranny were quick to urge the team on.

Manchester were getting back into the game, with Lau encouraging his

partner after every point won

by Manchester. The tension was building again. But Newcastle seemed to have Manchester’s number, and all they really had to do was get the ball back in play which increased the pressure for the hosts. It was really close, but Newcastle took the game and with it the Manchester team’s hope of their first win.

The match was a great spectacle to watch. The hosts were really unlucky not to win the match.

But they clearly have the talent to succeed and on that form, a first win won’t be too far off.

SPORT

25TH NOVEMBER 2013/ ISSUE 10 FREE

MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Way of the Warrior

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: @Mancunion_Sport : /TheMancunion

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UMWRFC hammer Hallam P.30 First win for water-polo P.32

Nothing but net!

In a fine display of shooting, UoM nearly made a century against Lancaster as they were swishing three bombs complementary of Vasilialos, Mormeno and Lososovskij.

The frozen man defence of UoM continued in the second quarter as they forced Lancaster to throw up some awful ‘hope and pray’ shot attempts. The amount of bricks shot by

University of Manchester 92 University of Lancaster

26

Seamus Soal Sport Reporter

‘Defence is the best offence’ was the story of the day for UoM as they destroyed bottom of the table Lancaster (92-26) to extend their good run of from.

Manchester’s consistency in defence, rebounds, steals and fast breaks showed Lancaster that they were in a spot of trouble even in the opening exchanges.

UoM showed their dominance in a number of spectacular plays in the 1st quarter. Seifert started hot by scoring a ‘dagger in the eye’ fade away shot. This was not the only highlight reel as UoM got two And-one plays from Mormeno and Marks.

Lancaster realising the trouble switched to a 2-1-2 zone defence in the first quarter. Zone defence in the first quarter is basically an admission of defeat there and then. The zone did force UoM to take some outside shots, including an airball from Sheperd, but UoM continued the strong attack and the first quarter ended 27-11.

The aim of playing zone is to stop easy penetration and force more outside shots. However, UoM answered this challenge easily in the 2nd quarter

BUCS Fact File

easy lay-up. The second quarter ended with the score UoM 52-19 Lancaster.

At the start of the second half the demoralized Lancaster team continued their futile attempts at zone defence.

The key to beating a zone defence is good passing and penetrating the gaps, something which UoM

ball, plus a nice follow up dime from Vasilialos, Sims scored the easy coast to coast lay-up. By this stage Lancaster had more turnovers than a bakery.

Bebert showed stallion defence by ‘taking the charge’ resulting in a Lancaster offensive foul. ‘Taking the charge’ is a defensive play that is not

Manchester’s 1st team basketball after their crushing 92-26 win over Lancaster.

Photo: Mancunion Sport

Lancaster was enough to build a house and it didn’t stop there as UoM forced Lancaster to commit a 24-second violation. UoM showed some great team work including a particularly nice play which saw Bebert with an excellent pass to Stephenson for the

were capitalizing on. With great ball movement and strong offensive plays UoM were sinking a number of easy open lay-ups.

The man defence of UoM continued to be stagnant with a number of strips.

One impressive play saw Sims steal the

commonly used as players usually go for but it is a great for racking up fouls against the opposition and Bebert in this example used brilliant anticipation and body control to be first in front of the defender to get the call.

By this stage the starting five were not

often called upon. UoM’s bench saw great minutes with a healthy rotation, an excellent opportunity to christen rookie players. By the end of the 3rd the score was UoM 72-25 Lancaster.

The fourth quarter was a similar affair as the predeceasing three. Great defence followed by easy offence.

However a number of highlight blocks came into play. Mormeno and Stephenson got involved in the rejection game by swatting out Lancaster shots. It was like a bad infestation of flies and UoM were called in to swat the problem out.

The highlight of the fourth quarter was the anticipation of whether UoM could possibly break the 100 point mark.

However they came just short with the final score UoM 92-26 Lancaster.

It was a fantastic performance from UoM’s men’s 1st basketball team. The only weakness in their game was poor free throw shooting, with UoM making only 55% from the line. Not a deciding factor in this game, but free throw percentage will be crucial in tighter games.

Manchester’s 1st team Club Captain said: ‘It was a great team win. A brilliant all round performance and hopefully we can keep this winning momentum going forward.’

Man of the Match must be awarded to Vasilialos, who has just returned from injury and has already given the UoM team that much needed adrenaline boost.

9th 48 6 130 The University of Manchester’s current place in the BUCS league table.

Percent of BUCS league points have been won by our women’s teams.

Wins in a row for Unbeaten men’s our Netball 1sts Rugby League 1sts and women’s point difference.

Tennis 2nds!